Ch.173Demon God – 4

Aria’s words didn’t even register in my mind. All my senses were fixed on the holy power blooming in her hand.

It was a light that could reduce ordinary priests and nuns to mere candles before the sun, one that wouldn’t pale even compared to Rosaria, who had been directly chosen as a saint by the goddess.

“How…?”

“I just told you. This is our destiny.”

Aria smiled brightly.

“I gained this when the holy power returned after disappearing with the Saint’s miracle. I had no choice but to hide it until now. I’m sorry, even from Leona. I didn’t know why I had awakened to holy power. But as soon as I heard that you were leaving for the Demon God’s realm, I understood. I received this power to help you, Miss Mira. Because that’s how we’re meant to be. It’s our destiny.”

When the holy power returned after disappearing—that would be after I used the spear as a medium to cause a miracle through Rosaria to prevent chaos.

Other priests don’t even know why they’ve regained their powers yet, and in the midst of all that, Aria also awakened to holy power? And possibly at a level equal to or greater than Rosaria’s?

‘Why?’

The current Aria was living an utterly ordinary academy life compared to the original story. Thanks to me, Leona had completed her awakening and was active as a hero, but not Aria.

I had preemptively handled most of the events that should have happened in the original story, preventing the destruction of Bellium Academy and Laura’s death.

Crucially, since Rosaria had taken a path opposite to the original story, the goddess hadn’t even considered Aria as the next saint. So how?

‘Is it because she’s the protagonist?’

Because Aria is the protagonist of the novel that forms the foundation of this world, so she was born with that “destiny”?

“You look extremely surprised, Miss Mira.”

Aria approached until she was right in front of me and smiled gently.

“I understand. I was really shocked too when I first manifested holy power. But not anymore. I won’t be surprised anymore, and I won’t hesitate either. Because I’ve realized what I need to do.”

One step—the already close distance narrowed once more.

“Helping you. That’s my purpose.”

Eyes filled with the blue sky gazed at me.

“So, will you take me with you?”

“I appreciate the offer, but if you have holy power, you’d be better off helping others—”

“That’s the Saint’s job.”

Aria cut me off with an incredibly resolute expression.

“I can do that later. But first, I want to use this power to help you, Miss Mira. I want to use it for you first. I’m sure I can be helpful. I promise I won’t disappoint you. Please?”

An intense determination burned in her gaze directed at me. I’d never seen Aria desire something this strongly before. Her attitude suggested she wouldn’t accept rejection no matter what.

“…Alright.”

After a long period of deliberation, I nodded heavily.

If Aria truly awakened to holy power simply because she was the protagonist of the novel, then taking her along might help rather than hinder. Since she wanted it so badly, I decided to keep her by my side and watch over her.

“Thank you, Miss Mira!”

The brightest and most beautiful smile I’d ever seen bloomed on Aria’s face.

“Going to defeat the Demon God… Yes. Perhaps a child really could do it. You did defeat Mahrvat, after all. It’s not an answer I’m entirely comfortable with, but I don’t think you’d listen even if I tried to stop you. Instead, I have one thing to say. Do you remember when you promised to grant me anything? I’m using that right now. You must return alive. I don’t want to experience losing you twice.”

“I won’t stop you since it’s your decision, Master. It’s alright. If something happens to you, I’ll simply follow. I have no intention of consuming anyone’s essence but yours. I’ve never heard of a Queen starving to death, and I don’t know how long it would take, but Queens are cyclical beings anyway, right? I’ll just think of it as starting the cycle a bit faster. Take care. I’ll be waiting. Until you return, Master.”

After saying goodbye to the Chairman and Nika, I returned to find Aria carefully watching my expression before speaking.

“Um… Miss Mira. If it’s alright, may I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Don’t you need to tell your family or Miss Beatrice? Especially Miss Beatrice, she seems to care about you so much…”

“I won’t. It’s not like I’m going off to die. I’ll be coming back anyway, so what’s the point? It would just make them worry unnecessarily. I told Nika and the Chairman because they’re not people I can easily fool with a simple ‘I’m fine,’ but I’ve already told my family I’m doing well, so it’s fine.”

In the end, I’m lying to my parents and Beatrice, but I’ve already kept so many secrets that one more hardly makes a difference. Starting with the fact that I’m a transmigrator.

“What about you? Don’t you need to contact Leona?”

“I’m fine too. For similar reasons as yours. We seem to be alike in that way. Perhaps it’s destiny.”

Her radiant smile returned. The cautious demeanor from moments ago had completely vanished.

“…Are you all prepared?”

I wanted to tell her to stop with the nonsense about destiny, but this time I couldn’t. It felt like I would only be hindering myself if I did.

“Yes. Don’t worry about me. I’m already prepared. I promise I won’t get in your way, Miss Mira.”

Aria clenched her fist determinedly.

I wondered if she really was following me because of something like destiny. With her awakening to holy power, I couldn’t openly express my doubts, which left me feeling somewhat frustrated.

“Good. Let’s go.”

I took out the strange object the Demon God had given me. Following the instructions flowing into my mind, I drew my arm through the air. A red line appeared in empty space and slowly began to widen on both sides.

Through the widening gap, a pitch-black space became visible. It was a dimensional gate connecting to the Demon God’s realm. After exchanging glances with Aria, I stepped through the line.

Beyond it stretched a space different from both the demon realm and the celestial realm. It looked somewhat similar to the celestial realm, but the blackened sky created an entirely different atmosphere.

As I remained vigilant of my surroundings, a bright golden light burst from behind me, illuminating the area. Aria stood right beside me with a bright smile. Now I could properly see the landscape.

Vast vegetation and expansive land. Except for the dark sky, it was remarkably similar to the celestial realm. In fact, it was so similar that I was surprised.

“Be careful, we don’t know what might be here. I’ll set up detection magic, but you never know.”

“Yes, Miss Mira. I’ll keep that in mind.”

After retrieving the device, the dimensional gate closed. Immediate escape was now impossible. I drew out Eternity, spread detection magic widely around us, and prepared to summon the spear at any moment before moving forward.

There were no enemies, traps, or the Demon God in sight. Unlike the celestial realm, which had houses resembling a rural village and where the goddess’s avatar had come to greet us, here there was nothing but endless vegetation.

I could barely even sense any demonic energy. In the celestial realm, every blade of grass had felt divine.

Aria, who was following beside me, murmured softly.

“It’s so quiet.”

“Yeah.”

The Demon God had said they would welcome me as soon as I arrived, but there wasn’t even a welcoming ceremony—they weren’t even showing themselves.

‘Surely they didn’t leave in a huff because of what happened before.’

It couldn’t be for such a childish reason.

Probably.

“…Let’s keep looking around. We can’t just turn back after coming all this way.”

So I continued exploring the Demon God’s realm with Aria, but everywhere we went showed similar scenery with no sign of the Demon God.

I looked down at the object in my hand. By this point, I was beginning to have the ominous thought that this world itself might be a trap.

“Miss Mira, look over there!”

Just as I was wondering if I should test whether the device was working properly, Aria’s urgent voice caught my attention. I turned my head.

A building that hadn’t been there moments ago had appeared in the distance. It had a familiar appearance.

‘Why is that here?’

It was almost identical to the temple where the goddess had been imprisoned when I went to the celestial realm. The only difference was that it was black instead of grayish-white.

“I was looking around just in case, and it suddenly appeared. It wasn’t there until just now…”

“There was probably some kind of barrier that only becomes visible when you enter a specific area. Though the conditions seem different here.”

Having already experienced the temple appearing and disappearing with just a step’s difference in the celestial realm, I wasn’t surprised.

After calming Aria briefly, I walked toward the temple. Strangely, I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling as we approached. It was because of how bizarrely similar it was to the temple I’d seen in the celestial realm.

The door opened just as easily. I hid Aria behind me and carefully stepped inside.

“…Huh?”

And there, I discovered the corpse of a woman with a hole in her chest, bound to the throne with chains.

“No, what is this…”

Bewilderment washed over me. It hadn’t been long since the avatar had appeared asking me to come here. Had they died in the meantime? And in the same appearance as the goddess?

“W-what’s going on? Is that the Demon God?”

Aria’s voice was trembling. She seemed completely unprepared for this situation.

“…I don’t know either. We’ll have to find out.”

I approached the corpse bound to the throne. Chains wrapped around the seated woman and the throne together, with the ends extending to the ceiling, walls, and floor to secure her.

Just like the goddess had been.

The blood that had seeped from the hole had already congealed. I spread detection magic. There was no trace of whoever had pierced through the chest. I kept the magic active while observing the corpse.

‘This is the Demon God?’

The more I looked, the more doubtful I became. It was too different from the avatar in my memory.

For one thing, they were quite tall. Though it wasn’t certain since they were sitting in the chair when they died, their overall elongated form suggested they were at least at my eye level or close to it.

‘The one who appeared before me wasn’t that tall, if I remember correctly.’

Even being generous, they had been at least a head shorter than me. I began to doubt whether this was really the same person as the avatar.

They could have made their avatar look different from their true form, but I questioned why they would do that. The goddess’s avatar had looked identical to her true form, after all.

‘How tall was that one again?’

I tried to estimate the height in my mind. Though it was hard to tell because of the loose robe, they were definitely—

“What’s wrong, Miss Mira?”

About Aria’s height, I think. Aria tilted her head, catching my gaze.

“Nothing. Just… be careful. If this really is the Demon God’s corpse, whoever reduced them to this state might be nearby.”

“Yes, that’s—”

Before Aria could finish her sentence, footsteps were heard from outside the temple. The detection magic was already alerting me that someone was approaching.

I frowned. Despite having spread the magic quite far, the fact that someone suddenly appeared right in front of us meant they either deliberately revealed themselves or used teleportation.

Either way, it clearly wasn’t a good sign.

“Get ready to fight, Aria.”

Golden light and blue light simultaneously flared up beside me. The door, which had naturally closed when we entered, was thrown open again. Someone walked in.

“…”

However, their appearance was far from what I had expected.