Ch.207The Doll Does Not Shed Tears (4)

“This is… my true appearance.”

Multiple colored pupils.

Gazes tinged with confusion remain fixed.

A boy removing his red shirt, revealing his upper body.

Judas Snakus wore a complicated smile.

“I’m finally telling you now.”

The snake’s body was covered in scars.

Far from being clean, it was difficult to find even a patch of intact skin.

Marks of being cut, burned, torn, and stitched seemed to testify to terrible times.

Especially noticeable were dozens of surgical marks covering his entire upper body.

Faced with this horrific sight, the children couldn’t part their lips.

They simply froze, as if overwhelmed.

“……”

Silence descended upon the laboratory.

Judas thought to himself alone.

It must look hideous.

Not a sight worth showing to others.

Besides the surgical marks, his flesh bore many other scars.

A bitter aftertaste left regret.

“As you can see, it’s not exactly something to be proud of.”

Judas spoke self-deprecatingly.

With awkward movements, his fingertips traced over his scars.

The surgical marks at the base, and layers of other marks piled on top.

A calendar etched since the beginning of his possession.

“It’s somewhat embarrassing.”

The surgical marks were traces left from the process of being created as a homunculus.

The others were scars obtained during the early possession period, mostly from the Usurpation War.

Perhaps because they were wounds suffered when his body wasn’t yet stable?

The scars obtained during this time couldn’t be erased even using the [Liar’s] ability.

The same was true for the surgical marks he had from the beginning.

Judas muttered to himself anew.

‘God’s fragment… could it have been related to that?’

It was a mysterious power.

At the time, he thought it was just a problem caused by his inexperience in handling the ability.

But now, he wondered if it might have been related to that.

Perhaps the [Liar] ability itself was a byproduct of the item called “God’s fragment.”

Since it was an item that existed only as a setting in the original work, his thoughts inevitably wandered.

Ignorance tends to attribute endless possibilities to its object.

The narrow-eyed boy gathered his shaking breath.

“Haaah…”

Judas organized his cluttered mind.

God’s fragment, prophet, liar… various puzzle pieces were scattered about.

Yet, they were all fragments that wouldn’t connect. His anguish deepened along with the gaps.

His brow furrowed gently, and his gaze settled with a calm temperature.

By now, even his characteristic smile had disappeared from the snake’s lips.

And the children were watching the boy’s appearance.

“Young master…”

“Student Judas.”

Judas was plagued with worry.

That reaction appeared slightly different in the children’s eyes.

The subdued atmosphere, the hand fidgeting with scars, the eyes with no trace of laughter.

He looked like someone anxious and afraid, as if having exposed a shameful part of himself.

A deep blue sadness circled the atmosphere.

“Ah…”

Judas Snakus.

The person they had always thought was strong—they seemed to be seeing his festering side.

Stones settled one by one on the confused hearts of the children.

That weight pressed down on their wavering inner selves, calming them.

They regained compassion from their disoriented world.

‘How…’

A body that was nothing short of mutilated.

Even putting it kindly, there was no other way to describe it but as tattered.

The children’s eyes stared at what remained so hideously.

‘How many terrible things must he have gone through…’

Everyone chewed on such private thoughts.

They couldn’t bring themselves to speak them aloud.

Even such light words seemed like they would cause Judas pain.

The boy, having undressed his miserable past, simply remained in silence.

That pitiful sight became a sharp thorn, piercing the children’s hearts.

They felt their eyes growing hot.

‘How painful it must have been.’

Having experienced it directly, they knew.

At least that Judas wasn’t an evil person.

That he always sacrificed and devoted himself to others.

The scars left on him must surely be traces of his efforts for someone else.

That’s the kind of person he was.

‘Why do you so…’

It was upsetting.

It hurt to see him deprecate himself so foolishly.

It was painful to think that they might have contributed to some of those etched marks.

And yet… they came to love even the upsetting, painful, and distressing parts.

The children painted even the boy’s contradictions as aspirations they wished to reach.

Emotions choked them with heat.

“Ugh…”

What did it matter if he was a doll or a homunculus?

It was a story that made no difference to the children.

‘Nothing changes.’

It wasn’t even an issue.

Of course they were surprised, but what mattered was the present.

Regardless of his origin, he was the one who had saved their lives.

The light and value they had received from him remained brilliant.

The fresh feelings that had colored their hearts remained the same.

-I’ll always be by your side.

-You don’t need to worry about anything.

The voice that whispered as if it were natural.

Thanks to that kindness, the pilot could find courage.

A life that had always been lonely. She could escape her solitary existence.

Green eyes softened.

‘Always.’

And that wasn’t all.

The vain girl oppressed by her family found freedom.

The drunkard who almost went down the wrong path received an opportunity.

The rose suffering from a curse was liberated from pain.

The lonely princess regained her lost sister and father.

The fox trapped in an iron cage achieved revenge and became a brilliant star.

They had come too far to feel rejection over mere issues of species and origin.

The children held steadfast gazes.

“……”

Judas didn’t know the children’s obsession.

What he had given them, what meaning he held for them.

Even if he had been a chimera born from black magic rather than a homunculus, they would have accepted the snake.

Though not apparent to him, their fresh affection was that heavy.

And such feelings boiled over when they confirmed Judas’s scars.

One by one, the children moved with awkward steps toward the boy.

“Young master…”

Lezia Pillots was the first.

Green pupils brimming with tears.

The world that had been surging soon broke into waves.

A line of water traced down her snow-white cheek.

Even while swallowing her sobs, the girl extended her arms.

Soon, she embraced Judas’s body with timid movements.

“Ugh, hic…”

A tender heart.

The scars of the person she admired became her own pain.

She imagined Judas who had struggled, broken, and suffered all this time.

Hotter tears soaked the snake’s chest.

Tightly, Lezia put strength into her embracing arms.

“Miss Lezia?”

“……”

Currently, Judas had not a thread covering his upper body.

In other words, Lezia was burying her face against bare skin.

Normally she would have died of shame, but the girl now was no coward.

She simply leaned on the overflowing sadness and affection.

“I’ll always be by your side too, young master.”

Lezia took a deep breath.

As if wanting to feel the boy’s existence.

His characteristic winter-like scent lingered at the tip of her nose.

The air turned cozy.

“I wish… you wouldn’t be in pain, young master.”

Tears flowing down.

The pilot placed her hand on the snake’s chest.

And then, carefully traced one of the scars.

Fingertips moving gently along the line.

The girl bit her lip firmly.

‘How much.’

How much must it have hurt?

And how much must he have suffered?

Again, how lonely must he have been?

The sobbing protagonist’s back view was pitiful.

However, no one thought the girl was weak.

They simply followed in her footsteps.

“……”

The fox silently approached and embraced the snake’s arm.

On the opposite side, the sniffling vain girl leaned in.

Sharlotte Little von Staufen and Elise also buried themselves against the scarred body.

Last of all, the drunkard embraced everyone from behind the boy.

Judas was suddenly surrounded by the warmth of his companions.

A rare reaction of confusion.

“E-everyone…?”

He tilted his head, but the girls clinging to him didn’t answer.

They simply held the snake’s body more firmly, as if telling him to stay still.

Judas finally gave up any resistance.

And so, warmth was transmitted for a while.

A faint smile colored his lips.

A certain kind of appreciation for the children.

The snake muttered.

“…Thank you.”

A scene tinged with tranquility.

The snake quietly measured the seeping warmth.

The faint, throbbing beat of his heart.

“……”

Was it because he was a doll?

Again, no tears welled up.

***

Meanwhile.

At the Grand Cathedral located in the center of the Empire.

A land where holy blessings permeate.

The heart of the church and God’s dwelling place boasting a solid history.

Beings with heterogeneous energy were appearing there.

Secretly, so that no one would know.

“……”

Swish-

In the shade where light doesn’t reach.

Villains revealing themselves one by one from within the shadows.

Their blood-red robes, pulled deep over their heads, allow one to guess their identity.

A gloomy energy surges around. Sticky killing intent spreads out.

At the center stood a man.

“Finally… the time has come.”

The first apostle of the Demon God, the Conductor.

The villain once called the pinnacle.

However, a man who was known to have met his death at the hands of the Red Sword Star.

The Conductor looked up at the black night sky with blood-red eyes.

The sky that would soon be dyed with blood and screams.

“The Lord says, darkness is order.”

Beside him, the rest of the Demon God’s apostles also stood.

Each one a transcendent being comparable to a star.

The ground blackens from the terrible demonic energy.

Behind the apostles, countless followers trail.

The Conductor, with a single gesture, unfolds a domain centered on the Grand Cathedral.

The power accumulated over time. A realm achieved by sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives.

Dark red cracks strike down like lightning above the sky.

“We shall bring the primordial night to the world.”

Crack, crack-!

It was like watching the ceiling collapse.

The cracks that struck down magnificently soon surrounded the Grand Cathedral with a massive barrier.

The voices of panicking priests, melodies soaked in fear could be heard.

The Conductor held his baton as if savoring all those musical scores.

“Today.”

Blood-red pupils flashed dangerously.

Intense demonic energy rose like a heat haze.

“We will bring about His descent.”

All of Baob’s forces, the villains, stormed into the Grand Cathedral at once.

A night where not even moonlight fell. Only red light spread across the sky.

The apostles stepped into the cathedral with leisurely strides.

Afterwards, screams began to ring out one by one.

“What exquisite music.”

A world flowing uncontrollably.

The final chapter was beginning.