Ch.303303. A Man Who’s Changing

As expected, the villagers who came to kill me were subdued too easily.

Led by the two bishops, Hareis and Uliana, they were all now kneeling before me.

I thought that subduing rather than killing them might take some time without Findenai, but that wasn’t the case.

I suppose it means I’ve reached a certain level of proficiency in handling magic now.

“We’re, we’re sorry.”

“We temporarily lost our minds. We fell for the devil’s whispers.”

Watching the two bishops bowing their heads to me, not to God, I clicked my tongue.

“How convenient for you. Whenever you make a mistake, you can just blame it on the devil.”

For a moment, I thought of Vellica who had been with me until just now, but I frowned and focused on the situation at hand.

“That’s not what we meant!”

“Dark Spiritmaster! Please show us the same mercy you show to the dead, just this once…!”

“Huh.”

I couldn’t help but let out a scoff. Those who were trying to kill me and burn my body to leave no trace just moments ago were now begging for my mercy.

“You preach honesty, justice, purity, and innocence in public. Yet behind closed doors, you indulge in luxury and pleasure. Your talent is truly showing now.”

Their shamelessness was genuinely impressive.

“If you want mercy for the living, go ask the Saintess.”

Whoosh!

I convert the mana contained in the souls of drug addicts still wandering this village into magic.

Numerous blue flames brilliantly illuminate the dawn sky.

They will simply become flames, freely roaming this village in search of drugs.

“Ah, aah.”

“No! Please spare us!”

They seemed to be misunderstanding something.

They appeared to think the blazing flames were coming for them.

Their crimes should be judged fairly in court; it wasn’t my place to wield the gavel.

“This village now belongs to the dead.”

However, clearly and definitively.

I needed to give them a destructive sense of despair.

“You tried to take everything from others, so you have no right to complain when everything disappears.”

A village that nearly endangered the Griffin Kingdom by cultivating drugs.

Whether their motives were faith, wealth, or something else.

I don’t know.

[Aaaaargh!]

[Please! I need it! Need it! Need iiiit!]

[Give it to meee!]

The futures they would have ruined began spreading throughout the village, burning everything.

* * *

“Mmm.”

After quite a good sleep, Elenoa Luden Griffin slowly woke up. Outside, the morning sunlight was already shining, accompanied by refreshing birdsong.

“What the…”

Feeling something soft beneath her, she checked and found her classmate Aria Rius burying her face in her chest while sleep-talking.

Since Elenoa was relatively more endowed compared to Aria, she smirked and pushed her away.

“Your envy shows in your sleep-talking.”

“Huh!?”

Aria woke up startled by just one comment. As she suddenly raised her head, the back of her head collided with Elenoa’s chin.

“Oww! Rock head!”

Elenoa clutched her chin and rolled around on the bed, while Aria checked the chair where Deus had been sleeping and asked:

“Hey, where did the professor go?”

[He’s outside.]

The answer came from the opposite direction.

The Dark Spiritmaster was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

Seeing her, Aria rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing correctly, while Elenoa instantly regretted feeling proud of her chest a moment ago.

“What’s this? Have I finally developed the same spirit vision as the professor?”

“I can see her too.”

“Huh?”

[I’m using magic. To make my appearance and voice visible.]

Because the Dark Spiritmaster had learned the magic that Deus Verdi uses, she could now make herself visible to people like this.

The staff of Heralhazhad next to her rattled, helping with the magic.

It seemed odd that she suddenly appeared, but the Dark Spiritmaster calmly continued speaking.

[Excuse me. Have you two noticed that something is wrong with Deus?]

“…”

“Is it because of this incident? He was a bit extreme, I admit.”

Aria answered in place of Elenoa, who kept her mouth shut. Elenoa was thinking along similar lines.

“Um, who was it? The pregnant maid.”

[Illuania.]

Aria nodded vigorously and continued.

“Right, Illuania. You said this was related to her? Is that why he’s reacting so sensitively?”

[…I thought so too.]

The Dark Spiritmaster slowly pointed to the window. The scenery that had been hidden by the warm sunlight began to reveal itself.

The place where villagers’ gardens and houses had been abundant was gone.

And only then did the two girls realize that it wasn’t just sunlight greeting them.

“Huh?”

“This is…”

Everything had turned to ashes, with only burning embers and smoldering heat remaining in the village.

The homes of those who had farmed and worked hard day by day had disappeared overnight.

“Did, did Deus do this?”

Even Elenoa was shocked. It was right for the villagers and bishops to be arrested for drug-related crimes.

The evil they were about to commit could have caused great harm to the entire kingdom of Griffin, so they deserved punishment.

Honestly, Elenoa agreed with this morally.

But the fact that Deus had carried it out changed her perspective.

“He’s not the type to do this…”

A scene that could be called devastating.

A place overturned by the calamity of flames.

[It’s not just because of Illuania.]

The Dark Spiritmaster continued with conviction.

[Deus might be… might be acting with some kind of intention.]

But the expression on the Dark Spiritmaster’s face as she added “however” showed a hint of fear.

[I think there’s another possibility.]

“Another possibility?”

Until yesterday.

She had just thought that Deus Verdi was acting with some intention, and he wasn’t telling them because they didn’t need to know.

That’s what the Dark Spiritmaster had thought, but.

[Right now, there are hundreds of millions of souls inside Deus’s body.]

This morning.

After seeing him burn down the entire village, the Dark Spiritmaster considered another possibility.

[…I think those souls might be changing or corrupting Deus.]

“What?”

Just hearing this made Elenoa feel a chill. Those words meant that the souls he contained could infiltrate Deus’s mind.

And that meant Deus might no longer be the Deus she knew.

[Especially since Deus is originally… someone else.]

The body gives priority to its original soul. Even when fighting Magan, the original Deus had possession of the body, so Shinwoo Kim couldn’t come out.

[He’s using Deus’s body with Shinwoo Kim’s soul. But with countless souls in his body… it wouldn’t be strange if he changed.]

“Wait.”

Aria interrupted the worried Dark Spiritmaster. Her expression was hardened, but she offered a somewhat skeptical perspective.

“Are you underestimating the professor’s mental strength? I don’t think that would happen.”

[I, I don’t think Deus would lose either. But look at the devastation outside. The Deus we know wouldn’t do this.]

At the Dark Spiritmaster’s words, Aria bit her lip hard. Unfortunately, Aria could refute what the Dark Spiritmaster was saying.

“…No, the professor you and Elenoa know wouldn’t do this.”

Because.

Aria Rius was the only one on this continent who.

“The professor I know… has done even worse things.”

In the first cycle.

She was the girl who had seen Deus falling apart.

It took about 30 minutes.

Aria Rius never expected to explain her past in a place like this, nor did she expect anyone other than Deus to learn the truth.

But the possibility that he might start following a path similar to the first cycle Deus was terrifying to Aria.

So, with considerable resolve, she briefly explained what had happened in the first cycle.

“No wonder. Your skills were too advanced for someone my age.”

[So that’s why Deus paid so much attention to you.]

‘Oh.’

After explaining.

She was surprised that the two women weren’t showing much interest in her story.

“Anyway, what you’re saying is that Deus is acting this way because he’s either in a hurry or his plans have gone awry?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

[Hmm.]

For both of them, they were more concerned about Deus’s current state than the fact that this was the second cycle of the world.

Elenoa thought it was possible.

If he knew about the continent’s destruction but was stuck in a hospital room unable to move, he would naturally feel psychologically cornered.

“I think the professor is being chased by something again. For that…!”

[No.]

But this time, the Dark Spiritmaster extended her hand, cutting off Aria’s words.

[I think that makes even less sense. Why would Deus be in a hurry? The Shinwoo Kim you’re talking about from the first cycle and the current Shinwoo Kim are completely different people.]

“Something still remains! I’m certain something remains even after the Dante incident!”

[You said the Dante incident was supposed to happen when you were in your fourth year, but it’s been resolved. You’re in your second year now. There’s a two-year buffer.]

With even more time to spare, there’s no reason for Deus to be in a hurry.

That’s what the Dark Spiritmaster said, but Aria disagreed.

“Timelines are more sensitive than you think. Resolving the Dante incident two years early might have actually twisted something in the situation!”

The conversation reached an impasse.

The Dark Spiritmaster thought the souls in Deus’s body were clouding his judgment or making his mind unstable.

Aria said he was becoming mentally desperate to solve some future incident that had been distorted, causing him to revert to his first cycle behavior.

Elenoa, caught in between.

‘Both arguments are somewhat convincing.’

It would be stranger if there were no changes when carrying hundreds of millions of souls in one’s body.

On the other hand, Aria had directly witnessed the broken Deus, so her possibility couldn’t be completely dismissed.

“By the way, where is Saintess Stella?”

Elenoa wanted to hear Stella’s opinion as well. She knew Stella was one of the souls with Deus.

Aria also nodded, curious about the former Saintess’s opinion, but.

[Tch.]

Uncharacteristically, the Dark Spiritmaster made a spitting gesture and answered.

[She’s not a Saintess anymore.]

The Dark Spiritmaster’s deeply annoyed expression seemed somewhat haggard.