Mutation – 5

As I dodged its attack, the innocent corridor wall was shattered instead of me. Building fragments and glass shards rained down into the Imperial Palace garden.

The Knight Commanders would take care of that themselves, I suppose.

“What the, are you trying to destroy the whole Imperial Palace?”

Even at my sarcasm, its expression remained unchanged.

I glanced to the side. The corridor walls were already broken in places, fully exposing the outside scenery. Through the open view, I surveyed the garden.

The Knight Commanders, who had shattered all the falling fragments, were looking up with anxious expressions. I smiled and waved my hand, indicating that I was still fine. The Knight Commanders who saw that were horrified.

Rije stomped her foot and shouted.

“Hey! Is this the time to be waving your hand?! Focus on the fight!”

Now, it was ambiguous to even call it golden armor, but anyway, I glanced at the possessed body that was once the Golden Twilight Knight Commander. It was fine since its posture adjustment wasn’t completely finished yet.

My actions weren’t thoughtless either. Why would I, being crazy, leisurely wave my hand while a greatsword was flying at me? I did it because a suitable opening appeared, and also to ease their tension.

‘…I should restrain myself next time.’

But it was counterproductive.

I parried the swinging greatsword, retreated to reduce combat fatigue while it raged and prepared to charge, then quickly rolled three times to dodge to the opposite side. Its body sliced through empty space.

‘It feels like it’s about time they arrived.’

I looked around the corridor. Although it felt like only a few minutes had passed, it seemed like it was about time for either the Inquisitor or the Interrogator to arrive.

If it were Minerva, it wouldn’t take her even a second to get to the Holy Nation, and with a demon appearing, there was no reason for the Holy Nation to delay either. Considering that, one could even say this was late.

ㅡFwoooosh!

‘Ah, they’re here.’

As soon as I thought that, brilliant divine power began to surge from behind what was once the Golden Twilight Knight Commander. It was golden. That meant the Inquisitor had arrived first.

Perhaps because the divine power felt from behind was much greater, it instinctively turned its body back. I also lowered the tip of my aimed sword. Since the Inquisitor had arrived, I could leave the entire fight to them.

Soon, a human silhouette was drawn within the divine power.

“Stella, welcome-?”

I was about to greet Stella, but I paused for a moment after confirming the long, flowing hair behind the silhouette. Stella’s hair wasn’t long enough to reach the floor like that.

Soon, the halo of light took on the complete form of a person.

Golden, heavily-waved hair, almost dragging on the floor. Emerald-like green eyes. A face with a cute smile.

Enormous breasts, much larger than her head, and a Y-shaped opaque cloth barely covering her vital areas. A translucent black sheer fabric that fully revealed the curves of her body and bare skin.

The person who appeared from within the halo of light was not Stella, but Floretta.

“Flo… Your Holiness, the Pope of the Sun?”

I was about to thoughtlessly call her by her usual name, but remembering that there were still eyes watching from the garden, I quickly switched to an honorific. The Knight Commanders might be able to hear the sound even from this distance.

When I showed courtesy, Floretta’s eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure. But the displeased feeling didn’t last long. This was because she confirmed that there were eyes watching from the garden, beyond the shattered corridor wall.

A fresh, sweet smile returned to her face.

“Yes, Honored Guest-nim.”

“Your Holiness, how did you get here…?”

I was dumbfounded. I hadn’t expected Floretta to come herself at all.

“I came to help the Honored Guest-nim, what more is there to say?”

“…Me, are you saying?”

“That’s right.”

Even as we calmly conversed, the golden armor caught in the middle couldn’t move at all. It seemed to be completely overwhelmed by the aura emanating from the Pope of the Sun.

Her green eyes shifted slightly to the side. They were eyes filled with a chillingly emotionless feeling, completely different from when they were directed at me. Even I, who was a step away from her gaze, felt a momentary chill.

“However, I believe there is something that needs to be dealt with before we can properly reunite.”

Floretta raised her right hand. Only then did my gaze fall upon the staff in her hand. It was the Easter egg weapon I had given to the Popes.

No, didn’t I clearly tell them not to use it and just keep it?

“Your Holiness, that is-“

Before I could stop Floretta, an enormous light burst forth from the small sun at its tip. It was such a vast light that it felt as if another sun had risen.

However, strangely, it didn’t blind my eyes at all.

Even though the light, no different from a small sun, was fiercely blazing enough to completely engulf the surrounding scenery, and even though I was looking directly at it.

It seemed the Knight Commanders in the garden were also the same, as they all had bewildered looks in their eyes.

“Kuaaaaaaaah!”

Unlike us, who were perfectly fine receiving the light, the Golden Twilight Knight Commander let out a horrible metallic shriek and suffered severely. Smoke billowed from its entire body.

‘…What is this?’

Dumbfounded, I alternately looked at the light emitted by the small sun and the possessed body suffering from being directly exposed to that light.

Why was that staff called a flashlight? Because it truly had no other abilities besides emitting light. If it had such an ability, I would have tried to use it somehow.

It wasn’t for nothing that the best strategy was to simply carry it around as a substitute for a torch.

‘…Surely it’s not a Pope-exclusive weapon or something like that.’

Suddenly, that possibility occurred to me. If it was a weapon that players couldn’t wield but Popes could, then its current appearance made sense. Or perhaps a weapon that only NPCs could wield.

‘Wait a moment.’

I grumbled, wondering if there shouldn’t have been an option to hand such a thing over to the Pope, when I suddenly felt a chill. This was because if that Easter egg weapon truly was a Pope-exclusive weapon, I didn’t know how my actions would be interpreted.

“…”

While I trembled, considering the possibility internally, what was once the Golden Twilight Knight Commander collapsed onto the floor. Only its slightly twitching limbs indicated that it wasn’t dead yet.

Floretta, who had roasted it dry by emitting sunlight, approached me with a smile back on her face. I quickly moved to a still-intact part of the wall, shielding our figures.

If it were just the Knight Commanders, I wouldn’t know, but because of the light just now, even the Silver Dawn Knights and Golden Twilight Knights had amicably started looking up here together.

There was nothing good about showing the general members of the order a scene of the Popes and me conversing intimately.

“Honored Guest-nim, have you been well?”

Floretta, who had approached right in front of me, placed her staff vertically beside her and gently enveloped both my hands.

“I’ve been well, but… what was that?”

I whispered in the smallest possible voice, pointing at the staff. For me to ask “what was that?” after I was the one who gave it, it was a question that made even myself dumbfounded.

But Floretta merely wore a pleased smile.

“It is the holy relic that the Honored Guest-nim bestowed upon us. We have certainly received and served your will to destroy evil with this.”

‘…Do what?’

The will to destroy evil? Me?

‘I just gave it to them to use as a decoration.’

Even I didn’t know that such a secret would be hidden in that Easter egg weapon.

I realized that Floretta, and even Luna, had fallen into a grand misconception, but even if I revealed the truth now, it wasn’t an atmosphere where they would believe me at all.

Floretta, who had been holding my hands and smiling benevolently for a while, let out a short gasp of “Ah,” as if she had realized something, and opened her mouth.

“Your blessing has faded considerably, Honored Guest-nim.”

“Are you going to cast it again?”

“Yes. Since God is looking after the Honored Guest-nim, our blessings will surely become an even greater power.”

I was about to say it was fine, but I held my tongue, recalling a possibility.

The possibility that Floretta’s and Luna’s blessings played an important role in borrowing God’s power. Perhaps the blessing had faded, and that’s why they couldn’t lend their power.

I nodded silently. Floretta’s smile brightened even more. The already narrow distance between us closed by another step.

Floretta, who was about to kiss me right then, pulled her head back slightly, as if she had remembered something.

“Honored Guest-nim. This time, I intend to bestow an even more powerful blessing upon you, would that be alright?”

“A more powerful blessing?”

“Yes. Since God favors the Honored Guest-nim greatly, it will be possible for the Honored Guest-nim.”

“Alright.”

If the Pope herself said so, there was no reason for me to refuse. After all, the concept of a blessing itself was new to me. The Pope would know better than I would.

A radiant smile appeared on Floretta’s face. Her slender fingers grasped my wrist. Then, she brought my hand to her chest.

“Please knead them, Honored Guest-nim.”

“…Huh?”

Knead what?

At my re-question, Floretta pulled my hand even harder.

“I asked you to touch me as much as you desire, without holding back, just like when our bodies intertwined. If you don’t wish to touch me over my holy vestments, you may remove them.”

As she said that, Floretta truly tried to unfasten her holy vestments.

Her collarbone, visible through the thin sheer fabric, was directly exposed, and just before the opaque straps revealed pink protrusions, I, horrified, stopped her.

“No, wait a moment. You don’t have to, so stop. Why are you suddenly like this? Is this the stronger blessing you spoke of?”

“That’s right, Honored Guest-nim. To receive a stronger blessing, you must come into contact with me more, so come on, please knead them.”

“…”

Floretta resolutely pulled my hand.

My hand was placed on her enormous breasts, which were larger than her head and impossible to cup with one hand. Just by that, my fingers were deeply buried in her chest, half-covered by flesh.

‘Is this really how to receive a stronger blessing?’

At first, I was unsure, but since Floretta wouldn’t lie about something like this, I quietly accepted it.

Moreover, in a world where blessings are cast with kisses, nothing that happens would be strange.

As I began to knead her breasts, Floretta, with a slightly flushed face, pressed her body closer. Then, she kissed me without hesitation.

As if accustomed to it now, her tongue delved between my lips. A soft yet warm piece of flesh rested on my tongue. I pulled it strongly inward. A familiar scent and taste spread.

“More… gently… knead them…”

A muffled whisper was heard between her lips. It seemed to mean to knead her breasts more firmly.

I did as she said. The piece of flesh on my tongue trembled. Saliva that fell from between our lips trickled down Floretta’s cleavage.

The hand kneading her breasts gradually became bolder. I myself felt that fact. Because I wasn’t just kneading them, but also squeezing and stroking them from the bottom towards the nipples.

Floretta, too, seemed to be getting bolder, as she moved my left hand to the center of her chest. A fully hardened protrusion was felt in my palm.

As I rubbed it up and down, Floretta’s body began to tremble. Listening to her moans gradually deepen, I wondered if this was truly a blessing.

I subtly opened my eyes. Floretta was letting out very lewd moans between her lips, diligently intertwining her tongue with mine. As I inadvertently watched that scene, the fact that this was the Imperial Palace came to mind.

‘Wait a moment.’

Come to think of it, the fact that Floretta came here means-

“What are you doing right now?”

At that moment, an incomparably chilling voice was heard from afar.