Chapter 149

Divine Descent (4)

Katya blankly swept her gaze over the Pontiff’s divine power that was wrapping around her body.

Of course, if it was about sensation returning, she had experienced it several times through Aiden before, but this time—

Something was fundamentally different from that.

When she felt such things through Aiden, it always carried the strong sense that the phenomenon had only come temporarily and would soon fade. But the feeling now, as it coiled up around her body—

Wasn’t it as if that cursed numbness that had bound her for her entire life was being completely washed away?

“…….”

Sensation returned to her skin.

Color returned to her vision.

The world that had been veiled only in shadows was now recognized as it truly was—brilliantly multicolored, composed of vivid, natural hues.

“-”

Katya, having lost her words, stared at the woman before her.

The divine power the Pontiff had ignited by burning away all her life force was radiating a brilliant light in all directions in conjunction with the circle drawn beneath her feet.

That mass of light gathered together, and soon formed a single shape.

“……The authority of a god can revive someone who is already dying, but reversing an authority that has already been bestowed is another matter entirely.”

Aiden, who had been quietly standing beside them until now, muttered those words in a calm voice.

“It isn’t something easily done. Not something His Holiness could ever accomplish with the life force she had remaining.”

Rather than reviving a dying being, altering the very nature of a divine authority that had already been granted was unquestionably a far more advanced and complex task.

And it was something the Pontiff could never have done alone.

……If one traced it back.

One had to begin with why it had been necessary to create a ‘spare body’ called Katya in the first place.

That fatal illness gnawing away at the Pontiff’s body had likely begun long ago. Likely from the moment the plan for that spare body had first emerged—enough to be certain that her body had no longer truly been her own since then.

It meant that even if she had wanted to return what she had taken from Katya, she would not have been able to.

“So she’s borrowing someone else’s power to return it now, even if she must.”

“……What?”

She had contacted a high-ranking demon and asked that, even if she had to burn away all her remaining life force, just once—grant her the opportunity to offer a vow to Sia.

The price had clearly been that Aiden himself would stage a showcase of his abilities in front of those two, but he had no intention of complaining about it.

Well, no one had died. And in any case, he himself was perfectly fine.

“I told you.”

Above all else—no matter how many times he reflected on it.

The motive behind what this person had done was one Aiden could understand more deeply than anyone.

In a sunken voice, Aiden looked at the Pontiff’s body, which had already begun to turn to ash.

“……There’s no child who can overcome their parent.”

Family.

If I were to stand before someone who believed in me—someone I had to take responsibility for, someone I had to carry on my shoulders—I would become the kind of person who could do anything.

It would be impossible for me not to understand a person who would rather die herself than hear the words “I want to die” come from her child’s mouth.

“…….”

Katya’s golden eyes were fixed firmly on the Pontiff.

More precisely, she was watching as the radiance clinging to that body took shape in the air.

Aiden had proven it several times already, but ordinary people could not properly perceive the existence of a god with their own eyes.

Even when Sia had manifested before, most humans had been able to tell that she had descended, yet none had clearly perceived her exact appearance.

So for Katya, this was the first time she had ever truly seen the being before her.

A vast figure—yet bearing a face identical to her own.

She knew exactly what it was.

A burnt offering ritual was one of the rites that summoned a god by burning a sacrifice.

“……God?”

Katya muttered the word blankly.

Sia, the God of Purification, was quietly looking down at her.

Though her size was incomparably greater than that of any ordinary human, her features were exactly the same as Katya’s.

And within that gaze lay a gentleness and longing accumulated over long ages.

As if it were a path she herself had once walked.

[It’s alright.]

As though comforting her, the figure bearing her likeness opened its mouth.

No—

The benevolent smile blooming on that face seemed to resemble not herself, but the Pontiff.

An expression only someone who had truly cherished something could ever make.

[Everything will be fine.]

Whispering those words, the figure embraced Katya tightly.

It was warm.

Not merely because a god without tangible substance had taken such a posture toward her.

The Pontiff’s body, now losing the physical vessel that sustained it and beginning to fade away, was holding onto Katya with both arms as though collapsing.

It was precisely the same posture as Sia embracing her.

As if Sia were representing her will. As if she were delivering the words she wished to say in her stead.

Like a mother whispering to her daughter.

“…….”

Aiden stood quietly and looked at her face.

Even as she crumbled and fell apart, the Pontiff moved her lips.

Biologically speaking, she should already have stopped breathing. The mere fact that she was still able to move like this was a miracle.

Aiden slowly stepped closer to her. He carefully watched her lips.

Because she still had words she absolutely wanted to leave behind. Because she was enduring by force, just to speak them to the very end.

As though squeezing out every last bit of strength she had remaining, the Pontiff’s lips trembled slowly.

“My.”

The mouth that moved with difficulty—

“Daughter.”

She exhaled her final breath.

“I leave her in your care.”

……Honorific speech.

Into Aiden’s mind, a past conversation faintly resurfaced.

He remembered asking her once why she spoke informally to everyone she met without exception.

—As someone responsible for a nation, how could I carelessly bow my head to others?

—If I ever use honorifics, it would only be for someone heavier and more important than the entire Holy Crown Kingdom. Do you understand?

……Then.

Didn’t that mean Katya—

Was someone she considered heavier than the nation she had borne her whole life?

If she was someone who would burn away the entirety of her remaining life just to ask that of him,

Then the reply was already decided.

“Yes.”

Aiden nodded calmly.

“I will stake my life and take responsibility for her to the very end.”

At those words, the Pontiff grinned.

—It was the very same innocent smile she had shown just before losing consciousness that final time.

—…….

And then—

Her body completely shattered and scattered away.

▣

The brilliant radiance that had filled the entire cavern vanished, and only the silence that had lingered moments before remained in the space.

“……Ah—”

Katya blankly stared at the Pontiff’s remains as they scattered.

Toward the drifting embers of ash, she stretched out her hand in desolation.

“Katya.”

“…….”

Aiden walked over with steady steps and quietly placed a hand on her shoulder as she stood there in a daze.

Katya’s body began to tremble faintly. Her vision blurred as moisture welled up.

Watching her struggle to breathe as though suffocating, Aiden lightly patted her shoulder as if to reassure her.

“I, I—”

“Yes.”

“Until the very end, I, I couldn’t say anything, not even s-sorry—”

“Yes.”

“N-no, it can’t end l-like this—”

“I understand, but could you step aside for a moment? It’s a bit urgent.”

“…………??”

Katya’s face, which had been barely forcing out words while trembling, went blank.

It was clearly the expression of someone wondering what on earth he was saying at a time like this, but Aiden was entirely serious.

No, he understood more than enough how overwhelming her emotions must be.

But this was precisely the part where he needed to step in.

As he spoke, Aiden slowly glanced around.

One of those bits of trivia that was good to know but rarely useful slipped out of his mouth in a murmur.

“It takes at most ten seconds for it to fully escape……”

“……What?”

Well, it had been a small piece of information explained in the original game. He couldn’t exactly explain everything to Katya from start to finish.

But at the very least, calculating the time it would take for something to ‘escape’ from the Pontiff right now, it would be about that long.

In other words.

—Aiden Kellermain. This is blasphemy. You’re asking me to temporarily block a dead person’s soul from ascending?

—Yes. So I’m asking for a favor.

Previously.

Before fighting Magnus.

If the entire royal family who had accepted his request hadn’t deployed a formation that completely sealed off this area, there would have been far too little time.

Aiden broke into a sprint, rushing from the underground cavern up toward the surface.

At least from what he had seen in the Otherworld, a soul existed in the form of a pure white gaseous mass that darted about rapidly in every direction. A thing that could be anywhere in an instant, impossible to predict how far it might travel.

If he didn’t move quickly,

Then everything he had prepared the moment he roughly grasped the Pontiff’s plan would turn to nothing.

“W-Where are you going?!”

Before she could even gather her emotions, Katya’s clearly flustered voice struck the back of his head as he dashed off.

At that, Aiden turned back with a grin.

“I’m going to make sure you have nothing to be sad about!”

“……????”

The only response he received was a look that said she didn’t understand a single word he had been saying from earlier until now, but instead of explaining, Aiden simply continued pumping his legs with all his might.

▣

The two met again several dozen minutes later.

Katya came running toward him, her skin still swollen from tears she hadn’t even had time to wipe away, and the sight made Aiden—who was sprawled on the ground drenched in sweat—let out a small chuckle.

No, how should he put it?

She had only just regained her senses not long ago, and it was obvious she was still struggling to adapt. Even while running, she seemed to be fighting not to trip over from the overwhelming flood of sensations pouring in from all around her. It was almost comical.

“What on earth did you do?”

As she approached, clutching her throbbing head, she demanded that of him.

“I told you.”

“……What, that you’d make sure I wasn’t sad?”

“Yes.”

“…….”

“For real.”

Katya crossed her arms and looked down at Aiden, her face filled with irritation that he was once again saying something she couldn’t understand.

Well, it wasn’t something that could be resolved immediately, so he didn’t want to make a big show of it unnecessarily.

But he truly meant it when he said he wouldn’t let her be sad.

He had just told the Pontiff that he would stake his life to take responsibility for her. There was no way he would say something like that lightly.

“You’ll definitely be satisfied too, Katya.”

As he said that, Aiden looked at Katya, who still wore a blank expression, unable to follow the situation.

Of course, he wasn’t speaking without grounds.

-System Message

▶ Successfully captured the soul of ‘Abigail III’!

……Without a doubt.