Paladin of the Dead God-Chapter 438: The Millennium Kingdom (6)

Isaac couldn’t understand the Burning Maiden’s intent.

Yet, at this point, he no longer believed she harbored any malice toward him.

As if entranced, he reached out and took her hand.

The moment their fingertips touched, his vision was engulfed in blinding radiance.

And then—he understood what she had done.

The Proof of Faith.

A miracle where two believers measured the strength of their faith, and the weaker one suffered burns.

Back at the monastery, Isaac had once experienced this miracle firsthand when the abbot had demonstrated it to him.

And before the Burning Maiden had become what she was now, she had once used the same miracle on the Lighthouse Keeper.

Now, she had invoked it again—this time upon Isaac.

It was an absurd contest—a mere paladin measuring faith against an angel.

Yet, Isaac was not the one who burned.

Fwoooosh—!

The Burning Maiden’s flames erupted, soaring even higher than before.

They swelled so massively that even the white fire of the Lighthouse Keeper was swallowed whole.

[Good. Holy Grail Knight, it is now your duty to kill him.]

She let out a rasping laugh amid the swirling ash.

[I should have trusted you just a little sooner.]

The flames coiling around her condensed into a small whip, wrapping itself around Isaac’s arm.

At first, he flinched from the searing heat, but almost instantly, the whip cooled.

And then—

She vanished into the air, scattered by the scorching winds.

As if she had never existed at all.

The Lighthouse Keeper watched patiently.

Whatever the Burning Maiden had left Isaac, it didn’t matter to him.

Isaac turned back toward the pyramid and began to climb once more.

The most powerful empire’s armies, the knights of the Conqueror, angels that once fought alongside him, even Nameless Chaos itself—they had all helped him take the Holy Land.

Yet, as he walked toward the Lighthouse Keeper, he felt more alone than ever.

How did it come to this?

But asking that was meaningless.

Everything had gone exactly as the Lighthouse Keeper intended.

He had prepared for this moment for centuries—perhaps even longer.

Whenever something strayed from his plans, he had rewritten history itself.

Asking "why" was pointless.

Why was the Lighthouse Keeper so obsessed with bringing down the Millennium Kingdom?

What was the Millennium Kingdom?

The Lighthouse Keeper spoke as Isaac approached.

[First, I should thank you, Isaac.]

[For so long, I was trapped—immobilized by an endless cycle of tedium.

[These tiresome gods, these angels, these greedy mortals—locked in their pathetic squabbles, on the brink of madness.]

He cast a disdainful glance toward the soldiers still rampaging through the Holy Land.

[There was no way forward.

[No matter what I tried, I couldn’t bring about the Millennium Kingdom I desired.]

[I lacked power, or had too much of it, or the right pieces weren’t in place.]

[I rewrote history, over and over again, but nothing ever fit.]

The Lighthouse Keeper spoke like a tortured artist, lamenting his failures.

Isaac recalled the White Owl once calling the Lighthouse Keeper a bestselling author.

Was he truly a great writer?

That was debatable.

But one thing was certain—he was a craftsman.

[And then, suddenly, you appeared.]

The Lighthouse Keeper’s gaze locked onto Isaac.

[A hero destined to reshape the era.

[A half-blood Holy Grail Knight, born from nowhere, whose existence defied every timeline.

[A saint who carried the influence of Chaos, yet upheld the values of the Codex of Light.]

Isaac felt sick.

In the past, receiving such praise had inflated his ego, even pleased him.

But now?

It was like hearing a doctor declare that his organs were just the right match for a transplant.

[You were the true prophet who would bring forth the Millennium Kingdom.]

As he drew closer, Leonora’s form became clearer.

She lay collapsed on the ground, clutching her throat as if suffocating.

Her face was pale—so pale she looked like she might die at any moment.

But it seemed she couldn’t even faint.

"What happened to Leonora?"

[I removed the air around her.]

The Lighthouse Keeper spoke gently, almost kindly.

[She doesn’t need to breathe anymore—she’s undead now. But out of habit, she keeps trying, and it’s causing her distress.]

[She’ll adjust in time.]

Now that he looked closely, there was a glass-like lantern encasing her.

The Lighthouse Keeper held dozens of hands, lifting lamps to illuminate a new world.

Isaac didn’t need to ask why he had removed the air.

"You’re preventing her from making another wish?"

The Lighthouse Keeper chuckled.

[These kinds of stories always end with someone trying to take back their wish.]

So, had he anticipated Leonora’s wish all along?

Or had he manipulated events to ensure she would make this specific wish?

Isaac couldn’t understand why the Lighthouse Keeper spoke so freely with him, when he barely acknowledged the other gods or angels.

Was it simply because Isaac had helped him?

Yet, even though Leonora had played a crucial role, her fate was far crueler.

But why?

At the very least, Isaac could ask.

"What exactly is the Millennium Kingdom?"

The Lighthouse Keeper tilted his head.

[Haven’t you heard it enough times already?]

He sounded genuinely confused.

[It is Heaven descending upon Earth.

[A world free from suffering and turmoil—where one can finally live in peace.]

[Where the flames of glory burn eternally, angels sing, and—]

He trailed off, smirking.

Isaac frowned.

Was the Lighthouse Keeper always this flippant?

Or was he just excited to have a conversation?

Isaac recalled that even in the game, the total amount of dialogue the Lighthouse Keeper had was barely ten lines.

Maybe he just… didn’t talk to people unless he wanted to.

"Then what’s the point of summoning Nameless Chaos?"

“Wasn’t Nameless Chaos trying to destroy the world?”

[I hated the Mother of All Gods because I could not control her.]

The Lighthouse Keeper’s voice was calm, yet weighty.

[No matter how intricately I wove history, if the Mother of All Gods interfered, everything unraveled.]

"Mother of All Gods… Is that Nameless Chaos’ true name?"

[One of its ancient names.

[The only one that remains recorded, the only one still remembered. In that sense, even ‘Nameless Chaos’ is a name of sorts.]

"Then… can you control Chaos now? Is it not here to destroy the world?"

A chill ran down Isaac’s spine as he voiced the question.

The Lighthouse Keeper laughed.

Isaac shuddered.

Hearing him laugh… was far more unsettling than the writhing form of the Mother of All Gods looming above.

[Isaac, you’ve already wielded Chaos before, haven’t you?]

[Tell me, do you think Chaos has wings? A stinger? A mind of its own?]

[No. Chaos only cares about you.

[It desires only what you desire—your goals, your safety, your success.

[It simply lacks morality.]

Isaac clenched his palm.

The Lighthouse Keeper was right.

The spinal mass—the tendrils—had no conscience.

Like a child, they were simple.

They would devour knights or angels alike if they saw them as threats.

They existed only for him.

[Midas’ Hand doesn’t grant wishes instantly, Isaac.]

[Rather, it steers the world towards the wish’s intended direction.

[That’s why Leonora’s wish didn’t take effect immediately.]

The Lighthouse Keeper spread his wings, casting a radiant light upon the Mother of All Gods.

She wriggled with an indescribable motion, her intent unknowable.

[But thanks to Elil, the Mother of All Gods has manifested fully.]

[And now, the wish has been granted.]

Isaac exhaled sharply.

"I understand why the Mother of All Gods appeared. But… how does that lead to the Millennium Kingdom?"

At his question, the Lighthouse Keeper laughed again—this time, in amusement.

[Three hundred years ago, the Immortal Emperor gave me a brilliant idea.]

The lighthouses that had been orbiting slowly around him suddenly spun faster, radiating intense heat.

The warmth rapidly built up, shattering the protective dome encasing the Holy Land Lua and scattering its remains into the air.

The Burning Maiden’s desperate efforts to breach it now seemed utterly meaningless.

Beyond the collapsed walls, Isaac saw it—

The Undead Empire forged by the Immortal Emperor.

[To tear open the heavens and drag paradise down to earth.]

Isaac remembered what he had witnessed before.

The Immortal Order had not sought an afterlife.

Instead, they had created an empire of corpses, skeletons, and spirits, where the dead would continue to exist eternally.

Their heaven was earth itself.

Then… what if the Codex of Light’s heaven were to descend upon the world?

"And what guarantee do you have that the Codex’s heaven is what will come down?"

Isaac spat the words with thinly veiled contempt.

"What if it’s the heaven of the Red Chalice?"

The Lighthouse Keeper responded gently.

[Isaac, have you forgotten who shaped the afterlife?]

[Heaven is dictated by the Codex of Light.

[The afterlife, in its entirety, is under the Codex’s dominion.]

Isaac recalled the concept of "painted heaven."

A terrifying thought crept into his mind.

Had the Lighthouse Keeper spent centuries—perhaps even millennia— funneling souls into war to reshape their afterlife into his vision?

Now, all he needed was for the Mother of All Gods to tear open the sky.

And once heaven came crashing down—

It would not be a frozen wasteland of undeath like the Immortal Order’s paradise.

No, it would be the heaven of the Codex of Light.

His plan was flawless. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Isaac realized that everything had unfolded precisely as the Lighthouse Keeper intended.

[There is no longer a past or future in this world.

[Only the present remains.

[No one will die, no one will be born.

[I now declare this new era—the Millennium Kingdom.]

Isaac’s breath hitched.

His grip tightened around Kaldwin.

His arms trembled—

Whether from gripping his sword too tightly, or from sheer terror at what was unfolding, he couldn’t tell.

"And you think I’ll let you do that?"

The Lighthouse Keeper gazed at him, unshaken.

[Do I look like some third-rate villain from a comic book to you?]

"What?"

[The Millennium Kingdom has already begun.]

Isaac froze.

The Mother of All Gods had manifested long ago.

Even if he couldn’t see it yet, heaven was already pouring down across the world.

The sky was tearing apart.

Centered around the Holy Land Lua, the Mother of All Gods widened the cracks in reality.

Leonora had wished for people to stop dying.

Then the wish’s domain had to encompass everywhere people existed.

***

In Ushak, once the capital of the Urdantu Empire, now nothing more than ruins, Atlan gazed upon the sky splitting apart.

The orcs recalled the horrors they had seen in Lua and screamed, searching for their shamans.

But the priestesses’ shrieks were soon drowned out by the cries of countless spinal masses spilling from the cracks.

In the Holy Land Miarma, the Salt Council’s captain, Pianis, witnessed the sky fracture from east to northwest.

Beyond the massive rift, something indescribable shimmered.

Before Pianis could even comprehend it, his body collapsed into unconsciousness.

The fractures spread instantly, faster than sound.

Tearing through the sky, forcing the world to comply.

A premature cesarean birth—the heavens were being delivered into the world before they had fully formed.

In the port of Odryf, in Daeenna, in Belslav, in Ciero, in Arian, in Lichtheim, in Ultenheim, in Issacrea, in Norden, in Rougeberg, in Syracusa, in Saltain, in Aldeon, in Eleon, in Kilmarr, in Daehwar, in the Mansehar Plains—

From the southern seas of Miarma to the volcanic north,

From the perpetually storm-ridden west of Wintercall to the endless eastern horizons of Mansar,

The fractures spread like a web.

And all who gazed upon the ruptured sky saw the writhing tendrils of the Mother of All Gods.

But—

The tendrils did not descend.

Instead, something else began to flow down.

Brilliant radiance.

Angels.

Glorious beings of light, singing hymns as they descended to the earth.

Many fell to their knees, overwhelmed by the sacred sight.

It was divine.

Undeniably holy.

Yet—

One person, Isolde Brant, bit her lip as she gazed toward the eastern sky.

Isaac.