Paladin of the Dead God-Chapter 439: The Millennium Kingdom (7)

Isaac looked up at the sky.

Light streamed down through the cracks that had spread like a spider’s web, illuminating the heavens brilliantly.

Winged angels and beautiful yet imposing architectural structures descended upon the world.

The scenery of heaven, meticulously painted by the Lighthouse Keeper over a thousand years, was now being overlaid onto the earth.

It was the blood and entrails of heaven spilling forth. The afterlife was collapsing.

There was no longer a space where souls could rest after death, no temporary refuge, no battlefield for endless struggle and valor.

With the past flowing backward into the present, humanity was becoming a rootless existence.

Only the present existed.

[Isn’t it beautiful?]

The Lighthouse Keeper murmured, slowly fluttering his wings.

[For a long time, I have envisioned the landscape of the afterlife. You know, the Codex of Light is a god named after physics.

Thus, the Codex of Light only explains these three realms but does not account for the afterlife.

That’s why creating an afterlife under the Codex of Light has been immensely difficult.]

"Wouldn’t that go against the rules of the Codex of Light?"

Isaac simply couldn’t understand it.

The Lighthouse Keeper was an angel of the Codex of Light. Wasn’t he acknowledged as an angel precisely because he was accepted by the Codex of Light?

Whether it was a god with personality or without, there had to be some alignment for one to become an angel.

But everything the Lighthouse Keeper was doing completely defied the laws of physics.

The Lighthouse Keeper smiled gently, like a kind teacher.

[Isaac, the universe is, by nature, filled with death.

Everything perishes, fades away, and decays. 99% of the universe follows that rule.

But only 1% resists it. Do you know what that is?]

Before Isaac could answer, the Lighthouse Keeper spoke first.

[Life.]

Stretching out hundreds of hands with elegance, he clapped them all at once.

The sharp sound rang through the air, and all the people gathered beneath the holy land, drawn into madness, lifted their gazes toward him.

[Only life strives to defy entropy.

To preserve itself, it takes other lives, reproduces, and seeks ways to break the rules.

Only life does this.

But does that mean life is something that goes against the Codex of Light?]

Isaac found it difficult to answer.

Of course, he couldn’t say that life inherently defied the laws of physics.

If the Nameless Chaos was an unstoppable apocalypse, then, conversely, the act of living and multiplying—wasn’t that more aligned with the Codex of Light?

And yet, just as the Lighthouse Keeper had said, life’s very nature was to escape death.

As if it were rebelling against the Codex of Light.

"Then…."

[That’s right.]

[Life is both a creation of the Codex of Light and the result of what the Mother of All Gods has wrought.

They are two sides of the same coin.

Not separate entities.

It’s just that those who enjoy the chaotic creations of the Mother of All Gods fear that power and thus cling to the unyielding house of the Codex of Light.]

"Even so, wouldn’t the other gods oppose the Millennium Kingdom?"

The Lighthouse Keeper smiled with his eyes.

[When I appeared in this world, the Age of the Mother of All Gods was an era where all living things ran rampant in madness.

If the Age of Light now is an era of order, then back then, it was an age of chaos.

Those who remember the countless absurdities of that time would not want chaos to return.]

"...So the other gods also agreed to the Millennium Kingdom?"

[Everyone except for Elil, who is tormented by suicidal impulses.

Why wouldn’t they?

Isaac, you’ve done well.

This outcome is something you and I have created.]

It was true.

Isaac had effectively blocked all possible victory routes for the other faiths.

Elil and the World’s Forge had been cleverly used.

Hesabel was nothing more than Isaac’s vassal.

The Olkan Code had been defeated.

As for The Caller, though the Salt Desert had begun to melt, complete liberation was still centuries away.

All the power that had been gathered was spent holding back the Outer Boundary, leaving no room for further intervention.

[From the perspective of the gods, maintaining the current situation isn’t a bad option now that things have already escalated.

A Millennium Kingdom is preferable to an unstable next era.

Besides, they’ve already been enduring the slow passage of time through the Urbansus Account.]

The Lighthouse Keeper softly caressed the glass lantern that Leonora held.

[As I said, life always strives to survive.]

"Life strives to survive."

In a way, that simple truth was the fundamental reason the Millennium Kingdom had come into existence.

Humans, angels, gods—even Isaac himself—had all arrived at this moment simply to survive.

All the Lighthouse Keeper had to do was gently steer that desire in the right direction to achieve his goal.

In short, the Millennium Kingdom he sought was not only not against the will of the Codex of Light but also had received reluctant approval from all gods.

Even the will of the Nameless Chaos was, in a way, aligned with him.

The Lighthouse Keeper was an angel serving both the Codex of Light and the Nameless Chaos—no, the Mother of All Gods.

Was there any god or angel in this world untouched by his influence?

The Salt Council’s dependent Elil faction, the fugitive of the Red Chalice, the World’s Forge cultists, even the Golden Idol Guild—they had all contributed to the Millennium Kingdom in some way.

The Lighthouse Keeper had interfered in the foundation of almost every religious order.

Could an angel accomplish so much on his own?

No, calling him "just an angel" was an understatement.

All religions and gods were merely puppets dancing on his fingertips.

Isaac found himself recalling something from his baptism.

The ancient god Golruwa, that swine deity, had once manipulated the greed of merchant guilds in an attempt to steal the faith of the Golden Idol.

It was an attempt to impose personality onto an impersonal, conceptual god.

Golruwa had been thwarted by Rydach and had faded into nothingness, but at the very least, it proved that such a thing was possible.

If someone had an incredibly long span of time and an early, unknown stage of the Codex of Light…

If the one who had directly held the Luadin Key and established all the foundations of the faith was the Lighthouse Keeper…

Then it wasn’t impossible.

Everyone—humans, angels, and gods alike—feared the end brought by chaos and sought the world’s perpetuation.

And the Lighthouse Keeper had exploited that collective desperation.

He was, in essence, the supreme firstborn manipulating the gods themselves.

A false mask placed upon the face of the Codex of Light.

[This means you have won, Isaac.]

The Lighthouse Keeper slowly reached out a hand toward him.

[Take my hand. Now, let me show you the world after the ending, a world that has become beautiful.]

Isaac had observed the Lighthouse Keeper carefully and had reached a single conclusion.

All resistance was meaningless.

Those who opposed him would simply meet the same fate as the Burning Maiden, reduced to ashes in futile defiance.

The Lighthouse Keeper held the greatest religious influence in the world and possessed power that threatened even other deities.

Even the Midas’ Hand, which could grant any wish, was now under his dominion.

"Should I take his hand and wait for a chance to betray him?"

But could he possibly be unaware of that?

Would the Lighthouse Keeper not already know that Isaac harbored resentment?

Or did he simply assume that Isaac would naturally side with him?

Isaac felt as if he had been struck from behind.

He began to carefully piece together every word the Lighthouse Keeper had uttered.

"Do I look like a third-rate villain in a comic?"

"Only life strives to defy entropy."

"Take my hand. Let me show you the ending."

His indifference toward everyone else, but his particular interest in Isaac.

His persistent attempts to bring Isaac to his side.

His relentless retries to obtain the result he desired.

"Why me?"

Isaac suddenly spoke.

"As you said, I was your loyal tool. And now, I’ve outlived my usefulness. So why are you trying to keep me by your side?"

The Lighthouse Keeper had cast aside even the Burning Maiden, who was once an angel.

He had ruthlessly discarded Emperor Waltzemer without hesitation.

Now that everything had been accomplished, why was he extending his hand to Isaac?

But Isaac already knew the answer before the Lighthouse Keeper could respond.

"Because I’m from Earth?"

That was the only possible explanation.

The Lighthouse Keeper had given him enough hints—as if expecting Isaac to realize it on his own.

Now, it made sense why the Burning Maiden had burned unilaterally when she attempted to prove her faith to the Lighthouse Keeper.

It also explained what she had sought to confirm from Isaac in her final moments.

Could it be that the Lighthouse Keeper, like Isaac, had been chosen by the Nameless Chaos and sent to this world?

Had he also played Nameless Chaos?

Just as he had appeared about a decade before Isaac’s own full-fledged game session, had he simply arrived about a thousand years earlier?

Two strangers, meeting across vast hierarchies, gazed at each other in unfamiliar recognition.

The Lighthouse Keeper smiled at Isaac’s probing question.

[When I fell into this world—]

From his very first words, he was already confirming Isaac’s suspicions.

However, he did not mention anything about game world mechanics, system messages, or status windows.

[This world was utterly insane.

It was the peak of the Age of the Mother of All Gods’ Turmoil.

Any stray dog or cat could claim to be a god and demand human sacrifices.

Animals, humans, and deities intermingled, and there were countless faiths beyond comprehension.

What Chaos does now—stitching people together—that was nothing compared to what existed back then.]

The Lighthouse Keeper pointed at the sun in the sky.

[Now, it’s natural for the sun to rise in the east and set in the west.

But it wasn’t always like that.

Where the sun rose and set depended on the whims of the Sun Chariot.

Earthquakes and mountains forming weren’t the result of tectonic shifts but whether the Earth Giants decided to open their eyes.]

With serene eyes, the Lighthouse Keeper looked out over the now peaceful horizon.

[I shattered the Sun Chariot and cast its remains into the sky.

I split the heads of the Earth Giants and dissolved them into the sea.

Any Ancient Gods I could get my hands on—I killed them.

Those arrogant creatures calling themselves Dragons—I exterminated them.

The Elves, who lived far too long, I drove to extinction.

Elil did a fine job there.

If the Dwarves hadn’t hidden themselves away in the northern underground, they would’ve suffered the same fate.

Those wretched stone monuments, those sins that had no place in the world, knowledge that humans were never meant to possess—I locked it all away in the Lichtheim Censorship Bureau’s secret archives.]

Isaac listened as the Lighthouse Keeper recounted the very tasks that the Codex of Light’s paladins and priests had spent a thousand years carrying out.

It wasn’t just the process of creating the Millennium Kingdom.

[That was how I established order in this world.]

The Lighthouse Keeper was, in essence, the Codex of Light itself.

The prophet who had brought the unyielding order of physical laws to a world drenched in chaos.

[Back then, there was already a religion called the Codex of Light.

It was just a faith that worshiped light.

Most of the miraculous powers I wield originate from that.

By now, they’ve become more symbolic than anything else.]

But that was not the true Codex of Light.

At that time, it was a weak and pliable order, constantly twisted by the whims of countless gods.

It was the Lighthouse Keeper, an extraordinary individual, who had taken his knowledge as a modern human and used it as a hammer to flatten the world into submission.

He truly was the prophet of the Codex of Light.

A lone lighthouse standing firm against the tides of chaos.

Isaac imagined the life of a man who had fallen into this world a thousand years ago.

A man who had been ground down by this world, who had long since lost even his human form, transcending into an entirely different existence—

Yet still, he was obsessed with protecting the world.

And then, after a thousand years, he met another Earthling.

Isaac could only imagine what he must have felt.

[Do you really think I did all this because I loved this world?]

"…Wasn’t it?"

[No. I did it because this world was bullshit.

A world needs consistency.]

It was such an absurd reason that it was almost comical.

Yet, that very reason—the thing that had angered the Lighthouse Keeper—was what made him an angel of the Codex of Light.

A being who existed solely to maintain the world’s consistency.

Even if it meant freezing the world in place forever.

The Lighthouse Keeper locked eyes with Isaac, his gaze unwavering.

[I have prevented the world’s destruction countless times through the Urbansus Account over the past millennium.

The frequency and intensity keep increasing.

Meanwhile, The Caller dreams of returning to the Age of the Mother of All Gods’ Turmoil.

Do you have any idea how many times this has happened?

Do you think it will ever stop?]

"…It’ll keep happening."

Isaac answered without hesitation.

Even the other gods, if their visions for the future became too extreme, could plunge the world into hell just as easily.

Isaac could say, ‘I’ll stop it from happening!’

But what about after he died?

What if he became an angel?

Would he have to dedicate eternity to protecting the world?

Then what would he become in the end?

Isaac finally understood the dilemma the Lighthouse Keeper faced.

The Millennium Kingdom was his final act of desperation to preserve the world.

[That’s why you must stay by my side, Isaac.]

The Lighthouse Keeper extended his hand toward him.

A godlike angel, reaching out as if he were begging for sympathy—

A gesture that seemed, in some ways, almost desperate.

[No one else will do.

In the Millennium Kingdom, only you can stand beside me as my equal.

Only you.]