128 – In Destruction (4)

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As I entered the tent, I saw the back of Commander Ovid, kneeling on the floor.

It was a very familiar pose to Alice.

“Are you praying now?”

Alice said with a snort.

It seemed as if he had no intention of hiding the contempt that filled his hissing breath.

Ovid did not give Alice any answer.

Alice continued, thrusting her sword at the back of Ovid’s silent head.

“Stop being a jerk and get up. Why… is it that when you’re about to die, your lost faith suddenly springs back to life?”

“…”

“Why don’t you go to confession with the dead Pope? You guys are going to hell anyway, so you won’t be able to meet him.”

Ovid slowly raised his deeply bowed head.

But still without looking back at Alice, he spoke slowly and in a low voice.

“You explain to me about faith and the confessional procedures of the Catholic Church. You’ve been through a lot in life.”

“… Yes, I never would have thought that you would become so corrupt.”

“Corruption,”

Ovid cleared his throat once in a low voice and slowly got up from his seat.

Alice warned, holding the tip of the knife to the nape of his neck.

“Don’t waste your energy on me. Just sit still. I will finish you off in one stroke since you were my superior at one time.”

“Hmm, then I guess I can just cut it without talking. What are you waiting for?”

“I was wondering what kind of nonsense you were going to say at the end.”

“hmm,”

Ovid slowly turned around and looked at Alice.

Alice gave a warning, her wrist slightly shaking as she held the sword.

The tip of the sword passed Ovid’s eyes before coming down again, stabbing his Adam’s apple.

“why…”

“…”

“Why would you do something like this, no, how could you do such a fucking thing?”

Alice growled, baring her teeth like a beast of a man.

I genuinely wondered why he did this, even as anger constantly boiled over in the back of my head.

But Ovid looked down at Alice with cold eyes and kept his mouth tightly shut.

Alice asked again.

“As you said, I was not a person who kept the religious beliefs or the rules of the cult as well as you. No, no one was as thoroughly bound by these rules as you. So why did you become the leader of such a corrupt group of thieves?”

The head of the Inquisition.

As befitting his position, Ovid was a man whose human form seemed to be a synthesis of the most rigid and strict of religious minds.

For him, a conservative and principled man, faith and rules were not mere guidelines but more like a way of life and an unbreakable contract.

But how did such a person become the leader of a gang of thieves leading corrupt priests?

No matter how fearful the Demon King was, how could he go against faith and rules?

Alice remembered well how thorough and stubborn he was.

And, his appearance now, which had changed so much, was disgusting.

“Have you been living while hiding this nature? Or have you lost your mind because of fear? Why on earth!”

“Well, it was when I beheaded His Holiness the Pope with my own hands.”

Alice just pushed her sword forward, trying to slit its throat.

But in that brief moment, Ovid struck Alice’s blade aside with his gauntleted hand, breaking it.

Alice immediately bent down to rush at him, holding up the broken blade.

But Ovid opened his palm and showed it to Alice.

It was as if the owner was stopping the dog.

“This kid…”

“It was Your Majesty’s request, Alice.”

“…what?”

Ovid continued speaking in a calm manner.

“I beheaded it myself, because Your Majesty asked me to.”

“The Pope asked you to kill him? Is that what you’re saying now?”

“Because there was no other way to calm the mob.”

“fuck you.”

“As you said, the priests forgot their piety and became corrupt, and in less than a week they became the biggest criminal group in this city, and they strode into His Holiness’s vault, carrying the sword you now hold, and the Grand Master and the President of the Council of Finance who tried to stop them…”

“…”

Ovid paused for a moment, then closed his eyes tightly.

As if recalling their end.

“He must have been murdered.”

“It’s not ordinary.”

“…Were you tortured or something?”

“Yeah, it was a horrible sight, but I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere.”

Ovid opened his eyes again.

The blazing eyes within him were fixed straight on Alice.

“Your disgusting homage. That’s what I saw there, Alice. This mob was imitating you. They came to pillage, rape, and kill the Pope, all while crying for justice.”

“…”

Alice was speechless and closed her mouth.

Ovid spoke to Alice, chewing and spitting out each word slowly and carefully.

“I’m not saying it’s your fault, but I’m a little annoyed that you showed up so late.”

“I was busy being crushed.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know… Stop making excuses, it’s so ugly.”

“Does that sound like an excuse? That I’m lying?”

“Fuck, then why are you hanging out with those mobs?”

Ovid nodded and answered.

“After I had beheaded the Pope, I took advantage of the fact to deceive them into thinking that I was naturally of their side, so as not to fall into the terrible clutches of priests who had gone mad with fear and rage.”

Alice snorted.

“It’s a pathetic excuse. It’s a poor excuse, and it’s such a petty lie.”

“It’s not surprising that it looks that way. Right now, in some of the tents in this campsite, there are women lying there, still breathing, having been raped by them.”

“…”

Alice thought it wasn’t worth listening to any more.

It was obvious that they were all excuses and lies.

The Pope asked you to do so?

Are you saying that you have hidden among these fallen priests?

Why did you do that?

I really hoped he wouldn’t say anything that didn’t sound like it was meant to protect the citizens.

This depraved mob runs wild, committing looting, murder, and all sorts of heinous s*xual crimes.

Ovid had no particular control over them.

I was just watching them commit such atrocities.

“As expected, it was just empty talk.”

Alice rushed at Ovid and plunged her broken sword into his neck.

Ovid slowly knelt on the floor without any resistance.

Alice spat on the floor and slowly turned around.

That was when.

“Stop, Alice.”

“…”

Alice slowly turned her head.

Ovid was sitting up on one knee, pulling the broken sword out of his neck.

A golden mist flashed from the large wound where the blade had been, and soon the torn skin was seen slowly healing and reattaching.

“Because the goddess is still watching us.”

＊

Alice looked at Ovid with astonishment.

“The divine power… remains?”

“Isn’t that a given?”

“How can you do that when you are so corrupt…”

“You may have forgotten, being dazzled by the grand title of Holy Virgin, but I too have been a member of the Inquisition for the past thirty years, and its leader for the past seventeen. My divine powers may not be as great as yours, but they are also quite impressive.”

Alice shook her head.

It was not unknown how thick and dense his divine power was, which resembled his truly upright character and faith.

It was amazing that he had not lost his divine powers while living with this horribly twisted and depraved horde.

That was definitely a very strange thing.

That means I was with these corrupt priests and didn’t participate in their actions at all.

but…

“Are you trying to say that being a bystander is also a sin? I understand how you feel, but I actually have this divine power left in me. The power that the goddess entrusted to me.”

“… That’s ridiculous.”

“You think that doesn’t make sense? Then what about you?”

“what?”

Alice frowned at Ovid’s sudden designation.

“You are neither faithful nor holy. In the Church of the Goddess, which values ​​love for humanity and the conversion of evil as its highest values, is there another avenger as filled with rage as you?”

“…”

“But why is your divine power so strong and dazzling? Is it only because you have that hideous mechanical heart?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“…”

Ovid dropped the broken sword he had pulled from his neck to the floor, then slowly pulled a large sword from his waistband.

Alice unconsciously crouched down, ready to evade at any moment.

The sword Ovid drew was completely different from any other ceremonial sword he had seen in the goddess cult.

The thick blade was sharply tapered at both ends, resembling a thin diamond pattern. The entire blade sparkled when exposed to light, and was beautifully dyed in a variety of colors.

The decorations carved on the handle and nose, etc., looked very sturdy and had gorgeous decorations. Upon closer inspection, the decorations were all famous phrases symbolizing the goddess cult.

Ovid showed his sword and slowly opened his mouth.

“Neither you nor I can be considered pure servants of the Goddess Cult. But for some reason, the Goddess has not taken away our power.”

“…”

“This means that the goddess still had work to do for us.”

As soon as he said that, Ovid began to channel his divine power into the sword.

The entire shining blade began to emit a soft light.

Alice could immediately tell what he was trying to do.

Because he had done this to priests he had sent on missions to the forest where he lay down before.

“…fortification.”

“There are no longer any old men who clamor about the necessity of the Pope’s command to consecrate.”

“…What are you trying to do now?”

Ovid’s thick jaw clenched even more sharply as if his teeth were clenched tightly.

The veins and tendons on his forehead and neck were all standing out.

It seemed clear that he was putting all of his divine power into the sword.

The light surrounding the sword’s blade became increasingly splendid.

As Alice stared at the light for a moment, Ovid drew the scabbard at his waist.

Then, in an instant, he put the sword back into its scabbard right in front of Alice’s eyes, and slowly, while taking heavy breaths, handed the sword, sheath included, to Alice.

Alice accepted the sword with a bewildered expression.

Ovid sighed and said.

“And… it seems my role was to… phew, hand you this sword.”

“… what?”

“That was the last mission that His Holiness the Pope had entrusted to me, and the one that the Goddess herself had revealed to me in answer to my prayers just before you came in… my role in this destiny.”

Alice couldn’t understand what Ovid was talking about.

“What the hell are you talking about,”

“and.”

Ovid cut Alice off harshly.

And then, he said with a sympathetic look towards her.

“Your role is to strike the Demon King’s neck together with the warrior.”

Alice’s eyes widened as soon as she heard those words.

There’s no way Ovid would know that the warrior Alice is alive…

“How… did you know?”

“I just found out. The goddess told me.”

Ovid slowly wiped the sweat off his forehead with his palm and sat down again.

And then he slowly opened his mouth.

“I was tasked with guarding the relic that the Holy Father entrusted to me in the end, for reasons I do not know… I turned a blind eye to countless evil deeds and suffering in order to fulfill his last request… And my role ends with handing over the sword to you.”

Ovid’s voice was filled with deep regret and remorse, and a faint sense of liberation beyond that.

Alice took the sword out of its sheath and examined the blade.

Alice’s golden eyes shone brightly on the sparkling day, as if dusted with glass had been sprinkled on it.

As I watched that scene, I felt my hot head slowly cooling down.

“…What is this?”

“It is a relic of the goddess religion.”

“…relics?”

Ovid shook his head slowly up and down.

“His Holiness told me the name, but it was in an ancient language that was too difficult to pronounce, so I couldn’t memorize it. However, I heard what it meant.”

“…what did you mean.”

Ovid spoke briefly, slowly and in a low voice.

“Holy Sword.”

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