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Chapter 244: The Blooming Flower of Evil (1)

The gates of Heaven had closed.

Federica was also cast out from this world.

After the battle ended and things quieted down, the believers cautiously returned to the sacred ground.

But what they found was a ruin.

The sacred ground had become a wasteland, so decayed that nothing could grow except for a handful of seeds.

And that wasn’t the worst of it.

There was a much bigger problem.

The believers screamed.

"Aah, aaah!"

"Lady Federica! Please look down upon us!"

"Don’t abandon us!"

The place where they stayed was Federica’s sacred ground.

True to its name, divine energy enveloped the entire land.

But now, that energy could no longer be felt.

The ever-present gaze of their god had vanished.

The sacred ground was no longer sacred.

When the believers realized this, they despaired.

But the problem didn’t end there.

"Oh, Federica! Federica!"

The believers desperately prayed.

Normally, their prayers would grant them divine power befitting their devotion.

But now, no matter how much they prayed, no matter how much they cried out Federica’s name, nothing happened.

They had lost their divinity.

"Federica! Have you forsaken us?"

The believers cried out in madness.

The elders were no different.

Those who once wielded first-rate power had lost all their divine energy overnight.

They knelt in stunned disbelief.

"Savior!"

"Please! Please guide us!"

They desperately tried to awaken Federica’s chosen one.

But the chosen one lay there, eyes rolled back, drooling.

Completely out of his mind.

Federica had once descended to this world using his body.

They couldn\'t endure it unless one had reached the level of a hero.

His body and mind had been overloaded, unable to withstand the strain.

The gaze of the god could no longer be felt.

They could no longer wield divine power.

Even the chosen one, the only god connection was broken.

The believers were in a frenzy.

The only ones maintaining their composure were Ketal and Liltara.

Just the two of them.

"It’s total chaos,"

Ketal said as he watched the believers from the roof of the church.

Wails and screams echoed all around.

Liltara stood behind him, her eyes trembling as she looked at him.

"...What exactly happened?"

"It’s nothing much. She tried to kill me, and I resisted,"

Ketal explained casually.

That Federica had opened a gateway to try and kill him.

And that he had blocked the attack and driven Federica out of this world.

Liltara groaned as she listened to the explanation.

"Did... Federica lose to you?"

"It’s hard to say it like that."

He and Federica hadn’t really fought.

Federica had opened a direct gateway to attack him.

The power that could even interfere with Ketal’s body was certainly a formidable force.

But Ketal hadn’t just stood there and taken it.

Ultimately, he had thrown his axe at Federica with all his might.

He shattered that power, sent it flying to the highest heavens, and broke through Federica’s defenses.

He left a scar on Federica’s true form.

Part of that was now with Ketal.

Since they hadn’t fought with everything on the line, it was hard to say who won.

"But in a sense, yes, Federica did lose."

Her goal was to kill Ketal.

But Ketal was still very much alive.

Ketal had achieved his goal, but Federica had not.

In that sense, it was Ketal’s victory.

"Haha, hahahaha..."

Liltara let out a hollow laugh.

A god had been defeated.

A great, absolute god.

An omnipotent being.

Now, that absoluteness had been marred.

She felt dizzy, barely able to stand.

She bit her lip hard.

"...Is that why we lost our divinity?"

"It seems Federica overexerted herself. Has there ever been a case where a god appeared in person like that?"

"No. Not since the War of Gods and Demons."

"As I thought."

The demons had said,

"This world is no longer yours."

It meant that even the gods couldn’t easily intervene in this world.

Federica had overreached in her attempt to kill Ketal.

"That’s probably why she won’t be able to intervene for a while. But it won’t be permanent. She’ll return someday."

No one knew when that would be.

Perhaps not until after they were dead.

Liltara groaned.

"A, aaaah..."

The faith she had nurtured her entire life.

Everything she had learned at the holy place.

The absolute power and value of Federica.

All of it was shattered.

Ketal asked,

"Do you resent me?"

"...It would be a lie to say I don\'t."

Ketal had ruined everything for her.

"But... in the end, it was I who summoned you."

Ketal had clearly refused, saying he had other things to do and would follow later.

It was Liltara who forcibly brought him along.

She had essentially been the one who destroyed the holy place.

"Ahhhh..."

Liltara realized.

This was the punishment bestowed upon her.

She deeply regretted it and repented.

Ketal smiled faintly.

"I wouldn\'t exactly call it an opportunity, but I have a proposal for you."

"A proposal...?"

"I won\'t tell anyone about this. There\'s no reason to, anyway. You\'re the only one who knows exactly what happened between me and Federica."

"...!"

Liltara\'s eyes widened.

Their leader, the Saint, was now in a vegetative state.

And she was the only one who knew the truth.

Ketal added one more drop of poison.

"If you directly ask me to step down, I will leave your church without a word."

"..."

She could drive out the monster that had destroyed the holy place with just her words.

What would the believers think of her then?

She would gain absolute influence.

"Of course, it won\'t be easy. There will be those who doubt your relationship with me. You\'ll face all sorts of attacks. But if you overcome all that, you\'ll earn the right."

She would earn the right to lead this broken and crumbling church.

She could become the next leader of the church.

And if that happened, she could correct the church\'s misguided teachings with her own hands.

Liltara covered her face with her hands.

"You are... truly cruel..."

"So, what will you do?"

Ketal smiled faintly, as if he didn\'t care about her choice.

"..."

Liltara closed her mouth and lowered her head.

Faith.

Belief.

Knowledge.

And the absoluteness of the divine.

All of it had been shattered.

But even so, she was still a believer in Federica.

Her eyes darkened.

She spoke to Ketal with a determined expression.

Ketal looked satisfied with her answer.

* * *

"Heh."

Ketal looked at the fragment in his hand.

A luminous fragment, something that seemed otherworldly.

And it was.

This was a part of Federica\'s true form.

"A part of a god, huh."

His voice was filled with excitement.

\'How can I use this?\'

Honestly, he had been quite annoyed at first.

He was ready to deal with the mysteries he had longed for, but a believer of the god kept getting in his way.

He had come here to destroy out of frustration, but the process and outcome were immensely satisfying.

Ketal looked up at the lofty sky.

"I don\'t know if you\'re still listening, but let me tell you. Thank you. I mean it."

Ketal smiled faintly.

He wasn\'t lying.

Federica had genuinely tried to kill Ketal.

She had judged him as an enemy and used all her power to erase him.

But Ketal had never once thought of killing Federica.

There was a vast difference in their intentions.

"But if you keep getting in my way... then I\'ll have no choice but to kill you too."

Ketal muttered without expression.

His desire was a journey through fantasy.

If anyone, even a fantasy being, continued to hinder him, they would be his enemy.

And that didn\'t only apply to Federica.

But that emotion was fleeting.

Ketal once again examined the fragment of the god with a joyful expression.

* * *

For Ketal, this incident had started unpleasantly but ended as an enjoyable experience.

To him, there was no more to it than that.

But from the world\'s perspective, it wasn\'t over.

The gateway to the heavens had opened.

The great god personally looked down upon this earth.

The ripple effects from that event swept across the entire continent.

However, most people felt nothing.

It was simply too vast of an event to comprehend—like how people on Earth wouldn\'t know if a planet exploded somewhere in the universe.

But those who were qualified surely felt it.

Those who had reached the level of projecting their will upon the world, the heroes of the world, unmistakably realized what had happened.

[My word...]

"What kind of... thing is this..."

The master of the great magic tower and his apprentice were astonished.

"Wait a moment. Surely, no, right?"

The Queen of the High Elves doubted her own senses and denied the possibility.

"Oh... this is... really unexpected..."

The saintess of the Sun God tried to remain composed, but her trembling hand betrayed her as she held her teacup.

"What exactly happened?"

The King of all Barbarians, ruler of the North, groaned.

And the Emperor of the Empire was perplexed.

All the heroes of the continent realized it.

But it wasn’t just those on the earth who understood.

The beings of the heavens also realized it.

And the beings of hell.

The demons became aware of it too.

* * *

“What could this be?”

A castle located at the very edge of hell.

In one of its chambers, four demons gathered.

A voluptuous woman in a luxurious dress.

A non-human demon made up of various devices.

A demon with extremely dry, pale skin, wearing a long sword at his waist.

And an amorphous, writhing entity.

They sat at a long table, but curiously, the head seat remained empty, as if the master of the table had not yet arrived.

The demon in the form of a woman spoke first.

"You all felt it, right?"

"...It would be impossible not to."

The dry demon spoke slowly, his voice as thin as his appearance.

"Federica opened the gate to the heavens."

[Was it to fight against the demons?]

"No. None of our kind moved."

The woman shook her head.

The demon made of devices clicked the mechanisms that composed its body.

[A god descended to earth and attacked someone. It was an attempt to kill.]

[And it failed.]

The god did not achieve its goal and was driven away from the earth.

[Federica will not be able to intervene in the mortal world for decades.]

"Serves her right. But in a way, it\'s disappointing. I wanted to tear her apart myself."

The demon in the form of a woman spoke as if it were entirely possible for her to kill Federica, a great god.

The amorphous being murmured.

[So if it wasn\'t demons, then who was Federica fighting against?]

"Wasn’t it the barbarians? Recently, the underlings have been making quite a fuss."

The dry demon tilted his head in confusion.

"Barbarians?"

"Don’t you know? Stop focusing solely on your sword and pay attention to the world. They\'re quite the hot topic in hell these days."

"I don’t have that luxury. I haven’t reached it yet."

"You’re so tedious."

The woman grumbled.

The amorphous entity spoke.

[Since we\'re gathered here for information exchange, we might as well start discussing it now.]

"How long has it been since the four of us gathered?"

[It feels like thousands of years.]

"It doesn’t feel that long? It’s probably been over ten thousand years."

Unlike humans, who serve many gods, demons serve only one.

The Demon King.

He was the absolute ruler of hell.

All demons worshipped, believed in, and followed him.

But the Demon King was not the ruler of hell.

He was the king of all demonic beings—a much larger concept.

He was, in fact, closer to a transcendent idea.

There were other rulers of hell.

Those demons closest to the Demon King.

The Lords of Hell.

[Then let us begin the meeting.]

The amorphous entity said.