Vwoooosh!
Dimona’s stealth spec-drone glided soundlessly through the citadel. The device, darting between corridors and room doors, finally locked onto its target and adjusted its height slightly.
“Is that... no way...”
“Yes, we found it!”
A muffled burst of excitent escaped the platoon mbers and rescue team watching the screen. What they had found was the “Link” — the device Gunther had hidden sowhere in the depths of the citadel right before he was subjected to brainwashing. This item, gifted to Gunther by Dimona and costing her several thousand gold, was no ordinary communication tool. In this place, which had beco a graveyard of magical technology, the “Link” served as the channel through which she could carry out “Hack.”
The drone carefully hooked the device and moved through the citadel again.
The machine reached the underground prison, steeped in the sll of damp stone. There, exhausted knights languished in confinent, speaking in voices full of despair.
“...I don’t even know how much ti has passed anymore.”
“These last few days, it’s been suspiciously noisy outside. Those monsters are clearly planning sothing...”
Their combat strength was exceptional. For so reason, their brainwashing had been delayed, and their minds remained clear. However, the magical shackles completely sealing their hands and feet had robbed them of any options. All they could do was helplessly replay the worst possible scenarios in their heads in impotent fury.
“...Huh?”
At that mont, Albern’s eyes flashed.
Psh-sh-sht—
A small piece of tal dropped onto the prison floor with a strange sound. Before the jailer could turn around, Albern instantly covered it with his body. The other knights imdiately understood.
A short silence. Then, as usual, they all began lanting and sighing, imitating their routine despair. Outwardly, it looked as though nothing had happened.
Werner of House Camaril, representing the kingdom’s intelligence division, whispered so quietly he was almost inaudible:
“It’s a Link.”
“What?”
“A communication device.”
Albern turned toward the wall, choosing an angle invisible to the guard, and carefully pressed the Link to his ear.
Psh-sh-sht—
[...No answers or questions are required. From this mont on, I will transmit instructions one-way. If you wish to survive and save your holand from Luthien’s grasp — obey.]
A voice altered by a chanical filter. Albern swallowed and instinctively nodded.
[We are attacking the citadel to rescue our comrade. When the ti cos, we will neutralize the shackles. Be prepared to assist.]
***
Yuria and Resia were in a state of utter confusion. Yuria’s eyes widened at the fact that Resia had embraced her. Resia herself looked frightened and guilty — she had broken the rules of Audrey House for the first ti, rules she had always followed as immutable law.
Dominic quickly cald them down.
“You two, stop. Don’t overthink anything, just listen to .”
Dominic had always played the role of the “older brother.” The girls, barely erging from their panic, focused on his explanation.
anwhile, Gunther was occupied with sothing entirely different.
[Just now... what did you do?]
[Who the hell are you?]
[That power, could it be...]
[Isn’t that the might of that One-Eyed Crow? Why is it here?!]
The voices of the evil gods, which had gone silent the mont he entered Audrey House’s basent, now ca pouring out like a flood. Gunther was now completely certain of their true nature.
Of course they were evil gods. Higher beings that had been drawn to Gunther in the future, fascinated by the horrific atrocities he committed under the effects of brainwashing. Powerful gods capable of perceiving the reversal of ti and parasitizing his consciousness even in the past.
“At minimum... Official level. Since neither the Ruler of the Oceans nor the One Who Flies Ahead of the Wind managed to follow .”
But they did not belong to Luthien.
The proof was that their voices had been blocked here, in the basent where the authority of the Seven Evil Gods dominated. And the mont that authority dispersed for an instant under the effect of “Deicide,” they manifested again imdiately.
“Yes, it all fits.”
The picture had beco clear. Because of his trait, Gunther himself could not form contracts with gods. Even while committing evil and accumulating dark Karma under Resia’s control, he had never been directly tied to the faction of the Seven Evil Gods.
That was exactly why evil gods outside Luthien had begun circling him. After all, not every dark entity in this world had joined the Theocracy. There existed far older beings who had ruled over “evil” long before Luthien began swallowing the continent. Hadn’t there been scenarios in the main story where the hero received their aid?
“Good... this is even better.”
Gunther slowly inhaled. The escape plan from Audrey House was finally taking on a clear shape.
It was ti to move to the next step.
“For now, all of you return to the residential wing and ask no questions.”
It was obvious from the girls’ faces that today’s incident would not leave this room for at least the next few days. Yuria couldn’t communicate with anyone anyway, and despite her shock, Resia still hadn’t let go of Yuria’s hand. Gunther could rest easy.
“And one more thing, Dominic.”
Dominic turned around. Joy from the reunion was written on the boy’s face, but questions and confusion were frozen in his eyes. Gunther knew exactly the cause of that confusion and intended to eliminate it imdiately.
“I have a request for you... sothing only you can do.”
At that mont, Dominic’s expression changed. Personal doubts and emotions, not yet spoken aloud, quietly withdrew. Only duty and responsibility remained in the boy’s eyes.
He answered in a calm voice that had not yet fully matured:
“I’ll do anything, Teacher.”
.
.
.
Gunther thought about Dominic.
Dominic Wolf. The protagonist of the original ga Forgotten God.
This boy had been able to beco the main character of a ga with absurd difficulty for two reasons.
First, unshakable virtue.
Second, overwhelming innate talent.
He was a vessel of such scale that thousands of gods longed to contract with him. In the ga, this brilliant gift manifested as the ability to change into any available class.
So naturally, the One-Eyed King had extended a hand toward him as well. Of course, not through a direct contract — the Seven Evil Gods would have noticed imdiately.
But one thing had to be rembered: the One-Eyed King was a deity capable of transmitting his authority indirectly, provided Grand Crow paid the price. That had already been obvious during the initiation ceremony of Night Raven, when new recruits were granted skills.
In other words, the hypothesis that Dominic had received the One-Eyed King’s power in so form was entirely sound. It was probably why he had been able to approach Gunther while bypassing Audrey House’s surveillance.
“And that authority is most likely stealth.”
According to myth, the One-Eyed King lost his eye at the hands of the Seven Evil Gods while attempting to steal “all truth.” The authority he developed — “to know, yet not be revealed; to see, yet not be recorded” — had been his original power. Dominic, in this tiline, must have received part of that might.
...But Gunther knew. Dominic’s true value in the main storyline was not limited to divine favor or universal talent. In this world, there was a trait only he could possess.
Godslayer. Instigator. Signaler.
The “Godslayer” trait had passed to Gunther due to the interference of the ◇ entity. However, it could not be denied that Dominic still retained the right and potential to awaken the power of Godslayer in his own style.
Gunther had confird this at the exact mont he activated “Deicide.”
Bzzz-z-zzt!
“...Ah.”
When the scarlet flash swept through Seren Mayra’s chapel, neutralizing all divine power, Gunther’s gaze had been fixed on Dominic.
The boy, holding his breath, stared at the spectacle. It was the face of a bird that had never flown seeing one of its kind take wing for the first ti. Fragnted emotions instantly converged at a single point, awakening a deeply sleeping instinct. A possibility he had never dared believe in... for the first ti gained the weight of reality.
Yes. This power was ant to belong to Dominic.
The might of the Savior, capable of returning this world from the hands of the gods back to humanity.
And even if history had twisted and he now stood in the grasp of an evil god, Dominic’s noble foundation had not changed. Of that, Gunther was certain as he looked at the student before him.
“...You want to use the power you used, Teacher?”
“You can do it. Trust .”
Dominic only needed to see “Deicide” once to grasp its essence. He was nothing like Gunther, whose version of the skill was weakened and could only be used once in a lifeti.
And Dominic’s “Deicide” was the final condition needed to escape Audrey House.
Bzzz-z-zzt—
Gunther smiled faintly as he looked at the scarlet light blazing before him.
“See. I told you you could do it.”
Dominic did not smile. He rely stared with wide eyes at the new possibility in his hands... at the power of the Savior.
And for the first ti, he secretly wished that this power would one day be used for good.
That the day would co when it saved soone’s despair.
For the first ti, he quietly dread of a bright future that had not yet arrived.
***
Crunch, clatter-clatter—
Cheonmae’s head rolled across the snow.
The vivid crimson at the severed neck created a grotesque contrast against the pure white plain. But people’s gazes did not linger on it for long.
A far denser and clearer scarlet light had already seized the sky.
“Half-Day Arrow.” The final shot Cheonmae had fired with every ounce of her strength lted away without a trace inside that red radiance.
“That can’t be...”
“Ah...”
The platoon fighters and the rescue team stared in fascination at “it,” which had suddenly appeared above Barkel Castle.
Ryan muttered in a dry voice:
“The devil...”
Tarsha slowly shook her head.
“No. More like a deity.”
Boom — boom —
The scarlet radiance of “Deicide” pulsed like the heart of so living being. Every ti the waves of that light spread, they were pressed lower... and lower into the earth.
What na could be given ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to this phenonon?
A red star?
A bloody apocalypse?
The man who had summoned that light gazed indifferently at the ground. His warmthless stare seed to whisper to every living thing at his feet:
“This is the end.”
Click—
The deafening silence was broken by the sound of an umbrella opening.
A woman in a wolf mask slowly stepped forward. The shadow of the umbrella fell over the defeated Cheonmae, shielding her from the blood-red light in the sky. Only then did Cheonmae’s spilled blood beco clearly visible.
Looking at it, the woman spoke in her usual emotionless voice:
“Everyone prepare for battle. Our opponent is the Hierarch of Light.”
But to that, she added:
“...Please, give it everything you have.”
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