Chapter: 605
I couldn’t help but be shocked facing the Pope’s relaxed smile.
What the heck is going on? Why does the Pope recognize me!? This is my mental world! Shouldn’t that dude not have any sanity!?
“Ahh. Just meeting the Apostle of the God is making me feel so overwhelmed, but to think I’d meet two other heroes like this… It’s such an honor that I can barely contain myself.”
Not just me, but Grandpa and Garad can see him too?! This just ruins my theory that he predicted my descent into the underworld!
“Did he seal his mind within the divine essence?”
“The great Ruel! To recognize it right away!”
I turned my gaze expecting an explanation, but Grandpa shook his head. Is it not the time for chit-chat with an enemy before us?
Understanding his intent, I tried to step back quietly, but the Pope raised his voice instead.
“Please, explain to the Apostle. After all, I have no intention of harming you.”
“There’s never been a talkative one among those who say such things.”
Garad, stepping up in front of me with a sarcastic tone, still couldn’t put a dent in the Pope’s resolve.
“I swear upon the mighty God, I make a vow based on my faith in Him.”
“Then how do you explain that?”
“It’s okay to believe him. His faith is genuine.”
Hearing Grandpa’s words, Garad shot me a doubtful look. But my answer wasn’t much different from Grandpa’s.
The Pope’s faith was beyond doubt. This isn’t just some game knowledge talking.
At this moment, as the Apostle of the God, I felt the Pope’s faith was indeed steadfast.
“It’s truly heartwarming for the two noble beings to grant recognition. I feel like shedding tears.”
“Cut the unnecessary flattery.”
“Haha. I apologize! Ruel must not want to explain right now to conceal the power of the Apostle. However, that’s unnecessary. I already know everything. The power of purification and embrace that the Apostle possesses.”
Grandpa fell silent for a moment at the Pope’s words. Though his expression didn’t change, I could sense his thoughts growing complicated.
“I’m not trying to probe. I merely witnessed it. In the forest where the God of Darkness and the Queen of Fairies dwell.”
“…You mean they deceived us?”
“That’s one of my various tricks.”
Among the two exchanging glances, Grandpa was the first to move.
“Lucy. You must’ve felt it when you embraced the doll’s divinity, but divine essence naturally affects the owner’s mind. It’s the power that originally the God grants to a human’s soul.”
New info popped up that I wasn’t aware of. A backstory on divinity?
“If you can handle that trait to the extreme, you could imbue a portion of your mind into the divine essence. Think of Lina’s clones she usually uses.”
Though it sounded a bit absurd, I couldn’t outright deny Grandpa’s words.
After all, the Pope right in front of me was executing it, and I could guess Grandpa’s method imbued in the mace might be of a similar nature.
“This fellow has reached that realm. And you touched the doll anticipating that you would come here to embrace its divinity. It’s likely you heard the prophetic song sung by the Fairy Queen.”
“Exactly! The moment you saw me here, you deduced it all the way there! Truly a legendary figure! This pathetic doll created to insult you is on a different level!”
The Pope even clapped, showing admiration for Grandpa, but Grandpa’s expression was anything but pleased.
“It’s a level that those born in this age cannot reach. What on earth are you?”
“Really think it’s impossible? Isn’t there the exception of the two of you?”
The exceptions refer to me and Phoebe, of course.
As long as there’s us, the exceptions to the verse in the Bible claiming the God treats all people on earth equally mean another exception can’t be dismissed.
Of course, I know that statement is false. The God has never once confirmed the Pope’s actions and beliefs.
He’s just a pathetic God who can’t even properly keep one Apostle in check.
“…That.”
“If you need an explanation, I can only say that I’m a devout believer of the God.”
This man, who keeps his twisted faith more devoutly than anyone else, managed to shut the holy knight’s mouth with his sincerity. Then he turned his attention toward me.
“O Apostle of the God, are you not curious? Why unbelievers can possess and wield divinity.”
“Trying to get my attention with that? That’s a rotting tactic, just like your breath.”
No reason for curiosity. I already know why it’s like that.
I don’t want to hear what the pathetic God has to say, especially not from someone else’s mouth.
As I shook my head at that thought, the Pope squinted slightly.
“Then what about why the divinity they wield is different from what you and the Saintess wield?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I flinched slightly, and the Pope smirked.
“Well, fundamentally, the divinities wielded by both of them and what you wield are essentially the same divine essence of the God. You’d know, right?”
As the Pope mentioned, the two forms of divinity were essentially the same. I know that much well.
“Then why can’t many have the warmth similar to you or the Saintess? The answer is simple. They are not the great God.”
“Why are you dragging this out with obvious statements?”
“Yes. This is a given, but thereby it’s also a complex statement. Garad. Think of the various Apostles chosen by other Gods. Don’t you think there’s a similarity?”
The perverted Apostle clearly resembles the perverted Crow.
The Martial Arts God seeming to take an interest in Frey also follows a similar vein.
The other Apostles I’ve seen in the game were the same. They shared traits with their respective Gods.
“I lay this down as the qualification to borrow the God’s power. Yes. As the Apostle of the God, it’s because you possess a nobility akin to the great God that you can borrow the God’s power.”
“Are you saying I resemble the pathetic perverted pedo God? Hahaha! Is that really a statement?!”
But I can’t accept this.
I refuse to acknowledge it.
Comparing me to a perverted dude who dresses a girl up in bunny attire and laughs creepily? No way!
Sure, I’ve maybe acted similarly in front of a monitor!
I’ve clicked on “19+” as if entranced, chuckling at characters in provocative outfits!
But that was just a world beyond the screen!
I would never commit such insane acts in reality!
I’m just a healthy young man briefly overwhelmed by lust, okay!?
I’m different from that pathetic perverted God!
“Shall we prove it?”
The moment the Pope’s eyes widened, the ground started to tremble beneath us.
“The divinity you accepted is indeed based on the divinity Ruel once held, but that alone does not complete it. The divinities of the inquisitors executed here are woven within it.”
“You combined the divinity of others? Even one without the capacity of embrace?”
“It’s possible. Though it cannot be compared to what Lord Ruel possesses. This is an outcome obtained after many sacrifices. In fact, you thought the divinity inside was singular, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You, what are you trying to accomplish?”
“I just wished to present a gift to the Apostle who has been struggling as a result of this divine miracle. Not stopping at regaining past power, I wish you to become someone more akin to God. I sincerely hope you accept it gladly.”
Looking at the Pope’s smile, I realized that his words were not entirely meant for me.
The favorable response he desires isn’t for me, but for the God.
Now this son of a gun equates me with the God, believing that what makes me happy will also please Him.
I’m seriously getting heated here.
It’s annoying to be treated like the same disgusting perverted guy, and now you say you prepared this bloody gift to make me stronger?
“Are you saying your brain functions at a beast level, acting like one too?♡ Presenting such blood-soaked gifts claiming it’s a reward?♡ Your taste shows in that level of preference♡”
“The ones who possess what shouldn’t belong to them ought to think of it as having to pay a price.”
“The price?♡ Hahaha♡ Wow♡ Just now, you called this a price?♡ I’m intrigued♡ What makes you entitled to a price?♡”
“I am a believer who offers faith to the great God.”
“Biiing~♡ Wrong answer!♡ The pathetic perverted God doesn’t accept faith from trash like you~♡ That faith is probably stuffed somewhere in a garbage bin right now!♡”
“Impossible. The God embraces everyone, you see.”
“Even a pathetic God would struggle, huh?~♡ Trapped beneath a stalker who stinks and is twisted to the core?♡ If it were me, I’d be so disgusted I’d bite my tongue!♡”
I exaggeratedly pretended to bite my tongue, and for the first time, the Pope’s expression momentarily stiffened.
Yet, it was only for an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the Pope regained his composure and took a forced step back, smiling.
“You seem somewhat displeased, but it’s already too late. You have received my gift.”
“Me?♡ When?♡”
“Didn’t you already embrace the divinity?”
“Ah~♡ You thought that I would accept this?♡ Haah♡ Hahaha!♡ Really, you’re so dumb♡”
What I wanted to embrace was only the divinity that Grandpa had.
It isn’t the lunatic’s divinity drenched in fanaticism or the ones gathered from the lunatics killed.
So, I’d like a refund.
Are you going to say you can’t return opened items?
Shove it!
I already decided I want to embrace only what I wish to.
So if you have a complaint, take it up with that pathetic God in your prayers.
I don’t know if your nonsense will even reach him.
“Pathetic♡”
Despite acting on impulse while worrying about future consequences, the moment I saw the joyful expression on the Pope, I realized I didn’t need to worry.
Hah. Seriously, this world has way too many masochists.
“Hahaha! I’ll take my leave for now! I hope to see you again!”
Sure. Let’s meet again in a few months, Pope.
Will you still be able to laugh like this when everything you’ve imagined crumbles?
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