<800 – How to Prevent the Professors' Corruption (11)>
After enrolling in the Gift Academy.
Ishtar had undergone many journeys and achieved accomplishments.
But did she truly resolve any incidents as the main force alone?
When asked that way, there weren’t many incidents she could confidently claim.
Even her greatest achievement, the subjugation of the Taboo Emperor Pake Hiuqmag, was just a finishing blow; wasn’t it a feast set by Oknodie and the Revolutionary Army?
In the Foundation Workshop Battle, she infiltrated the Foundation’s flagship and took down professors, cutting through the contaminated World Capital with her unique efforts, but it felt overshadowed by the tremendous strength of the Director and the achievements of Oknodie the Demon King who defeated it.
A half-hearted result, not a complete success.
Always a harvest that felt somehow insufficient.
Thus, despite going through numerous events, the experience points Ishtar had accumulated as a warrior hadn’t filled the vessel that the god had granted her to exceed her limits.
But now, someone had appeared to fill that vessel.
Goblin Warrior.
The child born from Oknodie and Titosso from the Goblin World was the main character.
━━━
[Container of Defiance]
– Effect: When the vessel is full, it sacrifices the increased experience points to the god.
━━━
The warrior twisted her body in agony, gasping for breath.
The violent movement of mana occurring within her body and the actions beyond her control were felt distinctly by the warrior at a distance.
It was because the entity granting her power was the same unique god, Sofemia of the Sun.
When she breathed.
When she swung her sword.
When she cast magic.
Every process of living, training, and fighting could not go unnoticed.
Since the moment she was chosen by Sofemia as a warrior, she had never once separated from the power.
That power whispered.
The power given to the Goblin Warrior.
The power that pretended to be hers for a moment.
Now, it was time to reclaim it.
At the time of the warrior contract, she had never heard such things.
“Goddess…?”
“Ishtar. Why so suddenly?”
Concerned glances were sent her way from her peers and party members, but they couldn’t perceive the mana resonance and mutual phenomenon occurring within the Goblin Warrior’s body and Ishtar’s vision and senses.
“This is too much.”
The Goblin Warrior, who could dream of revenge for her kin thanks to the power of Sofemia of the Sun.
The power that shone like a brilliant sun, the narrative of victory, the tower of experience points crumbled.
The filled vessel was forcibly extracted and returned once more to the sun.
With a heart full of gratitude to become a warrior sufficient to stand beside the great one through that great power.
The pride and self-esteem of a warrior who believed they could dare fathom the great one’s will.
The unfinished mission of salvation, the enemies, and the obligations of a warrior.
[Well done, my child.]
[You persevered.]
[You were a shining embodiment of will like the sun.]
Burning and fading in front of the overwhelming energy that ignited the will extending from that compassionate voice.
“Why, why are you taking my power, Gob?!”
“You told me to fulfill my mission of revenge, Gob!!”
“I haven’t completed my mission yet… Just a few more steps to bring true peace to this land. Just a little, I’m really saying just a little, Gob!!!”
The illusion named Mana Heart.
The unveiled veil of the Container of Defiance.
The powers of the god held tightly in both hands scatter like grains of sand.
[Child, accept that your mission has been fulfilled.]
[The great war of the gods is approaching, so how could you afford to miss the power of the wrath that shall perish as your mission ends?]
[Be angry.]
[Desire even more.]
[Even your final lament and tears shall be used as fuel to enrich my sun; the order of one hundred dimensions shall be protected by your sacrifice.]
The power held by will could not defy the immense call of the sun god, soaring into the realm of the skies.
With the rapidly weakening Goblin Warrior screaming alongside the pillar of light shooting high into the heavens.
As she plummeted, Ishtar sensed the power that had been taken from her rushing back rapidly.
[The warrior who achieved a mythical feat has completed her mission.]
[The unique god, Sofemia of the Sun, is supplying you with a portion of the warrior points recovered from Warrior Gob.]
The power filling Ishtar’s inner self.
The return of her prime strength.
Yet, there was no joy.
For she had seen such things.
Witnessed the betrayal of the god.
Discovered what the end of a warrior truly meant.
Lament.
Scream.
Despair.
The Goblin Warrior, kneeling and sitting down.
The pain of falling and loss, unable to continue from Warrior Gob’s voice, seeped into her heart.
Like something left in silence beneath the stage lights that had dimmed after a grand concert.
A monster called the cruel reality that lifted its head only after the happiness of naïve illusion had ended.
The existence of the fallen Warrior Gob.
Was engraved deep inside Ishtar’s heart like a taxidermied animal.
In the end, a god was merely a god.
Those who stand above mortal beings, imposing their providence and laws while charging the price of faith for life.
Different from spirits.
Perhaps something they believed they could be together with.
The ultimate betrayal of all those beliefs and expectations was this conclusion.
“Was it just this…? Gods, warriors, was it merely this level of existence?”
The false salvation created by the misfortune of one person.
A harvest festival of the gods completed by a single lifetime.
Had she known, she would not have felt the betrayal.
If she had genuinely respected them, they could not have betrayed her in this way.
The god.
The unique god.
Sofemia of the Sun.
Finished the mission of eliminating all invaders threatening the Goblin World and, sensing the fading will for revenge, collected her power the moment the vessel was filled.
In that act, there was no respect for the warrior, no momentary reprieve, not a shred of humanity and compassion.
Only merciless harvesting, conscription, betrayal, scream, downfall, and lament were left behind beneath the hypocritical smile.
It was a lie.
Everything was deception.
Merely a trick.
Deep in betrayal, yet as this moment arrived, a small voice began to rise again.
A small, insignificant, yet always brave and strong child.
A kind but naughty, nice but scary child.
Someone who could occasionally be wicked but now understood it was due to the soul being ripped asunder by the Foundation.
Oknodie.
The memory of her rolling out blankets in front of the depths of the dormitory dungeon and telling stories next to Ishtar resurfaced.
– “Hey, Oknodie.”
– “What is it?”
– “Why have you been looking out for me since last year?”
If Ishtar looked at Oknodie as a child, how did Oknodie view herself?
The shocking response to a question born merely from simple curiosity was undoubtedly an unforgettable memory.
– “Because you’re a warrior!”
– “Really?”
– “Of course I see you as a warrior!”
– “What does a warrior mean to you?”
– “Someone who dies in place of others?”
The answer still sends chills down her spine.
Of course, there was an explanation.
– “A warrior can’t purify dark mana without the support of a saintess, and in order to suppress the rampage of dark mana within, the allocation of mana slowly increases.”
A child pulling the blanket up to her head.
A child lowering it to her eye level and sneaking a peek.
That child who predicted the ‘Dark Mana Exposure’ and its end.
– “As the active limit mana decreases, you end up fighting while preparing for body mutations in short-term battles against the corruption of dark mana, and eventually, you end up holding too much dark mana till living everyday life becomes tough or even impossible…”
The mana used to control dark mana gradually increased, eventually resulting in the loss of the active limit mana.
She had thought that was the only reason.
Yet, she started to think that perhaps she had known that more significant secret from the start.
Oknodie, who harbored so much dark mana.
If she truly wanted to, she could have been in a position to have the warrior become exposed to dark mana and mutate, and thus manage it according to her wishes.
Yet she had assigned a training instructor and looked out for her, perhaps because she knew the ending of being betrayed and abandoned by the god.
“Since that day, I’ve trained even more after meeting the mediocre sword master, Hiscliff. But training meant nothing at all. As long as I remain a warrior…”
Eventually, it could disappear simply with the unique god, Sofemia of the Sun changing her mind.
It wasn’t just a simple loss of bestowed power.
Every function, achievement, and soul level she built herself was all snatched away by that exalted unique god.
In the face of cosmic darkness, the little light of a warrior means nothing.
In the battle of the gods, only the power of a god takes precedence.
“Truly, a person who dies in place of others.”
The power of the god still accompanies her.
But the long-standing faith was shattered.
Ishtar began to look beyond the path of the warrior.
With only the identity of a warrior, gradually stepping into the abyss of evil without care for the atrocities, deciding the difference between enemies and herself solely through the support of the god.
A person who would find no value in life after being abandoned by the god while defeating the Seonhwang or the Demon King, likely to take her own life.
A person who could stand tall once more, even without the god’s power.
It was the moment when Ishtar, who was about to face the [Bad Ending – The Abandoned by the God], began to step away from her fated destiny.
