On the way to his house with Johanna’s father.
He came closer to me and whispered.
“Do you want our disciples and that crowd following us to not hear?”
What are you trying to say?
“Holy One, first I want to apologize.”
“What for?”
“Actually, there are three assassins waiting at my house. They are secret warriors of our order.”
“Secret warriors?”
You mean Jevoub of the Baal Order.
A group of assassins meticulously trained by the current Pope of the Baal Order, Jevoub. They’re the darkness of the Order, only known to high-ranking officials for the purpose of secretly eliminating troublesome enemies of the Order.
They were quite a tricky foe even in [Deus Ex Machina].
So, there are three of those assassins at Johanna’s place?
“In fact, they are assassins sent by the Order to eliminate you, Holy One. They made me lure you to my house. I apologize for deceiving you.”
I see.
No wonder Johanna’s father stopped me as soon as I arrived.
Was it by the Order’s orders?
“If that’s the case, is it also not true that your daughter is sick?”
“No, my daughter is in a dire state, barely clinging to life. Our poor Jaime needs your miracle, Holy One. However, with the assassins from the Order at our house, I had no choice but to bring you here. I’m truly sorry to say this.”
Is that so?
I never thought the Baal Order would mobilize Jevoub to eliminate me.
“I’m so sorry to bother you with this, but please save our poor Jaime, Holy One. You are our family’s only salvation. I will give everything I have — my wealth, my life — I dedicate it all to you, Lord.”
But this is also a golden opportunity to not only fend off the Baal Order’s grasp but also win Johanna’s heart.
“Your faith will save you. Lead the way.”
“…Yes?”
“Do not worry and guide me as you must.”
“But….”
He hesitated and seemed confused by my response, but soon he seemed to make up his mind and replied.
“I understand. Thank you, Holy One.”
Upon arriving at Johanna’s house, I instructed my disciples and the crowd to stay back, then entered with Johanna’s father, Zebedee.
Johanna, although she was hiding her true identity, seemed eager to talk to me now that I was back, but I told her we would talk later once we were inside.
By the way… why is this priest’s house so big?
The Baal Order… must be doing really well.
This isn’t even the house of a cardinal or bishop, and yet it’s this grand for a priest.
I wonder if I could sleep here after everything’s settled?
Following Zebedee’s guidance, we arrived at a room.
“Holy One, this room is our daughter Jaime’s.”
Creeeak
He quietly opened the door and continued.
“Holy One… our Jaime’s appearance may be quite shocking.”
Shocking, huh…
What kind of appearance is he emphasizing so much?
“This way, Holy One.”
As I followed his lead, I saw Johanna’s sister, Jaime…
“Whoa… this person is…”
I let out a gasp at her pitiful state.
“Yes… this is our poor daughter. It is my fault for her to end up like this. Please…”
Can this even be called human…?
This is more like… a slab of meat, isn’t it?
Her face was unrecognizable — with her eyes, nose, and mouth all gone.
Her charred skin was nearly invisible.
If she weren’t barely moving in shallow breaths, one could hardly believe this was a living being.
And through this, I was certain.
Johanna didn’t do this.
No matter how much the Baal Order pushed her to go wild, they couldn’t have turned her into something this wretched.
This was clearly a sign of the experiments by the Baal Order.
They must have been attempting some experiment based on Jaime.
Hmm?
I see.
The energy I feel from Jaime…
Was that it?
The reason the Baal Order changed was due to ‘Chaos’ as revealed in [Deus Ex Machina].
Since the god of abundance Baal and the current Pope of the Order were corrupted by ‘Chaos.’
Were they trying to implant the power of ‘Chaos’ into Jaime?
Still, sending her back like this means they must have failed.
But was there any reason to not eliminate her and just send her back?
A chill ran down my spine.
That killing intent.
They’re here.
Assassins from Jevoub.
This sensation.
They’re behind me.
But.
Boom.
Thud.
I was already prepared.
I used the same method I employed during my duel with Dia to knock them all out.
Combining two different artifacts to create a bug-like play.
A traditional skill used by veterans since [Deus Ex Machina].
Anyway, it’s a potent means to knock out anyone who tries to assault me up close.
“Eek! H-Holy One! You’re amazing! To take down those blood-soaked guys so easily…”
Johanna’s father was shocked at the sight.
He didn’t know the true nature of those assassins given his position as merely a priest.
In the right circumstances, even a great mage could be assassinated by them.
They were infamous for being difficult foes in [Deus Ex Machina] if caught off guard.
But now, I was using a combination of two artifacts: ‘Glasses of Peace’ to declare a peaceful area and ‘Demon Lord’s Wrappings’ to momentarily maintain that area.
The ancient artifact, ‘Glasses of Peace’, creates a small zone with a three-meter radius around me when activated. This zone prohibits all armed conflicts and immediately puts to sleep anyone who tries to harm another.
Of course, utilizing it means that any adversary can be nullified regardless of matching or strength discrepancies, making it impossible to use freely.
It originally requires significant time to set up and cannot be declared in the presence of an enemy.
Hence, it was unsuitable for combat and mainly used to create temporary safe zones, but using ‘Demon Lord’s Wrappings’ would change everything.
It is an artifact that allows the effects of other artifacts to be applied momentarily.
While the effect lasts just about a second, it provides an incredible advantage since it bypasses the activation conditions of the artifacts.
Thus, combining these two artifacts results in an overwhelmingly powerful effect that knocks out any would-be attacker surrounding me within that single second.
This has been a traditional bug play used by veterans to deal with invincible opponents in [Deus Ex Machina].
However, it has clear limits and wouldn’t work on beings who have crossed realms, like Sword Masters or Grand Mages, although it provides the absurd benefit of keeping me safe from assassins’ attacks.
Additionally, if they’re knocked out like this, I could potentially summon them into the mental world using means like ‘Nyx’s Garden’, giving it immense versatility…
Hmm?
Mental world?
Wait a minute.
Now that I think about it, these Jevoub guys… they must have gained the power of ‘Chaos’ by the Baal Order…
If they possess the aura of ‘Chaos’ at this point…
Then I might be able to pull them into the mental world and use their energy to heal Jaime.
Oh?
This could work!
“Holy One?”
Oops, I got too lost in thought.
“Zebedee.”
“Yes! Holy One!”
“Stay outside. Your daughter shall be healed.”
“Oh, understood!”
He promptly closed the door and stepped out as I arranged the three assassins to lie next to Jaime.
Then I activated the artifact that opens the mental world, ‘Nyx’s Garden’, which I had used to handle Achilles Gomez.
Whirr
Momentarily, my vision was enveloped in darkness before brightening again.
Where I found myself was… in a temple?
It felt like a sacred space where gods would reside.
This must be Jaime’s mental world.
For a place attributed to the transformed, infected by ‘Chaos’, it looks way too clean.
At that moment, I sensed three presences behind me.
The three assassins from Jevoub had arrived.
They stood ready for battle, positioning themselves.
“Are you Jevoub of the Baal Order?”
Silence followed my query.
They reminded me of those annoying assassins from [Deus Ex Machina].
“Really… I’d thought you’d go all out once you brought out the cards of monsters, but to think you’d mobilize Jevoub to assassinate me.”
But now, I possessed the body of Dia at the 2nd chapter point, essentially one of the strongest beings in this world.
Cling
I summoned two sword blades to circle around me.
Cling
Boom!
Then, I pierced one of the assassins with one of the swords.
“Guh! Kugh…!”
It was my first encounter with those assassins in the mental world, and I didn’t realize until now… how strange their screams sounded.
“Let’s finish this quickly. There are quite a few people waiting outside.”
Well, it’s not that I was in a hurry.
Time flows differently in the mental world than in the external world.
It can vary from one person’s mental world to another.
However, comparing the time flow of my main body to my clones…
I felt a significant leisure.
Cling
“Gah!”
There’s more than enough time to take out those guys and heal Jaime.
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