Book 19 Chapter 37
Chapter 171
The Arch-enemy of Destiny and the Forerunner, Shincheon Cadipol Knights (3)
The moment Hejmana, the Priestess of Divine Retribution, unfurled her moonlight dance…!
“World of Miracles, Solitary Bright Moon (異蹟世界 : 一輪明月).”
Moonlight poured down dazzlingly throughout the space, and a new space was embossed upon providence.
It was truly complete isolation!
Hejmana had isolated the hero's party into her mental space. To buy time for Bihkisa to break the Ark of the Covenant!
“Damn it!”
Bihkisa angrily shouted, repeatedly batting away the rays streaming from the blood-red light source.
“Why do I have to stand still even with such strong opponents right in front of me?”
She could never forget…
The inexplicable event where beings who had insulted and scorned the light had instead received the greatest grace from the light…!
- Oh Light, what is it you truly desire?
In the subjugation battle against the Slayers, the strongest and worst mercenary group in history, the Priestess Corps under Bihkisa was utterly annihilated.
- Did you not say you govern all things? That all wars belong to you and all victories and defeats are in your hands?
The Priestess Bihkisa served also died then.
Her byname was Hye-eun (惠恩).
The emblem Bihkisa carved into her armor, 'a stone from which a spring overflows,' was precisely the emblem of Priestess Hye-eun.
- You called yourself omniscient and omnipotent!
She was a woman who acted according to everything recorded in the scriptures, rejoicing and grieving even over a single blade of grass.
She was such a person…
Yet, she was killed by garbage who found joy in life only by killing, stealing, raping, deceiving, and scoffing at the teachings of the scriptures.
- If you are omniscient and omnipotent! How, just how! Can you do this to someone who praised your love so much? What do you know? What power do you possess?
Bihkisa thought.
If God truly was the omniscient and omnipotent being described in the scriptures, then God must be dead.
Or had never existed in the first place.
- Is it you who rampaged in the demon realm for 200 years, making the five Great Demon Lords tremble?
Having lost everything precious, everything she loved, everything she had to protect… Bihkisa returned to the demon realm and simply surrendered herself to bloody battles.
She wanted to kill something.
And then, she wanted to die.
She wanted to die on the spiral of Shura, where she didn't have to think about anything but the battle at hand, simply killing and being killed.
- I heard you were a master of the spear, so I wondered if that Zernix fellow had revived my disciple on his own accord, but it was someone else.
- Stop with your nonsensical gibberish and get to the point. Did you come to kill me?
- If I intended to kill you, your head and body would already be separated.
When she had ventured deep into the demon realm, engaged in battles where blood washed blood, the First Pillar of the Black Church sought her out.
- What I seek to kill is this world itself. This world that is utterly wrong from its very inception. I will rectify that distortion.
- Not interested, get lost! I just want to kill to my heart's content and then die, that's enough for me!
- You enjoy pushing yourself into a corner with battles. Don't you actually want to die?
- !
- Then our interests align. A war unprecedented in history will break out. Perhaps you'll even get to fight someone capable of killing you.
Wearing this armor was because of that promise…
“Hejmana, I have no interest in that mission you all share!”
Bihkisa batted away dozens of light rays in one breath, closing a 15-step distance instantly, and her spear pierced deep into the light source.
* * *
“A World of Miracles (異蹟世界), you say…?”
To use the space of providence as a canvas and depict one's mental world—this was truly the realm of divine skill (神技).
The manifestation of a mental domain.
It was one of the finish lines reached by those who abandoned everything and followed the traces and teachings of the <Those Who Arrived>.
“Damn it, we've been isolated in a mental space!”
Moon Sky (月天).
Moonlight (月光).
Under the Moon (月下).
“So it wasn’t because of the Abyssal power, but because you can use a World of Miracles that you were skilled in spatiotemporal magic?”
Unlike the world of providence, which usually has four moons, the moonlight in this wilderness, with only a single moon floating, was… somehow oppressively suffocating.
“Just who is this person…?”
In response to Frieda’s question, the valiant woman standing regally on the hill where the moonlight poured down abundantly spoke.
“I am Kadin Mu (04) Hejmana. Before being assigned to the Shincheon Cadipol Knights, I was called the Priestess of Divine Retribution.”
Lista’s eyes widened.
“The Priestess of Divine Retribution? No way!”
“What’s that?”
Frieda puffed a cloud of dark cigarette smoke into Lin’s face.
“So dumb~ Huh~ Lin, you don't even know that?”
“Explanation, please.”
“Should I tell you? Want me to tell you? But what do I do~ I don't know the details either!”
“?”
“Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know don’t know don’t know.”
“???”
“Kkyukkyung!”
The hero’s iron fist struck Frieda, Lin, Pipi, and Sval equally on their crowns! Master!
“Don’t do something so rude! The Priestess of Divine Retribution was the most powerful and greatest Priestess among all past Priestesses!”
Lista felt a slight pang of guilt for showing off her knowledge.
In truth, she herself hadn’t known the details about the Priestess of Divine Retribution until recently.
- The Shincheon Cadipol Knights, a direct organization under the Black Church's First Pillar, is a military force comparable to the Dragon Corps.
That was, until Simian, the wandering priestess, shared the fairies' secrets before leaving <Rangbard>!
- The six members are not mere members; each has subordinate forces under them, so it's no exaggeration to call them all Pillar-level executives. The First Pillar commands all such members. They say he's a big shot who single-handedly faced both the Mad Dragon and the Fire Dragon.
- …!
- Also, the Shincheon Cadipol Knights form teams of two, supposedly structured to achieve the strongest synergy, considering their abilities and personalities.
Each individual was a Pillar-level big shot.
And possessing large quantities of [King’s Flesh], they were beings comparable to True Dragons or even stronger.
It was clear they were formidable enemies never before encountered.
- The most crucial thing to watch out for is the 'First Hero Party.' Among the units annihilated by them, consisting of the 'First Faycaller' and their companions, the Dragon Corps included, were countless.
- The First Faycaller, you say?
- Perhaps due to troop morale, their identities are all concealed. The same goes for the team made up of the strongest Paladin in history and the strongest Priestess in history. This is a truth the fairies are trying to conceal. Lista Alter Surpien, if you meet them… never let your guard down.
Frieda rubbed the bump that had risen on her head and yelled.
“Hmph, the Priestess of Divine Retribution, you say? Granting you that a hundred times over. Why is that great Priestess of Divine Retribution committing such acts? What reason do you have for these evil deeds?!”
Unlike Bihkisa, Hejmana had no helmet, only the Priestess’s crown and the veil draped beneath it, so her expression could be seen.
Hejmana’s expression was serene.
So serene and devout that it almost made one mistakenly think that *they* were the ones committing evil.
“Evil? By what standard do you define good deeds and evil deeds?”
“What did you say…?”
“The Shincheon Cadipol Knights, our ultimate goal, as the name implies, is the true victory in the Great Abyss War.”
Lista clenched her fist and protested.
“If awakening one of the <Forgotten Kings>, the Lizard Lord, isn't an evil act, then what is? A catastrophe unprecedented in the world will begin!”
Hejmana let out a bitter smile, tinged with a hint of sorrow.
“You are young. Far too young. The question you *should* have asked is, ‘What are you trying to do using the <Forgotten Kings>?’”
“Wait… if it’s the <Forgotten Kings>, aren’t they truly the strongest of the strongest? If we get to fight such opponents, maybe cooperating wouldn't be so bad?”
“Ah, you idiot! Just shut up!”
Frieda precisely aimed for the bump on Lin’s crown and slammed her pipe down! Master! Then she turned back to Hejmana and shouted!
“Don’t talk nonsense! Why are you trying to summon such things?!”
“Do you have to ask to know that? It's probably to become the strongest with the power of the <Forgotten Kings>.”
While all of the hero party's companions probably thought Lin was spouting nonsense again… Hejmana took his words seriously.
“The strongest, huh… Perhaps it’s similar. No, what I pursue is a higher goal than that… that is, God (神).”
A moment of silence fell.
Frieda’s scoff, filled with disbelief, soon broke that silence.
“Hah, ha, ha, hahaha… So the Priestess of Divine Retribution thing was nonsense after all! Or maybe when you were revived from the Abyss, your brain was intact, but your dementia wasn’t cured at all~!”
The flames Frieda exhaled from her pipe seemed to surge towards Hejmana in an instant, but…!
“I was ordained as a Priestess at 26, and I died after serving the light for 26 years, the same number of years I had lived up to that point.”
The moment the Seven-Branched Sword, a sword designed for ceremony and ritual rather than combat, aimed at those flames from Hejmana.
Moon Wave (月波)!
The moon floating high in the mental space poured down moonlight, easily scattering the flames.
‘What…?’
All members of the hero party were masters! From this single clash, they had more than enough to gauge the opponent’s true potential.
“During that time, countless people… so many people came to me, yearning for miracles. Those who were sick from birth, those with disabilities, and those who became crippled due to accidents…”
One of the <Those Who Arrived>, 'Moon of Creation: Meian,' was said to be called the Sword Princess (劍姬).
Meian’s power was moonlight.
Unlike other <Those Who Arrived> who manifested power by chanting divine words, she was said to draw forth the authority of creation through a dance dedicated to the will of creation.
“I couldn’t help them. Not even the power of miracles could alleviate their pain. Isn’t it funny? They say the <Those Who Arrived> had the power to correct all pain, that is, the distortions of providence.”
“…!”
“There’s a saying that a heart tending towards good (善) originates from the will of creation. If so, then why! Why on earth! Do you only give me the same heart as the <Those Who Arrived> but not the same power?!”
Frieda flinched.
‘Dangerous…’
As a priestess who had lived by extending healing hands to the powerless and poor, she too had keenly felt that emotion.
‘If I listen any more, it’ll be dangerous…’
If we clash with full power, we might not be able to fight this ancient ghost.
“At the last moment of my life, I screamed. I despaired! Realizing that the Light, God, was nowhere to be found!”
“…!”
“That’s why I decided. In this world without God, I will become the God of a new world! A God who responds even to small whimpers and personally caresses all pain, the God spoken of in the scriptures.”
Silence fell after the 800-year-old Priestess’s long monologue.
Even Lin, whose main goal was to fight the [Strongest], still harbored a primal doubt about the incompetence of creation due to his memories from the slums.
The sense of loss from this irrational world, which had made Kiero unable to live without alcohol, needed no explanation.
“Why do you interfere with us? There is no malice in our fight. Only justice and a great cause. There is no reason for us to fight each other.”
Frieda thought.
It would be meaningless to fight this woman over theological interpretations.
‘Because this woman’s conviction right now is… the actualization of a question that every religious person harbors, but must not express outwardly.’
As Frieda, unable to bravely meet that gaze, was about to turn away, a brilliant ray of light shone into her vision.
“There *is* a reason to fight.”
It was the light of a sword.
“Of course, I don’t not empathize with the despair you felt, Priestess.”
The holy sword’s light, which burned away the very concept of darkness to illuminate… Lista Alter Surpien, the Last Faycaller, stepped forward.
“But no matter how noble the will or belief, if its process can only be established by trampling over the powerless and weak… I believe it can never be tolerated.”
The color of that light, which illuminated the lowest and darkest places on this earth and ended the age of darkness, was truly noble (高潔).
A sword's light resembles its master's light.
It can be said that the light commanded by the holy sword is the very essence of Lista's character made manifest!
“Because I, because we are the 「Hero Party」.”
The priestess of the hero party, who had faltered before the passionate speech of the ancient priestess!
The great wizard and the archer!
Stood guarding both sides of the hero, with smiles that cut through all hesitation!
“That’s right! At least our justice is different from yours! If you’re still planning to awaken the Demon King, then we’ll be your opponents.”
[<(ㅇㅅㅇ)3▶→]
“Our skill is still insufficient to take on the <Forgotten Kings>, so you’ll be perfect as a training dummy before that.”
Kadin Mu (04), Hejmana, let out a sigh close to a lament, and assumed the stance for a new dance.
“No choice, it seems… I will bury you in the wilderness of my mental domain and give you a funeral with as little pain as possible.”