The Elmest Estate was still in the midst of a massive cleanup operation. The Queen’s lingering influence had yet to be completely eradicated.
The priests who had been enthralled by the Queen scattered and went into hiding after the incident. However, due to Evil God-chan’s mistake, they were given a new focal point to gather around once more.
The sacred water, imbued with the Queen’s unmistakable essence, was enough to spark their hope. They believed that the Queen’s resurrection was no longer just a dream.
With the goal of resurrecting the Queen, they began collecting the liquid and preparing live sacrifices to create a new vessel for her.
Senior Scarface and Beauty Mark Gay arrived at Elmest Estate in the midst of this situation.
“The mission was to protect the siblings living in the Church of the Goddess at Elmest. When we arrived, they were alive. Although a bit starved, they were otherwise unharmed. That was a relief.”
Senior Scarface explained the situation to the boy and took him under their protection. A frail boy like him had no reason to draw the attention of the corrupt priests, so the plan was to lay low for a while before moving him elsewhere.
“And then we ran right into them.”
They had encountered corrupt priests, who were trying to retrieve the Queen’s information from the church.
The priests tried to eliminate any witnesses, because their plans couldn’t be leaked.The situation was bad. The leader of the corrupt priests was a Metamorphosis-level combatant. Defeating him was the best case scenario, but the risk was too high.
Moreover, there were two people they to protect. If the boy were to die during the fight, the entire mission would have been for nothing.
Thus, Senior Scarface and Beauty Mark Gay—who hadn’t yet reached Metamorphosis themselves—decided that it would be unwise to confront them directly, and somehow fled the scene. They prioritized retreat and concealment as they focused on the safety of their charges.
As seasoned veterans, they used various strategies to escape. They moved to a new location every day, disguised themselves when necessary, and even used bribes to create distractions.
Despite their efforts, the pressure from the corrupt priests intensified. Beauty Mark Gay and the boy eventually volunteered to act as decoys, knowing that Senior Scarface could offer more support in the long run. And she did.
Which led us to the present. The boy’s sister was resting in a small room at the inn, while Senior Scarface sat at the edge of her bed.
With a frown, she said.
“I used 『Rorei’s Possession』 to track them down. It’s an underground facility, of course. Dark wizards and shady types always seem to love digging tunnels underground⋯⋯.”
“Alright, everyone, gear up. Let’s move out and make it back in time for dinner.”
I got to my feet, brushing off my hands.
As everyone filed out of the room, Evil God-chan lingered behind. She gently placed her hand on the boy’s sister, and in an instant, she absorbed the Queen’s wedge that had been lodged within her.
We acted as though we hadn’t noticed.
===============================================================
Illusion Magic was undeniably convenient.
Disguised as priests, we cast perception-inhibiting spells, added soothing patterns that induced relaxation and drowsiness, layered in some mild hypnosis, and played calming sound effects. Just like that, sneaking in became much simpler.
See? The corrupted priests were welcoming us without a second thought.
“If every illusion school wizard were this capable, the Purple Magic Tower would have been the uncontested 1st place a long time ago, Mima.”
“What the world really needs now is a magic-computer. Once the information age kicks in, the Purple Tower will dominate the world.”
“I’m genuinely terrified that might actually happen⋯⋯.”
At that point, it would turn into magic-cyberpunk. The birth of a world where Mega-Corp Purple Tower ruled the entire world as their Empire. Starting from media and business to the Big Brother initiative, it would be perfect.
As I imagined Yuna ascending as a god-king and ruling over the entire world, I was abruptly interrupted by Evil God-chan lightly nudging my thigh. She had a habit of always starting with a poke.
“Fat chance.”
“What, what now? With enough computing power, wouldn’t the Purple Tower take over the world?”
“You’ve clearly never fought against other wizards.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
She wasn’t wrong.
I had surprisingly little experience clashing with wizards from other towers. That cheesy professor at the Academy? I became friends with him so we wouldn’t fight. Selvier? She wasn’t on the same level.
Even Blue Tower’s renowned Metamorphosis wizard, Snow White, who was famous at the Academy, was someone I had only seen from a distance. We never actually dueled.
“If you ever get hit by Hellfire, you’ll bawl your eyes out. Illusion Magic doesn’t defend—it evades. So if you take a direct hit, there’s no way to reduce the damage. You don’t even have scales to protect you; you’ll probably burn to ashes instantly.”
There was a heaviness to her words that I couldn’t ignore.
“⋯⋯Is that coming from personal experience by any chance?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
The Hellfire must’ve hurt.
Illusion Magic’s inability to counter area-of-effect attacks was its critical weakness—because illusions didn’t have physical force.
Even the holograms I painstakingly crafted only had limited physical force. Compared to the Gold Magic Tower’s steel walls, it would obviously be weaker.
This led me to one conclusion: if I couldn’t overpower an opponent quickly, I’d be as good as dead.
I needed real physical force.
⋯⋯Of course, I probably wasn’t the first to realize this. Someone, somewhere in the Purple Tower’s long history had tried to tackle the challenge of materializing illusions. Maybe desperately. Without regard for the means or methods.
I knew that the result of that was Yuna. And that it came with a terrifyingly painful memory.
Pat pat. I reached out and gently patted Yuna’s head.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”
Yuna was surprised and looked up at me. Her expression seemed to ask, I like you patting me, but why? I shrugged it off as nothing and changed the subject.
Our first priority was rescuing the hostages. We headed to the prison.
The prison was a miserable sight—it seemed like they didn’t really care about the health of the sacrifices. It reeked of decay, with filth and old bloodstains covering the floor.
There were only two captives in the cell: a small boy and Beauty Mark Gay.
I silenced the priest guarding the cell with a quick squeeze to his neck, sending him into a deep sleep. Dispelling the illusion magic concealing us, I revealed myself and greeted them cheerfully.
“It’s been a while, Beauty Mark Gay.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”
It took him a moment to register my words. Then, with a frustrated look and a vein bulging on his forehead, he snapped.
“There’s a Metamorphosis-class monster here. How could I not get caught, huh? And you, Customer, aren’t you to blame for sending a two-star laborer on a job like this⋯⋯?”
“I beat Metamorphosis without reaching Metamorphosis.”
“⋯⋯Some things never change.”
While I piled on the sarcasm, Evil God-chan fidgeted awkwardly. It looked like like⋯⋯ the sense of guilt was paralyzing her.
The boy was filthy and malnourished, and his frail figure seemed pitiful to look at.
Maybe Evil God-chan regretted swindling him out of his meager savings. Maybe she was reflecting on how she should’ve healed his sister from the start.
To encourage her, I gave her a light push on the back.
“⋯⋯Hey!”
“Go on, have a chat. We’ve still got Queen remnants to clean up and a Hero Festival to enjoy. What’s so terrifying about this?”
“Easy for you to say⋯⋯!””
She was huffing and puffing, then seemed to catch herself, embarrassed. Stomping toward the bars, she pressed her face against them.
“⋯⋯Hey. I kept my promise.”
“⋯⋯Thank you. I prayed every night—so hard. Maybe the Goddess finally heard me and granted my wish. So, uh, my sister can be fixed now, right⋯⋯?”
“Yeah. Crazy Wizard over here patched her up just fine. Now it’s your turn to walk out of here with all your limbs intact. Let’s go.”
“T-that’s a relief⋯⋯.”
The boy smiled. How could I describe that smile? It was a mixture of gratitude and overwhelming relief of being freed from his hardships. He stood and bowed repetitively.
Then, his eyes met mine.
Black hair. Red eyes. Two women standing by my side.
He must have remembered some of Evil God-chan’s dramatic, semi-true slanders—about Evil God-chan being my magical experiment or being harassed all over the body and stuff like that.
To confirm his suspicions, he asked cautiously.
“Are you… the Purple Magic Tower Master’s best student⋯⋯.”
“Yep, that’s me. Why?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
He was hesitating.
Even without using magic, it was obvious what thoughts were swirling in his mind. He was hesitating to ask ‘Please stop bullying Evil God-chan,’ or something similar along those lines.
But mixed with that was fear⋯⋯ What if saying that makes him angry and he curses my sister?
I crouched down to meet him at eye level, wearing a sly grin, the kind you’d expect from an unhinged wizard with maniac tastes.
“Yes. I did.”
“What?”
“Everything you’re imagining is absolutely true. Tonight, Evil God-chan will once again be a part of my magical experiments. So… is there anything you’d like to say?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
You⋯⋯ Would you have the guts to stand up for Evil God-chan, the one who saved you and your family?
“Hey, stop it!”
“Euack.”
Evil God-chan kicked me hard while I was squatting, clearly signaling me to stop teasing the kid. I dramatically collapsed to the ground.
“『Dragon Scale』.”
Crunnnnch. Creaaaak -!
Black scales formed over Evil God-chan’s arms as she grabbed the iron bars of the cell with both hands and exerted pressure. With an unsettling screech, the bars bent, creating a gap.
“Come out.”
“Ah, eung⋯⋯.”
The boy hesitantly crawled through the gap. Beauty Mark Gay, however, remained trapped inside, looking at the narrow gap with clear dismay. The gap was far too tight for him to pass through.
He glanced at us with a pleading expression, silently begging for help, but no one moved to help (Yuna wanted to, but aside from using Sublimation, she had no other way to bend the iron bars.)
In the end, he had no choice but to squeeze himself awkwardly through the narrow opening.
“Alright, now⋯⋯ Pink-Haired Lesbian, take these two and join up with the Senior group. Tower Master, Evil God-chan, and I will clean up here and catch up afterward.”
“We’re splitting up without a frontline?”
“With the Tower Master here, we’ll be fine. Besides, didn’t you say the max-level threat in this area was at the Metamorphosis stage?
“…Alright, I’ll head back. But you’d better make sure you don’t get even a single scratch. And⋯⋯ if you return unscathed, I’ll… I’ll tell you a dirty joke.”
Her voice grew faint and hesitant at the end, but I had already layered three spells over my ears and activated a recording spell, ensuring her words were etched into my memory forever.
Now this was life. With Pink-Haired Lesbian’s magical spell, I strode forward with a spring in my step.
“So it’s a no-hit clear, here we go!”
“⋯⋯ Pervert! Idiot!”
Yuna grumbled a little.
===============================================================
I suppose we could call this an underground temple.
The space was large enough to hold about thirty people. At the far end was a low platform, just ankle-height, upon which a gilded altar was placed.
Atop the altar was a plate made out of gold, brimming with what appeared to be the Goddess’s information in liquid form.
The chamber was dimly lit by scattered candles, but their faint light was unable to fully illuminate the darkness of the underground space. It was dark. Shadows shifted and danced with each flicker of the flames.
Ten priests knelt in prayer below the platform, their bodies bowed toward the golden plate. Standing on the platform was a figure who appeared to be their leader—a Skeleton Archbishop—presiding over the ritual.
“The day of our Goddess’s resurrection is close at hand. Very soon, my brethren.”
His ceremonial headdress was so ornate it looked like it was too heavy for his neck, and the stuff on his body was heavily adorned. Not a single piece of his clothing was free of gold.
Watching the priests bowing endlessly to the golden plate, I lost all desire to tease Evil God-chan. Did they need to decorate what they worshiped so lavishly? Was it so that others would look up to it in awe?
Surely, sacred indeed.
“Tsk.”
“Tchek.”
I clicked my tongue in disgust—but, strangely, I heard the sound of another failed tongue click at the exact same time.
Turning my head, I saw Evil God-chan also looking around, seemingly searching for the source of the sound.
Observing this interaction, Yuna sighed
“⋯⋯You two are so alike.”
“We’re not.”
“No, we’re not!”
How could we possibly be alike when she couldn’t even snap her fingers properly or click her tongue?
Our little commotion didn’t go unnoticed. One by one, the priests began turning their heads toward us. Even the Skeleton Archbishop shifted his gaze in our direction.
Our eyes met. His stare was sharper and more focused than I had anticipated. It wasn’t the cloudy gaze of a man consumed by delusion.
“Uninvited guests, I see. What business do you have here?”
“I need to retrieve the contents of that golden plate.”
“To covet the sacred artifact of our Goddess… How utterly blasphemous.”
“That is not the artifact of a Goddess. It’s the remnants of the Succubus Queen. If you weren’t aware, I’ll give you this one chance to surrender. Do so, and I might show mercy.”
The Archbishop’s response was firm.
“I know. The one who whispered to us every night wasn’t the broken Goddess, but her.”
“⋯⋯You knew? So, you knew the true identity of the Goddess’ impersonator and still chose to worship her? Were the dreams of pleasure so intoxicating that you willingly worshiped a Succubus as a Goddess?”
“Brother. Please do not insult my faith. My devotion to her stems from conviction, not indulgence. Unlike the broken Goddess, she carried a vision—a grand purpose.”
“The Goddess… is broken, huh?”
The Archbishop’s expression contorted with a mixture of sorrow and bitterness at my words, as though the weight of his fractured faith had wounded him.
Bang, bang, bang!
He pounded his fists against the altar repeatedly.
“Yes. The Goddess is broken. But the will of the heavens must reside above, where all can look up to it. Yet the Goddess failed to do so⋯⋯.”
“Hmm.”
“By contrast, look at Her. She aspired to ascend to the Goddess’s place, to tower above all creation. Such an exalted vision was worthy of our devotion.”
I recalled something the Queen had once said—according to Pink-Haired Lesbian, it was some nonsense about defying destiny and stuff. But despite those grand words⋯⋯.
What the Queen truly did was devour people repeatedly to satisfy her own hunger.
Her goal wasn’t to reshape fate or ascend for the good of others; it was a selfish desire for omnipotence—a throne to rule from and subjects to toy with. It was no better than Goddess, or maybe even worse.
And the Archbishop knew this. He knew the truth yet still worshipped her because of his disdain for the Goddess.
I reached a conclusion.
“You just⋯⋯ wanted to believe in something cool. You were drawn to the idea of having someone great and powerful to revere.”
“People like that aren’t even worth keeping as toys, Mima. They’re boring.”
He was disqualified as a human and had no use as a plaything either. I will dispose of you.
Chyarararack!
Evil God-chan stepped forward, her arms covered in dragon scales. I prepared a magic incantation. Yuna, too, slightly raised her finger.
At that moment, the Archbishop said something absurd.
“Even so, I still believe in the broken Goddess.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”
What kind of bullshit was this? He had insulted the Goddess to his heart’s content just moments ago, and now he…?
As I stared at him, dumbfounded, Evil God-chan tensed and issued a sharp warning.
“Hey, Mima. That guy knows something. He’s going to use Divine Power.”
“What? No, what?”
The Goddess wasn’t some naive fool. Why would she grant Divine Power to someone who insulted her right to her face? Not to mention, he had committed heresy and all kinds of stuff.
If I were the Goddess, I would have given him a divine judgment long ago.
Paaaat ──!
However, an overwhelming amount of Divine Power erupted from the Archbishop’s body.
“Inherited Metamorphosis(承繼羽化) - 『Cogwheel : Freeze』.”
“No, huh?!”
“How, how can he use it⋯⋯?!”
Both Yuna and I gasped in disbelief.
Behind the Archbishop, frosty-blue ice began to spread, branching out like the limbs of a tree. The air filled with the rhythmic ticking of cogwheels. This was unmistakably the power of the Goddess.
What in the world was this? It wasn’t like he was fooled like the corrupt Paladin. This was a man who had willingly switched sides to the Queen because he didn’t like Goddess—yet he could still wield Divine Power?
It was ridiculous.
If the heavens were so lenient, the Goddess’s religion would never have achieved such dominance. This could only mean one thing.
2. The Goddess was deteriorating—so broken that even hollow declarations of faith were enough to invoke her power.
***
https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken