Karon finally realized his foolishness.

Did he really think that the Black Fangs had someone in this world that he absolutely shouldn’t touch?

He should have known better.

No matter how dire the situation was and how much he had to maintain his power and reputation, he should have never touched that.

The moment he confirmed the gap between himself and the opponent, he should have given up everything and tried to stay alive.

But…

“Ahhh…”

Regret always comes when you can’t take back your mistakes.

That… was ravenously circling around Karon and devouring his divine power.

The massive power he had prepared for the showdown with the Black Fangs was being absorbed in an instant.

If that thing consumed all his divine power, the next target would be clear.

So, Karon struggled.

The exit was still so far away.

A terrible pain coursed through his entire body. The agony twisted Karon’s face into a mess.

Yet, he pushed on without stopping.

At this point, he didn’t need anything else.

Honor, wealth, authority.

All of it lost value before the crucial factor of survival.

He didn’t care about power.

All he wanted was to survive.

But… that thing seemed determined not to allow even that.

His head was spinning.

Just being close to it was eroding his mind.

Still, Karon gritted his teeth.

And… looked at his left arm.

He realized why that creature was pulling him in.

It was power.

That thing was greedily feasting on his divine power.

So to survive… he had to throw everything away.

The stigmas he had implanted from talented kids.

Proof of divine favor, markings that allowed him to perform miracles.

It was something he barely obtained, sacrificing hundreds for the harvesting process.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

The stigma within his psyche was slowly fading away. Karon forcibly separated the stigma from himself.

He desperately hoped that it would satisfy that thing and release him.

But…

“Is it still not enough…?”

He had given up his most potent power.

Even if he returned to reality, the power of the lost stigma wouldn’t come back.

After such a sacrifice, that thing still wouldn’t let him go.

An impulse surged.

The urge to throw everything away and sing a hymn to that thing right now.

Though he was currently protecting his mind with only his divine power, that too would soon reach its limit.

But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t die like this.

He had to live.

By any means necessary.

To do that… he had no choice but to discard everything.

To throw away all the power that thing craved and escape was the only way to stay alive.

Karon clenched his teeth again and relinquished all his divine power.

All the strength he had accumulated.

He dedicated all the power he had built up to rise to this cardinal position to that monster.

His energy began to weaken.

But still…

“Why…?”

That thing wouldn’t let go of Karon.

It was insufficient.

A mere step more would bring him to the exit.

There was an opening right before him to escape this hell.

One single step was all that was missing.

Karon’s face was painted with despair.

…He realized why this one step was lacking.

He had given up all his divine power.

Now Karon was just an ordinary human.

Yet, if there was still something left, what would it be?

Life.

That final sliver of his life was what that monster was greedily trying to consume.

“Ahhh…■■, I abandon my life as a non-believer and dedicate everything to you.”

His mouth moved of its own accord, spouting such words.

For some reason, a feeling of happiness surged within him.

The joy of submitting to that thing.

A smile appeared on his face, twisting into a manic grin that seemed ready to split apart.

Even though that existence wasn’t paying attention to him, just being near it sent Karon spiraling into madness.

Logical thought was dwindling—this was it.

Before long, Karon’s mind would completely break, and he would choose to merge with it.

In the end… the only decision he could make was one.

He let go of his 40 years of life.

That was enough for Karon’s hand to reach the door.

…His vision rapidly shifted.

Karon finally escaped that hellish space.

But……

There was no expression of survival-filled joy on his face.

Only an old, disheveled man could be found, tears streaming down, totally unrecognizable from his former self.

*

I sat on my bed, resting my chin in my hand, seriously contemplating one question.

“If I possess someone, whose sexual preferences do I inherit?”

… I know it’s a silly concern.

It’s much more useless than debating whether a sword or spear is stronger.

Yet I couldn’t stop this thought. Given my current situation, it felt only natural.

I’m sure,

If you dream of devouring a middle-aged man in his thirties, no one could help but ponder such things.

Especially if the dream involved a bizarre scenario where the man is sobbing alone while singing hymns and ends up transforming into an old man.

SM.

BL.

Cannibalism.

Grandfathers.

A blend of everything.

Deep in the abyss.

To be fair, most of the cannibalism stuff came from sucking up some liquid from grandpa, so it’s a bit ambiguous.

Though that makes it even more horrifying.

If it were just a normal man, I could shrug it off and think, “Ah, that’s just my body’s preference.”

But the idea that I keep licking delicious liquid that comes from some grandpa raises some serious questions about my taste.

Coming from an era where all preferences should be respected, I try to maintain an open mind.

But still, there’s a line here.

If this is the sexual preference of the body I’ve possessed, and my mind slowly becomes tainted by these bizarre perversions…

“I’m seriously losing it.”

Just imagining it is terrifying.

This is why I’m waking up from dreams with weird pleasures, lost in agony.

How the heck do I prove my purity when I’m stuck pondering bizarre nonsense?

Just at that moment, lost in such concerns and letting out a deep sigh…

“…?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded.

Before I knew it, a message window appeared right in front of my eyes.

[Conditions met; first change will proceed.]

[The absorbed divine power is substantial; the process will take some time.]

[Acquired the Stigma of the God of Light (Apostle level).]

[The level was too high; the level will drop.]

[…The level did not drop.]

[Investigating the reason…….].

[A modification has been performed on the acquired stigma to optimize for implantation.]

[With the change in the body, implantation of the stigma will also occur.]

[User is advised.]

[I am not your enemy.]

[Please follow your predetermined fate. It is impossible to save everyone.]

As always, dozens of messages flooded my screen in less than 0.01 seconds and disappeared in strange noise.

So I didn’t get any information.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting much anyway.”

It’s not surprising anymore.

This isn’t the first time.

If anything, it would be weirder if the status window was completely fine.

“Well, I guess I’m screwed today.”

The strange preference issue didn’t even linger in my head anymore.

But now, another problem came up.

Why did this pop up at this timing? Is it connected to that dream? There’s a lot to figure out.

Seems like today isn’t a day for a nice cozy sleep; the world was interrupting my rest.

I eventually got up from bed and turned on the lights.

What should I even investigate first?

No matter how much I thought about it, nothing clicked, but I couldn’t just leave it alone as something’s happening.

After some deliberation, I opened the status window again.

Right now, that was the only thing I could investigate.

‘Still the same.’

Since some time had passed, I thought it might have recovered a bit, but the status window was still broken.

Maybe something important would trigger it to repair?

That instinct kicked in, but for now, I was just wasting time.

As I was about to push the status window out of my sight…

I discovered something.

Among the broken letters, one was relatively intact.

I cautiously touched it.

And at that moment… a familiar but unfamiliar traits window popped up.

[■■’s Level]

[The qualification to stand above anyone else in this world.]

…Wait, was the original description like this?