Chapter 190: The Beginning of Heaven and Earth (4)

-I used <Tempest>.

-My karma increased by 1.

-My karma increased by 1.

-My karma increased by 1.

Beyond the smartphone where a fierce battle was raging, I watched the characters on the screen with clenched lips.

As soon as the angels who came to the cult launched their attack,

I realized that the enemies had ambushed us while the cult was empty, and I tried to intervene in the game and stop their invasion.

Even though most of them had left for the battle, there were still many believers in the cult.

I couldn’t lose all the members of the cult here, including Roan.

-“Don’t be afraid! The Great One is with us!”

-“——Lightning Storm!”

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who joined the battle.

Roan, who shared my magic through <Divine Response Device>, was fighting at the front line and performing miracles.

[Dark Beast: Beta], who had been Roan’s long-time companion, also showed his struggle to barely fend off the enemies on the battlefield.

Beta had shown an incredible power against the soldiers, but he had his limits against the angels.

Most of the flying angels were out of Beta’s attack range.

“······Pluto.”

And in the midst of such a battlefield, there was a character who shone more than anyone else.

The Third Apostle, Pluto Astraia.

She had changed into a never-before-seen appearance and was fighting against the angels in the sky.

Pluto, who wore a red crown on her head, let out a rough breath every time she exhaled.

-“Don’t ruin what I like.”

It was a splendid sight that suited her name as a progenitor.

Anyone who faced her would be impressed by her beauty and charisma.

Unless they only looked at the grotesque shapes on the floor.

-“No one… will touch what’s mine.”

She was showing an incredible achievement that matched her appearance.

Every time Pluto swung her arm, spikes of blood pierced through the angels.

Even the angels who moved quickly to avoid the spikes were caught in Pluto’s bloody wings and had their necks snapped.

As she repeated the same words and slaughtered the angels, some of them flinched and backed away.

“Is this the progenitor of vampires?”

I saw Pluto in a way I had never seen before.

Yet, she shone brighter than ever in front of me.

She flew around the battlefield with a desperate face, eliminating the enemies she saw one by one.

One. And another one.

There were countless numbers of angels lined up in the sky, but Pluto never gave up and erased them one by one.

“The apostle is doing so well, there’s no way the author who calls himself God is losing.”

I felt a bit moved by Pluto’s actions.

Click.

I raised my finger and touched the skill icon, then shot one skill after another at the enemies on the battlefield.

As my finger drew in the air, countless numbers of enemies disappeared.

The feeling of countless lives disappearing at my finger was not something that touched my heart directly, unfortunately.

-I used <Lightning Storm>.

-My karma increased by 1.

-My karma increased by 1.

With a loud noise, the angels fell to the ground.

The angels that collided with the ground turned into ashes and scattered, and the angels that hid their appearance were converted into karma.

In the midst of flames and light, where they killed each other,

I felt something strange when a lot of time had passed since the battle started.

-<Karma’s Voice> converts [Reverse Dragon: Naias]’s activity into your causality rate.

Suddenly, a new message popped up at the bottom of my smartphone, and a huge body was revealed as one of the buildings of the cult collapsed.

Crash!

The huge dragon that tore apart the wooden wall showed itself.

The dragon wrapped in darkness flashed its red eyes and glared at the angels.

I couldn’t help but be surprised by the dragon that suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

“Reverse Dragon…?”

The characters that belonged to <Karma’s Voice> all had one thing in common: they were my subordinates.

The apostle Pluto.

The dark beast Alpha.

The king of the undead Arcrosis.

They were all beings that belonged to me through the game system.

And now, there was someone who belonged to me unintentionally in front of my eyes.

[Reverse Dragon: Naias].

It was the first time I saw the shape of a dragon wrapped in darkness.

“Could it be… Estelle’s doing?”

That was the only thing I could doubt about Naias’s appearance.

Estelle’s intervention.

If she wanted the apostles to turn the holy land upside down, it wouldn’t be strange if she did something to help me.

For example, forcing unwanted support on me.

As if to prove it, the dark dragon spat out incomprehensible words and moved toward the angels.

Kwaaaaa——!

A jet of black light from the dragon’s mouth swept away the angels in the sky.

He didn’t seem to be in a rational state, but his strength against the angels was not something to laugh at.

I tried to guess Estelle’s purpose as I watched Naias fight against the angels.

“Why did she intervene? To prevent the cult from collapsing?”

My power would only weaken if the cult’s headquarters collapsed.

Estelle wouldn’t welcome that situation either.

So it was possible that she supported me in this way.

“Or is it to trigger causality adjustment?”

But there was always a backlash to extreme support.

<Karma’s Voice> always gave a fair price for the movements in the game.

If Estelle used her power to give me more strength, she would have to pay for it herself.

The fact that my smartphone’s power had grown stronger meant that something had changed for me.

I frowned as I felt something unpleasant digging into my head as [Artifact: Smartphone] grew rapidly.

“Did they both aim for this?”

—This is all for creating a new god.

I felt like I could understand Estelle’s words a little bit now.

***

Crossbridge, the Temple of Harmony.

There, Paladin Oren looked at the Saintess of Harmony with a troubled eye.

The Saintess of Harmony in Oren’s sight had her eyelids tightly closed.

She was Laiteria, who had lived without her eyes since birth.

It was not strange that Laiteria closed her eyelids even without praying.

“Laiteria.”

“Yes.”

But because of that, Oren was in a situation where he had to doubt the saintess in front of him.

It had been a long time since Highpride II ordered the imprisonment of Laiteria, the Saintess of Harmony.

And during that time, Oren, the blue holy sword, had faithfully performed his duty.

While under Oren’s watch, Laiteria had never shown any suspicious behavior.

Except for what happened yesterday.

“I don’t want to doubt you.”

“Why? Did I do something suspicious?”

Looking at Laiteria who asked calmly with her eyes closed, Oren sighed deeply with mixed emotions.

Yesterday afternoon, Oren had lost sight of the Saintess of Harmony for a moment.

And after that, Laiteria didn’t show up in Oren’s sight for a long time.

She showed herself after some more time passed, but she tried to pass it off as a simple prank.

He couldn’t ask for more details at the time because of his confused mind, but it was not something to be dismissed as a simple prank.

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

So Oren decided to ask Laiteria directly.

When Oren asked her about what happened yesterday, Laiteria gave him a playful smile.

It was an expression that didn’t match her innocent face.

“Are you still holding on to the prank I did yesterday?”

“I don’t think it’s possible for a saintess who can’t see to do such a cruel prank. Did you get a miracle that made you see?”

“If I got such a miracle, I would have told you first.”

“Would you tell me instead of the hero of harmony?”

Oren belonged to the holy land, but he was not part of the Temple of Harmony.

He didn’t think Laiteria would have any favor for him who was watching her.

As Oren looked at her and spoke, Laiteria moved her legs and answered him while sitting on a chair.

“I would like to tell Naias first if possible. But you guys have him captured, don’t you?”

“She betrayed the holy land. Of course, so did you.”

“I didn’t betray.”

Laiteria lowered her head and denied his words.

“Then why did you help the cult?”

“Because it’s God’s will. You know what’s most important for us clerics, don’t you?”

Laiteria had only one reason for her betrayal.

Faith.

In front of the great revelation that only the saintess could receive, it was meaningless for a mere paladin to argue.

So Oren brought up a more essential question.

“Did God betray the holy land?”

It would have been blasphemy to say it out loud normally.

But Oren had some kind of certainty about Laiteria and spoke his mind without hesitation.

Laiteria answered him with a still playful voice after hearing his words.

“That’s a remark that deserves a trial for blasphemy. Do you think a mere human can judge God’s will?”

“If not, how can you explain the betrayal of the hero and the saintess?”

“Oren. If you keep crossing the line, you’ll be in trouble.”

“The one who is doing something dangerous is not me.”

Thump.

Oren approached the saintess and grabbed his holy sword at his waist as he spoke.

Was it because they kept talking about God?

Laiteria couldn’t stay still anymore, and she warned him with a serious face.

“Oren, I warned you. Don’t insult God anymore…”

“You are abandoning humanity.”

“Oren? What are you talking about?”

“Saintess Laiteria. Who was inside you that day?”

Oren glared at Laiteria’s closed eyelids.

He felt like he could see the pupils stained black behind her eyelids.

The dark and deep black eyes that were staring at him even though they couldn’t see.

“Why did you abandon humanity?”