Chapter 196: Contrast of Black and White (2)

In a small studio apartment, moonlight streamed through the window.

I lay next to Estasia, who was sound asleep, and stared at the screen of my smartphone.

New messages kept popping up on the phone I held in my hand.

Most of them were notifications of karma acquisition.

-Your karma increased by 2.

-Your karma increased by 16.

-Your karma increased by 4.

Ever since I ordered the war to begin for the cult’s followers,

I had been receiving a huge amount of karma, thanks to the 2x karma coupon I used.

It wasn’t fast enough to fill up a million karma in an instant, but it was still more than I ever dreamed of.

As I watched the countless messages of acquisition on the phone’s message box, I felt like I could understand why the war between the evil god and the six goddesses had been recurring periodically.

There was no better way to get a lot of karma than war.

“War…”

According to Aronia’s story, the confrontation between the six goddesses and the evil god had been going on endlessly even before I took over the role of the evil god.

And the god of regression was not a personality god who had a will from the start.

But there was a reason why both sides kept waging war.

As I looked at the screen, several reasons came to mind.

“It must have been to solve the problem of the ceiling.”

One was to make their opposition recognized by <The Ceiling of Karma>.

<The Ceiling of Karma> prevented any specific god from interfering too much with the world.

The gods, who were supposed to be the most perfect beings, were ironically unable to be complete on their own.

A god without an opposite point could not rule as a god.

“They also needed a way to get a large amount of karma steadily.”

Another was that the purpose was to increase the karma through war.

The anxiety and chaos that arose from the war would have increased the dependence of the believers on their faith, and as a result, the amount of karma that the goddesses received would have increased more than usual.

Moreover, as the war progressed, the growing cycle of life would have brought them a huge benefit of karma.

No matter how I thought about it, there seemed to be no reason for the goddesses not to wage war periodically.

“The goddess of harmony must be trying to put me in her place.”

In that situation, the goddess of harmony decided to pull down all the other goddesses.

The huge benefit that would result from the confrontation of the two gods, she and I, who had become gods by obtaining the divinity of the evil god, would share it.

And from there, she took one step further and tried to rule as a god on Earth, where I lived.

She was trying to push me into the abyss of war that would never end.

-A high level of <Causality Adjustment> occurred.

-A high level of <Causality Adjustment> occurred.

-A high level of <Causality Adjustment> occurred.

It was not a good story for me.

The only reason I was still alive was because Estelle chose me, and I, who was nothing but a human, was gaining divinity thanks to her.

From the perspective of profit or loss, it was a story that had nothing bad for me.

If I turned my eyes away from the stories of the people who died in front of me and the people I killed with my own hands, I could end everything with that.

“But… I don’t like being pushed around.”

Still, I didn’t want to compromise with the comfort in front of me.

From the moment I declared to fight against Estasia, I decided not to run away anymore.

So if I had to choose, it had to be a way that I could hit Estelle hard.

That was why I asked Aronia to investigate the goddess of harmony.

“How would a goddess who was born high up know the mind of a humble human?”

And in the process, I found one hint that could reach her.

The vessel that the heavenly goddess chose to contain herself.

The weapon that the heavenly goddess forged with the help of a great power.

At the moment when these two things miraculously fit together, my plan would shine.

Ever since I touched <The Ceiling of Karma>, I had been studying nothing but that.

-A high level of <Causality Adjustment> occurred.

-Due to <Causality Adjustment>, [Divine Weapon: Ascalon] was released by one level.

How to kill a divinity.

More precisely, how to detach the connection of divinity from <The Ceiling of Karma>.

Until now, I had been sharpening a sharp blade for that purpose alone.

So, the conclusion I came to after going through all that was only one.

“I’ll kill the goddess of harmony as soon as she descends.”

I borrow the power of a god to reach a god.

From now on, I was going to start an underdog’s rebellion that would topple the one at the peak.

***

Arien Crost.

The hero of knowledge of the past and the unparalleled genius born by the continent looked up at the sky.

Beyond the darkened sky, the army of the evil god was approaching.

And leading them was a fortress wrapped in a thick shield.

Arien raised his hand at the sight of its enormous size, which looked extraordinary even to the naked eye.

“I’m not sure if it’s possible to shoot it down.”

The size of the fortress detected by Arien’s senses was comparable to the legendary aerial garden used by the queen of the fairy race.

It would not be easy to knock it off its orbit with any ordinary attack.

To shoot down such a thing, he had to fire an attack with an incredible power.

But unfortunately, it was impossible for Arien now.

If he had been the hero of knowledge, he would have drawn out infinite magic and tried to attack, but Arien Crost now was nothing but a ghost who had lost his hero’s power.

“But I can’t let it roam around freely.”

He couldn’t let such a fortress fly over the holy land freely either.

Even if he couldn’t shoot down the fortress, he could at least reduce some of the evil god’s army in it.

Arien began to prepare a magic to make a small hole in the fortress’s shield.

If he added this to an attack magic with increased penetration power, those who were drifting in the air would feel threatened and show some reaction.

“——Blaze.”

Many magic circles began to rise around Arien, who started to raise his magic.

The light magic circles engraved in the air reacted with other magic circles, and soon they mixed together and created a large magic circle.

Behind the flames, new flames were added.

In front of those flames, a hot flame magic condensed to pierce through the path.

As several magics overlapped and created a new magic, something was detected by Arien’s senses, who was preparing magic.

“What is this…”

“Arien Crost!”

Someone began to show up from beyond the darkened sky.

Arien’s eyes, which adjusted his vision with magic, confirmed the identity of the target.

There was a man with an ordinary appearance, wearing a black cloak fluttering in the air, descending toward the ground.

The man had two swords of contrasting colors hanging on his waist.

A white holy sword. And a divine weapon of evil god.

Arien could easily guess who he was.

“A fallen hero.”

Apostle Peter.

He was an apostle of the cult who had fallen to the evil god’s temptation.

Seeing the apostle in front of him, Arien twisted the trajectory of his magic.

Ziiiiing.

The magic aimed at Peter began to spread condensed flames.

“——Blaze.”

Kwaang!

The magic that left Arien’s hand exploded with a huge shockwave and went on.

It was a fire magic that had several layers overlapped and shot at Peter.

No matter how much he was an apostle, he wouldn’t be fine if he was hit directly by that magic.

Peter, who was descending toward the ground, drew out a white holy sword as soon as he saw the flying magic.

“——O Goddess!”

Paaat—!

A light burst out from the white holy sword that Peter drew, and soon the flames of the magic that Arien had fired subsided.

The white holy sword that weakened the magic showed its power.

Using the holy sword to weaken the magic, Peter blocked the flying magic with his cloak.

Bang!

The magic that Arien fired showed much weaker output than expected and exploded in the air.

Arien frowned as he saw Peter, who was landing on the ground with smoke on his head, and prepared to greet him.

“······You still insult the goddess.”

“Arien Crost! The apostle of the evil god is here······!”

Peter, who shouted at him with a confident voice, still did not hesitate to blaspheme against the goddess.

It was an attitude that often seen by heretics who had not grown up with proper education.

After all, it was foolish to hope for a proper mind from someone who had rejected the glorious position of a hero.

Flap.

Peter turned back his fluttering cloak and landed on the ground with the power of the evil god.

His hair, which had descended through the darkness and landed on the ground, was severely tangled.

“You wicked servant of the evil god. Do you have no intelligence?”

Arien opened his mouth as he looked at Peter who had landed in front of him.

He was a bastard who brazenly called out the name of the goddess while serving the evil god.

He had already faced him once before, but it was a very horrible feeling to see the traitor who had abandoned his hero’s position again.

It would have been over at that place if the evil god had not intervened.

If that had happened, he wouldn’t have to face this unlucky face again.

“······.”

“Seeing that you’re keeping your mouth shut, you seem to understand your place somewhat.”

Despite being insulted in front of him, Peter was just quietly pointing his sword at him.

I expected him to rush at me in excitement, but surprisingly, Peter looked very calm.

He seemed to be aware of his own shortcomings, no matter how incompetent he was.

As I was about to say one more thing to Peter, who was quietly standing there, he opened his mouth first.

“No. A man speaks with his sword.”

With that, Peter drew his sword from his waist.

Clank.

The dark sword that came out of the scabbard was gripped by Peter’s empty hand.

A white holy sword. And a black evil sword.

The apostle of the evil god, who held two swords that did not harmonize with each other, pointed his sword at me.

“······.”

A man speaks with his sword.

It was an old saying that was passed down among the mercenaries.

I quietly repeated Peter’s words in my head and looked at my hand.

There was no sword in the hand of a magician like me.

On the other hand, Peter had two swords in his hands.

His intention was clear through that.

“What are you doing standing there? I told you a man speaks with his sword. Or are you not a man?”

Snicker.

I clenched the air quietly as Peter sneered at me.