Became the Patron of Villains

Alon frowned as he looked at the being with hundreds of pairs of wings.

‘Why is that thing here?’

Alon knew what it was.

There was no way he couldn’t.

He had faced it multiple times while playing Psychedelia.

The ‘Angel of Purity.’

That was the name when it first appeared in Psychedelia.

Later, when one actually plays through the boss fight, its real name is revealed.

‘The Seraph of Jealousy… why on earth is it here?’

Indeed, it was the Seraph of Jealousy.

Hiding its name to perfectly embody the sin of jealousy and draw both envy and reverence from all.

The most difficult opponent to deal with in Psychedelia.

Fragmented pieces of information flashed through his mind.

He was fully aware that the main storyline had already changed significantly due to the butterfly effect.

Even so, Alon found the appearance of the Seraph suspicious.

As far as he knew, the Seraph was supposed to appear—

Not here, but in Raksas, where Radan was.

However, Alon soon set that doubt aside.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts.

“M-My Lord? What was that you just said—?”

Alon turned his gaze toward Yutia.

Unlike usual, she somehow looked a bit uneasy.

Feeling a sense of doubt, Alon asked back,

“What do you mean?”

“That I don’t need to intervene—”

She seemed hesitant, as if she were walking on eggshells.

Just as Alon was pondering whether that statement was strange,

“Brother~!”

Yuman urgently called out to Alon.

Thinking that conversation could wait too, “Yutia, there’s something you need to do.”

He brought up the more pressing matter.

***

The moment Yuman saw Alon, he felt hope.

And not just him.

Every priest and holy knight present held a sense of anticipation at Alon’s appearance.

Some had not witnessed Alon’s power with their own eyes, but they had at least heard the rumors.

There were far too many rumors for it to be about a single person.

Each story read like an epic of a mythical hero.

And in response to that hope—

[Meow-]

A black cat perched on Alon’s shoulder murmured softly.

And at that moment,

“Assimilation.”

The words left Alon’s mouth.

At the same time—

Grin—

On the abyssal body, where there had been nothing just moments ago, eyes began to appear.

First one pair.

Then two.

Then four.

Then eight.

Before anyone realized, eyes rapidly sprouted along its tail and began to spread out like shadows.

■-!!!

As soon as the radiant beings sensed something strange and turned their gazes toward Alon—

“Spirit Tree.”

Thud!

Black thorns simultaneously pierced through the radiant beings.

The space, once filled with chaos, fell into silence.

The holy knight who had been shouting Sironia’s name in fear.

The priest who had wielded divine power to protect others.

All went silent as they stared.

As if the massacre just now had never happened.

The radiant beings dangled helplessly from the black tree, having lost their freedom.

“Ah—”

A gasp escaped someone’s lips.

A ripple spread through the silence.

One word passed through everyone’s mind.

Overwhelming.

No other word came to mind.

Purely and cleanly—

That word alone struck their minds like a bolt.

Then, as if synchronized, everyone turned their gaze in one direction.

They saw him.

A man with an indifferent expression, who had formed seals and wiped out the radiant beings in an instant.

Alon Palatio.

Eventually, when the Spirit Tree disappeared, the radiant beings hanging from it began to crash down to the ground one by one.

A gruesome sound accompanied by blooming blood-red flames.

The beings that had disturbed this cliffside were completely annihilated.

What remained was a single entity.

The Seraph of Jealousy, gazing loftily down at Alon with its massive eyes.

Hope filled everyone’s eyes.

“Attack—”

Just as a holy knight opened his mouth—

“Stop.”

The long-silent Alon cut in.

Just one word.

But it clearly reached everyone’s ears.

Confusion rose in their eyes.

“…Why, Brother?”

Yuman asked in a confused voice.

Everyone looked at Alon, clearly sharing the same question.

And Alon calmly responded.

“We cannot kill that thing.”

He made his declaration.

“…What do you mean?”

Yuman opened his mouth in disbelief,

But his question was cut off.

[You have an unsettling degree of insight.]

A sacred voice from the Seraph echoed.

Everyone’s eyes turned toward the Seraph once more.

[That’s right. I am not something you can harm simply because you wish to. I am not something you can erase simply because you desire it. All you can do is witness my birth.]

After declaring so proudly, it turned its massive body.

“That… that monster is heading for the capital—!”

It began to move toward Rosario.

Priests hastily summoned their divine power.

However—

“It’s no use.”

Alon’s words halted them once again, and their faces were painted with disbelief.

“Brother, are you saying we should just let that monster go to Rosario…!?”

Yuman protested strongly, but Alon remained silent.

If he had his way, he would’ve brought that thing down immediately.

Having played Psychedelia before, Alon knew well what the Seraph of Jealousy would do next.

If the sin of Sloth was known in Psychedelia as the epitome of grotesque cruelty—

Then the sin of Jealousy was infamous as the embodiment of genocide.

“Hoo—”

Alon steadied his breath.

Now, the memories were quite faint.

He forcibly dragged out fragments of the Seraph of Jealousy.

The Seraph of Jealousy.

This was, in fact, a stage just before it became the “Sin of Jealousy.”

The moment it moves toward a crowd and devours fear, reverence, and jealousy—

The Seraph of Jealousy undergoes metamorphosis and is born as a sin.

Some might find this puzzling.

How could anyone feel “reverence and jealousy” toward that thing?

However, that wasn’t a major issue.

Even if its appearance was monstrous—

Its ability implanted “reverence and jealousy” into those who felt “fear.”

Its sole purpose was to bring the Sin of Jealousy into the world.

If that were the only ability of the Seraph—

Alon wouldn’t have been forced to stand by like this.

He could have simply eliminated it before it did anything.

But the fundamental reason why Alon dared not act—

Was because of one of the Seraph’s other abilities: Inaction (無爲,).

Until it transformed into a sin, it had the power to nullify all attacks.

That’s why, in Psychedelia, for nearly 20 turns, only trash mobs like the radiant beings would appear, and the boss had a gimmick designed to help players prepare for the upcoming battle against the sin to be born.

Which meant—

They were now in a situation where they could do nothing but watch the mass slaughter unfold.

“Brother—!”

Yuman cried out desperately.

There were even priests who ignored Alon’s words and fired divine power at the Seraph.

But as expected, none of their attacks landed.

Not the holy knights’ swords.

Nor the priests’ spears.

Nor even the cardinals’ overwhelming divine powers.

Even Yuman’s fierce will to somehow stop the Seraph from reaching Rosario had no effect.

And then—

[Do not be afraid—]

When the Seraph of Jealousy finally reached the skies above Rosario, everyone’s faces were filled with dread.

[My children.]

The hope in their eyes flickered like a candle before the wind.

[I am the one who shall grant you enlightenment.]

A dreadful despair swallowed their hearts.

[All shall look up to me.]

A sin-like helplessness clutched their limbs like a vice.

In that fleeting moment—

Hundreds of grotesque wings twisted and broke all at once, heralding the birth of a new being.

The birth of a sin.

And then—

Shhhk—

Alon, who had waited only for this moment, moved.

“…Brother?”

Yuman, stunned by helplessness, mumbled blankly.

But Alon, turning his back to everyone’s gaze, calmly formed hand seals.

At the same time—

Water Thunder Seal.

Six Seals.

Lightning God.

It was unleashed as it was.

Alon stared ahead.

Hundreds of pairs of wings were being sucked into the creature’s massive eye.

Below it were citizens gazing at the sky in fear.

What was about to happen was obvious.

The moment the Sin of Jealousy was born, all those who felt fear and reverence—

Would be transformed into radiant beings.

And as if it were their destined mission, they would hunt humans.

Yes, in just a few seconds from now—

That’s why Alon had waited for this moment.

When everyone offered their reverence.

When the Seraph of Jealousy was preparing to be born as a sin.

This very moment, when it was no longer the Seraph but not yet a complete sin—

“Reverse Heaven.”

Was what he had been waiting for.

Fwoooosh—!!!

His body became engulfed in pure white radiance, and stars began to appear above his head.

One star marked a point.

Two stars formed a line.

Four lines formed a shape.

Eight, sixteen—

Countless stars drew a galaxy beneath the twilight sky.

“—”

Alon’s mind, overloaded in an instant, felt as though it would melt with heat.

His eyes became bloodshot.

His mana core, too small to withstand the endlessly generated magic power, relentlessly tormented his brain.

Yet even amid that—

Alon finished his analysis with a cool head.

‘My current spells won’t work.’

Alon admitted it plainly.

Even using Reverse Heaven—

Simply pouring mana recklessly into a spell would only widen the range, not increase its power.

Even if the sin was still incomplete.

Sins, by nature, were fundamentally unreasonable beings.

Alon’s spells, no matter how much mana he crammed into them, could only expand in area—not in destructive force.

So he recalled.

An idea that had first come from Penia—

‘So basically, the problem is that Marquis can’t control his mana, so he just floats it all up into the sky, right?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Then why not use that as a sort of “preparation”?’

‘Preparation…?’

‘Yes, obviously difficult spells would be too hard. But what about a simple 2nd-tier spell? You could fight with quantity. Instead of ejecting mana randomly, shape it in a certain way, and then fire those mana lumps in lines all at once—’

A line of magical exploration—

‘Hmm, for something implemented mid-development, it actually looks pretty promising… but Marquis, you must not use this recklessly, okay?’

‘Do you think there’s still a problem?’

‘In many ways, yes. First off, it’s incomplete, right? It’s also not quite what we originally intended. Most importantly, it’s way too unstable. Especially—never use it where there are lots of people!’

‘I understand that much.’

Just as she had worried in the flashback—

What Alon was about to use now was indeed unfinished.

Its effects could not be properly drawn out.

It was completely uncontrollable.

Even the spell chants and incantations had been crudely assembled.

Yet even so—

The moment he saw the Seraph of Jealousy with his own eyes,

And even asked Yutia to prepare in advance before casting the spell—

Was because even if it was incomplete—

Right now, he had no other choice.

And so—

Linked Calculation.

Four Seals.

Under the twilight sky—

Meteor Shower.

The galaxy began to fall.