Fourth Prince's Debauchery

Terese Quintin, the Goddess of Order and Lightning.

She is the strongest human goddess, and one of the strongest gods of this world.

As the goddess of the Church of Order, whose headquarters are located in the capital of the empire, it's obvious the goddess pays attention to everything that happens in the capital.

Thus, how can she fail to notice a commotion like this?

I looked up at the sky. My gaze pierced the clouds, meeting with the goddess's gaze and communicating her my intentions.

"We need to talk."

The goddess did not reply. Instead, her will descended on the academy, taking the form of a beautiful translucid gray-haired woman.

[Do speak.] She spoke up, her voice full of authority.

The goddess's arrival startled the others. Fearing she was another enemy, Evelyn, Katherine, Dina, and the others got ready to fight.

But I waved my hand.

"Stop, she is a friend." Then, ignoring the gazes of curiosity of them, I smirked to the goddess. "Long time no see you."

The goddess wrinkled her brows. Her gaze then moved through the academy, roaming pass the thousands of dead bodies and finally pausing on Ysnay and me.

[Explain. What happened here.]

I raised an eyebrow amusedly. "Don't you know most of it already? You were observing everything since the start, didn't you?"

The goddess did not deny my words.

Instead, she narrowed her eyes and asked something.

[… The man that caused this, who is him? And what is an Immortal? Even more important… What are you?]

I narrowed my eyes and smiled slightly.

In fact, I was expecting these questions.

In fact, I could feel Dina, Katherine, Rose, Daisy, and the others perking up their ears to hear my answer.

Today's happenings had caused too many doubts in them. In fact, my sister, Dina, felt as though she did not know who I was anymore.

Her little brother had suddenly become unbelievably powerful, and the woman that supposedly was his teacher suddenly told her she was not worthy of him.

It was obvious she was confused.

It was a bit better for Daisy, Evelyn, and Alice, who knew a bit more about the situation, but the others felt too confused. They wanted an answer to their questions. They needed an answer.

Well, there is no problem telling them.

Most of the people here are my women, so they eventually will learn about this. Of course, I don't plan to tell them everything at once, but there is no problem if they learn a little bit about it.

As for the goddess, since the moment I allied with her, I have been planning to use her in the battle against the Immortal. I don't mind telling her a bit either.

The truth is, a god as the goddess will not be very useful in the battle against the Immortal, but perhaps her cooperation will give me a very small advantage.

And when battling an Immortal, even the slightest advantage can change the situation completely.

I weighed my options briefly before deciding to tell them a bit of the truth.

"… Immortals, huh… They are nothing good. A bunch of undying and pitiful people that wander the universe causing destruction and chaos. Just like the man that appeared just a moment ago. This time he killed millions of people, and if we don't stop him, he will destroy the world."

"Destroy the world!?"

"Wha-What are you talking about!?"

"Brother!?"

My words caused a shock in several people. Even the goddess was surprised.

But as a goddess, her mental strength was much greater than normal people. She recovered from her shock quickly and narrowed her eyes.

[Do you mean that man is trying to destroy this world?]

"… You should have already felt it, don't you? As a god, you should have felt the world's fear."

The goddess was startled. Then, realization flashed in her face.

[So it's what that means… Certainly, I have felt something strange about the world recently... But I don't understand, how can he be so strong? No, how can you be so strong? I'm sure you are not a god… Perhaps, are you a god that escaped from the shackles of the world?]

"I told you once, I'm not a god, and I'm not planning to be one." I shrugged my shoulders. "Mmm… You can think of me as a guardian of the world. As for the rest, I'm sorry, but our relationship is not close enough for me to tell you."

The goddess narrowed her eyes but she did not insist. However, she was inwardly thinking about a lot of things.

Mainly my news about the destruction of the world.

In fact, she did not trust my words completely. Even when I talked about the world's fear, she did not think it was conclusive evidence.

Even so, she saw how that man killed millions of people without batting an eye. For someone to do something like that, he was obviously very evil.

Taking that into account, my claim about him planning to destroy the world made much more sense.

After waiting for the goddess to process my words, I spoke up again.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, goddess. But if you want to continue living, you will eventually have to fight against him."

[... I'll think about it.]

"It's your choice. Anyway, goddess, I need your help with something."

[Mm?]

I looked around, signaling the two thousand dead bodies. The goddess nodded in understanding and sighed. [I understand. Don't worry, I know what to do. We are allies after all. Before that, though, I want to ask you something?]

"Mm?"

[The world's shackles… Do you know how to escape them?]

I narrowed my eyes. The world's shackles.

The law that binds the gods to the world after they achieve godhood.

Gods are pretty powerful. The strongest of them car reach to be as powerful as weaker Immortals. But there is a reason Immortals consider them watchdogs.

No matter how much they try, they can't escape the binding of the world's laws. For them, the world is a prison.

Plus, after someone becomes a god, his consciousness is slowly assimilated by the world's laws, until that person becomes nothing more than a part of the laws.

Due to that reason, each and every god desires to escape the world's shackles more than anything.

And in fact, I know of a method to escape.

But–

"I know how to. But you will have to become a mortal again, and you will lose most of your strength. Plus, you can never be a god again after that. If you don't mind that, I can help you to escape the shackles." I said with a soft smirk.

The goddess looked at me fixedly before nodding.

[… I'll think about that.]

Then, she disappeared.

When she was gone, I narrowed my eyes. Is she thinking of making a move soon?

If I'm not wrong, the current she is almost unable to resist the assimilation of the world's laws. Perhaps she can only resist twenty or thirty years more.

And if I guessed correctly, she is planning to use my fiancée, Clara, to gain more time.

… Mm, should I kill her after all? Although it will be a shame to lose a piece I can use against the Immortal, perhaps I can find a way to replace her before the Immortal arrives in this world.

I need to think more about this idea.

While I was lost in my thoughts, someone spoke up hesitantly.

"Mm... C-Claus, w-was that the Goddess of Order?"

I looked at Katherine's disbelieving expression and chuckled.

"Your man is amazing, right?"

Headmistress Evelyn rolled her eyes exasperated.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to tease them.

Suddenly, several powerhouses arrived at the academy, led by a beyond-twelfth-layer practitioner.

"Prince Claus, Princess Dina, Headmistress Evelyn, you have been summoned by the emperor. He hopes you can give him a satisfactory answer for the thousands of deaths that occurred just now."

Oh? They know about the deaths already?

I was aware we could not hide it (Unless Ysnay used her abilities), and it's normal if the emperor tries to use this opportunity to get rid of us. But he acted a bit too fast. In fact, he should have not learned about the deaths yet.

In other words, someone that witnessed everything told him.

There is a spy in the academy.

Well, it's not something we can stop. Even if we kill all the spies today, more will appear tomorrow.

I curved my lips up in amusement. After fighting the Immortal, I'm in the mood to face-slap someone.

I used my eyes to tell Dina that everything was alright and nodded to Evelyn.

"We will go with you," I said to the beyond-twelfth-layer powerhouse.

"Very well, follow me. Also, bring your master, Miss Ysnay with you."

…

Meanwhile, In the church.

An oracle of the goddess suddenly descended on the saintess, the pope, and the archbishops.

The content of the oracle was the following.

[Send someone to the palace. Tell the emperor that today's deaths were unavoidable, and the church will take responsibility for them. I will give you more information soon. Also, start the preparations for the Holy Daughter. I fear a great danger approaching this world, and the Holy Daughter will be necessary if we want to face it. Make sure to keep the preparations a secret, though. It will be bad if one of our enemies takes advantage of this opportunity to attack.]

"""Understood. Mother Goddess.""" The Pope, the saintess, and the archbishops bowed.

Unbeknownst to the goddess, though, Safelia had a troubled expression on her face.

Because she knew that this secret was soon going to be known to him.