Chapter 403: Grace of the False God (1)

The battle had ended. The Twilight forces led by Serati entered Fort Kasukent. As the commander of the allied forces and the one responsible for the fortress, Alius stepped forward to receive them.

The woman in crimson armor offered a graceful salute. "It has been a while, Alius."

Alius responded by making the sign of the holy cross. "We are grateful for your rescue, Sir Serati. Had it not been for your arrival, I do not know how much more blood would have been spilled."

Both of them spoke with unusual solemnity, maintaining strict decorum unlike their usual manner. They were representing their respective factions, and they had to conduct themselves accordingly before the gathered crowd.

Gesturing toward the central keep of the fortress, Alius continued. "Please, come inside first."

Serati, along with the Twilight leadership, namely Karnak and his companions, followed Alius into the keep. Watching this, the allied soldiers exchanged puzzled looks.

The Saint of Salvation and the Saintess of Twilight know each other?

Some among them nodded knowingly.

So the rumors were true. They said the Saintess of Twilight was originally a companion of the Evil-Slaying Mage.

If that was the case, it was hardly strange that they were acquainted. After all, the very reason Alius had become so famous in the first place was because he had traveled alongside Karnak. The only mystery was how the Evil-Slaying Mage had somehow become entangled with heretics like the Twilight Order.

Ignoring the suspicious glances from the surrounding soldiers, Alius, Serati, and Karnak's group entered the keep. The moment the surrounding attendants were dismissed, Alius's expression changed.

Glaring at Karnak, who stood behind Serati with a faint smile, he narrowed his eyes. "What in the world is going on here? Why has Sir Serati become the Saintess of Twilight?"

Serati gave a faint smile while recalling the events of several months ago. "Ah, well..."

***

How could they defeat Tesranach? The most certain method, of course, was for Karnak to kill himself quickly. However, that was a path he absolutely could not choose. Even Karnak himself acknowledged this.

"At present, I have no intention whatsoever of triggering temporal regression. Now that I know the remaining world would be destroyed."

But what about several decades later? One's thoughts could change very quickly, even in the time it took to use the washroom. After enduring decades of that numbing hell, could he truly maintain that same resolve?

"Of course not. I'm fickle enough as it is."

Then what if he temporarily gained the power of Astra Shunaph and later discarded it? The only way to abandon that power was through temporal regression. Once he returned to Astra Shunaph, there would be no other options left.

Thus, they had to find a way to surpass Tesranach while keeping Karnak alive. However, there was a problem with that solution.

"At present, he is both the dragon emperor and the Monarch of Death." Mentioning Tesranach, Grateria cast a glance toward Karnak. "We understand better than anyone what power the dragon emperor and the Monarch of Death possess—and what they are capable of."

"That much is true."

The former dragon emperor and the former Monarch of Death exchanged wry smiles. Surpassing Tesranach was impossible. There was simply no solution.

"Therefore, your objective must be this."

At the very least, they had to possess enough strength that they would not be helplessly driven away when standing before Tesranach. Only then would they be able to devise strategies or tactics and attempt a counterattack.

At Grateria's words, Karnak shook his head. "That is not as simple as it sounds."

If Karnak focused entirely on necromancy, strengthening himself until he could maintain his living body while regaining the power he had once possessed as Monarch of Death, would that be enough to face the current Tesranach?

He himself knew better than anyone that it would not. Because he had already tried.

"I was defeated even when he was just the dragon emperor. Now that he has obtained necromancy as well, how could the outcome be any different?"

Moreover, the enemy side now possessed martial kings and archmages at the height of their power. Leven Strauss, Dreltein Thelix, and Elezar de Reflasion, those they had barely managed to defeat before, had been resurrected.

Their return had become known as they devastated the world in their reappearance. Karnak's group had also confirmed the truth of those rumors through the Twilight Order.

Furthermore, Malican Thun, the last martial king, had also appeared, while the Martial King Beltia and Archmage Giyen Ren and Diogres Kolon remained alive and well.

And compared to them? Even if Leven, Drel, and Lapicel were fortunate enough to all become martial kings, and Varos reluctantly unleashed the full power he once possessed as a death knight lord, they would only have four warriors on the level of the martial king. Alongside them was merely a single weakened archmage, bound by physical limitations.

In short, this was their situation:

"We're supposed to fight a fully capable dragon emperor and Monarch of Death, along with martial kings and archmage in their prime... with weakened versions of a dragon emperor and Monarch of Death, along with inferior martial kings and an archmage. And we're outnumbered on top of that."

Varos frowned after hearing Karnak's explanation. "When you put it that way, it really does sound hopeless..."

Grateria nodded as well. "Indeed. It does seem hopeless."

Even so, he continued to ponder and scheme. He drew upon the wisdom and knowledge he accumulated over countless years, and even examined Tesranach's many past failures. The dragon emperor desperately searched for some way to overcome the situation.

Then, something suddenly came to mind. It wasn't absolutely necessary for them to grow their strength to reduce the gap between them and their enemy. The end result would be the same if the enemy grew weaker. In that case?

"I wonder. What if there existed a being that stood as Tesranach's opposite, one who could seize his power and oppose him?"

It was not an easy statement to grasp, and everyone looked puzzled.

Lapicel tilted her head and asked, "By opposite, do you mean Lord Karnak?"

"He is not the opposite." Grateria shot Karnak a sharp glare. "He is the root cause of everything, the source of all evil."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ah... yes."

"Well, that's true."

Even Karnak himself couldn't argue. "I certainly do belong in that category. Ahem."

Serati clicked her tongue inwardly. Honestly... he's admitting his own fault, so why does he still manage to sound so shameless when he says it?

In any case, Karnak was not the opposite of Tesranach, nor could he ever become one.

"Serati, child of mankind." The dragon emperor stared intently at the crimson-haired woman. "You are the one who stands as Tesranach's opposite."

Serati was not surprised. She had half expected something like this, judging from the flow of the conversation.

What she felt instead was curiosity.

She asked, "Why me, of all people?"

"The authority of the dragon emperor and the Monarch of Death that Tesranach possesses has been unified into what is called the Grace of the Black God. And in this world, there exists one other who uses a different grace."

"That's supposed to be me?"

"You must have some idea, don't you?"

Of course she did. In fact, far too many things came to mind. Serati was not so foolish that she had never questioned the ever-increasing strength of her physical abilities and the ever-growing reserves of her aura. But to call it a grace?

"Whose grace could it possibly be? It can't belong to some nonexistent Twilight Goddess."

Grateria smiled and asked in return, "Then does the Black God truly exist?"

"What? Tesranach is the Black God, isn't he?"

"In other words, I am asking whether he was ever truly a god."

Serati fell silent. The dragon emperor might be a godlike being, but he was certainly not an actual god.

"We should clarify this first." Instead, Karnak spoke up. "What exactly is this thing called grace?"

***

Grace: It was a form of power entirely different from the divine power wielded by priests. And to understand it, one first had to grasp the true nature of goddesses and faith.

People worshipped the seven goddesses. They were the Goddess of the Sun, the Goddess of the Moon, the Goddess of the Stars—and the goddesses of wind, water, sea, and earth.

"Have you ever found it strange?" Grateria suddenly asked. "Why are they goddesses?"

Drel responded with a question of his own. "Are you asking why there are no male gods?"

"It is a more fundamental question than that." The young dragon shook his head. "Why do gods have gender at all? Do gods bear offspring?"

Milia, being a priest, answered calmly. "Of course, gods are beings that transcend human understanding, so naturally they cannot possess gender."

This was already a long-standing theological discussion, one that had reached various conclusions over time. Thus, the answer came easily.

"They merely take the form of goddesses in order to approach those of us who stand below them. Men are beings who kill and destroy, while women are beings who give birth and nurture."

Grateria did not particularly deny Milia's explanation. "Yes, that is what theology teaches."

Then he quietly posed another question. "In other words, even theology teaches that the gender of the gods is determined according to humanity."

"That's not what I meant," retorted Milia.

"No, that is precisely what it means."

Milia's expression stiffened at Grateria's firm response. As a priest, she could not easily accept having her own teachings denied.

But the words that followed from the dragon emperor left her speechless. "A thousand years ago, humans did not worship the seven goddesses. Instead, they worshipped five gods under the name of the five great deities."

At that time, all the gods had been male, not female. This theological idea was based on the belief that men were the ones who ruled and governed the world, while women existed to support and assist them.

That belief had collapsed with the founding of the Lacania Empire, and a new religion had been born, the seven goddesses church.

"Do you understand? It means that human perception changes constantly with the times."

In fact, this phenomenon wasn't a change that was only seen in the distant past. The same thing was happening even in the present day. Did not the elven race worship their own god, Ta'al, instead of the seven goddesses? Yet divine power manifested for them just the same.

"It is only natural. Dragons and elves are ultimately the same as people. Even gods themselves change according to the perceptions of people."

"Human" referred to a single race, but "people" encompassed all beings capable of thought and communication. To begin with, the sun was simply the sun, the moon was simply the moon, and the stars were simply stars.

People could live because those celestial bodies existed, but it was not because the sun, moon, and stars actively did anything for them.

However, when people looked up at the heavens and prayed, when that faith accumulated again and again, consciousness formed within the flow of the world governed by the sun, moon, and stars.

"That is what a god is." Looking up at the night sky, Grateria spoke with solemn gravity. "It is the will of the world seeking to communicate with people."

Murmurs of confusion spread among the listeners.

"What does that mean?"

"Are you saying humans created the gods?"

As if he had expected such reactions, the dragon emperor continued his explanation. "I am not making such an arrogant claim."

Gods, as the vast providence governing the world, unquestionably existed. Gods, as the great will that sustained the world, unquestionably existed. They simply had no interest in humans.

People yearned to communicate with that transcendent will. But that immense providence was far too deep and vast to be perceived by mortal minds. Thus, they created channels of communication suited to mortal understanding, like the seven goddesses of humanity, or Ta'al of the fairies.

When enough people gathered enough faith, a channel of communication known as a god opened toward that transcendent will. What was happening now was exactly that.

"The Black God and the Twilight Goddess." Grateria looked straight into Serati's eyes. "They are not yet complete, but they are undoubtedly new channels of communication that have touched fragments of transcendent will."