Free Web NovelChapter 229: The Spider and the Empress (6)
Flabbergasted, I stared at him. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
A demon, no, an Archbishop, was claiming that his goal was to stop the resurrection of the Demon God? That was like the Saintess of the Seven Star Church declaring her mission was to kill the Seven Gods.
Mephisto bit down on his lip. “Do you... even understand what the Demon God truly is? He is no savior who grants the wishes of demons, nor a guide who will lead us to paradise.”
I already knew that the Demon God didn’t save anyone. He didn’t enlighten anyone. He simply destroyed everything.
Mephisto continued, “The Demon God is a calamity who seeks only to burn every living thing in this world.”
It was exactly as Mephisto said. The Demon God wasn’t a god. He was just a catastrophe that dragged the world into ruin.
The real question was how did Mephisto know that. Like any religion, the Demon Cult had unwavering faith in its deity. And that was expected of them. With the Demon God’s soul stigmata carved into their chests, they were destined to hide from heroes for their entire lives unless they revived him and created a world for demons.
“Should an Archbishop be saying something like that?” I said.
“It’s because I am an Archbishop that I can say it. Had I been an ordinary demon, I would never have reached the truth.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Fine. Let’s say that’s true. But do you think that means I’ll trust you?”
He was a demon and one of the six Archbishops. He was the Archbishop of Depravity, the one most skilled in deception and manipulation.
“That’s....”
“Considering what you’ve done, not only do I not trust you, I could kill you right here, and you’d have no right to complain.”
Mephisto had tried to change Yurina’s soul stigmata into the stigmata of the Sun. And he was the one who had tried to turn Laneige into a witch. It hadn’t happened in this life yet, but in my previous life, Mephisto had tried to inflict terrible things upon the people precious to me.
And now he was claiming that was all to stop the Demon God’s resurrection? That was absurd. What did changing Yurina’s soul stigmata or corrupting Laneige have to do with preventing the Demon God’s revival?
Suddenly, a thought flashed across my mind. In my past life, after Mephisto changed Yurina’s soul stigmata, he never actually did anything to her.
Even though I had seen in the Helios household basement that Mephisto possessed the power to turn heroes into puppets, he never laid a hand on Yurina afterward. He changed her soul stigmata, then simply left her alone. If that was because he wanted to prevent the Demon God’s resurrection, then it made sense.
Then did Mephisto try to change Yurina’s soul stigmata to create a successor to the Knight of the Sun?
In this life, Yurina retained the soul stigmata of the Moon and gained far greater power than before, but that was only because of how things turned out. Normally, as with her mother, one would assume the true successor of the Knight of the Sun needed the soul stigmata of the Sun.
So, did Mephisto intend to create a descendant of Reynald Helios, the man who once sealed the Demon God, to prevent the Demon God’s resurrection?
I stared at Mephisto, stunned. No, that alone wasn’t enough. What about Laneige?
A soft breath escaped my lips. “Ah.”
Laneige Mariam, the future Witch of the Night, slaughtered indiscriminately, whether hero or demon, when she lost control of the Blessing of the Frost. In my previous life, the Demon God revival plan had nearly failed because of her. If that was intentional from the start, if Mephisto brought Laneige to the demon side not to gain a strong ally, but to shove an unpredictable bomb into their own ranks, then it made sense.
“This insane bastard,” I muttered.
It was as if the scattered puzzle pieces finally aligned. The truth behind the Archbishop shrouded in the most mystery, the Archbishop of Depravity, was almost laughably simple.
“Why... did you betray the demons?” I asked.
Mephisto’s lips tightened before he spoke, voice heavy. “Because there is someone I must protect. No matter the cost, even if I give everything.”
“That Serpente woman, the demon girl?”
“That’s....”
“What exactly is she to you?”
Mephisto kept quiet.
“Hahhh! Forget it.” I clicked my tongue and turned away. “I’m not trusting you. Not yet.”
Yes, the pieces fit together. But that wasn’t enough. A demon Archbishop wasn’t someone to be so easily trusted because something sounded reasonable.
“And I’m not interested in becoming your ally,” I added.
The saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” was a common belief. But in reality, most of the time, the enemy of one’s enemy was just another enemy. Mephisto was no different. Even if we shared the goal of stopping the Demon God’s resurrection, I couldn’t consider him a comrade.
“But for now, I need your information,” I said.
“Temporary cooperation, then?” Mephisto replied.
I nodded. “Let’s call it that.”
I looked down at the corpses of the Apostles of Ruin. “What were they doing here?”
“They were preparing to assassinate Empress Camellia. They intended to strike at the heart of the Empire and plunge the continent into war.”
An assassination plot?
“With just these men?”
Yes, the Apostles of Ruin were unnaturally powerful compared to the other Archbishops’ followers. Even though they were ordinary apostles, not even bishop-class, they had nearly overwhelmed Mephisto and the Church of Eternity. Yet, no matter how strong they were, Empress Camellia was an existence far beyond common sense.
“The Empress isn’t the kind of hero who’d be taken down so easily. They should know that much, shouldn’t they?”
She was a Demigod capable of standing against the powers of the Seven Gods themselves. Even if the Archbishop of Ruin came in person, predicting an easy victory would be impossible. So, how were they planning to assassinate her?
“They planned to use an Ember,” Mephisto explained.
“An Ember?”
“Yes. They intended to kindle an Ember of Ruin beneath the palace and use its power to neutralize the Empress’s Blessing.”
An Ember of Ruin? And they planned to use it to nullify her Blessing? As far as I know, the only thing capable of neutralizing a blessing is the Primordial Flame...
I realized it. “Ah! So, that’s what it was...”
Why had it taken me this long to realize it? In my previous life, at the scene of Camellia’s murder, there had been no trace of her Blessing being activated. It meant that the Blessing of the Seven Stars had been disabled for some unknown reason.
Only the Primordial Flame could nullify a Blessing’s power. Therefore, the reason the Empress had died without even being able to invoke her protection was the Primordial Ember. Mephisto had called it the Ember of Ruin, but given the situation, it was merely a different name for the same thing.
Mephisto was confused by my reaction. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. Anyway, we just need to find this Ember and extinguish it, right?”
“Yes. And if we don’t do it now, while it’s only just been lit, it will be too late. Once the Ember grows, unless you become the Avatar of the Demon God himself, you won’t be able to put it out.”
“Well, that explains why you’ve been pacing around like a dog desperate to take a shit.”
Mephisto didn’t respond to the jab.
“So? Where exactly is this Ember?” I asked.
Mephisto shook his head. “I don’t know. We are certain it has ignited somewhere beneath the Imperial Palace, but we were still searching for its exact location.”
“And that’s when the Apostles of Ruin ambushed you?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
I more or less understood the situation and what I needed to do next.
“You stay put here. I’ll go extinguish that Ember,” I said.
Mephisto asked with doubt, “By yourself?”
“Well, technically with the two of us.”
I looked back at Professor Baldwin. She had followed me into the fight against the Apostles of Ruin and was now panting, exhaustion etched on her face.
“You won’t be able to find it using her Blessing of Insight alone,” Mephisto warned.
“That’s for us to figure out.”
I glanced at him and at the fallen members of the Church of Eternity, all of whom lay collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath. “Don’t go anywhere. I still have plenty to ask you.”
Of course, they weren’t going to obediently stay put. But there was no helping it. Stopping the Primordial Ember came first. Leaving Mephisto and the Church of Eternity behind, I returned to Professor Baldwin.
Seeing her pant, I asked, “Are you alright, Professor?”
“Whew! I’m fine.” She examined me anxiously, eyes scanning for wounds. “More importantly, you’re not injured anywhere, are you?”
“I’m perfectly fine,” I replied.
She let out a relieved sigh. “Good.”
Narrowing her eyes, she then asked, “Okay. How do you intend to find the Ember?”
“You were listening?”
Naturally, before speaking with Mephisto, I had set up a barrier to avoid sound from leaking outside.
“I heard it through the strands of spider silk left on your body,” she replied.
“Spying, huh? I never expected you to share Laneige’s quirks.”
“What?”
“I’m joking.” I teased her.
She tugged sharply at my cheek in reprimand. “Is now really the time for jokes?”
I chuckled and shrugged. “I already have a method in mind.”
Once again, I planned on using Professor Baldwin’s Blessing of Insight.
“You won’t be able to find it using my Blessing of Insight alone... Ah. I see.” She nodded, seeming to understand my plan. “You intend to strengthen my Blessing of Insight through your bodily fluids?”
“Yes.”
Since the Primordial Flame resided within me, she could most likely trace the Primordial Ember’s location by taking in a part of me. I brought my palm toward the blade to draw blood.
“What are you doing?”
“Preparing blood. Isn’t that what’s needed to strengthen the blessing?”
“Hm. I suppose you’ve grown too used to seeing me use blood recently and forgot.” Professor Baldwin stepped toward me and grabbed me by the neck.
“Mm!”
Soft lips pressed against me. A tongue slid in like a serpent, tangling with my own. Then, she broke the kiss, smirking.
“Isn’t this method simpler for strengthening my Blessing of Insight?” she asked.
I was speechless. I had forgotten for a moment that any bodily fluid would do, not just blood.
Her eyes dropped meaningfully toward my lower body, and she murmured, “If you want, we could strengthen it using... another type of fluid.”
What, where is she even looking?
“Hehe. I’m joking.”
“Weren’t you the one who scolded me earlier, saying it wasn’t the time for jokes?”
She shrugged with the same gesture I had used earlier. “I don’t recall that.”
I let out a sigh and asked. “Fine. Do you sense anything now?”
“Give me a moment.”
She closed her eyes, concentrating deeply. After a long breath of focus, her eyes snapped open, and her violet Cursed-Eye glowed sharply. “It’s this way.”
