Free Web NovelChapter 265: Chapter 265: Rare Victory_1
"Indeed, it seems unnecessary." Aiden thought carefully and agreed with the statement, "You’ve already directly betrayed your own followers."
When the Blood Moon Cult was destroyed by the heresy tribunal, Melifilia did not hesitate to abandon the followers who had been loyal to her within the cult.
"Isn’t betrayal supposed to come as naturally as breathing to a conspirator? In fact, even before this, the number of people I’ve betrayed is too high to count." Melifilia smiled.
"Since the ritual can be effective even before gaining authority, then that guy must have completed the ritual when he betrayed the vampires of the original Blood Moon Cult," Aiden said. "But as long as there’s the premise that ’he seized the ’Hatred’ authority under your instruction,’ as soon as he chooses to usurp authority, a betrayal is formed, and you can rightfully carry out vengeance against this ’traitor.’ As for the third condition..."
Aiden sized up Melifilia’s face: "This body, it wouldn’t happen to have been willingly offered up by the sacrifice, would it?"
"Exactly." Melifilia answered, "In this world, there is no shortage of people willing to sell their lives, give them sufficient compensation, or help them fulfill a wish... especially in helping them seek vengeance."
"You said you couldn’t digest the ’Hatred’ authority; why were you so eager to get the authority first?" Aiden continued to ask, "It couldn’t be that you actually..."
The thought of already having seized the "Desire" authority flashed through Aiden’s mind. free𝑤ebnovel.com
"Wisdom" and "Hatred" are two opposing authorities under the throne, according to Melifilia’s previous statements, trying to forcibly control one after gaining the other would lead to extremely dangerous side effects—unless one had the intermediate "Desire" authority for transition.
Was it possible that Melifilia, also ruler of "Desire", was another identity of Love Goddess Melindale who had deceived the nameless witch two hundred years ago?
According to Abigail’s conjecture, Melindale likely lost her own physical form in the struggle against the Grim Reaper, while Melifilia... was the deity who had taken a human body as a sacrifice to move about the world.
However, Melifilia gave a negative answer: "’I’ do not possess the ’Desire’ authority. Arranging for that guy to preserve the ’Hatred’ authority for me was to set up a proper ’revenge.’"
"Proper vengeance? If he finds a way to completely erase me, he could directly ascend to be the ruler." Aiden narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What does it matter? At that time I naturally will have other plans," Melifilia said and cast the dice again, "The most important thing is the pleasure to be found in this affair."
"You approach even such a matter with a playful heart?" Aiden frowned slightly.
"Of course, one chess piece carefully placed by me, and another filled with unpredictability summoned by me; the two of you on the chessboard... Who will ultimately consume the other?" Melifilia moved the pieces on the chessboard, her piece stopping in the square adjacent to Aiden’s piece.
"Pity, just missed by a bit." She sighed in seeming regret.
Aiden was silent for a while, then picked up the dice.
He did not fully believe her, but it seemed that what Melifilia was willing to reveal voluntarily was only this version of the story.
"The ’Hatred’ authority originally should have had a ruler," Aiden resumed, broaching the topic of the Cathedral of Vengeance, "That organization whose authority you usurped, the Cathedral of Vengeance, they worship a real ruler."
"Remember, the goddess of vengeance, huh," Melifilia said nonchalantly, "It did take some effort to deal with her, indeed."
"From your tone, I can hardly tell where the effort went. It’s as though you kicked aside a pebble on the roadside," Aiden evaluated.
"It really did take a lot of effort. The ’Hatred’ authority suppresses a person’s reason because it represents the ’irrational’ part of the spirit. That goddess of vengeance was such an adversary. She absorbed the authority but couldn’t fully control it, resulting in her thinking differently from ordinary people—or one could even say, that ruler had gone half-mad a long time ago."
"Isn’t that easier to deal with?"
"For me, it was actually quite difficult to deal with. I excel at setting up schemes and luring her into traps, but she doesn’t play by conventional rules. Luckily, I still ended up winning in the end."
"I have a question. In my prison, I’m holding a female Priest of the vengeance temple, and she still possesses the ruler’s blessing till now," Aiden raised his doubt, "Can the bestowed part of the power continue to work after the ruler’s death?"
Moreover, the power on Halo had persisted for many years.
One should know that proxies of the Reaper all require regular killings to maintain their power.
"Is that Priestess very tall, with brown hair and green eyes?" Melifilia asked, and without waiting for Aiden to answer, she continued, "Strictly speaking, the goddess of vengeance is not completely dead. Her last wisp of soul is on that Priestess."
"What do you mean?" Aiden didn’t quite understand.
"The ’Hatred’ sacrifice ability can resurrect itself through the self-sacrifice of others when it’s on the verge of destruction," Melifilia explained, "When the goddess of vengeance was driven into a corner, the person who stood out to sacrifice for her was that Priestess."
"So the sacrifice wasn’t successful in the end?"
"I found a way to disrupt the sacrifice. As a result, a fragment of the goddess’s soul merged with the offering, while the rest was completely destroyed," Melifilia replied, "The power that Priestess carries came to be like this, but she also went mad due to the influence of the sacrifice power. After taking away the authority, we let her be left to her own devices."
Then, approximately three years later, this mad Priestess was finally captured by the heresy tribunal and thrown into this prison.
Aiden rolled the dice for the last time; the numbers announced that his final piece had reached the finish line.
"Looks like you won," Melifilia cracked a smile, "That’s rare."
"It is indeed rare." Aiden didn’t deny it; even while playing Ludo and taking turns in rolling dice, he still lost more than he won against Melifilia.
"It’s about time to go back." He stood up.
After such a busy night, all he wanted now was to rest as soon as possible.
"Take care," Melifilia had no intention of asking him to stay longer, "By the way, it’s about time to visit the diviner, isn’t it? You haven’t collected all the maxims yet."
"But she..."
"If you visit tomorrow, she should already be back," Melifilia said with a smile, not waiting for Aiden to finish before she continued.
