Chapter 165
Prion nodded with a grave expression.
“That’s correct. Lord Helios sent me a message through a dream last night. He told me to summon Duke Dearrut to the temple. Without anyone knowing.”
Kylus showed no reaction this time either.
This too was something he had already anticipated.
Indeed.
Kylus had quickly realized it immediately after receiving Prion’s letter.
That the Chief Deity was behind Prion.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for Prion to suddenly send him a letter in such secrecy.
It probably had something to do with the Dark Specter.
But he couldn’t guess at all why the Chief Deity would seek him out instead of Alice for this matter.
“Why has the Chief Deity suddenly sought me out? I’m a human without any holy power.”
“I apologize, but I don’t know anything about that either. He only instructed me to summon you here, nothing more.”
“Then… should I enter the chapel alone?”
“Yes. Lord Helios instructed that only you be allowed into the chapel.”
As Prion answered, he opened the large chapel doors.
Kylus briefly gazed into the softly lit chapel.
The aura was overwhelmingly powerful, incomparable to the temple corridors.
But his hesitation lasted only a moment before Kylus entered the chapel without reserve.
Thud.
The sound of the heavy door closing resonated behind him.
Kylus walked straight toward the altar where the Chief Deity’s massive statue stood.
And finally, stopping before the altar, Kylus raised his head to look at the enormous statue.
It wasn’t his first time seeing it.
He had burst through these chapel doors before, when he’d tried to bring Alice here.
But he hadn’t properly observed it then. His attention had been completely focused on Alice.
But now he was alone, without Alice or Prion.
Looking at the statue whose gaze was lowered as if judging humanity, Kylus slowly opened his mouth.
“…Why have you summoned me?”
But the chapel remained silent.
Surely he hadn’t been called here just to stand quietly.
Kylus murmured softly.
“Should I offer a prayer or something…”
He had never prayed before. But since he knew how to pray, Kylus sighed and was about to kneel on one leg.
If only a voice hadn’t suddenly resounded through the chapel.
[There is no need for prayer.]
Kylus’s movement froze instantly.
It was a low yet somehow ethereal resonance, not like a human voice.
Soon the voice sounded again.
[What prayer, when you have no faith.]
And then a voice full of distinct displeasure continued.
[Besides, you have no holy power, so even if you prayed, you could not face my divine manifestation. Not unless I sought you out first.]
“I see. Then I won’t bother with unnecessary gestures, Lord Helios.”
Indeed.
The inhuman, sacred voice that filled the chapel belonged to Chief Deity Helios.
‘He says I could never see the Chief Deity…’
Kylus straightened his posture and fixed his gaze unflinchingly on the statue.
And without any pleasantries, he got straight to the point.
“Lord Helios. Why have you summoned me here today?”
Truly, his boldness was so incredible it bordered on absurd for someone addressing the deity who created this world.
No, to speak plainly, it wasn’t just boldness—it was downright rude.
So much so that it wouldn’t have been strange if Helios punished Kylus on the spot.
But the Chief Deity merely observed the audacious Kylus quietly, with only a faint, amused smile.
Well, he already knew that Kylus had no faith in deities anyway.
Besides, considering what Helios was about to tell Kylus, he could tolerate this rudeness just this once.
‘Such unbending spirit, even before a god. Indeed, I seem to have chosen well.’
Feeling satisfied, Helios spoke to Kylus.
[Don’t you already guess why I’ve called you? As you suspect, I’ve summoned you to eliminate the Dark Specter beneath the Empress’s Palace.]
Kylus’s brow furrowed slightly.
He felt something odd in the Chief Deity’s words just now.
‘How does he know that I know about the Dark Specter, that I’ve figured everything out?’
It was something that couldn’t be known unless he had been watching him all along.
Being under surveillance was unpleasant, even if it was by a deity.
But one could hardly display such displeasure openly before a god.
So Kylus asked slowly, maintaining a semblance of respect.
“How… do you know that I’ve discovered the Dark Specter beneath the Empress’s Palace?”
[Because I’ve been observing you these past few days.]
At the deity’s nonchalant answer, Kylus’s jaw tightened slightly as his mood sank further.
He was angry.
To this, the deity chuckled as if amused and said,
[Child. There’s no use in being angry. You are my creation. Do you think a god would apologize to his creation?]
The Chief Deity’s voice was bitingly cold.
Cold enough to raise goosebumps on Kylus’s body.
The overwhelming pressure bearing down on him made it difficult to breathe as his entire body constricted.
An instinctive fear and terror he had never felt before.
Kylus’s face gradually turned pale.
‘Is this the gap between humans and gods?’
The Chief Deity, reading Kylus’s thoughts, answered.
[Yes. This is the gap between you and me. I can constrict your breath this easily. So there’s no need to demonstrate any further, is there?]
“Kuh, …of course. I apologize.”
Kylus immediately bowed his head.
A swift acknowledgment and apology, without unnecessary words.
In response, the deity withdrew his oppressive aura. The Chief Deity gazed at Kylus with slightly deepened eyes.
‘For someone who struggled so desperately to escape his destined fate, he’s not as stubborn as I expected. Perhaps he judges precisely when to retreat. Exceptional spirit, and now quick and wise judgment too.’
The Chief Deity briefly thought.
‘It’s somewhat a pity to kill him.’
But sacrifice was inevitable. This child wasn’t even destined to have lived this long in the first place.
Kylus Dearrut.
Before summoning Kylus today, the Chief Deity had visited the World Tree after a long time to examine Kylus’s innate destiny.
The immense World Tree in his divine realm.
That World Tree had grown from his power, to manage the souls of this world.
While Chief Deity Helios had created this vast dimensional world, he couldn’t create and manage every human soul.
So, occasionally, when the world became too chaotic, he would visit and personally select souls with good energy to infuse with his power.
So that heroes imbued with his power could descend to the world and set right turbulent times.
The rest of the souls simply hung as fruits on the World Tree. They received their destinies by chance and fell to the world.
Of course, even after falling, the destinies of all souls that had been fruits were inscribed like records in the World Tree.
Deep within the tree.
In any case, since Kylus wasn’t a soul that he had brought from the World Tree, the deity had to go to the World Tree to see his destiny.
It had been a very long time since he’d looked up the destiny of an ordinary human.
And this destiny he found after so long… was terrible enough to make him laugh in disbelief.
Even though destinies were determined by chance, Kylus seemed to have a fate that collected only the worst possibilities.
Of course, it wasn’t because the World Tree harbored ill feelings toward Kylus.
It was simply that Kylus’s innate luck was horrendously bad.
In any case, his fate was among the worst of the worst—he was destined to gain nothing and die young.
Yet he had survived a brush with death. Thanks to Alice.
More precisely, because of the divine power the deity had bestowed upon Alice.
One way or another, Kylus had unintentionally received strong divine power from the Chief Deity, and from that moment, his destiny had changed.
To be exact, he had broken free from his destiny.
He had become so strong that the remaining misfortunes in his destiny could no longer shake him.
A human who, though not a soul directly created for this world, had accidentally broken the chains of fate and grown strong.
That’s why he was most suitable.
Helios spoke to Kylus, who was still bowing his head.
[Raise your head now.]
But unlike someone who had just begged forgiveness, as soon as Kylus raised his head, he spoke boldly.
“You said you summoned me because of the Dark Specter, but I cannot understand no matter how I think about it.”
[What is it you don’t understand?]
“While it’s true that I’ve realized there’s a Dark Specter beneath the Empress’s Palace, I only know this truth. Beyond that, there’s nothing I can do.”
Kylus looked straight up at the deity’s statue and continued.
“Why did you summon someone who cannot even see the Dark Specter, let alone do anything about it?”
He was someone without the ability to eliminate the Dark Specter.
Why on earth?
But the answer came back surprisingly quickly and concisely.
[Because, contrary to what you think, I intend to use you to eliminate the Dark Specter.]
“What does that mean…?”
As Kylus furrowed his brow in confusion, the Chief Deity began a more detailed explanation.
[Kylus, I intend to borrow your body.]
