Chapter 185
“Lord Helios.”
Kylus smoothly lowered his gaze in greeting, then slowly raised his head to face the deity again.
Unlike when he had seen him at the collapsed palace, the deity who had now manifested in a proper form appeared larger than before, closer to an adult.
Of course, his face still looked much younger than Kylus’s, but that was merely his outward appearance.
The pressure emanating from him carried a weight that made his age impossible to gauge.
It was heavy enough to make even the air in the chapel feel dense.
However, perhaps because he had once received the deity’s spiritual form, Kylus didn’t feel his breath catch as overwhelmingly as when he first faced the deity.
Rather, the divine power remaining in his body seemed to welcome the heavy pressure, drawing him toward the deity.
He even felt a strange sense of intimacy with the deity.
Truly, it was an emotion ill-suited for the relationship between him and the deity.
Just as Kylus’s brow furrowed slightly at this unfamiliar and somewhat uncomfortable familiarity, the deity spoke:
[With time, our connection will naturally disappear. I’m no more pleased about it than you are, so don’t make such an obvious face.]
The deity already knew about the strange sensation Kylus was feeling.
Kylus quickly composed his expression.
After all, showing displeasure before a god would be disrespectful.
“I apologize. It’s such an unfamiliar… sensation that I was discourteous.”
[Enough. That sensation you’re feeling now originates from me.]
At Kylus’s polite apology, the deity sighed briefly, waved his hand dismissively, and then spoke:
[More importantly, why have you suddenly sought me out? It seems you’ve kept this secret even from Alice.]
“Yes. Rien doesn’t know about this.”
The deity raised an eyebrow at Kylus’s confirmation.
As if something displeased him.
But Kylus calmly stated his main point:
“I came to confirm something.”
[Confirm?]
“Whether I truly came back to life, or if you just gave me temporary time for Rien’s sake… I’ve come alone because I’m uncertain about my fate.”
‘If it’s the latter, Rien shouldn’t hear it.’
Kylus added in a low voice.
Yes. The reason Kylus had secretly sought out the deity today, without telling Rien, was to hear a definitive answer about his fate.
On the day the Dark Wraith was annihilated, the deity had told Rien:
‘I’ve returned your husband to you in an exceptionally robust condition.’
‘Your husband is perfectly fine, so you don’t need to worry anymore.’
That he was fine, so she shouldn’t worry.
At the time, he too had been preoccupied with comforting the shocked Rien and had accepted the deity’s words at face value.
But as time passed and his reason returned, Kylus became uneasy.
Whether he had truly come back to life.
Whether the deity had just given him some time because Rien might be shocked if she experienced too many things at once.
The anxiety that he might eventually die.
This was because the deity had spoken so firmly before dealing with the Wraith.
That he could never survive, that he would die.
And indeed, when the deity’s spiritual form left him, Kylus had felt tremendous pain as if his internal organs were melting.
Rien’s holy power hadn’t worked, and his heart had eventually stopped.
He still vividly remembered that horrifying sensation of his breath being cut off.
He had definitely died. But how…
Kylus slowly asked the deity, who was silently staring at him:
“…Did you perhaps change the reincarnation you promised me to letting me live my original life once more?”
But again, the deity didn’t answer immediately.
He just stared directly at Kylus with an unreadable gaze.
As Kylus’s anxiety grew, the deity finally opened his tightly closed lips:
[As I said before, reincarnation cannot happen so quickly. Even the divine realm has its procedures.]
“Then…”
As Kylus’s words trailed off, the deity quickly continued:
[That doesn’t mean you’re going to die. Of course, you’re a human with a finite life, so you’ll eventually face death, but from now on you’ll easily live another 70 years or so, so worry about dying after that.]
Kylus’s black eyes wavered.
[What I said that day was all true, not a lie to calm Alice. You won’t die.]
The deity drove the point home:
[Or more precisely, I revived you after you died. So the side effects that occurred in your body from hosting my spiritual form have completely disappeared.]
“Ha…”
At the deity’s definitive answer, Kylus let out a small exclamation.
Then he closed his eyes tightly and exhaled in relief.
The vague anxiety that had lingered was completely gone.
Kylus slowly opened his eyes.
As if he had been waiting, the deity spoke:
[Now that you have your answer, is that sufficient? Then I’ll…]
He was about to return to the divine realm. If only Kylus hadn’t stopped him.
“May I ask just one more question?”
Helios let out a “hmm,” clearing his throat.
He could guess what Kylus’s question would be.
And it was a question Helios wanted to avoid.
But judging from the look in Kylus’s eyes, he didn’t seem like he would back down easily.
Moreover, since his power still remained in Kylus’s body, he couldn’t firmly reject Kylus as he would have in the past.
The deity sighed deeply and nodded.
[…Fine.]
“How was I able to come back to life after dying? You meant it when you told me I would die, didn’t you?”
And finally, Helios faced the question he had wanted to avoid.
Helios recalled the events of a few days ago, before eliminating the Wraith, as he looked at Kylus, whose eyes showed a lack of understanding.
Specifically, the day he changed his mind about letting Kylus die.
And what shook Helios’s previously firm resolve was, of course, Alice.
Alice had told him:
That she wanted to spend her life with Kylus.
She had refused even when he offered to let her leave the Dearrut Ducal House and enjoy wealth and glory for the rest of her life.
She said that without Kylus, wealth and glory meant nothing to her, that she would stay with him.
And Alice’s face was full of happiness as she said those words.
An expression of genuine happiness he had never seen before.
The deity could feel how much Alice loved Kylus.
Because of this, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her to forget Kylus.
Alice, who had crossed dimensions against her will and endured all sorts of hardships because of his mistake.
After she had done her utmost to save this world, if the very thing she loved most disappeared at the moment the world was saved… she would clearly crumble.
And she would resent him.
The deity didn’t want to see Alice crumble or resent him.
No, he couldn’t bear it.
Alice was already the special child most intimately connected to him in this world.
In human terms, Alice was like his own child.
And how could a parent make their child weep tears of blood?
So the deity eventually changed his mind.
He would somehow save Kylus.
And the process had been quite arduous.
Reviving the dead was taboo.
Moreover… Helios was already being punished for breaking a taboo.
In such circumstances, attempting another taboo while deceiving the eyes of the gods… he could truly face annihilation this time.
So Helios, mustering his audacity, sought out the King of the Gods, the Deity of Dimensions, and begged.
He laid out everything he intended to do and asked for a chance to revive the dead.
The King, quite naturally, was greatly angered.
‘I forgave you for secretly extracting a soul from another dimension and turning back time in your world, but now you openly ask to revive a dead soul. Helios! Are you testing my patience?!’
Helios knelt before the King and said:
‘How dare I test the King’s patience? But, my King. That man strived to change his innate fate, and ultimately pledged to sacrifice himself to save the world.’
The King still looked at him with an angry face, but Helios didn’t stop:
‘I know that gods should not attach emotions to the trivial fates of humans. But that man has truly never had what he wanted, not even once.’
Helios recalled Kylus’s truly cruel fate and continued with a somber gaze:
‘Yet he still offers his life for the world until the end. And to protect the world that collapsed due to my mistake.’
‘…’
‘No matter how much we are gods, how can we turn away from a human willing to give his life for my world? Even gods can exist only because humans exist.’
Helios earnestly pleaded to the King, who was turning his head away:
‘So, my King, please, just this once, save that pitiful and wretched soul. So that he may feel happiness at least once in his life.’
‘I humbly beg this of you.’
Helios prostrated himself flat on the ground, lowering his head.
A sigh of disbelief echoed above his head.
Even when he had committed the sin of regression and stood in the court, he had held his head high.
Helios, befitting the Sun God most beloved by the King, had exceptional pride.
And now, for the first time in countless immortal years, he was earnestly pleading with his head bowed.
And Helios knew. If he went this far, the King wouldn’t be able to refuse.
Other gods might curse him as cunning for exploiting the King’s affection, but he didn’t care.
Just as the King cherished him, he cherished Alice.
Saving Kylus came first.
The King eventually made the same choice as him.
Just as he couldn’t ignore Alice’s sincerity, the King couldn’t coldly reject Helios’s desperate plea.
If there was one difference, it was that the gods’ rules were more strict.
‘…This is truly the last time. I will save him. But. A taboo is a taboo. You must receive a suitable punishment.’
‘…Yes.’
‘For Helios, the Sun God who has committed a taboo, I decree one thousand lightning strikes.’
And so Helios was once again bound to the cliff of the abyss and punished.
As Helios narrowed his brow at the still vivid pain of the lightning, Kylus called him during the lengthening silence:
“Lord Helios?”
That voice halted Helios’s long reverie.
Helios looked at Kylus, who was waiting for an answer, clicked his tongue, and replied:
[I saved you because of Alice. I… didn’t want to see that child sad. How I saved you is beyond what a human like you can understand, so don’t be curious.]
Helios didn’t want to tell him that he had been struck by lightning a thousand times to save him.
It somehow hurt his pride.
Helios continued:
[Think of nothing else and live for Alice from now on. It’s a life you’ve regained thanks to Alice. I will always be watching over you.]
Helios looked at Kylus with a sharp gaze and then returned to the divine realm.
Because he had nothing more to say.
Kylus hesitated at the deity’s sudden disappearance.
He hadn’t expected him to leave so abruptly without farewell.
But he wasn’t particularly displeased.
He already knew well that the deity didn’t particularly like him.
And… he no longer had reason to resent the deity.
Because the deity had saved him, allowing him to live in the same time period as Alice.
“I will live my entire life for Alice. Thank you, Lord Helios.”
Kylus quietly offered his thanks toward the massive statue, then left the temple with a lightened heart.
