God’s Eyes Are Vigilant Part 2

The underground prison wasn't especially big, nor was it especially bright. It

was sturdy, though. The stone walls surrounding us held firm. Is this the kind of

hospitality you want to give a neighboring monarch?! I found it all a little bit

excessive really. I wondered if they were going to just act like I was some

miscreant who had pretended to be Brunhild's grand duke.

If that was the case, they might end up seriously trying to execute me. If

someone from my country came to investigate, they could always cover it up

and lie about me ever being here, too.

Welp, better break out already.

"[Mirage]." I created an illusory image of Kohaku and myself, and set it in a

dingy prison corner. I didn't want them thinking we escaped, after all.

I considered using [Gate], but they'd placed down a barrier preventing that

kind of magic. That stupid baldheaded priest probably tipped them off about it.

But that was fine, there were other methods to escape, after all.

"Oh, right... better conceal ourselves..." I used [Invisible], a very convenient

spell, to turn Kohaku and myself invisible. We could see one another, but

nobody else could see us.

I then used [Modeling] to twist apart the bars of the prison and make my

grand escape. Naturally I restored the bars to their original appearance after we

got out, though.

I climbed up a tight stairway and found myself in a stone passage, lined with

doors. At the other end, there were even more stairs going up. We were still in

the underground section, so the guardsmen were still a bit ahead.

Each door was marked with a number, the one I had just exited was clearly

cell number four.

"Map search. Phyllis Rugit."

"Understood. Search completed." My smartphone projected a small map and

pointed out the location, it seemed to be cell number eight.

I closed my map. Even if my Smartphone was concealed by my magic, the

projected image it shot out was definitely visible. It'd be bad if somebody

noticed that just floating around.

I opened up cell number eight and slowly descended the stairs into the dank

underground.

After a while, the stairs were no more, and I saw Phyllis across on the other

side of the dingy room. Thank goodness, she's still alive... Doesn't look injured,

either.

I quickly noticed another person in the room, lying on the ground. She wasn't

alone.

"Phyllis... Phyllis..." I didn't want to be too loud, so I gently called out to her.

After a few moments, Phyllis slowly raised her head.

"...Wh-Who's there? Whose voice is that voice?" Phyllis began to look around,

anxiety painted on her face. I had forgotten I was invisible.

I undid the spell, and revealed myself to her.

"Y-Your Highness the Grand Duke?!" I completely ignored her surprise and

bent open the bars with my trusty spell. I turned to the side and slipped into the

cell with her. Wait a second, this jail's slightly larger than mine! Is this a form of

discrimination? Am I being oppressed?

"Why are you here of all places...?!"

"I came to help you, of course! I felt pretty responsible about that execution

order!"

"N-No, Grand Duke, please! This isn't your doing, it's all mine...!"

"Shh, you're being too noisy!" I clamped a hand over Phyllis' mouth.

... I-Is it okay? Maybe the guards'll just think she was talking to herself... I

hope they don't get suspicious... Well, I don't hear anyone coming, at least...

"Phyllis, who's that sleeping person over there? Is she a friend?"

"That person... or rather... that woman... is Her Holiness the Pope, Elias

Altra..."

"Excuse me?!" I suddenly blurted out my surprise, and instinctively covered

my own mouth.

The goddamn pope of all people?! But wait, that can't be right... what about

the old crone I met earlier with the piercing eyes?! This woman looked

completely different. I took a closer peek at her face, and it was definitely not

the same person. She was definitely about the same age, but this sleeping

woman's face was far gentler and softer.

"Wait, this is Elias Altra?! Then who did I meet earlier?!"

"It's more likely that you met a different person entirely. Did she look similar

age-wise, but with a more piercing gaze?"

"Yeah, kinda like that I guess."

"That was probably Cardinal Kyurei, then... She's Cardinal Zeon's elder sister."

That would make her the sister of that annoying mustache guy. Hm, but that

didn't add up... It seemed as though they'd prepared a fake pope and given me

a fake audience with her! Which meant to me that they were all working

together. This was beginning to seem like a seriously foul conspiracy.

"Sorry, I'm finding it a little hard to follow here... Can you tell me everything

from the top?" According to Phyllis, after she returned home and reported to

the pope and the others, everything went wrong. The cardinals were furious at

her for the denial of their God, and the opposition of their doctrine.

Immediately, they demanded she be executed. However, the pope herself,

along with a few other priests, stood up and objected to that.

Phyllis wasn't entirely surprised by their reaction, but was amazed that the

pope herself stood by her side. Regardless, she was arrested either way.

After a few days, the pope was also thrown into the dungeon, albeit in a

severely weakened state.

"But why would they toss the pope of all people in prison...?"

"Th-That is because... the secret of this nation must be protected, at all

costs." The pope opened up her eyes, and stared right at me. She seemed to

have awoken. The pope's left eye was green, and her right eye was blue. Her

eyes were heterochromatic, mismatched. It brought to mind Yumina's Mystic

Eyes... "You are the grand duke of Brunhild, are you not...? My name is Elias

Altra, it's a pleasure..." The pope herself slowly raised herself up and introduced

herself. Despite her motions, however, she looked extremely weak. I decided

she'd need to heal up.

I cast [Recovery] and [Refresh] on her, which brought her body back to

relative strength. After that, I slapped on a [Cure Heal] for good measure.

As I healed her, I wondered why she hadn't just healed herself... but that was

stupid, just because she worshiped a god of light didn't necessarily mean she'd

have any talents with Light spells. I was pretty sure I remembered someone

telling me Dark and Light were fairly rare attributes to have affinity for, anyway.

If it was similar to a fantasy RPG, then people who had healing magic would

probably be priests who channeled the power of God through their spells. That

kind of thing was a staple in videogames, but this was another world, not a

game world. Even so, I couldn't help but think if that's how it worked, then the

religion would've spread further and faster.

"Thank you so much for that... I feel considerably better."

"I'm glad. But more importantly, why were you brought here? You said

something about this country's secret?"

"... Hmh..."

She stayed quiet for a time, before looking right at me with a focused

expression.

"It is a secret that would shake the very foundation of the country we stand in

right now, but it seems there'd be no point in keeping it hidden from you. It is

indeed as Phyllis said. Lars, god of light, does not exist." What? I was completely

taken aback. The pope of a religion had just denied her own God. I looked a

Phyllis, who seemed equally shocked.

"Each of the cardinals know the truth as well. After I ascended to

cardinalhood before I was pope, the previous pope told me the truth as well."

That means the higher-ups knew... but they still continue the farce of believing

in this Light God... why? There was something more important than that,

though. Sure, Phyllis and myself knew Lars didn't exist because God himself had

verified that information for us. But how did the cardinals themselves know for

sure that the God they worshiped wasn't real? "Long ago, this territory was the

domain of monstrous beasts, demons, and wicked spirits. The one that

appeared to purge these creatures was a man known as Ramirez. But Ramirez

was not the priest our scriptures state he was."

"He wasn't...?" Isn't Ramirez the founder of Ramissh? What's going on here?

"Ramirez was no priest, he was a mage. One that specialized in summoning. His

greatest affinity was Dark Magic."

"What...?!"

"The scriptures state that Ramirez summoned Lars, god of light, to purge the

land of wickedness. But the truth is different entirely. What Ramirez called

down were wicked spirits, servants of the darkness. After he used that power to

purge the land of beasts, he came up with an idea, and began to set it into

motion." Hm, so God was right after all, he'd summoned powerful spirits. But

they weren't light, they were creatures of the dark... Still, Ramirez must've been

a hell of a guy to call upon dark stuff like that... My attention turned back to

Elias, who was explaining what the man's idea was. "Ramirez thought he would

build a kingdom upon his newly-conquered land, using the powers of dark

spirits to manipulate the minds of the people who lived there. That's how he

began the Lars faith. The dark spirits he summoned merged into one great

beast, and meddled with the minds of the people who were brought into the

area. Through this method, their thoughts were twisted in line with Ramirez's.

All of the citizens accepted Ramirez's doctrine without question, and the

Ramissh Theocracy was formally founded." What the hell...?! Isn't that just

brainwashing?! Or maybe it could be called something more akin to hypnosis...

still, twisting people's brains like that? That's totally messed up.

"Was the dark spirit's mental conditioning that strong?"

"The influence of the spirit made it easier for him to convince people of his

ideals, but people who were resistant to magic ended up being less affected by

it. That's why Lars, god of light was created as a figurehead for the faith. He

used mental conditioning, and an idol people could aspire to. Using that wicked

combination, he captured both the hearts and the minds of his people."

Ramirez disgusted me. I wasn't surprised that they were so desperate to keep

the secret. Their entire religion would collapse if this leaked out. It was truly

heinous that a religion built on the ideals of light was actually spawned by a

monster from the dark...

"...I understand that this is a really important secret, but... Why does this

mean the pope had to be locked up?"

"I protected Phyllis, so they believed I may have gone rogue and threatened

to spill the truth. Not to mention the fact that both Kyurei and Zeon were

originally in the running for popehood, and saw an opportunity to supplant me

and my position. I was gradually fed a medication that poisoned my body and

weakened my mind. They didn't have to kill me to replace me, after all." That

made sense enough. They probably had no idea why I'd come to their country,

and with the pope being absent they decided to trick me into a fake meeting...

They were probably suspicious because of what had happened with Phyllis,

too... They didn't handle it very well, though.

"But, Your Holiness... why did you protect Phyllis? Aren't you kind of meant to

be the figurehead of the religion? Why would you stand by someone who

would shake the faith so much?" I didn't get it at all. If I were a pope, then

someone like Phyllis would be seen as a pest.

"...I truly believed in Lars, god of light... it's why I joined the priesthood. I

worked hard, for the sake of my Lord. But when I became a cardinal... They told

me there was no God. That my work was fruitless. After that, I simply worked to

maintain the lie, a cog in the wheel like all the rest. Once you learn the truth,

there's no going back to normality." That sounded pretty rough to me. I figured

they'd probably set up methods to silence anyone that threatened to reveal the

truth anyway. Dead men tell no tales, after all. And now I had learned this

secret, so they'd probably end up after my head if I wasn't careful.

"Before I knew it, I had ascended to the position of pope. But it was an empty

position, my heart was already withered. I was trapped in a place that I couldn't

possibly abandon. Then, Phyllis came and told us what she had seen. She

appeared, truly convinced that there was indeed a God out there." After

speaking, the pope turned to Phyllis. She turned to me, vigor in her voice, a

beautiful smile painting her face.

"Can you imagine the euphoria I felt in that moment? It was indeed true that

Lars, god of light, did not exist, but... there was in fact a god that did. And there

was a person who had actually met Him! The words that she had heard from

God, I was desperate to learn more. It was the first time in years that my heart

truly began beating again."

"But why did you believe Phyllis without question? You didn't doubt her at

all?" After I asked, the pope pointed to her left eye. Her pale green eye

suddenly turned darker.

"I possess the Mystic Eyes of Sincerity. I've never been able to miss a lie. It

was also one of the reasons I was elected as pope. When Phyllis told me her

story, I knew she was no liar. I learned in that moment that God truly existed,

and it made me so happy. In that moment, I was euphoric, because of God's

blessing. I was also envious, as I wished to meet God myself..." The pope let out

a quiet, sad mutter. Oh. Oh no. Before I could stop it, I realized what was about

to happen. I turned to look at Kohaku. The tiger was frozen stiff!

"Yoo-hoo! Did someone want to meet little old me?"

From the darkness, God himself descended, clad in dazzling light.

God, please! You're way too whimsical!

◇ ◇ ◇

"Have you just been watching this whole time?"

"It had been weighing on my mind. The poor girl had been locked away

because I had done something I shouldn't have, and I felt rather guilty about it

all. But then, as God, I couldn't exactly come to her rescue myself..." I knew

what he meant. The root cause of all that was going on could be narrowed

down to carelessness on God's part.

I stole a glance in Phyllis' direction and noticed that she'd already fallen

prostrate before His divine presence, while the pope stood, mouth slack, staring

at us in confusion.

"Umm... Your Majesty, who might this be?"

"This is God."

"G-G-God...?!" The pope's eyes snapped wide open, and she gazed at both

God and I in turn. She was certainly surprised, but it seemed she still had some

doubts. I could feel her using her Mystic Eyes on me. She could tell that I wasn't

lying, but it seemed like she hadn't quite fully grasped the reality of the

situation yet.

"Oh, I know. God, do that flashy halo thing you did before."

"Eh? I thought you told me not to use my divine aura anymore."

"You have my permission this time." God nodded and gradually begin to let

out his divine aura. Welp, here it comes.

God's majestic form lit up for all to behold. His halo of divinity was as

impressive as ever. One glance would be enough to convince anyone that this

person was, indeed, the one true God.

Bathed in His divine light, the pope also laid herself prostrate on the ground

next to Phyllis.

"Can I turn it off now?"

"Yup, that'll do." The imposing light vanished as swiftly as it came. Just then, a

certain doubt floated up from the back of my mind. Why was it that I could

resist his divine aura which should easily have overwhelmed any normal

human? Was that another one of the perks he gave me when I was sent to this

world?

"Is there something the matter?"

"Hm? Oh, I was just wondering why your aura doesn't completely overwhelm

me like it seems to do to everyone else. I just figured maybe you'd done

something that would give me some resistance to it." God looked at the two

girls at his feet and tilted his head.

"...Come to think of it, that is rather strange. Any ordinary — or even

extraordinary — human being exposed to my divine presence in its true form

should be left bowing before me in awe, like these two girls. None of my gifts to

you included a resistance to Divinity itself, so I cannot think what would be...

Ohh!"

"...God, what did you do to me?" What's with that face?! Why do you look like

you're screaming "Oh, shit!" in your head?! Looking away is just making you

look more suspicious! And why are you trying to play it off by whistling? These

days not even cartoon characters do that!

"...You're a poor liar, God."

"Erm... Weeell... Could you wait for just one moment?" He raised his right

arm aloft and unleashed some kind of power. I couldn't tell what he'd done for

a moment.

"I've stopped time for the girls, as well. It would be rather troublesome if

anyone were to ever learn of this, you see." The girls had already been

paralyzed in their positions bowing before God's feet anyway, so it didn't really

feel any different from a moment ago. Still, if God said so...

"Well? Out with it."

"Hrmm... To summarize, you have already died once, back in your old world. I

took responsibility for that and reincarnated you, but..."

"But?" I couldn't see what he was getting at. Heck, I was actually pretty

thankful to him for giving me a new life in this world.

"Normally when reviving someone, I would repair the damage done to their

physical or spiritual body using the basic elements and energy of that specific

world. In your case, though, I summoned you straight up to the Divine Realm

before anything else. Physical body and all. Only after that did I revive you into

a new world."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Well, I revived you using the materials I had at hand. And since your body

and soul were both in the Divine Realm at the time, I ended up putting you back

together with divine matter. To put it simply, your body is similar in

composition to that of a God." This was the first I'd heard any of this. I was

dumbstruck.

"B-But I still get exhausted if I run for too long, and I can still get injured like

anyone else. It doesn't really feel like I've got a God's body..."

"Well, it has only been one year since you were reincarnated, your powers

might not have fully bloomed yet. Can you think of any similar situations where

your strengths or resistances have felt rather abnormal for a human being?" ...

More than I could count. My near-limitless mana pool, and my ability to use any

Null spell I wanted, for example. I'd always chalked it up to being "God's gift,"

but... It turned out that it was actually "all God's fault."

"My mistake. Wahahaaah!"

"Don't just laugh it off like that... Please tell me there aren't going to be any

adverse effects to this later on down the line."

"None at all. Think of it as just having obtained a much sturdier body than the

norm. Although, you may find yourself awakening to some strange new powers

later on... if I'm right, your body is like that of an infant God's right now. So

please let me know if something like that does happen." Whaddya mean by

strange new powers?! I damn sure hope that I won't randomly wake up one day

with a halo of divinity radiating from my entire body...

... I decided not to worry about it. If it wasn't gonna kill me or directly harm

me in any way, then I figured I could live with it. Just so long as I could continue

living out my life in this world, that was enough for me.

Just then, something came to mind that might've been able to destroy my

peaceful life in this world.

"Hey, God, do you know anything about the Phrase?"

"Phrase? Nothing comes to mind, I am afraid to say." I figured as much. I

seemed to recall him saying that he hadn't been checking in on this world much

until after he sent me here. As God would say, if a world faced potential

destruction, then it was up to that world's inhabitants to find a solution to that

which didn't involve divine intervention.

But if God wasn't the one who drove the Phrase away around five thousand

years prior, that only made me question what caused them to leave...

His explanation finished, God raised his hand once more and let out that same

power as before. I assumed the girls could now move again, but it was hard to

tell since they were still bowing before God as they had been this whole time.

Kohaku, however, was quite clearly still frozen in time. I felt kind of bad for

Kohaku being the only one left out...

"You can stand up now. I'm very sorry that my carelessness has put you in this

difficult situation, young lady."

"N-Not at all! P-P-P-Please, think nothing of it!"

"It seems as though I've even managed to get the pope wrapped up in it... I'm

truly sorry about all this."

"Th-thank—... I am grateful for your words..." The two finally raised their

heads. This was Phyllis' second time meeting God, so although she was nervous,

she could at least look him in the face. On the other hand, the pope had just

exchanged words with God himself, and the encounter had left her with tears

flowing down her face. Well, it was a pretty life-changing experience for her, to

put it lightly.

"I overheard your conversation. It must have pained you greatly to have lived

your whole life embracing a lie like that. Fret not, though. All will be fine now."

"Such benevolence...!"

"Whaddya mean, everything's gonna be fine? Are you gonna step in and

resolve the whole situation for us?" For a moment I was worried that he

planned to just walk out in front of everyone with his halo on full power and

declare "Your god of light doesn't exist. There, religion disproved," and wrap it

all up with a clap of his hands. I mean, that did seem like the quickest and

easiest solution, but...

"Not me, Touya my boy, you are. After all, that's what you've always done

until now, is it not?" This irresponsible God was just planning on making me

clean up after his mess! I couldn't believe his audacity. I knew I wasn't supposed

to rely on divine intervention to solve my problems, but still!

"Uhm... taking the cardinals out of the picture wouldn't work out so well. If

the truth were exposed, then there'd be public outcry." But really it was more

likely that we'd just be branded as liars. After all, who would believe us?

"It is not as if the citizens are at fault, but... As things stand, they would only

continue to believe in their god of light. There's nothing inherently wrong with

that, but their justification of anything under the banner of light and justice

cannot be excused."

"I don't believe this country can continue to function if we simply outed God

as fake... If only there were some way to maintain the charade, but change the

teachings..." The pope let out a saddened mutter.

It certainly wasn't a simple thing to change the foundation of a religion. It's

not like you could just toss half a bible out the window and call it a day. I had no

idea how to deal with that...

Hm, maybe some kind of incident could change how things are seen around

here... Maybe God could just show up, and... no, that'd be too much

interference. Guess we're on our own.

"Well, I will leave it to Touya. Now, that matter aside... Shouldn't we deal with

the fellow beneath us?" God tapped on the stone floor with his foot, smiling

gently. Beneath us? What do you mean? I turned to the pope, whose expression

had quickly turned grave.

"Y-You noticed it...? Th-The presence down there is the Dark Spirit that

Ramirez summoned... it's been beneath the temple since the inception of the

Theocracy..."

"It what?!" Wait, that monster's been lurking down there for the last

thousand years?! Spirit or not, wasn't it summoned?! I thought summoned

creatures needed magic energy to stick around!! Wait no, more importantly,

why is it still here?!

"It didn't take long for Ramirez to found the Ramissh Theocracy with the

Spirit's aid, but... shortly afterward, his mind was completely eroded and the

man's mind was taken over by the beast. After all of that, the spirit fused with

Ramirez's body and the cardinals of the era sealed it beneath the temple

grounds. It was better for them to keep it here, actually... Because the Spirit's

ability of mentally conditioning everyone in the area never wore off. The

brainwashing ability still emanates from it even to this day. Undying, but no

longer alive, you could say Ramirez still supports the religion even in this state

now." The pope spoke directly to God, as if confessing a grave sin.

That was a hell of a story. If that was true, it meant that such a horrible secret

had been passed from cardinal to cardinal for the last thousand years. I finally

understood how insidious this religion truly was. It also explained how the Spirit

was still here. If it fused with the summoner and sustained his body, then it

could live here indefinitely. Though, I doubted he was still conscious after so

long.

"The magical power of the Dark Spirit cannot affect you, or this girl, on a

count of your high magic resistances... but that does not apply to the regular

folk here. Even now, they are being unconsciously influenced by Ramirez and

his original doctrine."

"So that means, if we can deal with the spirit..."

"Correct, my boy. The zealous faith will disappear from the hearts and minds

of the people. From then on, it would depend on the true feelings of the

individual." That made sense. We had to kill it at the source. But I still had the

feeling there'd be some rotten types who'd do anything under the banner of

their own justice, even if we broke the mental interference.

"But I would suggest you two make haste. You said they sealed him, yes? I am

quite sure that the seal is weaker than ever right now, and darkness is already

emanating from its lair."

"You're right... In fact, there's been a string of people losing their energy, and

even their lives... We officially blamed that on the work of a vampire, but in

truth... it was because the spirit seal is waning." Well, that explained the

vampire plot thread away quite nicely. Still, it was pretty bad if it was starting to

drain people's lives. It made me wonder if the Spirit was trying to build power

or something...

"We need to deal with this Dark Spirit before it's too late... Your Eminence, do

you have anyone in this country that would side with you if it came to it?"

"There are a few amongst the clergy that hope for the same outcome as I. But

our numbers are minute compared to those backing Cardinal Zeon." It was

better than nobody, at least. I wanted to avoid revealing the true origins of the

country to the public, though, and everything about the Dark Spirit's mind

control. But, I also wanted the cruel and inconvenient justice that Lars, god of

light's doctrine spoke of to be stricken out entirely.

"Very well, I think I have seen enough. I will keep watching from my perch, so

best of luck, Touya my boy! See you soon!"

"What?! Wait!! You can't jus—!" Before I could voice my protests, God

vanished into beams of light. You coward! Get back here!! You're making me

deal with these messes that aren't even mine, augh!! But, as much as I didn't

want it to, time began to flow again. Kohaku eyed me with suspicion.

"My liege. I feel as though something very unusual just happened to you..."

"Don't mind it. It's no threat to us."

"Very well..." From Kohaku's perspective, we must've instantly teleported

from one position to another, so the tiger was having difficulty processing how

our pose and location had shifted so suddenly. It would be a pain to explain

though, so I decided not to bother.

"...I feel as though I've awakened from a dream."

"Me too, Your Holiness..." I wondered if that was part of the exhilaration of

meeting with God. As I watched the pope and Phyllis giggling together,

something bit at my mind.

I felt it, an unpleasant crawling sensation up my spine. An electric shock that

jolted right through me, making me feel ill. It... can't be...

"...Don't panic now, but... The Dark Spirit's seal just broke."

"Wh-What?!" Phyllis went pale in the face. Then, we heard the rumbling from

below. It got louder, and louder. We need to get out, now! I twisted the iron

bars with [Modeling] and carted Phyllis and the pope along with me up the

stairs. The rumbling grew steadier, faster, louder. I had no doubts that the earth

beneath us would crumble in seconds. We came out into the long passageway

that led into other cells, and I quickly checked for other prisoners. Thankfully

there were none, so we continued upward.

"Prisoners?! How did you escape from your cel— haghgh!!" We passed a

guard, and I instinctively shot a paralysis bullet at him. Ah crap... I can't leave

him here, can I?! "Kohaku, return to your beast form!"

"As you wish!" The pope opened her eyes wide in surprise as Kohaku both

spoke, and turned into an enormous White Tiger. But I had no time to explain, I

simply put the knocked-out guard on Kohaku's back, and continued running.

As we escaped from the prison, we came out into the temple's halls. I

continued to run, finally stopping in a courtyard. It was at this point that I

realized it was no longer day time. The moon was high in the sky. I checked the

time, and it was just past the stroke of midnight.

The barrier wasn't set up across the entire temple, so I used [Gate] to take us

to the middle of town.

The rumbling beneath the ground became more of a violent quake.

Unsurprisingly, the streets were filled with bewildered people, apparently they

assumed it was a simple earthquake scare. They didn't seem extremely afraid,

so I figured earthquakes weren't uncommon in this region.

As I took the guardsman off Kohaku's back, the people in the area quickly

noticed I was with Her Eminence the Pope. That wasn't especially surprising,

she was the head of their state and seemed quite well-known. Everyone in the

streets began swarming around her. They were probably uneasy, because the

rumbling wasn't getting any gentler.

"Y-Your Eminence! What is going on?!"

"Please, everyone! Be calm! For your own safety, you must vacate the—" Just

as she began telling the people to take refuge, an enormous explosion blasted

away part of the temple. From amidst the dust and debris, something began

crawling out of the building. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS THAT THING?! It was

enormous. Its shape wasn't even remotely human. Its skin was pitch, two black

horns jutted from its head. On its side, countless grasping arms writhed from its

body. On its back, six long tentacles squirmed. Its lower body was a mass of

tendrils, without number. And its head had no eyes, only an enormous mouth,

one that almost split across its entire face.

"GauUguguHGhh!! GooOoraaRaaAagGghH!!" It raised a monstrous roar, as if

the depths of the earth were screaming for salvation.

The air itself trembled. The sound it released was enough to bring the

townspeople to their knees with fear. The ground began to tremble, people

everywhere dropped to the ground. Is it manipulating people's minds? Making

them afraid?!

This thing's like... a god of evil... I couldn't stop that cliche kind of term from

floating up into my head. This was the Spirit of Darkness that was once called

forth and manipulated by the summoner known as Ramirez. But now, it was in

command. And after a thousand years... it was free.

I can't stress enough how big this thing was. Its dark tendrils moved forward,

and the creature began to rise up. It was enormous, and ominous enough to

strike disgust into the hearts of anyone.

One of its back-tentacles came down, smashing apart some of the temple. It

let out another scream as debris and dust scattered around the area. This thing

was a serious threat.

"GoGOaghaAgGuU!!" Unintelligible nonsense leaked from its maw, which was

now unhinged and wide open. Along with the sound, a tar-like black fluid began

bubbling out of its mouth like vomit.

Droplets of the stuff began falling, but they didn't hit the ground. Before they

had a chance to, they transformed into winged, bat-like creatures. They had

insectoid legs, but muscular human torsos. Their heads were elongated, but had

no defined features like eyes, noses, or ears. Just mouths.

They flapped their wings and scattered across the city. The townsfolk began

to shriek and scream, the entire city became a discordant tune of horror.

"GaAaAhgUGuhhRuuUugghahaAahahaAaA!!" The Spirit of Darkness screamed

toward the heavens.

"I-It's a monster!"

"G-God will... God will s-surely save us... y-yeah...!" All around me, I heard

people lapse into desperate prayer. Sorry, but this monster... is your god.

It probably didn't even remember Ramirez at this point. I could only assume

that the spirit was operating on some base, destructive impulse.

"You said a thousand years ago that the cardinals teamed up to seal it away,

right? Can't we do that again?!"

"I don't think we can... We simply can't match up to the power of the church

from back then. The majority of the appointed cardinals nowadays can't even

use magic!" That's useless, then... Well, I guess what she says makes sense. If

we were to compare the two eras, the difference is clear. In the olden days they

probably prioritized strength or wisdom, but the current clergymen are just

people in it for the faith, or political gain. Which makes them completely useless

when the going actually gets tough.

Guess there's nothing for it... But what can I... oh... there's an idea.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck my mind.

To be blunt, I saw an opportunity to change their doctrine at its core.

Obviously having the real God appear was a no-no, but that didn't mean I

couldn't pretend to be him. If I did that, defeated the monster, gave the pope

some kind of fake divine message, and said a few words... then she'd definitely

have the upper hand against the cardinals, and I could quash the idea of Lars

once and for all!

But wait... isn't this just as dishonest as Ramirez? I am tricking everyone... But,

hm... even if I am tricking everyone, I'm tricking everyone with the best

intentions! I'm just going along with what the actual God wants, acting on his

behalf, so it's fine... right? I wasn't able to decide by myself, so I quickly took the

pope and Phyllis aside and asked them about it.

"...If I'm entirely honest, I do not wish to deceive my people. But, I think we

could create a much better situation than we've ever had before. If we defeat

this beast, then we at least stop it from influencing their minds. That way, the

warped ideals of justice can be easily removed from our doctrine as well." Her

Holiness looked right at me, and asserted her belief. She had no hesitation.

"As pope, I have spread the gospel of a God I knew did not exist. I was

crushed by guilt, restraining my true feelings and refusing to show them. I told

myself it was for the sake of the Theocracy, but... If we were to change the

doctrine, I would freely talk of God. The God you spoke of, Grand Duke, He

would be the God I speak of. Even if the people don't know it, I would carry His

ideals in my heart, proudly puff out my chest, and be happy. Don't you think

such a thing would be wonderful?" I agreed. Though I felt a little awkward for

using God's name in vain like this... it was still necessary.

After all, I was sure the citizens would be happier if the monster threatening

them was slain by their God, and not by the leader of a foreign nation. And, on

an international level, this would definitely give Brunhild a more favorable

position with the bigwigs of Ramissh. ... That being said, I wasn't motivated by

such things.

"B-But will you really be okay?! Can you win against such a huge beast?! It's a

Spirit of Darkness, understand?!"

"Mmm... I think I can handle it." Phyllis had reasonable concerns, but I had an

inkling that it wouldn't be as tough as I expected.

This spirit's specialty was likely its brainwashing ability. And, from what I

understood, it was an area-of-effect skill rather than a direct target kind of

thing. In short, it worked in a large area, which is probably why Ramirez thought

to use it to govern a nation.

For someone like me, with my obscene magical resistance, it was no matter of

concern. That being said, I didn't want to hang around it for too long... I had a

feeling I couldn't resist it forever. In fact, it was pretty much a guarantee. Even

Ramirez fell victim.

I think I'll be fine, but I won't know until I give it a go... The only issue now is

making myself look like a God. I decided that the best way to handle it would be

to cast [Mirage] on myself and call it a day.

As I headed toward it, the dark spirit cracked one of its tentacles across the

ground, shattering streets and houses. It seemed to deal basic physical attacks,

which definitely weren't a matter of concern for me.

I should probably hurry, though... the entire Holy Capital is gonna go up in

rubble if I don't. I left the pope, Phyllis, and the townsfolk, and hid in a back

alley. The two girls were leading a prayer circle. Typically I'd have told them to

leave, but this was part of the plan. I would descend, as God, in response to

their prayers.

I changed my appearance with my [Mirage] spell. Although it was more like I

was masking myself than actually transforming. I decided to take the form of a

traditional Greek-style God with long flowing blond hair, and blue eyes. I made

myself pretty handsome, too.

"Well?"

"It looks good, but it feels like something's missing..." Kohaku gave the tiger

equivalent of a shrug. But I look just about as plain as the real God! It's not my

fault you haven't met him! What kind of Heavenly Beast are you if you haven't

even met God, huh?!

Hm... what's missing then... how about... I created another illusion that

caused light to cloak my entire body. I briefly considered adding a halo and

angel wings, but I didn't want to look like an angel. If I ended up being a

messenger from God, rather than God himself, that would defeat the point.

Just as I was putting the last parts of my disguise together, I realized

something. Normally people would expect a God to actually fly in the sky,

descending from the heavens. If I just appeared and walked amongst people,

claiming to be God... that'd be a little weird. I really should've learned a flight

spell. I made a mental note to pick one up later. Ugh, pretending to be God is a

real pain in the ass, I hate this! Still, there was nothing I could do about it. I

decided to project the image of God into the sky... Which completely defeated

the point of cladding myself in it to begin with! Then again, I'm going to have to

look like this when I fight the monster anyway, so I guess it's fine.

As I projected the divine image of the one true God into the sky above the

city, the people let out yell of wonder and surprise. God had descended, and He

was basking them in His glow. First thing's first, we've gotta take care of those

minions.

"Come forth, Darkness! I Seek the Shining Warmaiden: [Valkyrie]!"

...Frankly, calling forth divine warriors to help me with a chant of "Come forth,

Darkness" sounded super silly to me, but I had to roll with the punches.

Summoning circles appeared around the projected God illusion, and angelic

warmaidens were called forth into the sky. I made a contract with Valkyries

after the incident in the Regulus Empire. I liked the Griffins, but having them as

my sole air support was troublesome.

"The Dark Spirit has created shadowy monsters, slay them, and protect the

townspeople." I conveyed telepathic orders to the angelic maidens, and they

scattered across the city.

It honestly would've been easier to use my smartphone to lock on to all of

them and wipe them out at once with light magic, but they would've died too

quickly. The citizens wouldn't have even known what saved them, and that

wouldn't do. I was directing a scenario here!

Still, people's lives were at stake. I didn't think the Spirit's minions were

specifically targeting people, they seemed more like they were mindlessly

rampaging, but that didn't mean they were any less dangerous. If they

continued roaming around and trashing whatever, then people could still die

through collateral damage.

The townspeople began to cheer, which was only natural. God himself and a

band of angels had just appeared to fight their enemy.

Alrighty, time to move. I made myself disappear with [Invisible], and dashed

across the rooftops, making sure to keep an eye on the God illusion I had

projected up into the sky.

Man, at times like this I could really use a flight spell... Wonder if it's wind

magic... or maybe it's a Null spell? Yeah, if it was Wind then Leen would be able

to use it easily... It's gotta be a Null one.

I finally arrived before the temple, and got a real sense of how big the Dark

Spirit was.

I erased the illusion of God in the sky, and, while maintaining the illusion of

God on my own body, took out a two-meter-long sword from my storage.

I'd reduced the weight of the blade using [Gravity] so I could wield it in one

hand, and it was created from a Phrase fragment. The material the blade was

made of kind of made the surface sparkle and dance with light, like the surface

of water. I decided it was sufficiently mystical enough to pass off as a Godly

weapon.

The Spirit of Darkness turned and glared down at me. Well, I said glared, but it

had no eyes. Sure felt like a glare, though. A few of its back-tentacles whipped

toward me.

"Hup...!" I jumped to the side and made a horizontal swing of the sword. I

cleanly cut the tentacle, and the dark mass fell to the ground. A foul black fog

began leaking from the sliced-off tentacle. ...Gross.

But I didn't have any time to react before the tentacle vanished, and a new

one took its place on the monster's body. Wait, this thing can regenerate as

well? That's irritating!

As a (fake) God, I couldn't let anyone see it give me a hard time, so I needed

to kill it fast. I briefly considered using [Slip], but it was so big that it'd definitely

destroy a chunk of the city if it fell over. Maybe I should crush it!

"Target lock. Spirit of Darkness. Invoke [Gravity]."

"Acknowledged. Target acquired. Invoking [Gravity]." The Spirit of Darkness

immediately began to fall, it couldn't support its new, increased body weight.

With a scream, it fell on to its side.

The area of the city beneath it was, naturally, completely leveled. Ah crap! I

pretty much got the same result I would've if I'd used [Slip]! Welp. God did it,

not me. At the very least, the people in the immediate area should've

evacuated by that point, so nobody would get harmed.

This is pretty bad though. I think I may have overdone it with the flashiness...

There was nothing I could do, so I focused on wiping it out with an

overwhelming show of force. I amplified the effects of [Gravity] on the

creature, but couldn't be sure if I'd even changed much. It didn't have a face, so

I couldn't gauge how it was feeling, either. Regardless, it seemed that I had it

pinned down. Now, for the finale!

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" The spears of

light drilled their way through the beast's body, and... The holes left in the

creature didn't regenerate. It stood to reason that a Dark Spirit would be weak

to light magic.

"Target Lock. Launch an additional... one hundred... no, two hundred [Shining

Javelin] strikes at the Dark Spirit!"

"Acknowledged. Target acquired." It was time for this monster to get a taste

of (fake) God's (two-hundred-javelins of) wrath!

"Fire!"

"Acknowledged. Launching attack."

BOOM, CRASH, RUMBLE, SHAKOOM, BADABOOM!!!

The ground began to shake, which was natural, those Shining Javelins were

really doing a number on the thing. The Dark Spirit's body split repeatedly,

fragmenting as each new blade of light fell down upon it. As the volley ended,

there was little left of the creature itself.

The fragmented pieces of the spirit spread across the area like a blackened

fog. I figured that it was probably still alive, in some base form. I couldn't have

that, though, it'd be a real pain if it resurrected or something. Therefore, I

decided to annihilate it entirely.

"Come forth, Light. Shining Exile: [Banish]!" I cast a purifying spell over a

large radius, scattering light everywhere. The wicked fog quickly scattered and

dissipated.

As the light faded and the darkness of the spirit swirled into nothingness, a

single skeleton clattered to the ground. In an instant, it crumbled to dust and

blew away in the breeze...

I wondered if that was Ramirez. After a thousand years, he was finally freed. I

honestly felt a little pity, but he fell victim to his own misdeeds in the end.

Alright, now was the time... I had to work hard and deceive everyone.

◇ ◇ ◇

I looked across the streets as cheers resounded from every corner. Even

amidst the dark of the night, I could hear people far and wide.

"Amazing! He did it!"

"Lars, thank you o Lars! The god of light has vanquished the wicked one!"

"Take that, you monster! Feel the wrath of our lord, you fiend!" The citizens

cheered and jeered with enthusiasm, but I was just left feeling irritated.

I didn't know if it was just due to the residual brainwashing, but they were

yammering on about Lars. I decided I'd show them the wrath of God they were

cheering so much.

It seemed a feat wouldn't have been enough, so I had to preach to them

directly.

"Target Lock. Effective range, within the city's borders. Invoke [Lightning

Javelin] in random locations, ensuring that there are no people within ten

meters of the spell. Repeat three hundred times."

"Understood. Target acquired. Invoking [Lightning Javelin]." All of a sudden,

three hundred bolts fell from the sky and struck the city. Screams and shrieks

broke out, and the townsfolk were sent into disarray.

I used my smartphone to project my image high into the sky, ensuring it could

be seen at a distance.

"Do not speak so carelessly of justice, wrath, and indignation. It was the

warped justice of your people that created this beast to begin with!" Then I

decided to spice things up a bit. Using a [Gate], I brought the pope to my

location. Her image too, was projected into the sky, and the citizens cheered in

admiration. I gave the pope a knowing nod, and she kneeled before me, bowing

her head.

"Is it you, Your Divinity? Lars, god of light?"

"I am not, my child. I am indeed god's light, but I bear not the name of Lars.

There is no such god named Lars." The people watching broke out into

confusion again. That was natural, though. I'd just denied their god throughand-through.

"Step forth, young one. I've a message for you all." I placed my hand on the

pope's forehead, and a dazzling light engulfed us both. I was a little tired by the

charade, and tried to speed it up a bit. It's not like I had actually imbued a

message into her mind, it was just dramatic effect.

After the light faded, the pope fully prostrated herself before me. Frankly I

thought it was a little bit of overkill on her part.

Either way, I simply moved on to the next part.

"One final matter. I must bestow divine punishment upon those who

accumulated sin, and allowed many crimes to be committed under the

fraudulent guise of justice and light." I used my portal once again in a similar

fashion to bring forth the assholes who had shown themselves to me earlier on.

Cardinal Zeon, his sister Kyurei, the other cardinals, and the Templars who had

hassled me all bowed before my divine might.

"Confess your sins to me."

"W-We've committed no crime, indulged in no sin! I-I'm a devout follower of

your radiance, the light of God is my shepherd, I p-p-promise!!" Zeon began

blabbering like an idiot, his face mashing into the ground in reverence. I

couldn't believe he'd even try to worm his way out of the situation in front of

God. It didn't matter that I was pretending, he didn't know that! This guy really

was an idiot if he thought he could fool the divine.

"You miserable whelp. Claiming an innocent girl to be a vampire, going so far

as to plan her death... Confining your very pope to a dingy jail cell?! You

thought such things would escape my omnipotent gaze?!"

"Th-That was just...!!" Both Zeon and his sister went pale. The citizens, who

were still looking on, began murmuring amongst themselves. The cardinals, the

Templars, and everyone else present couldn't seem to contain their shock and

horror.

"And you know as well as I that they were not your only crimes. Shall I

disclose your other transgressions? One by one?!"

"N-Ngh...!" Zeon fell silent. I had asked the perfect leading question. I had no

doubt in my mind that he had done all manner of terrible things under the

banner of God, but I wasn't entirely certain of what they were. But now I knew

he and his sister were beyond salvation.

Even while knowing there was no god of light, the two of them still

conveniently used the image for their own ends. I couldn't afford to let them off

the hook.

"Repent, mongrels!"

"Ughaah!!" I used my trusty paralyzing spell on everyone before me, except

the pope of course. I then turned to Her Eminence, and spoke thus.

"I entrust their punishment to you, my child."

"Of course."

"Light and Dark are two sides of the same coin, forever indivisible. Justice,

injustice, both are creations of human hands. If you commit to one side, you will

ultimately tip into the other. Do not allow this." I faced the citizens and made

my final declaration. That being said, I don't really think I made a very good

speech. I decided to bail before I slipped up any more and got caught out.

I had the Valkyries come from behind me and scatter across the city.

"Farewell, children of man." The Valkyries all shone in unison. I took my

opportunity to get the heck out of dodge through a portal, and hid away from

sight. After the light faded, I created another illusion of beautiful feathers falling

from the sky. I felt like I was directing a movie.

The pope then rose to her feet.

"God has left! From now on, we will take full responsibility for our actions!

We will repent as one, for betraying God's will! As He spoke, we should all have

taken in a message of accountability! We will work hard and seize what is right

with our own hands! Pray to Him in gratitude and peace!"

The voices of the people roared across the night, they were elated. That's

about what I expected, but... She definitely had more charisma than me, that

much was for certain.

I figured that would be enough to let everything work out. As I watched the

excited townsfolk and the pope's speech, my smartphone began to vibrate. I

seemed to have an incoming call.

"Hello! Is this God?"

"That it is, my boy. Ahaha... it seems you have put the situation to rest! I am

quite relieved, thank you."

"Yup, seems like we'll be fine now. Any weird stuff that was interfering with

their minds should die down soon enough, if not already. Now the people

should be able to make rational decisions for themselves." In a sense, you could

say that I had driven a divide in the people's minds about the concept of God

itself. The influence of Ramissh was likely to decrease after this, but... In turn,

the people oppressed by their wicked justice would go down as well.

There would surely still be those who believed in Lars, god of light, but that

was fine by me. Believing or not was ultimately their choice, and that just

meant they were human. All I had done was prevent people from abusing that

belief and imposing it upon others through force or trickery.

"I do apologize for leaving the matter to you... Do apologize to the young

priestess and that charming young popess for me, would you?"

"Don't worry about it. Just pay me back by looking in on their country now

and then, just in case things get weird again."

"Very well, then! I'll be sure to pay attention." I hung up on God, and moved

back to Phyllis and Kohaku through one of my portals.

"Thank you, Your Majesty... Thank you so much." Phyllis was moved to tears

the moment she saw me, and respectfully bowed her head. I didn't really do

much to deserve that level of appreciation though, if you'd have asked me, I'd

say I was the one responsible for the mess to begin with!

"God told me to apologize to you and the pope on his behalf. I think there'll

be tough times ahead, do you think you'll be okay?"

"I do. After all, God is always watching." Phyllis nodded, there was no

hesitation in her eyes. It seemed I had nothing to worry about.

Since it was through my own magic that various buildings and the grand

temple were annihilated, I quickly decided to rebuild them with another of my

trusty spells. However, the pope appeared and stopped me in my tracks. She

said that showing my power like that in public, especially after everything that

had just happened, would be a terrible idea. She had a point, I didn't want to

expose the truth behind that God.

I watched over the pope beginning her new type of sermon, and I smiled. I

had decided that my work here was done. Though, just in case, I gave Phyllis a

Gate Mirror for quick and easy communication. Then, after a short goodbye,

Kohaku and I portalled our way home to Brunhild.

Some days later, rumors finally began flowing through various countries that

a God had descended in the Ramissh Theocracy, slaying a wicked Dark God in

the process. Irreligious countries laughed off the story as propaganda. That

aside, the Ramissh Theocracy officially changed their following from Lars, god of

light, to simply preaching the word of "god's light." Their motto of it all being in

the name of light and justice was also stricken from the record.

Officially, the founder of Ramissh was still Ramirez, and the one that aided

him was the god of light. That part of the story remained consistent. All I and

the pope had done together was remove any mention of Lars, and his twisted

justice.

"Geez, I never expected you to pretend to be a God, Touya... you're gonna get

punished from above!" Elze nudged me in the side, laughing at my tale. I had,

naturally, explained to my family what had happened in the Theocracy. I just cut

out the parts about the real God.

Cardinal Zeon, Cardinal Kyurei, the Templars, and the others who had actively

abused the pope were stripped of land, position, and property. They were

excommunicated from the church and jailed. The confiscated wealth ended up

being vast, it seemed that all their fearmongering and donation-begging had

paid off well for them. The pope kindly returned that money to the people,

compensating the victims of years of oppression.

All of those imprisoned also happened to be those that knew the truth behind

the Ramissh religion, but it was unlikely they'd be believed even if they did blab.

After all, they were all personally judged by God himself before a great crowd.

And, after a short time, an envoy from Ramissh came to greet me in my

castle. My halls were graced by the presence of the youngest cardinal in history,

Phyllis.

"You seem well."

"As do you, Grand Duke." I took a look at the letter she had brought with her.

To be blunt, the letter stated that they were sorry about the previous envoy,

and wished to establish good terms with Brunhild.

There was no outlandish demand like forcing me to adopt a state religion, or

baptize myself. It was simply a letter of good faith, asking that my duchy

maintain a friendship with the Theocracy going forward.

Naturally, I accepted. In order for my country to grow, good diplomacy was

necessary and welcome. I had no desire to connect with bad nations, but I had

made good friends within the Theocracy.

"Hm, I was somewhat worried just now, but it seems to have ended well... I

wonder if the God who appeared in Ramissh intended for this to happen..."

After Phyllis left, old man Kousaka let out a small sigh of relief and gave me that

comment, along with a sidelong glance.

I didn't tell him the exact details of what went down that day, but I did tell

him I was there when it happened. As far as he knew I was visiting the

Theocracy, then God happened to descend. It was mighty convenient, but that

was the story I stuck to.

"Do you believe in God, Kousaka?"

"Who can say... He exists within the hearts of those who believe, and does

not within the hearts of those who do not. That is what I believe, at least."

James Barrie, an English writer, wrote in "Peter Pan" that whenever a child says

"I don't believe in fairies," a single fairy dies somewhere.

Kousaka had a point. To believe in something, was to give it life. I don't think

anyone could get in the way of that.

"And what of you, Grand Duke? Do you believe in God?"

"I do. I do." Somewhere, off on the breeze outside, I thought I heard the

gentle chuckling of the divine old man himself.