Chapter 1230: 217. Wrath (III)

“Love—God!”

Muen rattled the shackles violently and forced that familiar title out through clenched teeth with enough force to nearly grind them to pieces.

If it had been any other Evil God, he naturally would not have dared casually speak its true title aloud. But this one...

“You fucking bastard! You damned Love God! It’s you again!”

This underhanded way of doing things, this revolting method of scheming, this selection of believers whose taste was the worst even among all the Evil Gods...

It was difficult to imagine any Evil God other than the Love God fitting all of that.

He should have realized it sooner.

Unfortunately, he had been misled by the title “Goddess of Light” and by the power of the Withering King that Priscilla had displayed when he first encountered her. On top of that, throughout this entire incident, the Love God had revealed almost no trace of itself at all. It had pushed the survivors entirely into the foreground, which was why Muen had failed to make that judgment in time.

If he had realized it sooner... perhaps he would have noticed that Miss Dragon’s problem did not lie in anything external, but within her heart.

Because that bastard disgrace of an Evil God only knew how to use this one trick!

It did not have the courage to confront Miss Dragon head-on at all. It only knew how to scheme in the shadows!

“But...”

Muen frowned instinctively.

That raised another question. Even if the Love God had intercepted their faith, how exactly had it done so?

Judging from Priscilla’s words, the so-called “Goddess of Light” these people had worshiped in the early days really had been one of the Withering King’s female guises. It had even granted them its power. The original “Pollution” within Priscilla had come from that.

It was simply that during that period, the Withering King had not communicated with them. It had been nothing more than a simple transaction.

That was also perfectly normal. After all, not every Evil God cultist could receive a personal response from an Evil God. One like the Love God, who insisted on handling everything personally, was truly unique.

But since it was a transaction, if the Love God later descended and granted its own favor, it definitely would not have been able to fool those survivors. After all, people capable of devising such a complicated plan did not look as though their brains had been crushed in a door.

Which meant...

The Love God, after intercepting their faith, had still bestowed a blessing belonging to the Withering King. Only then could it have deceived the survivors.

But how had it bestowed the Withering King’s blessing?

Causing a little trouble and secretly picking up fragments of another power would not have been a serious issue. But would the Withering King really indulge the Love God like that?

That made no sense!

“Could it be...”

Muen rubbed his chin and thought, “After I cuckolded the Withering King once, it discovered that it liked the feeling, so it willingly let the Love God...”

No, no, no. That was far too absurd.

Even unofficial history would not be that wild.

There had to be another reason...

“So in the end, you did all of this just to create an opening in Miss Dragon’s heart, giving that bastard Love God a chance to take advantage of it?”

Unable to reach a conclusion for the moment, Muen calmed himself and looked back at Priscilla.

“Love... God?”

Priscilla clasped her hands together, becoming even more devout and fanatical. “Could that be another sacred title of the Goddess? Ah... what a beautiful name. It perfectly suits her kind and benevolent image...”

“...I advise you not to imagine too much about it.”

Muen’s cheek twitched. “Otherwise, the contrast later will shatter your beautiful dream.”

“Hmph. My love for my god runs deep. No matter what she is like, I will worship her devoutly. Do you think I am as shallow as cold and heartless people like you?” Priscilla sneered disdainfully.

“...You should save ‘cold and heartless’ for yourselves. I don’t deserve it, and neither does Miss Dragon. Didn’t you say it yourself? She is a gentle person.” Muen narrowed his eyes. He suddenly noticed that Priscilla also possessed an inexplicable contradiction.

“Yes. A gentle person.”

Priscilla wrapped her arms around her shoulders. The sorrow she had just rubbed away surfaced on her face once more. “That is exactly why I hate her so much. She was so gentle... so why couldn’t she have been just a little gentler toward me, toward us? Why did she have to bring down destruction? Everyone... everyone had been so happy before, hadn’t we?”

“Are you pretending to be stupid, or are you really stupid? You were all using Pollution yourselves. Don’t tell me you still don’t understand how terrifying Pollution is. Miss Dragon did it for the sake of this world, and that was why—”

“Nonsense!”

Priscilla suddenly roared, “Pollution is not that terrifying! It can be suppressed! Look... look at me. It has been eight hundred years. Why haven’t I been completely consumed by Pollution? I’m still alive and well. I’m still human!”

Priscilla held out both hands, doing her utmost to show Muen that her body bore no sign of Pollution.

Her body appeared normal, its curves perfect, without any mutation whatsoever. Aside from skin that possessed the pallor and delicacy of someone who had not seen sunlight for a very long time, there was almost nothing wrong with it.

But when Muen looked at her, there was not only pity in his eyes, but mockery as well.

“And you still claim Pollution hasn’t affected you?”

She called Hamreign Big Sister Dragon and understood all of her pain and helplessness, yet still hated her to the bone.

She made use of the properties of Pollution and understood better than anyone how terrifying it was, yet still deceived herself into believing she remained human.

Priscilla was clearly contradictory as well.

Miss Dragon’s contradiction came from the contrast between her overwhelming power and gentle heart, while Priscilla’s contradiction came from...

The fact that she had already gone mad.

Among the few people who had survived Tars, “Goddess of Night” Andrie was not the only one who had gone mad.

Priscilla, Clarence, Harris, Felimon, Avik...

All of them had completely lost their minds.

Or rather, from the moment they crawled out of the ruins of Tars, they had ceased to be who they once were.

They had become some kind of existence formed from hatred, fear, and Pollution, while still believing themselves human.

“But I have no intention of forgiving any of you.”

Muen slowly rose to his feet. From the corner of his eye, he glanced toward both ends of the shackles. Two thick chains extended separately into the floor, restricting the range of his movement. That was also why both of his earlier attempts to struggle free had failed.

“After all, no matter what you became, everything happening now is the result of your own choices, isn’t it? The people you once were deserved pity. The people you are now... possess nothing but unforgivable sins.”

“It sounds like you intend to fight back?” Every expression vanished from Priscilla’s face at once, whether anger or sorrow.

She looked at Muen in confusion. “Do you understand what you’re saying?”

“Actually...”

Muen did not answer Priscilla’s question. Instead, he continued speaking to himself.

“I’m still a little happy right now. It sounds like something that deserves a beating, but that is the truth. After all, if Miss Dragon really had been afflicted by some extraordinary poison, then all I could do right now would be stand here staring helplessly, unable to do anything, and miserably wait for tragedy to happen.

“But if the root of her problem comes from a wound to her heart... I feel like I can try.”

No one understood that bastard Love God better than he did.

And no one understood better than he did how to heal a woman’s wounded heart.

Of course, most importantly...

He wanted to apologize.

To apologize for the things he had said before.

...I’m sorry.

I shouldn’t have called you irritable and quick-tempered.

And I shouldn’t have called you cold and heartless.

I wish I had noticed sooner that you had been suffering all along.

Had he known...

Back in that room, when they faced the first mutated little girl, he would have stopped her no matter what, instead of allowing her to step into that lonely hell once again.

Even if stopping her would have been wrong.

“Ha... Have you gone mad too?”

Priscilla tilted her head and quietly examined Muen as he spoke inwardly, then sneered.

“Do you still not understand your own position? The only reason you are still alive is not because you are so capable. It is because I wanted to keep you alive, so you could personally witness Big Sister Dragon... witness that evil dragon being completely defeated by the great Goddess!

“Muen Campbell! Accept reality! The outcome has already been decided! There is no possibility of changing it! From the moment you entered this city... you already became our prey!”

“...How would I know without trying?”

Muen spoke lightly, then suddenly smiled.

Because he remembered that back in Annabawei, he too had stood in front of Miss Dragon with the same ignorance of his own limits and said those words to her.

Perhaps for the two of them, that had been where everything truly began.

“Ridiculous... Then go ahead and try.”

Priscilla could not be bothered to persuade him any further. She leisurely raised her coffee cup and took a small sip. “Come on. Struggle.”

“...”

Muen said nothing. He simply raised both hands, gathered his strength, and suddenly pulled!

Clang!

The shackles immediately released a piercing metallic shriek!

But...

It had no effect whatsoever. The shackles remained intact, and even Muen’s full strength failed to move them in the slightest.

“Magic is useless. Battle aura is useless... Even physical strength has been suppressed?”

Muen muttered in surprise, hurriedly closing his eyes and attempting to contact his mental space.

Yet he could not even sense his own mental space, much less mobilize the black flames or Black Sun.

“Do you understand now? I would never give you even the slightest chance to break free, escape, or turn the situation around. After all, I am not useless trash like Avik or Harris.”

Priscilla spoke leisurely. “The shackles on your wrists are not ordinary anti-magic shackles. They are genuine ancient relics. They possess only one effect: sealing the mystical. In other words, whether it is battle aura, magic, physical strength, or any other strange power within your body, all of it will be completely sealed. Right now, you are nothing more than an ordinary person.”

“An ancient relic? I see.”

Muen stared at the shackles around his wrists, his gaze flickering. No wonder this thing was countless times more effective than the anti-magic shackles he had once worn in Belrand.

“Good. Since you understand, obediently remain here and wait with me for the conclusion to arrive. I’m sure you will greatly enjoy the sight of the strongest dragon falling.”

Priscilla turned away and began thinking about how she should welcome that moment. After all, it would mark the end of eight hundred years. Naturally, she had to greet it in the grandest possible manner...

“In that case, I’ll use my ultimate technique,” Muen suddenly said.

“...Hm?”

Priscilla turned back in confusion, only to see Muen move one finger and somehow pull out...

A clock hand!

“Somofield’s Timer! The ancient clock that never errs! That’s it! One of its hands is actually in your possession!”

Priscilla screamed. She had never expected Muen to have already obtained a part of that ancient relic. After all, the reason the survivors had been able to remain alive back then and evade Miss Dragon’s pursuit for so long had been precisely because they relied on that ancient relic.

Naturally, Muen suddenly producing it caused her enormous psychological shock.

But...

She quickly calmed down.

“You actually didn’t place the clock hand inside your storage ring? Clever. But even if you take it out now, it is useless. The shackles will seal the mystery within the clock hand as well! You want to use its power over time to escape the shackles? Heh. That is completely impossible!”

Priscilla remained perfectly calm. She understood how terrifying those shackles were. It was said that even in the era a thousand years ago, they had been used to imprison the world’s most powerful experts.

To this day, no one had ever been able to...

Click.

A crisp sound rang out.

The shackles suddenly sprang open, then fell to the ground.

Muen raised his head and rotated his wrists...

Then he and Priscilla, whose eyes were gradually widening, stared at each other.

“Huh?”

Priscilla remained frozen for several seconds before finally forcing a hoarse sound from her throat.

“H-How is that possible?”

That was an ancient relic once used to imprison the strongest experts, one from which no one had ever escaped. How could it possibly...

“This thing really is impressive. Anyone else would genuinely have had no way out.”

Muen toyed with the clock hand between his fingers. “But because it absolutely seals the mystical, it possesses no mystery of its own. Even its locking mechanism is purely mechanical... I can open three locks built like this in one second.”

“Th-Three in one second?” Priscilla could not believe it.

“That’s right.”

Muen shrugged. “Clearly, among every top-tier expert these shackles have ever imprisoned... not one of them knew how to pick a lock.”

Pick a lock?

Priscilla found that absurd.

What top-tier expert knew how to pick locks? Why would they learn something like that? To earn money on the side?

Priscilla’s body swayed. She instinctively took a deep breath. Once again, she felt the same absurdity she had experienced in Annabawei, when she had plotted for so long and devised such a mad plan, only for the man in front of her to refine it in one stroke.

What kind of person was he?

How could someone like this exist in the world?

Was the very purpose of his existence to destroy her plans?

“No. The purpose of my existence is to grant all the crying beautiful girls in this world...

“Warm salvation!”

In the blink of an eye, Muen closed the distance and threw a punch!

“Muen—Campbell!”

Priscilla roared at the same time. With a spinning sound, half of a corrupted crown suddenly appeared, scattering turbid radiance.

The [Domain] belonging to a Crowned One expanded, intending to force Muen back.

But Muen did not retreat a single step. Blazing black flames surged upward, transforming into a pitch-black tide that collided violently with the edge of the [Domain]!

The [Domain] repelled the black flames while also crushing Muen. His body almost instantly erupted in bloody mist. Taking the suppression of a Crowned One’s [Domain] head-on with his own body was still far too difficult for him in his current state.

But he still refused to retreat. He even changed his fists into open palms, braced both hands against the edge of the [Domain], and together with the black flames...

Pushed back!

“Have you really gone mad?” Priscilla was frightened by Muen’s insanity and instinctively took one step back.

But one step backward meant...

Retreating again and again.

“Mad? Of course not.”

Muen’s body was covered in bloody wounds. Blood even flowed from the corners of his eyes, his nose, and his ears, making him appear especially terrifying.

Yet he continued staring fixedly at Priscilla beneath the crown’s radiance. He grinned, revealing the jade bead clenched between his teeth.

“This is nothing more than risking my life. I got used to it a long time ago. This is much easier than when I faced Miss Dragon before. But you, Priscilla—this body of yours looks so frail. You haven’t used it in a very long time, have you? And your [Domain] is so small, much smaller than Harris’s. Is it because you only have half a crown left?”

“Shut up!”

“How pitiful. You struggled and worked for eight hundred years, yet you are still nothing more than a wretch. Aside from provoking other people’s anger, all of you have accomplished nothing to this day.”

“I told you to shut up!”

Priscilla flew into a rage. The corrupted half-crown spun rapidly, scattering more dim radiance while driving the expansion of the [Domain].

But now...

Where could she possibly find that kind of strength?

Just as Muen had said, her current body had remained unused for a very long time, and only half of her crown remained.

In truth, her condition was far inferior to Harris’s. Harris had at least possessed genuine dragon remains.

Therefore, her active attempt to expand the [Domain] in return gave Muen an opportunity.

Priscilla suddenly discovered that at some point, Muen’s eyes had turned completely pitch-black. And within that pure darkness, an even deeper Black Sun was slowly revolving...

Looking down upon her without mercy.

“Ah!”

Priscilla abruptly returned to her senses, only to realize in horror that her [Domain] had been breached at some unknown moment. Muen, once again reduced to a blood-covered figure, stepped directly beneath the half-rotten crown °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and wrapped both hands around her throat.

“Why are you so agitated, Priscilla...?”

Muen’s eyes returned to deep blue as he looked directly into hers.

“Or could it be that you actually want me to save her too?”

“Nonsense... I hate her more than anyone. I hate that dragon. How could I possibly...”

“I wasn’t asking you!”

Muen interrupted her and stared into the depths of Priscilla’s eyes.

“I was asking...

“The other Priscilla—the one you also believed died eight hundred years ago, yet who still remains hidden deep within your heart.”