Became an Apostle of an Ancient God

Chapter 18

Bishop Luther, who declared he would show heaven, flashed a fanatical smile at Haru standing next to the violet portal.

Shub, who knew more about the structure and types of rites than Haru, judged calmly that something unusual was about to happen.

Either seize the initiative before they acted.

Or, conserve a bit more Divine Power and wait for the right moment to counterattack.

Shub pondered as she lightly brushed her hair back.

Since Haru was the owner of the body, the hair wasn't long enough to brush back, but it was a habit that came naturally as a mortal.

[I don't know what you're plotting, but you'd better stop there. Next time, it won't end with just your left arm.]

"This is the last effective hit you will land on me."

Luther formed a seal with his right hand.

He made a gentle gesture as if reaching out to a fragile lamb, then clenched his fist as if to crush the hand he held.

"[Sanctuary Designation.]"

It was the moment Luther shouted briefly.

A golden aura began to envelop the entire central church, including Luther's office. The Divine Power, surrounding the space in a 'spherical' shape centered on Luther, distorted the laws of physics and warped the space.

[Hmm.]

Shub crossed her arms and looked around at the rapidly changing environment caused by the Divine Power.

As she raised her head, a massive courtroom for judging heretics had somehow formed before her eyes, and in the sky, a statue of Serre holding scales and shedding tears was benevolently gazing down at Shub and Luther.

"To the heretic, a heavy blow. To the devout believer, a blessing. [Scales of Judgment] are before us. The sins shall be washed away with the purifying lightning here."

[Sanctuary Designation, is it? Certainly, it's worthy of being called a trump card.]

A rite that sanctifies a certain space by dyeing it with the caster's Divine Power.

It's no exaggeration to say it has the highest difficulty among all rites.

To overlay space with one's own mental world, one must have a firm worldview based on faith, massive Divine Power to recreate one's world, and the imagination to create space.

A statue of Serre holding the Scales of Judgment while shedding tears.

A massive courtroom for judging heretics.

Truly, it was a mental world befitting a man who devoted his life to judging heretics.

But, after all, it's a world created by a mortal.

To Shub, who was present when the universe was created, this world painted over by a mortal looked like a child's play.

[So? What can this world do?]

Shub said indifferently.

She wasn't curious or amazed by a mental world of a fanatic obsessed with light.

"You'll see, monster."

Taking advantage of Shub's moment of observation, Luther was regenerating his lost arm. It was unbelievable that this was the same man who had almost been devoured alive before the Legion.

[Huh?]

As if creating a sanctuary was something to boast about, Shub frowned and gave orders to her legion.

[Then, die.]

It was the moment when the Legion Sharks were about to emerge from the violet fissure she had opened.

"You fell for it, monster."

Crackle!!!!!!!

Divine punishment fell from the sky.

Boom!!!

Serre's lightning obliterated the Legion Sharks trying to pour out from the portal with a single strike.

[What...]

Shub tried to summon tentacles from the ground to attack Luther. However, once again, Serre's lightning struck precisely at the point where the tentacles were to be created.

Unable to bear it, Shub decided to use Haru's rite instead of her own. After quickly sending off a rite bug, a scarab, attached to the arm, she attempted to rupture the space.

However, the moment Shub tried to rupture the space through the seal, Serre's lightning intercepted the rite bug first. The Spatial Rupture naturally failed.

As Shub tried various rites to figure out the sanctuary's effects, Luther seized the opportunity to activate his own rite.

"[Light...] Ugh!!"

However, even though Luther seemed to have the upper hand, he wasn't in a relaxed situation. Failing to brainwash Haru, he couldn't draw in Divine Power from the outside.

He saw hallucinations.

In the hallucination, he was slowly sinking into a deep puddle filled with violet tentacles. Struggling powerlessly in the void where no light shone, he desperately sought Serre.

However, Serre did not respond to his cries.

She didn't look back.

Even as he fell into the abyss of the void filled with maggots.

"No...!"

Shaking his head vigorously, Luther shook off the hallucination. Having almost cornered the Outer God, he couldn't hesitate to activate the rite because of hallucinations.

"[Lightning Strike!]"

Rumble.

Boom!!!

A fierce bolt of lightning struck towards Shub. The golden flashes scattered with the roar of thunder and the scarlet heat were enough to melt a single boy.

However.

[What a troublesome man.]

Shub was unharmed without a scratch despite being hit directly by the lightning. Although the Divine Power had significantly decreased compared to before, it was still about twice that of a regular priest.

'This man, even though he could benefit from the rite enhancement effect through geas, didn't use it.'

Shub calmly assessed the domain. He didn't use geas. It meant that the risk of exposing the sanctuary's structure was greater than enhancing the sanctuary through geas.

After briefly contemplating with her violet eyes shining, Shub nodded and snapped her fingers as if forming a seal to activate a rite.

Then, Luther looked up at the sky with an expectant gaze and chuckled.

"Even the omnipotent Mother of Life ends up like this when trapped in a mortal's body. Accept the judgment's lightning quietly, [Shub-Niggurath]."

Proudly showing off his sanctuary, Luther awaited the lightning.

However, contrary to Luther's expectations, nothing happened.

[I see. So that's how the sanctuary is structured.]

Shub, who roughly understood the man's level, spoke leisurely.

[Within this sanctuary, the moment a heretic's rite is activated, divine punishment is delivered. That's why when I summoned the Legion Sharks and made the tentacles grow, the divine punishment lightning struck.]

"Ugh..."

[That face, seems like I hit the mark? It's just the kind of thought an Inquisitor would have.]

"It's impressive that you figured out the sanctuary's structure at a glance."

Luther smiled, kneeling on one knee.

"Whether it's the rite to distort the space of the Chosen Child or your rite to summon the legion from the void, it takes considerable time to cast. Your rite can't conquer this sanctuary."

[Indeed. My rite can't conquer this sanctuary.]

Shub admitted frankly.

However.

[Then, wouldn't it be possible with someone else's rite? What if it's the rite of a believer of Light, not a heretic?]

"... What?"

As Shub finished speaking, someone suddenly walked into Luther's sanctuary with muddy feet.

Nun Abigail.

She was Luther's direct attendant, who guided Haru inside the central church and delivered meals according to Luther's orders.

"Whisper. Whisper. It's telling me. If I don't come here. I mustn't... Yes. This is... Serre's. It must be Serre's whisper."

Abigail spewed out incomprehensible words and looked at Luther.

This was not some mere rite.

It was power.

A higher-dimensional intervention by a being more advanced than humans, through the divine.

[Then, Abigail. Please?]

At that moment, Shub directly injected a portion of her Divine Power into Abigail. The nun, who gained superhuman strength due to divine intervention, charged at Luther and activated the rite.

And the attribute of that rite was unmistakably. Though tainted by the void, it was 'light.'

"[Sacred Flare.]"

Controlled by Shub's words like a broken clockwork doll, Abigail mercilessly unleashed the rite towards Luther. The emblem of Serre appeared at Luther's feet, and flames of light surged up.

"Ugh...!"

Naturally, the sanctuary's effect did not activate.

This was a rite of light.

It was a rite of someone who served Serre, not a heretic's rite.

[Missed the mark.]

"Damn it..."

Shub once again injected Divine Power into Abigail and gave her an order.

[Abigail? Once more, Sacred Flare.]

Abigail, who had been Luther's attendant just moments ago, adjusted the rite once more to incinerate Luther with the flames of light.

We won.

It was a bit tricky, but we figured out the activation condition of the sanctuary.

We also figured out the strategy to trigger it.

Now, Luther had run out of Divine Power.

The moment he used a rite of protection, he would pay the price for forcibly expending his Divine Power, and if he didn't use the rite, he would be engulfed by the light he so loved and meet his end.

'If it ends like this, there will be no need to use the Iron Mask insurance Haru had prepared beforehand.'

Thinking so, Shub was just about to deliver the finishing blow.

Drip.

The restraint device fastened around Haru's neck.

It began to glow golden.

[What is this...?]

Crackle!

Boom!!!

"Gaaah...!!!"

Shub, who had been momentarily possessing Haru's body, was forcibly expelled by a powerful external force. Haru instantly lost Shub's power—but that wasn't all.

Haru's abundant Divine Power was drained all at once.

To the extent that internal bleeding, a symptom of Divine Power depletion, burst forth.

"What... is this!?"

Dropping to one knee from Divine Power depletion, Haru looked up at Luther.

"Hahahaha... Truly. You are quite the handful, Haru-kun. This is my victory."

"...What...?"

As if crushed by something heavy, Haru collapsed on the spot, his body devoid of strength.

"Thi...s...?!"

"Have you never once wondered why I never removed your restraint device until the end, Haru-kun? You're disqualified as a priest. A priest must act while considering every possible outcome."

Luther said as he stomped on Haru's face, which lay slumped on the floor.

"That restraint device, you see, is a type of Divine Power extraction apparatus. It forcibly extracts the Divine Power you emit and charges it into a Divine Power battery stored beneath the Hall of Atonement. If Divine Power can be drawn from outside, then it means there is also a method to extract it, doesn't it?"

Haru clenched his teeth and glared at Luther.

Perhaps to activate the geas, Luther had been rambling on about the structure of the rite, but one thing puzzled Haru.

"Then why didn't you use it from the beginning?"

"Unfortunately, this restraint device can only be used when the target's Divine Power is below a certain threshold. Since your Divine Power is several times, even dozens of times greater than others, in order to trap you with this, we had to forcibly deplete your Divine Power to some extent. That was the purpose of the previous clash."

"So from the start... I was being toyed with..."

"Something like that."

Luther irritably gave an order to Abigail, who had just been freed from Shub's whisper.

"Abigail, take Haru to the Rear side. Your Divine Power—extract it all. Once it's charged to a certain degree, we'll attempt brainwashing again. I'm not sure if he'll be able to resist then either."

"Luther, you bastard...!"

"Rejoice, boy."

Luther smiled brightly and spread his arms wide.

"Because heaven is waiting for you."

Dragged away by Abigail, Haru lowered his head deeply.

It wasn't from despair over defeat.

His bowed head, his face hidden.

Haru was smiling.

As if he had known from the beginning that it would turn out this way.