Chapter 11 (Part 3)

“The supreme god remains silent.”

Rybid began to recite the spell as Fidelion had spoken.

He didn’t know what the spell meant, but his mind was filled with anticipation of retrieving Yuliana and mercilessly k＊lling Anthus. He was confident of victory as an enormous amount of divine power gathered, unlike anything he had ever felt.

Rybid recited the final spell, Astraphe.

His vision gradually darkened. Then, a solemn voice echoed in his mind.

<Who is the judge?>

‘Judge? Who is that?’

He remembered Fidelion calling someone before defeating the Demon King.

‘Could it be… the spell only works if there’s a judge?’

His heart sank.

He realized something was wrong. Like sand slipping through his fingers, divine power began to seep out of his body.

“Ugh…”

Rybid covered his mouth with both hands, but he couldn’t stop the bl＊＊d that kept gushing out.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why is all the divine power…”

Gone!

Rybid collapsed, vomiting bl＊＊d and staining the ground.

Anthus let down his guard and looked at the sky. The once-dark sky began to clear as if nothing had happened.

“Your Holiness!”

Aens ran to Rybid and supported him.

“Are you alright? Your Holiness…”

“Cough!”

Aens supported him with concern, but Rybid’s condition was not good. He continued to suffer, bleeding profusely.

“Could it be…”

Aens listened to Rybid’s chest. The heartbeat was getting weaker.

Aens took out a vial from his bosom and poured it into Rybid’s mouth.

But he couldn’t swallow it, coughing it up. Aens poured the contents of the glass bottle into his mouth and forcibly fed it to Rybid.

“Your Holiness, you must not die.”

Aens massaged Rybid’s body to keep his faint breath going. Fortunately, he was relieved to see that the breath continued, albeit faintly.

“Tearful loyalty, Aens.”

“What do you know! Serving His Holiness is only natural for me! He is the Holy Kingdom itself. Duke Rockbellion! If only you hadn’t come here… His Holiness!”

“If you thought I would stand idly by after the Duchess of Rockbellion was kidnapped, you were gravely mistaken.”

“Don’t you wonder what kind of state the kidnapped young lady was in?”

Aens glared at Anthus with clear eyes.

Anthus was silent for a moment. Then he met Aens’s gaze directly.

“Just like your loose lips, I suppose I can think lightly of Rybid’s life too?”

Anthus said with a smile. Aens remained silent.

“Without divine power, how long did you plan to pretend to have it by extracting and k＊lling innocent people’s divine power? Is that what the Holy Kingdom, which serves God, should do?”

“It was all for the Holy Kingdom.”

“For the Holy Kingdom, not God? Thanks to that statement, I’ve realized for sure…”

“What have you realized!”

“That the Sirius Empire will not receive divine punishment.”

Anthus slowly approached Rybid and raised his sword high.

“I have secured evidence and witnesses of the Holy Kingdom’s crimes. There’s no escaping it. I’ll make sure you confess about the new monsters too.”

Rybid, who had collapsed, vomiting bl＊＊d, regained consciousness and looked at Anthus standing with a sword in front of him. He then looked at Yuliana standing beyond Anthus.

“You seem to have come to your senses. Pope Rybid, no, Rybid. I’d appreciate it if you stopped looking at Lia with such longing eyes.”

“If only I had met her first…”

“No, she wouldn’t like you. Do you know why?”

“The Holy Kingdom forcibly took the life of Lia’s mother, Saint Rosaline.”

Rybid bit his lower lip hard.

“Rosaline was a saint stripped of her position… she committed a crime.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You extracted her divine power and killed her. What does it matter now? The truth doesn’t change.”

Rybid didn’t respond to Anthus’s words. He just coughed as if he would die, vomiting bl＊＊d.

Anthus raised his sword high. Aens covered Rybid’s body with her own.

“No, you can’t!”

“Why are you defending him when you know Rybid killed many people?”

“Please spare His Holiness. I beg you.”

Aens pleaded earnestly with Anthus.

At that moment, Anthus sensed something strange. When he turned around, a beautiful person with golden hair and eyes suddenly appeared next to Yuliana.

[The Astraphe spell is one that grants peace and also seeks a judge.]

Yuliana looked at Elisha, who suddenly appeared before everyone.

The higher the spirit, the more it could transform into a human form. But Elisha’s current appearance was different from just before.

And it was the appearance of the person she most wanted to see. The very person Matthias looked at every day in the framed picture.

“Mother?”

Yuliana was shocked, covering her mouth, and tears streamed down her face as she saw the unforgettable image of Rosaline.

[Lia, it’s been a while.]

“Are you really my mother? Why are you with the spirit of light…”

Yuliana reached out to hug Rosaline, but she couldn’t grasp anything.

[You can’t touch me, nor can I touch you.]

Anthus entrusted Aens and Rybid to Huesman and ran to Yuliana’s side.

“Mother… what do you mean? Wasn’t it the spirit of light? Why…”

“Elisha looks exactly like my mother.”

Anthus closed his mouth. He looked at the spirit of light in Rosaline’s form. Indeed, she resembled Yuliana.

[Fidelion lost the woman he loved. He thought it was all God’s fault. So, with arrogant thoughts of judging God with his resentment and anger, he used the Astraphe spell.]

Rosaline continued speaking as she walked toward the bound Rybid.

[The Astraphe spell is a spell created by the god Agathaine, hoping those who wish for judgment would find their own judge and seek salvation instead.]

Rosaline extended one hand to the sky and then lowered it.

At that moment, the ground wriggled, and a new type of monster burst forth. It was a horrifying figure, burnt from head to toe.

Yuliana recognized the figure. It was the same man from her recent dream, who had promised to help her avenge if she brought Rosaline back to life.

Behind the man who emerged from the ground, other monsters began to crawl out one by one.

The knights, including Anthus, tensed up and prepared for battle. Fortunately, the new type of monster did not attack anyone.

[Fidelion, the judge you found for yourself, ‘Rosaline Loengrin,’ will deliver the verdict.]

“Ah… Ugh.”

[If you wish to seek salvation instead of judgment, find your own judge.]

“Ahhh.”

Hearing a phrase from the Astraphe spell from Rosaline’s mouth, Fidelion sobbed.

[The Demon King already had a judge. So it may have seemed like he perished, but he only found peace and salvation.]

Rosaline gently touched Fidelion’s blackened face with both hands. Fidelion, who appeared as a blackened corpse, began to regain his original appearance with the light.

Starting from that, a bright light rippled like waves, endlessly spreading around. The monsters touched by the light began to disintegrate slowly with the white light, disappearing.

[You have suffered for a long time, trapped in endless anger and desiring revenge, haven’t you?]

“They all wanted revenge… But Rosaline, you were the only one who didn’t choose revenge. You were the first. Even in the face of an unjust death, you spoke of love… It was amazing.”

Fidelion wandered painfully through eternity for a long time. But more unbearable than the pain was the loneliness. So, he extracted divine power from the Holy Kingdom and lured those who died unjustly to choose revenge.

And they became monsters, wandering forever with him.

Among them, only Rosaline, instead of revenge, worried about her beloved family and kept repeating words of love, smiling at the end. At that moment, Fidelion felt liberated from resentment for the first time. And for the first time, he understood what the Astraphe spell was.

“The Demon King’s judge was Elisha. So the Demon King found peace. But I had no judge. Well… I didn’t know the true intent of the Astraphe spell… But thanks to you, Rosaline, I realized.”

Fidelion stood one step in front of Rosaline.

“My self-found judge. Deliver your verdict to me.”

Fidelion looked up at the sky. His body began to sparkle like a star. And like dandelion seeds, it began to fly away with the wind.

[My verdict is your eternal peace, Fidelion.]

“For many years, I resented the gods… Can someone like me, who made people who died unjustly into monsters and made them live in torment, receive peace and salvation?”

[Everyone blames the gods at least once in their life. The gods know that too well… So they remain silent.]

“Ah… Now I understand the Astraphe spell. What oppressed me was myself… I want to apologize to those who became monsters because of me.”

[Don’t worry. Elisha will guide them.]

“That’s a relief…”

The beautiful, sparkling dust of light soared high into the sky with the wind. It looked like a galaxy embroidered in the blue sky.

Rosaline approached Rybid. And she reached out to the book that contained the Astraphe spell lying beside him. The book immediately fell into Rosaline’s hand.