It wasn’t a fight.
What Kore witnessed was not a fight. It wasn’t even a hunt or an escape.
It was mockery.
Until the very end, Utes had used Adusiam’s own attacks against him to bring him down. When the sound wave b*llet hit Adusiam’s left arm, silver metal powder burst forth like flower petals.
With every deflected sound wave b*llet, one of his limbs was crushed. Utes taunted Adusiam with words each time he shattered another part of his body.
Finally, when all of Adusiam’s limbs were gone, Utes moved.
Only then did Kore realize that Utes hadn’t moved from his spot while deflecting the sound wave bullets. From beginning to end, Utes had been playing with Adusiam.
The voice muttering as it slowly advanced was clear.
“Is this a defective product?”
A chilling sensation, as if ice were being directly inserted into her back along the spine. Kore couldn’t comprehend what exactly was meant by “defective.”
Speculation began.
Utes must have expected some kind of reaction from Adusiam and, upon not receiving it, deemed him “defective,” starting either punishment or disposal.
‘Desired reaction… obedience? From a golem?’
Utes had rushed straight down to the deepest part of the grand temple without bothering to collect any other relics. Was he looking for something else, and was that something Adusiam, the golem of the Wizard King?
Why did Utes believe the legacy of the Wizard King would obey him? Unconsciously, Kore took a step back.
She mustn’t be discovered by him. Drawing Utes in to strike the Pope would be far too dangerous.
Just as Kore turned to flee,
“What are you doing there?”
Utes’ words cut through her like a blade in the darkness.
I blinked several times. I had kept my eyes open for quite a while subduing Adusiam. Having dismembered his limbs appropriately, there shouldn’t be any immediate danger of a surprise attack.
Now, it was time to speak with the priest who had caught my eye since the fight with Adusiam began.
He wasn’t an ordinary priest; every time my eyes tried to focus on his form, my head ached. It was difficult to maintain focus due to Adusiam forcing me to fix my gaze elsewhere.
Such a high concentration of information suggested considerable cultivation of divine power or martial arts—so why had he just watched?
“…”
The image of the priest seen with normal vision rather than filled with data and text. He was one of the priests I had seen at the Theistic Order gathering.
“If you saw, why didn’t you help?”
“…You. Can you really see me?”
“Yes. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Upon uttering those words, a thought struck me.
Is it supposed to be normal not to see me?
I recalled my conversation with Demos. There had been a twelfth priest present during that meeting, but Demos neither remembered nor recognized him.
Perhaps a priest of Pluto then? My thoughts became tangled.
Slop. Utes took a step forward.
Kore tried to calmly assess the situation. She couldn’t outrun Utes. Even if she fled, he would catch up soon.
Her priority was to survive this encounter.
“Hmm.”
Utes stroked his chin.
“Let’s talk outside the corridor. There’s nowhere to sit here, is there?”
Utes brushed off a nearby stone fragment with his hand and sat down, showing no hostility or formality.
Kore cautiously approached. Clearly, Utes held the upper hand.
“How long have you known I was hiding?”
“After the gathering ended? It’s a bit unclear.”
An obvious lie. If he hadn’t noticed her presence during the gathering, he wouldn’t have called it “obvious.”
“I have many questions, especially for someone who serves Pluto.”
Kore suppressed her unease. His sharp words seemed to pierce through people. Had she not met the Pope, her agitation might have shown.
“You might not even be a priest of Pluto. A devotee of Estia could also hold a high rank within the Theistic Order.”
“Oh, let’s relax. Devotees of Estia aren’t known for their stealth, are they? Even if they hide, it’s more about creating illusions of peaceful family scenes rather than truly ‘being unseen,’ right?”
His casual question made Kore nod reluctantly.
“There are a couple of other reasons I can offer. This place is the deepest level of the grand temple. Not many people visiting a temple for the first time can navigate it so skillfully. Perhaps someone who worships the deity enshrined here and resonates with the temple?”
‘Then what about you?’ The question hovered at the tip of Kore’s tongue.
“Now, I have a question.”
How does my soul look to you?
A completely incomprehensible question. When Kore didn’t answer, Utes tilted his head and asked again.
“Pluto is the god of d*ath, does he not have followers who can read the flow or history of souls?”
That’s true. But she couldn’t properly read his soul.
‘Did he already know I attempted to perceive his soul under the Pope’s orders…?’
Truly cunning rhetoric. Kore carefully chose her response, thinking he might be akin to the Pope.
“Why are you curious about that? Are you afraid of d*ath?”
“Isn’t everyone afraid of d*ath? However, my interest in my soul stems more from curiosity than fear. I’m curious where my soul comes from.”
“…Curious where it comes from?”
It was a strange statement, as if suggesting he didn’t originally belong to this world.
Memories surged in Kore’s mind like a storm.
The prophecy of the Wizard King’s return.
Disappointment in Adusiam for not obeying him.
Notification that her soul came from outside the world.
If Utes wasn’t new to the grand temple of Pluto, how did he know its geography so well?
If his unusual abilities weren’t divine powers, but fragments of a new divinity previously unknown to this world…
Could it be…
Could Utes himself be…?
Before Kore could recover from the shock of her deductions, Utes continued speaking.
“I’ve always wanted to meet a priest of Pluto. As a representative at the Theistic Order gathering, you must be among the most skilled in the Pluto sect.”
It was a crossroads. Kore had no idea what to say.
After careful deliberation, she slowly opened her mouth.
“I can’t see it. Your soul. There’s no history, nothing but a faint green glow.”
This much was true.
“There might not be enough clues. Would you tell me more about yourself? Like magic, the effectiveness of a saint’s ability increases with more knowledge about the target.”
It was a gamble.
Though it was true that knowing more about a target enhances effectiveness, whether it would work on someone like Utes, who transcended the limits of saints, was uncertain.
Kore waited anxiously for his response.
If Utes truly was the “entity from beyond this dimension” she suspected, there should be a proper reply.
“That’s troubling. Hmm…”
Utes might not let me live after hearing this answer.
But perhaps the greatest manifestation of Pluto’s power occurs at the moment of d*ath. Using all her divine strength, she could leave a final message for others in the order.
If Utes truly was the entity she suspected, too terrible to even name, her only hope lay with the Pope.
“It’s really strange saying this. I haven’t done much, really. Just endured some hardship near the border of another dimension.”
“Your real name isn’t Utes, is it. Tell me your true name.”
“My true name, you say.”
Utes’ faint smile seemed to dissolve and evaporate in the air for a moment. But soon, his characteristic smile reappeared.
“Right now, I’m merely an enemy of the Ten Towers.”
“…You said you’re an enemy of the Ten Towers.”
Kore recalled what Utes had testified before the Philoxenon believers.
“I believe what I’ve testified.”
“The vanished mage who brought ruin to the order has returned to bring apocalypse to the world.”
“The prophecy of his return wasn’t something I heard from someone else, but something I witnessed myself.”
At first glance, this testimony makes it seem like Utes views the vanished mage as an enemy. The grand strategy to make the Ten Towers and the disappeared mage fight each other reinforces this impression.
However, this strategy was presented to persuade “Argeyirion” to be eliminated. Utes had stated that if the Ten Towers and Argeyirion fought and weakened each other, they would have no strength left to oppose the returned mage.
But conversely, couldn’t the strengthened Argeyirion and Ten Towers join forces to oppose the returned mage?
If Utes had induced the expulsion of Argeyirion to preemptively eliminate such unexpected variables…
“The enemy of the Ten Towers, you are also the enemy of the vanished mage…”
Utes’ eyes gleamed.
At that moment, the temple of Pluto trembled. Kore, synchronized with the temple, felt as if her body was pierced by phantom pain.
“Kaheek?!”
Kore hurriedly activated the tracking ritual. Familiar priests with traces of divine power were sensed. But they weren’t the only ones.
Sinister mana from extraplanar beings lurked secretly—undoubtedly members of Argeyirion.
But that wasn’t all. An immense magical fluctuation, a massive aura of supernatural energy.
Mages from the Ten Towers had arrived.
Confused by the situation, Kore looked at Utes. Had he been stalling for time until now?
To prevent detection of intruders into the grand temple of Pluto?
Utes, who had been gazing at Kore with his hands clasped, asked,
“Is something wrong?”
Still smiling.
