The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness

“The one who got reeled in... was me?”

There was still blood on the ground, but under the wash of the rain, it had already become hard to make out.

Though the priest limped, he was not slow in the slightest. Dragging Krete of the Eye of the Saints behind him, he ducked into the wooden hut and promptly bolted the door shut, without the slightest intention of peeking outside.

Never mind whether that ramshackle wooden door could actually do anything to stop an enemy. The ease of that whole sequence—the sheer smoothness and naturalness of it—already proved that all of this had been rehearsed in advance.

This was a trap.

And she had stepped right into it without realizing.

“I see. So the real informant wasn’t him. It was you.”

Great Sister Edeline’s gaze flickered as she carefully sized up the man before her.

He was a man with distinctly Slavic features: a high-bridged nose, deep-set eyes, and a tall frame.

But Edeline could tell at a glance that face was fake, some kind of exquisite disguise. Even his build might have been deliberately altered. Trying to determine his real identity from his appearance alone was completely impossible.

“You noticed something strange about those corpses and wanted to use that as a breakthrough point to uncover the truth of this city?”

Great Sister Edeline gave a soft sigh, though whether it was because of her own carelessness or because of the naïveté of the man before her was hard to say.

“How did you know that a report thrown out so haphazardly would actually hook someone?”

“I didn’t know. I just figured that if this city is obviously trying to maintain some kind of illusion, then an anomaly like this—something that could expose a flaw in that illusion—would definitely draw someone out to deal with it.”

Muen looked toward the silhouette of the city beyond the graveyard.

Because of the light fog and fine rain, even that silhouette was blurred. And yet the towering buildings and ancient streets, every brick and every stone, all felt incomparably real.

And that reality was precisely the fog Muen wanted to break through, the curtain he wanted to tear open...

That falsehood.

“There is no such thing as a perfect disguise in this world. A false appearance is still false, and no matter how well you’ve done it, cracks are bound to appear somewhere. You know that yourselves. Which is why, once you learned those corpses had appeared, you’d try to deal with it. So... judging by the result, I succeeded.”

“Is that so...”

Great Sister Edeline sounded almost wistful.

“I have to admit, you are very clever, but...”

“But?”

“It’s useless. Everything you’ve done is useless. Futile.”

“...You’ve already been forced to show yourself in front of me, and you’re still saying that? That’s awfully arrogant.”

Muen let out a derisive laugh.

“This has nothing to do with arrogance, and nothing to do with whether I have shown myself or not. I’m only stating a fact.”

Great Sister Edeline raised her eyes. Even knowing she was already inside the enemy’s trap, those eyes remained calm.

“From what you just said, I can already tell you haven’t even touched the edge of the truth. You’re still circling inside your own assumptions, naively believing that will lead you to an exit.”

“But that is impossible. After saying all this... you are still no different from everyone else in this city. Just a fish. A fish that thinks it is swimming freely in rivers and seas, never realizing it is already trapped inside this invisible net, and that everything it does is futile.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Muen said. “Maybe you’re the weak point in that net.”

“Heh. Stepping into a trap does not mean I’ve lost.”

Great Sister Edeline’s fingers twitched, and vast Holy Light descended around her like a brilliant river of stars fallen from the heavens.

This was the Goddess’s favor, the radiance of supreme sanctity. Though she had suffered a bit of injury from the earlier sneak attack, she still had full confidence in herself...

Or rather, in the Goddess’s grace.

“You cannot change anything. The ending has already been decided.”

“The ending... has already been decided?”

Muen repeated the words in a murmur.

Again, he thought of Gaius’s invitation inside his soul. That old bastard was obviously plotting something filthy here, and yet he had still dared invite Muen to come “witness the ceremony.”

Just like this nun before him.

What confidence.

Or rather, what arrogance.

That attitude annoyed him.

“Then let me see it.”

Muen stepped forward.

“The source of your arrogance.”

He still did not draw Elizabeth.

Still...

Just a punch.

At first glance, there was nothing special about that simple fist. It only stirred up a faint draft of cold wind.

Even Great Sister Edeline, facing that punch head-on, remained perfectly composed.

“Do you think the same move will still work on me?”

Great Sister Edeline felt that the man before her did have a bit of petty cleverness. But not much. Most of the time, he seemed very stupid and stubborn.

“A moment ago, it only worked because you caught me off guard and I didn’t have time to gather Holy Light. Do you think I’d make the same mistake twice?”

That punch came swinging in, far slower than the earlier sneak attack—slower by who knew how many times.

But even so, Great Sister Edeline did not dare take it lightly. In case this was another one of his little tricks, she immediately condensed a barrier of Holy Light.

The Goddess’s light was holy and merciful. Aside from its exceptional power against grotesque and corrupted things, its offensive might was not especially outstanding. But in terms of defense, it was extraordinarily strong. It was said that the Saintess—whose cultivation was still slightly below Edeline’s—could, by relying on the power of Holy Light alone, even hold off a Crowned-level powerhouse by herself for a time.

And now, with Great Sister Edeline invoking the Church’s Holy Light in her own capacity, the defensive power of this barrier was naturally astonishing. Though her control over Holy Light had not yet reached the Saintess’s level, even a peak fifth-rank warrior should not have been able to break through it in a short time...

“Hm?”

But before that confident thought could even fully cross her mind, Great Sister Edeline let out an involuntary sound of surprise.

Because reflected in her pupils, that man’s slow, heavy punch was not stopped by the Holy Light the way she had expected.

It passed straight through it.

Passed through it...

Passed through it...

Passed through it?

Great Sister Edeline could not believe it. At that moment, her expression even twisted with shock. Holy Light was the Goddess’s blessing, the supreme divine power, the foundation of her confidence.

So why, in front of this man, was it no different from thin air?

“Sorry.”

Muen drove one clenched fist brutally into Great Sister Edeline’s delicate body, while behind his back, his other hand secretly stroked a small statue of the Goddess.

“Looks like Holy Light... likes me better!”

“Urgh...”

Great Sister Edeline’s face contorted faintly. Blood spilled from her mouth and nose as wave after wave of violent vibrations poured from that plain, unadorned fist and crashed through her flesh.

Her body had long been tempered by Holy Light, but in sheer toughness it still could not compare to that of a true top-tier martial warrior. And even a true top-tier martial warrior probably would not have been able to take that punch at such close range.

“Holy Light...”

Forcing herself to hang on to one last breath, Edeline called out quickly, and vast Holy Light rolled back over her, continually repairing the injuries to her body. But even then, that Holy Light still refused to hinder the man in the slightest. It would not harm him. It simply let him continue closing in.

It was practically like some ignorant young girl who’d been lured away by a yellow-haired rogue and was one step away from handing over the entire family fortune.

But Edeline had no time to think about any of that, because—

Boom!

Another punch!

Still plain and unadorned, but the entire graveyard seemed to tremble from that single blow.

“Pff—”

More blood burst from her lips. The speed at which Holy Light repaired her was nowhere near enough to match the speed at which her body was being shattered. Great Sister Edeline looked utterly miserable, as if she had nearly been broken in half.

But Edeline was worthy of her title as Great Sister. Her combat experience was extremely rich. Even in such a crushing disadvantage, she still managed to find an opportunity to strike back.

Holding onto consciousness through the support of Holy Light, she raised a finger and aimed it at Muen.

If Holy Light was useless, then she would use magic—

“Casting magic right in front of me at this distance? Are you looking down on the purest brute on the entire continent?”

Muen’s figure flashed.

Like a slow-moving turtle suddenly gaining the power to leap through dimensions, the movements that had seemed so slow and heavy a moment ago became so fast that Edeline could not even catch an afterimage.

All she saw was her own hand—

From finger, to palm, to wrist, then to arm—

Breaking apart completely, piece by piece.

“Do you even understand... the weight of only being able to learn a light spell?”

Muen returned to where he had been standing, as if he had never moved at all. He simply took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his fist.

And Great Sister Edeline’s vision was completely drowned in red. Even her spine had been broken. She had lost every last bit of ability to resist.

Warm, holy light still surrounded her body.

But now it could no longer heal even a fraction of her wounds.

“My Holy Light... you... what exactly are you...”

Great Sister Edeline’s eyes widened as she desperately tried to follow those rays of light that were slowly scattering away.

“Your Holy Light?”

Muen lowered his head and mocked her.

“You betrayed the Holy Light, and yet you still depend on it. Don’t you find that laughable?”

“...This Holy Light... was given to me by the Goddess...”

“Then does the Goddess know you betrayed her and started running around with those Salvation Society bastards?”

“I never betrayed the Goddess... not once...”

“Heh. Save that excuse and explain it to the Goddess herself.”

Muen bent down and grabbed Great Sister Edeline by the throat, lifting her off the ground.

“Ah. No, wait.”

Muen suddenly remembered something and spoke with regret.

“It seems you don’t even have that chance anymore.”

“You...”

Edeline’s pupils shrank, as if she had sensed something. She began struggling frantically.

But with that ruined body, how could she possibly escape Muen’s grip?

“Can’t be helped. You look too stubborn, so I’ll just have to use some... darker methods.”

Muen looked her in the eyes.

His pupils suddenly deepened.

And so Edeline’s pupils also turned dark. Yet within that eclipse-like darkness, tiny marks of flame began to appear, little by little, deep within her eyes.

What was burning was not her eyes.

It was her soul.

“Ahhh—!”

A shrill scream echoed through the night sky. Muen also sank his consciousness inward and began to call upon the Black Book, recreating the scenes preserved within the fragments of her soul.

There was also a seal imposed by Holy Light within Edeline’s soul, but even that posed no obstacle to him. Muen was easily able to look through those soul fragments and see Edeline’s life.

Praying to the Goddess.

Praying to the Goddess.

Praying to the Goddess.

The first half of Edeline’s life seemed to be nothing but this kind of tedious monotony. She was like the most devout servant the Goddess could have wished for. Though she had failed to join the choir, she had still selflessly dedicated everything she had to the Goddess.

Everything in her soul seemed to consist of nothing but faith in the Goddess.

“That’s strange... Why would someone like this betray the Church?”

Muen frowned in confusion, so he kept watching.

And then, just as Muen had begun to feel as though Edeline’s life would remain this dull forever, a figure appeared before her.

It was a blurry figure, its true appearance hidden by some special power.

But Muen recognized him at a single glance.

The Holy Lord of Salvation.

Kaya Gaius.

“You are the Goddess’s most devout believer, so you must have heard certain ‘stray noises,’ haven’t you?”

“Stray noises?”

“That’s right. The Church will surely tell you those are just normal disturbances that sometimes occur during prayer. But that is not the truth.”

Kaya Gaius extended a hand.

“Do you want to know the truth behind those ‘stray noises’? Do you want to meet the Goddess you worship with your own eyes? Do you want to understand the ‘sin of humanity’ imposed upon the Goddess?

Come to my side. I will tell you everything. I will let you behold... the truth.”

“...”

The phantom scene passed like a dream. Muen experienced it all through a first-person perspective. Though he could not know exactly how Great Sister Edeline had answered, judging from how things ended up, she had obviously been taken in by the Holy Lord of Salvation.

“These holy frauds always love playing god and ghost in exactly this kind of moment.”

Really, sometimes unwavering faith was a double-edged sword.

Against ordinary heretics, Great Sister Edeline would absolutely have been a formidable opponent, and the odds of her being polluted by an Evil God were probably minuscule. But against an enemy like the Holy Lord of Salvation—someone who had split off from within the faith itself—that kind of devotion became fatally easy to exploit.

All it took was: “Do you want to see your idol with your own eyes? If you can’t, then everything is fake. The Church is lying to you. Come with me. I’ll take you there.”

And just like that, she had been lured away.

“No. Now’s not the time to be thinking about that.”

How the evil, yellow-haired Holy Lord of Salvation had abducted an innocent girl was not important right now. What mattered was what exactly they were planning inside this city.

Muen focused and continued turning the Black Sun, devouring Great Sister Edeline’s soul.

As more and more of her soul was consumed, Muen saw more and more distinct scenes. He saw Great Sister Edeline beginning to make contact with members of the Salvation Society, and then he saw that she was about to help them carry out something...

He was just about to reach the most critical part.

Muen gathered all his attention. In this city shrouded in fog, the fish he had finally managed to reel in seemed to be his only possible way to break the deadlock.

But then, all of a sudden—

Pain shot through Muen’s arm.

Startled, he glanced over and discovered that at some point, Great Sister Edeline had regained ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a trace of consciousness. With her one remaining hand, she was gripping his arm tightly.

The darkness in her pupils was still being burned through by fire. They had already nearly been burned into total hollowness. And yet she still forced her eyes to move, locking Muen in that profound darkness and emptiness.

“Muen... Campbell...”

She called his name.

“Everything you do is futile. You still... cannot change anything.”

“...Why?”

“Because...”

Great Sister Edeline bared her teeth. Her sneer was like that of a demon.

“You came too late.”

Too late?

“What kind of joke is that?”

Muen’s hand tightened violently, nearly crushing her throat.

“I haven’t seen what your victory looks like yet!”

“You came too late... too late... everything is already over... everything has already been decided...”

“Shut up!”

The black flames kept burning as Muen plunged deeper into Edeline’s soul.

But he could no longer see the scenes that came after Edeline made contact with the Salvation Society.

All he saw was a field of pure white.

And within that white, Edeline knelt with her hands clasped together, praying into the void before her.

No.

That was not prayer.

That was—

“I repent.”

Edeline said.

...

The rain suddenly stopped.

And the blood flowing across the ground among the corpses stopped as well.

In an extremely distant place, a graceful woman lowered the umbrella in her hand. Then she extended one hand, aimed at some far-off point, and simply...

Lightly pointed.