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

Gaius opened his arms as though sensing something, his face intoxicated, yet his expression was filled with deep sorrow and pity. Tears slid from the corners of his eyes and soon soaked the coarse cloth of his clothes.

Muen also listened blankly. Tears fell beyond his control, and disbelief filled him.

“Weeping?”

“The world’s... weeping?”

The world was crying?

“Yes. Without a doubt, this is the sound of the world weeping. She is crying. She is in pain. She is suffering torment.”

Gaius lowered his eyes and reached out as though wanting to touch her, yet afraid of desecrating her.

“She is our mother. But now, she is being tortured by some stubborn disease and can only weep helplessly. Don’t you think... that is very tragic?”

“Disease? You mean...” Muen caught that word.

“...”

Gaius said nothing more, because the image would give Muen the answer.

The weeping stopped.

Everything fell silent.

But that was not because the illness had vanished and the pain had passed. It was because...

A smear of crimson suddenly emerged from one corner of the darkness. Above endless red earth, raging flames burned as though they meant to incinerate everything.

Flowers drifted and spun. Within a river symbolizing death, a faceless woman gazed at the swaddled infant in her arms and softly hummed a hazy song. Each hum made the colors on the planet’s surface grow dimmer.

On the far side of the planet, a golden sacred tree hung upside down. Countless bones dangled from it, gnawing at the invisible barrier amid grief and despair.

And in the endless heights, stars and moon reflected one another, casting a terrifying shadow onto the planet’s surface.

The moon was only a remnant shadow of the past.

But the stars were more solid than ever, as though they were already about to press against that sphere.

“Evil Gods? The disease you’re talking about means these Evil Gods?” Muen understood at once.

“They are Evil Gods, but strictly speaking, Evil Gods can only be considered external injuries. The more serious internal disease is the traces left behind in the past,” Gaius sighed.

“The traces left behind in the past...”

Muen thought for a moment. “The descent of the First Evil God?”

“...It seems you know more than I imagined.”

Gaius gave Muen a meaningful look. “True. You were also present during the Abyss incident. It is not strange for you to know a little about what happened a thousand years ago.”

“So you people really did have some objective back then!”

During the Abyss incident, although the Salvation Society had not appeared to be overly involved, they had still sent the Second Seat to seize Eternal Cycle. Clearly, Eternal Cycle had an extremely important function for them as well.

However, judging from the fact that only the Second Seat had come, that importance had not reached the point of being completely irreplaceable.

“You guessed correctly. Black Knight went there to add one more fallback to this plan. After all, when it comes to harvesting souls, no person or object in this world can compare to the ancient relic Eternal Cycle.”

Gaius sighed with emotion. “But since we failed to obtain it, there was nothing to be done. It merely meant wasting a little more time, which made it easier to attract certain troubles... such as you.”

In the Salvation Society’s original plan, as long as they used the Witch of Repentance to control Saint Peron V during the war and thereby control the upper levels of this country, everything would have been settled.

Because with Eternal Cycle, they could have harvested the souls of all Saint Blancfazesiya in a single night.

Unfortunately, that attempt had failed, which was why they had needed to use such roundabout methods to buy time.

“No wonder.”

Muen tugged at the corner of his mouth and sneered. “I was wondering why the mighty Holy Lord of Salvation would personally come to invite me. So it was because of that.”

At the time, he had found it very strange. A pile of minor shrimp had died, that was all. Why would the mighty Holy Lord of Salvation, Gaius, personally seek him out?

Now it seemed that because he had practically exposed every last trump card of his during that incident, it would have been difficult not to be noticed.

“Who told you to be so active? Add the fact that you are that person’s disciple, and one cannot help becoming curious about how far that person’s arrangements have already progressed.”

Gaius shook his head. “But speaking of that now is meaningless. Returning to the present topic, as you can see, everything I have done is for this world!”

“To save this world!!”

As though declaring his resolve, Gaius took a deep breath, letting that thunderous voice echo through the entire darkness.

His robe hem snapped, his white beard flew, and at this moment Gaius was filled with such righteousness that he truly seemed like a Lord of Salvation radiating brilliant light.

“So that’s why you go around creating massacres?”

Muen’s eyes remained cold. He had not been infected by Gaius’s fervent declaration.

“No. Massacre is only the first step. After all, there are too many humans. Even if I did nothing else and simply killed them myself, I could never kill them all. And that is not even mentioning those hypocritical fellows who refuse to acknowledge me and intend to stop me,” Gaius said.

“What exactly is your plan?” Muen frowned.

Throughout this entire incident, one question had always lingered in the depths of Muen’s mind.

That was the Salvation Society’s true objective.

They were definitely not only after this city. The reason was simple. According to their so-called theory of “salvation,” one city was no different from the towns and villages they had slaughtered before.

This time, the Salvation Society had exposed itself to such an extent, even going so far as to have the Holy Lord of Salvation personally enter the stage. Clearly, they were planning something enormous.

But this result was not enormous enough for their goal.

“Have you not already seen it? The one who was lured here.”

Gaius smiled faintly and pointed toward the distant image, at that field of stars almost pressed against the world barrier.

That field of stars was so vast. From Muen’s perspective, it looked like a gigantic worm plastered against the world, intending to devour it. It made his hair stand on end.

“Of course I’ve seen it. That Lord of the Stars.”

Here, directly speaking an Evil God’s true name did not seem to be a problem.

“But that makes it even harder for me to understand. According to what you just said, shouldn’t you hate Evil Gods too?”

Muen said coldly, “Then why collude with an Evil God and even specially send His scion over to Him?”

The slaughter of this royal capital was for a sacrifice.

The sacrifice was to have the Lord of the Stars provide power and drive the Ancient Magic that controlled timelines.

Muen could understand all of that.

What Muen could not understand was why the Salvation Society had pushed Fubeka forward. He had asked the Limping Priest before, but the priest clearly had not known either.

The importance of an Evil God’s scion to an Evil God was self-evident. Once discovered, whether by the various nations or by the Church, they would be erased without mercy to eliminate future disaster.

Then why would the Salvation Society, which likewise hated Evil Gods, actively push her forward? Why personally deliver her to an Evil God?

“Is that difficult to understand? Because she is the objective.”

“What?”

“Slaughtering the city, sacrificing to the Evil God, even separating the entire city from the mortal world—none of these are the objective. They are merely the process required to achieve the objective. Our true objective... is to make that one believe we are sincere.”

Gaius pointed upward.

“A sweet pie made from the souls of millions, exchanged for Him swallowing the true bait in one utterly unguarded bite!”

“You mean... Fubeka is your bait?” Muen’s pupils contracted.

“Correct! She is the bait!”

Gaius said fervently, “Having just devoured several million souls, with His own Evil God scion delivered to His doorstep, and with this city in a completely defenseless state of separation from the mortal world, from His perspective, what do you think He should do?”

“...Transfer part of His power and consciousness into His scion, enter deep into the world... and begin a gluttonous feast!”

After only brief thought, Muen gave the answer.

Because there had already been a precedent.

The moon of the past, when pushed to the edge of despair, had attempted to pour its authority and consciousness into Senior in order to escape the Withering King’s pursuit.

In other words, although they were called “scions,” the greatest use Evil God scions had was to serve as “vessels” for Evil Gods.

But previously, the moon’s “descent” had been incomplete.

Because of the world barrier’s existence, that trick of deceiving the heavens required enormous losses, even forcing Him to voluntarily abandon His divine body.

But now, it was different.

The scion was already prepared.

The most troublesome world barrier had also already been stripped away.

The Lord of the Stars could easily transfer His power and consciousness into the scion, and then through the identity of the scion... enter inside the barrier.

Everything was so perfectly logical.

“But that would only allow an Evil God to descend in another way. It completely contradicts what you said,” Muen said.

“Did I not already say? Fubeka is bait.”

Gaius revealed a smile.

“Do you think that as Repentance’s daughter, we would not add a little something to her? So-called bait is something that leaves a hook inside the target after luring it into swallowing.”

“A little... something?”

“Poison.”

“Poison?”

“A certain godslaying poison. It seems to be something once used against the First Evil God a thousand years ago. Of course, it is useful against other Evil Gods as well.”

Lightly and casually, Gaius spoke of something shocking.

Muen also froze, remembering the Godslaying Spear he had encountered in the Abyss.

It seemed that the attempts to kill the First Evil God a thousand years ago had indeed happened more than once, and their methods had not been limited to a single approach.

And something like that had actually fallen into the Salvation Society’s hands.

Ancient Magic, intelligence on Eternal Cycle, and now this godslaying poison. Just how much information and how many creations from a thousand years ago had the Salvation Society obtained?

“That poison can’t truly kill an Evil God, right?”

“Correct. Although it is called godslaying, it cannot truly kill a god. Otherwise, there would not have been that disaster a thousand years ago. But godslaying poison can attack an Evil God’s consciousness, and even temporarily suppress that consciousness, forcing Him to briefly enter a crashed state.”

“A crashed state?”

Muen frowned. He had never considered this angle before.

“And after that?”

“After that?”

Gaius split his mouth into a grin. For the first time, his smile was no longer kindly, but savage and cruel.

“Without an Evil God’s consciousness controlling it, what remains? Naturally, Fubeka, who possesses an Evil God’s power! At that time, under our control, she will begin a complete slaughter!

“She will cleanse this world!”

The same method as an Evil God.

Killing.

Cleansing.

The extinction of humanity.

But the purpose was entirely different.

“...So in the end, it still comes back to this.” Muen’s cheek twitched.

After all that talk, it was still the Salvation Society’s original objective.

Kill all humans.

Just as they had preached.

Humanity was sinful.

Then humanity would be thoroughly eliminated.

In that case, the so-called sins would naturally be absolved as well.

It was shameless, but impossible to refute.

“Of course. Is this not the very purpose we exist for?”

Gaius opened his arms and said with incomparable fervor:

“A controllable ‘Evil God’ means that no one in this era will be able to stop Fubeka, including the one behind you. Under my guidance, Fubeka will use the authority of the Lord of the Stars to easily kill every person in this world, completing what the First Evil God failed to complete a thousand years ago!”

Only killing.

But unlike a thousand years ago, this time it would not be an Evil God exterminating humanity.

It would be humanity, in the identity of a human, killing humanity.

The Lord of the Stars would not grow stronger from this, because the one carrying out the massacre would be Fubeka.

Once everything ended, His power and consciousness would return once more. But by then, He would only be able to roar helplessly outside the world barrier at an empty world.

“And at that time, my plan will be completely accomplished, and the New World... will fully descend!”