Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 268 - Even If The Sky Falls (3)

Whoosh!

With a dull sound, the zombie’s head flew off.

It was Elagon. Watching Irenae and Henry from the side, Elagon had punched the zombie, blowing its head off as soon as it lunged at Irenae.

- Khu khu khu!

As the zombie collapsed, spraying blood from its neck like a fountain, Elagon puffed up his cheeks and kept punching the air, showing off his ferociousness.

Elagon’s vicious punch had saved Irenae’s live.

‘Looks like it wasn’t just your body that changed.’

Henry could tell that Elagon’s speed had evolved drastically, given how fast he had reacted to the zombie, closing the distance almost at lightning speed and punching it viciously.

It looked like it wasn’t just his magic that had been amplified through his evolution.

Henry kicked the zombie far away, then he bowed and apologized.

“My apologies. I should’ve been more careful...”

“N-no worries! Elagon saved me.”

- Khu khu khu!

Elagon was glad to receive more praise.

Henry stroked Elagon’s head and said, “Anyway... I don’t think this was my spell’s problem.”

“I agree. Then I guess this is the only clue we have left.”

“Clue...?”

“It’s about the thing that I was going to tell you in the Holy City. And before I tell you... I apologize. I should have told you sooner, but the circumstances prevented me from doing so.”

Now that the experiment had failed, Irenae apologized and proceeded to tell Henry about the important thing she had wanted to talk about in St. Hall.

“When we encountered Arthus in Charlotte Heights and he disappeared into thin air, His Majesty Herarion, Logger, Ananda, and I, all felt something from Arthus.”

“What did you feel?”

“Divine power. We felt a distinct and tremendous divine power from him.”

“...!”

Henry hadn’t expected the words ‘divine power’ to come out of her mouth.

However, Irenae wasn’t distracted by his surprised look and continued, “The four of us were unsure at first, and we didn’t have time to discuss it fully because we had to fight against the Chimera army. But after the battle, His Majesty opened the floor for discussion, and we all reached the same conclusion.”

“Then do you happen to know what god Arthus is getting divine powers from?”

“Yes, this again is His Majesty’s suspicion, but it’s more or less confirmed...”

“So which god is it?”

“I don’t know much about this god, but His Majesty Herarion told us that this is the divine power of Janus, the god of night and death of Shahatra, whom he used to worship.”

‘Janus!’

Henry was once again baffled at Irenae’s response. Come to think of it, hadn’t Arthus been pursuing Janus’ power for a long time?

‘Arthus, how dare you...!’

Arthus’ obsession with Janus was so great that in the past he had deliberately worked with Benedict to orchestrate a rebellion to gain Janus’ power. However, Henry had managed to stop Benedict and recover Janus’ token of proof.

‘Just how in the world did he obtain the power of Janus?’

Henry’s head was spinning. After a long pause, he asked, “Saint, then are you suggesting that these aren’t zombies, but new beings altogether, imbued with Janus' power?”

“I’m not sure about that either, but the man from earlier had wounds so severe that he should’ve been dead. The fact that he was still alive and that he wasn’t undead either must be connected to Janus, the god of death.”

It was a reasonable guess, and Henry quickly asked a follow-up question.

“Saint, then can you use your divine power to turn them back into their original form?”

“No, I don’t know anything about the Janus’ divine power, and no divine power can suppress or nullify another divine power.”

“Then... This means that we’ll have no choice but to kill all the people of Enkelmann.”

“...Wha...? What do you mean...?”

The Saint was distraught. However, Henry’s idea, grim as it was, was reasonable.

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. Of course, if we look for a way, we may be able to find a solution to return these people back to normal. However, we’re in a war against Arthus, and tragic as it is, we simply cannot afford to use so much power to keep them frozen.”

“...”

Irenae found herself speechless. What Henry was saying was harsh, cruel even, but he was also right, which was why she couldn’t argue with him.

Irenae worshiped Irene, the goddess of love and peace. Therefore, she was far too compassionate and sensitive to openly talk about executing so many people, even if it meant releasing them from black magic and giving them peace.

However, she didn’t have any valid points to convince Henry to do otherwise, so she stayed silent.

“I’ve had Elagon use his powers to temporarily keep this place frozen, but... Of course, I understand how you must be feeling right now, but sympathy is a dangerous emotion. It can sometimes lead to more misery,” said Henry ruefully.

After saying this, Henry locked eyes with the Saint, but she avoided his unwavering gaze. She replied weakly, “...F-fine... I understand the situation, so you don’t have to keep persuading me.”

“Thank you for your understanding. I will put them out of their misery quietly when you’re not here.”

“I see... But may I ask a favor of you, Archmage?”

“A favor?”

“Yes, it’s a simple one. Be-before they’re gone... I would like to pray to Irene for these poor souls...”

“Ah...O-of course. I should be the one thanking you anyway.”

Henry was touched by the Saint’s unexpected thoughtfulness. She wanted to offer a short prayer for the poor people of Enkelmann before they met their inevitable fate.

After deciding what to do with Enkelmann and letting Irenae finish her prayer, Henry brought up something they had never discussed before.

“Saint, if you don’t mind, may I ask you a few questions regarding your divine powers?”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

“Thank you. I’ll get straight to the point. How are you supposed to deal with someone with divine powers?”

As Henry asked his question, he recalled how Arthus had taunted him in the palace. He had used a strange ability to ignore all of Henry’s physical attacks and laughed in his face.

At the time, Henry hadn’t been able to discern what kind of power Arthus possessed, but now, thanks to Irenae, he realized that Arthus had used divine power back then. This gave him hope.

Henry had become the first magic swordsman on the continent for the sole purpose of revenge. But after all that work, he had thought that he couldn’t even lay a finger on his arch-enemy.

No words could describe how furious Henry had been.

Irenae was about to speak, and Henry expectantly looked at her, but...

“I apologize, but I’m not too sure about that either.”

“Sorry?”

“Divine powers are literally holy powers that believers receive from the gods they worship. Each god has a unique power, so I’ve never heard of someone directly combating someone else’s divine power.”

Henry had a look of disbelief as he listened to her.

Irenae continued and said, “I apologize for not being helpful, but the reason I’m telling you this is because in the past, when the first emperor of the empire, Golden Jackson, was conquering the continent, our Church of Peace engaged in a similar religious war.”

Henry knew about that religious war as well. It had broken out around the same time the continental conquest had ended, when the Eurasia Empire was about to be established.

That religious war had been a power struggle between different religious groups that worshiped different gods. The reason for such a conflict was simple—after the unification of the continent, the new empire was going to choose a state religion, and the representative of that religion was going to have almost as much power as the emperor himself.

In short, it had been a fight for power and wealth.

The empire had already unified the continent, so if one religion became the state religion of the empire, the majority of the people would convert to it.

Evidently, the winner of that religious war had been the Church of Peace, which was currently led by Ross Borgia I, the Pope.

“Most of the soldiers in that war were religious people,” Irenae continued, “so they knew how to use the Holy Code, but all sides used it to heal and strengthen themselves. Nobody used, or thought of using, the Holy Code to suppress or destroy the opponent’s power or their Holy Code because nobody was dealing with magic.

Irenae made a good point. Holy Codes were designed to protect the faithful and serve others, so there were no Holy Codes that could directly harm someone else like magic could.

‘This isn’t good...’

Henry’s hopes vanished as quickly as they had emerged. He had initially thought that they were about to come up with a solution for their problems, but they were back at the drawing board.

After Irenae was done talking, Henry closed his eyes and immersed himself in his thoughts for a while. He looked extremely frustrated.

Irenae also had no choice but to remain silent at Henry’s expression.

But just then...

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Since the foundation of the Holy Code is to protect the faithful, the paladins were nothing more than ordinary soldiers in that religious war, right?” asked Henry after a few moments of thinking.

If the foundation of the Holy Code was to protect the faithful, then the paladins, who were very powerful against demons and devils, were nothing more than ordinary soldiers who had a higher level of armor and could heal themselves against civilians.

“Technically, you could say that, but that doesn't mean that the paladins were ordinary soldiers. They were essentially holy warriors who fought against demons and devils, so using the Holy Code for that purpose also empowered them greatly in the religious war...Oh!”

As she continued to explain, Irenae realized the contradiction in her explanation.

Henry had initially asked about how to deal with those who possessed divine powers, which was why Irenae had explained that there was no Holy Code that could do that.

However, the fight between those with divine powers was different. If both sides had divine powers, the one with the stronger divine power would have the advantage.

The Church of Peace had won that religious war because of Logger and Ananda, both extremely powerful warriors.

Henry smiled at Irenae’s realization.

“We have our solutions. If Arthus possesses Janus’ power, then I’ll just have to attain as much divine power as him from the god that is Janus’ counterpart. I’ll be stronger than him in terms of pure force anyway.”

Henry’s mouth curved into a smile as he finally found a way to fight Arthus. They finally found a ray of hope to this seemingly impossible problem.

“So the opposite god of Janus would be...” Irenae trailed off.

“Janus rules over death and night in Shahatra, but La rules over day and life. Given that the majority of religious people in Shahatra have been killed by Arthus’ apostle, I have a chance at this.”

Henry’s judgment was cold but pragmatic. Shahatra’s palace was in ruins because of that damned apostle named Grumpy. In addition, because of Benedict’s death, the position of La’s Sword had been vacant for a while.

Having concluded the debate about divine powers, Henry turned to Irenae and asked, “Saint, while I’m at it, can I ask you for one more favor?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“Will you come with me to Monsieur?”

The Saint and Elagon were the best healers Henry knew. His intentions were obvious—he wanted to help the people in Monsieur who were in critical condition.

Irenae immediately nodded and exclaimed firmly, “Of course!”

Henry dismissed Elagon and held out his hand to Irenae.

Flash!

With a flash of light, Henry and Irenae disappeared.