I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 41 Star

*Thud.*

I heard the sound of blood pouring out.

The metallic scent of fresh blood mixed with iron was palpable on his skin.

“Ugh…”

Albeka convulsed, his eyes pierced through, but it was useless.

His brain was impaled, causing his strength to drain from his body instantaneously, and he dropped his sword; his final strike never reached me.

“You thought you were fighting on equal footing with me.”

My tentacle stirred inside Albeka’s head.

A grotesque groan, not one a human could produce, escaped from Albeka’s mouth.

“You deluded yourself into thinking you could kill me. From the beginning, I could play with you. Like this.”

“What… nonsense…”

“Firstly, I wanted to test the limits of my transformed body. Thanks to you, I’ve got a sense of it, but that was honestly the least of my reasons.”

When Albeka attempted to pick up his sword, I twisted the tentacle inside his head again.

Albeka wretched pitifully, his body twitching.

“Secondly, I wanted to make sure. If I aimed for your head openly from the start, you would’ve been wary.”

This body was indeed strong, but I lacked skills.

Taking the upper hand in a fight against Albeka, who had both technique and physical prowess, was not easy; thus, I intentionally hid my true intentions and fought a bloody battle.

“And lastly, the third reason, I wanted to release my emotions. Upon seeing your disgusting actions, I felt a burning rage within me. Scumbags like you are using faith as an excuse…”

I deliberately removed the tentacle from Albeka’s eye socket.

Though the sanctuary’s effects remained, allowing Albeka to recover quickly, I had already gained the upper hand.

My tentacles bound Albeka’s body tightly.

“Struggling is useless.”

Every time Albeka reinforced his body with mana, I disrupted his focus by stirring his brain, leaving him unable to resist.

“Gah! You damn heretic…”

“Heretic, heretic, heretic! Damn, is that so important?”

*Crack!*

I twisted Albeka’s neck and ripped his head off.

Albeka’s head rolled on the ground, and soon a new head began to regenerate in its place.

“Which head is listening to me now? The one just ripped off or the newly grown one? Or maybe both?”

Though Albeka was bewildered, I repeated the action.

I didn’t really care what the answer was.

It was merely an act to torment Albeka until my anger subsided.

“You mad bastard… stop…”

“Now, all you can do is desperately wish for this sanctuary to disappear.”

*Crunch!*

This time, I didn’t pull the head out but crushed it instead.

It was a brutal act.

I knew that.

But I felt nothing.

Except for a slight release of my anger, nothing else.

“What is so important about that religion anyway?”

“Huff… you damn-”

*Crack.*

Since the answer displeased me, I moved on to the next question.

“Stigmata is a ridiculous concept, isn’t it? Bearing the sins of the collective, does that make the Church of Hayat flawless? Do you seriously believe in that?”

“Shut that filthy mouth-”

*Sizzle.*

He seemed to have poor learning abilities.

Since he didn’t provide a proper answer this time either, I marked it wrong.

Instead of using a red pen on an answer sheet, I used my tentacle to tear into Albeka’s head.

“Ugh… ugh…”

“Earlier, you were spouting nonsense about God watching and being a divinely granted opportunity. So, why did your God, Hayat, allow you to be defeated? Is this another part of their grand plan?”

“You little-”

*Crunch!*

Persistent, aren’t we?

Though it was meaningless.

I kept throwing questions.

“Have you ever actually heard Hayat’s voice?”

*Thud!*

“If Hayat truly exists, why would they let bad things happen to their followers?”

*Crunch!*

“Is Hayat truly a righteous God in the first place?”

*Crack!*

I continued to ask endless questions.

Of course, it was in vain.

“Ugh… You bastard. Never tired, are you…”

“You really don’t know anything, do you? There’s nothing you can answer correctly.”

I clicked my tongue in frustration.

“Honestly, you had a pretty firm belief in your actions, didn’t you? So, I thought you must have heard the voice of a God or something similar.”

In the end, this guy became so fanatical without actually experiencing anything, having learned only a few miracles.

“Ah, finally the sanctuary is disappearing.”

The sanctuary, which felt endlessly long, finally faded, and the light began to dim. I could now kill Albeka anytime I wanted, but I didn’t bother to do so.

“Ugh… What are you aiming for!”

“I still need four more.”

The Stigmata hadn’t been annihilated. There were some who were injured and fled during the battle, and some who were left in a critical state.

“Surprisingly, those whose minds were shattered couldn’t endure it and died.”

Gathering the survivors, including Albeka, made a total of five. The other four were barely alive.

“Perfect.”

The Enlightenment Ritual of the White Night.

The preparations were complete.

“What on earth is this…?”

The Stigmata that Albeka had brought were holy knights of some sort. Even though they were the lowest rank, mere common knights, they exceeded the first tier. They were the optimal sacrifices meeting the conditions for the ritual.

“You… you can’t mean to use us for this ritual!”

Albeka seemed to catch on as he watched me arrange the other four. Even if he didn’t know the details, he understood that he was chosen as a sacrifice, making him resist even more desperately. But he was already weakened…

*Snap.*

Now, even shattering his bones wouldn’t let them heal anymore.

“Aaargh!”

Although he had a strong mind, struggling even after his bones were crushed, it didn’t matter much.

“As I expected, you are my sacrifice. The one to be used for the Enlightenment Ritual.”

“You bastard! You would use me for a heretical Enlightenment Ritual?”

Recalling what was written in the book, I started preparing for the ritual. The preparations were simple: arrange the sacrifices in a pentagon and engrave grotesque symbols in the language of the Outer God on their foreheads. After that, stand in the center and recite the prayer.

“The whispers of the descending stars resonate here…”

The ritual began. As I started chanting the prayer, the stars in the sky seemed to shine even more vividly.

“… I merge my wish with the sky’s resonance.”

Colorful, dazzling waves of light filled the night sky.

“The, the light…”

Even Albeka, in bewilderment, stared at the sky. The night sky brightened. Unlike the common phenomenon of the midnight sun, there was no lingering sun and the sky was not blue. Instead, it spread like a blank white canvas, a midnight sun sky.

“Merge into the abyss and blend into the sky.”

The bizarre phenomenon didn’t end there. The ground and the heavens contrasted sharply, with the ground looking as if shrouded in sheer black shadow, like an empty void. The sky was white, the ground was black. The common factor was the stars. In both the white sky and the black ground, gaudily beautiful stars swirled, forming a celestial river.

“All things are vanity, under the false unity of all, behold the eternal and immortal starlight.”

*Crunch… Crack!*

Five heads were ripped from their spines and floated in the air. Albeka, too, looked down at his body in horror.

Bodies drenched in blood poured out from the cross-section…

*Clap! Clap!*

Standing erect with hands clasped together, the sound of the palms striking echoed like thunder.

“I am the one who has earned the right. I have spoken secrets that must not be known to the ignorant ground, and I have recited hymns that should not exist.”

『The one with the right speaks.』

『Secrets were whispered into the world. Hymns echoed in their ears. Thus, I have earned the right.』

A bizarre chorus of severed heads echoed my proclamation. A strange wave was felt from the stars in the sky and the earth, causing the surroundings to distort. It seemed as if the world had turned into a scattering mirage.

“I am the one who has earned the right. Through the gap where everyone has closed their ears, I whispered the name of the one who should not be entered. I have reached the scripture containing their will.”

The floating heads began to rotate. Like satellites revolving around a planet, they circled me in irregular and chaotic patterns, lifting my body into the air.

“Now I wish to receive the light. With despair in my wish, I hope to accomplish the reversal of Heaven. Order established by chaos, eternal mortality, I plead to answer my will.”

『Answering the will of the one with the right.』

Now, the voices from the heads were no longer theirs. Countless voices, mingled with men and women, old and young, emerged from their mouths in an unfathomable cacophony.

『You are ready to hear the answer.』

Albeka bit his tongue and lips in pitiable resistance, trying not to utter the resonance, but the terror etched on his face showed the futility of such resistance.

『One who has earned the right. The one who seeks to reach the next step.』

『One who has earned the right. The one who wishes to hold the great starlight in his soul.』

『One who has earned the right. Answer the question.』

『From which great being do you wish to receive the light?』

The stars on the surface wriggled. The Milky Way seemed to form a figure, and the stars composing the galaxy watched me. One silhouette resembled an alien toad with bat-like wings, while another silhouette instilled primordial fear, appearing against a web of intricate patterns. The last figure vaguely reminded me of a human – specifically, a young girl – but the outline constantly distorted into an indescribable, flickering silhouette.

“I, the one who has earned the right, answer.”

The Slumberer of the Abyss.

The Weaver of Destruction’s Threads.

The Witch of Dreams.

These were the Outer Gods whose faith I had been initiated into. Among them, I had long decided which one to serve as a priest.

“I wish to receive the light in the name of the great Witch of Dreams.”

The floating heads turned deathly pale, their faces contorting into a black hole as if sucked inward. From the center, light resembling starlight emerged, and as the heads vanished into that light, they sang in unison.

『The dream descends. The illusion approaches.』

Their bodies started to twitch violently, convulsing as if in a seizure, then tearing themselves apart and scattering blood everywhere.

“Oh… I am…”

Albeka’s head disappeared last. Amidst the incomprehensible and bizarre ritual, seized by overwhelming despair, Albeka shed grotesque tears, fully understanding his horrific end.

“…”

Without leaving a sigh or plea, his head crumpled, and starlight took its place. The starlight gathered into a form.

『Poor Eldritch. Beloved Apostle of Calamity. Your wish has reached me.』

An eerie universe, resembling a slice of the night sky, walked towards me. Though the outline resembled a young girl, I knew it was but an illusion, for it occasionally twisted into grotesque shapes.

『Through the mouths of my children, I shall personally answer your wish.』

The voice was pure and recalled untainted young girls.

『My dear Apostle of Calamity who has caught my avatar’s attention, I shall bestow the light upon you. You shall now receive my blessing and gain the power to mesmerize rather than merely hallucinate.』

A discordant sound of laughter mixed with the voice.

『I bestow light unto you.』

The silhouette of a small hand pierced my chest. The avatar of the Witch of Dreams extracted a black orb from within me and blew upon it. The orb began to emit a dreamy, sinister light.

『My dear priest awaits you, go meet that child.』

As the innocent voice resonated, the ominous star entered my head. With a ringing in my ears as if the whole world were screaming, the pale night sky and universe disappeared all at once like a mirage. The area where I had performed the ritual lost its color and became a landscape filled solely with gray, as if it had lost its soul.

TL’s Corner:
Level up!