I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 88: Liberation

After school, I ran to my father’s room.

“Dad!”

As I excitedly shared what I had learned at school, my father listened quietly while seated at his desk.

“That’s quite an interesting expression—society and the cogs of a clock.”

“They said each cog has its own role, and they must work hard to keep the clock moving. If anyone slacks off, the clock won’t turn.”

Gesturing animatedly as I explained, my father, who was a watchmaker, smiled.

“Haha, the reason cogs turn isn’t to keep the clock moving.”

My father deftly dismantled a clock before my eyes and left a single cogwheel on the complex mechanism.

“This cogwheel, by itself, has nothing to do with the clock. It might not even know what a clock is. Thus, it doesn’t turn, nor does it need to.”

However, when my father connected the clock’s power source and linked the other cogwheels, he continued.

“There, now the cogwheel is turning, but that’s not because it wants to move the clock.”

My father laughed as he spoke.

“The watchmaker designed it so that it must turn due to the other cogwheels.”

* * *

‘… Is this an old memory?’

It wasn’t as if my life was flashing before my eyes, but an old memory surfaced while I had fainted for a moment. I rose from the pile of dirt.

Using 〈Dance of the Mysterious Flame〉, I had avoided injury from the falling debris, yet I had lost consciousness while under the heap of earth, still in a state of Flame Transformation.

“This seems beyond what we can handle. The difference is too vast.”

The sight of the city, utterly devastated, almost made me laugh in disbelief.

“Lord Ethnos!”

“Hey! Are you all right?”

The rest of the group ran over. They all were in a sorry state, but they seemed to have survived the chaos somehow.

“That’s the hybrid, isn’t it? And are those still all spiders over there? Honestly, I feel like I’ve killed at least a hundred.”

“Those gigantic structures are spiders too? Is this even possible?!”

They staggered in disbelief at the horde of spiders gathered beneath Pleroma. The sheer scale and numbers were overwhelming. Not succumbing to despair seemed almost unnatural.

“Ethnos, could we perhaps ignite a flame capable of burning the island, like at Corpse Mountain?”

In response to Eldritch, I shook my head.

“That was not entirely my power back then. In my current state, it’s simply impossible…”

Was it truly beyond hope?

“The next attack hasn’t come yet. Even monsters must have limitations in power expenditure!”

Ender analyzed plausibly. But I knew he was mistaken.

“The best we can do right now is reduce their numbers as much as possible.”

Ignoring the incessant rebuttals in my mind.

“Until reinforcements arrive, we must hold them off ourselves. The commanders of the Hayat Order’s knights, the archmages, and even the royal forces will eventually come, and we’ll be able to fight then. We just need to hold out as long as we can.”

I began tossing about superficially optimistic plans.

“If we retreat, the damage will only increase. Among us, we have three of the third rank and one of the fourth rank, don’t we? That’s a force comparable to a decent-sized army, isn’t it?”

“It’s astonishing to hear an Outer God priest say they would fight to the death for people. Quite the tale for a minstrel. I’m sure our story will become a popular song across the continent.”

“The thought of your song spreading across the continent is truly horrifying.”

Ansandy unveiled her armor, battered and unable to function as it should.

“I shall fight to the end. Delion, aid me until my mana is exhausted.”

“Hah! Even if my instrument breaks and my voice gives out, I will not leave you! Listen to my performance even in the afterlife!”

Ender sighed, seeing his empty bottle.

“Well, alright. I’ve always been a pathetic father, but at least at the end, I can be something my child can be proud of.”

Even Eldritch joined in with my grand speech.

“I will fight to the end as well. Though you never granted my request… I seem to have grown fond of you.”

Everyone steeled themselves for battle, prepared to face death. Among them, I couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“… Ethnos?”

The chuckle turned into outright laughter. I felt disgusted and despicable.

As if I was ready to face death.

The absurd self-branding and self-ridicule would not stop. I wasn’t steeling myself to protect everyone to the end. No matter how much I lied, I couldn’t deceive myself.

I nearly let countless lives, including these, perish for my selfish desire to remain human.

If I died that way, how am I different from a monster?

“Eldritch, prepare a portal. There should be enough time. Evacuate everyone.”

“What do you mean? Are you losing your mind again…?”

I looked at the others.

“Everyone, start preparing to escape.”

“I don’t understand this sudden shift.”

“Did you come up with something?”

“Yes, actually, I knew from the start.”

What I needed had always been given to me. Unlike before, I had grasped it all.

“Lord Ethnos.”

Amid their confusion, Eldritch looked at me.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“… Understood. I will signal just before teleportation.”

“Please do.”

I stepped forward. I left the task of persuading the others to Eldritch and walked towards the spider that obscured the moon. The overwhelming spiders and Pleroma all quietly waited.

“Thank you for waiting.”

『Think nothing of it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, too precious to waste by just killing you. But seeing you finally respond like this…』

There was only one reason this creature had tried to converse with me and refrained from attacking aggressively.

Because I was the only one who could understand its agony, being in the exact same position.

『I was wise to hold on!』

From the start, it had been saying such things.

—A being mixed like me! A being made into a mess! Only two exist!
—It’s excruciating. But you understand, right? It’s fate.
—You just need to play with me so I can forget the pain for a while.

『Now you understand, don’t you? Having a role, a fate forcibly thrust upon you, as if it’s some great opportunity.』

Amidst the massive body of the spider, something resembling a human moved slightly. Extreme starvation. An emaciated, pale child’s body.

『But I never wanted this, only suffering remains. No one understands my plight, except for you.』

“Yes, I suppose so.”

A laugh of pure innocence came out, satisfied with the short conversation, and Pleroma began to move.

『Then, are you ready? Though it’s a shame, I have to consume you. It’s fate, you understand? To create a world where spiders hold sway!』

“Hearing it put that way, I’m relieved.”

I looked back and thought it was about time when a single blue spear from Eldritch shot up into the sky at exactly the right moment.

“The havoc you’ve wrought is too great; it would have been troublesome if you begged to be saved.”

The ground rumbled. All the spiders began charging at me at once. As I faced the descending black tsunami, I closed my eyes and utilized 〈Transcendence〉.

“By the blessing of the Slumberer of the Abyss…”

Until now, I had controlled my mana, firmly established the desired scale, and used miracles. To avoid unnecessary waste or damage. However, the miracles of Outer God are not like that.

“Things of the world shall change. 〈Collapsing Form〉.”

An apocalyptic disaster devoid of the laws of nature, bereft of logic and commonsense.

The true miracle of an Outer God was unavoidable destruction. Black raindrops darker than the night sky seeped from the earth’s crevices and soared into the sky.

The seemingly infinite spiders all dissolved into wretched, defiled liquid.

『Guaaaah!』

The morphed, agonized wails of the spiders. They had become black, formless residues. That large residue instinctively surged to engulf Pleroma.

『Hahaha!』

Pleroma, bursting into maniacal laughter, seized an asteroid wandering through the cosmos with its web and hurled it towards the ground.

『Finally, you greet me as a fellow monster! You, too, are a pathetic slave adhering to a painful fate!』

The asteroid shattered the mass of defilement upon crashing with blinding brilliance.

“No. Though I now abide by this fate…”

I took out the Chalice of the Red Ceremony.

“I will escape from between the cogwheels.”

The Chalice of the Red Ceremony held numerous powerful blessings, but its true power lay elsewhere.

It required an immense quantity of blood from a staggering number of individuals, numbering in the hundreds.

“But that blood need not be pure.”

The scattered formless residues before me had once been spiders. Among them were some transformed monsters—half human.

“All of it!”

I altered my form. Having abandoned being human, the Blessing of Transformation allowed me to freely assume any shape. I became formless residues.

“Reunite!”

The chaotic, black liquid obeyed at my command, as though it were a part of me, a third-rank formless residue.

From all directions, the inky substance rushed into the Chalice of the Red Ceremony.

As the Chalice absorbed the countless things that had once been human, it began to brightly glow red.

Boom!

Blood gushed from the Chalice like a fountain, soaring to great heights. The night sky turned crimson as it rained blood.

The sticky crimson rain severed the spider webs, and Pleroma plummeted to the ground.

『Aah…』

I stood beneath the pouring blood.

Long, pale sets of arms sprouted from my body. My lower half transformed into dark, translucent tendrils, darker than the night sky.

Numerous mouths appeared on my body, each housing an orange, glowing eye.

『Servant of the Chalice of the Red Ceremony.』

The blood that flowed from my shoulders formed into a cloak. Its ends writhed like tendrils—the transformed Gluttony that had become one with me.

I gripped the glowing red Chalice with my four sets of arms.

『With the Blessing of Transformation followed by…』

The Chalice of the Red Ceremony, fully unlocked. Beyond its basic blessings, it opened up new abilities. The first power was to freely summon all seven blessings.

『I summon the Sanctuary’s Blessing, Fortune’s Blessing, Baptismal Blessing, Ascension’s Blessing, Transition’s Blessing, and Distortion’s Blessing.』