The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations Novel - Chapter 807

Chapter 807
Ernheart, the Duke of Delphine.
The traitorous noble who had conspired with the Salvation Order and plunged the entire land into the fires of conflict.
Following his collapse in the great war, he had vanished entirely.
Ghislain still lacked a complete understanding of who Ernheart truly was. Throughout his struggles against the Salvation Order, he had only been able to form vague theories regarding the man’s ultimate objectives.
And yet—the ancient Pope from a millennium ago shared an identical countenance with him.
Could such a thing possibly be dismissed as a mere accident?
Who, or what, is Ernheart…?
Snap.
Ghislain ground his teeth together, forcefully dispelling the distractions.
Speculation was irrelevant at this moment.
The only priority was ending the Pope’s life.
Kwooooooom!
Despite his internal shock, Ghislain’s physical form reacted instinctively. He was not the sort of warrior to hesitate and let a critical opening pass by.
He knew this was the final blow he was capable of delivering.
Gramdir, clutched firmly in his grip, radiated a crimson glow far more violent than anything seen before.
Skrrrrrk!
Piercing through the shimmering veil of light, Ghislain’s blade sliced into the Pope’s throat.
However, he failed to decapitate him. The edge of the sword came to a jarring halt at the Pope’s uvula.
With the steel embedded in his flesh, the Pope stared at Ghislain and spoke.
“You are truly a marvel. I offer my admiration to your martial nothingness, which has exceeded the boundaries of mortality.”
“……”
“And I believe… this marks the end for me.”
“……What are you saying.”
Ghislain’s brow furrowed in frustration. If he didn’t take the head in a single swing, the Pope would survive.
In truth—Ghislain suspected the man might persist even then. Such was the terrifying tenacity of his life force.
The Pope offered a smile filled with self-derision.
“I can no longer find the strength to hold back my ‘original essence.’”
“……”
Sssssss…
A restorative power continuously surged from the gash in the Pope’s neck.
Within that flow, Ghislain sensed a foreign presence. Something incomprehensible was manifesting.
The Pope spoke once more, his pace measured.
“I was but a child. Without warning, a voice began to echo within my mind.”
“……”
“That voice spoke of a singular duty: that I was destined to rescue the world. That only I could ‘redeem’ the human race.”
“……”
“I never doubted those instructions. I believed I was the sole savior meant to bring salvation to this realm.”
“……”
“For I was certain it was the voice of a deity.”
Drrrrrrr…
The blade lodged in the Pope’s neck began to be pushed out incrementally. The spear that had pierced his chest fell away, clattering against the ground.
Ghislain attempted to force the blade deeper, but it met an immovable resistance. Sensing a shift in the atmosphere, he began to retreat, one step at a time.
‘Curse it…’
His physical shell was reaching its limit. Lacking any other option, Ghislain slowly withdrew the energy from his Core.
the synthetic Cores he had built crumbled into nothingness like sand. In response to the backlash, Ghislain’s internal organs were completely devastated.
“Kh—!”
Crimson spray erupted from Ghislain’s lips. Blood began to leak from his eyes, ears, and nostrils.
‘Is this where I fall.’
He had tapped into a power that Astion was not yet meant to wield. Consequently, the harmony between his physical body and his spirit had been shattered.
He ought to have collapsed into unconsciousness by now; he was only maintaining his footing because of the divine energy of Deneb that was filtering into him.
Yet, he was on the verge of toppling. With glazed eyes, Ghislain watched the Pope.
The Pope ignored Ghislain’s retreat and continued his monologue.
“But as I followed that voice, it grew increasingly twisted. I felt a bottomless malice. A compulsion to lay waste to everything in existence, to slaughter every soul.”
“……”
“Only then did I realize something was fundamentally wrong. That doubt turned into a terrifying truth once I arrived at the heart of the Empire.”
“……”
“The voice belonged to a false deity.”
Clinging to the remnants of his awareness, Ghislain processed the Pope’s confession. It was as if the scattered pieces of a grand mystery were finally aligning.
‘It can’t be…’
Ereneth had once recounted the details of the ancient conflict.
During that era, Lumina had posed a question to her.
— T-the woods spoke to me, pleading for us to become one. What does it signify?
— It means you possess a certain gift.
— What?
— It means you are capable of absorbing the corruption of the Demon God. Much like the clerics of the Salvation Order. Occasionally, those with a rare spiritual sensitivity are corrupted in that manner.
Ghislain replayed Ereneth’s explanation in his mind.
A vessel capable of receiving the Demon God’s corruption.
That dark essence was not something just anyone could host. Out of everyone, only Lumina had been able to hear that call.
— That is the fragmented consciousness of the Demon God permeating the world. Once you are consumed by that will, eventually, your mind holds no purpose other than the goals of those Salvation Order fanatics.
Wavering on his feet, Ghislain gripped his head.
The man at the very center of the Empire—none other than the Pope, the vessel of supreme holy power—had been corrupted by the Demon God’s intent?
It defied all logic.
But… what occurs when a being of such immense power is tainted by the Demon God’s will?
The Pope’s narrative did not cease. He appeared driven to finish his declaration.
“I struggled endlessly to drown out that voice. I entered the priesthood, spent my days in prayer, and sought to purge the presence within me.”
Sssssss…
A constant stream of vapor rose from the wound on the Pope’s throat.
Watching it, Ghislain sensed a profound wrongness.
With the Pope’s level of holy authority, a wound like that should have vanished instantly. Yet the injury remained open.
Observing more closely, Ghislain saw that the Pope’s very anatomy was malfunctioning.
The flesh was tearing open and knitting back together at an incredible velocity, over and over. This created the illusion that the wound was static.
Suddenly, the Pope gave a pained laugh.
“Yet, there were times I succumbed to the voice. Since my youth, I have taken many lives in secret. With every kill, I felt a strange sense of liberation. It remained the same as I rose to priest, then cardinal, and finally, Pope.”
“……”
“As years passed, the darkness inside me expanded. To keep my secret, I had to wage war against it every day. My holy power grew as it consumed the darkness, and the darkness grew by feeding on my holy power.”
The Pope had been locked in this internal struggle forever. The result was that both opposing forces had grown to an uncontrollable magnitude.
It was a stroke of luck that he had resided in the heart of the capital, within the Great Temple.
The thick atmosphere of divine energy in the temple had allowed the Pope to just barely keep the dark force in check.
The sophisticated magical artifacts of the Empire had also played their part. The mask and the jewelry he wore were designed specifically for that suppression.
“…As those two powers collided, I broke through human constraints and became more powerful. But my true nature has now become so dominant that I can no longer restrain it.”
Ghislain finally grasped the source of the Pope’s unnatural strength.
If what he claimed was indeed the Demon God’s corruption…
It meant that two fundamental, opposing laws had been warring inside him for his entire life. That was an ordeal no normal person could survive.
Any other human would have been torn apart long ago. But the Pope had endured, cultivating both powers simultaneously.
Whether this was a fluke or destiny, it was impossible to say.
The Pope spoke with an eerie calm, his gaze fixed on a point far beyond the horizon.
“That is why the Sacred Stone was essential. I intended to use its essence to erase the darkness once and for all. Only then could I remain the pure light of the people.”
Sssssss…
The Pope’s injury was still cycling through destruction and repair. But now, the vapor rising from it had shifted to a heavy, charcoal gray.
The Pope moved his hand to his neck and looked at Ghislain.
“The citizens of the Empire will never comprehend this. Why I am fighting such a desperate, seemingly small battle. They believe if the Sacred Stone isn’t secured now, another opportunity will come. That the Empire’s might will eventually reclaim it.”
“……”
“But I was out of time. You appear to be the only one who truly sees that.”
“……”
Ghislain had known the Pope was in a state of panic.
He had deduced that from the Pope’s reckless movements and had exploited it.
But he hadn’t known the underlying cause. He had assumed the encroachment of the Demonic Realm was simply pressuring the Pope. He hadn’t realized there was a deeper, more personal clock ticking.
The Pope was under far more pressure than Ghislain had ever imagined.
A man at the peak of global power—engaging in such a bizarre struggle just to secure the Sacred Stone in this exact moment.
Sssssss…
The Pope slowly pulled his hand away from his throat.
The gash was finally closing for good.
But the force healing it was not the pure, radiant light of the divine.
Sssssss…
It was an obsidian energy, darker than the deepest void, that mended the flesh.
The dark miasma spilling from the wound began to entwine itself around the Pope.
The protective holy light surrounding him was consumed by the darkness and turned black.
And… his previously glowing hair began to dim and darken.
The Pope’s voice changed, becoming unsettling and cold.
“Deep down, I knew. Even with the Sacred Stone, I likely couldn’t have stopped this.”
The moment he learned Deneb had been awakened, the Pope had anticipated this outcome.
The Sacred Stone he already possessed had never responded to his touch.
And yet, he had craved them all. If only to prove his fears wrong.
“In the end, this transformation was inevitable. My desperation only bought a little more time.”
The Pope now abandoned his lingering attachments.
He decided to fully integrate with his true essence.
“Ahhh… what a relief. I should have embraced who I truly was from the start… I wasted so much time…”
Leader of the race, sovereign of the Empire.
The voice of the heavens, the very height of sanctity.
And… the savior who would bring redemption.
The Pope had chased only that prestige. He had been terrified of losing his status.
His logic had kept his instincts buried. He had spent a lifetime holding himself back.
But now, he saw the truth.
“My true purpose was something else entirely…”
The voice that had haunted his thoughts was silent now.
Yet he knew his path.
To fix this flawed world and relocate the abandoned followers of God.
To rule over all in the name of the Divine.
That was the role of the true savior.
“Ahh… I was always the primary servant of God, born to be their ruler.”
Fwaaaaash!
The Pope’s entire being was engulfed in total shadow, as if he were sinking into an abyss.
Amidst the swirling vortex of darkness, only his eyes remained visible, burning with a malicious red light.
“I am no longer… your Pope…”
Rrrrrrrrrumble…
Underneath his feet, the ground began to fracture and split.
From the deep cracks, dark energy bubbled up and rose. It sounded as though ghostly screams were echoing from the depths.
It felt as if the foundations of the world were being torn apart.
“By the authentic will of God, I shall cleanse this false reality the goddesses constructed…”
The air itself vibrated as if it were being shredded. The suffocating pressure radiated outward, crushing everything in its path.
“Address me… as the King of the Demonic Realm…”
A low growl, like a monster emerging from the pits of Hell, filled the air.
The sound thundered across the landscape, agonizing to anyone who heard it.
“…Address me as the Adversary.”