Chapter 362

Chapter 362
Chapter 362

—

Sonora’s frame gave way, hitting the ground with the limpness of a marionette whose cords had been severed.

Fortunately, the breath of life had not yet left her.

After verifying her safety, I took the Fragment of the Spear of Longinus in my possession and fused it with the piece I had reclaimed from the Outer God.

In that very heartbeat.

*Thump!*

My chest tightened with a pulse so violent it bordered on agony.

That was only the beginning.

For a fleeting breath, the flow of time itself ground to a halt.

And then, voices echoed.

—Seek me out.

—Come find us.

The twin goddesses manifested their presence before my eyes.

“Wh-what is happening here?”

“What have I committed…?”

One by one, the inhabitants of the Holy City Adrium began to wake from their stupor.

From the Pope and the high-ranking cardinals to the vast ranks of holy knights and saintesses—clarity returned.

Yet, none could truly grasp the memories of their recent actions.

The overwhelming, coercive dominion of the goddess had stripped them of their own will and sanity.

Furthermore.

“The… the Tower of Ruin?!”

“How can this be… Why has it appeared within the Holy City Adrium?!”

The sight of the obsidian spire rising before them plunged their souls into a bottomless pit of hopelessness.

The crisis had spiraled beyond any hope of containment.

If left to stand, Adrium faced total annihilation.

Ultimately, the Pope found he had no path left but that of absolute humility.

He discarded every shred of his vanity and the storied prestige of his office.

“I implore you. P… please… extend your mercy to the Goddess’s Church.”

He directed his plea toward a man he did not recognize.

To this mysterious figure who introduced himself as the Master of the Round Table.

He was forced to drop to his knees, weeping as he begged for salvation.

No other choice remained for him.

It was in that precise moment.

The individual who had received the Pope’s desperate petition.

I once more settled the silver mask upon my features.

“Knights of the Round Table, attend to me.”

*Thwip!*

I addressed the warriors as they stood in a disciplined, singular line.

“Starting now, we shall lay claim to and conquer the ‘Tower of Ruin’.”

I gave the command to seize the very Tower of Ruin I had personally manifested.

Just then.

*Ting!*

《A ‘Hidden Scenario’ is now commencing!》

It had returned.

The Hidden Scenario.

This was a narrative path that had never surfaced since the world’s inception.

An event no legendary hero, no mortal, nor any living soul had ever encountered.

It was a territory of pure creation—an original fabrication.

A title that heralded the birth of a fresh legend.

Consequently, even the celestial beings remained ignorant of how it would unfold or conclude.

The power to forge a Hidden Scenario belonged solely to the one penning the chronicle.

“That… that radiance is…!”

“Oh, Holy Goddess!”

The earth had been submerged by the presence of the Tower of Ruin.

A suffocating gloom had draped itself over Adrium.

The pleas of the pious and the gathering of sacred energy had proven futile.

While the masses struggled in the grip of panic.

*Fwoooosh!*

A magnificent brilliance flared from a single man’s blade, lancing through the murk and transforming the world into a realm of light.

Those witnessing the glow fell to their knees in succession.

They locked their fingers together, whispering their orisons with frantic fervor.

The scene carried a sense of righteousness and warmth as gentle as the goddess’s own kindness.

It seemed as though the favor of both goddesses was focused entirely upon that solitary man.

“That individual is…”

“The new Master of the Round Table…”

Even the cardinals could only gape in silence at the new Master of the Round Table.

Among their number was Aaron, the devoted zealot.

“Observe! He is the one destined to light our path! Have faith! Only through belief shall we find deliverance!”

Do not probe, do not doubt—simply trust.

Aaron had already seen the man perform wonders multiple times within the Tower of the War God.

To his foes, he was a source of limitless dread.

He bore the aspect of a darkness that brought shadows, but that was merely a portent—a celestial retribution—reserved for the faithless who turned from him.

How could a being graced by two goddesses, possessing the resolve to walk his road without swaying, truly be an agent of evil!

“That blade is…!!”

In that moment.

The Pope’s frame shuddered slightly as he fixated on the sword radiating that magnificent light.

It was as if a profound realization had struck him, or perhaps he was in a state of sheer disbelief.

After verifying the weapon’s design with his own eyes once more, the Pope shouted.

“The legendary divine relic… the Sword of ‘Patience’!”

Patience.

It was a principle that stood in direct opposition to sin.

It was a celestial blade, renowned as the natural bane of all wickedness.

Yet, it was a tragic weapon that had slipped into oblivion in the distant past—an era when malice flourished and the demons of sin no longer held the gods in awe.

The very first target the demons had sought to erase was that Sword of Patience.

But he could not be mistaken.

It was the very artifact the Goddess’s Church had pursued relentlessly through the ages.

And now, the lost, vanished relic had been returned by a Knight of the Round Table.

“Your… Your Holiness! Is it truly the Sword of Patience?”

“This is impossible…!”

The cardinals could not hide their astonishment.

If that blade was indeed ‘Patience’, then the man before them was the legendary savior prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

“The one who brings light to a world of shadows!”

“The Holy Blood of Patience!”

“…A Knight of the Pantheon of a Hundred Gods!”

“So that chronicle was actually reality…!”

He was no common servant of a minor deity.

In the golden age of mankind.

That was a title reserved for the seven warriors from the time before Ruin appeared—beings so potent that even the gods of the Pantheon of a Hundred Gods, who possessed the mightiest divinity, were compelled to recognize them.

However, the truth of their existence had been fiercely questioned.

This was because the only accounts of such formidable knights were found within the Book of Revelation.

No specific records of their deeds remained.

Because of this, the six heroes of the Old Empire held far greater renown.

Nevertheless, the Sword of Patience could be grasped by none other than the ‘Holy Blood of Patience’.

This meant the prophecy in the Book of Revelation was factual.

There was no possibility that the Pope, who possessed the sacred right to read the Book of Revelation himself, could be in error!

“The goddess’s intent is carved into his very soul!”

“the authority that had been dragged into the mud has finally been restored!”

“At last, I can witness the light…!”

With that, their cries of joy erupted.

In their lack of wisdom and their skepticism, they had allowed a lowly pretender to infiltrate their ranks.

But now, as they placed their trust in the Knight of the Round Table who had arrived for their rescue, they truly began to perceive the ‘light’.

They had once shut their eyes, plugged their ears, and looked away.

Because they were unable to face the goddess’s passing.

Because they lacked true faith in her.

But…

That was over.

They believed in this man, the wielder of the Sword of Patience and the vessel of the goddess’s spirit.

That conviction finally allowed them to see clearly.

“Oh, Goddess!”

“I can see! I can feel your presence!”

“You were with us the entire time!”

“The goddess has not abandoned her children!”

The Master of the Round Table.

They could envision the two goddesses smiling from behind him.

They could sense the goddess’s mercy.

A chorus of hope began to rise.

Just as the Round Table prepared to enter the Tower of Ruin.

“I grant you absolution for your transgressions.”

…He spoke.

The transgression of doubt.

The transgression of allowing a trivial intruder into their midst.

He was absolving them of every failure.

At that very second.

*Fwoosh!*

*Fwoooosh!*

*Fwooooooooosh!*

Throughout the entirety of the Holy City of Adrium.

A sacred radiance began to manifest above the shoulders and brows of the believers.

“D-divine energy…!”

“It has come back to us!”

“The spark of holy power has been relit!”

Every person there, without exception, shook with emotion and wept.

It wasn’t merely the return of their magic.

It was the fact that the fire of holy power, which had been extinguished for an age, had been breathed back into life.

The fallen status, the divinity they assumed was gone forever.

“I… I was blind to the truth.”

The Pope confessed his failings.

For he had been unable to see the salvation standing right in front of him.

He could no longer detect the presence of that insignificant entity.

The heir to the goddess’s purpose.

He had removed the threat.

He had answered the Pope’s prayer.

And now, the Pope felt a surge of understanding.

The Knights of the Round Table.

…They had been fully restored.

Yet, a seed of anxiety remained.

Could they truly overcome the ‘Tower of Ruin’?

“Trust him. You must have faith.”

Aaron spoke the words like a mantra.

The Pope gave a silent, firm nod.

He chose to believe.

He would no longer let his heart waver.

“……”

The Elf Queen trembled as she felt the cold aura of Ruin.

It had been a short time since she had departed from the World Tree’s dungeon.

How could a ‘great evil’ manifest so rapidly?

“An agreement… We must establish a Holy Alliance.”

The Elf Queen had learned a hard lesson within the World Tree’s dungeon.

That they were far too fragile on their own.

That if they remained divided, the darkness would consume them.

The Knights of the Golden Rule were formidable.

The White King, the Giant of Ruin’s Demise, and the other celestial entities had all been bested by them in the end.

The Druid Albino and the Empire’s Strongest, Lyca.

Even the subordinates following them were forces to be reckoned with.

If they had clashed as genuine foes…

‘We would have been wiped out.’

The elves had been far too proud.

They believed themselves to be untouchable as long as they remained within the Primal Forest.

But the world had proven them wrong.

They had been struck by the Dark Elves and suffered a stinging loss against the Knights of the Golden Rule.

If they stayed trapped in their arrogance, an even worse disaster was inevitable.

“A wise path, Queen.”

The White King offered a smile at her side.

It was the White King who had first suggested the pact.

He, too, was being plagued by the constant reach of the Black King.

Then, the White King scanned the gathered group and spoke.

“Giant of Ruin’s Demise, Superman of Radiance Kasim, Ancient Phoenix, Guardian of Light. What is your resolve?”

The powerful beings who had braved the World Tree’s dungeon.

He had brought the most significant figures together to propose this union.

But these entities had spent eons in solitude.

The idea of standing together, of forging a bond, was a deeply foreign concept to them.

The White King began to speak as he watched the energy of the spire climbing into the sky in the distance.

“The ‘Tower of Ruin’ has made its appearance. The predators of the void are hunting us. Numerous others plot to seize control of the lands. If we do nothing, we will perish.”

They could not stop the tide with solitary strength.

The shadow, the malice, was simply too vast for one individual.

—Ruin… must be erased.

—I am in agreement.

Two distinct voices resonated within their thoughts.

They belonged to the Ancient Phoenix, Al Raum, and the Guardian of Light, who stood like a massive monolith of stone.

It was as if neither the terrors of the void nor the legions of shadow, the Black King included, could be compared to the threat of Ruin.

They saw it as the ‘enemy’ that required absolute destruction.

“Then, will you combine your might?”

“Where is the Druid of the Golden Rule?”

The Superman of Radiance, Kasim, questioned.

If they were to form a coalition with those who had conquered the World Tree’s dungeon, the Druid of the Golden Rule was an essential piece.

But the White King moved his head in a slow negative.

“It is better for him to stay in the shadows as much as possible. If he shows himself on the front, he will become the primary target.”

“That is true. The Black King, the Dark Elves. Countless other dark powers will seek to strike him first. Perhaps even the malevolent gods…”

The Elf Queen concurred.

No benefit would come from the Druid of the Golden Rule stepping into the light.

It was certain that they would hunt for the power of the Golden Rule, or the World Tree itself.

The White King gave a nod of agreement.