First, one thing. There is sothing that needs to be clarified.
The current Pope, Claudia the Third, is not a villain. If we were to classify her character as good or evil, she would lean towards good.
Then why does soone who is supposedly good sponsor fanatics, condone all sorts of inhumane acts, and sotis even lead them directly?
The answer is simple.
I said she’s kind, not that she’s sane.
Claudia the Third is a madwoman. She went beyond devoting faith to the Goddess to loving her in a rational sense, and her simple romantic feelings have morphed into possessiveness.
Those blinded by faith, who wish to offer all the miracles of the world to the Goddess to prove their devotion and praise her greatness.
Claudia could be described as a crazy psycho lesbian who wants to summon the Goddess and make her her own doormat.
In so ways, you could say she’s the most blasphemous in the world.
That’s why, no matter what Claudia did, I’m confident I won’t be surprised.
…I was.
“Fifty years ago. The Pope personally led the Inquisitors and obtained a bundle of the Goddess’s hair from the 3rd Floor. And half of it was attached to her own hair, while the other half was transplanted…below.”
“Is she really a crazy bitch????”
Claudia, who maintained her youth with all sorts of blessings and imnse holy power, has lived for nearly 120 years, so the timing itself isn’t surprising.
The issue is the content.
Yes. Let’s concede a hundred steps and say hair is acceptable. Like wearing the hide of a beast as clothing, or donning a mask depicting a powerful being, or even modern cosplay.
The desire to emulate and revere a being one admires has always existed throughout ti and across cultures.
But to transplant that down below… I an, using it as her own pubic hair?
“Wow. I really couldn’t have imagined this.”
I let out a hollow laugh, feeling the small squirming sensation from my pocket.
I slightly lifted my collar and looked at the Goddess Statue hidden in my inner pocket.
There was the statue of the Goddess covering her face with both hands and bowing her head deeply.
Right. It’s only natural to be embarrassed when soone like that is seated as the Pope. It must have been terrifying.
“Sigh.”
I let out a deep sigh, patting my inner pocket as I continued speaking.
“But why is that important? Sure, it’s quite shocking…but at most, it’s a blasphemy charge, right? As the Pope, of course, she could cover up sothing like that.” ᚱÅꞐ𝔬฿ÈS
“Yes. Although the act itself is quite disgusting, the problem lies with the role of the hair on the 3rd Floor.”
“Well, the Goddess wouldn’t have left a part of herself in the Labyrinth without any thought.”
Gods, by their nature, can never be absolutely perfect, but instead, they are complete beings from the mont they exist.
From the beginning, the immortality of the gods cos from such perfection, so it’s only natural.
Anyway, because of that, it’s natural that they can’t be unaware if a part of themselves falls away. Unless it’s a special case, they can retrieve it at any ti.
The fact that it’s not the case ans there’s a reason they left it on purpose.
…The Fragnt of Catastrophe seen on the 3rd Floor. And when you think about how incorrect knowledge spreads like common sense, there’s only one reason.
“It was the dium sealing the disaster on the 3rd Floor.”
“How did you know?”
“Jonah. Ish shmart.”
Karen, eyes wide open in surprise. Next to her, Lydia, who seed completely clueless about what was going on, was just chewing on the mala rose chicken skewer she bought on the street, for so reason, huffed to herself.
Wiping the corner of her mouth with my finger, I shook her head.
“Gosh. Finish eating first. Your words are slurred, and the sauce is dripping.”
Then, as I sucked the sauce off my finger, Lydia flinched montarily. After pondering for a while, she offered her skewer.
“Want a bite?”
“I didn’t eat it because I wanted to, okay? …But the taste is interesting.”
Rubbing the saliva off my finger onto Lydia’s sleeve, I continued talking to Karen, who was squeezing her eyes shut as if she hadn’t seen anything.
“The reason I noticed isn’t much. Recently, I encountered a monster called a Gear Doppelganger on the third floor, and it told it was a form that had mutated when the Catastrophe was sealed. According to my understanding of the Labyrinth, it’s impossible for a Catastrophe to leak out.”
“I was also misinford until now. But after hearing Sir Jonah’s story, I searched through the Temple’s records and felt sothing was off. At so point, there were increasingly frequent inconsistencies, so I dug through the old records.”
“Ah…this is that thing. Record obliteration?”
“Sothing similar. It’s more discreet and moderate, closer to manipulation than obliteration.”
“It’s the sa, really.”
With a shrug of the shoulders, I spoke with a subtle voice.
“So? You said you looked into the records? Did you find out anything?”
“Yes. The Catastrophe sealed on the third floor is the Faceless Demon. Specifically, it’s known as the Pri Doppelgänger.”
“I know what kind of creature that is. Since it’s famous.”
The Faceless Demon. At the mont the God of Justice died, and the God of Death tried to resurrect the corpse.
For so reason, the God of Justice’s divinity reversed, turning into the God of Sin, and went out of control.
It was unprecedented, and since the God of Justice was a rather powerful deity, the God of Sin’s power couldn’t be ignored. In the end, it was struck down by the collective might of various gods and t death once more…
Upon killing it, they realized. There was no God of Sin to begin with.
It was simply countless malices born during the war that happened to enter the empty corpse of the God of Justice.
It was not reborn as the God of Sin, but rather parasitically lived on the corpse of the God of Justice, maliciously interpreting and wielding the remaining divinity.
The gods, upon learning this fact, tried in every way to eradicate the Catastrophe born from malice…but ultimately failed.
Since it was malice stemming from the war of the gods, it naturally had resistance to the power of the gods.
However, for mortals to intervene, the Faceless Demon was too cunning, and its abilities were overpowering.
It spread distrust among people, mocked faith, and how could the war-weary people withstand it?
However, a solution was unexpectedly found.
The Faceless Demon happened to see the Goddess of Love, and instantly fell in love.
This isn’t a fluffy story about falling in love. It ant that a desire to defile the noble in the most vulgar way had ignited into an uncontrollable blaze.
The one who wandered the battlefields causing trouble wanted, at so point, to transform into the Goddess of Love.
Perhaps it was natural, as she was the only goddess fulfilling her divine duties during the War of the Fallen Gods.
Well, no matter how hard she tried, she failed every ti.
It’s inevitable that divinity can’t be mimicked unless you drape yourself in a god’s corpse like the God of Justice.
However, it could imitate a similar face, similar power, and similar greatness.
Yet, no matter how much effort it put in, it couldn’t even mimic the face of the Goddess of Love.
It was a Catastrophe born of the malice that blood from the War of the Fallen Gods, thus possessing a strong resistance to the power of the gods…
For the sa reason, it appeared relatively weak in front of the Goddess of Love, who had stepped back from the War of the Fallen Gods.
No, to be precise, it would be strong against the gods who participated in the war. When dealing with the Goddess of Love, it could only manifest its original strength.
During the War of the Fallen Gods, many gods perished, and the last one remaining is holed up in a labyrinth, making it hard to feel real, but…a god is a god. They are not to be underestimated.
Anyway, it was a faceless demon that fixated on the only god-like god who did not participate in the War of the Fallen Gods, but it fell into the contradiction of being unable to defile her because she did not participate.
In the end, it repeatedly failed to mimic the Goddess of Love, until its entire body lted away, becoming an amorphous, undefinable thing.
It repeated the sa actions continuously until the mont the War of the Fallen Gods ended.
However, instead of taking the initiative and staying in one place, if soone approached, it would replicate and attempt to destroy the target.
The gods, recognizing the danger, attempted to subjugate it, but ultimately failed and decided to bury it in the labyrinth.
The mind, filled with infinite malice, and the ever-changing body were split and sealed on the 4th and 3rd Floors respectively.
On the 4th Floor, the buried God of Death harbored malice in its heart and granted itself eternal rest to seal it.
On the 3rd Floor, part of the Goddess of Love’s body was thrown into the strictly sealed space, causing it to hole up and repeatedly transform and self-destruct.
I just found out that the part of the body set up was rely a bundle of hair.
“So, you’re saying soone intentionally broke the seal and even brought out the hair? That’s why the Fragnt of Catastrophe is wandering the Labyrinth…”
“Yes. Although it’s not in the official records, I found such content in an old personal journal while organizing materials.”
“An old Inquisitor’s journal? If it’s from 50 years ago, isn’t it possible that person might still be alive?”
“Unfortunately, he realized the Pope’s intentions and set out to judge the heresy, only to be killed in turn. The official records state that he succumbed to madness after being attacked by One Who Devours the Twilight.”
“Tsk. Indeed. If an Inquisitor finds heresy, they must deal with it. Just to make sure, Karen shouldn’t act without saying anything first, right?”
“Don’t worry. My faith is devoted to the Goddess, and this body is dedicated to the Saint. As you commanded before, I am quietly focusing on the investigation without overexerting myself.”
“Mm-hmm. Well done.”
Karen bends her head slightly, making it easier to reach when I stretch my hand out.
I gently pat her head and then ask,
“I’m currently tackling the 3rd Floor. It’s been a while, so would you like to join , Karen? If possible, I’d like to check the place where the seal was.”
“I will gladly follow.”
Karen kneels on one knee, bowing her head silently.
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