10. Seed
Reina was currently extremely embarrassed.
She couldn’t even hear Agnes’s prayers.
She really wanted to listen, to hear what those dead Cardinals had to say.
Agnes, this poor little girl, suddenly made Reina feel like telling the truth.
But if she said now that “the Goddess of Light is really dead, and I killed her myself,” Reina feared she would be immediately attacked by the Saintess, and then completely lose the possibility of establishing authority in the theocratic nation.
Reina felt the urge to rant.
This world was completely finished.
The Dragon King’s wife and the Saintess’s faith were the same person.
If this were before, such explosive news would definitely be shared with her close friends. But Reina could only sigh inwardly and lament the impermanence of the world and the suffering of humanity.
As expected, she was the only normal person left in this world.
But this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
—Both the Saintess and the Dragon King were now in the palm of her hand!
“The matter of the [Gate of the Celestial Realm], can you tell me about it?”
Reina asked.
“You…”
“I understand.”
The Saintess looked up. She also understood that the Goddess of Light must have lost her memory, or lost most of her power, which was why she was hiding in the theocratic nation, waiting for an opportunity.
So, she told Reina everything she knew:
“Goddess of Light, before the Pope died, he told me that you were once summoned by the demons. They had coveted your power for a long time… Later, the Four Kings of the Realms successfully invaded the human world, and we all thought you had been defeated.”
“The Pope said that you were once imprisoned in a cell, bound by countless chains, suffering greatly.”
“So, I’ve been very worried about you.”
Reina pondered.
If the Goddess of Light was really summoned and her power was divided up, it was indeed a very tragic experience.
But the reality was that the Goddess of Light was alive and well before the ending, and with her level 200, she witnessed Calysia’s demise without helping, and even fought against the protagonist.
—Calysia, look what you’re sacrificing your soul for!
To confirm this information, Reina continued to ask:
“[Gate of the Celestial Realm], did summoning the Goddess of Light require sacrificing souls?”
“Yes…”
The Saintess nodded.
“The Pope recorded the entire process of the ritual. [Gate of the Celestial Realm], they used the lives of 100,000 beastmen.”
Then what was Calysia’s soul used for?
“Was the Pope also a participant?” Reina continued to ask.
“Yes.”
The Saintess said.
“He was the only participant. Before he died, he told me about this… Now, I’m the only one who knows.”
If, as the Saintess said, the Pope participated in the [Gate of the Celestial Realm] plan,
Then wouldn’t he have become a traitor to humanity?
But Reina knew that the Pope was someone who would fight for humanity until his death and would never betray them.
And this established fact had nothing to do with the so-called game difficulty.
Could it be that the Goddess of Light and humanity stood on opposite sides?
Reina was suddenly at a loss.
“Goddess of Light, was there anyone you were close to?”
“Mm-hmm…”
She had asked casually, but unexpectedly received a positive answer.
The Saintess looked up shyly and said to Reina:
“Although I don’t believe it either, the Pope said that the Dragon King often liked to visit your cell. It’s said that you and the Dragon King would talk about many things every day.”
“…” Reina was speechless, her expression unchanged. She was using her own methods to test if the Saintess was lying, but the Saintess wasn’t deceiving her.
“So, I was always worried that you had been captured by the Dragon King. But I heard from the Pope that the Dragon King is a benevolent ruler, the only one who might be able to coexist peacefully with humanity. So, forgive my presumptuous thoughts.”
“I always imagined that you weren’t dead, but hidden away by the Dragon King.”
“Didn’t the Dragon King just have a wedding…”
“That way, you might be able to reappear in the world.”
“That’s why I said I could save you…”
“Now it seems… I must have been overthinking, right?”
“Goddess, are you listening?”
Reina wasn’t listening.
Strictly speaking, she had already started to lose consciousness when she heard “the Dragon King often went to your cell.”
The Saintess was right.
She might have guessed correctly by a strange coincidence.
But not completely.
She was indeed controlled by the Dragon King, hidden away, and even corrupted into a dragon.
The two fell in love and even had a child together.
But what the Saintess didn’t know was that the time, place, and people involved were completely different.
But the current Reina really wished that everything the Saintess said was true, without any falsehood.
She was the Goddess of Light, the one Calysia visited every day, even sacrificing her soul for.
She was now grateful again, incredibly happy that she had killed the Goddess of Light in the past.
Reina’s body trembled slightly, and she unconsciously began to emit the pressure of a high-ranking dragon.
The Saintess’s face turned pale, the oppressive feeling of a level 130 being making it hard for her to breathe.
She looked at Reina, who was completely lost in anger and suspicion, staring blankly at the floor, trembling slightly. Even her disguised human pupils shimmered with a strange purple light, as if they could revert to the dragon race’s unique vertical eyes at any moment. Suddenly, the Dragon Marks on her chest and lower abdomen began to radiate intense heat.
For a moment, Reina’s mind was filled with nothing but Calysia.
Why?
Why are you with the one who could watch you die?
Why don’t you look at me more?
Why are you hiding things from me…
“…”
“Does the Shadow of God want to resurrect the Goddess of Light?” Reina said coldly, her previous gentleness and composure gone, as if she wanted to tear the Shadow of God to pieces.
The Saintess nodded: “Yes, but that’s just nonsense. Aren’t you right here?”
Reina was in a daze.
Her upper body swayed unconsciously, and she didn’t even notice what she was saying.
“The subjugation of the Shadow of God, when does it begin…”
“Next week.”
“Very well.”
Reina clenched her fists and sneered.
The Saintess had never seen Reina so angry before.
She had been so calm and composed even when surrounded in battle, yet she was so angry when talking about the Dragon King and the Shadow of God?
But the Saintess knew that this was her chance.
She stood up, endured Reina’s pressure, and said with a smile:
“Goddess, I will always support you~”
“Mm-hmm…”
Reina nodded.
From now on, she would make the Shadow of God pay the price for resurrecting the Goddess of Light.
The Goddess of Light could not be resurrected.
No, not only that…
Reina suddenly felt the urge to devour all the light and become the Goddess of Light herself.
To completely replace her.
Or, she planned to kill the Goddess of Light in front of everyone.
In front of Calysia.
Then, Calysia would probably only look at her, right?
Very well…
Because Calysia could only be hers.
Level 83.
Calysia, you’ve awoken the sleeping beast
Reina: Calysia why you so obsessed with me.
Also Reina, when she learned about connection between Calysia and the Goddess of Light: Why are you giving her part of your soul? Why did you spend so much time with her? Why do you need her when you have me? You should only look at me. Stay with me.