Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 546



You Were Born to Be Blessed

In the long history of the Holy Palace, there are few beings who have been granted the title of ‘Heaven.’ Let alone a saint. The Holy Palace, which serves the celestial deities, is a sacred space where the divine resides. How could a mere earthly creature dare to claim the heavens?

Yet she was the saint of heaven. No one questioned or objected.

Thus it was. The saint of heaven was predetermined from the start.

Saint of Heaven Meiel. A mysterious being known only by that title, even within the veiled Holy Palace. To hear her voice was a blessing, the closest to the original saint.

Meiel was not present in this space, yet it felt as if she were watching over us as if she existed.

“Sister Yegcheria. It’s your hobby to create awkward situations, but this time you’ve chosen a very troublesome person. ‘That one’ is not a being that distinguishes between good and evil as you think.”

Before Yegcheria could respond, Meiel continued.

“I know. You wouldn’t distinguish that either. No matter how wicked a being may be, you believed until death that they could repent and spread goodness. But Sister Yegcheria, knowing how good humans can be, you must also know how wicked they can become.”

What is that? Does she mean she has seen Yegcheria’s death in the future?

Her tone is as if she has already heard the answer and seen the outcome. Is it because she is a saint who sees the future? It’s hard to tell. Because that which does not exist in this space is beyond my comprehension.

Yegcheria seemed accustomed to this strange way of speaking and replied.

“Then, doesn’t that mean they are also humans who can repent? No matter how lowly and ugly a human may be, if they listen to my words and follow my teachings, they can stand beside the celestial deity. That was the message in the gospel. Just as the original saint blessed all. She believed that even the wicked could become good if they received guidance.”

“Yes. I liked that part of you. However, I couldn’t like all of you. You irresponsibly threw a difficult problem at humanity and merely watched. Goodness and savagery are different, Sister Yegcheria. There are things one can do, but should not.”

As if she had nothing more to say, Meiel cut off her words and turned to me.

“King of Humans. The reason you sought me was to inquire about the King of Dogs, wasn’t it?”

“How did you know… Are you really a prophet?”

I may read minds, but how does a saint, who has never even encountered me until now, know a question that hasn’t even been asked yet?

I said it was unreasonable for a time traveler, but in this instance, the time traveler isn’t that unreasonable. They simply know what will happen in the future, and even that can change due to variables.

But in this world, there are prophets. And those prophets twist the very fabric of fate itself.

Meiel spoke with certainty, as if she knew the answer.

“To put it simply, your guess is correct. The perfect king of dogs is the being chosen by the first saint. A holy person… no, I should say a holy dog. In any case, it’s truly monumental.”

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To be a chosen being means that the first saint foresaw this existence from a distant past, just like all the other saints.

“I see. So it was you who made Aji and Fenril like that.”

“The word ‘made’ isn’t quite right. The first saint saw this scene from that long future, and it is simply unfolding as it should. Creating something ultimately falls to history and civilization.”

Prophets who see the future do not engage in covert actions. They observe the tangled web of causality and make slight adjustments to ensure that future comes to pass. Their intentions are diluted through thousands and thousands of links, spreading their influence across all of humanity.

Thus, no one can hold them accountable. They are those who see the back of the card deck. They are the ones who have seen in advance which cards will turn up and to whom they will be dealt. By skillfully manipulating the order, they give their allies the strongest hands while sabotaging the enemy’s maid, but from the perspective of those being played, it is hard to understand.

It’s a scam. Compared to me, who merely reads others’ minds and sees their hands, they are far more malicious. For them, this isn’t even a game. Someone needs to take them down a peg.

While I internally lamented the absurdity, Meiel continued speaking.

“A dog is a beast, yet it is obedient, loyal, and above all, weak. Much weaker than a wolf. Unless it is a hunting dog, it cannot harm humans, nor does it have the strength to do so. The first saint saw traces of norms in the dog. She envisioned that if the savagery of the wolf were stripped away from that dog and made perfect, it would become a pillar of this order for eternity.”

“Stripped away the savagery? How do you strip away one’s nature?”

“Humans possess an evil nature. Petty envy, vile jealousy, base desires. They harbor an innate malice that seeks to fulfill their own desires at the expense of others. However, most endure and suppress that malice. Those who have learned goodness and norms from order struggle and suffer, overcoming that malice and desire.”

Meiel gazed beyond, towards where Aji was.

“And so, the king of dogs continues to fight against his own malice, the king of wolves, and ultimately claims victory. Thanks to that, the king of dogs has become perfect. Promises have been fulfilled, and an eternal promise has been made. The king of dogs has now become a bastion that humans can trust and rely upon.”

Just as I had expected.

Dogs and wolves were originally one. Yet, over a long time, the domesticated dog has become so different from the wolf through human hands. It is not strange for two different kings to arise.

But there is no reason for the two to fight each other. Beasts do not fight in such a manner.

“The one who distinguished between dogs and wolves was humans, but it was the first saint who separated the king of dogs from the king of wolves and made them fight each other, wasn’t it?”

Meiel did not affirm, but she did not deny it either.

“It was meant to be, and it was allowed to happen.”

“All just to create a single friend for humans? That seems like an overly grand endeavor for that.”

“Of course, it is not just for that. It is for a greater order and discipline. That is something you wouldn’t understand even if I told you now….”

Even if you say I wouldn’t understand, come on. Let’s meet. Just read my thoughts. Then I could understand perfectly.

…But I must never, ever let on that I can read minds. The moment I do, I will be ‘read’ in turn. They will avoid meeting me even more resolutely, and it will become virtually impossible to meet.

The moment I read the future they have seen, I would be able to play an equal game with them.

I have to wait until the time traveler takes me to Seongsan Yullim. Ugh. What should I say here? I need to choose my words carefully to avoid suspicion. It’s troublesome not being able to read thoughts.

It was then. The time traveler, who had been silent, spoke.

“You’re talking about killing the King of Sin who will exist in the future, right? I understand that much. You can just tell me. About the great law.”

‘I’ve heard this kind of talk countless times since the eighth cycle. Mentioning the King of Sin allows us to skip unnecessary procedures, so let’s make that clear from the start.’

Even the heavenly saint seemed momentarily hesitant, unable to foresee the time traveler’s actions.

In this regard, the time traveler is quite fitting. You said you’ve received help from the Holy Office until now, right? I don’t know how much information has been shared, but it seems the Holy Office has exchanged quite a bit of information with the time traveler. Thanks to that, we can proceed with the discussion quickly.

Meiel looked at the time traveler with a somewhat sorrowful expression.

“…My last hope. Are you planning to help the King of Humans?”

“Not particularly helping Hughes, you know? It’s just that we both get what we want. It would be nice if everyone joined forces to stop the King of Sin.”

“That’s idealistic. But that will only make everything a mess. It’s a path closer to despair than hope.”

“But it could work out, right?”

“That’s akin to throwing oneself into clumsy optimism. It’s no different from standing still, believing that the pouring avalanche will spare me. The King of Humans is a barbaric being that embodies even malice, a king of beasts. ‘That’ is the enemy we must face.”

“That’s not true. Hughes may be extreme, but he’s not an evil being. He can help both you and me sufficiently.”

‘Meiel has helped me countless times until now, and though she has granted me blessings several times, she ultimately failed to prevent destruction. I need to find another way. If I can’t stop sin or kill the King of Sin, then preventing the King of Sin from appearing through Hughes seems like a good idea.’

It seems that the affection I’ve built up until now is not in vain. It’s touching, time traveler. Thank you for thinking of me that way.

Meiel clasped her hands together and prayed in a voice that felt sorrowful even in the illusion.

“…Thus, you must be my first despair. Ah, blessed first saint, why do you bless me and yet….”

The saint’s devout prayer continued for quite a while. When her body began to itch, Meiel cleared her throat and spoke again.

“To establish order and norms, a promise is necessary. A promise that the other will not harm me. A promise that my belongings will be guaranteed safety. A promise that order will protect me. And, above all.”

For some reason, Meiel continued, glaring at me.

“If I break the order and spread evil, I will be eternally trapped in the fetters of sin and punished. Virtue receives answers, evil receives punishment. Such faith is necessary for humans to endure without destroying each other.”

“But, such promises don’t really exist, do they?”

“There are promises. Like the laws, morals, and norms that uphold order in this world.”

Meiel, who answered immediately, soon let out a small sigh.

“However, yes. You’re right. As you said, human promises are trivial and insignificant. If there are no eyes to watch over sin and no power to deliver punishment, then promises are weak things that can be discarded at any time. Weak, base, and easily broken promises become doubts about the promise itself.”

It seems that just because she’s a saint doesn’t mean she’s a fanatic who only follows the will of the divine. Well, it can’t be helped.

The saint of foresight, Yuel, became a cynic after seeing all the ugly sides of humanity. A saint who sees even what is unseen cannot fall into baseless fanaticism. They bear too much of what they see.

“We need a more fundamental promise. A promise of permanence and truth, different from the base promises humans make with their tongues and fingers. An absolute and unchanging covenant made by the existence of ideas, staked on their own concepts. The King of Dogs was… a test of whether that covenant could exist.”

The existence of ideas is the embodiment of the idea itself. The individuality possessed by the existence of ideas does not change.

Of course, it is not absolute. If the idea itself changes, then the existence of the idea will also change. Just as a wolf becomes a dog through domestication.

“The King of Dogs fought against his own malice and ultimately forged that bond. Now, no beast will feel animosity or fear towards the King of Dogs. The King of Dogs has become the representative and spokesperson of the kindness and mercy of beasts.”

The beast has a gentle side. It is a natural truth. A predator has no reason to hunt when it is full. It must save its hunger for later. The prey gathers in groups, mingling well with other beasts, to reduce the odds of being chosen when a predator arrives.

Aji has become the embodiment of such traits. Thanks to this, it is not attacked by other beasts.

“In short, you’ve succeeded in reshaping the king of beasts to your liking? Hmm. If so, perhaps you could attempt the same with the king of humans. Maybe you already have.”

“Your question is… Ah, I see. Realizing that a king of sin exists, you even doubted that it was the being foretold by the original saint.”

What? How did they know that?

It’s true that it’s a question I would ask. But knowing it and bringing it up immediately feels strange. It’s as if they came back after seeing the conclusion and are answering me.

They called themselves a prophet, but since the time of the original saint, there has been no true prophet. Even those I met, like Yuel or Perel, possessed only fragments of prophetic abilities.

Yet, it seemed the saint of the heavens had taken only the largest core from those fragments. It was clear they could see the future at a level similar to or almost identical to that of the original saint.

“The king of humans. But your thoughts are incorrect. Even if the king of sin destroys humanity, and even if we encouraged the birth of the king of sin, that cannot be our responsibility.”

Is this evasion of responsibility? But Maiel seemed too confident to be merely avoiding it. Rather, it felt the opposite.

“Sin belongs to humanity.”

Responsibility seems to be fleeing from her, and she appears to want to chase it down and capture it. Maiel continued with a face that seemed to mock coldly.

“Destroying the world is not the king of sin’s doing. It is humanity’s sin. The king of sin, like the existence of all other concepts, is merely a representative of that…”

The king of wolves can be hostile to humans. But it cannot destroy humanity.

Because, fundamentally, the wolf is weaker than humans. It cannot achieve what it lacks the ability to do.

However, the king of sin, representing sin, possesses the power to destroy humanity.

And sin is a part of humanity.

That means.

“All problems begin when humanity obtains the power of the divine. When that excessive power is used to kill other humans. And when it realizes that this power is not so special, that anyone can obtain it by following the same process. At that moment, the future of humanity ends. An eternal night descends upon the world, the infinitely branching paths are abruptly severed, and all of humanity falls asleep, never to dream again. Thus, the end arrives.”

One day, when I open my eyes, I see nothing.

It’s not that I have my eyes closed, nor that the light has gone out. It simply isn’t there. No light, no sensation, no pain. The future, which flowed like a river and shone like stars, vanishes all at once, and the eyes that beheld the future are blinded, reflecting nothing. A terrifying end, utterly devoid of meaning, arrives.

That was the future Maiel saw.

It’s not as if I’m reading her mind, but it felt as if the future Maiel ‘saw’ was visible to me. It wasn’t an illusion. Including myself, the returnees and Yegchelia also ‘saw’ the fragments of the end that Maiel spoke of.

Maiel, whose eyes reflected darkness, glared at me with a gaze filled with endless emptiness and despair.

“That is why you must not exist, king of humans. You, who are merely the king of beasts, cannot overcome this. You cannot defeat the growing malice of humanity day by day. You cannot stop humans from reaching the forbidden knowledge that could destroy even their own essence.”

What is this?

My instincts as a living being sound an alarm. It feels as if an irresistible force is pressing down on me. Something, something is hostile toward me.

Yet, I feel nothing.

It’s not malice or strength. Maiel is not in this space. I, with my mind-reading ability, know this better than anyone.

Yet, the instincts of the beast are telling me. I could die.

—

Can you die while not being here? What is this? This sensation that feels as if the whole world is rejecting me?

“Rather, I will affirm them. Instead of saving those who are dying on the slope rolling into the abyss, I will smile and send them off. As long as humanity’s enemy is humanity itself, your existence is of no use. It would be better to simply disappear….”

“Stop it, Meiel. Hughes has lost all his strength.”

In that moment, the strange momentum I felt from Meiel vanished in an instant.

I wondered if it was because of the returner that he had lost his power, but something about it felt off. It was as if the future that rejected me had been overturned the moment the returner intervened.

Come to think of it, the so-called saint of causality said that the returner’s causality was twisted. Perhaps the returner is a hidden card to confront the prophet?

Meiel spoke resentfully towards the returner.

“…Shey. Did you see hope in him? But don’t you know? Even without strength, he is dangerous.”

“There’s really no point in killing him, is there? Hughes can’t do anything. He’s weak and easily swayed. So, we just need to hold him back from being swayed that way.”

The returner replied nonchalantly, suddenly clapping his hands as if he had just remembered something.

“Oh, right. I have something else to say. I want to go to Seongsan Yullim. If you help with this matter, I promised to take Hughes to Yullim.”

“You are making me despair in many ways. To go to Seongsan Yullim with the king of humans. That land is….”

The returner seemed familiar with such demands, as if it were not the first time. Outrageous requests are usually ignored, but the most great and blessed saint, Meiel, perhaps could not do that.

Now seemingly resigned, Meiel clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.

“But you are my first despair, yet my last hope. Shey, I will bless you with the thinnest thread of hope. However, there is one condition.”

“Condition? Why?”

‘In the past, I granted everything without conditions.’

It was a thought that would have made Meiel burst with laughter, but she would have no way of knowing.

“The land of the old nations, the ancient evil that has slept is about to awaken. Long ago, in the age of barbarism, it was a dark and terrible evil that brought fear and chaos to this world. If, Shey, you can defeat ‘it,’ the remnant of barbarism. And if your thoughts about barbarism do not change in the process… I will guide you to Seongsan Yullim.”

“Oh, that? Will I be alone?”

“It won’t be difficult. I will bless you.”

With her hands tightly clasped, Meiel closed her eyes and prayed for the returner.

“My last hope. And barbarism. O first saint who blessed me, and the high celestial being who protects her. Your devout child wishes for their endless glory and blessings.”

Meiel’s voice gradually grew louder. At first, it was merely a whisper, but it swelled to a shout, soon resonating throughout the chapel with a tremendous sound. By the end, it became a force that seemed to crack the very world itself, no longer mere noise, but a power that spread across the earth.

[May there be a damn blessing before you all.]

And the world clicked into place. With a strange sound, as if something enormous was being assembled in my ears.

The returner and I received the saint’s blessing.