Level 0 Master

The Mirror of Truth showed another scene. Kuga was getting orders from the Golden Wise King.

"Yes, I will tell them as you said about the island of illusion and the fruit of God. If I tell them it was from the goddess they will believe me."

All the information was from the Golden Wise King, and he was being reported to by Kuga.

"Sungjin was able to calm down the people from the curse of the Holy Pope. But now he won't be able to avoid a clash."

"That's not true! Kuga, tell me that is not true!" begged Rachel.

Kuga looked at Rachel and answered:

"Of course, the goddess…"

"The truth will defeat the lies."

When the Holy Pope ordered, Kuga shivered and small rainbow-colored marbles came out from his body. With this, Kuga lost his rainbow color and become a brown lion. His bright eyes lost the light and became grey.

It was his real color without the power. His facial expression also changed significantly. He lost his sincere look and showed crossed eyes and a sly smile.

Kuga shouted at Rachel:

"Hahaha, such a stupid little thing. Being caged up, you were gullible enough to believe everything I said. Thanks to you, I was able to help my king and get promotions."

"Kuga…"

"The idiot next to you is the same! He doesn't know how to live this life! He was played by my king!"

"No…no…Kuga. You helped me to escape."

The next moment the Mirror of Truth showed another scene.

The door of a dark prison opened, and a lion came to a girl who had never seen the light.

"I came to save you following the order of the goddess."

"Save me?"

"Poor thing, you are a child of the goddess," his eyes showed the warmth of his heart.

It was a beautiful scene of salvation, but a dark shadow was hidden behind the lion and showed his dark thoughts.

I can't believe I need to travel this journey with this dirty, bloody girl on my back. My fur will get all dirty, but I have to do this for my promotion.

The salvation was just a staged scene by the Golden Wise King. Even the light of the lion was an illusion made by the items hiding inside.

"No… no… when I was in pain… he showed mercy…"

When Sungjin held Rachel in his arms, Kuga was looking at them; the dark shadow behind him revealed his dark thoughts again:

Haha. That worked. He was easily tricked by this. Who told me he was smart? He was good at fighting but doesn't know anything about this world. I'm getting my promotion for sure now, such an idiot; it would have been impossible to escape Rupelion without the help of my king.

"No… no… no…."

The truth finally sunk in.

Bang.

The Holy Pope stamped his cane on the ground. Kuga's body broke apart into tiny pieces with his blood and intestines scattered on the ground. The scene was as disgusting as Kuga's mind.

"Kuga…The goddess…"

Kuga was a lie, and it meant the goddess and the salvation were also a lie.

Rachel fainted.

"Angramainyu is the only God. Evil is the only truth. I will show you the second proof!"

The Holy Pope stamped his cane again; the dark flame covered Sungjin and Rachel.

"Ugh."

Sungjin was able to stop screaming, but he couldn't stop the pain. All his nerves were heated up with the fire, but the flames did not burn his body; it was an endless punishment from hell.

"Ughhhh!!" Rachel started to scream with pain.

"Do you have any other God? Any gods to save the good? If so, pray. Pray to find out who would save you!"

The Holy Pope held his cane high in the air, and the dark flames covered everyone outside of the battlefield.

"Ughhhhh!" The screams of the people shook the sky and the ground.

"Do you think you've been good? Do you think you are innocent? Then pray! Pray to save you! Pray to see who would save you!"

The Holy Pope's words were directed at the people before him writhing on the ground.

"There's no such salvation."

If there was a salvation, the orphans wouldn't have been killed. This world was hell, although people tried to deny it.

"Ugh… ugh…." Rachel screamed with tears realizing there was no goddess to answer her prayer.

The real God was…

The Holy Pope was the only one with God.

I thought if I follow the will of the goddess I would be saved. I thought I would have a chance to become an adult to date Sungjin Oppa.

There was nothing left in her. She had built up her hope only to be left with deeper despair. It was even worse than physical pain; her soul was killed by the cruel truth.

The Holy Pope was enjoying his victory.

Humans talk about good when it benefits them or if they're seeking things such as respect or fame. Sometimes, powerful people put on a show in front of others to fool them or to make a deal. But as soon as they don't need to, they stop pretending. That was the truth of good and evil, and he was about to break that mask with the power of God.

"Now you see, humans! Angramainyu is the one and only God! Accept him as your god to stop this pain!" The Holy Pope Pederian looked at Sungjin and Rachel.

"Now that you've seen the truth, ask for forgiveness to God. Make an oath that you would help him to lead the world to his will. If you do so, God will take you under his arms," said the Holy Pope holding the fruit of God in his hand.

"Now is the time to convert!"

The fruit exploded, and the darkness covered Sungjin and Rachel.

The Holy Pope raised his eyebrows.

Were they both worth it?

He didn't expect Sungjin to be covered by the power of the fruit of God.

People said that he came from elsewhere…maybe that was true… but that doesn't matter.

It didn't matter which one asked for forgiveness first. All he wanted was one of them to beg for mercy and say they would be willing to do anything.

Rachel was a child of God; the other one was a human from another world summoned by princess Ereka and her forbidden ritual.

Doesn't matter which one.

He was standing in the altar of Angramainyu; any prayer for darkness would reach him. The king of darkness would open the door of hell and make this world a living nightmare as it's supposed to be.

Finally, everything was in its place. The truth would win.

People from Rupllion started to believe they were the smart ones.

When Sungjin stabbed the Holy Pope with his sword, they worried, but their God was the only winner.

I hope no one noticed I was worried…

They started to worry that others would have seen their lack of faith and report it to the priests. Kalt was one of them.

See? I was right.

The old lady, Irein, was senseless; nobody asked her to give him the juice. It was futile to stand against God. He followed God's will to punish her. It was her fault.

So stop showing up in my dreams!

Why… why?!

You shouldn't be able to haunt my dreams anymore.

God had won. Now everyone could see what happens when they disobey God. God was the only truth.

* * *

Sungjin shook his head.

Ugh. What's going on?

He was covered with black flames, and a man with an evil smile stood in front of him. Bizarrely, he had another face on his back; Sungjin was not able to see the facial expression on the other face clearly.

Two faced… is it?

"Yes, you are worthy of being a vessel. My name is Janus, guard of all gates."

He read my mind.

"Here, human minds built this altar for over a thousand years; now I ask you, who had reached the king of nine hells…"

I am worthy?

Sungjin looked around to see Rachel behind a transparent wall facing Janus.

So she is worthy as well.

Sungjin thought quickly about what he would ask Janus.

"You, who is aiming to be on the top of Valhalla, do you still have the same wish?"

"Yes!" Sungjin knew lies wouldn't work in front of this god, so he answered truthfully.

"It won't work. You'll be crushed and will lose everything soon." That was the verdict from the god.

It was the truth; Sungjin had no hidden card to defeat the Holy Pope.

"The Holy Pope has his God behind him, but you only had the illusion of having a god protecting her. This was a losing game from the beginning.."

One was blessed by a real god, while the other believed in a false god. It was clear who held the winning card.

"It's too late for regret."

"Regret?" Sungjin stopped Janus. Although he was restrained by this power, his voice was clear and confident:

"So you can't really read everything in my mind?"

He didn't have any regrets.

"The goddess was fake, so what? Don't get confused, the god of all gates!"

Sungjin's spirit surged.

"Surely you don't think I believed in the blessing of a goddess!"

Although it was a nice thought, he had never fully believed the tale of the goddess sending Rachel.

"I didn't promise to save her to get some reward from the goddess!"

He hadn't done this because of a false tale or the thought of a reward. He just wanted to protect Rachel.

"The existence or the absence of goddess doesn't change anything. I don't regret my decision!"

"You…"

"Now should I read your mind? Are you about to ask me if I want to make a pact with Lucifer, the ruler of the nine hells?"

Sungjin's eyes shone sharply. Although at his lowest point, his mind remained made up.

"Is Ereka the price? Or is it Rachel? Or does he want the whole world? Those are probably the minor details. He needs my soul to keep his power."

"Pfff. You are arrogant, human. What is your answer then? Do you want it or not? Do you want the highest position of this world as the successor of the fallen morning star?"

"I don't need it," answered Sungjin without hesitation.

He had wanted to become an Arc Master with his own power having won fairly without cheating. If not, it was meaningless.

"So you want to remain noble and disappear as a defeated one?"

"No way," Sungjin answered with a grin.

If it was a game, he would have accepted this, but this was a war; there were a lot of people were at risk if he didn't make it. He still had so many to protect.

Rachel is like my little sister.

Ereka is always taking care of me in the background.

There's my strategic partner, Eustasia, and cute and ruthless Jenna.

I have a lot of people I need to protect and take care of.

"Are you listening, Lucifer? You can use me as your vessel, but there's a condition. You can use me only until you defeat the Holy Pope who's become an incarnation of Angramainyu."

The offer gave Sungjin the advantage.

"So you don't want Angramainyu to take over this world, right?"

If Lucifer was not interested total dominance, he wouldn't have contacted Sungjin in the first place.

"So let's make this a mutual deal. What do you think?"

"Hahaha. You just offered something quite useless to God."

"Well, when the fight is a tie, even a matchstick can be an advantage."

Sungjin didn't move a muscle. Currently, his only card was he was worthy of being a vessel.

"Lucifer will have to make his choice. If I can't save this world, it doesn't matter who rules, Angramainyu or Lucifer."

It didn't really matter that he would be the agent. Sungjin told him to walk away if he didn't believe him. He had no plans to bluff God.

Then he got the answer.

"Stupid human, you are resisting, but the child made her choice." The words of Janus caused Sungjin to look back at Rachel with empty eyes.

"No, Rachel!" Sungjin called out to her, but Rachel crossed her head with tears.

I'm sorry, Sungjin Oppa. You did so much for me. But like this…I can't…

So this was the only way…because her goddess was not true. No salvation could come from a fake goddess. So…

She had to pray to the powerful. The pain from hell was unbearable.

"Save me," she prayed.