Chapter 9: Bringing Saulah to Repentance(3)
Suddenly, a sound like lightning came from heaven, and the forest was filled with it. Cloven tongues, like fire, appeared to Saullah and rested on her. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and born again, perfected as true servants of God, not as slayers of chaos.
Saulla’s Backstory
Foolish and detestable servants of God. They follow the Divine more faithfully than anything else in this world, despite not knowing much about the Divine. They don’t realize how insignificant the Divine considers them. To the Divine, believers are nothing more than disposable commodities, yet they simply follow them like servants. My life, too, has been thrown into the abyss by the Divine.
When I hatched from my egg as a hatchling…
“If other dragons find out that I gave birth to such a child, they will look down on us.”
“…Yes. This monstrosity is our child. It’s truly horrible. Throw it far away.”
Due to the machinations of “Chaos,” I was born with a hideous form, a cross between an elf and a dragon, and was abandoned by my parents. Unable to even properly learn the language, I wandered the continent for years. Then, I was discovered by an elf.
—
“Hey, little one. Where did you come from?”
A foolish elf who cared for a monstrous creature like me as if I were her own child.
She was a veteran ranger respected by the elves, and though it took time, she convinced the other elves to accept me, despite my grotesque appearance, as a member of their community.
But…
“To bring such a monstrosity before the sacred World Tree! What are the Elven Guards doing? Remove them at once!”
Once again, due to the machinations of “Chaos,” she and I were branded heretics and exiled from the elven community.
Though she was at an age where she should have retired as an elf, she was forced to wander because of me, unable to live out her remaining years in peace.
During our wanderings, she fell victim to yet another scheme of “Chaos.”
“Elf! And a high-quality one at that… Holy Knight Commander? Capture that elf.”
“But, Your Holiness, that elf hasn’t done anything…”
“Holy Knight Commander, Baal has spoken. All beings other than humans were created for humanity’s sake. Therefore, that elf…”
A band of holy knights attacked us during our travels.
We fought hard, but we couldn’t overcome their overwhelming numbers.
“Saulla… I’m going to land one final blow on their leader. When I do, the encirclement will break. That’s your chance to escape.”
“U-uh!”
She poured all her strength into a single strike that pierced their leader.
“Argh!”
“Your Holiness! Are you alright?”
“I did it, Lime!”
The encirclement broke, giving me a chance to escape.
Thud.
But she collapsed, her strength completely spent.
“L-Lime?”
“Haha… Saulla, I’m sorry. I don’t have any strength left.”
“No, no, Lime!”
“Saulla, the humans are regrouping and coming for us. If you miss this chance, there won’t be another. Saulla, are you going to let my sacrifice be in vain?”
“N-No… I…”
“If it weren’t for you, I would have lived a meaningless life as an ordinary elven ranger. But because of you, my life gained purpose. I left you in this world.”
“L-Lime…”
“Argh! Damn elf! Holy Knight Commander, kill her now!”
“Go, Saulla! There’s no time! …Saulla, I was happy to be with you. …Live, Saulla.”
“Lime… sob.”
I didn’t want to leave that foolish elf behind, but I knew that staying would negate her achievements, her life, her sacrifice. So, I fled.
Damn “Chaos.”
How far will you go to make me miserable?
“Capture that strange thing with the elf!”
I escaped the encirclement, but they kept pursuing me.
I ran and hid, but they eventually caught up.
“Hahaha, you escaped well for a while, but you’re just an inferior species. You can’t beat a human, especially me, an apostle of Baal.”
He was unharmed despite Lime’s attack piercing him.
Is this a being blessed by a god?
“You dared to touch me. That elf sacrificed her life to protect you, so you must have been precious to her, huh?”
He took something out of a small box.
“Then I’ll show that elf what happens to someone precious to her.”
Lime’s severed head.
After seeing her head, I lost all reason, and my memories are hazy.
All I remember is…
“No way! How could an inferior species!”
“Almighty Baal, who art in heaven…”
“Save me! I don’t want to die! Mommy!”
“It hurts too much!”
“Please… just let me die already.”
The pathetic cries of those insect-like servants of a god.
When I came to, my surroundings were filled with chunks of flesh and thick pools of blood.
“You’ve finally awakened, my proxy.”
“‘My’ proxy? Get it right. Our proxy of ‘Chaos.’”
“It was a long wait.”
And then the evil gods of “Chaos” spoke to me.
They told me I had awakened as their proxy.
That they had planted the seed of “Chaos” in me from the moment I was born.
They didn’t even try to hide it.
The fact that they manipulated my life to suit their whims.
“Do you think I’ll follow your orders?”
“You won’t?”
“You have no choice but to obey.”
No, I won’t obey.
Disgusting deities who arbitrarily alter the lives of ordinary beings.
I’ll erase every deity from this continent.
I, alone, will purify this world so no transcendent being can meddle with mortals.
—
If I purify all those who follow deities in this world, inevitably, all deities will vanish.
With the evil power bestowed by “Chaos,” I spent decades purifying the foolish creatures who believed in gods.
Then, I was defeated by the coalition of the Middle Realm races and hid in a dimensional rift to recover for a long time.
Finally, having regained my full strength, I resumed my purification work.
One day, I encountered human knights.
These knights were unlike any I had seen before.
They were warm, kind, and cheerful.
Did they not have a deity they followed, unlike other knights?
If so, they might not be targets for purification.
But then, a name was mentioned.
Deus.
They served a deity I had never heard of.
Even so, it changes nothing.
I don’t know what kind of deity Deus is, but they are clearly targets for purification.
Though they were stronger than most humans I’d encountered, they were no match for me, wielding the power of “Chaos.”
Having incapacitated most of them, I was about to unleash a burst of power to purify them cleanly.
At that moment, a human boy approached me, and lightning struck my head.
I had raised a barrier with the power of “Chaos,” but the lightning pierced through it.
Lightning that the power of “Chaos” couldn’t block?
And when the lightning struck the ground, the entire world froze.
My consciousness and head remained active, but my body felt as if it had solidified, completely still.
“…Human. Did you do this?”
An anomaly caused by an unidentified energy emanating from the human boy.
What did he do?
“How did you do it? You stopped time. You… are you a deity, not a human?”
A power forbidden to mortals. No, even deities couldn’t perform such a miracle. Who is he…
“Even now, my body’s time is stopped, but my mind, eyes, nose, and mouth are not. Are you trying to make me despair? Answer me!”
“Saulla Drakania.”
He knows my name?
“…You know me?”
“Yes, Saulla. Poor soul who lost the happy fate you were meant to have due to the whims of the evil gods of ‘Chaos.’”
“…Oh, how. You. You’re a deity. … I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you, you disgusting deity!”
Deity! Are you trying to bring me despair again? Deity!
I’ll kill you!
“Saulla, Saulla. Why did you try to harm me and my warriors?”
“Because they were the ones who served a deity! All deities on this continent must be destroyed. Those who manipulate mortals’ lives as they please have no reason to exist!”
Disgusting deities must be eradicated!
“You say deities who manipulate mortals should disappear, but why follow the intentions of the gods of ‘Chaos’? They took your life and pushed you into the abyss of despair.”
“I know. Those bastards who stole what I was meant to have, I’ll kill them… But their support is useful for slaying gods. And when I no longer need their help, I’ll tear them apart too.”
“Saulla, Saulla. Do I look like someone who would manipulate mortals’ lives like them?”
“…What? What are you talking about? I can tell from those who were ready to sacrifice their lives for you. You manipulated them. You’re sacrificing them for yourself.”
“If that were really the case…”
Huh?
“I’ll give you my head.”
“What?”
“But if not, then I wish you lived the life of an ordinary dragon, Saulla, not a life for the evil god.”
As he… The moment I… The moment I met Lime… And…
—
Suddenly, a sound like lightning came from heaven, and the forest was filled with it. Cloven tongues, like fire, appeared to Saulla and rested on her. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and born again, perfected as a true servant of God, not a slayer of chaos.
—