Chapter 93

Caldeon, watching Enria purify the village through the communication orb, reluctantly ended the call when Graum announced they had arrived.

 

Silri clicked her tongue, clearly displeased with him, but Caldeon was unbothered. After checking the state of the village, he looked down at Hayden in his arms with a slightly worried expression.

 

“Hayden, can you purify them?”

 

Even from afar, people whose bodies were rotting away were writhing in agony.

 

He worried an infant—one who had to pour out holy power through direct contact—could handle such a thing.

 

“Can do.”

 

But Hayden shook his head earnestly, as if Caldeon’s worries were unnecessary.

 

“Can do.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep him from seeing them as much as possible?”

 

Blizzan spoke carefully. Even he felt his brow furrow just looking at the villagers. Caldeon nodded and gently cupped Hayden’s small face in his large hand, turning it toward himself.

 

“From now on, you only look at Daddy.”

 

“Only Daddy?”

 

“That’s right. Don’t look anywhere else—only Daddy’s eyes.”

 

“Why?”

 

“…Because Daddy wants to look into Hayden’s eyes?”

 

When Hayden asked why, Caldeon answered with a soft smile. Hayden nodded.

 

“Mm. Hayden likes Daddy.”

 

“What about me?”

 

Silri suddenly cut in, pointing at herself. She clearly intended to block Hayden’s view of the village, but the question itself was full of personal desire.

 

“Slirry too. Like.”

 

“You hear that?”

 

Silri nudged Windel’s side proudly. Since Hayden especially adored Windel in his white tiger form, she had been a little petty toward him lately.

 

Windel, in his white tiger form unlike Silri’s humanoid cat form of the same wind attribute, glanced at her dryly.

 

“Good for you.”

 

“Of course! Hayden and I have a special bond. You know I was there when he was born, right? I even named him myself.”

 

“I’m quite aware your naming sense is lacking.”

 

“What? Are you saying Hayden’s name is bad?”

 

“The name suits Hayden.”

 

Windel shook his head.

 

“But I would have picked a better one.”

 

“As if.”

 

“I wasn’t trying to be funny, but if it amused you, I’m… surprised.”

 

Silri glared at him as if he were infuriating. Behind them, Blizzan asked Lonn:

 

“When did those two get so close?”

 

He hadn’t been present often while Panz monopolized fire magic, so he was surprised they seemed friendly. Lonn looked at him as if he’d said something absurd.

 

“Does that look close to you?”

 

“Looks close.”

 

“Then you don’t know the definition of the word.”

 

“At least he’d know the definition of ‘bright.’”

 

Eva scoffed, clearly displeased by Blizzan’s free-spirited view of relationships.

 

“What do you take me for? Of course I know what ‘close’ means.”

 

Before Blizzan could frown more deeply, Graum—who had kept his eyes glued to Caldeon and Hayden—suddenly told them to stop chatting and look.

 

The spirits all turned to Caldeon holding Hayden.

 

“Oh my…!”

 

Silri, who had already been watching with Blizzan, couldn’t hide her astonishment.

 

Hayden had spread his holy power so widely and densely that it visibly blanketed the entire village.

 

He wasn’t even looking at the village—Caldeon kept his gaze facing only forward—yet holy power poured from his whole body like a lid covering the area, rapidly purifying everyone.

 

The purification was so drastically different from anything they had seen before that even Caldeon stared in shock.

 

“There’s no doubt he is the true bearer of the oracle.”

 

Graum murmured, eyes fixed on Hayden.

 

“This is what you’d call a prodigy.”

 

Lonn nodded in agreement.

 

Silri scoffed—only a prodigy? His judgment and problem-solving were flawless too.

 

Windel and Eva chimed in with praise of their own, and Caldeon couldn’t help but preen a little.

 

Then Blizzan spoke in a calm voice.

 

“Not the bearer of an oracle. He might be the divine messenger the gods sent down for humanity.”

 

Until now, the gods had only given faint powers through oracles to chosen humans so they could solve problems together.

 

But now, after black mages and Panz corrupted even divine elemental powers and tried to resurrect the god of malice, perhaps the gods had finally sent down a being carrying a portion of divine power.

 

Hayden was born earlier, but gods could see ahead—so the idea wasn’t entirely absurd.

 

They all considered it possible, but then Hayden, the possible “divine messenger,” shook his head.

 

“Not baby lion*. Baby.”

 

[*T/N: The Korean word for God’s messenger is 신의 사자 while the Korean word for lion is 어흥 사자; both ending in saja so Hayden confuses the two]

 

Ever since learning to speak better, Hayden kept calling himself “baby.” The spirits instinctively smiled with their eyes.

 

“I wasn’t talking about that kind, Hayden,” Blizzan said, still serious.

 

“Not roar-lion?”

 

“No.”

 

“Baby like roar-lion.”

 

“That has nothing to do with— the kind I mean is—”

 

“No matter. Baby like roar-lion.”

 

Hayden rebutted him neatly, and Blizzan gave up, saying there was no point talking yet.

 

Regardless, they were stunned by his method—purifying an entire village at once, not one by one through touch. They began seriously debating whether Hayden might be able to defeat the black mage, Panz, or even the god of evil.

 

Caldeon swiftly shut that down.

 

“Don’t even think about exploiting my son’s power. Divine messenger or oracle bearer, Hayden is our precious child. I won’t let him shoulder hardship.”

 

 

***

 

 

While Enria’s group and Caldeon’s group continued purifying from their respective positions, Pahomel was struggling in the east. The saintesses and high priests were interfering with his plans, cleansing black magic.

 

Holy power couldn’t rival black power in destructive capacity, but it could nullify it—and that annoyed him greatly.

 

With the east densely populated, losing the ability to gather souls quickly, Pahomel decided the grand sanctuary had to be destroyed first.

 

“Panz, wake up.”

 

He finally had to make use of him. Panz, preparing himself as the vessel for the god of evil, awoke from deep slumber.

 

The very first thing he checked was whether his power had increased.

 

Pathetic. The boy cared only about power—no wonder he’d fallen for black magic.

 

“Something is hindering your power gathering.”

 

“A hindrance?”

 

Panz’s red eyes gleamed.

 

“Saintesses are swarming the east, purifying black magic. Souls aren’t gathering, slowing your growth.”

 

Panz stood with an irritated expression.

 

“So I just go there and devour all of them.”

 

Human or spirit, he intended to swallow everything now that he’d tasted souls.

 

It was clear—he thought only of growing stronger.

 

Pahomel had chosen the perfect fool to use as a vessel for the evil god. But since Panz hadn’t fully recovered from Caldeon’s earlier blow, caution was necessary.

 

“Saintesses’ souls won’t help you. Holy power clashes with black magic.”

 

“Then I just won’t eat their souls. I’ll throw them into the fire instead.”

 

“Excellent. Yes, they’re not for devouring—they’re for killing.”

 

Pahomel smiled, pleased he understood so quickly.

 

“Kill them all and come back. Then you’ll gain power many times greater.”

 

He made sure to bait Panz properly so he wouldn’t resist the idea of returning to the vessel’s seat.

 

Pahomel released the black magic attached to Panz and added more bait.

 

“Once you deal with them, you’ll absorb an enormous amount of souls—spirits included.”

 

“You’re gathering spirits’ souls too?”

 

Panz, once reluctant to consume his own kind, now preferred spirit souls over human ones.

 

Unsurprising—one spirit soul was worth several human souls.

 

As soon as the black magic fully detached from his body, Panz turned sharply.

 

“I’ll go kill every saintess in the east.”