People were standing around the chapel. Regardless of how many safety measures had been prepared, we observers were watching that scene from the furthest edges of the chapel.
As the priest chanted protective spells, a sacred kind of atmosphere enveloped the chapel.
The whole chapel was surrounded by a soothing atmosphere, making one feel like everything would end without any mishaps.
Then, Dettomolian, who was sitting cross-legged before the cursed sword, began to mumble something.
I didn't know the details, but I guessed that him doing so would start the ritual. I hoped I could figure out that cursed sword's origins and if the curse on it could be broken.
Everyone felt nervous, and we were too far from the center of the chapel to clearly hear the contents of his mutterings.
I might have been able to hear it if I strengthened my hearing, but I didn't really want to.
A long time passed.
However, nothing really happened.
"…"
"…"
Ellen and I made eye contact, but we couldn't really chat in that solemn atmosphere.
However, our thoughts were the same.
When will this end?
About an hour after the ritual started, Dettomolian was still mumbling something and the people standing around were still invoking protective measures.
Now that I think of it, it kind of reminded me of when I visited Dettomolian's Occult Research Club with Charlotte.
At that time, Charlotte had said it was too dark in the room, so I had asked if I could turn on the lights, and that was when Dettomolian had said something.
If you do that, the ritual will end.
He said that we could turn on the lights, but then he would have to go through a week-long ritual again.
No, wouldn't that mean that the ritual wouldn't just end in few hours but would take a few days or even weeks? If so, the people assigned to the place would end up dying because of exhaustion. Could Dettomolian even stop in the middle to eat and drink something?
I didn't know how many hours it had been since I arrived there.
I couldn't ask Dettomolian or the priests and wizards about those things anymore. I couldn't disturb them, as all of them had to fully concentrate on their task.
When I thought about going out, I saw that the chapel doors were firmly closed.
I was thinking that I could just open them and leave.
We could do that, but…
"…"
"…"
Could it be that if we opened the chapel door, we would ruin the ritual, or that we would distract Dettomolian, leading him to make mistakes?
It was so quiet that everyone would hear it if we were to slip out.
Ellen and I ended up locked in that prison from which no one could leave until the ritual was over.
Ellen and I sat side by side on a bench in the chapel, watching the ritual intently.
* * *
Time advanced past midnight, and we were unable to return to the dormitory.
Ellen seemed to be about to doze off, as she was very tired. Usually, she would just lean against me and fall asleep.
I didn't want to see her swaying around like that anymore, so I just pulled her towards me and laid her head on my lap. That was all. Those types of things were nothing much to her or me anymore.
"…"
Ellen woke up slightly, looked up at me, and tried to get up.
I pressed her head back down, conveying to her that she should just sleep if she felt tired.
"…"
Ellen seemed to resist a little, but then simply gave up and closed her eyes.
That kind of casual physical contact had become a lot easier for both of us.
It wasn't anything bad, but…
'What's with this?'
I had that strange feeling as if we simply skipped the dating phase and straight-up turned into a married couple that had been together for 10 years already.
The ritual was still in progress, and fatigue was slowly manifesting on the priests' and wizards' faces.
Unlike what they had feared, the cursed sword didn't emit any kind of ferocious energy and just kept on maintaining its original state.
The only proof that the ritual was still in progress was that Dettomolian was still continuing to mumble something.
At first, I thought he was weak, but in fact, he wasn't.
Although I could only look at him from far away, I couldn't see a trace of tiredness or exhaustion on his face.
Many hours after it started, Dettomolian continued to do the ritual in the same posture in which he started.
In many different ways, that guy was amazing as well.
In the end, I couldn't win against my exhaustion and fell asleep while sitting.
* * *
It was someone's shout that woke Ellen and me.
"Stop! Stop it now!"
"!"
Of course, Ellen and I woke up because of that sudden roar.
A high priest who appeared to be in control of this operation exclaimed loudly.
"Any more than this will be dangerous! You have to stop!"
Colorful lights were shining down upon us through the stained glass of the dome. It was morning already. However, Ellen and I couldn't help but focus our attention on what we could see happening under the light pouring through the stained glass windows.
A strange black energy rose up from the cursed sword and was wiggling threateningly under the vibrant light.
It was a huge amount of black energy, comparable in size to the statue of Towan.
Everyone was anxiously watching that bizarre energy moving about as if it was alive.
"Still, it takes time to… terminate it…"
"U-understood. Just hurry. Come on. Stop it. I don't know what's going to happen if this keeps going."
It seemed that the bizarre energy getting emitted from the sword hadn't cause any accidents yet, but it kept on growing bigger and bigger, so they seemed to be convinced that the ritual shouldn't continue any longer.
I wasn't sure if it was because Dettomolian had it under control or because of the priests' barriers, but it didn't seem to attack anyone.
However, that enormous, insidious cursed energy that seemed to live and breath could only astonish every one of us gathered in that place except for Dettomolian.
While everyone felt anxious, some time passed again, and the strange energy emanating from the cursed sword went back into it.
"That… What was that…?"
Ellen seemed to have some fundamental questions.
We knew that the sword was very dangerous, but neither Ellen nor I thought that it would be that dangerous.
Dettomolian eventually stopped the ritual in the middle, mostly because of everyone's fear that something irreversible might happen if they were to proceed any further.
After the black energy disappeared, the wizards began to take action by sticking to the cursed sword.
Things seemed to have calmed down, so Ellen and I walked towards the center of the chapel.
"Are you the students that brought this thing here?"
"Yes."
He quetioned me with a serious look on his face. The only students around there were Ellen, Dettomolian, and I, and we had said that we would come to observe the ritual.
"I won't scold you. You have prevented this dangerous object from threatening the world. You did a good job."
It didn't look like he wanted to scold us.
"However, it's too hideous of an object. I have no idea what it is, but we can't keep it in Temple any longer."
That was what he said. It wasn't just some moderately dangerous thing. However, we still didn't know what it was. Therefore, their decision to discard it or seal it wouldn't change. I couldn't ask to give it one more try.
"No… I know what it is…".
However, at that moment, Dettomolian staggered towards us, maybe because he stayed up all night.
* * *
I had no idea what he originally planned on doing, but the ceremony got cut in the middle. However, Dettomolian still found out the origins of that cursed object.
"Re-really? You were able to find out what that… hideous thing is?"
"Not exactly, but… Yes…"
The person in charge looked at Dettomolian as if to urge him to tell us quickly.
"It's something… very old… Its origins are ancient… so ancient that one can't see when it started existing…"
Although he couldn't find out what it was, it was something more ancient than anything in this world… An object older than stones and rocks.
"It's something that was created before… the world existed."
Something older than the world… I couldn't understand what he meant, but the priest seemed greatly astonished.
"Th-then… Then… No way. Don't tell me…"
Ellen's expression became serious as if she just realized something. She muttered in a daze.
"A Divine Relic…?"
That object existed before the conception of this world because it was something belonging to the gods who made the world.
An object that was older than anything found in this world…
A god's Divine Relic.
Dettomolian found out that the cursed sword was actually a Divine Relic. Something that old had to be something like that.
"You two…"
The high priest looked at Ellen and me in astonishment.
"If that is true, what you found… Seems to be a Divine Relic of the demons. The Demon Gods also seemed to have brought their Divine Objects to this world…"
A Divine Relic of the Gods that spread impure energy which revived the dead…
If it really was like that, it had to be a Divine Relic of the demons, not the Five Gods.
The high priest didn't seem to have any other choice but to come to that conclusion.
"The Demon God who is known to have such power is… the God of Corruption. Kier… Is that thing a Divine Relic of Kier?"
Kier, the God of Corruption, corresponded to the God of Purity.
For the first time in human history, a Demon God's Divine Relic had been discovered.
The guy seemed to feel confused as if he didn't know where to feel joy or fear in this situation.
"…A Demon God's relic…? Kier?"
The same went for Ellen, who seemed lost in thoughts.
However, I was stunned because of something else.
There are no Demon Gods. The demons and humans actually believed in the same gods…
Then, going by that, there couldn't be any Divine Relics of Demon Gods either. The Church of the Demon Gods did exist, and those who believed in it could also use divine power, but there was no way a "Demon God" could send down their Divine Relic.
There was no such thing as Kier, the God of Corruption. Kier, the God of Corruption, was just another name for Towan, the God of Purity.
If Dettomolian was right, it was certain that the cursed sword was a Relic.
There were five Divine Relics representing the Gods.
However, only two of them were featured in the original novel. Alsbringer, the Sword of Als, the God of War, and Lament, the sword of Mensis, the God of the Moon.
As for the other three Gods' Relics, I had never set them up, as there was no need for them to appear in the story. After all, there was no reason to show all five of them.
However, now that the novel had become reality, even the Relics that wouldn't have appeared on the main stage of the story would exist somewhere and have their own history.
Ellen and I found something that was supposedly the Divine Relic of Kier in the Darklands.
There were no Demon Gods and no Demonic Relics, but that thing was still a Divine Relic—it had the power opposing Towan's concept of purity.
Therefore, in the end, it could be concluded with quite a high probability that its true identity was the Divine Relic of the God of Purity, Towan.
It was only by some complicated circumstances or because of the Church of the Demon Gods that the power of the sword had been manifested in the complete opposite direction.
I had originally only set up Alsbringer and Lament.
However, when I entered this world and took some religion-related classes in the first semester, I learned about the other three Divine Relics.
I was certain that it was the Holy Sword Tiamata.
* * *
[Quest appeared – Holy Sword Tiamata]
[Description: You found out that the item you dragged back from the Darklands was actually the Holy Sword Tiamata, misunderstood as a Divine Relic of a Demon God?! What an incredible coincidence?! Like everything in your novel.]
[Reward: It has already been given.]
It had already been given…
What the hell did that mean?
Was the reward confirming that it really was the Holy Sword Tiamata?
That system message was more or less directly saying that the thing was the Holy Sword Tiamata. That proved that my inference was correct, and it seemed like that was the reward…
Did it mean to tell me that I should try taking it somehow now that it confirmed that it was that Holy Sword?
I knew that the cursed sword wasn't just some ordinary object. That thing that could spread evil energy into the vast area surrounding it and bring back the dead, basically creating a land filled with zombies, couldn't be something trivial.
So, even though I knew it was dangerous, I just couldn't give up on it easily.
However, naturally, I could have never predicted that its true identity would be on the level of a God's Divine Relic. The three Divine Relics I hadn't set up had their own place in this world, and Ellen and I happened to find one during that incident in the Darklands.
If it weren't for me, it would have been discarded or sealed off as some sort of ominous sword without even getting misunderstood as a Demon God's Divine Relic.
Of course, Temple would never allow anyone to own that sword and would try to hide or destroy it.
I wasn't sure if they were capable of destroying a Divine Relic, but it was clear that they wouldn't let anyone have it.
I found it, but it wasn't mine in the end.
In that situation, if I insisted on having that sword, they might mistake me for Demon worshiper.
You bastard, we thought it was suspicious that you were so obsessed with it before!
It was possible that Temple would come out like that.
Tiamat was the reward that had already been given to me.
Please take it.
It seemed to be like that.
* * *
"The Divine Relic of a Demon God…"
On our way back to the dorm, Ellen kept mumbling blankly. I was the only one who knew the truth.
The opposite of the God of Purity, Towna, the God of Corruption, Kier.
Very few, including myself, knew that the two Gods were actually one and the same.
But there was one question:
If there were no Demon Gods, why was the Holy Sword Tiamata wielding a power that diametrically opposed the attribute of its Deity?
The Demon Gods had similar or opposing domains to the original Gods. In the case of Towan, the God of Purity, its corresponding Demon God had the opposing domain.
However, it was originally the God of Purity. If I believed in Towan as the God of Corruption, would I be able to wield the power of corruption?
So did the worshipers of the Demon Gods' Church corrupt the Holy Sword Tiamata? Was that possible?
Anyway, with things as they were, people couldn't help but believe that the cursed sword was the Divine relic of Kier, the God of Corruption—it was actually spreading evil energy, after all.
If someone were to say that it was actually the Holy Sword Tiamat, rather than calling it blasphemy, people would worry whether you hit your head or something. That was how ridiculous that situation was.
If I left things as is, I would get my reward stolen from right under my eyes.
I had to find a way somehow…
First I had to make all possible preparations, but I couldn't let that Holy Sword that appeared from out of nowhere get taken from me.
Ellen and I went back to the Royal Class dorm in total silence.