Chapter 2: Are you… a god?

First-class mage of the Mage Tower. 

A prodigy of the Tower.  

Direct disciple of the Grand Mage and Tower Master, Talos.  

These titles all referred to Rita.  

And so, Talos always kept Rita close, treating her with special care—until the arrival of Alois Gradius.  

“I cannot defy a great noble, so there’s no helping it. For now, Alois will assist me. But remember, Rita, you are the only one I truly acknowledge.”  

Rita believed those words without a shred of doubt.  

It was the same with this subjugation mission.  

Talos had deliberately placed Rita on the outskirts to give more credit to Alois, the noble.  

Even so, Rita understood her master.  

“The place where Iskis resides is dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt. So, this time, stay somewhere safe.”  

Like a fool, she believed those words were sincere.  

***

“Rita! Snap out of it! We need to escape, just the two of us!”  

Her abandoned comrade, Seth, shouted repeatedly, but his words didn’t reach her.  

“Master… why…?”  

The expression on her master’s face, enveloped in golden light, seemed oddly relieved.  

As if he had finally rid himself of something bothersome—something not quite good enough to keep, yet slightly too valuable to discard.  

Rita was dumbfounded, realizing she had been used.  

“Rita! You idiot!”  

Seth’s sharp yell snapped her back to reality, and she looked around frantically. 

They were surrounded by a swarm of black hatchling beasts, and even Iskis was now moving, its wings unfurling as it trudged through the blood-soaked ground.  

It took only a moment for Iskis, sniffing through the pool of blood, to sense living beings.  

Perhaps due to its hunger and depleted strength, Iskis raged with even greater ferocity than before.  

“Enduring Flame!”

Both Rita and Seth swung their staffs simultaneously at the charging Iskis.  

But even a dying Iskis was too much for first-class mages who had exhausted their mana.  

The invader’s dark magic easily shattered the unstable wall of flames they had conjured.  

As their magic faded, the two stood stunned.  

In that moment, one of Iskis’s black tails pierced through Rita’s abdomen.  

“No, Rita!”  

The tail churned through her insides before slipping out, only to slash at her again.  

A startled Seth reached out in desperation.  

At that instant, another tail shot from behind, piercing through Seth’s neck.  

His severed head fell with a thud, and his body collapsed limply.  

Rita, who had never cared much for others besides her master, couldn’t ignore this.  

“Ah…?”  

Seth was dead.  

Then Rita’s world went dark.  

***

The searing pain of her torn body jolted Rita awake.  

Frowning at the state of her body below her neck, she thought, ‘I’m somehow still alive.’  

Her body was pierced through, chunks of flesh torn away long ago. 

Hatchling beasts clung to her, gnawing at her body.  

She wanted to burn these insolent vermin to ashes, but her staff—practically an extension of herself—was long lost in the pool of blood.  

Gritting her teeth, Rita twitched her fingers.  

Regrettably, her mana didn’t respond.  

A mage unable to use magic on the battlefield.  

Rita let out a hollow laugh.  

‘Where’s Seth…?’  

She looked around for his body, but as seconds passed, her vision grew increasingly blurry.  

Spitting out a gush of blood, Rita faced the fear of death.  

‘Seth died because of me, didn’t he?’  

Fear gave way to regret and self-blame, soon fostering resentment and questions.  

But in the end, she had to accept it.  

To Talos, her worth was only that much.  

The subjugation force was no different.  

No matter how skilled a first-class mage she was, compared to the almighty exceptional wielders, she was insignificant.  

The subjugation force wouldn’t mourn the deaths of Rita and Seth.  

Rita laughed bitterly.  

It was truly a dog’s death.  

‘What will become of the world now?’  

Though the exceptional princess had died, the palace had other exceptional warriors ready to take her place. 

The soldiers massacred today could be replaced by scouring the southern regions.  

‘In the worst case, they’ve talked about crossing to the Western Continent… To the higher-ups, today’s defeat probably means little.’  

Of course, there was no guarantee Iskis’s power wouldn’t reach the Western Continent.  

But one thing was certain: the Lagos Continent was doomed to face its end.  

‘Alois Gradius…’  

Alois came from a rare great noble family in the mage world.  

While unremarkable within the Mage Tower, outside it, he held more influence than Rita.  

To Talos, who had just entered the political arena, Alois was the most reliable backer.  

Rita knew this in her head, but she had still trusted Talos.  

‘After over a decade together… I thought he saw me as family. Was I not even that to him?’  

Rita hung her head in despair.  

Soon, she would die a lonely, miserable death, her head plunged into this cold pool of blood.  

Her lips trembled.  

The thought that she had dedicated her youth to such a person sent a surge of anger through her.  

Fuming with injustice and rage, her breathing slowed, and her consciousness grew hazy.  

The inescapable death approached.  

Resigned, Rita slowly surrendered to it.  

[Do you want to live?]  

A captivating offer echoed in Rita’s ears as she began to close her eyes. 

Despite her nearly lost hearing, the low, steady voice came through clearly. 

Her dying fingers twitched faintly.  

A voice like a lie in the face of death.  

Was this her final dream?  

Shaken by the sweet temptation, Rita mustered all her strength to open her eyes.  

The first thing she saw was an entirely white space.  

In this pure, empty void, Rita instinctively touched her body. 

Miraculously, her once-ravaged body was now pristine, without a single wound.  

“What is this…?”  

The space was so white it distorted her sense of depth.  

Sitting awkwardly, Rita looked around with a dumbfounded expression.  

Was she alive? 

Or dead?  

Unable to grasp the situation, the voice reached her again.  

[If you truly wish to live, you must listen to me.]  

Startled by the sudden voice, Rita went on guard. 

But no matter where she looked, there was no sign of anyone.  

Confused, she tried to process the situation rather than the words’ meaning.  

‘Is this… a god?’  

Her eyes trembled as she clearly recalled her death.  

‘I definitely died. But…’  

Only a god could explain this situation.  

The kingdom’s temple and priests taught that humans faced judgment by the main god, Rihanes, after death.  

But Rita, never particularly devout, trembled before the voice.  

Knowing it was foolish, she asked like a fool.  

“Are you… a god?”  

The other side didn’t respond for a long time.  

Just as Rita began to doubt, it spoke.  

[What if I am?]  

The response was slightly haughty and cheeky.  

Rita, momentarily flustered, calmly pressed on.  

“Am I dead?”  

[Yes.]  

“Then can you really bring me back to life?”  

[Yes.]  

The unhesitating answers left Rita speechless.  

How was she supposed to process this?  

As she sweated nervously, the voice spoke again.  

[But there is a condition.]  

The sudden request for a deal was bewildering.  

But she calmed herself once more.  

Of course, a ‘god’ wouldn’t revive her without reason.  

‘Whatever the condition, if it means living…!’  

Who would refuse a chance to live?  

Rita felt a mix of excitement and anticipation.  

“What is the condition?”  

The ‘god’ remained silent for a while before speaking.  

[Protect this world—your world. Destroy Iskis and all its kin. That is my condition.]  

Rita was at a loss for words.  

The voice was telling her to prevent the apocalypse in a world nearing its end.  

A simple condition.  

But interpreted broadly, it was an ‘oracle.’  

“Wait a moment. Is this… an oracle?”  

Flustered, Rita stammered.  

“I-I… I’m not knowledgeable, but… aren’t oracles given to priests… to the temple? Especially to the saint. Isn’t Saint Mikael supposed to receive oracles?”  

The ‘god’ fell silent again before responding.  

[I couldn’t understand him, and he disappointed me.]  

The tone was icy.  

Rita furrowed her brow, trying to interpret the meaning.  

‘Is it because Saint Mikael reached out to the beast Iskis? The temple declared beasts unholy…’  

Since Saint Mikael was mentioned, this mysterious entity must be a ‘god’—or something close to it.  

Rita immediately lowered her posture.  

“If this is an oracle, it’s an honor. But… I’m just a first-class mage. Is it right for someone like me to receive an oracle?”  

[Power can be cultivated. And I will grant you a special gift.]  

From the empty white void, black bubbles began to rise.  

Red eyes wriggled, gradually taking form.  

A snake, a goat, a horse, an insect, a lizard, a fish.  

And even a small humanoid.  

Grotesque, eerie creatures with ferocious red eyes writhed menacingly.  

These were the beasts born from the seven fragments.  

Rita screamed and stumbled back.  

She swung her arm, but there was no weapon in her hand.  

“My weapon…!”  

[Those are illusions. They cannot harm you, so do not fear.]  

Rita, collapsed from the sense of loss, blinked.  

Indeed, the manifested beasts gave off no sense of life or mana.  

Her mouth agape, she confirmed they weren’t moving and shakily stood.  

At that moment, a strange blue light flickered near the waist of one beast.  

Curious, she looked closer—it was merely a condensed blue glow.  

Despite encountering countless beasts, she had never seen such a peculiar light.  

Rita stared at it for a long time.  

[Remember this. That is the ‘heart.’]  

“The heart…?”  

[Take the heart from Iskis, and the beasts take theirs from the fragments. The heart is the source of life. Destroy it, and…]  

The blue light suddenly turned black and shattered.  

With it, the beast’s body turned to ash and scattered.  

[It will perish.]  

Rita’s eyes widened sharply.  

“Wait! Is that blue light their weak point… their vital spot?”  

[Yes. But the location varies for each individual.]  

Multiple beasts appeared in the void.  

As the ‘god’ said, the vital spots differed for each.  

Some in the arm, some in the torso, some in the leg.  

Rita was astonished by the varied locations.  

Their weak points.  

Information that years of subjugation had failed to uncover.  

“Even after dissecting them right after they appeared… we found no hearts or vital spots…”  

[Only those of Iskis’s kind can sense that light.]  

Something invisible to humans. 

An unknown realm.  

Rita hung her head in despair.  

It had been a war they were destined to lose.  

[From now on, that ‘ability’ will be yours.]  

Her empty gray eyes trembled violently.  

[To be Continued.. ]