Chapter 26: The Second Sin (5)

[…Huh?]

Nothing happened.

So much so that everyone felt something was off.

Blake shouted again.

[Super! Kill them all!]

Still, nothing happened.

[Wha-What’s going on?]

The heart, dripping with blood, had no eyes.

Yet its panic was palpable.

[Super!]

Bishop Blake shouted, as if denying reality.

[Hurry, kill them all!]

Super didn’t show the slightest movement.

As if he’d broken free from his fate.

[What… What is this…]

Something had gone wrong.

Bishop Blake sensed it.

It was perfect!

Countless failures, corpses, and sacrifices had led to this masterpiece.

They could never create such a result again.

A flaw?

There was one.

Those unworthy couldn’t remember her.

But that was trivial.

With Super, they could restore the heretics’ god to the light.

Yet that chance had vanished.

Even the perfection of control had crumbled!

[How dare… How dare you…!! What have you done?!]

Bishop Blake roared in fury.

His anger was directed at the boy with black hair and golden eyes.

Even in this place, he maintained a calmness unbelievable for his age.

No, was it calmness?

Cold ruthlessness.

Yes, that was the right word.

A gaze that looked down as if everything was worthless, devoid of emotion.

This fueled Blake’s rage even more.

[You dare ruin our perfection, you heretic?!]

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

[Don’t play dumb! The god has already seen your sins!]

If everything was ruined, he’d kill them all here!

The final act of defiance from Bishop Blake, reduced to just a heart.

As he tried to unleash his power.

“Foolish.”

Arthur’s voice came from the side.

“Have you forgotten who summoned me?”

[…!]

“You’re already a toy in the young lord’s hands.”

Sssshhh!

Silver aura began burning the red blood surrounding the heart.

Arthur’s unique ability to burn divine power.

The most excruciating pain for a human—scorching agony.

[Kaaaaah!]

Bishop Blake’s scream filled the chamber.

It didn’t end with Arthur.

“That’s right.”

A white-haired girl, Lapis, crunched a carrot she’d pulled out from who-knows-where.

She spun threads, her eyes glowing red.

Wrath.

Could this girl also bear the fate of a Sin…?!

How could there be two Sins?!

“Don’t insult my savior anymore. Just die.”

“Obey your fate quietly.”

The Knight of the Full Moon and the Sin of Wrath.

A duo that shouldn’t align, let alone cooperate.

For the first time, they joined forces.

For one person.

Evan.

Super looked down at his hands.

The command had clearly been given.

Yet his body didn’t stir.

As if it was no longer a command.

How?

Super knew he wasn’t ordinary.

Modified from a fetus, born stronger than any human.

A biological weapon of the heretics, a vessel to hold their god.

He’d realized this from birth and sensed another fate.

A fate to destroy or manipulate the world as he pleased.

Super was the latter.

The fifth Sin, Pride.

A fate to dominate the world.

Even if unwanted, he couldn’t reject it.

Acceptance was the only answer.

Resisting only tightened the leash.

Even if Bishop Blake was the only one left who knew about Super, it didn’t change.

As long as he remained, the nightmare wouldn’t end.

It was better to accept his fate and find some enjoyment.

But a change came to Super’s life.

It began with Arthur’s attack.

“Run! Protect this kid at all costs… Urgh!”

Bishop Blake fell into critical condition.

Super, who had been hiding, followed Blake’s child and escaped.

There was no reason.

He could’ve just died.

It was a chance to escape this wretched life.

But Super fled to survive.

Because his instincts whispered to do so.

Later, he was captured by Drake, mistaken for a sacrifice, and rescued.

Surprisingly, by another Sin.

At first, he was thrilled, then bewildered.

Clearly a fellow Sin.

The “Wrath” that could burn the continent, yet Lapis wasn’t angry at all.

Right. It all started then.

Evan Alkart.

Everything changed the moment he met him.

The endless whispers in his mind.

The oppressive weight of fate crushing him in his sleep.

All of it vanished, and everything flowed naturally.

Even reaching this point.

It seemed like coincidence, but he realized upon arriving.

It was all a meticulously calculated process.

He knew everything and planned for this moment.

It all started with Arthur’s attack.

All to reach this place.

A grand plan even Super, the Sin of Pride, couldn’t conceive.

He might truly change fate.

But…

Doubt lingered.

Pride was excessive confidence, but it stemmed from deficient self-esteem.

Endless self-doubt and suspicion, resolved by belittling others.

That bound Super.

Can I really trust him?

His eyes trembled slightly.

He was fine now, with Evan by his side.

But what if they parted?

Or if he was abandoned?

I’ll have to live as Super, Pride, forever.

In this hell, for life.

[Super!!!]

Sensing Super’s wavering, Bishop Blake screamed desperately.

[Don’t defy your fate!! Follow it! Aaaaah!]

“Super.”

A dry voice, devoid of emotion.

Yet it brought stability.

“Are you alright?”

Evan approached Super and asked.

Super covered his face, unsure of his expression.

“I… I mean…”

His voice broke unsteadily.

It could’ve been annoying or puzzling.

But Evan, as if understanding everything, looked at him with emotionless eyes and spoke.

“Thinking about it, is there something specific you want?”

“Something… I want?”

“You said you had a goal here, but you haven’t gained anything specific. Are you satisfied with just retrieving your siblings?”

Me.

Something I want.

It had never changed.

Freedom.

Freedom from these shackles, and proof of it.

Proof he could be free without Evan.

But what could he ask for?

Not like he could ask for Evan’s body part.

“Lapis wanted a name. She didn’t like her original one.”

A name.

Yes.

That’s it.

It hit him.

That might grant Super freedom too.

Super nodded.

“A name. Give me a name.”

“…A name.”

Evan pondered briefly, looking at Super’s blue hair, then uttered a single word.

“Frey.”

The name of a god from the myths of Evan’s Earth.

It sounded similar to “Pride,” another name for arrogance.

Not bad, right?

“Your name is now Frey.”

A new name.

The moment he shed the name Super.

Frey felt his mind clear.

Evan. He’s my savior. And ours too.

The voice Lapis whispered every night, like brainwashing.

Now he understood.

Truly, he was—

A savior.

Salvation.

The one who granted freedom to those bound by fate.

Meanwhile, Evan thought behind his expressionless face.

Phew. I thought he was about to go berserk.

He was relieved seeing Super—no, now Frey—calm down.

It worked. It worked with Lapis, so I tried it.

Stopping a Sin’s rampage with a name change?

That’s a real man.

Evan was inwardly satisfied.

***

Things were nearing their end.

For Evan, this had been an exhausting week.

Attending a ball only to get tangled with heretics, coming to an ancient dungeon where a heart popped up.

Each event was heart-pounding enough, and at the end, he was tense wondering if Super would betray them.

But not much was left now.

The cause of all this.

That heart, Bishop Blake.

Deal with him, and it’s over.

Killing someone feels a bit hesitant…

But Arthur and Lapis would probably take care of it?

The only concern was—

Killing him would deviate too much from the original story.

He’d already accepted the story diverging.

If he was worried about that, he shouldn’t have met allies.

There was no guarantee things would follow the game from the moment he transmigrated.

If so, better to act proactively.

Just gotta collect the rewards.

Arthur’s reward was healing his wounds.

That was already resolved.

Next?

The Saintess of the Sun, right?

The Saintess had gained something through the heretics.

He couldn’t recall exactly what, but tossing it her way would let her handle it.

She hadn’t sent letters lately either.

Not bad.

As expected of me.

Evan praised himself.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Let’s calm things down first.

Evan cleared his throat.

Swish! Lapis and Arthur turned their heads instantly.

“What’s up?”

“Is something wrong?”

Ugh, damn!

Was it blood splattered from Bishop Blake?

Their faces were blood-soaked.

Like a scene from a horror movie.

Evan stepped back slightly.

He asked in the most neutral voice possible.

“Are you going to kill the bishop?”

“He targeted Evan, so keeping him alive is dangerous.”

“As you wish. But I don’t recommend sparing him. He’s dangerous.”

“I’m not keen on sparing him. But I want to give someone with a grudge a chance.”

Lapis thought briefly, then trotted over and grabbed Evan’s hand.

“…I’m fine with whatever Evan wants.”

“I’ll follow your will too.”

“Super, what about you?”

Evan asked Super.

Flinching slightly, Super looked up.

After a moment’s thought, he nodded.

“…I’ll follow your will too, Evan.”

“Lapis, restrain him.”

“Okay!”

“I can do it.”

Super headed to a corner of the chamber and brought back some chains.

“Those are?”

“Materials for a life vessel. They sap life when they touch skin.”

[How dare you use the sacred order’s materials…!]

“Check the underground. There’s probably useful data.”

“All related to biological experiments?”

“Probably.”

“Then I don’t need them.”

Evan coolly gave up.

Arthur was briefly confused.

Wasn’t he here for research materials?

Wait, is he planning to use that heart as a specimen?

That would make sense.

What better material than that heart?

Clank, clank.

[…I can’t comprehend.]

The chains wrapped around the heart.

Blake shuddered at the cold seeping into his soul.

Instinctive discomfort.

It wasn’t just from the chains.

[How could a human plan so meticulously…]

Too precise to be coincidence—it had to be a plan.

Evan Alkart.

[Are you… comprehensible?]

A voice trembling with fear.

Bishop Blake was the only one among the heretics who knew about Super.

He knew what fate he bore, what kind of monster he was.

He knew how monstrous an uncontrollable Super could become.

And Evan had him in his grasp.

It was impossible to predict what kind of picture he was painting.

“No.”

Frey shook his head.

“When humans face the unknown, they choose one of two things. Endless fear…”

Or.

Frey smiled faintly.

“…Or awe.”

[…You…]

“I think I finally know what I need to do.”

He wanted to keep watching.

To see how far Evan’s plan extended.

And he wanted to follow.

[You’re… revering a human?]

“Yes.”

Frey smiled faintly and clenched the chains.

“All I’ve learned is faith, isn’t it?”

[…]

The heretics weren’t them.

Right before his eyes.

A new faith was being born in real-time.

“All of this…”

Frey whispered softly to the heart.

“…is for Evan.”

The moment the second devotee of a group worshipping a single human emerged.