Rise of the OtherGod Apostle: Not a Cult Leader, but a Serf?!

#147Reader Mode

T/N: Thank you for the coffee Ellerin~ ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

#147

As I stood there, lost in thought, what Reyes said about distortion suddenly came to mind. The most terrifying thing about it isn’t just being under its influence, but knowing you’re affected, knowing you have the power to break free… and choosing not to.

I glanced down at my left hand, mulling it over.

What if the sight of writhing maggots no longer triggered a visceral sense of disgust?

Would I want to go back to how I was before?

Or would I just laugh at how ridiculous it was to waste years fearing something so small, letting it hold me back?

But I know this much—if the me of today saw myself accepting the Blessing of Healing without a second thought, he’d be disgusted.

In fact, if I’m being honest, the me from my middle school days wouldn’t just be disgusted. He’d hate me with every fiber of his being.

Back then, pride was all I had.

Even if I tried explaining,“You’ll get it when you’re older. Letting go makes everything easier.”

He’d just shoot back, “If growing up turns me into some preachy old jackass spouting crap like that, I’d rather drop dead right now.”

Thank god I outgrew that edgy middle school phase before it was too late.

A new chat notification popped up, pulling me out of my thoughts.

>>「Anyway Hyung.」

>>「Stay away from the Heretic Slayer.」

>>「I’m serious.」

I frowned at the messages, baffled.

… What the hell was he on about now?

Hadn’t I already explained that Athanas was my insurance policy?

>>「At least be careful and lay low until the Council’s done.」

>>「You never know when some random player might show up to gawk at the Heretic Slayer and accidentally stumble across you.」

>>「What if it ends up being Bonaparte or Insanity?」

I was already typing out a snarky reply—Did you even listen to a single word I said?—but my fingers hovered over the keys before I sighed and hit delete.

As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point.

Insanity’s motives were still a complete mystery to me, but Napoleon? Getting involved with him was like jumping headfirst into a burning house.

And if Mother God’s player caught sight of me and immediately got a shiny [Quest Completed!] notification…

Yeah. That would be a death sentence.

「Kk.」

「Got it.」

「But when’s this Council event actually ending?」

「Give me a timeframe at least. I need to know how long I’m stuck playing shut-in.」

>>「No idea.」

「???」

「How do you not know? Aren’t you guys the ones running this whole thing?」

>>「Not my call when it ends, so I honestly don’t know. 」

>>「But it’ll be done before the Four Seasonal Festival.」

>>「…probably.」

I narrowed my eyes at the messages, trying to read between the lines. Was he really this out of the loop, or he was deliberately avoiding giving me a straight answer?

Guess I’ll need to start looking into this Council scheme myself.

All I’ve got to go on right now is what Nasir told me.

He mentioned that if half of the Electors agree, they can call for a Council. Then, if more than half of the Archbishops show up, the main meeting proceeds.

Given their obsession with seat counts, it’s obvious the whole thing runs on votes…

I need to pinpoint the exact conditions that can halt a vote or better yet, find out what it takes to officially wrap up this Council.

>>「Hey hyung, one more thing.」

>>「What’s in the Heretic Slayer’s reliquary?」

「…Why are you asking?」

>> 「Just wondering if you’ve got like, a piece of yourself in there or something.」

「WTF. Don’t say creepy shit like that. You seriously think I’d mutilate myself?」

>> 「So it’s empty then? That’d be pretty obvious if there’s nothing in it.」

「Athanas probably just filled it with sand or whatever.」

>>「lol」

>>「Cool cool.」

>>「So what about your reliquary then, hyung?」

>>「Which body part of the Heretic Slayer did you snag for that one?」

“F*cking hell,” I muttered, rubbing my face.

Was he actually bringing this up? Did this bastard just conveniently forget the part where he lost his goddamn mind and tried to hang me because he couldn’t get his hands on the reliquary?

「Hell if I know.」

「Why the f*ck are you even asking me this? You deranged or something?」

「Did your brain take a f*cking vacation?」

>>「??」

>>「Whoa what’s with the hostility?」

>>「Why are you cursing at me??」

「Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because you scared the living shit out of me when you nearly strangled me like a lunatic over the reliquary?」

「I’m trying to repress that entire goddamn experience.」

「Just let my neurons fade away naturally to delete that memory, thanks. 」

>>「LMAOOOOO 」

…Is this psychopath actually laughing at my trauma right now?

>>「Ahahahahahahaha」

>>「This is f*cking hilarious!」

>>「Wait, were you really that scared hyung?」

>>「My bad my bad.」

>>「But honestly, being terrified is totally normal.」

>>「Most people straight up wet themselves when I hang them up.」

>>「You actually kept it together pretty well, hyung.」

>> 「I’m serious.」

>> 「No need to be embarrassed about a few tears, okay?」

“…….”

>>「Hmm.」

>>「Radio silence, huh?」

>>「Wait… did you actually not hold it in?」

>>「LMFAO」

「I DIDN’T PISS MYSELF, YOU F*CKING BASTARD. 」

>>「You sure you didn’t sneak off to change your panties?」

This damn troll…

>>「LOLOLOL 」

>>「Sure, I believe you.」

>>「Ah damn, the more I think about it, the funnier it gets.」

>>「Hyung, you even started talking all formal like you didn’t know me! Ahahahaha」

>>「Nice LOL to LOL meet LOL you LOL」

>>「LMAO」

>>「So you knew it was me the whole time and kept up the formal act? Just cause you didn’t wanna call me hyung?」

>>「Could’ve done it just once.」

>>「Would’ve been epic.」

>>「What a shame. 」

>>「Heh.」

I felt my fingers going numb as I glared at the screen.

This twisted little shit…

Does he really think nearly killing me was some kind of joke?

>>「No, but seriously, I’m kinda hurt.」

>>「Hyung.」

>>「Were you really about to pretend you didn’t know me? Just… keep up the act until the very end? If I hadn’t figured it out?」

>>「Really?」

I forced myself to take a slow breath.

Right… this punk doesn’t actually mean to be cruel.

Not usually, anyway.

The God of War must have done something to his mind—rewired something fundamental, made him act like this.

Did War mess with his mirror neurons? Or maybe his amygdala?¹T/N: Mirror neurons are brain cells that light up both when you do something and when you see someone else doing the same thing. Basically, they “mirror” other people’s actions, which is a big deal for things like empathy, learning, and social interaction. For example, if you see someone smile, your mirror neurons fire as if you’re smiling too, helping you pick up on their emotions. So Fabio is wondering if the God of War messed with Pandemonium’s mirror neurons, possibly messing with his ability to empathize.

…Yeah, probably the amygdala.

Take away someone’s ability to feel fear, and suddenly, they can watch a person tremble, beg for their life, and kill them without a second thought.

Can’t really “empathize” with emotions you’re physically incapable of feeling anymore.

That must be why he has no idea how terrifying that whole situation was for me…

>>「 Hyung… I searched f*cking everywhere for you.」

>>「Just once, I swear.」

>>「Couldn’t you have called my name just one time?」

The hell do you expect from me, you psycho?

If I hadn’t had the Saint’s relic, he’d have just sighed and gone, “Hyung, really? You picked your alt? Ugh, so f*cking useless… Whatever, you’re a burden, so just stay dead for a bit and I’ll revive you later.”

Only “later” would never come.

By then, his mind, body, and soul would be so deeply twisted in Othergod’s grasp that he’d forget I ever existed.

>> 「Hyung…」

>> 「Did you ever think about me at all?」

「Of course I did.」

>> 「…?」

>>「What did you think about?」

「Shit, if he finds out I’m a serf now, he’ll never let me live it down. Gotta stay hidden forever.」

「Can’t let him find out, even if it kills me.」

「You know, that kind of thing.」

There was a long pause before he responded.

>>「…Wow.」

>>「What the actual hell.」

>>「LOL hyung, seriously, what the hell.」

>>「You’re a real f*cking bastard, you know that?」

「Look who’s talking.」

「You’re the real f*cking bastard here.」

>>「Hyung, you really…」

Still… seeing him talk like this, it’s almost like nothing’s changed. Like he’s still the same old Pandemonium I remember.

The room is silent, except for the faint sound of keys clicking on a virtual keyboard… everything felt weirdly dreamlike.

How do I even put this into words?

Like being trapped in this world isn’t real at all. Like I could just—

What if I’m actually sitting in my room with a VR headset on?

Like I could just pull it off and wake up…

“…Pfft.”

I laughed, then stopped short, thrown off by how strange it was to hear my own laughter.

「Believe it or not, I actually missed you.」

「Seriously.」

「I mean it.」

>>「Oh yeah? And what deep, meaningful thoughts did you have about me?」

「That hopeless loser. There aren’t even kiosk convenience stores here. How’s he supposed to eat?」

「Our little hermit can’t survive without his daily dose of Wi-Fi…」

「And who’s gonna listen to his hour-long rants about naval warfare history?」

「What if this loser forgets how to talk because I’m not around?」

>>「LOL.」

>>「LMAO.」

>>「LMAOOOOO.」

>>「Alright, fine. I’ll let you off the hook this time.」

「?」

「Let me off the hook for what?」

「What were you going to do if you didn’t?」

>>「I was literally halfway out the door to come hunt you down, lol.」

…And do what exactly?

Was he seriously planning to 1v1 a scrawny serf with a pathetic strength stat of 30?

F*cking despicable bastard.

Classic bully mentality—only picks fights he knows he can win. The kind of guy who rage-quits by yanking the power cord the second an AI starts kicking his ass.

A sore loser who once reset his entire record over a botched game of Minesweeper, just because he couldn’t stomach his precious 99.9% win rate taking a hit.

Pandemonium once brought over his favorite board game, lost eighteen times in a row, then practically fled to the bathroom to preserve what little dignity he had left—face so red I thought he might combust on the spot.

Like a closed door was gonna muffle the sound.

But I heard everything. The faucet blasting at full volume, his sniffling cursing—shit, shit, shit—as he spiraled into a ten-minute meltdown.

Did Pandemonium really think that if he threw the first ten matches in a row, acted like he sucked at the game, and then suddenly slapped down a “Winner gets one wish!” bet, I’ll just panic and instantly lose?

Somebody’s been binging way too much power fantasy isekai…

What an absolute moron.

As much as I wanted to bombard him with all these cringe-inducing memories, I decided to behave for now. After all, I’m basically a level 1 goblin, and this bastard’s a maxed-out ogre boss.

「Yeah, thanks for showing mercy to this small and fragile hyung of yours.」

>>「Heh.」

>>「Glad you understand.」

You cocky bastard.

In the real world, he’d be tapping out in under a minute if we fought.

>> 「So yeah, I know you said not to ask…」

>> 「But this isn’t something I can just ignore.」

…What’s he getting at now?

My heart started hammering in my chest.

If I had a smartwatch, I bet it’d be throwing a fit about my stress levels right now.

>>「The Heretic Slayer can always track you because of the reliquary, right?」

>>「So can you track him too?」

It’d look suspicious if I said no.

Having a GPS tracker on someone you’ve brainwashed is pretty much essential. If you want to make sure your mind control is working, you need a way to monitor them to see if they’re following orders like they should…

Even in a normal alliance, sharing location data would be the logical thing to do.

That was how I saw it, but my situation wasn’t that simple.

Athanas is an Enforcer of Order, and I’m just some heretic trash. Of course, I’m the one being tracked, not the other way around.

But then again, Athanas didn’t give me this reliquary to spy on me. He gave it to protect me.

…So doesn’t that mean I should have the right to know where he is too?

It’s not like he has anything to hide from me.

Most of his time is spent on training anyway.

And if he’s out investigating something dangerous, wouldn’t it actually be better if I knew? Just in case he ran into trouble…

Not that I’d be able to do much about it.

I wouldn’t even be able to tell if he was actually in danger, just chilling in one spot, or if he’d lost his relic.

No way to know for sure.

Still, it’s not completely useless.

Technically, it’s just location tracking, but in a way, it’s like having a private communication channel.

If we both had tracking, we could send signals to each other like subtle, coded messages.

For example, if I wanted to tell him “Skip tomorrow’s meetup—nothing to report,” I could just walk in a figure-eight pattern at a specific time, like how bees dance to talk to their hive.

Then he could respond by walking in circles to signal “Message received.”

Would save us from wasting time on pointless daily meetups.

And that’s just one idea. I can already think of a dozen more ways to use this…

…Which reminds me, why the hell is Valentine playing the role of Cupid?

I get it. If a god strays too far from their core nature, it’s basically the same as dying, so Valentine doesn’t have much of a choice.

But if it were me? I’d rebrand as the God of Love and Communication. Expand my domain like crazy.

…But why’s he even asking about this?

What, so he can go track down Athanas?

「Not telling you.」

>>「Wow hyung, that really hurts.」

>>「How could you do me like this?」

>>「And after I gifted you my one and only, irreplaceable, totally unique item…」

Oh, now he wants to act like Mr. Generous?

Half the reason he handed it over in the first place was just to mess with me.

「If you’re that upset, I’ll just give it back.」

>>「Oh? So that means you’re coming over to see me?」

「Huh? Shouldn’t you be the one making the effort to come get it?」

>>「Got my retainers with me, kinda tied up. You gotta come here.」

「Right. So basically, you want me to dramatically march over there and hand your ring back in front of everyone? I was actually trying to save you from the embarrassment of getting publicly dumped.」

>>「Don’t care lol.」

>>「They’re just NPCs anyway.」

…That’s odd. Usually, he’d be more pissed about NPCs getting the wrong idea than actual people.

What’s going on in his head?

Knock, knock.

A knock at the door jolted me from my thoughts.

“Who is it?”

[…It’s me.]

…Athanas?

My hand froze on the doorknob.

If I let Athanas in, I can’t keep messaging Pandemonium.

But if I leave Athanas standing out there…

[I need a moment to hear your explanation.]

His voice, low and edged with something I couldn’t quite place, sent a shiver down my spine.

Ignore Pandemonium’s messages vs. Make Athanas wait outside…

Yeah, no contest there.

I’ve gotta smooth things over with Athanas first, whatever it takes!

Even if Pandemonium got pissed about me ghosting him, he wouldn’t make a huge scene. He still had the Council to deal with, and if he caused too much trouble, an Apostle might step in and kill him.

Athanas on the other hand…

He would literally break down the door. Hell, the wall even.

Athanas, being who he was, had probably already convinced himself that I was knee-deep in some heretical nonsense again. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d just told Pandemonium that I had Athanas under some sort of mind control.

What if Athanas runs into him before I could clear things up?

I’d be done for.

I pulled the door open wide, desperate for him to see that I was alone in the room. My heart pounded as Athanas stood there, his expression unreadable. “Athanas…” I started, my mind racing to find the right words to begin this conversation.

But before I could say anything else, his hand reached out towards me. Instinctively, I flinched and stumbled backwards.

For a moment, the silence between us was thick, stretched tight like a tripwire.

Shit, the last time he raised his hand, he fired a crossbow. Of course I flinched.

Forcing a smile that probably looked more like a grimace, I said, “Uh… Come in first. Let me explain everything.”

“Alright.”

His boots thudded against the floor as he stepped inside. I shut the door behind him, the lock clicking too loud in the small room. My stomach twisted itself into knots as I turned to face him.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until this afternoon.”

“If your lover’s getting a marriage proposal from someone else, wouldn’t it be strange to stay at training?”

That’s enough to skip out on duty?

Their discipline is seriously lax as hell.

“Have the rumors spread that far already?” I asked, shaking my head.

It’s not like they have social media or anything, but somehow gossip always traveled at f*cking lightspeed. I could easily imagine some town crier bellowing,’Breaking news! Extra, extra!’ every time there was juicy drama.

Athanas just stared at me with those dark eyes, saying nothing. Then, at last, he spoke.

“Did the acting head of House Teres hurt you?”

“What? No, of course not,” I said quickly, taken aback by the question.

His gaze dipped to my throat. “Your neck…”

My neck?

Elamin’s earlier comment about it flickered through my mind, but I’d been too distracted by Pandemonium spamming me with messages to give it any thought… until now.

My hand flew up to cover my throat, but Athanas was faster. His fingers gripped my chin, tilting my head back to expose the delicate skin of my neck.

“It’s bruised,” he said simply. But something darker lurked beneath that calm, simmering just out of reach. A shiver ran down my spine.

Shit.

I’m so dead.

After yesterday’s close call with Reyes, I was already on thin ice for my apparent lack of self-preservation. And now, today, I somehow had to convince Athanas that it was totally normal for Pandemonium to try and strangle me?

Even I’d think I was out of my damn mind.

The nervous sweats were back in full force now.

“T-This isn’t what it looks like! Just a misunderstanding.”

Athanas’s eyes narrowed. “A misunderstanding made him strangle you?”

“It really wasn’t that serious! If it had been dangerous, the relic would’ve activated, right? I know there’s a tiny bruise, but it wasn’t actually life-threatening or anything…”

“Fabio.”

The way my name rumbled through his chest like a low warning made me swallow hard.

“Don’t try to make excuses for him to me.”