Rise of the OtherGod Apostle: Not a Cult Leader, but a Serf?!
#150
#150
My eyes fluttered open, and there he was… Athanas, gazing at me in silence as he lay beside me. Still groggy from sleep, I blinked a few times trying to make sense of the situation.
“…Athanas?”
Why is he holding me?
I mean, I knew he had some strange sleeping habits, but he was clearly wide awake now.
But that wasn’t even the most pressing concern at the moment.
“…Were you crying?” I asked, noticing the faint tear tracks glistening on his face. This wasn’t just watery eyes from yawning.
Athanas… crying?
The thought seemed almost impossible, like two words that just didn’t belong together.
Of course, Athanas was human. He could cry.
But… why?
“Did you have a nightmare?” I questioned, wondering what kind of sad dream could bring someone like him to tears.
Then I remembered. In the Dark Realm, dreams were more like visions, revealing truths and futures rather than jumbled nonsense.
“…Was it about the plague? About what’s coming?”
Living in the Holy Cathedral, I sometimes caught glimpses of the future I’d seen in ‘Heretic Slayer’ bleeding into reality. This magnificent place, with its towering walls and grand halls… was it really destined to crumble into ruins?
And all the people here, what would happen to them?
If I felt this fear, this dread, then Athanas…
…For him, that vision must have been a thousand times more devastating.
“It wasn’t because of a nightmare,” Athanas said simply, his voice calm but distant.
“Then why…?”
“I’ll tell you later,” he replied, his tone making it clear that the conversation was over. He ruffled my hair affectionately before getting out of bed.
Okay, so he doesn’t want to talk about it.
It bothered me a little, but I shoved my curiosity down. If it mattered, he’d open up when he was ready. Prying wasn’t my place. Besides, I had my own secrets I couldn’t share with him.
While pulling on my socks, I tried to remember our plans from the night before. “So, are we going to the Main Building now?”
If we wanted to borrow Callister, we’d need to find Colomba, the Research Director.
Instead of answering, Athanas dug through his stuff and pulled out a small, cylindrical device.
“What’s that?” I asked, eyeing it curiously.
“A communicator from the Research Director.”
“A communicator?”
“It can send a signal to any nearby Callister.”
When did he get that?
“…The Research Director gave it to me while you talked to Reyes Floren,” Athanas added, as if reading my thoughts. “It’s an experimental device, and he asked me to help test the signal transmission.”
“Wait, why you? Shouldn’t they be testing it themselves?”
Athanas shrugged, unperturbed. “The Callisters share cognitive patterns, so it’s difficult for them to tell if they’re responding to a real signal or just having the same thought simultaneously. That’s why they need an external, unpredictable source to verify against. Seemed harmless, so I agreed.”
As he explained, he twisted the middle of the cylindrical device, aligning it like a combination lock. A soft click echoed in the room, and a second later, there was a knock at the door.
[Did you call for me?]
Athanas opened it, and there stood two Callisters, their bright, identical smiles almost unnervingly cheerful.
Why are there two? I thought, but before I could say it out loud, the Callister in the back waved with way too much energy.
“Fabio! Great to see you! This makes it the sixth time!”
The other Callister—the one who’d actually knocked—tilted his head in confusion. “…Fabio, great to see you? This is actually my first time meeting you. Though I have heard of you. Why that… specific greeting? Is this part of some experiment I wasn’t briefed on?”
“It’s just a friendly hello!” the first Callister chirped, his grin widening. “No ulterior motives. Isn’t it nice to be pleasant?”
“I was the one assigned to respond to the signal,” the second Callister grumbled, crossing his arms. “Why are you here?”
“Because I’m also Callister! If you summon Callister and Callister shows up, what’s the issue?”
Listening to their identical voices bicker, their faces mirroring each other’s expressions, made my brain feel like it was doing somersaults.
“…Let’s just take this inside,” I said, stepping aside to let them in and shutting the door behind them.
The new Callister took the communicator from Athanas, popped the small cylinder open, and gave it a shake. Something tumbled out into his palm.
“What is that?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
“The communicator,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Okay, but what’s inside it…?”
“Would you like to see?”
Before I could say no, he shoved his hand in my face.
Instant regret.
“Urgh….”
Maggots. A wriggling, squirming mass of them, some still feasting on their crushed kin.
Wait… don’t tell me this thing works by killing some of the maggots to send a signal?
Callister beamed with pride.
“Fabio, the Research Director asked me to pass along his thanks. He says this invention was inspired by you.”
“Inspired by me? What did I even do…?”
“He realized that when you compress information, everything can be expressed using just two states.”
…Expressing everything with 0s and 1s?
Yeah, that’s the basic principle of digital computing.
So instead of using semiconductors, he’s using maggots as binary—0 for alive, 1 for dead?
“But maggots don’t come back to life,” I pointed out.
What’s the point of a transistor if flipping the switch once means it can never turn off again?
For binary to work, the two states need to be reversible.
If they have to manually replace the maggots every time, doesn’t that just make this a glorified pager?
I had said that comment without thinking much of it. But the moment I saw Callister’s expression, I flinched and instantly wished I could take it all back.
“Wh-what?”
“You…”
Callister’s grin stretched so wide it seemed his face might crack in two.
“…You figured out the mechanism and its limitations just by looking at it! Like someone who already knows of a better system!”
His eyes gleamed with an intensity that made me squirm.
Shit. I messed up.
“Ahh, I really, really want to invite you to the lab…” Callister said, practically vibrating with enthusiasm.
“Fabio won’t like that,” the other Callister interjected. “Best not to bring it up.”
“I know. I’ve heard he’s already turned down multiple offers from Callister. Hearing the same thing again from Callister would just… well, frustrate him, don’t you think?”
Callister sighed and relaxed his hand. The dead maggots vanished like they’d never been there.
“…Still, you could at least visit and offer some advice, couldn’t you?”
Not a chance.
But hearing my answer didn’t seem to matter. Callister was already off on a tangent, launching into a detailed breakdown of the communicator’s design. I braced myself. This was going to be a long one.
“This Holy Flesh, in its maggot-like state, persists until it fulfills its purpose of healing and becoming part of a new body. It’s quite remarkable,” he continued, clearly passionate about the subject. “A priest of Ledeia can sense the state and location of this Holy Flesh, allowing them to identify areas in need of their blessing with pinpoint accuracy.”
Callister demonstrated as the maggots moved in an eerily coordinated formation.
“However, the Holy Flesh, once separated from its host, has a limited lifespan. Even when stored in specialized containers, it is effective for only three days. After that…”
“It dies?”
“…No, it doesn’t die, but its healing abilities are lost entirely. Moving them around like this becomes impossible.”
On his palm, eight maggots writhed in perfect unison. It looked almost like they were dancing or reacting to some invisible, synchronized pulse.
Using the Holy Flesh as a transmitter…
Some might call it creative.
Others would call it blasphemous as all hell.
Why had Ledeia chosen someone this unhinged as an Apostle?
Was it because only a mind this deranged would dare to dig into the secrets of the first contract with Order?
“If we adjust the design to be more sensitive to subtle changes in pressure,” Callister mused, “we might eliminate the need to consume Holy Flesh each time. In its current state, the efficiency is simply too low…”
The communicator in his hands had eight rotating sections.
If each one holds that much Holy Flesh… that’s eight bits—256 possible signals.
My mind was already racing ahead. If they could push beyond binary, what else was possible? What if they divided the states of each maggot even further? It wouldn’t be limited to 2⁸ anymore. It could be 3⁸. Or even 4⁸.
Of course, that would mean both the sender and receiver would have to memorize an insane number of variations…
“How would you propose to improve it?” Callister asked, his gaze uncomfortably intense.
I hesitated. “…Does it have to be Ledeia’s Holy Flesh?”
At that, he let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I’d love to collaborate with other gods, but They are reluctant to offer Their assistance.”
Can’t say I blame them.
Holy Flesh was a literal fragment of a god—a holy relic, brimming with divine essence. And yet, this guy crushed them like they were nothing. Would he really treat another god’s relics with care?
Absolutely not.
“If I could get my hands on a Valentine relic,” he muttered, almost to himself, “I’m sure I could make it work…”
His eyes flicked toward me. I knew exactly what he was looking at.
“That is absolutely not happening,” I said, pulling Athanas’s reliquary closer, both hands wrapped protectively around it.
Callister blinked, all wide-eyed innocence. “Hm? Did I say something?”
“You were staring at my reliquary just now.”
“Was I?”
Goddamn, this bastard is shameless.
Now that I thought about it, when I’d first met Callister at the Main Building, he’d been grumbling about not being allowed inside Valentine’s prayer room.
I needed to be extra careful.
The Research Director had made an offhand comment about Callister’s history. How he had a habit of “borrowing” holy relics from the Knights’ storage like it was no big deal.
I wasn’t about to let this one be taken.
“Fabio.”
The uninvited Callister leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
“You don’t need some crude communicator to send me signals. You’re… special.”
“Special?” I started to ask, but the other Callister beat me to it, launching into a rapid-fire interrogation about this new development.
So now I had to watch as the Callister Athanas actually signaled for grilled the one who’d shown up uninvited.
Goddamn it, this is confusing.
Maybe they weren’t bothered by everyone having the same damn name, but I sure as hell was.
Screw it. I’m giving them names.
The one who kept acting like we’d met before? Grister.
The one I’d just met? Chorister.
Terrible naming scheme, I know. But I had zero interest in coming up with anything better.
Grister grabbed my left arm, his fingers pressing into my wrist as he spoke.
“The connection here is intact—blood flowing, veins functioning. But there’s more. I can sense something else.”
That was news to me. I had no idea he could feel anything like that.
Just as abruptly, he let go and turned away.
“I’ll prove it to you. Fabio, draw a shape on your left palm. I’ll guess what it is.”
Even though I felt uneasy about it, I did as he said.
Without missing a beat, Grister answered, confident as ever.
“A pentagon! An excellent choice, my friend. Did you choose that shape because of our earlier conversation about pentagons? I’m touched. Oh, but wait, you’ve added a right-angle mark. And now… a circle? And after that…”
What the hell?
No, seriously. How the f*ck was this working?
For him to feel it, wouldn’t our nervous systems have to be, like… linked?
What kind of impossible bullshit was this?
“Is he… right?” Chorister asked.
I didn’t respond, but that didn’t seem to matter.
Chorister’s eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. “This… this is groundbreaking! Fabio, you have to come to the lab—”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Callister,” Grister interrupted. “Before the incident with Fabio’s arm, there was an agreement in place between him and 24F that Fabio wouldn’t be used as a test subject.”
Chorister looked taken aback. “Really? Is that true?”
“Well, he did agree to give us his arm, though!”
…Who the hell made that agreement with who?
Was it 24F and the Research Director?
I chewed my lip, realizing I still didn’t know what kind of “records” the Director had gotten his hands on.
That idiot Records would probably know if I asked him.
Hadn’t Reyes mentioned he had some book connected to Records now?
Grister patted Chorister on the shoulder. “Let’s stay focused, Callister. We have a job to do first.”
Chorister nodded, looking disappointed. “Yes, you’re right. Athanas, you summoned us for a reason, didn’t you? Turning on ‘1’ and ‘3’ usually means something important.”
No way in hell I’m letting these guys get their hands on Reyes’s relic.
If the Research Director got ahold of an Othergod’s relic, he’d definitely use it for some crazy, messed up experiment.
Before Athanas could say anything, I cut in.
“The Watched Ones are planning to convene a Council of Judgment.”
“A Council?”
“We need to… or rather, we need the Research Director to investigate it for us.”
“Oh? And what does the Research Director get in return?”
“Some of the Electors pushing for this Council may have been influenced by the Watched Ones. It’s an opportunity to uncover valuable information about them.”
Athanas just stared at me, silent. He didn’t bring up whatever he had originally planned to say.
Chorister cocked his head curiously. “What do the Watched Ones even want with this Council anyway?”
“Well, that’s…” I hesitated.
“I know!” Chorister exclaimed, eyes brightening with sudden inspiration. “Let’s just ask the new recruit about it!”
“New recruit?”
“Reyes Floren,” Grister clarified.
I shot him a sharp look. “You’re not planning to force anything out of him, are you?”
Chorister waved his hand. “Perish the thought! We would never do anything without consent.”
Says the people who cut off my arm without asking.
Consent, what a load of crap. I never agreed to any of this. If they considered 24F’s word as my consent, then Reyes was just as vulnerable. All they needed was some document claiming he agreed, and no amount of protests or screaming would stop them. An autopsy form signed by someone they deemed as “him”? Case closed.
“Besides,” Chorister added cheerfully, “the new recruit is brimming with enthusiasm! His curiosity is quite remarkable.”
So they’re trying to get info on Rider of Civilization’s player, I realized. I made a mental note to message Reyes later. Too many questions were swirling around in my head.
Why had he sent Pandemonium to me?
What had he found out about House Lizard?
And most importantly… Are they doing any messed up experiments on him?
I considered telling Callister I would become a researcher. If House Lizard’s relic was still in the Main Building, I’d rather get my hands on it than let Reyes. And if they really didn’t force people into experiments, then I wouldn’t have anything to worry about from the Research Director.
But if they were conducting horrific experiments… Then I’ll summon the Saint for help, I decided.
Not to punish Colomba or give Reyes a Game Over though. That wasn’t my aim. Summoning the Saint would activate the tutorial’s emergency escape system. It would step in and give Reyes a way out of “containment.”
But if suicide is his only way to escape…
Would the system allow that? Would it really let him die right then and there?
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Athanas’s voice cut through my racing thoughts, bringing me back to the moment.