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

#191Reader Mode

T/N: And lo, the Readers spoke, “Translator, we hunger.”
And the Translator wept, for she too were tired.

But a wild Simi came forth with coffee and coin, saying,
“O humble scribe, thou art not alone.”

And the Readers rejoiced, and the HappyHappy emoji glowed in the sky for seven business days.

Power surging… DOUBLE RELEASE LOADING…

#191

…What does that smile mean?

I almost asked. Almost. But I didn’t. Because if he said something like, “Oh, this is your third life, by the way”—yeah, no. I genuinely didn’t think I could survive hearing it.

“Forget it. Just tell me how to get out of here.”

“You can leave right now, actually.”

“…What?”

“Check the scroll.”

I looked down.

There it was. My own handwriting. A sentence I had no memory of writing.

[ I no longer dwell on it. I no longer question it. I can no longer remember it. I can no longer comprehend it…. ]

…Does repeating it somehow make it stronger?

I glanced up to ask, but House Lizard was already gone.

And then the blue system window popped into view.

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ the concept of ‘ ’ will be deleted.]

All at once, the world went silent.

Even the crackle of firewood vanished.

[SYSTEM: Running integrity check….]

[SYSTEM: Running integrity check….]

[SYSTEM: Running integrity check….]

…Everything that had been open began slamming shut.

The truths I’d glimpsed so clearly were torn from me. Ripped away, locked behind somewhere I couldn’t reach.

I was a prisoner again. Crammed back into this brittle cage of flesh and bone.

And anything that couldn’t be contained within this small vessel was gnawed on by Oblivion.

[SYSTEM: Integrity check successful.]

[SYSTEM: Ending subject ‘isolation’.]

[SYSTEM: Installing user convenience plugin ‘Rise of the Othergod Apostle!’]

…Plugin?

Before I could even think about what that meant, a barrage of pop-up windows exploded across my vision.

[Wake up wake up wake up wake up don’t leave me please wake up]

[I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry]

[Tell me what to do just say it you said you needed your arm back you said it mattered]

[Lord Fabio please forgive me stay with me forever if you leave I will kill you]

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ all ‘prayers’ are now displayed as text.]

The hell is this garbage?

I tried swiping one away, but three more popped up to replace it. Like clicking the wrong link on a shady website and getting spammed with popup ads.

Still better than the alternative, I guess. At least now they don’t blare inside my head.

Please tell me there’s a Do Not Disturb mode.

A “mute notifications” toggle. Anything.

[TIP: You can review missed ‘prayers’ in your timeline history log.]

[TIP: You can now mute ‘prayers’ from specific believers. They won’t even know they’ve been silenced! Use this feature to manage obsessive followers.]

Yeah. He’s getting muted immediately.

I pried my eyes open. Callister’s face was inches from mine.

“…Callister?”

“Fabio!”

I slowly got up. My body felt like it was underwater, limbs heavy and uncooperative, and a deep, ache throbbed behind my right eye. The nerves must be regenerating back together.

The opium’s wearing off.

“Fabio, this is the ninth time.”

“…Got it.”

I sucked in a breath, let it rattle out. Still dizzy. But alive.

Huh. I half-expected that bastard Pandomonium to be draped over me, wailing his lungs out.

“Where’s Marcello?”

“He went further down.”

…Down?

Where even am I?

I blinked a few times, trying to get my bearings. I was lying on the landing of the basement stairs. The main library.

“How long was I out?”

“About three hours….”

“Pandomonium!”

[SYSTEM: Pandomonium is online.]

[TIP: If you fail to form a contract before the Tutorial ends, the ‘System User’ trait will vanish!]

[TIP: Chat is exclusive to ‘System Users.’]

…Really? It ghosts me for hours, then shows up with helpful tips like nothing happened? Damn System pisses me off.

“Pandomonium. I’m up. Where are you?”

「>>…Hyung?」

[Oh god thank you oh thank you for giving my hyung back to me….]

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme,’ all ‘prayers’ are now displayed as text.]

…Aren’t I supposed to be your god?

Then who the hell are you thanking?

The faith points trickled in, but the prayer itself annoyed me more than I wanted to admit.

At some point, I’m going to have to sit this guy down and explain the basics of prayer etiquette. Rule one: don’t emotionally blackmail your god.

“Just come upstairs already. I’m waiting.”

[>>…If I come up there and you’re unconscious again, I will actually kill myself. I’m not joking. Don’t mess with me.]

The hell?

Why is he this unstable?

What’s his Mental Power looking like right now?

The moment the thought crossed my mind, a system window popped open with his stats.

[Pandomonium (Fabio’s Believer)]
Acting Head of House Teres, Degenerate, Head Collector, Dismemberer

[Health: 1750 (-1165)]
[Mental Power: N/A]
[Intelligence: N/A]
[Combat Power: 962]
[Endurance: 775]
[Charm: 450 (-1750)]
[Faith: N/A]

Status Effects:
[Injured (-942)]
[Exhausted (Health -223)]
[Infamous (Charm -670)]
[Blasphemy (Charm -1080)]

Unique Traits:
[Bloodline of Teres]
[First Strike Victory]
[Did I Get Him?!]
[Pet Summon]
[In one Ear…]
…View More

Blessings:
[Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme (Fabio)]

Status Effects:
[Divine Punishment (Roklem)]
[Divine Punishment (Roklem)]
[Divine Punishment (Roklem)]
[Divine Punishment (Roklem)]
[Divine Punishment (Roklem)]
…View More

Equipped Holy Relics:
[Fabio’s Left Arm (Palbio)]
[Inventory]

“…….”

I stared at the window, at a complete loss.

Still no idea what his Mental Power is… but honestly? That’s no longer the priority.

Five stacks of Divine Punishment? How do you even get that many? What did he do?

And hold on—

Palbio?¹T/N: Ahahaha! I was watching out for it this time author! ୧(๑•̀ヮ•́)૭ The spelling “Palbio” is an intentional pun or play on words. It’s a combination of “팔 (pal),” the Korean word for “arm,” and “Fabio.” So it literally means “Fabio’s arm.”

Did he loot that from the Saint?

No player would be able to survive this many stacks of divine wrath. The only reason Pandomonium wasn’t a red smear on the ground right now was probably because the Tutorial’s Emergency Rescue System was desperately trying to stall Roklem’s turn.

This goddamn psychopath….

I hit “View More” and counted eight active punishments.

Correction—a new one just registered. Nine.

I could practically feel Roklem’s fury seeping through the interface. This wasn’t just standard divine judgment. This was personal. A god with a vendetta, just waiting for the System to lift its finger so divine punishment could crush Pandomonium like a bug.

Shit. How do I fix this?

We weren’t just in trouble. We were deep into “there is no precedent for how screwed we are” territory.

With that much health, he might survive one hit. Maybe. But nine?

Even a Heretic Slayer boss wouldn’t survive that kind of burst damage.

“Hyung!”

Pandomonium came charging up the stairs two at a time.

He only had a third of his HP left, and somehow he still moved like a golden retriever on five shots of espresso.

“I knew you’d wake up if I brought this!”

…That had nothing to do with it.

He put Palbio into my hands. The relic was slick, dripping with black ink.

“Hyung, look at me! You okay? Why do you look like that? Is it the pain?”

“…What happened to your hand?”

“Huh? Oh, this? Just some ink. It’s a total mess down there. Looks like a printer exploded.”

I can literally see your bones. That’s not just “some ink.”

Just touching a relic blessed by the Saint was enough to blister skin on contact. So grabbing the Saint directly? Especially with his halo active?

Yeah. You can imagine what that did to Pandomonium.

And with Divine Punishment stacked on him? His regeneration is probably limping along at half capacity. If that.

I scrolled down and checked the description of his regeneration trait. The ridiculously named one.

[Did I Get Him?!]
A resurrection-type miracle. Allows survival from injuries that would be fatal to a normal entity. Returns the user to their pre-injury condition. Survival possible even after decapitation (if the head is reattached within 10 seconds). Severed or destroyed body parts will be ‘regenerated.’

Current Status: Due to multiple stacks of ‘Divine Punishment,’ efficiency is reduced by 98%.

…Shit.

Two percent.

He’s healing at two percent efficiency.

At this rate, the second the Emergency Rescue System deactivates, Roklem’s going to vaporize him before his pain receptors even get the memo.

“…Have you checked your status window lately?”

“No?”

“You’re beyond screwed. Look at it. Right now.”

Pandomonium flicked his gaze sideways, then froze.

“Whoa, wait—why did all my trait names change? They used to be those four character idioms!”

“Ignore that. Look at your status effects. Read them.”

“Divine Punishment, Divine Punishment, Divine Punishment… Wow. Order’s really throwing a tantrum, huh? Pfft.”

“You think this is funny?”

“Eh, it’s fine! Worst case, I die. No big deal. The important thing is you’re awake, hyung. And if I do die, my soul just ends up with you anyway, so—”

“Dying by Divine Punishment sends you straight to the Hell of Order. You know that, right?”

“…Wait. What?”

“You won’t be with me. You’ll be Roklem’s favorite punching bag. Forever.”

Pandomonium gasped.

“…You’d come save me though, right?”

“No.”

“…Could you at least pretend you would? Just lie to me a little. Some hope I can cling to while I’m being eternally tortured?”

“If you’re in hell, odds are I’m right there beside you. How exactly am I supposed to save you?”

“Hyuuuung….”

He threw himself at me in tears, nearly knocking me over in a hug.

“So you would follow me to hell just to be with me!”

“Use your brain for once. You think Order’s just going to let me go?”

“…Shh. I’m running a happy simulation where you fix everything and we live happily ever after. Don’t interrupt.”

I let out a long, exhausted sigh.

“Get Callister to patch up your hand. With your regeneration shot to hell, it’s going to stay looking like shredded meat if you don’t get treatment.”

Callister crossed his arms.

“Excuse me? Heal that thing? No way! I don’t want to! Never!!”

“Callister, please. Just help him. He’s probably in a lot of pain….”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

Pandomonium immediately started whining.

“Are you blind? It hurts like crazy! I’m dying! I’m literally one breath away from the light!”

“Good. Hope it gets worse.”

“Oh wow, okay. Disobeying a direct order from your god? That’s some rock-bottom devotion you’ve got there. Shall we excommunicate this thing on the spot, my Lord?”

“…Pandomonium.”

Seriously? You’re the one with the mangled hand. Aren’t you supposed to be the one de-escalating the situation?

I gave him a look.

“If you’re that eager to sabotage your own healing, I guess the pain’s not that bad after all. My mistake for caring.”

Pandomonium’s sneer vanished instantly. He buried his head in my shoulder, whining like a kicked dog.

“Hyuuuung…. It hurts so much. I thought I was actually gonna die. Is that thing even killable? I swear, it’s bullshit. That massive halo lit up like a second sun… it was scary as hell. My telekinesis just stopped working when I got within ten meters. Every step felt like I was walking into an oven. And then I started smelling barbecue…”

“Okay, enough! Spare me the details. I’m already nauseous.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I needed Callister to cooperate. Leaving my high-performance unit—tank, damage dealer, self-healer—in critical condition wasn’t an option.

“Callister. Please. Just heal him. I’m asking as a personal favor.”

He frowned.

“…I don’t want to mix with that thing.”

“What if we use Ledeia’s Holy Flesh instead of yours?”

The Research Director’s lab was just down the main hall. There should still be plenty of stockpiled ‘Contaminated Holy Flesh’ stored there.

Callister hesitated. Bit his lip. Then gave a reluctant nod.

“Fine. I can do that. But I really don’t like that the very first thing you’ve ever asked of me is for that thing.”

“Then let me change my first request.”

“To what?”

“…If I ever become strong enough to create Apostles, will you be my First Apostle, Callister?”

His jaw dropped. Eyes went huge.

“Really? You mean it? Really, really?”

“Of course. Would a god lie to his very first believer on his very first request?”

“Fabio!”

Callister threw himself at my legs, clinging tight.

“Fabio, Fabio, Fabio!”

“Yes, yes.”

“My god! My master! My Fabio—!”

“Alright, alright. My Callister.”

I rested a hand on his head, patting softly.

Let’s be honest. No one else is going to adopt him.

And hey, I said if. If I ever become strong enough to create Apostles. If I lose my divinity before then… well. That’s fate, not fraud.

“Come on. Let’s head to the lab.”

Now that I had Palbio, there was a little experiment I wanted to run.