Rise of the OtherGod Apostle: Not a Cult Leader, but a Serf?!
#204
#204
Athanas forced himself to stay calm. He couldn’t afford to waste too much time untangling his thoughts. Fabio was likely still alive, which meant the only thing that mattered now was finding where he’d gone.
He crouched down and examined Fabio’s reliquary. The cord attached to it hadn’t been cut cleanly with a blade. The edges were ragged and violently frayed, as if someone had simply grabbed hold of the tether and ripped it apart through sheer force.
The most likely culprit is…
Marcello Teres. One of the Watched Ones.
Athanas drew his sword, angling the blade to catch the light. A finger-length gouge had been chipped directly out of the edge, the unmistakable result of enormous pressure concentrated on a single point. He already knew brute strength alone couldn’t break a cord made of telekinetic energy. It took an explosive burst of power.
The thought of Teres putting his hands on Fabio made Athanas’s expression darken before he even realized it. And yet, strangely enough, once his anger reached its peak, his pounding heartbeat began to settle.
If Teres took him, Fabio is alive.
Teres wouldn’t kill him. He’d drag Fabio back to his territory, or hide him away somewhere no one would ever think to search. But as Athanas stared down at the broken reliquary, a colder thought slipped into his mind. There was always the possibility that Fabio’s rejection had finally pushed Teres over the edge. And if the man had already given in to the madness boiling in his blood, there was nothing stopping him from following in his sister’s footsteps.
No. Fabio would know how to handle him.
Athanas sheathed his sword and searched the area for another clue. Nothing. There wasn’t so much as a single footprint on the ground. Had Teres carried them with telekinesis? If so, which way had they gone? Up or down? Then Athanas noticed the stains.
Where did all this ink come from?
It hadn’t simply spilled across the floor. The dark liquid stretched out in strange, crawling trails, as though it had ignored gravity altogether and crept upward on its own. Following the unnatural traces, Athanas leaned over the edge of the landing. Two floors below, a faint but familiar pulse of divine power flickered in the darkness.
He headed down immediately. The moment his boots touched the floor and he recognized what was lying there, a cold sense of dread dropped into his stomach.
The Saint’s holy relic.
Fabio lost this too?
That meant Fabio was somewhere out there with nothing left to protect him. Had he abandoned the holy relics on purpose to keep the Order from tracking him?
Or…
Had Teres taken them away so there would be nothing stopping him from doing whatever he wanted with Fabio?
Athanas knew firsthand, entirely by accident, just how much harm the Saint’s relic was meant to prevent. He remembered exactly what triggered it. It hadn’t reacted when Fabio was so terrified he could barely breathe. It hadn’t reacted when Athanas had pinned him down with enough force that he couldn’t move. But the instant Fabio suffered real, agonizing pain—the moment his shoulder was dislocated, or his arm was broken—the divine barrier had flared to life and hurled Athanas violently backward.
Which meant that if Teres had done something bad enough for the relic itself to get in the way….
I should have killed him when I had the chance.
Back when Athanas had challenged Marcello Teres to a duel, there had been more than enough witnesses to see him use heretical power. Athanas could have killed him then and there and easily called it righteous punishment. Naturally, the House of Teres would have torn the Dark Realm apart in retaliation, but Athanas couldn’t have cared less about that.
So why had he undone it? Why had he gone so far as to turn back time and erase that entire moment?
Because he couldn’t stand the thought of Fabio looking at him with terror in his eyes.
But what else was I supposed to do?
Athanas had always lived by a ruthless internal code: exhaust every option, push as far as he possibly could, and make sure that whatever happened in the end, he could honestly say he had done everything within his power. Challenging Marcello had been part of that. Testing his defenses, figuring out what he was capable of, searching for some way to bring him down if the need ever arose… it had all been preparation. Because knowing an unstable Watched One was circling Fabio and choose to just stand by? To do nothing?
That would have been like watching a black storm build on the horizon and never once checking whether the levees would hold. If you had the power to prepare and chose not to, that was a grave sin in itself. And if disaster came because Athanas had failed to act when he could have, then he wouldn’t even have earned the right to feel regret afterward.
There was a burden on Athanas that no one else could truly understand. He was the only one who could turn back time. That meant his responsibility to act was absolute. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility that came with it, just as Fabio had always told him.
Athanas had learned that lesson the hard way during his first encounter with Reyes Floren.
Facing a Watched One without being prepared wasn’t merely dangerous. It was a waking nightmare. Reyes possessed the terrifying ability to warp space and distort human perception at will. And once madness took hold of him, everyone caught within his reach turned on one another, blindly wrapping their hands around the throats of their own comrades.
When Reyes laughed, everyone caught in his influence screamed with him, their hysterical laughter turning wet and ragged in their throats.
When he started crying, they broke down too, sobbing in agony.
And through it all, Reyes kept begging them to kill one another, laughing and weeping as he insisted it was the only way to make the nightmare end.
Somewhere in the middle of that chaos, Athanas finally realized the distortion didn’t affect anyone who was unconscious. He managed to knock Elamin out and spare him. But there were too many others. He couldn’t save them all. One by one, the laughter and sobbing faded away until nothing remained but the heavy, suffocating silence of the dead.
Driven to his limit, Athanas finally drew his sword… and his entire body froze. Every muscle locked in place so completely that he couldn’t so much as twitch. He couldn’t even blink. His senses, however, remained cruelly intact. He heard every word as Reyes stepped up behind Fabio and wrapped his arms around him.
“Fabio,” Reyes murmured, guiding him into position. “Go over there just like this and give Athanas a nice, tight hug.”
Then Reyes pressed the deadly point of Athanas’s own drawn sword against Fabio’s stomach. Athanas could do nothing. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. All he could do was watch in horror as Fabio looked down at the blade, then reached up and gripped its sharp edges with both bare hands, as though he had already made up his mind. And then—
…I used Retrograde. Turned everything back until none of it had ever happened.
Athanas had never forgotten what that day taught him. Once a Watched One finally surrendered to the madness in their blood, no amount of preparation could ever guarantee survival. They weren’t bound by the same limits as ordinary people. They didn’t fear sin. They didn’t fear hell. And to them, physical death was little more than a temporary inconvenience.
The only thing they truly fear is being captured alive by Order.
The Watched Ones had always claimed that if they ever lost the right to participate in the “game,” they would gradually lose their sense of self and eventually descend into madness. But now, Order itself had suddenly ground to a halt. With the one thing keeping them in check gone, there was no reason to believe they would keep restraining their heretical powers.
Could I actually beat Marcello Teres if he was fully prepared for me?
It wasn’t impossible. But Athanas immediately crushed that flicker of optimism and forced himself to look at the situation objectively. He couldn’t gamble Fabio’s life on the faint hope that things might somehow go his way.
He needed an advantage.
More power.
Where is the Saint right now?
If Athanas prayed through a relic the Saint had personally consecrated, there was a chance his plea might reach him even if he was occupied elsewhere. Right now, even the slightest advantage was worth trying for.
Athanas knelt and reached for the abandoned holy relic. The moment he picked it up, the ink-stained book lying beneath it suddenly flew open, its pages fluttering wildly. Before Athanas could react, words began racing across the blank parchment in an excited scrawl.
[Finally! Thank you for rescuing me! My name is Codex. I’m Fabio’s scripture!]
Fabio’s scripture?
Codex?
Athanas had never heard that name before. Was this some strange incarnation created by the God of Records? More ink raced across the blank page in a frantic scrawl.
[If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me your name? Or you could just smear a little of your blood on my pages!]
Athanas stared at the unsettling request for a moment, weighing the risk. Then he made his decision. This run was for gathering information. Finding Fabio came first.
“My name is Athanas.”
[Ah! You’re the owner of the reliquary! Fabio’s lover! It’s an honor to finally meet you. Would you mind telling me the exact story of how the two of you first met? I’d love to record it!]
“Where is Fabio?”
[Oh! Oh dear. I’ve made a terrible mistake. Obviously, recording the present should come before digging into the past!]
“I asked where Fabio is.”
[Unfortunately, Fabio’s exact location hasn’t been recorded in me yet! But I can detect the physical traces my Lord leaves behind. His footprints, his blood, even the tiny droplets of saliva scattered when he speaks…. I can collect all of it and turn it into a proper record!]
“…How?”
[Just take me with you! I’ll absorb and record everything automatically. I am a living book, after all!]
So if I bring it along, I can follow Fabio’s trail and figure out exactly where he was taken.
It was perfect. Almost too perfect. This was exactly the kind of ability Athanas needed right now, and that alone was enough to make him suspicious. They had destroyed Valentine’s reliquary specifically to keep anyone from tracking Fabio. And yet somehow, they had conveniently left behind a sentient book whose entire purpose was to follow every trace Fabio left behind? That made no sense.
Why was something like this created in the first place?
A book that existed for no other reason than to obsessively record everything about Fabio.
Who would create something like that?
It even calls Fabio a god.
That alone would only add to the weight of Fabio’s sins in the eyes of Order. Athanas found himself remembering something Apostle Sextus had once said.
The Watched Ones are nothing more than playthings for an Othergod.
A being from beyond the stars, orchestrating one atrocity after another simply to watch Fabio be driven into despair. Again and again.
Could this book have been created by that same vile Othergod watching over Fabio?
The fact that it considered itself “rescued” the moment it was freed from beneath the Saint’s holy relic made one thing clear: whatever it was, its nature was fundamentally heretical, something that existed far outside the bounds of Order. And yet, despite every warning bell going off in his head, Athanas didn’t burn it.
Better to walk knowingly into a trap and come away with a lead than wander blindly and learn nothing.
Besides, there was one possibility he couldn’t shake.
What if Fabio had left the book behind on purpose?
What if placing the Saint’s holy relic on top of it had been his way of making sure Athanas would find it?
And if Athanas misunderstood what Fabio had intended and destroyed the book instead….
…I’m very fortunate to have Retrograde.
There was no need to torment himself over which choice was the right one. He could simply choose. And if he was wrong, he could turn back time and choose differently.
Ink raced excitedly across the blank page.
[Fabio’s trail leads upward from here!]
Athanas took the stairs two at a time, his eyes fixed on the shifting words. “…Does Marcello Teres know about you?”
[Marcello…? Oh, you mean that revolting, disgusting creature. Yes, of course he does. He hates me! He’s tried to burn me several times.]
“Then why did he leave you intact?”
[Because I’m Fabio’s Servant! My Lord would never let him destroy me.]
“…He listens to Fabio?”
[Not exactly obediently, but yes. Most of the time. He’s Fabio’s Servant too, after all.]
Athanas stopped dead. One foot hung just above the next step, the abrupt halt jarring his entire body.
“What did you just say?”
[You need to keep going up! Up! Up! Left, right! Left, right!]
“Say that again. Marcello Teres is what?”
[…Fabio’s Servant too?]
Athanas already knew Fabio had accidentally entered into a binding contract that turned Callister into his Servant. But Marcello Teres too? A blood-mad, unstable Watched One?
Why?
…What is he planning to do in Fabio’s name?
Acts carried out in a god’s name didn’t affect only the person who committed them. They reflected on the god as well. If a follower accomplished honorable, glorious deeds, the god’s influence would grow with them. But if that follower committed atrocities, then the disgrace of those acts would stain the god’s name too.
Is Teres trying to corrupt Fabio’s body and soul so thoroughly that he’ll never be able to return to Order?
Athanas ground his teeth. He had to find Fabio as soon as possible. He started moving again.
Fabio’s trail led straight to the Research Director’s laboratory, but the moment Athanas reached the entrance, he stopped cold. The place had been completely wrecked. Holy relics that had lost their light were scattered across the floor, and there were so many of Fabio’s arms lying around that Athanas nearly stepped on one more than once.
With Codex guiding him, he hurried through the ruined laboratory, checking room after room.
[And then he went back downstairs! Maybe he left the Main Building?]
Athanas stared at the page. “…You didn’t record him going back downstairs when we literally just passed that exact spot?”
[Records must be kept in chronological order! It’s very important!]
Athanas’s brow furrowed. If the book made him physically retrace every single step Fabio had taken, in exact order, then it wouldn’t matter how many times he used Retrograde. He would never catch up to where Fabio was now.
“Skip ahead. Forget the earlier movements. Find his most recent location and start tracking him from there.”
[But that would leave terribly unsightly gaps in my Lord’s scripture…]
“Fill them in later. Finding Fabio is the only thing that matters right now.”
[Understood! A reunion between lovers! I certainly can’t afford to miss a scene like that.]
I should’ve told it to do that from the start.
Athanas turned toward the stairs, but before he could move, fresh ink began racing across the page.
[More importantly, I can sense the Blessing of Records on you. Would you mind letting me take a quick look?]
One of Codex’s silk ribbon bookmarks slipped out from between the pages like a curious snake, eagerly stretching toward the reliquary at Athanas’s chest.
[I promise I won’t interfere with the blessing itself! I just want to record a tiny bit of what’s inside. Just let me touch it for one second!]
T/N:Yay, an Athanas chapter!
So now we know Athanas actually hurt Fabio more than once when he was trying to get answers out of him at the beginning. It might’ve been accidental, considering Fabio’s durability stat is trash, but still… that really sucks to find out.
Honestly, it makes a lot more sense now why the author never showed us Athanas’s POV during those chapters. 😭