The Elmest Territory was still in the midst of its major cleanup. The Queen's shadow hadn't been completely removed yet.

The priests who had been enchanted by the Queen scattered and fled after the incident, but thanks to Little Evil God's mistake, they were provided with a focal point to gather once more.

The holy water, deeply infused with the scent of the Queen they had served and worshipped. They believed that with this alone, the Queen's resurrection wasn't just a dream.

They began collecting the liquid with the goal of reviving the Queen. They also gathered living sacrifices to prepare a new body for her.

It was in this situation that Scarface Senior and the teary-eyed gay man arrived at Elmest Territory.

"The request was to protect a brother and sister living in the Elmest Goddess Cult building. When we arrived, they looked fine except for showing signs of hunger. That was fortunate."

Scarface Senior explained the situation to the boy and had him join their group. Since there was no reason for the corrupt priests to target such a skinny boy, they thought they could simply relocate and wait things out.

"And then we ran right into them."

They encountered the corrupt priests who were trying to retrieve information about the Queen from the temple.

The corrupt priests tried to eliminate witnesses. Their plans couldn't be allowed to leak outside.

The situation was quite bad. The leader of the corrupt priests was an Ascension-level fighter. It would be great if they could win in a fight, but the risk was high.

Additionally, there were two people under their protection. If the boy died during the fight, it would defeat the whole purpose.

Therefore, the teary-eyed gay man and Scarface Senior, who hadn't yet reached Ascension, determined that a direct confrontation would be difficult. They managed to escape the scene and continued providing protection through concealment and evasion.

The two veterans attempted various methods to relieve the pressure. They changed their base daily, occasionally disguised their identities, and used money to confuse those tracking them.

However, under the increasing pressure from the corrupt priests, the teary-eyed gay man and the boy volunteered to become bait. Having Scarface Senior remain would be more helpful in various ways. And it truly was.

The result was what we saw now. The boy's sister sleeping soundly in a small inn room, and Scarface Senior sitting on the edge of the bed.

The senior wrinkled the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

"I used 'Rorey's Possession' to pinpoint their location. It's an underground facility. Whether it's dark mages or whoever, those with something to hide always dig holes underground..."

"Good, everyone grab your tools. Let's go quickly? We'll eat dinner when we get back."

I got up, dusting off my hands.

After everyone left the room, Little Evil God was the last to follow. She placed her hand on the boy's sister and quickly sucked out the Queen's thorn.

We pretended not to see.

===============================================================

Illusion Magic is convenient. Disguising our appearances as priests, applying perception interference, creating patterns that make people feel calm and drowsy when looking at them, adding a bit of hypnosis, and throwing in some sound effects makes infiltration easy.

See? The corrupt priests are accepting us naturally.

"If all illusion school mages knew how to use it like this, the Purple Tower would have been the undisputed number one long ago, MadMa."

"All this world needs is magic-computers. The moment the information age arrives, the Purple Tower will rule the world."

"I'm afraid that might actually happen..."

That would immediately turn into magical cyberpunk. The completion of an empire with Megacorp Purple Tower dominating the world. Perfect from media business to the Big Brother plan.

As I was imagining Yuna becoming the God-King ruling the entire Earth, Little Evil God poked my thigh. She's really developed a habit of using her hands first.

"Would that even work?"

"What now? With enough computing power, wouldn't the Purple Tower take over?"

"You've never fought other mages, have you?"

"......"

That's true.

Suspiciously, I've never had trouble with mages from other towers. I've become friendly with that greasy professor from the Academy, so there's no reason to fight, and Selvia isn't on my level.

I've only indirectly seen Baek-seol, the famous Blue Tower Ascension mage from the Academy. I've never directly competed with her.

"You'd probably cry if you got hit by hellfire once. Since Illusion Magic is about evasion, not defense, you have no means to reduce damage when hit. And since you don't have scales, you'd probably turn to ashes instantly."

There was a strange emotion in her words, so I asked suspiciously.

"...Is that from personal experience?"

"......"

Hellfire must have hurt a lot.

It's certainly fatal that Illusion Magic has no proper means to counter area attacks. Because Illusion Magic has no physical force.

Even the hologram I worked hard to create only has a small amount of physical force. It would naturally be weaker compared to a steel wall erected by the Gold Tower.

The only conclusion is that if you can't dominate your opponent in one go, you're dead.

Physical force is necessary.

...I'm probably not the only one who's had this thought. Throughout the long history of the Purple Tower, someone must have been dedicated to the task of materializing illusions. Perhaps desperately so. By any means necessary.

I vaguely know that Yuna was the result of that. And that it left her with terribly painful memories.

I gently stroked Yuna's head.

"...?"

Yuna looked up at me in surprise. Her expression said, "I like being petted, but why?" I brushed it off as nothing.

We first moved to the prison. Rescuing the hostages was our priority.

They didn't seem to care much about the health management of their sacrifices, as the prison environment was quite terrible. It was a dirty, smelly space. Dried bloodstains remained, unwashed.

There were only two people in the prison. A small boy and the teary-eyed gay man.

I massaged the neck of the priest on guard duty to put him into a deep sleep, then dispelled the illusion magic covering our group to reveal our identities. Then I greeted them cheerfully.

"It's been a while, Teary-eyed Gay."

"...?"

After pondering my words for a moment, veins popped on his neck. Then he protested with a slightly indignant voice.

"When there's an Ascension-level monster, how could I not get caught, customer? Isn't it the client's fault for assigning 2-star personnel to this kind of job...?"

"I've defeated Ascension-level fighters without reaching Ascension myself."

"...You haven't changed at all."

While I was needling him, Little Evil God seemed somewhat hesitant. It was like she was frozen by the pangs of conscience creeping up on her.

The boy did look pitiful, all dirty and gaunt.

Was she thinking that she shouldn't have taken money they didn't need, that she should have just healed the boy's sister without being petty?

To give her a boost of courage, I patted Little Evil God's back and pushed her forward.

"...Hey!"

"Come on, talk quickly. We need to sweep away the Queen's remnants and go to the Hero Festival. What's so difficult that you're hesitating?"

"Acting like it's not your problem...!"

After huffing like that, perhaps embarrassed by her own hesitation, she strode up to the iron bars of the prison and pressed her face against them.

"...Hey. I kept my promise."

"...Thank you. I prayed hard every night. It seems the Goddess heard my wish this time. So, does that mean my sister can be healed...?"

"Yeah. The crazy mage here fixed her up nicely. Now we just need to get you out of here in one piece. Come on out."

"Th-that's a relief..."

The boy smiled. How could I describe that smile? He seemed overjoyed that all his suffering had been rewarded. He got up and kept bowing his head to us.

Then his eyes met mine.

Black hair and red eyes. Two women by my side. Based on that, he seemed to recall the fact-based slander he'd heard from Little Evil God.

Things like how Little Evil God had become a magical experiment subject, or how various parts of her body had been toyed with. The boy carefully asked to make sure.

"Are you the... the Purple Tower Master's top disciple...?"

"Yeah, that's me. Why?"

"......"

He's hesitating.

Even without using magic or concentrating, I could clearly see what he was thinking. He was probably debating whether to ask me "please don't bully Little Evil God."

Along with the anxiety that if I got angry at such a request, I might curse his sister...

I crouched down to match the boy's eye level and smiled lecherously. Like a perverted mage with maniacal tastes.

"That's right. I did all that."

"What?"

"Everything you're thinking is correct. Little Evil God is scheduled to be used in my magical experiments tonight too. So, is there something you want to say to me?"

"......"

Can you find the courage for Little Evil God who saved you and your family?

"Hey, stop it!"

"Ack."

Little Evil God kicked me as I was crouching. Seems like she wanted me to stop teasing. I deliberately fell over with an exaggerated reaction.

"'Dragon Scale.'"

Creak, creak! Screech!

Little Evil God's arms were covered in black scales. She grabbed the iron bars with both hands and applied force. The bars bent with an unpleasant sound, creating a gap.

"Come out."

"Ah, okay..."

The boy awkwardly came out of the prison. The teary-eyed gay man, left alone inside, looked sadly at the gap between the bars that seemed too narrow for him to pass through.

He glanced around hoping someone would open the prison door for him (Yuna tried to help, but she had no means to bend the iron bars except through Sublimation).

In the end, he had to squeeze through the narrow gap with great effort.

"Now then... Darklez, please take these two and join up with the senior. The Tower Master, Little Evil God, and I will clean this place up and leave."

"Don't we need a vanguard?"

"With the Tower Master here, we'll be fine. Besides, isn't this just an Ascension-level opponent?"

"Then, yes. I'll return. But please don't get even a scratch. If you come back unharmed, I'll tell you a dirty joke."

The last part was said in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible, but I had cast about three spells on my ears and even turned on a recording spell to catch and engrave every word.

This is life. I moved forward in high spirits, motivated by the spell of promise that Darklez had cast.

"Let's go for a no-hit clear!"

"...You perverted idiot, seriously!"

Yuna grumbled a bit.

===============================================================

It should be called an underground temple.

A space that could hold about thirty people, with a platform about ankle-high at the end of the wall. On it was an altar lavishly decorated with all kinds of gold leaf.

On the altar was a plate made of gold, containing the liquefied information of the goddess.

Candles placed around provided light, but it wasn't enough since no sunlight reached this underground space. It was dark. The shadows changed shape with every flicker of the candles.

About ten priests were praying toward the gold plate from below the platform, while a skinny high priest who appeared to be their leader was conducting the service on the platform.

"The day of our goddess's resurrection is not far off. It's coming soon, everyone."

He wore a headdress so heavily decorated it must have weighed down his neck, and what he had draped all over his body was surprisingly worldly. There wasn't a single spot without gold.

Seeing the priests repeatedly bowing their heads toward the gold plate, my desire to tease Little Evil God completely faded. Did they want to decorate what they worship so much? To make others look up to it?

How very sacred.

"Tsk."

"Tsst."

I clicked my tongue with a disapproving expression. Strangely, I heard what sounded like someone failing to click their tongue at the same time.

When I turned my head, it was Little Evil God. She was also looking at me, searching for the source of the simultaneous tongue-clicking sound. Seeing this, Yuna muttered.

"...You two are really alike."

"No, we're not."

"We are not!"

How am I similar to someone who can't even click her tongue properly or snap her fingers?

Noticing our commotion, they began turning toward us one by one. The skinny high priest also stared in our direction.

Our eyes met. His gaze was more focused than I expected. Not the eyes of someone with clouded reason.

"We have uninvited guests. What brings you here?"

"I need to retrieve the contents of that gold plate."

"Coveting the sacred relic of the goddess is blasphemous."

"That's not the goddess's property. It's the remnant of the Succubus Queen. If you didn't know, surrender with your hands up now. I'll consider that as a mitigating factor."

The high priest said firmly.

"I know. The one who whispered to me every night was her, not the broken goddess."

"...You knew? So you knowingly believed in someone impersonating the goddess? Was the pleasure in your dreams so good that you'd worship a succubus as a goddess?"

"Brother. Please don't insult my faith. I decided to serve her with righteous belief. Unlike the broken goddess, she had a grand vision."

"The goddess is broken, you say."

Hearing my repetition, the high priest's expression twisted in anguish. It seemed like the weight of betrayed long-held beliefs had left a wound on him.

Bang, bang, bang!

The high priest repeatedly struck the altar with his fist.

"Yes. The goddess is broken. The great will of heaven should be in a high place where everyone can look up to it. But the goddess didn't do that..."

"Hmm."

"Compared to her, what about the Queen? She wanted to stand tall above the goddess's position. That noble intention was enough for me to devote my heart to following her."

I remember the Queen's speech. According to what I heard from Darklez, she talked about escaping from fate. But unlike such grandiose words...

In the end, what the Queen did was repeatedly capture and devour people to fill her stomach.

What she wanted to do was satisfy her evil desire to climb to an omnipotent position and toy with others. It was a goal no better than the goddess—if anything, it was uglier.

That high priest must know this too. He knew but still believed. Because he didn't like the goddess.

I came to a conclusion.

"You just... wanted to believe in something impressive. You liked having someone, some great being, right above your head."

"Such guys don't even qualify as toys, MadMa. They're no fun."

Disqualified as a human and disqualified as a toy. I'll dispose of you.

Clatter!

As Little Evil God stepped forward with her arms covered in dragon scales, I prepared to chant a spell. Yuna also lightly raised her fingers.

At that moment, the high priest said something unexpected.

"But even so, I believe in the broken goddess."

"...?"

What nonsense is this? After thoroughly insulting the goddess, now he says this?

As I stared blankly in disbelief, Little Evil God tensed up even more. She warned me.

"Hey, MadMa. This guy knows something. He's going to use divine power."

"What? No way?"

The goddess isn't a sucker or an idiot. Would she grant divine power after he spewed all that front-yard trash talk? He even committed heretical worship and all sorts of evil deeds.

If I were a god, I would have struck him with divine punishment immediately.

Fwooosh—!

However, divine power ridiculously poured out from the high priest's body. And then.

"Inherited Ascension - 'Gear: Freeze.'"

"Wait, what?!"

"Why, why can he use it...?!"

Yuna and I let out shrill cries of surprise.

From behind the high priest, bluish ice appeared, spreading in all directions like tree branches. The clicking sound of gears could also be heard. It was the power of the goddess.

What is this? It's not like he was deceived like a corrupt holy knight. How can someone who switched to the Queen because he disliked the goddess still use divine power?

This is no laughing matter.

If heaven's net were this loose, they wouldn't have been able to build such a large religious following in the first place. So that means:

2. The goddess is broken for whatever reason. To the extent that she grants divine power even to lip service believers.