Chapter 96 - Priestess (2)

Because he couldn't temporarily «Disassimilate», Hyun decided to show Louise another thing.

Whoosh-

Hyun used «One Second Absorption» on Louise's body.

As a blue light rolled over her body, Louise became surprised and moved her shoulders.

"This Magic...!"

Louise remembered it.

"This... I miss it a lot! You're the second person I’ve who can use it!"

"No, I'm probably the first one. Who else would use a skill like this…?"

"What does that mean?"

"Louise, haven't you realized it yet?"

Hyun took out a paper he'd saved in his inventory.

Although it was a letter Louise had left for him years ago, it had been only a month since he'd read it.

The moment Louise realized what the paper was, her eyes began shaking.

"This..."

Louise suddenly asked with a louder voice.

Hyun felt expectant while looking at Louise's shaking eyes.

"Do... you know someone named Hyun?"

"I'm Hyun..."

Frustrated, Hyun told Louise the truth, but it seemed like she was having a hard time understanding it.

Hyun took out The Blood Fairy's Cape, The Ring of the Executioner, and the bag with gold Louise had left for him.

—It was all the stuff Louise had left in the secret marketplace.

"Oh... Those are...!"

"Have you finally realized it's me?"

Louise had finally understood the situation.

The person who had used that scary fire skill in front of her was Hyun, the one she'd been thinking about.

He had really come.

Louise couldn't believe it.

"Hyun, are you really Hyun...? Why did you suddenly turn into a girl? Is this also one of the abilities of the so-called users...?"

Oof...

Hyun grabbed his head at the words of the still innocent Louise. He activated a skill.

«Assimilation».

The moment he used it, Hyun's soul went from Ain's body to Louise’s.

Louise had previously accepted for Hyun to use his skill on her, and it seemed like he still had control priority.

Both souls began talking inside Louise’s body.

「Now, do you believe me?」

"Yes, it was this feeling...!"

「I'm sorry, I can't show myself here for a few reasons.」

It was Hyun's voice as Louise remembered it.

"It's really you...!"

She could also feel that it was like she couldn’t move her own body.

The reason was that the control priority of «Assimilation» still hadn't been canceled.

The first moment she'd experienced it, she was scared. She thought that maybe a demon had taken control of her body. But she had missed even that unnatural feeling.

"Hyun... You really came."

Tears started to flow from Louise's eyes and drip down her chin.

Melancholy? Happiness? Or maybe another type of feeling...? She also couldn't understand why she was crying.

"I never thought you'd be able to find this place..."

That skill shared the target’s body state.

Without realizing the weird gaze Ain was giving at him, Hyun had been infected a little bit with Louise's feelings.

—That's why it took more time than expected.

—That's why Ain had to remain still while Hyun was «Assimilated» into a girl she'd never seen.

* * *

While Hyun and Ain were moving through the temple's interior, Radiette met with Maria.

"So it was really you."

Just like Radiette, Maria was a Heavenly Being famous among people.

She looked like the definition of someone noble and holy—she was probably the closest one to the people's image of a Heavenly Being.

According to rumors, her personality was as benevolent as her appearance.

If Radiette had distanced himself from the world, Maria was a Heavenly Being who was very interested in it.

"I never thought you'd be on Iluna."

Maria smiled at Radiette's mumbles.

"I can be anywhere. Since there are people everywhere."

While they’d still been in Heavens, Radiette and Maria were what you would call friends.

Obviously, their relationship had never evolved into anything else.

Radiette had a person he loved, and Maria didn't know how to love only one person.

The reason why these two with opposing personalities became friends was probably that they were interested in how the other one lived.

Because of their opposing opinions, there had been times when they’d discussed an entire day away.

"Even after hundreds of years, you're still the same. Are you here to help the humans?"

Maria nodded while smiling.

Radiette laughed at her simple answer.

"It must be comfortable being you. You're so consistent that you probably don't need to think a lot."

"Oh, but I also think lots of different things."

"You still don't know how to take a joke."

Their past selves would've probably spent hours talking about lots of non-important things.

But right then, they didn't have the luxury of doing that.

It was Radiette who spoke first.

"This battle, the Heavens won't be able to win it."

"Why is that?"

"It's simple. The difference in power is too overwhelming."

Radiette still remembered the sight he'd seen from Iluna’s atmosphere.

—The army of the Abyss was waiting with their mouths opened for the sky to fall on the gate.

When he thought about it, it was good that the demon had suddenly forced them to crash-land the shuttle.

If it weren't that, everyone there would've died as soon as they landed on Iluna at the hands of the Abyss's army.

"Except for this city, they've taken control of everything... Even if there are two Heavenly Beings, the result will probably be the same."

"It isn't just Heavenly Beings."

"What?"

"What if there was an Angel...? Wouldn't the situation turn 180 degrees?"

"Is that true?"

Radiette had a serious expression on his face.

Summoning an Angel wasn't something you could do at any time.

"I can't believe it."

For an Angel to be involved, one of two things had to happen.

—The first one was Ego.

For an overwhelming existence like a God to appear, that entity had to consume part of its Ego.

But that option wasn't very effective.

The damage the Great Demon of Deception could exercise was damaging the shuttle.

The second one was Empathy.

It was getting Empathy through «Pray».

Usually, you needed a lot more Empathy to summon a high-ranking Angel.

"Isn't the number of Priests too low for summoning an Angel?"

Radiette pinpointed the problem very precisely.

To summon a low-ranking Angel, they would probably need thousands of high-ranking Priests. But there, there were only about a hundred of them.

With only that much Empathy, there was no way they'd be able to summon an Angel.

"The Priests aren't going to «Pray»," Maria said while smiling.

"We have a Priestess."

"A Priestess...?"

"Yes, the Priestess will «Pray». If the rest support her, we should be able to summon an Angel."

Not every «Prayer» was the same.

The «Pray» of a Priest who had prayed for his entire life was worth a hundred times that of a normal person. Then, the «Pray» of a high-ranking Priest was worth more than a thousand times.

Also, there were some people who'd received the love of Transcendents from the moment they were born.

—Those were the ones called Priestesses.

Was it that their voice immediately reached the ears of Transcendents?

There had been cases throughout history of Priestesses who'd been able to summon angels by themselves.

Of course, the abilities of the Priestesses that had appeared throughout history differed greatly.

"How skillful is the Priestess?"

Maria thought a little bit before answering Radiette's question.

"I'm not sure. After I brought her here, I've never seen her praying."

"A Priestess that doesn't «Pray»? That means you don't know her capabilities!"

"No, I do know that. After she started to live here, she received three oracles. Isn't that amazing? She didn't even «Pray» but received an oracle."

"What the..."

"I'm not sure, but I think her abilities are close to those of a Saintess."

"A Saintess?!"

"I'm glad I brought that kid to the Heavens. What would've happened if that kid fell into the Abyss's hands?"

Radiette was still suspicious.

There had been only one recorded case of a Saintess throughout history.

If what Maria said was true, that meant all his worries had been for nothing.

With the presence of just the Saintess, the course of the battle could change.

* * *

[You've cleared the quest 'In Search of Louise!']

[You've canceled the main event, 'The Darkness Buried in the Sky'!]

[You've gained 20 skill points!]

[Your tendency is getting closer to a deeper Abyss. (Current: -91)]

Hyun received quite a lot of message notifications, but he decided to think about the details later on.

Hyun talked with Louise through the soul while Ain was looking on silently.

Although it had been just a couple of weeks for him, it had been more than five years for her.

Louise's conversation was getting longer.

"Fufu, that's how I reached this temple. And at the same time, I received a job."

「Priestess?」

"That's right. Isn't it cool? Even I have something I can do right."

Hyun knew what a Priestess was.

There was no way he wouldn't know about the people who had a big role in battles throughout history.

But he had a hard time believing Louise's words.

「Weren't you an Angel?」

Hyun remembered the footage he'd seen of Louise at the end of the Evil's Seed Dungeon.

In that video, he’d seen Louise losing her wings and being dyed by the Abyss.

As Hyun told her that, she tilted her head.

"Me, an Angel...? Hyun, what kind of nonsense are you talking about...?"

It didn't matter how much he explained to her. It seemed like Louise didn't understand.

At that moment, Hyun remembered something, and then he changed the question a little bit.

「Louise... Do you remember your childhood?」

"Childhood… What ages are you referring to?"

「Between seven and eight.」

"There probably isn't anyone who remembers something that happened at such ages. Right?"

「Doesn't everyone remember that...? How old are you?」

"Fifteen... I don't remember things that happened more than eight years ago."

After talking with her, Hyun learned something.

—Louise didn't remember her childhood.

She thought it was normal that one didn't remember incidents that happened when they were eight.

'There's something…'

He began feeling a headache.

Had someone done something to hide Louise's past?

Or maybe she'd lost her memories after suffering an accident.

That would probably explain why she didn't remember her childhood and why she'd forgotten that she was an Angel.

'I think she used to be an Angel.'

Hyun decided to think of Louise as an Angel for the moment.

—An Angel who had lost her childhood memories.

Usually, Angels didn't «Pray» because doing so went against their own ego.

But what if one lost their memories?

Shouldn't an Angel that had forgotten its identity be able to «Pray»?

Also, even if she'd lost her memories, her Empathy as a Transcendent probably couldn't be compared to a human's.

That meant that the effect of her «Pray» probably couldn't be compared to a normal human's.

This was probably why Louise thought she was a Priestess.

'Although there are some loose ends... I guess this makes sense for now.'

Hyun made a provisional judgment.

Louise was an Angel who had lost her memories.

While «Assimilated», Hyun opened Louise's status window.

After seeing the details, he smiled bitterly.

Louise (Lv. 100)

HP: 3000/3000

Mana: 3240/3240

Job: (???)

[Strength: 2(+3)] [Agility: 21(+9)] [Vitality: 24(+6)] [Magical Power: 190(+137)]

[«Steps of the Wind» Lv.4(+1)] - <+Open>

[«Slight Fever» Lv.1(+1)] - <+Open>

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