Chapter 79-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

 "What? You're quitting just like that? It makes us Divine Academy students look as cowardly and hypocritical as the Sei Cur—"

The silver-haired boy stood on the steps with his hands spread, his expression exaggerated as he looked at his teammates in disbelief.

"As future members of the clergy, it's meaningless for us to participate in such a secular competition in the first place. Is it necessary to continue?"

"Let's be honest, several students died in the last incident, and the Sei Curia has been in turmoil lately. As the team captain, can you guarantee our safety?"

"Yin Kong, find someone else who wants to participate. The competition is by academy anyway, so you're allowed to swap out members."

The boys in white school uniforms avoided his gaze, their words agitated, showing Yin Kong no courtesy at all.

Ultimately, Yin Kong was from the Middle District. If it weren't for his S-rank talent, he wouldn't even be qualified to lead them.

Yin Kong watched his teammates leave heartlessly. He shrugged and muttered to himself, "Alright, I expected this, but it still hurts a bit."

His gaze shifted to the girl leaning against the doorway. Bai Muqing stood motionless, almost blending in with the white wall.

Yin Kong suddenly chuckled. "Now that all the irrelevant people are gone, it's just the two of us."

Only then did Bai Muqing's vacant eyes blink, like a statue coming to life. She spoke, "What do you mean?"

Yin Kong jumped down from the steps and approached Bai Muqing. With a flip of his hand, a thick stack of cards appeared in his palm.

"Want to give it a try? See what fate the rest of the competition holds."

Bai Muqing frowned slightly. She had never liked Yin Kong's little tricks, but this time, she felt a strange curiosity.

Perhaps it was because Ye Zheng had introduced too many variables lately, leaving her mind in a state of confusion.

She casually drew a card from Yin Kong's hand. Just as she was about to turn it over, it was snatched away.

The cards in Yin Kong's hand vanished. He was bent over, clutching his chest with one hand, breathing in large, ragged gasps as if suffering a sudden illness. His other hand held the card he had taken back from her.

"Are you sick?" Bai Muqing asked, then immediately realized the ambiguity in her words. "I mean..."

"Haha, I am a bit sick, actually. You should go now. Just let me be alone for a bit."

Yin Kong straightened up. Aside from his pale face, he seemed fine. Bai Muqing couldn't figure out what he was thinking. She nodded at him and obligingly turned to leave.

"Wait, Bai Muqing!"

Yin Kong's voice called out from behind her. He asked urgently, "What were you thinking about just now when you drew the card?"

Bai Muqing paused for a moment, then replied, "Nothing."

Once he was completely alone, Yin Kong sat on the steps of the church entrance. He took out the card.

On the card, a deity in black robes, their face obscured, stood upon the corpse of a great dragon, holding a gleaming golden sword high.

This image was familiar to everyone in the empire. It told the story of the God of Hope slaying the demon dragon, thereafter becoming the eternal guardian deity of the empire.

However, in all related artwork, the God of Hope was always depicted in white robes, Their hair the same golden color as the divine sword, holy and valiant.

Not like the figure on this card, dressed in black robes with long black hair whipping about like a storm. It was as if They had just pulled the sword from the dragon, or perhaps as if They were about to deliver a world-shattering blow to a decadent world, Their posture like a calm, impending thunderbolt.

Truly... an ominous deity.

Yin Kong's chest still ached. He couldn't tell if it was the backlash from his ability or the sheer excitement of having glimpsed a heaven-shaking secret.

Who is it? Is It the next god to bring hope, or the next world-ending monster?

"Ye Zheng, you stay behind."

"Just like how you treated me in the 'Blood Flower' Incident. Do it again."

Ye Zheng moved unhurriedly. A breeze passed through the stained-glass windows, making her long, loose black hair dance. Strands of hair veiled the hint of gloom in her eyes.

"Crown Prince, please tell me, what exactly is the problem? What kind of help do you need?"

"For my own safety, I cannot approach you any further."

Ye Zheng stopped at a certain distance, looking at the not-so-distant Sykes. He was slumped over the table, his face hidden. His right hand gripped the corner of the table so tightly that the well-wrapped black glove was shattering inch by inch.

Hearing her words, Sykes lifted his face from his arms. Damp golden hair stuck to his forehead, and his golden eyes locked onto the only living thing in the room.

"Saintess."

"I heard you save people regardless of their background or the danger involved, a true Saintess. It turns out you're just like that Wen Jian, a hypocrite seeking undeserved fame."

Ye Zheng lowered her head and let out a small laugh, then looked up at the Crown Prince, whose face was growing darker.

"Sykes, do you need my salvation too?"

The black glove that insulated his power completely disintegrated into ash. Sykes slammed both hands on the table and shot to his feet. The long table instantly shattered into pieces.

"Ye Zheng, you dare?"

You dare address me by my name? You dare to boast about giving the Crown Prince salvation? You dare to treat the future master of the empire with the disdain of a superior?

Ye Zheng understood his rage, but she continued speaking.

"Because this is your request, how could I dare not respond?"

"Do you know how I save people? If it were just stitching up wounds, that would be a physician, not the Saintess of the empire."

Braving Sykes's furious aura, Ye Zheng slowly approached him, stepping on the gradually cracking floor.

She slowly opened her arms, a gesture like the Holy Mother welcoming an archangel, her tone growing more and more spirited.

"A person is a complex entity. Some lack health, some lack spirit, some lack the qualification to be human. So, I use my ability to heal people, to inspire people... to kill people."

"Whether they are good or evil, I can grant them a just salvation!"

"Now, Sykes, you tell me, what do you lack? Do you need my healing, my inspiration, or my kil—ugh!"

Sykes could no longer bear it. His golden eyes were bloodshot, the whites completely gone. A frantic power erupted from him, shattering even the stained-glass windows into a pile on the floor.

He let out a low roar and flashed forward, attempting to strangle the arrogant girl before him.

The girl had anticipated this and nimbly dodged his right hand. Sykes's eyes darkened, and his iron-like left hand seized the opportunity to grasp her fragile neck. His grip tightened, ready to enjoy the Saintess's dying expression.

Suddenly, he felt a tightness around his own neck. The sensation of suffocation made him subconsciously release his hold.

Sykes looked down. A chain of flowing water had, at some point, been looped around his neck.

He grinned, a flash of contempt in his bloodshot golden eyes, and grabbed the chain with his right hand.

It didn't break as he had expected. So he pulled again. The water chain finally reacted—it tightened abruptly, nearly choking him.

The veins on his right hand pulsed. His face gradually contorted, and the aura around him grew even more violent, like a predator being toyed with by its prey.

The next moment, however, the prey pulled the chain. Sykes was forced closer, and he saw a cluster of excited flames dancing in the Saintess's calm, dark eyes.

Soon, the world spun before his eyes. He was restrained from behind, slammed to the ground, half his face pressed against the cracked floor, the other end of the chain around his neck held firmly in the Saintess's hand.

Restraint, powerlessness, humiliation... all unbearable emotions surged up. Sykes's vision was already a sea of red.

He could easily break free from this amount of force. He was about to do just that, to destroy everything around him that had witnessed his disgrace, when he suddenly heard a gentle voice from above.

"As you wished, I have repeated what I did to you last time."

"Now please be quiet. There is only one last step."

Hearing the Saintess's soft, soothing voice, Sykes momentarily pulled back from his frantic thoughts. Before he could react, a moist, itching sensation in his ear canal made him fall completely silent.

A small stream of water trickled down his neck, crawled up his cheek, and flowed into his ear canal.

"This is the softest passage to the brain. Please bear with it for a moment," Ye Zheng said methodically. She had once again become the polite and gentle Saintess, as if her earlier arrogance and defiance belonged to another person.

The ear is the quickest way to the brain, and therefore... the quickest way to kill a person.

Sykes's body is made entirely of Dragon Bone, and she is already very skilled at taming the power of the Dragon Bone. This means that by approaching the out-of-control Sykes, both the risk and the potential power are multiplying!

The Sykes just now had clearly lost control of the Dragon Bone's power. The power that was originally contained within his body had spilled out, so much so that even she could easily seize it.

Ye Zheng stared at the now quiet Sykes and slowly closed her eyes, sensing the information [Stream] was bringing her.

It was still the same as last time. Apart from the power being more out of control, she found nothing else.

Ye Zheng opened her eyes, a hint of disappointment flashing through them. She could only use [Stream] to soothe the rampaging power in Sykes's body and calm him down, just like last time.

She withdrew the water chain and poked Sykes. He rolled over onto his back. The blood had faded from his golden eyes, and he looked to have returned to normal.

"Crown Prince, how do you feel?"

"...Useless. I didn't remember anything more."

Ye Zheng raised an eyebrow. What did Sykes want to remember? What had she made him remember last time that caused such a strange change in him?

Sykes didn't elaborate. He calmly got up from the floor and straightened his messy clothes. Without a glance at Ye Zheng, he walked straight to the meeting room door, then stopped.

"Saintess, as you said, can someone like me truly be saved?" he asked.

"And what kind of person might you be?" Ye Zheng said with a smile.

"Cruel, evil, born with original sin, someone who shouldn't have been born... I mean, even such a villain would not be abandoned by the gods."

Sykes, his back to her, let out a cold laugh. "Such a person would only be judged by the gods, killed, and thrown into hell."

"To be judged, to be killed, to be thrown into hell, how is that not a form of salvation? Unless the gods wouldn't even deign to spare you a glance. That is true abandonment."

"Only by being watched over, cared for by the gods, will They see past the restless body to your struggling soul. Only then will you be granted the chance to be judged, to be killed."

Sykes's hand suddenly gripped the doorframe. He seemed to want to turn his head but forcefully restrained himself.

"How absurd! The people of the Sei Curia are always so annoying."

He strode away impatiently, but the girl's voice from behind him still lingered in his ears.

"Please come find me whenever you are in need. The Saintess does not ask about one's background, nor does she care for good or evil. She only grants each person a just salvation."

The stained-glass window depicting the God of Hope was shattered. Ye Zheng stood quietly by it, the sunlight plating her body, as if she were a legend from the stained glass herself.

In the Lower District, inside a certain remote, abandoned factory.

"My lady, you are a saint, The Godsent who will lead us to overthrow all conspiracies and injustices! You are the true incarnation of the legendary God of Hope!"

"Annoy me again and I'll kill you all!"

"You're all so annoying! The one I want to kill is the Pope, so all you ants, get lost!"

Inside the dusty factory, men and women were gathered, trampling on a floor littered with fragments of Anping Vouchers. The Pope's smile on the paper scraps was torn to pieces, stomped black.

Hearing the golden-haired girl's threatening voice, the people quieted down, until someone shouted, "Kill the Pope!"

A chorus of "Kill the Pope" rose up. A trace of interest finally appeared in Sierra's eyes as she sat on a tall piece of metal equipment.

"Take down the Sei Curia?" Sierra shouted to the people below, testing them.

"Take down the Sei Curia!"

"Take down the Sei Curia!"

The people's voices grew more excited and fervent as they waved their hands fanatically.

As if she had found a fun new toy, Sierra clapped her hands and shouted, "Destroy the empire!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment, as if shocked by Sierra's words. But soon, an even more excited light burst forth from their eyes.

"Destroy the empire!"

The youth burst into laughter, thinking for the second time that the outside world did have some interesting things after all.

At the same moment, in a tavern in the Lower District.

A youth in black robes lifted the curtain and walked into the deepest part of the small tavern. A pair of green eyes smiled as he looked at his teammates, who were drinking juice and excitedly discussing something.

The youth leaned against the wall and knocked on the wooden table, producing a few dull thuds.

"I'm here."

"Zhao Mei!"

The girl with the orange high ponytail turned to see the familiar figure and shouted his name loudly.

The members of the Cloud-Soaring Squad stood up, their faces filled with joy. The last teammate had returned. It was time to get back into the rhythm of the tense and exciting competition.

Author's Note:

Please don't fight, everyone! Let's have peaceful discussions! I know this book can easily stir up arguments, so I've been holding back from reading the comments much. Today, I took a peek at the backend and discovered that most of my ten thousand-plus comments are from arguments... and I was so happy back then that I took a screenshot to commemorate ten thousand comments.

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