"Brother, I can't shut up. I've got this premonition that if I don't talk now, I might never get the chance again."
"Trust me, brother, we can get out of here. No, we can even take control of this body! When that happens, everything blocking us here will belong to us!"
"That's what I love about your confidence, brother. You can even fool yourself."
"Don't give up hope just yet. We still have a trump card."
With that, he glanced back at Furnites, who hovered there motionless.
Clad in knight's armor, Ancestor Allen and the armored figure composed of the Sea God's Armor and the Eye of the Dark Moon stood stationary.
Karen's instructions before leaving for Muri's side had been to hold these two back, so their task was very clear.
However, when the two brothers—clad in snakescale armor and wielding fanged blades—initiated an attack, Ancestor Allen and the armored figure moved to meet them.
The four clashed in an instant.
"Brother, they're much weaker than we thought!"
"That's because they aren't going all out. They're just stalling us!"
The fight could only be described as dry and tedious. With one side purely defending and the other purely attacking, there were hardly any flashy techniques.
Ancestor Allen and the armored figure took a relentless beating, absorbing damage over and over. But this was Karen's conscious space after all; here, they enjoyed the empowerment of Karen's core self.
Consequently, they could endure such a war of attrition with ease.
Not far off, the Rubik's Cube continued to rotate automatically, calculating whenever the enemy intended to use a lethal strike and issuing timely warnings.
This kept the damage taken by Ancestor Allen and the armored figure well within manageable limits, slowly simmering the two python brothers over a low flame.
Though the two brothers clearly held the upper hand in combat, they grew increasingly desperate. First, victory and escape seemed endlessly out of reach; second, the longer this stalemate dragged on, the deeper their dread of this body's master became.
His core consciousness wasn't even here, yet these automatic mechanisms alone were enough to intercept them. If his core consciousness returned, wouldn't their chances be nonexistent?
"Brother, we can't keep fighting like this! How do I feel like we won't outlast them?"
"Brother, get ready. I'll make an opening for you. Break out at all costs."
"Thank you, brother."
After another flurry of consecutive attacks, one of them reverted to the form of a giant python, coiling its head and tail toward the armored figure and Ancestor Allen.
The other immediately opened a passage.
Bang! Bang!
The python took heavy damage and crashed down, but watching his brother enter the corridor and escape, he was satisfied.
Yet in the very next moment, his brother's figure walked out from the massive gate—the one that had stood motionless, shaped exactly like the Gate of Samsara but devoid of any aura of reincarnation.
"Didn't you get out?!"
"Yeah, brother, I clearly left! Why am I back inside?"
"It seems this place is completely sealed off."
The younger brother walked over to the elder, and the two fused once again into the python, though the head belonging to the elder brother now looked thoroughly listless.
"Brother, do you think we can surrender? Let's just sign a soul contract with him."
"You're willing..."
"Yeah, I'm willing now. Aren't we forced into a corner with no other way out?"
"Your willingness doesn't count. Is he willing?"
"..."
"I can sense that he never had any intention of signing a contract with us. A contract, at least, maintains some equality, even if he would have the upper hand and become the master once we left the inner-door world.
"Yet now, even if we were willing to become his slaves, he probably wouldn't want us. Only now do I realize that when we first came in, the way he looked at us was identical to the way we looked at him. Do you remember what you were thinking when we first entered?"
"I was thinking about eating him!"
"Yeah."
"Brother, you mean he wants to eat the two of us?!!"
"I don't know, but that's what it feels like."
When the python stopped attacking and no longer sought to escape, Ancestor Allen and the armored figure also ceased their movements, standing quietly where they were.
The python slithered back before Furnites.
"Brother, are you really planning to do this?"
"No matter what, we helped her survive until now. We are essentially one with her anyway. I think she will ultimately choose to forgive us—or at least, she won't eat us."
"You decide, brother. I'll listen to you."
The python merged Furnites into its body. Immediately, the third head grew back.
Next, the two outer heads began to shrink, while the central head began to swell.
The two brothers started pouring the soul power under their control into that central head.
After a long time,
both brothers had become incomparably weak, the two faces inside the snake mouths filled with sheer exhaustion.
"Brother, I feel so weak. I even feel cold."
"You'll get used to it. Perhaps this was where we belonged all along. Come, call for her awakening with me. Do you still remember the words I taught you to memorize?"
"I remember."
"Noble Lady Furnites, your servants, the Jamie brothers, have fulfilled your command, preserving the spark of your consciousness until this day. Now, please open your eyes. The time for your awakening has arrived!"
The woman's face within the central serpent head slowly opened its eyes.
Looking around and sensing the dense aura of Order permeating the space, a smile curved at the corners of her mouth. She had awakened; she was grateful, and she murmured devoutly:
"Praise be to the God of Order!"
...
Gaitanbert's fists hammered incessantly against the final barrier shielding Muri.
Normally, this process would have taken quite some time, as Muri, who still held onto hope, would not readily give up.
Yet Gaitanbert seemed eager to shorten the ordeal and inhabit his new body as soon as possible. With a furious roar, the shield and short blade—which had hitherto hovered there peacefully—flew straight into Gaitanbert's hands.
This sight made Muri's eyes blaze with fury and despair as he lay on the ground!
Earlier, because his body had been bound by the token, he could understand why the shield and blade hadn't helped him ward off external intrusion. But now, they had actively fallen into the intruder's grasp.
Gaitanbert raised the shield and smashed it downward.
Bang!
A dent quickly formed.
Immediately, Gaitanbert took the short blade and began to pry along the dent.
"Do you know? The moment I saw this shield and short blade, I had a guess. You must be my descendant, though not of the direct line. One of your ancestors must have married a woman of my descent, inheriting part of my bloodline. Then, using my bloodline as a foundation, they stimulated and molded the belief system belonging to your family. Although it bears the brand of Order, I can still smell that scent belonging to me.
"I don't know what you're resisting here. I can be considered your ancestor. Now that your ancestor needs your body, you dare refuse?
"You defy the divine decree of the church, and you defy the will of your ancestor. What on earth do you want to do? Just what do you think you are?
"Give up your resistance already! I have missed a body of flesh and blood for far, far too long. My soul was scarred ages ago; I crave a true vessel!
"Obey the summons of the church, obey the call of your ancestor, and obey the mission you were meant to inherit!"
Muri kept his teeth gritted and his eyes wide. Under extreme emotional trauma, people reached a threshold. Below that line, they would completely break down; above it, they would become tougher, more unyielding, and even more frantic!
A surge of furious rage churned within Muri's heart. He wanted to curse—he wanted to curse the church, curse his own bloodline. But the immense inertia ingrained in him by his lifelong upbringing left him at a loss for how to even begin uttering such curses.
"The doctrine of Order states: beneath Order, all are equal."
"Who? Who is speaking here?" Gaitanbert halted his actions and looked around. "Do you have another legacy inside your body?"
"The church gathers because of a shared faith. We can sacrifice ourselves for that faith, but only on the premise that such sacrifice fits the definition of that faith.
"Demanding that descendants offer up everything unconditionally simply because of your identity as a partial ancestor goes against the doctrine of Order. Because in the eyes of Order, you and he are equals. You have no right to demand that he sacrifice himself for you."
Karen stepped out from the shadows, his eyes calmly resting on Gaitanbert and the prone Muri.
"Oh, I see. You used a Mental Bridge Scroll between you. Heh, did you come to watch the execution? No, you should be inside your own body right now, watching how it's offered up, instead of wandering around in front of my eyes.
"Or did you realize you couldn't resist over there, so you gave up and came here?"
Karen shook his head. "They should be having quite a good time over on my end. I have plenty of attractions there."
Then, Karen swept his gaze over the shield and short blade.
He had to admit, having grown accustomed to the dazzling array of things inside his own body, looking at how clean and uncluttered someone else's conscious space was felt rather unusual.
"I'm curious about one thing: are you Gaitanbert?"
"Why ask such a bizarre, near-idiotic question?"
"Just curious. Curious why the esteemed Lord Gaitanbert, whose deeds are recorded on church murals, would turn out like this. It doesn't match the image I had envisioned of you at all."
"Of course I am Gaitanbert."
"No, you aren't. Strictly speaking, you are merely an existence that inherited part of Gaitanbert's memories. Who knows how many souls have joined the blend during that process? Gaitanbert's memories are more like a legacy here, like a tattooed emblem."
Gaitanbert roared, "I am Gaitanbert!"
"No one can withstand the erosion of time. Even gods fall repeatedly across the changing eras." A slight smile appeared at the corners of Karen's mouth. "So the church's higher-ups surely know that you aren't the original Gaitanbert and Furnites. In that case, what the higher-ups want is your memories."
"You talk too much."
Gaitanbert raised the short blade. Instead of slashing at Karen, he slashed straight down toward Muri.
Karen raised his hand. In an instant, chains of Order manifested, wrapping tightly around Muri. Gaitanbert's short blade struck the chains, producing a piercing shriek of soul energy.
"Just who are you?" Gaitanbert stared at Karen in utter shock. "Who on earth are you!"
Karen licked his lips. He was pondering how he might obtain their memories without establishing a contract.
That way, even if he didn't bring their souls back, the higher-ups wouldn't consider it a dereliction of duty.
If he ate them, could he break down their memories?
Just then, Gaitanbert charged forward again, this time aiming directly at Karen.
The short blade came slashing down.
Bang!
An elderly man wearing the divine robes of a Temple Elder appeared in front of Karen. The blade came down upon his shoulder without causing the slightest damage.
Instead, the terrifying soul force that rebounded back forced Gaitanbert to drop the short blade from his hand.
"A Temple Elder?"
Gaitanbert recognized the robes on the old man.
"You're a direct descendant of a Temple Elder? No, that can't be! Even for a direct descendant, a Temple Elder would never leave their bloodline essence inside your body!"
Gaitanbert's skepticism was entirely well-founded. A Temple Elder's family enjoyed the shelter of the Church of Order; generations of their family would receive the blessings of Order, enhancing their talents once they became priests of Order.
At the same time, supporting and nurturing outstanding juniors of the family was an elder's instinct; at their level, it was no longer seen as sacrifice, but as a pleasure.
Yet no one would ever be willing to pass down their own bloodline essence directly. That was their very foundation.
Although many elders might pay lip service—and some were truly willing in their hearts to give their lives for their descendants—Temple Elders possessed vastly prolonged lifespans, and their view of future generations had long since shifted.
It felt much like an entire town sharing a single surname; they felt less like close family and more like distant townsfolk.
Karen reached out and patted the nonexistent dust off Diss's shoulder. He knew that the old man before him was not truly Diss; he possessed no consciousness, serving only as a tangible manifestation of his family's belief system.
By the same token, the Eye of the Dark Moon, the Sea God's Armor, and everything else inside him lacked consciousness. They were more like ornaments worn upon his soul.
Even so, every time he saw his grandfather's figure, Karen felt a profound sense of warmth.
"Grandfather, please don't blame me when you wake up in the future for draping this divine robe over you. I know you think it's ugly, but I had no choice back then."
Diss had been qualified to step through the Door of Order and become an official Temple Elder, but he had refused to enter that place.
Yet now, because of his grandson, the family belief system had evolved, and the robe had been bestowed upon it.
Karen was well aware that this would inevitably affect his grandfather himself, for Diss was the "ancestor" of this belief system.
He figured that once his grandfather woke up in the future, he would be speechless to find so many extra things draped over himself after a single sleep.
Yet Karen had been compelled by circumstance. Under the suppression of the Throne of Order, everything had to be aligned with Order, or else it would be obliterated. Karen could never allow the family belief system his grandfather left him to be erased.
"I'm asking you a question! Who on earth are you!"
Karen didn't answer Gaitanbert. Instead, he opened his palm, and the short blade—which had hovered in place after dropping—was drawn toward him.
At the same time, Karen deliberately retracted the chains of Order previously covering Muri for protection.
Lying there, Muri took in the surrounding scene.
Gaitanbert sneered, "You can't wield that blade!"
Nothing here was truly a physical entity; they were quasi-concrete manifestations of symbolic existences.
This short blade and shield, this complete set, was the bloodline legacy of the Benda family. Because of it, the Benda family produced generations of Order warriors who served as captain of the guard for successive High Priests.
Sure enough, as the short blade approached Karen's palm, it radiated an unmistakable intent to resist. It even moved to attack Karen, attempting to sever his soul.
Several rays of blade light shot forth from the short blade, slashing toward Karen, only to be blocked entirely by Diss's figure.
"Heh."
"Heh... hahaha..."
Gaitanbert laughed first, but then he noticed that Muri, lying on the ground, had begun laughing as well.
Muri's laughter was laden with absurdity and self-mockery.
The bloodline legacy that should have been closest to him, that belonged to him, had first fallen into the intruder's hands to attack him, and then turned to attack the friend who had rushed to his aid.
This "inheritance" had dealt Muri a devastating blow.
His loyalty to the church, his faith in the God of Order, and his devotion to his family—the three pillars that had sustained his entire life until now—had all collapsed.
Karen wasn't the least bit surprised that he hadn't been able to pick up the blade. Gaitanbert carried the aura of an "ancestor," which was why he could wield it.
What was all this?
Within a belief system, what an ancestor gave you, he could also take away.
What about what a god gave you?
Was this truly the grace and shelter of gods and ancestors, or were they merely scattering seeds among future generations so they could harvest the fruit whenever they pleased once it sprouted and grew?
Was Diss's persistent refusal to condense a godhead rooted in his unwillingness to bear fruit for others?
Could this state of affairs be changed?
Karen couldn't help recalling his experience during God's Revelation, and then his recent experience beneath the Throne of Order.
A thought suddenly struck him, and this moment presented the perfect opportunity to test it.
Karen spoke: "Muri, can I trust you?"
Muri replied without hesitation, "Of course!"
"You said that when I establish a Whip of Order squad in the future, you'll join it. When that time comes, will you pledge your loyalty to me as your captain?"
"Of course!"
"Will you continue to believe in Order?"
"I..." Muri hesitated, falling silent.
"Order itself, not a god, nor a family. The doctrine of Order you have read. Are you willing to forever guide your path and restrain your conduct by the standards of an adherent of Order?"
"I... I am willing!"
"Good."
A chain of Order emerged beneath Karen's feet, coiling toward the short blade.
If Muri had lied earlier, if his loyalty and trust had been feigned, Karen's chains would never be able to capture the blade.
Clack!
The chains successfully enveloped the short blade, proving that Muri's earlier vow had been sincere and heartfelt.
Karen raised his hand and intoned in a low voice:
"Order—Purification!"
A dense power of Order surged through the chains into the short blade. At the same time, Muri sensed a black vortex forming over his chest.
Karen lowered his hand, and the chains receded. The short blade looked as though it had just been polished anew, gleaming pristine, and the runes of Order originally etched upon it shone even clearer and brighter.
Hum!
The short blade flew toward Muri, instantly severing the manacle-like mane around his legs. Muri scrambled to his feet and reached out; the short blade settled into his grasp.
The moment the hilt met his palm, he felt an intensely profound sense of intimacy, as though only now did it truly belong to him—and to him alone!
Muri turned his head in astonishment, looking at Karen, and asked, "What... what did you do?"
Karen smiled gently. "As you can see, just a purification."
"You just... purified it?"
"Yeah. I saw it was dirty, so I gave it a wash for you."
"Aaaarrrghhh!!!"
Attempting to summon the blade once more and receiving no response whatsoever, Gaitanbert suddenly realized something and let out a terrified shriek:
"You, you, you... no, no, no... My Lord... who in the world are you!"
Chapter 369