บท 120: Chapter 120: Behind the Curtain
Aboard the *Endurance*.
Calas Tiphon mustered his strength, carefully avoiding the crowd, and continued to approach the Untouchables' area.
The cacophony of voices filled his mind, layer upon layer, boiling into a void-like hum.
His eyelids grew heavy, limbs sluggish.
Accept yourself.
His heart whispered.
Accept your nature, a blend of alien and human.
Embrace Him, and He will grant you kindness and genuine care.
He will accept you, your legion, and the friends you care about.
Who is He?
Calas's consciousness clouded, struggling to ask.
You will meet His disciples.
Rest now, and when you awaken, you will encounter His disciples.
Just a short distance from the Untouchables' area, Calas could no longer hold on, collapsing—
A pair of hands caught him.
"What's going on?"
Gravekeeper Ger, in charge of managing the Untouchables, murmured. He had been closely monitoring this Barbarus recruit for days.
He noticed that Calas would find a secluded corner, seemingly trying to immerse himself in the repulsive aura of the Untouchables, without any malicious intent.
Not everyone liked being around the Untouchables. Most despised these soulless beings. Since being appointed as the Gravekeeper for the Untouchables, Ger hadn't seen a new face in a long time.
Ger immediately reported to his superior, Garo.
In the unique medical room of the Funeral Directors' Think Tank, silver-haired Fernando stood in the shadows next to the medical table.
Calas Tiphon lay there, undergoing an examination.
Apothecary Larton, responsible for the Think Tank's medical side, was scanning Calas.
This Terra-born apothecary looked young, with curly brown hair and light blue-green eyes, exuding a calm demeanor.
Outside, the corridor echoed with hurried footsteps.
Fernando blinked, signaling Larton to continue the examination, and stepped out to meet Garo, who had just returned from a mission.
Garo glanced at Fernando.
"The apothecary's current diagnosis is extreme fatigue."
"It's also related to his constant contact with the Untouchables."
"That's it?"
Garo's voice was cold.
"That's it."
Fernando closed his eyes, recalling his psychic examination of Calas. Apart from a slightly weakened and chaotic soul flame, there was no other significant issue.
Garo remained silent.
The Death Guard was about to face a tough battle, and he didn't want any complications now.
"What about the Legion Master?"
Fernando asked Garo.
"The Legion Master has been busy lately; we haven't informed him of this."
The two exchanged a knowing look.
In Hades' instructions, there wasn't an option for "do not kill."
If necessary...
However, while they conversed, Calas inside the room awoke.
Opening his eyes, the blinding light from the medical table pierced him.
"What's..."
His memory halted at the dim corridor leading to the Untouchables' area.
"Shh, be quiet."
Apothecary Larton looked down at Calas, smiling.
"Follow my instructions, and you'll survive."
The apothecary flashed a kind smile.
Then he picked up a syringe filled with a pulsating green liquid.
"Wait!"
Calas's eyes widened in horror, but the strong sedatives and anesthetics rendered him immobile.
The needle pierced his skin.
"Praise Him."
Calas lost consciousness.
Larton muttered to himself, then turned, calmly operating the medical equipment.
A vial filled with a fluid collected from the Think Tank's library was tied around Larton's neck.
He should've done this long ago. Hose shouldn't have died for it.
Larton was Fernando's trusted apothecary and, apart from Fernando, the only one who had seen Hose's condition.
He tried to treat his decaying comrade but failed.
Unwilling to accept defeat, when the Think Tank library was purged, he once again collected samples of the virus and bacteria under the guise of his apothecary role.
Then he discovered the truth.
Now, Larton despised his past self for trying to heal Hose.
It was a blessing. Why heal it?
Yet, he deeply mourned Hose's passing.
Larton gazed at the unconscious Calas on the medical table, smiling.
He wouldn't let another perish.
Larton blinked, looking towards the Untouchables' area aboard the *Endurance*.
If they weren't welcome here, they could go elsewhere.
As long as the one who killed Hose doesn't return.
He won't come back.
Suppressing his joy, Larton faced the newly arrived Garo and Fernando with a stern expression, reporting the situation.
Oh, how he loathed the oppressive atmosphere of the Death Guard.
On planet Sigma-373.
"We want freedom!"
A surging crowd gathered outside the city walls.
"We want the truth!"
The crowd began to bang on the gates, hurling rotten fruits and meats at the guards above.
"Summon the Black Sacrament! Give the people an explanation!"
"Explain! Explain! Explain!"
The crowd's fervor grew.
"Calm down! Everyone, calm down!"
Massive mech-like machines roared from the forest, their green fluid connecting directly to the back of a young girl.
Rebo stood on the machine's raised hand, shouting.
The crowd instantly quieted at the sight of the Heartstone.
Rebo looked down at the distant crowd.
It was always like this, she was used to it.
But she hoped that one day, she could walk among them.
Taking a deep breath, she began,
"We, the Vine Academy, only ask the Black Sacrament for an explanation!"
The slender, pale girl stood atop the massive machine, starting her speech,
"We don't want violence; we just want answers!"
Rebo clenched one hand over her chest and opened the other,
"For countless ages, the people have lived in lies. We've witnessed countless loved ones wither under the influence of the divine realm."
"We watched them weaken day by day."
"And our feeble pulses tell us we will soon follow!"
"Bishop Mazer, tell us, why must we endure this?!"
"For your foolish, absurd religion?!"
With the last word, she screamed,
"Foolish! Absurd! Foolish! Absurd!"
The crowd erupted.
On the wall, a young face appeared, which Rebo recognized as a disciple of Bishop Mazer.
"You're the deceiver!"
The young man shouted,
"You, the prophesied Child of God, blessed by the divine realm,"
"Yet you dabble in heretical teachings. A body of a divine child, yet you act like a petty witch!"
"She's deceiving you!"
He yelled,
"You all followed her because she could freely walk in the divine realm!"
"Now you insult the gods!"
"You ask yourselves, apart from her twisted words, what evidence do you have?!"
For a moment, the crowd was silent.
However, another man in the crowd spoke up,
"If it weren't for you forcing us to endure under that realm, there wouldn't be this so-called Child of God!"
"Lady Rebo is also a victim of your ignorant religion!"
With the man's passionate words, a rotten fruit precisely hit the young man on the wall.
The crowd exploded again.
"Give us an answer!!!"
"Open the gates! Open the gates! Open the gates!"
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Read_and_Chill
Read_and_Chill i know i know, those side chapters were kind of weird but at least the author got back to the main story for the most part.
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