CH 21 Priest of Corruption Reunion.
Reunion.
Reunion.
Once I shut down 'Pit of Corruption,' I burst out onto the ground with the corpse of the Incarnation. My body was rotting in places and barely able to move, but I looked around anyway.
I was lying on top of burnt wreckage. Looked like that burning lord's mansion finally collapsed.
Lying on the ground, I closed my eyes again and zoned out, and a number floated up.
[Divinity: 10001]
Divinity was basically skill points for a Priest of Corruption, so, obviously, I could use it for more than just getting new powers. I could drop 10,000 divinity to power up my current abilities.
The smart move would've been to boost 'Giant of Corruption,' since it'd been doing some serious heavy lifting, or 'Gate of Corruption,' which was super useful. I figured I could put off upgrading 'Pit of Corruption' for a while, seeing as how it worked.
But, I wasn't gonna go for the power-up, even though I felt bad for the Giant of Corruption. There was something I needed to test out once I had three powers.
In the game, the Priest of Corruption could only use three powers at a time.
It didn't matter how many powers you had; you were capped at three in any fight.
But did that limit still apply now that this was real? That's what I wanted to know.
"Mom. I'm offering up some divinity. Hook me up with a new power."
[Divinity: 10001]
[Divinity: 1]
The divinity I'd worked so hard to collect vanished, and a new power settled into me. Then it hit me.
Just like I thought, there were no limits on powers now. It was like wearing as many rings as you want.
"But Mother."
'Kill?'
"What's the deal with this new power, anyway?"
'Kill...?'
Mom said she didn't know, since I was the one picking the powers, not her. Still, she always seemed to give me exactly what I needed, so I trusted her. It's not like Mom would lie about this...she's a little...
I shoved those disrespectful thoughts right out of my head.
"But isn't this power, like, way over the top?"
'Kill!'
I couldn't just get all excited about Mom telling me to go wild with it.
See, this new 'Curse of Corruption' power was, no doubt about it, straight-up evil.
This wasn't like my other powers; 'Curse of Corruption' actually cost something to use. It took a hundred divinity points to cast the curse once. And, get this, you could only target, like, rocks or other non-living stuff.
At first glance, it seemed useless, but the real kicker was what happened when the cursed object touched the ground.
Just placing a cursed object on the ground would curse a whole freakin' city.
A curse that made everything alive rot, super slowly.
Food would spoil faster, everything alive would get sick and weak for no reason, animals would get all skinny, and plants wouldn't even grow half their fruit.
And here's the real kicker.
Anyone who died on the cursed land would get 'harvested' the second they died, turning into divinity that flowed right into me.
Basically, I'd get a constant stream of divinity without lifting a finger.
As messed up as this power was, it had some serious downsides.
First, the curse was slow, so if someone destroyed the cursed object, the whole thing would be broken.
Second, the cursed object gave off corruption divinity like crazy. Any other priest who got close would know it was the work of an evil god.
And finally, there was one huge problem that made all the other downsides look like nothing.
I didn't want to use this power. Period.
I'm sure I could've figured out how to deal with those problems, but I didn't even want to.
And getting divinity from making innocent people wither and die? No thanks. I was totally against that.
"Mom, sorry, but I really don't think I wanna use this power."
'Kill!'
I cracked a smile, lying there on the ground, when Mom cheerfully said it was my call.
"But can I ask you something?"
'Kill...?'
"That dead Incarnation is still leaking another god's divinity. Any way I can snag that? Seems like a waste to just let it go."
I couldn't even twitch a finger, but Mom's hand wiggled out of my chest and poofed into a girl in a soft glow. Mom, with her black and green dress fluttering, ran over to the Incarnation's head I'd chopped off, put her hand on it, scrunched up her face, and grunted for a bit.
I let out a chuckle watching her struggle.
"Mom, don't strain yourself if it's not working. Just come on back."
Mom started to yell at me, but then realized I couldn't hear her. She hugged the Incarnation's head, ran over to where I was lying, and put her hand on mine.
'Kill!'
"If it was just one god's power, I could handle it, but it's all mixed up with different gods' divinity, so it's tough right now. Hey, do you see any of those bead-shaped holy relics around?"
'Kill.'
Mom told me to wait up, tossed the Incarnation's head aside, and walked off. When Mom disappeared, I started feeling seriously uneasy.
Maybe I should've just handled it myself later? No, I definitely should've done it myself!
These messed up feelings started creeping up and choking me...
'Kill!'
Her clear shout snapped me out of it. I managed to turn my head, and Mom held out a broken bead.
It was just a broken piece of junk now, not a holy relic anymore.
Then it hit me: Why? Why was Mom's holy relic inside the Incarnation?
What if it wasn't just some random thing, but Mom's relic was actually used to create that Incarnation monster?
My head was spinning. But there was a bigger problem than my messed-up thoughts.
I'd been hit with too many divinity attacks, and my body was totally wrecked, even worse than my head.
I was barely hanging on, and my consciousness was slipping away.
'Kill?!'
I heard Mom freaking out, and I croaked,
"Get back... inside me..."
***
The soft bed felt amazing on my back, and the loose clothes were so comfy, I just wanted to sleep more. Loose clothes? Wait, these weren't my priest robes!
"Huh!"
"You're up!"
I bolted upright, grabbed Carmen's shoulders, and yelled,
"My clothes! Where are my clothes and belongings?!"
"H-hold on, calm down, Priest Marnak. I'll explain everything..."
I didn't have time for that. Mom... I couldn't feel Mom's hand.
"Where's my stuff?! Now...!"
'Kill!'
I heard Mom's voice from the basket under the bed. I scrambled to grab the basket, pulled out Mom's hand, and hugged it tight.
"I was so freaked out; I thought I'd lost you!"
Carmen smiled brightly and said to me.
"Yeah, it's definitely got a story behind it. The others were gonna toss it, saying a priest wouldn't carry something like that, so I grabbed it and put it here."
'Kill!'
When Mom said she almost got burned up with the other bodies, I bowed real low to Carmen.
"Thank you. I can't even tell you how grateful I am."
Carmen waved her hand like, 'Don't even mention it.'
"Thank me? If it wasn't for your sacrifice, Priest Marnak, I'd be dead, and I wouldn't have even gotten out of Kelton."
Once I calmed down a little, I finally had a chance to figure out what was going on.
"So, where are we?"
"This is my tent. We're still in Kelton."
Tent?
"How long was I out?"
"It's been ten days since the whole Kelton thing went down."
Ten days? I could hear a ton of noise outside the tent, so it sounded like they were rebuilding Kelton.
"At first, you were in such bad shape, I was worried you wouldn't wake up. But, luckily, the Goddess of Maintenance must've been looking out for you, because your wounds healed up super fast."
I licked my lips and finally asked,
"Did anyone else make it?"
Carmen's smile faded, and she got all serious.
"You're the only one who survived inside Kelton's walls, Priest Marnak."
I had all these mixed feelings.
If anyone else had lived, they would've seen the Giant of Corruption fighting, so it was probably better to get rid of witnesses. But, still, it sucked that I couldn't save anyone, even after all that.
'Kill!'
Mom yelled that it was a good thing, and I pressed my thumb on her palm and told Carmen,
'K...i...l...l...'
"So, who's in Kelton now?"
Carmen spread out her hand and counted one by one as she folded her fingers.
"First, the lords from the closest cities sent troops and people to help rebuild. And Lord Stren Plkor's relatives also sent people..."
A guy pushed aside the tent flap and walked in, using a cane.
"Heard you were up."
The Lord of Guise, the Devil, clanked in on his prosthetic leg. He gave me a quick smile while Carmen wasn't looking, then said in a serious voice,
"If someone's been starving for ten days, wouldn't the obvious thing be to feed 'em?"
Carmen looked at me like it'd totally slipped her mind.
"Oh man, I totally spaced. You looked so good, Priest Marnak, I just forgot. I'll send someone to get you some food, stat."
I slowly got up and started throwing on my priest robes.
"I'll go get it myself. I wanna see what Kelton looks like now."
Carmen and the Devil Lord exchanged a look, and then she gave me this awkward smile.
"It might be a little loud out there. You sure you're up for that?"
"A little noise is fine. I can handle it."
I could handle the noise from the workers, no problem.
The second I stepped out of the tent with Carmen,
I realized the noise Carmen mentioned was totally different from what I expected.
"Foe of the Evil God!"
People were shouting all over the place.
"'Foe of the Evil God,' Priest Marnak, is awake!"
"The 'Foe of the Evil God' is hungry! You, get over here and make him the best damn meal you can!"
"I told you! The 'Foe of the Evil God' would wake up!"
I gave an awkward smile with all the cheering and asked Carmen,
"What's all this about?"
Carmen answered with a bright smile.
"I kinda, you know, spread the word about how awesome you are."
"No..."
I tried to say something, but the cheers drowned me out.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
All the cheering was making me dizzy.
I mean, I was the Priest of the Evil God.
'Kill!!!'
I pushed down on Mom, who was yelling 'Foe of the Evil God Marnak!!!' like a goofball, and turned to head back to the tent.
"I'll eat inside."
Carmen, totally thrilled that everyone knew my name, grinned and nodded.
"Figured as much."
I turned around and slowly walked back, shaking my head.
Demon Slayer, and now Foe of the Evil God...
These heavy titles just keep piling up.
And, of course, someone behind me yelled,
"Long live the Foe of the Evil God!”
