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Chapter 472

Relics aren’t something that break so easily.

The problem was that even if you tried to replace a relic, there weren’t many viable means to do so.

Lucifer, clashing against the armored Forgotten God, shouted at me.

—You idiot! Look around you! It could be a fake!

“Uh… sorry, but this one’s probably the real deal? It was packed to the brim with that ‘divinity’ you guys talk about.”

—Hoo…

Barely suppressing a level of anger that was hard to put into words, she blocked the massive axe with her greatsword.

Considering Lucifer’s power, she might very well be able to win easily.

However, in her current state—sealed and only outputting a tiny fraction of her strength—there wasn’t much she could do.

That said, for me to block it myself was a bit…

My body was already in a state where the balance of internal energy had been disrupted due to training meant to break past my limits.

I could restore it if I wanted, but I couldn’t just throw away all the effort I’d put in so far.

Thinking about Elpiria, one could say that shouldn’t matter, but…

Right now, Lucifer was the one fighting in my stead.

In truth, if you looked purely at combat capability, Lucifer did seem far more advantageous.

But as she said, the Forgotten God Xeros Valor—under the condition of being tied to Mistletoe—would not fall to any attack and lashed out at everything within his sight.

Why a god who had fallen into eternal rest suddenly rose and went on a rampage like that, I didn’t know.

Kaaang!!!

As Xeros’s axe came flying toward me, Lucifer deflected it with her greatsword and kicked his breastplate, sending him flying.

—You idiot! Then revive your specialty and fix it!

“Uh… how am I supposed to fix wood that’s already rotted and broken?”

If it were metal, I could at least hammer out a new one.

But Mistletoe was unmistakably a wooden sword made of 100% wood.

Amid the thunderous noise, I alone fell into calm contemplation.

Xeros’s attacks would be blocked by Lucifer anyway, so if I just left it alone, she’d handle it.

In truth, I had already achieved my objective, so there was no real reason to fight Xeros Valor.

If I looked for a way to escape this mental space, there would definitely be one.

But a promise was a promise, so I couldn’t just run away.

Kwaaang!!

—If there isn’t one, then carve it yourself!!

I slowly stood up and looked around.

But what were the odds there’d be wood in a temple like this?

No matter how long I searched, all I could see were ritual cups and tools that seemed to be made of gold.

Other than that, there were only worn-down and broken statues that looked to be carved from marble.

I walked over and tapped the crumbling temple wall, but as expected—stone.

Of course it was.

Why would that ancient Forgotten God named Xeros leave behind something like mistletoe here, something that could harm him?

And besides, it didn’t make sense for something like wood to survive for such a long time in this abnormal space.

I returned to the altar, plopped down, and fell into thought again.

“Hm… no matter how I look at it, I don’t see any usable wood. And there’s no way out either. Hey, Lucifer. How about we retreat for now and—”

—Are you planning to break our promise?

At the same time, an unimaginable pressure surged from Lucifer, and she knocked Xeros away.

—Remember this, Leon Cascadia. At the very least, while we are dealing with each other, we have never betrayed one another. Isn’t that right?

“Yeah.”

—Find it. By any means necessary.

“There has to be something to find first.”

Clicking my tongue, I stood up again and scanned the surroundings.

Right.

Since she was handling the complicated fight anyway,

I silently watched the battle between Lucifer and Xeros.

Her output of power was low, so her limits were clear, but her combat sense and every external aspect far exceeded my expectations.

Could anyone claim victory against a complete Lucifer?

I thought it over from every angle, but I could only shake my head.

Unless it was someone on Michael’s level, in Lucifer’s case, she seemed to possess power greater than even the combined might of the archangels.

Rather than comparing her to archangels or ancient gods…

Wouldn’t it make more sense to bring Yog into the comparison?

Of course, Yog hadn’t been properly understood yet, and he was sealed, so the comparison itself didn’t hold much meaning.

In reality, Lucifer kicked Xeros straight into the wall, then gathered a pure white light at the tip of her index finger and fired divine bullets into him so he couldn’t even stand up.

Not slow, heavy strikes one by one—but a rapid barrage of heavy hits.

Xeros convulsed all over, trying to rise somehow, but whenever he did, the massive greatsword in Lucifer’s hand would come down like a club, crushing his resistance.

It was starting to feel like a one-sided beating.

Tap…

That was when it happened.

As I tried to stand, my hand brushed against the altar.

It felt like solid stone, but the sensation at my fingertips just now was slightly different.

“Just now… something felt off.”

I swept my hand around the altar.

And then I realized.

“This… it was wood.”

It had only been disguised to look like a stone altar with special magic.

The altar’s original material was wood.

As I shattered the magic, the altar revealed its true form—a single solid piece of wood.

And not just any wood.

Mistletoe.

Mistilteinn.

Without hesitation, I cut off a portion of the wood.

Then I took out a carving knife from my subspace and began to carve it quickly.

I didn’t actually know what the original Mistilteinn had looked like.

The old, rotten one had already crumbled away.

So first, I carved it into the shape of a typical sword.

Then, after sharpening it appropriately, I approached Lucifer.

—Hurry and stab it in!

At her irritated shout, I plunged the sword into the area where the fallen one’s heart should be.

“Did it work?”

At that moment, Xeros, who had been lying still, flickered his eye-light inside his helmet and attacked me again.

Kwaaang!!

Of course, I easily dodged that attempt.

“Didn’t work.”

—That’s not it. Carve it into its true form! The mistletoe knows the answer!

I returned to my spot.

Then, sitting down again, I cut more wood from the altar and placed the carving knife against it.

Like an old man carving a club.

I stared seriously at the wood.

“Seriously… this is one lousy commission.”

At least Count Basilid had given the answer of a ‘masterpiece sword.’

This wasn’t something you could solve just by carving well.

Was there no way to satisfy that terrible client?

I looked down at the wooden piece.

Water knows the answer.

Wood does not.

I carved it into a slightly different shape again.

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And once more, I stabbed it into the heart of the one being suppressed.

—Again!!

“Man, this is seriously picky.”

Returning once more, I finally started thinking seriously.

How long had I been thinking like that?

“No. This isn’t it.”

Crack.

“This isn’t it either.”

Crack!

At the repeated act of breaking things like pottery, Lucifer, clearly irritated, spoke in a chilling low voice.

—How long are you going to keep playing around?

“Hey, don’t rush me. Pouring water on wheat doesn’t turn it into bread.”

With the heart of a craftsman, I once again carved the wood this way and that.

By now, I had already cut quite a large amount of wood from the altar.

Strangely enough, that altar had been carved from a whole tree, so the material itself was plentiful.

The problem was that no result was coming out.

Eventually, half out of my mind, I started talking to the wooden piece.

“Hey. What do you want to be? Huh? You want to be a statue? No way.”

In this absurd situation with no answer, I spoke to Lucifer.

“Lucifer. You said you killed him, right? Then at least you know what the original Mistilteinn looked like.”

—It never had a fixed form to begin with!

“You should’ve said that sooner.”

I let out a sigh and brought the carving knife to the wood again.

To be honest, even if she had said that, nothing would have changed.

A mistletoe whose form held no meaning.

The mistletoe I had carved so far had shown no real effect.

Which meant there was something I still didn’t know.

Like a madman, I pressed my ear to the wooden piece.

“Alright. Tell me. What form do you want? A statue? I told you no.”

—That lunatic…

It had already been over an hour since I’d been grappling with the wood.

Lucifer showed no signs of fatigue and continued to press Xeros relentlessly.

Meanwhile, I still hadn’t managed to create a proper sword.

This wasn’t the time to be doing this.

My patience was starting to hit its limit.

So I threw the carving knife aside, set the wooden piece down, and pulled a sword from the air.

Fine.

Become whatever you want.

“Scatter.”

At my command, my first spirit sword, Falling Blossom, began to resonate.

At the same time, its power touched the wooden piece, wildly transforming its shape.

Woooong… wooong.

After several vibrations, the mistletoe wood finally settled into a complete form.

It was just an ordinary tree branch.

Not a carved, angular piece—but a natural branch with leaves still attached.

As if saying this was enough, Falling Blossom withdrew its power.

I sheathed it and stored it in subspace, then grasped the branch with leaves still attached and slowly approached.

—You finished it—… what is that.

“Don’t know anymore.”

I thrust the frail-looking thin branch straight into the heart of the suppressed Xeros.

Kakak!!

But nothing changed.

In the end, unless it was the original Mistilteinn—

—You idiot!!

At that moment, Lucifer reached out and blocked Xeros’s attack from reaching me.

“Huh?”

—Don’t just stand there like an idiot—fall back! Did you think my warning about side effects was a joke?!

I saw a wound appear on her hand as she shouted.

Lucifer just now…

Protected me?

Puuuk!!!

At the same time, an unexpected sound rang out, and the branch in my hand vibrated as it began to change shape.

It became a simple wooden sword.

But.

The mistletoe shaped itself.

The Forgotten God Xeros Valor fell silent because of it.

It had clearly been a failed wooden sword.

But the moment Lucifer protected me, the mistletoe branch formed into a sword on its own and silenced Xeros.

He no longer moved, and no power could be felt from him.

Why a dead god had suddenly revived and rampaged—I didn’t know.

But that was something I could ask Lucifer later.

I slowly pulled the wooden sword from my hand.

Then, without hesitation, I gripped the center of it and snapped it in half.

At the same time, a certain scene flashed through my mind.

It was a memory.

But not the memory of the mistletoe tree—rather, the memory of the Forgotten God that came through the mistletoe.

—Lucifer. I have always believed in you.

—I believe in your noble heart.

—But… the you now is different. It’s almost laughable how you’ve been devoured by yourself.

—If you go astray, I will rise from the grave and strike you with a rod. So please, face the world you’ve turned away from.

—If you have changed… if you have escaped that suffering and begun to see the world I spoke of… then I will kill myself a hundred times, a thousand times over.

The voice of the Forgotten God echoed in my head, playing sequentially.

Without anyone explaining anything, I silently looked at Lucifer, who was gradually fading away.

During the battle, she had taken the form of a young girl, but now she appeared as an adult woman again.

Did Lucifer not have a fixed form to begin with?

If it were before, would this twisted ancient angel have any reason to protect me?

Xeros’s attacks weren’t fatal, but they could have had a negative effect on the imbalance inside me.

Did she block that for me? Lucifer?

As I stared at her, she frowned and asked me.

—What is that unpleasant look?

“No. I think I understand why the mistletoe suddenly worked.”

Mistilteinn was merely a medium.

Perhaps the reason the dead god revived only to die again now… was because of a wish.

Toward Lucifer.

At least one thing had become certain.

Lucifer’s change in behavior—perhaps this wasn’t the first time, even across countless regressions.

Well, it was only natural.

I had never once confirmed the complete state of Lucifer to begin with.

—Hoo… fine. Completely seal this damned space, collapse the passage leading here, and bury it underground. That’ll be enough.

What Lucifer wanted was an undisturbed rest.

In other words, if the passage was blocked, no one would ever find this place again.

That much should satisfy her.

“But then, did sacred orb predict this situation after all?”

—No. I was just going to throw it down like an offering. It was Xeros Valor’s favorite gem. Enough pointless talk—just keep your promise. You got the nectar, didn’t you?

Yeah, yeah.

Since I got the nectar, I’ll at least give you that much service.

* * *

After completely sealing the Forgotten God’s grave with sealing magic, I collapsed and erased every path leading to it.

On top of that, I buried special minerals that interfered with mana flow, blocking even the possibility of tracking it.

Lucifer seemed satisfied with that and said nothing more.

And so, after returning to Cascadia with the nectar, I saw a small girl—about five years old in appearance—who looked strikingly like Melissa, trembling in anger while holding some unidentified artifact.

“What are you?”

“You’re back? Ignore how I look right now. It’s just a side effect of the artifact.”

…What.

A baby octopus?

Looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, I asked,

“What did you do this time to end up like that? Just so you know, even if a blobfish gets younger, it doesn’t turn into something sleek like an orca.”

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