“Summer! Are you coming to your senses?”

Summer lifted her hazy eyes and stared at Russell. I’m back. Into the book.

“Ugh, huh…”

Summer burst into a bitter laugh. Tears kept flowing down the corners of her eyes, but she laughed.

This must be madness, she thought.

It was unbearably amusing.

“Summer…”

“Has the witch arrived?”

“…Witch?”

When Russell asked back, Summer laughed emptily and said.

“I have to go back, you see. Heh, heh…”

“Summer, what on earth…”

Russell quickly embraced Summer with surprised eyes. Russell’s body was terribly warm.

As Summer surrendered to the sensation of Russell gently patting her back, her laughter gradually turned into sobs.

“Summer. It’s alright. Nothing happened. You’re safe.”

“Not at all, not at all safe…”

“Summer. Look at me. Though you swallowed a bit of water, you’ll be fine after some rest. Let’s talk after you’ve rested enough.”

“Russell, what about the Pope?”

At Summer’s question, the Pope who had been standing behind quickly approached and knelt down beside Summer.

“Summer. What did you see?”

The Pope’s attitude was gentle, as if he had never grabbed Russell by the collar. However, his expression cracked at Summer’s next words.

“Your Holiness. God has abandoned us.”

“What are you saying, Summer.”

“Heh…”

Finding it more and more absurd, Summer chuckled again. She had been so arrogant.

Thinking that what could happen to everyone else wouldn’t happen to her. That everything would be fine.

“Answer me, Summer! Answer right now! You saw something, didn’t you? That’s it, right? Did that damned god say something to you?”

Russell furrowed his brow as he listened to the excited Pope’s words.

Damned god? It didn’t sound like something the same person who had been speaking of God’s will until just now would say. What exactly were the Pope’s true thoughts?

“I’m sorry, Your Holiness. There was something I didn’t tell you.”

“Speak. Tell me what that damned god blabbered about.”

The Pope spat out viciously, as if grinding his teeth. Russell held Summer tighter in his arms, protecting her from the Pope’s threatening attitude.

“It wasn’t God. What I saw was a scene.”

“A scene?”

“The wind was blowing and the grass was lush.”

“…”

“It was a grave, Your Holiness. What I saw wasn’t Selena, but a grave.”

“Shut up. Last time, clearly…!”

The Pope, unable to contain himself, reached out to grab Summer’s shoulder, but Russell’s intervention thwarted it.

The Pope ran his hand through his beautiful long hair, with a face that looked like he was going mad. With a fierce expression dripping with anger.

He had believed in God. He hated God, but he believed. That He loved the world. That He would grant his last request as Pope.

On the day Selena left, the Pope had prayed in the prayer room without eating or drinking anything until his priestly robes were damp with sweat.

Please let Selena return safely. Let her be happy. Let her be healthy.

And God answered.

‘It’s a shame to end Selena like this. Everyone will be upset if she dies.’

“…Oh Lord.”

‘Hmm, I should set her aside for now. The ending should always be happy after all. We should avoid sad events that can’t be overcome.’

But now.

“She’s gone. The witch said her soul was shattered, so she couldn’t return completely.”

“Do you want to die? You dare deceive me?”

In fact, the Pope’s anger was directed not at Summer, but at God. The God who betrayed him. The world that produced this result after he had given everything.

“Are you going to hurt me, Your Holiness?”

“…”

The Pope couldn’t answer readily. Even if Summer were to point a knife at him, the Pope probably wouldn’t be able to harm her.

“Your Holiness. You see that woman in me, don’t you?”

“…I.”

At Summer’s words, the Pope calmed his excitement, rubbing his face dry.

Summer was right. From the beginning until now, the Pope had never been able to harm Summer. She was in the same situation as Selena.

It was natural that Selena came to mind. The benefactor who had given him a new life. It was a feeling closer to worship than affection.

To the Pope, Selena was no different from a second mother.

The villagers burned down the house because he was an evil little boy using wicked powers, and his mother died trying to protect Demian.

It was Selena who took in the motherless Demian wandering the streets.

As if by fate. As if she already knew Demian would be there. That’s how Selena reached out to Demian.

But God. He took her away.

“…I waited.”

What if she might come back and find him if she were alive somewhere.

If she were alive in any world, couldn’t she flow into this world again through another chance event?

But Selena didn’t return. She would never return.

“That woman almost became the protagonist, but in the end, she failed to become one.”

“…”

“I was never even close to becoming a protagonist from beginning to end. Why does the world keep stopping me from dying?”

“Summer. Just rest for now. I need to go somewhere for a while.”

The Pope stood up. His beautiful and pure light purple eyes gradually turned red.

His holy power was fading.

When he opened the prayer room door and went outside, his jet-black hair swayed at his waist.

Red eyes and jet-black hair. It was an appearance like the incarnation of a demon.

Demian Cheshire.

That name, killed by the mob.

The believers fled in terror every time Demian passed by.

It was natural for them to be surprised, as the Pope, who had been the embodiment of holiness until just now, suddenly changed.

Where Demian headed was the huge statue of God in the temple.

“Was this truly Your intention?”

“…”

“Can You hear me? Say something. Before I destroy this entire temple.”

There was still no response from God.

Selena was dead. Selena. Selena… was dead. Completely. To a place where she could never be seen again. She had left completely.

Demian burst into a fierce laugh. Soon, fully armed holy knights surrounded Demian.

“Who are you!”

“You don’t recognize me just because my appearance has changed a bit. Your training is lacking, my young believers.”

“Y-Your Holiness?”

“That’s right.”

Demian raised his hand. No one would know. This ability called holy power was actually far from being holy power.

“I-It’s collapsing!”

“Aaaaah!”

Because it gave greater power when harming rather than protecting.

Ivory fragments fell with a thud, and the huge statue of God was completely destroyed. As if someone had grabbed and burst the statue.

The holy knights and believers were in chaos.

Having only seen the beautiful appearance of healing sick people with holy power, they must have learned for the first time that holy power had such strength.

“Stop the Pope!”

“It’s a demon! A demon wearing the guise of the Pope!”

Someone shouted, but no one could touch Demian.

He was the one with the strongest power. And how far that power extended had never been revealed even once.

Demian was literally in the mood to smash all the statues of God in the temple. The believers began to flee outside the temple, calling out to God.

“Everyone’s been deceived… thinking that the Creator must be good, that He would love us… Haha, ha…”

Demian muttered as if he had lost his mind, lightly destroying another statue.

That annoying duke’s words were all correct. God’s will. It’s something no one can know. But is there a reason to know?

Demian resented God. While resenting the God who took Selena away, he still relied on God.

Believing that the solution to all this was solely in God’s hands, he endured in the temple while performing the detestable act of being the Pope.

As a symbol of holiness that healed the mobs who tried to kill him. As an object of worship.

“I should have killed them.”

I should have killed all those who tried to kill me then, thinking I was ominous. I shouldn’t have spared those who burned my mother to death. Even if I looked for them now, they’d all have lived comfortably and died.

It felt like someone was whispering in his head.

Don’t forgive them.

“Your Holiness! Come to your senses!”

A young believer who was particularly devoted to the Pope approached Demian, crying.

Demian gazed blankly at the believer approaching him.

“God has abandoned us.”

“Your Holiness…”

“If God truly loved us, He wouldn’t have failed to grant this one wish of mine, His most faithful servant.”

“Your Holiness, people are getting hurt… Please, stop!”

The believer had now come close enough to touch. Everyone held their breath and looked at the believer.

Will he kill that believer, or let them live? The looks gauging this were quite disgusting.

“Everyone fend for yourselves. There is no salvation.”

“But Your Holiness saved my mother. That was surely salvation.”

The believer said so, trembling with fear but still speaking. How can you say there is no salvation when you were my salvation?

“…”

“What I believed in wasn’t God, but Your Holiness.”

“…”

“It was Your Holiness who saved my family, and Your Holiness who gave me a place to sleep and food.”

“I have nothing left to give you. As you can see, I’ve now been abandoned by God.”

Demian slightly raised both arms as if to show he really had nothing left.

“I will remain by Your Holiness’s side.”

“By whose decision? Do you know where I’m going?”

“Sob, hic… Even so…”

“Will you follow me even to the afterlife?”

“Y-Your Holiness!”

“…It’s a joke. Step aside. I’m going to destroy all the statues.”

Demian slowly moved his steps again. This time, no one shouted or raised a sword.

They just watched with blank faces as Demian destroyed the temple.

Amidst this, a small woman bounced in.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Fei, who had entered with Summer’s soul tucked under her arm, frowned intensely at the rampaging Demian.

Since Summer came first, Fei closed her eyes, lifted her face to the sky, and quietly focused on the energy.

“…She’s in the prayer room.”

Fei murmured, slowly opening her eyes.

It was an unfamiliar yet familiar place. As Fei took a step, raindrops fell with a patter between the dark night sky.

It was a downpour as if the sky had been punctured. Enough to splash with each of Fei’s steps.

Having safely arrived in front of the prayer room, Fei opened the door without hesitation. The weather and atmosphere were already gloomy as if holding a funeral.

It was unpleasant. And when the door opened, the atmosphere was even more of a sight.

Summer, collapsed as if her weak breath might stop at any moment, and Russell embracing such a Summer.