Chapter 14: First duty

Kyrie walks past Ian and walks up towards the altar. Unlike the first time where pillars of light shot up to the sky, a warm light surrounded him when he closed his eyes. His consciousness gets transported to the same place that he met Vita. The endlessness of the sky and ocean leaves no destination to the eyes. So, Kyrie gets drawn, looking at the horizon, searching for the end.

From the scripture, this place is named the Infinity Abyss. 

The scriptures detail that the ocean represents Vita's records of the mortal's memories, while the sky represents her essence. Each drop of the ocean is a record of someone's life, forever remembered by the ocean of one's existence. No one will be forgotten, no matter how minimal the existence, even if time has left them for decades, centuries, or millennia.

Kyrie's eyes redirect towards the cloud of smoke that surrounds the goddess. Vita, sitting comfortably in the air, puts the tip of her long pipe in her mouth.

Vita greets him while puffing out smoke, "Nice to see you again, brat! It seems that you are enjoying your honeymoon a lot!"

Kyrie lets out a dry laugh of guilt.

[Still no privacy like always...]

"I don't mind if you send me here just for my honeymoon," Kyrie responds, slightly blushing.

Vita sneers, "This brat! Only you talk to me this way! Of course, I have some work for you."

"The festival thing?" asks Kyrie.

"Despite your lack of manners, I like that you are quick! Yeah... Those stupid puppets are summoning an evil spirit. What is worse than that is that they sneakingly changed the patterns of the lanterns for years to demonic inscriptions that look similar to inscriptions of prayer."

"Why does that have anything to do with the evil spirit?"

"When you inscribe a prayer, you let a bit of mana into the inscriptions. However, if you do that with demonic inscriptions..."

"Then, those puppets would be able to gather tons of mana. In addition to that, those with deep faith would be directly connected to the evil spirit," Kyrie finishes her words.

"That's correct."

Kyrie lets an agonized groan.

[And how am I supposed to do that? If I destroy the evil spirit, I will harm the people's souls connected to it.]

Vita answers, "I will lend you a sword that could sever the connections."

Extending her arm, Vita gathers gold particles that form into an elongated shape. Then, it dispurses, showing off a sword. Vita lifts the sword, letting it float in the air, moving it towards Kyrie. 

He takes the sword and examines its appearance. As he draws the sword, a metal pitched sound rings. The blade glows with platinum blue that is inscribed runes that Kyrie has never seen before. These patterns closely resemble the ones he saw in the space magic scroll.

[Looks cool, but...]

"Are you kidding me, Vita!!!!" Kyrie lets out a breath of annoyance.

Vita looks away and smirks, "That is all you get for your lack of manners..."

[Isn't this the same sword that only lasted one round with Imogen?]

Vita sniggers at Kyrie, "You are not even close to Imogen's power. This is already enough for you."

"Say... Vita, I always wondered why you want humans to do the things that maybe you could have just done in a snap of your fingers?"

Vita says, "Even I cannot control the workings of fate. If I interfere, a lot of things will happen that would be out of control. Anyway, it is time now. You need to go back."

"Wait!"

Kyrie opens his eyes, and the light that surrounds Kyrie dims. He remembers the last moments with Vita. Her eyes look melancholic when she responded to his last question as if she thought of something specific.

[Maybe I am thinking too much...]

Coming down from the altar, the priests that witness the entire thing shine with admiration. Ian also looks amazed while following Kyrie back to the main hall.

In the main hall, Kyrie looks up at the enormous paintings from all the saints that came to this world. One particular catches his eye. Unlike the other saints who possess an appearance that embodies the term 'holy,' his hair is raven black with dark blue eyes. His robes are black with gold embroideries, and on his neck, he has a gold necklace with a black stone pendant.

One of the priests sees that Kyrie was interested in the person of the portrait and said to him, "That is the saint of darkness."

Kyrie's eyes then wander towards Ian, who looks at the portrait with expectant eyes. Kyrie can feel his own anxiety in his body while looking at Ian. He clenches his sweaty hands ever since his conversation with Vita about the evil spirit's appearance.

The appearance of the evil spirit is the first event that led Ian to his tragic fate. In the novel, Ian was the one who defeated the evil spirit. However, the fight resulted in the demon puppets injuring his soul. Not only that, the people whom he fought for blamed Ian to be the cause of the evil spirit summoning. They pointed their fingers at him just because he carried a curse. Because many people lost their lives since their souls got stolen, the king exiled Ian to the fortress near the forest of Labam, where numerous demon beasts reside. There, Ian was tortured for years by the general, who sent him to the front lines with equipment that is not fit for battle.

Coming back from his daze due to a sudden commotion, he catches a view of a man with a couple of servants following behind. The man with white robes and long blonde hair tied to the side with a gold ribbon walks towards Kyrie and greets him. Judging by his clothing, he looks like the Vicar of the church. He possesses an unnatural youthful appearance. Looking at him up close, Kyrie can feel powerful mana flowing through his veins.

"Sir Rowan," greets the Vicar.

---

As for what happened with Archbishop Shelford, he has been severely punished, but the most reasonable explanation is that the church wanted to pacify Kyrie. However, the rumor of how Kyrie mentioned that Ian's rumored curse is taken into consideration by Vita got into everyone's ears. In addition, Ian's magic attribute to darkness also allowed people to reminisce about the saint of darkness and his deeds. Their hostility towards Ian and his curse got significantly reduced, and instead, they were happy that a royal inherited the powers from the saint of darkness. The rumor surrounding Ian went all the way to the King's ears.

Inside his study, the king takes off the cloth that covered the painting of a woman. Drawn in the painting is a woman who carried a warm smile, dancing. Her eyes were light gold, and her raven black hair was long and wavy. Her hair, decorated with gold adornments, was in a time freeze floating in the air. That woman is Ian's mother. A mysterious merchant woman who got lucky enough to cross paths with the king, the then crown prince. He looks at his desk and decides to open a drawer. Inside, there is a small wooden box. The king lifts its cover, and inside lies a necklace: a gold necklace with a black stone pendant.