“……You wanted to meet me?”
What the heck was going on here? What on earth did I do to warrant not just the Empress, but even the Pope of the Sun wanting to bother with me?
Floretta, utterly unconcerned with my confusion, smiled brightly as she touched my hands here and there.
She brushed my knuckles slowly, fiddled with my fingers, and even wrapped her hands around mine tightly. Maybe it was because she was the Pope of the Sun, but her body temperature felt exceedingly high.
After what felt like an eternity of her fidgeting with my hands, Floretta began to speak.
“Because God has given me a revelation. A revelation that light shall come soon.”
‘Huh?’
As soon as I heard Floretta’s words, something popped into my head.
It was the very line that heralded the start of the DLC story, “Awakening Evil,” from Brightest Darkness 4!
‘…But why is that line coming up now?’
Once I realized what the Pope had just said, I was dumbfounded.
If I played the game correctly, that DLC wouldn’t be triggered until I had completed a significant portion of the main story.
I hadn’t even defeated the mandatory bosses yet or progressed through the main story properly, and now she was inviting the player to the Holy Kingdom out of the blue, claiming that God had revealed something? That just didn’t seem right.
On top of that, the story for this DLC was related to the later regions in the main game, and with my current specs, I was far from ready for it.
The mobs didn’t matter. The reason I was concerned about my specs was entirely due to the final boss of the DLC, the “Creature Abandoned by God.”
In the Boss Room, wearing a specific rune was a requirement, and the boss itself only took proper damage from holy-type attacks, meaning I was almost locked into certain equipment.
But the real problem was that once the story begins, the game essentially turns into a time attack.
At the moment the Pope said those words, whether I was ready or not, I had to clear a total of 25 quests, or defeat 5 bosses before the final boss would awaken from the underground of the Holy Kingdom.
If the final boss awakens, the Holy Kingdom would perish, and I’d be completely unable to progress any quests associated with the Holy Kingdom for that playthrough. The Empire would also suffer massive damage, significantly twisting the story.
If I left it like that, the ending would end up being a grim one with no hope whatsoever.
‘That absolutely can’t happen, hell no.’
I shivered involuntarily. Just sitting around waiting to starve to death in a world where everything but me had vanished? No way, absolutely not.
“Are you alright? You don’t look so well.”
Lost in a spiral of negative thoughts, I snapped back to reality at Floretta’s voice. Those green eyes filled with worry were tracing me intently.
“……I’m fine. I was just lost in thought for a moment. I apologize.”
“No, you have no need to apologize at all.”
Floretta said this while covering her mouth with her right hand and chuckling lightly.
“However, you truly are a peculiar person. To have other thoughts in front of me and yet maintain your composure. You seem to have quite a strong heart.”
Only after hearing her words did I realize my mistake. Thinking of something else while in front of the Pope? It was rude enough that I wouldn’t have had an excuse if I had my head bashed in with a flail right then and there.
For reasons unknown, Floretta seemed to respond positively, but had she not, I certainly wouldn’t have walked away unharmed.
“Since it seems you’ve finished your thoughts, may I ask again? Do you have any clarity on your questions now?”
“…….”
There was no way that had been clarified. If anything, it had only gotten deeper.
Suddenly, I had a mountain of tasks to tackle. I had to clear the Rune Dungeon to prepare for the Boss Fight, hunt for holy weapons or find buffs, and earn experience to raise my power stats, too.
‘For now, the DLC story takes priority.’
The condition for the final boss to awaken was to either clear 25 quests or defeat 5 bosses. Given that progressing through the DLC story alone involved at least 13 quests and 3 bosses, the practical limit was significantly less than that.
Besides, unlike in the game where time doesn’t pass if you don’t engage with quests or bosses, now just breathing would keep time moving forward.
It was definitely best to tackle the DLC story first.
“……Your Holiness, a revelation? About Delta?”
Had I finally shaken off the shock? Lize asked with a trembling voice. Those blue eyes were shaking uncontrollably. Filled with anxiety, they darted back and forth between me and the Pope.
“I do not know the details either. How could a mere human comprehend the will of God?”
Placing my hands aside, Floretta smiled gently with a soft gaze. It was a smile so benevolent that it put anyone’s heart at ease.
But it seemed pointless to Lize. Her head hung low, and her tightly clenched fist was faintly trembling.
“Could you share the contents of the revelation with us, Your Holiness?”
“If you desire, I will. However, the revelations given by God may not be whole. Depending on the interpretation of even a single word or phrase, dozens of conclusions may arise. Are you still okay with that?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
I nodded.
If it was an interpretation, I had memorized roughly what it could entail. As the Pope said, the contents of the revelation pointed to the player’s actions.
In the human-friendly route, it depicted the player fighting the creature that devours the world, while in the human-hostile route, it showed confrontation with the Empress or the Pope. The life-extermination route depicted a transformed monster.
Of course, aside from the human-friendly route, one wouldn’t get to hear such mild conclusions. Typically, you’d hear it from a dying Pope after fighting the Boss of the Pope of the Sun.
“A single bright light walks through a place covered in darkness. Where the light touches, darkness vanishes, and many humans follow behind, seeking solace. Countless monsters charge from the darkness, but they all dissolve into the light.”
“…….”
Oh?
If this were the Silver Dawn Knights route, that description shouldn’t even come up.
“At the end of the path the light walks, an existence beyond human imagination awaits. Yet, the light never fears, nor retreats, nor hesitates, and advances towards that being. The revelation ends there.”
“Then…… Your Holiness, does that light…… refer to Delta?”
“The interpretation is up to humanity, so there is no set answer. However, that is how I see it. For on the day I first learned of this person, God bestowed me a revelation.”
Once Floretta finished speaking, the gazes of the Knight Commanders redirected to me. Their diverse eyes were pouring various complex emotions as they looked at me. I could already predict I’d be interrogated later, asking just what that was all about.
‘Light, huh…’
The interpretation was simple. The ‘existence beyond human imagination’ that Floretta mentioned referred to the final boss of Brightest Darkness 4—the creature that devours the world.
As long as one did not take the human-hostile or life-extermination routes, they would invariably face that final boss, which was as I had expected.
But referring to the player as light was a departure from my expectations. At the very least, it was an expression I wouldn’t have the chance to hear in the Silver Dawn Knights route.
“Did you say your name was Delta? You…”
—click-clack.
My words were cut off. The click-clack of high heels echoed in the hall.
It was none of us present. Floretta stood still in place, the Knight Commanders wore ordinary sneakers, and I certainly couldn’t have been the source of that high heel sound.
Floretta’s face began to harden. With a sorrowful look, almost as if she were about to cry, it was definitely not a good expression.
As the atmosphere turned tense, we turned our heads to the back.
And then we gasped in shock.
“You’re making unnecessary movements, Pope of the Sun.”
Darkness drove away the light. Well, technically, the white light pushed back the yellow light. With the click-clack of high heels resounding, the surroundings were engulfed in moonlight. The sun that had been blazing down extinguished helplessly.
Silver spread out amid the gold. It felt as if a full moon that had risen in the middle of the night descended right before us.
I didn’t recognize the face, but somehow I instinctively knew who it was.
“……Pope of the Moon, why have you graced this humble place with your presence?”
The Pope of the Moon.
As Floretta spoke that name, the atmosphere froze in an instant. Aside from the click-clacking of high heels, there was nothing else to be heard.
“Do you truly not know?”
The moon rose high within the cathedral. A woman with dark silvery hair, hands clasped before her abdomen, walked toward the Pope of the Sun.
“Do you genuinely believe that clinging to meaningless hopes will fulfill your desires? Is that truly what you think?”
The Pope of the Moon took slow, deliberate steps toward Floretta. We, caught between the two most powerful figures in the Holy Kingdom, were frozen in place, unable to move.
Her steps came to a halt a mere few paces from Floretta.
“Fate cannot be altered. You must not turn your back on the truth. Even if it were the sun and the moon, there is no alternative but to walk the path that has already been set.”
“If it cannot be changed, then I will find a way. I will do so, no matter what.”
Floretta said with a resolute expression.
“I will never give up on my sister—”
—slap!
Silence lingered. It took me a moment to process what had just unfolded before my eyes.
The Pope of the Moon had swung her right hand, and that palm connected with Floretta’s cheek. The slap echoed as Floretta’s head whipped to the right.
The Knight Commanders gasped as they understood what had happened, freezing in shock. I was the same.
The Pope of the Moon had slapped the Pope of the Sun. A slap so strong that the impact reddened the place she had hit, slightly swelling it.
But something felt off. Floretta was clearly the one who had been struck, yet the green in her eyes was filled with sympathy and sorrow. She even looked somewhat miserable.
“Do not call me that, Pope of the Sun.”
