Chapter 152

Ch.152Apostle of the Goddess of War

Whooooom…

As the Corrupted Sword was drawn, the entire area fell deathly silent—as if the world itself held its breath.

It was an overwhelmingly sinister blade, so potent even vermin would flee in terror.

Merely touching it seemed capable of corrupting one’s very soul.

Sion used his divine power as earplugs, blocking out mental noise.

His perception spread outward like ripples.

Waves of holy energy surged through ancient trees and weathered stones of the marsh.

Swoooosh…

His senses filtered out all but the essentials:

‘Demon… demon… demon…’

They were completely surrounded—

already ensnared in an ambush.

Yet something felt… off.

‘This sensation—I’ve never felt anything like it before.’

Screeeech!

Sion twisted his body sideways.

A jet of black energy erupted from his right arm, shearing through a rotting tree at a slant.

A monstrous figure revealed itself—

its upper body cleaved clean off by the strike, tumbling to the ground.

But then—the corpse twitched…

and vaporized into nothingness.

“What…?”

Sion blinked in disbelief.

The War Knights, however, remained calm—clearly accustomed to this.

Kegan explained quietly,

“These are new entities—never seen or reported before.”

“How long have they been appearing?”

“About two months. We call them ‘Chaos Wraiths’. They weren’t a major threat at first… but lately, they seem to be growing stronger.”

Sion murmured to himself,

“Chaos Wraiths…?”

Achille, hovering nearby, answered his unspoken question.

[They named them well. These reek of the Evil God of Chaos.]

‘Is that truly the case?’

[Yes. I sense that uniquely disorienting malice. But…]

‘But what?’

Achille frowned, biting her thumbnail, eyes fixed on the dissipating remains of the wraith.

[There’s something else.]

She was cautious.

[Surely not…]

‘What’s troubling you?’

Though Achille denied it inwardly, she chose to share the information with her Apostle.

[I also sense the presence of fire. The way its body turned to smoke…it felt like its malice was burned away by flames.]

Sion swallowed dryly.

It felt like he’d just overheard something he shouldn’t have.

‘Could the Goddess of Fire—’

[It must be my imagination. It has to be.]

“Understood.”

Sion respected her wish and held his tongue.

Meanwhile, the surrounding forest began to stir.

Chaos Wraiths emerged slowly, one by one.

With each passing second, their malice thickened—

and dizziness crept into the knights’ minds.

“It’s mental corruption! Stay focused, everyone!”

Sion shouted the warning.

The War Knights were already prepared—

each pulled out a small vial of perfume and inhaled deeply.

Kegan handed one to Sion.

“This fragrance counters Chaos Wraiths. Lord Marquisin developed it after analyzing their malice.”

Sion inhaled immediately—

a sharp surge of wildflower scent pierced his nose, cleansing the invading chaos from his mind.

“The power of the Goddess of Abundance protects our sanity.”

“Exactly. Thanks to this, not a single knight has fallen to madness.

The Church of Fire… suffered some losses, though.”

Kegan then drew his sword, giving Sion a playful, confident smile—

as if to say, ‘Just watch this once.’

“War Knights!”

“OOOH!”

“It’s time to show the Apostle how much we’ve improved!”

Right on cue, Chaos Wraiths lunged from the forest.

KYAAAAW!

They were grotesque—

ashen hair thrashing like a lion’s mane, legless bodies crowned with hideous faces and razor-sharp fangs, long arms ending in wolf-like claws.

Kegan charged forward like a wolf, followed by a wave of black-cloaked knights.

“Crush them!”

“OOOOORGH!”

Battle erupted.

Fierce—but quickly overwhelming.

Sion’s heart swelled with pride.

‘When did they become this strong…?’

[My child… I’m speechless.]

‘Same here, Goddess.’

[Garfenn’s will… and yours…have seeped into them. I have no regrets.]

‘You still have much to do.’

[Don’t ruin the moment.]

“…Yes.”

Sion rubbed his tingling nose—

then, without even looking, swung his blade backward.

THWACK!

The Corrupted Sword sank into the jaw of a Chaos Wraith that had ambushed him from behind.

The blade wasn’t sharp—

chipped and heavily rusted in places.

But sharpness wasn’t its purpose.

FWOOOOSH!

The wraith convulsed violently.

Its wolfish arms trembled like aspen leaves, then withered into mummified husks.

Its ashen skin turned pitch black.

Just as it seemed about to die—

it stabilized…

and docilely hovered beside Sion.

This was the true nature of the Corrupted Sword: ‘to corrupt whatever it pierced.’

In that sense, the wraith had undergone corruption twice over—

and become Sion’s obedient thrall.

‘So this is the Corrupted Sword…’

Sion was startled—but instinctively understood how to wield it.

It was as if knowledge flowed directly from the blade itself.

Tartania’s sultry laughter seemed to brush against the folds of his mind.

Frowning slightly, Sion spoke.

“Go. Aid the War Knights.”

At his command—

KYAAAAW!

The blackened wraith pounced on its kin, fangs like blades tearing into its former brethren.

The knights were briefly stunned by the grotesque spectacle—

but quickly realized this was Sion’s divine authority,

and refocused on battle.

Sion joined the fray himself—

turning Chaos Wraith after wraith into allies with the Corrupted Sword.

Though doubly corrupted, their durability was poor:

they burned like candles filled to the brim with wax—

bright, brief, and soon reduced to ash.

Yet they proved invaluable—

even as living shields.

Their eerie howls only deepened the marsh’s haunting atmosphere.

“Phew…”

The ambush was fully repelled.

No wraiths remained nearby—

though distant presences still lingered, unwilling to approach.

‘As long as civilians aren’t involved, they’re not truly dangerous.’

With the wildflower perfume, even mental corruption was manageable.

This moment truly revealed how resilient and cohesive Elim had become.

‘But… if they keep appearing endlessly, that’ll be a problem.’

Kegan, sensing Sion’s concern, approached.

Sheathing his flawless, unblemished blade, he spoke—

his victory complete, without a single scratch.

“We fought much more smoothly thanks to you.”

“Not at all. You’d have handled it fine without me. You’ve trained the War Knights far beyond what I expected.”

Neither Garfenn nor Sion himself could’ve elevated the knights to this level.

Kegan was truly the ideal commander.

“Of course—it’s thanks to your excellent leadership as Apostle.”

Sion smiled awkwardly.

“That’s more than enough praise. We should investigate where these wraiths are coming from.”

“Agreed. Their scale is larger than we thought.”

“How much larger?”

For the first time, Kegan spoke gravely.

“At least three times greater than our last report.”

“I see…”

“We’ll continue tracking them. But you should probably head on soon.”

Sion gazed into the marsh’s darkness—then shook his head.

“No. The Goddess of War guides my steps.”

Achille crossed her arms, looking in the same direction.

Recovering the shard was important—

but she recognized the gravity of the current crisis…

and couldn’t be certain it was unrelated to the shard.

“Well then?”

“Let’s solve this together.”

Kegan grinned.

The exhausted War Knights, catching their breath, welcomed the news.

“Wait a moment.”

Sion vanished—

literally evaporating from the knights’ sight.

None could track his movement.

Fluurrk—

Only when his black cloak fluttered back into view

did they realize he’d returned.

“What just passed by?”

“Was that a dream?”

Beside the reappeared Sion floated a Chaos Wraith—

distinct from the others.

Sion had infused it with extra divine power, extending its lifespan for control.

Even Achille was impressed by the Corrupted Sword’s versatility.

Sion spoke in a low, steady voice.

“If we follow this one, we’ll find their source.”

“I see…”

Kegan was astonished.

Not only could Sion enslave the wraiths—

he could manipulate them with surgical precision.

‘That’s no simple feat… unless you’re a born prodigy.’

But now that Sion was the Goddess’s Apostle, such talk of ‘talent’ had lost all meaning.

He existed on an entirely different plane.

Sion raised the Corrupted Sword, signaling the thrall to move.

“Once you’re ready—let’s go.”

* * *

BOOOOM…

A temple, overgrown with vines like deep-sea kelp, shuddered violently.

The tremor came from an awakening presence so immense that beasts and demons scurried away in panic.

Only one figure approached the stirring entity—

a priestess clad in red vestments.

“You’re awake.”

The awakened being glared at her with bloodstained eyes.

Its killing intent pricked like needles.

“Your mouth reeks. Don’t speak, human.”

The priestess twisted her lips like peeling fruit skin.

“How crude—one of the Evil God’s seeds, and yet no manners.”

Grrrrk!

The awakened entity unleashed a wave of killing intent.

CRACK!

Fissures spiderwebbed across the temple walls.

“I’ll slaughter you right now.”

WHOOSH!

“I won’t back down.”

The priestess stood her ground, cupping Holy Salt of Lady Agnia in her palms.

The fierce flames blazed just as fiercely as the enraged demon’s.

Just as the demon swelled like a beast about to charge—

it suddenly lifted its head…

calmed its fury…

and turned its back.

“Consider yourself lucky, human…”

The priestess clenched her fist, extinguishing the flames.

She, too, gazed into empty space—

and bowed her head slightly.

“My apologies. I lost control of my emotions for a moment.”

Unseen powers had intervened to stop the fight.

An Evil God and a Goddess had joined hands—

like mixing venom and antidote in the same bowl.

They couldn’t possibly get along.

‘But… They must share some purpose.’

The priestess hardened her expression, watching the Apostle of Chaos—the ‘vermin’ crawling into the marshlands—set out to hunt.

‘I am curious…what power does an Evil Apostle wield when imbued with the power of Fire?’

The Fire Priestess pulled her hood back over her head and slipped out through another exit.

She couldn’t bear to stay a moment longer in this repulsive temple—

even if it was now just a forgotten relic of an ancient Evil God.

* * *

“Where… is this?”

Kegan stood frozen, lips twitching.

The War Knights were equally stunned.

They’d patrolled these marshlands countless times—

yet never seen anything like this.

“Was this here before?”

Sion, too, gazed at the ghost-ship-like ancient structure with suspicion.

A building this massive, radiating such intense malice—

he should’ve sensed it the very first time he came.

‘No matter how vast this marsh is… that’s impossible.’

[This temple is so ancient, even I barely remember it.]

As always, Achille provided the answer.

‘Goddess…’

[In my memory… this is where the Evil God of Death first gathered her heretics.]

‘So that explains why this land belongs to the Evil God of Death.’

[Yes. The slumbering ancient demon…and our previous encounter with the Death Priest—it all stems from this.]

Sion inhaled the damp, oppressive air and asked,

‘Then why has it appeared now?’

[Though abandoned, the malice lingering here was needed. Someone must’ve broken its hidden seal.]

A clear answer.

Achille added,

[Evil Gods defile divinity to create malice— now that the Heavenly Realm has vanished, their sources of malice must be running dry.]

Sion and Achille exchanged knowing smiles.

This was the scent of victory—

one only a Goddess of War and her Apostle could claim.

‘So they’re in crisis, too.’

[A cornered rat… who knows what it might do. Stay vigilant, my Apostle.]

‘I will.’

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