"High Priest."
Rukia sank into sorrow when she saw High Priest Maximus's face.
I'm sorry.
He was the priest she respected second only to the Pope, and she had gravely wounded him.
I didn't mean to hurt him.
She had simply lost control of herself.
She'd been angry when they opposed her relationship with Glen, and she believed the demon's power had manifested because of that impious anger.
This is a test given to me.
I will subdue the demon in my left hand and prove my innocence to High Priest Maximus.
"Hm?"
As memories unfolded before her, Rukia noticed Maximus staring blankly at his seventeen‑year‑old self.
Was I like that?
She couldn't remember.
Back then she had no idea how important a man Maximus would become.
Now, with so much learned in the present, she detected a strangely troubled expression in the High Priest's eyes.
He wouldn't make that face.
Time twisted again, and the High Priest's past played out in place of hers.
"Irene."
Young Maximus flushed as he stood before a woman.
That woman…
Not identical like twins, but Rukia instinctively felt the woman resembled her.
The cause.
Time ran backward again….
"Here, eat, little one."
She saw Maximus's mother feeding him soup thin enough for a toddler.
Why?
A woman who resembled Irene and Rukia.
Why are you showing me this?
The cause.
The scene shifted to the seminary.
"Who is that child?"
When Maximus pointed at Rukia, the nun in charge answered proudly.
"She's the most outstanding priest candidate at the academy. She has very fine divine power."
"I see."
This time Rukia remembered. Maximus had a brief conversation with her and left a kind word—that if she worked hard, she might one day serve God at the Holy See.
Those words changed my life.
That night she watched Maximus lie on a cot and toss in sleeplessness.
No— I don't want to see this. Peeking into someone's bedroom…
"Irene."
He had loved her deeply, but Maximus had ambition.
If only I could turn back time. If I could go back to the moment I first and last confessed my love.
He rose from the bed and left the room.
Rukia was shocked when he headed for the female trainees' dormitory.
Even the High Priest would commit a grave sin by invading quarters forbidden to his sex.
Walking down the corridor, Maximus carefully opened the door labeled Rukia.
A seventeen‑year‑old girl slept soundly.
He stared at her and let out a long sigh.
Years spent chasing nothing but success.
Why had God taken my soul but left my body here in the world?
When he first saw Rukia in the chapel, Maximus had wondered if he could turn things back.
Watching the High Priest's hand slowly reach out, Rukia felt her breath catch.
He clenched his fist.
No! What is this…
Don't be a fool. Even if you could turn back time, don't let yourself make a reckless choice. Now that you are High Priest, don't give in to regret.
He turned to the mirror.
A face drained of youthful vigor—the man who embodied the authority of the Holy See and all the power of the world.
"Ugh!"
Maximus spun roughly and walked back down the corridor to his chamber.
Until dawn he knelt, clutching a wooden needle and driving it into his thigh.
"God."
Blood soaked his clothes.
"Cast off the devil's temptation." His muscles convulsed.
"Purify my soul."
He did not stop self‑punishment until morning.
No.
Rukia pressed her hands over her head.
I don't want to know. I don't want to know things like this.
—Ah, God.
The voices of countless people working at the academy echoed like hallucinations.
—Punish my desire. I want to go to the Holy See. I want to be High Priest. Grant me mighty divine power.
Cause, cause, cause.
—Wah. Waa.
If life is the accumulation of causes from the moment of birth—
"Does a human possess the power to determine outcomes?"
The man with the pyramid head said.
"Wretch without cause, do you seek to become a god?"
Shirone shook his head.
"You're wrong. Even without cause, the will endures."
It continues through the heart.
"I, too, have suffered countless vexations along the flow of time. Through innumerable choices and mistakes I stand here now."
"But you do not waver. Do you intend to deny the foundation of all the lives that compose you?"
"Not denial. The causes of all who ever lived are in my memory. It's confusing and sometimes clouded, but it's there."
The one called In extended a hand.
"Realize your insignificance."
As a wave of time washed over them, Shirone radiated Agape's light.
"I forgive."
A blinding radiance filled the interior of the pyramid, then the world dimmed into shadow again.
In was gone.
"Do not underestimate the human heart."
Looking ahead with calm eyes, Shirone grew certain after meeting In: there was a god here.
While recuperating in his chamber, High Priest Maximus recalled long‑past events.
Rukia. When did everything begin to crumble?
I shouldn't have gone to the academy that day. I hurt that child.
If I had chosen Irene, would Rukia have remained only a trainee?
Before life, how small and pitiful humans become.
A harsh knock sounded.
"High Priest. High Priest."
Maximus frowned.
"Come in."
As soon as permission was given, the entering priest's face was pale with alarm.
"What is it?"
"W‑well…."
His eyes reflected the scandalous news spreading through the Holy See.
"Yahweh…clashed with the Heresy Division?"
"Yes. Rumors say so. We tried to verify, but the Pope is away and the only one with access is you, High Priest."
Maximus rolled his eyes briefly and forced a smile.
"I understand. I'll go up. Summon the holy knights."
"Yes. I'm sorry to trouble you while you're unwell."
Though the wound Rukia had inflicted had been serious, it had been treated with divine power.
"Do not worry. I exist for this sort of thing."
After the priest left, Maximus sighed.
"Damn it!"
He had an inkling why Yahweh remained here.
What a bothersome fellow.
As he prepared to go to the Sacred Hall, a sound came from the wall.
"Oh my, busy today, aren't we?"
Maximus flinched as a delicate hand rested on his shoulder.
"I'm a little hurt you didn't indulge me sooner. I'd planned to make today a much better time."
"…I told you I would go. If you get caught, it's over."
A woman's face brushed Maximus's cheek.
Irene.
Not the real Irene, but seeing a woman who looked exactly like her in her twenties felt like stepping back in time.
"You aren't Irene."
She was Elka, a member of Yahweh's assassination unit Catacomb and a preacher of the Satanic Church.
A demon who mirrored the human heart like a looking glass, making visible whatever its target desired most.
"Hoho! That's right. A filthy demon. But who stripped you of your bachelorhood, hm?"
"Ugh."
Maximus's face twisted.
"Get out. I will not fall to the demon again."
Elka pushed Maximus back onto the bed.
"Fine. I'll leave. But are you sure? Your Emotion Sickness might relapse, you know."
Maximus had far more he couldn't give up than most—among them, his office as High Priest.
"Wasn't it you who chose the Satanic doctrine? A lifetime of suppressing desire—can you just abandon it now? If you leave the Holy See, you'll be just another old man."
"No! I—"
"This is the reward for your years of patience. You're still High Priest of the Rami Church, and now you even have a woman you love."
She lay him down and pouted; he turned his face away.
"God, please. Please."
"It's okay. I've waited long enough. Sixty years."
Evil preys on human weakness.
"Stop."
Maximus wept.
"I was wrong. Don't do this to me."
"I don't want to hurt your heart, but…"
The Irene‑like face gave a sad smile.
"I haven't done anything."
Ah.
As his mind began to crumble, Maximus's eyes rolled back and Elka's lips touched the nape of his neck.
"Entrance, Moon Kingdom!"
As the procession entered, the gazes of those in Delta's main hall shifted.
That is Moon.
Instead of a carriage, a lone riding drake smoothed back its whiskers while bearing a rider.
"Hmph! Hiding in buildings like a rat to peep? The king has no dignity."
If Pharas was the origin of Kashan, Moon was the origin of Jincheon.
Like Pharas, their specialties included astrology and the Book of Changes.
Pflug said, "Both countries use divination. Be cautious unless we have sufficient intelligence."
"The most dangerous thing is if Pharas and Moon join hands. Send word to Yongroe to block it."
Shirone remained silent.
The holy war has not yet opened. Compared to the tangled events elsewhere, the front here was relatively calm.
But that calm lasted only a moment. Another nation passed the outer gate and Shirone's eyes brightened.
"Entrance, Gustav Empire!"
Habitz had deserted his homeland to attach himself to Kashan, but Gustav remained a great power.
A long procession rivaling Kashan's emerged from the distance and finally arrived at Delta's main hall.
Habitz has gone. Then who is the current king?
They had heard the throne was vacant until recently, so attending the holy war without a representative seemed odd.
"W‑who is the author?"
As they drew close enough to see, the leaders murmured.
"Gustav IV? Wasn't he dead?"
On the carriage with the emperor, Balkan wore a crown, and beside him sat three men with no decorum.
Shirone's expression grew grave.
"Smodo, Zettaro, Natasha. With those abilities they could control Gustav. Their political credibility is considerable. But…"
The unsettling question was:
Why come to the Holy War now?
As if sharing the thought, everyone's attention turned to Habitz.
"Hoho?"
Habitz, who'd been gorging himself at the banquet and chewing grapes, approached the window.
"I can hear it, I can hear it."
The mind of Gustav IV reached out through the God‑frequency: a clear, unrelenting intent to kill, without a shred of pity.
"Kukuku."
Habitz flung the window wide and stuck his face out.
"You want to kill me? You lot?"
Among the murmurs in the main hall, Balkan pointed at Habitz with his index finger.
"So you were here after all."
"What? Already arrived?"
The remaining three leapt up and looked where Balkan pointed.
Silence followed.
"...There. There."
A laugh creased Gustav IV's face.
"Habitz, Noeulja!"
At the sound of their voices, Habitz's face—
"Kukuku! Kukukuku!"
The expressions of everyone in the main hall went ashen, contorting into grotesque shapes.