Chapter 205

Chapter 205
## Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: First Reaper Summoning

Even so, it defied logic for the ‘Soul of Despair’ to manifest in this place.

Despair had already been brought back to life by the ‘Black King.’

They had previously picked up the omens of its return, and by now, they had verified that it was entirely resurrected and active.

Consequently, was this ‘Despair’-shaped spirit flickering before them nothing but an imitation?

‘…Looking at a rating like that, there is no way it is a fraud.’

That numerical value could not be attributed to anything other than Despair.

The Great Will of the Moon was not prone to errors in calculation, so this stood as an undeniable reality.

The lingering mystery was ‘how’ the Golden Goat had managed to get its hands on the soul of Despair.

‘If that is the case, what exactly is the currently resurrected Despair operating with?’

Its return to the world was a certainty.

However, whether it was merely a hollow shell functioning without the genuine soul of Despair was anyone’s guess.

It likely was not a perfected resurrection.

‘……Golden Goat. Have you been playing a double game with everyone since the initial feast?’

The Golden Goat had turned up to the first banquet with nothing to offer.

It had provided no souls at all.

What if that had been a deception?

What if it had possessed full knowledge of the situation and performed a role?

If that were the truth, they had all been handled like complete idiots.

By that very Golden Goat.

He must have held the soul of Despair in his possession from the very start.

It was difficult to credit the idea that he had suddenly stumbled upon it after the first feast had concluded.

“……”

The Golden Goat offered no reply.

It merely stood there with an air of detachment, as if this were the natural order of things, as if it had foreseen every moment.

Had it purposely avoided identifying the soul?

Was it to catch the patrons off guard in a more spectacular fashion?

Presenting only a single soul served that same purpose.

It was a display of absolute certainty that one was all that was required.

A solitary soul of Despair could not be weighed against hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of common spirits.

‘You have made fools of us all!’

The Golden Mask was utterly certain now.

That goat had orchestrated every detail from the beginning.

In this unique feast of Reapers, he intended to prove he was the most exceptional entity present!

‘He is not to be taken lightly.’

The Golden Mask was forced to concede the point.

This goat had not ascended to the position of the 12th patron through luck alone.

It possessed the inherent worth to hold that rank on its own standing.

He had brushed it off as trivial until this moment, but following today’s events, he would have to revise his perspective entirely.

“……According to the regulations, the Golden Goat’s Legion shall be the first to attempt ‘Devouring All’.”

He had been demoted to the second slot.

Yet, there was no alternative.

No one could dispute a scoring gap that was more than double the nearest competitor.

“It isn’t going to vomit it back up again, is it?”

“Hmm……”

Even so, it was only natural for the crowd to express their doubts.

If it rejected the meal and forfeited its subsequent opportunity, the feast would reach a premature end.

As if sensing their internal dialogue, the Golden Mask went on.

“Rest assured. The ‘Great Will of the Moon’ has personally kindled the flames of this feast. No Legion would ever reject such an offering.”

He could read it plainly in the behavior of the Legions.

Suuuuuuck!

Kihiiiiiaaa……

Every Legion was fixated on the feast with a ravenous, desperate hunger.

There was not a single exception.

What stood before them at this moment was no commonplace banquet.

It was a sanctified festival ignited and sanctified by the ‘Great Will of the Moon’ itself.

What Legion would have the audacity to spit out that magnificent soul, burning with the scent of sweet nectar?

-Kyakyakyakyakya!!!

The Golden Goat’s Legion advanced toward the sanctified festival.

The remaining Legions tracked its movement with gazes full of jealous rage.

It was transparently clear that even a mere morsel of that Despair-shaped banquet would significantly boost a Legion’s standing.

“Most importantly, the scale of this sanctified festival is gargantuan. Consuming the entirety in one go is a physical impossibility.”

However, because of its colossal dimensions, ‘Devouring All’ appeared to be a total pipe dream.

The patrons found themselves agreeing with the Golden Mask’s assessment.

The hall was thick with heat.

That massive sanctified festival seemed to have no boundaries, appearing large enough to last through several rotations of turns.

And if it proved impossible to finish it all in one sitting, the act of leaving the rest behind did not matter.

They simply needed to consume the portions they could reach.

‘Well then.’

‘Hurry up and eat.’

‘In the end, it is just a competition of who can swallow the most.’

Only at that point did the patrons begin to settle down.

Factoring in the size, everyone would eventually get their turn at the table.

Ultimately, the deciding factor was who could ingest the greatest volume.

There were inherent constraints on how much a Legion could take in, regardless of the circumstances.

Just like with mortals.

A Legion was incapable of absorbing more soul energy than the capacity of the vessel it inhabited, just as a stomach had its own boundaries.

……Indeed, the sequence of turns was not the primary concern.

There was no cause for alarm.

Just as everyone reached that same conclusion.

Craaaaaack!

Hell unhinged its maw.

The crimson radiance dimmed.

The shimmer that had saturated the hall quickly dissipated.

This signaled that the ‘special banquet’ had come to a final conclusion.

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence draped itself over the world.

The heat was gone, the noise had died away, and nothing remained but a hollow vacuum.

They could do nothing but stare blankly at a single point.

‘Quite the celebration.’

Sensing their intense stares, I let out a relaxed grin.

I had teased the Seia Saint about attending a ‘party,’ and it had quite literally transformed into a genuine ‘party.’

For me, at any rate.

‘Who could have guessed it would be a winning lottery ticket.’

The soul of the cursed one was akin to a gamble.

And upon scratching the surface, it revealed the ultimate reward.

Who would have imagined it truly contained the ‘Soul of Despair.’

‘Is that why the Fragment of Despair underwent purification?’

When I broke the curse on Ainhasar, the ‘Fragment of Despair’ I was carrying had suddenly turned pure, which had left me baffled.

Because the spirit that had placed the curse on Ainhasar was Despair itself, the fragment had been cleansed.

To put it another way, the Despair that the Black King had called forth was operating in a tainted, unpurified state.

And even that particular soul was not the authentic Despair.

‘The Despair of the present is utilizing the soul of the Death King.’

Everything finally clicked into place.

The reason why the Death King had handed me the ‘Fragment of Despair’ became clear.

It was a sign that the current Despair was a counterfeit.

He was counting on me to expose that reality.

So…… the Black King was playing a game of smoke and mirrors.

‘Everyone holds the Black King in such high regard simply for waking Despair.’

Naturally, the fact that he had succeeded in waking it made him a titan that should not be overlooked, but it was not the actual embodiment of Despair.

Still, the Black King made no effort to hide his claim over Despair.

He was even quietly stoking the fires of rumors to inflate his own legend.

……He was a master of the long con.

At last, every piece of the puzzle snapped together.

‘Build up his reputation with gossip, effortlessly consume the White King, and move into the Central Continent?’

The Black King’s goals were crystal clear.

It had seemed strange that, despite supposedly waking Despair and holding such dominant strength, he hadn’t launched a full-scale assault on the White King.

Some might have called it overconfidence, but the Black King and White King were ancient, bitter rivals.

Normally, he would have struck the moment he saw an opening.

The reason for his hesitation was standing right here.

‘Since I have passed along the truth, the White King is going to start moving for real now. That should be quite the show.’

To be sure, the White King was starting from behind.

But if the White King managed to gather his strength as well, this conflict might actually be worth the price of admission.

I gave a silent laugh and turned a steady gaze toward Hell.

-Guuuuurp!

Hell released a massive belch and rubbed its distended stomach with a sense of deep contentment.

Hell had just succeeded in ‘Devouring All’—the Soul of Despair, the spirit of the Giant, and every single ‘soul’ that the other patrons had brought to the table.

“……This has to be a fabrication.”

“How is it possible for one being to ‘Devour All’ of something that magnitude?”

“Golden Mask! If you have any answers, explain this. What on earth is happening!”

The patrons were in a state of total denial.

They even began to direct their frustration at the Golden Mask.

But the Golden Mask was every bit as bewildered as they were.

How was he supposed to grasp what was happening?

He had never witnessed a Legion consume that volume of spirits in a single instance.

“……The ‘Great Will of the Moon’ has designated the victor of this day.”

There was no other way to rationalize it.

Nothing except the idea that the ‘Great Will of the Moon’ had provided assistance to the Golden Goat’s Legion to ensure it could ‘Devour All.’

It was a definitive case of ‘winner takes all.’

Grind!

Several patrons gnashed their teeth in anger.

Regardless of whether the winner took everything, this had spiraled far beyond what anyone had anticipated.

They had been stripped of even the slightest opportunity, a stark departure from how previous feasts had functioned.

‘Oh ho.’

It didn’t matter to me.

I held zero interest in their disappointment.

The only thing that commanded my attention now was one specific thing.

The flood of ‘messages’ manifesting in the air before me!

《Pet ‘Hell’s level increases by 1.》

《Pet ‘Hell’s level increases by 1.》

《Pet ‘Hell’s level increases by 1.》

……

《Pet ‘Hell’s level has reached 10.》

《’Hell’ finishes its ‘Growth Phase’ and transitions into the ‘Maturity Phase.’》

《’Hell’s appetite grows; it now necessitates 60 Honor per day.》

《If left unfed, ‘Hell’ may lose control.》

《’Hell’ is now capable of using ‘Reaper Summon (???).’》

Reaper Summon?

Did that imply it was now able to call forth Reapers that were previously out of reach?

It appeared that reaching the ‘Maturity Phase’ had made this possible.

Did that mean the other ‘Legions’ had also moved past their Maturity Phase?

That was not the only transformation taking place.

-Kyakyakyaak!

Wings began to emerge.

Six of them in total. Three distinct pairs of wings!

《The ‘Great Will of the Moon’ focuses its attention on you.》

《Do you wish to accept the blessing of the ‘Child of the Moon’?》

Hold on. Child of the Moon?

That was a name I had encountered before.

And I had heard it quite recently, in fact.

‘A creature that stepped into the world during the Primordial Era!’

……Ah.

It was definitely among the titles the ‘Primordial God’ had cautioned me to stay away from.

Out of the names he specifically warned me about, the Child of the Moon was certainly on the list.

In other terms, the ‘Great Will of the Moon’—that crimson lunar glow that all the patrons worshipped and obeyed—was the ‘Child of the Moon.’

To think I would cross paths with a being from the Primordial Era this early.

《I decline the blessing.》

However, getting tangled up with it right now would lead to nothing but trouble.

Hell’s advancement was plenty for the time being.

《You have accomplished the feat ‘The One Who Refused a Great Being’s Blessing.’》

《Honor increases by 3,000 points.》

《Due to ‘Great Presence,’ Honor earned is doubled (6,000).》

《The ‘Child of the Moon’ narrows its eyes and withdraws.》

……Excellent.

It had lost interest in me completely.

There is no telling what other dangers are hiding in this empire.

I cannot afford to drop my guard for a single second.

“Golden Goat. I have a query regarding your Legion.”

“Go ahead.”

In that moment, the Golden Mask spoke up.

When I gave my permission, he gestured toward Hell and spoke once more.

“Is that Reaper of yours actually a ‘Legion’?”

“I was not the one who confirmed its status; that was all of you.”

“No matter how I analyze it, something is wrong. From the way it looks to the fact that it cannot call forth a ‘Reaper’—something every Legion can do—your Legion looks more like a Reaper than a Legion itself……”

So that was it.

He was shifting his approach.

Attempting to frame it as something other than a Legion entirely.

I gave a casual shrug.

“You were the ones who formally recognized it at the very first feast.”

“Watching it evolve today has planted seeds of doubt. Why would a Legion manifest in the shape of a Reaper?”

How would I have the answer to that?

Hell was clearly distinct from the other Legions.

It was different, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a Legion.

“If it manages to summon a Reaper, will you finally accept it as a ‘Legion’?”

“We will.”

The Golden Mask gave a firm nod.

The other patrons followed suit.

‘The timing couldn’t be better.’

By a stroke of luck, Hell was now capable of summoning a Reaper.

I slowly focused my mental command toward Hell.

‘Call forth a Reaper, Hell.’

-Kyakyakya!

Flutter!

Hell signaled its understanding and unfurled its wings to their full extent.

At that exact moment.

《A ‘Reaper’ has been called forth!》

Kwaaaaaaaaang!