Chapter 196: We Find Each Other Kindred Spirits
Chapter 196: We Find Each Other Kindred Spirits
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Before Baiyi could go looking for Laeticia, a man approached him; not in the real world, though, but the Void
"Yo, check out the new guys," Baiyi announced, using his consciousness to guide everyone's attention to the two newly arrived souls. Upon their arrival, the other Walkers' discussions and meditations were abruptly halted.
"Ugh, more of those Churchgoers. How did I know? I can smell their stench," the Lich snapped before the newcomers could introduce themselves. "Aren't God's people quick to drain their swamp!"
Upon hearing that they were from the Church, the Cleric took it upon himself to show them a bit of a hospitality. "Who are you? Don't be afraid; it's safe here."
Maybe, the way the Cleric had characterized an obviously-unsettling place like The Void as "safe" roused the newcomers' suspicion; or, maybe, they were just not used to talking via their consciousness. Nevertheless, whatever the reason really was, the two chose to ignore the Cleric altogether.
Baiyi began to grow impatient. He poked one of them using his own consciousness, and after a while, a torrent of negative emotions burst out from it.
Hopelessness, hysteria, melancholy, fear; emotions from the negative end of the spectrum filled the Void and rattled everyone present. Baiyi monitored the tempestuous consciousness for a while, before realizing that it had gone completely mad. Whatever humane rationality it once possessed was no longer intact. He turned to the Walkers and said, "This one's lost. I'm letting it go."
He gave a flick using his consciousness, and the newcomer's soul was pushed away from the Walkers, elevating higher from them until it entered the true Void. Primordial chaos and unbridled lawlessness engulfed the foreign soul and disintegrated it. The consciousness put up no defense and allowed the true Void to erase its existence.
The true Void was a space where even souls could be wiped out.
"Sigh. Every time I see this… It puts this weight in my chest, you know?" The Soul Armature Practitioner spoke morosely. He turned to Baiyi, his tone suddenly more formal than usual. "Thank you for everything you have done for us, Sir Hope, truly."
"You may be a crappy moderator, but without you, we are all gonna end up like that guy," The Astrologer added, nervousness etched in his voice.
"I…was just as much of a lost cause as this unfortunate soul when I'd first arrived here," the Paladin said. "You have my most sincere gratitude for not turning your back on me."
"Well, that was because I could still find a wisp of rationality within your consciousness," Baiyi replied casually. "…Hold on a second. What's with you people being all sentimental and everything? Haven't we seen this Cl a million times already 1 ?"
That was true. It was not the first time that a soul had been torn into pieces in the Void. In fact, since the Archmage's arrival around 6000 years ago, there had been more than 33 souls who had been banished to this wasteland. The reason why only 33 souls remained as the Voidwalkers was because only they could stomach the torment of living here together, hoping for escape.
When the Archmage first came to the Void, it was completely uninhabitable. One had to exert all of their might to anchor their consciousness, or they would be pulled in by the Void and get shredded into nothingness as the newcomer had.
The Void was never a prison; it was an execution chamber.
In this universe, the death of one's corporeal body does not equate to the total annihilation of the person's identity, because their soul would still exist. That was how the art of Soul Armatures could work.
Plus, unlike conjurers and demons, the lawful had no better method of disposing immortal souls than to banish them to the Void.
To those who knew of the Void's existence, they considered it a death chamber for souls, not a place to imprison them. To keep a soul in the Void was akin to keeping a person in space. No one would be able to live long in that condition, and even if they had great powers, all it could do was to delay the inevitable—their demise.
Even the Archmage was having a hard time holding on.
Until he met Baiyi; Or, rather, until Baiyi arrived at the Void. This man's soul could mysteriously tame a part of this otherwise uncontrollable chaos, freeing up an area of relative tranquility within the eye of the hurricane. It was still a bit cold, but it became the only part of the Void where anyone could finally rest.
"We had been engaged in intensive training here, sharpening our wills and powers in the Void. We are…the Voidwalkers 2 ," The Archmage had said to that particular newcomer back then. "But we had been exhausting ourselves for so many years... Alas, kind stranger, can…can we stay beside you and rest for a while?"
And that was how the Voidwalkers were formed. Baiyi accepted four powerful souls by his side when they had almost given up, and in exchange, The Archmage took him in as an apprentice, while the other three Walkers paid by exchanging their memories. Back then, even the ever-elusive Oracle had to relent to letting Baiyi see fragments of his own life.
This was how he attracted more and more souls to himself—until there were 33 of them.
This was why Baiyi had the privilege to exchange his memories with others, or why he could mute someone's comment and no one would object, or why—despite everyone being on different sides and were always eager to throttle each other—they always maintained a modicum of fondness towards the Fifth Walker.
This was also why everyone called him Hope.
It did not just signify that he was their hope to escape the Void someday; it also signified that he was the hope that had sustained their lives all these years.
Ah, way out of topic. Let's resume from were we deviated…
Truthfully, back when Baiyi wasn't as strong as he should be, he had not managed to take in every soul into his safespace. Many had been vaporized into the Void before he could reach out to them. Many had been recovered into this sanctuary, yet once they realized how many more years they had to wait in this blinding darkness, they abandoned hope and eventually, their soul. There were also many who had refused to believe that they had lived on after their corporeal death. The souls of these people, therefore, either ended up lost in their own chaos or lost all signs of vitality; and like the newcomer today, Baiyi always let them go.
So many years had passed, yet only 33 had managed to remain in the Void, waiting for Sir Hope to save them.
The second newcomer spent a bit of time to learn how to converse using his own consciousness. After he had grasped the ability, he first expressed surprise at the presence of life, then at the identity of the people who were present in this wasteland.
Upon finding out that the Cleric was none other than the fabled apostle seen on sacred murals, the newcomer chose to have his soul completely erased, too. Before he died a second time, however, he spilled some information about the current state-of-affairs within the Church.
It turned out that the second newcomer was the Second Chief Judge, one of The Supreme Judicial Court's Big Three. He had always been a pious man, who held steady to his faith even when his contemporaries had all fallen. Nevertheless, when the Church decided to undergo a massive spring cleaning, he was singled out, and his soul was cast into the Void, just because they grew weary of his connection to his corrupted peers. The man, of course, never expected that he would find himself before the fabled apostle.
The story of the Lone Deliverer in the Abyss, Saint Joel, who proceeded to ascend to God's kingdom—was one that had always been told to those who seek the path of their own Ascension. Yet the truth behind this legend proved to be too agonizing. If the blessed Saint Joel himself had ended up in the suffocating darkness of the Void, then who had really, truly, Ascended to God's kingdom back then?
Not everyone could bear to live with such a tragic discovery.
Therefore, Baiyi had obliged to the man's wishes and watched his soul get erased in the Void.
He then turned to the Cleric. "Dude, how many has it been? Is 'driving them to death' your hidden agenda or what?"
"Hey, excuse you!" The Cleric replied indignantly. "You can't blame me! I told them the truth about the Ascension, but it was their pathetic cowardice and faith that cost them the mettle to accept it. They chose death over the truth!"
"Agreed. That is why I consider us to be more courageous. We, at least, chose to become profane rather than die a coward!" The Paladin chimed in helpfully.
"Besides, I told you before, didn't I? Once I get out of here, I will be dispersing the truth to the public. When that happens, there would almost certainly be a mass suicide, no?" The Cleric concluded in an uncharacteristically solemn tone.
Sigh. 'Folks of the faith, always so dramatic'. Baiyi thought in mild exasperation. At the very least, something like that would probably destabilize the public's faith in the Church.
"Did you that guy divulge any important we should know about?" Baiyi changed the topic, remembering how the Chief Judge refused to talk to anyone but the Cleric.
"Well, the Supreme Judicial Court is done for. Out of the three Big Heads, one turned rogue, one was banished, and another was demoted to an ascetic, the lowest rank in Church's hierarchy. Meanwhile, the Judicial Paladins and the inquisitors are all involved in extensive investigations. Those who are still alive had all been locked up for investigation, while those who had been working in other realms had all been summoned back to the Church to be scoured," came the reply. "Of course, I would advise against recklessness, even now that the Judiciary Court seems to be in disarray because the Church is still watching everyone very closely."
"By the way, even the inner circle is being scoured. Excluding the Pope, it seems that no one else is safe from the investigation—even the elites in Templar Fort."
"The most important part of all is that your powers have not gone unnoticed by the higher-ups," The briefing finally reached the point where it was directly related to Baiyi. "They knew, Sir Hope, that someone had used a taboo power in this war. They just weren't able to pinpoint who it was. I think that as long as you don't get caught up in attention-nabbing problems, they probably won't face you directly."
"Huh? Why not?" Baiyi asked curiously.
"Because my gorgeous, adorable little heiress had also been noticed! My personal theurgical technique, which she had performed splendidly, earned her an audience with the higher-ups," The Cleric answered curtly. "Of course, she told them about how both you two met, and how you taught her the technique. Now, they think that you passed that knowledge to her as my appointed proxy!"
Baiyi understood the implication immediately. The Cleric may be a disgusting, horny old man from the Gentleman Club in the Void, but outside, he was a goddamned saint of the most immaculate; the face of the Church. To suggest that he had anything to do with a dirty heretic, or worse, to suggest that Saint Joel may even be one of them? In their heretical ways?! The Church would jump up and down screaming in denial!
"Whoever dares to speak negatively of Saint Joel is getting an express ticket to Hell" had always been the Church's default stance*. And that was the one of the biggest asset Baiyi had as of now; he had the backing of a horny cleric who made it into the legends, so he was probably enjoying a sudden boost of good impression from the Church. It wouldn't have mattered how many priests and paladins had suspicions regarding his real identity, because they wouldn't dare question a friend of Saint Joel in the open. The most they could do was to investigate him in secret 3 .
This was why Baiyi had effortlessly evaded the Church's brand-new wave of Inquisition. In fact, by the time one of the Church members finally sought him out by his door, he was flashing the visitors his brightest grin 4 .
There were two visitors from the Holy City. The Grand Paladin Commander, Sir Grunewald, a man of tall and muscular stature; And behind him, was none other than the village maiden Laeticia, who had dressed up for the occasion.
She was no longer garbed in a linen dress, neither did she don a student armor. Instead, she was suited with a customized armor that had a lot of aesthetics but comparatively little defense capability. The silver-white armor only covered up to her torso, making it so fitting that her curvature was fully displayed, and her shoulder was left bare. Her skirt-like tassets were so short, her barren thighs had to be covered with black stockings to prevent unnecessary attention—not that it worked, of course. Even the helm that was supposed to protect her forehead looked more like a uniquely-designed hairband than anything.
'Is this really a set of armor? I mean, does it even any protective capabilities? Are you sure this isn't some sort of special uniform? Or even kinky a roleplaying costume?'
Laeticia was even more beautiful in her new gear. Not only did she resemble an Amazon Warrior, but she also retained her grace and humility. The shape of her feminine body was now coupled with newfound gallantness and gravity; thus, in summary, Laeticia now looked more gorgeous, more adorable, and more fit to be licked 5 .
If it wasn't for her ever-present braids, Baiyi wouldn't have been able to recognize the maiden as Laeticia.
"Greetings, Mr. Hope. I'm so delighted to see you again." She held the Scripture necklace in her hand as she curtsied a little. "May God kindly protect you forever," she added under her breath.
'Right, maybe when your God lost his mind,' Baiyi thought to himself as he ushered the two into his living room, ordering Attie to make tea. While waiting, the Soul Armature fidgeted with a few tin cans in his hand. As Arfin city settled down from their last attack, the shops and vendors gradually reopened for business. Mia and the others were then able to go out and buy new seeds, which they planted in the cans, afterward. They didn't tell him which plants they had gifted him, though, so Baiyi figured it was meant to a surprise, but he found himself a tad-bit too hung up on the possibilities.
Seeing that Baiyi remained silent, the Grand Paladin Commander decided to speak first in order to break the awkward silence. "Master Hope, I... had heard from Laeticia here that Saint Joel is your friend."
"Not just friends, we found each other kindred spirits," Baiyi rectified the man's observation, then after some thought, he added, "Well, kindred spirits in certain areas, you see."
Baiyi was not in favor of being lumped into the Gentlemen Club bunch.
The Grand Paladin Commander hesitated a bit before he continued, "So… You, uh, back then…"
"Oh, yes. When I was alive, I loved getting some kicks in the Abyss whenever I found life boring. Carving some materials out from some demons was a favorite pastime. That was when I met my old friend, Joel. We braced many dangers together; it forged our impeccable friendship. Too bad the man was too ardent in his training to leave the Abyss, so we parted ways."
That was, of course, a fib the crafty Soul Armature had planned with the Cleric. These two story writers had planned an alibi devoid of plotholes just for this occasion.