Chapter 73

Chapter 73. One Hundred Divine Maidens

"......"

The scene unfolding through the gap in the doors was dizzying.

A parade of naked bodies.

But the atmosphere couldn't have been further from obscenity.

If anything.

'Heavy.'

It was solemn to a chilling degree.

Oppressively heavy.

Because a wordless resolve was etched into their faces.

Like martyrs about to ascend the altar.

The divine maiden kneeling at the very front slowly parted her lips.

"O great victor."

She was a girl with translucent silver hair, still bearing the softness of youth.

Her eyes were hollow, yet her voice didn't waver.

"Please burn us with the Fire of Purification."

"......?"

"We are already prepared."

The girl pressed both hands to her chest and bowed her head deeply.

"If our master wishes it, I shall burn of my own accord. I shall become the purest, sweetest Nectar and serve your Authority."

She was inviting her own death.

If, as they said, I burned these pure souls with the Fire of Purification, I'd obtain an unimaginable volume of high-purity Nectar.

The supreme feast that had made even Supreme Tier gods salivate.

If I claimed it all, my Divinity would grow explosively.

But.

'That's insanity.'

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

I already had Nectar to spare.

'Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.'

Hand them over to the Exchange and I could withdraw Nectar by the millions whenever I pleased.

There was absolutely no reason to burn living, breathing souls for blood-soaked Nectar.

When I stood frowning in silence, Seria behind me let out a quiet sigh and whispered in my ear.

"Master."

Deep compassion bled through her voice.

"Those children were most likely offered as collateral for the survival of their homelands and tribes."

At Seria's words, the puzzle began to fall into place.

In Asgard and the countless worlds beneath it, where the gods' whims shift like boiling porridge.

The only way for frail mortals to beg for survival is to offer sacrifices to a god's taste.

"Just as we of the Frost Tribe were deceived by Cryos into mounting the altar ourselves."

Seria clenched her fist.

"Those children, too, must have been raised all their lives like hothouse flowers, believing their deaths would save the people of their homeland."

A cruel fate.

But Seria's next words were even more devastating.

"And, Master."

Seria added, her expression dark.

"Even if you were to spare them...... those children won't survive long."

"Why not?"

"Because of the World Tree."

Seria gazed at the arrayed divine maidens with pity.

"Those children were raised from birth near the World Tree, fed nothing but its leaves and dew, all so they could become the finest feast."

That was why their bodies and souls were untouched by worldly taint -- transparent and pure beyond measure.

"But as a side effect, their bodies can't withstand the moment the World Tree's energy is cut off. They can't digest ordinary food or Mana."

A death sentence.

"Here on Floor 55, without a World Tree...... half a year at most. They'll all wither and waste away."

I rubbed my chin.

Half a year.

Without World Tree leaves, they die.

Then conversely, it meant that every Supreme Tier god's territory where these children were raised must contain a World Tree -- or at least a fragment of one.

If they were fated to die regardless.

Then burning in their most noble moment, clutching the hollow belief that their deaths would save their tribe.

That, to them, was the more merciful salvation.

"......"

I met the eyes staring blankly up at me.

Ghastly eyes, begging me to burn them already.

I opened my mouth slowly.

"Your wish."

The divine maidens' shoulders flinched.

Regardless.

Once I'd finished thinking, I spoke with gravity.

"I'll grant it."

I'd permit them their death.

***

The divine maidens had steeled themselves.

Before Rag had even opened the door and entered, they'd clasped each other's hands and made their final resolve.

"Let us die as cleanly and as nobly as we can."

They'd known from birth that their end was death.

The countless nights spent chewing World Tree leaves and praying.

The belief that on the day they mounted the Banquet's altar, their tribes' hunger would end and peace would come.

But.

What they feared more than death was the 'process.'

Most gods who obtained divine maidens at the Banquet didn't burn them right away.

Playthings.

They'd cage them like toys, trample and defile those pure bodies and souls for pleasure.

Only when they were thoroughly broken and soiled and no longer of use would they finally be tossed into the flames.

For the divine maidens, it was a hell worse than death.

That was why they'd knelt in unison, stripped of every last thread.

'Rather than be defiled, it's better to burn cleanly, pure as we are now.'

It was the most glorious and merciful end permitted to them.

And besides.

They'd heard their new master, Rag, was a mere lesser god.

A fledgling on Floor 55, freshly independent from the Supreme Tier gods.

Then surely he'd be desperate for high-purity Nectar to pump up his own Divinity.

There was hope.

If his hunger for power outweighed carnal desire, he might place these fresh offerings on the altar without a second thought.

And then.

-Your wish. I'll grant it.

Rag's resolute voice echoed through the palace.

Ah.

Hot tears welled in the divine maidens' eyes.

Gratitude.

They could burn with dignity, in this clean state, without suffering degradation, for the sake of their tribes.

Merciful god.

They pressed their foreheads to the floor in unison, awaiting the final purifying flames to consume them.

But.

"Of course."

Rag's dry voice descended upon the crowns of their heads.

"I wasn't saying I'd burn you with the Fire of Purification."

"......Pardon?"

The elf girl at the front jerked her head up in alarm.

Rag stroked his chin and added, indifferent.

"Your lives as offerings are over, as of today."

Not a flicker of flame showed in his eyes.

If anything, they held only the weariness of someone saddled with an unwanted burden.

"Your days as divine maidens are finished. I have no use for offerings in my territory."

A bolt from the blue.

"However."

Rag pointed to the vast interior of the golden palace.

"You'll be settling here anew, planting both feet on the ground, and living. As subjects of my domain on Floor 55."

Silence.

Suffocating.

The divine maidens were engulfed in a shock like the sky caving in.

'Live?'

Not as offerings, but live?

Their pupils shook violently.

That declaration, which should have sounded like the greatest mercy in the world.

......Was crashing down upon them as a terror and despair worse than death.

The elf girl at the front cried out through her tears.

"We'll die anyway!"

Despair burst from her voice.

"Great Lord Rag, please, take us back. Living in this place without the World Tree's energy would be nothing but agonizing torture. If we're to wither and waste away......"

She slammed her forehead against the floor and pleaded.

"It would be far more merciful to burn us now, while we're at our purest!"

Other divine maidens wept and echoed her.

But.

Rag's expression didn't budge.

Not a shred of wavering in his eyes.

He simply looked down at their sobbing forms with that dry gaze.

"When I said I'd grant your wish, I didn't mean I'd take your lives."

Rag turned his back.

As though further conversation was pointless, he showed them his cold back and walked out of the palace.

***

Leaving behind the divine maidens' deep despair and weeping.

I returned to the center of Floor 55, near the massive Crystal.

Seria's footsteps, following behind me all the while, were heavy.

She hesitated, then spoke with care.

"Master."

"What?"

"......What do you intend to do?"

Seria's voice was tangled with countless emotions.

I tapped the Crystal and shrugged.

"If I just get a World Tree, the problem's solved, isn't it?"

"But......"

She bit her lip.

"Those children are right. Surviving without a World Tree is a living hell. Letting them go peacefully now might actually be the kinder path."

I understood.

Seria was a native of Asgard herself.

In this mad world of gods, she'd grown up accepting that a divine maiden dying on the altar was as natural as breathing.

To her, forcibly keeping them alive would seem like the crueler torture.

But.

"I don't feel like it."

I drew a firm line.

"That's not my way."

Then I turned my head toward Seria.

"Don't you remember? The promise I made when I saved your Frost Tribe."

Seria's eyes wavered.

"Burning mortals in the Fire of Purification to wring out Nectar -- that disgusting practice will never happen in my territory. That's what I said."

I glanced toward the palace.

Those children.

Most were barely of age, some not even that -- just kids.

Lives raised their whole existence on nothing but World Tree leaves, bred solely to be burned to death.

Their blind resignation, accepting their own deaths as natural and glorious, enraged me.

'What the hell do these damned gods think life is?'

Fury surged.

Not out of simple morality or a sense of justice.

Because it cut to the core of why I intended to devour and dominate this Tower.

If I repeated the same atrocities as them, I'd be nothing more than another predator -- no different from the garbage infesting this Tower.

"I'm saving them."

I said, pulling up the Crystal's shop tab.

But.

'......Not here.'

I scowled.

The shop catalogue, upgraded past A-grade to S-grade.

Countless rare resources and monsters were listed, but no matter how hard I looked, there was no 'World Tree seed' to be found.

No amount of Nectar could buy what wasn't in stock.

'How do I get a World Tree?'

I looked at Seria, but she shook her head too.

This wasn't the kind of information available to lesser gods or the mortals beneath them.

No one knew how.

But there was one god.

One god I knew who would know.

'Heimdal.'

A Supreme Tier god and the pinnacle of the Natural Lineage.

He'd surely have a World Tree -- or something comparable -- in his possession.

I didn't hesitate.

"I'll be back."

"Where are you going?"

I pointed upward.

For the first time, I would go in person.

I'd resolved to seek out the Ruler of All Things on his own Floor.

***

Floor 387.

Heimdal's territory.

It was a space in an entirely different league from the golden temple on Floor 55.

Colossal mountain ranges pierced above the clouds, with endless storms raging between the peaks -- a fortress of raw nature.

Heimdal sat reclined on a throne perched at a summit.

WOOOONG--!

A dimensional gate opened, and Rag walked out.

Heimdal paused mid-sip of his Nectar chalice and cocked his head.

"......?"

Because this was the first time Rag had ever come to him.

It had always been Heimdal descending to Floor 55 or sending a herald. The lad had never climbed through the storms of Floor 387 on his own before.

And without any advance notice, at that.

An intrigued smile spread across Heimdal's lips.

'What scheme brought him crawling all the way up here?'

This was the creature who'd slaughtered scores of Apostle Gods at the Banquet and stomped on Skadi's pride.

He wasn't the type to ask for help over trifling matters.

Which made the anticipation all the greater.

Did he need Heimdal's almighty power?

For a reasonable request, he was willing to oblige.

Apostle God Rag.

The lad had become a treasure Heimdal would guard with his life.

"What brings you, Rag?"

Heimdal asked in a deliberately authoritative voice.

Rag approached the throne and bowed his head.

Quite the earnest manner.

"I've come to make a request."

A request.

At that word, a smile settled on Heimdal's lips.

"Speak."

"Please tell me how to obtain a World Tree."

"......"

He set his chalice down.

"Did you say a World Tree?"

"I did."

"That is not something permitted to a lesser god."

Heimdal shook his head.

"It is the foundation of Asgard -- something even high-ranking gods dare not covet lightly."

But.

This was Rag.

A creature who couldn't be confined within the mere label of 'lesser god.'

If there was a fitting reason, it wasn't out of the question.

"What exactly do you intend to use a World Tree for?"

Heimdal asked.

Rag raised his head.

"The divine maidens......"

He continued calmly.

"I need it to save the children I obtained at the Banquet."

"......What?"

The smile vanished from Heimdal's face.

He thought he'd misheard.

"You came all the way here for those worthless offerings? For mere kindling, you're asking for a World Tree?"

Rag nodded.

"Yes."

"......"

Heimdal's face twisted with bitter disappointment.

The eyes that had gleamed with anticipation filled with thick disillusionment.

He was dumbfounded.

The Apostle God he'd so carefully chosen.

A monster he'd believed without doubt would possess overwhelming might and arrogance, who'd become the eye of the storm shaking this Tower.

Was now trying to defy the natural order of the gods, swayed by cheap sympathy for a handful of divine maidens.

The first visit he'd ever paid, and this was the request?

What? You need a World Tree to save the divine maidens?

When he should be burning them in the Fire of Purification this very instant?

Won a few fights and already turned into a bloated pig?

'Hah.'

Heimdal's face hardened.

As though the strength had drained from him, he sank deep into his throne.

He waved his hand dismissively.

"......Get lost."