“What?”

Phileal’s eyes widened in disbelief. He glanced at Leviathan, who then lifted his hood. Leviathan despised even the slightest light and found it irritating. However, it seemed he needed to show his eyes to make Phileal believe him.

“The High Priest of Death plans to sacrifice you.”

“Lies.”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“And why would you tell me the truth?”

Phileal had a point. Yet, Leviathan hadn’t considered that Phileal might deny the truth when he was actually trying to be genuine. He had shown Phileal nothing but favor.

Leviathan wanted to leave but feared returning to a life filled with emptiness and boredom.

Anais’s words had pierced him like a dagger. They were all true, and it was as if she could see right through him. Denying undeniable truths only brought more pain.

He did not want to return to a life of emptiness, feeling like a corpse waiting for death. Despite having dedicated his life to the god of death, he couldn’t even leave the temple because he had dedicated his life to the God of Death.

He couldn’t go out without being hunted by other priests once he was excommunicated.

“I swear by Lord Decarve’s name.”

“…You’re insane.”

Only then did Phileal seem to accept he was speaking the truth, albeit reluctantly.

“So… why…?”

“You must be an obstacle.”

At Phileal’s bewildered question, Leviathan shared what he knew.

“I must go to the High Priest.”

“If you go now, you’ll be caught without a chance to fight back. And then sacrificed.”

“I still want to go.”

“You’re mad.”

Phileal needed to see for himself if the High Priest he had so faithfully followed truly intended to use him as a sacrifice.

“Don’t follow me.”

“I’m going because I want to see you suffer.”

Despite saying so, Leviathan felt compelled to follow Phileal’s foolish actions because he was sorry.

Phileal quickly made his way to the main temple where the High Priest was, with an incredulous expression.

He walked towards the temple, unaware of how his steps seemed. He felt as though he might collapse at any moment, yet he moved as if his body was no longer his own. His pace quickened as his heart became impatient.

Soon, he started to run.

“Hah…uh…”

As he arrived at the temple, Leviathan’s heavy breathing could be heard behind him. Phileal had been running so hard, he hadn’t noticed his own breath remained steady.

With trembling hands, he pushed the door open.

Creak.

“Have you arrived?”

The interior of the temple, with its ceiling opened up for the burnt offering ritual, lay before Phileal. The central part of the temple, designed in a dome shape, had to be opened for these ceremonies where offerings were burned at the center.

The High Priest, as seen by Phileal, appeared ready to conduct the burnt offering. Adorned in his clerical robes with the stola shining like new. He held his hands on the sacred relic used only during these ceremonies.

“Who is intended as the offering?”

“You should know, having come here.”

“High Priest.”

With disbelief shaking his steps, Phileal moved towards where the High Priest stood. His gaze shifted from the High Priest to the altar that was perfectly prepared for the fire to be lit. Phileal shivered, recalling times he had offered sacrifices himself.

“Am I truly to be the offering, High Priest?”

“Yes.”

“Such acts are forbidden among the priests of death.”

“This time, an exception has been granted.”

“By the god of death?”

Phileal looked puzzled, he wanted to comprehend this inconceivable situation through his questions.

“Yes.”

“That cannot be.”

Phileal wished to see the High Priest’s face, to confirm if it was indeed the benevolent High Priest Mephist that he knew.

As he walked through the silent temple in a gulp, his footsteps echoed. Phileal approached the High Priest with eyes that had forgotten to even blink.

“You were serious.”

Phileal observed the pentagram reflected in the High Priest’s eyes. The High Priest looked determined, as if bracing for a confrontation with the approaching Phileal.

“What is the reason?”

“You are no longer needed, Phileal.”

“But you said you considered me as family.”

Phileal’s voice trembled, not out of fear of becoming a sacrifice, but as if he had been denied his very existence.

To Phileal, the High Priest of death was family.

“I, too, was naive and foolish once. Seeing you reminds me of my younger days.”

Phileal remembered the High Priest’s comforting words when he first entered the temple of death.

“I once bore a mark on my hand as well. The god of death seems to hold you in special favor.”

Everyone feared Phileal for having sacrificed his own family. Yet, the High Priest cared for and cherished him and treated him as if reminding him of his youth.

“Has it been hard?”

Though he cherished and loved him like his own child…

“What is the reason?!”

Phileal cried out as if he had been abandoned by his parents.

“I’ve told you. You are no longer necessary.”

“So Anais too…”

“That woman has only been a hindrance to our plans. It’s best to take care of her now.”

“But if Saint Lilith is inside the Empress’s body, she’ll be discovered eventually.”

Phileal stepped back as the High Priest approached him. The symbols drawn on the altar for the ritual seemed to pierce his heart.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, flames surged above the altar.

“I thought of the High Priest as my father.”

“I am not your father.”

“I would have done anything for the High Priest.”

“I know. That’s why I’m offering you.”

“What will become of the High Priest, after you sacrifice me?”

Phileal knew well how the offerings made to the god of death were valued based on the emotional weight attached to them. The heavier the emotion, like hate or love, the more valued the sacrifice.

“I will be unaffected.”

“Then you wouldn’t sacrifice me. Do you think I’m a fool?”

Tears burst from Phileal, yet he smiled, saddened by the High Priest’s abandonment but realizing he was considered special enough to be sacrificed.

“Just comply, Phileal.”

Phileal reached out to take the High Priest’s hand.

If he becomes a sacrifice for the High Priest, surely the High Priest would gain immense power and achieve whatever he desires.

“Am I truly unnecessary in your future, High Priest?”

“Yes.”

His firm response made Phileal glance aside. The firewood was ablaze with splendid flames, and the magic circle for the ritual darkened the floor.

Feeling empty, Phileal stared blankly as the High Priest reached out, about to take his hand when a shout erupted from behind.

“What are you planning to do with Anais Percival!”

Leviathan’s voice screamed and caused Phileal’s eyes to waver.

“Silence, Chief Priest Leviathan.”

“Is this what the god of death wishes?”

Leviathan hurriedly came up and pulled Phileal’s hand down. Leviathan couldn’t understand what he was doing.

Frustrated by Phileal’s apparent willingness to submit to his sacrificer without any resistance, Leviathan was beyond annoyed. He knew Phileal was foolish, but this was beyond expectation.

“The god of death hasn’t given any revelations to the High Priest for a long time. Don’t you know why? Haven’t the revelations stopped since you started lying about Anais Percival!”

Phileal just stared blankly at the High Priest, not even wiping away his tears.

“Saving Anais Percival was the god of death’s purpose. To save a person who strayed from the plans of goddess Julias was the plan of the god of death.”

“Leviathan.”

Leviathan glared at Phileal as he spoke.

“You idiot. Did you think I wouldn’t know that you’ve been receiving the revelations instead of the High Priest?”

Phileal had kept secret that he had been receiving revelations in place of the High Priest. He had never imagined that Leviathan would know.

“If you die, Anais Percival will die too.”

“Help me, Phileal.”

Phileal was reminded of Anais who held her cut hair and sobbing.

“I don’t…. want that.”

It was as if Phileal’s clarity returned at that moment.

“I don’t want that. I won’t let it happen.”

“Phileal. Come to your senses. Don’t you know how much I’ve cared for you?”

“But, High Priest. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted love without conditions.”

“…”

“Don’t you know that’s what I offered to the High Priest?”

Phileal wiped his tears with the back of his hand and spoke.

“Have I become useless because Lilith Isadora is your daughter?”

Phileal spoke with resignation, but in reality, he was preparing to fight as he felt the High Priest approach.

“Did I become an inconvenience when your real daughter appeared?”

Black pentagrams began to form on the back of Phileal’s hand. Leviathan sighed and started to unlock his own power as well.

“Let me go. Otherwise, I might have to harm the High Priest.”

Phileal warned. He knew the High Priest was no match for him now, especially since the High Priest had been overexerting his powers recently.

“Do you think anyone will accept you, Phileal?”

That comment painfully struck Phileal. It felt like a thorn in his heart that he hadn’t wanted to admit that he was abandoned and was sharpened by those words.

It grew and was threatening to pierce his throat.

“Anais won’t abandon me.”

With those words, Phileal realized something about himself. He wanted to be with Anais.

He hoped she wouldn’t die.

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