→ Vargo (2) ←
It was a day no different than any other.
Having finished his morning prayers, Vargo tackled the incoming paperwork.
After sorting out various administrative duties of Elia and finally addressing the postponed budget for the upcoming month, he was able to savor his belated break.
Vargo was enjoying his newfound hobby of strolling around the large flower garden, where he had once conversed with a pure white girl.
“Ah, why is this one wilting again?”
His outstretched hand tenderly caressed a delicate red flower.
The leaves, seemingly on the verge of withering, absorbed a red energy channeled from his divinity and revitalized them with newfound vitality.
“You should be thriving, not wilting like this.”
Only then did the flower stand tall in its full glory. Vargo chuckled, withdrawing his divinity, and spoke to the delicate flower.
“It’s not your time yet, little one.”
Elia, located at the southernmost tip, was now bathed in warm weather. The sunlight was dazzling, and the breeze was gentle. Wilting in such conditions would certainly make for a life of regrets.
Vargo stared at the flower for a moment before groaning and getting up.
“Let’s see… which other fellow might be faltering next?”
Tending to the garden was an endless task, so he had to be very diligent.
***
“Good to see you, Your Holiness.”
While looking around the garden, Vargo raised his head at the sound of a deep voice and saw an old man with a sturdy physique entering his field of vision.
The short hair accompanied by round ears was unmistakably those of a beast. Moreover, the sight of him sitting in a wheelchair indicated that he was unable to use his legs.
“Dovan.”
Vargo called the now-familiar name with a delighted smile.
It was the guest who had come with Marie from the Empire, someone who was not too far removed from the sins he had committed in the past.
“What brings you all this way?”
When Vargo asked why Dovan, who should be acting as the village chief in a nearby village of Elia, had come to the Grand Temple, Dovan replied.
“I’ve come with a request for you.”
“A request?”
“Strange rumors have been circulating in the village recently.”
Creak, creak.
Dovan approached Vargo in his wheelchair. Gazing at the flower bed Vargo had been tending to, he continued.
“The village children say they’ve seen a woman on the outskirts of the village for the past few days.”
“Hm? Is it a visitor?”
“I initially thought so as well, but something seems off. Do you recall the incident I faced in the Empire before coming here?”
Vargo’s forehead wrinkled, knowing all too well what Dovan was referring to.
‘An empty corpse, wasn’t it?’
He had already heard reports about her appearance.
“Pink hair, a snow white dress, and barefoot. Does that match the description of the woman?”
Dovan’s face became grave as he nodded.
“Yes. While it’s possible that others might have a similar appearance, I couldn’t simply dismiss it. I hope it’s just an old man’s paranoia, but…”
“No, thank you for letting me know. I will investigate it.”
“Thank you.”
Vargo nodded and his gaze drifted to the distant eastern gate of Elia, where Dovan’s village was located.
His eyes narrowed, and his lips pressed tightly together. As if trying to discern something, he stared intently in that direction for a long time. Eventually, he let out a deep sigh.
“It seems my retirement remains a distant dream.”
How cruel the world was, where even as an old man, fate wouldn’t let him go. He felt somewhat bitter that day.
***
In the Great Hall.
Vargo sought out Trevor, who was busy overseeing the divine relics.
“Brat.”
Trevor’s head turned. Upon realizing that it was Vargo who called him, he hunched defensively and responded nervously.
“Ye-yes, Your Holiness?”
Trevor thought to himself that the timing of Vargo’s visit was unusual. The fact that he came at this hour and seemed displeased probably meant he was here to reprimand him.
What could have gone wrong?
As these thoughts consumed Trevor, especially with Vargo’s piercing gaze on him, Vargo finally spoke.
“I’ll be going out for a while,” Vargo said.
“Indeed, I might be back later than expected.”
Though the statement was abrupt, the grave demeanor of Vargo made Trevor’s complexion pale.
Trevor was familiar with the moments when Vargo would wear such a severe expression, when his face would drip with bloodlust.
“…Has something happened?”
Only once had he seen Vargo with such an expression. It was on the day they first met. Those eyes, which pierced through his sins, carried that overwhelming sensation then.
In that tense moment, Vargo instructed.
“If I don’t return after four days, open the Evil-Sealing Circle.”
Trevor’s breath caught, his eyes wider than ever.
“Your Holiness, that…”
“I’m sorry to burden you with this. I will leave you with that knowledge.”
There was nothing more to say.
Frozen in place, he could only watch as Vargo walked away.
***
Even at such a distance, it was evident.
The energy surrounding Elia at this moment was starkly different from the hollow corpses the children had faced in the Empire, and the sheer intensity meant that he couldn’t guarantee victory.
Walking slowly, Vargo finally reached the exact spot where he felt the energy coming from and swallowed hard.
“So it’s you?”
A mass of karma stood there. It was a grotesque evil taking on the form of a slender woman.
Vargo lamented.
“It’s been four years.”
The woman, reminiscent of spring, smiled.
Treading softly on the soil with her bare feet, she looked at Vargo.
“Do you know me? That’s strange. You shouldn’t know yet.”
“How could I not know you when you have such a disgusting appearance?”
Vargo recited the name he had received in the report.
“Alaysia.”
“Really? Did I move too carelessly?”
“You wretched whore. Nauseating monster.”
Vargo set down his cane, straightened his back with an audible crack, and continued his words.
“What is your purpose for coming here?”
His gigantic body rose to its full height at 2 meters and 30, exceeding human standards.
The red divinity flowing from his clothes and crimson glint in his eyes made him resemble a beast thirsting for blood.
In the abyss around the woman’s body, Vargo let out his rage.
“What other evils have you come to commit?”
Alaysia faced Vargo, letting out a chuckle.
“You know? Every time I see you, you say the same thing.”
“Well, I believe it’s the first time I’ve seen you in four years…”
Vargo’s red divinity converged into a singular form.
Holding his judgment, shaped into a mace in his hand, he lifted it above his head and proclaimed.
“It’s only natural to repeat the same words when you possess such a vile appearance!”
He struck the air with the mace.
[—–]
There was a shockwave and a ringing sound.
It was a distant, obliterative force that wiped out all existence.
The purest fighting aura to eradicate sin and evil swept over Alaysia.
Immediately afterward, Vargo clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Tsk, you’ve got some skill after all.”
The attack hit directly, but the sensation he felt told him that she was still very much intact. This time, he gripped the mace with both hands and swung again.
Once again, the shockwave was unleashed.
Everything in his line of sight in the direction where Alaysia stood had vanished.
Yet, the only thing that remained untouched…
No, rather, Alaysia had regenerated her crushed body and spoke.
“That stings.”
Vargo’s expression hardened.
With half of her head regenerated, Alaysia laughed and continued speaking.
“As expected, you’re the most annoying one. If I have to get rid of one, it should be you.”
She extended her pale hand and swung it sharply.
What Vargo felt next was as if he was ensnared in a deep and sticky swamp.
***
Vargo, Club of Ragal.
He was second to none in the fist gangs of Horden Kingdom.
A loner with no family or friends, a mere thug who embraced a life of violence with his unsightly and brutish body.
His life had no purpose; his only joy was fighting.
As his past unfolded before his very eyes, he felt deeply ashamed.
— What is this?
His past self tilted his head while looking at the two-stroke stigma on his arm, and continued thinking.
It was a natural reaction.
If a thug who lived aimlessly didn’t question why this happened to him, that would be even stranger.
However, amidst these doubts, another world caught his eye.
— …Fuck.
He saw himself, stained with sins, in the back alley.
Vargo’s expression crumpled as he confronted his past self.
‘…I must be under an illusion.’
That was the only reason why he would be here after just attacking Alaysia.
How could he escape?
As he agonized over this, the world flipped upside down.
Another scene unfolded.
— Who are you?
— Who am I? I am the teacher who will fix your manners.
A woman with striking blonde hair smirked.
It was Theresa, the Apostle of Love, in her younger days.
She clenched her fist and subdued his past self.
And then, she took him to the Holy Kingdom.
Upon arriving in the Holy Kingdom, he was beaten senselessly and awakened his divinity.
He learned how to use his Apostle’s power.
Eventually, he became a direct observer of karma and received a revelation.
Suddenly, as the scenes surged around him, Vargo’s thoughts spiraled into chaos. Engulfed in these memories, the lines between past and present began to blur for him.
Time passed.
The scenes continued.
— There’s a dog-like bastard. No, maybe it’s a cat?
He shattered the skull of Tiger King Haman.
— From reptiles to bat offsprings, they’re all equally bullshit.
He crushed the skull of the Demonic Dragon and tore apart vampires.
However, that wasn’t the end. He traveled across the continent, wiping out the countless malevolent karma that caught his eye. The karma that appeared before him was simply too repulsive and abhorrent.
At the end, in a prison to the east, an old man asked his past self.
— By what right do you have to judge us?
In response to the question of his qualification to judge them, his past self proclaimed.
— By the will of heaven. As their representative.
The old man asked again.
— What are our sins?
To that, he had no answer.
He had no choice but to remain silent, because he didn’t know the origin of the sins that binded them.
His eyes only revealed the karma they had accumulated.
Feeling as though he was sinking into a swamp, Vargo faced his own sins.
He lifted his mace, directing his crimson judgment at the old man.
Bang—!
It struck down.
‘Ah…’
There was a sense of guilt that constricted his heart.
He himself had ignored that their true sin was their desire for life.
He had only focused on someone else’s words that they were sinners and the karma that enveloped their bodies.
He was merely captivated by what he saw and didn’t contemplate it.
Such were his feelings of guilt.
His thoughts sank deeper.
The swamp, barely reaching his ankles, had now risen to his chin.
It was the first time in a very long time that Vargo had to face his own sins: blind faith and fanaticism.
October 31st, 2023 Note: We’re taking a break for around a week and a half. Sorry for cliffhanger, you can always shard the next two chapters.
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