Gospel of Blood

Lilith and Harald began recounting to Charlotte their experiences over the fourteen years following her “slumber.”

…

Fourteen Years Ago.

Shortly after Charlotte left without a word, the emissaries from the Tower Kingdom returned to the Northern Mountain Tribe.

This time, they were investigating the identity of the suspected fugitive, “Blessed One”, who had appeared in the Northern Mountain Tribe.

Since Charlotte, the Blessed One, had already left, the emissaries from the Central Tower could not track her down.

The leading “Blessed One” believed that Hafdan’s family was harboring the fugitive and subjected Hafdan and his wife to severe interrogation.

When Lilith and Harald, who had been secretly searching for Charlotte, returned to the tribe in low spirits, they witnessed their parents being tortured on the rack by the Blessed One.

Enraged, they unleashed extraordinary powers and killed the emissaries of the Tower Kingdom on the spot.

After killing the emissaries, the tribe’s priest elders secretly arranged for Hafdan’s family to escape. However, they ultimately failed. After three days and nights of fleeing, they were eventually captured by the elves.

Lilith and Harald’s memories after that are somewhat unclear. They remember their parents being killed by the elves, the Northern Mountain Tribe being destroyed, and themselves being taken to a mysterious magical research facility where they were treated as experimental subjects.

That was a particularly painful period. Every day, the elves injected them with strange fluids or used them in various mysterious spells and rituals.

During a large sacrificial experiment, an unfamiliar voice echoed in their minds.

The voice, indistinguishable in gender, offered to form a contract with them: in exchange for sacrificing everything, they would gain the power to avenge themselves against the elves.

In their despair, the siblings agreed.

Upon completing the sacrifice, Lilith and Harald immediately gained immense power. They slaughtered the surrounding elves and destroyed the magical tower used for experiments. But their sanity began to slip into madness.

Just as they were about to lose themselves, a dazzling light burst in their minds.

They don’t clearly remember what happened next. They only recall a feeling of being embraced warmly and hearing soft whispers of comfort.

When they regained consciousness, their sanity had returned, but the immense power from the contract was gone.

However, their minds were filled with a wealth of extraordinary knowledge, perfectly aligning with what Charlotte had previously taught them.

Though the contract and the power it bestowed were erased, they each retained unique abilities.

Harald could ignore divine magic. The priests’ spells had no effect on him, and he could wield artifacts that mortals could not.

Lilith gained the ability to “devour magic”, absorbing others’ magical power and redistributing it.

The following events became a legendary tale known across the Northern Frontier.

Though they lost the power from the contract, Lilith and Harald quickly rose to prominence with their new abilities and organized a resistance against the Tower Kingdom.

They taught the acquired knowledge to others, and Lilith even directly transferred magical power to key figures, rapidly growing their rebellion into a formidable force. Within five years, under their leadership, the resistance overthrew the Tower Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the ancient Gods of Myria, who had long opposed the elves, turned their attention to Lilith and Harald.

In this era where Gods ruled, mortal strength had limits. A power without a God was vulnerable, a tempting target for the Gods.

Despite Harald’s immunity to divine magic, they were still helpless against the Gods’ might.

The Gods used various means—coercion, persuasion, infiltration—to incorporate the rebels into their own ranks.

The resistance fragmented under this divine pressure, splitting into dozens of smaller sects.

Lilith and Harald, with the core of their movement, established the Free City-State, a human-governed bastion.

Even after establishing the Free City-State, several Gods tried to incorporate them, but Lilith and Harald declined.

They harbored no fondness for the Gods. The old Gods of Myria showed no interest in the ignorant mortals until the Elven Gods arrived and demonstrated the benefits of faith.

To Lilith and Harald, the Gods’ attempts to recruit them were not out of benevolence but a desire to harness mortal faith as a power source and use them as pawns against the elves.

However, faith was a powerful unifier. Without a focal point for belief, they couldn’t prevent divine infiltration.

So, Lilith and Harald conceived a solution: create their own God, one that would preemptively occupy the position of faith in their followers’ hearts.

“So… you created a God, the ‘Savior’ who taught you?”

Charlotte asked.

“Yes, teacher. Many of the Old Gods spread their faith through the granting of divine blessings. Following their example, we created a God to fill the void in faith.”

“That’s not entirely wrong. After all, while we were imprisoned in the elves’ magic tower, we did receive attention from what seemed to be two divine beings.”

“The first one made a deal with us, granting us immense power. Although it nearly drove us insane, it also gave us freedom and miraculous abilities.”

“As for the second one… It saved us from our madness and, like you, taught us a lot of knowledge.”

“Since then, we haven’t felt their presence again, so we still don’t know if they were truly Gods.”

“However, while creating a fictional God, we were inspired by this experience… leading us to create a ‘Savior’ who rescued us and imparted knowledge.”

“We possessed extraordinary knowledge that could replace divine blessings, and our unique abilities allowed us to unite and stand against the various cults.”

“And so, we successfully established our own faith.”

“Of course, because the ‘Savior’ was fictional, our fabricated faith couldn’t bestow divine blessings like other religions. This led to us being labeled as heretics by other churches.”

“Yet, by coincidence, you had once taught us extraordinary knowledge, becoming our mentor. This fact wasn’t a secret among some survivors of the Northern Mountain Tribe.”

“Many cults tried to discredit the Free City-State’s faith by claiming the ‘Savior’ didn’t exist. To counter them, we merged your story with the ‘Savior’s’, depicting you as the God who once descended to save us…”

“So, when everyone learned that you were the Blessed One who appeared in the Northern Mountain Tribe fourteen years ago and was our respected teacher, they naturally saw you as the ‘S

Lilith said somewhat embarrassedly.

Charlotte: …

She finally understood. It turned out she had been mistaken all along.

The “Savior” of the Free City-State was indeed fictional!

It made sense, too. The extraordinary knowledge she had imparted to them was merely a suitable meditation method.

However, the knowledge the “Savior” had taught was far more extensive, as confirmed in her conversation with Commander Bardock.

At the time, Charlotte was puzzled because she hadn’t taught them so much. Now, it was clear that it wasn’t her!

The “Savior” was fictional from the start, and the profound extraordinary knowledge they had didn’t come from her.

This left Charlotte curious and puzzled. Though the “Savior” was fictional, the mysterious being who granted them power and knowledge was real. Whether through contracts or teachings, these actions seemed very much like those of a God to Charlotte.

If it was a God, who could it be?

Additionally, there was the “Savior’s” symbol. One reason Charlotte thought she was the “Savior” was that the symbol closely resembled her own.

But Charlotte was certain she had never shown them her symbol.

“Lilith, I heard you drawn the ‘Savior’s’ symbol?”

Charlotte asked.

“Yes, teacher, I designed it.”

“Designed… it?”

Charlotte was taken aback.

Lilith nodded sheepishly.

“Yes, I designed it. When we decided to create a God, the idea for this symbol naturally came to me. The inspiration came from a dream I had. However, I felt it wasn’t quite complete, as if something was missing from my memory of the dream.”

“This symbol feels incomplete compared to the perfect symbol I saw in my dream, though I can’t pinpoint what exactly.”

“But I am continually refining it. Given time, I will eventually create the perfect symbol from my dream!”

Charlotte: …

After a moment of silence, she gently reached out and used her magic to outline her thorny rose symbol.

“Is this the symbol you saw in your dream?”

Lilith was stunned at the sight of Charlotte’s symbol, then exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s it!”

Charlotte showed a knowing expression and dispersed the magic.

“Teacher! How did you know what I envisioned? The symbol you drew is exactly like the one from my dream!”

Lilith asked in amazement.

Charlotte didn’t know how to answer. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to be honest.

“This is my symbol.”

It was impossible to hide it.

A symbol is unique.

Once Lilith perfected it, it would inevitably point back to her.

“Your… symbol?”

Lilith and Harald were stunned.

They exchanged glances, hesitated, then couldn’t help but ask.

“Teacher, does this mean… you really are a God?”

Charlotte thought for a moment and said,

“In a sense, yes.”

Lilith and Harald fell silent again.

They exchanged another look, communicated with their eyes, and after a moment, seemed to make a decision and nodded slightly together.

Then, they approached Charlotte with respectful and earnest expressions.

“Teacher… We have a request…”

“Hmm?”

Charlotte signaled them to continue.

They took a deep breath and, in unison, asked.

“Will you become our true ‘Savior’?”