Chapter 416: God Complex
It took Michael weeks to unravel the meaning of his dreams.
The Goddess had chosen him.
She wanted him to stop Darius’ monstrous acts. Goddess Myrthia didn’t want her lands to be soaked in red, drenched in rotting decay.
As for the blood he spilled... sacrifices needed to be made in the war, no?
"He took in a child?" Michael raised a brow, then smiled. A gentle, radiant expression graced his god-kissed face, the kind that made humans kneel in reverence.
"I didn’t expect him to harbor an orphan when he had no roof of his own. But... yes. That is something Xion would do."
The man before him knelt on his knee, and if Xion were here, he would have recognized him as Ravik.
The guard who somehow ended up in Xion’s healing house during the plague, and also the one who led Xion back into the northern territory before disappearing.
"Father, do we need to kill Noxian?"
"Noxian... is that the name he gave to the child?"
"Yes, Father," Ravik bowed his head. "But Noxian is an evildoer, Father. He killed his grandfather, his own kin. How can we let him live? And Xion? That person didn’t appreciate Her Highness, Talia’s advice, and still went back to the Archduke."
"You are too noisy in the presence of the goddess."
The serene voice instantly shut Ravik.
The pair of grey eyes looked down on the knight, "Ravik, must I punish you for questioning my will? For doubting the Goddess’s will?"
Punishment. It meant being trapped in Father Michael’s secret chamber and never coming back.
Just the thought had Ravik, the grown man, shudder.
"I apologize, Father. Please forgive me."
When there was no reply, cold sweat started to drip down the tip of Ravik’s nose.
So easy. Michael thought, partially amused, how effortless it was for him to keep these filthy vessels in proper line.
Humans were supposed to have a will of their own. They had all the power to disobey him, to throw him off this godly altar he had created for himself, and yet...
Follish creatures, Michael sighed. "Leave."
That one word had more impact on Ravik than an entire speech of the royal minister.
Michael watched the knight rushing out of the room, a slow smile curling over his lips.
This meek obedience made things easier for him.
Not that it surprised him.
His words were their command, because he was above them all.
Michael absentmindedly caressed his right eye, his fingers sliding over the mark that had just appeared one day.
"An angel’s mark is carved into the soul..." he whispered. "I should have let you mark me more, Xion. Saving others when you yourself needed saving... Ah, aren’t you benevolent?"
Most of these vessels were faithless, soiled.
Disloyalty to the Goddess was blasphemy. It made them sinners in his eyes.
He had seen their insides, literally, and knew what rotted there.
And still, they never opposed his ’awful’ methods when he punished the sinners.
Fear made them obedient. It kept them silent.
They had dread in their eyes, as if seeing themselves in the one being at stake.
They knew they were evil too, yet relief kept them silent — better another burned than themselves.
How ironic.
People would tear their limbs at his one command.
But Michael wanted more than obedience.
He wanted someone pure, a soul without stain, without shadow. Someone who could be molded into a perfect vessel to serve only him.
Michael sent Ravik to keep an eye on Xion.
Every few months, he would read letters. Xion had opened a school, and he was treating patients with terrible diseases that even church healers couldn’t cure.
Xion was his destiny, his oracle. A purest soul that was causing the ripples in the dirtied, rotten world.
All Michael had to do was teach Xion his ways all over again, and this time, he would be much more patient.
He couldn’t let Darius take Xion back from him. No, this time, he was going to eradicate the devil with his own hands.
"Divine," Michael whispered. "I am going to morph you into someone even more splendid, Xion. Someone worthy to stand by my side. Until you will worship only me."
He was sure his little gift would have caused Darius to lash out at Xion.
But little pain was worth it for the greater good.
Considering how filthy Darius was, it wouldn’t take long for Zen to push Archduke to show his true face in front of Xion.
"You will come running into my arms. I will soothe you, Xion." Michael traced the edges of letters filled with Xion’s deeds over the past few years.
"I will wipe your tears away. I will cradle you in my arms and slowly teach you the real ways of the world. Just have faith in me."
Faith.
It was precisely because the humans were so vicious that the Goddess had stopped blessing anyone else after him.
He had to create the ’fake blessings’ just to keep things in order.
Darius was so cruel when he destroyed his churches. That made the Archduke the biggest sinner.
And Michael was going to punish the sinner with his own hands.
Meanwhile, the pure Xion was creating explosives.
Where Michael dreamed of molding his oracle, Xion prepared to burn his altars to ash.
Black Box-
Michael smiled to himself, "Zen will bring the filth hidden in Darius’ heart out. Then, Xion will be terrified and run back into my arms. So, easy.
Meanwhile, Darius and Xion, after being subjected to Zen’s manipulation.
Xion, sobbing while looking at the Archduke with wide watery eyes, "Can you hold me, please?"
Darius hugged Xion until his sobbing turned into a smile.
Though all this time, there was only one thought that dominated his mind. Something he couldn’t just hold back anymore.
All he wanted to do was fuck his darling until there was nothing left in that pretty brain of his.
The only question that plagued him was — what kind of ropes would best adorn his beloved?