Chapter 471: Freedom At Last (1)

One should never underestimate any deity, even one conjured into existence by the deranged minds of the kouto.

Even the most foolish god possessed knowledge no mortal could ever hope to grasp.

This particular gambit of the kouto goddess was the kind of thing an ordinary target simply couldn't counter: give up entirely, or wait to be forced onto a divine throne against your will. The kouto goddess had almost certainly already reached out to the other evil gods. All of them were waiting eagerly to tear Aige apart and divide the spoils.

But Aige, unlike most, had options. She had a great many friends she trusted completely, and every single one of them was formidable.

"Let me try absorbing some of this faith," Ambrose offered first.

Under normal circumstances, no one would willingly share something this precious. But Aige and Ambrose's relationship had long since moved past mere friendship. They were allies bound by shared interest. Aige trusted Ambrose without reservation, and Ambrose, in turn, had never once betrayed that trust, having carried her every step of the way to the very threshold of godhood.

So when Ambrose asked to take on some of the burden, Aige didn't hesitate for a moment.

She took hold of Ambrose's hand, and a vast surge of power poured directly into him.

It felt nothing like ordinary magic. The instant the faith transferred into him, Ambrose felt, for just a moment, as though nothing were beyond him, as if he could turn the entire world to gold with a mere flick of his wrist.

But hard on the heels of that came a deluge of chaotic voices. Ten thousand lunatics were screaming at him all at once, spouting nonsensical, twisted, incoherent ramblings. His body began to change in response.

Barnacle-like growths sprouted across his bony frame, piece by piece, and even his soul began to warp.

"Yikes!"

A forced transfer like this burned through an enormous portion of the faith involved. Perhaps only one-tenth of what Aige sent actually made it through intact, given that she wasn't yet a true deity and had only limited control over the power flowing through her.

But even a tenth was nearly more than Ambrose could handle. He quickly summoned the Golden Throne.

The torrent of faith seemed to find its outlet at last, surging madly into the golden seat materializing behind him.

The Golden Throne, which had lost most of its backrest and had shrunk down to little more than a stool, began visibly growing the instant the faith poured in.

Countless flecks of golden light bloomed across its surface as the throne converted raw faith directly into gold.

Aige changed in turn. The scales and shell-like growths covering her ghost ship began to recede visibly. She was channeling the entirety of the faith into Ambrose, holding nothing back for herself.

And as the Golden Throne continued to restore itself, its overall shape shifted along with the process.

What had once been a stately high-backed chair now looked like a misshapen mass of coral, shells, and assorted marine life fused together.

From any angle, near or far, the thing was astonishingly hideous.

Ambrose stared at the unrecognizable wreck his Golden Throne had become, unsure what to say. The kouto's mental contamination really was incredible.

"Senior Aige, the fact that you could even hold onto your self for that long under this barrage is incredible."

Ambrose meant every word of it. He'd seriously underestimated the kouto's corrupting influence. Aige's sheer willpower must have been extraordinary to hold the line until he could get here. No wonder she was a senior member of the Elegiac Society.

"Surely we have more important matters to discuss right now," Aige murmured. "Aren't you affected at all?"

She hadn't let go of Ambrose's hand. The vast tide of faith was still flowing steadily into him, yet he didn't seem to be reacting at all.

Did his Golden Throne actually filter the faith he was receiving?

Ambrose said confidently, "Your willpower is formidable, Senior, and my own ambitions happen to be reasonably pure. Gold, no matter what shape it twists into, is still gold at heart. The kouto's mind can warp the Golden Throne's appearance, but it can't touch what it actually does."

That was entirely true. The Golden Throne's fundamental nature was simply a spellcasting amplifier; it had no will of its own to corrupt. At worst, it would just get uglier. Its enhancement effects remained entirely intact regardless.

Watching the increasingly hideous, almost fecal-shaped, throne continue its slow expansion, Ambrose had no choice but to keep holding Aige's hand as he absorbed the chaotic flood of devotion.

Aige felt her mind ease at last. Until this moment, she'd been straining with everything she had simply to hold onto her self. Otherwise, she would have long since been swept into madness by these chaotic thoughts, or lost control entirely and be forced into premature ascension.

Thank goodness he'd come to help. She genuinely didn't think she could have held out alone.

The throne continued its relentless growth. It was already as tall as a person now, and still climbing. Aige couldn't help but ask, "Does this Golden Throne of yours have any limit at all to how much faith it can absorb?"

Ambrose couldn't answer that question. "I've never personally encountered a limit, at any rate—at least, I'm not feeling anything close to one yet. But we can't just sit here waiting it out either. The kouto don't need to eat or sleep, and we can't stay pinned down like this indefinitely. We need to find an actual solution."

The kouto's reservoir of devotion surely wasn't infinite, but there was no realistic way to make them stop anytime soon. And right now, Ambrose's time was quite literally worth tens of thousands of gold a minute. He couldn't exactly spend it standing here holding Aige's hand indefinitely.

"We'll have to ask the rest of the Society for help."

Having offered that suggestion, Ambrose turned to the dwarven vampire trailing behind him. "Hey, quit gawking. Can't you tell the two of us are a little tied up here? Use the Necromantic Codex and ask around."

The Codex required the user to inscribe text with their own magical energy in order to send a message, and neither Ambrose nor Aige dared manipulate their own magic right now. There was too great a risk of complications. Someone else would have to do it.

Heki Stone, who'd been shadowing Ambrose like a personal attendant lately and tagging along anywhere that wasn't outright dangerous, could finally justify his presence.

He slowly closed the notebook he'd been writing in, where the most recent line read: "...having just parted from the unsuspecting Ragetide Princess, Master Megaman now took hold of another lady's hand, and showed not the slightest trace of awkwardness at doing so. Such conduct suggests this was hardly his first time."

Setting down his quill, Heki Stone produced the Necromantic Codex and wrote in the group chat.

[Human-Hater: Friends, we've run into a bit of a problem. Need some help. Details attached.]

With a deft hand, Heki Stone sketched out Ambrose and Aige's hand-holding pose in a handful of lines and sent it to the chat.

Ambrose and Aige, hand in hand, leaned over the Necromantic Codex together to read the incoming messages.

Looking at the remarkably lifelike little sketch, Ambrose gaped. "You can actually draw?"

Heki Stone said, with evident pride, "I am a vampire, after all, the most elegant breed of undead in existence. I'm not just learned; I appreciate the arts. There's no instrument I can't play, either."

Ambrose said dryly: "Elegance usually takes one's appearance and figure into account, too, doesn't it?"

Heki Stone shot him a venomous look, then drew a second sketch from a different angle and posted it as well.

A few additional strokes filled in the two characters' eyes.

Except something about their gaze seemed... off.

The next instant, the chat exploded with activity.

[Dullahan's Crown: What's going on?! Speak up, bro! What's this about?!]

[Black Rose: ???]

[Pale Little Skeleton: Hmph. Men really are all the same.]

Ambrose immediately realized something was wrong. The vampire was spreading filthy rumors!

Ambrose didn't even need to intervene. Aige simply turned and looked at Heki Stone. Her flat, emotionless gaze alone made the dwarf vampire flinch.

"Do you genuinely think now is an appropriate moment for jokes?"

Aige's tone was perfectly even, but it sent a visible shudder through Heki Stone all the same.

He'd been too reckless. He was so busy trying to needle the lich that he forgot about how much scarier Aige was.

Watching the little dwarf squirm in place, Ambrose suppressed a quiet laugh.

"It's a misunderstanding, a total misunderstanding!" Heki Stone immediately followed that up in the group chat. [Human-Hater: The kouto goddess is attacking Lady Aige with weaponized faith-power. My good friend Megaman Tiga is currently filtering out the worst of that chaotic faith to preserve Lady Aige's sanity, which means neither of them can safely use magic right now. Friends, don't get the wrong idea—this is purely medical assistance!]

[Black Rose: Oh, is that all it is?]

[Dullahan's Crown: Then why draw it so suggestively?! Those eyes practically had a string of drool between them!]

[Pale Little Skeleton: Do you have some kind of side hustle going on? What exactly do you sketch these days?]

[Dullahan's Crown: Seriously, that art style looks so shady! You damaged my bro's reputation. He's gonna demand compensation for this for sure!]

Ambrose cut in, "Heki, tell them the kouto's faith is too overwhelming for me to filter alone. Tell them to hurry up and think of something."

Heki Stone, no longer in any mood for jokes, dutifully relayed the message.

Unfortunately, none of the chat's more active members had a particularly good solution to offer.

After a fair amount of back and forth, someone reliable finally appeared in the chat.

[Mourner: Aige, have you sensed the God of Gods' presence yet?]

The President! The Society's president, who almost never participated in the chat at all, had finally appeared.

Even Ambrose was caught off guard. He'd never expected the most mysterious member of them all to actually show up. If the President was getting personally involved, surely this issue was as good as resolved.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.