Chapter 471: Freedom At Last (2)

Heki Stone, fully aware of how significant this moment was, relayed Aige's answer to the chat immediately. [Human-Hater: President, Lady Aige says she has already sensed the God of Gods' presence. This is the trial she must face.]

[Mourner: Understood.]

...What?

That was it?

While Ambrose was still puzzling over what exactly the President's "understood" was supposed to mean, the next instant, a gaunt, emaciated old man appeared before him.

Ambrose's senses hadn't registered the slightest disturbance. It was as though the man had always been standing there.

This was Ambrose's first time meeting this legendary figure in person. He genuinely wanted to ask why, of all things, the man had once chosen to leave the Necromantic Codex beside his own coffin.

Aige, by contrast, said with evident excitement, "President, it's been a long time."

The skeletal old man gave her a nod and said gently, "You've finally reached this point. Faster than I expected, even."

Then the President turned to Ambrose. "And you're a big surprise. You've been causing quite a stir these days."

Ambrose said, somewhat self-consciously, "I can't help it. Making gold isn't easy these days."

The President simply gave Ambrose a faint smile and offered no further opinion. He seemed indifferent to nearly everything around him.

He turned back to Aige. "Now that you've sensed the God of Gods' presence, you should understand what that means. This is your trial. Outside assistance can buy you more time to think, nothing more. If you cannot overcome this challenge through your own strength, you will never earn Aion's recognition in the end."

Aige's expression shifted abruptly. She'd genuinely overlooked that. The moment trouble arose, her instinct had been to lean on Ambrose for help.

Ambrose frowned. Wasn't the President supposed to be here to help?

"President," Ambrose said, "the situation's genuinely dire right now. Isn't there some way to get through this immediate crisis first? We can handle the matter of her ascension properly, one step at a time, afterwards."

Last time, when Aige handled things entirely on her own, she had offended the merfolk goddess Ezdolo, turning what should have been an easy path to ascension into a long, winding detour instead.

If Aige had to face another challenge alone again, Ambrose worried she might make another mistake—one that would cost her the chance at godhood permanently, this time.

But Aige had already released Ambrose's hand.

The shells and barnacle-growths that had largely receded reappeared across her ghost ship almost instantly. The kouto's devotion began to consume her body and soul once more.

Ambrose said urgently: "Wait! How long can you hold out like this on your own? Take my hand again, at least until you've figured out a solution!"

If Aige failed now, every bit of investment Ambrose had poured into her would go to waste.

The warping carapace and tendrils had already begun creeping across Aige's face, but her expression remained entirely calm as she spoke to Ambrose. "There's no need. If I can't work this out for myself right now, I doubt Aion would recognize the effort regardless. I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but this is a trial I have to complete myself."

"Disappointment... That doesn't matter." Ambrose spoke with complete sincerity. "Whatever happens, you can take my hand again, whenever you need to!"

"Thank you."

Aige offered Ambrose a smile, then turned to the President and offered her thanks there as well. "Thank you for your guidance, all those years ago."

The President nodded, his voice utterly tranquil. "I have watched countless mortals ascend to godhood, and watched countless gods fall from grace as well. There is no clear line separating the two. Aige, I believe you're capable of this. As long as you understand what kind of god you intend to become, Aion will answer you."

"What kind of god do I want to become?" Aige murmured to herself, then lifted her gaze upward after a moment.

Her eyes seemed to pierce straight through the ocean above her, fixing on the boundless field of stars beyond.

"I will carry forward my father's unfinished will: to sail to every corner of this world, to witness every wonder it holds. Nothing shall stand in my way.

"Perhaps that, in the end, is what freedom truly means. If it's within my power, I want to bring that same freedom to everyone in this world, to let them break free of every chain, push past every obstacle, and never lose themselves again..."

As Aige murmured this softly to herself, abruptly, light blazed in her eyes. She said with sudden conviction, "I understand now."

Her body continued twisting further. The strange growths now covered more than half of her entire form.

But she felt no pain at all in that moment. Her ghost ship began rising swiftly toward the surface, breaking free of the water entirely.

Then it tore straight through the boundary between sea and sky.

The massive ship soared into the open air, blazing with radiant light beneath the firmament.

"To all who believe in me, I offer you this freedom. May you never be bound by chains again. May you never again be ruled by chaos. May you find your true selves at last!"

Aige's voice carried, ethereal and shifting, spreading like a song across the sea.

An intangible sound rippled outward, expanding at a speed beyond comprehension.

In that instant, every kouto under Blobdilpulp's sway, every one of them still pouring faith into Aige against their will, heard Aige's voice directly.

This was the answer from the deity they "worshiped."

A moment later, Ambrose watched Aige's body gradually return to its original form. The grotesque, warping growths receded rapidly, until she had been restored entirely to how she'd looked before.

Perhaps something had shifted slightly, in some subtle way, but Ambrose couldn't quite put his finger on what.

"Well done!"

Ambrose couldn't help but marvel. Aige had turned the tide entirely, using the very faith flooding into her to deliver a divine pronouncement directly to every kouto worshipping her.

Faith was a channel connecting believer to god. Aige, recipient of the kouto's faith, could communicate with these kouto directly as a natural consequence. She simply hadn't done so before now, having spent all her energy resisting their chaotic intentions and preserving her own sense of self, passively absorbing rather than actively responding.

But in that single decisive moment, Aige had stopped resisting entirely. She'd opened herself completely to the chaotic devotion pouring in, and used that same connection to transmit her own divine message to every kouto praying to her.

This was how a god communicated with the faithful: the most direct, and most sacred, form of communion there was.

Aige hadn't issued any commands. She had simply told every kouto listening what principle she intended to live by.

In that instant, they became, however briefly, her followers. Their chaotic minds were anchored, if only momentarily, by the concept of "freedom" she had offered them. The kouto began to consider what "self" might even mean for the first time, a revelation handed to them directly by their god.

And in that same instant, the overwhelming surge of faith vanished entirely.

Ambrose suspected Blobdilpulp had used her own racial powers to forcibly halt the kouto's prayers, ordering them to abandon their devotion to Aige before it could take root any further.

It had to be said that this entire gambit had been genuinely insane on both sides.

Both parties had been walking a tightrope. If Aige had been overwhelmed by the kouto's chaotic devotion before she could deliver her divine pronouncement, she would have been lost beyond any hope of recovery, reduced entirely to fuel for Blobdilpulp's own purposes.

And if Blobdilpulp had failed to sever the kouto's prayers in time, those same kouto would have genuinely become Aige's followers, becoming the single greatest asset in her path to godhood.

Looking at it now, neither side had come away truly worse off, but in practical terms, Aige had won this exchange.

Not only had Aige clarified the very principle she intended to embody, she'd moved one step closer to ascension. More importantly, she had resolved this entire crisis through her own strength alone, which meant she had almost certainly earned Aion's recognition for it.

Once she accumulated sufficient power, her path to godhood was likely to be entirely unobstructed from here on out.

Pleased as he was, Ambrose was about to try striking up a little more conversation with the President—but by the time he turned around, the old man had already vanished, as silently and mysteriously as he'd arrived.

"That mysterious, huh..."

It was a real shame. Ambrose had wanted to chat a bit longer, if only to ask what other uses that ring artifact might have.

"Thank you."

Aige's voice reached him. Ambrose set aside his disappointment and offered her his congratulations instead. "Congratulations. You made it through that crisis cleanly. The God of Gods must be fairly pleased with how you handled it."

Aige shook her head. "I don't know. I won't really know until the day I actually become a god. But that doesn't matter anymore, not really. I've found my path now, and nothing will shake that conviction again. And all of this, I owe to you."

Ambrose gave a wry smile. "I didn't really do anything."

"No. You've been helping me from the very beginning. If you hadn't confirmed the truth of my father's death, I never would have found the resolve to pursue Aion's favor in the first place. After that, you helped me track down the merfolk goddess. You came up with a new plan the moment my first attempt failed. You helped me claim this entire sea and brought me tens of thousands of followers in the process. You sent me the ring that's letting me consolidate my divine realm. And you were here, at my most dangerous moment, giving me exactly the time I needed to think clearly."

Aige looked at Ambrose, her expression entirely earnest. "I've never had a normal relationship with anyone before, and I don't really know how to express gratitude properly. All I can offer is a promise: if I truly do become a goddess, I'm willing to share half of my divine power with you. And starting today, everything belonging to the Silent Sea Pirate Company is yours."

"That's far too generous. I really don't know much about how to run a pirate operation," Ambrose said politely.

"Including the two gold veins we recently discovered on the seafloor," Aige added.

Ambrose's tone shifted to one of genuine sincerity immediately. "Senior, if I refused a gesture this heartfelt, I'd be disrespecting you. Rest assured, I won't let your trust go to waste."

Aige smiled faintly. Beneath the starlit sky, she was breathtakingly beautiful, so much so that even Ambrose found himself caught off guard for a moment.

"Is this the power of divinity? She hasn't even fully crossed into godhood yet, but her presence can already affect a lich..." Ambrose thought to himself.

Heki Stone, who'd been watching the entire scene unfold, held his quill steady, studying the two of them standing side by side.

After a long moment of consideration, he ultimately abandoned the several-thousand-word essay he'd composed in his head, and instead wrote a single honest line in his notebook: "In the deep of winter, beneath an endless field of stars, I bore witness to the birth of a god. And yet, even the radiance of true divinity could not eclipse the brilliance of the man beside her: the lich Megaman Tiga, a mortal frame, standing shoulder to shoulder with the divine."

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