Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 148: Saint of Truth

Nelliel ran forward, hastily dodging the trees in her path.

’Hurry! I have to hurry!’

Sweat formed on her forehead.

After a while, she finally got out of the maze of trees and arrived in the vast land filled with debris and rubble from buildings.

She didn’t slow down for even a moment. Instead of navigating through the rubble like she usually did, she ran over it to save time. Since reaching Phase Two months ago, her physical strength had increased drastically, allowing her to jump over large debris easily.

Soon, she reached the entrance to the settlement, where a woman stood guard.

Noticing Nelliel running towards her, the woman furrowed her brow.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Nell—?"

"I don’t have time for that bullshit!" She gritted her teeth. "Make way!"

Without slowing down, she smashed straight through the door that was already half broken and jumped down several stairs at once.

Reaching the underground settlement, she shouted with everything she had.

"Everyone! Help! Brother is in danger!!!"

Her shout echoed through the entire settlement. As if hearing it, priests and priest candidates slowly began gathering in front of her along with a few believers.

Uncle Rolf finally arrived as well, looking at her with worry.

"Nell, what happened? You said that Priest Adrian is in danger."

Other priests also chimed in.

"Yes, what’s going on?"

"She looks really desperate; things must be really bad."

"Indeed, her lips are trembling, and she’s out of breath."

She clenched her fists and spoke in a desperate tone.

"I will explain on the way. There is no time right now. Brother is in a really bad situation and needs help as soon as possible. So everyone who can fight, please come with me quickly!"

Nelliel knew she was being unreasonable here. Still, she had no choice. Every second could make the difference in this situation.

The priests and priest candidates looked at each other in silence. Then Uncle Rolf turned to them and spoke.

"Everyone, it looks like we have an emergency on our hands. I won’t force anyone, but those who are willing to help Priest Adrian, please raise your hands."

The moment Uncle Rolf finished, nearly everyone gathered around her raised their hands all at once, causing her eyes to widen.

The ones who hadn’t raised their hands were believers who weren’t even Phase One.

They all spoke one after another.

"Priest Adrian’s in danger? Then I’ll help. Details can wait."

"Yeah, it’d have a bad taste in my mouth if something happened to that young guy."

"You know what? You can count me in too."

Witnessing this scene, emotions welled up inside her. She had remembered what it was like when her brother had just become a priest.

’He was treated like an outcast.’

Nobody liked him because of his constant lack of expression and how he barely reacted to most things. Some had even shown him hostility at the time. But the scene she was witnessing now... it was the result of his five years of effort.

She couldn’t help but smile.

’Brother... it looks like you’ve really become part of the family now...’

After that, they all rushed forward, with Nelliel in ‌front guiding them. As they entered the jungle and navigated through the trees, she opened her mouth while still running.

"A large horde of horned wolves was rushing towards the ‌cult’s settlement. Brother stopped to block them and buy time. He sent me to share the news. He is there fighting that entire horde of those giant horned wolves, all alone."

The people following behind her buzzed.

"There’s no way a Phase Three kid can deal with something like that. The boy’s gonna get himself killed!"

"That’s right! It might be a struggle even for a Phase Four individual."

"It’s even worse than I imagined!"

Everyone’s expressions fell. Some even gritted their teeth.

Nelliel was no different. But...

"That is exactly what we need to reach him as soon as possible!" She shouted. "We have to save him before it’s too late."

And so they all ran with everything they had.

The closer they got to the location, the quicker her heartbeat became.

’Please, please, just let me be on time just like he was.’

And then, they finally reached their destination.

But the moment they did, everyone’s steps came to a halt. The sight before them was not what they had expected.

A priest candidate unconsciously opened his mouth.

"What... is this...?"

The location was supposed to be filled with trees, just like the rest of the forest. But the area they had reached was a large clearing. Trees were lying around on the ground, severed cleanly from their trunks. It was too clean, almost as though all the trees were cut down with a single strike of a sharp blade.

And the clearing... was filled with blood and corpses. Horned wolf corpses.

Severed limbs and heads were scattered around everywhere, chopped cleanly. There were so many corpses that it was overwhelming. But not a single one of the horned wolf corpses had everything intact. All the corpses were missing something.

They even noticed that a few horned wolves were still alive, but they couldn’t move since their legs were severed.

And in the center of that brutal carnage stood a boy holding a sword in one hand.

The cloak and tunic he had been wearing seemed to have been torn in the battle, revealing his bare upper body. His entire torso was filled with a single letter from the ancient language. The letters were burned into his very skin.

And everyone here—even those who didn’t know the ancient language—understood what that word meant.

It meant ’Truth.’

The boy’s long jet-black hair spilled down, covering parts of his face as it fluttered gently in the wind.

Even though the boy possessed absolutely no presence, they all felt an invisible pressure coming from him. It was different from the pressure created by Presence. It was sharp instead of being heavy, as if a blade were pressed against their necks.

They all couldn’t help but stare blankly, overwhelmed by the sight before them.

And then, someone unconsciously opened their mouth.

"Praise... the Saint of Truth..."

Those words were like a ripple in a quiet lake. Nelliel’s eyes glistened as she heard them.

’The Saint of Truth... how fitting.’

That title fit the current sight of him so perfectly that she couldn’t help but voice it too.

"Praise the Saint of Truth."

And then, people looking blankly came to their senses and joined in. Soon, it turned into a cheer.

"Praise the Saint of Truth!!!"

The one who seemed to have witnessed the Truth itself. The vessel of the Progenitor of Life. The one who single-handedly saved them from danger, disregarding his own safety.

What title could be more fitting than the Saint of Truth?

In truth, the scene before her was horrific. So much so that ‌weak-hearted individuals wouldn’t have been able to handle the sight of this carnage.

But maybe it was the joy of her fears having turned out to be wrong, or maybe it was the current sight of him, but Nelliel suddenly had a strange thought.

’Five years ago, in the ritual incident when the fragment of Truth fused with him, maybe it was God’s way of telling us that he had chosen Brother as his saint.’