Chapter 48: Grandfather's Sacrifice

Chapter 48: Grandfather's Sacrifice

Karen drove the hearse to the hospital, with Dis sitting beside him.

Perhaps because of his previous encounter with an enchanting demon there, Karen still felt a faint, lingering unease about hospitals, but it was a discomfort he had to overcome, given that a significant portion of the family's business originated from such places.

Above all,

When Dis stood right there beside you, that sense of security required no words at all.

Dis walked ahead while Karen followed behind, the grandfather and grandson ascending the stairs of the inpatient building.

In truth, when Mr. Hopen had shouted right to his face that he "was not Karen," Karen had briefly entertained a thought: should he just choke this old man to death right then and there?

Back then, his heart had been filled with a profound sense of insecurity.

Now, however, that thought had vanished; whatever happened, he could simply leave it to Dis to decide.

The greatest bliss of being a member of the Inmeles family was this:

Whenever you encountered any sort of difficulty,

You could always ask yourself:

Why not go and ask your grandfather?

Still, it was truly admirable how Mr. Hopen, already in the late stages of cancer and suffering from a severe blow to the back of his head, managed to be rushed into the emergency room time and again only to be wheeled back out alive.

The old man's will to survive was remarkably fierce, as if he were performing sit-ups right there in the hospital.

The ward door stood open, and Dis walked in, flipping on the light.

The nurse, who had actually been quite responsible earlier that evening, was now sprawled on the floor tiles, snoring soundly.

Dis gestured toward her.

Karen stepped forward to lift the nurse up, and in her hazy, dreamlike slumber, she offered no resistance; instead, guided by a lingering instinct and Karen's assistance, she climbed onto the vacant hospital bed nearby, clamped the blanket between her legs, and drifted back into a deep sleep.

Dis walked over to Hopen.

Karen brought a nearby chair over and placed it behind Dis, and Dis sat down.

Hopen's eyes were wide open now.

When his gaze fell upon Karen, it unmistakably revealed a look of utter loathing.

To this, Karen had long since grown accustomed.

Promptly,

He turned his gaze to Dis:

"He is here."

"Oh," Dis responded plainly.

"I have already told him everything about the descent of the Evil God."

"Mm," Dis responded once more.

"I believe it is still not too late for you to kill him now," Mr. Hopen continued to urge.

Karen had once suspected that the only reason Mr. Hopen kept clinging to his final breaths was purely because he, the "Evil God," was still alive, and the old man simply could not die in peace.

Yet,

In the face of Mr. Hopen's instigations, Karen remained entirely unmoved; instead, he silently picked up the thermos, scalded the cup with hot water first to rinse it, and then poured a fresh cup.

The first cup was given to Dis, who took it from him.

As he poured the second cup,

Mr. Hopen instinctively reached out his hand to receive it.

Karen kept it in his own hand, blew on it softly, and took a sip.

"..." Hopen.

"He did not seek me out first," Dis said, "Though that was to be expected."

"I believe that when Lasma emerged from the headquarters, he was heading straight for you. When you yielded the position of High Priest to him all those years ago, I told you then that it would not earn you his gratitude; rather, it would sow a seed of hatred that would fail to dissipate even after decades.

The very thing he pursued with such desperate longing was, in your eyes, nothing but a plaything to be given away. This grudge runs incredibly deep."

"I have never liked catering too much to those of mediocre talent, because it becomes exhausting."

"Heh," Hopen chuckled, "You are still exactly the same. After all these years, you haven't changed a bit."

"You may close your eyes and rest in peace now. As for the funeral, he will arrange it properly," Dis said, casting a glance at Karen standing beside him.

Karen silently set down his water cup.

"For some reason, though I have constantly wished for his immediate death, knowing that the Evil God himself will be managing my funeral actually brings an uncontrollable surge of excitement to my heart. Is this the pleasure of the forbidden?"

"Would you like to hear him call you grandfather as well? It might bring you even greater pleasure."

"Who would care about a regular Evil God calling them grandfather?"

Having said this, Mr. Hopen pursed his lips, a faint hint of yearning unexpectedly flickering in his eyes.

Dis remained silent.

Mr. Hopen remained silent as well.

Karen blew on the cup once more and placed the slightly cooled water in front of Mr. Hopen:

"Grandfather, have some tea."

"Heh..."

Mr. Hopen snorted disdainfully, but he still took a sip of the tea.

After swallowing it down,

He closed his eyes.

Then,

His hands uncontrollably tightened into fists and relaxed,

And his feet unconsciously tensed and loosened.

Following that,

Such small-scale movements could no longer express the emotions swelling within his heart.

He simply began to toss and turn back and forth upon the hospital bed,

Laughter escaping his lips from time to time.

Had Dis not remained seated there entirely motionless, Karen would have truly believed that Mr. Hopen was having an episode.

After a long while,

Mr. Hopen finally ceased his movements and began to breathe deeply:

"Dis, I have finally tasted your joy."

Dis shook his head: "You misunderstand."

"No, this joy is already enough. All my life, I have followed the tenets of the Church of Principles, researching with painstaking care and strictly abiding by the rules and constraints. I truly never expected that in the final stage of my life, I would agree to accompany you in your madness."

"Do you regret it?" Diss asked.

"It is not a matter of regret, but rather a sense of pity. Pity that having walked within the grid for my entire life, I ultimately jumped outside of it.

Yet within my heart, there is an indescribable joy. Especially in the dark of night, I often find myself waking from sleep, suddenly laughing aloud for no discernible reason.

It is just like when I was a child and the rain began to fall. Once, I followed my companions and ran into the storm. We cared nothing for our clothes becoming soaked; we cared nothing for the punishment from our mothers awaiting us at home; we cared nothing for the mud upon our trousers.

We played, frolicked, and bounded in the rain to our hearts' content, letting those splatters of mud fall upon our bodies.

That feeling was truly beautiful."

"Yes," Diss nodded.

"I have always envied you. I was still young then when I heard that within the Church of Order, there was a young man who, right before the elders of the temple, declared that order was merely a mask to be worn only when needed.

Do you know? When I learned of this, I thought to myself what a fascinating person he must be. I truly wished to know him. How did he dare, how could he... Ah, well.

Later, it went on until the time you saved me.

I feel that everything was already predestined back then. In fact, I was even looking forward to you taking me along to be mad for once.

Perhaps

I should have studied divination,

for my premonition has truly come to pass."

"Perhaps so," Diss said.

"But regardless, Diss, it is truly good to have known a friend like you in this lifetime.

Of course, I also understand that by your side, you do not lack friends of my kind."

"No, Hopen. In truth, I have never had many friends around me." Diss reached out, helping to comb Hopen's sparse hair. "After all, how many people could endure a temperament like mine?"

"If it weren't for the matter of his parents..."

"It has nothing to do with his parents. I felt weary a very long time ago, perhaps because I walked too fast. I prematurely experienced the state of mind of the last mad Pope of the Church of Light:

He said he did not believe the God of Light truly existed."

"Is this your loneliness, Diss? How pitiful you are. A man without faith is truly pitiful."

"Yes," Diss nodded. "However, I have family. I will cherish my family. They are my faith."

"Including him?"

"Yes, including him. My grandson, Karen."

"You truly love him; I can feel it. Perhaps my luck was simply poor, falling down the very first time I met him, and so I missed out on something."

"Yes. Karen is very much like me—almost exactly the same as I was in my youth."

"Does your heart not ache? Exactly like you were in your youth, yet in the end, he..."

"But there is one difference."

"Where?"

"He has faith."

"We all do. You used to have it as well, did you not? What is so strange about having faith?"

"But within his faith, there is no god."

"..." Hopen's eyes snapped wide open. "A faith without a god—can that still be called faith? How can a house be built without a foundation?"

Karen spoke up: "A house is built by men, and the foundation is laid by men. God has never added a single brick or contributed a single tile."

Mr. Hopen stared intently at Karen:

"Heretic! Evil god!"

Karen shrugged; he was accustomed to this dying old man's tirades against him.

"If there is no god in your world, what use is an empty house? A house in reality can at least shield one from the wind and rain, heh."

"I do not believe in god, but I have faith in truth."

"Faith in truth?"

As a believer of the Church of Principles, old Hopen's emotions were instantly aroused.

Should he,

turn,

this evil god,

into a follower of the Church of Principles?

Heavens,

this was truly a mad idea, yet he so desperately wanted to try.

Watching the shift in Hopen's expression, Karen knew the old man had misunderstood his meaning.

The truth he believed in had no god sitting atop it.

Hopen drew out his crucifix necklace.

Seeing this necklace, Karen suddenly felt the palm of his left hand begin to ache again.

Hopen looked at Karen

and said:

"Take it, evil god.

This

is a gift from your grandfather."

"Thank you... Grandfather."

Karen used his fingers to carefully lift the necklace, trying his best not to touch the cross itself.

Mr. Hopen said crossly, "Without prayers having been offered over it, it possesses no harmful effect against aberrant demons."

"Oh, is that so."

Karen extended a single finger and tapped it. Well, it was indeed perfectly fine.

Seeing Karen's action,

Hopen asked:

"So, last time, you actually were burned by it, weren't you? You pretended nothing happened in front of me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

The evil god Karen admitted it openheartedly.

Moreover,

he even spread open the palm of his left hand, revealing the faded scar of a cross at its center.

Hofen stared intently at the scar:

“Do you know what this means?”

“I remember you saying that if I were an aberrant demon, I would be incinerated the moment I willingly held it. But I wasn’t.”

Hofen’s eyelids drooped,

And he said:

“That means you are an exceptionally powerful aberrant demon, an evil god. Therefore, a prayer of my level, combined with this holy relic, can only faintly graze your skin.”

Karen let out a soft laugh,

And said:

“Yet I have never quite realized where my strength lies.”

Mr. Hofen murmured, “Your grandfather used to say the exact same thing when he was young.”

“…” Karen remained silent.

“Dis, I am weary. Truly. They arrived far too late.” Hofen grasped Dis’s hand. “There is something I feel quite ashamed to voice now, and I had intended to keep it unspoken. But if I do not say it, the chance will be gone forever.

Dis,

Do you know,

In this life of mine, I did not merely revere the God of Principles. I have also always deeply revered you—revered the man you used to be.

What a pity,

That ever since that fateful event,

You sank into such despondency.”

Dis brought his face close to Hofen’s, whispering gently:

“I have told you before, it was not because of the death of Karen’s parents that I became despondent.”

“Was it truly not?” Hofen’s eyelids grew increasingly heavy, his voice fading to a mere whisper.

“It was because I felt I was on the verge of losing control, unable to suppress the sheer height of my own realm anymore. I felt I had already touched the very core of Order. I could not allow myself to go any further. I had no choice but to choose despondency, and at times, I even had to deliberately squander my power of faith, solely to force my realm to decline.

Otherwise, I would have been compelled to enter the Temple of Order and become a Temple Elder. This, to me, was a profound vexation.

After all,

Compared to serving that God of Order at such close proximity, I much prefer being able to sit around the table with my family each evening, enjoying dinner.”

Hearing these words,

Hofen parted his lips and smiled.

Then,

His smile froze in place, and he was gone.

Dis straightened his back,

And said to Karen:

“Bring up the stretcher. We are taking Hofen home.”

Karen immediately ran downstairs, fetched the stretcher from the hearse in the parking lot, and carried it back up to the ward in the inpatient building. Because of his haste, he was breathing heavily.

Yet he felt no fatigue, for Dis’s earlier words continued to echo vividly in his mind:

Grandfather was vexed—vexed because he could not control the sheer height of his realm.

So, just how powerful was Grandfather?

As it turned out, that night of unbridled indulgence was truly not because Grandfather held the status of an Inquisitor of the Church of Order, but because Grandfather himself possessed that terrifying strength.

“Place it here.”

“Right away, Grandfather.”

Dis supported Hofen’s back while Karen held his feet. Together, grandfather and grandson lifted Mr. Hofen onto the stretcher bed.

“Let us go home.”

“Yes.”

Karen pushed the stretcher while Dis walked beside him.

“Grandfather, who is Lasma?” Karen inquired.

“The High Priest of the Church of Order.”

“Has he come to Ruilan?”

“Yes. Before we arrived at the ward, he had already appeared inside it himself.”

“Mr. Hofen has already told him about the divine descent ritual?”

“He has. Old Hofen held onto his final breaths purely to wait for someone to come question him. That is why he refused to die. In truth, he was exhausted long ago.”

“Then we…”

“In a few days, an extraordinary divine descent ritual will be held once more in the city of Belwyn. A powerful aberrant demon will attempt to summon his primordial ancestor, who was suppressed by the God of Order in the previous era.”

“A powerful… aberrant demon?”

“Compared to him, Alfred is like a mere clown.”

“Then…”

“Before me, he is just as Alfred is before you.”

“I understand.”

This analogy was exceedingly vivid.

“I relayed to him the method for the Church of Order's extraordinary divine descent ritual that Hofen helped me perfect, and I even assisted him with the preparations. He is going to fulfill his long-cherished wish—to summon a true evil god. Yet, he is destined to fail.

Because his strength and realm are insufficient, he is doomed to turn into a handful of ash amidst the summoning ritual. Most importantly, he lacks adequate offerings for the sacrifice.”

“Then why would he…”

“For a dream. He knows himself that he cannot truly summon the primordial ancestor. But he should be able to meet his ancestor and exchange a few words before he perishes alongside the altar.

This, in truth, is all he desires.”

“So, we have…”

“Yes. I help him achieve his final wish, and he helps me completely strip away all guilt and suspicion from the previous divine descent ritual.

That is why I told you that the divine descent ritual concerning you would not bring any subsequent repercussions upon our house or our family, nor would we need to fear being traced.

In fact, before preparations were made to hold that divine descent ritual, the one who participated was not just Hofen and Puer, but him as well.”

Karen understood now.

It was a closed loop.

Mr. Hofen had held onto life solely to accept the interrogation before his death, thereby shifting the suspicion onto that powerful aberrant demon. Afterward, that powerful aberrant demon would soon initiate the second divine descent ritual, bringing the truth entirely to light.

Dis had said before that he would never commit the folly of attempting to resurrect one family member, only to drag the entire family into the vortex in the end.

It turned out that Diss had indeed arranged everything long ago.

So,

Karen looked down at Hoffen lying on the gurney,

And could not help but sigh in his heart,

This old man, who had always shouted that he was an "Evil God" and kept egging Diss on to kill him,

Had actually been enduring immense agony just to avoid dying, all to help Diss complete this closed loop, and to... protect the Inmeles family.

Truly, a stubborn yet lovely old man.

Karen reached out and tucked the white cloth around Mr. Hoffen; the Inmeles family had a responsibility to hold a proper funeral for him.

With Diss's help, Mr. Hoffen was lifted into the hearse, the gurney's wheels retracting as it was placed into the central rectangular recess, before the seatbelt-like straps on either side were pulled out and buckled.

The new hearse, if carrying only a single guest, would actually offer a perfectly smooth ride.

The reason Mr. Morf and the chief editor had kept embracing inside it last time was simply because they had been tossed directly into the recess, neglected out of sheer laziness.

Karen started the hearse, preparing to head home.

During the drive,

Karen suddenly recalled a particular word from his grandfather's earlier remarks: sacrifice.

And this word was one that Purr had also mentioned before; Purr was intensely curious about what exactly Diss had sacrificed during the divine descent ritual.

Because it had assumed that this extraordinary divine descent ritual would fail, yet next, it witnessed "Karen" coming back to life with its own eyes, which meant it must have succeeded—so, what was the price?

What exactly had Diss offered up to sacrifice to the God of Order?

"Grandfather, is there something I may ask you?"

"Ask."

"In the divine descent ritual, what exactly did you sacrifice?"

"Ask that again."

"What did you sacrifice?"

"The sentence before that."

"Grandfather, may I ask you a..."

"I am tired."

Then,

Both grandfather and grandson smiled.

Since Diss was unwilling to answer, Karen pressed no further.

The hearse pulled up before the house,

Karen stepped out of the vehicle, lowering the steel ramp first, then personally unbuckled the straps securing Mr. Hoffen, before rolling him down the ramp and off the hearse.

Throughout this entire process,

Diss remained seated in the hearse, watching Karen busy himself alone.

To resurrect his own grandson,

He had been prepared to sacrifice everything, anything he possessed.

To that end,

He had not hesitated to undo his own seals, lifting every single suppression on his own realm.

His realm,

His faith,

His power,

And even, his very life.

He had made himself ready, so that during the divine descent ritual, whatever offering the God of Order desired, It could pick and choose at will.

He also believed he could afford it, that he could certainly satisfy the God of Order, because he himself possessed a strength infinitely close to that of the Elders of the Temple of Order—the only difference being that he had always resisted taking that step.

The Temple of Order, yearned for by everyone in the Church of Order and the place closest to the God of Order, happened to be the one place Diss disdained the most.

"Grandfather, shall we go inside?" Karen had already smoothly settled Mr. Hoffen onto the gurney, ready to push him through the front door.

"Very well."

Diss stepped down from the hearse, while Karen came over to lock the car doors, then went back to reopen the courtyard gate, before pushing Mr. Hoffen's remains inside with his own hands.

Diss stood at the threshold of the home, watching his hard-working grandson.

Old Hoffen, right up to his death, had endured and never asked;

Purr also wanted desperately to know, having questioned him many times;

Even he himself had asked himself, I know of course that my humble self cannot be compared to You, but I still wish to ask You devoutly, hoping to receive Your guidance:

You, what exactly did you sacrifice?

This answer, he had told no one, including his grandson who had just asked while driving, and he still had not given him the answer.

This question was one he simply could not answer; there was no answer to it.

Because,

During the divine descent ritual,

He, who had been completely prepared to offer up everything he could possibly possess as a sacrifice,

After the divine descent ritual was completed,

Discovered to his utter astonishment,

That the God of Order,

Had taken nothing at all.