Olivia muttered to herself for a long time, but Half heard none of it. He had already been blasted unconscious in the Demiplane.
Only when Olivia, clinging to her last breath, activated the Terminate Contract ability did the surge of soul energy awaken Half.
Though it may seem unfair, the truth is that souls are born with varying qualities. Olivia's soul undoubtedly shone brighter than all others.
She possessed a noble heart and a soul as clear and beautiful as crystal. Such a soul in the hands of a True God would undoubtedly make her a saint. To put it bluntly, if Olivia had ever pledged her faith to any True God, she would have instantly become a divinely blessed individual. Every deity would have coveted such a devout follower.
In the eyes of the demons of the Nine Hells, Olivia's soul was an exceedingly rare, legendary-grade treasure. Its mere appearance could ignite a fierce competition among the Archdukes of Demons in the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers of the Nine Hells—demons whose power rivaled that of the True Gods.
Rare, precious, and... overwhelmingly powerful!
Now, according to the contract, this Soul had fallen into Half's claws, instantly dredging up memories He had actively forgotten from His ancient past.
Yes, actively forgotten. Eons ago, at the dawn of this world, Half had already existed.
He was the first gust of icy wind, the first shard of solid ice, the first wild beast, and the first predator.
He was the very source of the power wielded by the 'Gay Barbarian' beside Castorice three centuries later—the Wolf God worshiped by the Northerners for millennia.
In those primordial times, Half had kindly taught the primitive barbarians how to hunt and fight, becoming one of their earliest deities.
Initially, this posed no problem. But as the Northerners multiplied and the legend of the Wolf God spread, the number of His worshipers swelled.
At first glance, this might seem like a blessing. Yet for an Ancient God, excessive worship can be a curse. For a god, faith is both power and poison.
To put it simply, if a god had a vast number of worshippers, it's possible that this god was originally a handsome, muscular man. However, if all the worshippers firmly believed that He was actually a young girl, then under the relentless erosion of their faith, the god would gradually transform into a young girl.
Half's situation was similar. The barbarians of the Northern Lands were hopelessly backward. Even three centuries later, many clans still practiced blood sacrifice. Before then, they were even more savage and cruel.
When food was scarce within a clan, it was common practice to kill the elderly or even children—those with little combat value—and offer them as blood sacrifices to the gods. This not only conserved food but also pleased the God of the Hunt, making it a win-win situation.
Through countless horrific blood sacrifices and the deeply ingrained belief among most barbarians that the Wolf God should be a powerful, terrifying, and bloodthirsty deity—after all, He was a wolf, a predator—
If faith had a color, the faith of these barbarians would be a crimson bordering on black. Initially, this faith had little impact on Half. But then came a rare and devastating natural disaster in the Northern Territory: an extreme cold spell that could last for years. If left unchecked, all life in the Northern Territory would perish.
On that occasion, Half was forced to use His own power to dispel the natural disaster, sheltering the entire Northern Territory for several years. This severely depleted His strength, allowing the poisonous Power of Faith to flood into His body.
From that moment on, Half began to descend into madness. He would frequently lose consciousness as if blacking out, and when He awoke, He would find His surroundings ravaged, littered with signs of destruction. On one particularly horrific occasion, He awoke to discover that He had slaughtered several Clans, their corpses strewn across the land.
It was then that Half realized He could no longer continue this way. Otherwise, He would inevitably become a mindless, murderous Mad God!
For a Faith God in such a state, the death sentence would already be pronounced, beyond salvation. But Half was an Ancient God, and there remained one desperate option: sever the corrupted parts. To surgically excise every fragment of His being tainted by the twisted Power of Faith.
This would be an excruciatingly painful and protracted process, akin to bisecting a person at the waist and waiting for their lower half to slowly regrow.
In the end, Half discovered that the influence of faith had permeated deeper into His being than He had imagined. This was no mere severing at the waist; it was decapitation! And then He would have to wait for the rest of His body to regrow from the neck down.
But the excision had already begun, and there was no turning back. Half gritted His teeth and pressed on, until finally, He lost all His memories and collapsed into the snow as a weakened cub, where He lay until Olivia, the Legendary Person-Picker, stumbled upon Him, barely clinging to life.
Instinctively, Half begged the golden-haired young girl before Him for help. Yes, Olivia's hair was still golden back then. Of course, she wouldn't refuse anyone's plea, and she forged a Contract with Half, preserving His life. As soon as the Contract took effect, Olivia's hair transformed into a snowflake-like silver-white due to Half's influence.
(Olivia's father had originally been golden-haired as well, but his hair had turned completely white from working day and night. Tribios had always assumed the entire Olivia family were silver-haired.)
The perspective shifted back to the present, in the inn's cellar. Besides the Priest and Bard who were already there, the Ranger, Druid, and Sorcerer had also arrived, and they were discussing the recent battle.
The Priest gazed at the lifeless Olivia and said, "I still feel something's off. She was powerful, but as Bruce pointed out, she wasn't a Demigod. The Demon Lord must be someone else!"
The Catgirl interjected, "So you're saying the Demon Lord is still hiding somewhere in the city, waiting to ambush us?"
The Priest shook his head. "I don't know. I just have this nagging feeling... something isn't right."
The Sorcerer added, "And when I took a quick look around earlier, the ordinary people in this city seemed... off. But I can't quite put my finger on what's strange."
Just as they were speaking, Olivia, who had been motionless, suddenly opened her eyes. But unlike before, her pupils weren't azure blue; they had turned a deep crimson red.
Naturally, the one now controlling Olivia's body was not Olivia herself, but her Lord, Half.
As mentioned earlier, Olivia's soul was exceedingly rare. If Half were to devour it, the injuries He had sustained from severing erroneous Faith would instantly heal significantly, and the time required for complete recovery would be drastically reduced.
But of course, He would never do such a thing. Though the Barbarians of the Northern Territory believed Him to be the incarnation of bloodlust, Half was actually a benevolent god who deeply cherished humanity.
Perhaps it was because He had always been alone since His creation, without family or friends, making His existence utterly monotonous and dull. When He first encountered humans, He developed a genuine affection for these 'little ones'. However, the Barbarians' excessive reverence for Him prevented Him from getting too close. Thus, He often hid in secluded corners, secretly observing their lives. Even this was far more engaging than His original solitary existence.
In other words, the dream Half had long cherished but never realized had unexpectedly come true after he lost his memory and started living with Olivia.
Though this period accounted for less than one percent, or even one-thousandth, of his long life, it was immeasurably precious.
Naturally, he harbored deep hatred for these so-called "Heroes" who had shattered his ordinary life. However, while Half had regained his memories, his power had not yet returned. He now faced three choices:
First, as mentioned earlier, he could devour Olivia's soul to heal his wounds, but that was utterly impossible.
Second, he could reclaim the corrupted Power of Faith and transform completely into a Mad God. Half had originally considered this, but it would violate his promise to Olivia.
Long before deciding to become the Demon Lord and reside in the Demon King's City, Olivia had discussed her concerns with Half. She felt her strength might not match the title of Demon Lord. What if she was completely outmatched by challengers? Wouldn't that immediately expose her as a fraud?
That's why she needed Half's help. She had asked him if terminating their Contract would restore his memories and power. If so, she would let him take her Soul, continue playing the role of the Demon Lord, and live a good life with his regained memories.
Becoming a Mad God was something Olivia absolutely didn't want to see.
That left only the third option: burning his divine authority. Only those who possessed divine authority could be called gods. By doing this, he could temporarily reclaim his power. The price? The Northern Wolf God would cease to exist.
'Olivia' rose to her feet once more, and a Blue Mist brimming with divine power surged from her feet.
"Careful!" The Priest, who had been watching Olivia closely, immediately noticed the anomaly. He swiftly raised his shield, positioning himself in front of everyone.
"Crack—"
Visibly, frost rapidly spread across the Priest's shield. His eyes widened in alarm. "I can't hold it much longer! I'm losing strength!"
From behind his shield, he could clearly see cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. The shield was being frozen solid and shattered!
"I'll handle this!" The Sorcerer transformed into a bolt of lightning, darting past the Priest and instantly appearing behind 'Olivia.' His staff pierced through her shoulder, lifting her into the sky.
As if on cue, a vast thundercloud materialized above Demon King's City, lightning crackling and booming.
The Sorcerer had used this tactic to defeat many foes, hoisting them high into the sky and drawing countless lightning strikes upon them. This not only severely injured his foes but also recharged his own power. Even if the initial strike didn't kill them, they would still face his relentless barrage of lightning magic.
But moments later, no lightning fell. The Sorcerer tilted his head back, his expression shifting to horror.
Without his noticing, the thundercloud he had summoned was now completely enveloped in dense blue mist, obscuring the entire sky and blanketing the city!
'Olivia' twisted around, seizing the Sorcerer's neck with one hand. A feral grin split her face as she uttered a strange phrase she had overheard from Tribios, "Every final boss has two phases, right? Isn't that just normal?"
The Sorcerer's first instinct was to transform into lightning and flee, but he discovered that his prized, near-invincible elemental transformation ability had completely failed him!
A soul-freezing cold enveloped his entire body. With a casual toss, 'Olivia' sent the Sorcerer plummeting from the sky like discarded trash, crashing through the Mage Tower at the city's center and vanishing from sight.
By then, the Priest, Bard, Cat-Eared Ranger, Druid, and others had just emerged from the cellar.
"S-so cold!" The entire city's ground was covered in a thick layer of frost. The Cat-Eared Ranger, barefoot on the icy ground, shivered from the chill but swiftly drew her bow and aimed at 'Olivia' in the sky.
But 'Olivia' reacted even faster. With a mere flick of her finger, dense tendrils of blue mist surged from the cellar, swarming toward the Cat-Eared Ranger's position from all directions.
Forced to retreat, the Cat-Eared Ranger nocked her bow and retreated, relying on her extraordinary agility and teleportation toe ring to vanish several kilometers away in the blink of an eye. Believing herself safe, she once again drew her bow and aimed.
Then... the blue mist that had been hovering in the sky collapsed like a massive bucket of water being dumped over the city!
-
PS: After battling for hours, only the Warrior truly activated their Divine Artifact, clashing with Olivia's Light Beams. The Bard summoned some trash demons.
As for the others, the Wizard's Divine Artifact was a Magic Ship, practically useless. The Cat-Eared Ranger didn't fire a single arrow, and the Priest's Divine Artifact remained unused. The Druid's situation was unique; she didn't actually use her Divine Artifact's power.
The Sorcerer, however... he was the only one without a Divine Artifact, but he only possessed a quarter of one anyway, not the full version.
SpyNote- Everything is lining up exactly as seen in the previous volumes... Is this a time paradox since MC remembers the future or perhaps this isn't the first time its happened?...