Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

‘A goddess.’

I had known about the existence of gods before. The concept of divine power exists, and Laura had also said that she had set herself up as the Goddess of Light in opposition to the Demon God.

My image of the goddess wasn’t very good, to be honest. The goddess had only given power and left the Starlight Sect to rot, allowing it to become corrupted. That was more than enough to give her a bad image. However, I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to accept a simple request for conversation, so I quietly held the Sacred Sword. Leona was beaming, happy that the goddess was paying attention to me as well.

“Can you hear me…?”

A surprisingly pure and frail voice entered my head. It was quite unexpected. I had expected a more authoritative or aloof voice, or one steeped in ritual. The use of polite speech and the sickly tone, to the point where it could be described as dying from illness, were surprising. And yet, despite this, there was no sense of weakness, reminding me that a goddess was indeed a goddess.

“Yes, I can hear you, Goddess.”

“Ah… I’m glad. I’m truly happy to be able to speak with you like this, even if it’s just our voices. I’ve watched you many times within your mind.”

Strangely, I felt like the emotions themselves contained in the voice were flowing into my head. The emotion contained in those words was pure joy. I should also be suspicious of the possibility that this very sensation was manipulated.

If I start to be suspicious like this, there will be no end to it, but it’s not a bad idea to be suspicious until the purpose and intention become clear.

“Oh, I should introduce myself first. I am the Goddess of Light. I have no other name, so you can call me whatever you like.”

“I understand, Goddess. What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Hmm? Can we not talk a little longer? We still have time… Please.”

The voice became a little urgent, and I felt a hint of anxiety. I wondered why. There was no reason to be anxious about the conversation ending here.

“We don’t have that much time. I have to bring someone who was with the dragon we just defeated.”

With that in mind, I decided to make a call. I handed the communication device to Leona, who nodded and ran off somewhere.

“I see… Very well, I’ll be brief.”

The voice became slightly sulky. It seemed to have noticed the discomfort in my words. I had made my point clear. It was true that I didn’t have a good opinion of the goddess.

“Can you help me?”

“No.”

“Eh, ehhh?” I could feel the surprise and confusion in the voice, as it hadn’t expected me to refuse even before hearing what it had to say.

“I don’t have good feelings towards you, Goddess. You only gave power and did not interfere at all, allowing your followers to commit all sorts of atrocities in your name. If you had paid just a little attention to the ground, you would have taken away the divine power from those who were clearly corrupted by human standards.”

“……”

“It’s not just that. Did you know that the entire Starlight Sect was corrupted by succubi? From what I’ve seen, it seems you didn’t know. Even after being charmed, they continued to use divine power as if nothing had happened. If this is not proof that you had no interest in the ground, are you saying that you are on the same side as the demons?”

“That’s not true! It’s unfair to say that I’m on the same side as the demons!”

The goddess, who had been quietly listening to my words, protested as if shouting. She couldn’t bear the suggestion that she was on the same side as the demons.

“Then you should have acted sooner. From what I can see, you had no interest in the ground at all, or you thought that as long as the faith came in, it didn’t matter what happened to humans. If my words are wrong, please tell me. But if the reason for neglecting the sect is one of these two, I don’t think I have a reason to accept your request.”

The Sacred Sword fell silent. I had said what I wanted to say. It was now up to the goddess. ‘I wonder how she’ll react.’ If she gets angry and turns the tables, then there’s nothing more to discuss with her, but if she honestly apologizes, I might change my mind depending on why she neglected the ground. Or I could scold Laura for setting up the goddess’ character this way.

After all, Laura created the world, so she is responsible for the main plot. It’s foolish to expect a good reaction after speaking provocatively like this, but if we’re going to argue, they don’t have much to say either. They’ve already lost by neglecting the sect to the point of corruption.

“It’s all… true.” And then, the goddess admitted it.

‘She’s not as stubborn as I thought.’

As a god, she could have taken offense at being criticized by a human, but she didn’t. I slightly adjusted my evaluation of her. “But I had no choice… I also…”

Suddenly, the voice in my head stopped. I was puzzled because it had stopped in the middle of a sentence, but then it started again.

“I deeply apologize for that. Mira Crate.” Unlike before, the voice was now very blunt and businesslike.

The overall voice was the same, but the tone had completely changed. If it weren’t for the similar voices, I would have thought it was a different person. My first thought was,

‘What is this?’

“I understand your doubts. But it was unavoidable. I had implanted a part of myself into the Sacred Sword, and thus, observing the ground was only possible through the Sacred Sword. I truly did not know what was happening on the ground. The Sacred Sword had not chosen a hero for quite some time, and the part of me that was embedded in it had not awakened until today.”

“You implanted a part of yourself into the Sacred Sword?” “However, since you mentioned that the sect has become corrupted, I will take back all my power rooted on the ground, except for the hero’s. Mira Crate, if you help the hero chosen by the Sacred Sword and give power to the new followers, that will be the best I can do.”

The Sacred Sword shone brightly. I was dumbfounded. So this was how divine power was taken back.

“Asking for my help is not a request that would make you feel unpleasant. You just have to help the hero defeat the Demon God. Unlike me, whose power is limited, the Demon God’s power continues to grow, and it will eventually become so powerful that it will suppress even my power. I had planned to defeat the Demon God eventually, so it wouldn’t have made much difference if I had accepted a request to do so. But was there such a setting in the novel? Or was this another setting that Laura didn’t directly include in the story but was added as reality changed?

“That’s all I have to say. I look forward to meeting you again, Mira Crate.”

“Wait a moment. Why did your tone of voice change suddenly?”

“……”

There was no answer. The voice in my head disappeared. After having a conversation with the goddess, I felt more confused than before.

‘Is this also because I changed the plot?’

As far as I knew, the goddess in the original story only told the Demon King to die and never mentioned the Demon God. But now, she was explicitly telling me to kill the Demon God, not the Demon King, so I wondered if this was another consequence of the altered plot.

“I contacted the Chairman. She’ll be here as soon as possible. Hey, what’s with that expression?”

Leona, who was about to return the communication device, tilted her head.

“You heard the Goddess too, right?”

“Of course.”

“Can you explain how she spoke?”

“How did she speak? Well… it was very frail, but at the same time, you could immediately tell it was the Goddess. It’s hard to explain… it was like that. It was very kind, and as soon as you heard it, you knew it was the Goddess.”

It was probably the tone of voice from earlier. Apparently, she hadn’t shown that side to Leona.

‘Should I ask Laura about this?’

Even though she didn’t appear in the main story, the goddess could have been set up as a dual personality or a twin. It’s not uncommon for a god to be a twin or for there to be multiple gods, each ruling over a different domain. I kept my doubts to myself and waited for the Director to arrive. Soon enough, a dragon of considerable size could be seen flying from the direction of the Empire. The Chairman, though not as huge as Mahbat, was still noticeably large. The dragon landed with a thud, and its massive body slowly transformed into a human form.

“Mahbat.”

The Chairman finally took on the form I knew, and she growled at the writhing dragon on the ground. I signaled to Leona, and she stepped back as she understood my intention. I followed her.

The Chairman approached Mahbat and spoke to him at length. “!!!!!!”

I don’t know what she said, but Mahbat became enraged and tried to get up. His front leg touched the ground as if to gain leverage, but he failed and collapsed again.

Step by step, the Director slowly approached Mahbat’s chest and stopped just in front of the reverse scale. She firmly grasped something with her fingers, piercing the reverse scale and digging into it. The Director stood there for a very long time. After what seemed like forever, Mahbat’s body began to disappear like smoke. It was a surreal sight, as if the dragon itself had been an illusion.

When Mahbat’s massive body had completely vanished, only a red crystal remained. The Director, holding the red crystal, approached us.

“It’s done. Thank you… thank you so much. Now, that child can finally rest.”

The Chairman bowed to us with tears in her eyes.

“It was a dragon that was meant to die anyway. But that…”

“It’s a part of the Dragon Heart. Now that he’s gone, he no longer needs it. Take it. It’s yours. Do whatever you want with it; I don’t mind.”

In the original story, the hero also extracted a part of the Dragon Heart after defeating Mahbat. I remembered that it had quite an impressive effect, but I couldn’t quite recall what it was. Leona, who had been given the Dragon Heart, thought for a moment and then offered it to me.

“Here. Take it, Mira.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t really do anything. You did it all. So just take it. I’m satisfied with the Chairman’s thanks.”

“That’s enough. Just put it away. You’ve done your part too.”

It was thanks to Leona’s awakening of the Sacred Sword that I was able to finish that guy in one blow. I overpowered Leona and tucked the Dragon Heart inside her uniform.

“That’s too much. Why are you prying me open and shoving this huge thing inside against my will?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

As expected, her true nature hadn’t changed. Leona grinned mischievously and pretended to cry, and surprisingly, the Chairman, who was watching us, blushed. Or maybe she was embarrassed because of her age.

“Mira!”

Ignoring the Chairman, who still had things to do, we returned to the Academy, where Rosalia came running. Unlike her usual self, who was always dressed in a holy robe made of starlight, she was now wearing a regular school uniform, and the buttons on her chest were all undone, probably because of the wrong size.

“It’s a real emergency! The divine power…”

“Leona, can I borrow the Sacred Sword for a moment?”

“Sure. Here.”

Leona, who had been startled, automatically handed over the Sacred Sword. I touched Rosalia’s shoulder with the Sacred Sword, and a radiance burst forth from her.

“……What is this?”

“What do you mean, what is it?”

Rosalia, who had been making a fuss about losing her divine power, was now dumbfounded. I returned the Sacred Sword and smiled lightly.

“It’s time for you to become a true saint, isn’t it?”

“Ugh.”

Rosalia made a face.