931. The Divine is immovable.
-No?
“Yes, no.”
Audin was resolute. He spoke with a determination that there would be no compromise on this point. A soft light gleamed across Audin’s shoulders. He spoke with such divinity, what more could be said?
His attitude was no different from swearing his will.
-Then why did you come?
The Master asked. Audin straightened his posture. He folded his hands neatly and straightened his back. He was both polite and confident. Now was the time to persuade the Master.
“I came because if I stay like this, the barbarians from the West will run wild and start calling me the youngest.”
The light flickers. It’s still a confession, no different from a vow. Audyn continues.
“Even a swordsman from the North would act arrogantly.”
The light flickered a few times. In human terms, would it have been a nod? Or perhaps a tilt?
-Explain.
The answer came back. Audin knew the nature of his teacher, made of light. He was deeply interested in worldly affairs.
If he were allowed, he would invite a storyteller here all day long.
Unless that storyteller’s eyes melted to death under the intense divinity, that is. He
would be even more intrigued if it were the story of a disciple he recognized.
At first glance, he looked like some kind of angelic incarnation, but a closer look revealed an old man, preoccupied with other people’s affairs.
He could almost be described as an old man who would often say, “Oh, I must die.”
“then.”
Audín began his story. What would have been a rambling rambling before was now presented coherently. Perhaps this was all thanks to Encred.
Teaching him, observing him again, and learning from him, it was like learning anew how to speak.
The long story was over.
-That’s fun.
The teacher expressed his pleasure. Audyn nodded.
“It was a pleasant day.”
I’ve finally found my way through life, overcome the pain of past mistakes, and embraced them. Now
, I’ve ended my wanderings and broken the taboo. I still see the ghost of the child I named a saint and died making medicine underground, but I don’t hold the same resentment as before. I just smile occasionally.
It seems to tell me the path I’m on is the right one.
-You’ve made up your mind.
The Master said, “Audin’s armor has no physical substance. It was a metaphor.”
-Take it.
The Master spoke and projected light. The light transformed into a form, resting on Audin’s shoulder, flowing down, squeezing and constricting his entire body. Audin readily accepted it, simultaneously observing his inner self.
-How far have you come to enlightenment?
The Master asks. The Master is the one who, long ago, in a time worthy of history, sacrificed himself to protect the Legion. He is not a fool consumed by divinity, but one who sacrificed himself to protect all.
Instead of words, Audin radiated divinity in response.
Vortex.
Based on what Encred had shown him, he applied a rotation to the divine. The armor covering Audin’s entire body was slowly digging into his flesh.
As a result, blood began to flow from his entire body.
If he continued like this, he would die. Whether he was a knight or not, losing too much blood was a sure way to die.
Audin radiated divine energy and covered his skin with a holy armor. This was the embodiment of divinity. He was drawing out intangible power into a tangible form.
‘Increase density here.’
I mix in what I learned from my previous conversation with Encred. The Seonggwangap forms a form beneath the oppressive armor, enduring the pain. Thanks to this, the bleeding slowly subsides.
-Form change and materialization.
The Master’s words seemed to come from afar. Audín focused. He let his hands hang limply in his seat, his gaze drifting into space, and he concentrated, focused.
‘One more time.’
Beyond transformation and materialization, I infuse my divinity into the armor forged by light that presses down on my body.
-Transfer and projection.
The Master’s words continued.
Even though this was his domain, he couldn’t possibly know the subtleties of his opponent’s skills. That’s why the Master was surprised.
Encred wasn’t the only one who had overcome difficulties.
He was also surrounded by a constant stream of lunatics, constantly provoking him.
Even Teresa would eventually break out of her shell.
In the past, Audin was so intoxicated by divinity that he entrusted a portion of his divinity to this place. More precisely, the Master forcibly removed it.
-If you are eaten by that armor, you will become a more awesome berserker than ever before.
It was the result of a paladin intoxicated by omnipotence, a talent so exceptional it was almost excessive.
Of course, a desire to turn away from the suffering of the world also played a role.
Had he not had a master back then, Audin wouldn’t be who he is today.
He was a divinity, clinging to it as if escaping from reality, consumed by anguish. If he had surrendered his body and mind to it, this suffering would have ended.
-It must have become a weapon of massacre that kills those who oppose the divine.
The master had recited Audin’s future. Audin, with great difficulty, severed a portion of his enlightened divinity.
Instead of being intoxicated by power, he awoke in a place filled with suffering. It was a time when the boy’s visions endlessly poured out their resentment.
-This is the armor you created. If you’re confident you can overcome it later, then take it.
Even when I was banned, I had no intention of getting it again.
‘Things have changed, brothers and sisters.’
Even if he were beaten to death, Audin couldn’t live with Rem. He had already realized something and was moving forward.
How could he stand still when he already knew it?
The armor he had previously created was a divinity he had forged, forgetting himself and the world. His purpose in coming here was to make it his own, chewing and devouring it whole.
Rotation, transformation, materialization, transference, and projection.
True to his master’s words, Audin wielded divinity with ease. In a way, it was a similar flow to Will’s changing nature.
He tried to suppress the armor he had previously created. But this wasn’t the answer. It wasn’t the end.
‘Wrong way.’
It’s the wrong direction. No one told him, no teacher taught him, but his innate talent shows him the way.
Even wandering through a starless wilderness, overcast and clouded, he finds the right direction through intuition alone.
That’s the advantage of talent. Audin was the greatest genius ever born in the Legion.
He reflected on and compiled everything he had learned from his days as a warrior priest to the present.
‘What is divinity?’
Is this power bestowed by the gods?
If so, why doesn’t it reside in all the faithful?
Then why did they create a copycat called the Gray God and grant them power as well?
The manifestation of divinity was reserved for a few gifted individuals, not evidence of devotion.
What if divinity is not actually something given by God?
Distrust brings about cracks. Audyn embraced the cracks. He endured the breaking and shattering.
-Die. Audyn.
The Master spoke. A vibration of light resonated through his chest and reached his head.
A crack born of disbelief shattered the sacred armor formed over Audin’s body. As a result, a mass of divine energy, intoxicated by power, pressed down on his entire body. It gnawed at his flesh, tearing at his muscles and shattering his bones.
‘Do not doubt the Father.’
Audin recalled the words of the temple.
‘Shouldn’t we have doubts even at a moment like this?’
As the Gray God, haven’t you thrown away the faith of all the divine holders?
You ask and wait for an answer. The god doesn’t answer. That’s why distrust grows. Interestingly, Audin was reminded of Ragnar here.
“If the destination appears, it’s not the wrong way, right?”
I walk until I reach my destination. Ragnar is like that. He doesn’t doubt the path I’ve chosen.
Though he’s only human, he remains unwavering in his convictions.
His thoughts continue, reaching the captain.
‘The captain.’
Audin still doesn’t know how Encrid reached his current state. His talents were mediocre. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he died at any moment. Effort? The world doesn’t change with effort alone.
‘But it has changed.’
Encred did just that. He swung his sword, sparing even the moment of doubt.
His moments accumulated into a day, and that day became a month. And so, time coalesced to form the present.
‘It’s a life created by will.’
It is a step forward without the slightest doubt.
‘Hold on to what you believe in, and walk as much as you believe in.’
The words of the temple jumbled and swirled through his mind. Audin believed in God. He realized that what lay within him was not disbelief.
He believed completely. He believed desperately. He relied on and leaned on. He longed for boundless love, and received as much as he desired. In faith, his thoughts took a new root.
‘Divinity is given by God.’
However, it is only humans who write it.
‘I just gave.’
I treated him with boundless compassion and love.
A black sword will kill a murderer, but a black sword will protect a man of purpose. Just like the sword my captain wields.
‘Give divinity to those with talent and tell them to use it properly, even if only a little.’
In the temple, it speaks, in hymns. God has always spoken.
There was only a division between those who listened and those who didn’t.
Audin heard the scream of the divinity he had built in the past. It was a scream of stubbornness, trying to shatter and crush everything around him, forcing everything into the order God had established.
‘I was young too.’
Unlike before, his perspective on the world had changed. Audyn steeled his resolve and cultivated his divinity.
‘If Will is change.’
The divine is immovable. It is a central axis firmly established within the wavering heart.
Faith, even when shaken and swayed, remains unshaken. That is how it should be.
‘The divine is the center, the anchor.’
It’s the force that holds something that’s originally trying to scatter everywhere and keeps it in place. It’s the force that keeps it firmly in place even when a tsunami strikes.
‘So, is it enough to just be as solid as a rock?’
No, it isn’t.
If the writer so desires, the divine becomes rock, steel, water, and fire.
Anything is possible. Believe in the Almighty. Faith is your weapon. Believe in yourself and your divinity will respond and catch up.
The Master’s words were heard. Audin agreed. Faith bestowed a portion of omnipotence. Divinity can be anything.
‘Just as your will doesn’t change, so too does your faith, if it doesn’t change, that’s it.’
As his thoughts settled, peace settled in his heart. The vision of Fieldin nodded.
The blood flowing through Audin’s body stopped flowing, and his wounds began to heal on their own.
The blood flowing through his veins redoubled its speed, and the divinity within it radiated a healing light. A
soft light gradually permeated Audin’s body, beginning with his fingertips and moving upward to his forearms, shoulders, and face, then down his thighs and to his feet.
‘But move according to faith.’
The core is faith. Believe and follow, and whatever you desire will come true.
‘Because God loves us and gives us.’
All you need is to know how to use it properly.
-I’ll wait. You’ll come to finish me off later, right?
Audin opened his eyes at the teacher’s words.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The Legion’s guardian knights still stand guard here. I’ve even heard that Holy Emperor Noah has cried out for the immediate release of the souls trapped here.
Audin understands his master’s will. He was as peculiar as his adoptive father.
If he wishes to end things, he can do so himself. He can abandon everything, cut himself off, and go meet the god of war who resides above. But he doesn’t.
-There is still war and evil out there.
He speaks like that, but refuses to let go. He still guards this place. That’s why he’s a guardian knight of the Legion.
However, his grumbling was so intense that he almost wanted to die, and even the gods tolerated such complaints.
The Holy Emperor sensed his intentions and now just left him alone.
“I’ll be back.”
-Do so.
Audin shattered his armor and emerged once more onto the surface. Outside, it was just before dusk. The setting sun illuminated the surroundings. An orange glow enveloped the world. Audin felt the love of God. He felt such love.
“Lord.”
He always watches over my world. He envelops it in light and hides it in darkness.
He helps the needy and extends a helping hand to the poor. He extends compassion, regardless of right or wrong.
Even if those who observe it mistreat it, His compassion remains unwavering.
Audin took a step forward. Now, if he could return, he could give Rem the youngling, Ragnar, and even Saxon a whack or two.
He couldn’t wait for that.
‘This too must be a joy given by the Lord.’
