After Ten Millennia in Hell

“...”

Deathly silence fell within the massive prayer room. The devotees, who had been going wild after witnessing the God of Splendor’s miracle, looked at each other in confusion.

“Father Ian?”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

The devotees were left flustered. None of them would have believed it If the one spouting nonsense that the God of Splendor was a swindler had been some random person, but it was Cardinal Ian. He was one of the founding members of the Church of Splendor alongside the other cardinals like Mihile who had received revelations from the gods.

The fact that Ian, who had the support of the devotees to the point that he could be the leader of the church, was claiming that the God of Splendor was a swindler would naturally cause the devotees to be confused.

“All of you, please calm down.” Oh Kang-Woo slowly extended his hands toward the rowdy devotees. A golden light was brought down on them like a tent. Kang-Woo smiled faintly as if he was not flustered in the slightest and looked at Ian. “Cardinal Ian, was it? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

That was a lie. He had seen Ian when he first entered the prayer room, but he had never heard anything about him other than when the other cardinals talked behind his back.

“There seems to have been a mistake—”

“Shut up, abominable demon!” Ian firmly shook his head as if he did not find it worth his time to entertain Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo’s eyebrows slightly flinched.

‘What the hell is going on?’

He was as calm as he could be on the outside, but his mind was in jumbles.

‘How does he know?’

Kang-Woo slightly bit his lip as he replayed the memories of every action he had taken after the war.

‘Nothing.’

No matter how hard he thought about it, he had done nothing that could have possibly revealed his identity. Most of his battles against the Constellations of Evil had occurred within a barrier made by the Demonic Sea, and traces of his demonic energy had completely disappeared after earning Deific Essence.

‘Did he see Balrog changing into his true form during the war?’

That was the only thing that Kang-Woo had failed to perfectly conceal.

‘No, no.’

Kang-Woo shook his head. He had taken action to quickly resolve that matter.

‘Besides, just because Balrog’s identity was revealed wouldn’t make him think that I’m the Demon King.’

It would be a massive jump in logic.

‘What could it be, then?’

Ian would have had no way of realizing Kang-Woo’s true identity.

“That demon is the Demon King who ruled over the Nine Hells!” Ian shouted.

“...”

Silence fell the more Ian shouted. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and scanned Ian. He could think about how Ian had figured out his identity later. Putting out the fire that Ian had set was of higher priority.

‘Well, considering the situation...’ Kang-Woo looked at the devotees’ expressions and smiled faintly. ‘It doesn’t look like I’ll have to do anything.’

In other words, the situation would resolve itself without him needing to do anything.

“What kind of nonsense is that?!”

“The God of Splendor has shown us the miracle of light before our very eyes!”

“There is no way that he would be the Demon King!”

The devotees strongly refuted Ian’s claims. Some were directing hostility, and even bloodlust, at him. They might have believed Ian’s claims before Kang-Woo had shown them a miracle, but they had seen a severely ill child being healed to perfect condition right in front of them. Even someone with the title of cardinal would not be able to convince them with just his words, no matter how influential his sermons were.

‘People in suffering need miracles that they can see rather than vague words of light.’

“The evil one here us you, Cardinal Ian!”

“He dares disrespect the God of Splendor!”

Hostile screams filled the prayer room. The woman who was shouting that her husband was in serious condition was swinging the thick holy scripture threateningly.

“Kuh...” Ian bit his lip anxiously as he looked at the crazed devotees. He clenched his fists and shouted, “Those tainted by darkness, receive the judgment of light!”

He decided to take matters into his own hands after judging that he wouldn’t be able to convince the public. Thick sacred power flowed out of him; he was quite powerful, to be expected of someone possessing the title of cardinal. He formed a spear made of light and fired it at Kang-Woo.

“Kyaaaaaaaahhh!”

“G-God of Splendor!”

The devotees ran in front of Kang-Woo while screaming to take the attack for him, but...

Scatter.

The spear of light being fired at Kang-Woo turned to dust in midair as if the spear itself was refusing to attack him.

“H-How...” Ian trembled while wide-eyed.

He gritted his teeth and prepared his next attack. Kang-Woo extended his arm toward Ian.

‘Authority of Stillness.’

He activated Prince Belphegor’s Authority. Irresistible power stopped Ian’s movements.

“Devotees of light, quell your rage,” Kang-Woo remarked to the devotees, who had let madness take control of them. They flinched and stepped back. “There seems to have been a misunderstanding.”

Kang-Woo walked toward Ian, who could not move at all due to the Authority of Stillness. Kang-Woo lightly placed his hand on Ian’s shoulder and said in sorrow, “Cardinal Ian. I have faith in you.”

“Aaaahh...”

“O light...”

The devotees kneeled while tearing up. The God of Splendor was not enraged at Ian, who had not only insulted him by claiming he was the Demon King but even attacked him. Instead, he was saying that he had faith in him.

“Devotees of light,” Kang-Woo said as he turned to the devotees. “You must not forget the words of light.” He slowly raised his hand and pointed at the holy scripture on the podium. “Chapter 27 verse 2; learn to love your enemies who give you adversity and suffering.”

“Hurgh. I will keep it in mind... for the rest of my life!”

“We will trust and follow only the path of splendor!”

The devotees bowed their heads while hugging the holy scripture. Hearing the God of Splendor putting the words of light into action was highly impactful to the devotees, who had only read it through the holy scriptures. Kang-Woo turned away from the devotees while smiling gently.

“I will resolve this misunderstanding with Cardinal Ian. In the meantime, I will have the other cardinals guide the devotees’ prayers.”

“U-Understood!” Cardinal Mihile shouted as he bowed deeply.

Kang-Woo grabbed the immobile Ian by the shoulder and dragged him down from the platform and into the bathroom next to the prayer room. He placed a barrier with demonic energy and then undid the Authority of Stillness.

“Huff, huff!” Ian stepped back as he panted heavily. “Bastard! How long will you keep up this wicked fa?ade?”

He yelled in anger and raised his fist to punch Kang-Woo, but Kang-Woo easily caught it.

“Kurgh! L-Let go of me!”

Ian tried to get out of Kang-Woo’s grasp, but could not overcome Kang-Woo’s grip strength.

“Cardinal Ian,” Kang-Woo called with a gentle smile. “Where did you hear that false information?”

“Hah, false information, you say?” Ian glared at Kang-Woo and bared his teeth. “I saw you ruling over the Nine Hells with my own eyes! You were sitting on a giant throne with hundreds of thousands of demons at your heel!”

“...”

Kang-Woo frowned.

‘He saw me back when I was in Hell?’

He could understand Ian’s attitude if that were true. Even if he had entered the Church of Splendor to make use of its rise in popularity, he was still a priest; he followed the light and resented all those dyed in evil. It was only natural for him to be enraged by the fact that the God of Splendor was the Demon King.

‘Well, even if he’s a priest, he’s nothing more than a leech who stuck to a different god after abandoning the one he used to believe in.’

Ian was fundamentally no different from Mihile since the only reason they stuck to the Church of Splendor was to regain their power that had been vanishing after the Godly Pantheon fell apart. Their actions of writing holy scriptures and giving sermons based on that was no different from a scam.

‘Even swindlers have a conscience, is that it?’

Ian delivered the words of a god that he didn’t even believe in for the sake of keeping his power but was enraged when the god turned out to be the Demon King. It was truly ironic.

‘Regardless...’

Kang-Woo did not care about the reason behind Ian’s actions.

“Who showed you?” Kang-Woo asked.

Who dared to show Ian his days of ruling over Hell as the Demon King? That was all that mattered.

“Hmph, do you seriously believe I’ll tell you?!” Ian snorted and turned his head away.

Kang-Woo stared at Ian with deeply sunken eyes and placed his hand on Ian’s head.

‘Authority of Fear.’

Kang-Woo activated the Authority that would control Ian’s mind. However...

Crackle—!

“... Hm?”

“Kuh! Did you think that your evil schemes would work on me?!”

Black sparks flew from Ian’s head. Ian glared at Kang-Woo ferociously while gritting his teeth. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

‘He resisted the Authority?’

Even though the Authority of Fear had a high chance of failure, it should not have been possible for Ian to resist it considering their unfathomable gap in power.

‘If that’s the case...’

It meant that someone else had provided Ian with a measure to resist mind-control Authorities, and it was likely that the individual had told Ian about Kang-Woo’s true identity.

“Haha,” Kang-Woo softly laughed.

“Wh-What’s so funny...?” Ian stared at him with trembling eyes.

Kang-Woo swept up his hair.

‘If mind-control Authorities won’t work...’

He had no choice but to make Ian talk of his own accord without relying on Authorities, and it was simple to do so.

“Cardinal Ian.” Kang-Woo smiled gently. “Have you heard of this saying?”

“Wh-What saying...?”

Ian trembled. Kang-Woo walked to the bathroom sink and turned on the faucet. In terms of water facilities, Aernor was not much different from Earth. Water poured into the sink.

Kang-Woo placed his hand over the stream of water and remarked, “Water always knows the answer.”

“... What?”

Ian tilted his head. He had never heard of such a saying.

“Hahaha,” Kang-Woo laughed. He approached Ian and grabbed him by the hair. “No need to worry.”

He stuffed Ian’s head into the sink filled with water.

“Kurgh! Urpp!! Urgh!”

Ian flailed aggressively.

Kang-Woo added more strength to his hand and continued, “You’ll find out what it means soon enough.”

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om