Chapter 61
“Mom… I’m cold. I don’t want to go in!”
Jim screamed.
Amy was crying.
But Peter and Anna held onto their hands tightly, refusing to let go.
“If you don’t go in, you’ll only suffer more. You don’t want to keep hurting, do you?”
“Let’s go, Jim, Amy. If we go in here, we won’t have to suffer anymore.”
The couple embraced their sobbing children.
Then, patting their backs, they slowly began walking into the river.
“It’s okay. You won’t hurt anymore. It’s okay.”
Slowly.
The water began swallowing their bodies.
Instinctively, I nearly rushed forward but stopped in place, frozen like a nail driven deep into the ground.
Releasing my demonic authority and turning this world into hell?
That would be the worst.
Letting the women I love be destroyed because of my power?
That would be horrifying.
But more than anything—more than any other fear—what terrified me the most was burning in hell forever.
If I used my power, I would go to hell.
And I didn’t want to go to hell.
I just wanted to stay quiet, hunt down some dark sorcerers or demon worshippers, erase their souls in silence, and be done with it.
I wanted to go back to Korea.
Why should I care about that family?
All they ever did for me was give me a few pieces of black bread.
I was grateful, sure.
But risking eternal damnation just to save them? No matter how I looked at it, the math didn’t add up.
So, I had to leave.
I had to go back…
“Mom! I don’t want to die!”
Jim wailed.
That single, desperate cry made the couple stop in their tracks.
Standing chest-deep in the freezing water, Peter and Anna let out a cry I had never heard before—one so raw, so filled with despair.
They didn’t go further in.
But they didn’t come out, either.
They just stood there, frozen, sobbing.
Dawn.
The cold darkness surrounded us.
Around the river, other homeless people, their bodies battered and broken like Peter and Anna’s family, slumped over without a shred of hope or salvation.
They merely watched in silence as an entire family prepared to take their own lives.
I was the only one who could save them.
Would I endure eternal torment in hell?
Or would I simply let them be and escape back to Korea, where none of this concerned me?
It was such a simple choice.
So disgustingly simple.
“Peter!! Anna!!”
My mind screamed at me to pick the second option.
But before I even realized it, my body had already leaped into the water.
I knew.
I knew I’d regret this moment later.
I could already see myself cursing my decision, writhing in frustration.
But I couldn’t stop.
“Don’t die!!”
By the time I came to my senses, I had already pulled all four family members out of the river.
Their condition was devastating.
Of course, their bodies were freezing cold, shaking violently as if suffering from seizures.
But even worse than their physical wounds—was the pain in their hearts.
“Why did you save us?”
Peter, missing one of his arms, choked out a tearful question.
“There’s no point in living. What am I supposed to do with this body…?”
His voice was broken, but the tears running down his face told me he hadn’t given up entirely.
Even in the end, I hesitated.
If I used my power even once, rumors would spread no matter what.
A family that had lost limbs and gone blind suddenly fully healed overnight?
Even if I erased their memories with absolute hypnosis after healing them, people would notice something strange. They would investigate.
And eventually, they would find me.
So, I had two choices: never use my power at all—or, if I had already used it, go all the way and heal as many as I could.
I looked around.
Just like Peter and Anna’s family, the area was filled with homeless people, all wounded, broken, suffering.
I couldn’t heal only one family and ignore the rest.
They had suffered just as much—maybe even more.
Now that I could use time stop much more freely…
I could run away whenever I needed to.
So just this once, please, Goddess.
I swear, before my power fully awakens, I’ll make sure to die a martyr.
I have the ability to save them.
Leaving them to suffer would be too cruel.
It would be far too cruel.
“You gave me black bread once, didn’t you?”
I released the modifications covering my face.
Slowly.
My original face was revealed.
“That bread… was hope to me.
So now, let me give you hope.”
I cast Body Reconstruction on Peter.
His severed arm regenerated, his frozen body thawed, and while I was at it, I purged every impurity and toxin lingering inside him.
Next was Anna.
Then Jim.
And finally, Amy.
Their lost sight was restored. Their severed limbs grew back as if they had never been cut off.
The dust from the textile factory that had ravaged their lungs—gone, leaving them as good as new.
In an instant.
Each of them had transformed into the healthiest version of themselves.
“My… my arm…”
Peter stared at his hand in disbelief.
“M-Mom!! I can see!! I can see!!”
Little Jim shrieked, his voice filled with shock.
“I can see too, Mom! Dad!! I can see!!”
Amy frantically ran her fingers over her eyes, her voice trembling with emotion.
And last of all, Anna looked at me, unable to even breathe properly.
“E… Eleos…”
I reached out and gently stroked her hair.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help sooner.”
I was a coward.
I was afraid of what would happen to me.
I needed time to make my decision.
So please, forgive me.
After healing the family, I turned to look around.
The homeless who had been watching me with lifeless, hopeless eyes just moments ago… were now all standing.
I had to heal them.
I had to heal them all before my powers spiraled out of control—before I lost my chance to run.
One week.
Just one week of healing.
Then I’d run.
There was no way I could turn my back on them.
“I will heal you.”
At my words, the entire crowd of homeless people erupted, screaming as they rushed toward me.
“Eleos!!”
“Please! Heal me too!! Please!!”
I let out a breath, feeling the weight of the situation settle in.
I had made my choice.
I had chosen damnation.
And yet, strangely enough… I didn’t feel a single regret.
I reached out my hand.
And I began to heal.
I had miscalculated.
Next time, I needed to go somewhere completely isolated.
That was one lesson I wouldn’t forget.
***
To Mammon, the Scrap Yard was nothing short of perfection.
A place where the filthy rich and the destitute poor existed in the most extreme divide.
Where capitalism rotted away unchecked, fueled by human greed that knew no bounds.
A city that, by its very culture, rejected religion, faith, and magic altogether.
Not a single temple stood in the entire city—no followers of the Pantheon, no influence of the evil gods.
A prime, defenseless feast, ripe for the taking.
Mammon had a grand plan.
To consume every soul, every mind in this city.
To devour them all and turn everything into his power.
For decades, he had meticulously nurtured the city’s decay, plunging it into deeper and deeper despair.
He was so close now.
Just a little more, and his masterpiece would be complete.
A contest of greed and ambition.
A grand spectacle of human corruption and suffering, all culminating in the harvest of countless souls and lingering regrets.
Just a little more.
But then—
At the final moment.
A single intruder arrived to ruin everything.
[The Saint of Healing? What the hell is that bastard doing here?]
Mammon had no idea where this nuisance had suddenly popped up from.
The Saint of Healing.
A man rumored to be personally chosen by Lilia, one of the most heavily wounded gods of the Pantheon.
But if he truly was Lilia’s chosen, then how was he wielding the kind of power that could eradicate fragments of the evil gods themselves?
Nothing about him made sense.
And now, this anomaly had set up camp in Mammon’s city, healing people left and right.
I’ll have to get rid of him. There’s no way I’m letting him mess up my domain.
It was like an unwanted actor barging onto a stage he had spent decades preparing.
A variable like this could not be allowed to exist.
Mammon was just about to take action—
When a familiar stench filled the air.
A sickening, repulsive voice whispered into his ear.
Trying to get rid of him? That might not be a good idea.
Mammon scowled in disgust.
[You filthy insect from the Abyss… how the hell did you crawl up here?]
The grotesque figure of an evil god grinned at him, its very presence loathsome.
But the god merely chuckled.
[I’ve got some interesting information for you.]
[Oh, let me guess. Another one of your lies? How many times do you think I’ve fallen for your tricks, you worm? Get lost. Don’t waste my time.]
Mammon began calling upon his authority, preparing to expel the evil god from his domain
The Saint of Healing is actually using the power of the Demon King, Asmodeus.
Mammon froze.
The power he had gathered dissipated.
That’s… an interesting claim.
It’s the truth. Asmodeus is playing the role of a saint. I figured it out when a fragment of mine ended up inside his body.
The evil god smirked.
Think about it logically. Does it make sense for a broken, half-dead god like Lilia to even have a chosen one?
…No.
Exactly. If he were my chosen, he wouldn’t be destroying my fragments either, would he?
Neither I nor the Pantheon created him.
[Then what’s left? The Power of Pandemonium.]
He could be one of the fallen divine sparks from the Celestial War. You know—like that self-righteous bastard Rophus, the god of justice? That guy used to be human before his divinity was restored.
Exactly. The Pantheon is probably under that same assumption. But I’m telling you—he’s using Asmodeus’s power.
Mammon chuckled.
[That’s so absurd I almost want to keep listening. So what’s your point, worm?]
The evil god’s voice turned silky, enticing.
[The Power of Lust.]
[Take it for yourself.]
[I know what you’re planning, Mammon. You want to throw Scrap Yard into chaos and feast on the souls. But wouldn’t devouring another Demon King’s authority be an even greater reward? You won’t get a better opportunity than this.]
[…]
[Lucifer has severed the connection between the mortal and celestial realms for three hundred years. Only Dulanier, Rophus, and Lupiel can still act. The other gods can’t even send divine messages, let alone appoint champions.]
[And I’m telling you something that no other Demon King knows.]
[If you consume the Power of Lust—]
[No one will stop you.]
The evil god grinned.
Mammon merely gave him a deadpan look.
[That’s a long-winded way of telling me to kill the saint.]
[That’s right.]
[The Pantheon will throw a fit. The Empire will mobilize. My carefully built empire here will crumble. And you think I don’t see through your disgusting little scheme?]
The evil god shrugged.
[Believe me or not. But think about it, Mammon.]
[Are you really going to let such a perfect opportunity slip away?]
Mammon flicked his fingers, shattering the god’s illusion.
He clicked his tongue.
[That lying bastard…]
Still.
He needed to get rid of that saint.
And he needed a legal excuse to do it.
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