Kallen drove Dis to the hospital in the Hearse.
Perhaps because of his last encounter with a bewitching otherworldly demon at the hospital, Kallen still felt a little uneasy about the place. But he had to overcome that unease, since quite a few of the family's orders came from hospitals.
Most importantly,
when Dis stood beside you, that sense of security needed no explanation.
Dis walked ahead, with Kallen following behind, and grandfather and grandson climbed the stairs of the Inpatient Building.
Actually, when Mr. Hoffen had declared to his face that he was "not Kallen," Kallen had briefly wondered whether he should simply strangle the old man.
Back then, he had felt deeply insecure.
Now, however, that thought had vanished. He could leave every decision to Dis.
The greatest joy of being a member of the Immerlis Family was that,
whenever you encountered a difficulty,
you could always ask yourself:
Why not ask your grandfather?
Still, Mr. Hoffen's ability to go into the emergency room again and again, then be wheeled back to his ward alive despite terminal cancer and a severe blow to the back of his head, was truly admirable.
The old man's will to live was genuinely strong. It was as though he were doing sit-ups in the hospital.
The ward door was open. Dis walked in and switched on the light.
The caregiver, who had originally been quite conscientious that night, was now sprawled on the tiled floor, fast asleep.
Dis pointed at her.
Kallen stepped forward and helped the caregiver up. Still groggy with sleep, she offered no resistance. Instead, guided by some lingering instinct, she lay down on the empty bed beside them with Kallen's help, clamped the blanket between her legs, and continued sleeping.
Dis walked over to Hoffen.
Kallen brought over a chair and placed it behind Dis, who sat down.
Hoffen's eyes were open.
When his gaze fell on Kallen, unmistakable disgust showed in his eyes.
Kallen was already used to that.
Then,
he looked at Dis.
"He came."
"Oh," Dis replied.
"I've already told him everything about the evil god's descent."
"Mm," Dis answered again.
"I think it's still not too late for you to kill him," Mr. Hoffen continued urging.
At one point, Kallen had believed that Mr. Hoffen was clinging to his last breath purely because this "evil god" was still alive. He simply couldn't rest in peace.
However,
Kallen showed no reaction to Mr. Hoffen's goading. Instead, he quietly picked up the thermos, rinsed a cup with hot water, then filled it.
He gave the first cup to Dis, who accepted it.
When he poured the second cup,
Mr. Hoffen instinctively reached out to take it.
Kallen kept it in his own hand, blew on it, and took a sip.
"..." Hoffen was speechless.
"He didn't come to me first," Dis said. "But that was expected."
"I think Rasma was coming for you from the moment he left Headquarters. Back when you gave him the position of High Priest, I told you it wouldn't earn his gratitude. Instead, it would plant a seed of hatred that wouldn't fade for decades.
"What he desperately sought was, in your eyes, a plaything you could give away. That made for a serious grudge."
"I've never liked taking too much care of people with mediocre talent. It's exhausting."
"Heh." Hoffen laughed. "You're still the same. You haven't changed one bit in all these years."
"You can close your eyes and rest easy now. He'll take care of the funeral." Dis glanced at Kallen, who stood beside him.
Kallen quietly set down his cup.
"I don't know why, but even though I've always wanted him to die immediately, the thought of an evil god personally arranging my funeral makes me uncontrollably excited. Is this the pleasure of the forbidden?"
"Want to hear him call you Grandpa too? That would make you even happier."
"Who would care to have an evil god call him Grandpa?"
After saying that, Mr. Hoffen pursed his lips, and a hint of temptation actually appeared in his eyes.
Dis said nothing.
Mr. Hoffen said nothing either.
Kallen blew on the cup again, then placed the now-lukewarm water before Mr. Hoffen.
"Grandpa, have some tea."
"Heh..."
Mr. Hoffen snorted disdainfully, but still took a sip of tea.
After swallowing,
he closed his eyes.
Then,
his hands involuntarily clenched and relaxed,
and his feet unconsciously tensed and loosened.
Immediately afterward,
those small movements were no longer enough to express what he felt inside.
He simply began rolling back and forth on the hospital bed,
laughter escaping his mouth from time to time.
If Dis hadn't remained seated there without moving, Kallen really would have thought Mr. Hoffen was having an episode.
After a long while,
Mr. Hoffen stopped and began breathing deeply.
"Dis, I've experienced your joy."
Dis shook his head. "You've misunderstood."
"No, this joy is enough already. All my life, I've followed the teachings of the Principle God Church, devoted myself to research, and strictly observed its rules and restrictions. I truly never thought that, in the final stage of my life, I'd agree to go mad with you."
"Do you regret it?" Dis asked.
"It isn't a matter of regret. It just feels like a pity. A pity that I spent my whole life walking within the squares, only to leap outside them at the very end.
"But there's also an indescribable joy in my heart. Especially at night, I'll often be sleeping and suddenly laugh aloud for no reason.
"It's like when I was a child and it started raining. Once, I ran through the rain with my friends. We didn't care that our clothes would get soaked, that our mothers would punish us when we got home, or that our trouser legs were covered in mud.
"We played, roughhoused, and jumped in the rain to our hearts' content, letting the mud splatter all over us.
"That feeling was truly wonderful."
"Yes." Dis nodded.
"I've always envied you. Back when I was young, I heard there was a young man in the Order God Church who said, right in front of a Temple Elder, that order was a mask you only put on when you needed it.
"Do you know what I thought when I heard about that? What an interesting person he must be. I really wanted to meet him. How did he dare? How could he... Ah, heh.
"Later, you saved me.
"I think it was already destined back then. I was even looking forward to you taking me along to do something crazy.
"Perhaps,
"I should have studied divination,
"because my premonition really came true."
"Perhaps," Dis said.
"But whatever happens, Dis, it's been wonderful to know a friend like you in this life.
"Of course, I also know you have no shortage of friends like me."
"No, Hoffen. I've actually never had many friends." Dis reached out and smoothed Hoffen's sparse hair. "After all, how many people could put up with my temper?"
"If it hadn't been for what happened to his parents..."
"It has nothing to do with his parents. I started feeling tired a long time ago. Perhaps because I advanced too quickly, I experienced the state of mind of the Church of Light's last Mad Pope far too early.
"He said he didn't believe the God of Light really existed."
"Is that your loneliness, Dis? You're truly pitiful. People without faith are truly pitiful."
"Yes." Dis nodded. "But I have my family, and I'll cherish them. They are my faith."
"Including him?"
"Yes, including him. My grandson, Kallen."
"You really like him. I can feel it. Perhaps I was unlucky, falling down the first time I met him, so I missed something."
"Yes. Kallen is very much like me. He's exactly like I was when I was young."
"Doesn't it hurt you? He's exactly like you were when you were young, yet in the end..."
"But there's one difference."
"What?"
"He has faith."
"We all do. You used to as well, didn't you? What's so strange about having faith?"
"But there is no god in his faith."
"..." Hoffen's eyes suddenly widened. "Can faith without a god still be called faith? How can you build a house without a foundation?"
Kallen spoke. "People build houses, and people lay their foundations. Gods have never added a single brick or tile."
Mr. Hoffen stared at Kallen.
"Heretic! Evil god!"
Kallen shrugged. He was used to the dying old man's attacks.
"If there is no god in your world, what use is an empty house? At least a house in reality can shelter you from the wind and rain. Heh."
"I don't believe in gods, but I have faith in truth."
"Faith in truth?"
As a believer in the Principle God Church, old Hoffen immediately grew excited.
Should I
bring
an evil god
into the Principle God Church?
Good heavens,
this really is a crazy idea. But I really want to try.
Watching Hoffen's expression change, Kallen knew he had misunderstood him.
The truth he believed in had no god presiding over it.
Hoffen took out his Cross necklace.
At the sight of that necklace, Kallen suddenly felt the palm of his left hand beginning to ache again.
Hoffen looked at Kallen
and said,
"Take it, evil god.
"This
"is a gift from your grandpa."
"Thank you... Grandpa."
Kallen carefully lifted the necklace, trying his best not to touch the Cross.
Mr. Hoffen said irritably, "Without prayers being offered over it, it can't harm otherworldly demons."
"Oh, really?"
Kallen reached out with one finger and touched it. Yes, nothing happened.
Seeing Kallen do that,
Hoffen asked,
"So last time, it actually burned you, didn't it? You pretended nothing had happened in front of me, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Kallen the evil god readily admitted it.
Moreover,
he spread open his left hand, revealing the faded cross-shaped scar on his palm.
Hoffen stared hard at the scar.
"Do you know what that means?"
"I remember you saying that if I were an otherworldly demon, I'd be incinerated when I willingly held it. But I wasn't."
Hoffen lowered his eyelids
and said,
"It means you're a very powerful otherworldly demon, an evil god. That's why prayers at my level, combined with this Sacred Artifact, could only scratch your skin."
Kallen chuckled
and said,
"But I've never noticed anything powerful about myself."
Mr. Hoffen said, "Your grandfather often said that too when he was young."
"..." Kallen was speechless.
"Dis, I'm tired. Truly, they came far too late." Hoffen gripped Dis's hand. "There is something that feels so shameful to say now, something I didn't want to speak of, but if I don't say it now, I won't have the chance."
Dis,
do you know?
In truth, throughout my life, I didn't merely worship the God of Principles; I always worshiped you as well-the you of the past.
What a pity.
Ever since that incident,
you grew dejected."
Dis brought his face close to Hoffen, speaking softly:
"I've said it before, I didn't grow dejected because of Kallen's parents' deaths."
"Wasn't it really?" Hoffen's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and his voice softer.
"It was because I felt I could no longer suppress my own realm. I felt I had already touched the core of Order, and I could not go on like that. I had no choice but to grow dejected, and at times even had to deliberately consume my own power of faith in order to force my realm to slip.
Otherwise, I would have had no choice but to enter the Order Temple to become a Temple Elder, and that, to me, was a great distress.
After all,
compared to serving that God of Order at close quarters, I much prefer sitting at the same table with my family every evening to enjoy dinner."
Hearing this,
Hoffen parted his lips and smiled.
Then,
his smile froze in place, and he was gone.
Dis straightened up,
and said to Kallen:
"Bring the stretcher cart up. We're taking Hoffen home."
Kallen immediately ran downstairs to the parking lot to retrieve the stretcher cart from the hearse, shouldered it, and hurried back up to the inpatient building ward. Because he moved rather quickly, he was slightly out of breath.
Yet he did not feel tired, for Dis's earlier words kept echoing in his mind:
Grandfather is troubled-troubled because he cannot control his realm.
So just how powerful was Grandfather?
As it turned out, that night's "wantonness" truly wasn't because Grandfather held the status of an Inquisitor of the Order God Church; it was because Grandfather himself possessed that very strength.
"Put it here."
"Alright, Grandfather."
Dis hoisted Hoffen's back while Kallen cradled his feet, and together the grandfather and grandson carried Mr. Hoffen onto the stretcher bed.
"Let's go home."
"Alright."
Kallen pushed the stretcher cart, with Dis walking alongside.
"Grandfather, who is Rasma?" Kallen asked.
"The High Priest of the Order God Church."
"He came to Ruilan?"
"Mm. Before we arrived at the ward, he had already appeared here in person."
"Mr. Hoffen already told him about the Divine Descent Ritual?"
"Yes. Old Hoffen was simply holding on so someone would come and question him, which is why he dragged out his death for so long. Truth be told, he grew tired long ago."
"Then we..."
"In a few days, an over-specification Divine Descent Ritual will be held once more in Bellwyn City. A powerful Otherworldly Demon will attempt to summon his primordial ancestor, who was suppressed by the God of Order in the Previous Era."
"A powerful... Otherworldly Demon?"
"Compared to him, Alfred looks like a clown."
"Then..."
"Before me, he is much like Alfred is in front of you."
"I understand."
This analogy was quite vivid.
"I gave him the method for the over-specification Divine Descent Ritual of the Order God Church that Hoffen helped me refine, and even did the preparatory work for him. He is going to fulfill his long-cherished wish to summon a true Evil God, but he is destined to fail.
Because his strength and realm are insufficient, he is destined to turn to ash during the summoning ritual. Most importantly, he lacks sufficient offerings to sacrifice."
"Then why did he..."
"Because of a dream. He knows himself that he cannot truly summon the primordial ancestor, but he should be able to meet the primordial ancestor and exchange a few words before he and the altar perish together.
This, in truth, is what he wants."
"So we..."
"Yes. I am helping him fulfill his long-cherished wish, and he is helping me clear away all blame and suspicion from the previous Divine Descent Ritual.
That is why I told you that the Divine Descent Ritual concerning you will not cause any subsequent impact on our family, nor on any of us, nor will we need to fear being hunted down.
In fact, prior to preparing to hold that Divine Descent Ritual, the ones who participated weren't just Hoffen and Puer-he was involved as well."
Kallen understood.
This was a closed loop.
Mr. Hoffen had kept himself alive precisely to endure "interrogation" on the verge of death, thereby shifting the suspicion onto that powerful Otherworldly Demon. Afterward, that powerful Otherworldly Demon would initiate a "second" Divine Descent Ritual before long, bringing the truth to "light."
Dis had said that he would not do something foolish like trying to "resurrect" a family member only to drag all his family members into the whirlpool.
Facts proved that Dis had indeed arranged everything long ago.
Therefore,
Kallen looked at Hoffen lying on the stretcher cart,
and could not help letting out a soft sigh in his heart.
This old man who kept shouting that he was an "Evil God" and endlessly badgering Dis to kill him-
was actually enduring immense agony just to avoid dying, all to help Dis complete this closed loop, and to... protect the Immoreles family.
He truly was a stubborn yet endearing old man.
Kallen reached out and tucked the white shroud over Mr. Hoffen. The Immerlis Family had the responsibility to hold a proper funeral for him.
With Dis's assistance, Mr. Hoffen was lifted into the hearse. The stretcher cart had its wheels retracted and was placed into the rectangular recess in the middle, after which the seatbelt-like ropes on both sides were pulled out and buckled down.
If a new hearse carried only a single guest, it would actually experience no jolting at all.
The reason Mr. Molf and the Editor-in-Chief had kept tumbling into each other last time was simply because the two of them had been tossed straight into the recess and left unattended.
Kallen started the hearse and prepared to head home.
During the drive,
Kallen suddenly recalled a word from Grandfather's earlier words: sacrifice.
This was a word Puer had also mentioned before. Puer had been extremely curious about what exactly Dis had sacrificed during the Divine Descent Ritual.
For Puer had assumed this over-specification Divine Descent Ritual could not possibly succeed, yet had subsequently witnessed with her own eyes that "Kallen" had come back to life. That meant it had undoubtedly succeeded; hence, what was the price?
What on earth had Dis brought out to sacrifice to the God of Order?
"Grandfather, there's something I want to ask you. May I?"
"Ask."
"What on earth did you sacrifice in the Divine Descent Ritual?"
"Ask again."
"What did you sacrifice?"
"The previous sentence."
"Grandfather, may I ask you a..."
"I'm tired."
Immediately,
grandfather and grandson both laughed.
Since Dis was unwilling to answer, Kallen stopped asking.
The hearse stopped at their doorstep.
Kallen got out of the car, first lowered the steel plate, then personally unbuckled the safety straps from Mr. Hoffen's body, and pushed him down the hearse along the steel plate.
Throughout the entire process,
Dis remained seated inside the hearse, watching Kallen busy at work alone.
To resurrect his own grandson,
he had prepared to sacrifice everything-everything he possessed.
To that end,
he did not hesitate to undo the seal upon himself and revoke every suppression on his realm.
His realm,
his faith,
his power,
and even his life.
He had prepared himself entirely. Whatever sacrificial offering the God of Order desired in the Divine Descent Ritual, he could pick and choose at will.
He also believed he could afford it, and that he would certainly satisfy the God of Order, for he himself possessed strength infinitely close to that of an Order Temple Elder. The only difference was that he had always resisted taking that final step.
The temple that everyone in the Order God Church yearned for-the place closest to the God of Order-happened to be the very place Dis held in the deepest disdain.
"Grandfather, shall we go home?" Kallen had already steadily placed Mr. Hoffen onto the stretcher cart and prepared to push him through the front door.
"Alright."
Dis got out of the hearse, while Kallen went over to lock the car doors, then returned to open the courtyard gates and personally pushed Mr. Hoffen's remains inside.
Dis stood at the threshold, watching his hardworking, busy grandson.
Old Hoffen had endured until death without asking;
Puer had been burning with curiosity and had asked him many times;
Even he himself had asked: I certainly know that lowly I cannot compare with You, yet I still wish to devoutly inquire of You, hoping to receive Your guidance-
What on earth did You sacrifice?
He had told this answer to no one-even when his grandson had asked while driving just moments ago, he still hadn't given him the answer.
This question was simply impossible for him to answer; it had no answer.
Because,
during the Divine Descent Ritual,
he who had prepared to offer up everything he possessed as a sacrifice,
once the Divine Descent Ritual concluded,
had stared in stunned bewilderment to find that-
the God of Order-
had taken nothing at all.
Before you continue