"Yes."
In the small prayer hall that had previously housed only one person, an invisible ripple suddenly swept through.
A young and slender figure appeared in the corner of the room, as if he had just emerged from the shadows, or as if he had been observing from there for a long time.
Samuer, the young seminary graduate and a cardinal's chaplain, bowed slightly to his mentor from a distance of a dozen paces.
"Teacher."
On a withered branch behind the young man, a small bird, no bigger than a palm, also lowered its head slightly, mimicking Samuer's gesture of respect.
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Luxiusi finally rose from before the icon.
He turned around, slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the young and handsome student:
"Did Sailesi send you, or did you choose to come yourself?"
"Um..."
Samuer was not at all surprised by his teacher's question, and tilted his head slightly as he thought for a moment before answering:
"Probably half and half—he wants you dead, and I need you dead."
"Half and half..."
Luxiusi smacked his lips at the answer, then suddenly asked:
"He only sent you to kill me?"
"Yes."
"He knows you can kill me?"
"He... has some suspicions—I've given him hints for a while now."
"However, his talent is average, not as good as yours. If he hadn't been desperate this time, he probably wouldn't have thought of me."
Luxiusi remained silent for a few moments after hearing this, then suddenly asked another question:
You seem more anxious than before.
"Yes, progress in the north is faster than I expected. The meticulously planned strategy must be adjusted to accommodate various variables, which you understand."
Samuer said slowly:
"According to my prediction, four major battles will break out simultaneously in the south and north of the mainland."
" The Skeleton Alliance and the Empire, the Skeleton Alliance and the Demon Realm, the Graycast Corridor and the Eternal Domain, and the Second Holy See and the Theocracy..."
"If the plan had succeeded, we wouldn't have had to meet like this today."
"It's just a pity~"
Samuer sat down in a chair with a relaxed tone, looked up at the ceiling of the small prayer room, and sighed:
"That 'god' who wears the skin of a ' Son of God ' has caused far too many variables."
"There's so much that I have to sit here and talk to you face to face, teacher."
"We could have parted ways amicably; the current situation is one that none of us wanted to see."
Luxiusi had now sat down again. Looking into the young student's eyes, he asked one last question:
Does it really have to be this way?
Yes, it must be done this way.
"Because that's my nature."
Samuer asked seriously:
"Do you remember the debate you asked me about—the debate on God's good and evil?"
Luxiusi nodded, his expression growing increasingly serious.
Samuer said softly:
"Creation is the greatest good, and destruction is the greatest evil"—this is a viewpoint that many people cite.
"But now, nearly a thousand years have passed since this idea was proposed, and everything is very different."
"When the people of the Theocracy suffer unbearable pain from the oppression caused by the abnormal growth of the Symbiotic Tree, when the people of the Empire descend into hysterical rage due to the frequent ' Blood Exchange,' when the people of the Graycast Corridor are gradually corroded and even poisoned to death by their own Aberration blood, will they still truly feel that being born into this world is a good thing?"
Do they still believe that creating themselves can be categorized as an act of 'good'?
"Conversely, at this point, can the act of freeing them from endless suffering truly be called 'evil'?"
"Or is it that allowing them to continue, regardless of time, place, or circumstances, is a good thing?"
Is your view of good and evil really that rigid?
Hearing the students' series of rebuttals, Luxiusi, sitting at the other end of the prayer hall, remained silent.
After a long silence, he finally responded in a low voice:
"At the very least, everyone should have the right to choose..."
Luxiusi's throat was a little dry, a feeling he had rarely experienced in the past century. The old man knew that this was mostly psychological.
Even so, his voice was still slightly hoarse and trembling:
"Are you going to make the choice for all lives?"
A brief silence fell over the small prayer hall, but less than a breath later, a cold, rhetorical question echoed through the room:
Do I have no right?
Samuer suddenly asked in a deep voice, but Luxiusi did not answer.
Upon seeing this, the young attendant slowly rose and strode forward with an imposing air.
The little bird standing on the withered branch behind him seemed to be startled and took flight, quickly landing again on a branch of the World Tree statue.
"Don't I have the right?!"
Samuer raised his voice and asked the cardinal in front of him again. Luxiusi's aged eyes lowered slightly, but he still did not answer.
The withered branches receded from behind the official's back, then quietly sprouted from his collar, beginning to meander upwards.
Answer me!
Samuer's authoritative voice echoed in the small prayer hall, and a lump of dry, hardened wood slowly began to take shape above his head.
" Luxiusi Savigny—steadfast, devout, holy, 'my' believer, answer my question!"
"As a member of the Tree Worship Church, shouldn't you submit to your god?"
"As the tree you worship, do I have the right to take back my blessings?"
"This world was born because of me, exists because of me, and should also be destroyed because of me!"
Even if the definitions of good and evil have been reversed, even if the former 'gift' has degenerated into a 'curse,' even if I only have a pitiful half of the Authority, this fact will not change!
Answer my question!
Yes, or no?
Samuer's voice came from high above, striking deep into Luxiusi's soul, but was not heard by anyone outside the small room.
Luxiusi looked up at his "student".
The thin young man showed no anger on his face, which did not match the tone of his questioning.
But the look of inquiry in his eyes surpassed all the moments he had spent studying over the past decade.
The old cardinal's gaze continued upwards, landing on the half-twisted Crown formed by the twisting and turning of withered branches atop the young man's head. He gave his answer in an almost inaudible voice:
"Have."
"Very good, it seems you understand me."
Samuer's tone softened considerably:
I think I do too.
That's why I'm doing this.
"This world needs a fresh start, including myself."
He was about to turn around and return to his previous seated position when Luxiusi's thin, aged arm suddenly rose and pressed down squarely on his head.
" Luxiusi, what do you mean by this?"
Samuer froze, clearly not expecting the other party to make such a move.
The two had been teacher and student since Samuer's body was a child.
Such actions were not uncommon, but now that their identities had been revealed, Samuer truly hadn't expected Luxiusi to behave this way.