NOVEL NEXT Chapter 523: Chapter 523: A Request
The Holy Priestess weakly grabbed Eren's hand, attempting to guide the dagger towards her chest. However, her weak strength was no match for his firm grip.
Eren could only frown in response, his expression unmoving. "Do you truly believe you qualify as an innocent soul?"
If the dagger required the blood of the pure to be completed, the Holy Priestess could never meet that criteria in his eyes.
No matter how she rationalized her actions, she was far from innocent. Even he couldn't fulfil that criteria, having lost the innocence of his soul the moment he first spilled blood in this world.
To find so many innocent souls, it was easier said than done. Across the entire continent, he wasn't even sure if there were a hundred million people who could be counted as innocent souls.
Even if he could find so many people, it was too abhorrent even for him. Just to complete the dagger, he didn't believe it was a justified action, at least not at this cost.
He pulled his hand back, freeing it from the woman's grip. Although he was disappointed that he couldn't complete the dagger, he still didn't kill the Priestess who was dying on her own.
Moreover, she was still more useful alive, at least during the next few days.
The Holy Priestess needed to make an appearance in front of the people, at least one last time to pass on the complete authority to the Holy Emperor.
He could also have his clone disguised as the Holy Priestess, but he had a feeling that his clone was going to have a few sharp words to say when asked to disguise as a woman.
"Is there no other method to complete it?" he asked the Holy Priestess who was surprised that Eren didn't outright leave to kill the people so he could complete the dagger.
"That was the only method I was told," the Holy Priestess answered, feeling herself withering away slowly. Even her mind couldn't properly focus anymore.
"It's the method you were told? Was it the goddess that told you about this weapon and the method of creation?"
Eren asked the question, but the Holy Priestess didn't answer. She simply looked at him, her eyes blankly staring into the space between them.
"I feel sleepy..." The Holy Priestess said after a long pause, her eyes slowly closing.
Eren could feel that her heartbeat had started slowing down for some reason.
He was sure that she was going to survive for the next few days with the life essence she had left. However, for some unknown reason, that life force was withering away even faster.
He tried to use the Dragon Tongue, and even his holy essence to further stabilize her condition but her heartbeat kept falling until her heart was barely breathing.
It was such a drastic change that even Eren was left stunned. Although the Priestess looked weak, she was talking perfectly fine until recently with no signs of such withering.
It was only after he started asking about the source of this information that she started showing such strange symptoms.
The heartbeat kept growing weaker and weaker, until the heart completely stopped breathing. The Holy Priestess hadn't even closed her eyes when she lost the last traces of her life.
Her lifeless eyes were still looking blankly in the direction of Eren, her lips slightly open as if trying to utter something in her last moment that she failed to speak.
Eren stared at the holy priestess who had finally died. One of the four Overlords was completely gone from this world.
He closed the eyes of the Holy Priestess, letting her slumber forever. Even though she was his enemy; in death, there was no hostility.
He should've felt happy that an enemy was gone forever, but instead, he felt uneasy. There was something about her sudden death which felt out of place.
Was it really the goddess who had told her about this method? There were so many things he wanted to ask her.
As the Priestess, she probably knew a lot of secrets about the other Overlords as well. In an instant, all those trails were cut off.
Eren had no way to change reality. He could only keep the corpse of the Holy Priestess in his inventory.
Even if she was dead, he couldn't just abandon her corpse. It was a strange world where dead could be brought back to life and controlled by Necromancers.
Even if the Holy Priestess had lost all her strength and abilities, he still didn't want to take any risks in a world that he didn't understand entirely.
He still didn't know what had happened to the goddess or if she could find a way back to this world after the connection point of the statue was broken.
If she did find her way back to this world, could she possess a corpse and come for him? Even if it was an unlikely possibility, he was extremely cautious.
The only safe place for the corpse of an Overlord was his inventory, a world that was detached from anything else.
Even the goddess couldn't access his inventory. If she could, she would have already sensed the presence of the dagger in there.
"The Western Continent has lost its Overlord. I have a feeling that the continent would be looking quite delicious to the other continental forces when they find out about it."
"I wanted to draw the Northern Continent to war so I could cause mutual losses. But at this rate, the other Continents might attack to take a piece of this pie first."
"The empty place needs to be filled fast..."
Sighing, he stepped out of the room, and went straight to meet his clone.
....
"Absolutely not!'
The clone outright rejected as soon as he saw Eren.
"But I haven't even asked anything yet." Eren innocently replied.
"Yeah, but you have that look in your eyes. Every time you have a weird request for me, you have that same look!" The Clone replied, as if he had been wronged.
Unfortunately, his resistance fell on deaf ears.
The next morning, the Holy Priestess stepped on the balcony of the Royal Palace, revealing her presence to everyone.