Ch-262. **Sonora**
—
Login and logout.
When I log in, I become **Randolph**.
When I log out, I return to being **Park Hyunmyung**.
That premise had not changed.
The body left behind fell asleep, and if it was attacked, some sort of **protective barrier** seemed to activate.
At the same time, it appeared to be impossible to perceive and move both bodies simultaneously.
“Why is the Balrog Order’s mark here…?”
Isabella asked again, her expression one of disbelief.
This place was the outer edge of the Abyss where she and the children had once been imprisoned.
A slaughterhouse where, under the Desert Queen’s command, they had been forced to kill and devour one another.
She couldn’t understand why the mark of the **Balrog Order**, a group that should have had nothing to do with this place, was openly left behind here.
…That aside.
*The Balrog Order, huh.*
I’d encountered them a few times in the game.
In reality, it had been when I killed the master of the **Tower of Rifts**.
That paladin bastard.
He had used both the Balrog Order’s **Black Mark** and the Goddess Church’s **Light Explosion** at the same time.
I was pretty sure he’d said something about offering his holy blood to the *Heaven-Destroyer*.
After organizing my thoughts, I spoke.
“…The Black Mark used by the Balrog Order resembles **contamination**.”
When the Desert Queen had planned to contaminate the entire city to summon the **Blood-Marrow Demon King**—
Isabella had sacrificed herself to stop that ritual.
Of course, the Blood-Marrow Demon King had died within me and manifested as a hidden trait.
But what I’d been curious about was *how* the Desert Queen had artificially caused contamination in the first place.
As far as I knew, contamination occurred accidentally, through contamination sources that appeared within cities—
A side effect said to have arisen when Pangaenia ascended into the sky.
Yet now, at last, that question was answered.
*The nature of the Black Mark.*
The **Black Mark** wielded by the Balrog Order operated on a completely different axis from conventional attributes.
It wasn’t darkness, nor was it chaos.
The Black Mark had a property of continuously stacking, spreading, and destroying—
Just like contamination.
Perhaps the Black Mark itself possessed the attribute of **contamination**.
In short, the Balrog Order was connected to the contamination of the world.
“Are you saying the Desert Queen was in contact with the Balrog Order?”
Isabella asked, clearly stunned.
Even back when she had been active as the Snake Princess, she had never seen any interaction between the Desert Queen and the Balrog Order.
So her confusion was natural.
But the Balrog Order was, by nature, a group that never revealed itself openly.
That remained true even now, as they waged war against the Goddess Church.
No one knew how the Balrog Order had managed to gain the upper hand in that war.
Normally, once a war broke out, its details became known whether one wanted them to or not—
Yet here—
*A group that leaves no traces… left a trace.*
And not just any trace, but one left blatantly behind.
Still contemplating the mark, I continued.
“There’s a high chance they were in contact.”
“Then are you saying the Balrog Order left this mark and… kidnapped Sonora?”
For the first time, anger surfaced on Isabella’s face.
But I shook my head.
“That mark wasn’t left by the Balrog Order.”
“Then who did?”
“Sonora did.”
“…What?”
“Look closely at that cloth.”
A piece of fabric worn thin and yellowed by time.
So focused on the mark drawn upon it, we had overlooked whose cloth it actually was.
“This is… Ah!”
At the same time, Isabella’s pupils began to widen.
Because it was familiar.
This cloth had been torn from someone’s clothing.
“It’s… it’s a piece of the clothes I was wearing.”
It was Isabella’s clothing.
A fragment of the outfit she had once worn.
That made sense.
“No wonder.”
“Sonora didn’t die. She simply endured, remembering you, here in this pitch-black place.”
The final battle.
Back when I had borrowed Isabella’s body and played as a gamer.
I had defeated Sonora, who was in the process of becoming a hybrid.
But defeating her didn’t mean killing her.
That hybrid was far removed from ordinary hybrids.
With the crude weapon I’d had at the time, killing that mutated hybrid would have been extremely difficult.
And so, Sonora survived.
She had taken a piece of Isabella’s clothing, torn during their clash, and clung to that memory—
Enduring alone for a long time in this abyssal darkness.
“Ah…”
Isabella clutched her chest, her hands trembling violently.
As if her heart itself were in pain.
No tears fell.
When sorrow was too deep, when shock was too overwhelming, tears often refused to come.
Sonora.
Her friend had waited here, all alone, for her.
She must have been lonely.
Painfully, unbearably lonely.
Just imagining Sonora alone in the darkness made Isabella’s chest ache as if it were collapsing.
Right before being abducted by the Balrog Order, Sonora had desperately carved their mark onto this cloth.
Using the fragment of Isabella’s clothing she had cherished.
She had engraved the mark with her own blood.
Leaving it deliberately in a place no one would find—
Perhaps because she hoped Isabella would one day come looking for her.
“I… I came too late.”
“It’s not too late yet.”
“…What?”
“Sonora is alive.”
It wasn’t too late.
Sonora was alive.
In **Adrium**, the holy capital of the Goddess Church.
It was clear that, during the war with the Balrog Order, the Goddess Church had captured Sonora directly.
I didn’t know why she was carrying the **Broken Spear of Longinus**—
But it was obvious she had been used as a weapon against the Balrog Order.
And if she’d been captured alive, they wouldn’t kill her anytime soon.
Isabella lifted her head and looked up at me.
“Are you… truly saying Sonora is alive?”
“Yes.”
“D-Do you know where she is?”
“The holy capital, Adrium.”
“…!!!”
At my answer, Isabella’s eyes shook violently.
She soon gathered herself and stood up.
It looked like she might rush straight to Adrium if left unchecked.
I shook my head and stopped her.
“This isn’t something you can solve by charging in blindly. There’s something you need to do before reaching Adrium.”
“…Please tell me.”
Her expression and eyes said she would do anything—no matter what it was.
“Bring back **Priest Andrew**, who went to the **Primordial Forest**. We need him to secure Sonora safely.”
At the mention of Priest Andrew, Isabella looked puzzled.
“Lord Randolph, Priest Andrew is an ordained priest, but… doesn’t he lack significant influence within the Goddess Church?”
“Of course, he can’t do it alone. Naturally, **Saint Seia** must accompany him.”
“Ah…!”
“Take Saint Seia and Priest Andrew, and head to Adrium.”
Saint Seia, who had been believed dead during the Grand Expedition.
If she returned together with Priest Andrew, things would proceed far more smoothly.
Isabella asked,
“And what will you do, Lord Randolph?”
“I…”
I hesitated mid-sentence.
Should I tell her that *I*, as Park Hyunmyung, was already in Adrium?
*She must not know that I’m here.*
The **Paradox of Fate**.
Simply recognizing or perceiving it would weaken my existence.
If Isabella realized that Park Hyunmyung was in Pangaenia rather than Earth, I could vanish instantly.
The problem was that there was a high chance Isabella knew my face—Park Hyunmyung’s face.
I couldn’t be sure how much of our memories had been shared.
*Entering the holy capital in Randolph’s body would be difficult.*
But there was no choice.
If Randolph entered Adrium, his identity would inevitably be exposed.
That was why I had avoided contact with the Goddess Church until now.
If I entered the holy capital directly, I’d be caught—two hundred percent.
*The Goddess’s Barrier.*
The unique barrier engraved into the holy capital, the **Goddess’s Barrier**, blocked anything connected to **Destruction**.
And Randolph carried a **Fragment of Destruction** within him.
Hadn’t the fragment embedded itself in his heart when he devoured the Calamity God Baal?
The moment he stepped inside, he would be discovered—
And at that point, safely retrieving Sonora would become nearly impossible.
*We have to proceed in two steps.*
So I needed hands and feet that could act in Randolph’s stead.
Meanwhile, as Park Hyunmyung, I had to move separately—to locate Sonora’s whereabouts and pinpoint the location of the **archangel**.
After organizing my thoughts, I spoke.
“I have something else I need to take care of.”
“Will you be sleeping? Or…?”
“…I’ll be asleep.”
“I understand. Then we should head to the Kingdom of Valan first.”
Resolve ignited in Isabella’s eyes.
She believed my words—that Sonora was alive—without the slightest doubt.
Her posture firmed once more.
After all, Isabella looks better in this way than when she’s sad.
“…Why are you smiling?”
“It seems she’s a truly precious friend to you.”
At that, as if she’d never been sad at all, a smile bloomed on Isabella’s lips.
“Yes. She’s a very precious friend.”
A friend who made one smile just by thinking of her.
I could only envy that.
—
—
The most important thing was, of course, **establishing a new identity**.
Without a convincing identity, survival in the holy capital would be impossible.
If I ran around Adrium as a mere outsider, I’d have trouble keeping my head attached.
To search simultaneously for Sonora and an archangel, I needed a special status—one no one could easily mess with.
For example…
“A recruiter?”
“What are they recruiting for?”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
At the center of the plaza, where countless people had gathered, all eyes were fixed in one direction, voices rising noisily.
“Why are imperial dogs in Adrium?”
“Haven’t you heard? They’re holding some kind of martial tournament.”
“So… why look for participants in Adrium for a tournament being held in the Empire?”
It was strange.
The Empire, which worshiped the Reaper Cult, and the Goddess Church—
Their relationship was like oil and water.
And yet imperial recruiters were openly present in the holy capital.
That would have been impossible without the Goddess Church’s permission.
“They’re recruiting from every city and nation, apparently. If you place high, you can join the **Fang Knight Order**, and the winner becomes a direct disciple of Commander **Raiga**.”
“The Fang Order… Raiga…?”
At that name, people gasped.
The name of the Empire’s greatest knight order and the strongest warrior who led it, spoken together.
“And that’s not all! They’ve put up incredible rewards too—like the holy sword **Path of Light**, once wielded by the Knight King Wilhelm!”
“Gah!”
“Insane…”
It wasn’t just about elevating one’s status—the rewards themselves were extraordinary.
Even the Goddess Church couldn’t treat the owner of a holy sword lightly.
Soon, laughter burst out nearby.
“Ha! It’d be hilarious if someone from the holy capital actually placed high.”
It was something without precedent.
If a participant from Adrium placed in the tournament, it would be an absurd sight indeed.
And yet, despite that, they were recruiting from the holy capital?
One thing was certain: if someone from Adrium placed high, they would gain immense influence over both the Empire and the Goddess Church.
And if they actually won?
“Ah, that must be why they allowed recruitment in the holy capital. I hear quite a few children of influential figures here are already participating.”
“Influential figures? Like who?”
“Johansson’s son, for one…”
“What…?!”
From the Goddess Church’s perspective, this wasn’t a bad thing at all.
If anything, it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Wasn’t this a golden chance to indoctrinate the Empire into the Goddess Church?
More than anything, the fact that Cardinal Johansson’s son was participating said everything about how the Church viewed this tournament.
Along with many other famous names, the event had already become a festival for all of Pangaenia—not just the Goddess Church.
“But how do you know all this so well?”
“…I’m thinking of participating too.”
There were more people interested than expected.
Plenty who looked like hype-men.
People suspiciously well-informed, chattering nonstop.
They were likely plants hired by the recruiters, paid to stir interest.
Either way—
It didn’t matter.
“Name?”
“Hyun.”
“Applicants, wait in the tent on the right. There will be a simple test.”
The recruiter’s tone made it clear—nothing beyond a name was needed.
Following his instructions, I moved toward the tent on the right.
*Whew.*
I let out a small whistle.
Inside the tent were already many hopeful applicants.
They looked at me—newly arrived—with open hostility.
“What’s with that guy?”
“He looks scrawny.”
“Seriously, all kinds of trash come crawling in.”
We were all competitors.
I shrugged.
The first step in forging a new identity.
For example…
*Becoming Raiga’s disciple.*
…A disciple of Raiga, born in the holy capital of Adrium.
There could be no identity more solid than that.
