I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

Without realizing it, I let out a bitter laugh.

The clues had been there all along.

No matter how many gifts Dominic had received from his patients as the psychiatrist of a small clinic in Mournveil, it was impossible for him to possess a fortune that exceeded the system’s maximum limit.

Unless he was being funded by some kind of cult.

The abilities he had displayed in front of me weren’t normal either.

And Edel had even said it outright.

“All the inhabitants of Mournveil were treated by Dr. Dominic. Without exception.”

“Because he called them to his clinic.”

This was Call of the Void.

“…”

A wave of dizziness struck me so suddenly that I closed my eyes for a moment.

Edel’s laughter echoed throughout the underground chamber.

I barely managed to steady myself before opening my eyes again.

Edel was smiling sweetly.

It was the look of someone gazing at prey that had already been caught.

Beneath those eyes filled with greed, I observed her carefully.

The little clothing she wore was convenient at a moment like this.

Just as I expected, her body showed no signs of deformation.

Perhaps she had undergone changes somewhere that couldn’t be seen, but that wouldn’t be enough to grant such power.

It was obvious she hadn’t made a contract with Dominic.

‘He never would have accepted it.’

Dominic had completely adapted to the role of “Mournveil’s psychiatrist.”

He never would have accepted being worshipped as a god.

Then.

The only possible explanation was that Dominic had brainwashed every inhabitant of Mournveil.

All of Mournveil is under Dominic’s influence.

Edel’s Order worships Dominic as a god.

The Call of the Void system has recognized the entire city of Mournveil as part of the Order.

Looking at it that way.

Everything made sense.

The world of Call of the Void itself had been constantly favoring Dominic.

Most likely, even the system had gone out of control because of him.

He possessed immense power.

It wouldn’t be strange if his desire to recover his memories was affecting the system itself.

‘After all, it kept showing me those strange choices.’

Judging by how insistently those options had appeared, if I had joined the Order and performed the summoning ritual, I probably would have helped Dominic recover his memories.

But even though I more or less understood what was happening, one question still remained unanswered.

How had Dominic ended up trapped inside Call of the Void, and on top of that, lost his memories?

If he truly was an existence worthy of such an absurd title as “Lord of All,” then there was no way he should have been affected by a mere summoning ritual performed by NPCs in a Trial.

The whole situation was utterly incomprehensible.

I even considered the possibility that all the grandeur with which he was described within Call of the Void was nothing more than an exaggeration, and that he didn’t actually possess such extraordinary power.

But the moment I remembered the butlers.

I immediately discarded that idea.

‘Although there’s still one last possibility.’

It was precisely the hypothesis I wanted to believe the least.

And yet, from the moment I realized Dominic was the Outer God, that suspicion had never stopped tormenting me.

“It’s not too late yet, Mr. Lamb.”

I interrupted my thoughts.

Edel beckoned to me.

“Let us perform the ritual for Him together.”

She was trying to seduce me.

As though it were the only path to true peace and genuine salvation.

She even seemed incapable of understanding why I couldn’t accept such happiness.

“I want you to be happy, Mr. Lamb.”

But the look with which she tried to convince me was completely empty.

Ever since she had spoken with Dominic, her eyes had remained unfocused.

Looking at that vacant expression, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Perhaps the fact that Edel had trusted me so easily and become my companion hadn’t been her own decision.

Perhaps it had all been the work of the Call of the Void system itself.

That thought made me uncomfortable.

Probably because I still remembered the time I had shared with her inside the game.

The happy ending I had wanted to achieve with Edel was never something like this.

Of course, even back then, we were still trying to summon the most powerful Outer God.

That hadn’t changed either.

But at least.

The Edel from the game.

Wasn’t someone being manipulated by the system.

Or by anyone else.

She always acted according to her own desires.

It was ironic.

The Edel made of nothing but pixels in a video game felt far more real than the Edel standing before me now.

“Mr. Gunbam… Don’t you think I’m horrible?”

“What a relief… If Mr. Gunbam says I’m pretty, then everything is all right.”

Those words Edel had spoken to me in the game kept returning to my mind.

“Because I was different, they beat me ever since I was little. That’s why I wanted power. So no one would ever treat me that way again.”

“If we make a contract with the most powerful Outer God, no one will ever hurt us again. Then we’ll truly be free.”

Once I left this place.

The Edel who remained inside the Trial would continue living exactly the same life.

Worshipping Dominic as a god.

Waiting for a freedom that would never come.

“Only you promised me freedom, Mr. Gunbam.”

It was a promise that no longer meant anything.

The Edel standing before me couldn’t even remember it.

“Mr. Lamb…”

Edel called out to me again in a pleading voice.

I slowly parted my lips.

And spoke the name of an NPC who didn’t call me Gunbam.

“Edel.”

It was only after saying her name that I realized I was addressing her the same way I had when I played the game.

But it didn’t matter.

Whether I called her by her name or addressed her formally, none of it would matter to the Edel before me now.

There was no longer any way to stop the ritual.

The journalist route had become impossible to complete.

The backup plan I had been preparing in case escaping with the Hologram Badge didn’t work had disappeared.

But that didn’t mean there were no other options left.

“I want to join the Order.”

Edel’s eyes widened.

Even her lips parted into a small circle.

An instant later, she smiled like a flower blooming.

She jumped down from the altar and ran toward me, wrapping me in a tight embrace.

The scent of flowers surrounded me completely.

“I knew you would come, Mr. Lamb! I’m so happy!”

— You have joined the Order of the Apostles of the Void! All evidence gathered as a journalist has been destroyed.
You have become an ordinary member of the Order.

Her small white hands cupped my cheeks.

Looking at me with complete sincerity, she asked,

“Mr. Lamb… You are the true Apostle destined to serve Him. Will you perform the ritual with me?”

“With pleasure.”

— You have become the Thirteenth Apostle.

If my final hypothesis was correct.

There was still one way to reach the True Ending.

It wasn’t for Edel.

It was simply a precaution, just in case.

I covered Edel’s hands with mine and replied,

“Edel. Offer me as the sacrifice in today’s ritual.”

“Ah…!”

Edel let out a cry of emotion.

Tears even began to gather in her eyes, moved by my devotion.

I smiled at her.

“Let’s perform the best ritual possible together.”

***

Boom! Boom! Aaaah!

Boom! Boom! Aaaah!

The same sound repeated over and over again.

To the rhythm of the enormous drums, everyone stomped their feet on the ground and chanted the exact same chorus.

As if they were a single being.

The more the sound repeated, the greater the euphoria that coursed through my body.

I exhaled through my mouth several times.

Trying to expel at least some of the heat building up inside me.

The basement where the Order’s rituals were held was so vast and deep that it was hard to believe it lay beneath the building.

Outside, hundreds of lives had already been taken.

But the Apostles were still not satisfied.

They selected the most devoted believers and brought them underground.

They were going to use them as sacrifices in the main ritual.

All the believers wore completely white robes.

They were long garments that covered the entire body.

Only the Apostles wore those revealing clothes.

Fortunately, since I was going to be the sacrifice, they made me wear a much more decent robe.

Seated upon the marble altar, I could watch everything happening below.

Edel slit the first sacrifice’s throat right at my feet.

A fountain of blood burst forth, splattering me completely.

When she finished with the sixth believer.

“Mr. Gunbam!”

At last, Dominic appeared.

Everything was covered in blood.

Everything except him.

He walked straight toward the altar.

The moment she saw him, Edel’s face lit up.

But she didn’t dare approach him.

Instead, she stepped back as though fleeing from him.

“What does all of this mean? I just rescued the people who were supposed to be sacrificed, and now Mr. Gunbam is the sacrifice?”

Seeing me in that state, Dominic immediately began looking around for something to clean me with.

But there was nothing.

I watched as he was about to take out the handkerchief he had previously used to wipe away my cold sweat.

Then I asked,

“Mr. Dominic.”

“Yes, Mr. Gunbam.”

“What kind of existence are you?”

Dominic froze.

He looked down at me.

With the basement candles illuminating him from behind, part of his face remained hidden in the shadows.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I asked.”

“Mr. Gunbam…”

Dominic sighed and looked away.

It was the polite gesture of a gentleman trying not to react emotionally.

“Have even you ended up being influenced by Miss Edel’s nonsense?”

He murmured it like a lament.

Then he looked back at me.

“It’s true that I don’t belong in this place. But that doesn’t mean the absurd role Miss Edel speaks of belongs to me.”

“……”

“Think about it, Mr. Gunbam. If I truly were the Lord of All…”

A strange radiance appeared in his eyes.

His voice became unnaturally distorted.

“Do you think I would recover my true identity simply because these people uttered a few meaningless words?”

That voice felt as though it were crushing my brain.

I felt myself running out of breath.

Only then did I look around.

All the believers were kneeling on the ground, trembling.

I was the only one who remained relatively normal.

I answered slowly,

“…You’re right, Mr. Dominic.”

His eyes immediately returned to normal.

He seemed deeply relieved.

“I knew you would be able to keep a cool head, Mr. Gunbam.”

But when he saw that I still hadn’t stepped down from the altar, Dominic finally took a careful look around.

He observed the savage scene created by those fanatics and frowned slightly.

“I suppose part of the responsibility is mine as well.”

Then he began explaining.

“When I first woke up, I tried to find out what kind of place this was.”

He summoned every NPC in Mournveil to his clinic one by one to examine them.

But none of them were capable of recognizing that he belonged to the outside world.

As an experiment, he decided to reveal his true nature to a single person.

And that person was Edel.

That was why Edel had ended up worshipping him as the Outer God.

After finishing his explanation, Dominic looked at me apologetically.

“It seems Miss Edel has been using my name to manipulate people. I’ll speak with her so that she won’t do it again.”

“There’s no need.”

I stepped down from the altar.

As if it had been waiting for that moment, a system window appeared.

As the Thirteenth Apostle, perform the glorious ritual.
— Begin the ritual for the Outer God!
— Begin the ritual for the Outer God!
— Begin the ritual for the Outer God!
— Begin the ritual for the Outer God!

That damned ritual again.

Apparently, if I performed it, Dominic really would recover his memories.

And yet the system text remained perfectly aligned.

It was absurd.

But I wasn’t going to choose any option.

If my final hypothesis was correct, it wouldn’t be necessary.

My eyes burned.

I felt a force trying to compel me to act.

But it couldn’t overpower me.

Unable to obtain a choice, the system window began to corrupt.

Begin?theritual!begin??theritual!begintheritual!fortheOuterGod!ritualOuter!God!begin.the.ritual.begin.begin?begin!begin??begin???Don’tbegin!

At that very moment, I probably could have used Escape to get out.

But I didn’t grab the Hologram Badge.

I looked at Dominic and asked,

“Could you tell Edel to give me the position of Prophet?”

Dominic blinked slowly before asking in a low voice,

“Is that also part of your investigation? It seems far too dangerous to be merely gathering evidence. Of course, I’ll protect you, Mr. Gunbam, but these people are quite troublesome.”

“It doesn’t matter. I beg you.”

“…Very well.”

Although he clearly disliked the idea, Dominic turned toward Edel.

Until then, he had always treated ladies with almost instinctive courtesy.

But now that mask had disappeared.

He looked at her as though she were an insect.

“Miss Edel.”

Edel trembled slightly as she looked up at him.

“I want Mr. Gunbam to become the Prophet.”

“If that is your wish, Doctor, then anything can become reality.”

Before she had even finished speaking, another system window appeared.

You have become the First Apostle who leads the Order of the Apostles of the Void.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Dominic looked back at me.

He made no effort to hide his displeasure.

Without realizing it, I smiled.

He tilted his head slightly as he watched me.

“Mr. Dominic.”

“Yes, Mr. Gunbam.”

“There’s one last thing I want to tell you.”

“…Last?”

He held out a hand toward me.

“Are you all right? You seem like you need to calm down.”

I couldn’t bring myself to take his hand.

“I’m sorry.”

Instead.

I spoke the only words I should never have uttered.

“I was the one who summoned you to this place.”