Yutis’s lips pressed into a tight line, his voice laced with distaste. “Someone, or perhaps some group, is systematically eliminating our members. We’ve also lost contact with Destora the Suredeath. That alone is a grave concern. We cannot deny the possibility that even he… has been taken down.”
“Y-You mean an Apostle has been defeated?!”
Though he bore the feared title of Phantom Mage, Helio was, in the end, merely an Apostle of the cult. Upon hearing of Destora’s potential demise, even he couldn’t hide his shock.
That was how terrifying the Apostles were.
Especially Destora… even among the Apostles, his abilities stood out as particularly monstrous.
He had once boasted, with complete conviction, that he could kill the Wicked One Himself… and that the only reason he hadn’t was because he simply didn’t feel like it.
And terrifyingly, the Wicked One had acknowledged this.
Even gods could not afford to dismiss Destora.
Humans, after all, were meant to be lesser—beings created by gods, who could be undone with a single stray thought from their makers. But Destora was different. He was one of those rare, irregular anomalies, not born from divine intent, but from chaos, chance, or something far older and more incomprehensible.
The same was true for Yutis and the other Apostles.
They were not beings granted their power. They were power itself, born from the cracks in reality where even gods had no control.
That existence… though reminiscent of the Fruit of Evolution, was fundamentally different. Destora’s ability had manifested naturally—an anomaly, yes, but still born from within the system of reality. The Fruit, on the other hand, was not of nature.
It had been forged in the unimaginable: a collision of divine forces—the gods and the Wicked One—a celestial clash so overwhelming, it birthed something completely outside the known bounds of existence.
Naturally occurring abilities, no matter how warped or divorced from divine origin, can still be detected, categorized, and understood.
But the Fruit of Evolution?
It defied even that.
It was a true unknown—an entity that not even gods or demons could fully comprehend. In a way, it was exactly the kind of food that Lulune had been dreaming of all this time.
As for Destora, bearer of the concept of Suredeath, he was believed to be unbeatable. No being across any space, time, dimension, or reality could escape his reach.
Or at least, that’s what had been believed.
Yutis’s voice grew quiet, touched with a cold clarity.
“If Destora’s whim had ended and he’d decided to move against us, we would already know. There wouldn’t be any warnings or games. And yet… nothing. Not even the Wicked One, nor I, nor Genpel have suffered any harm.”
Helio’s throat tightened as a disturbing possibility crept into his thoughts.
“C-Could it be that… Lord Destora is behind the disappearances?”
His voice trailed off, as if ashamed to finish the accusation.
Yutis gave a faint chuckle, his smile unreadable.
“That was one possibility. But… another, far more likely answer has revealed itself. Someone else has been hunting the Apostles. And they’ve been at it for quite some time now.”
Helio stared, stunned.
“S-Someone like that exists? But we, as Apostles, carry the power of the Wicked One himself! For us to fall to some… some nobody…”
“I thought the same,” Yutis said, eyes narrowing. “But those who marched on the Kingdom of Winburg and those sent to overtake Barbodel Magic Academy were all slain. And when I attempted to identify the cause using my power…”
A tense silence.
“I saw nothing.”
Helio’s face drained of color.
If Yutis—one of the Apostles, the highest beings under the Wicked One—was unable to trace their enemy… then something was very, very wrong.
Because even among Apostles, there were rules. Destora and Yutis were natural irregularities, not beings created by the Wicked One. They existed outside the divine order, but they still understood one another. Their powers couldn’t override each other, but they could perceive one another.
But this mysterious entity? It existed beyond even that balance.
And yet, despite everything, Yutis’s powers had no effect on it whatsoever.
“How infuriating… It may be premature to blame that one directly for our recent losses, but still… both the Kingdom of Winburg and the Valshe Empire survived the previous assaults. And now, they’re leading the charge in hunting down and purging the Cult of the Wicked One.”
“Ah, that reminds me… We’ve yet to hear back from the first unit we sent into the Valshe Empire. I’d assumed they were just enjoying themselves over there…”
“They were likely interfered with. Or wiped out entirely.”
“Th-That’s absurd! We sent in an entire team of Transcendants! Surely they couldn’t have been defeated so easily!”
“An unpredictable factor has entered the board. It’s not just the unknown presence that’s been disrupting our plans; Winburg’s Sword Knights have grown strong enough to stand against even our Apostles. And let’s not forget their queen—the ‘Lightning Empress,’ an S-Rank adventurer in her own right. She’s been sniffing around for some time now, and frankly, she’s become a serious nuisance.”
“I-I see…”
“That’s why, for the time being, I’ll be focusing on the tasks our master entrusted to me while quietly recruiting new pieces behind the scenes. I’ll also be warning the other Apostles not to draw unnecessary attention. As for you, since you’re the Grand Vizier of this nation, I want you to keep stirring chaos in the world above.”
“But of course! Leave it to me!”
Helio responded with zealous enthusiasm, and Yutis gave a satisfied nod before snapping his fingers.
At once, a vortex of shadow opened behind him, swirling like a tear in reality.
“Well then, I’ll be off… Oh, and that meat puppet over there—looks promising, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, Lord Yutis! We used a forbidden ritual passed down through the Valshe Empire. The results speak for themselves!”
“The power is impressive, certainly… though it’s unfortunate there’s no intelligence or will to speak of. Still, it’ll serve well enough as a pawn. I’m counting on you to make good use of it.”
“Understood!”
Once more, Helio dropped to one knee as Yutis vanished into the shadows, leaving behind only a whisper of darkness.
As the last trace of his magic faded, Helio slowly stood and allowed his thoughts to drift back to the one known as Hellsmoke, who had already been taken away for further experimentation.
“Honestly… Did he really think killing the king would set this world right? What a sweet little fantasy. As long as human greed exists, hell will never end. He’ll be lucky if he’s reborn as one of our pawns.”
With a sneer, Helio cast a cold glance at the grotesque creature Sheldt had become—a hulking mass of misshapen flesh—and then turned, sweeping out of the chamber without a word.