“O Reborn from the Flames, may you wield the Authority to create and destroy all things, bringing change to this decayed world.”
Opening her eyes, she awoke from a brutal nightmare that had felt as though it were drowning her.
“I, the Human Ancestor, hereby bestow upon you your true name.”
“W-Wait, what?”
“『Twelfth Saintess』, from this day forth, your name shall be Kaylar.”
“Huh? I don't want to... I didn't...”
“At this very moment, I grant you a grand Authority. May you forge all things in this world anew.”
『χωνευτήριον』
Reflecting within Kaylar's eyes, into which the Authority had been branded, was a dimly lit, gigantic hall.
The continuous roar of bellows and the rhythmic pounding of smithing hammers echoed endlessly. Countless weapons were embedded into the walls—or rather, a rampart constructed entirely of infinite blades enveloped the hall layer by layer.
She slumped on the floor before the throne.
Seated upon the throne was the “girl” who claimed to be the Human Ancestor.
She was a greatsword wielder clad in rust-colored armor and a matching helmet, her femininity detectable only through her voice.
A crisp, cold, and arrogant voice.
Kaylar knelt on the stone tiles, her brain still struggling to process the situation.
What just happened? I got hit by a truck. And then I woke up here.
Transmigration?
So this is my overpowered cheat? Some weird random blessing? Is this my path to becoming an unstoppable main character?
“...The gods have betrayed us.”
Wait, what did she just say?
“She said that everything is her child, and that she must not show favor to any one side.”
The Human Ancestor spoke indifferently, her fingers absently rubbing the hilt of the greatsword.
“But that is wrong. Humanity is the eldest child, her first friend, the meritorious architect who helped her construct the world, and the avatar she created in her own image. Humanity is the pinnacle of creation, born to stand above all living things, just like the gods themselves. Having betrayed us, she must be punished. Simply exiling her to the Sea of Void Flowers is far from enough. The blade that decapitates the deity will inevitably be swung by human hands.”
“...You mean...”
“You shall shoulder the heavy burden of... 『Godslaying』.”
Kaylar, twelve years old at the time, understood for the very first time what it meant to carry a crushing burden.
After a while, she fully grasped her situation.
This was the World-Forging Cult, one of the Abyss Cults. Extreme human supremacists. They hated the god who loved all creation equally, and by extension, they hated every non-human race.
The Human Ancestor was their Pope.
And after Kaylar was crowned Saintess, a ring of runes was tattooed around her neck—the kind that exploded.
The cult's scriptures made it crystal clear: if the Twelfth Saintess betrayed them, they would simply replace her with a thirteenth.
Betrayal had occurred many times among the previous eleven Saintesses. All of them had blown up—via that very ring of runes.
The blast was immensely powerful. Even a Rank Seven would take catastrophic damage, and for a Rank Six to survive in a near-death state would already be considered a miracle.
As for what counted as betrayal? Selling out the cult, using the Authority without permission, or any behavior that led the Pope to suspect disloyalty. Simply put: step out of line, and you die.
“...”
That night, holding the scripture close as she sat on her bed as a Saintess, she wanted to cry but didn't dare make a sound, terrified someone would overhear and report her to the Pope.
“What kind of bullshit logic is this...”
Staring at her bedding, she only dared to curse softly in her mind.
Then, she began trying to figure out how to survive.
The next day, she began carefully reading through the scriptures.
The contents gave her—a sixth-grader who hadn't even graduated elementary school yet—goosebumps all over.
Starting from the claim that the Creator fashioned humans first before removing a rib to create the Dragon Ancestor, it systematically argued for humanity's absolute supremacy. It then argued that the god reclaiming her Authority was equivalent to betraying her own children, ultimately reaching a conclusion she couldn't accept under any circumstances.
All non-human races were merely stepping stones for humanity to reclaim its supreme status.
Even though she had already learned of their ideology during her first audience with the Pope, it still struck Kaylar as completely absurd and ridiculous.
As she looked at the chapter headers in the scripture, illustrations depicting various demi-human races flashed through her mind.
They all possessed equal intelligence. They could speak, laugh, and cry.
She had watched plenty of anime like that before transmigrating.
She didn't think the Pope was right. But she didn't dare say it.
She didn't want to die.
This was completely different from cool plotlines like “fighting for one's ideals” or “awakening power to slay the enemy.” She just wanted to stay alive. Even if living meant being a coward, a pathetic life was still a life.
Sharing a dormitory with her was another Saintess candidate—not someone “reborn from the flames,” but merely the offspring of two cult members.
The girl never spoke; she simply buried herself in intense training every day. Upon returning, she would steal an envious glance at Kaylar before going straight to sleep.
The two of them never exchanged a single word.
On the third day, the Pope questioned her on her understanding of the scriptures to test if her learning had strayed. Kaylar recited that entire chapter word for word on the spot.
Her voice was steady, her expression sincere, while her fingers pinched the skin of her thigh through her sleeve.
After listening, the Pope remained silent for a long time.
“You are a good child.”
The voice beneath the helmet was faint, soft as a sigh.
Why does she never take off her helmet? There are no enemies here.
...That was something Kaylar wouldn't understand until much, much later.
Half a year after becoming a Saintess, Kaylar was sent out on a mission alongside senior cult members. Their objectives: recover lost technologies and purge heretics.
Her first mission was to ambush a small merchant caravan near the border of the Demon Realm. One of the caravan members was a demi-human of wolf blood. Kaylar was tasked with keeping watch.
She crouched behind a boulder for a full fifteen minutes, her fingernails digging deep into the cracks of the rock, listening to the sounds echoing from the scene.
Things like “I have children back home,” “I don't want to die yet,” “There are still things I want to do,” or simply agonizing screams and curses. They were just the usual cliché phrases.
She had seen such tropes countless times in anime before.
Yet this was the first time she had ever heard a living person calling out the names of his wife and daughter as he was being crushed flat like a rug.
When it was over, she poked her head out to take a single glance. Back in her dorm, she threw up all night, emptying everything in her stomach until nothing was left but bile.
The next day, she woke up as usual, not daring to let anyone sense that anything was wrong.
After that, she practically never went on missions again. The seniors in the cult voiced quiet dissatisfaction over this, but the Pope did not pursue the matter.
She didn't know if the Pope was shielding her.
A few months later, her birthday arrived.
“Pope, do you remember when your birthday is?”
She didn't dare state directly that she wanted to celebrate her birthday, so she took a roundabout approach to feel out the Pope's stance on the matter first.
“I have never kept track of such things. I was born in the exact moment the Creator forged heaven and earth. Attempting to define my existence by a single point in time is utterly foolish.”
“Ah... then, what about... birthdays...”
“Useless things. There is no need to speak of them again.”
“...Okay.”
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