Chapter 287

Chapter 287: Evil God

Soon enough, the day passed.

The disaster at the Moonlight Gate was beginning to fade from memory.

After a long time, word came that the Cathedral was gathering again.

"...For the first time since the Moonlight Gate disaster."

The living room.

Looking at the letter, which said to meet rather than exchange information, I muttered to myself.

Cathedral, a place where only S-class villains who lead an organization gather.

It was founded by Celeste, the Saint of Light, who is considered the number one villain in the world in terms of power and influence.

In the original story, it's only now that it's beginning to take center stage.

Especially since the world has been torn apart by the Moonlight Church...

"What happens now...?"

I rested my chin on my desk and pondered the question.

For now, I don't need to worry about my influence within Cathedral. I've already proven myself with the Moonlight Gate, and I have Katana, Li Xiaofeng, and Atlas all on my side.

That said, I'm not without my problems.

I've been acting a little too outspoken lately, and some people might question whether I'm a villain or not. I've been openly working with Stardus on the air, and foreign news outlets have been reporting favorably on me lately.

'...Of course it's none of my business.'

Of course, that was irrelevant.

There are plenty of ways to get out of this, like blaming the heroes, catching people off guard, didn't you guys work with the heroes during the Moonlight Gate disaster...and most importantly, I have friends at the Cathedral who trust me completely apart from Atlas to Katana.

The only problem is Celeste...

"...I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

With that thought, I prepared for the meeting.

***

Cathedral finally arrived.

"Greetings, Egostic."

Stepping into the once-white cathedral, I followed the priest's words across the long hallway to the Round Table Room.

And when I arrived, I saw familiar faces.

"Hello, Egostic! Here you are."

"Ah, Egostic. You're here."

"Egostic!"

I'm a little late today, but I see Atlas, Li Xiaofeng, and Katana, who are already seated. Our red Mohican head also saw me and bowed....The Mohican seems to have survived the Moonlight Gate disaster. Glad to see.

"Gee, how are you all doing?"

And with that, I walked over to everyone with a big smile on my face.

"".......""

The eyes of the villains at the round table turned to me and as I smiled and walked toward my colleagues, I quickly scanned the table with my masked eyes.

As I did so, I could sense a range of emotions in their gazes. Curiosity, wonder, admiration, doubt, nervousness, and even fear.

Yes.

I knew this reaction would come, and I deliberately came late.

This Moonlight Gate catastrophe may have come out of the blue to the rest of the world, but not to the villains sitting here.

This is a story that I foresaw from the beginning.

For nearly a year before the event, I've been building them up. From tales of other worlds, to predictions of weakening dimensional barriers, to direct warnings that monsters would soon invade.

I had given this information to the Cathedral when other heroes and associations weren't even expecting it.

At the time I spoke, there was no sign of it, so it must have seemed like mere speculation but in the end, everything came true in the form of a catastrophe of global proportions.

Monstrous beasts attacked the planet at the same time on a scale never seen before.

This was information that, unlike Hero and the other villains, only the members of Cathedral knew, because I told them.

So, to summarize, in their eyes, I am one of two things.

One, a super-powered villain who orchestrated a global catastrophe that no one else could have predicted.

The other is that this whole Moonlight Gate thing was self-inflicted, given that it happened in Korea.

'...Whatever.'

In the end it comes down to the fact that I know enough to pull off an attack of catastrophic proportions that no one else knows about.

It was something I'd already been known to do with the time-traveler, but this was the one time I could say I'd proven it.

And that I offered it to the Cathedral, rather than keeping it to myself.

Because I was with them, the people here had an information advantage over the others. Whether it was preparing for the Moonlight Gate or organizing a plan to work with the Heroes. All of this was possible because I warned them in advance.

...In short, my influence in Cathedral is much greater now than it was before. I'm even officially an S-rank, even though that doesn't mean much anymore.

And of course, with such a large influence comes enemies. So I deliberately showed up late and in the limelight so that they wouldn't even think of messing with me, and then I went to my colleagues and reaffirmed my connections.

This is how the underdog survives. If I'm weak, I should have stronger friends.

...Anyway, with that thought, I sat down.

"Is everyone safe?"

"Kahaha, yes. You warned us, so there's nothing to worry about. I've been having a lot of fun lately, studying the beasts of the deep. There's a lot of them down there!"

"....Haha."

I couldn't help but chuckle at Atlas's laugh. I'll change the gate so that it only appears in uninhabited areas, so that all the monsters fall into the sea... Of course, I had to ask Atlas's permission beforehand, but I was still glad that the gate was finally closed.

Afterward, I spoke briefly with Li Xiaofeng and Katana, both of whom had been the least affected by my much more accurate warnings of the events during the Moonlight Gate.

"Hahaha! Thanks to you, Egostic, it looks like it won't be long before I have the country under my control. I don't know how to thank you for this!"

And Li Xiaofeng was especially excited.

It seems that the Chinese government has been badly damaged by this disaster, and they are shaken.

He's taking advantage of this opportunity to expand his range. Well, in the original story, he has eventually eaten the government, but I think it will happen soon.

Other than that, Katana said Japan received a little damage, so they were eager to recover. Everyone was busy, so this was the first time we met in person since the Moonlight Gate disaster. Of course, there have been many personal contacts and diplomatic exchanges through Lee Seola, but we're part of the East Asian Villains League, aren't we?

Anyway, while we were catching up after a long time Celeste arrived relatively early.

"Is everyone comfortable?"

She appeared dressed in white saintly robes, her head covered with a white veil and her eyes closed.

Dressed in pure white with golden embroidery, she exuded an air of mystery, as always.

And with her arrival, the meeting finally began.

"...I see that some of you are missing."

She looked around the table for a moment, then said.

...Her eyes are closed, how does she know, does she sense any aura?

While I was thinking about that, Celeste continued in a clear, mystical voice.

"I've heard that some of our colleagues have passed away, and I offer my condolences to them. May God watch over them."

Some had died, after all.

...Or rather, God watch over them sounds funny. A god who watches over villains...I guess she's not wrong.

"That's why I've called you here today, to make sure the dust has settled and that everyone is alive, even if you don't want to share any information....because I have something to share with you."

And so, naturally, the time for information sharing returned.

Celeste opened her mouth and what she said next was very revealing.

She hadn't expected to share it with them today.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see from this incident...Gods exists in this world."

Information about the gods of this world.

I had been nodding and listening until this point. Ah, is she going to release information about the gods on this occasion?

...until I heard the next words.

"And this time, the god who caused this disaster is an evil god."

"...?"

I froze at the suddenness of her words.

Eun-woo's father, who was diligently blocking the dimension in a white space that looked like it was going to make him go mentally ill, was the mysterious evil god...

TLN: In case some of you forgot Moon God, it's Eun-woo's father.

Then she continued.

It was a long, rambling speech, but in the end.

"...Because the Sun God bent down and watched over us, this disaster was stopped."

It ended with a sun salute.

...Hey, I stopped the gate with Eun-woo. The gate was closed by the Moon God.

I didn't ask, of course....I didn't know what she was up to.

Anyway, just like that, we exchanged a few more words, and the meeting was quickly over, leaving me wondering why it was called at all.

...Well, at least they didn't talk about me, so the aggro was less likely to be directed at me. I was expecting a mention of the Moonlight Gate, but thankfully there wasn't one.

"Well, shall we be going then?"

And just like that, everyone was on their feet, and I was on my way.

"Oh. And Egostic."

"You, uh, can I see you for a second?"

From the far end of the round table, where Celeste sat, her voice echoed to me.

"...Yes?"

I stiffened, and couldn't help but turn my head.

There, I could only see Celeste's silent, closed-eyed, smiling figure.

...What are you doing to me?