Hearing his master's question, Nigun's expression looked a bit confused. He didn't know what his master meant by 'evil cult.' The Twilight Sect he had established was a legitimate sect with a true god. An evil cult should refer to those sects without noble faith or the protection of a true god.
But then he thought, among the human race, those 'evil' and 'mad' sects are called evil cults because the weak humans cannot comprehend such noble and great wills. Thinking of this, Nigun looked at his master with even more adoration:
"Ah... how merciful you are, to humbly refer to your own sect as an evil cult, thereby pardoning the disrespect of those fools. I understand, my Lord. I will surely bring your Gospel to more people, so these weak existences may understand your benevolence."
That's right. Master must pity those who cannot understand the Gospel, which is why she is so self-deprecating.
Calling the Twilight Sect, which brings doomsday salvation to the world, an evil cult. Otherwise, wouldn't those fools who think they are righteous look quite pathetic? They think they are saving the world by opposing the Twilight Sect, unaware they are obstructing an even greater salvation.
All things in the world cannot escape the shackles of life and death, but only the Twilight that symbolizes the end can grant all things release. After the Twilight, there will be a world without life or death, where the thoughts and fears of fools will vanish into nothingness—that is true salvation.
If those fools knew the existence they were fighting against was actually justice, they would surely be unable to come to terms with it. While the arrival of Twilight can purify everything, they would undoubtedly suffer greatly before then. His great master had considered this, so she simply accepted the selfishness of these fools, letting them believe they were on the right path while they waited lightheartedly for the moment of Twilight that would save all things.
"Please rest assured, I will surely complete the task you have entrusted to me and make the Twilight Sect an evil cult that makes everyone tremble with fear just by hearing its name." Nigun knelt on the ground, his realization making him look incredibly pious. He believed he fully understood his master's thoughts and felt immense joy at being able to do so.
Had it not been for the need to maintain a perfect posture before his master, he might have been unable to stop himself from laughing out loud. This was the emotion of pleasure—being able to help his master gave him supreme joy. His motivation had reached an unprecedented height.
Tsukasa looked at the Nigun before her, expressionless, while her inner self gasped in shock.
Although she couldn't understand what exactly had happened to Nigun, there was no doubt it was a mutation! If her guess was correct, it was likely caused by the so-called 'twilight factor'
that triggered the mutation.
That factor would twist a person's thoughts. Although Nigun's loyalty remained unchanged because he was a Shadow Demon she had summoned...
...the 'twilight factor' had already twisted Nigun's thoughts. After all, Shadow Demons were monsters that shouldn't have faith; they were supposed to be heartless beings. Even if they possessed a target, they only used calculation to mimic human emotions. Yet, Nigun's current state was clearly that of a fanatical believer, and the scent of doomsday twilight on him was so heavy that one could tell where the problem lay at a glance.
However, thinking of the witch factor from that world, she didn't find Nigun's situation incomprehensible, as such factors were inherently dangerous. But why did the witch factor find her Familiar first instead of manifesting in her? And according to Nigun, it seemed he was infected by the witch factor precisely because of her.
It didn't make sense.
Whatever.
Still... even after entering the Sword Saint State, Tsukasa couldn't find a single trace of a 'witch factor' on herself. However, she could clearly see the shadow of a Witch giggling behind Nigun's back. What made her skin crawl was that the shadow seemed to be herself. It was like watching a horror movie; if not for the calm mind of the Sword Saint State, her usual self would have been terrified by that shadow. But in the end, it was just a shadow. Though it seemed to be laughing, it was actually just Nigun's emotional reactions reflecting onto it.
The shadow itself had no emotions. She could sense a certain connection with it but didn't know how to control it. That should be the image manifested by the witch factor on Nigun. If she could control it, she might be able to undo the witch factor's influence on him. But this thing seemed incompatible with the Sword Saint State; the abilities in that state had no effect on the witch factor and couldn't analyze any information.
As expected.
The Sword Saint State should be a form of the world's Blessing. The reason it possessed so many miraculous abilities was likely because, in this state, she would automatically receive the desired Blessing skills, just like a certain Sword Saint. However, her skill level was clearly inferior to that Sword Saint's; she couldn't know what Blessing skills she had obtained, nor could she target the specific Blessing she wanted. The witch factor was likely a power opposite to the world's Blessing, with an equivalent level.
Therefore, even in her Sword Saint State, she couldn't influence the witch factor. Unless she could trigger her own witch factor and truly become a Witch, only then might she control this power.
But after seeing Nigun turned into this madman by the witch factor, she had absolutely no desire to awaken this power. It was far too dangerous. Perhaps the witch factor was indeed strong, but awakening it would clearly compromise one's intelligence.
She'd better just stick to being a Sword Saint and let whoever wants to be a Witch take the role. Thinking back to her earlier prophetic dream, the ending in that dream was probably what would happen if she awakened the witch factor.
Otherwise, she really couldn't imagine how overconfident she would have to be to not flee when the entire world joined forces to crusade against her, eventually being pinned down and killed by Ainz Ooal Gown and the others.
She had already awakened the space-time attribute within the space-time turbulence. Once she finished researching the Resurrection Magic in her hands, she could start researching space-time travel magic. According to the information she saw, she would eventually have the ability to travel between worlds. There was no reason to stay and foolishly look for a fight after becoming a public enemy. Unless the witch factor had affected her IQ, she really couldn't think of a second possibility.
Thus, it was better to let the witch factor inside her continue to sleep; it must never wake up and cause trouble.
Tsukasa deactivated the Sword Saint State and looked at Nigun with some distress, hesitating whether to undo his summoning. But she wasn't sure how far the witch factor's influence went. It would be troublesome if she failed to undo the summoning and instead caused Nigun to defect. Furthermore, according to Nigun, he had already established a sect and distributed the witch factor to others. Even if she could deal with Nigun here, it would be difficult to clean up that sect.
Have Nigun gather all the sect members? No, no, she couldn't do that. That sect might already be under the watch of the Slane Theocracy. She looked at the box containing 'beauty that topples cities and nations.' Although she didn't know the scale of the sect, it likely couldn't act in total secrecy. She couldn't let the people of the Slane Theocracy know she was connected to this sect.
And if the people of the Theocracy knew, then the Demon King Ainz Ooal Gown might also find out.
Based on the information seen in the prophetic dream, although Nigun hadn't explained everything yet, Tsukasa recalled his previous reports and guessed that Nigun's actions this time likely offended not just the Slane Theocracy, but probably even Demon King Ainz Ooal Gown's camp as well.
In short, this whole mess was extremely difficult to handle!
Tsukasa's stomach began to ache.
Now, she actually couldn't undo Nigun's summoning.
"From now on, have that evil cult of yours stop all activities. I don't want to hear any news about it. Stop targeting the Theocracy and Ainz Ooal Gown's group. Until I say you can act, you are all to stay put and not move—"
"do you understand?"
"Yes. Then the mission to find artifacts..."
"Suspended!"
"Understood."
Nigun became thoughtful.
It seemed his master agreed with his opinion. For now, he should focus on development and hope to find hosts more suitable for the twilight factor.
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