Trying to Save my Favorite Character from His Tragic Fate

Chapter 6: I refuse to become a saint!

[The altar is unnecessarily high!!]

Kyrie is climbing the stairs that seem to have no end. The lack of exercise is getting to him, and he pants as he is getting closer to the altar. When he takes his final step, pillars of light shoot up to the sky. He feels the breeze rushing upwards, lifting the endings of his jacket. The light stings his eyes, so he reflexively closes them.

When he feels that the intensity of the light subsided, he opens back his eyes to a blurry view. His eyes adjust back to witness a massive ocean with no bounds. No matter where he looks in any direction, there is no end. Like the entire place expands infinitely away and splits between an endless ocean and an endless sky.

He looks down to find his reflection of his past world: black hair and eyes, still wearing the suit from the day he left his original world. Then, his reflection was interrupted by ripples.

He lifts his head to encounter a beautiful woman, seemingly around her thirties, with a traditional ancient empirical gold and white hanfu. The embroidery on the hanfu is exquisite and refined, but she only wears it loosely. The cardigan falls off both sides of her shoulders, giving off a sexy appearance. Her left hand holds a long pipe whose smoke smelled sweet like a mix of cotton candy and cinnamon. Her lips are tinted in bold red.

[So this is Vita, the ruler of the living...]

She smiles at Kyrie and says, "And you, the child from another world. You do not belong here, child. You will change the workings of fate."

Vita's eyes turn to the porcupine on Kyrie's shoulders. Her smile drops from the sight of this small god. The piercing stare makes Yue shake like a pitiful little animal. She is aware of the violations of the agreements she has with the god realm to not mess with the mechanisms of fate.

Vita says, "You must be Yue, the one who dares to come in contact so close to humanity's fate! I have nothing to say to you... Leave!"

Before Yue can say a word, she turns into smoke similar to the one coming out of the long pipe.

Vita's eyes examine Kyrie, and she continues, "Why did you come to this world?"

[What should I do? Can I really tell her that I came for Ian?]

"Ian? You mean Ian Ethern?"

Kyrie suddenly remembers that the gods seem to be able to read his thoughts.

[Talk about the lack of privacy...]

Vita gets amused at his reaction. She takes a puff and continues, " That boy is tangled with misfortune since he has been cursed from birth. Although your transmigration will complicate my plans, his possible futures seem a lot better. I will let you stay..."

[Yes!!!!]

"Under two conditions..."

[Ahh... there is always a catch... Don't tell me!!]

"Yes, you must participate in my plans alongside the saintess of my choice," says Vita.

"Are you really going to choose Imogen Winstanley?" asks Kyrie.

[But she is a crazy sadist b*tch!!!]

"No one else can satisfy the conditions of saintess aside from her. Although she is a bit twisted in some ways, she will be bound to a contract with me."

"She is going to cause bloodshed the moment she steps into this world! How is she qualified as saintess?" asks Kyrie.

"My plans require someone hardened enough not to break apart so easily. Sometimes, what the world needs is not mercy, but a cleanup," Vita responds with a hardened voice.

[The clean up of those demon puppets... Humans that sold their souls to demons and also hybrids of demons and humans... The corruption of the church... And most importantly, stopping the descent of a fallen god.]

"That's right," Vita says, satisfied that the human in front of her knows something of what she is up to.

[I can accept the first condition since Ian is bound to this fate due to the curse. In the end, if I want to follow Ian, I will have to be involved with the purge.]

"What's the second condition?" asks Kyrie.

"You will become a saint," says Vita.

Kyrie accidentally lets out a scoff. In this life, he would never want to become a saint. Although he can just do what Imogen always does and ignore the church from ever binding her to them, he does not have the same power to stop the church like Imogen does. He is still a normal human being whose power can only grow at a normal pace. Plus, saints can't tie the knot with anyone else. Not like he is thinking of marriage, but if so happens that...

"That is not happening," Kyrie firmly rejects, "Choose another condition..."

Kyrie awkwardly rubs his nape, looking away from Vita since he knows that she can see his thoughts.

Vita giggled, "hehe... You are more amusing than I thought. You seem very devoted."

Kyrie blushes when Vita admits that she saw through his thoughts.

"Please don't tease your creation, Vita," says Kyrie while looking uncomfortable.

"Well, if you don't want to be a saint, there is another way," says Vita while still letting out some more laughter.

"Anything that does not restrict me that way," says Kyrie shyly.

Seeing that the awkwardness building up inside him, Kyrie changes the topic by asking, "I came to know what my attributes are."

"Ah! Your attributes are wind and water. Since I favor you, I will let you use space magic as well." Vita proclaims.

"Space magic? Are you sure? I mean... " says Kyrie surprised.

"Time is up, my child. I will send you back now. I hope that whatever you came here for can be accomplished," says Vita while waving her hands.

The surrounding becomes blindingly bright as Vita talked. Like a video call ending in a rush, Kyrie stares at the surroundings changing back to the green garden. He turns around to look at the people downstairs, paralyzed by what they saw.

Then, the earth shakes gently as a commanding voice echoes in the garden, and the deep sound of the temple bell rings, alerting all the inhabitants of the city.

"I bless this child by giving him a name. From now on, he shall be known as Kyrie Gerwyn Rowan. He shall be my paladin."

The entire city hears the message, and people rush to the outsides of the temple to spectate what is going on. Their hearts still beat rapidly, trying to imprint such memories into their minds forever. Vita never announces anything herself because she usually sends oracles.

The sun is lowering down already when Kyrie gets home. Just an hour ago, questions and comments flood towards him from every direction. The church excitedly asks him if he is the child from the oracles, but he is not. That is Imogen. Kyrie tries to answer all kinds of questions that are thrown to him with all levels of excitement.

Despite the excitement from others, his parents are gloomy when they hear the announcement. They are afraid that they could lose their child to Vita, so they remain silent throughout the way back, trying to process their own feelings and thoughts. Kyrie sees that his parents need time, so he also remains silent until his parents are willing to open up.

His parents are aware that being Vita's paladin is different from being the church's paladin since he does not need to take any commands from the church. However, they are worried that either Vita is going to send their child to do an impossible task, or the church will forcibly make the child get deeply entangled with it, although Kyrie already states that he can only listen to Vita.

Marquis Rowan says, "Son... Can we talk?"

Kyrie looks at his worried parents and nods. They sit down on the dining table for a light meal since they barely got anything to eat today. The atmosphere is still tense.

Marchioness Rowan says, "Kyrie, my dear, now you have more responsibilities on your shoulders. I hope that you can help as many people as you can," her voice breaks a little bit at the end.

After finally reuniting with her child, her child gets selected to a fate heavy with responsibility, leaving only bitterness for her towards Vita.

Marquis Rowan says, "We are still proud of you, Kyrie. We will support you, no matter what."

Kyrie takes his mother's hand and says, "You don't have to worry so much. I am blessed by Vita. I will become very strong because I am her paladin."

After the meal, Kyrie goes back to his room. His parents might need time to get accustomed to this change.

Yue appears in front of him, mid-air, and asks, "Why did Vita bless you with a name?"

Kyrie sits down on his sofa and pours some water for himself.

He replies, "It's because I refused to be a saint."

Yue, shocked, says, "Why??? That might mean that you get to use light magic!!!"

Kyrie looks at the cup of water and smiles.

[It's because saints can't get tied to anything other than the church.]