Chapter 119

Interrogation and the Mastermind

The stone pillars of the Courtyard of Judgment collapsed amid a thunderous roar.

The sole of Lucy's boot stepped onto Zoe’s shattered Judgment Sword, the rusted tip of the scythe pressed against the throat of this demi-god.

In the dim sky of the realm of the dead, a faintly shimmering star ring slowly revolved.

Zoe's white robes had been stained a dark gold by blood, yet she still could not accept the defeat before her eyes.

As the Chief Arbiter, one of the Seven Gods of the Realm of Death, she was now trampled underfoot by a mere apprentice wizard.

Why had it come to this?!

Disbelief surged in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Lucy pushed the Sickle of Harvest half an inch deeper.

“Answer a few of my questions, and I might consider sparing you.” The girl's words cut deeper than the blade.

“Spare me?” Zoe suddenly erupted into a maniacal laugh. “Even your most powerful Crown Wizards couldn’t kill us of the death side. And you think you can?”

Zoe, who held dominion over judgment and verdicts—even if her physical body were destroyed—would reawaken in the Courtyard of Judgment within twenty years at most.

Lucy clicked her tongue lightly.

She had anticipated the stubbornness of these Old Gods, but that didn’t mean she had no countermeasures.

With a shift of her mind, the mental power of a Star Ring Wizard condensed into tangible chains, binding Zoe’s limbs and neck.

At the same time, the Saint Radiance Scales Mark between her brows suddenly lit up.

Interrogating a demi-god like Zoe couldn’t possibly rely on the angel crystals she had collected, so she directly drew on Fenrir’s soul power.

After all, as a deity, that mutt wouldn’t suffer irreversible damage even if his soul threshold dipped below 60%.

Amid the dog’s profanities, golden flames representing “divine power” ignited in Lucy’s eyes.

“The Saint Radiance of the Lord of Golden Worship?!”

Zoe’s struggles suddenly intensified, her lone eye’s pupil contracting sharply. “Why is that bastard’s Saint Radiance from the Lord of Golden Worship appearing on you?! Did that fool betray the Secret Council?!”

Lucy’s heart stirred, and she followed Zoe’s words downward like a blade.

“That’s right. You Old Gods from the Old Lands… you didn’t really think the Outer Gods would genuinely work with you, did you?”

Zoe’s expression shifted repeatedly, but she quickly snapped back.

“No, those Outer Gods, as foolish as they are, would never side with the wizards. You’re bluffing!”

Lucy smiled without replying.

Unknowingly, Zoe had already revealed far too much.

“Believe it or not.” Lucy’s mental power pressed down like a mountain, pinning the struggling god deep into the rubble. “Just now, you wanted to judge me. Now it’s my turn to interrogate you.”

“Is there some form of cooperation between the Old Gods and the Outer Gods? Yes or no?”

Zoe’s expression suddenly contorted. She knew all too well this was the authority derived from the Lord of Golden Worship.

It could forcibly determine the truth within a binary choice.

Not even gods could deceive such a law.

Divine power rampaged through her body, attempting to obliterate her flesh entirely, yet it was immediately suppressed by Lucy’s terrifying spiritual might.

“Yes or no?”

When those four words slipped from the silver-haired girl’s red lips, even though Zoe desperately tried to control her thoughts, instinct still betrayed the truth.

“So there really is a collaboration.”

“What’s the name of the Secret Council you mentioned… No, that question won’t work.” Lucy swiftly changed her approach: “How many gods are part of the council? One? Two? Three…”

After confirming seven, Lucy continued:

“Did the Three Pillar Gods take part?”

“What Outer Gods were involved? Let me think—surely the Lord of Golden Worship was one, then the Lord of Oddities? Also involved… Master of Chronology? Not involved…”

Once Lucy confirmed her guesses, she began employing brute-force deduction, systematically verifying every possible scenario one by one until all were tested.

According to records from the Star Law Institute—

There were over a hundred and thirty known Outer Gods of demi-god level or higher.

Excluding those who had been hunted down or were disinterested in invasion, there remained over seventy.

Lucy began reciting their names one by one.

Zoe initially resisted, but when Lucy consecutively named the Lord of Golden Worship, the Lord of Oddities, the Lord of Nightmares, and the Crimson Sovereign, she finally broke.

“Stop asking! I don’t know anything!” Unable to move, Zoe howled in despair, once again trying to end herself to escape.

But Lucy gave her no chance at all.

“This Secret Council you spoke of—they orchestrated this operation, didn’t they?”

“Their goal—was it descent?”

Not descent!

Lucy’s brows suddenly furrowed.

Logically, the gods’ hostility toward wizards stemmed from how the wizards had imprisoned the Old Gods in the so-called Old Lands and blocked the Outer Gods from entering the Primary Plane.

And for deities who gained power through faith, their greatest desires—aside from wiping out the wizards—were to descend upon the Primary Plane and harvest belief.

But wiping out the wizards with just seven gods seemed improbable, and they weren’t descending into the Primary Plane either—so what were they after?

Lucy was baffled.

After all, she was merely a lowly apprentice wizard. Even counting her predecessor, she had only spent three and a half years truly learning about the wizarding world and remained ignorant of many of its secrets.

So, she could only continue brute-force deduction, throwing out hypotheses one after another.

“To harvest belief?”

“To kill someone?”

“To gain power?”

“……”

“To destroy something… hmm!”

Even without the Saint Radiance Scales Mark reacting, Lucy caught the answer from the fleeting panic that flashed across Zoe’s face.

“This thing is on the Wizard Continent, within the Star Law Institute. It’s not a person, not the Old Pact…”

At this point, Lucy stalled again.

Her knowledge of the Star Law Institute was limited to it being the largest wizarding organization.

“If only Master Theodosius were here…”

At those words, Zoe’s expression finally eased.

The fact that the Old Gods and Outer Gods had conspired to destroy the Star Law Codex must never be revealed to the wizards ahead of time—otherwise, the God of Death would surely strip her of her divine law.

Just as Lucy found herself unable to come up with more questions and was about to finish Zoe off—

She subconsciously asked, “Which of the Three Pillar Gods masterminded the sacrifice of the Principality of Kolo… None of them?!”

“It was one of the four Outer Gods? Also not?!”

The mastermind behind the sacrifice of tens of millions of souls wasn’t even among the members of the Secret Council.

This reignited Lucy’s curiosity.

Continuing along the same line of questioning, she asked, “Is the mastermind an Old God?”

“No!”

“An Outer God?”

“No!”

“A god?”

The scythe trembled slightly in rhythm with her rapidly pounding heart.

This earth-shattering revelation meant that the true mastermind—who had manipulated seven evil gods—was not among the known pantheons!

“He... He’s a wizard?” When this ultimate question slipped from her lips, even Lucy found herself breathless.

Events seemed to be racing toward an uncontrollable climax, threatening to detonate at any moment.

Just as Lucy activated the Saint Radiance Scales Mark to prepare for the answer—

“Waugh—!”

Zoe, bound to the ground by chains of mental power, suddenly convulsed and spewed a mouthful of golden blood.

Then, her body began to twist, her soul wailed, and her blood began to boil.

“No! Aaaaahhh!”

Lucy’s heart sank as she instinctively leapt back, but she was a beat too slow.

With a muffled bang!

Zoe, Chief Arbiter and one of the Seven Gods of the Realm of Death, exploded into a cloud of golden blood mist.

【Death Realm Contamination: 1%, 5%, 11%... 25%】

【Curse of Chief Arbiter Zoe: You are tainted by the uncleanable golden blood. Minor offenders will feel fear toward you. Major criminals will see you as an enemy.】