Chapter 46: The Face Of Asmodeus - 2
The cold finality of Herald’s words, "If you can’t answer all these questions, then you can’t feel what I felt more than three hundred years ago. Then never ask me what I seek from finding the cult," had effectively shut down any further inquiry into his motives, making it clear that his vengeance was a burden I could not comprehend, let alone judge. My own questions, my own moral compass, felt insignificant in the face of his long old unwavering resolve.
But I still had questions, critical ones, about the enemy he so relentlessly pursued. My survival, my very existence in this world, depended on understanding the forces at play.
"The leader?" I asked. "You called him ’The One.’ Do you know anything about who the leader of this cult might be?"
My mind scrambled, trying to reconcile the novel’s narrative with the chaotic reality unfolding before me. In Hero’s Vow, the leader of the Face of Asmodeus was none other than Theodric Von Alder. It was a very generic, almost trope-filled villain arc.
In the novel, Theodric had killed Kai—killed me, technically—in the arena. Brutally. Publicly. I could still picture it as I read through the pages, the way he stood over the body like it was some kind of message. And it worked. That moment had been the spark for Eren Valtor. The hero. He couldn’t just stand by, not after that. So, with the help of the system—the same system I know possessed —he challenged Theodric. A commoner versus a noble, his sword against theodric’s. And he won. Eren actually beat him, shamed him in front of the entire kingdom.
That was the moment it all started to spiral. Theodric, humiliated and seething, swore revenge. And then came the demon artifact. That cursed thing gave him power—too much power. He clawed his way up the cult’s hierarchy, toppling anyone in his path until he stood as the Demon Lord’s right hand.
Looking back now, it all feels so... clean. Like someone just checked the tropes off a list. Tragedy. Resolve. Revenge. Power-up. I remember thinking while reading it: Why does this even hold my attention? It was predictable, almost mechanical in its progression. And yet, somehow, I kept flipping the pages.
But that wasn’t the case anymore. The event that caused Theodric to become the cult leader – his public defeat by the hero in the arena – hadn’t happened. I became the extra and ironically stolen the hero’s system, making it impossible for the protagonist to defeat Theodric. So, if Theodric hadn’t become the leader, then the cult leader should still be the one who held power before Theodric usurped it in the original timeline.
"The leader?" Herald quickly repeated, a faint, almost imperceptible frown touching his lips. "I don’t have definitive information about him. His identity is shrouded in layers of secrecy, even from those within the cult’s lower ranks. But what I do know is that he’s a formidable opponent. Extremely powerful. He has evaded me for centuries."
My heart dipped at the response he gave. "You don’t have information?" That was a problem. A big problem. In the novel, Herald had a vast network of informants, an almost supernatural ability to track the cult’s movements. If he doesn’t know who the current leader is, then this ’Reality Divergence’ was far more significant than I had anticipated. It meant the narrative was truly off the rails.
I knew that Theodric won’t be the leader. The critical event that led to his rise hadn’t occurred. So, apparently, the cult leader should be the same as the leader it had during the novel before Theodric took it from him. But I didn’t know much about him, the supposed original cult leader. In the novel, he was nothing more than an extra villain, a stepping stone for Theodric. He was just someone Theodric would ’farm aura with’ by trampling on him to climb to the top. He was a nameless, faceless obstacle, easily discarded once his purpose was served. I had barely paid him any attention during my reading. And now, he was the primary antagonist in my. An unknown, formidable opponent.