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『I guess to a human it would certainly look like a curse.』

With that preface, the Spirit King explained what Stigmata was.

That mark was something that appeared once latent divine power was awakened inside someone’s soul. The name came from that, a mark produced from the power of a true God. But unlike in many legends and myths, that power did not appear thanks to some God’s prank, help, or favor, but essentially by random chance.

『Mira… do you remember that night when we saw off so many of my kin?』
『Yes, I remember it vividly.』

Mira slowly nodded hearing the Spirit King’s solemn voice. She remembered seeing that stream of light far away in the sky.

『The Heavenly Nirvana Shrine where souls go to rest that I mentioned that night exists adjacent to the divine realm. That creates an opening where small quantities of divine power can slip through sometimes.』

That divine power would get attached to nearby souls with the right affinity. Being compatible with divine power sounded like a lucky trait to have, but the Spirit King explained that reality was often ironic.

Having divine power attached to one’s soul was not much of an issue in itself. It could easily remain there for a person’s entire life, never doing anything as there was no way for them to even know about its presence or how to activate it.

In some cases, and after enough time, it could end up getting tangled more closely with the soul and bringing forth blessings, or it could enter someone’s mana pool, allowing them to use it better.

『Mira, have you ever met anyone with the power to cure any ailment, or perform healing miracles?』
『Healing miracles… yes, I feel like there was someone like that in Alispharius. Though that was thirty years ago.』

Mira recalled meeting someone like that during a quest in Alispharius. The source of that ability was divine power, which usually manifested as some form of healing.

But that did not mean that controlling it in that way was easy at all, in most cases those figments of divine power would be dispersed during death, when soul and body separated. Death was such a destructive phenomenon that it could even crush divine power.

There was a third option though. That dormant divine power could end up being activated under very specific conditions, which led to the appearance of Stigmata.

『So that frozen girl I saw somehow fulfilled those conditions too.』
『That seems likely, yes. The divine power tried to take form in the best way it could as it was awoken, which was the star, and the various symbols. But a human body can hardly contain such power, so it tore through her skin and resulted in what you saw.』

Hearing that much, Mira also started to be convinced that the devil’s carved seal was the same thing as Stigmata.

Next she asked what the conditions for Stigmata to activate were. The Spirit King said that largely there were two ways.

One was through interference by a similar source of divine power. When such a source was nearby, the small figment attached to the soul would start to resonate and grow, leading to its eventual activation. The swelling of the divine power would also exert pressure on the soul, which led to the person feeling weaker or even sick.

The other condition was essentially the opposite of the first one, the presence of evil power. If something like that was near the person with divine power, it would activate in response, trying to oppose the evil power.

『Hmm… then she also had to meet one of those two criteria then.』
『That should be safe to assume. The question is which, but that’s not so easy to determine. I wonder which kind of power this woman you talk of came into contact with.』

The first condition required contact with power from a God, or maybe an angel. The other required evil power, which included all sorts of cursed items, or the power of current devils. Both were incredibly rare things, and it was hard to identify them as well. All in all, the chances of someone with divine power attached to their soul developing Stigmata were incredibly low.

But it had happened to the woman. Somehow she had managed to fulfill those rare requirements by chance.

(That reminds me, there was a devil near Soul Howl’s stronghold.)

Mira started thinking it could have been the second option, but then recalled the story Soul Howl had told.

That woman pestered him constantly, but the severity had started to dwindle at some point. Shortly after that the devil’s carved seal, Stigmata, manifested.

The gradual change could be attributed to the divine power swelling and oppressing her soul, weakening her body. In that case she had not come in contact with evil power, but resonance with divine power had been the cause.

『I think she might have come in contact with divine power somewhere. My friend mentioned she’s part of some new cult, so maybe the power of some divine relic caused it?』

Mira posed that theory, but the Spirit King said it was unlikely.

『I won’t deny the possibility. But something with enough power to infiltrate the soul and make such a dormant figment resonate would need to be on the level of a God’s Vessel or greater. I don’t know the extent of the new cult you mention, but for a relic to gain such power requires thirty thousand years at the least. And that while being supported by believers on par with the Three Gods church. The relic would need to possess unrivaled power.』
『I doubt that’s the case, or rather, that’d be impossible…』

Divine relics increased in power with faith just like Gods did. But that also involved an extremely long time and number of believers. A brand new sect could not accomplish that.

『It could be possible if it’s not a newly ascended divine relic though.』

Rather than venerating a new relic, sometimes items that already possessed some power were used. But even then it was rare for them to reach the point of activating Stigmata like on the woman.

Items considered Vessels of Gods were extremely rare. That much was clear with how much players used to war against each other for them back in the day.

They had a firm hold on the highest position atop all categories of items, treasures of divine worth. Sometimes their very existence was debated, as all stories or rumors of people finding them were always proven to be lies.

Many players, including Mira’s circle of friends, had traversed the entire continent while decoding ancient texts, but had not found even a hint of a God’s Vessel.

In the end there was no proof anyone had ever been able to obtain one, so they decided maybe only NPCs could use them, and the best items players had were legendary ones.

Currently Mira only knew the location of those belonging to the Three Gods. The rest were still a mystery, which also went to show how rare they were. If a relic became that powerful, then the news would spread through the entire continent like wildfire.

Then what about the other condition? What were the chances she came in contact with something evil?

Items with such power were more common, and the divine power in the woman’s soul could have reacted to that. But then her declining health could not be explained. But at least it was safe to rule out the sect she was a part of.

A God’s Vessel or another item of equal power was needed to awaken the divine power through resonance.

(That reminds me, I heard of a relic being lost before. Maybe that’s involved somehow?)

She was thinking of Hammer to Hades, a relic which was believed to have been used to find the coffin to seal demons. The current theory was that the relic was still in the hands of a devil, the presence of which would have activated Stigmata long before the relic could.

As Mira mulled things over, she came across another question.

『By the way, I’m convinced that the devil’s carved seal is Stigmata, but why is it that everyone who gets marked meets an untimely demise?』

Whenever that mark appeared on someone, they would end up dying, with a devil nearby. That was the reason why former players called it the curse of hades or devil’s blessing.

It actually was caused by divine power though. That led to Mira’s questioning of a devil’s involvement every time.

『I think that can be explained fairly easily. As I mentioned before, sometimes people actually learn to utilize the divine power in them.』

The Spirit King explained what he believed the thought pattern of devils was.

Stigmata appeared when one’s dormant shard of divine power was awakened. That also meant that the person had been unable to control it thus far, so it just freed itself. Devils held power opposite to that, so they would notice whenever someone was marked.

Usually Stigmata ended up consuming those marked even if the devils left them untouched, but once in a blue moon they would learn to control the divine power. Even if they were figments of power, that was still a major threat to devils.

So the Spirit King theorized that devils would exterminate anyone with Stigmata as soon as they were detected, just to avoid those edge cases.

『When you put it that way it does make sense.』

Stigmata, a symbol of divine power that spelled doom for those it blessed as it attracted devils whenever it appeared. The Spirit King’s theory made sense, so Mira felt like it was safe to take it as fact.