Only God
Chapter 232 - 198: The Most Miraculous Grace!

Chapter 232: Chapter 198: The Most Miraculous Grace!

Darkness enveloped Noen, intending to let him die in this darkness.

Noen, in this vast darkness, couldn’t see even a glint of light.

He walked, trying to find a way out.

But no matter how far he went, how long he walked,

Noen saw no light, no light reached this darkness.

He clenched his fists, trying not to panic, believing that God’s light would eventually come,

There would come a moment...

That thought fell into this lonely darkness.

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding darkness swirled as if mocking him.

Noen ignored the swirling darkness, knelt down, and put his hands together.

The Prophet wholeheartedly recited prayers, praying for the arrival of the light.

For a long, long time.

Even Noen didn’t know how much time had passed.

Light...

Never came.

Now, a trace of panic flashed across Noen.

In the boundless darkness, he continuously prayed for light but never received it.

Slowly, a figure emerged from the swirling darkness.

Noen couldn’t see Him but could sense Him, the representative of the Primordial Will—War God Saiama.

The chilling darkness brought Noen a fear like that of the Prehistoric Era.

Saiama emanated a destructive ferocity, mocking Noen as He watched.

He wanted to completely destroy Noen’s faith in this spiritual world.

"You’re just a mortal,"

"How can you be so sure that the light will come?"

Saiama sneered at the kneeling, praying Prophet.

"Away from me, darkness, you cannot shake me!"

Facing the Prophet’s rebuke, Saiama didn’t retreat but sneered:

"Continue praying, mortal!"

Noen bowed his head in prayer, unmoved.

Then, the darkness transformed again.

Suddenly, a vision appeared before Noen’s eyes.

It was a direct infusion from the Primordial Will.

Noen saw the Ajia Royal City in grave danger.

The tyrant, with a sweeping momentum, violently attacked Ajia’s walls.

The walls that people once took pride in were in peril, seemingly about to collapse any moment.

Inside the Royal City, despair and chaos filled the air.

It wouldn’t be long before this once glorious city would fall into slaughter and become nothing but historical ash.

Noen’s heart tightened at the sight before him.

His gaze fell upon New Rule Garden, hearing the continuous cries of panic, people praying in grief.

"Lord,

May I grasp Your hand?

Lead us into the miracle of life,

Let us hear the divine voice..."

In this war, some had lost parents, others brothers, others children; people were deep in despair’s abyss, seeing no hope for a long time.

The sorrowful tears fell incessantly with the city’s tremors, soon, those tears would turn to blood.

"Pitiful mortals, keep praying!"

Saiama’s fearsome voice echoed in Noen’s ears.

Noen thought He would curse, He would spit venom, and he was prepared—curses and scorn couldn’t shake the soul.

However...

Saiama merely posed a soul-penetrating question.

"Look at yourselves,

You always implore your God,

But what have you ever given back to your God?!"

Noen’s eyes widened.

That nightmare-like question swept through his heart, the question haunting him like lost spirits, now utilized by the darkness as the most horrific weapon to utterly crush his spirit.

"No... it’s not like that..."

Noen’s lips trembled, hardly able to utter complete words.

But Saiama was laughing willfully,

"You ants,

Merely call out time and again, begging for the lofty charity."

"He has granted you countless blessings, what have you given in return?!"

Noen saw the mortals on the ground, powerlessly kneeling.

As Saiama said, the more the people feared, the more they believed, in the abyss of despair, they madly begged for a divine miracle, for God to once again freely grant His grace.

"You always just beg from your God!

Destruction is coming, yet you still delude yourselves with His arrival!"

Noen trembled, hearing only the deep, mocking laughter.

We...

Have we really been mistaken...

In the face of God’s limitless grace and miracles,

We...

What have we ever given back?!

More than the external question, what truly crushed the heart was self-doubt.

Noen couldn’t answer this question.

It transcended the boundaries of reason.

The mortals on the ground shed tears, panicking, desperately prostrating before the altar, afraid they weren’t devout or reverent enough.

"Lord,

Save us! Send down your miracle!"

The salvation they begged for didn’t come.

Only increasing despair enveloped them, threatening to take their lives, burying them completely in the abyss.

Noen listened to their prayers, feeling increasingly sad.

God had given us so much... yet we had given nothing in return.

We...

Perhaps we really were mistaken.

Perhaps, had he not been so unyielding, he wouldn’t have crumbled in the face of this fatal question.

For the first time, Noen regretted his devotion.

"God...

How can we repay you?"

Noen whispered tremblingly.

As his words fell, Saiama burst into maniacal laughter, as if he were on the verge of victory.

Darkness surged again, desperate to push Noen into the valley of fear.

Noen was deeply submerged in darkness, unable to wait for the arrival of light.

The scene changed.

Before his eyes, there was only further despair.

The scene depicted an ancient age where everything in the world was yet unnamed.

A lonely breeze began, weak mixed noises from the prehistoric era filled the emptiness, the cracking sounds of the barren earth, sighs of disappointment at the dawn of time.

In that scene, God looked upon the barren land.

"In this world, could there be anything called mankind?"

That voice fell into the era,

and no one could answer.

The darkness revealed to him God’s loneliness.

Noen saw God’s loneliness,

and his steadfast heart began to shatter gradually.

"Behold Him, mortal,

He bestowed upon humans life, reason, light...

how do you then console God’s loneliness?"

That challenging question cruelly pierced Noen’s heart.

Noen felt only despair,

What meaning did humans have to God?

The darkness saw through his heart, mocking and sneering.

"Mortal, you mean nothing to Him!

"Now,

you are just alone.

Your God has forsaken you!"

Noen was unable to argue, completely defeated, unable to find an answer.

We cannot repay God.

All we have done is repeatedly ask for grace, ask for miracles.

Despairingly, Noen lowered his head, his clasped hands gradually loosening.

The Prophet had been overwhelmed, and darkness was about to triumph.

Noen knew he should remain steadfast, yet he was powerless to salvage everything.

Humans’ own logic could hardly redeem themselves.

He closed his eyes, recalling the scenes from just before, filled with despair and sadness.

Before his death, Noen recalled one last time his favorite story.

In that distant time, God still stood upon the high mountain.

Al asked Him about the matter of sacrifice.

God, however, refused him.

Al, puzzled and flustered, asked God,

"So God, what pleases You?"

Recalling this story, Noen suddenly became dumbfounded.

He did not know why he was stunned; he just felt there was something hidden in God’s refusal.

What was hidden?

What exactly was hidden?

Noen’s mind suddenly halted, as if he had found something from that story.

Endless darkness surged, seemingly forcing him, suppressing him, waiting for him to completely surrender in despair.

"What are you still thinking about?

Do you have anything to repay your God?!"

In his ears, a deep sneer resonated.

"No repayment,"

Noen’s lips trembled dryly,

"We have no repayment,"

"Except for our love for God!"

Suddenly, Noen’s dying spirit slowly came back to life.

A myth from thousands of years ago, crossing vast time and space, gave him endless strength.

Noen looked toward the earth.

Countless people, praying in panic and fear for salvation.

Even though they had never repaid God for anything.

Indeed,

God’s grace was so boundless,

humans could never repay God, no matter how much they sacrificed,

but what of it?

Noticing Noen’s change, Saiama appeared angrily, loudly questioning:

"Pitiful mortals!

Your prayers are but pleas to God!

How dare you partake in grace and miracles?!"

Among those once fatal accusations, Noen slowly clasped his hands together.

He no longer paid attention to the darkness, praying alongside the desperate people on the ground.

His heart already had an answer,

enough to await the arrival of a ray of light.

"Lord,

may I grasp Your hand?

Lead us into the miracles of life,

allow us to listen to the holy voice,

save us, do not let us perish."

God...

bestowed upon us nearly,

countless graces, infinite miracles.

And the greatest miracle of grace is—God actually loves us!

And not the opposite.

Noen shed tears, reciting the last prayer.

"Lord, I love You."

In the boundless despair.

A ray of light, after the prayers, shone into the darkness.

Noen, with tears streaming down his face, turned toward the light.

He stood up, slowly walking into the light.

Through his love for God, he had already overcome despair.

We are the children of God, the people whom God delights in.

We know that human reciprocation means nothing to God, we know God’s love is deeper than the ocean, wider than the sky.

But we love,

even though His love is far greater than ours!