Book 19 Chapter 44
Arch-nemesis and pioneer of destiny,
Knights of Cheoncheon Carditpol (7)
“Where are you!”
In a fleeting moment, as the holy sword lunges forth with generational force, I parry with my spear blade and shaft countless times, and think.
“Where were you?”
What am I angry about right now?
“They say all teachings of the scripture are the promise of creation!”
What exactly have I been angry about all this time?
“When Besinia died, where in the world was that glorious light!”
Was I truly angry only at the absence of God?
“It’s not there! It’s not there! It’s not there! It was nowhere!”
Since when was I ever so devout?
“Look at my heart! No matter how much you stab it, slash it, or slice it with this spear, I feel no pain anymore!”
What in the world did I want to do with a life that couldn't die back then?
“Is this the love of creation? To allow such pain? If you want to argue about God even after seeing this, then prove it!”
What did I hope to achieve and what did I hope to see, wandering the world with only my life remaining, unable to die with the woman I loved?
“Try to kill me!”
With the precious life you saved, even as you were dying.
“Kill me, who am the very proof of God's absence, and prove that light still remains on this earth!”
No pulse of life can be felt from my already burst heart.
I leap high into the air.
The magic coiling around the entire spear soon manifests as the abyss of Naegalas, the authority of magma, gaining the power to corrode and swallow everything.
“That madman, he’s going to throw that!”
I concentrated all my power on the spear, attempting to imbue it with the quality of certain hit (必中), but my opponent is not so easy to deal with as to allow it.
“I won’t let you!”
A fierce melee, with flesh tearing and bones grinding, took place dozens of times in that single moment while suspended in the air.
However, the essence of melee is basic skills.
No one can match my basic skills, cultivated for 200 years.
At the end of the fierce battle, I accurately pinpointed the trajectory towards the hero’s heart and thrust the spear point.
“Rista, no!”
Trajectory, time, force, there was no error in anything… but I feel that something is wrong with the cogwheel of time.
“You thought I'd cry out like that? Lady Friede, the Priestess of the Fire Dragon, has done it again this time. Super-fast chanting of the Psalm of Clarity successful.”
Invisible but distinct chains of slowing bind my entire body, the power of the psalm pressing down heavily on me.
‘Why? Why is it?’
Why, the next moment, did the blade of the holy sword that severed my arms, or the arrows that completely obliterated my shoulder, side, or calf, not feel like pain?
“Finish it, Lin!”
Why are you asking such pathetic questions to yourself?
You know full well.
From the moment she died, you knew better than anyone.
- Even if I must sacrifice my entire life, I will surely protect you until the very end of my mission.
What I should have hated.
What I should have truly resented.
It was none other than myself, my own weakness for having vowed to protect and yet failing to uphold that one vow.
“Secret Technique, Thunder Pulse Hemostasis. Single-point focus.”
How pathetic this is…
How shameful this is…
The life I have lived…
“Goodbye, strongest Paladin! I’ve learned a lot thanks to you!”
The golden flash plunging from the sky burns Vikhisa’s body… but it doesn’t.
[The Flesh of the King] firmly binds itself, protecting the host's body from the invasion of light.
However, as [The Flesh of the King] dedicated its power to defense, a momentary gap opened!
“Journal Realm Setting (誌界-設定).”
A regular polyhedron was superimposed on Vikhisa's body, specifically its heart, and the command of creation, Benekom, was inscribed upon that material.
“Providence Engraving (攝理-刻印)!”
In the beginning, the gods of creation are said to have spread the land, filled the waters, and created the sun, moon, and stars through their words.
That command is carried out exactly the same.
Providence reigns over mortals but submits to the commands of creation.
Therefore, the command now given!
It is to execute the meaning of destruction (擊破) literally!
“Vikhisa… now stop wandering in the darkness and find your rest.”
* * *
The fact that it wasn’t his own magic that finished off Vikhisa, the [Strongest Paladin], severely displeased Lin.
‘Do I need to further enhance its power? Can I use four or five shots right now? If I set it up to use seven shots… I could have ended it.’
Still, it seemed it wasn't a meaningless attack.
The current from Thunder Pulse Hemostasis had stalled the regeneration of [The Flesh of the King], making it very easy to retrieve it with the Golden Armament.
The quantity was enormous, enough to cover Vikhisa’s entire massive body.
“Truly, an unbelievable amount.”
Rista, who had approached Lin’s side unnoticed, said.
“How did you follow us, and how did you make this priest’s relic come this far, you rascal! Aren’t you going to answer?”
Friede grabbed Xuan by the collar and shook him back and forth.
Additionally, Pipi was sitting on Xuan’s crown and pecking his forehead furiously. Very painful!
Even amidst that immense pain, Xuan merely offered his characteristic bewildered, mysterious smile.
“Well~ that… you might find out if you read all of Chapter 59 of Ziannir’s Psalms.”
“Wow, this madman! Even in this situation, look at his tenacity to not give up his true individuality. He’s persistent! Lin would be crying tears of frustration!”
“But it really hurts too much, if you could just stop now, aaaaargh…”
Lin, a man who dreams of being the [Strongest Archmage] and has just vanquished one of his bucket list items, the [Strongest Paladin], couldn't abandon Xuan, who shared the same dream.
“Xuan, you don’t need to say anything more. I know everything.”
Since Xuan had achieved his bucket list item of [Shepherd Suspected of Being 'The Ones Who Came'], it was likely that proper thought was impossible due to the sense of accomplishment.
By the way, if one can manipulate artifacts, does that count as achieving the bucket list item of being suspected as 'The Ones Who Came'?
Later, I'll learn artifact manipulation from Nils and show off using it at an important moment.
“You, you weren’t perhaps the Strongest Archmage, but the Black Sun Kalenden, the Creator of Magic itself, were youuuuuuuu…!”
Thinking of such a reaction, a warm smile already appeared.
“Hmph, by the way, to think it was something like that…”
Xuan stared blankly at Lin, who had seen through his true identity in an instant.
“Lin, what on earth are you…”
This guy, he knows something after all?
Lin admired Xuan’s acting skills and, with enthusiasm, continued his [Strongest Archmage dialogue].
“Heh heh…”
The two were really fooling around… Friede finally sighed, admitting she couldn't stop them, and let go of Xuan's collar.
“You, we’re talking properly later. If you beat around the bush again, you’re dead.”
At that moment, Kieth returned after completely subduing the small number of demons stationed in this northern satellite city, <Banesis>.
Most of the demons who had captured this place would not have been many, as they were annihilated along with the city when the priest’s relic crashed.
When Kieth signaled with a nod that there were no enemies in the area, Rista spoke.
“Xuan, I won’t ask what your true identity actually was. Not now. What's important is that thanks to you, we could come all the way to <Banesis> in one go.”
“…”
“Please tell us what we need to do to overcome this situation. You know, don’t you?”
Xuan tidied his disheveled clothes and said.
“Let’s head to the central plaza. There, through the key, you can open the door leading underground… that is, the path to the 'Bloody Grand Cathedral'.”
“But the key is already held by the Avenger of Divine Retribution…”
“Strictly speaking, that’s just a spare key. The real key is with me, in my soul. The problem is that the trajectory has collapsed, so to get there…”
Xuan raised his head and gazed at the crimson holy city of <Shuriganakyus> beyond the great bridge.
A land where dragons, griffins, and Tuaki swirled madly in the air, fighting, and shouts, screams, clanging, and wails echoed endlessly.
The Great War, which would be recorded in history as the Battle of Shuriganakyus, was already underway.
‘Lord Naegalas, the Lizard Lord, whom 'The Ones Who Came' barely sealed with desperate power…!’
Moreover, intense heat was already rising as if boiling from beneath the crust of <Banesis>. The harbinger of a volcanic eruption was soon the harbinger of Naegalas's seal breaking.
‘He’s trying to awaken again… will my power be able to stop him in time…?’
It was a situation where it wouldn't be strange to collapse in despair that, though formless, vividly choked them, but they, the hero’s party, laughed.
“So, you’re saying there’s a way?”
“…?”
“Whew, what a relief… it means it’s not over yet!”
Friede puffed a cloud of pipe smoke at Xuan, who was dumbfounded by Rista’s reaction.
“Hey, what’s with that expression? So, all we have to do is break through that chaos and get to the grand plaza, right?”
“…!”
“Who do you think we are? We’re the hero’s party that makes even the sneering demons stop laughing and run away! It’s never over until we say it’s over.”
Pipi, sitting on Friede’s shoulder, shook her head back and forth.
“Hero, hero, hero’s party.”
Asurba, the Ice Dragon, too!
“Kyu-kyu-kyut!”
Even the Archmage Lin, who was secretly smiling with folded arms!
“Moving one person is as easy as picking my nose.”
Kieth, who always seems taciturn but never stops expressing emotions using Cerwevon, also emitted a confident emoticon with a smile!
[<(★-★)>]
Finally, Rista Alter Shirpang, the last light of this era, who took Xuan’s hand and helped him stand up from where he had collapsed!
“Come on, get up! I’ll take you to the grand plaza in one go!”
In the tremor running through his entire body, before entering the coldness of oblivion that was the Ark… Xuan recalled the benevolent smile his mother had shown him.
- If everything in the world had been determined simply by… physical ability, or size, or strength, we would never have been able to defeat the abyss.
Before entering the Ark that completely transcended eras, meaning completely severed from the previous era.
The purpose was the final era.
In the last days, in an era where darkness threatened to swallow the entire world, to protect those who would groan on this earth.
- But how did you win?
He was 16 years old then, an age where it wouldn't have been strange for him to act childishly, not wanting to be separated from his mother.
But he didn't.
Because he believed that to prove that all the actions of his father, who had died before he was born, were real, he too had to live such a life.
- Tersia often used to say that the seven of us were like fingers. The index finger, or middle finger, ring finger, or pinky… a single finger alone can do very little. But if five fingers come together, they can do anything.
That is the potential of humans.
When alone, no one knows its true value.
But when one is stacked, and stacked, and stacked again, that potential expands infinitely.
- Eos, in the era when you awaken, you too will surely… meet such friends. So don’t think you’ll be alone, and don’t be afraid.