Book 20 Chapter 20

The archenemy and pioneer of the mission,

Shincheon Kaditpol Knights (19)

Kadin Mu (04), Hezmana had already completely crossed the spiral staircase in the moonlight.

The primeval burning desert…

The sand itself had a will, forming a quagmire that sought to swallow all living things… in other words, quicksand zones.

'This must be the Blood-Red Cathedral…'

There was a mighty light that completely suppressed the stirrings, pulsations, and abyssal power of this underground city… it was 'Eternal Dawn'.

At the center of the horizon, the Blood-Red Cathedral continuously scattered dawn-like blood-red rays of light upon this underground city.

Darkness had the property of fleeing from light, so perhaps the Blood-Red Sun Shurigan intended to eternally isolate the abyss with that light.

[Access code verification in progress… CTT-02, approved.]

- Entry permitted.

She wondered how she would pass through this brilliant light barrier, but the barrier and the core of the Ark of the Covenant resonated once, and a door appeared on the barrier's surface, welcoming her inside.

'I can feel the [King's Flesh] residing in my body beating intensely… The King is right beneath this cathedral.'

Hezmana crossed all the corridors and colonnades of the cathedral, which held a history of suffering, and reached its center.

'This is where Shurigan wept and prayed for this land, this must be the main sanctuary.'

Though called a cathedral, it was no exaggeration to say it was a military facility, with lighting brighter than daylight illuminating the entire facility even in this deep underground.

"It has to be this way…"

The main sanctuary was intricately filled with control equipment that managed the technology of the <Those Who Came>.

"It has to be this way…!"

Hezmana didn't know how to control it, but when she inserted the core she held in her arms into the slot at the center of the equipment… the facility automatically began an emergency sequence.

[Verifying access code for 'CTT-02', releasing isolation barrier.]

The light that made the cathedral like the dawn sun gradually dimmed.

From the farthest and lowest parts of this underground city, that light turned into dusk, and soon disappeared…

In that darkness, the army of eternal annihilation began to writhe. The Reptilian army, which had surrendered even the right of life and death to the King, dedicating eternal loyalty!

"For you, to completely end the war that you all couldn't finish… and to illuminate a true eternal dawn!"

Cha-reuk-reuk-reuk… Just as the ground of the great plaza transformed into steps, the floor of the main sanctuary transformed and opened to both sides.

The rift of dimensions opened…!

The passage below was truly like a furnace of wickedness. Lava that simply swallowed everything into nothingness was boiling.

"Are you still fiercely boiling even in this era a thousand years later, Neigalas!"

The lava began to gather one by one, taking form.

First, the beings announcing the King's return… demons, like his avatars, began to be forged.

The plan of the Shincheon Kaditpol Knights was to implant that power into the soul with this core, before Neigalas fully awakened.

'In short, I will become the Blood-Red Cathedral itself. A being that can suppress Neigalas's seal and also wield his power freely!'

Just as she was about to plunge the core, woven into the shape of a key by light, into her heart to execute the plan, it happened.

"Direct command from CTT-02! Restore all phases to ALtros-113 state!"

It wasn't Hezmana who shouted that.

The wandering shepherd, Shuan!

Since the core was currently with Hezmana, the facility should not have accepted that command, it should have… What on earth happened?

[CTT-02 genetic data interpretation complete, executing command.]

This situation, where the control facility of the Blood-Red Cathedral reacted immediately to the command of that unknown youth, not to her who held the core!

"What… How can you control this situation without a core, no, even with higher priority than a core? You, are you by any chance…!"

It can't be wrong!

This guy is… one of the <Those Who Came>!

His hair is clearly brown, but seeing it glisten blood-red depending on the light… should I take it as Shurigan's genetic traits being revealed?

'Rista Party, what they taught me was courage.'

Shuan was here, prepared to die.

Shuan was not strong yet.

Rista Party and the Shincheon Kaditpol Knights were combat groups where only the pinnacles of all ages gathered; compared to them, he was incomparably weak.

'The courage to move forward without being daunted by any situation, despair, or pain. They showed me that with their backs, with their lives.'

The light that began with and was inherited from <Those Who Came>, including his father, that is, the courage his father Shurigan must have shown, he could see and learn from them!

Kkeu-deu-deu-deu-deu-deuk…!

The lava, which had been on the verge of erupting, and Neigalas's authority roared fiercely and desperately as the dimensional curtain began to close again.

'No regrets…'

Running here with all his might, all his stamina was depleted while breaking through that quicksand zone.

Now, he didn't even have the strength to deploy a barrier.

It was difficult even to simply stand, and Shuan's breathing, as if he had knelt, was so violent it felt like it would burst at any moment. But the boy smiled.

'…to never give up and do your best in any situation.'

Because that would have been the choice his father made in every moment. I must become like such a father.

"No, it can't be! The fulfillment of the mission was right before my eyes!"

Again, Hezmana, who had frantically turned her gaze amidst the scene of the Blood-Red Cathedral regaining its radiance, soon reached a conclusion.

'If I can regain command authority.'

If she killed the unknown <Those Who Came> who appeared before her eyes, it would be possible to continue the mission.

But was that really right?

Now that the light had returned, weren't all the missions she held merely meaningless pipe dreams?

"No, it's not! The deaths of my Kaditpol comrades, the dream we shared, were not in vain! It's not the <Those Who Came> who will end this war! It's us, Shincheon Kaditpol!"

The moment Hezmana emerged from the moonlight barrier and was about to stab her Seven-Branched Sword at Shuan, that very moment, it happened.

'What is this? This horrifying magic power?'

The moment she detected that magic power, a huge hole was pierced through Hezmana's abdomen.

So much so that she could see through to the other side!

It was as if thousands of snakes were coiling around her entire body, such an eerie, repulsive, and hideous… magic power, she had felt it somewhere before.

'This magic power, could it be…!'