Book 20 Chapter 21
Episode 188
Sworn Enemy of the Mission and the Advanced, Shincheon Caditfol Knights (20)
In the past… Hezmana, revived by Eldia Mu (04) and Ryukael, soon met her comrades.
Kadin Alma (01).
Kadin Bete (02).
At that time, these two were the only members of Shincheon Caditfol, but despite not being fairies, they immediately recognized their noble pride at first sight and couldn't help but feel awe.
‘But…!’
Though not assigned to the Shincheon Caditfol Knights, his skill was as outstanding as theirs, and she felt something different about the man who held the rank of Second Pillar.
‘This Sami-gul bastard is definitely not it. His path is completely different. Something, an evil whose depth cannot be known, permeates his entire soul.’
Without faith or pride, this fellow who commits all evils solely for his own pleasure… is certainly not a comrade.
He will surely become an enemy.
She repeatedly conveyed these concerns to Eldia Mu (04) Ryukael, but only received the answer that he would handle it himself when the time came.
- Above all… I'll tell you that I wasn't the one who chose him.
Now that she thought about it, he did give such a strange answer. Does that mean that fellow chose the abyss himself and was revived by its power?
‘This man is a phantom from 500 years ago, no, an evil spirit (惡靈)…’
Shuan also felt her eyes shake with a shock as intense as Hezmana’s.
‘After the coordinates of the Ark of the Covenant were exposed by someone, I, who awoke from cryosleep three years ago, was investigating the mastermind.’
The Adrion Continent was perilous, covered by the hands of evil, so for safety and efficiency, she crossed to the Akrad Continent to pursue his whereabouts.
And…!
She was able to uncover that the <Ones Who Came> were destroying everything they had prepared for the end times, as soon as they were discovered.
‘The Ice Dragon Asruba was also something Kareneden had originally prepared for the end times, but that too was by that man…!’
This man used his position as the Second Pillar of the Black Church to command numerous subordinates, ordering them to carry out all sorts of kidnappings and murders, and thoroughly investigating the ruins of the <Ones Who Came>.
‘What exactly is the reason?’
The being called the First Pillar could not be identified, and the Water Dragon Yeliserica could not track his whereabouts, but it seemed clear that he held some firm belief. All his actions showed a consistent pattern.
‘But this man has nothing of the sort. Everything is as he pleases. So this man simply enjoyed spreading confusion and chaos as a game!’
To prevent him from extending his wicked hand even to the hero's party, Shuan eventually had no choice but to step onto the front lines of the era… but he never revealed his true form.
She should have dealt with him then!
He always appeared using puppets for every situation, hiding his true self to enjoy absolute stability while only spreading chaos throughout the world.
‘I was right to be concerned, but I wasn’t that worried. He wasn't such a strong opponent as to be an match for all six of us, the Shincheon Caditfol.’
Hezmana thought, spitting blood. Could it be that she had made the biggest mistake?
This fellow, surely…
He waited until the Shincheon Caditfol Knights were on the brink of annihilation, then stabbed them in the back at the most crucial moment when their mission was about to be completed!
“You…!”
Before she could even recognize the identity of the newly arrived uninvited guest, a huge hole was already torn through Hezmana’s abdomen, revealing what was beyond.
“I’ve waited a long time, you old hag of divine retribution. How long did I have to wait for you to crawl out of that Moonlight Barrier… Hahahaha! The Moonlight Dance is a very bothersome power, but it has no instant abilities; everything requires dancing. It's powerless against a surprise attack like this! No different from a witch!”
The man with an eyepatch twitching with grotesque eyeballs, this man adorned more lavishly and splendidly than any sorcerer of any era, was none other than!
“…Zernix, you bastard… You, you dare…!”
Most of the [King's Flesh] was taken, so there was no physical regeneration whatsoever.
“Well now, let’s see. Should I say your death also received divine retribution?”
Hezmana's body, painfully spewing congested blood, began to decay rapidly.
“No, no. Absolutely not. My theory is that no matter how an old person dies, it’s a natural death. If there’s no beauty of youth, there’s no value, regardless of gender.”
Since life was forcibly infused into a body that originally had none, using the power of the abyss, it was natural for it to decay immediately.
“By the way, the [King's Flesh] you had was very solid. Didn't the old hag eat too much? How many starving children and young people are there in this chaotic world… Tsk tsk.”
Zernix let out a sneer, basking in the euphoria of victory.
‘Infiltrating the Black Church from within and transforming it into my own organization was no problem.’
The Shincheon Caditfol Knights, like Eldia, chose a method that prevented them from falling completely into the abyss.
Ah, Omec (06) is an exception, though.
But that fellow is a dummy without a self, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, this means there are limits to their bodies' activity.
‘They use their bodies only until the abyss demands their humanity in exchange for power, then enter a dormant state. Exploiting that loophole is easy.’
The Black Church had thus transformed to the point where Zernix virtually served as its leader for several years.
Of course, they retreated a step at a time, matching the awakening cycle of Eldia and Shincheon Caditfol, but it only required being humble for a brief moment.
Now the time had come to break those reins. To claim the King's power, the power of the Lizard Lord Neigalath, and ascend to the true pinnacle.
“If I plunge that core into my heart and kill this guy, I can finally begin my plan in earnest.”
Zernix didn't even bother using magic, simply pressing his foot on her head and slowly crushing it to finish off Hezmana.
“Zernix, you damned bastard! The King’s power! It’s a power that only those who harbor dreams and aspirations for a true New Era (新時代) and New World (新世界) can wield! A crystallization of evil like you shouldn’t dare to touch it—!”
To die only after the sensory organs had surely and clearly perceived the total amount of pain from a cracking skull and a distorted, then bursting, brain.
“—Yes. You’ve worked very hard for me, Lord Zernix, old hag. So please, rest now.”
Zernix smiled contentedly and looked back at Shuan.
“So, you were one of the <Ones Who Came> who completely ruined my perfect plan and humiliated me back then, weren't you?”
Shuan’s hurried prayer soon became a miracle, surging up as a dawn light illuminating the darkness and engulfing Zernix…
“Is this even an attack? This? An attack from the <Ones Who Came>?”
…Zernix stood in the same posture, trampling Hezmana's corpse, as if to flaunt his power.
This is a Parallel Barrier!
Unless the principle of this power is perfectly understood, no attack can reach Zernix.
“Uwahahahaahaha! What a spectacle, truly a spectacle! To think that the <Ones Who Came>, so eagerly awaited by the era, were just these pathetic nobodies!”
The miracles wielded by Shurigan were mostly related to healing and had almost no combat capabilities.
Of course, there were a few offensive miracles with mighty power, and it was true that they inflicted effective blows on the <Forgotten Kings>.
However, for Shuan, who had not yet fully inherited that power, to contend with Zernix was practically impossible!
“I’m dying to know what expressions those faithful types like priests, shepherds, or witches, or even the Dragonfolk, would make if they saw this disgraceful sight!”
Zernix, who had crushed Hezmana’s brain to ensure her demise and was approaching Shuan, had his triumphant grin vanish as if cut by a knife.
“That would also be very enjoyable, but killing you here and awakening the King will be much more fun… So let’s part ways. If it were a woman, maybe, but making a man cry isn't my taste.”
Zernix’s method of killing weaker opponents was to generate a separate geometric cube and then transfer it into the target’s internal organs.
‘Because that’s the most painful way to kill an opponent.’
Fire, ice, electricity…
Any of the eight attributes had its use.
Each attribute caused different pain, and feeling the varying tones of screams was a kind of pleasure.
“Lightning attribute would be good for you. I'm curious what kind of scream light will make when killed by light! Do you see this star-shaped current I made for you? It's about to enter your internal organs. Pancreas? Liver? Just pick one.”
Shuan bowed his head and said nothing.
“A boring fellow to the very end. All right, take this!”
Just as he was about to enter the coordinates of Shuan’s internal organs into the magical equation… Zernix felt a singularity and was flustered.
“Wh-what? No, since when?”
The core that Hezmana had dropped when she fell, wasn't it now embedded in Shuan's heart?
“The core, in your heart? This bastard, are you trying to commit suicide? …Did you think I'd be this flustered?”
But that core, through geometric alteration, was sucked into Zernix’s hand.
“You can't even choose the way you die. That's how powerless you are, hahahahaha!”
It was as if, if one interpreted dimension as a piece of paper, that paper was folded in half to completely eliminate the distance…!
“I will decide the manner of your death! In this place, you are not God; Lord Zernix is God! Now, scream in despair! Please, beg for your life just once! Say you’ll be a faithful subordinate of this [Strongest Sorcerer]! Then I’ll spare you! It’s a promise!”
Zernix, who had been yelling with wicked glee, suddenly let out a groan from an unutterable pain.
‘My, my hand…?’
The hand gripping the core was melting away.
Due to intense heat, no, intense luminosity, the body constructed from the abyss could not endure and was dissolving.
Even within the viscous fluid of his body, the core flickered brilliantly, blindingly.
‘Th-this core… what exactly is this kid doing with this core right now?’
It's extraordinary…!
This intensity of light…!
‘This Blood-stained Cathedral is shaking. This isn't a tremor occurring in the earth's crust…!’
Being Zernix, the father of geometry, he knew for sure. This was a tremor happening in dimension itself.
“Cubic Transfer! Before you can do anything foolish, I'll just blacken and burst your internal organs!”
But, surely, he had definitely handed down the coordinate values to the magical mathematical formula… yet nothing happened.
“What?”
And that's not all!
The cube of current that had been roaring fiercely in his palm was disappearing into particles of magic!
“What, what have you done?! Was this core… not just used for control authority here?”
Shuan, repeatedly spewing fresh blood from the gaps where the core had pierced and from his nose and mouth, barely clung to his fading consciousness.
‘This… is the last resort of my life.’
A move to prevent that evil spirit from obtaining the ‘King’s power’… exchanging this one life for it.
‘I didn’t want to end this power, this life, like this.’
But… I, my miracles, lack the power to stop that evil spirit at this moment, so there is no choice.
‘It’s certain this isn’t the end times. However…’
This is one of the emergency sequences activated when a huge crack forms in Neigalath’s seal.
It changes the sealing location.
By transferring the Blood-stained Cathedral itself into a dimensional rift, it completely severs the flow between Neigalath and the present world.
‘If I can die after eliminating the true form of this evil spirit from history…’
Of course, with the Blood-stained Cathedral’s influence over the <Pillar City Larien> gone, the Reptilians might run wild, but it would be better than the worst-case scenario being triggered.
‘…Even if I’m insufficient to be called a descendant of the <Ones Who Came>, perhaps it was a life with its own meaning.’