Chapter 264
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‘Tell me something more helpful, System.’
As if to show off, I burned my aura even more, as if it were my life.
[‘Scales that Judge Souls’ groans.]
[‘Creative Economy Manager’ sighs.]
[‘Heavens’ Secret Overseer’ holds their forehead.]
Reed’s voice kept trying to control me.
“You need to think about the divine fever. Don’t overdo it, Aillet Rodelain.”
At the moment his seemingly kind words pierced through the air and reached my ears, his slash aimed for my neck.
This level of loathsomeness was nothing.
I parried the demonic sword with my scythe blade and simultaneously extended the flexible scythe blade along its vertical axis, swinging it like a tail.
“Don’t pretend to be at ease, Reed.”
Reed, who had deflected my counterattack, laughed.
“Was I found out?”
I wondered if this was a rare, straightforward answer.
“Of course I’m not at ease. I’m excited to be with you soon.”
“……”
I couldn’t dismiss it as mere mockery or deception. I silently put another candy in my mouth.
The remaining tranquilizers were two.
As always, in battle with Reed, time was not on my side.
How could I make him retreat from here?
It was then, as my thought process furiously spun.
[‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’ exclaims that it has found a way to restore your condition!]
“……!”
My God had opened a path for me.
‘Voice-Spirit, quickly!’
[‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’ states that it will personally cleanse your demonic energy.]
[‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’ says that for that to happen, you must……]
I listened to the continuing explanation.
“……”
It demanded something that would require quite a bit of overexertion. Nevertheless, my mood was surprisingly calm as I listened to the divine message.
[‘Scathing Critic of Balance’ says it’s dangerous enough to risk your life.]
[‘Scales that Judge Souls’ asks if there is truly no other way.]
The answer would be unnecessary. The recent proposal would be the best option.
[‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World’ asks if you can do it.]
‘I have to.’
So I’ll trust you and go, Voice-Spirit. Please, save me.
Regripping Librilly, I moved far out of Reed’s attack range.
As we maintained a standoff with sharpened vigilance, Reed’s eyes narrowed.
“Your gaze seems different. What is my uncontrollable variable planning to do now?”
“Quick resolution.”
At my short and blunt answer, his eyes also changed. His suspicion quickly turned into displeasure towards me.
“How do you plan to do it?”
“……”
“Surely not self-harm again? If so……”
As if recalling the ‘Proclaimer of Activation Commands’ skill, Reed unleashed his power and prestige.
<Aillet!>
At the moment Agnes warned me, dozens of black aura blades manifested around Reed.
Leading an elite army of flying swords, he threatened me.
“I’ll need the demonic sword’s recovery ability. I should offer sacrifices in advance.”
His swords were commanded to slaughter and flew out of the Coliseum. It was a ploy to gorge themselves on blood.
I, too, conjured sword manifestations with aura blades around me.
They clashed with Reed’s flying swords and annihilated each other. Explosions erupted in succession from left to right in my vision.
As the forces of both sides completely neutralized each other, Reed and I once again engaged in close combat.
I finally gave him my answer.
“I have no intention of doing that.”
Only then did Reed’s eyes relax slightly.
“Then, is it that again?”
“……”
“The Demon Realm’s dump?”
Reed deliberately rolled his eyes, glancing to the right.
His gaze was directed at the audience seating. Specifically, at the massive rift located there.
Immediately after I regained my will, the ghostly hands that tried to drag Tesillid away disappeared.
However, the hole leading to the Demon Realm’s dump remained, not fully closed, revealing a swamp-like, squirming sub-space.
Reed pressed harder, grinding his sword against mine.
In that state, he feigned an expression so tender it felt like his heart would melt.
“Ah, are you trying to abandon me?”
“No.”
“……I didn’t expect that to work.”
Instead of a sarcastic laugh, I corrected his misunderstanding.
“This time, I’m trying to push you somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?”
The playful look on the handsome man’s face faded.
A mechanical, expressionless face. I knew that was the greatest turmoil he could show.
His persistent eyes sought information from me.
Without averting my gaze for a single moment, I opened my mouth.
“Pantheon. Open.”
The heavens responded to the promised activation phrase.
[
Holy light poured from the jet-black moonless night sky. The light, molded by the invisible hands of the Creator, was soon given a specific form.
It was a beautiful and majestic triumphal arch, as if it were the entrance to heaven.
“Th-that’s……”
Reed, who had turned to look behind him, froze in place. It was a clear opening.
However, I wasn’t given the leisure to press him.
This was due to the backlash of activating 9th Divine Power Tier, which struck my entire body.
“Guh.”
The divine power raged within my body, which had been modified into a vessel for a Demon King. My heart and lungs pounded like mad.
It felt as if all the blood in my veins had been replaced by molten iron and was flowing in reverse.
Staggering, I widened the distance from Reed, and in a sensation like exploding, I had to swallow blood several times.
It was then.
Thump, thump, thud-thud-thud-thud…
The massive Gate of the Pantheon began to open sideways. Pure white light poured out, turning the moonless battlefield into midday.
“Ha……”
A sigh-like chuckle brushed past my ears.
Reed, whose soul was captivated by the sight of the Pantheon. His eyes opened to their widest extent, as if he had discovered something in the light.
“Aillet Rodelain, what have you……”
“Reed.”
I cut him off with the gentlest address I was allowed.
As he turned his head back to face me, I said,
“Let’s go back into the light.”
“……”
“Together.”
Though we couldn’t wander in the abyss together, we could melt into the light together.
“……”
For an eternity-like instant, his gaze was intensely fixed on me.
Now was my chance, as he had forgotten to react and was staring at me.
Crash!
I charged at Reed, putting the Queen’s monstrous strength into my rush.
The aura condensed in Librilly converged into a single point, striking Reed.
“Ugh!”
Even Reed couldn’t help it, being directly hit in an almost defenseless state. His balance faltered.
I pushed Reed with my entire body, as if covering him.
Behind him, the Pantheon awaited us, its entrance wide open.
As we got closer, the divine power within my body felt like it was burning even more fiercely, using my cells as fuel.
At last, the immense gravitational pull from the gate assisted me.
Reed, who was helplessly being pulled into the light, belatedly regained his senses. He growled in the backlight,
“Aillet Rodelain, stop. If you go in there, you won’t be safe either.”
“I know.”
Reading my full resolve from my short answer, Reed fell silent. At that moment.
A light that seemed to burn my retina dominated my vision.
All our shadows were swallowed by the light. And then.
Kwooosh!
The Pantheon closed.
Swallowing Reed and me.
✠
The triumphal arch, as if crafted from purity, pristine white, and pure light, sealed shut seamlessly.
What had just moments ago been a whirlwind of war instantly transformed into a windless zone.
Despite the presence of countless spectators, all sound in the area completely died out.
The forces of various nations gathered to subjugate the Demon King. The situation they witnessed was clear:
Mutual destruction.
Sacrificial demise.
The Holy Saint, along with the black demonic swordsman, threw herself into the light that melted all evil.
Even the residual light pouring from the Pantheon possessed the power to melt the body of the Fallen Angel Nazriel like candle wax.
The inside of the Pantheon, the source of such holy light, was nothing less than the surface of the sun, incinerating all evil beings.
Even though she must have known that fact, the Holy Saint, who had become a Demon King, unhesitatingly pushed the black demonic swordsman into the Pantheon and threw herself in as well.
Furthermore, wasn’t her becoming a Demon King a curse she bore as a result of defeating Inferinos?
Even in her fallen state, she sought to defeat an evil entity once more and to destroy her corrupted self.
The people gathered on the Litniel Plain—no, the people of the Serentra Continent—owed the Holy Saint their lives three times over.
“Ah……”
After a long while, a sigh escaped someone’s lips.
A despondent atmosphere settled over the Litniel Plain, which had lost its hero.
“The Holy Saint has……”
“Your, Your Holiness……”
“Oh God…… why her……”
Several people slumped to their knees. The disheartened air gradually turned into solemn grief.
It was no different for the continent’s five powerhouses.
“My child……?”
Duke Hispenril looked dazed.
Marquise Lekandro and Fliegel Knight remained respectfully silent, not knowing what words to offer him.
Only Moriphis, whose emotional mechanisms were not normal, and Saintess Muriel, whose very existence was not normal, observed the situation with relative calmness.
“Hoo, what a wondrous gate. A pathway to another world materialized by divinity.”
“……Indeed.”
Muriel couldn’t take her eyes off the pure white triumphal arch, emanating divine power.
Her gaze was both captivated and persistent.
“Ugh……”
Around that time, Tesillid regained consciousness in a pool of blood and sat up.
This was thanks to his comrades from the Silver Citadel Knights, who had already come down to the audience seating and further treated and supported him.
“Tesillid! Are you awake?”
“Brother, are you alright?!”
The voices of his comrades didn’t properly reach Tesillid’s ears.
“……The child?”
None of his comrades dared to answer.
It was then. The battlefield, which everyone thought was over, shook once more.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!…
Vibrations, like a lashing whip, transmitted through the ground. The source was obvious.
The Gate of the Pantheon, still emitting powerful divinity and guarding the battlefield.
The tightly sealed gate began to open sideways.
The moment a narrow gap, barely wide enough for one person to slip through, was created, the Gate of the Pantheon seemed to spit out a dark figure into the mortal world.
Privilege for Possessors