<Episode 227 Hope (1)>
Celestial manifestation.
A unique ability that can only be used by those who have the authority to perfectly control the cathedral's bell tower.
The effect is to summon the heavens to this land, casting an area-wide buff like the bell tower of a cathedral.
This is the so-called upper belfry compatibility of the cathedral.
“······What did you do?”
“You'll know when you see it.”
I looked down at the drinker with my hand on the bell tower and sneered.
Kugugugugugugu-!
Behind me, the vague outline of a huge cathedral rippled.
Masin opened his eyes wide as he watched the cathedral gradually becoming clearer and more integrated with the bell tower he was holding.
Anyone who sees it will be shocked.
“Why? You don’t believe me?”
The night sky at dawn began to emit a bright light.
The land that had been ravaged by battle and turned into ruins had at some point become a beautiful garden.
“Or do you just not want to believe it?”
The world was changing.
A gigantic cathedral, engraved with beauty and seemingly forged with divine power, revealed its presence.
As if to bless the appearance of the cathedral, pure white birds that I had never seen before cried out loud.
“Well, if you really want to hear it from my own mouth, then I’ll have to answer.”
The beautiful hymns of angels echoed throughout the interior of the cathedral.
The light illuminating the sky grew more intense in time with the angels' singing.
The sky that had been covered with dark clouds has now regained its brilliant light.
“I summoned heaven.”
Celestial manifestation.
The heavens have completely fallen into the Middle Earth.
“······.”
The drinker's eyelids flinched.
Even with those subtle movements, I could tell what the demon was thinking. No, even if his expression hadn't changed in the first place, it was easy to guess his state of mind.
“You look like you want to ask how I summoned you. Is it that amazing?”
I couldn't help but be shocked when the absurd act of summoning the heavens happened right before my eyes.
“······You. Are you that Cheonma Tribe member from back then?”
Masin suddenly said something out of the blue.
What did you mean by that?
“No?”
I don't know, but I decided to deny it for now. Looking at me like that, Masin twisted the corners of his lips.
“Nonsense. There can’t be two people in this world who can’t see any information with their own eyes.”
You must have been convinced by seeing it for yourself.
But, I don't need to make a definitive answer based on that little guess.
“Well, maybe your eyes are just less capable than you think?”
Masin's eyes became sharper.
“Would you know? There might be three, four, or more beings that your great eyes cannot detect?”
Masin burst into laughter at my moderate provocation.
“That won’t happen.”
And then he said with a fierce air.
“Never.”
Then he pulled out a spear from the air. A simple spear, just dark. A plain black spear with no decoration.
“The root of all evil······.”
“You know very well.”
The only weapon that Masin has ever possessed.
A magic spear that possesses immense power despite its appearance.
A weapon that seems to have been forged with all the world's evil intentions, by condensing all the world's evil energy into metal.
That is the 'root of all evil'.
“I see you took it out, so it seems like you’re feeling a bit uneasy about the situation?”
Even the demon cannot use that weapon freely.
The fact that such a weapon was taken out meant that Mashin had lost all composure.
“You misunderstood. Heavenly Demon Tribe.”
Masin took a stance, holding the spear with both hands.
It looks like it's going to rush in at any moment.
“Anxiety is an emotion that only the weak feel. Therefore, I do not know anxiety.”
At that moment.
An ominous instrument rose from the demon's body.
It sways fiercely as if it is going to swallow me up at any moment.
“The reason I brought out the root of all evil is because of my absolute belief that I will definitely eliminate the ‘unknown number’ called you.”
I got goosebumps all over my body.
I'm just taking a breather, but I feel like I've already been killed several times.
It felt like the aura of death had taken the form of a monster and was putting my head in its mouth.
My limbs are trembling without me knowing it.
“······Well, I said I’m not from the Heavenly Demon Tribe.”
But now, I can't let this trembling get to me.
I desperately suppressed my trembling and spoke with a look of composure.
“Even if by some chance you are not a member of the Heavenly Demon Clan, the fact that you are an ‘unknown number’ that I must rule out remains unchanged.”
The momentum of the drink became even more violent.
A heavy, creepy aura is enveloping my entire body.
Even continuing the natural act of breathing is difficult.
If the cathedral behind me hadn't neutralized the demon's magic energy, I wouldn't have been able to keep my wits about me.
“You’re not wrong. Okay. I knew you wanted to kill me. I knew it······.”
The demon that holds the root of all evil was beyond imagination.
“Can you kill me?”
“······Do you think you are stronger than me?”
“No. That’s not it.”
If I were to fight a being like that 1:1, I'm confident I'd be defeated in under a minute.
“It means that it will be difficult to kill me unless you do something to the two people who are working hard to build up their strength next to me.”
But what if it's not 1:1?
“You. Do you look at us like some kind of barley sack that was thrown away?”
Ini, who has transformed into a red dragon, unleashes even stronger magical power.
“Yeah. I feel a bit like a sidekick, so I’m not happy about it.”
Next to him, a celestial being with an even more splendid appearance radiated divine power.
At the same time, thousands of holy spears rose up as if surrounding the demon.
“······The losers are proud, carrying the heavens on their backs.”
Of course, it's not like I didn't notice those two.
You probably knew that the two of them would be affected by 'Heaven', recovering their strength and receiving buff effects.
Nevertheless, he must have been confident in leaving those two alone.
“Once I took out this window, adding you two won’t change anything.”
The spear of the god of magic.
The 'root of all evil' roared as it emitted energy.
“I assure you, there is no way you can defeat me now.”
At the same time, an energy I had never seen before emanated from Masin's body.
A pure white energy that is the opposite of the magic of the demon.
'······That's?'
It is different from magic, from holy power, and from magical power.
It doesn't seem to have any special powers like a child's energy.
The power could be confirmed by Mashin's one word.
“The fate of this world was tilted toward my victory from the beginning.”
Fate power.
That power is the power of destiny.
I don't know why, but I felt confident about it.
“The more you entertain false hopes, the more you despair.”
As he finished saying those words, the 'force of fate' flowing through Masin's body emitted a fierce light.
And the next moment.
Kaaaaaaaaaang!
A fierce clash of metal against metal rang out right in front of my nose.
It was the sound of the sword of the heavenly god and the spear of the demon god clashing.
“Do you think such an obvious surprise attack would work?”
The surprise attack of the demon was blocked by the god of heaven. They both missed the movement for a moment because of how fast it was.
“······They say he has fallen, but is he really a god of the heavens?”
The sound of swords and spears clashing echoed through the air.
“On the other hand, you are in a bad situation.”
Masin sold me in that state. He must have been disappointed in me for not even showing any sign of avoiding the attack.
Of course, it wasn't unavoidable.
Even though it was fast, it wasn't so fast that I couldn't react.
I just didn't avoid it even though I saw it.
'If I take my hands off the cathedral bell tower now, there is a possibility that the celestial manifestation I have worked so hard to use will be released.'
That's why it couldn't be avoided.
I was also confident that even if I didn't move, the angel would step in and block the attack.
'······Well, it would be better if you just ignore me.'
I tried to act a little cowardly. Then, Masin's expression became even more sinister.
It's an expression of dissatisfaction.
At that moment.
『Come on, let's condense into formless energy and separate!』
As Ini spoke, the place where Masin had originally been standing became strangely distorted.
A sight that seemed as if a black hole had been created in that space.
I expected that the demon's body would be distorted by the spatially designated magic that was activated without any warning.
“I admit that the power has increased, but the sound is still loud.”
As if he had anticipated Ini's magic, Masin left the place in an instant.
I guess that's exactly what you expected.
The downside of the Dragon tribe is that the opponent can also sense the activation of 'Dragon Language'.
However, that doesn't mean you can't use verbs. Magic used without a spell is significantly less powerful.
“······Tsk.”
Ini clicked her tongue.
You must be upset.
Because Ini, the strongest member of the Dragon Tribe, would know better than anyone else the weakness of the Dragon's words.
Masin took up his stance again, clutching the 'root of all evil'.
“Then, Seo-Yul. I’ll ask you a favor.”
“You are the hope. You know that?”
In response, Cheon-shin and Ini each took a fighting stance.
“Yes. You two, be careful too.”
Both nodded at the same time.
Kiing! Kaang! Kwaaaaang!
Sharp impacts and loud explosions resonate from all directions.
The spears and swords of the demon and the celestial god clashed tens and hundreds of times per second.
Ini's magic explodes dozens of times per second.
'······This is the fight between the absolutes.'
Offenses and defenses that are so fast that it is hard to follow with your eyes, and so high-dimensional that it is hard to follow with your thoughts.
'Awesome.'
Is there anything I can do while stuck in between?
I hope it doesn't bother you.
'There's nothing I can do right now.'
My role is simply to use the 'Cathedral's Bell Tower' to use 'Heavenly Manifestation' and observe the Demon God in case the operation advances to the next stage.
'Thanks to the information from the unknown, I don't think there's any need to observe anything further······.'
Now that you know about the power of destiny, there may be something new you can learn.
'The more information, the better.'
I continued to follow the drinker with my eyes.
Kwaang! Kieeeeing! Kikkig!
A breathtaking workshop.
The battle continued to be evenly contested.
'I knew that the demon was strong, but······.'
I never thought it would be this much.
I can't help but be amazed at the power of the Demon God, who is not pushed back even when facing two people who are receiving celestial buffs.
'The pure white energy continues… I see the power of destiny moving, so it seems like they are creating and using the necessary skills at the right time and place.'
By the way, skill creation and destiny······.
'It seems certain that there are restrictions on [skill creation] using fate power, aside from one-time use.'
It's a paradox, though.
The fact that the fight between Mashin and Cheonshin is taking on a close match-up means that Mashin's skill creation is not an omnipotent power.
'If skill creation was omnipotent, then no matter how great the effect of Celestial Manifestation was, it would be meaningless.'
If Mashin's [Skill Creation] was omnipotent, he could have created a skill that nullified the celestial manifestation and used it.
He could have also created a skill like [Magic Realm Manifestation] and used it.
The biggest evidence of all is that we are not creating these skills.
'As its name suggests, the Power of Fate can only be used to correct the twists of fate.'
In addition to this, [Death Parade] would also be circumstantial evidence.
'It makes no sense that you can create a skill that can slaughter people with absurd power, like Death Parade, but can't create a skill that can nullify Demonic Realm Manifestation… or Celestial Manifestation.'
In my very personal opinion, I think the level between these three skills is roughly similar.
Therefore, it can be assumed that the power of fate has a dramatic effect only on the twists of fate.
'And the deaths of Cheon-shin and Ini have nothing to do with the twist of fate.'
Rather, it would be a twist of fate for those two to die now.
'That's why, even though Mashin uses the absurd power of [Fortune] and [The Root of All Evil], he can't defeat the celestial gods and Ini who carry the heavens on their backs.'
This is why the boiling battle continues.
A tear escaped from my eye.
'Okay, I get the gist.'
I have a rough idea of what the structure of the power of the demon is.
The harvest is bigger than expected.
'The only question that remains is… how do we defeat that demon? Is there a way to win?'
I understand the mechanism of fate.
The next question is how to break this mechanism.
'If the law of preservation of fate that has been established in this era is twisted, and the structure is such that the demon gains the power of fate······.'
It is expected that even after returning to the modern era, Masin will be able to use this power of destiny.
'The future of this world. The future of destruction was decided from the beginning, and in order to prevent that destruction, fate must inevitably be twisted.'
In that case, the person who drinks it will gain 'fate power' and become stronger.
And fate will be returned to its original course by the coercive power of the demon.
'To stop this, we need a way to counter the fate of the demon.'
Otherwise, there's no point in me struggling.
In the end, no matter what you do, you will just end up on parallel lines.
'The method is······.'
Kwaaaaang! Kieeeeing!
I continued to follow the battle with my eyes, listen with my ears, and accelerate my thoughts.
But of course, nothing came to mind.
There was no way I could immediately think of a way to deal with the force I had just defined.
'If only there was some hint······.'
If there were any changes in this battle, we could derive new information based on that information.
'Even if it's something very small, I'll be fine. If there's just one piece of information that could be a hint······.'
It was when I was thinking like that.
Pfft!
The cathedral's bell tower, which had been constantly being worked on for stability, emitted a soft light.
It was a signal.
It was a signal that the stabilization of the celestial manifestation had ended.
That means there's no need to touch the bell tower anymore.
'From now on, I will also participate in the battle.'
If you look closely, you will probably see new information.
And I could create variables with my own hands and extract new information.
With that thought, I took my hand off the cathedral bell tower.
At that moment.
A tremendous light radiated from my chest.
“······!”
“······!”
A splendid light that was noticeable not only to the three absolute beings, but also to the Four Holy Spirits and Seven Evils who were fighting in their respective positions.
The light enveloped me in an instant, and then disappeared as if it was absorbed into my body.
At that moment, I felt a strange sense of incongruity on my back.
I turned my head back.
“Six pairs?”
Before I knew it, my wings had grown by one pair to six pairs.
The changes didn't end there.
'The stigmata······.'
The stigmata on my chest.
The stigmata of the celestials also changed into a more beautiful and noble form, following the shape of the wings.
It was when my head became frozen in a sudden situation.
“This energy······ Could it be······.”
Masin's trembling voice rang in my ears.
“Is this an archangel?”
<Episode 227 Hope (1)> End
