<Episode 228 Hope (2)>
The world was covered in silence.
I feel various emotions from the gaze directed at me.
Affection, admiration, respect, longing.
Despair, fear, horror, jealousy.
The former were all emotions felt by people on the Savior side.
The latter were all emotions felt from the demons on the breaking side.
“This···thing······.”
Among them.
The emotions felt from Masin were the most diverse.
The expression of the absolute being, which possesses all three elements of expressionlessness, seriousness, and dignity, has completely disappeared.
All I feel now are emotions that come from confusion: bewilderment, wonder, and shock.
If things were as they were, I would have given that kind of person a refreshing and sarcastic gift······.
'What is this······?'
I wasn't in the right frame of mind to do that either.
Just like with Masin.
No, I'm more confused than Masin is.
'Why did the stigma suddenly evolve into a transcendent level?'
It was something I couldn't understand at all.
I thought it temporarily got stronger because of the buff from the Celestial Manifestation.
When I think about the effects of celestial manifestations analyzed by the Eden Stone, I think that's absolutely not the case.
Celestial Manifestation is a general buff that only increases abilities.
High-dimensional effects such as the evolution of stigmata cannot be expected.
'If it is not because of the celestial manifestation······. Is it because of the cathedral bell tower?'
I went back through all the things I did before the change happened to me and came to this conclusion.
'······That's right. The moment I took my hand off the cathedral bell tower, something changed in my body.'
The bell tower of the cathedral.
A treasure that represents the one world called Heaven, and a supreme artifact created along with the birth of the world.
'SS Rank. An artifact that is of a higher rank than [Chronos], a transcendent artifact.'
As a result of synchronizing that supreme artifact, the stigmata of the Celestials evolved from superior to transcendent.
This is not a wild hypothesis.
'Because Chronos raised the intermediate level by 100% and the upper level by about 10% more······.'
Could it be that the cathedral bell tower, which was in the position of chewing and swallowing that Cronus, was synchronized, and that the stigmata of the upper-level celestials evolved into the transcendent level in one breath?
'I knew from the beginning that high-grade artifacts showed high synchronization efficiency······.'
I never thought it would be this much.
It's possible to evolve from Advanced to Transcendent level in one breath.
'Anyway, this is a stroke of luck I've been hoping for.'
I looked down at the demon who still couldn't swallow his embarrassment and laughed inwardly.
'I can do this.'
* * *
The ground east of Alfheim.
A child who had just finished fighting was looking up at the sky.
He was staring at the Heavenly God, Dragon Lord, and Kang Seo-yool, who were fighting 1:3 with the Demon God in the Sky.
“Who is your husband? He really fights well.”
Among them, he looks at Kang Seo-yool and smiles faintly.
“······You bastard. You married a celestial while you were a dreamer?”
Looking at the child, Balrog, whose limbs were bound by the 'Branches of the World Tree' and the 'Sexy Star of Light', gritted his teeth and expressed his anger.
“Yes. Why is that?”
Balrog's expression became even more grim at the child's calm answer.
“This······. The shame of the Demon Tribe!”
Balrog shouted with a blush on his face.
“A demon with that level of power······to a celestial!”
"what."
The child snorted, letting out Balrog's anger.
“Does race matter? Love matters.”
While doing so, he shakes his head from side to side.
“Racial discrimination. Racial discrimination. Gender discrimination. These are real evils that exist in every era.”
Balok stares at him with an expression that says he has no answer.
“This······this! You must be aware of the history of the eternal war between the Demons and the Celestials! Even knowing that, you still go against the likes of the Celestials······!”
“Oh, I don’t know. Why should I care about such annoying things?”
The child waved his hand with a bored expression.
Balrog was speechless for a moment.
An expression that says he wants to say something more but doesn't know what to say.
It was an expression of looking at something that had no answer.
The child's expression as he looked at Balok was similar.
“I didn’t know that Lord Shirakawa was in a marital relationship with him.”
Teddy, who had been listening quietly from the side, added a word slyly.
“Yes! That’s right······.”
“You’re joking. From what I heard, you’re both single.”
Adele cut off the child's answer and answered firmly with a bright smile.
“No, Miss Adele. I don’t think you know.”
The child had a metal plate placed on his face.
“Really? Then let’s ask these two if it’s true or not.”
Adele turned her head with her usual smile and looked at where Geumho and Baekho were.
“Geumho. Baekho. Did this person marry your master?”
At that question, Geumho tilted his head as if to say, “What kind of nonsense is that?”
Baekho just laughed.
It's an expression that says something absurd.
“But you say no?”
“······Tsk.”
The child pouts.
I tried to gradually establish facts from this point on, but I failed from the very beginning.
“Mong···Ma······year······.”
Suddenly, Lucifer's voice became low. It was a cracked voice that sounded like he was going to die at any moment. It was a bloody, hoarse voice.
“You were just passed out the whole time, so why did you wake up again?”
Lucifer opened his eyes.
Naturally, Lucifer, like Balrog, is also tightly bound.
“You fucking bitch!”
Lucifer, who had no part of his body that was clean, desperately chewed and swallowed the pain and hurled curses at the child.
“There he goes again.”
The child sighed.
“Excuse me. This is your first time meeting me. Why are you so anxious and unable to kill me?”
The child asked in an annoyed tone. Although he did hit Lucifer once in modern times.
This is the first time I've met Lucifer from the past.
There is no reason to be resented like this.
“First time? Nonsense. I··· remember······.”
Lucifer's originally red eyes became even redder as they filled with blood.
“The strange collapsed buildings… the bugs that swarmed me ridiculously…! You… you bitch who insulted me in the middle of it all!! No matter what happens to me… I’ll… you and that guy… Cough! Cough!”
Lucifer shouted like that and started spitting out blood.
As I was venting my anger in a physically unhealthy state, blood started to spurt out on its own.
“······What did you just say?”
The child approached Lucifer with surprised eyes. Then he grabbed Lucifer by the collar, who was bound with his limbs and unable to move anything except his mouth.
'A collapsed building. Bugs swarming. And resentment toward me.'
That must be a resentment towards himself for beating up Lucifer, who was released from the seal in modern times, like a dog on a hot day.
“Heh heh. There’s something… Cough! Keuheuk!”
Lucifer stopped sneering and started coughing up blood again, then lost consciousness again.
“Tsk.”
The condition does not look good.
From the wounds to the complexion, it wouldn't be strange if he died right away.
“Sir Adele. Could you please give me some diluted potion?”
"yes."
The order given to Kang Seo-yool is to capture Lucifer and Balrog.
He strongly warned them not to kill him, saying that if they did, something big would happen.
That's why I took the trouble to capture these two.
“That’s enough. I won’t die.”
The child who noticed that Lucifer's complexion had improved slightly stopped Adele's treatment.
Adele also quickly put the potion into her hand and stepped back.
“Stop insulting me any longer and kill me!”
Balrog shouted, biting his lip. Although he was better than Lucifer, Balrog was not in great shape either.
“If you guys are warriors too… Cool!”
When I raise my voice, my voice cracks and I start coughing naturally.
“That’s right. No matter what you say, I won’t kill you.”
The child now waved his hand with an expression that seemed to indicate he was really annoyed.
“Whether it’s the honor of a warrior, the humiliation of a loser, or the courtesy shown to a loser, what could be more important than His command?”
The top priority in a child's mind is Kang Seo-yool.
“So don’t waste your energy and just shut up.”
The child looked away from the two and up at the sky.
He looked at Kang Seo-yool flying in a beautiful orbit, flapping her six pairs of wings, and his eyes lit up.
“If some annoying background music is played, this beautiful scenery will be ruined.”
A pitch-black darkness that expands its influence with the momentum of denying everything in the world.
A single ray of light shining brightly with the will to burn away the darkness.
And a slightly weaker light and a clear red color chasing that bright light.
Everyone couldn't help but be amazed by the sight, and the first thing that came to mind was 'beautiful' even though it was a battle.
“······I thought I had caught up a lot. But I still have a long way to go.”
Adele laughed bitterly.
I thought I had grown tremendously thanks to the blessing of [Breaking Through Limits] from Kang Seo-yool.
When I actually saw Kang Seo-yool's fight, I realized that I was nothing.
In the end, he just became a butterfly from a chrysalis.
Kang Seo-yool was just a falcon, the ruler of the sky from the beginning.
That was all there was to it.
“In dreams and in reality······there is no difference.”
When I always thought of myself as helpless, both in my dreams and in reality, the bitterness doubled.
“······Hmm.”
The child pretended not to hear Adele's monologue, and muttered to himself.
'It seems that all the people who were related to Seo Yul in modern times are going through the same changes.'
Adele, Teddy, Cheon-shin, Aqua.
Here, Lena completely regained her modern memories.
Lastly, Lucifer seems to vaguely remember something about the modern times.
'It's certain that Mr. Seo Yul is the cause.'
Why does this synchronization of memories occur?
I'm worrying for no reason.
'There's definitely some huge secret······.'
It was when the child's eyes were shining like that.
“It looks like they’ve reached a conclusion on that side too.”
Queen Illina, who had been quietly concentrating and becoming one with the World Tree, opened her eyes.
“The four constellations?”
"yes."
“Hmm. Did it take a while?”
“Even though the situation was already tilted thanks to the buffs from Heaven, capturing them is another story. We were also short by 4:5. I think it can’t be helped that it took some time.”
“Hmm. Now that I hear it, that’s true.”
The child immediately understood.
“Anyway, did they succeed in capturing the remaining five Seven Evils?”
"yes."
Lucifer here, just like the order to capture Balrog.
On the other side, Kang Seo-yool also ordered the 'capture' of the Chil-ak executives.
The reason was not specifically explained.
He simply said, 'We have to do it,' and emphasized several times that we must capture them alive. If capturing them is difficult, it would be better to just buy time.
“But why did you insist on capturing the executives?”
Adele asked what she had been wondering all along.
“Um. Well.”
The child was talking nonsense.
Actually, I had some guesses, but there was no need to explain it to them.
'The reason Mr. Seo Yul ordered not to kill the executives was probably because of the power of fate.'
The information about the power of the demon that I heard when I met Unknown earlier.
If we analyze and judge this situation based on that information, this is the only result we can come up with.
'Is it like if you defeat a general, the fate of the demon will increase or something like that?'
It was a conclusion close to the correct answer that could be reached because Kang Seo-yool is a child who has talked to me more than anyone else in this era and shares more than 90% of the information with me.
That was when.
“I don’t know why you would want to go back when you could take the easy way.”
“······!”
Suddenly a man's voice rang out from behind.
Familiar low and mid tones.
A voice I heard just a little while ago, before I came here.
"······boss."
Unknown appeared, snickering behind the child.
“What do you think is the opposite of rational choice?”
And then he started saying something out of the blue.
“Irrational choice? No.”
Then he strokes his chin and glances at the four people and two others who are wary of the unknown.
“The opposite of rational choice is ‘Jeong.’”
Unknown's expression became cold.
“People make mistakes in judgment because of their feelings. They fail to kick out people they should, and they miss the timing when they should break up and end up regretting it.”
“What are you saying all of a sudden······.”
The child, sensing something ominous, took a fighting stance.
“As a result, we are forced to make irrational choices.”
However, Unknown's actions were even faster. Unknown, who had already moved behind Teddy, swung his dagger.
“······!”
Kiiing!
Teddy quickly swung his sword and blocked the dagger aimed at his neck.
“That’s the situation right now.”
“Coolook!”
The unknown dagger was piercing Teddy's heart.
“Teddy Sir!”
Choaaaaaaah!
Teddy falls to the ground, bleeding profusely as he pulls out his dagger.
There was no longer a single ray of light in Teddy's eyes as he rolled on the floor.
“······Was this your intention from the beginning?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m asking if you were planning to betray me like this from the beginning.”
“Well, I don’t really remember betraying anyone.”
Unknown made an exaggerated gesture. Adele and Queen Illina glared at Unknown with hateful eyes.
“How shameless to say something like that in this situation······.”
The child also glares at Unknown with a poisonous gaze.
“That’s unexpected. I don’t know about other people, but I thought you would notice.”
Unknown pointed to the sky with his hand expressionlessly, as if he didn't care about the gazes of the two elves.
“My actions are not betrayals, but help.”
It refers to the place where the four absolute beings, including Kang Seo-yool, are fighting.
“What nonsense is that······.”
It was when the child was about to growl viciously.
Shudder.
A noticeable change was detected in the child's sense of smell.
“I see you noticed.”
“What is this······?”
Unknown raised the corners of his lips in front of Teddy's corpse, looking into the trembling eyes of the child.
“The power of the demon······has become weaker?”
Unknown coldly sneered as he looked at the surprised child.
<Episode 228 Hope (2)> End
