Chapter 153: Please Wish Humanity Good Luck
So, you really are dead…
I took another look at the corpse – dry and shriveled, bl**d drained completely, a sight so eerie it sent shivers down my spine. It was the body of Romani Doctor.
And beneath her lay those twisted bodies, all employees of the experiment who must’ve known too much about the fate they were entangled in.
“You guys really died in a…”
A self-indulgent manner, perhaps? Or something else entirely – honestly, I didn’t know what I wanted to say. My mind was a chaotic mess, and so my words trailed off halfway, never to be finished.
Romani…
What else could you possibly tell me, now that you’re dead?
You said it was something only I could accomplish…
I returned the note to the music box, took one last glance at the golden orb, and then picked up that letter – or rather, a larger piece of parchment – that had been resting on the stone table. Holding it in my hands, I took a deep breath and slowly unfolded it under the soft glow of the white branches.
The pages were filled with hasty, scrawled notes.
I read a few lines quickly, and as expected, it was once again addressed to me.
[It’s over.]
[Cardinal Michel has failed, and I am about to follow in his footsteps – perhaps that’s too presumptuous of me, we still have a slim chance, but I know I won’t survive to see you again. It’s alright, this is the ending I anticipated all along.]
[If you’re reading this letter, then listen closely to what I’m going to say next.]
[Gidales have a characteristic entirely unlike any other creature in this world; their flesh is not immortal, but as long as the Fire Seed remains, they can endlessly reshape their bodies.]
[In other words, the Fire Seed is their origin, and you should already be aware of this. However, the documents you’ve perused might not clarify it fully; the relationship between Gidales’ flesh and the Fire Seed, call it Spirit if you like, is not as simplistic as we think. If their bodies are not immortal, then eliminating the Fire Seed would cause the Gidales to perish; many documents record this as fact, and it once was, but it is not the whole truth.]
[Among them, a select few have been granted names by the Ancient Deities. Simply killing the Fire Seed does not necessarily mean they will d*e; rather, they would fall into a far worse state.]
[Without the Fire Seed to constrain them, their flesh would become insane. And because Gidales confer divine power to their bodies, they often grant various parts of themselves – their eyes, horns, nasal bones, even their spines – some kind of powerful and special ability.]
[After the Fire Seed dies, these abilities do not vanish; instead, remaining fragments of the Fire Seed’s will will strive to spread their essence, like sowing seeds, through the mighty capabilities their flesh possesses.]
[They will scatter these seeds to every corner of the world in ways humans can hardly understand, and then patiently await the blossoming of their power. Those seeds will absorb life energy in a manner unique to their parent (the dead body) and then grow and evolve.]
[Ultimately, the strongest seed, having absorbed enough energy, will blossom. At that time, that seed will become the reborn Fire Seed, allowing the dead Gidales to awaken once more.]
[If my explanation is still unclear, then let me put it plainly: the seed of the Goddess of Sin, Diana, is an Angelic Egg, and the Mother Deity is the Abyss.]
[Do you understand?]
[If the person reading this letter is you, Peilo, unfortunately, you’ve become the blossoming Fire Seed of the Mother Deity. This is not the result we desired, and I will explain in detail shortly, but if you are not Peilo, then you need not read further; it’s all utterly over.]
[Go home, if you still can, spend time with your family, as your time left is running short.]
…………
Above the plateau, the haze thickened, the swirling black clouds overhead restless and agitated, accompanied by the booming sound of thunder from beneath the cloud cover. An old man suspended mid-air screamed while flailing his arms wildly, feathers of the Holy Lance shooting off in every direction.
Sword Demon Anna Sylys maintained a calm expression, skillfully evading attack after attack, weaving around in the flickering lightning. Each time she struck, thunder crashed down from the sky, but an invisible wall of energy prevented it from breaking through. She could feel her breath quickening.
Clang—
In the next moment, she heard a melodious ring of a blade.
Crack!
Immediately after, it seemed that the air wall surrounding the old cardinal suddenly cracked. Anna heard the sound, but since the wall was invisible, she couldn’t be too sure. All she could see was the elderly man floating above her, his previously vacant gaze widening in shock.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, the rush of wind howled, and that old man appeared at her side.
One-armed, in wide cloth pants, with a simple, down-to-earth face, the old farmer stood poised.
With one hand, he bore a sword that sang with the wind, his wiry torso bare save for a menacing black scar on his chest, dead smoke slowly rising from it.
“Michel, stop.”
The old farmer looked at the cardinal and said, lifting his sword for another strike. Anna couldn’t quite catch the motion of his strike, nor the sharp blade he wielded.
Just as a sharp whistle of wind echoed, she heard a “crack” from Michel’s side, the sound like shattering porcelain. “Hand over the relic. We had an agreement, or else the next strike is going for your head.”
As the old farmer spoke, a trickle of bl**d slowly appeared across Michel’s shocked face. “You… you… it’s you, it’s you—”
He pointed at the old farmer, shouting in horror: “Sword Saint Ryan! Why! Why are you even—! How did you break through the absolute defense of Reverse Termination? This is impossible! Impossible—!!”
Sword Saint Ryan!
Anna’s eyes widened in unison.
“I’m not breaking the relic’s defense; I’m merely breaking yours. Michel, over the years, your power of faith has remained weak as ever.”
“Ahhhhhh—!”
Michel screamed in terror and turned to scramble away. It was as if he were crawling on flat ground even while suspended in mid-air, and the sight was so ludicrous it made one chuckle.
But in the next instant, the old man flew up and landed right before him.
…………
In the depths below, I continued to read Romani’s letter:
[I presume the person reading this letter is you, Peilo. Yes, you’ve figured it out: the Fire Seed of the Mother Deity is already dead. This was the outcome of our ancestors, as the Church thought that as long as the Fire Seed was destroyed, the Gidales would perish completely, and their bodies could be forged into new Divine Reliquaries.]
[They made a grave mistake; although they tried their best to rectify the situation afterward, it was too late. The corpse of the Mother Deity fell into complete madness. The natural powers, intended to nurture all living things, transformed into the Chaotic Fire of Destruction that burned forth clouds of dead smoke, scattering shards of will, and the Abyss was born.]
[The fate scheme of the Church originated on that premise. You know you are not a true “Abyss Creation”; you are the finest experiment we created. I must first explain the reasoning behind this undertaking—the catalyst for the entire fate scheme. Regardless of how many personal reasons later arose, its original intent was because the Church exhausted all efforts and still could not erase the corpse of the Mother Deity completely.]
[Possessing Chaotic Power made it unreasonably powerful; able to merge with all flames and extinguish d*ath smoke, no one could k*ll a corpse protected by either of these forces. Moreover, as the Abysses consumed more lives, the power of the corpse grew stronger; it was a long, drawn-out process, but for us, it is urgent.]
[The prototype of the fate scheme was birthed from a simple yet audacious thought: as the Temple Council gradually unraveled the reasons for the Abyss’s creation, they hoped to replicate those methods to create an existence on the side of humanity that feared neither dead smoke nor Chaotic Fire.]
[Though we cannot k*ll it, we can injure it. With Reverse Termination in hand, we have the chance to extract flesh from the corpse and then experiment and research with that flesh, trying to create a version of the Abyss on humanity’s side in an effort to annihilate the corpse completely.]
[Though much has changed since then, our ultimate goal has remained unchanged. Yet, after a hundred years of study and the efforts of three generations, we have produced no results; all we created were monsters of the Abyss, until your arrival, Peilo. It was you who broke the chains binding us all. It was you who brought us the hope of success.]
[Therefore, following the incident in the Land of Dragons, your d*ath plunged us all into despair and gloom. After you, we didn’t stop trying to create more beings like you. But including Iliush, all our attempts failed.]
[Once they accepted the Chaotic Power, no one managed to escape their craving to consume, and in that moment, their will was entirely replaced by pieces of the Mother Deity’s will.]
[Now, do you realize how significant you are?]
[Listen, Peilo, I know I’m a selfish person; I don’t deny it. I’m not afraid to admit that my role in the fate scheme is not out of loyalty or any noble desire to save humanity; you know that.]
[Deep down, I’m someone who only thinks of myself and would sacrifice everything else for my own sake. I harbor no empathy for those deceased patients; if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be able to persist in this line of work. The same goes for you.]
[Everything I do is merely because I want to leave a mark in history; for future generations to remember the name Romani. I am the conductor of The Choir of Saints, and my position means I must remain in the shadows forever. I am unwilling to accept that, and that is all.]
[So go ahead, hate me if you wish, but no matter your reason for hating me, understand this: what I’ve done is not evil, at least not in its intent.]
[Now, listen closely. We once believed creating you would allow you to eradicate the corpse, and we, humanity, could win. But later, we discovered it wasn’t like that. The damned Gidales, an existence we can never truly understand or grasp, even with only fragments of consciousness, it still knows what we are doing; it still knows!]
[We were duped, everyone was duped. That thing learned long ago how to conceal itself and deceive us. The first Abyss from hundreds of years ago, the one of destruction, contained its strongest will fragment. We never managed to k*ll it completely; that seed has now grown into a towering tree, where countless wills converge, and they will work there to create a new flesh for the Mother Deity, awaiting the complete awakening of the Fire Seed.]
[You are not its complete Fire Seed; the current you is the only one who hasn’t returned to the big tree, the most powerful seed.]
[And it’s waiting for you to return; you are its last step.]
…………
“…Teacher.”
When Ryan returned near the church with the struggling Michel in tow, Carlos looked at the older man’s chest, which was almost completely consumed by dead smoke. He held back his sadness and asked, “Was it worth it?”
“There’s nothing to weigh against worth.”
The frailness on Ryan’s face was glaringly evident. He coughed a couple of times and said, “I have long since been a withered husk. Now, being corroded by Chaos, I know I won’t endure long. Instead of dying without meaning, I’d rather give it one last desperate shot.”
“But—”
Carlos hesitated a moment. “Teacher, I don’t understand. If you want to save her now, why did you want to k*ll her before?”
Upon hearing this, Ryan gave him a sidelong glance.
“Long before you came here, I had a conversation with the doctor beside the Pope. Her name was Romani.”
The old man continued, “At that time, the Holy City was not yet sealed off, but there were unmistakable signs of the Mad God’s resurrection. Before Angel decided to lock the city and entered the underground prison, Romani sought me out once and told me what she and the Pope were about to do.”
“She said that Angel was putting everything on the line, planning to make a final attempt to k*ll the Mad God. This wasn’t the Church’s first attempt, but it could well be the last.”
“She told me about the relationship between Gidales and the Fire Seed, mentioning that the girl named Peilo was currently the only Fire Seed that hadn’t returned to the Mother Deity. If the Mother Deity consumed her, then the disaster would awaken entirely, with no turning back.”
“But conversely, if we could k*ll her before the Mother Deity devoured her, then the Mother Deity would lose her most powerful Fire Seed forever. Though the destruction of the Holy Wall would be irreversible, at least this would buy humanity many years of respite and preparation time.”
“However, Romani also said that since she is the strongest Fire Seed, perhaps the only one capable of killing her is me – or even I might be powerless…”
“If that’s truly the case, then all we can do is take a last gamble on whether that girl will be consumed. She said she would leave a letter for her at the end, informing her what she should do, and the rest would be left to fate.”
“So…”
Carlos frowned. “Is it Romani who made you, Teacher…”
“No.”
The old man shook his head gently. “She merely presented the facts we were facing and informed me of what they intended to do. That’s all.”
He then turned his gaze to his disciple. “Carlos, I am the same now. I’m telling you this, and how to proceed from here is up to you.”
…………
Meanwhile, at the bridge, nearing the edge of the broken pathway, Tarlasya panted heavily, his sword aimed at the fallen Meteor Shower.
Both were utterly exhausted and covered in wounds. Tarlasya looked down at his dazed teacher and croaked, “Teacher, you’ve lost.”
Magipanny was pale blue, her lips quivering. She looked at the man, wanting to say something, but ultimately, nothing came out.
…………
[A good point is that you’ve completely broken free from its control, and I think that’s how it is. So, we still have a chance. I’m going to tell you how we can k*ll it, if you’re willing.]
Down below, Romani’s letter was nearing its conclusion.
[Use Sin Fire.]
[Chaotic Power is ineffective against it, and the power of order hardly grazes it; only Diana’s miracles, the powers of sin, are the most effective against Chaos.]
[However, we can no longer do what we did back when we sealed Diana: forcibly separating the Fire Seed and the corpse into two realms to sever their connection. We cannot achieve that; humanity lacks such divine power.]
[But you do.]
[The Land of Dragons has vanished, and that Storm Tree has disappeared along with it, but it’s in your hands, isn’t it?]
[Use it.]
[Before the corpse of the Mother Deity merges with you, before the Fire Seed truly awakens, bring it into the Dragonland, severing the connection between the corpse and external will. There, annihilate it; turn it to ashes.]
[Then the Gidales will perish.]
[Its will will dissipate along with it.]
[Among those wills, perhaps, is yours too.]
[You will certainly d*e; unlike the circumstances with the Goddess of Sin, at that time, you would have replaced the half-damaged divine body within the Land of Dragons. You are not infused with the will of the Goddess of Sin; you lack the Angelic Egg, so even if you obliterate and completely devour Diana’s powers, the heretics will d*e alongside it, but you will not.]
[But you embody the will of Chaos.]
[I deeply apologize for letting things evolve to this point; this was not the result we wanted, but it is the reality we must face.]
[I have no right to ask anything of you here. I actually contemplated not writing this to you, but after much hesitation, I still decided to include it. I will leave this choice to you; consider it my last act of redemption before d*ath.]
[I bequeath you the Divine Reliquary “World,” contained within that tiny music box. The Land of Dragons faced a curse; the divine power it harbors is sufficient to contain that half-damaged body of Diana, but may not be able to trap the entire Mother Deity’s bulk.]
[And as for World, Reverse Termination, and the Chain of Divine Lock, like the Land of Dragons, they are powers left behind by the Ancient Deities. Therefore, please merge them.]
[Merging them, destroy the Mother Deity. Annihilate that crazed filth, so that the world may have no disasters henceforth.]
[Or, if you wish to survive, then run away, far away. I cannot determine whether you will ultimately escape this doom; perhaps you can, perhaps you cannot, I simply do not know.]
[So make this choice yourself.]
[Alright.]
[Now, I must proceed with my final reckless experiment. From the failure of Cardinal Michel, I found another possible method, which may allow us to completely break free from the will of Gidales.]
[That method sounds complex, but it’s actually quite simple. Next, I will join with everyone still remaining here, and we will offer our flesh and bl**d, using the remnants of the Goddess of Sin as a medium, attempting to envelop Angel in the power of Infernal Fire.]
[This is the first time I am doing this; I do not know if I will succeed.]
[Please wish humanity good luck.]
