<Episode 59>
Freezing, I remembered what happened in the forest last time.
‘My beloved younger brother. You were here.’
He appeared possessing the body of one of Riat’s subordinates, stared clearly at Ashamed, and said something completely unexpected.
‘Now I finally found you. You can’t even begin to imagine how desperately I’ve searched for you all these years. Why on earth are you blaming yourself for the faults of such an insignificant being? You are not some lowly creature….’
He continued to speak affectionately, but was stopped by Ilipia’s intervention and his resentment was revealed on his face.
‘I will not give up on you.’
‘Even if everything is destroyed, you will never be lost again.’
He looked at Ashamed with eyes full of intensity that were frightening and with those words he left the man’s body.
At that time, I couldn’t hear his real voice because he was possessing a human body…
As I recalled the memory of that day, which had become one of my unanswered questions, I bit my lip as I felt anxious.
[Are you making fun of me? why in the world are you hiding in the shadows and only speaking out a courtesy to your archenemy?]
Yuhirian showed his anger with his black golden eyes shining ferociously.
[You are just a mortal enemy. Yuhirian, you have been so arrogant since ancient times.]
A smooth male voice with a soft smile answered quietly.
[What…!]
[I respect your strength. However, we are only in a temporary struggle that will not last forever, and even Ignis, who is my natural enemy, is not as wanton as you.]
Ignis… it’s the name of the Spirit King of Light.
When he mentioned the King of Light, the natural enemy of Arkane, whom everyone acknowledged, Yuhirian shouted in anger like never before.
[Such a coward-]
[But you are a dear nemesis whom I haven’t seen in such a long time, so I don’t think it would be proper to let you go in vain like this.]
Unlike when they met in the forest, covered in human skin, he spoke in a calmer and smoother voice, cutting through Yuhirian’s frenzy as if nothing had happened.
…At that time, he was crying and shaking with joy.
[-and.]
At that moment, it was as if he read my inner thoughts.
[There are people I personally invited.]
The person Arkane was talking to changed from Yuhirian to me.
…Personally invited?
[If it’s counted by human time, it’s been quite a while since we last met.]
Could it be that he was the one who kept sending out the invitations?!
I was astonished by the realization that came to me like a lightning bolt, and looked up into the vast darkness where I could not see anything.
[ …You are the annoying child of Hakad-Ella’s child.]
The hair all over my body stood up at the sentence, which did not contain any good feelings.
Without even having time to be puzzled by the expression, “Hakad-Ella’s child,” I was seized with a chilling fear and recoiled.
The situation is different from then.
Currently, I can’t summon Ilipia or Naiad, and although I don’t understand why, Ashamed, who Arkane showed affectionate attitude to, was not by my side either.
Oried, no, that guy named Yuhirian possessing Oried was not good at protecting me. It seemed like Oried’s personality inside his body barely suppressed his intention to kill me in the first place!
I gritted my teeth and thought as I was in a desperate situation, with no way out.1That’s why, I am really disappointed with her for not learning how to use her prowers probably. Now, in any dangerous situations, she has to depend on others to rescue herself.
…..No matter how strong Meinhardt is, he is not Judith Sephemia Kandel.
It was better not to have any hope of being able to confront Arkane and drive him out like the heroes of the past.
[It is said Ilipia blessed you? That includes Naiad and Oried… … Is that all for harmony? Lore is at work again.]
Arkane spoke in a voice full of arsenic.
I was taken aback when he suddenly mentioned the name Lore.
…Why did the name of the Spirit King of Wisdom, from whom I wanted to find relevant information, pop up here?
[Did the man’s plan end up in vain? However, I don’t feel as bad as I thought. In a way, thanks to you, I was finally able to reunite with the child I had been desperately searching for.]
Arkane spoke in a slow tone, speaking of a story that only he knew, and then voiced a thank you that did not contain any gratitude at all.
[I would like to thank you for that.]
If he is taking about a child that he has been desperately looking for… Is he really talking about Ashamed?
What on earth is Ashamed to the Spirit King of Darkness that makes him so special to him?
I thought in extreme confusion.
Moreover, he even called Ashamed his brother.
What kind of nonsense is that?
How can a young human boy become the younger brother of a spirit king who has been around for over thousands of years?
[It thought you had no further use, so it would be easiest to kill you on the spot so that no complications can happen later….]
…..Kill who?
I, who had been struggling with my thoughts, was shaken by the words Arkane muttered, and waited with extreme.anxiety for his next words.
[I can’t do that now anyway, so you don’t have to be afraid. This means don’t tremble so much that everyone can see it.]
It was a friendly voice, but inside it, a cold, murderous intent for no apparent reason revealed its presence without bothering to hide it.
[I hate it when parasites struggle.]
And I froze and thought of the expression Arkane murmered as if he were lamenting.
……Parasites?
Was that really an expression to refer to a human being?
[The same goes for saying ridiculous things in front of me just to survive. I can’t kill you right away, so please don’t continue to go against my wishes. It makes me want to break my ban and bury your soul in the void right away so that it doesn’t come into my sight..]
And I was deeply moved by his remarks that followed.2Moved?? Hello, did your brain get fried from all the tension?
Arkane was never a spirit king who was friendly to humans.
So he and I had no choice but to be hostile to each other.
…Even if the end of this world approaches, Arkane and I will never have a friendly relationship.
[The business I had with you is finished. Then, Yuhirian, I know a suitable place to fight, so will you go with me?]
[What’s going on? You are the first to challenge me to a decisive battle….. Anyway, don’t take your words back.]
Yuhirian, who looked dissatisfied as he was completely excluded from the conversation for a while, accepted Arkane’s proposal without hesitation.
Then, the darkness that surrounded us on all sides and made it impossible to see even an inch in front of us shattered.
“……Ugh.”
Light suddenly poured into my eyes, which had adapted to the darkness.
I covered my eyes with my hands and moaned softly.
[….This place.]
When I opened my eyes to the sound of Yuhirian muttering, the sight that came into my vision was…
“….Snow Mountain?”
The Snow-covered peaks of the mountains were visible everywhere.
A huge plain stretched out vastly beneath my feet in the air.
[This is a bit earlier than the current time. In human terms, should it be said that this was the time when the ‘beginning of disaster’ arrived?…]
What?!
I opened my eyes in astonishment at Arkane’s explanation.
If it’s the beginning of a disaster… Wasn’t it a time of chaos where the entire continent was turned upside down to the point where it could then be said that the end is near?
What, now it’s not enough to be sucked into an illusion and being offered up as a human sacrifice, did we time travel?
“Meinhardt…What should we do now?”
“…..Let’s monitor the situation first.”
Mainhardt, who had been quietly watching the situation until now, answered calmly.
Whoosh–
Was there a storm coming?
I heard a huge humming noise and looked down at Meinhardt, and beyond the plain spread out far below my feet, I could only see darkness…
“……A bunch of them?”
There was a swarm of beings that could not be described in any specific way, whether it was a vulgar expression or something else.
“They are the descendants of Arkane.”
“……What?!”
And at Meinhardt’s words, I shouted, forgetting even about Arkane’s existence.
[…..What are you trying to do?]
Likewise, Yuhirian, who was staring with narrowed eyes at the black group that was getting closer, asked.
[If you and I fight directly, it is clear that not only the continent but also the axis surrounding the dimensions will crack, but I have other possible ways to neutralize the extent of causality.]
Arcane answered in a voice filled with laughter.
[I hope this will be a fun game.]
[..…What? So you brought me all the way here although you didn’t want to compete with me directly?!]
His gold-black eyes glowed ferociously with the humiliation and burning anger of having been thoroughly fooled, and Yuhirian began to scream out harsh curses that Oried could not have dared to imagine with his serious nature.
Anyway, Arkane let out a soft laugh.
Soon, the presence that had made the back of my neck feel cold disappeared as if it had completely disappeared.
“……Wait a minute, this….”
I muttered in panic.
Whether he picked on Yuhirian or not, it didn’t matter.
“Why did you drag us into the past?!”
We suddenly got stuck in the past!
And, that also in the midst of the most terrible times, with unprecedented chaos and disaster…..
“……Things have become dangerous. Even if Yuhirian is trapped in the past, it doesn’t really matter…….”
But not for us.
Meinhardt, who had been muttering in a stiff voice, swallowed the last words.
Meanwhile, Yuhirian, who had been fuming for a while as if his anger was not relieved, soon decided to trample on Arkane’s descendants.
Crack crumble-
He shook the very foundations of the earth and began to slaughter Arkane’s descendants at random.
[Aaaah-!]
In various places, the clay giants, the higher spirits of the earth, rose up and swept away the dark creatures that looked like swarms of black flies.
Yuhirian stood high in the air and brutally crushed the endless crowds of descendants of darkness by applying gravity.
Bam bang boom-
The blood was almost draining from my lips at the brutality of not only turning the ground upside down but also burying people alive.
Whoosh-
Meinhardt used the power of wind again to fly higher into the air.
Thus, we avoided the aftermath of the attack, but as we climbed to higher ground, we were able to understand how serious the situation was.
Due to Yuhirian’s rampage, the snowy mountains soaring high into the sky were shaking dangerously.
At the bottom of the snowy mountain, the altitude was so high that it looked like small dots gathered together, but if you actually got closer, there were cities scattered here and there that would have been large in size.
“…No way.”
It felt like the blood in my entire body was freezing.
I mumbled in confusion and came up with an ominous hypothesis.
The beginning of the disaster ended in the victory of humans, but in order to cause even a little more harm to humans…..was he doing this by dragging Yuhirian into the past?
“…..Nonsense.”
It’s probably just something that was happening along his course of actions without him having a care in the world.
But if what I think is true……..What kind of fierce malice was that?
“You, children of indestructible life, answer the call of the one whom you have blessed with an immortal heart. [Ilipia]!”
After much thought, I once again shouted the spirit summoning spell.
“No…..”
However, summoning was still not possible.
Is it impossible to summon a spirit if one travels to the past or is trapped under the domain of another spirit king?
I was so upset that I chewed my lips and looked down anxiously at the still precarious situation on the ground.
If I ever find myself in a situation like this again in, I will always feel this helpless.
…… Should I just be shaking my feet and not be able to do anything?
Meinhardt continued to use the power of the spirit.
It is possible for him to use only the power of the spirit without summoning the spirit.
However, I cannot yet use the power without summoning a spirit.
…It was all because I couldn’t maintain a permanent summons status.
“The situation is urgent.”
At that time, Meinhardt spoke in a firm voice.
“I will do my best to prevent harm to those around me, so you can find someone from the past who can help you.”
…..What?
***
TL:
Well, I am not sure how to feel about time traveling at this point, I mean it shouldn’t be that easy…
Anyway, this chapter is slightly longer than the last few ones, enjoy~
