Once, Lusher was the most prosperous city on the Terra continent, but now it has become the most quietly shining city.
Amidst the ruins of the fallen Luminous Kingdom’s Palace, something had been emitting a soft light for nearly a month without stopping.
It took the shape of a human.
With fiery red hair that looked like it was on fire, the man had a robust yet agile impression and sat motionless like a statue.
Yes, the expression of being like a statue was indeed appropriate. It wasn’t that he was exceptionally handsome, but rather that he lacked a bizarrely human feeling.
Only the broken armor of a former knight nearby indicated that the man was once part of the Knight Order, yet it would be quite challenging to define a being pumping out a constant soft light from his entire body as merely human.
The light spread out throughout Lusher and began its origin in this very spot, making it truly deserving of being called a god of light.
Flash.
With no warning at all, the man’s eyes, which had sat still for a long time, suddenly opened wide. At the same time, the light that had been pouring out of his body began to gradually dim.
It wasn’t so much that the light disappeared as it seemed to be blocked from seeping out. The diminished waves of light soon converged into a faint halo glowing behind him.
“Hmm.”
The man with the red hair, Luminous, who fully possessed the body of the strongest knight, Jeref Parvian, expressed some dissatisfaction.
The 31st day.
Today marks the end of a wait that has lasted 31 days. This was three days later than the 28 days normally required for Luminous to settle into a new vessel.
“Surely, I overdid it.”
Luminous recalled that day from about a month ago.
Changing vessels was not something he hadn’t done before, but he had never performed a consciousness transfer under such uncertain and urgent circumstances.
Thanks to taking advantage of Randell as a whole, the ritual was completed without being interrupted too harshly. Still, he had pushed himself too much in dealing with the Fourth Progenitor with an imperfect body, and this was the result.
Although he had roughly regained his strength, considering the potential of his vessel, he was still far from performing at full power. To emerge in the most ideal and complete state, he would need at least three more days—but—
“It’s more than enough power to take care of the small fry.”
The Union Kingdom, having lost three vampires, including the Queen and Grand Duke level, could no longer hold him back. In fact, no matter who stood in his way on this ground, they would not be his match.
Although lions usually give their all when hunting rabbits, there are no lions that postpone their hunt out of fear of a counterattack from a wounded rabbit that is already cornered.
Luminous was well aware that no beings who posed a level of threat remained among humans. Was there any reason to delay any longer now that he could grasp every living human on this continent with just a reach?
Luminous immediately started to move. He judged that if he began to conquer from the nearest places as a warm-up, his strength would naturally recover over time.
Once a resident of Lusher and a follower of him, Luminous, who had now lost his ego and fallen into a divine power bomb, caught a strange reaction from nearby.
“You’re just floundering in futility. Well, it isn’t all bad.”
Luminous had already realized that Lusher had been completely surrounded.
That itself was not an issue at all. Whether ten thousand or a hundred thousand insignificant creatures gathered, it made no difference. He even expected that the Union Kingdom would not run away but would confront him instead.
However, sensing the presence of not only vampires but also beastmen, elves, humans, and even a significant amount of dragonkin threw him off balance, as no matter how much of a being he was, he hadn’t anticipated this level.
“Good. I shall deal with the evil that goes against the will of the gods personally.”
Luminous declared the end of the short peace that had lasted for 31 days. That day, the end of the humans trapped in Lusher was unleashed.
*
Yustelein was perplexed.
He was experiencing a confusion he hadn’t felt since battling the now-extinct giant’s progenitor. It was hard to believe that the one who had been the most perfect being in this world since the moment of birth, the Elder Dragon, was being unsettled by a mere dark spirit.
[You should stop now.]
Yustelein warned Aria Scarlet, the second queen of vampires and the avatar of the Fourth Dark Spirit.
Yet Aria paid no heed and ferociously stamped the ground.
From the perspective of the humans, her beauty, which could only be described as otherworldly, was already ruined by blood, ash, dust, and dirt, but the fierce will reflected in her ruby-like eyes had not faded one bit.
Three days. Although bound by the constraints of order, fighting against the diminutive life forms on the surface for a whole three days felt incredibly odd to Yustelein.
[Why go that far? Do you feel no pain?]
Driven by pure curiosity, Yustelein asked.
At this point, one might call it a bad fate. Yustelein had fought against other dark spirits aside from Aria.
The first vampire, Ophelia. However, even that battle-hungry being could not go to such extremes.
By raw measurements of strength, Ophelia would undoubtedly win.
But Aria wouldn’t fall. Even when her body was burned and crushed under rocks, or frozen and sliced by winds, she simply kept getting back up.
‘Was it a mistake to let the constraints be discovered?’
Thinking that perhaps he had been too complacent, Yustelein mused.
Yustelein had a duty.
The constraints of order and balance. The mission bestowed upon the first creation by the creator of this world.
When the age of myths had ended, and the diminutive creatures began to carry on the history, Yustelein was chosen to be the overseer who kept the overflowing strength of ancient beings who had reached the realm of transcendence from disturbing the new world.
That was the last obligation entrusted to Yustelein by the creator, and because of that, Yustelein couldn’t make choices that would directly disrupt the order and balance of the surface.
Even if it meant facing a being capable of turning him to dust in an instant if he had given his all for three whole days.
‘Cunning.’
Ophelia had been the easier opponent.
She had straightforwardly charged in, enjoying the very act of fighting. This battle-crazy being eventually reached the limit of her regenerative abilities and self-destructed. No matter how strong she was on the surface, she could never defeat Yustelein with mere strength. That made her somewhat annoying, but not unmanageable.
But Aria was different. She acted with a complete understanding of Yustelein’s intent and goals.
She thoroughly responded only to attacks that could incapacitate her and decisively avoided other assaults. And when he mixed in an attack severe enough to deliver a fatal blow, she shockingly did not evade, instead presenting her heart. Yustelein couldn’t even begin to express how taken aback he was.
With a position that meant he couldn’t kill her, Yustelein had no choice but to hold back his attacks. However, upon realizing that his strategy was effective, Aria pushed forward more cunningly and boldly.
In her decision-making process, it seemed that pain was not even a factor to consider.
It was bewildering. No matter how extraordinary her regeneration was, the instinct to avoid pain is inherent in any living being. Yet, judging by her actions, Aria seemed devoid of such instincts.
“I’m used to it.”
A quiet mutter, heard too late. Yustelein realized that this was an answer to his earlier question.
“I’m used to enduring pain.”
With a calm statement devoid of embellishment, Yustelein finally recognized Aria not as a fleeting amusement from the surface, but as a true individual.
And in that moment of acknowledging her as a sentient being from the surface, Yustelein caught a glimpse of Aria’s soul.
[Indeed.]
Her soul was torn, wounded, and tattered. It was not perfect but bore the marks of desperation from having persisted in her convictions.
It hadn’t even been five years since the birth of the Fourth Progenitor, yet the experiences and emotions accumulated in that soul couldn’t have been filled in just five years.
[Was she a soul that had crossed over from another world?]
In an instant, Yustelein did not fail to notice the slight tremor in Aria’s gaze.
A reincarnated individual. Even one who had seen the inception of the world had never encountered such a soul.
Interest piqued. A soul crossing over from another realm was an event that had never happened since the world’s creation, and it was something Yustelein’s powers could not achieve either.
If everything was not coincidence but a necessity, then the only possibility was one.
[Is this also part of the creator’s arrangement?]
Perhaps after entrusting the order and balance of the world to him, the silent creator had now offered an opportunity to correct the shaken balance on the surface from two thousand years ago.
If that was the case, then he had to test it. The one making the choice must be Aria Scarlet, not Yustelein.
[My mind has changed. I will help you.]
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
