“Looks like it’s gone.”
At my words, the angry boy stomped off, leaving the area.
Minja, who was next to me, bounced around saying we should catch it, but it’s sealed anyway.
Unless someone of a higher rank helps, there’s no way it can exert any power.
[Hmm]
[Aren’t you going to catch it?]
[But it felt like it deserved to die, haha]
[That Priest was a real piece of work, lol]
[Now it makes sense]
[Let’s go kill Jongsa, giddy-up]
[The one who hindered the pure love. Deserves to die.]
[Lily, that’s a bit harsh]
[It’d be justifiable even if we killed them all, if you listen, haha]
[As expected of Lily the ruthless]
“So… do you think it’s okay to kill it?”
When I asked, the opinions in the chat window were split 2 to 8.
2 thought that Daiji had faults too, like me.
8 believed the Priest was way more in the wrong and that it ‘was warranted.’
“Minja.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“What about you? You heard it all.”
Minja, sweating coldly, hesitated for a moment, contemplating.
She had inadvertently heard about Daiji’s dark past, known as the ancestor.
“…But don’t you call it a death sentence? No matter what, I’m still a death sentence…”
“I’m now an upper-ranked disciple.”
“What?”
When I showed the badge indicating my upper-ranked disciple status, Minja freaked out and caused another commotion.
“T-Then should I call you a death sentence from now on…?”
“Call me whatever you like. Now answer the question I asked earlier.”
“Uh, uh. N-No? That… uh…”
Hmm…
“…But isn’t the ancestor the one who suffered? Or not?”
“Feel free.”
“…Huh. Right. I think so. After all, it all started with the current Elder, ‘the Priest.'”
“Exactly.”
“As the death sentence said, the ancestor did lead innocent people to destruction by killing them. But I think it wouldn’t have happened if the Priest hadn’t done those things.”
In the end, all this was an accident that occurred while trying to make ‘Daiji’ a better weapon.
If the Priest had accepted the girl’s existence, or rather, if they never used her as a weapon in the first place, such an accident wouldn’t have happened.
[For real]
[Poor Daiji…](Might have meant “Such a tragic fate for Daiji”)
[No matter how you look at it, it’s a 100 to 0 situation, right?]
[Look at that quick change of stance, haha]
“It’s like a Magic Array ready to explode. Keep stimulating it, pushing it, eventually it can’t take it anymore and blows up; is that the Magic Array’s fault? I don’t think so.”
“That’s a valid point.”
It is indeed valid.
I stood up from my seat.
I woke up.
Holy Power crawls through my body, checking the Earth’s position.
I haven’t gone far.
“The Earth was like a nuclear weapon… like a bomb. It has a strong firepower, but if mishandled, allies could be harmed too.”
“Then why…?”
“People aren’t bombs without a self.”
In the end, that furious Earth buried all life in the Western Continent that day, but it didn’t stop there.
He loathed the world itself and attempted to collapse it again, even after thousands of years.
“Well, this is a bit off-topic, but the ones that destroyed the most ‘territories’ in the past were the absolute beings; however, it was the other side that destroyed civilizations.”
The heavenly beings, the Demon Race, merely used the Lower Realm as a battlefield.
Except for those with peculiar objectives like experiments, they didn’t carry any special meaning as they sought to destroy lives or civilizations.
Rather, it was the Ancient Beasts that accelerated ‘destruction.’
“Those who lost something. Those stained by revenge, those seeking to reclaim what was theirs. Those who moved under the guise of revenge killed countless lives and invaded kingdoms.”
The sorrow of losing something precious birthed another victim.
And that victim demanded sacrifices from the weaker ones, and so it continued to repeat.
That’s why I really struggled back then.
“Like spinning the planet several times a day.”
If I blocked one place, monsters would invade from somewhere else, and I could hear complaints about some evildoer casting wicked magic.
So if I stopped that place, chaos erupted somewhere else.
I’ve wished more than once that I had dozens of bodies.
Later on, I sealed the monsters within my soul and took measures, but… ultimately in the later years, it was almost to the point of destruction, rendering it meaningless.
This ‘chain of evil’ won’t end unless someone puts a stop to it.
“I understand. But using that understanding as an excuse to force sacrifices is a completely different matter.”
I know that feeling better than anyone.
[Hmm…]
[Is this Lily’s past?]
[Hatred only breeds more hatred…]
[Penalty again? Haha!]
[Whoa]
[Alien Lily’s past]
[Still, the Earth is pitiful.]
[In the end, isn’t Jongsa garbage?]
“Hmm… What do you think should be done about the death sentence?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You were betrayed by those you believed to be family and lost your lover. In that situation, what are you supposed to do?”
“……”
What to do…
The simplest way is to chase them down and punish them in kind.
The simple way is to chase them down and punish them just the same.
I don’t think revenge is a bad thing.
I too have acted out of revenge before, and I spent a long time clinging solely to that.
Even now, just seeing the Celestial Race makes me grind my teeth in hatred.
“The most ideal situation would be to find the priests and punish them, right? There’s a valid reason, and it’s certainly something that should be done.”
But it won’t be easy.
No matter how great the difference in power, they are hiding somewhere in the world, capable of deceiving even the energy of the Earth.
Given that Jongsa is still alive until now, it might be close to impossible to find them.
“Or we have to make them come out.”
“?”
“It’s simple. This is just a story I know.”
A girl living in a small village lost her village and her precious people one day.
The girl was devastated.
She did nothing but express her anger into the void. She was just lost in thought.
The murderer was a being that was far beyond what the girl could ever hope to reach.
Even after hundreds or thousands of years, they were of such a high status that the girl could never touch them.
“If you look at the situation, it’s much harder than the Earth. Unlike the Earth, where revenge could be possible right now if they were right in front of me, it’s a situation where the girl can barely even reach with her fingertips.”
“……”
“So, what do you think the girl did?”
“…Give up? Forget everything and just create new bonds and live on?”
“I wish it were so.”
To forget everything and rest in peace.
What a truly ideal and easy path that would be.
Most people would likely choose this path.
No one wants to fight against the storm after losing everything to it.
But for the girl, even that ‘forgetting’ was not allowed.
“I can’t sleep, but I still try to. Hoping that maybe I can forget, even if just for a moment. But it’s pointless. The girl’s soul and body reject forgetting.”
“……”
“In the end, she dreams even worse nightmares and wakes up. Then she regrets.”
‘If only I had come back a little sooner.’
“……”
“I think about it every time. Was this small village really worth sacrificing the lives of 43,000 people? Could I have lived comfortably even if I had left that place behind? But that city invasion was the rage of seven-headed snakes who lost their heads to the Celestial Race—”
“But that city’s invasion was due to the wrath of the seven-headed snake that lost its head to the Celestial Race—”
“Oh, it’s a story about someone I know… right?”
Thud.
I stop my outpouring of words and turn around.
Minja looked like she was about to cry.
“Of course.”
It’s a story about someone I know.
[…..]
[Is this a penalty in real life?]
[Wow]
[???]
[Is it a penalty?]
[Lily?]
[;;]
[…?]
[Is Lily okay?]
“Why would I be?”
I’m fine.
The young Lily inside my soul didn’t look so good, though.
■
I take a moment to calm my heightened emotions and sit back down.
In front of me, Minja was wiping her swollen eyes with a handkerchief, still sniffling.
“Why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry…”
“Why are you sorry, Minja?”
“…I feel like I asked something unnecessary.”
Minja lowers her head.
She started off acting like a troublemaker but has now completely turned docile.
I chuckle.
“I brought up the topic, so don’t worry about it.”
“But still…”
“And that person I know is fine now.”
“……”
“To continue what I was saying earlier, the girl didn’t give up. She trained endlessly and kept on training.”
To reach that ‘above.’ To kill the one who took everything from her up there.
After enduring the time of suffering, the girl finally achieved her goal.
“No matter where you hide or how strong your power is, you just need to become strong enough to overcome all those harsh conditions. If that’s impossible, then at least do it ‘just once.'”
“……”
“The Earth has easier conditions, right? With enough power, you can search the entire Earth, or you could seek cooperation from other Children of God.”
There would have been a way, no matter what.
But the Earth only enacted fury, and this is the outcome.
“…So, what will you do now? No matter how you look at it, leaving the Ancestor like that is…”
“I need to let him meet.”
“?”
The Priest Jongsa, whom the Earth had searched for so diligently.
Now, I will help him meet.
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