chapter_0200

“What is it?”

“……Are you not surprised?”

“I somehow expected it.”

“That’s a relief.”

The voice of the Devil God became a little sulky.

It meant that he had predicted to some extent the situation where problems would arise and come to find her, and that meant that he did not trust her ability.

“I’m joking. It’s obvious that something is wrong when people who should be in other places are all gathered here, and the flow of time was strange just now.”

“Has the influence already spread outside… The situation is getting worse faster than I thought.”

“If it’s getting worse, we have to solve it. So, what’s the real situation?”

Regardless of the context, both the tone and content of the Goddess were unusual, and everyone, who had been murmuring, tensed up and looked at this side.

Especially, Leona’s face turned pale, as if she thought that the current situation had occurred because she had just raised the output of the Holy Sword to the maximum.

That didn’t seem to be the case. If there was a problem with using the Holy Sword, something would have happened already.

“The damage is too severe. It is far beyond the range that we can repair with our power. This is the best we could do to buy time.”

“It’s not impossible to recover, but… In the end, what I said became necessary.”

“Sacrifice, right?”

“……Yes.”

“Then it’s okay. It’s not like it can’t be fixed at all.”

It was okay as long as recovery was not completely impossible. It wasn’t as serious as he thought. It was just that he had to use what he had mentioned as a countermeasure.

“Wait a minute! What do you mean by sacrifice? Who is sacrificing what?”

However, that was only limited to the Goddess, the Devil God, and him. Everyone else, who had heard nothing, looked shocked.

Laura grabbed his collar and asked in a hurry.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. In order to perfectly repair time, we need a medium to hold it, but now the medium itself is damaged, so we need a substitute.”

“If it’s a substitute…”

“There’s no choice but to do it with my body.”

“Such…”!

It was exactly what the word meant. Instead of the damaged medium, he would directly fix time and make it flow normally.

He would endlessly feel every moment that time penetrates, and even if the pain reaches the limit that he can endure, there is no choice but to pass out or go crazy. Being buried in time meant that.

“It’s not just one person going in. The Goddess and the Devil God over there are also going in. They will give up their divinity and disappear, so in reality, it’s just one person.”

“It’s a natural measure because one human body can’t fix the whole concept of time.”

“We are the gods of this world, and we have to take responsibility for it. We are ready.”

Of course, disappearance does not mean complete death. It is said that if the divinity is restored as it used to be, it will be possible to resurrect, but it is not certain whether the current personality and memory will remain intact.

In other words, it was the same as the current Devil God and Goddess dying and a new god being born. So there was no reason to belittle their determination.

“Creak!”

While everyone was silent, the time that was swirling in the sky split with a creepy and ominous sound. Fragments of the past began to pour down from the inside, literally.

“We have to hurry before it becomes irreversible. I’m really sorry for this, but…”

“It can’t be helped, can it? It’s not your fault.”

“……?”

As if they felt something strange in the conversation, the eyes that were preparing for battle all turned to this side. Especially, Leona was so surprised that her eyes seemed to pop out.

“Hey, wait a minute. Mira, what did you just answer? What are you trying to do by answering like that?”

“Are you really thinking of sacrificing yourself? Are you…?”

Rosalia and Priscilla asked urgently. When he didn’t answer, their eyes lit up. The two people came closer. The rest also seemed to have noticed the situation and surrounded him.

“Hey! Are you crazy?! You can’t go in there!”

“No! Absolutely not! If you’re going, I’m going with you! Or kill me and go!”

“Are you crazy? You can’t go in there now…”

“Do you know what you’re about to do now?”

“Master. I’ll do it instead. I can do it too, can’t I?”

“Child, do you know what you’re talking about now?!”

“I didn’t expect you to do this here, Mir Mira.”

Criticism poured in from all sides. Especially, Priscilla hugged his thigh and started to hold on with her body, and the chairman seemed to be about to bury him in her chest.

“Mira, you… did you mean to…”

Leona was literally frozen. She seemed to have realized why he had not given a definite answer and passed vaguely when the word sacrifice was mentioned.

“Creak! Creak!”

A sound like something was being gnawed away rang out again. From the crack, which had become much larger, flesh poured down like a waterfall and hit the barrier.

It wouldn’t last long. It had nothing to do with the durability of the barrier. It was a miracle that he had endured until now because he had to block not only the fragments of the past but also time.

“Are you going to sacrifice yourself again, Savior?”

The word savior came out of Latina’s mouth. He shook his head.

“It’s different from before. In the past, I had no choice, and even though I suffered endlessly and struggled, I had to cling to a thin sense of duty and comfort myself. But now it’s different. This is my choice. It’s the path I chose. I’m just doing what I have to do. To protect the people who are precious to me.”

He could instinctively tell that if he opened a dimensional door to return to the original world in this situation, it wouldn’t even work properly. Time was so twisted that it was affecting space.

It would be fortunate if it just didn’t work. The coordinates were disturbed in real-time, and if he went in carelessly, there was a high probability that he would be disassembled piece by piece.

“But suddenly like this…”

“The word ‘suddenly’ doesn’t really apply here. I’ve always been like this, haven’t I? Don’t you remember?”

It wasn’t that his sense of sacrifice suddenly kicked in or anything.

Even when he bit off his own finger to manipulate the situation, or when he killed Mahbat and burned himself to ashes, repeatedly regenerating, he had always been like this.

He was just acting as he had always done.

The difference was that now he had a clear reason to do so, not just because he had to, but to protect the people dear to him. It was a very satisfying difference.

“And you guys can’t do it anyway. If you go in, it won’t be a sacrifice, it will just be a pointless death.”

“Why!”

“Because your soul’s rank is too low. In other words, you can’t withstand time.”

The rank of the soul, according to the Goddess, was a measure of how much power a soul could bear.

Everyone but him had souls that couldn’t withstand time. If they touched it, they would be torn apart and disappear, instead of holding up the world. In other words, they would just die.

“……”

When it was concluded that only he could do it, the atmosphere quickly worsened. Especially, Priscilla was almost about to cry.

“Well, when they have enough divinity and the two of them appear again, they will find a way to make a medium to replace me, so I won’t be stuck there forever. I’ll be able to get out someday.”

“Are you trying to comfort me with that?! That’s literally ‘someday’!”

Leona shouted angrily. It was true, so there was nothing he could say. That ‘someday’ might come in a hundred years, or a thousand years. Or it might never come.

In the worst case, the personalities of the resurrected Goddess and Devil God might be completely different, and they might not even think of saving him.

He looked down at Priscilla, who was clinging to his legs, almost wrapping them around. The others seemed to be trying to hold him back as well. The Goddess and Devil God were anxiously watching them.

“……I’ll do it.”

Latina’s voice, clear and low, cut through the noisy atmosphere.

It was Latina, with her blue eyes, Aria.

“……Aria, you?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Aria took a determined step forward. As if they hadn’t expected such a thing to happen, everyone looked dazed and made way for her. The strength in Priscilla’s hands also weakened slightly.

“I can do it because I once accepted your power, Mir Mira. I also tried to recreate the world. I can withstand it. Even if I can’t, I’ll make it work.”

“It doesn’t seem impossible.”

“As she said, her soul is quite strengthened. It’s probably because she accepted your power. It’s a close call, but it seems possible.”

“See? I told you I could do it.”

Aria became even more confident. Surprisingly, it was us who were taken aback.

“……Why all of a sudden?”

“Because it all started with me. It was my greed that caused this, and it was my desire that led to this result. So let me finish what I started.”

Her blue eyes scanned Priscilla, Rosalia, Laura, and Elysier one by one.

“I said I didn’t want to be forgiven, didn’t I? That hasn’t changed. You don’t have to forgive me. You can keep hating me forever. I know this isn’t a proper atonement, but……”

Aria bowed her head deeply.

“Once again, I am truly sorry.”

She slowly raised her head. Her eyes had turned gray. Latina sighed.

“I read her emotions. She’s sincere. It’s no use trying to stop her. Well…… I don’t think anyone will try to stop her except you, Mir Mira.”

“……Are you sure?”

“Have you ever seen me lie about someone’s life?”

“No.”

He shook his head. Then he looked at Latina and suddenly asked a question.

“Wait a minute. If Aria sacrifices herself, what about you, Latina?”

“Don’t worry, I already have a plan. I will create a temporary physical body with my divinity and transfer Aria’s soul into it, and I will permanently settle my soul into this body. What’s important is the soul, and a temporary physical body will be enough to hold me until then. Any questions?”

Latina said calmly.

“I don’t think there are any, so let’s proceed.”