Chapter 206

R̂ëäd̈​ ́​ö​ñ ̈K̃ât̀​Ŕ​ëàd̃ín̈ǵ​C̈áf́ê​

The girl in the green wolf mask collapsed.

Along with the blood staining her chest red.

She leaned weakly against the blade that had pierced her heart, her body going limp.

Eugene gritted his teeth and grabbed the girl’s shoulder. 

It was necessary, but he had stabbed Lucia. The shock of it made his fingertips tremble uncontrollably. 

He struggled to steady his shaking hand as he pulled out the Sun Sword. 

The burning blade, which had pierced her heart in a single strike, slid out of her body without resistance. 

As the support disappeared, the girl crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

Silence fell.

Even though the black hole, which had been sucking in sound, was gone, not even the faintest breath could be heard.

“As expected of you, Master.”

“Well, it’s only natural.”

“…”

But the quiet stillness didn’t last long.

Kaen, who had rushed over, shrugged at the scene before her.

Isabella and Angelica, who had been tracking the suddenly vanished Murmur, also didn’t seem particularly surprised.

A mysterious enemy known as a devil had appeared.

Their strength was incomparable to any monster humanity had faced before.

Monsters so powerful that it would take at least three of humanity’s strongest to have a chance of winning.

Even the demonic beasts leading armies couldn’t match such might.

Yet, the captains remained largely unshaken.

There was certainly bewilderment, but they maintained their composure.

When you thought about it, it was strange.

Monsters beyond the scale of what even the pillars of humanity could handle.

If even three or more devils appeared, the fragile peace humanity had maintained would crumble.

A crisis on par with, or in some ways even greater than, a cataclysm.

So why were they able to remain calm and unshaken?

The reason was simple.

The captains were heroes who had overcome countless battlefields and hells.

Their experiences had granted them a cold, unyielding resolve.

And just as everyone relied on them, they too had something to rely on.

“Sometimes I wonder if the Commander is even human.”

Isabella clicked her tongue. The child in the white cloud mask. A monster against whom even she and Angelica together had stood no chance. 

And yet, he had defeated such a being single-handedly, and so easily at that. It made all their previous struggles feel meaningless, leaving her with a hollow feeling. 

Her gray eyes held a hint of awe as she looked at the God of War.

The Commander of the Celestial Corps.

The God of War, Mars.

The strongest man who had supported humanity for countless years.

“…”

The God of War looked down at his bloodied right arm. 

The flesh was torn, and the bones were twisted. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times. The wounds had already healed without a trace. Though the wounds were gone, the bloodstains remained. 

The God of War narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his right arm lightly. A golden glow consumed the bloodstains.

“I’ve gotten weaker, too.”

To be injured while fighting only a single Devil God, not even the stronger ones at that.

Though it seemed like he had easily defeated Murmur, the God of War had also taken significant damage. 

In his current state, not at his peak, he wasn’t overwhelmingly stronger than the Devil Gods. 

He was certainly ahead, but not to the point where they couldn’t oppose him. The reason he seemed to win so easily was that he was the natural enemy of the Devil Gods.

The Sword of the Seasons, forged to strike Baal.

The Chosen One, destined to topple the King of Devil Gods.

He could oppose and counter the authority of the Lord of Purgatory.

This gave him an inherent advantage against other Devil Gods.

Thanks to this, he was able to defeat Murmur so decisively. But if Murmur had realized the God of War’s unique nature from the start, she wouldn’t have fallen so easily. 

It would have taken a bit more time, but he could still win. The God of War let out a bitter laugh.

“It can’t be helped.”

The pact he had made with Baal.

The Chosen One remains silent.

And so, Baal too remains silent.

The one standing here is the God of War, a supernatural, not the Chosen One.

Until one side breaks the pact, the God of War is not the Chosen One.

“Lucia? Are you okay? Snap out of it!”

The God of War’s gaze turned to the girl and the boy.

Eugene, holding the fallen Lucia, shouted urgently.

He tore off the green wolf mask and tossed it aside carelessly.

The mask rolled on the ground with a clatter before stopping at the God of War’s feet.

“Hmph.”

The God of War indifferently crushed the mask underfoot.

He stepped over the shattered mask and continued forward.

It wasn’t over yet.

The core was shattered, but the Devil God was still within her.

He couldn’t rest easy until he extracted the soul and completely destroyed it.

“Before that…”

The God of War stopped a few steps away from Lucia. He lightly stomped his foot, and the ground shook. 

Something floated into the air, which he swiftly caught. He opened his palm. Something bloodied reflected the light, shimmering faintly.

“A ring?”

A silver ring.

The moment Eugene’s Sun Sword pierced Belial’s heart.

The ring had been dislodged and flung out from her chest.

“Why was this in her heart?”

It was no ordinary object.

A faint trace of the Devil God’s aura lingered on it.

Curious, he brought it closer to examine it.

But before the God of War could analyze the ring, it crumbled into dust.

“…”

Annoyed, he tried to gather the dust scattering in the wind, but it was too late to inspect the ring’s properties. 

Clicking his tongue, the God of War resumed his steps.

“Hey, junior.”

“Huh? Yes?”

“Move aside.”

Eugene, who had been too focused on Lucia to notice the God of War’s approach, let out a flustered sound. 

Junior? Did the Commander just call me a junior? Well, the 4th Division Captain called me that too, but… the Commander and the 4th Division Captain are on completely different levels! 

A living legend suddenly treating me like a junior? Eugene was dumbfounded.

‘So this is the guy.’

The new Chosen One.

The Sword of the Seasons’ chosen weapon.

The hero of this era that Baal had mentioned.

The God of War narrowed his eyes as he looked Eugene up and down, then let out a snort.

‘…As expected, those four seasons weren’t just fooling around.’

Though still immature, if he grows properly.

If he completes his forging and becomes a true sword.

He could become the strongest hero, surpassing even me.

There was a reason Baal broke his long silence and chose to intervene.

Even without being a Chosen One, his supernatural ability was already extraordinary.

Its limits were hard to gauge.

An ability outside the natural order, theoretically capable of infinite growth.

To think it could borrow and copy others’ supernatural abilities.

If he could even borrow my ability…

‘This time, we might be able to defeat Baal.’

I couldn’t do it.

But he might.

◈

Eugene awkwardly stepped aside but didn’t let go of Lucia’s hand. 

It was as if he thought she would disappear the moment he let go. That’s how he felt. 

He had barely gotten her back, and if he took his eyes off her for even a moment, he feared she would vanish forever. 

The God of War twitched an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

He crouched down and placed a hand on Lucia’s head. 

Normally, placing a hand on her chest would have been more appropriate, but even he couldn’t just casually touch a friend’s chest.

The God of War closed his eyes and channeled golden light into Lucia. He focused all his consciousness to locate Belial’s soul and expel it from her body.

Even for the God of War, expelling a Devil God’s soul required deep concentration.

Because of this, all his attention was directed toward Lucia, which made him a bit slow to notice.

The distorted beam of light falling from the sky.

“!”

The first to react wasn’t the God of War, but Eugene.

The moment his danger sense blared, he threw himself forward.

He shoved the God of War and Lucia aside almost violently.

Though it was a sudden ambush, the God of War skillfully regained his balance.

He frowned as he held Lucia in his arms, then opened his azure eyes.

“This is…”

Where they had been standing just moments ago.

More precisely, where Lucia had been.

Twisted light poured down like sunlight.

Not just one.

Toward Murmur, who was bleeding and collapsed.

Toward the Death Knight, who had been fighting the Knight of Light.

Distorted beams of light descended from the sky.

“There was another one.”

A Devil God’s authority.

Another Devil God had intervened in the battlefield.

The God of War reached out toward the beams of light.

To grab and twist them, just as he had done with Murmur.

“Hmm?”

But this time, he couldn’t. His hand was repelled. 

Even his supernatural ability couldn’t interfere with this authority. Even if he could suppress it through compatibility, if the output was overwhelming, even the God of War couldn’t do anything.

The beams of light were twisted and misaligned.

Where the light touched, multiple scenes overlapped.

It was like layering translucent images in one place.

The God of War frowned as he realized the cause of the anomaly.

“Time is overlapping.”

Where the beams of light touched, time was entangled.

Past, present, and future.

Time periods that couldn’t coexist were overlapping.

In the time where only the “present” should exist.

The “past” that had already passed overlapped.

The “future” that should come later overlapped.

A convergence of time that even the God of War couldn’t interfere with.

“…Is this your doing?”

The God of War looked up.

Beyond the blue sky.

Where there was no ground to stand on.

A man stood proudly.

The man in the blue rakshasa mask.

The 2nd-ranked Devil God.

The noble prince, Agares.

The Devil God who had been watching from afar had finally decided to intervene.

Having defied the flow of time, he was rejected by the world.

The time he could intervene in the present was only a brief moment.

But that brief moment was enough to achieve his goal.

Or so it should have been.

Until just now.

“■he Chosen ■ne.”

He had waited for the God of War to focus on expelling Belial’s soul, but his timing was off.

The man in the blue rakshasa mask looked at the two boys. 

Black hair and blue eyes. 

Agares’ expression was utterly emotionless as he gazed at the natural enemy of the Devil Gods.

Even though this was the one who had caused countless regressions, there was no change in his emotions.

“■oo soo■.”

The completion of the plan still required time.

The price of defying the flow of time still gripped his entire body.

It was too early to directly confront the Chosen One.

“■or ■ow.”

Like a leaf blown by the wind.

Agares’ figure blurred and disappeared.

At the same time, the beams of light distorting time also vanished.

The beings bathed in the light disappeared as well.

“The 2nd-ranked, huh.”

The God of War easily discerned the identity of the man in the blue rakshasa mask.

There was only one Devil God with authority over time.

He had been outplayed. It was a chance to take down another Devil God. 

Still, since he had achieved his most important goal, the God of War decided not to dwell on it.

His gaze turned to the girl in his arms. A familiar scent tickled his nose. Lucille. He had saved her, so he could think about the rest later.

“Ah, right now, she’s Lucia.”

That’s what she goes by now, isn’t it?

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Belial got her heart pierced by a sword with extremely compressed heat.

She was in so much pain that she eventually passed out.

Isn’t that really pitiful?

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
And thus, Lucia is back again! 

Regina and Seri are not so lucky though.