Ch. 324 The Chosen One
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 324 – The Chosen One
For Supernaturals, the sixth sense is not a mere delusion.
Supernatural abilities are a grace bestowed upon humanity by the four seasons.
They are a type of qualification, a test, and a step towards transcendence.
The higher one ascends, the more a Supernatural transforms from human to god.
The reason awakened Supernaturals are called “one close to god” stems from this.
Therefore, Awakened ones possess intuition akin to precognition. While limited and fragmented compared to true precognitive abilities, this intuition doesn’t simply end as a premonition, but arrives as a warning of the future.
“Huh?”
It was a sudden sense of incongruity.
My head suddenly rang, and my heart pounded.
This intense premonition, felt for the first time, made my legs move on their own.
I didn’t know why. I didn’t know the cause. Just an unknown sense of crisis pushed me forward.
“Lucia?”
Leaving Alice’s puzzled voice behind, I started running. I heard shouts calling after me due to my sudden strange behavior, but I didn’t care. No, I couldn’t. I had to run. I had to hurry. Unknown premonitions guided me.
“Lucia? What’s the rush… Huh? Why are you so fast?! W-Wait up!”
Even Frey’s voice quickly faded away, and I ran through the gravestones. It felt a bit strange even to myself. Frey couldn’t catch up to me. Frey? To me? Was I always this fast? Even when I became one close to god, I don’t think I was this nimble. It was as if someone was pushing me from behind. When I came to my senses, I was able to face a boy and a girl with obsidian-like hair.
“Eugene!”
I called the boy’s name.
But the answer came not from the boy, but from the girl.
The girl held in the boy’s arms looked at me.
Her eyelids fluttered, half-closed, and she said in a faint voice.
“Lu…cia…?”
It was a girl who resembled Alice.
So much so that strangers would mistake them for sisters.
A girl who was strikingly similar, like a painting, except for her hair and eyes.
I knew. That appearance was genetic. An appearance inherited from ancestors several generations back.
Iris. Yoo-seong’s comrade and wife. It was a testament to the bloodline that could be found in her descendants.
The girl with the red fox mask.
Astaroth.
That face was the bare face that had been hidden beneath the mask all along.
Yes, that’s right.
Astaroth’s true identity was actually Yui.
A truth I knew but couldn’t bear to reveal.
A hidden truth that was too cruel a story to tell Eugene.
My mind raced. As my thoughts accelerated, everything around me slowed down. I stared intently at the two of them, pursing my lips.
Astaroth took off her mask. Did she reveal her identity to Eugene? Yui is Eugene’s greatest weakness. Is she trying to shake Eugene by holding that weakness?
The cunning Astaroth would be capable of such a thing. But… something’s wrong. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something is.
“Lucia! Stay back! I’ve subdued Astaroth, but it’s still dangerous…”
Eugene shouted urgently.
No, no.
It’s Eugene, but it’s not Eugene.
No, what does that even mean?
Eugene, but not Eugene?
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Even though I didn’t understand it myself, I was already shouting.
“You’re not Eugene, are you? It feels gross, so don’t pretend to be Eugene!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
The boy said as if he was dumbfounded. That appearance made me feel an increasingly inexplicable conviction.
It’s not him. It’s not Eugene. Then what is it? Who are you? Why am I so sure it’s not Eugene? But it’s not. That guy is not Eugene.
[No. Be alert, child. It hasn’t been long since you were changed. You can still turn back now.]
[Shut your mouth. How can you speak with such relaxed words in this situation?We must descend directly. Use the Saintess as a vessel to directly intervene in the world. When is autumn coming?]
[Stop summer. Isn’t this the situation you warned about? It’s hot now. Shall we bring the season forward?]
[Shut up. Now is my season. It’s summer. I will descend into the Saintess’s body. I will tear that insolent bitch to shreds.]
[Daring to wield our sword of judgment. Everything is about to turn to dust. It was a mistake to leave Astaroth unchecked, thinking we could use her indulgence. The second largest fragment of the ‘Great Ancient One’ has disturbed the timeline too much.]
[Summer. Your problem is your impatience. Have patience.]
[Spring. Summer. Winter. It’s okay. Trust me. I have a plan.]
[Understood. If that is your thought—]
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Be quiet, all of you. Don’t make noise in my head!
“That face, that voice, that atmosphere, everything… really everything is Eugene. It’s true, but still, you’re not Eugene! My instincts are telling me that! Tell me, who are you? Who are you pretending to be Eugene? You’re… no, I think I know even if you don’t tell me.”
In fact, it was closer to a divine revelation than instinct.
My intuition and the lofty voices of heaven whispered to me.
That guy is not Eugene. He is someone else wearing Eugene’s skin.
Then who could it be?
Who is that boy?
I shouted with conviction.
“You’re Astaroth, aren’t you?”
“Hehe…”
The boy let out a hollow laugh.
He shrugged his shoulders and narrowed his eyes.
“Annoying. I’m genuinely disgusted. How did you know?”
It was an expression that couldn’t be found in the usual Eugene. He looked at me with genuine disgust. Even though I knew it wasn’t Eugene, I was still shocked. But even more shocking was the girl held in Astaroth’s arms. If Astaroth had taken over Eugene’s body, then what is inside that girl now…?
“Ah, I see.”
Astaroth smirked.
It was a sneer that was infinitely close to self-mockery.
“A dense divine energy that Lucia could never possess… Haha, were you that desperate? After only standing by, you’re directly intervening? But will you be okay? You have to be wary of the other Devil Gods’ invasions, don’t you? Weren’t you afraid of Bael’s interference?”
[Shut up. Before I tear that mouth of yours.]
[Even if you say that, the Executor won’t hear it.]
[Saintess. Tell her to shut up.]
“Shut up.”
[Good.]
“I said it to you.”
[What?!]
“But whatever you do, it’s already too late. This body is mine now. This power is mine now. Thank you. I’ll use it well. Your sword. I’ll wield it well.”
[Like a child who has discovered fire. Does she not realize that the power will burn her? For a mere Devil God to use the power of the chosen one. Her arrogance is soaring to the sky.]
[She’ll burn herself to death. She’ll die a natural death even if we leave her alone. The Executor must have thought of that much, right?]
[They must have devised a way to deal with it. So, it’s something that can be resolved by us descending and annihilating her right now.]
[Descend into the Saintess’s body?]
[That’s right.]
[Is your head broken? Are you thinking of killing the Saintess?]
[Even if the soul is shattered, it’s fine as long as the body is intact.]
[It can’t be done.]
[It can be done.]
[It can’t be done.]
[It can be done.]
[It can’t be done.]
[It can be done.]
[It can’t be done.]
[It can be done.]
[Go out and fight.]
“Ugh…”
I grabbed my forehead. My head was spinning. My stomach was churning. I felt like I was going to throw up. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but now wasn’t the time to indulge in hobbies. I steadied my wavering gaze and looked ahead. Astaroth was stroking Eugene’s hair while subduing the struggling boy.
“Will you be okay? The current Lucia can’t possibly withstand your level. Just briefly being possessed and she’s already about to break down. I won’t stop you if you want to directly destroy the Needle of Causality.”
The Saintess is also a kind of shaman.
A vessel that contains the four seasons.
Therefore, immortal. A body that never decays. If the four seasons were to descend, her soul would be torn to shreds, but her body would be intact.
If only the body is intact, they can choose another soul similar to Lucille and infuse it into the empty vessel. They could just create a third Saintess.
It was shocking that Eugene’s body was taken over by Astaroth, but now my soul is about to be extinguished. I held back a sigh and said.
“Give Eugene’s body back right now.”
“Why would I? I finally took it? Why would I take it if I was going to give it back easily?”
“Eugene is also your brother, isn’t he? Did you take your brother’s body?”
“I took it because he’s my brother. With this, my brother is mine, right? Mine. Only mine.”
“You’re completely insane.”
Yui’s brotherly love is scary. In the ‘novel’, the reason the immature Eugene was able to defeat Astaroth was because the Yui within intentionally created openings. It was a love that even overcame the will of a Devil God.
But when that love twisted in the wrong direction, it was running wild beyond control.
Unlike the ‘novel’, Astaroth is strongly showing the aspect of Yui. Is this also a side effect of regression?
“If you won’t give it back, I’ll take it back by force.”
“You? From me? How? Are you going to offer your body to the four seasons or something?”
“No, I won’t do that.”
“Then how are you going to take it back? Or what, are you going to beg me to give back your brother’s body by offering me your body instead? Like before? Like when you prostrated yourself to save your homeroom teacher?”
“That’s not it either.”
“Hoo? Then what is it? What are you going to do?”
“I can’t beat you. No matter how much I struggle, I won’t even be able to reach you.”
Even though I awakened as one close to god, the opponent is a Devil God. Moreover, she might even be able to use Eugene’s power. There’s no way I can beat a monster that even the Captains can’t handle.
“I can’t, but.”
However, I can open the door for someone who can.
“Our hero can do it!”
[Fixing the Needle of Causality as a coordinate. Measurement complete. Error correction. Starting connection.]
[Child, you are the key. The key that can open the closed door. The key that can bring out the rusted sword that has fallen into the deep, deep darkness.]
I listened to the gentle voice of spring. I stood there as if rooted to the spot. That’s all I need. My role ends completely with just being here. My heart grew heavy with pressure. Not figuratively, but physically. The blood vessels in my body were breaking, and my bones were aching as if they were being crushed. I would have enjoyed it if it weren’t for this situation.
“…Indeed, you’re going to come out like this? You’re cleverly using your head. Not that I should be saying that!”
In the empty void, space distorted. Light converged into a single point. Like a black hole in the distant universe, it began to absorb all the surrounding light.
A fierce wind blew. I swept back my fluttering hair.
Something emerged from the extremely compressed darkness.
A hand. A hand tempered like bedrock. The hand grabbed the darkness and tore it apart violently.
The darkness split. Space was torn. Beyond the passage created in that way, a boy like the night sky walked out.
“…Approximately 3 minutes in subjective time. How much time has passed in the mortal realm during that time?”
Yoo-seong looked around. A row of gravestones. Eugene turned into a girl. Astaroth who stole Eugene’s body. And me, sweating profusely. His eyes narrowed. Yoo-seong half-opened his blue eyes and said.
“What is this situation now?”
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
The Chosen One of the past VS The Chosen One of today.
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
Yeah, the plot is getting a bit mixed up even for me…Not really the best but hey, the author can redeem himself!
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