Ch.137137. Succession

He devours.

It wasn’t a literal expression. Rex didn’t fully understand Elnebra’s words, but he knew it was a metaphorical statement.

The King of Elturas is devouring his mother. By mother, did she mean the World Tree? Elven reproduction doesn’t differ significantly from humans. They conceive through intercourse and give birth. Due to their strong communal nature, blood ties are minimal, but the concept of “parents” still exists.

However, all elves regard the World Tree as their spiritual mother.

“Is that mother… the World Tree?”

“Yes.”

Elnebra nodded at Rex’s guess.

“Didn’t you see Elturas conducting the ritual?”

This whole situation started because of that ritual. The World Tree is a divine body where the Life Goddess descended to the mortal realm, and through its blessing, elves enjoy near-immortal lifespans.

“…Wasn’t the ritual conducted to sustain the World Tree?”

The World Tree has been dying for a long time.

Rex hadn’t heard the reason why. King Elturas hadn’t explained the secret history of their race. He only said that if the World Tree died, the elves’ lifespans would shorten, resulting in countless elves returning to nothingness, and to prevent this, the ritual must be conducted.

The designated sacrifice for the ritual was the High Elf princess. The previous sacrifice was Elicis, Kaiserion’s lover, and having lost her, Kaiserion regretted that choice and suffered for the rest of his life.

Do you want to save her?

I couldn’t protect her.

Kaiserion’s bitter voice flashed through Rex’s mind. He couldn’t stop his lover’s decision to save their race. Though he regretted it, perhaps it was the right choice. Sacrificing one life to save thousands. Objectively, it was a rational sacrifice.

Rex’s heart wasn’t rational. He wanted to save Elin’s single life more than thousands of elves he’d never met.

Even now, he doesn’t regret that decision.

—Now that you know everything, can you still condemn me as you did before?

But. Elnebra’s words and King Elturas’s words clashed in his mind. “Devouring” the World Tree and “sustaining” it had completely different connotations.

“Do you know what’s important when deceiving someone?”

Elnebra murmured with a crooked smile.

“You tell lies, but mix in just enough truth.”

“Elnebra. What do you know?”

Kaordix spoke with a displeased expression. Though drawn to this place by the call of chaos and death, he was as ignorant of the specifics as Rex. This was natural. Though Kaordix’s rank was equivalent to a high deity, the Life Goddess who had coiled around Albheim held an equal rank. He wasn’t permitted to pry.

Moreover, after the great war five hundred years ago, Kaordix’s influence on the world had diminished significantly. Both Kaiserion’s ghost and the ritual being conducted in Albheim were beyond his understanding.

“The Life Goddess, Elisia, is indeed dying. But the rest is all lies. That ritual cannot possibly revive the Life Goddess.”

“What? But Elturas clearly said the ritual must…”

“You’re naive.”

When Rex responded with a confused tone, Elnebra chuckled with a smirk. Then her smile vanished. Her expression suddenly turned ice-cold, giving Rex an indescribable sense of foreboding.

“You believe those words without any doubt? They’re nothing but well-crafted lies.”

“…Not just Elturas, but Elandir too, and all the elves. Even Elin believed the ritual would save the World Tree.”

“They were deceived. Elturas has made Albheim his cradle over the ages. With terrible patience, he ensured no one could ruin his plans. That the World Tree is dying, that if it dies, the elves’ lifespans will be cut short. Who would doubt the words of someone who has ruled Albheim as a High Elf for thousands of years?”

“…”

“Isn’t it amusing?”

Rex stared at Elnebra with a blank face. Her crimson lips parted slowly.

“The one driving the World Tree to death is Elturas himself, yet the ignorant elves, far from doubting him, actually praise him. There’s no greater farce in the world.”

“…What?”

Rex found himself asking without realizing it.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard correctly. It was just that the story was too outlandish for his mind to process. Elturas is driving the World Tree to death. Why? After proclaiming the prosperity of elves so fervently.

—Do you think I want to confine my daughter to the World Tree forever?

Rex remembered Elturas’s back as he departed for the World Tree, muttering in a gloomy voice and patting Rex’s shoulder a couple of times. No matter how he thought about it, Rex couldn’t imagine why Elturas would want to kill the World Tree. Even Elandir, despite their opposition, seemed to feel considerable guilt about Elin’s sacrifice.

Was all of that just an act?

“Elandir. He probably knew nothing. As I said, Elturas didn’t reveal his plans to anyone over the long years. In short, Elandir blindly believed his father without knowing his true intentions.”

Elnebra looked around with her pitch-black eyes and added:

“Elturas is devouring the World Tree. To be more precise, he’s exploiting its power.”

“W-wait. I don’t understand…”

“Understanding can come after you’ve heard everything. Anyway, the ritual draws the World Tree’s life force to Elturas himself, and the sacrifice is a medium for the ritual to take place. If you ask why only the High Elf princess is treated as a sacrifice, the answer is simple. Only those with souls closest to the Life Goddess—Elisia—can resonate with the World Tree.”

When Elnebra finished speaking,

Rex recalled Elin’s face.

Elin, who had shown a pitiful smile—said it was okay. The girl who had been stripped of emotions since birth and never knew the joy of life didn’t break even when faced with the fate of sacrifice. She said eternal sleep wasn’t a curse but a blessing, that she would fall into a happy sleep reminiscing about the memories they shared together. That she was not unhappy at all.

She thought she would never know human emotions. But finally, she understood what happiness was. She learned about ordinary life. She regretted the sudden farewell. She had just begun to have things she wanted to do. Rex knew that although Elin appeared indifferent on the outside, she was an ordinary girl like any other.

She wanted to see the ocean, wanted to walk hand in hand with the person she liked. When she saw pretty flowers, she would kneel down and gaze at them for hours. On hot summer days, she would watch Rex’s training from under the shade of a tree, with a faint smile on her lips.

To continue living such a daily life. That was the simple dream of the girl. No. At least for Elin, it wasn’t a simple dream. What was everyday life for others was extraordinary for Elin, an unfulfillable wish.

She could have achieved it if she had fled from her duty. But Elin willingly became a sacrifice for her race, for her father, for the duty she had carried all her life.

Until the end, Elin didn’t break.

That’s why Rex felt like he might break. The moment Elnebra revealed the truth, something dark and viscous seeped into Rex’s heart. Apart from his determination to save Elin, the fact that Elin’s sacrifice was all just a deception, that Elin was merely a tool manipulated by Elturas’s greed—

He was furious.

“…Why are you helping me, Lady Elnebra?”

He wasn’t completely consumed by anger. If he had heard this in Albheim, it might have been different, but this was Lornaroc. Losing his temper and rampaging wouldn’t help the current situation. He knew this. But even as he tried to cool his head… his teeth kept clenching. His chest burned. Rex glared at Elnebra with bloodshot eyes.

“Is it because you are Death? Do you hate life, so you’re sending me as your proxy to attack Albheim?”

“You seem to be under some misunderstanding.”

Elnebra replied with a smirk.

“I do not hate life. Why would I hate life? Life and death are connected as one. Death is immobile, and life is flow. Death awaits at the end of life, but nothing exists at the end of death. If life is the starting point of all things, death is the endpoint. Death is the result that awaits at the end of all things, but without the beginning of life, death cannot exist either. Kaordix, you must have begun to notice my true intentions.”

“You’re trying to save life.”

“Yes.”

Elnebra said with an eerie smile.

“Hate life? On the contrary, I love life too much. I love the brilliant light that living beings show at the end after burning passionately through life. Those lovely things are destined to return to my embrace.”

“…”

“Elturas is trying to break that principle, so shouldn’t I stop him? Until now, life and I have respected our domains. That domain has been broken by Elturas. If he had merely wanted a longer lifespan, I wouldn’t have been so indignant.”

Even the Life Goddess cannot break the cycle. No matter how close to eternal her lifespan might be, an end awaits, and the end of all existence is death. Elnebra had watched Elturas’s desperate struggle with amusement. She had anticipated the day when, after struggling with his petty desires, he would finally come to her.

That pleasure didn’t last long.

“He wants immortality. He’s trying to grasp with his own hands what even life couldn’t achieve, a taboo not permitted to earthly beings.”

He’s trying to preserve the Life Goddess and absorb her divinity to ascend to a higher rank.

“It’s fine to not be satisfied with what’s given. I can tolerate that. But if he tries to expand himself by sewing the skin of another kindred onto his own cloth. Moreover, if that other is his mother.”

Elnebra added with a sinister smile.

“Isn’t that quite ugly?”

“I… understand your thoughts, Lady Elnebra.”

Rex swallowed dryly and replied. The point is that Elturas is absorbing the power of the World Tree through some kind of ritual, right? Elnebra, the Goddess of Death, is disgusted by this action and wants to stop the ritual.

“Though we became separated because we deal with different concepts, originally the Life Goddess Elisia and I were beings derived from a single phenomenon. In human terms, you could say we’re twins. It’s not strange that I want to save life.”

Elnebra pointed at Rex with her finger.

“And I’ve chosen you as the right person for that.”

“The right person?”

“A being like Kaiserion. I’d like to deliver proper judgment myself, but deities cannot intervene in human affairs. Among humans, Kaiserion was the best, but at that time, even I didn’t notice Elturas’s scheme.”

The remnants left after Kaiserion ascended as the Sword God. Only the lingering thoughts and emotions from his human days remained, and even those would surely scatter if left alone. Elnebra gathered these remnants and gave them a faint sense of self.

And.

She made a covenant. The sacrifice for the World Tree must be replaced every five hundred years because transferring the Life Goddess’s power consumes the soul’s lifespan itself. So, if a human born with a fate similar to Kaiserion’s appeared in the next five hundred years, Elnebra would implant the remnants in that human.

So that the child’s potential could bloom, so they could grow into someone who could stand against Elturas. Time passed, and he, having met this generation’s princess, grew up and stood before Elnebra.

“The time has come.”

“…So, I…”

“Don’t misunderstand. Though I did guide you, it was ultimately your choice to come here. You are not anyone’s puppet. The only predetermined result is death; even deities cannot control the future as they please. Meeting the High Elf princess, overcoming hardships, growing—all of this was possible because of your efforts. If you had been afraid and given up halfway, today’s meeting would never have happened.”

Elnebra looked at Rex with gentle eyes.

“Has hearing all this changed your mind? Has your will to break the ritual and rescue the High Elf princess you love disappeared?”

“…No.”

Rex shook his head, his clenched fists trembling.

“I will save Elin.”

Seemingly quite satisfied with that answer, Elnebra slightly raised the corner of her mouth and moved her legs. Though she was the Goddess of Death, her manifested body was smaller than Rex’s, so she looked up at him.

“Elturas, having absorbed the divinity of the Life Goddess, is an opponent you can never defeat as you are now. Even if Kaiserion were to dwell in your body again, the odds would be slim. You have only a fortnight left, and within that time, you must achieve an enormous accomplishment.”

“…Even with the apostles of Lornaroc?”

“Their prowess is the greatest among humans, but Elturas is in the process of ascending to a new deity rank by devouring the Life Goddess’s divinity. Even if all the apostles on the continent gathered, they couldn’t match him.”

“Then if I go…”

“That’s why I’m personally offering you help, isn’t it? I see you have an interesting power. It seems quite compatible with the divinity I handle, and if applied, it could be of great help to you.”

Elnebra’s soft fingertips caressed Rex’s cheek. As Rex looked down at her with round eyes, Elnebra’s lips curved into a grin.

“From now on, I’m going to kill you.”