Ch.145Excuse

# 1.

Heavenly Mandate.

I heard it was named with the meaning “to live out one’s natural lifespan,” but thinking about it now, perhaps it meant to accept the will of heaven.

As the Idler said, Heavenly Mandate was the most outstanding person in the East.

He began conversing when others were still babbling, and flew when others were just learning to walk.

Born with talent,

Born with fiery blood,

Born with noble character.

Thus, when he became the Pillar, both war and political strife all but disappeared.

His mere existence brought peace, and everyone looked up to him.

People unanimously declared that he was a talent bestowed by heaven for the East, and Heavenly Mandate lived as if this were an absolute truth.

Then one day.

While he was nurturing the Idler, a promising talent he had discovered to replace himself as his life was drawing to a close.

A small, malicious something approached Heavenly Mandate and made a proposal.

“Would you like to know the truth of the world?”

At a time when his once-powerful body had grown frail, awaiting death that would soon come.

Heavenly Mandate nodded to the intense curiosity offered by this insignificant threat.

At that time, Heavenly Mandate didn’t know.

The great calamity it would bring.

Unique characteristic – For a wager to be established, the other party’s consent was required.

And the entity that appeared before him was an evil being that exploited loopholes in the rules to pursue its own goals.

That’s why he was deceived.

It wasn’t because Heavenly Mandate was dull-witted, weak, or senile.

The intense curiosity offered by evil.

He fell victim to malice that approached seemingly harmlessly but delivered the worst.

And so the Abyss kept its promise.

【This is a suitable vessel.】

【<???? ?? ??> is planted inside <Heavenly Mandate(SSS+)>.】

An alien seed planted in his mind.

【<Germination(1/3)> in progress.】

From the gap created by its germination, malicious souls poured out.

“I don’t want to die…!!”

“I don’t want to disappear…!!”

“I don’t want to be annihilated…!!”

Countless vengeful spirits rushing to claim his one body.

Becoming one with them, Heavenly Mandate glimpsed the memories of all these vengeful spirits.

And he realized.

This world was repeating endlessly.

The vengeful spirits possessing his body…

They were ghosts from previous iterations.

They were countless, distant vengeful spirits who had met their doom at the hands of the Abyss.

The Abyss used them.

More precisely, it gave orders to the vengeful spirits possessing Heavenly Mandate’s body to advance toward its goal.

Heavenly Mandate fought constantly against the vengeful spirits, and finally, briefly regaining control of his body, he asked.

“Why are you doing this?!”

To that rage-filled question, the Abyss answered,

“Because I think I can create a better world than the current one.”

The Abyss explained.

The discrimination permeating throughout the world, hidden under the name of peace.

The discrimination existing under the name of species and the numerous bloodsheds caused by it.

“As I’ve observed, you too seem to love peace… What do you think? Advancing together with me for true peace and equality.”

It was absurd.

Nonsense not even worth considering.

However,

“Please… save me, father.”

“No… just kill me, grandfather.”

“Old man… me……”

There were too many vengeful spirits of family members sleeping within the planted seed.

He knew that if he didn’t accept the Abyss’s proposal here, the vengeful spirits of his relatives would suffer endlessly in the bottomless pit.

“I will cooperate. Please grant peace to all the vengeful spirits.”

“I accept.”

Heavenly Mandate chose the vastly more numerous vengeful spirits over the lives in the current world.

“It will soon be over… They will soon find peace.”

Seeing Heavenly Mandate giggling as if out of his mind, mixed with the vengeful spirits, the Idler involuntarily shouted with veins bulging:

“[Then what about this world!! Are you saying it’s fine for this world where tens of billions live to perish!!]”

“Did I not tell you? The souls of this world number merely tens of billions, but the souls that have not found peace must be multiplied by infinity.”

Heavenly Mandate had confirmed through countless souls.

When a world is destroyed by the Abyss, that world is completely annihilated.

But not the lives within.

Because the world closes with its destruction, the souls become trapped, eternally drifting in a universe without even a planet.

There were as many such worlds as the number of times Hallorand had regressed, so the number of drifting vengeful spirits…

“[But…!!]”

The Idler, involuntarily trying to comprehend that number, was overwhelmed by a profound dizziness.

Only then did Heavenly Mandate nod with satisfaction and continue his explanation.

“The only way for those pitiful vengeful spirits to escape their closed worlds is through a mysterious seed that only the Abyss can create. But once it becomes a god, its power will strengthen, and it promised to annihilate all vengeful spirits then.”

Heavenly Mandate knew.

That the vengeful spirits trapped in disconnected worlds also possessed reason like humans.

But they couldn’t perceive each other, and their world to stand on had been annihilated.

To drift alone through a world of nothingness for an infinite time while maintaining a sound mind.

“How could anyone endure that without going mad!!!”

Heavenly Mandate drew his great sword.

The current Heavenly Mandate was both the Heavenly Mandate of this world and the Heavenly Mandates of destroyed worlds.

Besides that, he was mixed with so many vengeful spirits that he was closer to a ‘collective’ than an ‘individual,’ which enabled him to use it.

【<Four Seasons(Ex)> activates.】

Four Seasons.

The ultimate technique achieved by the current Heavenly Mandate combining the technique devised by the Heavenly Mandates of closed worlds after infinite time, mimicking annihilation.

“Please don’t interfere…!!”

Just as the massive great sword flew at a speed the Idler couldn’t react to.

“…Shut up.”

…Thud thud thud.

Strange spherical body fragments erupted from the ground where Heavenly Mandate stood.

【<Flesh Explosion(SSS+)> activates.】

【Skill grade increases to (Ex-) proportional to charging time.】

【Using Artifact – <Yuriaze Holy Water(Ex)>, skill grade increases to (Ex+).】

Golden light flashing amidst the blood-red.

──!!!!

Ruby’s trump card illuminated the surrounding area as bright as day.

An explosion using holy water as a detonator.

Since the seed planted inside Heavenly Mandate was also from the Abyss, the effect was substantial.

“Kuhak!!!”

As the seed controlling his body wavered, Heavenly Mandate’s consciousness briefly cleared.

“……Ah.”

Only after seeing the devastated surroundings did he realize.

No matter how much he blamed it on the vengeful spirits, he had been walking a severely misguided path.

It was evident right before his eyes.

The Idler’s Ilhong.

He and his subordinates had dealt with them.

Ruby and Dallan’s Rose.

He had dealt with them single-handedly.

“Ah… Aah…!!”

With his memories becoming clear, overwhelming guilt rushed in.

The startled Heavenly Mandate reached out toward Ruby to offer an apology, but,

【<Flesh Explosion(SSS+)> activates.】

【Skill grade increases to (Ex-) proportional to charging time.】

【Using Artifact – <Yuriaze Holy Water(Ex)>, skill grade increases to (Ex+).】

──!!!!

────!!!!!!!

Caught in successive explosions, he disappeared into a cloud of whitish dust.

The Idler, also startled by Ruby’s actions, reached out to calm her, but Dallan, who had approached unnoticed, stopped him.

In the silence that followed.

Ruby, staring into the dust with clenched fists, finally spoke the words she had been holding back.

“Whatever circumstances you had, whatever story you had, it doesn’t matter. What’s certain is that you massacred our Red clan.”

Therefore,

“Don’t try to make excuses, just pay for what you’ve done.”

Right after Ruby finished speaking.

──!!!!

Another tremendous explosion occurred where Heavenly Mandate’s shadow had been.

Thick clouds of dust rose.

Despite receiving an attack that vastly exceeded his grade, Heavenly Mandate still stirred,

Struggling for what he considered a noble mission to save the vengeful spirits,

“I’ll take it from here.”

“…Yes, Dallan.”

A new person with lingering resentment leaped into the dust cloud,

“I… am, for… the countless… vengeful… spirits…”

Dallan looked down at the still-stirring Heavenly Mandate and quietly asked.

“What an unfair world this is, isn’t it?”

While some villains sell insignificant stories to be forgiven by their enemies, others fade away without understanding despite having noble causes,

“If I may say so, your dedication for countless vengeful spirits was truly a noble cause.”

But that noble cause included my love as a small sacrifice, and to me, that one person was more precious than the cause you speak of…

“Indeed, this world seems unfair.”

Having finished speaking, Dallan raised his sword.

“Remember this lastly. Before being any kind of entity, we are ordinary people.”

【<Dallan(SS+)>’s Skill 1 – <Feast of Dragons(SSS+)> activates!】

【<No Dragon General – Dragon Slayer(Ex-)> has been selected.】

A paradoxical sword containing both understanding and anger.

But because it achieved harmony, the most powerful sword was thrust toward Heavenly Mandate’s neck.

Only then did he recall his conversation with Rose.

“If you spare Dallan now, he might be able to save you in the future.”

He naturally believed her because she was a woman who could foresee the future, and that’s why he let Dallan go.

But thinking about it now,

“You, too… were just… one… person.”

Slash.

A life understood by no one ended without even a shred of salvation.

And so the battle of pawns ended.

Just as Dallan, after confirming Heavenly Mandate’s death, was about to turn away after a moment of mourning.

【Warning!】

【All restrictions of the Abyss have been released.】

A terrible energy spread throughout the entire system.