Ch.185Final Chapter. In the Name of Flame (2)

# Slavic Kingdom Capital, Adersk.

A city located north of the Korean Peninsula. In the royal palace of Adersk, high-ranking officials of the Alliance were gathered for a meeting.

The leaders of the Three-Nation Alliance—Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun and Grand Duke Andrei—were not present. Neither was Tianma Yeon Se-hwi.

All attendees were the highest officials from the Far East. Yet their expressions were filled with despair.

“Even the Emperor himself couldn’t face that evil god!”

Grim news had arrived from Seoul, Korea.

Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun, humanity’s strongest, the chairman of the Korean Hunter Association, had been defeated.

The Japanese Prime Minister, representing Japan at the meeting, wore a look of despair.

“Seoul is the center of Far Eastern Hunter guilds. And Chairman Jeon was the focal point for those hunters—no, for hunters worldwide. If even the Emperor has been defeated, then no hope remains.”

The attendees remained silent, but their inner thoughts weren’t much different.

As the Japanese Prime Minister said, the situation in the Far East had deteriorated to its worst since the war with the Red Lake began.

No, it had gone beyond deterioration—they now faced the acceptance of impending doom.

Ernst Zerfield, also attending the meeting, was a world-renowned hunter who reflected on the events of the past two weeks.

‘I never imagined the situation would worsen so drastically in just two weeks.’

Despite the Alliance forces and Flame’s efforts to recapture Japan and consolidate the Far East’s power, two major setbacks had occurred recently.

The European front. And the Vatican had been directly conquered by Juan Soriano.

As a result, the Pope, one of the Five Celestial Saints, had died.

The widespread demonic energy created by Soriano and Chae Min-a, an apostle of the Red Lake, had contaminated the Vatican.

‘The White Cross Society. Their holy power has collectively weakened, making it much harder to deal with villains and monsters.’

The Vatican, the center of faith, and the Pope had died.

Consequently, the holy power of priests had diminished all at once. With the priests’ power to protect hunters from demonic energy reduced, it naturally became more difficult to confront villains who released massive amounts of demonic energy through contracts with demons.

The second setback was essentially a chain reaction.

As Ayel’s holy power relatively weakened, the demonic energy of the Archfiend and his apostles grew stronger.

Using this power, the Red Lake’s elite forces had launched a surprise attack on Seoul a week ago.

‘Even Seoul eventually…’

Once the safest place on Earth, Seoul had developed cracks due to the imbalance created by the Vatican’s fall.

The Red Lake forces had begun constructing a demonic formation to summon the evil god while attacking Seoul.

As a result, Seoul had become uninhabitable for humans.

Due to this unexpected assault, even Seoul’s Hunter Guild suffered massive casualties.

Led by Chairman Jeon Tae-hyun and Secretary-General Choi Seung-hoon, they had barely managed to retreat to Busan with 70% of their hunter forces intact.

But they couldn’t leave Seoul, the center of the Three-Nation Alliance, as it was.

Above all, allowing the evil god’s resurrection would ensure humanity’s extinction.

‘So the Emperor personally led the Association’s elite forces to Seoul, but…’

The outcome was the worst possible, as reported in the meeting earlier.

Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun had been defeated. Though he barely survived, humanity’s strongest had lost his fighting power.

And the evil god’s resurrection had begun. The atmospheric MCI levels were skyrocketing across the Far East—no, worldwide.

This demonic energy was corrupting ordinary people, causing unprecedented damage. If even hunters struggled to withstand it, civilians had no chance.

“Must we humans truly… accept the end like this?”

The Grand Elder from the Tianma Faith of Wuguo also wore a despairing expression.

Zerfield, observing the meeting participants, inwardly made his final resolution.

‘Only one choice remains. We must all march toward Seoul, prepared to die. Myself included.’

Though he too ranked among the world’s top ten strongest hunters, he couldn’t hide his fear now. If even the Emperor had been defeated, no hunter on Earth could face the evil god.

It was then that a voice spoke:

“Yet hope still remains.”

All eyes turned toward one person.

It was Enrico, a cardinal of the White Cross Society’s Far Eastern diocese.

Once an archbishop, he had recently risen to cardinal in the Cross Society. And with the Pope’s death, he had become the new focal point of the Cross Society.

‘Certainly, Cardinal Enrico…’

Zerfield, having worked with the Cross Society until very recently, had spoken privately with Cardinal Enrico.

‘Lee Min-soo. He was the first to recognize that the Colorless Key was a holy vessel.’

Enrico continued:

“The Eastern Sages. And the Colorless Key. They still remain. Ayel’s will directly tells me to trust in them.”

The meeting attendees fell silent at his words.

The information about the Eastern Sages was highly classified within the Alliance, but everyone present—the leaders of the three nations—now knew about it.

But the Grand Elder from Wuguo cried out with a despairing expression:

“The Sages… but Flame’s elite forces have been out of contact for two weeks now! The evil god has already resurrected. And even now, civilians are dying from exposure to demonic energy. We cannot endlessly wait for those who may never return!”

Zerfield couldn’t deny the truth in his words.

Though Jeon Tae-hyun was incapacitated, Grand Duke Andrei and Tianma were still safe. And Korea’s hunters maintained their forces in Busan under Secretary-General Choi Seung-hoon’s command.

They needed to act before all those forces were lost.

‘So the answer is indeed an all-out offensive.’

But Zerfield wanted to believe Cardinal Enrico’s words.

He too had a connection with the Colorless Key, Lee Min-soo. Though Min-soo was still quite young as a hunter.

Zerfield had sensed it. Clearly, Min-soo possessed something different from ordinary hunters.

And Lee Min-soo had proven himself in the battle to recapture Tokyo, Japan.

Min-soo and his party had defeated Seo Moon-yeom, who had merged with the Archfiend Amon. His accomplishment was almost unbelievable even to Zerfield, who knew Min-soo.

‘Heroes are born in times of chaos. And if someone is to create a miracle in these chaotic times, it will surely be a new figure, not the current Five Celestial Saints or myself.’

The meeting seemed to be concluding with a decision to launch an all-out offensive in a few days.

Zerfield couldn’t oppose this fact. Still, in his heart, he wanted to place his final hope in Lee Min-soo.

‘If only they would return now…’

As Zerfield stood quietly with his arms crossed, deep in thought, the meeting room door suddenly opened.

“What is the matter!”

The commander of the Snow Knight Order of the Slavic Kingdom, who was presiding over the meeting, shouted. Judging by his uniform, it appeared to be his adjutant who had rushed in.

It was extremely disrespectful given the status of those gathered, but the adjutant urgently exclaimed despite the commander’s shout:

“Ur-urgent news from Rome… from the European Crusaders!”

All attendees focused on him. The commander’s angry expression quickly changed.

“What news? Speak quickly.”

“Rome… they’ve successfully recaptured the Vatican! The Roman Crusaders have achieved a great victory!”

“Is, is that true? The Vatican…”

The attendees’ faces all changed at the adjutant’s words.

“Recapturing the Vatican means… Ayel’s holy power can return to normal. This is wonderful news!”

Cardinal Enrico exclaimed. But then he showed a puzzled expression.

“But I heard the European Crusaders couldn’t even maintain the front at Milan and had surrendered Rome. How on earth…”

The adjutant’s message wasn’t finished.

“And there’s a direct message from the Crusaders to Cardinal Enrico! Hunter Lee Min-soo personally led the Crusaders to recapture the Vatican!”

“Lee Min-soo? Isn’t he that Flame hunter who recently defeated Seo Moon-yeom in Tokyo?”

The attendees shouted at the adjutant’s words. Zerfield unconsciously uncrossed his arms.

‘Lee Min-soo. Could it be that he…’

Though Zerfield knew Min-soo, most hunters hadn’t known his name just a month ago.

But now even the Alliance leadership knew it well.

Flame, the guild that included Yuri Tarkovskaya, daughter of a Celestial Saint, and Yeon So-so, as well as Saint Seong A-rin—the guild’s great achievements had been led by Lee Min-soo, as was now known.

Cardinal Enrico hastily made the sign of the cross at the adjutant’s words.

“Brother Min-soo… he is the Colorless Key directly mentioned by Ayel. And he will lead the Eastern Sages to become the hope that can prevent humanity’s extinction, humanity’s final saint! He… he has created a new fire for humanity… Oh Ayel…”

The meeting continued at the cardinal’s direction.

A secure line was connected from the Roman Crusaders. A high-ranking knight of the Cathedral Order announced to the attendees:

“The great saint, His Holiness Lee Min-soo, has saved Rome!”

And from there, the detailed story began.

***

My companions and I left Rome.

The past two days had been a continuous series of fierce battles.

With little time remaining for me, I moved quickly without sparing any strength.

‘The evil god has resurrected. We can’t waste any more time.’

As I had seen in the external reality, the place of the evil god’s resurrection was indeed Seoul.

So we needed to head to Seoul without wasting a day, but we couldn’t leave the Vatican as it was.

The holy city blessed by Ayel’s divinity—if it remained contaminated, humanity couldn’t withstand the demonic energy spreading throughout the Earth.

‘Fortunately, all the Crusaders were gathered in southern Rome.’

The Vatican was the holiest of holy sites for the Crusaders. And all the remaining European hunter forces had gathered in southern Italy.

I joined forces with those Crusaders and the Cathedral Order to recapture Rome from the Red Lake in just two days.

“It was truly… an unbelievable achievement.”

A knight of the Cathedral Order who boarded the transport with us spoke to me.

His name was Graham, a renowned holy knight who had fought alongside us in Rome for the past two days.

Graham had agreed to accompany us to Korea to escort our party. Of course, our current group didn’t need bodyguards.

But someone like Graham, a practitioner, was needed for coordination between the European Union led by the Crusaders and the Far Eastern Three-Nation Alliance. He boarded the transport at my request.

Graham continued:

“As a member of the Cathedral Order… it was an honor to directly witness the miracle of Ayel created by the Saint. I believe the Saint’s light will surely erase the evil deeds of the wicked god!”

He repeatedly made the sign of the cross toward me. I felt a bit embarrassed.

But as a devoutly religious holy knight who had directly witnessed what I did at the Vatican, such a reaction was inevitable.

A-rin whispered in my ear.

“You incinerated three Archfiends and over a thousand elite villains, so of course he’d react like that. Your actions saved the Crusaders who were on the brink of annihilation.”

As A-rin said, I had immediately joined forces with the Crusaders and turned the tide in Europe.

I used the divine beast’s power generously at the front lines. And by analyzing the battle situation in real-time, I led surprise attacks on villain strongholds alongside the Crusaders.

Eventually, these efforts recaptured the Vatican and relit the holy fire in the Papal Palace.

With Parma’s holy fire, the contaminated Vatican began to be purified again. Fortunately, Ayel’s temporarily diminished holy power would be restored.

So it wasn’t surprising that Graham, who had directly witnessed my achievements, revered me as a saint.

‘He’d be even more shocked if he knew I wasn’t a saint but Arel’s avatar.’

Not an apostle of Ayel, but the avatar of Arel, Ayel’s twin deity of equal status. That’s who I am.

So even the title of saint was actually a rank below my true identity. But of course, I had no intention of revealing this fact to anyone.

Finally, the transport arrived at an air force base near Busan.

Before leaving Rome, I had received news about Korea from Flame’s Busan branch.

‘Even Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun couldn’t face the evil god.’

The good news was that he hadn’t died.

This was a completely different outcome from the external reality. The fact that the Emperor, who should have died, was alive was clear evidence that the future was changing.

Our party disembarked from the transport. As arranged beforehand, Secretary-General Choi Seung-hoon personally greeted us.

He hurriedly approached me and firmly grasped both my hands.

“You’ve been through a lot. Your name and Flame’s are now known throughout the world.”

As expected, Secretary-General Choi was moving quickly.

‘It’s important for Flame’s name to become known. For the final battle.’

The hunters beside him all saluted us. Choi continued:

“The spark you’ve brought will become the hope that opens humanity’s new future.”

Shortly after, our party headed to Flame’s Busan branch with him.