Ch.331109. I Have Never Abandoned You (3)

I thought everything would go according to plan.

Even after entering the demon realm.

Even up to the point where I overwhelmed their powerless and incompetent servants, shattered the boundaries, and annihilated their armies.

Aurezah’s mission and achievement seemed destined to succeed.

But…

“…Master. It seems this is as far as we go.”

The white-haired woman with a sword drove back the enemies as she admonished Aurezah, who had collapsed clutching his chest.

“No. Not yet, nothing yet!”

“Forcing it won’t solve anything.”

The woman coldly stated the reality.

“Someone as wise as you should know that better than anyone.”

“Kugh…!”

“I’ll handle things here, so please withdraw.”

“How can I… leave you behind?! How could I possibly retreat just because I’m in danger!”

“Because that’s what I want.”

A massive beast flashed its red scales, taking on a fearsome presence as it was scorched by the crimson sunlight beating down.

Yet even that was completely erased when exposed to the woman’s sword strikes.

Some froze and shattered.

Others burned to ash and scattered like dust.

Some were cut to pieces.

And a select few couldn’t even maintain their form, disintegrating into powder.

…It was a power bordering on the miraculous.

Indeed, countless monsters and fragments of low-ranking demons might form legions, but before her, they were all as fleeting as a gentle breeze.

But even this couldn’t continue indefinitely.

“…Sister.”

“Go. It seems the time has finally come for me to fulfill my role.”

Speaking these cryptic words, she swung her sword relentlessly.

With each swing, dozens, hundreds were swept away, cut down, and scattered.

At a glance, it seemed to surpass even the immense power that Aurezah himself had wielded until now.

But he knew.

That this wasn’t something she could maintain for long.

She was now shedding her final life like morning dew.

Before dawn could arrive, that dew would fall to the ground, dispersing without even forming droplets, or perhaps oxidizing into a faint passing mist.

“……”

Aurezah felt devastated.

He thought he could achieve everything, so how had it come to this?

‘Was I foolish?’

It wasn’t a thing, nor a life, nor anything with a lifeline attached.

‘It wasn’t something that could be killed.’

It was merely a concept.

Samael, Tamiel… and others with various names…

It was a kind of concept.

But before it was a concept, it was once the most brilliant light.

That is, if the master of this world is perfect and omnipotent…

…then even its rebellion, arrogance, pride, and ambition were part of that intention.

Meaning that even his fall from grace, his banishment to the deepest place where he was bound—even this situation was part of that intention.

And the fact that it had established itself as a trial to make those who tried to climb over the barrier, over the wall to the sky, fall… was also part of the predetermined plan.

‘Then, in the end, are we merely enduring and persevering rather than standing against it?’

Is resistance… all we can do?

‘Don’t make me laugh.’

Then all living beings must simply watch for its mood swings and hope for tomorrow.

Like me, or like my sister.

And how many countless brilliant possibilities must suffer terrible tragedies and devastation due to its whims and changes of heart?

I cannot accept this.

I cannot comprehend it.

That’s why, that’s why I tried to uproot it completely…

“It can’t be helped.”

“?!”

Aurezah looked around.

Suddenly, he was in a space with a red sky and a massive inverted tree that stretched its roots into that sky.

“From the beginning, you who are under the master of this world could never defeat that. No, you might win, but you can’t kill it. Annihilation is even more impossible.”

And for good reason.

“Just as the heavens favor you, that one is, beyond favor, personally selected by him—a morning star. A morning star that might someday replace him.”

“……”

A pair of eyes like a captured rainbow.

As she flashed them and smiled fiercely, Aurezah’s heart responded involuntarily.

“You are…”

Click!

On either side of her stood something made of pitch-black armor and a horse clad in pitch-black barding.

Grrrr!

The growl was as fierce as a beast’s snarl.

“What? Did you invade this land without knowing who I am? You arrived here intact only because I allowed it.”

“……”

He didn’t know.

One thing was certain… the being before him was far from ordinary.

…It felt like something transcendent.

Yes…

Like what a deity might look like if it took form, that kind of thrill…

“Haa.”

The woman exuding an overwhelming presence seemed to sigh in lament.

Like an elder burdened with a troublesome matter.

“I’d heard about it beforehand… but this is truly pitiful. So pitiful…”

She shot him a look with her rainbow-like eyes, alternating between pity and mockery, before sighing.

“But, yes. It can’t be helped. Since we’ve come to know… we’re destined to hate each other.”

However.

“…Though that’s not the right path. How unfortunate.”

“…What are you?”

“The god of this world.”

Well, temporarily.

“I’m just filling in because I have something to look after.”

Her long red hair fluttered in the wind.

“Anyway, since the promised time has come, I’ll guide you, and then I need to finish my own task.”

“…Guide? Guide what?”

“The human you’ve been so eager to see.”

No, perhaps not human anymore.

“The origin of your order.”

“……”

At those words, Aurezah’s eyes darkened.

What meaning could that have now, at this point…

“If you think the same, that’s a great misconception.”

From the beginning.

“You’re the one who came this far and made things this way, so it’s entirely your fault.”

“How dare you speak so freely—!”

“I’m not interested in arguing.”

Suddenly, a blood-red dimensional gate opened.

“Just get out.”

“What?!”

Though it’s not particularly pleasant.

“We don’t have a very good relationship anyway.”

Haa.

With her sigh, Aurezah was once again thrown into the abyss, beyond the darkness.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Aurezah lost consciousness midway.

For a brief moment, he dreamed.

A dream that was precious, hazy, sad, painful, troubled, and agonizing.

And in the end, facing a terrible outcome, he wept, and wept, and wept again.

Such a sorrowful dream, filled only with sadness… such a cruel and pitiful dream.

……

…

“So you should say something too. In a way, this situation is your fault, isn’t it?”

Aurezah’s eyes snapped open.

This voice, he was certain.

“Kugh!”

“Oh, seems you’re awake?”

A hooded man with grayish-white hair looked down at him with a sneer.

And.

“……”

On one side stood that figure he had seen a few times before, the being resembling darkness.

…The origin of the teachings Aurezah had followed, had wanted to follow.

…Perhaps the first to pursue the dark star.

His form resembling darkness was right there before his eyes.

“You noticed too late, but it’s far too late?”

The grayish-white man snickered.

With clear mockery, he laughed and laughed again.

“You might be favored by the Lord, but I’ve been the Lord’s closest confidant from the beginning. Favor versus blood relation from birth. Even by human standards, it’s an incomparable gap, right? Probably?”

“……”

Aurezah clenched his fist.

Blood began to trickle from his bitten lips.

“You can resist and struggle against me, but deal with me? Dispose of me? Punishment? Subjugation? There should be limits to arrogance.”

“What are you trying to do?”

Ignoring the hooded man who mocked him, Aurezah shouted toward the dark-clad man.

“What is this all about?! Don’t tell me you’ve been playing us along with that thing?!”

“……”

The dark-clad man remained silent with his eyes closed.

“You seem to think Kariel is omnipotent, but he’s still human, you know? I don’t understand why you expect so much from someone who can barely take care of himself. If he were inherently noble like me, that would be different…?”

The hooded man poured out vicious mockery and derision.

Blood flowed like tears from Aurezah’s eyes, but.

Even then, the dark-clad man said nothing, standing still with his eyes closed.

Here, in the sea of stars, he remained silent like a blind man, like a mute.

Unable to bear it any longer, Aurezah frantically questioned, raised his voice, denounced, and shot back.

“If this is how it is, then why! Why make us realize that being! Make us face and confront it! Give us a shred of power to resist it! Why!”

“Why blame others for your own inadequacy? Rather than being grateful for this noble sacrifice that left teachings allowing you to approach even a fragment of divinity.”

“Noble sacrifice?! How am I supposed to know what was sacrificed?!”

“Your ignorance is your own fault.”

Greed.

Wrath.

And… foolishness.

“These three things make humans truly cheap. They make them worthless and insignificant… I deny those who have cast these off and ascended to heaven. Only those who overcome the trials and truly deserve it, only those who catch my eye deserve such qualification. That is my role in the afterlife and on earth. That is the minor right the Lord has granted me.”

“…Minor?”

Aurezah was too dumbfounded to speak.

“And this man has overcome all those trials. How dare you compare, you worthless worms.”

Ironically, as that accursed Satan, Tamiel, defended his devotee…

Aurezah felt like he was going to lose his mind.

“So in the end, overcoming those trials and following in your footsteps… was that the guidance you wanted for us?!”

“……”

Kariel, with his eyes closed, remained silent.

“Just do what you’re told, why choose to do what you’re forbidden? That’s why you fell. Even maintaining that noble teaching was difficult, yet you left the absolute sanctuary of your own accord. Flowers that should live in greenhouses, you stepped onto the harsh frozen land yourselves, so you must bear that responsibility.”

Your descendants, your heirs, from now on, regardless of the past, forever.

“…They won’t be able to go to the gates of heaven, the afterlife, anywhere. Freedom? Peace? Liberation? All meaningless.”

And what put an end to that flow was.

“You, foolish and foolish Aurezah.”

“……”

“Ah, how amusing. Lord, another possibility has fallen and been covered in mud. How… sweet an experience this is!”

The hooded man trembled with genuine joy, clutching his face with both hands.

In a sense, this was also a form of pleasant and joyful revenge and spite against Kariel, who had treated him so indifferently and coldly.

You getting caught up in it? That’s your own doing, not my fault, right?

“You agree, don’t you? Kariel?”

“……”

The dark-clad man who had kept his eyes closed said nothing.

…However.

At that point, he finally opened his eyes.

“……”

Then suddenly, he looked up at the sky where the sea of stars stretched out.

The world is brilliantly radiant.

But merely by lowering one’s gaze, this world is filled with malice and misfortune, despair and bad luck.

The world is truly, in itself, tragic.

“So.”

We must awaken.

We must wake up.

That the injustice and irrationality of this world are not meant to kill us and make our lives miserable.

…But to correct us and make us stand upright and dignified.

As long as we don’t understand that.

…The pain will continue infinitely.

Even despair will repeat endlessly.

“Have you finished what you wanted to say?”

“Huh?”

The hooded man looked around with a dumbfounded expression.

“You brought it, right?”

Suddenly, Kariel reached out his hand toward Aurezah.

Then, he asked.

“…?”

Brought what? What is he talking about?

“Elvat.”

“…?”

Aurezah didn’t know. No, he did know, but… why was it being mentioned now of all times?

At that moment, the broken and split blade, the metal fragments, came together…

And were grasped in Kariel’s hand, surrounded by darkness.

A straight cross-shaped sword.

He held it with both hands and brought it close to his face, as if leaning on it.

“It’s been a while, Master.”

“What are you doing?”

While the hooded man was inwardly bewildered by Kariel’s unexpected action.

“To affirm life, one must accept even despair and downfall.”

You already know this.

“For the sun to rise, it must first set.”

There is no eternal cycle.

For a cycle, rise and fall, prosperity and decline must occur simultaneously.

Just as when swinging a sword downward, preparation is needed to raise it again.

To move forward, one must first lift the back foot that was set behind.

“We cannot praise life. But unless we affirm and face it, we have no tomorrow.”

Therefore.

“…Every moment was sincere for us.”

“……”

Sincerity.

Strangely, Aurezah felt an inexplicable surge of emotion at those words.

“Why are you two talking in a way only you understand? Explain so I can understand too?”

The hooded man pulled back his hood, revealing a pale face as he questioned them.

Similarly, Kariel didn’t spare him a glance.

It was as if, despite being in the same space, they were perfectly separated.

Truly, they seemed and felt like separate entities.

“And for us who have been sincere and genuine in every moment, no moment has been in vain or meaningless.”

Kariel raised the sword he held in both hands straight in front of his chest.

That was… a stance that seemed familiar…

No, he had seen it before.

His sister had once briefly shown him something like this, saying it was from long ago.

“……”

Though none of those who pursued the dark star had walked that path.

It was a supreme relic that everyone had once admired…

Once originating from the weakest demon lord, later held by a demon lord candidate turned legion commander, a foolish non-knight knight who personally demonstrated it wrapped in darkness.

And the most basic, most trivial… preparation and stance to deploy it.

“Nothing was meaningless.”

Your coming this far.

That was precisely…

“Our destiny and meaning.”

Darkness emanates from the cross-shaped sword in his grip.

As the sea of stars is covered in darkness.

Suddenly, the world they are in…

A massive dark circle emitting brilliant light far away.

Should it be called a star?

Or…

‘A dark… star?’

Aurezah unconsciously repeated the name in his mind.

And.

“…Huh?”

The hooded man looked around with a dumbfounded expression.

“Tamiel.”

“Yes?”

Kariel calls to him.

The grayish-white man responds.

“Let me point out one thing you’re mistaken about…”

The dark one trails off momentarily.

It’s as if he’s recalling and drawing out emotions he had suppressed.

In this moment, the dark-clad man regained human emotions.

No, more precisely, he became human.

This dissonance was noticed not only by Aurezah or Tamiel.

Everyone in this space suddenly became equal.

Insignificant.

Ordinary and worthless.

All of them.

“Did I ever, even once, say that I forgave you?”

“……”

From his golden eyes, immense heat flows.

“Yes. I can’t do anything about you, the most brilliant treasure created by this world’s master. You were this world’s providence, law, and another concept.”

Until just now.

“……”

“I’ve reached a certain level.”

Kariel said, casually flipping the sword in his hands over his shoulder in a familiar motion.

“So I’ve arranged this brief time to account for that.”

Accept it gladly.

“This is the most splendid feast I’ve prepared for you with the inevitability I possess.”

“Kariel, you bastard…”

“How does it feel to be less than human?”

Kariel asked, and Tamiel gritted his teeth.

“From the beginning, this technique was created to serve you and your esteemed ones.”

Dominatur Peccata.

It started as merely neutralizing mana, making it meaningless.

But now it’s reached the point where it can, for a moment, seal even authority, providence, and laws.

But there were so many restrictions on its use.

I’ve just removed those constraints and limitations.

And at that moment, he happened to be near me.

Likewise, rather than us, reduced to less than human, fighting with bare hands.

Indeed…

Isn’t the one with a weapon at a slight advantage?

That is precisely the first weapon secured by humans who had neither claws nor sharp teeth.

The acquisition and utilization of wisdom, and its origin.

“You incompetent one, from worst to weakest.”

This is.

“The fate and destiny that has come upon you.”

So accept it gracefully.

“Whether you want to accept it or not, that’s not my concern.”

Grate.

And again…

Necata.

Originally a thrust.

But the meaning contained in its original word is very clear.

To kill.

To destroy.

To catch.

To eliminate.

Kariel was never one for idle talk.

Therefore.

He simply proves through action.

Swoosh!

Resolutely, he thrusts the cross-shaped sword into the grayish-white man’s chest.

Crack!

Then twists and thrusts it in again!

“KARIEEEEL—!”

The grayish-white man, Tamiel, lets out a scream-like cry.

But the dark eyes, even the eyes resembling gold and the sun, have frozen as cold as ice crystals.