Ch.95Divergence (2)

It was small and unremarkable.

Compared to the swirling death, it seemed pitiful.

The sacred relic that Durin faced was a withered, twisted wrist.

It clearly showed the demise of a forgotten god. Though preciously preserved by the order, it was not revered. With vanished history unable to continue, only vengeance toward the heavens remained—which was, in a way, to be expected.

“I’m going to awaken the god now.”

Ludmila, who had followed them, walked past the two. She carefully moved toward the altar.

Step by step. Her footfalls were deeply reverent. As a sorceress who had only explored observatories until now, this was the first tangible artifact she had encountered. As one who foretold the future, this was a moment when she should restrain her emotional turmoil, but she couldn’t perfectly control her body.

Her fingertips trembled as she raised both hands in worship.

“The final revelation that Mother tried to connect through fate.”

The daughter spoke her wish while facing the Mother of All Evil. The thread that had been held onto despite suffering a miserable history of being cast out from the heavens—it was time to continue it.

“Finally, I plead before you. Please show them the lost history.”

Ludmila knelt down. Her desperate voice echoed throughout the sanctuary.

At the same time, death grew quiet. Silence fell as if time had stopped. The black energy scattered like ashes.

The world gradually lost its vitality. The sight of colors being drained was eerily bizarre enough to raise goosebumps.

“This is…”

The hero stepped forward. He walked past Ludmila.

Tears streaming down her cheeks. The sorceress’s emotional release froze in place. It wasn’t just a feeling of time stopping. The sanctuary had separated from the outside, entering a different timeline.

The god’s relic had prepared a separate place for the two connected by fate.

“It’s similar to receiving a revelation.”

When the hero touched death with his fingertips, the Creator’s power manifested, and it crumbled. Seeing it collapse powerlessly, he smiled.

“So there really was something you wanted to show us.”

He wasn’t speaking to Durin.

“Then I shall watch.”

At that moment, the colorless world went dark. It felt as if someone had covered his eyes.

All senses disappeared. Durin was thrown into a world of blurred synesthesia. He could no longer sense the hero’s presence.

He floated as if swimming underwater.

Durin tried to resist by tensing his fingers, but his will wouldn’t respond. Even his soul sank of its own accord.

In the deep sea of consciousness. In the flow of returning to the beginning for a created being to meet a god.

‘I place a great burden upon you.’

A low voice whispered. In the pitch-black unknown space, emotions mixed with weeping rippled.

‘Are you not resentful? You will have to endure hardships meant for your kind.’

Sorrow. Despair. Helplessness.

All manner of negative sensations flowed in. He scraped his nails against a wall he could not resist.

A scene from some unknown distant past.

Durin opened his eyes. The world regained its color and injected memories. It awakened a moment that had been asleep for over a thousand years.

In that conversation, Durin played the role of a red-horned demon.

He was a divine warrior who received the devastating emotions. A gaze of sympathy touched him. This time it was like reality.

“I… cannot comfort you. For I don’t know when this long, long sleep will end.”

“If I had wanted compensation, I would have fled with you. But I didn’t, Mother.”

The answer came naturally. He followed the demon’s actions from that time.

The goddess’s sorrow doubled.

“That is my pain.”

A gentle touch caressed his cheek. The warmth embraced by the night sky was heartbreaking.

“But I must accept the punishment of defeat, so I will tell you despite my sorrow.”

“Speak, Mother.”

“Cut off my head.”

A tremor passed through. Unable to bear having to impart a tragic life to her own child.

“My complete power must not be handed over to the heavens. Hide my most important hands, feet, and head from them.”

“……”

“The Creator God will help with this, so I ask you.”

Drip, drip. Tears fell to the floor. A torrent of emotions surged.

“My most beloved son.”

The world collapsed. Consciousness sank below the surface again. Finally, their conversation echoed like a lullaby.

‘Forgive my powerlessness.’

‘If I can overcome the trials, I will gladly do so.’

‘I will endure the pain.’

‘I will engrave my duty.’

In the depths of the sea of consciousness. When his body reached that place, Durin could open his eyes again.

‘So it may be passed down to future generations.’

Until the day they could set foot in the heavens again.

Slash!

He cut flesh with a blade. His vision turned red. Death shattered into pieces. Looking around, he was in the sanctuary of the Dark Order.

He had returned.

“……”

But the hero was gone. Ludmila was nowhere to be seen.

Only the severed wrist on the altar and Durin remained.

‘A fragment of the god. The grasp that rules death.’

The whisper conveyed an ancient story.

‘The god’s role of gathering wandering souls and guiding them to the afterlife.’

‘You could take on not only all fears from death but also reverence for the unknown as your duty.’

A blessing that the dark night would bestow upon the chosen one of fate.

It was an enticing offer.

‘Descendant of the red horn. Why do you seek to obtain this blasphemous power?’

The whisper leaked from the severed wrist. It was similar to a thought impression. It was the incomplete form of a god that had become similar to humans while sleeping.

“To protect.”

It was an opportunity to obtain divine power. Even after being submerged in the sea of consciousness and returning, the light in his eyes did not dim.

“If I can stop the coming wave, I will not be particular about means or methods.”

‘Excessive power devours the soul. Have fear.’

“Destruction doesn’t matter. If demons can exist eternally, that is my glory.”

Durin drew the sword hidden in his demonic energy. A ferocity more fierce than death pervaded everywhere.

“And fear is something the heavens should have. For the time of vengeance has come.”

Centuries slowly crumbling away.

His disciplined mind held Durin steady. Facing the divine power so enchanting it could steal one’s sanity, he stoically asserted his duty. Everything was for the future. Even if he received no reward, even if death drove him to ruin, he was not afraid.

Crack!!

He stood as firmly as a greatsword thrust into the ground. He faced the sacred relic with dignity.

He would dream not of a withered end but of brilliant light. His red eyes answered thus.

‘A remarkable child has appeared.’

“Duty is the burden I will carry throughout my life.”

‘Then this time too, I will bear the pain.’

The swirling death grew quiet. As the withered hand crumbled to dust, the world collapsed.

‘My child whom I meet again. Though shameless of me, may I ask you once more?’

Maternal affection was added to the whisper. The form of a woman appeared behind.

A goddess without neck and feet. Her hand, scattering like burnt ashes, asked one last time.

‘Sacrifice yourself for your kind.’

“If my blood can lead us to the heavens, I will gladly give it.”

‘Thank you.’

A warm death settled into the red ferocity. It wasn’t cold. It was part of the cycle arranged by the Creator God.

Durin could feel it instinctively. Souls gathered in his trembling hand. It was filled with the screams of those who died in war. His ears became dizzy as the world grew complex.

The great demon who inherited not only the duty to protect his kind but also the will of the god.

“That’s one.”

Feet and head.

If he collected the rest, he could get closer to death.

That sight, where fate would be smiling, approached.

“If I obtain the next one…”

It would cause great ripples in the heavens.

It would be the hammer blow to those arrogant ones who still paid no attention to the struggle for survival.

Durin firmly grasped the power gathered in his hand.

He didn’t crush it. He embraced it with red ferocity.

#

“Has he become an apostle of the god?”

The hero who had been watching the scene muttered. Ludmila was beside him.

The sorceress shrugged and answered.

“Similar yet different.”

“Since he received the power directly, should we consider him an avatar?”

“How can there be an avatar for a god in eternal sleep? It’s more accurate to say he inherited the will.”

“Simple but impressive.”

The hero made a calm assessment. Though he had witnessed the birth of a being that could become a great threat to the human realm, he didn’t flinch. It wasn’t the behavior one would expect from humanity’s guardian chosen by the Creator God.

“You seem lost in thought. I actually thought you’d be filled with thoughts of revenge against Durin.”

“I’m surprised at myself too.”

His hollow laughter escaped. The hero spoke with a voice mixed with sighs.

“Resurrection is a hero’s privilege, but also a shackle.”

“Is it the price for defying the natural order?”

“You should see it as just reconstructing the physical body. In a state of inheriting previous memories.”

“So, you’re a different person?”

He couldn’t answer Ludmila’s question. Because he couldn’t speak with certainty.

“If even a sorceress who sees the future can’t discern it, how would I know? I’m just someone who followed along when told that touching a divine relic would show the way. From my previous prophecies, I seemed to speak as if I knew, but was I wrong?”

“I too am just feeling my way, not seeing with certainty. To be precise, I’m just one of many sorceresses following the instructions of the prophetic witch somewhere far away.”

The sorceress looked up at the ceiling. The demonic observatory somewhere in the sky. She imagined the great demoness who would be searching for another fate there.

“If we meet again, I must ask her then.”

The hero said, looking at the same place as Ludmila.

“I think I need to learn about the history from a thousand years ago.”

“So you saw something in the relic.”

The guardian of humanity who had entered with Durin but emerged much earlier.

The sorceress could see the direction to take but couldn’t look deeper than that. So a pure question popped out.

She wanted to know what resolution the hero had made.

“What the heavens told me was very strange.”

“……”

“I just developed some curiosity.”

He didn’t tell her straightforwardly. He glossed over it.

The sorceress quickly lost interest as well. This was a branching point given by fate.

“The King will soon descend upon this land, so ask him. He’s very likely to cooperate in finding the hidden truth.”

After providing guidance, she went to do her own task.

Durin, grasping his greatsword and making a vow.

It was time for her to use her strength as an assistant for the guardian who had mounted the flow of the world.