Ch.97Ep.97 D-7

“From now on, you must awaken your Divine Order.”

“What? So suddenly?”

“…You know better than anyone that awakening a Divine Order is no easy task.”

“It’s not a choice, but a necessity. Merely possessing an Order won’t be enough to face them.”

After Veichel recovered somewhat, Poseidon called Arsia and Brina aside.

For the upcoming battles, only those with Divine Orders would be of any help.

With Arsia possessing Odin’s lost eye, and Brina being close to awakening her Divine Order…

Poseidon was confident they could awaken their Divine Orders with a week of training.

Of course, this confidence belonged to Poseidon alone; the parties involved were completely dumbfounded.

Divine Order bearers were extremely rare, so how could they possibly awaken Divine Orders in just one week?

But since Poseidon was ordering them to do it, they felt more dejected than incredulous.

“How can we do this when we don’t know the conditions for awakening a Divine Order? Even if Brina and I have the potential… turning that potential into reality is incredibly difficult.”

It wasn’t as if Arsia didn’t want to awaken her Divine Order.

She wanted it more than anyone—to stand alongside Radios Magnum and fight with him.

But the problem was that awakening simply wasn’t happening, regardless of potential.

Brina had also emptied herself and gotten closer to awakening her Divine Order.

But that didn’t mean she could immediately awaken it just by deciding to.

“You two seem to think Divine Orders are something extraordinary?”

“Of course they are. As I said earlier…”

“That Divine Order bearers can be counted on one hand? That’s half right, half wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

Brina had softened somewhat regarding Divine Orders, but she was still sensitive about the topic.

As the only one among the dokkaebi clan besides Kraud with the potential to awaken a Divine Order…

She glared at Poseidon, who was implying that Divine Order bearers weren’t so rare.

However, Poseidon continued with a composed expression.

“Asgard, Egypt, and the Celtic world—though now destroyed—all had numerous Divine Order bearers.”

In Asgard, Odin, Thor, and Loki possessed Divine Orders.

In previous generations, primordial giants like Ymir and Pangu also had Divine Orders.

In Egypt, there were Ra the sun god, Osiris, Set, Horus, and others.

The Celtic world similarly had many Divine Order bearers.

Of course, these worlds were destroyed by the Outer God forces led by Yog-Sothoth.

“The point is, we can’t say Divine Order bearers are that rare.”

“I understand generally. Even if they’re not countable on fingers, the absolute number of Divine Order bearers is still small compared to those with Orders. You know this too, right?”

“Yes. Certainly not everyone with an Order awakens a Divine Order.”

“Then…!”

“But if there’s a possibility, we must try everything. For our survival.”

When Poseidon gave her a cold look, Arsia shut her mouth.

She was saying this:

As long as there was a possibility of awakening a Divine Order, they must do so by any means necessary.

Otherwise, they would never withstand the combined attack of Azathoth and Chaos.

“Fine. That’s all well and good… but a Divine Order is ultimately a state of enlightenment, so how exactly can you help us?”

“Good question. Having faced my brother, you know that beings with Divine Orders are several times stronger than those with mere Orders.”

Normally, killing Hades should have been impossible.

But thanks to the compatibility of their combined forces and Radios’s help, they were able to defeat a Divine Order bearer.

Arsia provided foresight, and Brina, the strongest among them, perfectly executed her instructions.

Namgung Ihyun and Serena hid in the shadows, gradually getting on Hades’s nerves.

Jirva D’Black used Set’s power to summon sand from the underworld, further confusing Hades’s vision.

While they bought time, Brina and Elysse somehow managed to damage Hades.

Then Arsia would see the future again and direct their next actions.

In this process, without Arsia’s ability to see the future…

Or Brina’s power to break through the futures Arsia saw, they couldn’t have defeated Hades.

Of course, thinking those two alone could have killed Hades would be a mistake.

The others’ compatibility was also excellent, and most importantly, Hades had lost Kynee.

If he had been wearing Kynee, they all would have been killed regardless of foresight.

“So I’m going to put you through hell. To survive, you’ll need to awaken your Divine Orders.”

“What…!”

“It sounds absurd, I know. We need to stop their plans as soon as possible, yet here I am doing this.”

Poseidon knew how reckless her plan was.

Forcing Divine Order awakening on those who hadn’t even grasped its essence…

It was a method not even attempted on Olympus.

But they had no choice. There was no turning back.

“We start today. I won’t accept objections. Even Kraud would have done the same.”

“…”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to fight alongside Radios? Awaken your Divine Order. Make sure he never has to look back—fight alongside him.”

“Alright… I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

Poseidon smiled with satisfaction at Arsia’s determined response.

Brina hesitated briefly, but she would clearly accept as well.

No matter how risky the training might be, as Poseidon said, if not now, they might never get another chance.

**********

“Damn it… damn, damn, damn, DAAAAAMN!!”

Radios Magnum could barely contain his rage, wanting to destroy everything in sight.

“How dare…! This bastard…! Stab me in the back!?”

Though he hadn’t trusted him, they shared a common enemy, so he never expected betrayal.

Isn’t there a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my ally?

For Radios, Yog-Sothoth was an enemy, and Azathoth was Yog-Sothoth’s enemy.

Whatever his intentions, he thought the enemy of his enemy would be suitable for cooperation.

But they were never enemies to begin with.

Yog-Sothoth’s betrayal was something Azathoth deliberately allowed, considering it mere entertainment.

For the sake of a game, someone’s life had fallen to its worst.

“AAAAARGH!!”

He didn’t know where he was.

But Radios knew he wasn’t dead.

Somehow Serena had managed to restore his heart.

He wasn’t dead, and being conscious like this made him feel unbearably frustrated.

Perhaps because he knew this wasn’t reality.

He wanted to destroy everything before his eyes.

“If you destroy everything like that, we won’t have anything to say to you.”

“..! Who’s there!”

Radios took a defensive stance upon hearing a voice that had appeared without him noticing.

Even in his current condition, he shouldn’t have missed sensing someone’s presence.

As he gripped his Sword of Judgment and turned around.

“..!”

A group of ominous black figures had arrived, their aura far from ordinary.

“Who… are you…”

Instinctively, he felt repulsion toward them.

Though he didn’t want to know their identity, he somehow felt he needed to.

“Us… indeed, betting on you was the right answer.”

“I asked who you are!”

SWOOSH!

Unable to contain himself, Radios fired his Sword of Judgment.

In his current state, having been backstabbed, he couldn’t think rationally.

More accurately, he didn’t want to think about anything.

However, the man casually destroyed the Sword of Judgment Radios had thrown and curled his lips into a smile.

Seeing the man’s appearance, Radios sensed danger.

Dialogue was impossible since he had attacked first.

In that case, he would defeat them with full force.

“Dokkaebi Mask.”

Just using one skill made him feel like his body was returning to normal.

Perhaps because his physical abilities were explosively increasing.

Radios lost his mind to an inexplicable greed surging within him.

“Kuhehehehe…”

“My. I thought he’d be somewhat broken, but has his mental state deteriorated this much?”

The man clicked his tongue at Radios’s condition.

“How did he come to surrender himself to the beast’s greed that he once controlled so well?”

Dokkaebi possess greed.

More precisely, all magical beasts possess greed, and dokkaebi fall within the category of magical beasts.

Radios had long ago overcome the greed induced by the Dokkaebi Mask.

But now, after being severely backstabbed by Azathoth, he had surrendered himself to the suppressed greed.

“Why don’t we just subdue him quickly and talk? We don’t have time for this, you know.”

“The fact that he can see all of us is an opportunity. Having decided to invest in him after our meeting…”

“We’re betting everything on him.”

As the man hesitated, those behind him pressured him to subdue Radios quickly.

The man shook his head as if he had no choice.

“With him howling like that, I have to step in. Just in case you’re still conscious in there—don’t say you don’t want to talk to me just because you got hit.”

“Grrrrrr…”

“He’s not listening, that crazy bastard.”

Swish.

The man drew the sword at his waist and pointed it at Radios.

“No reaction even seeing this? You’ll just have to take a beating then.”

The man swung his sword toward the still growling Radios.

And somehow, the sword’s appearance resembled the Twilight Sword.