Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Chapter 3-1. Black Tree Tribe
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"What do you mean, what did I do? I just made sure you couldn't pull off anything foolish."
Even in the face of Gabriel's threat-laden words, Sian continued nonchalantly. The knight, reduced to powder by her grip strength, had already returned to perfect condition in Sian's hand. Tak. The sound of the piece being placed on the chessboard rang out cheerfully, oddly out of sync with the mood.
"Let's just keep playing chess. Who knows? If you beat me, maybe I'll let you go? Of course, I have zero intention of sending you back in time."
Still, it should keep her from going mad. Gabriel let out a sigh at Sian's words.
Hoo—
She had no choice but to play chess now. She sharpened her gaze and glared at Sian.
"Fine. In that case, let's get started."
She replied confidently, but the result was clear in an instant. Dismal. She lacked both the experience and skill to beat Sian. Perfectly surrounded, no matter how she moved her pieces, they were just captured. Like a butterfly trapped in a spiderweb, the situation was hopeless. On top of that, her impatience made her moves go awry.
17 games: 0 wins, 2 draws, 15 losses.
Even with full concentration, she hadn't won a single game. There was a moment when Sian, who had been mocking her, made a rare mistake, and she nearly won—but it ended in a draw.
"Kukuku..."
Gabriel shot an irritated glance at Sian, who was chuckling while holding the king piece, then pressed her forehead.
"Haa."
Her head throbbed. A considerable amount of time had passed. Just seventeen games of chess, but after each one, Sian would complain of fatigue and take one or two hours of rest.
In the meantime, she tried every trick to summon another Holy King, but as if such ploys wouldn't work, Sian's power rendered her helpless. Powerless.
She wished another Holy King would come looking for her on some business, but naturally, the place was too peaceful—no sign of even a single feather from their wings.
No angels would come, and even if they did, they'd surely turn back upon seeing the firmly shut temple doors.
The First Lord of the Demon Realm had entered the deepest layer of the Heavenly Realm, yet no one noticed. She felt a headache unlike any she'd experienced in her life.
"Oh dear. Are you in pain somewhere? If the Holy King falls ill, all the heavenly race will worry."
Pure mana enveloped her body, restoring her condition to peak. From the headache to the fatigue throughout her body, it all vanished—Gabriel drew in a deep breath.
Give poison, then the antidote.
Who do you think caused this pain in the first place, acting all concerned like you're doing me a favor.
The being was too powerful for her to snap back at.
All she could do was let out a long sigh. At least, as a small mercy, she could see the Middle Realm.
Even now, Quake—who had chosen to serve her after succumbing to the Fragment's power—was tending to Cain, who had been consumed by it. Drawing on his own experience overcoming the Fragment, he was repeating battles.
Soon, he'd grow accustomed to the Fragment's power and learn to control its madness himself.
He just needed time.
"!"
But in that instant, she doubted her own eyes. Somehow, a boy she should never have crossed paths with appeared before her.
How?
No.
As far as she knew, that black-haired boy, Judah Arshes, already possessed two Fragments. She couldn't judge his abilities precisely, but her instincts screamed that this was impossible—doubts piled up in her mind.
She turned to Sian, who sat with arms crossed, eyes closed as if meditating. Sensing her gaze, his closed eyes opened. His pupils, exuding a dangerous aura, seemed to smile.
"Why, shall we start?"
"Did you orchestrate all of this?"
"What are you talking about?"
He tilted his head innocently, then a mirror appeared in the air, showing a scene similar to what she had witnessed. His tightly shut lips curved softly.
"See?"
"......"
"Ah, don't misunderstand. I haven't done anything to him. Unlike you, I've strictly maintained my position as a mere bystander—no, observer."
Gabriel let out a hollow laugh at Sian's blunt words. What could she say? If he claimed so, what would arguing that he wasn't lying change?
In her view appeared Judah Arshes, locked in fierce combat with Cain on equal footing. Though dyed in the Fragment's madness and unable to use the apostle powers she had granted him, Cain cleaved through the swarming orcs with immense power, swinging his greatsword down toward Judah.
The Fragments Judah and Cain possessed clashed, sparks flying. But the outcome came in a flash. Cain's defeat. Watching Quake shove Judah aside and evacuate Cain somewhere, Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet something felt familiar. No, there was something she couldn't comprehend. What is it? she wondered, but it wouldn't come to her easily.
To her, Sian reset the pieces for another game of chess. This time, she had black. Doubting how long she'd have to endure this, she began to play. Midway, her eye twitched, and her gaze shifted to Sian. Then she realized what this strange unease was.
'Why did he refer to Judah Arshes, that boy, as "him"?'
She hadn't misheard. Her memory wasn't wrong. He had definitely said it that way.
So why had Sian called him "him"?
Judah Arshes... special, indeed.
At the very least, this [Judah Arshes] was not the original one she knew—like a completely different person.
He had resolved the trials meant for Cain himself, and with that boy at the center, all the futures she knew were changing. That's how it seemed to her. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what, but the flow had shifted. If she asked Sian, who clearly knew something, would he tell her the truth honestly? Gabriel narrowed her eyes.
"Why are you glaring like that?"
He looked up from the chessboard and spoke. Strangely, he was quick on the uptake in situations like this.
"Who is Judah Arshes, that boy?"
"...Why, interested now?"
"Don't dodge the question. The Judah Arshes I've seen dozens of times before is different from this one."
"You're quite certain. Do you know him that well? Even though you never cared before?"
Gabriel flinched at Sian's words. If asked what was different, she couldn't say precisely. [Judah Arshes] had been outside her interest. Only after Sian told her to watch him did she pay a little attention—before that, nothing.
Just one of the humans blocking Cain's path—that's all she thought. Yet even so, to her eyes, his atmosphere, values, personality, actions—everything differed from the Judah Arshes in her memories. Like a different person entirely.
Why had someone who wasn't like that before become this way now?
What did Sian know?
Gabriel kept her eyes fixed on him, demanding an answer.
"Who do you think he is?"
"If I knew, would I be asking you? I'm asking because I don't know."
At her curt tone, Sian grinned mischievously.
"Go on, make a guess and tell me. It doesn't have to be right. Right or wrong, I'll tell you the answer. It won't change anything even if you know."
"Not another like us, who's repeated fate?"
"Of course not. I wouldn't have told you to watch him if so."
"...You don't use honorifics for just anyone. Is there anyone in this world worthy of your respect? To you, who sees everything as ants?"
"There is. Plenty."
"......"
Sian rose from his seat as Gabriel fell silent. Mana flowed from his body, forcibly transporting her somewhere. The surroundings changed abruptly—startled, Gabriel unfurled her folded wings. They had arrived in Rizen, a land thick with dense jungles.
'My god.'
To go from the Heavenly Realm to the Middle Realm, or from the Demon Realm to the Middle Realm, one had to cross dimensional barriers. Crossing them inevitably caused power loss and restrictions, yet she, transported by Sian, felt perfectly fine—bewildered.
Before her, wings spread, stood Sian in a perfectly tailored suit, hands in pockets, looking down at her. As she looked up with wide eyes, he grinned and spoke.
"Chess is getting boring since I keep winning, but I can't overlook you helping Cain. Let's watch together from the sidelines. See what happens and how. I'll give you the answer after."
With a snap of his fingers, a gray barrier enveloped them. The moment they were trapped in the spherical veil, time outside accelerated wildly. Darkness fell on the blue sky, the full moon set and the sun rose.
In a brief instant, days passed in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Sian said nothing, his eyes darting rapidly as if observing and confirming something.
"Ah—looks like it's done now."
Snap. With a crisp sound, the barrier vanished. It felt like only minutes had passed, but she had no idea how much time had truly elapsed. As she stood dazed, trying to grasp the situation, Sian turned to her and nodded.
"Come on—now you'll see. Why I show him respect, why I watch him. Why I'm hindering you. You'll learn everything."
Once more, the surroundings shifted naturally. When she came to and looked down, she saw the fallen Cain and Judah Arshes holding his third Fragment. Cain, chosen by her sword, was dead.
Killed directly by Judah Arshes himself—she stared silently for a long time. After some time passed and he spoke with his comrades, he alone rushed toward a site of natural disaster-like battle. Whether by Sian's power, Judah's form appeared in the air from multiple angles.
Soon after, all too anticlimactically, his body split in two and he died. A natural result. Judah Arshes, lacking skill and experience in every way, stood no chance against the Holy Sword's owner. Like her losses to Sian at chess, without repeating dozens of games, the outcome wouldn't change.
"What you're about to see might be new even to you."
"!"
Before she could grasp Sian's words, she saw it. The world turned gray. Everything halted. Quake's wild greatsword swings after felling Judah Arshes, the charging stomp on the ground, incoming arrows, falling trees, rising dust, blowing winds—everything. Not a single exception.
Finally, the gray reached her body too. But she was unharmed. Precisely, Sian's mana and mighty authority had shielded her from that seemingly absolute force.
"Your doing?"
"No way. If it were, that might be preferable."
"Then what is this?"
"The Wheel of Fate. An absolute force that keeps making us circle the same spot, over and over."
Ah—
Foolishly, she gaped, staring blankly at the phenomenon unfolding around her. No sooner had Sian muttered bitterly than the world froze and began rewinding. A fleeting moment. When she blinked and opened her eyes again, she realized they were back to the scene from before.
Judah Arshes looking down at Cain's corpse.
And he charged into the battlefield again, saying slightly different words. The phenomenon repeated, but each time, he died differently. Not quite matching the Holy Sword owner, but with apt responses, he didn't die as easily as before. Watching him press on undeterred through repeated deaths, Sian spoke.
"See it changing? We regressors retain memories but can't act differently, but he can."
"......"
"To us, fate is a wheel. Something we must keep repeating, the same wheel. But to him, fate is a river. One with its own will, not flowing along a fixed path but freely to wherever it desires."
Gabriel felt her heart pound.
"No matter how many times we repeat, we can only circle the same spot. But his repeated fates become new choices, creating fresh branches. Our facing each other like this, talking—it's one such branch, a ripple from him. Possible only because he exists."
"...Who the hell is he, to make this possible?"
Meeting Gabriel's trembling eyes, Sian smiled faintly.
"The Creator you've longed for and desperately sought. Our One True God."
========== Author's Note ==========
Please go easy on me during our exam period...
In my freshman and sophomore years, I skipped major classes for the army and only took liberal arts and graduation requirements, so I had plenty of time. But this semester, with actual major courses, the workload is insane.