Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Evangeline (3)
Layla's expression contorted.
"Ah, ahhh..."
Feeling her life force rapidly draining away, she despaired.
"Like this... so futilely..."
For over a thousand years, she had endured and endured again, waiting for just one opportunity.
She had never doubted that they would be the final victors, and had faithfully made efforts befitting that belief.
But the end was a trash-like conclusion where they were defeated by the very secret weapon they had prepared to face a god.
"Why wasn't her mind completely suppressed?"
Layla, collapsed on the floor, squeezed out her last strength to ask this question.
"No matter how much there were gaps in the control, she shouldn't have been able to rebel immediately..."
"Isn't that obvious?"
Watching Layla's rapidly aging appearance with pleasure, Evangeline smiled cruelly.
It was a cold gaze that was hard to believe came from her usual kind impression.
"How could the likes of you do anything to me?"
"What, what did you say!"
"So rest assured and die. I'll send your remaining comrades along with you."
"Grr...!"
Just as Layla was about to spew out her rage, Evangeline trampled her head with her foot and crushed it completely.
CRACK!
Even at the cruel sight of brain matter scattering and blood and mucus flowing out, Evangeline's expression didn't change.
"If about 10 more years had passed like this, you would have known the reason, but you woke me up too early."
Thus, the fallen kingdom's princess, Layla Starseis, met her complete end.
"Bastards."
Though Rowen didn't know it, Evangeline was aware that Rowen was being overworked by the organization using his life as leverage.
She also knew that the sealing formation she had just walked out of was far from an ordinary life support device.
But the reason she couldn't inform Rowen of this fact was because until just recently, six powerful individuals including Galdran had been keeping their eyes wide open, monitoring her.
Even if she could somehow deal with the one or two who usually resided at the headquarters, there was no way she could withstand the coordinated attack from the remaining members that would immediately follow.
Moreover, her usual self was nothing more than baggage that couldn't even support her own body...
"Finally... I've found freedom. Very... brief freedom, though."
DRIP!
Tears flowed from Evangeline's eyes.
They were tears of complex emotions - joy, sadness, sympathy, pity... many feelings intertwined.
FLINCH!
But those emotions didn't last long.
"Rudian... Belstad..."
From the fundamental part of her psyche, a murderous intent that wasn't her own began to creep up and take control of her mind.
—Kill Rudian Belstad!
Though Layla had disappeared, the command she had implanted still remained, tormenting Evangeline like an obsession.
"Ahhhhh!"
Evangeline clutched her head and collapsed.
In truth, though she had put on a show of bravado in front of Layla, this command itself was an absolute decree that could never be ignored.
—Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.
"I'm truly sorry, but..."
She gritted her teeth at the rising guilt.
"I have no choice but... to kill you."
Though she had been confined all along, she knew the truth to some extent through communion with the spirits.
The actual perpetrator who had destroyed the Seven Arks.
In that regard, her being hostile toward Rudian was like committing a sin.
To Evangeline, Rudian was a benefactor incarnate.
"If I can't somehow remove these shackles... I won't be able to pass it on to my brother..."
If she died, her brother Rowen would be left alone.
Though Rowen, born with ancient special bloodline, had no match in the human world, Evangeline knew how many absurdly powerful beings lurked on the other side of the world.
That's why she had to pass on this natural energy and spirit communion power to Rowen before her lifespan ended.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
She continuously apologized to Rudian, who wasn't present at this moment.
"Please... die with me..."
If Rudian had heard this, it would have sent chills down his spine.
***
30 minutes had passed since the battle with the illusionist Jarsen began.
But whether this could be called a battle was questionable.
"Hahaha! No matter how much you can absorb the power of my illusions, as long as I directly manipulate the space, things won't go as you wish!"
Jarsen's power, utilizing his stronghold called the Illusion Castle to 100%, wasn't something that could be suppressed in a short time even if Rudian and Rowen combined their strength.
"Hmm..."
Rudian narrowed his brow as he looked at the completely changed surrounding environment.
The surroundings had long since been transformed by Jarsen's illusions into a jungle reminiscent of a great forest.
"Troublesome."
An absolute illusion that straddled the boundary between reality and fantasy, deceiving even human senses.
At this level, it wouldn't be wrong to say he had simply created a world.
Of course, this would be impossible with Jarsen's pure capabilities alone, and must be a feat created by linking the power of the Illusion Castle and surrounding areas...
"Any ordinary attack just flows away. Is he ignoring external damage and focusing solely on buying time?"
Even when he concentrated his power to punch holes in spacetime, they were quickly repaired.
This must be consuming considerable power, so at this level, Jarsen was probably risking his life to buy time.
"Come out, Jarsen! Layla! How dare you deceive and exploit us siblings until now?"
Next to Rudian, Rowen, whose heart had completely left the Seven Arks, was erupting in anger while searching for Jarsen and Layla.
"We trusted you! We trusted you because it was the place our father belonged to! To betray us like this!"
CRACK! CRACKLE!
Tremendous lightning energy was devastating the surroundings according to Rowen's anger.
As could be understood from his epithet "Swift as Wind and Thunder," Rowen, who controlled wind and lightning, was usually quiet but quite difficult to control once his emotions became intense.
But causing a disturbance in the current situation would only make things worse.
"Please calm down, Lord Rowen."
"Ahhhhh! Come out! Come out, I said!"
"Right now we need to combine our strength to break through this illusion. Are you saying it's okay if something happens to Miss Evangeline?"
"...!"
With just those words, Rowen's momentum instantly subsided.
Indeed, Evangeline's existence was both a trigger switch and a calming switch for Rowen.
As soon as her name was mentioned, didn't Rowen, who had been raging in anger, immediately quiet down?
"Then what should we... do?"
Rowen, who had now come to completely trust Rudian's words, urgently sought an answer.
"More than 30 minutes have already passed. If this continues, Evangeline will...!"
"...Certainly, it would be dangerous to drag this out any longer."
He didn't know how long the procedure on the spirit would take, but seeing that Jarsen was holding out like this without running away, he realized it wouldn't take very long.
"It seems we have no choice but to collapse the space itself. Will you lend me your strength?"
If he fills the gaps as soon as holes are made, then the entire surface must be brought down.
'Will I be able to preserve my remaining strength?'
The biggest variable in the current situation was that the Outer Force and divine power that Rudian currently possessed were 'consumable.'
It was still manageable for now, but if this power was completely exhausted while Adi was absent, it would be difficult to deal with unexpected situations.
Rudian slightly suppressed a groan at the anxiety that had been building from earlier.
'In the worst case, I might have to battle Evangeline who has become a spirit...'
The problem was that this 'sense' that had reached a singularity beyond the extreme was foreseeing that worst case.
The reason Rudian didn't immediately escape by unleashing divine power as soon as he was trapped in Jarsen's illusion was because of this premonition.
'Still, it's true that dragging out time is dangerous...'
Rudian gradually drew up his power.
For now, there was still a need to save the divine power of the Outer Force, so he had to use power to activate Diablo's authority, which still wasn't responding.
"...Magic!"
Though he had heard about it through information, this would be the first time Rowen actually saw Rudian operate magic.
But in the current situation, whether he used magic or divine power wasn't what mattered.
"I'll do it in one go. Please add your strength."
"Understood."
Whoooosh!
A tremendous whirlwind of power began to engulf Jarsen's entire created space, pouring out massive pressure.
It felt like crushing an artificially made cube with both hands.
Before long, the space Jarsen had created could be seen shaking.
'...Huh?'
Rudian, who was about to immediately pour out power to smash the space, hesitated slightly at a sudden sense of unease.
At Rudian's appearance, Rowen carefully asked.
"What's wrong?"
"...The space is too loose."
"Loose?"
"Yes, this means Jarsen isn't taking any countermeasures..."
Until now, the flow of battle had continued like a game of chess, with Jarsen immediately filling any gaps that Rudian exploited.
But for some reason, Jarsen wasn't preventing Rudian's attempt to destroy the space itself at all.
'Has something happened to Jarsen?'
It seemed strange to assume his power was exhausted, and the most likely possibility was that something had happened to him personally...
'If this continues...'
Even without destroying the space, the illusion's power would dissolve on its own over time and return to normal.
For now, Rudian withdrew his power and observed how the situation would develop.
About 10 minutes passed like this.
Swish, swish, swish!
As expected, before long, the surrounding space that had been a jungle began to distort and return to normal.
WHOOSH!
The problem was that the space that had returned to normal wasn't the original 'Illusion Castle.'
"...Huh?"
Rudian and Rowen looked at the suddenly changed location with bewildered expressions.
The place the two men had returned to was precisely...
"This place is... the Morian Empire border region?"
'What? How?'
Rudian was confused.
He could see Derek and the knights still unconscious and sprawled out in the distance.
In other words, the scene before their eyes was reality, not an illusion.
'Could there have been a function in the Illusion Castle that could expel people to the outside?'
Rudian immediately denied that assumption.
'No, if that were possible, Jarsen wouldn't have come out personally in the first place.'
He would have sent Rudian outside immediately upon realizing he couldn't handle him.
Moreover, even if such a function existed, there was no way Rudian would have obediently gone outside.
Then.
"Brother."
...Chills!
A girl's voice suddenly heard from behind.
At the voice of the one who must be the culprit of this situation, Rudian and Rowen slowly turned their heads.
"...!"
What the two men saw when they turned their gaze was Jarsen's corpse with his heart pierced through for an instant death, and a green-haired girl looking at them with a sunken gaze.
Rowen recognized the girl's identity and shouted.
"Evangeline!"
"..."
Jarsen's sprawled corpse, and Evangeline standing next to that corpse.
Only after seeing that sight did Rudian understand the situation.
'...Oh no.'
But even before he could recognize that, he felt Evangeline's piercing gaze.
An overwhelming power and presence too great for a mere human to possess.
Rudian instinctively activated his Eye of State.
—Name: Evangeline Sigrun Elaid
—Race: Spirit
—Age: 92 years old
—Titles: Contractor of the Fire Spirit King, Contractor of the Water Spirit King, Contractor of the Wind Spirit King, Contractor of the Earth Spirit King, Contractor of the Light Spirit King, Contractor of the Dark Spirit King... (144 others).
—Strength: 8
—Agility: 4
—Vitality: 1
—Natural Energy: Unmeasurable
Total Combat Power: Unmeasurable
'...Unmeasurable.'
Though he had seen messages saying his capabilities were insufficient to know, this was the first time "unmeasurable" appeared like this.
"Lord Rudian."
The first words Evangeline spoke toward Rudian were these:
"I'm sorry, but please die together with me."