Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Elysion (2)
"…Queen of the demon realm?"
I had heard similar words before.
The prophecy left by the spirit of darkness, who was the demon god's agent.
'Among my companions, a being who would lead the demon race would appear.'
I had been prepared since only Rebecca was related to demonic magic, but I never expected such a close causal relationship to be established in this way.
—Kid, do you know what the biggest difference between the celestial race and demon race as seen in this middle realm is?
"The difference as seen in the middle realm?"
Rudian closed his mouth and thought.
However, since he hadn't really thought about this before, it wasn't a question he could answer immediately.
—It's the difference in how much power they can draw upon while being prepared for the backlash of causality.
"…Huh? What do you mean?"
—Exactly what I said. No matter how hard demons try, no matter how much they're prepared for the backlash, it's impossible for them to draw power to the extent of annihilation. But gods and celestials are different.
"Ah!"
Rudian finally understood Diablo's words.
Certainly, if demons could draw power in that way as Diablo said, it wouldn't have been strange for the hegemony of the earth to have already passed to the demon race long ago.
Moreover, hadn't the demons brought their main bodies rather than divine manifestations back then?
'Certainly, if Asmodeus could have done what Caron did, she wouldn't have died so helplessly….'
That's why in the original work, they used Eldorado's power to open a super-massive gate connecting to the demon realm, wasn't it?
But even then, it was impossible to exert 100% of their power, and in the end, they were all defeated by the protagonist Abel.
"Certainly Rebecca, who handles the red world, has the potential to reach the Seven Seats as time passes. But I don't think making just Rebecca reach that level would solve everything?"
—Of course not. But taking the first step is important. That bastard Baal would naturally not end with just this. Of course, one of the reasons is that he changed his mind midway because you interfered with Baal's plan.
"Ugh…."
To think it would come back around like this.
Rudian felt a headache coming and pressed his forehead.
'This way, I can't prove ownership of the red world.'
Unless Rebecca transfers ownership of the red world, as long as Rebecca is Baal's descendant, the covenant's word spirit won't easily side with Rudian.
Moreover, if the red world is carelessly extracted in the current situation, it's uncertain how Rebecca's physical condition will change.
On top of that, the blue world hasn't completely fallen into Rudian's hands yet, so the outcome is still uncertain.
'This cunning bastard….'
Rudian gritted his teeth and thought of Baal.
The remaining seven-colored worlds are yellow, purple, and white.
Fortunately, all three of these currently exist in other dimensional realms.
Especially since the purple world is guarded by Shub, and the white world is probably guarded by Berus, Baal can't acquire them.
Moreover, since he granted the red world to Rebecca, Baal currently possesses none of the seven-colored worlds.
In other words, the situation is still advantageous for this side.
'Still, I'll definitely make him pay the price for using Rebecca someday.'
Toward Baal, who was probably scheming somewhere even now, Rudian firmly resolved this fact several times.
***
The party that returned to Lu Gloria took a brief rest before departing for North and Garganta order.
"So, have you reached a conclusion?"
To Rudian, who was lying blankly in his room for the first time in a while, Maria appeared and sat at the head of the bed.
"Yeah, Baal is definitely a bastard."
"Ahaha, I was surprised too. To think Rebecca had such a secret of birth…. As expected, there's a reason for strength."
"…Are you saying that?"
The greatest irregular throughout
Maria raised her finger and slowly ran it through Rudian's hair.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I need to dig into Garganta's true intentions."
"What's next?"
"Should I go to the demon realm and bring back some troops?"
"And after that?"
"I need to smash the invading aliens."
"Rudian has everything planned out."
"Right?"
Rudian lifted the corners of his mouth and chuckled.
He didn't know why Maria was suddenly asking such things, but conversations with her somehow put his mind at ease.
Then, Maria suddenly asked this out of the blue.
"Then what's at the end of that plan?"
"…What?"
"The ending you'll face. No, the ending you want."
"……?"
Why was Maria suddenly saying such things?
Rudian looked up at Maria's eyes with wide-open eyes.
"Until now, the motivation of saving the world has moved you."
"That's…."
"But when I first met you, you were really just an ordinary person with no power at all. To be precise, your power came from that eyeball monster named Adi and the demon sword called Diablo. Your body itself was just an ordinary person with nothing special. Of course, your development speed was tremendous…."
"……."
"Thinking about it carefully, your actions in the capital were so precarious that they could have collapsed with just a slight deviation."
Maria met Rudian's gaze with transparent eyes and said this.
"The fact that you belong to an organization called Adora, that's actually a lie, isn't it?"
"…When did you notice?"
Rudian asked back in a daze.
He had been planning to tell her someday, but he didn't expect her to figure it out first like this.
"I was thinking deeply in the hall when that thought suddenly occurred to me. Actually, inheriting the green world itself was easy…. Rather, I had a lot of time to think and worry inside there."
Rudian's information network was truly unconventional.
That part was still shrouded in mystery.
But Maria, who had retraced all of Rudian's actions, judgments, and results so far, and even confirmed his confrontation with the gods of the pantheon this time, finally reached the truth.
However, to the 'current Maria,' that truth was insignificant.
"Rudian, I don't care or have any interest in where you came from or what your identity is anymore."
"Then?"
"Just one thing, I'm curious about what you want. What you, who can now sufficiently protect yourself, are aiming for by struggling this much, what kind of ending do you want?"
Rudian's goal?
Naturally, the first objective was to crush the incarnation of destruction and change the 'process and ending' of this world.
And to meet the creator god and confront him.
Why did you drop me into such a shitty world?
What gives you the right to try to kill me twice?
'Hmm, come to think of it… it's not really a shitty situation anymore.'
The world's destruction is a foregone conclusion if left alone, so it must be prevented, but if he were to return to reality after preventing it, it would certainly be somewhat regrettable.
"When everything is over…."
If peace is restored and there's no need to cause such chaos….
"Should I try traveling around the world first?"
"Traveling around the world?"
"Yeah, this damn world has tons of things that would cause big trouble if you let your guard down even after everything ends."
Things like evil secret organizations that still haven't shown their heads, or ancient ruins that would cause catastrophe if the wrong trigger is touched.
"After clearing out all those things and it's really over… hmm…."
Rudian pondered for a moment, then smiled mischievously and playfully stated his wish.
"Should I embrace a mountain of money, make three wives and four concubines, and live happily until I die?"
"……."
Perhaps it was too worldly a desire, as Maria's eyes widened.
"It's the universal desire of all men."
Well, it wasn't really something to say to a female friend, but since Maria asked with sincerity, he just answered honestly.
He had no interest in the position of god or anything like that.
He'd be satisfied just living a long, healthy life without getting sick.
Honestly, living too long would be unbearable too.
Anyway, since he answered the question faithfully, now it was his turn to ask.
"May I ask why you suddenly became curious about such things?"
"Uh, uhm…."
Maria's cheeks turned slightly red for some reason.
At that unexpected strange reaction, Rudian blinked while keeping his mouth shut.
Instead of answering, Maria smiled slightly, pursed her lips, tightly shut her eyebrows, and showed various expressions for quite a while.
Then she slowly leaned her body toward Rudian and looked down at him lying there.
Maria's hair, which had turned green, tickled Rudian's cheek.
"Actually, I felt like if not now, there wouldn't be a chance to ask."
"…Really?"
"It seems like everything will become very busy from now on. It feels like there will be almost no time for just the two of us to meet like this. So I thought it would be better to say it before it's too late."
"Say what?"
Maria's emerald eyes, which he always found beautiful.
Those eyes were trembling mercilessly today, and it was definitely not his imagination.
Maria slowly raised her hand and covered Rudian's eyes.
As if she didn't want to show her appearance.
And….
"When all the things you mentioned are over, could you include me in your plans too?"
"…Huh?"
At that moment, Rudian's thoughts stopped.
Now, what did she just say….
Rudian's eyes widened as he understood the meaning of those words, but his vision was still black due to Maria's hand.
"I felt it while watching Rebecca."
As if hiding her embarrassing emotions, Maria's words continued.
"Originally, that child had a tendency to never hide her emotions and just charge straight ahead, but when I met her again after coming out of the hall, she had become completely honest with her heart."
"…Ma, Maria?"
"I could clearly feel her will to push through according to her own will, regardless of the surrounding environment."
"Uh, ah…."
"Seeing that, I also gained courage. So now, I want to be honest with my heart too."
SWOOSH!
As those words ended, Maria's palm that had been blocking his vision disappeared.
And before he knew it, Maria, who had gotten up from her seat and had her back to the door, was looking at Rudian.
Rudian, who had gotten up from his seat in a daze, met eyes with Maria, who was smiling gently in front of the door.
Her mouth conveyed one word of sincerity toward Rudian.
"I love you."
CLICK!
Leaving those words, Maria opened the door and slowly disappeared.
"……."
—…….
Heavy silence occupied the room for a while.
A chaos more complex than the achromatic chaos where the seven-colored worlds had fused rummaged through Rudian's head.
"Ah, uh, um…."
Maria had already gone downstairs, but Rudian's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, constantly searching for something he should say.
—Well… Congratulations?
Diablo, who had been watching the situation, quietly offered words of congratulation.
***
—Well, you don't need to worry too much about it. I'd just be satisfied if I could be together in whatever plans you have.
A few hours later, when they met again, Maria smiled broadly and left these words.
While the confused emotions still hadn't settled, Britian, who had been seriously injured in the pantheon's attack, finally regained consciousness.
"Ruura has delivered an oracle."
"An oracle?"
Britian, who had regained consciousness, appeared leading the cardinals while wearing light clothing.
"Yes, rather than an oracle… it was closer to a request to you."
Ruura had apparently held a Seven Great Gods meeting using the recent incident as an excuse.
In the meeting that was held, Ruura thoroughly interrogated North and Garganta, and with the support of Haniel and Medaiel, even achieved the result of prohibiting the two gods from interfering in the middle realm for the next hundred years.
"Surprisingly, North and Garganta didn't make any particular objections, so it was easy, but precisely because of that, she felt there was definitely something more."
Certainly, considering Raihon's helpless retreat and Uriel's statements, there was definitely something.
"I need to move quickly…."
Now there really was no time to rest.
Initially, he had planned to seal the two orderes moderately, but if the situation became serious, he wouldn't hesitate to receive cooperation from nations.
"Oh, and…."
While Rudian was lost in thought.
Britian continued with a somewhat hesitant expression.
"From now on… please be careful…."