Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: The Final Trial (4)
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Tense voices echoed inside the conference room of the Holy Empire's senior officials within the grand cathedral.
“...No one could have anticipated something like this.”
It was a bizarre sight—middle-aged men to elders, all of them powerhouses confident in their own influence, gathered together with grim expressions.
But considering the situation, it wasn’t all that strange.
One of the archbishops voiced it plainly.
“The top candidate with the best performance rejected by the Holy Sword? At this rate, what was the point of even holding the event...”
“Well, she was able to grasp the Holy Sword without any major incident, so maybe it just needs a little more time?”
“No. It’s true that anyone unqualified dies upon contact with the Holy Sword, but there was no ‘radiance’ that appeared whenever past heroes made contact. That means she wasn’t acknowledged as its master.”
Right. That was the root of all the problems.
The person who performed the best in the trials hadn’t been chosen as the Holy Sword’s master.
For an event hosted by the leaders of the three great powers, this went beyond a mere accident.
“Should we give the other candidates a chance?”
“...That’s absurd. It would spark endless debates over who gets the opportunity, devolving into a muddy fight over interests.”
“This isn’t the time to worry about that. If we mishandle this, it could plunge the entire continent into chaos!”
The worst outcome would be concluding that “there is no hero for this generation.”
The event had been planned to quell the chaos from demonic signs appearing across the continent. The backlash from such an ending was too horrifying to imagine.
But it was the Holy Empire that had insisted on pushing forward with the hero selection in the first place.
“The Holy Sword.”
As soon as that voice fell in the conference room, the noisy chatter fell into instant silence.
Of course, they were all heavyweights who could raise their voices in a place like this. But the authority of the one who had just spoken was unrivaled here.
“According to the records, it states that the Holy Sword ‘harms all who touch it except the hero.’ The moment she grasped it and survived, Eliya Chrisanax proved herself to be this generation’s hero. Handing the opportunity to another candidate would be tantamount to killing them.”
“...”
Objectively, in a position lacking the Empire’s might and the Alliance’s superior technology, there was only one person balancing those powers.
The Holy Empire’s absolute ruler and dictator.
The strongest priest in history. The Pontiff.
“...”
“...”
As befitting his authority, everyone in the room had fallen silent.
As if the words he uttered were gospel truth.
It was a scene that instantly demonstrated the level of control the Pontiff wielded within the Holy Empire.
Compared to the Empire’s fractured state, it was an overwhelming grip on power.
“But the absence of the ‘radiance’ that proves mastery is also a fact... which leaves us with two possibilities.”
The Pontiff continued with a faint smile.
“First, there’s a ‘flaw’ in the hero herself. Logically, this is the most likely. Since it’s the first time in history, it’s hard to pinpoint what it might be...”
It was probably the possibility everyone was considering. It was hard to imagine a problem with a sacred relic that had been passed down intact for nearly four digits in years.
But those in the room weren’t foolish enough to miss that the Pontiff had said “two.”
It meant there was another path beyond the obvious.
“And the second is—”
The Pontiff’s lips twisted upward.
“—someone stole her qualifications through a ‘butterfly effect.’”
“...Pardon? Butterfly effect...?”
“What does that...?”
To the bewildered questions murmuring around him.
The Pontiff continued with a meaningful smile.
“...Someone stole the ‘trials’ originally meant for the hero.”
Enough to cause even the Holy Sword, which recognizes only one master, to malfunction.
As everyone wore puzzled expressions, the Pontiff quietly rested his chin and closed his eyes.
‘...It’s almost time.’
The start of the “red night” conveyed by the foreseer was drawing near.
And in such a situation.
A massive variable had crashed into the plans of someone who had prepared countermeasures.
‘What will you do this time, Dawood Campbell?’
Undoubtedly.
Just as the foreseer had said, it would be a situation ripe for “enjoyable spectating.”
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“...Haaaaah...”
[Will you stop that? You’re gonna blow a hole in the ground.]
Kalliban’s scolding rang out, but there was nothing I could do about it.
How scattered must my mind be to wander aimlessly outside for dozens of minutes before coming in?
When I needed to brainstorm solutions right now, wasting time like this was unforgivable.
“This is seriously bad...”
Feynol’s rampage was tomorrow. Without Eliya holding the Holy Sword, dealing with it was a guaranteed failure.
“...”
And it wasn’t just that simple.
Eliya Chrisanax = protagonist = hero was the core axis running through the entire game.
Even if I somehow muddled through this chapter, everything afterward would twist completely off course.
“...”
The problem was, I didn’t even know why this happened.
[...Really?]
“...What?”
Kalliban’s response carried a strange undertone. I sighed and replied, and he tilted his head—metaphorically—before speaking again.
[You sure you don’t know?]
“...”
[You seem awfully calm for someone who just got totally blindsided.]
“...I don’t know.”
I trailed off and opened the door to my room.
Whatever the situation, I couldn’t just sit back and die.
Not a single previous chapter had gone according to my plans. This time, I’d have to play every card I had left and survive somehow.
With that thought, I stepped inside—and froze solid.
“...”
“...”
The girl on my bed swung her legs playfully.
She’d balled up the blanket behind her back for support, propping herself up, and hugged my pillow to her chest like a girlfriend welcoming her boyfriend home with an “Finally back?”
Of course.
I knew better than anyone that she wasn’t the type for such fluffy vibes.
“You.”
It took a long while before I could speak.
The sheer absurdity made it hard to form a sentence.
“What are you doing here.”
“Hmm.”
My voice came out low and cracked, but her cheerful reply was the complete opposite.
“Checking up on you?”
The woman in the mask.
The foreseer.
Sat cross-legged on my bed, giggling.
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“How did you get in here—”
“—how I got in, how no one saw me, what I want. Skip the boring questions. It’s you and me, right?”
“...”
“Ignoring me? Lame. Freaking out because Eliya Chrisanax didn’t become the hero?”
I closed my eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
“...Did you orchestrate this?”
“Dawood Campbell.”
In that instant.
Her demeanor shifted.
I couldn’t see her face under the mask, but the “venom” I’d felt from our previous encounter surged up.
“You know, right? It wasn’t me. I couldn’t care less about trash like that.”
A bewitching voice seeped into my ears.
“Pretending not to know something you already do is kinda pathetic. For someone like you?”
“...”
“It’s because of you.”
“...”
The venom.
Saturated the air, thick and cloying.
“Your very existence is a variable that ‘originally’ shouldn’t be in this world. You’re the cause of every twist in this world right now—a butterfly effect you created. Isn’t that right?”
“...”
“You stole all the trials Eliya Chrisanax was meant to face... You took them and screwed them up. Her ‘disposition’ is undoubtedly that of a hero, but her soul’s ‘caliber’ falls short of wielding the Holy Sword. She’s become a person too weak to handle the fate originally assigned to her.”
“...”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong—I’m not blaming you. You did what you had to for survival, right? No need to feel guilty and deny it now.”
Her words flipped my mind inside out with pinpoint accuracy.
Exactly what I’d reasoned about the current situation.
I always think it.
She knows way too much about me.
Too much, excessively so.
“...”
So I didn’t argue and just stared at her silently.
If my guess about her identity was correct.
She’d know “everything” about me.
She’d easily read whatever I was thinking right now.
“So. Do you have a way to break through the current situation? The red demon’s awakening is imminent.”
“...”
“This is a real checkmate this time. Haven’t you been charging ahead all this time just to hand Eliya Chrisanax the Holy Sword?”
Honestly.
Nothing came to mind right away.
The other demon vessels were close too, but to suppress a rampaging three-fragment vessel, I’d have to rampage alongside it to create any counterforce. It was like using a bomb to put out a fire—utterly backwards.
“...So. You came here just to mock me?”
“No.”
She grinned as she answered.
“To propose a deal.”
“...A deal? With you?”
I couldn’t even process what this woman—who’d put my life on the line countless times—was saying.
As I glared at her, she rolled around on my bed and continued.
“Aww—come on—after all the goodwill I’ve shown you so far.”
“...”
“Didn’t I send you that stalker during the trials? To protect you.”
“...”
“And who do you think delayed the red demon’s awakening—which was supposed to happen ‘today’—by a full day?”
“...”
I shut my mouth and slowly looked at her.
Meanwhile, she stretched languidly on my bed and kept going.
“I promise. It’s definitely not a bad deal for you.”
“...Spit it out. I’m not agreeing.”
At my words, she beamed.
Even under the mask, her smile was obvious.
“Alright then.”
She spoke in an even tone.
“How about you and I have some fun in bed?”
“...”
I stayed silent for a long time.
Silent for a long while.
Finally, I managed to speak.
“...What?”
“Come on, don’t tell me you don’t get it? Sex. Making a baby—”
“Hold up. Shut up.”
I clutched my throbbing head and took deep breaths.
Hyperventilation made my head spin—it was unavoidable.
“What bullshit is this.”
“Hmm, you’re really weak to this stuff. For a playboy who sleeps around, aren’t you oddly sensitive to dirty talk?”
“...”
“Don’t make that scary face. It was just a joke. A joke, I say.”
“...”
It didn’t feel like one.
It felt serious enough that she’d go through with it if I said yes.
As I thought that, the foreseer spoke again.
“Hey, Dawood.”
Her voice was as light as when she’d spouted that madness earlier.
But the content was anything but.
“Wanna kill the Gray Devil together?”
Those words.
Dropped casually, as if it were nothing.
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