The True Identity
Contrary to what many people expected, resurrection is a simple task.
You just channel divinity into a resurrection magic circle and bring the body back to life. That's all there is to it.
After all, Celestials and Demons revive endlessly through resurrection abilities and things like Life Vessels, so many of them don't even regard death as particularly meaningful.
The problem is the soul.
You might manage to resurrect a body by whatever means, but a soul cannot be brought back the same way.
If the cost of a standard resurrection spell is 1, then every problem with the soul multiplies that price a thousandfold, ten thousandfold and beyond.
The longer a soul has been dead.
The more damage the soul itself has sustained.
...And, of course, once a soul has fully dissipated, there is no resurrecting it at all.
"I never imagined you'd keep watch over that place for over 1,700 years."
Under normal circumstances, a soul would either fade away on its own or move on after that much time.
But from the day she died until this very moment, Lise had stayed by Akron's side.
That was also why her soul had been so well-preserved when I first met Akron. Caums, who had been beaten down and sealed into a magic circle without even the ability to die, would never have bothered maintaining it — so naturally, it had been Lise herself all along.
"Then... I'll begin."
My hair turned snow-white once more.
Wings of light unfurled from my back, and a magic circle of divinity etched itself around Lise.
As I'd thought — the cost was even higher than I'd anticipated.
"Mmm... it's not enough."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"We're short on materials."
Even with her soul intact, reviving one that had died 1,700 years ago was no easy feat.
My current condition was part of the problem, but the truth is, souls this old are simply never resurrected.
Beings from too far in the past can exert a profound influence on the present, and besides, it would be impossible to compassionately revive this person and that person every time someone begged.
The very first thing out of nearly everyone who met the old me was always the same plea: bring back someone they knew, or a member of their family.
I understood how desperate they were. But people need to treat death as a boundary.
"Hmm. Though I hardly want to put it this way... I doubt something like Blue-Red Stone would do the trick either..."
As my thinking dragged on, Akron gritted his teeth as if he'd reached some decision.
Before long, squeezing his eyes shut as well, he spoke with grave weight.
"...Use me."
"Ah, well then. I'm sorry, what?"
"I don't fully understand it, but a price is required, isn't it? Materials to bring Lise back."
"That's right."
"Then use me. Kill me and bring Lise back."
Akron's expression was deadly serious.
He was truly prepared to let himself die if it meant reviving his lover.
"You're not dying. If you die, who's going to grant my request?"
"...Then I'll have no choice but to entrust everything to her. If it's Lise, she'll surely listen."
"And the revival of the Rutilus? How is she supposed to manage that all alone?"
"......It's not as though she strictly needs me, is it."
"Ha."
What a riot, this guy.
"That's an incredibly irresponsible thing to say."
"My body carries enough sin as it is. I killed far too many, and in the end I couldn't protect a single one of them."
Akron's other name is the Original Sin of the Primordial.
The very origin from which all sin began.
Granted, when it comes to sheer wickedness, Caums was far more venomous than Akron.
If anything, the title of 'Original Sin' arguably suited Caums even better.
But Akron was hardly any less deserving.
Akron killed more Venetus than the Venetus had slaughtered Rutilus in their entire history.
The count exceeded a thousand.
"Hmm..."
"So kill me and bring Lise ba—"
"Death is not a way to escape your sins. It's nothing more than a coward's flight."
"......"
"Dying won't erase your crimes, either."
When you die, you're simply dead.
Leaving your sins — and every debt they carry — unpaid, dumped onto the living as you run away. That's all death accomplishes. Nothing more than cowardice.
And above all...
"For someone of your caliber, your record is actually on the 'light' side."
"...?"
Pharaoh, the Desert Emperor who brought three kingdoms to ruin.
Rasty, the Progenitor who painted the world crimson and rebirthed countless kingdoms as her vassals.
Beyond them, Karabus, who climbed to the surface with the intent of exterminating humanity, and a whole roster of ancient monsters whose résumés are positively dazzling.
Nearly every one of them killed humans in the thousands, tens of thousands — or committed acts on that scale.
By comparison, Akron is practically cute.
Not that his sins should ever be taken lightly.
"Plan on repaying them alive, then. I don't let people like you off easy."
Beings who would throw the world into chaos if left to their own devices.
If they can be captured and prove valuable, I turn them into weapons and put them to use making the world a more peaceful place.
That is the true nature of the monsters sealed within the Void Space connected to my soul.
Akron seemed about to argue, but shut his mouth instead.
He walked over to where Lise lay, sank heavily to his knees, and gazed at her in silence.
"Lise... I'll let you rest now."
"Excuse me, did you not hear what I said? No one is dying. You'll live, and Lise will be revived too."
"...? What do you mean?"
As Akron turned his head, hope kindled in his eyes once more.
I reached out and drew forth a single sword.
The blade truly infused with the Original Sin — the one that had been darting nervous glances this whole time.
"You weren't the only material I needed."
—?! What in the—!
This counts as a material?!
"...You intend to use Caums?"
"Yes. He once inhabited the same body as Lise, so he's highly efficient for this. And with a soul of his caliber, he's exceptionally well-suited as material for resurrection."
The ideal price for reviving Lise's soul, dulled by 1,700 years of death.
Caums, embedded in the sword, surged with ripples of light — but it was useless.
"Waaah."
"Stay still and behave."
— Ngh! How dare you use this body as mere material...!
The water froze before it could even flow.
"......"
"And just so you know — I'm not using Caums because his sins weigh heavier."
"...?"
As I said before, compared to the ancient monsters, these two's sins are practically adorable.
I don't judge who to use and who to spare based on the gravity of their crimes.
If anything, the heavier one's sins, the more likely they are to end up sealed in the Void Space.
My criterion for using them is exactly one thing: pure value.
"I'm using this because you and Lise, together, helping me with my work are worth more to me than Caums alone. That's all."
"...You truly are insane."
"Shall I rephrase that?"
"...I see it. Understood."
"Then let's truly begin."
With Caums's scream ringing out, the sword was placed upon the resurrection magic circle.
Amid a blaze of brilliant light, a distant divinity descended upon Lise's body.
And then—
"Ah..."
Lise opened her eyes.
The moment Akron and Lise saw each other, they fell into each other's arms and wept without end.
The chat erupted into a salt-fueled frenzy over the emotional display, and after watching them for a while, I quietly slipped away with Sre to give the couple their reunion.
With everything here settled, it was time to grab the last of what I came for and head home.
"Shall we go?"
"Yeah."
—...Just kill me instead...
"Spare me the theatrics."
For the record, Caums didn't die.
He'd simply been drained of every last ounce of power, leaving him an Ego Sword with nothing left to offer.
Killing him was never the plan to begin with.
Even so, he retains his body-transferring trait and the Venetus' innate water abilities, so he'll serve better than your average near-Mythic-grade item.
"This? Hmm... should I make it the prize for the Academy Tournament?"
Anyway, I'd decide its purpose after taking it home first.
It wasn't even finished yet, after all.
Riding Sre, I arrived at the very peak of the Primordial Starting Point.
The volcanic island that had become a snowy mountain thanks to Sre's influence. Climbing up to where I'd poured in the Blue-Red Stone, I found red and blue lava still bubbling away despite the extreme cold.
"I came to collect a prize."
The reward I was due in exchange for taking Caums off the board and reviving Lise.
Together with Sre, I plunged into the volcanic island without hesitation.
The crimson and azure energies tried to gnaw away at my body, but it was pointless.
The extreme cold and my divinity wove a barrier around us, blocking every assault, and I sank deeper and deeper into the earth.
Thwuum!
In an instant, the lava parted, and my feet touched solid ground.
A profoundly dark space.
Whether from entering the great pupil itself, my voice echoed far too loudly.
And floating at the very center of that pupil was... something small.
—...That's supposed to be a god?
"So this is the true form of the Primordial God."
The true form of the Primordial God.
And that form was...