Chapter 311
Chapter 311
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Reversal
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That's just the structure lol Dark side trends up just chilling, light side trends down even busting ass. That's the setup ㅇㅇ
Accept
the
world
is
like
that
"..."
"..."
An awkward air hung over the place.
Frozen Breath Palrag.
Flower Garden Star Lunadien.
It had started when the two great archmages, each haunting the Gus estate's annexes, crossed paths.
They were considerably startled.
To think meeting without Rishir as a link would feel this awkward!
"Ahem."
Palrag was the first to muster his courage and act.
"Lady Lunadien."
He gave a polite nod toward the elf as radiant as a rose.
"Lord Palrag."
And so the conversation began.
"It might seem sudden, but the current master of the Gray Tower is away briefly due to a council summons."
"Rishir!?"
"...I know he's more than capable for the tower lord position, but surprisingly, within the tower right now, Rishir's role is—"
"Haha!!! I know that! The mood was a bit stiff, so I was just cracking a joke."
The radiant elf's intent landed perfectly.
Palrag's somewhat rigid expression began to flail freely.
With embarrassment, that is.
But only for a moment.
He soon sorted his feelings with a small chuckle.
In a mansion annex turned flowerpot for the World Tree, what did it matter if one elf's personality shifted?
"That aside, bringing up the Wandering Star out of nowhere—you must be curious why I didn't heed the council summons?"
Lunadien then pierced Palrag's intent and laid it out bluntly.
"Indeed. Is it perhaps because of Rishir too?"
"Hm. One could say yes, or no."
"...What does that mean?"
"This isn't the first time I've ignored a council summons. In fact, it'd be quicker to count the times I did attend."
Doubt.
Before Palrag could ask the reason, Lunadien added it first.
"Doubt...?"
"Yes. Frozen Breath. Do you know the council's true purpose? Not the formal reasons like harmony among the stars or maintaining continental balance through it—but the actual reason."
"...The fragment seals—"
"You're mistaken."
"What?"
Lunadien gazed into the distance.
Her eyes seemed to chase a secret space hidden somewhere on the continent.
"As you said, the council's secret space holds numerous fragments. But I don't call it a 'seal.'"
"Then—"
"It's storage. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Storage..."
Palrag gravely mulled the word.
He felt he grasped what Lunadien meant.
"Of course, storage is still necessary. If all fragments of a specific Archdemon gathered in one place—the darkness would blanket the continent and more."
"...The ultimate goal of the demon worshippers too."
"Exactly. But—do you know? Demon worshippers don't put much effort into stealing those fragments. No need to."
"Why—"
"Time. They know that what should be fair to all is on their side."
Storage. Seal.
Lunadien murmured the words slowly.
"The reason the council can store so many fragments at once is simple. The things sealed in them aren't intact. To the point where rest is their only option. So, think differently? What if they get enough rest and regain full strength—all at once?"
"That would be...!"
No needless embellishments were required.
Darkness.
Palrag's mind filled purely with it.
A truly dizzying, perilous imagining.
"Of course, just a hypothetical. They're not loving brothers or family. They're rulers who want everything—even other Archdemons—under their feet. The chance they all awaken together, join hands, and plot the continent's doom is realistically very low. However—"
"That chance isn't zero."
"Right. Moreover, even in a lesser catastrophe—not the worst—we might not handle it..."
Lunadien raised an index finger.
"Just one. If even one Archdemon regains full strength and starts rampaging in earnest—we likely couldn't cope."
"..."
At length.
Palrag slowly opened his mouth.
"We..."
That was the part he'd latched onto in Lunadien's words.
"What do you mean by 'we'?"
"..."
A smile.
The elf's grave expression brightened again.
Palrag realized the elf he'd just been speaking to was the Flower Garden Star from his memories.
But now—
"Thus, I felt deep unease at the uncertain future hinted by those countless fragments. It led to doubt in the council's existence."
"You thought no matter what the council does, it can't stop darkness's return?"
"Yes. So I decided to focus on 'us.' Saving the whole continent from darkness might be impossible—but concentrating on elven domain, perhaps we could resist."
"..."
Palrag nodded.
Flower Garden Star Lunadien.
He grasped the identity of the gulf he'd felt from her past self—
That unbridgeable distance.
The elf had already thoroughly separated the elven world from the outside to prepare for future darkness.
She probably valued one Ilraden citizen's life—
Over a thousand humans.
"...Hm?"
Then.
Palrag's eyes widened as he turned.
"Domain for elves—..."
His gaze fixed on Rishir's annex.
On the new home of the World Tree.
The heart of elves, suddenly sprouting in a human city beyond their forest.
In that case, what of Lunadien's 'us'?
Palrag looked at Lunadien.
Lunadien looked at Palrag.
Soon, both burst into laughter simultaneously.
"Rishir..."
Palrag shook his head, idly murmuring the name.
No better words came to mind.
This moment.
Palrag fully understood the change in Lunadien.
And even in the elves.
And—
"Hm?"
Suddenly, doubt crossed Palrag's face.
Per Lunadien's words, her world had undergone massive change due to one man.
She no longer divided the world into elves vs. others.
Yet—
She hadn't answered the council summons.
Her stance toward the council unchanged.
Palrag asked cautiously.
"By any chance, is ignoring the summons still because you think darkness's return can't be stopped?"
Anxious shadow crossed his wrinkled face.
That man's face surfaced first, then overlapped with Lunadien's actions.
She knew of that man now.
Yet still believed darkness's return unstoppable?
"What in the world did you see there...!?"
"..."
Lunadien wore a complex smile.
"To be honest, I'm still under anxiety's shadow. Sometimes I even think—perhaps this world belongs to darkness by nature."
"What...!"
"If not, why is the darkness we witness so vast? Why is the light we see so faint?"
"..."
"Thus—if this world is inherently darkness's..."
Lunadien gazed at the exact same spot as Palrag had before.
Rishir's annex.
Lunadien continued carefully.
"Could his existence alone—...!?"
The words cut off abruptly.
By a pulse resounding through the area.
"This is...!?"
Soon, both archmages stared the same direction.
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
Rishir's annex.
All anomalies originated there.
"What in the world..."
The two archmages trailed off.
It was clearly a clash of immense power.
But its nature.
Even their profound knowledge couldn't define it.
What must one do to produce such power waves?
When they came to.
They were drawn toward the annex as if entranced.
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
And standing before the door, utterly unable to enter—
"Ah, Lord Karoer—Ratsil—and—"
"No, you're surely the Holy Sword's master—Klana? Even you—has the amnesia cleared up!?"
People gathered one by one at the door.
Those who could sense the odd power waves—figures connected to Rishir.
The waves so vast, it felt like everyone who knew Rishir across Bوندales sensed him and swarmed.
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
Even as they shared confusion gazing at each other, the pulses continued relentlessly.
Finally.
One couldn't hold back and shoved the door open.
"How long are we gonna stand around out here!?"
Acting councilor proxy Fienne.
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
ZZZT!
She charged through the pulsing waves, others following.
At length.
They reached a familiar place.
Bondales's undisputed landmark.
Rishir's bedroom—or rather, the World Tree's abode.
The pulses had subsided.
Yet the tingling on their skin lingered vividly.
Gulp.
Someone swallowed dryly.
That signaled the door slowly creaking open.
And the sight before them—
Burp.
The freshly fed baby spirit hiccuped cutely, lifting its upper body.
Beneath it lay a crystal fragment, clear as water.
And—
"Rishir...?"
Fienne cautiously called his name.
The holy-demon swordsman.
He walked toward somewhere in the room.
He set down the swords brutishly crammed in both hands, gripping just one—the holy sword.
Then swept empty air with his free hand—
And thrust the holy sword in.
Shunk.
The blade vanished.
As if lodged in something.
The holy sword had found the lingering rift traces.
-...
A whisper of darkness leaked from the rift's gap.
How many demons tangled to make that noise?
Rishir's comrades instinctively stepped back.
Shunk!
Meanwhile, brutish hands pried into the rift.
Craaaack—
And savagely tore it wide.
The rift expanded.
Vast darkness overflowed within.
-SHAAAAA!!!
-KYAAAA!!!
Darkness's legion.
Countless dark shards beyond the rift shrieked.
"Found you."
It was a scream.
Darkness, ever eyeing chances to ravage the light world, fled from the frontier.
The moment light and dark swapped places.