Chapter 593: A Tale of the Past. The Old Testament
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 593: A Tale of the Past. The Old Testament
Even Nevida couldn't fathom why I had suddenly changed my attitude, or what on earth I was planning to do. But she wasn't one to waste time letting worries about things she couldn't control stop her from pursuing her desires. With Nevida's power, I reached the top of the Tree of Genesis in an instant.
The Tree of Genesis had grown a little since I last saw it. By my estimation, it seemed to have grown nearly twenty meters taller. It appeared the World Tree was having a growth spurt.
In two thousand years, the human species has also changed. Nevida grew the Tree of Genesis to bridge the gap between the humanity of the era before the inception and modern humanity. The King of Humans up there now must be a being almost identical to me.
Atop the cloud-wreathed World Tree, I walked up the stairs formed by the human fruits. I was trembling slightly, but having come this far, there was no turning back. I simply looked ahead and walked forward.
I can read another thought from within the echo. It seems Nevida has infused it with vital essence. I can feel a half-awakened consciousness. And from within it… I can glimpse an incredibly ancient memory.
With every step, the branches laden with fruit bent slightly. Is this what it feels like to climb by stepping on people? It’s not a great feeling.
Stairs are meant to be solid. You can't climb properly on soft, yielding steps. You have to take each next step trembling with the fear that it might collapse at any moment.
The essence is that of the King of Humans. But because of Nevida's obsession, two King of Humans have come to exist across time. However, the Beast King is a conceptual being, and for a single concept, only one individual can exist.
Finally arriving atop a large flower bud, I took a deep breath and looked down at the slightly parted opening below. The King of Humans was inside. And unlike last time, I could feel a presence from down there so overwhelming that it threatened to crush my very being.
Is this really the right thing to do? Did I make a mistake?
One of the two will disappear. A fine stage has been set.
But having come this far, I had no choice. Taking a short breath, I leaped into the flower bud. The fully ripened bud parted slightly, as if to welcome me.
My body fell into the flower bud.
And at the same time, my consciousness fell into the distant past.
*
Nevida was the King's warrior. She had survived for an age so distant that even history had blurred, but not for a single moment had she forgotten that she was the King's warrior.
Therefore, the King of Humans of the current era was also worthy of her respect. Nevida bowed her head, seeing the King of Humans off as he entered the flower bud.
It was, however, merely a sign of ‘respect.’ The only king she truly served was one and one alone.
Flap. A parrot flew in. Nevida turned her head as slowly as a dry, withered tree.
“Hexia.”
“Nevida. Squawk! I have something to say.”
“I know what it is. It’s about the druids.”
“Squawk! That’s right. Those bastards, they might look like they’ve fled, but they won’t just leave. They’ll try to interfere somehow.”
The Great Witch’s parrot continued to flap its wings as it spoke.
“We have to deal with them beforehand. They’ll never stand by and watch humans be born from these fruits. Hmph, ridiculous! Acting like they have any right when they contributed nothing to the fruit’s growth!”
The parrot, still agitated, flew about in the air without perching anywhere. Staring intently at the erratically flying bird, Nevida suddenly spoke.
“And what about you?”
“Squawk! Me? What about me?”
“Hexia. You were the one who made the meat fruits. But you were also the one who sought to burn them. Did you not also object to humans being born from the meat fruits?”
For a moment, the parrot’s flapping wings froze in mid-air. It dropped for a moment before catching itself and flying back up.
“I made the meat fruits! I’m different from them. I had the right!”
Her voice was fierce, but her spirit wasn't what it used to be. Nevida sensed this but didn't point it out. Hexia was one of her few allies and her only true disciple. She didn't want to break the morale of the student who had fully inherited her teachings.
“…And, it would have been fine if it weren't for them! The beasts inside the meat fruits can't move anyway. They’re no different from corpses. What’s wrong with using something that’s like a corpse as a corpse?! Why are they going on about the value and dignity of beasts?! Mother’s incident was just a trigger. Those bastards planned to burn all the meat fruits from the very beginning!”
The parrot’s shouting gradually turned into a mumble.
“If only humans weren't born from them… If they hadn't kept blaming me and making me out to be the bad guy. I could have just… pretended not to know and been happy.”
“You are right, Hexia.”
Nevida had lived before the inception. In the age of barbarism, common sense and order were not yet established, and law and morality were laughable jokes. The logic of power was what pierced through the era. The law of the jungle was the only absolute truth.
“Taboos, morality, laws, order. Those are things the vile harlot who drove out the King with her schemes used to judge the world by her own standards.”
And Nevida was still living in the age of barbarism. From her perspective, this era was also a product of immense violence. She had witnessed firsthand how the Saintess of Origin had reshaped this world with her transcendent power. Standing one step removed from the world, Nevida understood that what passed for civilization was also a product of barbarism.
“You became a problem for one reason only: because they made you one. They sought to judge you by their power.”
The ability to enforce laws, to expect morality, to demand norms and order—it all came from being the stronger party.
“Judge the world with your own power. Do as I intend to do. You have the strength for it. There is no need to hesitate.”
Nevida turned her head and stared beyond the forest. Her eyes transformed into those of a hawk.
In that instant, the jungle moved. The trees that filled her vision moved aside for her. Though no wind blew, the trees, sensing the will of the Divine, bowed in fear of obscuring Nevida’s gaze.
And so, with a single, clear line of sight, Nevida spotted Nenyaphh spying on them and muttered.
“They, too, will come to judge you and me.”
*
The moment she was detected, Nenyaphh moved. There was no time to hesitate. Her opponent was the Primordial Druid, a monster whose power reached the very ends of the sky. Nenyaphh was among the stronger humans, but for that very reason, she knew all too well how terrifying the sky above the sky was.
“My master is still a monster…”
She had once been taught by Nevida. Having witnessed that power up close, she also knew its weaknesses. Nevida, linked to the Tree of Genesis, lived with that colossal presence. A being of that magnitude wouldn't react sensitively to the movements of a mere trifle. Life would become too tiresome otherwise.
That’s why she had been watching with the eyes of a hawk… but Nevida, as if to prove she was more than capable, had detected her. Nenyaphh immediately dashed through the trees to shake off any pursuit.
But it wasn't enough. A massive snake was already beside her. A vine-snake with bark for scales chased Nenyaphh, its maw wide open. A cursed beast born of the Tree of Genesis, Nevida’s power, burned its short life away to tear at Nenyaphh.
Nenyaphh took out a seed and breathed a small breath into it. Squeezing between large boulders, she scattered seeds in all directions. Behind her, the vine-snake roared and pursued her. Its body slithered through the gaps between branches with surprising flexibility.
At that moment, Nenyaphh released the power contained within the seeds.
Druid Secret Art: Vine Root.
Vines grew explosively, ensnaring the vine-snake. The creature let out a pained scream, twisting its body back and forth. Its scales scraped against the sharp rocks. The bark-like scales shattered and scattered, and a sap-like blood flowed, but the vine-snake seemed to find stopping more agonizing than crashing into the rocks.
“Master, you were wrong. One must not do whatever they please simply because they have power. To wield power, one needs a just cause, and power that lacks the consensus of the people is nothing but barbaric violence. It will become an original sin that ensnares humanity.”
The vine-snake was a beast created by Nevida. It was never meant to live long. It dedicated its short life entirely to carrying out its given command.
What a sinful beast. Nenyaphh felt a brief pang of sympathy for the creature of the Tree of Genesis. At the same time, her conviction grew stronger.
“The weak being unilaterally trampled by the strong… even if that is reality, it should not be taken for granted.”
Reaffirming her resolve, Nenyaphh germinated the seed in her palm. Though there was no soil and little sunlight, the seed took root in her faith and grew by drinking her determination. The transformed seed became a sapling with countless leaves and sturdy roots.
The leaves that grew were emitting their own light. A dazzlingly white, holy light.
Nenyaphh was filled with faith, and she had earned the right to wield that faith as power.
A sword forged in faith, the Holy Sword. Nenyaphh belatedly realized that she was a Crusader. The unfamiliar power felt as natural as if it had always been a part of her.
Nenyaphh raised the Holy Sword and approached the vine-snake. As she drew near, the vine-snake thrashed as if it had been waiting. Its eyes were filled with a shallow hostility and rage.
“Just because you created it, just because it will die soon, or for some other reason—you cannot turn even sympathy and sorrow for this pitiful life into hypocrisy.”
The vine-snake opened its maw wide. Its mouth was covered in twigs and leaves. As mercifully as she could, Nenyaphh plunged the Holy Sword under its jaw.
Light flowed through the vines. The vine-snake’s eyes widened. The beast, born on borrowed time, which had rampaged without ever knowing the sweetness of water or the warmth of the sun, savored the grace of light for the first time.
The vine-snake’s expression gradually softened. Its body, which had been writhing in agony, found peace. The creature of the Tree of Genesis, which had struggled on the verge of death, fell asleep in its final moments, embraced by the light it had so desperately sought. The vine-snake had now returned to being mere vines.
Having gained the power to kill the creatures of the Tree of Genesis, Nenyaphh muttered to herself.
“It seems you don't have time to appear here yourself. Are you busy?”
It wouldn't be strange for Nevida to appear and slaughter Nenyaphh on the spot. The fact that she was once her student would mean nothing. The reason Nevida hadn't appeared yet must be because she couldn't.
“…The King of Humans. Master, are you truly so obsessed that you must create even your own king with your own hands?”
The Tree of Genesis was rapidly consuming its vital essence. For the essence of a World Tree that had monopolized this land for hundreds of years to be consumed so quickly… what kind of being was being created?
It was terrifying, but Nenyaphh saw a sliver of hope in it. Now, while the Tree of Genesis was consuming its essence and Nevida's feet were tied… this was the only chance to sever that sin.
*
“Right and wrong, barbarism and civilization. Order and duty. What’s allowed and what’s not.”
I walked slowly through the darkness. The inside of the flower bud shouldn't have been that large, but no matter how far I walked, no wall appeared. It was only after walking an incomprehensible distance that I realized.
This is a Spiritual World.
“What are they all? They're not food. I can't see them. They can't teach me anything. So how am I supposed to know?”
Then the owner of this voice must be…
I turned around. There, a girl with shaggy gray hair was wiggling her toes as if she were pouting.
“El said I can't understand because I'm too special. That a king can't understand it. That because I'm not ordinary, I'll never realize it and will live my whole life ignoring it. But what can I do? I can't pretend something that isn't there exists.”
Infinitely free and infinitely artless. She was filled with a beast-like optimism. As if she had never once been conscious of her own tragic fate, the previous King of Humans—who had died betrayed and torn to pieces—spoke to me with innocent eyes.
“How am I? Now that I'm ordinary? You know, don't you?”
Why are you acting like you know me? I don't know who you are.
“You know now, don't you? You're ordinary. Instead of representing all humans, you represent the single person before you. You can't embrace everyone, but you can read one person to the depths of their heart.”
What? How did she know?
My mind-reading was more of a side effect. The representative nature a King of Humans should possess had lost its power and twisted in a bizarre direction. And she knew about it?
“Big sis knows. That was the promise.”
And the nonsensical talk didn't end there. What big sis? That was the most ridiculous thing I'd heard in a while. I don't have a big sister.
Then, the girl puffed out her chest and declared proudly.
“I was born first. I'm the big sister.”
…I couldn't argue with that.