Chapter 95
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Absolute Eclipse
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- The name Tarsiyo means 'connection.' My mother gave it to me, hoping I would protect all the connections in this world.
The madness of Shu'yulkulla, ruler of the Old Sea, stirred, eroding Providence.
Each of [The Forgotten Kings] violated Providence in their own way. Shu'yulkulla's power was a fanatical dampness.
A madness manifested in the form of dark clouds, swallowing the skies above both the ocean and the land, unleashing a monsoon.
- But I think the meaning of my name applied to me differently. I can't help it. I'm too frail to accomplish such a great task.
The southern region was blanketed by the monsoon front.
The downpour, so heavy it was impossible to see, seeped into human bodies and beyond, into their very souls, slowly crumbling their minds into madness.
- But I'm not sad. Instead, I was able to meet the most beautiful connection in the world. I'm sure it's thanks to this name.
Leading the monsoon's torrent, a noble blessed by Shu'yulkulla revealed its majesty from the distant sea.
The Flower of the Old Sea, Sholyuryu.
The noble vaguely took the shape of a flower—a form of despair woven from countless twisting, entangled deep-sea plants.
- What is it, you ask? Don't pretend you don't know. It's you, Kaisen.
Sholyuryu's flower bud bloomed with a chilling grace, firing dozens of dark blue soap bubbles.
- I wish I could have watched you grow into a great Yongsa until the very end. So that when I meet Mother, I can tell her all about you.
The bubbles exploded on contact, indiscriminately destroying everything.
Artillery, ships—every object shattered into hundreds of fragments, scattering in all directions.
Humans were no different.
The moment they touched a bubble, they were instantly reduced to a collection of bone fragments and blood, then annihilated.
- Mother said she saw all the great deeds of the old Eldia. Among them, Enuel was exceptionally strong and brave. But you'll become even more special than him. How do I know?
I don't really know either.
But I'm sure it will happen.
I just know.
"The second line is collapsing!"
"Sholyuryu's rapid advance is causing massive casualties! We can't stop it!"
"FakeWarrior, we must retreat the troops! At this rate, we'll be annihilated!"
The reports, delivered in heavy, ragged breaths on the verge of bursting, stabbed at Ria Alter Tassalpo's heart.
Her current title was Grand Marshal of humanity's southern front.
Never before had someone so young become commander-in-chief, and it was unlikely anyone ever would again.
The prestige of her position was a testament to her tactical insight and talent, explaining how the completely outmatched southern front had managed to hold on for so long.
"If we abandon this position and retreat, it's all over! We have to defend this place, no matter what!"
"Lady Akirea is also unable to fight after defeating 'Jardin, the Fragrant Guest of Despair'! Humanity currently has no one who can face two vassals at once!"
"The elven soldiers will be here soon. We need to fall back to the third line and regroup!"
"The elves are likely facing two other vassals themselves..."
A sense of helpless powerlessness became a crushing force, making her bite her lip.
*I'm a FakeWarrior, too...*
Why did she always have to be so powerless?
How many more times would she have to clench her fists in futility? How many more times would this have to repeat before the war finally ended...?
It was then.
The soap bubbles, which had been spreading out over a wide area, all swerved in an unnatural trajectory.
Their path was aimed precisely here, at the command headquarters. Sholyuryu had sensed the flow of command.
"Fa-FakeWarrior!"
"You have to get away! Not even a barrier can block that!"
In that single moment, as terrified cries erupted in chaos all around. In that very instant.
A flash of fire.
A light streaked dazzlingly across the sky. The flash split into five beams, each one striking one of the five bubbles.
─ *Distort.*
The power of the Psalm of True Scenery was unleashed.
─ *Hisugibid.*
That power, which returned all things to their form at Creation, distorted space itself.
To annihilate the Abyss's power, which did not exist at the dawn of time, along with the space it occupied.
─ *Charge.*
A single bolt of lightning, charging forth as if to pierce through the dimensional explosion.
─ *Galadiel.*
The human body, due to its structural limitations, is subject to the control of Providence when it comes to high-speed movement. But what if the body itself was transformed into light?
It was truly faster than light.
A crimson lightning bolt that closed the killing distance in a fraction of a second, too fast for even a vassal to react.
"──────!"
Sholyuryu's body momentarily swelled, and the abyssal thorns dormant within it erupted in all directions.
─ *Tear it asunder, Yoniullan.*
Soul Rupture—a violet storm that tears apart the very concept of anything that exists with the concept of power. The thorns of the ancient plant were torn into dozens of pieces, spewing blood.
─ *Swallow, Sharrilion.*
Was it a final, desperate act? The bubbles that burst from the massive flower bud filled the horizon.
A blade that spewed a silver-white sword light.
As they were helplessly sucked into that blade, a perfect opening was revealed for a single moment.
─ *Pierce, Sharrilion.*
A power that could absorb anything possessing ki, amplify it sevenfold, and release it, blew a massive hole through Sholyuryu's heart.
Revealed within, amidst the fragments of darkness, was the core of its soul.
The collapsing body instantly regenerated, frantically trying to hide its weakness, but a blade of blue light easily sliced through flesh and blood as if it were paper, piercing the core.
True Holy Sword, Ribellen.
With a silent scream, Sholyuryu's body crumpled and buckled, sucked into the light emanating from its soul core.
In that moment, the world was simply silent.
Only the sound of a Yongsa, accompanied by four holy lights, landing lightly on the ground echoed with noble grace.
"What in the world?"
The soldiers, who had been watching the unprecedented event in a daze, began to murmur blankly before one by one, they rushed forward. Soon, voices filled with awe poured out.
"It's humanity's strongest soldier! He's back!"
"You're lying."
"It's true! Who else but him can slaughter a vassal all by himself!"
"No, but... he seems a little different?"
Familiar, yet also strange.
The one who felt this most strongly was Ria Alter Tassalpo, who had the deepest connection to him among all those present.
"Kaisen?"
"Judging by the armor, it must be Sir Kaisen... but something about his aura is different. I'm not certain. Above all, such immense power, even for Sir Kaisen..."
Beyond the wildly cheering soldiers, the Yongsa's gaze turned toward Ria, who was blinking her eyes in a daze.
"It's been a while, Ria. This is the third time I've said that."
His voice, even amidst the monsoon rain that had begun to fall again, was strangely clear.
Like the voices of divine beings who transcend the laws of nature.
Ria's face contorted as if she were about to burst into tears with the joy of their reunion. The weight of the destiny she had shouldered alone was just about to reach its limit...
He's back.
He's finally back.
He came back again, just like he always did.
"Kaisen. Is it really you?"
In response to her words, which were more of an affirmation than a question, her old friend wore a somewhat sad expression.
"I've already discarded that name."
"What do you mean? Anyway, do you have some secret to always making such a cool entrance? Really, I wonder if you wait for moments like this. Just kidding. But Kaisen, is Lady Tarsiyo on her way too? How did you get all those True Holy Swords..."
A throbbing dizziness, the pain of the thorn embedded in her heart, spread throughout his body again.
- *I'll go on ahead and wait for you. Don't you dare cheat on me on your way, okay?*
If only we could have returned together.
If only you were the one receiving these cheers right now.
But there was no time to dwell on wishes that could no longer come true. He simply stated the reality.
"She went on ahead."
He temporarily set aside the wish layered behind that reality.
*Go, and wait for me.*
*That's why there's no time to hesitate. Just wait a little longer. I'll be there to see you soon.*
The Final Chapter of All Stories,
Yuri Ha Geldina (1)
The world I returned to after being reborn as Eldia Omek (06) was in the midst of a cataclysm.
A cosmic tension was swelling...
The source of this bizarre, sinister, and tangible sense of crisis was the firmament that shrouded the world in black.
[In the age when the Gods of Creation presided over the world, it is said that a firmament of light covered all worlds, but that one is a murky, dark blue, like a swamp.]
Kaduel, who had died two thousand years ago and had never seen Yotos's firmament, commented.
The firmament was expanding wide to encompass all skies. Its movement was even more distinct than the drifting of clouds.
People did not know what it was, but with pale, frightened faces, they prophesied and whispered of the end.
'It's all over now.'
'Everything ends now.'
As madness spread across the heavens and earth, things people had wanted to do before they died—rape, robbery, murder—were carried out in remote places where the light did not reach.
Then, news of salvation came from the far east.
The East.
That was what humanity called the Idea Peninsula. That fantastical land where the first descendant elves resided.
After defeating Sholyuryu, the Flower of the Old Sea, I 'encountered' that news during the process of reconnecting the collapsing front lines one by one.
"Yes, you have the face of one who has looked upon the world and found an answer."
Of course, a welcome reunion took place before that.
Akirea of Crimson Flame.
Though she was now reduced to wheezing with every breath, Akirea greeted me with an endlessly warm smile.
"You finally have the same eyes as your mother. The eyes of a Yongsa."
My expression crumbled helplessly.
Even now, does the memory of my mother merely echo as sorrow, ringing hollowly through my soul?
"I still don't even reach her feet."
And then, I met him.
He was clad in armor that shone with the brilliant silver light of the moon. It was the same armor Lady Tersia used to wear.
The sword hanging at his hip, flickering with the colors of primordial light, was also the Blade of Light, Verkensia.
Unlike Tersia's, his Verkensia was divided into the forms of a sword and a shield.
But they were similar.
The sorrowful grief in the eyes beneath his sun-bright golden hair, and the faint sadness that even tinged his voice as he politely approached and extended a hand.
Within that unspoken sorrow, I caught a glimpse of the life this boy must have walked.
"Sharrilion, it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time."
Though he was clearly speaking the words, "It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time," the emotion behind them was closer to, 'We finally meet again.'
A sense of déjà vu shook my mind.
As a worldline I did not know precisely overlapped faintly with the recesses of my memory.
"My name is Liam."
In contrast to Tersia, who possessed a mature sorrow, he held a fragile sadness.
*I see...*
He was said to have just turned sixteen, but his eyes, worn down by the storms of the world, were not those of a child.
*Did he turn back time... how many dozens of times, how many hundreds?*
Perhaps, if true light were to manifest in a human body, this is what it would look like. His jade-green eyes held the primordial light.
In that moment of meeting, I realized the destiny that was stirring to life.
Eldia Omek (06) was born to become kindling for this boy... to help him burn more brilliantly than any light that had ever existed.
"How many times have you turned back so far?"
Liam's eyes widened in surprise at the question, then closed wearily.
"This is the thousandth time."
"You must have suffered a great deal..."
At those words, which clearly saw and acknowledged his sorrow, Liam gave a smile that looked for a moment like he might cry.
"You've changed a lot. Your whole atmosphere and presence... I can even feel a divine aura from you. And in the twelve previous times, you always had only the single sword, Sharrilion."
"Is that so? How strange."
"I'm the one who finds it strange. In the past, you struggled just to draw out the power of Sharrilion alone."
Just as I thought...
It was just as Karenden had said.
- *In this worldline, the axis of the world point has been twisted.*
By the being that planted Yurvelmung in my chest.
Karenden had said that even his success in designing the Eldia Omek project was thanks to help from that unidentified being.
In other words, this worldline was the only one where I could exist as Eldia Omek.
- *Countless coincidences are overlapping like fate, creating a new flow of light. It feels as if this worldline was created to bring down Yotos Yolle Yotiatos.*
But the mass of that destiny was equal to the weight of the entire world, so it was not something that could be shouldered alone.
- *Meet the child chosen by Tersia. You will meet him soon.*
The child Lady Tersia had chosen was this boy, Liam.
Mirngadia of the Blue Star, who had received a revelation from Tersia, raised Liam with great care, but also with ruthless rigor.
Thus, at the age of sixteen, he had already risen to the ranks of a boy hero. By crossing a thousand worldlines that no one else would ever know of.
Under the command of Mirngadia of the Blue Star, Liam had crushed all the Necron armies and killed all the kings of the Bloodkin.
After eliminating all of the demon race's fangs aimed at the East, he had also defeated the Elite Hunter and the Elite Assassin.
While humanity was subjugating Neigallas and settling the imperial civil war, he was the one who had vanquished the Insect Lord Kelek-Shak.
On that fateful journey, just like me, Liam was not alone.
"Ah, so you're the famous Uruk Slayer? You're even more handsome than the rumors say. With this, my strategy is guaranteed to succeed."
The second Apostle of the Void chosen by Karenden, Ridewards.
Her real name was Yoran El Battenberg.
As the Battenberg name suggested, she was the princess with the first right of succession to the fallen Southern Elf Kingdom. Despite this, she was called the Crown Prince. Her reputation was such that she was said to be more princely than any prince.
Elegant features.
Court etiquette that was naturally ingrained in her body.
And her behavior of being exceptionally kind only to women, seducing them all.
*If she were a different gender, she'd be a complete scumbag...*
Ridewards always called herself the Minstrel of Moonlight instead of the Apostle of the Void, a playboy who claimed the former title was more suitable for beguiling others than the sinister-sounding latter.
Most of her actions seemed like a joke.
Though she was said to be seducing someone, it seemed Ridewards had yet to find a person of the opposite sex she found that attractive.
"Think about it. If we say the legendary Uruk Slayer has arrived, the Uruks might just open the castle gates and let us in. Ah, they're such filthy creatures, they might ask you to sign their pee-stained underwear, so be careful."
"?"
"They might even ask you to come and sing at the Uruk kids' birthday parties. Why, the kids could be your fans. Of course, you can do that much, right? For victory."
Ridewards winked. She was a crazy woman. The one with the strongest personality of any woman I had ever met.
In contrast to her, Siren was a girl as expressionless as a doll, and of few words.
She always wore a deep red-hooded cloak, hiding her fox ears. She was a three-tailed fox from the beastkin race, able to freely wield flame arts.
"Ignore her. Ridewards has always been trash like that."
Siren said so in a voice that was almost serene.
Beastkin...
Meeting the descendants of the shock troopers again made my heart pound with an indescribable sense of gladness.
"A three-tailed fox. Your ancestor's name was Kanrus, correct?"
At that question, Siren's eyes, which rarely showed even a flicker of emotion, widened.
"How did you know that?"
She was an excellent warrior... Of course, I couldn't say that. Instead, I gave a faint smile.
It was strange. Baffling.
Was it because the memories of a worldline I didn't know and couldn't see were overlapping?
When I met them, how was I to describe this warm, distant feeling that soaked my heart? How could I feel such a deep and genuine familiarity upon our first meeting?
*Yes... this must be it.*
It was the kind of warm tremor one feels when finally meeting a destiny one was unable to meet since birth.
Under the guidance of that Verkensia, they must have lived and breathed together for dozens, hundreds of years, and fought together hundreds, thousands of times.
The mind does not remember, but the soul does. Liam spoke.
"Sharrilion, the Absolute Eclipse has begun. We're out of time. Yotos is coming. We need your power."