Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Reversal
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A short time before the Third Demon Invasion, in the Witch's Forest where the Somin folk lived.
According to the Empire's official records, while Nia was in the southern region of Ennaun, she and the witch were strolling through a lush forest that sparkled brilliantly.
"Grandmother, where are we going?"
Nia asked from behind, pushing through the underbrush, but the witch merely floated through the air, buzzing about like the other Somin folk, wearing a chilling smile. The entire forest seemed filled with her eerie grin.
How long had they walked like that?
"We're here."
"Where is this place? No, what is this?"
In one corner of the forest, a vast and deep bog appeared out of nowhere. No, it wasn't quite a bog-the black, horrifying hue rippled like the night sky flowing.
This place, with its mysterious aura that seemed to suck in every shadow of the forest, was known only to the witch, and its name was the sort that could never be recorded in any book.
"It's a tale that was never written down anywhere. You wouldn't understand even if I explained, so go on in."
"Here? Is it safe? What am I supposed to do in there?"
"You need to witness the story. When you open the final page of the book and choose whose future to summon, it'll help when sorrow comes."
The witch pressed her face close to Nia's side and whispered as they both gazed into the deep, endless bog beneath the glittering forest.
"Child, I told you I was preparing you. All of this is for the Hero's sake."
Words even deeper and darker than the bog.
Nia could only look at the witch in shock. What on earth did she know? No, where had her own story even begun?
"Pardon? What do you mean..."
When Nia asked again, the witch replied.
"The Hero is wondering. About how all the secrets of this world will unfold. What he must do. But unraveling it is solely the Hero's role. No one else must interfere. He needs to focus on his own emotions."
Nia felt the witch's hand wrapping around her neck.
"Aren't you curious too? About the true myth. Why the Mir scattered, where they are now and what they're doing, what the Demon King was doing when Mifplas's saintess sowed chaos, what the newly born Demon King desires, and what I and my beloved-you-are. The hidden secrets of this world, all those truths, are right there inside."
Nia felt fear once more.
"What is that thing, Grandmother?"
The witch whispered again from a distance. That space was where she hid and wrote this world's story amid flames...
"Nesheph's memory."
Upon hearing the name of the now-vanished demon god, Nia walked slowly toward the bog as if entranced. And when she stepped in, she sank into the truth like plummeting into the deep sea.
"This is..."
Within it, Nia could feel just one emotion.
Love.
Like watching a moving picture, she beheld the secrets of this world.
The truth of when the gods died and vanished.
***
In the beginning, all life did not experience death.
They lived eternally, and no one sought harmony. They simply followed the light and the dawn. Thus, as time passed, they became representatives of their races and swore oaths to one another.
Born from the will of the gods, they vowed to care for the other animals, plants, and beastkin of this world. For they were not mere creations shaped by the gods, but byproducts of the love shared among the Mir. Therefore, they swore equally before the gods to cherish and nurture the world itself, which was akin to them.
Time passed further, and the Hero, swayed by the saintess's temptation, slew Iveldra. As the primordial Hero Sonain was the proxy of the light god Or, the enraged Demon King became the incarnation of Nesheph and swept away all of Or's creations-the heavenly race. Moreover, since Nesheph loved this world more than himself, he slew Or. His corpse fell into the distant sea, at the world's center.
Thus, the skies of this world were shrouded.
Then Mifplas, alongside the Mir, committed the Great Sin and resolved to kill Nesheph.
In that process, the Mir, stripped of their light and power, each lost one of their possessions.
Excluding Iveldra, who held the Demon King's remains, Cheret, the Glory Mir symbolizing purification, lost the language to share his light; Yam, the Great Sea's Mir symbolizing life, became imprisoned in Or's corpse to sustain the world's life; Agagthur, the Blazing Mir symbolizing evolution, could no longer contain his rage.
Ets, the Flowing Wind's Mir symbolizing cycles, became the cycle itself-reborn endlessly, only to lose her memories each time.
But no one could truly kill the dawn.
Mifplas merely made Nesheph vanish through the Great Sin. Thus, Nesheph-that is, the dawn-did not die but persisted as memory and will in one form.
That was the aging of all life.
In other words, withering.
From then on, all creations aged and naturally died.
And his will fell deep into Gehenna.
But from this moment, the world's secrets were born-tales unrecorded in any myth. Namely, that plants, animals, and beastkin, children only of the Mir, died far sooner than the gods' children.
Fearing that other races would notice and one day reassemble the Great Sin to slay her, or that the world would not worship her, the primordial saintess conspired with Mifplas.
So she corrupted the truth.
That life withered not because of Nesheph, but the Great Sin.
To seal this corrupted truth away from the world, she split the Great Sin into the Flame of Sin and the Holy Brazier, then possessed the dwarf with her storm before summoning the saintess to deliver the message.
The saintess relayed Mifplas's whispers verbatim. To Sonain, now a mere human after Or's death, she claimed the withering of life occurred because the Great Sin had been born.
Naturally, the other races, ignorant of how the Great Sin came to be, firmly believed the saintess's words and recorded them as myth. That Mifplas's grace protected them from death.
Thus, the sword must be inherited.
So Hero Sonain inherited the Holy Brazier.
As long as death existed, war would never end, and people would forever cower in fear of death, following harmony. Mifplas found this sight most pleasing.
But.
Then how did the Flame of Sin, the counterpart to the Holy Brazier among the Great Sin's two pieces, end up in the Demon King's hands?
What of Nesheph's lingering memory and will after his death?
Why did no one but the witch know this truth hidden behind the myths?
It began with the secret of one person erased from all myths.
Among the Hero parties of each race serving Mifplas, the youngest and weakest one.
From Iveldra's death to the saintess conveying Mifplas's lies to all, the man who witnessed this entire distortion up close yet said nothing. The one who stole the Flame of Sin, etched in his wretched eyes, under a curse of silence.
The Flame of Sin was usurped by the Hero Sonain's younger brother.
His name was Promnain. The first human to learn all these truths and head to the western continent where the Demon King resided.
He was the one who led other humans to seek Nesheph's remaining will and memory after his death.
Unlike his sturdy Hero brother, born unable to speak, he had merely recorded history from the sidelines. Cursing his fate in comparison, he too possessed a power granted by destiny: the ability to create a curse of silence.
With this power suited to him-one all knew but none could speak of-he erased others' memories and safely stole the Flame of Sin. Then, using it, he sought Nesheph's memory in Gehenna to resurrect him, but ultimately failed.
In despair, he implanted the Flame of Sin in his wretched eyes and delivered it to the Demon King, hoping he would slay the saintess who wrought this world's tragedy.
Thus, the Demon King, knowing all truths, built a fortress atop Nesheph's will.
Its name was Tehom, the Abyss.
The Demon King naturally seized control of Tehom, raised horns with the Flame of Sin, and passed on his emotions and will to other demons: "Slay all who follow Mifplas." That was it.
Promnain, blaming himself for the unresolved sin despite knowing all, could not bear the grief. To reveal the world's secrets, he began sending seers to Haipoji Mountain as the first clues, forging relics.
A futile will. Hoping to summon the forgotten sinner anew and remake the Great Sin, he died. Only at the end did he pass Nesheph's memory-containing all this world's truths-to his mate. She was the current witch, who knew everything.
Of course, this fragmented truth would later resurface in the world.
Thus, to enforce harmony, Mifplas's will and power created strife, dividing into Nesheph's will to slay Mifplas-passed down through sword and horns.
And amid it all, Promnain and the witch's will to resurrect Nesheph continued.
Following the story's flow, she conceived their will as a human within Nesheph's memory.
She, who would reveal this tale's twist and the truth hidden by myth, was none other than...
***
"Nia."
In overwhelming despair, Saint Holden watched Nia dying, covered in blood.
He rushed to save her, but the elite pus blobs had positioned themselves like guardians encircling the princess, the Hero, and the Demon King, making it hard to break through.
"Nia! Pull yourself together!"
Ignoring his cries, Nia prepared to unleash her final omen.
The last incantation given by the witch.