NOVEL NEXT Chapter 156
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Edanant.
I’m sorry, Edanant.
That pitiful, foolish woman kept shedding tears and repenting until the very last moment.
Why-.
Why did she desperately seek forgiveness?
No matter how fervently she cried out, her plea for forgiveness would never reach anyone. Still, that pitiful, foolish woman fell into eternal slumber, leaving nothing but futile sobs behind.
I can’t understand.
Even after rewinding the memories of that woman countless times in my mind.
Longing. Respect. Regret. Guilt.
It was a complex mix of emotions far too intricate for a newly born monster to understand.
Edanant von Hohenberc.
Is that man truly such a precious person?
So much so that she trembles and whispers his name with frozen lips?
To become the pure white Saintess loved by everyone, she needed to understand the heartbreaking feelings that lingered in her heart like embers. Only by grasping that emotion could she finally embody the pure white Saintess.
Edanant.
What kind of being is he?
I must check.
I had to confront what kind of an existence the alien being that came from outside was.
Only then-.
It had to be so.
*
Splat-.
Blackened blood poured out.
The monster gazing at him felt a surge of emotions swell within its chest.
It hurts.
Like being pierced by a sharp stake.
Why?
I made him like that.
He negated me. How dare he call me a ‘freak’!
It’s just karma.
It’s only right that he writhes in pain while spilling blood.
The monster with flowing white hair trembled its thin shoulders as it stared at Edanant. Despite asserting the righteousness of its actions like brainwashing itself, the pitiful, trembling emotions refused to be quelled.
-Damn this hurts like hell.
“…Step back. Edanant can’t defeat me. Next time, I will really kill you.”
This isn’t a bluff.
It’s definitely not a deception.
The power of the Command fused with the Disaster of Death could even kill a god.
I will take your life.
It’s a very simple and straightforward ability, but the lethality is certain.
To prove it, I pushed Edanant to the brink of death in an instant. Had the Instant Death Command succeeded without a hitch, Edanant would have turned into one with the afterlife.
-Return Beatrice to me. I won’t say it twice.
Edanant wiped away the blood dripping down and warned.
He wasn’t backing down.
Even though he almost lost his life to the clutches of death.
Even in the face of desperate odds, all he wanted was to get Beatrice back. Looking at Edanant’s consistent attitude, I felt a deep rage powerful enough to make me dizzy.
“I told you she’s Beatrice! Why do you keep insisting?!”
-Stubbornness? I think it’s just a reasonable assertion.
“She was merely a foolish woman who chose her own destruction. Edanant knows, right? In her incompetence and cowardice, she pushed not only herself but also the men who loved her into ruin!”
-……
That’s the truth.
Beatrice chose her own destruction.
To stop the end of the world,
To return the gray world to its original state, she summoned the Disaster of Death.
It’s nothing but the result of cause and effect.
Even Maximilian, who remained until the end, accepted his fate by using his vitality to eternally isolate the Demon King’s Castle. The cursed comrades who fell to ruin surely felt the same as Maximilian.
-What I desire is a world shared with foolish and meddlesome people. Even if the gray of the world’s end disappears and everything returns to normal… it has no meaning without them.
“……”
-I’ll bring them back. And we’ll stop the end of the world again.
“…That’s nonsense.”
It’s an absurd boast.
If only they had quietly accepted the sacrifices of the fools.
If the Saintess Party were freed from the curse of disaster, the suspended end of the world would start moving again. Edanant’s actions were nothing but selfish folly trying to plunge the world back into crisis.
But the monster secretly felt envy towards Edanant’s actions.
-You’ll never be Beatrice.
“Shut up…!”
Edanant declared as he stepped forward.
The monster’s beautiful face distorted in rage.
-Beatrice is one of a kind in this world.
“It doesn’t matter. Beatrice is already dead. If she were still alive, I could just kill her.
Boom-!!
Kaboom!
The intensifying disaster of war exploded.
At that moment, a giant wrapped in a blizzard moved.
The useless dialogue was over.
Only the choice remained to crush the opponent with force.
As artillery fire rained down, the Disaster of Death that was guarding the monster stretched out both hands to block it. Following that, the Disaster of Death swung a fist wrapped in a blizzard to threaten Edanant.
*
The grotesque giant, a fusion of demonic and undead appearances and abilities, was an avatar of the Disaster of Death.
It was not the main body.
But it was extremely close to it.
Even in an incomplete form with only the upper body summoned, it was sufficient to threaten Edanant. It swung a spear forged from cold, spewing forth blizzards that could freeze space itself.
Boom, boom, boom-.
Each time the sharp spear struck down, widespread cracks appeared. And as those cracks exploded, sharp ice shot up.
If it touches, it’s over.
It held the power to trap the target in an icy hell.
Are you planning to encase me?
If I allowed a single strike, I’d surely be preserved as an ice statue for life.
-But it won’t go that way.
Fire erupted.
Ground-to-air missiles mounted on the launching platform all flew out simultaneously.
The target was only one-.
The Disaster of Death guarding the monster.
The ground-to-air missiles flew through the fierce blizzard and slammed into the Disaster of Death. At the same time, the piercing warheads exploded, inflicting severe damage.
Thud!
One shoulder and arm fell off.
And cracks began to form all over its body, as if it were about to crumble.
『Nothing, except me, can allow the flow. Everything stop.』
The ice chunks that were raining down,
The deafening noise that erupting from it,
Even the ground-to-air missiles continuing from the launch pad all came to a halt in an instant.
The Command captured time.
Even the flow of space exhibited helplessness against the Command’s power.
Normally, it would be impossible.
The influence of the Command only extended to clearly defined objects.
But the power of the Command unified with the Disaster of Death had now extended to the point of binding time and space. In a world frozen in an instant, Edanant, maintaining full consciousness, gasped at the sight before him.
『Fly.』
Fwoosh!
The physical force of the Command detonated.
In a world where time was frozen, Edanant permitted the attack, and he flew back amid a deafening explosion.
He rolled across the ground multiple times.
Since the state was still frozen, evading was impossible.
So Edanant had to crash against the wall like a decayed tree helplessly.
-Did it freeze time too? This damned Command…!
Cough, cough!
He grit his teeth and lifted his head.
He saw the monster coughing up blood, with blood pouring down its mouth.
The Command rebelled.
Because it violated not just the laws of physics, but the very principles of the world.
With a moan filled with pain, it clutched its throat and vomited blood. Even the boundless range of the Command’s power seemed to have its distinct limits.
-Stop it. If you keep overdoing it, your throat will get wrecked.
“Why are you… worried about me? Edanant, weren’t you planning to kill me?
-Indeed. There’s a limit to being meddlesome. To worry about safety against an enemy.
“……”
I can’t hate you.
No matter how hurt I am, I couldn’t genuinely hate.
Love is poison.
And it was a curse that weakened the heart endlessly.
Could it be a remnant of that woman who fell into eternal slumber still left in my heart? A faint smile spread across my bloodstained lips.
“Try to beat me, Edanant. Or else she will never wake up.”
The chill of death surged.
The black freezing wind that enveloped me soon became armor, startlingly scattering its essence.
Armor of the Disaster.
It was very similar to Edanant’s full armor.
Except for the feature highlighting a woman’s slender figure, it was practically a replica.
-That’s right.
Edanant stretched out his hand and stepped forward.
As if to express his will, crimson currents surged, twisting around Edanant.
A girl appeared.
The girl emerged behind Edanant, reaching out to lend her power.
The girl with flowing red hair was the Disaster of War. Since she wasn’t fully materialized, she was more like a spirit, but she wrapped her arms around Edanant’s neck to fully support him.
Win.
War whispered to him.
In response, Edanant drew forth all of his divine status.
─────!!!
No further dialogue was needed.
They would only clash.
To rescue the Saintess, to become the Saintess himself, they both wielded their divine statuses.
War. Death.
The crimson currents and black blizzard collided, shaking the Demon King’s Castle.
Numerous weapons emerged, but this time, they were also destroyed by the power of the Command. However, the Disaster of War unveiled a madness by mobilizing a number of weapons almost beyond comprehension as if she had released all limits.
Iron Blood.
The display of guns and canons created from the crimson currents brought to mind iron forged from blood.
A hint of urgency crept onto the beautiful face of the monster that had previously shown ease while wielding the power of the Command and the divine status of death. The volume of the artillery barrage began to amplify.
Amplification.
A special power possessed by the Disaster of War.
The amplified power, now invigorated, would soon swallow death itself.
“I won’t let that happen. 『Rise, the power of death that annihilates all living beings.』”
Crack, crack, crack!
When the monster gestured, the previously damaged Disaster of Death rose back up.
It healed all its wounds.
Moreover, the grotesque titan, originally only the upper body, now regained its lower half.
The giant of death stood tall, reaching out with both hands. Then a colossal sword of cold air capable of cleaving the Demon King’s Castle in two was handed to the giant.
That sword is dangerous.
If I’m not careful, a single strike could finish me.
Edanant, who was gazing at the battlefield from within the crimson currents, let out a gasp of bewilderment.
“Edanant!!”
Just as the clash of War and Death reached its climax,
a piercing scream echoed.
The crimson currents. The jet-black blizzard.
In a situation on the brink of determining the battle’s outcome, a new variable swooped in.
Elizaveta.
The third princess of the Empire appeared accompanied by the Grand Magicians.
Boom-.
With the arrival of the villainous princess, an anomaly occurred.
The giant of death, poised to strike at any moment, took a step back as if it reconsidered. Such a sudden change spread panic across the monster’s beautiful face.