Chapter 396

“——Moonlit platinum and adelite.”
“Huh?”
“These are the materials needed to draw a magic circle. There are a few more.”
Abel muttered.
The emaciated voice no longer sounded so grand.
Turning his head, he saw Abel lying on his back with a sword embedded in his chest.
The limb had regenerated intact.
“What, did you give up?”
I was sitting on a cliff, taking a break.
After a long argument, it was nightfall.
The sun, bright as a ripe orange, was slowly melting into the horizon.
“Let’s stop this nonsense.”
His eyes, once burning with malice, had cooled like an unlit brazier.
I pushed myself up and walked over to Abel.
I was a little excited because I hadn’t gotten that response before.
Poof!
He drew his sword and purple blood splashed out.
“Ugh.”
Abel only frowned slightly, but didn’t offer any resistance.
I reserved my persuasion and waited for an answer.
He stared at the sky like a hanyang, then spoke up.
“Did you say Ronan?”
“Yes.”
“You are—so strong.”
Abel staggered to his feet.
His own sword was lying nearby, but he didn’t even look at it, let alone pick it up.
I felt like I’d finally gotten through to him.
After all, humans are growing animals.
The negotiator part of me was rejoicing in my progress.
“Cain was a fool.”
“——what?”
“That slimy guy’s way is wrong.
I still despise the mortals of this star.
The bugs that are destined to die will eventually destroy themselves.”
“Whoops—shit, I guess my persuasion wasn’t perfect.”
A trickle of blood ran down his forehead.
I could feel the back of my neck getting hot.
Damn it, if you’re going to do this, why did you set the tone like you’ve been rehabilitated?
Once again, it was a character who drew his sword to have a good time.
“But I also recognize that my way is wrong.”
“What?”
“Neither of us had the right answer.
It was a mistake to rely on outside forces for a moment.
It may have taken longer, but we should have taken the proactive approach.”
“—Continue.”
I let go of the hilt.
It was clear that something had changed in his mind.
Abel kept his eyes on Cain’s jar as he spoke.
“I will cooperate with you. It’s for the best if you want to take responsibility for your poor choices. I’ll put everything back the way it was, and we’ll start over.”
“Crazy asshole. You have the nerve to talk about becoming a villain again. Do you think you’ll be alive by then?”
“Sure.”
Abel grunted.
I started to say something more, but stopped myself.
More persuasion was unlikely to make any meaningful progress here.
In his original world, he only changed just before he died.
“Ha ha—good, but if you try to pull one more stunt, you’re not going to die a happy death. What happened today will make you feel like a child’s play.”
“What you say, you do.”
“You’ll have to.”
I shook my head in frustration.
This was the consensus.
If Abel turned and stabbed him in the back, so be it.
The only way to kill it is to tear it to shreds.
The same was true for being a bad guy after a successful job.
“Okay. So hold on a second. Let’s just spray this and get down there.”
I picked up Cain’s urn.
I felt a lot lighter than I did at first.
I sprinkled it at every break and was about to run out.
“You’re feeding me like a crucian carp. I’m sorry.”
I chuckled bitterly.
That was goodbye to the father of parallel worlds.
I was just about to sprinkle the last of the bones on the tea.
I felt his gaze on me and turned around to find Abel glaring at me.
“What, you want to sprinkle?”
No answer came back.
Abel didn’t affirm, but he didn’t deny either.
He was a tired bastard in more ways than one.
I walked up to him and shoved bone meal into his hand.
“Be gentle. Like you would salt a fine dish.”
By now, half the sun was submerged in the ocean.
Abel wordlessly clutched the bone dust.
He walked slowly and stood at the edge of the cliff.
The graying hair with his back to the sunset is nostalgic.
Father and sister in a parallel world.
People you’ll never see again.
Abel finally stretched out his arms and opened his hands.
“Ah—.”
The bones swing.
A sound escaped his lips that I couldn’t tell if it was a sigh or an exclamation.
Whoosh–just in time, a gust of wind flips your bangs.
The white powder blowing in the sea breeze is like watching a father ascending to heaven.
I stood beside Abel and watched the scene, then blurted out a word.
“Goodbye.”
“——stupid human.”
Suddenly, Abel gritted his teeth.
He looked up and had tears in his eyes.
The single drop running down his parched cheek was the same color as the sunset.
“——.”
I didn’t see it and stared straight ahead again.
The person next to me was not the evil mastermind of Nebula Clasier, but a younger brother missing his older brother.
At least for this moment.
The tears that had formed on my chin fell off a cliff.
Abel whispered in a very small voice, too small for anyone but me to hear.
“I’ll take responsibility, brother.”
****
The next morning.
Deep inside the Resistance headquarters, a converted seed vault.
I was walking down the hallway with two archbishops on either side of me.
“Mr. Ronan, come on, tell me. Who is this person you say we should meet?”
Letancier flirted.
It seemed like the time was right for me to start acting up.
I flicked my hand like I was chasing a fly.
“There is such a person. Just follow me.”
“Chi, give me a hint.”
Letancier inflated the ball.
Judging by the color in his face, he had definitely gained weight recently.
It also made sense that the harassment from the Resistance was gone.
Because when you peel back the layers of Nebula Clazier, she was a very powerful sorceress.
It’s even proactive, so the Resistance, whose primary goal is to drive out the giant, can’t hate Letancier unless they want to hate him.
I ignored her and looked at the hunk to my left.
“You’ve been doing well lately, Fantasia.”
“I only seek revenge.”
The answer was a resounding no.
Fantasia walked with her head down to keep her horns from scratching the ceiling.
My already large body has somehow gotten even larger.
His fur, which had been as matted as a loofah, had a sheen to it.
“This asshole is an object to behold.
Like Letancier, his condition was noticeably improving.
Looking at the forearms exposed beneath the armor, I couldn’t tell if it was a demolition rig or a creature.
Letancier chuckled.
“Hmph, good job keeping him alive, isn’t it? He’s a good fighter, I’m sure he’ll break Captain Orsay’s record in a little while.”
“Are you kidding me, you’re waking up? You seem to have a decent life these days, do you want to starve for a few days?”
“Ouch!”
Voila!
I grabbed her head and she screamed.
At this point, I felt like I was really enjoying being right.
In the end, Letancier’s rhetoric wasn’t wrong.
Archbishop Fantasia has emerged as a divinity that threatens to make Orce too scared to join the resistance.
Wereweaver’s unorthodox use of water elementalism to defeat the Baldur forces was reminiscent of Zaifa in his prime.
A distraught Fantasia looked down at me.
“Thank you.”
“Huh? All of a sudden what?”
“I’m making good use of the weapon you gave me.”
“Oh, that’s good, right? It can only be good.”
A massive double-edged axe was strapped to Fantasia’s back.
The two-meter-diameter piece of iron was smeared with the blue blood of a giant.
I must have made double-digit cuts, but on a sharp blade, there was not a scratch.
I said, looking at the engraving on the axe hilt.
“I picked it up in Gran Cappadocia. There’s some good stuff buried in there.”
“Gran Cappadocia—what we destroyed.”
“What, you remember?”
“Yes–Eduon and Cyrilla organized it, and they came to me personally to approve the plan.”
Surprisingly, the deer remembered the tragedy that took place underground on the island.
If Gran Cappadocia was smashed to bits, he must have put his stamp of approval on it.
There was silence.
Only the sound of shuffling footsteps echoed down the hall.
Fantasia muttered.
“——I regret that.”
“Of course you do.”
“Forgiveness will be bought with the blood of the invaders. Though I doubt it will be atonement.”
Fantasia nodded heavily.
The seriousness of his demeanor made me smile with satisfaction.
I was debating whether or not to hire him because he was new, but somehow I trusted him more than Letancier.
After another ten minutes or so of walking, we arrived at a huge iron gate.
With a dozen security measures to get to, it was the most secretive room in the headquarters.
I pressed the keypad and a beeping sound echoed.
I looked back at the two of them, leaving only the last password.
“Now, I need to tell you something up front.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Don’t get too excited. Your anger may go to your head, but it won’t kill you.”
“What? I can see how that would be–I’m not the kind of person who gets angry anyway.”
Letancier reached out.
Fantasia didn’t say anything.
I dialed the last number with some anticipation.
Pyrrhic.
The iron gates opened with a series of mechanical sounds.
“Surprisingly plain on the inside—— what?”
“Pontoon.”
Looking around the interior, the two men froze.
Beyond the conference room desk stood an eerily familiar man with his arms crossed.
Abel smiled.
“It’s been a while, I’ve only heard the bare minimum, but you look good.”
“——was alive.”
Fantasia clenched her fists.
Tendons bulged up his girder-like forearms.
Abel was about to say something.
Enraged, Letancier let out a wild bird-like cry.
“Abel, you filthy traitor!”
I didn’t even have time to argue.
Jumping up on the desk, she stretched out a finger.
Kaaaah!
A bolt of telekinetic power shot out like a cannonball and slammed into Abel.
The body that flew backward slammed into the wall.
“You—!”
Letancier’s eyes widened.
As expected, Abel neither blocked nor dodged.
Abel said, pulling himself away from the wall and fixing his broken nose.
“C’mon—your fiery temper is still there. Have you cooled off?”
“Well, what the hell, if you think I’m going to forgive you with this one shot—!”
Yuck.
Letancier’s mouth made a cracking sound.
She was about to repeat the order.
As she remained silent, Fantasia grabbed her wrist.
“Wait, Letancier.”
“Fantasia, let go of me!”
“Let’s hear the story first. Killing can wait until afterward. It’s a different vibe.”
“—Vibe?”
Letancier frowned.
From the sounds of it, that’s what happened.
Should I say something has softened?
The flesh that had gripped his followers had been stripped away.
Abel looked between the two of them and spoke.
“Not bad, is that all four of us?”
“Maybe. Or maybe an orchestra.”
“Orse, is that a demon dragon–surely it’s easier to have a winged one.”
Abel nodded.
I agree.
If we had a blinking dragon as a member, we’d have a lot more mobility.
However, if that were to happen, the Resistance would need to redistribute their numbers.
Abel and I were discussing strategy.
“Now, wait a minute, Ronan. What’s going on here?”
“Aha. I didn’t tell you that.”
It was a mistake to forget why we came here in the first place.
I looked back at the two archbishops with a smile.
“You two. You’re coming with us to Bald World.”
“Is that ——?”
“It will be three days before we reach the home of the giants, so eat all the food you’ve been craving. You don’t want to have any left over if something goes wrong.”
“Det.”
Letancier froze.
He didn’t even blink once, so I thought he was a statue.
Fantasia listened to me calmly.
“We can’t just sit around forever, we’re going to end it all this time.”