Chapter 74

"What I'm saying might sound like just a comforting remark or a temporary relief..."

But whether it's Fina Brad Sfielding, Rizzowal Stuart, Kathy Palug, or the Royal Guard, their king will only be you, not because you are the successor to the Crimson Moon, but because your perseverance and actions have made them believe that following you is worthwhile.

I think you can be even more proud of this.

Black Princess looked up and saw that Avia had already looked away.

"Didn't you promise to give them the glory they deserved? That promise, Princess of the Dead Apostle, Altrouge Brunestud, you haven't fulfilled it yet."

Although it's impossible, even though it's already impossible.

But Black Princess finally broke into a smile, her blood-red eyes softening into a gentle laugh.

"... Ah, I almost forgot."

"Don't worry, we're still allies, and I'll support you wholeheartedly."

Typhon, puffing out his cheeks as if to cheer Avia on, uttered an electronic sound effect that had no clear meaning.

"Now that you say that, I can rest assured."

The Black-Haired Girl propped herself up, got off Avia, and turned to face the pristine white bed.

Faced with the yet-to-be-born Perfection being, Arcueid, the true successor of Crimson Moon.

"I will definitely come back, back here, to fight you fair and square, my sister."

150: He became the new leader in the Department of Mineralogy before even leaving the house.

Earlier, when Avia successfully eliminated Crimson Moon's Action Concept.

The Grand Sorcerer gazed at the swirling Thunderbolt Rune from the edge of the door, then slightly raised the corners of his mouth and said to everyone present with a smile beyond his years, "It's... completely over."

Then, ignoring the astonishment of the crowd, the vigorous old man looked up at the 'moon' in the sky.

At this moment White Flower of the Millennium Castle are far more beautiful than the 'moon'.

The creature that could have used this method just moments before is now gone, as if it were a lie, leaving not even a last word.

Although this was within the expectations of the Grand Sorcerer, he still felt somewhat moved.

Although not True Magic, what he did ultimately achieved the same or even greater miracles, demonstrating such feats to himself, but it was indeed a unique radiance possessed only by humans.

"Looks like another exciting chapter in my life is about to be added, haha, that's great!"

"I always feel a bit startled whenever I see you, Kishua."

"Indeed, I feel the same way."

Faced with the teasing from his friend Van Fim and his junior brother Kouhaku, the Grand Sorcerer simply laughed and accepted it all.

"You two should hurry up and prepare. It won't be long before we have to unite again. This time it's a battle for our survival. I'll try to persuade the Association, but they'll have no choice but to fight."

The old man said with great interest that the Association had to fight, both morally and logically, not only to break free from the Church's control, but also because the ruins they now occupied beneath Britain were actually the remains of some kind of creature that a first-century Rome had painstakingly transported from elsewhere to fill the underground.

"... Really, will we win?"

"Van Fem asked."

"Who knows?" Kishua said calmly. "After all, the power of the Holy Scripture surpasses the True Magic I've comprehended. After that battle, because my soul was locked by it, it was difficult to maintain. But regardless, it can't be delayed any longer. Moreover, according to what the Prince of the Underworld Zagreus said—who survived by using the Hidden Divine Principle of the Wandering Sea —Mabul Kihara possesses the Mad God Ate, who was integrated into the Human World during the Age of Gods, and—"

As the words fell, a clay tablet written in a long-lost language emerged from the old man's hand.

The R'lyeh Manuscript.

Meli, who was standing to the side, put away her usual cheerful expression and calmly uttered the name on the clay tablet.

The R'lyeh Manuscript, also known as the Prelati's Spellbook, are said to have been handwritten and bound with human skin. Their contents prophesy that once the positions of the stars are correct, the city of R'lyeh will rise from the seabed, and Cthulhu will awaken.

"Are you saying that the current Kihara is actually due to the Mad God Ate and the foreign evil recorded in this text?"

In response to Kouhaku's question, the Grand Sorcerer shook his head:

"I don't know, but Zagreus said that, as a fellow Greece god, he didn't sense At mixed within Ate, but rather Ate being manipulated by her. This scroll was merely a phantom, not used to summon evil rejected by the Planet. On the contrary, it was imbued with an intense resentment towards the God of the Church— "

At this point, Kishua looked up at the sky. Although he was a disciple of King Solomon, he was not a believer like Van Phim and Kouhaku.

"Like Zeus, the Greek God, and Odin, the Norse god, he was at the very top of his own pantheon, but for some reason, he fell from the clouds to the ground— Beelzebub, the demon king in the Bible."

Beelzebub, originally a god in Canaan mythology named Baal, meaning "Beelzebub Lord of Heaven," is used in Jewish rabbinical texts to refer to the Lord of the Flies, and is considered Devil that causes disease.

He was also the Sun God in the Phoenicians Holy Scripture, but was later worshipped by the Canaanites as the "Lord of the Dung Heap". There are also traces of this Demon King in Greek Mythology, because the god-king Zeus was also known as the "Fly-Avoider".

In other words, it is an image formed by a chief god of a pantheon being stigmatized and Demon due to a change in Faith.

Although Kishua is the immortal Second Magician, he is far superior to the Fifth Magic, who has lived for so long that he has long since lost the concept of "himself"—in other words, has lost his Flesh —and who will grant any request within his Far East.

Kishua, who is capable of Wrath at evil and mockery of good deeds, would never easily agree to someone's request that it's "no problem," because as a sage who considers the overall good Future, he would not care about small sacrifices in the grand scheme of things.

So, after everything was settled, the old man, stroking his chin, said softly:

"Please be quiet, everyone."

It was a very small voice, spoken in a soft tone, yet it instantly made all the True Ancestor, Magecraft, and Dead Apostle in the Millennium Castle feel a strange and familiar sensation emanating from the Grand Sorcerer. It was an aura from the other side, far more ancient than the present, long beyond the reach of our time.

"Although the Crowd knows who I am, let me introduce myself anyway."

Kishua's voice was somewhat hoarse, yet it resonated powerfully throughout the Millennium Castle.

"I am Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg, the Second Magician under the tutelage of the Sorcerer King, the founder of the Department of Mineralogy of the Mage's Association, and also the beloved Grand Sorcerer Magecraft."

Kishua didn't seem to be joking at all; on the contrary, he spoke with a hint of certainty.

In other words, he seemed to genuinely believe that he had forcibly united the solitary Magecraft who lacked military capabilities, which is why he was called the "Grand Sorcerer" and felt it was normal to be afraid of this.

That being said, no Magecraft could refute it, since Kishua's strength was far superior to theirs in every aspect.

"From this day forward, after a century, we will unite once more. This time, we will not be fighting against an enemy of the Planet, but against our own enemy— the Holy Church, which has oppressed you for an unknown period of time over the past century and has become corrupted."

Everyone present nodded deeply.

With a gentle smile and a hint of amusement, the Grand Sorcerer continued in a hoarse voice:

"This time, the supreme commander of the alliance is not me, the Grand Sorcerer, but the new leader of the Department of Mineralogy of the Mage's Association— "

"Avia."

151: Looking at the contorted expressions of pain can be good for your health.

"Is that alright?"

After bringing Altrouge Brunestud out, in the now peaceful Millennium Castle, Avia nodded to Kishua was beaming with joy.

Avia did not resist being suddenly announced by Kishua as the new leader of the Mage's Association's Department of Mineralogy.

After all, it's just another title for him; at most, the El-Melloi Family, which controls the Department of Mineralogy, will have one more non-native Lord in its history.

Since it is only the AD, the genius Magecraft Barthomeloi, who laid the foundation for the "Lord" class, has not yet been born. Therefore, although the current Mage's Association has become the "beacon of hope" in the Magecraft world, which is suppressed by the Church, many years in advance, it is not yet called the Clock Tower, and the title of Lord can not yet be used to address the heads of other departments outside of the Three Great Nobles.

Aside from this trivial matter, Avia was most concerned with the R'lyeh Manuscript, which was inscribed on clay tablets.

Although the Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg said there was only the aura of Beelzebub and not Cthulhu, Avia still couldn't help but think twice, after all, these Evil God were really not easy to deal with.

"By the way, Kishua, during the Millennium Castle War, was there a Magecraft named François Plelatti among those you brought with you?"

The silver-haired youth seemed to remember something and asked the Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.

In the Nasuverse, the only one connected to both Beelzebub and Cthulhu is François Plelat, an independent individual born from the Greece mad goddess Ate, who remained behind the scenes during the Hundred Years' War, leading to Jeanne d'Arc's execution by burning at the stake and causing the fall of Marshal Gilles, whom he considered a 'friend'.

"Although it happened over a hundred years ago, this old man remembers it quite clearly." The Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg chuckled, stroking his Walking Stick. "... No, there was no such person as François at all. The only one with Plelatiti was a female Magecraft named Francesca, skilled in illusion magic, but she seems to have died back then."

In fact, Avia knew that both François and Francesca were essentially only related to Ate, while Beelzebub and Cthulhu could be simply understood as having somehow gotten involved with them.

Moreover, Avia remembered that Francesca's master was one of the many facets of the Lady of the Lake. Later, after witnessing the Half-Nightmare, who was the opposite of the Lady of the Lake's Brightest Aspect, she frantically studied the Nightmare's illusionary concepts as her own. However, since the Half-Nightmare felt that this guy had no human emotions, she didn't pay any attention to him.

However, since Meli was actually quite young at the time, and Future the Age of King Arthur, it was impossible for her to have learned Meli's concept of illusion...

The creature, who should have been Humanoid Ate, unexpectedly possessed powerful illusion magic ahead of time and even participated in the Millennium Castle War in 300 AD. Furthermore, the aura emanating from this Book, which was clearly meant to summon Cthulhu, gave Avia Beelzebub clues.

Perhaps for some unknown reason, a wave in Ate, when it took human form as "Folly," merged with Beelzebub, who had fallen to earth and been stigmatized due to a change in Faith. Subsequently, out of resentment for abandoning his own Planet, Beelzebub formed some kind of cooperation with Cthulhu.

As a stigmatized Deity, she is naturally adept at stigmatizing others as well. Take Jeanne d'Arc's innocent burning at the stake, for example. Although she was successfully exonerated twenty-five years after her death with the help of her mother and many good people, it should be noted that Francesca, who has many copycat materials, can be considered immortal.

Three hundred years after her rehabilitation, during the France Revolution, Joan of Jeanne d'Arc's relics were destroyed, and the agreement between the Saintess of France and Domrémy Arc that Jeanne d'Arc would never collect taxes was also revoked. In Magecraft sense, this is equivalent to the concept of a third death.

If Napoleon hadn't been willing to acknowledge Jeanne d'Arc's achievements and spirit, and regarded her as an outstanding representative of the France nation and the embodiment of patriotism, Jeanne d'Arc would probably have been stigmatized once again.

By now, Avia had come to understand that the 'Savior humanity' Marble Kihara, who was supported by the Planet, Ate Humanoid Francesca, who was fused with Beelzebub and was hiding behind the scenes, and Cthulhu, who might descend, were all his enemies.

"Meli, could you do me a favor?"

After sorting everything out in his mind, the silver-haired youth looked at the girl who seemed to be doing nothing, so she squatted down and played with the white flowers.

"Hmm... what is it? Tell me first."

Meli looked up, her purple eyes Gilgamesh with delight.

Although Avia sensed that nothing good was going to happen from her expression, she still spoke up for her own purposes.

"Beneath Fairy Lake in Britain, and its counterpart Lake Avalon, lies a sword. Could you bring it to me?"

"... Huh?" The White-Haired Girl looked 'horrified'. "Do you know that lake is managed by the Lady of the Lake? That guy can be quite troublesome, very difficult, unless—"

"Speak, what do you want?"

Seeing Meli's mischievous smile, Avia sighed softly.

It's not that I regret not using the conditions she promised to help me back then, it's just that if her personality remains like this, it'll be quite a headache. But... I guess it's normal, she's an emotionless creature.

Humans shouldn't be like this, right? Although this guy is human, he hardly shows any signs of pain.

How boring, if it were twisted...

She thought this with annoyance, then blinked... twisted?

The thought arose very naturally in her mind, and once she became aware of it, it settled in her heart without any abruptness.

Ah, a faint smile crept onto her face.

Oh, I see.

"I've been thinking about it, and the thought of your face contorted in pain, just imagining it, is really good for my health."

Meli rested her chin on her Walking Stick, ignoring the gazes of Black Princess and Typhon, and spoke quietly, her purple eyes calmly fixed on Avia.

"So, are you able to meet my request?"

"Sure, but I don't know when that will happen to me."

The silver-haired youth answered calmly.

"Okay, actually I also think it's unlikely... but I'm still quite looking forward to it."

A half-human, half -Nightmare — White-Haired Girl devoid of emotion, she smiles slightly.

152: The Star Sword

The daytime is filled with the sunshine of spring and the atmosphere of summer, while the night is covered by the air of autumn and the starry sky of winter.

This is a desolate land, Island at the World's End of a permanent forbidden zone, a world untouched by the constant decay and destruction of the surface world.

Even though it has been part of human history, it is a foreign land that has nothing to do with it.

Its name is Avalon, an alternate name for one of the many places where the souls of the Planet Earth are placed.

In the night, invited by thousands of stars, the White-Haired Girl hummed a song and waved her cane as she came to the water's edge, scooping up the water reflecting the Galaxy into her free hand.

The water that was scooped up shimmered for only a moment before falling like tears.

"I've almost finished reading it, does that sword really exist?"

The girl used her other hand to tap the falling water with her Walking Stick, making a soft sound.

In an instant, a path appeared from the river, and Meli followed it into the river.