Chapter 79
After the brief exchange, came the decisive, desperate strike.
At that moment, a flash of light appeared outside Orléans.
The light was so intense that it turned the vision of everyone involved in the battle into a blinding white.
The enormous sound, so loud it created the illusion of silence, tore through the atmosphere like a thunderclap, and the resulting shockwave shook the land of Europe.
As a result, Aetius fell to the ground.
"... When I was a child, the elders in my family always told me that families like ours should strive for the sake of His Majesty Emperor Nero and Lord Novia, for the peace of the Empire, and for the continuation of the good Inheritance of the Church."
For some reason, in his dying moments, Aetius felt as if he saw something.
The figure seemed to overlap with the somewhat blurred image of the Holy Statue.
It's not because of similarity, but because of identicalness; it's as if it were the same person.
"Ugh, is this a hallucination...? But actually, I have to apologize, because I've never believed in this stuff since I was little... But--"
Aetius raised his head and looked up at the sky. Although he knew that the so-called Heaven and Hell could not possibly reappear after the Age of Gods, he still squinted his eyes devoutly.
"Even so, I must fight to the very last moment, never give up hope, and strive to find a way, even if it means struggling until death. I must uphold my principles until the very end, just like my honorable predecessors. But if this is what awaits me in the end, it's not so bad..."
In the swaying, blood-red Twilight, illuminated by the last rays of the setting sun, the Spear of Longinus had been dim for many years, gleamed with a faint silver light.
"Yes, Aetius, I will admit it, you are 'the Last Roman'."
With the death of Aetius, the Battle of Châlons ultimately led to a victory for the Huns Empire.
The defeat at the Battle of Châlons meant that the Western Rome was no longer able to stop the Huns, and the capital Milan was in grave danger.
Apart from the Eternal City — Rome.
160: 'Savior' - Kihara (3k)
Humans are creatures that tend to accept things they like in a positive light.
This is because there is a psychological factor at play. "I don't want to think that things I like are bad."
However, this is proportional to the kindness one shows to others. One won't think badly of people one likes, but conversely, when facing people one dislikes, even the smallest thing will make one think that the other person is "deliberately causing trouble for them."
For those who are indifferent, this mindset simply doesn't apply.
But for this young girl, everything on this Planet is equal, whether it's a fellow human or a creature different from humans.
An abandoned child whose parents are unknown, he grew up in Monastery adopted by the Church. His body, ravaged by illness, has been healed by the Holy Scripture, and the people in the Church maintain their pure Faith.
The world that the girl, worshipped as having the talent to save the world, longs for Garden of Eden where people will never suffer.
The greatest pessimism and the greatest optimism in the world are actually in agreement.
"Their lives, in this world, are of no value to me."
"However, I live in the present, and many lives do not live in the time when the gods lived."
"Ah, it should be so, it must be so. This world, this Universe, everything under this sky, there's no need for me to be deliberately perplexed by my incomprehensibility. I have no need to ask further. It turns out that the act of living possesses a profound depth that even the act itself contains, as weighty as the Lord... a beautiful Melody and words."
"Therefore, their suffering is the same suffering I feel living here; it is not a suffering I cannot feel."
"The pain you're feeling now isn't something that belongs only to someone else... that's why it's so important."
Therefore, one can give up one's own life, one can give up the duty of saving the world, and one can give up oneself.
Until--
In the Millennium Castle of the 300th century AD, when all the forces on the Planet united to kill Crimson Moon, a young girl representing the Church encountered a female Magecraft who used illusion magic.
"You've really found something good! Will you fall into a dark abyss or be engulfed in raging fury...? I can't wait to find out!"
The purple-haired Magecraft exuded a dark, misty Od that enveloped the girl like a swarm of flies.
The girl looked up at the True Red Moon above her head, feeling a tremor in some part of her consciousness. In the ominous black light between illusion and reality, countless geometric shapes overlapped, as if she had accidentally wandered into Mirror Hell with countless mirrors, a continuous Illusory Space.
The Magecraft's illusions were the epitome of pranks, consisting of nothing but nonsensical performances. However, the girl also understood that they were carefully calculated acts intended to provoke or entice her.
The girl didn't know the specifics of Pope Novia's deeds; in fact, there was very little information available within the Church. But simply by observing Kouhaku, who entrusted the Holy Scripture to her, she could appreciate how noble, righteous, and charitable Novia was.
Despite the more than two hundred years that had passed, simply hearing the words of many Saints and Kouhaku recount his past adoration was enough to plant the impression of a "Divinity person" in the young girl's heart.
To put it simply, the illusion's content could be said to be degrading its 'sanctity,' but it didn't accuse Novia of being a cruel killer, nor did it portray her as a despicable villain. The man in the illusion was indeed a noble being most of the time, the girl understood.
But the final scene was that the noble ones were defeated by the power of the Lord—this was the 'reality'.
Their actions are not always noble; some stem from their own perspectives and run counter to the God of the Church, making them heinous sinners.
"Oh dear, oh dear, you're actually crying~ That's true~"
"Francesca."
The Magecraft, who had thought he had succeeded, couldn't help but observe her more closely. He saw that the girl still had a gentle appearance, but he couldn't tell if it was just his imagination, but he felt that her eyes seemed to be bright and piercing.
The Magecraft almost thought the girl was crying tears of despair because of the shock, but actually the opposite was true.
The girl maintained her pose, offering the Church's highest salute to the end of this illusory world, and conveying words directly from her soul.
"I see, thank you for telling me... this little-known truth..."
When everyone noticed the emotions contained within those words and slowly welling up, Francesca was observing all of this, felt puzzled.
That feeling was—overwhelming joy.
If I thought the bright eyes were from tears, then they must have been from extreme gratitude and joy.
"... What are you saying..."
In that instant, the Humanoid Fool that had been hiding in the world for many years, and which had been imitating and incorporating its own concepts into what it had learned since witnessing that miracle on the Island of Britain in the First Century AD, was a mixture of Ate's human form and Beelzebub's form, and once again felt fear after many years.
Seeing Francesca's somewhat anxious expression, the girl smiled and said:
"Life, in essence, is something dirty, smelly, and terrifying. But once people have experienced a good life, they never want to return to poverty. Life is the same. Once it has been clean and tidy, it never wants to revert to its primitive, chaotic state."
"... What?"
Why are you suddenly bringing this up?
Francesca wanted to say more, but noticed a strange change in the girl before her and stopped talking.
I often think that no matter how glorious, it will inevitably fade away one day. No matter how deep the longing, it will inevitably be forgotten one day. If nothing in this world is absolute, and everything must come to an end, then what is the meaning of living here now?
The traces left are faint, Duryodhana the erosion of time. Eventually, the Stars will fall, leaving behind only fear and uncertainty for all living beings.
What on earth is this guy talking about?
But Francesca had a feeling that something sealed within the heart of the Church's Saint was speaking to her.
"Now, I have finally discovered that eternal thing."
The girl, completely mesmerized, placed her hands on her chest and bowed deeply to the Magecraft had cast the illusion on her.
If the girl's excitement were to falter even slightly, she might shed tears of joy.
Francesca was still unclear about what she had liberated.
That Savior had originally separated himself from humanity and hoped to bear all suffering, understood that humans are all immature beasts, bubbles that devour Desire, indulge in Desire, and melt in Desire, merely bound by covenants... There is something like himself, in the same position, continuing to this day.
In other words, in the girl's current mindset, all the humans she has encountered since birth are incomplete, and only the one from the source is.
At the same time, the Holy Scripture on the girl's body was shining.
"Ugh, how awful--"
The girl stroked the Holy Scripture with a tone as if she were speaking to a nursing Baby.
"Ah, how despicable! Countless lives that should have ended two hundred years ago, all of them, are now just fragments."
"If that's the case, then who can refuse that immense love, that eternal love?"
The demon murmured sensually, as if indulging in a blissful ecstasy, holding the Holy Scripture as if cradling a nursing Baby.
"You--"
In the next instant, the Magecraft simply lost consciousness.
"I will continue the great work you were unable to complete, and until that day comes, I will forever play the music of blessing for you."
Subsequently, the Savior recognized by the Planet, Mabul Kihara, refused the Holy Sword that should have been hers. Using the Holy Scripture Humanoid Ate the Ate, she defeated the Grand Sorcerer and the Moon King in the Millennium Castle through the power of Covenant of Good and Faith, and seized their weapons.
Then, time passed, and a hundred years later...
After the Battle of Châlons, the Western Rome was gripped by panic upon learning of its crushing defeat, even within the main Church of Rome... This was how it should have been.
The Eternal City was teeming with inhabitants from all corners of the land, those fearing death praying for the Lord's salvation. Yet, seemingly overnight, an eerie silence and an overwhelming 'Black Tide' descended upon the entire city.
Accompanied by a surging, dark wind, it slowly spread from the center of Rome, enveloping everything around it.
All life has ceased to respond; bodies remain but cannot react, leaving only the city, ruled by silence, to endure.
"How perfectly timed! The Church, having indulged its Desire to this day, has finally met its demise."
Behind Mabul Kihara, who sat in the center of the Papal Palace, the space there distorted and deformed.
The emotionless roar filled the space around the Papal Palace, as if it were a living entity in itself.
"Beelzebub's Divine Power is almost exhausted, and then there's the alien... Heretical God?"
Kihara smiled gently, "You are somewhat different from the Deity of the Age of Gods."
The gods of the Age of Gods are Deity that arose from the existence of deities.
The Alien God that Kihara spoke of came first from mythology, and then from godhood...
To be precise, in some unknown galaxy, there exists a group of beings that conform to the image of gods in a myth that has not yet been born.
"However, in that case, it does align with part of the Revelation, doesn't it?"
The Savior sat there quietly and spoke words full of emotion, as if they were a declaration of love.
"I will exterminate every single species on this Planet that is defined as 'human.'"
"After all, there are only two people in the world."
161: The Protection, whose End Times is the burning of all things (3k5)
As countless people fell silently like straws in the Western Rome, the Huns, like legendary Wild Hunt, swept across the empire, bringing terrifying bloodshed to the land.
After crossing Orléans and capturing the capital Milan, the Western Roman Empire was utterly defeated, its vast territory being torn apart by the Huns' frenzied attacks.
At this moment, outside Rome, the city known as the Eternal City, dark clouds like an iron curtain obscured the midday sun, shrouding the vast world in their gloom. As the earth groaned under the iron cavalry, bolts of Thunderbolt swept across the clouds, striking down with soul-shaking thunder.
Each flash of lightning illuminated the deepest outline of the clouds, and a chilling Gale blew from the ends of the earth.
But in the almost frozen air, silence suddenly descended, with only the sound of the wind echoing through the desolate landscape ahead.
"How could Rome be deserted?"
Could it be that they ran away?
"But I just heard a few days ago that Rome was packed with people..."
Avia remained silent, oblivious to the surrounding noise.
But he wasn't contemplating the appearance of Rome, which he hadn't seen in years; instead, he suddenly fell into a daze.
It seems like I've seen a similar environment somewhere before, a scene I should be used to, but I didn't realize it at all. This feeling is very strange... It's like something familiar to me has been used on me by someone else.
"Please be quiet."
Avia suddenly spoke.
He drew everyone's attention, yet didn't look back at anyone, his eyes casually fixed on some point in the Rome, as he continued:
"I'll go in and take a look."
Upon entering Rome, although hundreds of years had Future, certain memories still naturally surfaced in the silver-haired youth's mind.
For example, the story of being arrested by the Rome Polytheism nobles when he first arrived, the story of his Triumphal Ceremony return after the massacre of the Judea Province, and the story of bidding farewell to his fellow believers when he convened the Ecumenical Council three hundred years in advance. Yet, Rome, which should have remained prosperous and flourishing, is now only a desolate tranquility.
The moment he entered Rome, Avia knew the Answer to why Rome was the way it was.
"So, it's an illusion?"