Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 413

The Imperial army was coming. They filled the horizon and moved forward, a dark wave of soldiers and dust. But Harman didn’t feel tense. This wasn’t his home to defend. If danger came, he could just go back to Noviens.

Instead of watching the army, Harman was lost in his thoughts, replaying his meeting with the ‘target’ from days ago.

“The rumors are true,” he thought. This young man, who had defeated the Sword Spirit, was indeed a genius.

Judging by their auras, they seemed evenly matched. But if he used the power of Licentia, a holy object from one of the nine gods, his victory would be certain.

However, the opponent’s attitude was a bit unsettling.

“He didn’t seem as thrilled as I expected.”

Even Harman thought the temple’s decision to send him to this war was a bit much.

He would have refused if it hadn’t been a divine order.

Yet, McLaine should have welcomed him. So why the indifferent look?

“No, it almost seemed like he was wary…”

It was strange to think their problem was just because they both beat the Sword Spirit.

Besides…

– Zibric Cassel. In ancient times, he called himself the servant of God under the name of the Magic Saint and ruled humanity. And in the end, he rebelled against God and was defeated, a great demon.

– And Logan McLaine has been marked as the descendant of that Zibric Cassel, the one who will inherit his soul. Therefore, he must be killed.

According to the divine decree given to the Pope, Logan McLaine was an enemy, just like those magicians who had brainwashed the previous Pope.

The divine decree was the command and truth of the gods on earth.

“Surely there should be some trace.”

But when he actually met Logan McLaine, he had a bright aura, like the sun, fitting the nickname ‘Sun of McLaine.’

A radiant, burning force that seemed to allow no impurity.

No matter how he looked at it, he didn’t seem like a descendant of a great demon or someone consumed by demonic energy.

“Or… is that great demon so powerful that he can turn even someone with that much force into a devil?”

It was just a thought born of frustration.

But…

– That thought is correct.

A confirming voice echoed from deep within him.

At that moment, Harman fell to his knees. He had served God his entire life, his faith the bedrock of his being.

He could feel the knights and soldiers staring, but he didn’t care. It was the voice of God he had heard after so long.

“Oh, my Lord.”

Harman’s hand, holding the holy object Licentia around his neck, trembled slightly. Licentia was from Aria, the god of sky and freedom.

Since receiving the sacred object, he had only heard God’s voice nine times. But this was the clearest it had ever been.

As a servant of God, he was deeply moved by the sacred waves that resonated with his soul.

Before he lost the voice again, Harman prayed sincerely.

“Your servant humbly asks. Grant me the truth.”

Kneeling, he raised his left hand straight and made a circle with his right hand, forming a sacred sign.

A subtle divine power, invisible to most, began to shine around him.

Then, surprisingly, the voice of God was heard again.

– Zibric can taint even the soul of a divine being with his color.

– Therefore, my servant, my sword. Before that time comes, cut down the incarnation of that fiend.

The voice spread from the depths of his soul, marking his spirit.

Then Harman realized that God had made him a conduit to the earth.

He felt his soul, the very foundation of his being, being stained with God’s color.

It was an ecstasy like religious rapture for priests who served God.

…Or so it should have been.

“Umm.”

For some reason, Harman groaned unpleasantly without realizing it.

Before being a priest, he was an Aura Master, close to controlling the soul. He instinctively rejected his soul being stained against his will.

That feeling was conveyed to God.

– How dare you!!!

God’s furious voice echoed in his soul.

His faith, ingrained over many years, suppressed Harman’s rejection and made him bow his head.

‘I am sorry, my God. I have dared to harbor impious thoughts.’

As he recited the scriptures with his eyes closed, he felt God’s voice gradually subside.

– Humans are foolish and prone to mistakes. By the grace of God, I forgive you.

‘Thank you, my God.’

– Remember the mission!

Ooooong.

He felt the sacred waves exploding and staining his soul, accompanied by a stern rebuke.

At the same time, the voice disappeared, and God’s presence faded rapidly. It felt like a powerful magician resting.

‘What impious thoughts have I had again?’

Even as Harman thought that, he unknowingly cut off the divine wave.

It was a defense that occurred instinctively before his soul was too submerged, possible because he had gained some control over his soul.

And at that moment, he realized.

“Huh……! ?”

That it had protected ‘himself.’ He felt a part of himself that was still untouched by God’s power, a core part that remained his own. This part had pushed back the divine wave.

“God…… How? What, what on earth is going on……?”

The beliefs of Harman Killerbrew, who had devoted his life to the world, ideologies, and organizations, were shaken.

Confusion crashed over Harman, like a wave pulling him under.

He couldn’t hear the shouts of the Imperial army rushing in, nor the roar of the battlefield.

Harman stood there blankly for a long time.

So much so that the red eyes watching him were slightly distorted.

* * *

– If I don’t remember the past, I won’t be me anymore, so consider me an enemy then.

What Ilia had told Victor was hard to understand.

The idea of not being himself was too abstract. If the speaker wasn’t the Saintess, he would have thought it was a joke.

But after hearing from Phillip that the Saintess didn’t remember the past, he couldn’t ignore it.

– I am afraid that the blade of the Holy Sword will turn against His Majesty.

The words of becoming an enemy.

If that was true, Phillip’s concerns were valid.

But if that didn’t happen, the Holy Sword was just McLaine’s reinforcements. It was also reinforcements that could cause a second conflict between the Holy Kingdom and the Empire.

In fact, the current situation was ‘The Pope and Saintess from McLaine secretly supported the strongest sword of the Holy Kingdom.’ Nothing more.

‘It’s just a great thing for us right now.’

Compared to its importance, the story that the Saintess did not remember the past was something that could be ignored.

But…

– And if that happens, the Saintess will…… Hup, I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I can’t tell you that. But please believe me.

Victor’s sad face, unable to say the Saintess’s ‘last’ request and just asking him to believe him, bothered him.

If he seriously considered that story, he should consider the Holy Sword as an enemy.

And if he assumed that, there was one more piece that could fit.

– Suppress the black serpent that goes against the will of God, and exterminate the descendants of the Magic Saint!

The Saintess ordered the subjugation of the Cassel Magic Tower, saying a divine decree had been given.

The temple said it was using the divine decree to mobilize all its forces to create an organization to chase the black serpent.

Honestly, it had nothing to do with McLaine right now, but considering the tricks the Cassel Magic Tower had played in the West, it was worth the gods’ involvement.

Because the scale of the war would increase greatly.

‘In that situation, what if I, the blood of McLaine, knew that the Saintess was a descendant of Zibric Cassel? No, if that divine decree was to convey the will of the gods, what if the gods had told her?’

It was an unreasonable idea that added assumptions to assumptions.

In the first place, the McLaine family only inherited the blood of Zibric and did not even know of the existence of the Cassel Magic Tower. He would never have known if he hadn’t come into contact with the soul of the Magic Saint through the fake Holy Sword Vanitas.

‘……Don’t the Nine Gods know that?’

Even after learning through the soul of Zibric that the Nine Gods were not as absolute as they were said to be in the scriptures, he still thought that God was God.

But if he changed that thought a little, he concluded that ‘The gods have decided to exterminate the blood of Zibric Cassel without leaving a single one behind.’

Suddenly, after thousands of years.

He knew it was unreasonable without even thinking about the justification, but if he thought that way, he could explain why Ilia was hostile to McLaine.

‘Not remembering the past may be Ilia trying to cut off the past. It may be the last signal she is sending to me.’

Suddenly, he thought of the ‘Apostle’ he had seen in the Sword God Records, but he quickly erased it from his mind.

The apostles, who often appeared in the legends of the Holy Kingdom, were only saints who devoted their lives to performing miracles and spreading God’s will. Even the apostle who descended during the days of persecution by the Empire did not start a war.

And even that was a story more than 400 years old.

– The power of wishes and the power of fate will only weaken over time, so the influence of the gods will also decrease.

The words in the Sword God Records stopped that absurd imagination.

Tsk.

‘I’m so imaginative.’

Logan thought the possibility of this being real was extremely small. No matter how many times he thought about it, the current situation was not deviating from ‘The Pope and Saintess from McLaine secretly supported the strongest sword of the Holy Kingdom.’

Still, just in case, Logan demanded an unreasonable operation from Harman. He entrusted him with the start of the most important ‘operation’ in this battle.

If he was an enemy, he would have known from the beginning.

Fortunately, Harman readily accepted.

He felt relieved, but he was still watching him with unease.

Just before the battle began, he saw an enormous energy erupting from the castle walls. It was easy to guess that the white energy, which felt intense, was divine power.

It was good until then. He accepted the explosion of divine power as a signal for Harman to start the ‘operation.’

However, Harman did not move.

‘What are you doing?’

Again, Quarel’s rain poured down, and Liberatio roared.

Even when the Imperial knights began to set foot on the castle walls again, Harman was just standing there blankly.

And now was no longer the time to pay attention to that side.

Clang. The sound of steel on steel echoed from the walls. The battle had truly begun, and Harman was still lost in his thoughts.