Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 388

Chapter 388

“If it had only been against the gods, my angels wouldn’t have all died like that. The gods who participated in the Great War were all pretty much the same. It was you and your runes that unilaterally changed the flow.”

“Th-that’s… that was war… and as the guardian of the Divine Realm, I had a duty to resolve the Celestial Demon War…”

“I know. That’s why I let it slide. But a debt is a debt. Isn’t that why you ran away from me for a while?”

“……”

The surging momentum cooled down in an instant. Whenever the Demon God mentioned that incident, Luseph was always speechless. It was the demons who started the war, but in fact, it was the gods who provoked them first. One of the gods, passing by the Demon King who had come to meet the Demon God, mocked them as abandoned beings. Having been expelled from the Divine Realm, their original home, and driven into a new world, it was enough to ignite the already sensitive and usually hot-blooded race.

Even knowing all this, Luseph had no choice but to be cruel to the demons. As the guardian of the Divine Realm, the demons were merely invaders. It must have been an unpleasant time for the Demon God, who was both a being belonging to the Divine Realm and the creator of the demons. The Demon God chose to stand by. His non-participation in the Great War was a condition for the continued existence of the Demon Realm, as agreed upon with the Supreme Gods. As a result, the Demon God’s angels stepped in, and all but the first angel, Yuvia, were sacrificed. Since then, Kanos never brought angels from the Heavenly Palace again. Luseph, while softening his tone, still glared at Kanos with dissatisfaction.

“But it’s hard to say you let it slide. You already cursed the Rune lineage.”

“Did I?”

“What are you pretending not to know? Originally, Runes were supposed to be born generally across various lineages. If an existing Rune gave up or lost their qualification, that power would naturally pass to another who would become a Rune. But you fixed it to one lineage and made it so that if that lineage ended, no Rune could ever be born again! You even made it possible for the power of the Rune to pass to other races! That’s why the unicorns are so obsessed with the Rune bloodline that they even monitor it!”

“In return, I gave the Demon Realm just as many disadvantages. I completely brought reproduction under my control and began to limit the number of births. Besides, I think I gave you a way to solve that problem too, didn’t I?”

“A solution? When did you ever do something like that…”

Luseph, who had been blinking in confusion, frowned. Come to think of it, Kanos had added a word when he cast the curse back then. He said that if certain conditions were met, the curses on both races would be lifted. But the conditions were so absurd that he had erased them from his mind as soon as he heard them. No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t an achievable condition.

“…The Rune drinking the Demon God’s blood?”

“You know it well.”

“Are you even serious? That’s like telling me to make them drink your blood! Do you think you’ll just give it to them willingly? Are you telling me to attack you or something?”

“Oh my, are you going to attack me? I was going to give it to you if you just asked.”

“I don’t believe you! Ah, no, besides, that’s not the problem! Even if you give it, how are they supposed to drink it! The Demon God’s blood, which has a completely different compatibility, is poison to unicorns! How is that any different from telling them to die?”

“It’s not like there’s no way at all.”

“See! You’re just trying to tease me on purpose… Huh?”

Luseph, who had been shouting as if he had been waiting for it, blinked as he belatedly realized the meaning of the following words.

“You can just make the Rune a demon.”

“Is that even possible!”

“Yeah, it is.”

“What?”

“Our God of Justice may hate demons so much that he doesn’t care, but demons have a system called contracts. Anyone can share their energy with their contractor. So the contractor can also have properties and powers close to those of a demon.”

“…! So, that means, in other words…”

“All the Rune had to do was make a contract with a demon.”

“Ha.”

Luseph, drained of energy, groaned. The curse cast by the Demon God had been a source of anguish and worry for him for a long time. Unicorns are originally a species with low fertility. In the midst of this, with the lineage in which Runes are born fixed to one, the Rune bloodline, which had become only one or two in a generation, had to bear too much burden. It was so painful to watch. And that could have been solved so easily?

Kanos, who was watching his dumbfounded appearance with amusement, approached him and placed something in his hand. Startled, Luseph lowered his gaze and blinked at what was in his hand. Kanos had handed him a small glass bottle. Inside was a red liquid mixed with what looked like golden powder. Luseph instinctively knew it was the Demon God’s blood.

“This…”

“It’s my heart.”

“Crazy… Don’t joke around. For you to give this to me now means…”

“Did you catch on? Yeah, that’s right. Your Rune made a contract with my demon. And it’s with the next Demon King, who has a promising future.”

“…Huh?”

Kanos winked at Luseph, who was only able to gasp in disbelief.

“The past karma has finally come to an end.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! My Rune made a contract with a demon without my permission! Do you think I can accept a guy I’ve never even seen, no matter if he’s the next Demon King or not! Besides, Sibel hasn’t even communicated with me yet! I haven’t even paved the way, and if his nature changes, it will take me time to find him again!”

“That’s your problem.”

“No way! This is invalid! I’m against this contract!”

“You can’t reject the Demon God’s grace like that. If you don’t want the curse to be lifted, you don’t have to give the blood, right? But even so, the contract that has already been made won’t be terminated.”

“You @$$%E^;ㄱ;!”

Luseph, whose mind had stopped due to the shock, couldn’t even use proper language at the end. The more he tore at his hair in agony, the deeper the smile that bloomed on Kanos’s face became. Shannon, who had been watching the scene with a troubled face, suddenly hardened her expression and turned her head.

“Kanos.”

“Hmm? Ah.”

Kanos, who felt the same thing, nodded. The smile that had been spreading across his lips had already completely disappeared. A powerful force that encompassed the entire Divine Realm was felt. A force that was tragically sad, painfully determined, and contained an infinitely poignant flow beneath a very short comedy.

It was the energy of the Goddess of Fate, Radeka.

* * *

The space inside was generally dark. All that could be seen were shelves that stretched endlessly to the ceiling, which was impossible to estimate, and glass bottles that filled them without any gaps. Each of the various shapes and sizes of glass bottles contained a faint ball of light. It was also the only thing illuminating the inside.

In the middle of that bizarre space, a person stood quietly. It was a woman with long, jet-black hair. The woman, Perdes, who was staring intently at the shelves, was very beautiful despite her dry, expressionless face. Her features were as elegant as a sculpture, her figure was fragile as if it would break, her purple eyes exuded a mysterious aura, and her skin was excessively white, as if moonlight had permeated it.

“Perdes-nim.”

At the sound of someone calling her, the woman—Perdes—took her eyes off the glass bottles and turned her head. A black-haired man was coming inside. It was Arehis, the god of the dead and rest.

“I apologize for being late. I kept you waiting.”

“It’s alright. I have one question to ask. Are all those in the glass bottles souls?”

“Yes, that’s right. It is a space to regenerate souls that have lost their energy for some reason and are unable to reincarnate. Souls that have had their power taken away by evil gods are also stored here.”

“I see.”

Perdes looked around again. The lights in the glass bottles were all so weak that they seemed to be on the verge of going out. Then Arehis handed her what he was holding.

“Here, this is the ledger you requested.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I thought you would be looking for it anyway. Other high-ranking gods also look for one or two people after they first become gods.”

Even after receiving the ledger, Perdes did not open it immediately and just stared at it for a while. She gently stroked the red letters engraved like a brand on the cover with her fingertips. After wandering like that a few times, she soon opened the ledger. Letters filled each page. It was a detailed record of a soul. The soul’s first creation date and first life, the new name given at each reincarnation, and the record of that life. At the end of each life record, the result of the trial after death was also written.

The owner of the ledger started with a mundane life, but at some point, karma accumulated and he generally went down the path of corruption, and the trial results became increasingly poor. Around that point, Perdes found a familiar name she was looking for.

‘Ain Idris.’

Just uttering the name easily brought back past memories.

Perdes’s eyes wavered as she had the illusion that a soft voice was brushing against her ears. It was the voice that had struck her heart for the first time, and had caused countless ripples ever since. It was a memory that she couldn’t completely erase even if she tried, and it remained like an unsightly scar even now. She could have removed unnecessary memories as she became a god, but she deliberately didn’t. It wasn’t out of lingering feelings, but should she have erased it instead? Perdes sighed lightly. Arehis, who felt a shadow falling on her face, also wore an expression that roughly guessed the situation.

“I also looked at the ledger while searching for it, and that soul had quite a lot of karma. In particular, he accumulated a considerable amount of work in the life of Ain Idris. He was held in the Salt Prison for some time, and after his release, he is repeating similar reincarnations.”

“I see.”

“…I know that he was the contractor at the time of Minerva.”

Perdes did not bother to answer to the cautious remark. The incident in which Minerva almost went berserk in the past was also quite noted in the Underworld. For some reason, there were many records of ‘lost’ souls finding their place around that time. In the Underworld, it was thought that it was a phenomenon related to Minerva. In the end, they did not find any connection, but anyway, Arehis had unintentionally grasped the internal situation in relatively detail because it had been the subject of research for a while. Why Minerva was on the verge of going berserk. About the relationship between the human contractor and her at the time.

“Do you want to save him?”

“……”

“He is not a particularly evil soul, but the curse of the Spirit King is almost engraved on him. He will probably have to pay the price until he is annihilated. But Perdes-nim, who belongs to the Yama [Lord of Death], has the authority to arbitrarily handle souls, so you can save him if you wish.”

“No, it’s not.”

Perdes, who had been listening quietly, slowly shook her head.

“I didn’t look for him because I missed him or felt pity for him. I just suddenly thought of him. The words he said in the past.”

“Excuse me, what did he say?”

Again, a clear voice rang in her ears. It was what he used to mutter as if he was complaining when he felt that the communication was off at times.

During their time together, he told countless lies, but only that was true. As he said, she couldn’t understand him until the end. No, maybe everything was sincere, but she just didn’t recognize it. But now, it’s all meaningless worries. Instead of talking about those stories, Perdes turned the topic to something else.

“I don’t know what you’ll think if I say this. Arehis.”

“Yes, Perdes-nim.”

“I actually wanted to become human.”

At that moment, Arehis’s face stiffened. Perdes didn’t realize it, but those words were enough to trigger a light trauma for Arehis.

“I didn’t scam this time.”

“Yes?”

“From the time Perdes-nim came to the Underworld, I honestly told you that you had no other choice but to become a god.”

“Yes, of course I remember…?”

“Ah, is that so? I’m sorry. I just had a heavy memory come to mind.”

After clearing his throat, Arehis looked at Perdes with a strange face. Now that he had recovered from the confusion, he could finally see the situation in front of him. Could it be that she was also thinking of taking the path of the human world instead of becoming a god? Eluien was like that, but Perdes was also more suited to being a god than anyone else, so the decision was quite unexpected.

“May I ask why you wanted to become human? You should have watched their lives enough when you were the Spirit King.”

“Watching was not enough. I wanted to experience that life directly.”

“Human life has many restrictions, doesn’t it?”

“That’s exactly why. Because there are limitations, they are always fierce. That appearance looked beautiful.”

Arehis nodded silently. The life of the Spirit King is very gentle and calm. There was no change in daily life when you were in the Spirit Realm. There was nothing you couldn’t achieve if you set your mind to it, and there was almost no frustration or hitting a limit. For those who live in a static world, the lives of humans, who live busily while experiencing numerous changes in a short period of time, seemed attractive. Arehis sometimes felt similar feelings, so he knew what it felt like. The life of a god is also busy, but there was a fundamental difference from the human world, which belongs to the finite.

“I wish I could stand in their position and understand them. I also wanted to live as a completely different being than myself. So… when I heard that El was born and came from another place, I was a little envious.”

In fact, El had all the elements she usually admired. Human aspects and ways of thinking that cannot be seen in the Spirit King. His active involvement in the lives of others and his casual interaction with them were full of vitality and life. The fact that his game, although summoned to humans in the same way, showed a different aspect from the beginning was probably because of that. Even while playing the game, she couldn’t abandon the fact that she was the Spirit King. The same would be true of other Spirit Kings. But only El was different. He was really like a human. He was mixed in the real human society, not in the game, in the way they wanted.

“I was curious what that would feel like.”