Chapter 224 – Face to Face

Chapter 224 – Face to Face

Haild doubted his own ears; he thought he was hearing wrong.

However, Juan’s voice was clear and his expression was firm. He no longer seemed to be out of his mind, this caused Haild to feel a cold chill run down his spine.

“Your Majesty, are you in your right mind?”

Haild asked without even realizing that he was being rude.

However, Juan only looked back at him in silence.

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t do that, Haild?”

“Your Majesty refused to regenerate Heretia’s amputated legs and my mother’s arm! But Your Majesty is going to bring Dame Sina back to life? What happened to Your Majesty’s will that we talked about earlier!?”

“My essence is still burning inside Sina’s body and it is constantly restoring her. All I have to do is bring back her soul into her body.”

“Do you mean to say that resurrection is easier than regeneration?”

Hearing Haild’s sarcastic remark, Juan shook his head.

“No. I’ll fix them too.”

Haild bit his lips tightly, while Juan continued to speak.

“I’ll make it so that Heretia can walk and run once again. I will also fix your left eye so you can see properly. I promise to bring Hela and Dilmond back to life as well. It will be difficult because all that is left of them are ashes, but I’m sure that I can do it. No... I promise to make it work no matter what.”

Haild was no longer perplexed. Instead, he was petrified with fear.

“That’s ridiculous... Your Majesty, such a thing is just...”

“Is it a matter of equality? Then I will revive all the soldiers who died due to this war. I will also bring back those who died before all this. I will bring back the families of all the orphans and bring back the children of all the grieving mothers in the world. No, I will completely get rid of life and death for humans, so that everyone is free of this shackle. I will pick out the good and the evil, and then separate those who should be rewarded and those who should be punished.”

Haild looked at Juan while gasping for air. It was difficult for Haild to even estimate the scale of Juan’s plan. Juan was talking about erasing the boundary between mortality and immortality so calmly—it was as if it was as easy as counting one two three.

‘Is such nonsense possible even if His Majesty gets his body back?’

Finally, Haild managed to open his mouth with difficulty.

“Are you trying to become a god?”

“Is that all that it takes?”

“I’m sorry?”

Juan quietly asked back upon seeing Haild’s confusion.

“If I become a god, then can I bring Sina back to life?”

Juan refused to be a god and was stabbed by his own child due to that.

Finally, after enduring countless sacrifices, he was able to get up and return to his rightful place once again.

But now, he was hesitating about whether or not he should become a god. He was giving up his entire philosophy and ideology that he had kept until now just because of one person.

Haild was having a hard time breathing after hearing Juan’s words, but at the same time, he was quite tempted at the same time—he wanted to see Juan becoming a god. If Juan became a god, Heretia may be able to regain her legs and it might be possible for his mother to be revived.

Not only would it be possible to regain the countless innocent lives that had been sacrificed, but those that deserve to be rewarded would be rewarded and those that deserve to be punished would be punished. There would be no more war, since no one would dare to stand up to Juan who had become a god.

Under an absolute being like the emperor, humanity will be blessed for ever and ever.

Haild felt that he couldn’t stand in the way of such a blessing. Regardless of the reason Juan was trying to become a god or Haild’s personal desires to bring back the loved ones, he couldn’t stop Juan—for the sake of humanity and for all the people that will come later.

‘How can I deprive humanity of an opportunity to escape from the pain of life and death, war, and the war between good and evil?’

Haild unknowingly stepped out from Juan’s way.

Juan walked past Haild, causing a cold sweat to run down Haild’s forehead. Juan’s drooping shoulders looked frighteningly huge in Haild’s eyes.

Only then did Haild think about the possibility of ‘Juan becoming a god.’ Juan had been continuously fighting against and rejecting such a possibility until now.

It was no wonder Juan had finally broken down now—he just had a small wish. After all, it could be said that resurrecting one person is trivial compared to the absolute blessing that all of humanity and its future descendants would receive.

Gold was used to cover the wrinkled area, and colorful jewelry was inserted into every hole created by dry skin. The hair that was once black like ink was now white in color.

Juan could not understand how such a body was regarded as the emperor until now.

Then, Juan tightly bit his lips and slowly reached his hand out. His fingertips were just about to touch the unhealed wound left behind by being pierced by Elkiehl.

“If you become a god, Your Majesty could do whatever you want!”

Haild suddenly shouted out from behind. Juan turned his head to face Haild.

“Being able to revive someone means that you will be able to decide who will live and who will die, and to be able to easily give eternal life would mean that you would also be able to easily take it back as well! All of that would simply depend on Your Majesty’s mood!”

“Do not talk to me like I’m some whimsical child, Haild.”

“I do not want Your Majesty to become a god!” Haild shouted in a desperate voice.

Haild’s body was trembling.

“The great are not those who wield power, but those who can endure even though they have great power. Your Majesty would be great if you remain as the emperor. Why do you want to undermine yourself and become a god?”

Juan quietly looked at Haild and looked down at Sina. After staying silent for a while, Juan slowly opened his mouth.

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about right now.”

“Yes, you’re right. I don’t know what I’m talking about and I don’t think I can handle this either. But...”

Haild tightly bit his lips and drew out Elkihel. The bandage wrapped around Elkiehl was cut off in an instant without even making a sound, revealing a black branch-like sword.

Seeing this, Juan’s face distorted.

Haild’s hands were trembling, but he firmly raised his sword at Juan.

“If I don’t stop Your Majesty from becoming a god, we will all live under Your Majesty’s standards forever.”

“And you are against that?”

“No, I am not. How can I be unhappy under Your Majesty’s reign?” Haild clutched Elkiehl and continued to speak. “But, but... I don’t know if our descendants will want that either. We can’t decide on the choices they will have to make in the future. Humans go through tremendous change in just ten years. Then what about a hundred, or a thousand years? Do you believe that they will be happy under the same values forever?”

Juan inhaled a deep breath as if to answer, but soon sighed. Then he answered in a quiet voice.

“You are right, Haild. I want to say I’m different, but many of the heroes who became rulers and gods have repeated the same history over and over. I promised myself not to fall into that cycle, but now that I look at myself, I don’t even know what I’m doing now.”

Haild’s face brightened up upon hearing Juan’s words.

However, Juan once again turned his head toward his old body.

“So, from now on, don’t call me the emperor. I am neither an emperor nor the god of humans. I’m nothing more than a selfish idiot.”

Then, Juan stuck his hand into the holy body.

As soon as Juan’s hand dug into the holy body’s chest, Haild jumped in with a loud scream. But when Haild took another step forward, he couldn’t take the next step; Juan just began to drift away in the distance.

The hall inside the huge Red Citadel began to open into a space even larger than infinity. The interior of this space turned white from the huge amount of light being emitted from the emperor’s body.

“Your Majesty!”

Haild shouted, but his voice couldn’t catch up to the speed of the space that was drifting away.

Even amidst all this chaos, Juan remained calm and dug deep inside the wound of his old body. Soon, Juan was able to find what he was looking for.

It was solid like a jewel, but it felt more like grabbing at light rather than a jewel due to the intense light coming from the body.

It was Mananen McLeir’s heart. Juan grabbed the heart which was still beating.

At that moment, something suddenly grabbed Juan by the wrist. Juan raised his head. The holy body was looking at Juan while holding Juan’s wrist with its dry hand. The holy body’s lips, which had been silent for decades, opened with a cracking sound.

The voice that came out of those lips seemed to come out of rotten vocal cords.

“Finally.”

When the heart within Juan’s hand emitted a light brighter than before, Juan could feel his vision growing distant.

The voice was rough and crude, but Juan could tell who the voice belonged to.

He could never forget the voice of Gerard Gain, his first son.