CH 536

Merus came to Allen's side, bringing the First Angel Lupto with him.

(Seeing them like this really shows they're twins. Huh? Why is she glaring at me?)

After the Divine Compass Lottery, Angels or Sacred Beasts were waiting for Allen in all of the Temples, so he assumed that the Heavenly King had a way to contact them.

Maybe the King also had a way to contact the God of Creation Elmea, so he sent Merus to try contacting Lupto, who was also his twin sister, and Merus said it was possible.

Now Allen was seeing her for the first time, but she seemed to be thoroughly enraged, like she had been holding a grudge for many years and finally met the one who caused all that.

Lupto was glaring at Allen intently, though she did not seem to hate him either.

Seeing that, Merus just sighed.

'I know how you feel, Lupto, but let's focus on the matter at hand.'

'Right, bro- Merus. I know.'

Lupto managed to stop herself from acting more casually around Merus.

'What does the God of Creation Elmea's First Angel need here?'

The Great Spirit God, who was a Higher God, did not seem afraid of anything.

But he still addressed Lupto with respect, as she represented Elmea, who ruled over all Gods.

'Great Spirit God Easley, I've come to mediate this matter, under orders of the God of Creation Elmea.'

(Ugh just mediate? Not arbitrate? I guess Merus was right.)

Allen had received a task from the Great Spirit God, and decided to solve it by sending all spirits to the surface, though Allen's goal was not to actually care for the Spring of Life and stop it from drying up, but to make the Great Spirit God want to revoke the task he gave.

The solution the Great Spirit God was trying to force on them was to get rid of the Dark Elf Village, but Luck refused to do that, and Sophie knew it would lead to constant conflict.

With the threat of the Demon King looming on the horizon, they could not afford that.

So Allen found a valid solution that Great Spirit God would refuse to accept.

Then he asked Elmea for help arbitrating the matter, which was to act as a third party and reach a conclusive decision everyone had to adhere to.

Instead Lupto came as Elmea's representative, but only to mediate, which was to help both parties to reach a mutual agreement.

(It'd be so much easier if she just came to decide everything herself, now I actually have to reach an agreement with Easley. I don't know if that'll work, but let's hope it does…)

While Allen thought of that, the Great Spirit God was also realizing the current situation.

'...So you make a mess and then go cry to the God of Creation Elmea for help? Just how much do you intend to annoy the divine realm?'

"I'm really sorry. We're just desperate to save the Spirit Gods we venerate so much."

Allen made sure to act and look like the victim as he said that.

'That's enough! I'm largely aware of the issue here. Don't forget I'm here to mediate as the God of Creation Elmea's representative!!'

Allen and the Great Spirit God went silent hearing Lupto. She would make sure they did not speak whenever they felt like it, but only in a way that would solve the problem.

'Hmm…'

'Allen, you can voice your complaint first.'

Lupto gave Allen the right to speak first.

"Alright. So the Great Spirit God told me that the Spirit God Rosen had committed some sins, and he would forgive them if I solved the Spirit Paradise's problem…"

Still doing his best to act pitiful, Allen recounted the situation with select words that gave him the advantage, saying that he talked to many spirits to see what they wanted, and then decided to let them travel to the surface to alleviate the Spirit Paradise's problem.

He had records of everything, and made sure to stress it was a perfect solution.

Nothing he said was a lie, but his solution was still so ridiculous that even Lupto was baffled.

'Is everything Allen said true?'

'Yes, it's all true. But the solution he chose can't be permitted. I'm sure the God of Creation also knows what Rosen's sins are, so there's no way this mockery can be allowed…'

'Referring to this matter as a mockery could be construed as an insult to the God of Creation Elmea, so please refrain from using such wording. Though I have to agree that Allen's solution fundamentally misses the point of this problem.'

"B-but why! Can't you be lenient please!!"

Noticing the conversation was moving in the opposite direction of what he wanted, Allen threw himself on the ground and pleaded to Lupto.

Sophie and Luck turned pale, but decided to let Allen take care of everything.

'Allen, as I mentioned before, I'm only mediating. You have to discuss the proper way of solving this issue with him.'

'So you suggest a redo of his task? Or maybe handling a different problem instead.'

(Hey, I just saw you grinning. But good, at last the conditions have been revoked now.)

Allen felt like the Great Spirit God had just smiled.

"Wha-?! So I have to do all that work over again then?"

Suppressing a menacing grin, Allen pretended like the last 10 days had been spent doing arduous work.

'Yes. You'll have to find a new problem both of you can agree on, and you'll solve it properly this time. I'll mediate until you reach a conclusion.'

(Alright, now I have to make sure it's a problem where I have the advantage… I doubt he'll ask us to come up with the problem though. But I'm best with fetch quests.)

Allen had more than 100000 Intelligence, so he had already anticipated the various ways Lupto would help. There were hundreds of ways the conversation would go, but once she decided to just mediate and not arbitrate, that halved the possibilities.

'Oh, a new problem, huh. That's a bit hard to do in such short notice. How about this instead? I'll go back to my plan of eradicating the elves and dark elves, and you'll try to stop me.'

Sophie and Luck looked shocked hearing him say that.

"There's no way we could fight you, Great Spirit God! Th-that's too forceful!!"

'Don't worry, I wouldn't do something like that with my own hands. These two Spirit Beasts will fight instead.'

(So the Great Spirit God won't move himself after all.)

This was all going the way Merus had predicted.

"Huh?"

The Great Spirit God's horns began to glow, then the two restrained Spirit Gods were released.

Creak creak

'AaaaaaAAAaaahhhh!!'

'Graaaaaawrrrrrrr!!'

Rosen turned into a humanoid tree, with roots for legs and green branches on his upper body.

Fabre turned into a large slime with bumps for hands and head, which had emotionless eyes and a mouth.

"N-no! Spirit Gods!!"

"Hey, this isn't what we agreed upon! Why did you turn them into nameless beasts!!"

Sophie was horrorized, while Luck shouted at the Great Spirit God.

'Silence. The Spirit Gods are still within these Spirit Beasts, though it's only a matter of time before they're consumed.'

"So the Spirit Gods can still be saved? But they're both so powerful, wouldn't it be more fair to just fight one?"

'I won't concede about that. They represent the elves and dark elves of the surface. You need to defeat both if you want to save both races.'

Allen tried to negotiate, but was rejected right away. If he failed, the two Spirit Beasts would be unleashed to the surface to destroy all elves and dark elves.

(Well, at least this is something I accounted for. Though I wish it was something easier.)

"So we have to fight both no matter what… Does this mean you won't join the fight, nor any of the spirits under your service?"

'Of course. I know your friends are all scattered over the divine realm and can't help you, so I promise the Spirit Beasts won't have any help either. They're ready to fight right now, what's your decision?'

(So he's considered my situation as well.)

It would likely be a hard fight, but at least he knew there were only two opponents now.

Allen turned to look at Sophie and Luck.

"Well, this is how it ended. What do you say?"

(I anticipated something like this, and at least Cecile's team is still outside for now.)

"I don't mind this."

"We just have to defeat those two Spirit Beasts, right?"

Allen faced the Great Spirit God again, since Sophie and Luck were on board.

"Alright. I'll agree to this."

If Allen defeated the Spirit Beasts, the Spirit Gods' sins would be forgiven.

'It seems you've reached an agreement then. I won't intervene no matter how this ends.'

The First Angel Lupto said that and walked back until she was up against the cave's wall.

Meanwhile Merus walked up to Allen's side, as he was a summon.

Allen also summoned Graham.

'I see you're facing impressive foes now. It's a shame this battle won't be recorded in history.'

Graham had been watching everything through Sharing with Allen.

"Don't say that now. We can talk all we want about it after we win."

'That's fair. Do you think we can win?'

"It'll be really hard. I hope you'll work hard though, Graham."

(The Great Spirit God looks sure of his victory, and I can't Appraise them.)

He had been able to Appraise Rosen and Fabre before, but now the results were empty.

They were Spirit Gods, so it was fair to assume the Spirit Beasts were at least as powerful as Gods.

[Name] ?

[Age] ?

[Species] ?

(Alright, now this cave is quite wide.)

Allen entered battle mode and began analyzing the terrain. It was a cave that looked like half of a sphere, with a radius of 1 kilometer.

The two Spirit Beasts were 10 meters tall.

"Sophie and Luck, you stand behind us, we'll protect you."

The cave was large enough to fight in it, and Allen had to be careful about the Spirit Beasts trying to run behind him before he knew how fast they were. Allen was giving out orders in rapid succession, but the Spirit Beasts remained still in front of the Great Spirit God.

"Got it. We'll rescue Lord Rosen no matter what."

"Yeah, I'll use everything I have. I'll never forgive him for everything he did to Fabre!"

Sophie and Luck went back, while Allen, Merus, and Graham stood as the frontline.

Now that their preparations were done, Rosen and Fabre began walking forward.

Allen received all the buffs he could, then began looking for a window to attack.

"Merus, Graham, let's go!!"

They were all connected with Sharing, so their movements were smooth. Merus charged at Fabre who had turned into a slime, while Allen and Graham charged at Rosen.

'Grruhhhhhh!!'

Almost instantly after they charged, Fabre opened its mouth and shot large clumps of mud at Merus.

Before Allen could turn around to look at Merus, Rosen's arms spread like vines to attack Allen and Graham, moving so fast that both could not react in time and were restrained.

Sophie and Luck also could do nothing other than watch without being able to react.

'Foolish people. This is the punishment of those who sinned. This is the last day you'll ever see, elves and dark elves.'

The Great Spirit God seemed almost entertained that Allen actually thought he could defeat those Spirit Beasts, closing his eyes as he announced the end of elves and dark elves.