TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
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At the outer border between the empire and Beast Sea, Claire softly murmured while gazing at a temple hidden in a basin atop a mountain:
"It's been a while."
Light, nature, sea - countless attributes and concepts existed in the world, each with corresponding deities. Among these were gods of fate, and this temple before her was the world's only shrine to such gods.
"I'll go in alone from here," she told her companions before walking toward the temple.
The reason Claire stopped here before heading to the Beast Sea was one unsolved question.
Due to connections from before regression, Claire had the right to ask one question of any kind at the Temple of Fate, and she intended to use that right now.
"Welcome, hero," a woman completely covered in white robes except for her mouth greeted Claire immediately upon entering the temple.
This was the priestess serving the gods of fate.
Though the temple's atmosphere felt strange with no presence felt besides the priestess, Claire approached her with a familiar expression, knowing there was always only one priestess serving the fate gods.
'The previous priestess was Iowa Teutica, the Seventh Heaven.'
If that retired priestess who had lost her divine connection was called the 'Sage Who Reads Fate', this current active priestess's abilities must surpass even that.
She would surely provide the answer Claire sought.
"What have you come to ask?" the priestess precisely identified her purpose, living up to Claire's expectations.
"Zion Agnes," a single name flowed from Claire's lips.
"I want to know his true identity."
She recalled her conversation with Zion at the border.
'He confirmed it was the Eternal Emperor's power.'
Yet claimed he'd never met the Eternal Emperor.
'Then that would mean he somehow found and mastered the Eternal Emperor's hidden power in the imperial palace by chance...'
It made no sense.
Someone who had lived nearly 20 years without any talent couldn't become that powerful in just over a year.
The possibility he had been hiding his power all along was also impossible.
'If so, he wouldn't have died so easily before regression...'
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became.
Then-
"Zion Agnes did not lie. Everything was plain truth," the priestess spoke quietly after listening to Claire.
"Furthermore, the answer you seek has already emerged. You simply missed it by dismissing it as impossible."
"What do you-"
Before Claire could finish, the priestess continued with another question:
"Do you remember what was written about the Eternal Emperor in the hidden history before regression?"
"Yes."
"Then you must also remember the records about his power."
"I do, but what does that have to do with-!"
Claire stopped mid-sentence.
Her pupils began trembling madly as she recalled one passage from those records.
"From past to present, the Eternal Emperor's power has never been passed to anyone," the priestess spoke slowly, as if reading Claire's thoughts.
"No, it was power that could never be passed on to begin with."
"No... it can't be..."
"The gods of this world judged," the priestess continued in an emotionless voice toward the hero who spoke in disbelief:
"Hero Claire Frosimar. That making you regress alone was not enough to save this world. The fate of destruction piled upon the world and the enemies following that fate were far too powerful." �
Unlike her voice, strange light filled the priestess's eyes.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
"So the gods made one more contingency. They would bring into this world an overwhelming being with power to not just breakthrough but utterly shatter any situation or hardship - in other words, an irregular existence."
Irregular, or outside the norm.
Throughout this world's past, present and future, only one being had ever been called such by even the gods.
"With a regressor already present, what reason is there that another being cannot appear?" the priestess asked with an odd smile toward the frozen hero.
An unusual sight unfolded in the streets of Elbrium, the Fairy Forest capital.
Two direct imperial family members known for their poor relationship - Zion and Diana - walked side by side.
Both wore robes pulled low to hide their identities.
"Haah..." Diana sighed while watching Zion's back as he walked ahead of her.
'Where are we even going?'
"How could so many monsters be under Elbrium's center...!"
And in the center of these monsters stood a massive tree.
Though its form resembled the World Tree, it gave off an incredibly grotesque impression, wrapped in throbbing dark red veins.
The moment Diana saw that tree, she knew it was the root cause of everything happening in the Fairy Forest.
Clear Spirit King-level spirit power radiated from that tree - power they hadn't felt even once in 40 years.
"Ah..."
As Diana struggled to process these shocking revelations coming like waves-
"Kyahahahaha!"
Liushina beside Zion burst into mad laughter and leaped forward first.
SCREECH!
With a sound like nails on a chalkboard, chilling bloody energy erupted from her entire body!
"How did you find this place...!"
As if they never dreamed it would be discovered-
"S-stop them! Don't let them near the Demon Tree!"
The demons, looking as shocked as Diana, finally came to their senses and began responding to the witch's attack.
But-
CRUNCH!
They alone couldn't stop Liushina, who had already moved beyond a thousand killings toward the end.
"KYAAAH!"
The monsters began falling back under the secondary assault of blood spray everywhere and the Evil Hands emerging from it.
Additionally, Diana's attendants began joining the battle one by one as they recovered from their shock, making the tide turn even faster.
"...What is this place?" Diana asked Zion beside her in a trembling voice, having regained her composure watching this scene.
"You're asking even though you already know? Want confirmation?"
After answering her, Zion swept his gaze over the rapidly clearing battlefield before turning toward the ominously throbbing black tree in the center of the cavern.
'About time for it to emerge.'
In the chronicle, the hero's party who first discovered this tree, the Demon Tree, had fled the underground cavern without destroying it.
The reason the hero's party then, who weren't inferior in strength since it was mid-to-late in the story, failed to eliminate the Demon Tree in one attempt wasn't because of the monsters guarding the cavern.
'That Demon Tree.'
It was because of the tree's own defense system.
As if Zion's thoughts were a signal-
KYAAAAAAH!
The Demon Tree in the cavern's center let out a terrible sound like a human scream.
The throbbing veins covering its trunk split open, letting dark liquid mixed with demonic energy and corrupted spirit power pour down.
Then-
RUMBLE!
A massive blood dragon slowly rose from the Demon Tree's blood that had dyed the ground red.
The fairies involuntarily stopped fighting and turned with horrified expressions toward the dragon as unimaginable power burst forth from it.
"We need to get out of here right now!" Diana urgently shouted to Zion with the same expression as the other fairies.
"That being is beyond our ability to handle!"
Of course, she knew.
She knew how powerful their current forces were.
Yet she had reason to say this.
The spirit power radiating from that blood dragon.
Its level was clearly above royal class.
"It's Spirit King level!"
Royal class spirits - Spirit Kings - literally embodied nature itself.
Therefore, beings who weren't also royal class or who were mortal couldn't harm them regardless of their power.
"So hurry...!"
"No, no need for that," Zion shook his head.
"We have something similar on our side."
As a curve appeared on Zion's lips-
SWOOSH!
A chilly wind that could only be felt in the north began blowing across Diana's face as it filled with confusion.