608. The Road To Paradise Is Paved With Good Intentions

608. The Road To Paradise Is Paved With Good Intentions

Suddenly, the Icon of Judgement was wrapped in a blinding light. All other sources of light were destroyed, plunging the world into utter darkness. It was an advanced form of Scrutiny that indiscriminately altered the world.

But there was more to it than that.

Marduk, upon reaching the final few kilometers of the Icon of Judgement, suddenly froze in midair as if telekinetically held in place. Every fiber of its being was scrutinized before the Icon of Judgement.

Frost couldn’t believe it. A Beholder could not even lift a finger under the immense power of a Paradise Lost Corrupted. To begin with, Apocalypse Corrupted was still not an easy feat for them.

But even so, Marduk was one of the stronger Beholders. The fact it could not struggle meant that it was under the complete domination of the Icon of Judgement.

There were no grand theatrics. No monologues or heroic feats.

It was over before Marduk could even believe it itself.

< DETERMINED EFFECT: Those who believe themselves to be of a higher order compared to the Icon of Judgement will be struck down. Those worshiped or wield a considerable following akin to a God will fall in the presence of the Icon of Judgement >

The Beholders were classified as Deities in this world. They were seen as false Gods by the Icon of Judgement, and as a result, were susceptible to an unceremonious death.

Marduk’s body condensed into a tiny, red pebble that bled like a fountain. It was wrung for all of its blood, reducing it to a dull, grey stone that shattered in the next moment. The death was so instantaneous and overwhelmingly one sided that Frost finally understood what made the Icon of Judgement so dangerous.

All life as she knew it on Elysia would have turned into Markers of a Price of Paradise.

Everything would have been lost.

The strongest would not have been able to stop its impending end.

Yet all it took was one child to stop it all.

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< [Serve Me, O’ Apostle!] >

Three more portals tore open. This time, they emerged from the sides. Dull-armored Apostles walked onto the road. Behind them stood the gates that led to the Garden of Paradise within the final layer of this city.

The red lines that used to be gold were no longer symmetrical. They were chaotic like bulging arteries, causing them to appear more human than the previous Apostles.

< “My Kingdom must persist. The brethren of mankind must continue to seek salvation from me and not from abhorrent forces beyond my walls.” >

< “O’ Hanok, thee will be my most finest warrior closest to I. Sin shall consume thee, but thou shall have a seat saved in Paradise.” >

The Eighth Apostle

< “Everything that lives bleeds in the same way we do. Rupture their vessels. We must prove that they are living.” >

AFFINITY : Judgement

LEVEL : 160 ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 500,000

ATT : 30,000 MAG ATT : 30,000ATT DEF : 6,000MAG DEF : 6,000

MP : 300

RESIST : 350AGI : 85

< “Abel. Live anew and be reborn. The light in which I hath giveth to Apostle Adam and Evelyn shall bring twelve miracles beyond the Gifts fallen from the Stars.” >

The Ninth Apostle

< “Murdered for the jealousy of my own brethren, I have learned that the blood we share is has always been water.” >

AFFINITY : Judgement

LEVEL : 160 ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 500,000

ATT : 30,000 MAG ATT : 30,000ATT DEF : 6,000MAG DEF : 6,000

MP : 300

RESIST : 350AGI : 85

< “My Architect of my Paradise. Abraham, thee shall build all that is touched by my light. Now and ever after. Build the barriers that gate my Kingdom from the dunes of sand, and the rock of ruined wasteland of the Expanse. The place where dreams are ever after, in the land of wanderers and vagrant beings from nowhere.” >

The Tenth Apostle

< “Dreams prevail in the land of wanderers outside the walls of humanity. One day we collectively called out to them. They visited us. Stars fell and left Gifts to sprawl in our cities. Their trash and their leftovers; the remains of a messy picnic were beheld by mankind. We believed them to be Gifts. How wrong we were.” >

AFFINITY : Judgement

LEVEL : 160 ORIGIN : Trauma

HP : 500,000

ATT : 30,000 MAG ATT : 30,000ATT DEF : 6,000MAG DEF : 6,000

MP : 300

RESIST : 350AGI : 85

< [Trumpet’s Call] >

<> [Promise of Paradise] <>

“I can see why the Arbiter kept it a secret.”

Frost slowly spoke, her voice nearly drowning by the calamitous battle that trailed behind.

“If Jury reincarnated as someone else, and I knew it, then I don’t think I’d call them Jury. They’d be a new person entirely, wouldn’t they? That’s if they didn’t keep their memories. I’d feel guilty for trying to shape that person into someone else.”

Predefinitions were the source of Frost’s woes. She wouldn’t wish it even on her worst enemy. Jury was another person who suffered similarly. She carried the burdens and sins of Elysia. At one point, Jury had to define herself as ‘Jury’ to prove that she could not be predefined by someone else’s past.

“If you’re in the Nexus... then please don’t tell the Arbiter about this. I want to confront her myself.” Frost pleaded.

< I shall >

< This is between the two of you >

< And it shall stay that way >

“Thank you. You sure you still don’t want to tell me your name?”

< It will be better if I tell you within the Nexus >

< But I can give you a name that a curious red-haired thing has given me afterwards >

“Deal.” Frost grinned.

The Apostles were less than half of their HP now.

The Eighth Apostle | HP: 200,000

The Ninth Apostle | HP: 189,000

The Tenth Apostle | HP: 190,000

Only two remained after this.

The Apostles bled through the cracks of their armor, gushing ceaselessly as they were beaten down one-sidedly by the spears Frost possessed. The trio eventually uttered their half-HP murmurs through the prompts before the red arteries ruptured, painting their pale bodies red in One Sin.

< The Eighth Apostle begins to question whether this is right >

< Everything bleeds the same after all >

< So what differentiates a sinner from a normal person if all of our blood is red? >

The armor shattered, revealing a hideous humanoid entity underneath. It was a skinless human, its muscles bleeding at every inch as it stared back with crimson eyes.

< The Ninth Apostle turns to the places elsewhere >

< The one who murdered it long ago roams the Expanse >

< But it cannot remember its name >

The wings that protruded from their backs were the only things that remained white. Not a sound left their lipless mouths, which bared rows of teeth that were between a human and something else entirely. Their abstract forms made it difficult to interpret what they were.

< The Tenth Apostle admires the walls >

< But it pities the ones that will never know true paradise >

< It begins with Paradise. To Limbo. To Hell >

The attack patterns didn’t change. Nothing changed. The spears deflected their attacks, and they relentlessly resumed their assault even though it was futile. Tears began to stream from their eyes, a soundless scream tearing through their opened maws.

“800. I’m nearly there. It’ll be over with just a bit more!” Frost shouted.