Chapter 256: One Imperfect Empire

Chapter 256: One Imperfect Empire

Before the battle of the two gods ended, a small miracle occurred in a corner of the Rasdasil Ruins.

The storm caused by the fight of the two gods flung a large stone, which spun and struck Del's shoulder. The pin of a grenade was pulled out, and it flew into the air.

Ramin Solost Muel, with her extraordinary skills, threw a dagger at the grenade. It fell beside Del and didn’t explode. The blade had cut the grenade's fuse.

"Incredible..."

Del, the Canine agent, was bewildered and attempted to stab Ramin, but Ramin acted first. She twisted Del's forearm and bent the blade toward Del's chest.

"Night Sky will win. Why not surrender?"

Del's eyes narrowed. "I always hated that certainty."

"...Always?"

"I was born in the Empire. So I know well about faith in Night Sky and the Pantheon."

Del was strong enough to push the blade away.

Ramin had predicted this, so while Del was focused on pushing the blade, Ramin quickly tripped Del off their feet. The moment Del’s back hit the ground, the blade slightly pierced Del's chest and then was pushed back, but couldn’t be pushed back further. Ramin was slowly driving the blade in with the weight of her body.

Ramin provoked Del to distract them. "I knew you were an apostate just by the color of your scales."n0vElB1n

"Apostate?" Del growled. "Both my parents were devout priests of Night Sky, stationed in a pioneering temple on a small island of the southern continent. The island still had savage indigenous tribes, and my parents volunteered to bring them to the Pantheon. But... huph!"

As the blade neared Del’s chest again, Del took a deep breath and pushed Ramin off with their last remaining strength.

"But the temple was attacked and burned. Until the last moment, they cried out to the gods of the Pantheon, but no one helped. Night Sky's help only exists in stories. Even when I was captured by those tribes and became a slave, until the armed merchant ships of the Union Kingdom came to the island, I suffered, and Night Sky never once helped me."

Ramin wanted to deny this because she had received countless help from Night Sky and the Pantheon. However, she realized that there could be people who hadn’t received such help. In fact, believing that the gods could look after everyone could be a deception itself.

Even the greatest gods couldn’t care for everyone. Gods were wondrous beings, but they couldn’t completely correct the world's injustices. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising or strange that there were some who slipped through the fingers of gods. It was a natural occurrence.

Del said, "My apostasy...is justified."

Ramin replied in a hoarse voice, "You’re right."

Despite agreeing, Ramin didn’t stop herself from pushing the dagger further into Del's chest. Del's words and actions were valid, but Ramin had to stop them. It was her duty.

"Unfortunate."

Ramin’s dagger penetrated Del's chest.

Del grimaced and clenched their teeth. As the blade reached Del’s heart, blood spurted from its sharp edge, and Del's body lost its strength after the second pulse of their heart. It had been a prolonged struggle to push the blade an inch in, yet it took not even the time of one breath for the rest of the blade to disappear into Del's chest. Then, the Light of Pasa enveloped the battlefield.

***

[...Afterward, the battle briefly known as the Rasdasil Battle was recorded as one of the most intense battles fought in the narrowest area in history.

Apostles from both the Empire and the Union Kingdom participated directly and indirectly, and according to records by the priests involved in the war, almost all gods of the Pantheon interfered in the battlefield simultaneously. Since most battles were known to involve gods only partially, this battle showed its importance to the gods beyond what was visible to mortals.

The battle that was seen was marvelous in itself. The largest battles known to each continent took place during the continental unification wars between the Empire and the Union Kingdom, but the Rasdasil Battle was the first witnessed fight between two Hierophanies, transcending to their essential forms, known as Incarnations. Even before the fight escalated to a clash of Incarnations, it had been a colossal battle where mountains rose, peaks crumbled, and stars moved, beyond the reach of even apostles. But this was just a part of a larger conflict.

The Angry One, who manifested as War, brought forth an army from the underworld, and displayed a wonder capable of conquering not just the small area of the Rasdasil Ruins, but entire continents. However, even such a wonder collapsed under the divine light brought about by Night Sky. Night Sky's light swept away not only war incarnate, but also all the apostles of the Angry One.

***

27 years after the conflict in Rasdasil, the number of players in the Pantheon was now 25. Sung-Woon had revived all the players that became vassals through Trial points and brought them into their fold.

There were several reasons for this. Firstly, even if these players opposed Sung-Woon and his allies, they couldn't oppose him effectively due to systemic restrictions as members of the Pantheon. Reviving them also meant exerting influence, ensuring social stability by subjugating those who still remembered the gods who became vassals to the Pantheon. And there was, of course, the even more important reason.

"You were just a college student?"

"Yes."

"You could think a bit more about it. Why do you think you came here?"

"I don't know, even if you say so..." In front of Sung-Woon, player Ovenwave trailed off.

Ovenwave was one of the players who had opposed Hegemonia until the end, but wasn't particularly skilled.

Ovenwave said, "If I had to guess a reason..."

"Go on."

"Perhaps it's because I like this game?"

Sung-Woon, who thought for a moment, waved his hand dismissively.

"Go now. We'll talk more later."

"Oh, okay."

As Ovenwave left, Eldar walked in, passing Ovenwave.

"Any progress today...?"

"None at all."

"That's troubling."

Sung-Woon shook his head.

"We have plenty of time."

Sung-Woon's reason for reviving the players was straightforward. He aimed to gather information from the players to understand why they had been brought into this game.

The process was not easy. Reviving players required trials, and to gather resources for these trials, undiscovered ancient ruins were needed. However, the number of ancient ruins was limited, and Sung-Woon had not yet managed to revive the three players who had fallen most recently.

Previously, such mysteries were less important tasks, but not anymore. The only nation yet to be subdued was The Black Order. In the original game of The Lost World, The Black Order would naturally have surrendered, but Sha-Cha, the evil god and ruler of The Black Order, stubbornly resisted from the deep sea.

'Sha-Cha, with just a bit more advancement in science and technology, we could capture you. But...'

Sung-Woon was concerned about something else. Excluding two evil gods and three ordinary players stored as vassal statues in his inventory, the total number of players in the Pantheon was 24. Adding Sha-Cha should then bring the total player count to 25. Yet the system screen Sung-Woon was looking at displayed a different number.

[Current number of players: 26.]

And at the end of the player list was a player ID he had never seen before.

[...

癤욧렇?5?