Chapter 341 – D-DAY
The man smiled at the woman’s words.
Instead of collapsing in despair at a world that had become ashes, he stood up with his remaining strength and said.
“I know. Even if my memories remain, my existence will eventually disappear. But even so…”
The man’s words continued and the woman had a bitter smile.
With tears in her eyes, she whispered very quietly.
“You will always be the same. That’s who you are.”
***
It was a bright morning.
As soon as their campsite was set up, the Jackdaws and the warriors of the wild lands who marched and fought last night went to sleep to recover their strength.
Jude and Cordelia were no different.
They had taken a break in the middle, but in retrospect, they had fought a series of battles since entering the Tomb of Solari.
The two had defeated huge armies twice in a day, and killed two top-ranking demonic humans, so it was reasonable for them to rest now.
“Sleep well.”
“Good night.”
The two lied beside each other on the bed provided by the elves and deeply fell asleep at the same time.
Several hours pa.s.sed.
It was a really peaceful time.
Kirara grumbled as she faced Red Wind, Lucas was sweating profusely at the complex gaze of Count Hræsvelgr, and Kajsa and Scarlet were exchanging fierce glances at each other several times, but overall, it was not that bad.
Elune was very exhausted, but her life was not in danger. The Red Gate suffered damage, but compared to the battle they had fought, it was not that significant.
But it was a few hours at most.
The brief serenity was shattered by the sudden news.
***
Princess Daphne and the empress dowager delivered the urgent news almost simultaneously.
The contents were short as long-distance communication could not contain a lot of content in the first place.
The chancellor’s army is trying to have the archangel Auriel descend.
The archangel Auriel is about to initiate the Great Summons herself.
The news was unbelievable.
Demon followers would try to have an angel descend?
But it was the clear truth, and there were people who understood the full story as soon as they heard the urgent news.
“Auriel.”
Having the most memories of his past lives among all the beings in Pleiades, Jude filled the missing information with his reasoning.
He quickly figured out what had happened.
“The archangels of Heaven…”
In the urgent news, there was no word about the ‘copy and paste’ method that Atalia had done.
But Jude was sure of it.
It was clear to him that the copy and paste method was at least the external cause.
“This is driving me nuts. Does this make sense? Are they telling us to just die?!”
Cordelia shouted.
It was natural for her to do so.
The ones that originally caused the destruction of Pleiades were h.e.l.l and Heaven.
h.e.l.l and Heaven took a different route than before in completely connecting the three worlds via the Great Summons.
When two overlords of h.e.l.l descended on Pleiades a long time ago, Heaven was not involved with it.
Likewise, the reason why the archangels like Solari descended on Pleiades was not to prevent the offensive of h.e.l.l. It was simply because they could not stand to see the beings of Pleiades suffering.
But everything changed after the Great Summons.
A blitzkrieg attack.
h.e.l.l tried to make Pleiades their forward operating base to conquer Heaven, and Heaven tried to stop the forces of h.e.l.l in Pleiades.
An all-out war between two worlds was set with Pleiades as the stage.
Pleiades was destroyed by Armageddon.
So Atalia tried to start over.
“It was only Raguel from the beginning.”
Having been given clues, memories gradually came to his mind.
In the great war that was repeated several times, the only one who truly cared and looked after the beings of Pleiades was the archangel of justice, Raguel.
The rest of the archangels only saw the beings of Pleiades as useful resources. Just as how the demons of h.e.l.l did.
Sometimes h.e.l.l won.
Sometimes Heaven won.
However, the fate of Pleiades was the same no matter which side won.
Destruction.
It became a world of ashes.
Upon hearing Jude’s words, Cordelia let out curses.
“F*ck no! Isn’t this our final chance now? Do they know how annoying it is to repeat a game several times?”
Cordelia definitely knew.
The situation was different from simply repeating a game.
It was a situation where beings from Heaven forced them to continue the original without asking for any permission.
“That b*tch! Auriel never cared about us! It’s only Raguel as you have said!”
On whether the beings of Pleiades died or not, or whether the world called Pleiades was destroyed or not!
Jude closed his eyes.
The situation was complicated.
In fact, even if Heaven did not intervene, Pleiades had no choice but to walk the path of destruction.
It was powerless to stop the forces of h.e.l.l.
In the end, their choice was to block Armageddon itself.
To prevent the Great Summons so that neither side could intervene.
It had been going well.
It seemed like they could stop the Great Summons this time.
But the tables were turned.
The archangel was trying to directly descend and cause the Great Summons herself.
“It’s not over yet.”
Jude spoke slowly.
Cordelia roughly exhaled in her frustration and looked at Jude.
“The Great Summons has yet to happen.”
They still had a chance.
The descent of an archangel-cla.s.s was not normal.
It would clearly consume more resources and time than installing a h.e.l.l Gate.
So they still had time.
It was too early to be in despair already.
“Let’s gather some more information first. We should also contact Master Landius.”
They had to pull themselves together and come up with countermeasures.
Cordelia nodded at Jude’s words.
Frankly, she was very angry and wanted to make something explode, but struggled to suppress it.
“Let’s share information.”
They had to hide the story about the copy and paste method.
But if the situation had gone this far, it was necessary to tell the truth to the key figures at least.
Cordelia nodded again this time.
After breathing in and out a few times, she spoke in a much calmer voice.
“I’ll bring my father.”
“Please.”
Jude lightly kissed Cordelia’s forehead and asked an elven knight to prepare seats.
From the perspective of the Red Gate, Jude was an outside figure – a foreigner, but none of the elves who witnessed his fierce battle against First Sword disobeyed his orders.
They diligently fulfilled Jude’s orders with respect and trust.
People gathered.
Count Bayer, Count Chase, and Count Hræsvelgr were present on behalf of the kingdom, and Red Gale and Violent Avalanche were present on behalf of the wild lands.
On the side of the elves, Elune and her aide took their place.
And a few people were specifically called by Jude.
Red Wind, Sun Song, Kirara, Lucas, Scarlet, and Kajsa.
“It’s a little… no, frankly, it’s a very unbelievable story.”
In a calm voice, Jude explained what he knew one by one.
Not everything, but not too little either.
History had been repeated several times so far.
Pleiades had never escaped destruction.
The Great Summons should be prevented.
Destruction was unavoidable once the Great Summons happened.
“If we stop Auriel from descending, we will be able to stop the Great Summons.”
Jude remembered the archangels.
Sariel and Raphaela were indifferent to the beings of Pleiades, but that did not mean that they would hold hands with the demons for their own purpose.
If they could stop Auriel and then eradicate the demon followers, they would be able to move forward to a future without a Great Summons this time.
“That is all.”
Jude’s explanation was over, but no one could easily open their mouths.
His words were so shocking and confusing.
But everyone could tell.
Jude was not lying.
All his words were true.
Heavy silence pa.s.sed for some time.
Count Bayer broke the silence with a calm voice.
“Then in the end, now is the best time.”
There was no tribulation in the continent that could cause the Great Summons.
The archangel was trying to descend and cause tribulation because the Great Summons could not take place at this rate.
Count Bayer’s words were correct.
They were clearly in a very big crisis, but this crisis itself was the proof.
Proof that they were in a better situation than the previous ones.
“Yes, father. It is as you have said.”
But right after Jude spoke.
There was a sudden commotion outside the conference room. An elven knight burst open the door and shouted.
“L-look outside!”
At the urgent cry, Lucas who was standing by the window pulled the curtains. He gasped without realizing it.
At the distant land where the imperial capital was.
Light fell from the sky.
It was a bright and red light, so despite being daytime and it being really far, it could be clearly seen.
They could undeniably agree that Archbishop Manuela and the demon followers had begun the ritual for the descent of Auriel in the imperial capital.
How much time did they have left?
They did not exactly know.
No one was sure.
One month? Two months? Maybe ten days?
“We have twenty-one days left.”
Jude and Cordelia quickly looked back at the voice they heard from behind.
They saw an expected face.
“Witch-nim.”
The witch of the west forest.
After being released by Asmodeus, she did not head to Atalia.
The young G.o.ddess had only just woken up.
She had no power to do anything about the current situation.
So the witch came to Jude and Cordelia.
To hold onto even a glimmer of hope, to help the two people of destiny.
“Auriel will come after 21 days.”
It was the result of the joint efforts of Heaven and h.e.l.l.
Perhaps a huge number of people were presently being sacrificed in the imperial capital.
Jude swallowed hard.
He was desperately thinking about what to do with their current situation.
The imperial capital.
The enemy forces surrounding the imperial capital.
The four major calamities that had not yet appeared.
But only 21 days were left.
His head ached.
His chest felt heavy.
And it was at that time.
“What we need to do is simple.”
Count Chase spoke.
With his usual snort, he said with a stern and serious expression.
“Gather our strength and crush the enemy.”
His words were really simple and straightforward.
But it was correct.
There was no other answer in the first place.
Count Bayer smiled.
He patted his friend on the shoulder several times and got up as he approached Jude.
“Jude, what we need to do is the same as before.”
In the past two years, Jude had grown a lot.
He used to be a guy who was only at the level of the count’s chest, but was now tall enough for the count to look up.
But Jude was still Jude.
He was the son of Count Bayer himself.
Jude looked at Count Bayer with a somewhat blank expression, and Count Bayer placed his hand on Jude’s shoulder. Jude remembered again the facts that he had forgotten due to the urgent situation.
“Now is the best time. Thanks to you and Cordelia, we were able to keep a lot of people alive.”
It was different from before.
The Sälen Kingdom did not fall.
Count Hræsvelgr who led the Jackdaws was now here.
Count Bayer himself was in good health along with Count Chase. They were not killed by the great demon.
Rather, he recovered his skills as a Sword Saint.
“The south did not fall. The Forest of Eternity did not become a land of death. The Sirens are with us instead of becoming Malekith’s subordinates.”
The wild lands was not destroyed.
Instead of dying from disease, Red Gale led the warriors and stood on this land now.
The wild G.o.ds including Violent Avalanche were also alive and well.
“The major calamities did not ravage Pleiades.”
Light Dragon Yalavaska could not even be born.
Jude and Cordelia repelled the crazy artificial ruler of spirits.
The same was true of Myriad Shapeshifter Jabberwock.
The fire giant Karte that would have otherwise devastated the northern part of the empire was no different.
“The northern imperial army is alive and well. The kingdom’s army in the south is also alive and well.”
Except for the traitors, the Ten Great Swordmasters also survived.
After First Sword’s betrayal, the traitors were mercilessly executed.
“And they are still alive.”
The five heroes of Paragon.
True heroes who proved that miracles could exist on this land.
“The fate of many has changed.”
Neither Lucas nor Cordelia became demonic humans.
Scarlet and Kajsa also stayed with Lucas without being corrupted or becoming demonic humans.
Red Wind and Kirara did not kill each other.
The knights of the kingdom, the warriors of the wild lands, the elves including Princess Leica, the Sirens, and many more people who should have died or become corrupted.
Jude was speechless.
Cordelia’s eyes turned red.
Count Bayer smiled.
He looked at the red pillar of light outside the window and confidently declared.
“It’s not us who are cornered. It’s the demon followers.”
To the point that they would give up all the methods they had used so far and go ahead with the descent of an archangel.
To that point because they had no other way.
He was correct.
Count Bayer was not wrong.
“You’ve done everything.”
They had changed the fate of so many people.
They had also cornered the demon followers.
Count Bayer’s eyes reddened.
He could not properly remember the events of his past lives, but there was something that touched his heart.
There were things he knew because he was a father.
“These are the fruits of your efforts and hard work, of having never given up despite experiencing destruction many times.”
Count Bayer smiled.
He said as he touched the cheek of his child who lost his lover, his family, and his friend yet fought and fought until he was full of wounds and scars.
“You really did well. You did a great job.”
Jude eventually burst into tears.
Cordelia cried without realizing it.
They were not wrong.
Their actions were not useless.
Rather, it was now time to be rewarded for their efforts.
Count Bayer was not wrong.
Count Chase snorted in agreement.
“Urgent news!
Another urgent news.
But what was contained this time was not despair.
It was another hope.
[Disciple, I’ll show you the way to the eighth door.]
A message from Landius.
Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and smiled at the same time.
They smiled in relief.