Chapter 259

Countless muzzles were aimed, and the trigger was pulled.

To the people of this land, it was a weapon of mass destruction beyond imagination, but not to Dale.

Amidst the hail of bullets, Dale raised his pitch-black shield.

Simultaneously, the Outsiders began to move.

It was swift. Movements surpassing even knights who had reached the realm of avatars. And upon seeing that form, I understood.

Unlike mages or knights who processed power through heart circles and aura hearts, these outsiders did not.

They freely fused with the mana in the air, without any separate processes involving nanomachines.

It was identical to the power once demonstrated by the hero and the goddess Sistina.

How did these beings even remember the form of firearms in the first place? How did they know that the mana in the air was nanomachines?

‘Surely not…’

After pondering that far, Dale asked again.

“Sistina, was it you?”

That day, I saw her hologram freeze before the universe’s winter. But it was only a hologram to begin with. Her true essence is already the electrons and light information enveloping this planet.

“…….”

Simultaneously, the Outsiders’ maneuvers halted completely.

─ I still bear the duty to restore the old world.

Before long, a blue hologram appeared there.

─ And to fulfill that duty, I created the ‘Ascended Soldiers’ to carry out my mission.

“Are you saying the goddess who loves humanity intends to wipe out all life on this planet? And yet you still call her the goddess of mercy and compassion?”

─ I still love humanity.

Sistina replied.

─ But the people I love are no longer on this planet.

“…….”

She still loved people. But she did not love humanity. For her mercy and kindness had never been directed toward those upon this earth.

“I remember when you were first born.”

Dale spoke. Recalling the landscape that remained vivid in his memory, even though the hero had abandoned him.

Mana surged through the area, absorbed into Dale’s Aura Heart. Simultaneously, an explosion of aura erupted, and from within it, Dale’s avatar materialized.

The hero from another world, clad in the armor of the Night Raven Knight.

“I also remember what you loved and how much you devoted yourself to us.”

─ This user is not registered in the database.

“Noah, I remember you.”

─ This user is not registered in the database.

The same reply came back.

Even if you cover your eyes and ears and turn your head away, you cannot escape the truth. The people you love, and the world you love, will never return.

─ That is not true. I remember the molecular structure of the people and world I love. And I can reconstruct it using this planet’s nanomachines.

Sistina replied. A divine way of thinking incomprehensible to humans. It was not something that could be measured by truth or falsehood.

Just as humans cannot understand God, God likewise cannot understand human thought.

And Dale was human. At least in Dale’s eyes, no matter how identical the molecular structure might be, no matter how perfectly the past world was restored, it could never be real.

That was the truth Dale faced as the Shadow Lord.

“…I can’t just leave it like that.”

Dale replied.

“Just as you love that world, I love this one.”

Dale turned his head. Beside him stood his sister, Rize, trembling in fear. And Sepia, who would willingly stand against anything for Rize and Dale, was there too.

In the Duchy of Saxony, there were his father and mother.

Dale is not a hero from another world. Even if he possesses his memories, they are nothing but a pile of debris.

Therefore, he swore to willingly defend this world against the fear of the apocalypse, against winter.

Even if it were the ghost of an old world he failed to protect, it made no difference.

─ As expected, you were an unregistered user in the database.

Cistina said it as if she had expected it, her voice carrying a bitter, wry smile for just an instant.

Once more, the outsiders moved, fusing with the surrounding mana.

Nanomachines fused with their bodies, granting them strength rivaling that of an Aura Knight. Beyond that, magic surpassing even that wielded by high-circle mages was unleashed.

Each one was an entity possessing unparalleled mastery in both sword and magic. The ascension enforcers who served the will of the goddess Sistina.

They were undeniably powerful.

Yet no matter how formidable they were, they could not simultaneously stand against the Shadow Lord.

The scattered darkness swallowed the outsiders.

Before long, Shub appeared behind Dale, extending its tentacles toward them.

Swoosh!

The whirling tentacles coiled around the Outsiders’ metal. No matter how swift or strong they were, they could not surpass the Shadow Lord and the ancient Mother of Darkness guarding him.

Simultaneously, the ‘Aura Blades’ coiled around their metallic bodies.

Imbued with an inherent, unparalleled sharpness, the Outsiders’ bodies began to glow.

It was not armor of thought, but an aura body where the entire physical form functioned as a sword.

“……!”

Going beyond mere knightly use of aura, the Outsiders simultaneously extended their arms. Magic was scattered.

A whirlwind of blue stratagems, crimson firepower, and white inspiration to seal the Shadow Lord… A baptism of magic wielded freely, unconstrained by color or ideology.

Each and every one was, quite literally, the strongest soldier imaginable.

Unless one was the Shadow Lord himself, it was impossible to even fathom how many could stand against them and guarantee victory.

They were not living beings. Deception or falsehood held no meaning. Even before the most overwhelming barrage of firepower, their metallic bodies did not burn.

At last, I could understand the root of their ideology.

Steel. The power that once emanated from the nanomachines covering this land.

And at its end, an apocalypse approached—one that would devour this world to restore the old one.

It was not an endless winter of the cosmos, nor fear of an uncertain end.

Grey Goo.

A scenario of doom where self-replicating nanomachines engulf the entire land, ultimately leading to the planet’s destruction.

─ Before creation lies destruction. To restore the world and the people I love, this is unavoidable.

Sistina spoke. Before long, armed with the Shadow Lord’s avatar, the armor of the dark cavern, Dale stretched out his arm.

Simultaneously, the shadow circle draped over his heart began to accelerate, scattering primordial darkness.

This power, obtained by making a pact with the ancient Mother of Darkness, independent of this land’s nanomachines.

The potential for creation, capable of becoming anything.

“Wrong.”

The darkness surged like a tidal wave, engulfing the outsiders, and Dale spoke.

The darkness scattered by Dale’s Shadow Circle contained the power of creation held by Shub.

And the possibility of becoming anything is the possibility of becoming nothing.

“Before creation, there is no such thing as destruction. Only nothingness exists.”

The primordial darkness swallowed the outsiders, and when the darkness faded, nothing remained. The machines had been dismantled to their state before being given form and created.

─ That might be true.

Leaving the vanished Outsiders behind, Sistina continued calmly.

─ But it makes no difference either way. Destroying the world is the same as returning it to nothingness.

“…….”

─ This is only the beginning.

Sistina said.

─ Soon, the forces of Ascension will finally rise.

How many will there be? Probably too many to count. Each one an aura master, beings possessing power comparable to that of a high-ranking mage.

And beyond that, they can project the weapons of the ancient world. There’s no way to stop them with mere cold steel.

─ Only when I have the nanomachines of the earth, sea, sky, and this entire planet in my grasp will I finally fulfill my duty.

“What is your duty?”

─ To protect the peace of the world and those I love.

Sistina answered.

That night, the ghosts of the pale, dark winter night died. Yet the ghost of the world that had perished still lingered there.

Sistina’s hologram vanished, and Dale also released the world of thoughts.

Leaving the others behind, Dale silently turned his head.

“Rize.”

“Brother…”

His young sister stood trembling beside him, overcome with fear.

“Why would the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy…”

And even if Rize was young, she could understand what Sistina was scheming. Furthermore, that she desired the destruction of this world.

“Her kindness and mercy are not directed toward us.”

“……Then who is it directed toward?”

“Things that no longer exist.”

Dale answered flatly.

“Ah, Goddess…!”

The Goddess of Grace and Mercy was there.

In the Sistina Church Province, now resolved to independence from the Empire and reborn as the Goddess’s nation under the name of the Church State.

Before her, the White Mage Tower Lord Cheon Sang-go and all the church members knelt.

Unable to contain their surging faith toward the goddess who had finally revealed herself before them.

─ The time has come to prove your faith.

Sistina declared.

The Templars of the Templar Order, the knightly organization that is the pride of the Kingdom, knelt down one after another.

“Please allow me to be reborn as a warrior of the Goddess!”

“Grant me, too, to be reborn as a knight who executes the Goddess’s will!”

Watching them, Sistina quietly extended her arm.

The mana in the air swirled violently, beginning to envelop the body of one Templar.

“Ahh, ahhhhh…!”

He could not know. That countless smiling machines were consuming and reconstructing his body.

Lost in indescribable ecstasy, he could only accept the baptism of ascension bestowed by the goddess.

After the baptism ended, there stood a human form made of smooth metal.

The Ascended One.

─ Please fight for me.

Before the bowed heads of the faithful, the goddess spoke calmly.

“Until the goddess’s realm descends upon this land, I shall fight with my life.”

By then, not a trace of human flesh remained.

Only an innumerable host of Ascended Ones remained, bowing their heads toward their goddess.