Chapter 199: Side Chapter: The End of the Hero's Second Life and the Beginning of his Third Life
Chapter 199: Side Chapter: The End of the Hero’s Second Life and the Beginning of his Third Life
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Time rewinds itself for a bit more than two months…
In the Kritias left behind by Veronica, the death of the Demon Queen Anastacia is celebrated across the human continent of Anir’s Hands, the sovereign of the last bastion of demons was defeated, and alongside her, the entire demon race was about to go extinct.
The holy ray of purification sent by the God of Light and Righteousness Bestellen obliterated whatever was left in the demon continent, and the demons and beast-men that had survived are the ones hiding inside the small islands and archipelagos around the demon continents.
Razdall, the God of Darkness and Sins had its divine authority stolen and was sealed behind a powerful seal made by Bestellen, for an eternity of slumber so he could repent for the terrible mistakes that his brother believed he had committed against the laws of the world.
Meanwhile, the surviving Dark Gods were pursued, one by one they were sealed and some even fragmented into pieces, having each of their pieces sealed and scattered across the world. The Bright Gods that did not want war were also sealed by Bestellen as well due to not having helped the wicked god.
As the power-hungry God assimilated the powers of Razdall and other Dark Gods, acquiring the Divine Authority that contained almost the complete Dark Side of Kritias, that of Kelsus. And through those that did not want to cooperate in the Bright Gods side, he also acquired a greater part of Anir through their stolen Divine Authorities.
Because Bestellen was the God that represented the law of the world of Kritias, its divine authority gave him the ability to take other gods’ authorities, as long as they were weakened enough to not be able to resist much.
Bestellen accumulated the divine authorities of those that it finally managed to defeat and seal, feeling even more enlightened as he let the fragments of Anir and Kelsus that he had taken away from the seals made by the gods converge within his body.
His sense of self was slowly lost as he became an amalgamation of the two Great God’s minds. Deep down, only desiring the complete domination of the world of Kritias.
However, such terrible truth was hidden from humanity and its saviors, the Heroes reincarnated from Earth, Veronica’s coworkers, and the ones that mercilessly killed her and destroyed the last battalion that the demons had before succumbing to the merciless claws of Bestellen.
To the humans and the reincarnated, Bestellen was their greatest savior and the god most respected and beloved in all Kritias. The only ‘good’ god that actually did what they thought was right, mostly because of their own religions and brainwashing done by the god itself and its subordinate gods that blindly believed him.
However, the Hero of Light, Eustace Armand, one of the coworkers of Veronica and the one who realized the truth behind the identity of Anastacia, had begun to use the truth revealed to him, slowly cracking down the masquerade and lies behind Bestellen’s words and mortality.
Two years had happened since then, and now, in a seemingly ‘era of peace’, the world of Kritias had begun to shake, the pillars that maintained the world were weakening, and even after Bestellen had taken over many Divine Authorities, he alone was not capable of supporting the entire world… and even with the help of the subordinate gods he had created, it was simply not enough.
Bestellen felt as if he had eaten more than he could take, and awakening the Gods he sealed, giving them back their divinities and all was simply not an option, his mind was now that of an amalgamation within the fragments of Anir and Kelsus, and did not desire the help of traitors nor those that opposed his beliefs.
The death of the spirits of the attributes that had happened through the second Ragnarök left tremendous wounds in the world of Kritias, its attributes were unstable, and the vast creation began to shake and crack into pieces.
Voids began to appear around the world where enormous storms of monsters appeared, cracks in space led to immense labyrinths that never ended, and even the sky, the sun, and the moon had become unstable.
Despite what Bestellen had promised the Heroes, the world after defeating the Demon Queen had become, perhaps, even worst than before.
For two years have they fought against enormous hordes of monsters, giant armies of never-ending creatures that only seek destruction, while also trying to seal and destroy the labyrinths that would spawn everywhere, even in the center of the capital of all humans, breaking havoc and taking many lives with the Rank 14 monsters that constantly appeared from within.
Even the Heroes who possessed the powerful cheat Skills given by the transmigration god Hekaton were not enough to fight against these armies and were slowly pressured by them.
Things became even worst as the Demon Gods that have been hiding for many years took this opportunity for themselves, taking over the world and using these events and catastrophes to make even Bestellen step back.
The Heroes themselves were pressured too much, their minds became chaotic and many fell upon despair… The Hero of Light, Eustace was the only light within the group, and even he had become but a husk of his former self since he got to know the truth about Anastasia, the truth which his companions have still rejected…
However, amidst the dawn after another chaotic battle where the Heroes barely managed to seal a rift that connected to a giant labyrinth, Eustace and Daniel were speaking about the world and the truth that no one could believe of Eustace.
“Can’t you see it, Daniel? The truth of Bestellen, of all of us. What he promised us… was never accomplished! He lied to us! Bestellen is a tyrannical god, he defeated his siblings, the ones that still wanted to maintain the world on stability, and stole their divine authorities! Now the world is falling apart because of him! Because he ate more than he could take!” said Eustace, his shining blue eyes firmly grasping the last conviction within his words. The only one that he had been convincing all this time was his best friend, Daniel, the only one that stood at his side even after his changes.
“Eustace… I see it now… I see how everything has changed, Eustace… I was… I was wrong… I cannot believe it… the world is falling apart right in front of our very noses, how can they not see it?! To think that we… that we… killed her… the only one that did not reincarnate at our side…! I have taken long to realize it, but even then… how can they be so blind!? What can we do now that things are taking this course, Eustace? Bestellen is too powerful now, we can’t hope to fight against him!” said Daniel with frustration over his foolishness. His emerald eyes seemed filled with rage.
“We have to keep fighting, we have to keep trying to convince them! Now that Bestellen is being pressured by the Demon Gods… If we all work together, it should be possible for us to defeat him and then unseal the other gods to bring things back to normal!” said Eustace.
“Do you think… do you think that there is even a chance, Eustace?” asked Daniel.
“There must be! We cannot give up on this world… the people we have met, the bonds we have made… the families we have created… Our children, our wives! We cannot let that wicked god take everything away from us!” said Eustace.
“I will… I will help you as much as I can, Eustace!”
However, although Daniel intended to help Eustace, his plans were shattered into pieces as his life was taken away by a traitor within their group.
The reincarnated soul gifted with the power to shape time around itself, Gabriel, the ‘Cronus’, betrayed the heroes as he revealed that he now served the faction of Demon Gods, slaying Daniel as he protected the life of Eustace, his dear friend…
“Eustace… Please… Take care of my children… and tell my wife… that I will always… love her…” muttered Daniel within the arms of Eustace, as Gabriel laughed loudly, embracing the madness of the powers gifted upon him by the Demon Gods.
The world of Kritias had become an endless turmoil of chaos and tragedy, and one by one, the Heroes that saved humanity underwent trials and sufferings one after another…
Daniel’s soul was, however, taken by a different entity thank Hekaton before he could be assimilated by the Samsara System Reincarnation Cycle.
Qadall, The God of Death and Souls, the god who had been hiding all this time from Bestellen’s grasps acquired the knowledge about the Mirror Kritias from a small oracle sent by Vedon and Lamus within their slumber. And by using his connection with the death and the souls, he made a connection to Mirror Kritias by following on the traces left by Veronica’s split souls, sending Daniel there in hopes to make some kind of change into the destiny of this world, even if very little…
Hekaton would take a few months to even realize that yet another soul had slipped off his reincarnation cycle.
Using the trail made by Veronica, Daniel’s soul was sent into the same dungeon as her, and reincarnated as a young Armored Silver Ant in a small colony… And since then, his adventures of survival in a dungeon as his third life started, up to this point.
“I must persevere… Qadall sent me here for a reason… I cannot simply disappoint him… I have to… do something to change the world… to change Kritias! In this Mirror World… I must do it! Eustace, I will make sure to go back there one day!”
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