GUARDIAN OF THE END

[ So you are planning to tell this to someone else as well? ] May questioned as Jason was stabilizing the excessive divine energy present inside her body.

'I am just thinking about it. The execution will depend on you.' Jason replied. 'You might be put in danger because of it since one more person will know about your secret.'

[ What if you bind him with an oath? Extracting a divine oath from him, especially one made using my divine energy, should be enough to make him hold his tongue. ]

'That is actually a pretty good idea.' Jason smiled. 'Let's proceed with that.'

[ I will bring Zeke here. ] Hestia appeared beside Jason in her wolf form before walking away.

Most of those staying inside Duphia were used to seeing Flamey and Hestia roaming around. The guardians would speak sometimes and deliver messages but other than that, they were mostly roaming without any purpose.

[ Will be go back to the demon continent once I have said my prayers at the temple? ]

'I don't know. According to Amon and Koro, the demon king is planning ahead to make sure he isn't assaulted by Julian. No one knows what he is planning or what he might do.' Jason sighed.

A day after they had met Julian and his patron, Koro appeared at Duphia and informed them that the demon kingdom was under a state of emergency.

The sins were now busy managing every city and its citizens to make sure everyone knew how to react in cases of war.

Despite what most of the human race believed, Lucius was actually a ruler who truly cared about his people.

He was trying his best to make sure most of them would be able to survive if a war happened.

'I still have trials left to complete. I wonder what will happen once I have completed all of them.'

[ Probably something related to what Seshat had said. ] The system reminded.

Jason clearly remembered the words Seshat had said to him once he had returned to her library.

"You are a beacon and a conduit for the future, Jason. The materials required to activate you are those around you. Once the last material has found you and you have unlocked your real self, the chaos will begin."

Jason had returned the book Seshat had given to him before hurrying out of the library. The way Seshat had said the words made it feel like she was directly peering into the future and reciting it.

[ Astryn did say that Seshat is a prophet. She rarely gives prophecies but the ones she does give turn out to be true in the future. ]

'Please don't remind me of that. The more I think about it, the more I feel like everything will be destroyed.'

[ But its the truth. Everything will get destroyed one day. ] Hestia commented despite being far away from their location.

[ Indeed. Nothing is guaranteed to last forever. ]

'I know. Even gods don't last forever.'

Hestia returned after fifteen minutes with Zeke walking behind her. Jason asked May to reveal more of her divine energy and to float in the air.

"Why did you call me here?" Zeke asked with a confused expression as he saw May hovering behind Jason.

He knew that May was no ordinary child, yet he was still surprised whenever he saw her flying.

"Tomorrow, we are going out of Duphia to Troyalias. Do you want to come with us?"

"Uh… sure? But what exactly are we going there for?" Zeke asked.

"We are going there to visit an universal temple." Jason replied and waited for Zeke to ask more questions.

However, much to his surprise, Zeke didn't ask anything else and simply nodded.

"I will go pack my stuff accordingly." He said and exited the room.

Jason exchanged a glance with Hestia who simply shrugged at him.

[ Guss you don't know your friends that well. ]

'That stings for some reason.' Jason grumbled before looking at May. 'Guess your secret is still safe for the time being.'

[ it will definitely be revealed once I reach the temple. ]

'Maybe, maybe not. No one know what will happen once we get there.' Jason shrugged.

[ True. Let's see what will happen tomorrow… ]

***

"If we are going to use a teleportation formation, why are we going there six days before?" Jason questioned.

He and the rest of those leaving for Troyalias were gathered at the town entrance where Amon was creating a teleportation formation.

"One, we can't teleport too close to the capital since Julian has activated the protective carvings embedded in the walls surrounding the city. Two, there are people guarding the temple and defeating them will take a lot of time.

Also, you and May will have to enter the temple alone one day before the final date since her powers are out of control. That's why we are leaving right now." Risa explained.

Jason fell silent and saw Amon completing the teleportation circle. Since he could no longer regenerate or create more layers for the barrier, Amon had mostly been focused on strengthening the current barrier.

He had spent most of his energy on that or defeating the soldiers who were continuously appearing around the town.

"Let's go." Amon sapped his fingers and ignited the magic circle.

All of them stepped into the circle at the same time before being teleported away. Amon, however, noticed something before leaving.

'So he is spying on us with that… he might not be able to see inside the barrier and hear our conversations, but he definitely saw us leaving.'

Amon had been able to sense a fluctuation in the natural mana around Duphia, something he had been trying to do for months.

That was how he was able to know that Julian had been spying on them with the help of a certain object.

[ The security around the major cities as well as the capital is going to be extremely tight. Julian knows we are coming. ] He warned the others.

'He will be waiting for us…' Jason silently thought.

He could feel Sancus's divinity moving inside his soul as it too was pumped up to free people from their contract.

In the previous few months, Jason had figured out another way to use the divinity to free people.

Unfortunately, he and Risa still hadn't found a way to free the soldiers trapped by Julian. Their bodies were embedded with self-destruction magic that would activate the moment their contracts ended or were canceled.

Not only that but if someone tried tampering with the magic, it would mutate the soldier's body and make them enter a berserk stage.

Jason had seen quite a lot of gory things due to that, but he wasn't bothered by them. He was more interested in seeing Julian getting his face trampled on by thousands of citizens.

The group suddenly appeared in front of an inn situated at the base of a hill. Jason exchanged a glance with Risa since he hadn't seen the place before while traveling towards the capital.

"We are going from the backside since the temple is closer from that direction. This path also has less cities so the chances of us meeting soldiers or those trying to capture us are quite less." Amon explained before Risa could open her mouth.

"Also, was this the closest place you could take us to?" Risa asked.

"If I went a few meters forward, the space barrier activated around the capital would have sensed our location. I am afraid we will have to travel on foot and have to make sure to not use too much mana or any other form of energy."

Amon looked at Jason, Amber and May before shifting his gaze towards the inn.

_{𝑓r𝘦𝘦𝘄eb𝒏𝙤vel.c𝙤𝙢}

"If I am not wrong, this inn is actually a guard check post. I am surprised no one came to attack us yet." He amused.

Moments after the words had left his mouth, the door of the inn opened up and mage dressed in the special forces clothes dashed outside.

They outnumbered the group five to one and immediately started attacking their individual targets.

"I guess this will serve as a good warm up." Jason commented as thunder immediately shot out from his body and hit one of the mages in the forehead.

He collapsed to the ground before being burnt by Amber. The duo then started coordinating and used minimum amounts of mana to destroy their opponents.

Zeke was freezing most of the attacks thrown his way before unleashing his own move. A magic circle expanded around him and every single special mage standing inside the circle was frozen on their spot.

Zeke snapped his fingers and the frozen mages broke apart, turning into tiny blood red crystals. No residue, except for the crystals, was left behind.

Risa and Amon didn't even need to move from their spots to defeat the special mages. They had fought their fair share of mages in the past and were used to combating them.

Only May was the one who wasn't doing anything. A complicated expression was visible on her face as she felt a weird feeling emerging inside her chest.

'Why are all of them so interested in getting me to the temple when I haven't given them anything in return…'