SWOOOSH-!
Deep within the cave where not even a single breeze stirred, before the red altar filled with the candles of the Sacred Flame,
an irregular sound of wind rippled through the space where only I had been.
THUD.
“The Eighth Divine Maiden offers her greetings to the Eighth Nameless!”
We offer our greetings to the Nameless!
The elderly Divine Maiden who guarded the Sacred Flame of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, along with the six hundred guards who protected her, knelt behind me in anger.
I spread my energy sense and examined the surroundings, but I could not sense even the slightest trace of the energy of my friend and lord, the Heavenly Demon.
If his corpse had at least been preserved, even a speck of his energy would have remained.
So that was it…
“You failed to recover the Heavenly Demon’s sacred remains…”
Sob, sob-!
Aaaaagh-!
At my one sentence, the guards and the Divine Maiden could no longer hold back the tears they had been suppressing and shed tears of bitter resentment.
Was their anger directed at me, who had not taken part in the war in the Central Plains, or was it anger over the defeat of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, to which they belonged?
I had vehemently tried to dissuade the Heavenly Demon from going to war hundreds of times. I should not have tried to stop the war. I should have joined it instead. If I had joined the war, we would have won.
From below the altar, I faintly heard the rustle of clothes, as though the Divine Maiden and the guards were slowly rising from their places.
“We ask you to perform the Heaven-Defying Formation!”
?!
The Heaven-Defying Formation.
The final formation of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which defied the will of the heavens and reversed the flow of time.
The previous Nameless had ordered me never to use it unless the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was on the verge of disappearing entirely.
In the roughly five-hundred-year history of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it had never once been used.
“We do not even have the Heavenly Demon’s body. Who am I supposed to send back in time?”
THUD.
As though filled with resolve, the Divine Maiden struck both knees against the ground.
“You cultivated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art alongside the Heavenly Demon! You advised the Heavenly Demon on matters great and small! Nameless, I beg… of you!”
Did that mean they wanted me to reverse time and prevent the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s war in the Central Plains? Was I the best alternative because they could not find the Heavenly Demon’s body?
But did they know that I had tried to stop this war, a war I could not win? Even if I returned to the past, I would not be able to stop this dreadful war. My opinions had always been disregarded by the Heavenly Demon.
I was merely the Heavenly Demon’s weapon in human form.
I had to follow his will.
“Light the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!”
Light it!
Long live the Heavenly Demon, ten thousand years upon ten thousand years!
Long live the Heavenly Demon, ten thousand years upon ten thousand years!
The guards and the Divine Maiden pressed their heads to the ground and cried out in voices filled with resentment.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had lost the battle in the Central Plains, and almost no powerful members remained. Its fate was to collapse at any moment. Was there truly no other choice?
The Divine Maiden climbed onto the altar, set the torch she was holding upon it with a thud, and performed nine bows. With each bow she made, the flames grew fiercer.
WHOOSH-!
After finishing the nine bows, the Divine Maiden performed three more bows to me, then threw herself into the blue flames without the slightest hesitation.
WHOOSH-!
Even as the flames swallowed her entire body, not a single sound of resistance could be heard. As the Divine Maiden’s body gradually crumbled away in the fire, the six hundred guards approached the flames upon the altar and, all at once, without the slightest hesitation, slit their own throats with their respective weapons.
SLIT. SLIT. SLIT.
Were they, too, tools of the cult, like me?
When one body began to catch fire, the flames gradually spread to more corpses. As if honoring their resentment, the flames burned ever more fiercely, and as smoke heavy with grudges soared upward, the fire that had swallowed all of their bodies grew vast, as though it intended to consume the altar as well.
At last, I climbed onto the altar and unleashed my energy throughout my entire body before the blazing blue flames. My energy met the flames of the Sacred Flame and raised an even fiercer blaze.
Soon, my entire body was torn by fire, and my skin began to peel away.
Grrrgh.
As my skin burned, pain as though my body were being ripped apart wrapped around me.
The pain of defying the will of the heavens.
It was more agonizing than I had imagined.
If the reason the righteous factions and the unorthodox factions were divided was merely the distinction between good and evil,
then why were we treated as demonic cultivators and a Demon Cult?
The righteous factions and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult alike collected taxes from the people for their own interests.
They protected them from raiders.
They pursued great power.
They killed people for the sake of their own gains.
Children abandoned as the shame of the righteous factions and officials, those unjustly driven out by the Imperial Palace, the families of those who had actually committed treason, and those who had committed crimes, along with their descendants, all gathered together to form the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Was it truly evil? Were we truly demonic cultivators?
However, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had lost in the Central Plains.
Because we had lost, we were the unorthodox faction, evil, demonic cultivators, and a Demon Cult.
If I defied heaven and returned to the past, what I had to do was…
I had to remove the seeds of discord within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
We had to leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains, where food supplies were poor, as soon as possible. Starting with the regions near the Hundred Thousand Mountains, we had to gather forces faster than the righteous factions and collect food and wealth. We also had to foster more branch sects and build up our strength.
And the most important task of all.
I had to stop the war in the Central Plains until every force of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had gathered enough strength.
But the position of the Nameless was only that of the Heavenly Demon’s assistant. Could I do it?
Could I, who had lived my entire life as a tool, act of my own will?
If I defied heaven, would I be happy?
.
.
.
Young Master!
Young Master!!
I abruptly turned my head toward the voice echoing through the cave.
How had Kellick known this formation and drawn the Heaven-Defying Formation?
Rokiyan looked at me and asked with a worried expression.
“Are you all right?”
“How did I know this formation?”
“Formation? I do not know what that is, but ever since the age of ten, when you received the Oracle of the Spirit, you came here every single day without fail and marked something on the floor by yourself, did you not?”
I looked at Rokiyan without saying anything.
Since there was no offering to sacrifice, had Kellick used himself as the offering to call me here?
Of course not.
There was no way he could have known of my existence, so he must have been trying to call something else, only to summon me by mistake. Since the only sacrifice was his body, had his soul disappeared and had I entered his body? Or had Kellick also performed the Heaven-Defying Formation at the same time I did, causing the formations to collide and bringing me here?
When I slowly tried to rise, the floor on which the formation was drawn flashed, and my vision blurred into a haze.
***
Blessings upon the Ellar Kingdom!
Blessings upon the Ellar Kingdom!
May nature grant its blessing!
May nature grant its blessing!
Around King Hellorn and Kellick, countless elves were crying out blessings at the tops of their lungs, overwhelmed with emotion. King Hellorn, too, opened his mouth with trembling lips, as though struggling to control the emotion rising within him.
“Qui…et!”
On the other hand, Kellick’s eyes were wide with shock, and he said nothing.
“The Oracle of Nature has never once been wrong… My son, did the god perhaps say something to you alone?”
“……”
Kellick fell into deep thought, then lowered his head toward the ground.
“A formation… There is something… only I can do.”
Elder Philn nodded vigorously.
“If we ask in any more detail, the oracle may fail to come true, so, my King… perhaps it would be best to trust His Highness…”
“My son…!”
King Hellorn’s body trembled, and his eyes reddened.
“My son… has come to bear such a heavy burden… and as his father, I…”
As though he had made up his mind about something, Kellick rose from his seat, bent one knee before his father, and answered in a cold voice.
“I will not hold the coming-of-age ceremony that is to take place in a few years. Before then, there is something I must do…”
“What are you saying? An elf who turns twenty must traditionally undergo the coming-of-age ceremony!”
“Elder Philn… I do not think there is any need to continue holding a coming-of-age ceremony that cannot even summon a spirit, as we have done for decades.”
“Even so! The weakest are those who have lost their history!”
Murmur, murmur.
“I understand. If there is anything you need, come to your father at any time.”
I blankly watched the scene unfolding before my eyes, too vivid to be called an illusion.
Was this Kellick’s memory?
If he said formation, did he mean the Heaven-Defying Formation?
Why was this appearing before my eyes?
***
CLINK.
THUD. THUD.
CLINK.
I watched Kellick, who had grown a little compared to when he was ten, dig into the cave floor with a stone until he was stained with blood.
‘So after the oracle, he began drawing this thing called a formation. How could such a young child act with such desperation?’
THUD.
HUFF, HUFF.
Kellick lay in the center of the formation and panted for breath, then soon smiled brightly. He was smiling, but tears had gathered in his eyes.
I knelt beside the lying Kellick and stared at him intently. If my guess was correct, after creating the formation, he would sacrifice himself to activate it.
In order to protect his race.
***
“Young Master, are you going to the cave again today?”
“Rokiyan!”
“I do not know what you are making, Young Master, but please let me help you.”
Kellick wore a bitter expression, yet smiled brightly.
“It is today. The day I have been waiting for all this time…”
“Pardon?”
Kellick approached Rokiyan and held him tightly.
“Thank you for taking care of me until now. I may lose my memories today, so please prepare the fruit and leaves of the World Tree.”
.
.
.
HUFF, HUFF.
“I lost. Well done, Nameless.”
SPIN.
CLANG.
I looked at the sword that had flown from the Heavenly Demon’s hand, then looked at the panting Heavenly Demon. The Heavenly Demon grinned, brushed the dirt from his knees, and let out a hearty laugh as he spoke.
“I lost again… Your yin and yang energy must surely be imbalanced, yet no matter what I do, I cannot defeat you.”
“Not at all. You are also more than strong enough, Heavenly Demon.”
The Heavenly Demon approached me and spoke with a subtle expression.
“Do you remember the day we learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art from my father?”
“Do you mean the previous Heavenly Demon? Of course I do.”
“My father truly regretted it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because you were to become the next Nameless, he taught you the entire cultivation method, but did he not teach you only half of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art? You learned quickly, and after being castrated, you even modified the techniques of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to suit your own body.”
“No. It was merely luck.”
“My father wanted to take you in as his adopted son…”
He let out a short sigh, then turned his back and spoke in a voice filled with resolve.
“That is why I will conquer the Central Plains, the long-cherished wish of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
Had I not told him dozens of times? Was he still going to proceed with it after all?
I knelt and answered.
“Heavenly Demon! You cannot win. Far too many innocent lives will be lost. And you may not return alive either!”
“Enough!”
The Heavenly Demon picked up his sword from the ground and answered.
“Do you know what the others call me?”
I knew.
Rumors had reached even my ears that he was the weakest Heavenly Demon in history.
“However, you need not worry. I will protect you, Heavenly Demon.”
“Enough…”
The Heavenly Demon let out a deep sigh and continued.
“You are praised as the greatest Nameless in history, while I am scorned as the worst Heavenly Demon in history.”
“Those who scorn you are also weaker than you, Heavenly Demon.”
“That is true… But.”
The Heavenly Demon’s gaze lost focus, and he continued speaking with an expression drained of will.
“I want to be recognized. Like you…”
His words made my heart ache terribly.
They were words I had wanted to say at least once.
The war I had won through the strategies I devised. The branches I had established in regions occupied by the righteous factions through the people I had trained. All the credit had gone to the Heavenly Demon.
I envied him, but I was a tool.
I, too, wanted to be recognized by others, just as the Heavenly Demon was.
However, seeking recognition by sacrificing others was not the right path. Did he think of not only me, but everyone else, as his tools?
“Are you driving innocent soldiers to their deaths simply because you want history to recognize you?”
SHING.
His sword was pointed at my neck.
“Do you know what it feels like to be devoured by your own shadow?”
“Heavenly Demon. Then please send me into the war instead.”
“Enough!!!”
He lowered his sword to the ground and cried out.
“I will do it. Have you forgotten? You are the Nameless, are you not? Do not leave the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, just like the other Nameless.”
……
I would not be able to stop his stubbornness.
Without saying anything, I looked at him and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Nameless. Do you perhaps wish to become the Heavenly Demon?”
I had wanted to.
And I still wanted to.
“……There is no chance of that.”