25-297

EP.297. [The Birth of the Fallen Hero.] 

 Chzzzz! Chzz! Chzzzzzz! 

Ea, having devoured the goddess’s holy sword, clung to it in a grotesque form. 

Sluuuurp... Sluuuurp... Sluuuurp... 

Then, as if sucking out its very essence, it began to draw out the power of the entire holy sword. 

 Flaaaaaaash!!!! 

Once it had absorbed enough energy, Ea, still fused with the holy sword, began to transform. 

“It’s complete. The Thanatos Holy Sword.” 

Swoooooosh!!! 

The weapon had finally taken on a strange new form: the Thanatos Holy Sword. 

“All right, then, let me test my qualifications one last time...” 

Step, step, step. 

Antoine, his eyes still shining gold, slowly approached Thanatos. Just as with the holy sword, only one who meets the requirements can draw the Thanatos Holy Sword. The requirements have simply changed. 

“For this day, I abandoned my benefactor, my friends, and my family.” 

Now, only one with a deeply corrupt heart like the cursed hero Judah Thanatos can be chosen by the Thanatos Holy Sword. Only the opposite of a pure hero can claim it. 

Thunk! 

At last, Antoine de Sel Oblaing grasped the hilt of the Thanatos Holy Sword. 

 Fwooooooooosh!!!! 

Immediately, divine power erupted from within Thanatos like a blaze. 

 Whoooooosh!!! 

Then, the sword tried to devour Antoine’s very body. 

“Grrrrrrr!!!!” 

It was a tremendous, hostile energy, full of rejection. 

“I am your master, Thanatos! Obey my command! Follow this twisted soul’s will!!!!” 

Clench!!! 

Thanatos, still in the form of blazing fire, tried to consume the one who dared to claim it, but Antoine asserted his dominance with overwhelming force. 

 Flaaaaaash!!!! 

In that instant, the Thanatos Holy Sword’s light exploded, filling the entire Paramis Sky Altar. 

Whoooosh! Whoooosh! Whoooosh! 

As the light faded, a vortex of energy storms obscured the scene. 

“Hehehehehe...!” 

Within the energy storm, the silhouette of Antoine gripping the Thanatos Holy Sword could be seen his very form had changed. 

“After a thousand years, a hero is born!” 

Antoine’s body was now clad in the radiant armor of a hero. Having taken up the will of Judah’s lineage, Antoine at last defied the goddess’s will and became a hero. 

“Sister! What’s happening!!???” 

At that moment, Sister Charlotte’s eyes flashed gold, emitting a radiant light. Eugene Schneider, startled, rushed to his beloved older sister’s side. 

“Could it be...?” 

Unlike Eugene, elf Priscilla seemed to sense something ominous in Charlotte’s transformation. 

[The hero... has been born... A hero who defied the goddess’s will...] 

Charlotte, eyes shining gold, spoke as if prophesying the hero’s birth. 

“Charlotte is stable now, Eugene. I watched over her until she fell asleep.” 

Duchess Marianne, hastily dressed in a nightgown and fur, reassured the anxious Eugene Schneider. 

Charlotte had lost consciousness after reacting to the hero’s descent, overwhelmed by the sudden surge of energy. 

“I see. That’s a relief, Mother... She looked so fragile when she fainted...” 

“It’s understandable for someone seeing it for the first time. But don’t worry. Even outside of this, it’s common for nuns to faint during intense spiritual experiences.” 

“I’m sorry for waking you, Mother... You must be tired...” 

“Haha! Watching the beautiful early winter night sky with my son makes me happy.” 

Marianne had rushed out of her tent as soon as she sensed her eldest daughter’s divine power reacting abnormally, even in her sleep. 

“So, the hero has descended.” 

After confirming Charlotte was safe, Eugene informed his mother of the hero’s arrival. 

“The hero’s descent was only a matter of time, but what concerns me is the detail about a hero who defied the goddess’s will.” 

To Eugene, the key point was the hero who defied the goddess. 

“A hero who defied the goddess?” 

Marianne’s eyes widened with recognition. 

“Does something come to mind, Mother?” 

Eugene naturally asked for her thoughts. 

“When I sealed the dimensional rift at the Paramis Sky Altar... during the process, Ulysses and I heard a mysterious voice.” 

Marianne recounted an episode from the Sky Altar none other than the voice of the Demon God. 

“The mysterious voice told us: ‘Now the foundation for the descent of a hero who defies the goddess has been laid...’” 

The Demon God had prophesied the coming of a fallen hero to the young Ulysses and Marianne. 

“Is that true, Mother???” 

“Yes, Eugene Schneider...” 

Marianne nodded slowly, confirming the incredible story. 

‘This seems like a critical problem...’ 

Eugene was shocked. When he’d previously heard about the dimensional rift at the Sky Altar from Marianne, the Radiant Goddess Church had quietly covered it up. But if the prophecy of a fallen hero’s descent had been reported, it would have caused a huge uproar. 

“You reported it to the church, but they just let it go for the sake of their reputation???” 

At once, Eugene pressed Marianne for clarification. 

“.....” 

Marianne fell silent for a moment. 

“The church never knew, Eugene. Because I decided not to report it myself.” 

She revealed this in a quiet voice. 

‘What does that mean???’ 

Eugene’s eyes widened even further. The Marianne he knew in her youth was even more devout than Charlotte a model nun. Wouldn’t she have immediately reported such a prophecy? 

“I decided to keep it secret myself, so as not to bring trouble to Ulysses, who was on the mission with me...” 

Seeing Eugene’s disbelief, Marianne closed her eyes and explained her reasoning. 

“To Father...?” 

Eugene’s expression changed from shock to curiosity. 

“At the time, Ulysses had just become a Swordmaster and was starting to become famous, but he was facing strong opposition.” 

Marianne explained further. 

“One side had high expectations for Ulysses’s new approach, but the other side, especially the church, suspected him of heresy. Most of the church, though not openly, leaned toward the latter.” 

Most Swordmasters had come from the Imperial Knights or the church’s holy knights. Ulysses was an exception the youngest and strongest Swordmaster ever. The church’s opinion of him was like a ticking time bomb. 

“If I’d reported everything I experienced, Ulysses, who had little support, would have faced endless trouble. I didn’t want that.” 

Some even claimed that, as a descendant of Atlantis, Ulysses would bring disaster to the empire. He took on difficult missions like the Sky Altar and Enklema to dispel such rumors. 

“I see, Mother...” 

Eugene nodded, suppressing his curiosity. 

‘Mother must have been even more supportive of Father than I thought...’ 

He recalled that Marianne had already been quite fond of Ulysses when they first worked together at age 20. Even so, keeping such a secret for his sake was more than he’d expected. 

“Is there anything else you don’t understand...?” 

Sensing Eugene’s lingering questions, Marianne gently prompted him. 

“Oh! So only you and Father knew about this? Did you ever tell anyone else?” 

Though he had many questions, Eugene decided this wasn’t the time and changed the subject. 

“I kept it secret for a while. Eventually, I told one person.” 

Judging by her expression, this was the question Marianne had been hoping for. 

“Could it be...?” 

Eugene guessed her meaning. 

“Yes, Eugene. I told the duke. I needed his understanding when I started dimensional rift research.” 

As expected, the other person who knew the prophecy was her husband, Antoine de Sel Oblaing. 

“The Demon God’s crystal has reacted. It seems the hero has descended.” 

At the Demon King’s castle, Mephisto Bellator, who had long prepared for this moment, reported the situation to his lord, Demon King Mina. The Demon God’s crystal was a great prophecy stone passed down in the Bellator family. 

[Through the Demon God’s insight, I too sensed the hero’s descent.] 

Seated on the Demon King’s throne, Mina looked out the great window and answered. 

[He is a threat not only to my life, but to yours and all the demon people.] 

Sssss... 

The Demon King Mina rose from her throne. 

[This gives us enough justification to raise an army. I will restore the glory of the demon tribe to the continent of Phaedon.] 

Demon King Mina would fulfill the demon tribe’s thousand-year-old dream.