Chapter 1368.2
Silence filled the surroundings.
The fatal wounds he had taken from two God Annihilations had reached a point where recovery was no longer possible.
The fight was over, and Neltarid teetered on the brink of extinction. The gray invasion that had been encroaching on Davey’s arm thus lost the power to maintain its form and slowly dispersed.
“So it’s come to this.” Davey had not predicted that Neltarid, the god who was practically their only ally once upon a time, would end up dying at his hands.
It wasn't a particularly good feeling.
After healing Illyna's internal injuries, he mercilessly yanked her ear.
“Ow!! That hurts! It hurts! Oww!!!”
“I'm pulling it so it hurts! Are you in your right mind or not? Huh?”
“Ouch! Sorry! I'm sorry!”
Even though he had sent them back, those two fools had chosen to return once again.
While it was true that they had proven helpful, it was also true that they had been reckless.
“I'll deal with you later when we get back. You're in big trouble,” Davey admonished.
“Preferably at night... AHHH!!!”
When Davey yanked her ear again, she let out a scream and slipped out of his grasp. She quickly ran off to put some distance between them.
Davey told them, “I have something to discuss with him alone. Could you excuse us for a moment?”
“You don’t think it’ll be dangerous?”
“He's already on the verge of vanishing.”
Understanding, Isildi and Illyna quietly nodded.
“Fufufu, to think they would find this place and open a rift with the sole intent of saving you. That child is truly remarkable.” His voice was labored, like that of an old man nearing his end. Yet, for some reason, it sounded so relieved. “Did I hear you have something to say to me?”
“There's something I want to confirm,” Davey said calmly. “Why did you pretend to be an evil god?”
If he were truly an evil god, he would’ve used Willow’s existence to kill him. Even as death was upon him, he ultimately hadn’t done that.
“You seem to be mistaken. Urgh. I am the evil god you speak of.” He lifted his hollow eyes.
The contaminated dimensional rift continued to collapse, but the space they remained in stayed unchanged. There was no need for him to ask why. He had been sensing for a while that someone was freezing the space.
After a long silence, Neltarid slowly opened his mouth and questioned, “Are you aware that many of the great wars that broke out on Earth were—”
“Things you caused,” Davey finished for him, interrupting. “More accurately, just as you intended.”
“That’s right. A god values efficiency, practicality, and order above all. They are a being that doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many. They say the Primordial True Ancestors, who had reached divinity, were stripped of their status and cursed simply because they opposed such an ideology.”
The Neltarid of the past valued efficiency, so he’d made such decisions without a second thought. It was all for the sake of maintaining a large number of living creatures.
“I hated the Goddess for making me this way. Even so, looking back now, I feel pity for her. For the existence of the Primordial God, who must never falter even though she's gained emotions.” As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the being that had appeared behind Davey. “Isn't that right, Goddess Freyja?”
Yet, Davey didn’t lift his head. He had already guessed that she was the reason the place was intact despite the dimension collapsing.
The beautiful Goddess Freyja, who had appeared at some point, approached slowly.
With an expressionless face, she slowly approached him and took the half-faded Neltarid into her arms.
Startled by her appearance, Isildi and Illyna turned toward the three.
“O’ Goddess Freyja, why did you remain silent even though you knew I would do something like this?”
No response.
“Does this mean it's finally time for me to die?”
It was a bitter question from an emotional being, not from a rigid god.
“You still won't answer. But that's all right. I've finally come to realize that you respected all my choices.”
Then, a single, clear, pure tear trickled down from her eyes.
‘If I collected that in a vial, it’d be the perfect teardrop of god...’
Davey slapped himself to stop those irreverent thoughts.
“A being who is both merciful and cruel... One whom I hate, yet cannot hate. And the most pitiful of all.”
Perhaps Goddess Freyja was the one suffering the most.
She was no different from Neltarid. Since she had previously awakened her emotions, she must have been even more miserable than him.
Even so, she hadn't lost her mind. Was it because she was omnipotent?
Davey knew that wasn’t the reason. Instead, it was probably because of her sense of responsibility. She knew better than anyone that the moment she fell apart, everything would end.
It was such an immense sense of responsibility. That responsibility was far beyond what any single being with reason and emotion could bear, so perhaps that was why gods weren't supposed to have emotions.
As Neltarid gave a faint smile, tears streamed down Goddess Freyja’s face.
Seeing her tears, he smiled bitterly and clasped his crumbling hands together. Then he slowly began to pray.
“Aaah. God, please hear this unworthy one's prayer.”
Her lips trembled.
“I beg of you... Please never forgive this unworthy being. And once more, please grant a precious second chance to those who suffered because of this unworthy being.”
As his prayer continued, she finally began to wail.
“Urkk... Urk...”
It was a stifled wail. Soaking in her grief, she tightly held his hands.
It had been ten thousand years. For the goddess who had gained emotions, Neltarid was like a child of hers fading away.
Davey felt the authority of sacrifice within his body resonate wildly.
“Hmph?!”
Soon enough, the authority of sacrifice fully activated and swallowed up everything of Neltarid's, then showed Davey a certain scene.
All the mad angels inside the Awakened individuals escaped at once. There were hundreds of them. Yes, it was an overwhelming number, but that wasn’t what mattered.
The angels that came out didn’t have bizarre forms. Instead, they were in the form of humans. They quietly watched over their Awakened individuals, and then vanished into thin air.
The Awakened individuals who saw the mad angels leave their bodies stood there in confusion for a moment. Then, as they realized they had been targets as well, they shouted that they had been granted a Saint Miracle.
As if the time of the world were being rewound, flashes of light began to appear in the air around Davey.
The remnants of the broken world were restored, and countless humans who had been severely injured by the mad angels began to recover their original forms all at once.
Neltarid, who had been praying quietly, now spoke toward Davey, “Know this much at least. The reason I, and the goddess as well, put them into the bodies of the Awakened individuals was to protect and preserve their incomplete existence.”
‘To protect them?’
When Davey gave Neltarid a look demanding a detailed explanation, the god chuckled but didn’t answer.
The pained voice Willow had heard, the one begging to be saved. Maybe it wasn't a plea from Neltarid to save themselves, but instead a desperate prayer to help the Awakened ones the mad angels were inhabiting.
There were villains like Park Ji-Hoon, but there were also good people who weren't.
Following the sudden descents, as the mad angels left, the power that a good number of the Awakened individuals had lost began to slowly return.
The dead wouldn’t return, but what was happening was already quite remarkable.
As the restoration was being completed, changes began to occur in Earth's underlying systems. The systems that had been maintained because of Neltarid's existence began to freeze up one by one.
It was as if they were trying to buy time until the next generation's god was born.
“The being who shall replace me will soon be born. Unlike me, they will be complete and much more gentle. They will look after Saintess Agatha and love Earth more than I ever did.”
“Then what about Willow?” Davey asked.
“Did you think that an ill-tempered brat was going to be the chosen one? Your affection for your child is quite warped.”
“Shut the fuck up, you son of a bitch!”
Despite Davey’s swearing, Neltarid chuckled and then murmured softly in a hollow voice, “Haah. Freyja... I just want to see you one last time.”
After that yearning ending, Neltarid fell completely silent.
Following his death, Goddess Freyja slowly lowered her head. Her slender shoulders shook as she wiped her face. Seeing this, Illyna covered her mouth with one hand, bowed her head, and cried softly as well.
Isildi had a complicated expression on her face.
“Quite the miracle,” Davey said with a heavy heart.
It had been the final prayer offered by a god on the verge of extinction. That same prayer had brought about a certain miracle.
Concluding the entire ordeal, what remained of the silent Neltarid slowly crumbled and turned into nothingness.
* * *
They awoke from a dream. A young man, who had been lying with a dazed expression, was startled by the presence of someone near him and opened his eyes.
He slowly opened his mouth, softly muttering, “You...”
“You could’ve slept a bit more,” said a beautiful, clear voice. The owner of that voice smiled brightly as she placed a necklace made of pretty flowers around his neck. “Hehe, it looks good on you.”
It was probably more than ten thousand years ago. Yet, the ancient memory felt so vivid and realistic.
The woman was returning the favor for a flower ring he had playfully made her.
Strictly speaking, it was a scene he should never have been able to see.
After all, before receiving this necklace, he had transformed into a god and changed completely.
However, it felt so natural and peaceful, as if everything he had gone through was actually a dream, and what he had known was merely a fantasy.
“No way...”
Only then did the young man slowly pick himself up, recognizing that he had experienced a certain miracle.
At the same time, he immediately acted on what he had been longing for and hadn't been able to do for so long. He pulled the woman into a tight embrace.
“Never... I'm never letting you go again...”
“W-wait!”
The sky should’ve been blackened by the mad war, but there, the sky was so blue it felt peaceful.
The Great Race War devastated all. The war of the gods had taken place there.
He certainly hadn't gone back to the past. It was like the future he had wanted to see so much under different circumstances.
It wasn't Goddess Freyja, and neither was it the Davey after his reincarnation.
It was truly the woman he had wanted to see—Priestess Freyja, she was by his side once more.
It was different from going back to the past or a parallel world.
He knew better than anyone that there was only one being in this world who could create such a thing.
[To you, who sacrificed everything to protect the world even while doing things you couldn't forgive yourself for. This is the only gift I can give you, my own form of atonement.]
A voice echoed through his head.
[May you be happy there for all eternity.]
His body shook intermittently as he wept silently.
“Freyja...”
“Oh my... I don't know why you're being like this...”
Hearing the voice of the flustered woman, Priestess Freyja, he wept for a long time.
The existence that became a god for Priestess Freyja. Neltarid's twilight reached a warm, cozy, and peaceful conclusion.
