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A new First Order.
At those words, Rudger naturally turned at Zero Order as if asking if the words were true.
Zero Order nodded wordlessly.
'He said that he was looking for a new First Order during the Order Synod.'
Besides, the way Helia was treating him, she seemed to know that Rudger was not the real John Doe.
Zero Order must have told her.
'What a strange day. I can't believe I've met three demons in such a short time.'
Demons are only mentioned in ancient texts and legends. Naturally, people in this day and age dismiss the idea of demons as mere fiction even though they lurk in the shadows of the world.
'Such demons have gradually begun to reveal themselves.'
Zero Order, Basara, and now Helia are demons to the world but they consider themselves apostles.
There must be more than 3 demons and here's the problem
Basara said he had a mission so the others must have missions too.
Feeling Rudger's stare, Helia smiled wryly. There was something dreamlike about the way she smiled against the moonlight.
"He's a funny one. He's got us right in front of him, and he's not afraid of us, but he's trying to think. Indeed, this is the man who defeated Basara. Should I say he deserves it?"
As she muttered, Helia's figure vanished like a mirage. The following moment, Helia reappeared behind Rudger's back and ran her black cotton-gloved hand over Rudger's shoulder.
"And you're quite handsome, too. In all my years, I've met very few men as handsome as you."
Rudger's eyes snapped to Helia and her form vanished then reappeared like a mirage. Just as Basara specialized in minds, this must be some kind of power Helia possessed as an apostle.
"An illusion."
"……hee."
At Rudger's outburst, Helia removed her hand from his shoulder and her eyes widened in surprise that it only took one look for him to figure it out.
"That's amazing. Normal people are so easily fooled."
As she muttered that, Helia's position shifted once more toward the window. She hadn't moved in the first place, merely fading away and pretending to appear behind Rudger's back.
"It's not just an illusion, it's a touchable, tactile illusion. It's my specialty, and it's a bit of a blow to my ego to be seen through by someone who's only met me once. Do you like to play cards?"
With that, Helia produced a deck of cards from her hand. It was an illusion, but of course it was something you could touch. In other words, although Helia's illusions were illusions, they were real.
Helia was tempted to offer Rudger a wager because it hurt her pride to have her abilities seen through so easily but Zero Order stepped in to restrain her.
"Helia, that's enough, I'm having a conversation."
"Hmph. Are you ordering me around? Don't you realize that I don't have to do what you say? We're equals."
"Helia."
Zero Order spoke Helia's name in a more chilling voice but the mere change in tone made the atmosphere in the room grow heavier.
Even Rudger, sitting across from her, felt a faint but palpable chill run down his spine while Helia, the recipient of his gaze, was still smirking.
For a moment, the two demons glared at each other but in the end, it was Helia who raised the white flag first. She sighed heavily and shrugged.
"Okay, okay, don't look at me like that. I was bored."
"……."
"Oh, man. Who do you think is so traitorous that they'd kill their own apostle for flirting with someone?"
"Helia."
"Oh, no. Look at my sanity. I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?"
Helia stuck out her tongue while narrowing her eyes.
At the sight, Zero Order shook his head, tired of being lectured.
'Traitor?'
Rudger thought back to Helia's words.
"Don't be so harsh. It's hard enough to keep an illusory circle around this room as it is. If you go on a rampage here, you might get caught."
At the mention of an illusory circle, Rudger glanced out the window.
The view outside was unremarkable. But when he strained his eyes to take a closer look, he saw something subtly out of place.
'I wonder if that's how they were able to sneak in here in the middle of the night.'
But was it really necessary to sneak in here in the middle of the night?
Rudger's doubts were quickly dispelled by Helia's next words.
"It's a strange thing to begin with. Why is there a monster in the capital? I thought it disappeared about 20 years ago when it said it was going to destroy the Bretus Kingdom."
Helia grumbles and Rudger realized at once who she was referring to.
'She's talking about my master. Do they know each other?'
Furthermore, given that they were talking about a 20-year gap, it was clear that they hadn't seen a trace of her since she picked him up.
It was clear that Helia was unaware of his relationship with Grander, given her open behavior here. It was the same with Zero Order.
Rudger kept his mouth shut for a moment, figuring it was best to keep it hidden for now.
What bothered him now was that Zero Order had been called a traitor by Helia.
'So there's some sort of conflict among the Apostles. They used to be enemies.'
In retrospect, Basara didn't have much of a sense of camaraderie with the other apostles. After all, they were separate entities.
But that's not surprising. People don't all get along with the same people.
"So what are you going to do?"
It was Zero Order who spoke up. He looked at Rudger again, as if he had chosen to ignore Helia. Perhaps he was asking if they were going to hold hands.
"I'll withhold that answer."
"I wasn't expecting a positive answer, but I suppose I should count myself lucky that I wasn't rejected outright."
"……."
"But we'll eventually cross paths again, someday."
Zero Order was sure they would and Rudger didn't bother to argue with him because he was feeling it too.
"Zero Order, what the hell do you want?"
"You've heard, I'm sure, that the Apostles have a mission."
"Basara said it was his mission to rid the world of humanity. Are you trying to tell me you're the same?"
Zero Order shrugged.
"I wouldn't do such a thing otherwise."
"No."
Rudger cut through Zero Order's answer.
"If you really wanted to end the human race, or even worse, destroy the world, you wouldn't have left Basara to die like that."
Basara's abilities are particularly overwhelming against humans since Masters and Lexer rank wizards have fallen before his mental attacks.
The crucial reason for Basara's failure was Rudger. His mental waves were ineffective, and he was unable to prevail even in his own realm of the mind.
In the past Basara was sealed the roots of the World Tree but he had been resurrected after so many years, only to be defeated by a single person.
"You stood by and watched Basara die."
"I had no choice. He was dead before I could do anything."
"That's a lie, too. You knew all along that Basara was sealed underground in the capital. But you didn't try to free him even when you knew."
If Zero Order really wanted chaos in the world, he should have unsealed Basara right away. His refusal to do so meant that Zero Order had a different agenda than Basara.
He had created a secret organization, the Black Dawn, to wreak havoc on the world, but even that could not erase the perception that it was a step toward his hidden purpose.
"If anything, I think you wanted Basara dead……."
"Enough."
Zero Order cut Rudger off mid-sentence.
"I've had enough of this unproductive talk. We don't have much time left, so let's cut to the chase. You do realize that Bretus is on the move again, right?"
"I am aware. They recently opened a door that was long closed."
"Especially with what's happened in the capital this time, I'm sure they'll be looking to interfere with the Exilion Empire, as they have been doing for a long time."
"I doubt the Empire will stand idly by."
"Of course they won't. Over the years, the power of the Kingdom of Bretus has diminished, and the power of the Empire has increased, but you should know that. It's not the power of the state that makes it so terrifying."
Rudger knew what Zero Order was talking about.
"You mean the power of religion?"
"That's partly true, but their power is far more terrifying. Why do you think such a facility is abandoned underground in the capital in the first place?"
Zero Order brought up the subject of underground facilities out of the blue.
"Do you know who built those giant hollows and underground ruins?"
"I know they were built by an old kingdom, long before the……Exilion Empire."
"Yes. And that kingdom was a very powerful one at the time, so much so that not even the Bretus Kingdom of the time could stand up to it."
Rudger felt something odd about that statement.
The Kingdom of Bretus couldn't do anything?
But from what he'd heard from Princess Eileen, the country's leadership had changed overnight…….
"The Kingdom of Bretus has historically wielded great power, and what mages typically use is called magic, but what they use is called holy law."
Holy Law, otherwise known as divine magic was once considered a miracle of the gods, but in more recent times it has come to be referred to as divine magic, a subclass of magic.
However, Rudger knew that its fundamental power was different from magic.
"The holy artifacts that are based on it, and the people they create. It's not the physical force that scares me, it's the mental."
"A fanaticism that borders on brainwashing."
"The old kingdom, before the Empire, did not want nations to be controlled by the Holy Kingdom of Bretus, so they experimented in secret, working hand-in-hand with a subspecies."
Rudger remembered the dead World Tree in the underground facility.
Why would there be such a thing underground?
"They worked with the elves?"
"Yes."
The World Tree is a tricky species that is impossible to cultivate unless you are an elf.
Many wizards were surprised when it was first said that the roots of the World Tree were underground. But if it was the elves who were involved, then the existence of the World Tree made sense.
"But that's strange. I thought the elves held the World Tree sacred and worshiped it, so why would they be involved in growing it?"
"The elves were once different than they are now, just as the human world is."
Perhaps the elves of the past were very enterprising, unlike now.
They had such a past and perhaps their current conservatism was due to the events of that day.
"For Bretus, it would have been heresy for the kingdom to join forces with the elves."
"Yes, but the Kingdom tried to hide it somehow, and they did a good job of it. The problem is, Basara saw through it."
On a mission, the demon Basara attacked the kingdom. Eventually, the kingdom joined forces with the elves to fight him, and they managed to seal him in the roots of the World Tree. But in the process, the Kingdom of Bretus caught wind of it.
Eventually, the heads of state were all replaced by the authority of Bretus without a single act of resistance.
Rudger felt uncomfortable again.
"There's no guarantee that something similar won't happen this time, so be careful."
"You're trying to use me as a messenger, so I can deliver that warning to the Exilion Empire."
"Don't be so offended. I'm sure the Empire isn't too fond of the Kingdom of Bretus, and neither are you."
Zero Order was right.
Honestly, if you asked Rudger what he hated more, the demons or the Holy Land, he'd say the Holy Land of Bretus without a doubt.
He hated the demons, but he hated the Holy Land even more, because they did all sorts of evil things in the name of God. Part of it was because he was one of them, so he was more familiar with their darker side.
"It's time."
Zero Order stood up from his seat, placing the mask he'd left on the table over his face.
Rudger didn't bother to hold him back since he had no reason to.
Before leaving, Zero Order said to Rudger.
"The Order Synod will convene again soon."
"Why are you telling me that?"
"Just so you know."
And with that, he flew out the window in a puff of black smoke.
Helia waved to Rudger and disappeared from view like a mirage.
As the two demons disappeared, the illusory circle that surrounded the hospital room melted away and Rudger stared wordlessly out the open window.
The stories the two demons had left behind were enough to make his head spin.
'But it doesn't change what I have to do.'
It was then that someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
Rudger asked and a soft voice came from the other side of the door.
"It's me, Flora Lumos."
How could she be here in the middle of the night, Rudger wondered, but then he realized.
Flora had been at the scene, so it made sense that they were in the same hospital.
It was then that Flora, who had been pacing outside the door, cautiously spoke up.
"……May I come in?"