Ludger had only ever undone the seal three times in his life.
Before that, he had often been swayed by the voices of gods, but that was before he learned sealing from Grander.
After creating the sealing formula, he never even thought of touching it unless absolutely necessary.
And yet, there had been times when Ludger had no choice but to temporarily release it.
The first was when he had wandered the world with his master and encountered Phantos.
Back then, the seal had only just been created. In the heat of battle, a faint leak of divine power slipped through. It was more accurate to say it bled out amidst the fierce fight.
But since he had not attempted to restrain it, he could not claim it was without intention.
That was the first time.
The second was in the Kingdom of Durmang.
During his days as Abraham van Helsing, when cryptids proliferated abnormally and the entire city of Jévaudan had been swallowed by a nightmare in a once-in-a-lifetime incident.
Ludger had fought desperately against the Beast of Jévaudan.
But that monster, while spawning endless cryptids, also possessed a horrifying regenerative ability that made it nearly impossible to kill.
So Ludger had been forced to open a part of his divine power.
To erase it in a single sweep with overwhelming force, leaving no room for regeneration.
That was the second time he had released the seal.
And the third was when he had undone it to offer the mafia organization of Rederbelk as tribute to the goddess.
But without question, he had never once fully undone the seal he himself had created.
At most, he had released only the most basic, the first layer of the seal.
Even if he went as far as the second, he believed the third must never be touched.
Not now, not ever.
‘That’s what I always thought.’
Ludger stared straight ahead.
Even from a vast distance, the colossal goddess loomed, so immense her scale could not even be guessed.
The form of a woman, as though sculpted from black mud.
Where her face should have been, only pale, glowing orbs that might be eyes shone faintly.
Her heart was pierced by the obelisk, pinning her in place, unable to move.
And yet, even in such a state, what Noxanna had shown was transcendence worthy of the name “god.”
Could he possibly oppose that with half-measures?
‘If I am to unseal, it must be all the way to the third layer.’
But if he did that......
Even here, Ludger realized, hesitation lingered within him.
‘If I release it all, then there will be no turning back.’
Just because one could wield divine power did not mean one was chosen.
The existence of a god was poison too strong for humanity.
No matter how much gods cherished or loved mankind, even that love was unbearable for humans.
Even if Ludger’s spirituality was far beyond that of an ordinary human, at best it only allowed him to endure divine attention a little longer.
That day, he had only been unharmed after using the goddess’s power because he had offered her humans as tribute.
But to ask her for power in order to fight—was an entirely different matter.
The moment he used her strength, his fate would be bound even tighter to the god.
‘Yes. That might even be preferable to the alternative.’
But there was a greater problem.
The Radiant God Lumenis.
The usurper of the cage, the one who had created and controlled this world, and sought to use even him as a puppet.
‘The moment I release the power, Lumenis will recognize me. He will know exactly where I am and what I am doing.’
If that happened, even changing identities and fleeing would be meaningless.
Once Lumenis became aware of him, the god would pursue relentlessly, and his followers would hunt with fanatical zeal.
‘Everything I’ve prepared until now will be for nothing.’
The last fragment he needed lay here, in the depths of Dreamland.
He had come to find it, and yet the situation had only spiraled into worse chaos.
Just one step.
If he could only cross that final boundary, he could use all the preparations he had laid out. But it was precisely that one final step he lacked.
‘Damn it.’
If he did not release the seal, Noxanna would overturn the world. If he did, he would be exposed to Lumenis.
And besides, could he even be certain of victory against that goddess, even with the seal undone?
Ludger’s eyes turned to the fallen people behind him.
Many were strangers, but many were familiar.
Fellow instructors he had grown close to. Companions he had gathered with his own hands. The students he taught.
If he retreated here, what would become of their future?
‘I must do it.’
Here, not anyone else, but I, the only one still standing.
I must fight that goddess.
And to do that, I must release the divine power here and now......
“Whatever it is you’re about to do, stop.”
At the restraining voice from behind, Ludger turned in surprise.
Clara Cowen, whom he thought unconscious, was staggering to her feet.
“You’re unharmed?”
“If this looks unharmed to you, then to my eyes you must look like you’re soaring around without a scratch.”
Clara gave a bitter smile, leaning on her staff as she slowly approached Ludger.
“I’ll say it again. Stop.”
“Do you know what I intend to do?”
“I don’t. But one thing is certain—you’re planning to throw away everything you have just to protect everyone else. Isn’t that right?”
Her words struck true, but Ludger answered with a scoff.
“You think far too well of me.”
“How could I not? It’s thanks to you alone that we endured against that demon Nirva.”
Clara looked at Ludger as though he were precious.
“I don’t know how someone so young came to hold such power, but I don’t believe a youth like you should so easily cast away your life.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because once is enough.”
“......”
“No more should anyone suffer sorrow because someone else sacrificed themselves.”
Pathetic.
Were you trying to convince me with such pathetic words?
When everyone here is on the verge of death, what does it matter who grieves or not?
Meaningless.
And yet—
Why was it that the words leaving his mouth were so different from what he intended?
“Is there a way?”
“That bell must be destroyed.”
It was Franz who answered.
He still wore a pained grimace, perhaps from lingering headache, but otherwise was unscathed.
“You’re awake too. Do you know about that bell?”
“The divine artifact [Nursery Rhyme], wielded by the dream goddess Noxanna. In today’s terms, you’d call it Mother Goose.”
“A vile name. No, perhaps fitting, considering its function. So what changes if it’s destroyed?”
“Noxanna has three divine artifacts. Among them, [Nursery Rhyme] is the most basic—but also the core. For her to manifest it while still sealed means she poured a vast amount of her power into it.”
To create [Nursery Rhyme], even Noxanna had to suffer significant loss.
If they could destroy the divine artifact imbued with her power, it would not be impossible to seal her again.
Hearing the explanation, Ludger narrowed his eyes.
“You seem to know much about Noxanna. But no records remain about sealed gods of the ancient age, not even in old archives.”
No matter how much Franz had traveled the world seeking data to kill Nirva, it was the same.
There was no way anyone could have uncovered knowledge of an ancient goddess unknown to all.
Even Grander, Ludger’s master and a living history, knew nothing of this. Yet Franz did?
It was not Franz who had discovered it.
Someone else had told him.
Zero Order.
No—Great Demon Suruna.
He had given Franz the information on Noxanna.
‘Why? Wasn’t Franz’s goal to kill Nirva? To tell him of Noxanna—did he foresee this very outcome?’
Perhaps Zero Order had been hoping for this all along.
Perhaps this very situation was what he had intended—or desired.
“Is that really what matters right now?”
At Franz’s words, Ludger stared at him for a ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) moment before turning his gaze away.
“The problem is how the three of us are supposed to destroy that thing.”
“Why do you limit it to three?”
Clara clicked her tongue gently, scolding Ludger.
“Are there any others besides us three who are awake right now?”
“No. Which is exactly why we need more. Look over there.”
Clara pointed with her staff at the people lying around them.
“They’re all asleep. That’s all. If they’re asleep, then we simply wake them.”
“They fell into sleep under the influence of a goddess’s divine artifact. They won’t be easy to rouse by ordinary means.”
“True. Even with Franz’s and my help, at best we could wake one or two at a time. By the time we revived everyone needed, the goddess would already have broken her seal.”
If they were to wake them—it had to be all at once.
At those words, Ludger’s brow twitched.
“You think it’s possible?”
“And now you’re asking about possibilities?”
“......”
Her barbed words made Ludger let out a quiet laugh and nod.
Indeed. Hadn’t he been the one to cling to impossibilities more than anyone else?
“Let’s try. I’ll connect the mana paths.”
“I’ll take the role of awakening them. Guiding the sleeping is no difficult matter for me.”
“Then I’ll support the two of you in between.”
Their roles were decided quickly.
Clara looked warmly at Franz.
Franz deliberately averted his gaze from her and began the work.
Whooong.
Ludger conjured a tangled mass of mana threads in his palm.
The threads glowed a radiant blue, spinning fiercely, before spreading outward like the spines of a sea urchin.
The mana threads extended, connecting to the heads of the unconscious.
After confirming the process, Franz imbued Ludger’s mana with the resonance of dreams.
“Dream Synchronization—begin.”
The mana threads fired by Ludger shifted into a pale green hue.
And to complete the final act, Clara placed the tip of her staff upon the center of the woven mass.
“Wake, sleepyheads.”
Through the mana threads tied to their heads, Clara’s will pulsed outward in strange ripples.
* * *
—This is the worst.
Alex looked at the woman weeping before him.
The burning sting on his cheek was nothing compared to the pain in his chest as he watched her cry endless tears because of him.
“Enya.”
—Stop. Don’t say my name with that mouth again.
Her usual shy, tender gaze toward him was gone.
Her eyes, now filled with sorrow, anguish, and fury, made Alex’s lips tremble.
No—that wasn’t true. In truth, he had cared for her more than anyone...
Even an excuse would do. He wanted to speak up, to undo the misunderstanding, to set everything right.
But he couldn’t.
Because for a mere commoner like him, meeting someone like her was never permitted.
So Alex forced himself to be harsher.
“Feel better now? Was that enough?”
—What?
“If not, you can hit me a few more times.”
—Did you just...!
Her lips trembled, then Enya’s shoulders slumped.
—I was a fool. What, what did I ever see in you to trust you?
He couldn’t reach out to stop her as she turned her back and walked away.
This was better. His true feelings would only burden her.
From the start, for a lowborn commoner to dare draw close to a noble like her was arrogance.
So it was better to remain the villain.
“Haah. Life’s really worth nothing, isn’t it.”
As Enya left, Alex barely stopped himself from collapsing to the ground.
Then a group of young noblemen approached him.
Smirks twisted their lips.
Their gazes at Alex were filled with disgust and glee.
—Well, at least you know your place. How dare a commoner think to stand beside a noble?
—Exactly. If you’d just kept your head down from the start, how much better would it have been?
—From now on, you’d best keep your head bowed forever before nobles.
At those words, Alex burst out laughing.
“Pfhuhuhu! Hahahaha!”
The noble cadets frowned as Alex covered his eyes and laughed madly.
—What the hell? Has he gone insane? Why’s he laughing? Did he lose his mind?
“Insane? Sure. I wish I really had lost my mind.”
If only he could forget everything.
But his reason was sharper, colder, than ever—annoyingly so.
—You really lost it?
“Yeah. Since it’s come to this, I might as well go mad for real.”
Alex swept a hand down his face from his forehead.
His expression was terrifyingly cold.
The cadets froze stiff under that gaze.
—You, you bastard...! Gahk!
The one about to curse had his mouth smashed shut by Alex’s fist.
“Let’s just finish it all here. You filthy bastards.”
—You son of a bitch!
Thus began a fight of many against one.
Alex did not use weapons. He only used his fists. Drawing a sword against trash like this would have been a luxury.
Though the nobles swung practice swords that still had killing potential, they were no match for Alex.
The gap in skill was overwhelming.
At the end of that one-sided violence, Alex had left them bloodied and half-crippled.
And he was dishonorably expelled.
The protests—that they had outnumbered him, that they had drawn weapons—meant nothing.
They were nobles, and he was a commoner.
A commoner had assaulted nobles.
That single fact was all that mattered. The cause and process didn’t.
That was the world.
And so Alex lost both the woman he loved and the dream of becoming a knight.
“Ha.”
The dream ended there.
Alex opened his eyes and slowly rose, clutching his throbbing head.
Seeing Ludger, Clara, and Franz, Alex realized what had just happened.
“Ahh. So that was all... just a dream.”
The frivolity he usually carried was gone. His eyes, darkened and heavy, turned toward Noxanna.
“Haaah. It’s been a long time since I burned this hot.”
A surge of fierce anger erupted from him like a volcano.
And it wasn’t just Alex.
One by one, the others who had collapsed began to rise.
Like him, they awoke carrying fury in their hearts.