After displaying such strong conviction about turning the tables on Kim Jonghyun, Abel informed Lee Sungmin and Frau about what he wanted to do.
“Kim Jonghyun’s method of preventing the Apocalypse is not incorrect. The problem is the target of his connection : The Demon Realm.”
If Kim Jonghyun managed to indeed connect the Demon Realm to Eria, the Apocalypse in-name could be prevented. Regardless, the ending of Eria would be avoided with the Apocalypse. Unlike the ending of everything living inside of Eria with the Apocalypse that was to be the End, Eria would be practically enslaved to the Demon Realm and all beings would be under fear for eternity.
“However, we might be able to distort that connection and pry it open to the gateway of another realm or world.”
If it was impossible, Abel wouldn’t have said it in the first place.
“The Weiss is essentially the twin to the Grimoire in terms of magical content. It doesn’t have the same spells or demonic arts within it, but it can interfere with the Grimoire’s magic in more ways than one could possibly imagine. But… Did Kim Jonghyun say he would move in two days?
“Yes, two days from now, he plans on starting the connection in earnest. He said each city was like an offering or terminal of sorts. He said he has already offered the souls of the citizens he slaughtered in Germane, and plans on moving to another city very soon.”
Abel was lost in thought for a moment. Connecting dimensions did not simply stop at simply leaving only one gateway open. If Kim Jonghyun aimed to truly merge the two worlds, one city would not be enough at all.
“What kind of world are you trying to connect ours to?”
Frau asked.
“I’m not sure if connecting to another world will indeed be the answer to avoid the Apocalypse. If Kim Jonghyun’s words are true, he said he needed more ‘offerings’ to even connect the two dimensions. Even if the world or destination of the connection can be changed, the need for more offerings will not change… and that’s not something I think we can do.”
“But… we can use the world that is already connected.”
Slap !
Abel unfolded the Weiss immediately. He squinted his eyes as he checked through the magical contents of the Weiss for a spell.
“The Spirit Realm would be nice.””
“What… the Spirit Realm?”
“The Spirit Realm is already connected to this world. But the two worlds did not merge. Spirits can come and go to this world if they are called through a contract, but it is impossible for the existences of this world to travel to the Spirit Realm per contract. If I were to expand that passage…… yes, if the coordinates of the dimensional door that Kim Jonghyun wants to open are changed to the Spirit Realm…….”
Abel muttered nonstop and his words were becoming incoherent. He was analyzing the calculations in his head about whether his theory was right.
It wasn’t impossible. If he used the Weiss’ magic, they could definitely interfere with the coordinates.
But the question remained what would happen even if the Spirit Realm was connected to Eria. Would the Apocalypse really be averted?
Not only that, but they would have to somehow defeat a half-devil like Kim Jonghyun and get past the legion of Death Knights led by one of the Five Black Stars of Predator in order to even take this gamble.
‘No.’
Abel bit his lower lip. There was no reason to worry about this now. Kim Jonghyun’s plan would succeed regardless in becoming the First Catastrophe whether or not Abel was unsure of the method.
Regardless of the Apocalypse being averted through a connection he was unsure about, if Kim Jonghyun was able to succeed in connecting even more of the Demon Realm into Eria, nothing would have purpose at that point.
“I should talk to the Holy Church”.
Abel raised himself up as he said those words.
“Two days is not our timeline… that’s the very limit we have. We have to stop him here at all costs.… or we should just kill him. It’ll be too late if he finishes his plans in two days or even succeeds in connecting one more city as a part of the offerings.”
Lee Sungmin nodded his head and raised his body up as well. Frau remained seated with a grumpy face and did not move. She was well aware of the seriousness of the situation.
[Shouldn’t you ask for help from Yana?]
‘I can’t trust her.’
Lee Sungmin did not hesitate to answer Heoju’s suggestion.
‘It was a Devil that gave Yana her shortcut to power as a nine-tailed fox. As long as any kind of Demon has ties to Yana, I cannot trust her as a variable in this kind of situation.’
[Yana isn’t the only person who has visited a Devil in the past. If that’s your train of logic, isn’t there another person you can’t trust?]
Lee Sungmin clenched his fist in frustration. He knew very well that Yana had seemingly only entered a contract with a Devil for her own power. Although he wasn’t sure the extent of the relationship with Yana and that Devil, there was one other person that Lee Sungmin trusted more than anything who had been in contact with the Devil from Maryeong Pavilion.
Wijihoyeon.
He knew she had come into contact with the Devil from Maryeon Pavilion, but he did not know anything further than that.
However, if the First Catastrophe was successfully diverted, Lee Sungmin already was making plans to go to the Hugal Mountain Range to search for the Maryeong Pavilion and meet this said-Devil.
If you’re suspicious of Yana, then you have to be suspicious of Wijihoyeon as well. Are you really sure about this?]
‘…That’s right.’
Lee Sungmin hoped Wijihoyeon could still be trusted after this. He couldn’t trust anything or anyone as of right now with absolute certainty, and it was a dangerous path he was treading.
He sincerely hoped that everything would be alright in the end.
Abel, who had terminated the barrier to prevent the Apostles of the End from interfering with their conversation, looked a little tired. He had already lived for hundreds of years, and perhaps would have lived for hundreds more years to come had the Apocalypse not been brought forward like this.
Even so, the Weiss’ magic that took life expectancy as collateral, put a lot of pressure on him.
“We don’t have time.”
But Abel didn’t rest. Kim Jonghyun had said they had two days, but they couldn’t believe his words unconditionally.
Maybe the terminal was already completed and he was just salling for time. The two days that Kim Jonghyun said may be a false spread of information to delay them further to give himself the time he needed.
“I have a question.”Abel spoke as he and Lee Sungmin left their carriage and started walking towards the group.
The Holy Church was holding a rally before the subjugation. It was difficult to describe because it was both quiet and noisy. It was contradictory, but it was actually the truth.
Teresa and the other Priests knelt down and prayed silently, while the Paladins and Holy Knights were taking part in large group war chants that were to psych themselves up and were their form of prayer to their gods.
As the two of them approached the loud rally, Abel opened his mouth.
“Why did you reject Kim Jonghyun’s offer?”
“Do I need to answer that?”
“Kim Jonghyun would have been able to guarantee your life.”
Kim Jonghyun’s favor towards Lee Sungmin was real and if Lee Sungmin decided to take his hand, no matter the outcome, Lee Sungmin would be alive.
“Even if it’s crazy, it’s certain that Kim Jonghyun’s method helps himself avoid the Apocalypse. If the Demon Realm and this world were connected, Kim Jonghyun, a half-devil, would have acquired the status of a complete Devil. He still won’t have much power amongst the other Transcendent Devils and high ranking Demon Kings, but he will be favored by all of their community for offering up such a world of sacrifices for them. Nobody would be able to touch his authority in such a world.”
“What are you trying to imply?”
“Even if this world was to become a complete playground for the Demons, if you had held hands with Kim Jonghyun, you would have…….”
“Stop.”
Lee Sungmin’s tone was cold as ice.
“What I want is not my own safety.”
“Do you mean that you want to save this world? Or is it to take responsibility for your master’s death and your own wishes?”
Abel asked with a dry smile as he continued.
“Or is it still because of another responsibility you feel as being the observer in this world and bringing the Apocalypse forward?”
“Would it be wrong if all of those were the reasons?”
“It doesn’t matter much if the reason makes you this desperate. And for the Apocalypse, if you aren’t desperate, then we have no shot at stopping it.”
Abel was praising Lee Sungmin for having an earnest heart and goodwill.
It’s not that Lee Sungmin was some kind of gratifying martyr or savior. No, he loathed that idea in the past. But, when Baek Sogo confronted Wijihoyeon’s doppelganger, Lee Sungmin had been there to save her.
There were also the times like when he had confronted and danced with death when he fought An Zun when he was in the Peak Realm and was trying to solve the curse that had been placed on Wijihoyeon.There was also the time when he had gone to save Scarlett when she was forced into the subjugation of Kim Jonghyun in the North that would inevitably have led her to her death.
And there was also the time Lee Sungmin had to watch his master die and be trapped in the barrier fighting against Musin and Wolhu.There were many times when Lee Sungmin had acted out of desperation for others.
“I’m desperate…. You’re right.”
Abel nodded and then turned back around as he hopped up using levitation magic and then flew towards the center, peeling back the hood of his robe so that all could see who he was.
Abel started to speak as he gave a speech for the rally. He didn’t talk about the Apocalypse or that Kim Jonghyun had become a half-devil.
His speech focused more on inciting the crowd and getting them ready for their subjugation rather than reminding them of the horrors they could face.
Even though he didn’t talk about the Apocalypse, Abel’s fervent speech was enough to incite the crowd. This was because he gave sufficient strength to explain what it meant if Kim Jonghyun’s plans were to come true by connecting this world to Eria.
He emphasized that Demons did not discriminate on what they chose to play with. Humans, women, children… nothing mattered to them and they would completely toy with humans for eternity if Kim Jonghyun succeeded.
He made it clear that it would not just end at their loved ones, but everyone they might have encountered even once, could become a complete slave to these Demons if they crossed over.
At the end of the speech, the crowd was turning crazy with hostility against Kim Jonghyun and his atrocious actions and plans. The Church’s troops, which had been silent during Abel’s speech, talked among themselves.
That was how the time of the raid had been decided. At noon, the next day, it was decided that the people gathered there would siege the gates and take back Germane.
“Kim Jonghyun is probably watching.”
Abel nodded slightly. Kim Jonghyun would surely be watching all of this. Therefore, it didn’t surprise Abel in the slightest.
“What do you mean?”
Teresa’s shoulders trembled faintly as she heard Lee Sungmin’s words. She clenched the holy cross around her neck tightly.
There were thousands gathered at the gates of Germane shortly before and none of them were even affiliated with each other at first. But now it had become a group united for a single purpose.How many of them were usable? How strong was their overall strength? Abel wondered this as he looked over the audience.
“Not a lot.”
Most of them were wanderers or mercenaries without much background or strength. Either that, or it was a collection of the native tribesmen around the area. It’s not that there were a bunch of mercenaries that were highly ranked, but rather most of the numbers came from wild people that didn’t have anything to their name. The monsters and banyos who came out to just collect fear that was lingering around the area to strengthen themselves, weren’t even worth considering.(T/N : Banyo is a half-monster, half-human. I think I mentioned it more than once but just a friendly reminder ^.^)
The only forces that could truly be worth mentioning and were usable in this kind of situation, were the Holy Knights, Paladins and Priests of the Holy Church…… The other question Abel had was just how much of an impact Teresa could make and how much power her presence could bring to this.
‘The most important thing is to make a way forward first and foremost.’
They needed to pave a way forward to reach Kim Jonghyun first.
* * *
“So I guess this is what choice you decided to make.”
Kim Jonghyun removed his hand on the crystal ball. The crystal ball, which lost its light, no longer was showing him the rally that he was overseeing from outside the gates. There was no need to see any further.
‘But, I gave you the choice.’
If Lee Sungmin betrayed the subjugation party in the end, Kim Jonghyun would still happily greet him. But… what if Lee Sungmin decided not to betray them?‘It won’t matter. If that happens, I’ll just have to kill him.’
Kim Jonghyun did not lie to Lee Sungmin. Connecting Eria to the Demon Realm and the fact that the magic had not yet been completed.
“The subjugation army will move tomorrow.”
Volander did not answer Kim Jonghyun’s words.
He knew what Kim Jonghyun wanted to do. He also knew what it meant to connect Eria to the Demon Realm.
However, as a result, Volander’s wish would come true.
What he and the Death Knights wanted so badly was nothing but to be humans again. Kim Jonghyun had sworn an Oath to fulfill this to them, and Volander had no intention of stopping such a thing from happening.
In the first place, Volander and the other Death Knights had no choice. They had already moved their swords and slaughtered thousands of innocent lives for their cause. They were in too deep to pull back now.
Despite that most people would wonder what the point of such a thing even was… It was a rather obscure case. Volander and the Death Knights knew that even if they turned human again, there were still the Demons that would try to exploit them and curse them once more.
But that was not their aim.They just wanted true rest. They could not die, nor could they move on with their lives because their souls were trapped in their bodies due to the curses they were under thanks to the Demons and Devils they had once contracted to.
Only by turning human again, would their souls be free, and would they be able to finally rest.
“I believe that you will keep your promise.”
“Don’t worry. I gave you my word that I would give you the chance to become humans again.”
Kim Jonghyun spoke with a big smile plastered across his face.They would finally be able to re-enter the cycle of life and death as normal human beings.
‘Still…. Lee Sungmin…. What did you talk about with that man in the carriage?’
Kim Jonghyun was not able to hear or look into what had transpired in the carriage with Abel, Frau and Lee Sungmin. Abel’s boundary that he had erected with the Weiss, excluded all interference, not just interference from the Apostles of the End.
It was clear that they were up to something.
Kim Jonghyun caressed his chin and was lost in thought. Were they simply just going to try and prevent him from connecting the Demon Realm to Eria? It was unlikely they were going to just stop at that, wouldn’t it?
“It doesn’t matter.”
After sending out Volander, Kim Jonghyun laid himself down in his bed feeling happy.
It was earlier than usual, but he decided he shouldn’t ruin his sleep over it.