Beings of the Ancient Era (6)

-“I didn’t want to show you······.”

-“This side of me······.”

The voice that echoed in her ears faded away.

The dizzying scenery and the shaking voice.

They were both hard to face with a clear mind.

Her bloodshot eyes barely captured Pluto’s change in her sight.

“Ugh······.”

The monster with spread wings looked at her.

Eileen, who was watching him, reflexively brought her hand to her eyes.

Something seemed wrong with her eyes that were looking at Pluto.

Her hand that stroked her eyelids with blood tears stopped in place.

She quickly changed her mind at the blood drops that flowed down her hand.

-“······.”

The problem was in her head.

There was a gap between perception and sensation.

Her head that feared something couldn’t draw the scenery that reflected in her eyes properly.

“What am I seeing?”

The distorted law twisted her perception.

What she saw and what she heard were different.

What she heard and what she saw were different.

In the contradictory senses, the shadow of the black monster overlapped.

-“You are······.”

Everything that reflected in her eyes blinked with red light.

It was an incomprehensible sight.

And it was a sight that shouldn’t be understood.

The dazzling golden sanctuary was dominated by a being from the opposite heaven.

On the carpet of blood that thickly covered, the king of vampires stared at her.

-“Are you afraid?”

Crack——.

The golden wave that spread out cleared the gap in her perception for a moment.

On the red carpet drawn by the progenitor’s blood.

There were countless blood ghosts marching there.

The traces of their dried and twisted flesh told them that they had never been given rest for a long time.

They were foolish and ignorant ones who sold their souls for the eternal covenant.

-“Squeeeeeeak.”

They bowed to their king and sang praises with their torn throats.

A bizarre scream echoed everywhere.

The vampires who had lost their flesh long ago played a march with their own necks as instruments.

The nauseating and strange march resounded over the fading sanctuary.

-“Bow to the great Astria.”

-“Bow to the great Astria.”

-“Bow to the great Astria.”

-“Bow to the great Astria.”

-“Bow to the great Astria.”

The ghosts crawling on the ground prostrated themselves and bowed to their king.

The souls that lost their light were never free even in death.

Their king was always one and only.

The ancient being who wore the crown of blood upside down.

The supreme predator who had existed since before human history ruled over them.

-“Are you afraid?”

“······.”

The progenitor of vampires does not die.

The heroes of the past knew that, so they sealed her.

Yes. The heroes sealed her.

After realizing that they couldn’t kill her with their own hands.

Now it was Eileen’s turn to realize that fact.

It was impossible for even the great heroes and powerful divine artifacts to give eternal rest to the progenitor.

-“Are you afraid?”

Pluto Astria never dies.

When her thin life lost its meaning, she just stopped there for a moment.

As long as time passed, the progenitor of vampires would return to her throne again and again.

The end was a concept that was not allowed for the cursed being.

-“Are you afraid because you can’t kill me?”

The face that lost its color asked Eileen.

She could hear his voice even without opening his mouth.

His whisper was stuck in her mind endlessly.

She closed her eyes tightly, covered her ears with her hands, and told herself to run away from the sight in front of her.

She was denying the reality that was full of negativity.

“I am······.”

Was she afraid of the sight in front of her?

Of course, it would be a lie if she wasn’t.

It was disgusting. It made her nauseous. She wanted to look away.

The ghosts who swallowed divine punishment with their mouths open were more than grotesque, they gave her goosebumps.

But she knew that as soon as she spat it out, everything would be over.

She needed a lie to deceive herself right now.

“······I’m not afraid.”

Eileen answered his question with a trembling voice.

Eileen Asnoff.

She was a saint chosen by the goddess of order.

Even if she was afraid of the sight in front of her, she couldn’t turn her eyes away from it.

She had to face it and fight it head-on.

Even if her body rejected it, her soul had to remain pure and illuminate the darkness.

“——O goddess, guide me on the way.”

As her perception was being overwritten, Eileen clasped her hands and knelt down.

It was time to pray.

The only thing she could do now was to pray.

From the beginning to the end. Even in the last moment, she had to pray with faith.

That was the only duty given to the saint.

“——Let your lamb find the right path.”

She opened her small lips and cried out for salvation to the sky.

She tied herself under the huge pillar of faith, not to be shaken.

The firm faith in the goddess was the only support that had kept Eileen until now.

“——Do not stray from the path even in hard trials.”

A golden wave spread from her clasped hands.

The great grace that swept over her body warmly embraced her.

As she felt the warmth from the depths of her chest, she was about to close her eyes.

A red shadow loomed behind her who was praying.

The progenitor of vampires who had approached close grabbed her shoulder.

-“Ah.”

Crunch.

She felt a sharp pain in her neck.

The progenitor’s fangs had dug into her neck.

Hot blood gushed and flowed down her neck.

The progenitor slowly sucked Eileen’s blood that flowed out.

Eileen prayed while trying not to lose her calm as she was being drained.

“——Overcome hardship and trial.”

-“Are you afraid of not seeing the light?”

It was a ridiculous question.

She was not afraid of not seeing the light.

The brightest light was always in her heart.

“——Let the holy light drive away the darkness.”

-“Are you afraid of not facing the sun?”

She was not afraid of the sun hiding its face.

Someday, the brilliant sun would rise and chase away the darkness.

The night was long but not eternal.

“——Make me obey under the great order.”

-“Are you afraid of death?”

Death couldn’t stop her faith.

The ones who sacrificed for faith would be given the most sublime rest.

They had to be given.

It was given——.

No, it had to be given.

It had, to, be given——.

“Ah······.”

Something was wrong.

Her train of thought was broken somewhere.

She felt a sense of discomfort and realized that her prayer had stopped.

No more prayers came out of her blankly opened mouth.

-“Are you afraid?”

She saw a finger soaked in red blood in front of her eyes.

The blood drops that fell from the thin finger smelled sweet for some reason.

Eileen’s lips trembled as she looked at the blood drops.

She wanted to drink. She wanted to quench her thirst.

An impulsive thought shook Eileen’s mind.

-“It’s okay if you run away.”

The red blood drop on the finger was undoubtedly the progenitor’s.

The one who bled in front of her eyes was none other than the progenitor who was hit by divine punishment.

What would happen if she drank the progenitor’s blood?

The result was proven by the ghosts crawling on the floor.

It was a stupid thing to eat the blood.

Both flesh and soul would be forever enslaved under the progenitor’s rule.

“I have to pray.”

Pray. She had to pray.

To purify her tainted thoughts, she had to pray to the goddess.

She clasped her hands and opened her mouth.

She had to pray and prove her faith for the goddess.

“I have to pray, but······.”

But no more prayers came out of her mouth.

She had to pray, but she couldn’t remember the prayers.

She couldn’t recall any of the scriptures she had read for a long time.

She had fallen into a worse state than she had expected.

“Ugh······.”

If she had known this, she would have brought a holy relic for mental defense.

But there was no way to turn back time, even if she regretted it later.

The power of the progenitor was too great to resist with her own strength.

“It looks delicious···.”

She saw the blood drops falling in her narrowing sight.

The sweet smell shook her nose.

She had long forgotten about praying.

She wanted to drink. She wanted to quench her thirst.

Only a strong impulse remained in Eileen’s mind.

Eileen slowly opened her lips as she looked at the blood drops.

-“It’s okay if you run away.”

Eileen opened her trembling mouth and brought her tongue close to the finger soaked in blood.

The moment Eileen’s tongue touched Pluto’s blood drop.

Boom—.

The golden sanctuary collapsed completely.

***

The holy land, Crossbridge.

On the top floor of the knight order building next to the holy palace, there was a room for the knight commander only.

A place that encompassed all the dangers and possibilities of the continent.

The jewels that shone in various colors indicated whether each danger was managed properly.

The knight commander, Abelz, looked at them every day and checked the upcoming dangers.

“······.”

Today was no different.

He finished his training and entered his room as usual and checked each jewel on the wall.

And he noticed that two of the jewels he had inspected had changed.

The jewels at the top of the map.

Two jewels that would normally shine with a brilliant golden light had changed.

Abelz’s face darkened in an instant as he knew the meaning of the jewels.

“The hero of order is dead······?”

The jewels at the top symbolized two people who were the pillars of each temple.

The golden jewels reflected in Abelz’s eyes were both lost their light.

One of the jewels that lost their light was still intact in appearance, and the other one was completely shattered.

There was only one thing that the broken jewel meant.

The hero of order was dead.

And that was for those who belonged to the order.

“He never came to the temple until the end, and ended up like this.”

The hero of order didn’t come to the holy land even though he received the mark.

The temple of order also gave up on finding him long ago after receiving the trust.

It was inevitable that the hero of order died in a battle somewhere Abelz didn’t know.

But he couldn’t understand what happened to the saint of order.

“And what is happening to the saint of order···?”

There was no possibility that something went wrong with the saint of order in the holy land.

Crossbridge was a place wrapped in a sacred barrier that even evil gods couldn’t peek into.

And now, even Arien Crost was staying in the holy land.

If an intruder had entered in such a situation, a report would have come up sooner or later.

So it was more likely that something happened outside the holy land.

“She must not have died. But somehow the connection was blocked. Considering Eileen Asnoff’s personality, the possibility of betrayal was low, but······.”

Abelz bit his lips and opened the drawer.

He wanted to check the suspicious part himself.

The permission to leave the holy land for the main figures of the sanctuary had to be stamped by the knight commander, Abelz, in the end.

As far as Abelz Ederunt knew, he had no memory of stamping the document for the saint’s departure.

Had there been a time when the saint’s departure was approved without reporting to him recently?

Abelz put the documents in the drawer on the desk and started to flip through them one by one.

“The blue holy sword. The divine artifact Astria. The black holy sword. The divine artifact Astria. And······.”

Rustle.

The sound of turning paper echoed in the quiet office.

Abelz carefully turned the pages and checked the contents of the documents.

And when Abelz turned the last paper of the pile of documents he had stacked.

He found something and made a disappointed expression.

“This is crazy.”

A permission to leave with only the saint’s name written on it, without any accompanying escort.

There were the stamps of the knight commander and the holy emperor on it.