The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Leaving a Record (3)

[The Adversary and the High Priests did not confront us head-on. They kept hitting and retreating to avoid the dragons. They unleashed countless Riftspawn and launched ambushes from various directions, shaking our forces.]

[In the end, we had no choice but to reorganize the army around the Transcendents. Only powerful individuals could face the Adversary and the High Priests.]

[The dragons were also dispersed and assigned to each legion. Only after doing that were we able to properly respond to the attacks from the Adversary and the High Priests. However, it also inevitably slowed our advance.]

[Since we were delayed anyway, we reinforced our blockade to prepare for the Adversary’s ambushes. Then, with our legions divided, we slowly advanced, surrounding the Demonic Abyss.]

“Hmmm…”

Astion raised his head and looked up at the sky.

A black, flickering energy was gradually covering the heavens.

Sunlight still shone through the occasional holes, but even that light would soon be swallowed by the darkness.

Astion turned his gaze in the opposite direction from the Demonic Abyss.

The darkness rolled endlessly like waves beyond the horizon.

“It’s spreading faster than the old records said. Is it because the Adversary has appeared?”

The darkness was continuously extending outward from the Demonic Abyss. At this rate, it really felt like it would devour the world.

Thanks to that darkness, the Riftspawn were rampaging without territorial limits.

If one retreated beyond the reach of the darkness, the Riftspawn couldn’t move. But relying solely on that wasn’t an option. Left alone, the darkness would eventually cover the entire world.

Already, the skies of several kingdoms near the Demonic Abyss were shrouded in darkness. Those lands were no longer safe.

“Normally, we would’ve just held out until all the Riftspawn disappeared…”

That’s how the old wars went. Humanity’s only choice had been to endure until the monsters of the Demonic Abyss vanished.

That was the pattern of the Great Wars that had been repeated many times. The Demonic Abyss would break through the blockade and spread across the continent, and the United Human Army would spend decades pushing it back.

In return, the continent’s economy and people’s lives would collapse, sometimes taking over a century to recover.

“But now, it’s different.”

Because of the existence of the Saintess, humanity had gained hope that the Demonic Abyss could be destroyed.

The Saintess’s Divine Power directly opposed the Demon God’s energy. On top of that, she could wield the power of the Sacred Stones.

That was why the dragons had drawn up a plan to use that power to destroy the Source of the Demonic Abyss.

The dragons were certain of success. And Astion knew the plan would succeed as well.

“Ghislain told us that we succeeded in sealing the Demonic Abyss.”

However, he said that Deneb and Julien had been sacrificed in the process. Astion's goal was to carry out the plan as safely as possible.

If his friends were even slightly at risk, he was prepared to take more time and explore various alternatives.

The Adversary also knew of the United Human Army’s plan. From the start, the Adversary, too, had tried to eliminate the Demonic Abyss using the power of the Sacred Stones.

[The Adversary appeared before us multiple times. But no matter how powerful he was, he could not face every legion on his own. Especially the legion accompanied by the Saintess, where the Dragon Lord and countless Transcendents stood—he didn’t even dare to approach.]

[Though our advance was slow, every legion continued to push forward, putting pressure on the Priests of the Demonic Abyss. They had no means of fighting against the dragons. In the end, once we entered the Demonic Abyss, they would have no choice but to confront us head-on to stop the Saintess.]

[In preparation for that moment, we closed the encirclement and made arrangements so the legions could regroup swiftly at any time. Morale was high because everything was going so well. The hope of ending this war once and for all had spread to everyone.]

[…But that was our arrogance. It was only after it had been too late that we realized the monstrous beings described only in ancient texts actually existed and how terrifying their power truly was.]

Gooooohhhh…

They were forms that had no place in this world.

A monstrosity appeared with the face of a lion and the talons of an eagle, its twin eyes like suns incinerating everything in their gaze.

Another beast, with the body of a serpent and thousands of wings, blocked out the sky with its vast form.

A giant with dozens of arms spewed fire from its mouth and scorched the land.

There was even a giant with the antlers of a massive deer, from which hung bone-made bells that shattered mountain ranges with their ringing.

One by one, creatures and giants of shapes far beyond human imagination emerged.

They all had skin as pale as corpses and provoked an instinctive terror in every living being.

The ancient texts had called them this:

― Lesser Deities of the Foreign Realm.

True to that name, their power was nothing short of divine. In the end, the dragons had to step forward and battle them.

No one else could dare to interfere in the clash of such transcendent beings.

This was exactly what the Adversary had intended all along.

To summon the Lesser Deities of the Foreign Realm and bind the dragons in battle.

[……Because of the Lesser Deities of the Foreign Realm, we could no longer rely on our strongest force—the dragons. In the end, the Adversary, the High Priests, and countless Riftspawn had to be stopped by the United Human Army alone.]

[From that point on, the Adversary began moving in earnest. We could no longer afford to maintain our blockade. Doing so would only lead to being defeated piecemeal.]

[We gathered our strongest forces into one. The Adversary ignored everything else and focused obsessively on the Saintess. Our objectives were clear. We were after the Demonic Abyss; the Adversary was after the Saintess.]

Kwaaaaaaang!

With overwhelming might, the Adversary tore through the United Army’s lines. He saw no one else.

Only the Saintess Deneb was his target.

The Transcendents of the United Army gathered to block his path. But even they could not stop the Adversary’s advance.

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!

With every sweep of his hand, the Transcendents scattered like autumn leaves in the wind.

And finally, just as the Adversary reached striking distance from Deneb—

Kwaaaaaaang!

Julien stood in his path. Astion bombarded the Adversary with explosive magic, and Ereneth bound him with spirits.

Lionel raised his shield and protected Deneb. The Adversary’s ferocious attacks were all blocked by him, even at the cost of his life.

Marika struck whenever she saw an opening, her blade now sharp enough to vex even the Adversary.

Everyone had grown stronger—beyond comparison to the past. They had trained relentlessly for years, sharing and absorbing the Dragon Heart left behind by Ghislain, surpassing the limits of humanity.

But even with their ascended power, it still wasn’t enough to match the Adversary.

Kwaaaaaaang!

One by one, they fell before the Adversary’s attacks. Despite all their improvement, he remained an insurmountable wall.

But Deneb was here. Her Divine Power weakened the Adversary’s energy and strengthened our allies.

In particular, the channelling she performed prevented the darkness spread by the Adversary from expanding any further across the battlefield.

The Adversary targeted Deneb until the very end, but ultimately, he failed. The Transcendents rose again and again without rest to block his way.

“…Still… still not the time, is it…”

With those cryptic words, the Adversary withdrew into the darkness.

[We clashed like that countless times. There were moments where it was dangerously close, but we protected Deneb with everything we had. Because everyone knew—without Deneb, we could never win this war.]

[The Adversary was like an insurmountable wall to all. But thanks to Deneb, we could keep fighting without dying. Every time we touched the brink of death, we grew even stronger.]

[But it wasn’t just us who grew stronger. The High Priests of the Demonic Abyss absorbed the Adversary’s power and gradually increased in number and strength. As the other Transcendents faced them, the battlefield became a war of attrition in a tense balance.]

[Among the High Priests, the four most powerful were called Apostles. Originally known as Prophets, they began referring to themselves as Apostles after the Adversary appeared. Two of them were new individuals who had taken up the mantle of Apostle in place of Prophet Rahmod and Prophet Tagmah, who had already died.]

Ghislain had especially left a great deal of information with Astion. After his departure, Astion would need to take on the role of advisor.

After Rahmod and Tagmah died, Ghislain said to Astion:

“There were originally four who bore the title of Apostle. Rahmod and Tagmah were among them. The ones being called Prophets now… it might be because they haven’t found the King yet.”

“Then, since we killed those two, does that mean we’ve changed the future? Now that those dangerous ones are dead, there’s a lower chance of Julien and Deneb being sacrificed, right?”

“I think… that’s probably true… but I can’t say for sure.”

“What matters is that the future threats are gone. Things must be changing, even if only a little.”

“…Yeah. I hope so.”

[I believed I had changed the future. And even now, I believed I was continuing to change it. But new individuals emerged, just as powerful as the two Apostles who had already died.]

[Since those positions needed to be filled, I wanted to believe that less qualified individuals were being forced into them. But at some point, unease began to creep into a corner of my heart.]

[Had we truly changed the future? No matter how much we struggled, was everything simply returning to its predetermined outcome? That fear refused to leave me.]

[No—it wasn’t like that, I told myself. Ghislain had insisted again and again that the future could be changed. If the future couldn’t be changed, why would Ghislain come back from the past to open a path for us?]

[Thanks to Ghislain, we had become stronger far earlier than in the original history, and because of that, we were able to stand against the Adversary now. And we would grow even stronger.]

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!

Just as Astion had expected, the Julien Mercenary Corps grew stronger with every clash against the Adversary.

Since the other Transcendents had to hold off the Apostles and High Priests, there were naturally fewer people left to protect Deneb.

But as Julien’s growth became more dazzling, the time he could endure against the Adversary steadily increased.

Of course, Julien was still weaker than the Adversary. However, Deneb’s Divine Power and the strength of the spirits filled the gap.

Thanks to that, the Adversary always failed by the narrowest margin to kill Deneb.

He brought stronger Apostles and Priests each time, but Julien and his companions had also grown stronger than before.

Kaaang!

Julien’s sword clashed against the Adversary’s hands.

In that moment, the Adversary’s red eyes flared ominously.

“…I simply cannot understand.”

“…”

“I have come to realize my mission. And I know that it will succeed.”

“…”

“Then why… why is it that I still cannot kill you or the Saintess?”

From the very beginning until now, the Adversary had been stronger than anyone in the United Human Army. Not even a dragon could stop him alone.

Yet no matter what means he used, he could not kill the Saintess.

He always failed by the narrowest margin, and whenever he returned more prepared, his enemies had grown stronger in kind.

Even with the best preparation he could manage at the time, the result was always the same.

The same situation repeated endlessly, as if it were fated that he could not kill the Saintess yet.

He still felt the enormous chain of destiny suppressing him.

“Still… still it is not yet time. Has fate not yet permitted your deaths?”

To his words, Julien slowly opened his mouth.

“We’ve prepared just as much as you have.”

“…”

“We’ve crossed the threshold of death countless times. We’ve devoted ourselves to training without rest, every single day.”

“…”

“All of us have given everything to master what Ghislain left behind. So don’t…”

“…”

“…dismiss all that with talk of fate.”

Kwaaaaaang!

Julien’s sword slashed toward the Adversary. With every swing, the colossal will of the world surged with him.

And that wasn’t all. Every elemental spirit around Julien also attacked the Adversary. The spirits, now grown, each possessed power beyond even that of a Transcendent.

It was as if all the world’s beings stood alongside Julien.

In the years spent fighting the Demonic Abyss, Julien had grown at a terrifying rate. Even the Adversary could no longer face him carelessly.

Paaaaaahk!

The darkness scattered, deflecting Julien’s strike. The Adversary’s eyes gleamed as he asked,

“Who is this Ghislain…?”

“…”

“That name… it grates on my nerves. Who is this person who supposedly passed down everything to you…?”

“…”

“Where is he now? Why has he yet to show himself in this war that is so critical…?”

Julien gave no answer. Without a word, he focused solely on cutting down the Adversary.

Kwaaaaaang!

Their attacks clashed over and over. As time passed, Julien was gradually pushed back.

But no matter how powerful the Adversary was, he could not endure the Divine Power of the Goddess, which blanketed the battlefield.

If only the Saintess could be eliminated, everything would be resolved. But in order to eliminate the Saintess, the Adversary had to get past Julien. And Julien did not fall easily.

“…Is it another failure this time as well?”

The Adversary slowly backed away. His body burned within the storm of Divine Power.

If he delayed any longer, even the Apostles and High Priests would die. He had no choice but to retreat again.

“Haaah…”

Julien slumped down with an exhausted expression. His companions who had fought the Apostles were in the same condition.

Their battles were always like this—desperately enduring, teetering on the edge.

But the fact that they endured at all was what mattered.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“We won again!”

“The Adversary has retreated!”

The United Human Army let out a cheer. How hard the fight had been didn’t matter to them.

The simple fact that they had held off that terrifying Adversary and the Apostles—that alone set every heart ablaze. The more often it happened, the more confidence it brought.

And before long, Julien, who had fended off the Adversary time and time again, had earned a new title.

“Julien the Hero!”

“The Hero stands with us!”

“With the Hero and the Saintess, we are bound to win!”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

[Julien, who always stood at the forefront against the Adversary, came to be known as the Hero. When Ghislain first said it, I thought it was ridiculous. But now that Julien was truly being called that, I felt a strange mixture of awkwardness and awe.]

[Julien the Hero. Together with the Saintess Deneb, it was a name that gave hope to everyone. Was it because of that title? Or was it the pressure of the role? Either way, Julien continued to put his life on the line in every battle against the Adversary, and with each fight, he grew stronger.]

[Julien and Deneb were like miracles bestowed upon humanity. People even began calling me and our friends the Hero’s companions, saying we too were miracles. It was a reflection of how strong we had all become. Well, everyone felt embarrassed about it—except for Kyle, of course.]

[I, too, started to…]

[We kept growing stronger. And each time, we withstood the Adversary’s attacks and emerged victorious. The dragons and the Lesser Deities of the Foreign Realm killed each other until their numbers dwindled drastically. In the end, the Adversary was forced to retreat, and we seized that opportunity to advance toward the Demonic Abyss without hesitation.]

[…At last, we reached the threshold of the Demonic Abyss. This was the enemy’s stronghold—no one knew what dangers lay ahead. I stayed on edge, never letting my guard down. I warned Julien and Deneb multiple times to be careful and even demanded the Dragon Lord to prioritize their safety above all else.]

[Complete victory was within reach. We had twisted the fated future together with Ghislain, and come this far. So we must…]

[We must end this war without the sacrifice of either of them.]

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