Chapter 123

“No!”

 

Roseanne ran to the fallen Rahar and collapsed to her knees, shaking him and screaming.

 

“Brother! Wake up! Brother!”

 

Belona froze on the spot as if struck by lightning at the sound of Roseanne’s desperate cries.

 

Despite Roseanne’s frantic shaking and calling, Rahar lay motionless, his face already as pale as a corpse.

 

Everyone’s faces hardened into masks of shock.

 

“Brother! No! Please, open your eyes!”

 

“Oh, heavens…!”

 

Enria was also swept away by the shock of seeing Rahar, who appeared to have died instantly.

 

As tears slowly welled in her eyes, Hayden looked at Rahar, then turned his gaze to look at Caldeon.

 

Caldeon also wore an expression of shock at the death of his close friend.

 

Hayden spoke toward them.

 

“Absolution, there is.”

 

At those words, the gazes of everyone—including Caldeon—who had been stunned by Rahar’s death shifted simultaneously toward Hayden.

 

Understanding Hayden’s words instantly, Caldeon regained his composure and turned his head toward the God of Evil.

 

At that moment, the God of Evil instinctively opened his mouth to swallow the soul of the dead Rahar.

 

However, due to the golden wall Panz had erected and the black magic launched by Caldeon and Hayden, he failed to swallow Rahar’s soul.

 

Seeing the monster try to touch the soul of the man who had thrown away his life to protect him, Hayden wore an angry expression for the first time and pulled out a shadow mixed with black magic and holy power.

 

It was a strange shadow that shone brightly despite being black.

 

That mysterious shadow, flowing from Hayden’s entire body, spread out in several directions toward the God of Evil and bound various parts of his body.

 

Suddenly seized by the black shadows at his hands, feet, neck, and waist, the God of Evil struggled to escape Hayden’s power, frantically generating and firing masses of jet-black smoke.

 

Even though Hayden had mentioned the power of Absolution, Roseanne remained kneeling before the dead Rahar with a vacant expression, and Belona clung to Rahar’s body, sobbing and pleading for him to open his eyes.

 

Tearen, unable to even shed tears from the shock, wrapped an arm around Roseanne’s shoulder and looked at Rahar with a pained expression.

 

Even if they were to receive Hayden’s help later, it was an undeniable fact that Rahar was dead at this moment, so they could not help but despair as they looked at him.

 

Silri, Undy, and Lonn also mustered all their strength to attack the God of Evil who had killed their contractor, and Caldeon’s spirits assisted them.

 

But despite their attacks and being held motionless by Hayden, the God of Evil remained steadfast.

 

Even while his limbs were bound by Hayden’s black shadows, the jet-black smoke generated from his very body continued to defend and attack freely, inflicting damage.

 

Because of this, many were wounded, unable to dodge the jet-black smoke that had transformed into the shape of blades.

 

Fortunately, Caldeon’s black magic intercepted and destroyed the black smoke blades during critical moments, minimizing the damage, but he was so preoccupied with blocking them that he couldn’t even dream of launching an attack.

 

The God of Evil was still fixated on killing Enria and Hayden, Tearen’s Illusion Magic had become useless, and Roseanne and Belona were out of their minds with grief over Rahar’s death.

 

It was the same for Rahar’s and Caldeon’s spirits.

 

Rahar’s spirits were in such a state of panic after seeing their contractor die so hollowly before their eyes that they couldn’t draw out even a fraction of their original abilities, and Caldeon’s spirits were struggling just to counterattack while dodging the black smoke blades that Caldeon’s magic had failed to destroy.

 

In the midst of this series of events, Hayden was the only one exercising his abilities freely. Utilizing his own power along with Panz—who was emitting a mysterious, golden power never seen before instead of his original fire attribute—he was driving the God of Evil into a corner.

 

With his physical body bound by the shadows of mixed black magic and holy power, the God of Evil called on his inner strength and launched attacks in every direction.

 

Since his body was not free, his instincts had shifted his target from one person to everything around him.

 

When his attacks were repeatedly blocked by the defenses of Caldeon, his spirits, Panz, and Enria, the God of Evil eventually opened his mouth to create a massive sphere just as he had before.

 

The sphere of jet-black smoke grew larger and larger, building up its power.

 

Enria quickly cast holy barriers in front of everyone, and Panz erected a golden wall in front of them.

 

Meanwhile, Rahar’s and Caldeon’s spirits began to gather their respective attributes into massive forms to prepare for the tens of thousands of sharp attacks that the giant sphere would emit.

 

The jet-black smoke sphere and a massive fireball, a swirling spray of water, and a vortex began to confront each other in the air.

 

And a moment later.

 

The God of Evil hurled a certain size of the jet-black smoke mass toward Hayden.

 

That smoke mass transformed into tens of thousands of smoke blades centered around Enria and flew toward Caldeon’s group.

 

In response, the spirits also hurled their attributes at the God of Evil, blocking the smoke blades while attacking his physical form.

 

Enria’s and Panz’s defensive walls were rapidly destroyed by the smoke blades, and Caldeon protected those who were dazed by Rahar’s death by destroying the blades that pierced through the defenses with his black magic.

 

Enria continued to generate barriers, and Panz spread a golden defensive wall over them to make Enria’s barriers even stronger.

 

While the battle between the God of Evil and Caldeon’s group continued without a single concession, Hayden, held in Caldeon’s arms, was staring intently at the God of Evil as if thinking about something.

 

It wasn’t certain if he was doing so to maintain the black shadows and holy power binding the God of Evil’s body, but he was staring so fixedly as if there were a definite reason he shouldn’t take his eyes off him.

 

The reason for Hayden’s behavior was understood only a short while later.

 

It was because the God of Evil utilized a gap created while Caldeon’s group was blocking the tens of thousands of blades to hurl a new black smoke blade toward Enria’s heart.

 

When a longer and darker blade flew like an arrow through the pouring smoke blades to target Enria’s heart, Hayden grabbed Panz, who was sitting on his head, and threw him toward Enria.

 

Panz flew straight in front of Enria’s heart and took the blade in her stead.

 

[Argh! It hurts! That hurts!]

 

He screamed, fluttering his small wings with the black blade embedded in his forehead.

 

Fortunately, the jet-black smoke blade failed to take Panz’s life and slowly vanished while stuck in his forehead.

 

This was likely because Panz had been resurrected by Hayden, who possessed both black magic and holy power.

 

“Hayden!”

 

Suddenly, Caldeon called out to Hayden in a panicked voice.

 

It was because Hayden, who had been in his arms, had slipped out and flown toward the God of Evil.

 

It happened so truly in the blink of an eye that by the time he called Hayden’s name, the child was already thrusting his small hand into the heart of the God of Evil.

 

“K-kwaaaaagh!”

 

Everyone’s attacks had been blocked by the jet-black smoke he emitted before they could even get near him, so it was a mystery how Hayden could pierce the God of Evil’s body so easily.

 

Moreover, with the hand of such a small child.

 

A light the same color as the gold emitted by Panz began to shine brightly from the God of Evil’s heart pierced by Hayden, and soon Hayden’s power—the mix of black magic and holy power—flowed into the God of Evil’s body.

 

Under that power, the body of Pahomel, the vessel for the God of Evil, was soon stripped away, and with the shell gone, the God of Evil was left in his pure soul form.

 

 

The soul of the God of Evil looked not much different from the black magic used by a black wizard.

 

The only difference was that while it was covered in jet-black smoke, the inside looked like undulating black water.

 

The soul of the God of Evil began to be resealed by Hayden, and the sealed soul soon turned into the shape of a small, jet-black gemstone.

 

As the God of Evil turned into the gemstone, Hayden fell straight down.

 

Caldeon and Enria ran quickly and caught him before he hit the ground, preventing him from crashing into the floor.

 

“Mommy, you must swallow this.”

 

Hayden, looking somewhat exhausted, said as he held out the black gemstone containing the sealed God of Evil to Enria.

 

At the instruction to swallow it, Caldeon’s eyes widened much further than Enria’s.

 

“Swallow this? You mean Enria?”

 

“Mommy is a being created to swallow this… Baby used all the strength, so for a moment… Mommy, so the seal of the God of Evil doesn’t break anymore, Mommy’s body…”

 

Hayden continued the words he had to say as he gradually lost consciousness, but because his consciousness kept cutting in and out, he couldn’t complete a proper sentence.

 

However, Enria understood Hayden’s words perfectly, took the gemstone, and nodded.

 

“Wait a moment, Enria. First, we need to know if that is dangerous for you…”

 

Before he could even finish his sentence, Enria tried to swallow the gemstone, so Caldeon reached out and covered her mouth.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

A startled Caldeon asked with a hardened face, and then took his hand away from her mouth while snatching the black gemstone.

 

“It won’t be too late to eat it after Hayden wakes up and we find out the details.”

 

Then, tucking the unconscious Hayden fully into his embrace, he continued to Enria.

 

“Until then, I will hold onto this dangerous object.”

 

“Hayden said it. That I am a being created to swallow this.”

 

“According to whose will?”

 

Caldeon’s face crumpled instantly.

 

As if he could not tolerate the woman he loved being in even the slightest danger, he grew angry, asking by what right any god or anything else made his woman do something so perilous.

 

Enria sighed briefly, looking at Caldeon.

 

“Hayden fulfilled his duty with that small body. When he wakes up, Rahar will also be resurrected through the power of Absolution. As much as my son is trying, I must try as well.”

 

The fact that she had possessed this body and that she had given birth to Hayden unlike the original story—all of it must be the will of the God who created this world.

 

She didn’t feel particularly good about becoming the vessel to house the sealed God of Evil, but she thought that if that was the reason for her existence, it was what she ought to do.

 

In the end, if God had not helped humans, there was no way the God of Evil could have been sealed so easily by Hayden, so even if it became dangerous by swallowing the sealed God of Evil, it was unavoidable.

 

However, Caldeon didn’t seem to think that way at all, as he spoke to Enria again in a firm voice.

 

“You belong to yourself, but you also belong to me, so you shall not become a vessel to house the sealing stone of this damn God of Evil without my permission.”

 

“But if that is God’s will…”

 

“If that is God’s will, I will destroy that damn God with my own hands.”

 

At Caldeon’s growled words, Enria’s eyes grew so wide they looked like they might pop out.

 

Fearing that God might hear him, she looked once at the unconscious Hayden and once at Caldeon.