The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 434

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Chapter 434

As Gabriel took a step back, Sylphid moved to support Elraim.

It had been Sylphid who asked for Elraim to be subdued, but he had never intended for her to be killed.

Among the archangels, there were three who stood at the very highest rank—those who possessed four pairs of wings.

And Gabriel was the only one besides Luna and Michael who possessed four pairs.

Someone like him would inevitably hold an immense amount of information.

That was precisely why I was curious.

Michael would do anything for the sake of the balance of the world.

Luna, on the other hand, was utterly sick of the system itself.

I knew the two were in conflict, yet Gabriel outwardly remained at Michael’s side while his actions seemed to favor Luna.

What card was this bastard hiding, and what exactly was he aiming for?

He behaved as if he had come to carry out an execution, yet if you examined his actions closely, he didn’t seem to have any intention of killing Elraim.

On top of that, he was exposing every decision and action taken by the archangels of Heaven.

It was as though he were pretending the information had leaked by mistake or coincidence, but I wasn’t an idiot.

There was no way I would fall for that.

From the beginning, it felt as if he had come here specifically to deliver that information.

The Archangel of Immaculacy.

The fact that he called Elpiria—my child with Luna—an archangel and claimed she was the means to kill Yog, the red moon and monster from another dimension, felt utterly absurd.

But at least one thing was certain.

I would never allow Elpiria to get dragged into the fight against Yog.

I immediately grabbed Gabriel by the collar and lifted him up.

He did not resist.

“……”

Right.

The problem wasn’t this bastard—it was Michael.

If Gabriel shared the same mindset as Michael, he wouldn’t have bothered giving me this information.

“Don’t force onto us the things you couldn’t accomplish yourselves. You wouldn’t like it if you ended up making even more enemies, would you?”

“That’s correct. Heaven has also judged that becoming hostile with you would not be wise. I understand that. However… do you have the confidence to defeat that monster from another dimension?”

Gabriel asked with a smiling face.

“What?”

“You know it yourself, don’t you? No matter how great the power you possess, even if you reach the very end of it, killing that being will not be easy. However, your daughter can make it possible. Are you going to continue stubbornly insisting on a dangerous path when even Michael cannot completely handle you as you are now?”

Gabriel’s question carried several meanings.

He wasn’t simply asking whether I was confident.

He was asking whether I truly had a solution.

To be honest, I could see a path when it came to Michael.

But beyond that, even I couldn’t be certain.

The Outer God Yog… I still had not confirmed its true nature.

From the angels’ perspective, they couldn’t possibly entrust the entire future of this land to such uncertainty.

“Then what? Does Elpiria have some kind of solution?”

“I don’t know about that child’s potential.”

Gabriel shrugged as he stepped back.

“What?”

“Leon Cascadia. How long do you think it has been since God fell silent?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Then who was delivering revelations to Saint Nadia?

Perhaps noticing my expression, he let out a small laugh.

“The Saint’s revelations are structured somewhat differently. God has been silent for a long time. And we archangels, too, have not been able to take any decisive action.”

In other words, they themselves had no certainty, which was why they wanted Elpiria—the one with the highest possibility.

“Heaven will make that decision. Leon Cascadia. If you wish to protect your child, then find a way.”

“……”

“Well then. Since you’re standing in the way, executing the Spirit King will be impossible. I’ll withdraw for now.”

After saying that, Gabriel’s gaze turned toward Elraim.

In that instant, the previously gentle and sly look in his eyes turned infinitely cold.

“Remember this. Spirit King of Water. Your place—and the weight of your existence.”

—……

Soon after, Gabriel transformed into light and scattered away.

No.

To be precise, just before disappearing, he left one final remark.

“There isn’t much time. Leon Cascadia. The archangels have limits when it comes to stopping that monster from another dimension—and that creature harbors immense hostility toward you.”

“……”

“And. Keep a close watch on the woman beside you. It would not be strange if she were to collapse at any moment…”

“Isna?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Gabriel simply smiled.

Well, that made sense.

Isna had long been exposed to Yog’s whispers.

She had endured it so far.

But no one could be sure how long that would last.

If she were to succumb to those whispers…

She would end up like the others who had begun worshipping the Outer God Yog as though they had become entirely different people.

I already knew that.

This time… saving her would be the right thing to do.

“That won’t be a problem.”

“It won’t be a problem? The darkness she carries is not something that can be easily shaken off. No matter what others say around her, it is a situation where she cannot find certainty within herself.”

“If that’s the case, then it’s actually easier.”

Gabriel said nothing more.

Then he quietly turned into light and vanished from the spot.

After that, time—which had seemed frozen—began moving again.

* * *

The aftermath of the Spirit King assault incident within the Spirit Corridor was handled quickly.

Even though Azure Star Algran Tevne had grasped the situation and minimized the theft of spirit mana, the number of victims far exceeded the expected figures.

Quite a few people had managed to endure somehow.

But spiritists who belonged to the lower end in terms of talent had their spirit mana mercilessly stolen.

It almost made one wonder if the inside of the snowfield had actually been safer.

The number of deaths, in truth, was not small either.

With a hardened expression, Algran Tevne gathered the bodies of the dead in one place and held a memorial ceremony, praying that their souls would not wander.

The ritual in the Corridor had lasted only a few hours.

Yet in the snowfield, the events had spanned several days.

For something that happened in such a short time, the scale of it was undeniably enormous.

I had no intention of continuing to clash with the Spirit King Elraim.

Elraim would pay the price for this incident within the Spirit World anyway, and my transaction with Sylphid was already finished.

My tiresome connection with the Spirit Kings would end here.

At that moment, I saw something faintly green rising into the sky.

The others seemed not to notice it, but my eyes could tell.

It was the Wind Spirit King—Sylphid.

Perhaps he had been gathering power within the lake until now.

Or perhaps it was because of the unusual nature of this situation.

In any case, it was rare for a Spirit King to intervene like this.

Beautiful green streams of wind wrapped around the sky, settling upon the broken and shattered flow of the world and healing it.

Astonishingly, the spirits rooted within the Spirit Corridor began to regain vitality.

The people in the corridor instinctively lifted their heads and looked up at the sky.

For a brief moment, a quiet stillness spread among those gazing upward at the once-chaotic sky of the Spirit Corridor.

I watched the scene silently before turning and walking away.

By the time I returned to Cascadia, Luna was already waiting for me.

After Elraim’s rampage, Luna had quickly returned to Cascadia.

If she had remained in the Spirit Corridor, she could have been caught up in it.

Normally she might have managed alone—but she was holding Elpiria.

“Ah… au! Au!”

The tiny child wriggled and opened her mouth as if instinctively realizing that her father had returned.

The sight naturally brought a smile to my face.

“Elpiria. Your dad went through a lot trying to come up with your name. Will you smile for me?”

Of course, Elpiria couldn’t possibly understand my words, but she wriggled about before suddenly breaking into a wide smile.

It was probably just a reflexive smile.

But with everything going on, it felt especially adorable.

As I held Elpiria in my arms and bounced her gently, Luna looked at me and chuckled.

“Leon. Are you injured anywhere?”

“No. Nothing serious happened.”

“That is fortunate. But…”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Why does the smell of Gabriel remain?”

She had instantly realized that an archangel had descended.

After a moment of thought, I told her about Elraim and about Gabriel descending to execute both him and Luna.

“The Archangel of Immaculacy…”

Luna’s fist clenched tightly with a creaking sound.

The emotion contained within it was anger.

Her reaction seemed strangely excessive if it was simply to the term Archangel of Immaculacy.

“The Archangel of Immaculacy… So they see Elpiria as nothing more than a weapon.”

At that moment the window burst open and Lispa Elde barged in.

“I sensed the lingering trace of that bastard Gabriel and rushed over… and it seems I’ve heard something interesting.”

She looked at Elpiria in my arms, then smiled brightly and poked Elpiria’s cheek.

“Oh my, who did you resemble to turn out this cute?”

“She resembles me.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, you bitch. She obviously resembles him. Oh dear, how lovely.”

Though they had been snarling at each other since their first meeting, this quarrel did not last long.

After all, both of them were filled with anger toward the archangels.

“What is the Archangel of Immaculacy?”

“Ah. You wouldn’t know.”

“In simple terms, it’s the vacant archangel.”

A vacant archangel.

“Long ago, when the Chief God created the archangels, the names of many angels were engraved. Three high archangels—and four others.”

Lispa drew her hand through the air, and a cluster of light spread out, forming a pattern.

Within it were positions for each archangel.

Michael’s name was engraved at the highest position.

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But at the very lowest position, there was no name at all.

“The Archangel of Immaculacy belongs here. In truth, it stands in opposition to Archangel Michael.”

“Nothing is certain, but it’s easiest to think of the Archangel of Immaculacy as being on the same level as the other three high archangels.”

In other words, Elpiria would occupy that empty seat.

“Elpiria… an archangel…”

“We can’t be certain yet. Elpiria still doesn’t show the unique power of an archangel.”

She might be one since she was born from an archangel.

But there was nothing that could confirm it.

Recently, Michael had done two things.

He tried to find Lucifer and obtain his power.

And he targeted Elpiria.

“But what do you mean by treating her like a weapon?”

“Earlier, I mentioned that the names of archangels were engraved. Do you remember?”

Lispa said with a hardened expression.

“Yes.”

“Each archangel governs something. And the Archangel of Immaculacy, unlike the others, has records that were kept strictly secret.”

The records concerning the being known as the Archangel of Immaculacy were brief.

But they were just as intense.

“The Archangel of Sacrifice.”

We fell silent.

After a moment, Luna spoke quietly.

“Michael intends to sacrifice Elpiria in order to kill that monster.”

“Sacrifice…”

“Leon, this will not do. We must find a way to go to Heaven.”

As Luna stood up, I reached out and made her sit back down.

“Calm down first. We don’t even have a way to get there right now.”

Gabriel had said he didn’t know about the Archangel of Immaculacy.

But there was no way he didn’t know about the “sacrifice” that Luna and Lispa knew.

Perhaps he feared that I would recklessly storm Heaven—just like Luna was about to do now.

Of course, finding a way to Heaven immediately and stirring up trouble there would be the worst possible move.

It would only end up helping the most dangerous enemy—the Outer God Yog.

But leaving things as they were didn’t sit right with me either.

The problem was that none of us knew how to reach Heaven.

Lispa and Luna had both lost the power that allowed them to go there.

Which meant there was only one source of information left.

‘Lucifer.’

—Khahaha. So you come looking for me when you need something?

‘You do the same thing, don’t you?’

—True. That’s not wrong. So… you want to go to Heaven? And what then? Planning to clash with that stone-like Michael again?

Previously, I had been pushed back by Michael’s power.

He was overwhelmingly strong, and the hierarchy of an archangel was particularly threatening.

But now, thanks to the Sword of Creation, the restrictions of hierarchy no longer applied to me.

‘No. I just plan to give them a warning.’

—Well, there are ways to go to Heaven. But before that, there’s something you’ll need to resolve.

‘Something to resolve?’

—There are several ways to get to Heaven, but the best method available to you right now is to receive help. However, the woman who can provide that help seems to currently be getting contaminated by the Outer God Yog.

‘Isna…’

Isna continued to waver under the Outer God’s whispers because the creature was cunningly exploiting the horrific memories from the Closed World.

—It would be proper to resolve that first. I’ll tell you this because you’ve done me a few favors, but you’d better abandon the naive idea that a few comforting words will free her from Yog.

Lucifer’s warning gave me much to think about.

‘Do you happen to know how the Outer God contaminates Isna?’

—I do.

‘Then is there a way to transfer that contamination to someone else?’

—There is. But for that to work, that girl’s resolve will need to become firm.

Then the solution had already appeared.

* **

Several days after Leon left the Spirit Corridor.

The promising spiritists who had wandered the snowfield, starting with Eltemion, gathered together in one place.

“Anyone injured?”

“Not really. This was part of the examination anyway.”

No one seemed seriously hurt.

In truth, there had been injuries.

However, those injured in the snowfield had died before anyone could even attempt treatment.

“I don’t see Young Master Cotton.”

“Cotton Belmud.”

When Lady Behena Mobierty mentioned the name, everyone fell silent.

Now that everything had been sorted out, they could finally grasp how absurd the things they had witnessed had been.

“A human… subdued a Spirit King… If you told that story anywhere else, people would just curse you for talking nonsense.”

“Indeed.”

No one denied it.

“What about the matter regarding Corison?”

At that moment, Lerban Code quietly asked.

He was referring to Corison Jackper of the Jackper family—the only spiritist who had died at Cotton’s hands.

After the incident ended, someone from the Jackper family had come searching for him, trying to find out where he was.

But no one had been willing to speak.

“He brought it upon himself. Charging in like he wanted to kill someone in that situation.”

In the middle of a life-or-death battle, no one could sympathize with someone who rushed forward with murderous intent.

“That man had a rotten personality to begin with. I plan to keep my mouth shut.”

When Behena Mobierty answered that way, Lerban Code nodded in agreement.

“I’ll keep quiet too. I’ll just say he ran off on his own and disappeared.”

They clearly had no desire to reveal that Cotton Belmud had killed him.

“At the very least, we owe him our lives. I feel the same.”

Eltemion replied quietly.

“Besides, if the Jackper family and the Belmud marquisate were to clash, things would become extremely complicated.”

Even amid the confusion, they quietly gathered their opinions.

No one objected.

Everyone knew Corison had crossed the line.

“I don’t think I can ever go around calling myself a genius again.”

“Same here.”

During the roughly week they spent together in the snowfield, they had grown considerably closer.

When they first met, they had merely seen one another as annoying competitors—people who didn’t matter.

But after experiencing life-and-death situations together, they had opened up to one another.

“My family used to praise me as a genius who appears once every thousand years.”

Behena Mobierty let out a bitter laugh.

“What an arrogant statement…”

“If you say that, what does that make the rest of us?”

“That’s not wrong, is it? More importantly, Eltemion. Why did you call us here?”

“It’s nothing special. I was thinking… we could create a group.”

“A group?”

Everyone turned their attention to him.

“What kind?”

“A spiritist organization. Participation is optional, but I don’t think our experience in the snowfield was meaningless.”

It was little more than a gathering of young people.

There was nothing particularly complicated about it, and judging by Eltemion’s tone, it had nothing to do with political organizations either.

“What’s the purpose?”

“Improvement.”

It was a short answer, but everyone nodded.

“In the snowfield, we encountered something beyond heaven. I don’t believe the sensation we felt then has fully faded. You all probably feel the same.”

“So… we share that experience and try to improve together?”

“That’s exactly it. And I also have a personal desire. I’m planning to invite Cotton Belmud to this group as well.”

“Will he accept?”

“Wouldn’t it be worth trying? And even if he doesn’t, that’s fine. I simply don’t want the bond between those of us who shared that experience to end here.”

“At the very least, we could travel and hang out together.”

Once the cleanup of the Corridor ended and everyone scattered, it would be rare for all of them to meet again.

But forming a group would give them a center to gather around.

Everyone agreed with Eltemion.

After all, by working with him they might learn the secrets of his spirit techniques.

In a sense, receiving advice from a contractor of a Spirit King would be more valuable than the prize for winning the competition.

“I’m in favor. If I can watch even a little of his skill and learn from it, I’ll do anything.”

“As it happens, I’ve already sent someone to the Belmud marquisate. I wrote him a letter. We should receive a reply soon.”

Just then, from the distant sky, a green bird flew in carrying a letter in its beak.

“The reply has arrived.”

He immediately opened the letter.

Everyone gathered their gaze.

And then he made a baffled sound.

“Huh? It says he’s not Cotton Belmud?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

The reply from the Belmud marquisate shattered their expectations.

“The guy we met… wasn’t Cotton Belmud?”

“Then… the person we met…”

They exchanged bewildered glances.

Someone suddenly shivered.

“What… does that mean we met a ghost?”

“That’s ridiculous. He was there even before the incident happened.”

After that, Eltemion quietly checked the bottom of the letter.

Then he froze when he saw the name written there.

“It says that, due to circumstances, someone else participated under Belmud’s name. That name is…”

“The name?”

“Leon. Leon Cascadia.”

Leon?

Because rumors from the Central Continent rarely reached the Western Continent, some of them did not recognize the name.

As everyone looked puzzled—

Eltemion spoke.

“So what? At least we know his real name now. Let’s try finding him.”

The promising participants of the competition clasped hands together.

But they quickly realized none of them had any idea where to find someone named Leon Cascadia.

Then it happened.

A boy who had been thinking deeply clapped his hands.

“I remember!”

“Remember? What are you talking about?”

“Leon Cascadia! I remembered! The guardian of the Bata Kingdom on the Central Continent! The one rumored to have single-handedly cut down multiple Sword Masters during the war with Coral!”

Normally they would have dismissed such talk as nonsense.

Yet none of them doubted the rumor.

However, the boy’s next words made everyone freeze.

“But… something’s strange. As far as I know, he’s supposed to be a swordsman who uses aura.”

“What are you talking about? He handled spirits with incredible skill.”

“No, I’m sure of it. I once went to the Central Continent with my father for trade. I heard the rumors myself. They said he cut down Sword Masters with his sword.”

Even the fact that a single individual had subdued a Spirit King was difficult to believe.

But what came next made the situation even more absurd.

“So… a swordsman strong enough to cut down Sword Masters… is also a mutant spiritist capable of defeating a Spirit King?”

“Uh… does that make sense?”

“Oh come on, what nonsense is that? If he’s a spiritist, I can accept that such a being might exist. We saw it ourselves, after all.”

“But…”

“But a spiritist who also uses a sword? That’s ridiculous.”

Even they found it difficult to accept that much.

At that moment, a boy who had not yet joined them burst into the room.

“Sorry I’m late. What were you all talking about?”

They briefly explained their previous conversation.

The boy’s eyes widened.

“Leon Cascadia? It was really that name? Not Cotton Belmud?”

“That’s what it says. Do you know anything about him?”

“Well… he’s pretty famous. That name has been spreading quietly among the Mage Association.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… he’s said to be a genius archmage who solved a problem the Mage Association couldn’t solve for hundreds of years. I don’t know exactly what the problem was, though.”

What nonsense was this now?

“A moment ago you said he cut down Sword Masters.”

“That’s what I’m saying! The rumor spread everywhere! They say the fall of the Coral Kingdom’s royal family happened because of him!”

“What are you talking about? That person is a mage.”

The truth only became more and more confusing.

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