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Chapter 460

It had been a long time since Cascadia’s atmosphere had sunk this low.

The foremost reason was that Melissa—someone who normally wouldn’t break easily no matter what happened—was lying in bed with a gloomy expression, not even getting up.

“That bastard Gabriel.”

Meanwhile Lispa, perhaps because her body, which had fought alongside her, still ached, she clicked her tongue with a frown.

“Did Gabriel say anything else?”

“No. He just showed up out of nowhere saying he’d take Elpiria, so we ended up fighting it out.”

“……”

“I knew his protection magic was incredible, but also that it’d be difficult against Gabriel. So I was on guard, but…….”

Unable to hide her resentment, her fist clenched tightly.

“Hey. You’re going to the heavens, right?”

“I am.”

“Take me with you.”

She grabbed Luna’s arm tightly.

“I can’t live with this. Those damned archangels—I’ll tear them all apart.”

“No.”

However, Luna refused firmly.

“What? Hey. Have you lost your mind? He took Elpiria. That damn bastard.”

“Even so, no.”

“You crazy bitch. Aren’t you worried? Do you think those archangel bastards—especially that lunatic Michael—will just find your child cute and dote on her? They’ll try to awaken her into an archangel right at the tip of the heavenly crystal!”

* * *

-Oh no! She’s running that way! There are lots of sharp things, be careful!

-Baby! Come here! Please!

-Oh…… damn it! Don’t touch the Heavenly Thermal Crystal Core!

Even Luna and Leon—both of whom had seen quite a lot—would have been stunned; Elpiria’s playfulness easily surpassed all limits.

The two former archangels had no way of knowing that Uriel and Camael, both archangels, were currently chasing after Elpiria, who ran around the heavens laughing gleefully, her stamina completely absurd.

And it wasn’t because they were particularly fond of children.

Eventually, Elpiria—who had temporarily grown into the form of about a five-year-old—ran toward Raguel, who was quietly sitting to one side purifying the otherworldly contamination that had formed on his arm.

Startled, he recoiled.

-D-Don’t come closer! The contamination hasn’t been purified yet! It’s dangerous!

-Hic. Sniff…… Waaahhh!!!!

-Tch…… Camael!! Bring something! I should have some toys I brought from the middle realm?!

-She seems to have already grown bored of those.

-How interesting. Even Raguel shows such a side…….

-I was more surprised when Lord Michael made his armor disappear in the first place.

At the sight of the child crying loudly, even the cold and unyielding Raguel looked flustered, as though he himself couldn’t understand why he was acting this way, casting pleading glances at Camael and Uriel for help.

It wasn’t just Lispa and Luna—the tendency for archangels to become unusually weak when it came specifically to Elpiria.

* * *

At Lispa’s cold rebuke, Luna answered briefly.

“All the more reason to assess the situation calmly and realistically.”

Grinding her teeth, Luna continued.

“At the very least, if we had discovered it before Elpiria was taken, things wouldn’t have deteriorated this far.”

“About that… I’m sorry.”

She lowered her head deeply in apology.

At that, Luna’s eyes widened slightly.

“You’re apologizing? You? Did Gabriel hit you on the head or something?”

“Shut up. Elpiria is a precious child who inherited that person’s blood. Your half-blood doesn’t matter.”

Blind favor toward Leon—that was Lispa’s emotion.

“If I had stopped it properly, that child wouldn’t have been taken.”

When judged coldly, that was an undeniable truth.

“There’s something you need to do.”

“What is it.”

“Stay here and prepare for any contingencies.”

From the beginning, the enemy had been the Outer Gods and Nyarlathotep—not the archangels.

If Lispa also left, and Leon ended up tied down in the heavens, there would truly be no one left to protect this place.

The chances of Nyarlathotep or the Outer Gods attacking were low.

But hadn’t this disaster occurred precisely because of complacency?

“This time, you’ll protect it properly? What are you going to do—fight the heavens with just you and Leon?”

“To do that, we need preparation on this side as well. Gabriel promised to prevent anything from happening to Elpiria for one month. Michael likely won’t interfere much with that either.”

If that weren’t the case, he would’ve pushed through by force.

Lispa said nothing more.

Leaving Cascadia in Lispa’s care, Luna tightly grasped the pendant she had received from Leon.

Her destination was where Diablo was.

To seek out the one researching Lucifer, the ancient primordial archangel.

As someone incomplete, she couldn’t display her former prowess—not even against other archangels, let alone Michael.

* * *

“Librarian.”

[Confirmed.]

“How many halls can I currently receive a transfer from?”

[Currently analyzing. As the power of the Hall of Martial God is gradually increasing, we are determining the most efficient hall among those that can be transferred without being seized.]

After a brief silence, text from the Librarian appeared.

[Will you accept? As it has not been long since you accepted the memory of the previous hall, there is a possibility of severe pain.]

“As long as it works, that’s fine.”

At those words, the Librarian began preparing the memory transfer of the hall.

Afterward, Leon met Isna and activated the Book of Genesis.

“Not sure whether to call this good timing or unfortunate.”

“Either way, let’s strengthen.”

At his words, Isna silently began her preparations.

“Sorry I couldn’t be of help.”

“It’s fine. You have your own matters.”

The problem had arisen precisely when Isna had returned to the Mielephon family.

Though she seemed to feel unnecessary guilt, from Leon’s perspective, there was no justification to entrust her with the defense of Cascadia.

Nor did she have any such obligation.

“Regardless, removing the hierarchy restriction alone won’t be enough. The next move……”

“Leon. Wait a moment.”

Isna stopped him.

“What is it?”

“Just this once. Can you listen to me this once?”

“Go ahead.”

Leon answered calmly, and after glancing at the Book of Genesis, she spoke.

“For this enhancement… I want you to erase your fate.”

Isna was visibly anxious.

“My fate?”

To be honest, the fate of a failure that Lucifer had mentioned hadn’t felt particularly real.

So it was questionable.

The power gained from enhancing the Book of Genesis was stronger—so why?

At Leon’s doubt, Isna suppressed her anxiety and answered.

“Please. I don’t have a good feeling. Even my dream last night was strange. So… just this once, listen to me. We’ve decided to fully cooperate against the Outer Gods now, haven’t we?”

At her plea to trust her, Leon pondered.

Enhancing the Book of Genesis was not easy.

And if, instead of altering fate, another method were used, one could obtain overwhelming power.

Coldly speaking, at a time when even a single additional strength was needed, something as intangible as fate manipulation felt somewhat ambiguous.

Of course, it wasn’t useless.

In fact, after he experimentally altered Paris’s fate, the wretched life filled with romantic misfortune that had plagued him completely disappeared.

He was now living upright, preparing to date Melissa, and honing himself.

It felt a bit strange, considering he would be his younger sister’s future husband, but the guy had talent.

“Alright.”

After deliberation, I accepted her proposal.

Whatever the third power might be, it was something that would have to be done eventually.

My fate was that of a failure.

Based on my current memories and information, it seemed inclined toward failing at the very end—but it was certain that I didn’t know when that final moment would come.

In fact, Gabriel had said that three core points of this dimension had already been occupied by the Outer Gods.

Preparation was necessary.

Isna manifested her authority and poured it into the Book of Genesis, while I used the power of the Hall of Enhancement to strengthen it.

And then—

Leon Cascadia.

Bearer of the fate of a failure.

I erased my fate, written in the Book of Fate—the original form of the Book of Genesis.

“I do want to help, but once I open the gate to the heavens, I won’t be able to move for a while. I’ll have to maintain the path for your return from the middle realm.”

“That’s more than enough.”

* * *

[Translator - Night]

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The memory transfer was complete.

After carefully considering every possible means to deal meaningful damage to Michael, I reached a conclusion.

[The Aura of Heavenly Extremity is imbued.]

The hall I obtained this time was the Hall of Spear.

And upon retrieving this memory, I realized something clearly.

In terms of pure offensive power alone, this was far stronger than the Hall of Sword or the Hall of Martial Arts.

However, just as with the Hall of Sword, I wasn’t someone attached to weapons.

Especially in Labyrinthos, when a weapon broke, a new one would appear.

Because of that, I had used spears as disposable items, like arrows, without hesitation.

But this time, I couldn’t do that.

I needed a level of power that could withstand—even the destructive force embedded in my own spear techniques, which could destroy weapons themselves.

Like Elekstra, the demonic sword with indestructible power.

But using a demonic sword like a spear would obviously result in losses.

That was the problem.

The nature of weapons changed depending on what kind of power you used.

So when creating one, there was no choice but to do it properly from the start.

“Then… would this help?”

While I was pondering, Merkavalt showed me a certain set of blueprints she had brought from the Dwarf Royal Palace.

“What is this?”

“These are the lifelong ‘doodles’ of the artisan who made this body’s Sea Dragon Armor.”

She confidently handed me the bundle of old documents.

My first impression upon seeing it was disbelief.

What is this?

These selfish blueprints that seem to dump everything onto the artisan’s skill.

“Was he even capable of making this himself?”

“Impossible! That’s why I called them doodles! This body remembers that!”

I stared at the blueprints again.

Ridiculous.

If the blueprint had a will, I felt like grabbing it by the collar and interrogating it.

Hey, is this even correct?

Communicate.

Let’s communicate, damn it.

Is this right?

Of course, the blueprint didn’t answer.

What he had left behind was, frankly speaking, closer to fantasy.

“Is it… impossible?”

She asked anxiously.

It wasn’t just concern for me—she seemed afraid that the lifelong dream of the artisan she cherished might truly be impossible.

“Yes. Under normal circumstances, it is.”

It wasn’t as though I had never conceived of something like this myself.

In fact, I had created numerous weapons in Labyrinthos—but not in this way.

However—

“Is that so… I see. Right. A doodle is just a doodle.”

“However, that’s only with conventional forging methods.”

“What?”

There was a clear difference between who I was now and who I had been in Labyrinthos.

“Mixing orichalcon and adamantium in the first place is absurd—but there’s exactly one way to make it possible.”

Fuse them into one.

The Mechanical God’s Heart?

That wouldn’t work.

And right now, there was one power I possessed that could grant something special to a weapon.

The Hall of Spirit Sword.

I intended to complete this weapon by turning it into a spirit weapon.

No matter the method, as long as the result was the same.

I didn’t know what dream the artisan had when he conceived this—but I would stick to my own method.

“What materials are needed?”

“Do you… perhaps have materials like these in the Dragon Forge?”

I handed her a list of rare materials I had prepared in advance.

The biggest issue—adamantium and orichalcon—I already had.

Orichalcon was being mined in small amounts, and I had succeeded in securing adamantium. However, the other rare materials weren’t things you could easily obtain with money.

“Hmm… I’ll have to ask. They might be in this body’s lair or the royal palace stores. I’ll check.”

Saying that, Merkavalt hopped out of the workshop like an excited young girl.

Then, undoing her polymorph, she shot into the sky at incredible speed, flying toward the Dragon Forge.

As if waiting for her to leave, Melissa’s voice echoed through the workshop.

“Brother.”

“Why’d you come out instead of resting more? Lispa said that even if your body’s fine, your mind needs rest.”

“Sorry… I couldn’t protect our niece.”

“Trying to beat an archangel is what’s unreasonable. It’s fine. If anything, it’d be better if you were shameless. What was the kid’s father doing while she was being taken?”

In truth, after this incident, I had reinforced Cascadia’s protection and surveillance magic dozens of times over—like locking the stable after the horse had bolted—making it far more intricate and powerful.

So that even if Gabriel approached stealthily again, it wouldn’t be easy.

I knew well that sacrificing myself completely just to protect everyone was a foolish approach.

But I rationalized it—telling myself that doing this at least eased my mind a little.

“……”

Melissa, unusually downcast, lowered her gaze.

Tears streamed down her eyes.

“I’m sorry. I really did my best.”

“Then just train more. This time your older brother will handle it—but next time, you can.”

“……”

“You’re a Sword Master. You’ll live long anyway.”

Melissa didn’t answer.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“Stabilize the territory. It’s a mess, and the people are afraid.”

If Melissa wavered, all of Cascadia would waver.

Knowing that, she clenched her teeth and replied quietly.

“Got it, you three-legged octopus.”

“Go do your work, Pachycephalosaurus.”

Like a headbutting dinosaur—charge first, think later.

At my words, a faint smile touched her lips.

I had been worried she might remain lost in despair, but thankfully, she seemed to recover quickly.

“Oh, right. The equipment you made earlier while getting a feel for things—they’re all piled up in the warehouse. What are you going to do with them? Aurora came by recently, saw them, and her eyes lit up—she asked if you’d consider selling them. Same with the artifacts. Lately, the Planetaria Trading Company has been making huge profits.”

Though it was a trading company created single-handedly by the daughter of the Lavren family—the wealthiest banking family on the continent—Planetaria was now soaring thanks to its semi-exclusive contract with Cascadia.

From Aurora’s perspective as a businesswoman, it couldn’t be more delightful.

“Handle it however you want.”

“Then I’ll just sell them through Aurora?”

Even if they were mass-produced, each piece was overwhelmingly superior compared to what was currently circulating on the continent……

Well, it didn’t really matter.

After Melissa—who had been trying to act fine—left, I took out the adamantium obtained from the Dragon Forge and stored it in a complete vacuum space devoid of mana and air.

Then I prepared Sur, the spirit of heat, and Tiamet, the spirit of liquid, to assist with the work.

“This has to succeed in one go. If you listen well, I’ll give you all plenty of treats.”

At my words, Sur, standing atop Tiamet’s head—a massive bear—chirped bravely.

The youngest spirit, Tiamet, followed Gribi well, but especially listened to Sur.

“Alright. Let’s start by melting this damned ore. Sur, light it up.”

-Piiik!

It seemed as if it was asking, how hot should I make it?

In response, I poured all the spirit mana I had into it.

“At least twelve million degrees.”

For a moment, it felt as though Sur’s tiny eyes widened—but the brave little creature adjusted its horned helmet once, chirped proudly, and flapped its wings.

The scale of temperature had completely changed.

But there was no choice.

This damned adamantium required at least that level of heat to be refined from its base mineral state.

And once fully processed, melting adamantium again was practically impossible.

I intended to generate a heat so extreme it would make the sun seem trivial—and confine it within the furnace.

* * *

Several days after Leon began preparing his work, Luna—having made contact with Diablo—arrived at the snow-covered demonic region in the far northern part of the Western Continent, untouched by any human trace.

If his prediction was correct, this place had a high likelihood of leading into the space within the Rift of the End.

Even in this place of terrifying cold, Luna—wearing light, fluttering clothing without the slightest change in expression—quietly looked down into the endless glacial crevasse.

At the bottom, beyond even the sight of an archangel, lay the passage leading to the gatekeeper.

-How amusing. That brat actually found this place?

At Lucifer’s mocking tone, Luna frowned slightly.

“This is the place?”

-Yes. But even for an archangel, with your half-baked power, it won’t be easy. If you succeed in entering, I’ll uphold my end of the deal. This is entertainment for me, after all.

“Honestly, I thought you’d refuse.”

-It’s just a whim. And I no longer work without compensation.

At Lucifer’s proposal, Luna spread her wings without hesitation and leapt into the crevasse.

Even as she plummeted at tremendous speed, she pushed herself to go even faster.

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