The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations Chapter 824

Episode 824: Just One More Time for the World (2)

Astion and Lionel quickly blocked Deneb’s path. At the same time, the Yulien mercenaries drew their weapons and surrounded Deneb.
Yulien slowly extended his sword and asked Arterion in a cold voice,
“What do you mean, ‘Deneb, sacrifice yourself?'”
“Exactly. Sealing it isn’t that difficult. It simply requires suppressing the demon’s energy with the power of the Holy Stone. However, it requires the sacrifice of the saint who wields the Holy Stone.”
“Is there no other way?”
“No. Only the saint’s sacrifice can seal the Demonic Mirror.”
“I refuse.”
Yulien said firmly, as if he didn’t need to think about it any further. He had no intention of sacrificing Deneb, no matter what.
Arterion then smiled faintly and asked back,
“If we fail to seal the Demonic Mirror, the priests of the Salvation Church will flock here again. Over time, they will regain their power and eventually wage war again.”
“…”
“Even with the saint, it took ten years to end this war. Countless people have died, and even our dragons are now reduced to only twelve.”
“…….”
Arterion’s eyes began to glow with murder.
“And you want to repeat that brutal war? How long do you plan to fight? Until humanity is destroyed?”
“…….”
“No, the next war might certainly lead to destruction. There are no heroes or saints, and our dragons are dwindling in number.”
“…….”
“If the saint sacrifices just one, it’s over. Humanity will no longer need to fight the Demonic Realm. The people of the world will be able to live in peace, without worrying about its invasion.”
“…….”
“And yet you refuse? You refuse this glorious sacrifice? Is that what a warrior who claims to serve the world says?”
Ddddddd… ….
Arterion’s momentum grew stronger. He was furious.
The world had always been in turmoil because of the Demonic Realm. People had been selfish, thinking only of today over tomorrow.
The fear of the demonic realm unleashing its power had no choice but to change people.
Therefore, the demonic realm had to be destroyed. But for that to happen, the saint’s sacrifice was absolutely necessary.
Despite Arterion’s wrath, Yulien spoke calmly.
“I refuse.”
He offered no excuses or persuasion. He simply expressed his refusal with a firm gaze.
“…Huh.”
Arterion calmed his temper and let out a hollow laugh.
I knew he was stubborn, but I didn’t expect him to be so unmoved.
So he asked again.
“Didn’t you say you risked your lives for the world? I thought you would calmly accept a sacrifice for the world?”
“That’s what happens when you give your best and the outcome is unavoidable. I have no intention of accepting such a forced sacrifice.”
Arterion sneered and looked at Deneb.
“Anyway, I don’t need others’ opinions. Only the person involved matters. Saint, are you prepared to sacrifice yourself for the world?”
“I…”
Deneb opened her mouth with a trembling voice.
She had always wanted to be of help to the world. Even as a powerless, lowly priestess,
she had been grateful for the miracles bestowed upon her after awakening as a saint and fighting the demonic realm.
So she did her best. She hoped for the demonic realm to disappear and a peaceful world to come.
But it wasn’t over yet. They say true peace requires sacrifice.
Deneb closed her eyes.
“Goddess… … .”
Even for the sake of the world, accepting death is difficult for anyone. Even she, the so-called saint, felt the same.
But if her life was necessary to save the world,
if true peace could come to the world,
she was prepared to give even this one life.
“…I will.”
Deneb opened her eyes and spoke with a determined expression. Arterion smiled as if he had expected her to do so and extended a hand.
“Deneb!”
Yulien shouted fiercely. His eyes were filled with a burning anger.
The moment he heard Arterion’s words, he had expected Deneb to make this choice. But Yulien could never accept it.
He would rather give his own life, if they asked him to. But not Deneb’s life.
Deneb said with a faint smile.
“Yulien… This is what we wanted.”
“Not me.”
“Get out of the way.”
“I can’t.”
Deneb tried to push Yulien past, but Astion blocked her path.
“Wait a minute.”
Astion stopped Deneb’s steps and looked around.
Something was strange.
No one objected to sacrificing the saint who saved the world. No one questioned it.
No one was even shaken. Not
even Iraniel and Grondal.
Astion’s face twisted.
“Everyone… did you know?”
Iraniel nodded with a dark expression. Grondal, too, closed his eyes with a hardened expression.
Borisko and the cardinals simply turned away.
At that moment, a sense of betrayal welled up in Astion’s chest.
Everyone here owed a great debt to the Yulien Mercenaries, and to Deneb.
Without the Yulien Mercenaries, none of them could have endured, or even survived.
And yet, at this crucial moment… … they turned their backs on them.
Astion’s eyes filled with rage.
“How! How could you do that!”
His shout echoed through everyone.
“You decided to throw away Deneb’s life without even consulting us? Our benefactor! Our comrade! Our friend! How could you do this!”
Kwaaaaah!
A tremendous amount of magical power gushed from Astion’s body.
Like a massive storm, the magical power spread out fiercely, threatening everyone.
Iraniel said with a sad expression,
“I’m sorry… But we can’t face another war like this.”
She knew what she was about to do was wrong. She felt even more guilty because the one she was forcing her to sacrifice was her race’s benefactor.
However, countless elves died and spirits were annihilated in this war.
For the elves, who dreamed of harmony with the world and lived in peace, it was an excruciatingly painful and brutal experience.
That’s why, despite knowing it was wrong, she accepted Arterion’s offer. She didn’t want another war like this.
Grondal felt the same way. The dwarves, with their inherent warrior nature, had died more often than the elves.
He spoke in a somber voice.
“I will abandon the honor of a warrior and bear all the stigma. I, too, lack the confidence to fight another war like this.”
All it takes is the sacrifice of one saint. Then the world will be at peace. The dwarves will no longer have to die.
Grondal had no choice but to make his choice as a king, not a warrior.
Borisko, now the Pope, sighed deeply and said,
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel sorry for you. Without you, we wouldn’t have won this war. But the next war will surely be ours.”
It was the saint who finally appeared after so many years. There was no guarantee that the saint would be there in the next war.
The fear of the adversary was painfully felt in this war. As long as the demon’s thoughts persisted, an adversary like the adversary could appear at any time.
But not the saint. The saint had remained hidden for so long.
How could it be that Deneb was called the first saint, despite the existence of saints before her?
Even if there was a guarantee that the saintess would reappear, this war couldn’t continue forever.
Borisko continued in a dry voice.
“The goddess would understand. It is her will to save the world. That’s why she sent the saintess to this world. If the saintess takes everything on herself and sacrifices herself, the world will be saved.” ”
…”
Astion chuckled and slowly scanned his surroundings.
No one seemed to change their minds. Only the Yulien mercenary group stood silently guarding Deneb.
Crack.
Astion gritted his teeth and glared at Arterion.
“Yes, I understand that you all betrayed us. And that’s because you’re afraid to fight again. But do you think you can proceed with the sealing on your own?”
He didn’t know how the sealing process would proceed. But he thought it wouldn’t be easy. He could easily disrupt it.
Arterion chuckled and said,
“Didn’t I tell you? Sealing isn’t that difficult.”
At Arterion’s beckoning gesture, Iraniel, Grondal, and Borisko stepped onto the altar.
Small platforms flanked the altar. Each person stood before one of them and took out their clan’s sacred stones.
Deneb had returned the stones to everyone after the war, as Arterion had said they needed to seal the demonic realm.
Now, all that remained of Deneb was the ornament that had been fused with the sacred stones.
Arterion placed the sacred stones on the platform and uttered an incomprehensible word.
It wasn’t a language of this world. It sounded like some magical incantation, or perhaps even some otherworldly language.
And a moment later,
Paaaaak!
Light burst forth from the holy stone, soaring into the sky.
Iraniel placed the stone on the platform. She, like Arterion, muttered something incomprehensible.
So did Grondal and Borisko. As they finished speaking, light erupted from the holy stone they had each placed down.
Arterion gazed at the lights and spoke.
“This spell draws upon the power of the holy stone for sealing. The leaders of each race once knew this, but now it has been passed down only to me, the Dragon Lord. I have revealed this ritual to everyone.”
He turned to Astion and continued.
“The ritual of receiving the recognition of the Source when each new leader ascends to their position is, in fact, for this purpose. You may have thought it was merely a formality, like the coronation of a new leader.”
His gaze now turned to Deneb.
“But this is not enough. Each leader merely agreed to use the power of the holy stone, but cannot actually wield it.”
Arterion reached out to her again.
“So now, you must use the power of the Holy Stone to begin the sealing. Just as I told you, until your life ends.”
Yulien gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
He wanted to slash that brazen dragon’s face right then and there.
But then Astion blocked Yulien’s path again. This time, Astion sensed something was off.
“Why did you tell him that in advance?”
Arterion tilted his head at Astion’s question.
“Shouldn’t you be honest about the saint’s sacrifice?”
“You could have deceived us with lies and put Deneb in that position?”
“Because the saint can stop herself.”
“…”
“Even if you want to deceive her, you can’t. This is something no one can force; she must see it through to the end.”
“Is that so?”
Astion nodded, lost in thought. Seeing this, Arterion continued calmly.
“I know this is sad for you. And I know it’s confusing to hear this so suddenly. But this is the only way to seal the Demonic Realm. For the sake of this world, the Saintess has no choice but to sacrifice herself.”
“…”
“Saintess, I’m sorry, but you have no choice. If you refuse, we dragons will kill not only your companions, but also everyone who has a connection with you.”
Arterion’s eyes gleamed with an eerie glow.
This was the best course for him. That’s why he didn’t hesitate to use threats or coercion.
Regardless of the process, if the Saintess sacrificed herself, it was over.
Deneb had already made up her mind. She planned to somehow persuade Yulien and her friends to go to the altar.
After all, as Arterion had said, she had no choice. If Deneb refused the sacrifice, Arterion would truly kill everyone.
The elves and dwarves might not know, but the Empire would undoubtedly side with the dragons and lend its strength.
Of course, Yulien had no intention of letting that happen. He blocked Deneb’s path again.
“No.”
“Get out of the way. I don’t want any more war either. I don’t want my friends to be sacrificed.”
“But I can’t stand by and watch you sacrifice yourself.”
“Julian, please…”
Deneb’s voice trembled. In truth, she was barely holding on.
She believed she would be happy when the war ended. She believed she would live in a peaceful world with the people she cared about.
But that was just a dream. Now, for the sole dream of saving the world, she had to give up everything else.
“Giselle… … I guess this was an unchangeable fate.”
No matter how strong the Julien mercenary group became, they couldn’t fight the dragons. Ultimately, to save everyone, she had to sacrifice herself.
Deneb held back tears.
Separating from Julien was worse than death. She didn’t want her friends to die.
But if she shed tears here, Julien would explode. She
had to remain calm. She had to be cold and firm. That was the way to protect Julien and her friends.
The moment Deneb lowered her head and tried to push Yulien away,
Astion caught her. He hugged Deneb, putting distance between them.
Yulien was about to swing his sword, but stopped when he saw that it was Astion.
He looked puzzled.
Astion
had drawn a dagger and was pointing it at Deneb’s neck.
“Astion… why?”
Everyone looked shocked.
No one could understand why Astion would suddenly do something like that.
Arterion frowned and opened his mouth.
“What did you do? Could it be that the adversary’s aura corrupted you?”
Asterion had suspected this all along.
But Astion wasn’t consumed by the adversary’s aura.
He glared at Arterion and asked,
“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“All Deneb had to do was sacrifice? Yes, that could be true. But what happened to the previous saint?”
“…”
“Tell me. You said she refused to sacrifice, right? Then what happened after that? Did she just leave you alone because she had no weaknesses? Did you dragons? No, everyone in the world tried to kill her by placing her on the altar? Did she ignore it all and live happily?”
“…”
“Or did she take her own life because she couldn’t bear it? Wouldn’t it have been better to just save the world and die? At least someone who was called a saint would have had that kind of sacrificial spirit. Isn’t that right?”
“…”
Astion pressed the dagger closer to Deneb’s neck. Before she knew it, blood began to flow from her neck.
“So tell me. What happened to the saint from before? Before I kill Deneb right here, right now.”
Arterion remained silent. That was why Astion was certain.
It would be better for
Deneb to die here, than to be forcibly sacrificed for the sake of the seal.