“To actually see God’s Adversary I’ve only heard about in words. It’s an honor.”
The conversation proceeded in a friendly atmosphere.
Park Hyun-a, unlike her usual self, showed proper respect.
Emperor Lambert also didn’t assert his authority and praised Park Hyun-a.
“Speak comfortably. I heard you’re not such a rigid personality. Am I mistaken?”
“I know that Drason helped when I was wandering the battlefield alone in the past. Let’s call it showing respect to a benefactor.”
“My, I ordered for the help to be given secretly. It seems the information has leaked.”
Emperor Lambert wore quite a stern expression.
Park Hyun-a, who has long been called the God’s Adversary and waged war with Gatren.
Helping soone like her was a top secret that no one knew about.
It was information that even the person involved, Park Hyun-a, shouldn’t have known.
Just as he was thinking the secret must have leaked, Park Hyun-a smirked.
“Rather than your side making a mistake, it’s more that our side is too quick to notice things.”
Despite her attitude that could have seed impertinent, Emperor Lambert seed pleased and laughed heartily.
“Hahaha! That’s right! Indeed. Perhaps soone like you would have already known.”
“Actually, I didn’t know from the beginning, I noticed it relatively recently.”
“Is that so… However, this too is a misunderstanding. My orders to help you were purely for our Drason Empire’s sake. You have no reason to be so grateful. Therefore, there’s no need to force yourself to show respect.”
“I’m the type to focus on results. But well… If that’s what you really want, I’ll speak comfortably.”
As Park Hyun-a continued speaking, she naturally returned to her usual casual deanor.
Seeing this, Emperor Lambert nodded.
“Personally, I prefer that insolent attitude more. After all, the conversation we must have from now on will inevitably beco heavy.”
“I like that.”
At that mont, Park Hyun-a’s eyes lowered and glead sharply.
She had noticed that the Emperor wanted to get straight to the main point.
“So, what’s the reason for inviting us all the way here?”
“As you might have expected, it’s because of Gatren.”
“What about Gatren?”
“A letter ca from Gatren. They said if we don’t hand you over, they’ll annihilate the continent.”
Park Hyun-a furrowed her brow and fell into thought.
Though it was just one sentence, there were too many points that needed to be challenged.
“First of all, it’s laughable that they’re requesting Drason to hand us over, but let’s skip that. It’s true that Drason was helping underneath the surface, so they might misunderstand that we belong here. But what? Continental annihilation? You expect us to believe such an absurd claim?”
Annihilating the continent.
Not only would such a thing be impossible, but even if it were possible, why would they do such a thing?
Gatren is already an empire with plenty of possessions.
There’s no reason they would need to create the worst possible outco of world destruction.
“First, let correct a misunderstanding – Gatren knows our relationship exactly. Drason is rely a helper. We cannot force you.”
“Then why are they telling you to hand us over?”
“This brings us to the second point. Regarding the continent’s destruction, our investigation shows that Gatren’s words are not false.”
“Gatren actually has the power to annihilate the continent?”
“Yes. Rather than annihilation, it’s closer to mutual destruction. But the danger to the continent remains the sa.”
“So to summarize, it’s like this.”
Park Hyun-a heaved a deep sigh and continued.
“Gatren has a self-destruct switch that can destroy the continent. And they’re saying if we don’t want to see that switch pressed, hand us over quietly?”
“Precisely.”
“But why? What can Gatren gain from self-destructing? They’re still a massive empire that divides the continent.”
“It’s because Gatren has beco desperate. Thanks to your successive achievents.”
“They’ve beco desperate?”
“On the surface, Gatren still maintains its large size, but looking at the reality, it’s completely different. It’s rotting from the inside. What you’ve done has been eating away at Gatren’s interior, knowingly or unknowingly.”
“Ah… So that’s what it is.”
Park Hyun-a quickly grasped the situation.
Actually, she had sowhat guessed and half-intended this from before.
The Deusis faith forms Gatren’s foundation.
And the foundation of the Deusis faith is the demon race.
The Deusis faith can only survive if the demon race exists.
‘Originally, Gatren planned to handle the demon race to maximize Deusis’s power and then swallow the continent in one go.’
If they achieved victory in the war against the demon race, the Deusis faith’s influence would cover the entire continent.
What follows would be simple.
If they then linked so of the remaining powerful nations with demons and conducted witch hunts, taking over the continent would have been instantaneous.
‘However, that plan failed from the start.’
Though they eliminated the Demon King, the demon race still remained and even signed a peace treaty.
The doctrine of the Deusis faith, which claid demons were an evil that couldn’t coexist, was shaken from its roots.
Then the continued pursuit (war) within Gatren.
The deaths of the Cardinals.
National power and faith strength continued to be depleted.
As their influence naturally weakened, the hidden misdeeds and truths that had been concealed gradually began to be unveiled.
This created a vicious cycle where public sentint towards the Deusis faith and Gatren worsened further.
“I don’t intend to bla you now. We Drason were also part of it. No one knew Gatren was hiding such power.”
“Gatren is ridiculous. This is essentially self-inflicted. All we did was expose what was already rotten inside.”
“Hahaha! That’s one way to look at it. Anyway, what’s important is that Gatren is cornered. They’re fine for now, but they’ve realized there’s no future at this rate.”
“So they resorted to threats? Betting the entire continent?”
“That’s right.”
“On what grounds should we believe that? What, did they plant bombs across the entire continent?”
“Sothing similar.”
“Huh…?”
Park Hyun-a blinked in montary confusion.
“They planted bombs across the entire continent?”
“More precisely, they planted holy power.”
“Holy power…”
“All this ti we thought holy power was a force protecting humanity from the demon race, but in reality, it was the most lethal poison of all.”
The Pope’s following explanation went like this.
First, he spread out a map marking the locations of Deusis faith temples across the continent.
Looking at it this way, the temples seed rely scattered irregularly, but when lines were drawn connecting the major temples, it told a different story.
“A magic circle…?”
“Not just any magic circle. A continental-scale magic circle.”
The magic circle ford by connecting the major temples covered nearly one-third of the continent.
Looking at just human territories, it covered about half.
“Once activated, at least half of humanity is within range.”
“That’s correct.”
“So. What happens when the magic circle activates?”
“All those who possess holy power will go berserk.”
“Berserk…?”
“They beco madn. You could say it’s similar to becoming undead.”
Park Hyun-a was lost for words.
Holy power, the force protecting humanity.
To use that to create a state similar to undead.
No, even if that were possible, what kind of organization was Gatren to think of doing this to half the continent?
“Gatren calls this ‘The Empire’s Sacrifice.'”
“They sure gave it a fancy na…”
It was easy to understand why this magic was called ‘The Empire’s Sacrifice.’
It was designed to activate across not only all of Gatren Empire’s territory but primarily in pro-Gatren countries.
“Gatren has more people with holy power than any other country. Activating that would basically drive all their citizens insane, and they’re saying they’ll do that?”
“That’s why they call it the Empire’s Sacrifice, isn’t it?”
“Crazy bastards.”
“There’s still sothing truly important left.”
“What else could there be…?”
Park Hyun-a asked with a tired expression.
Over 20% of humanity might beco madn in an instant, what could be more important than that?
“All those who beco madn will beco Gatren’s army. Not only will they have physical abilities far superior to normal humans, but they’ll know no fear. The strongest army will be born.”
“Huh…”
“When that magic activates, it’s fair to say the continent will be destroyed.”
They’ll sacrifice all their citizens.
Gatren, with nothing left to lose, will try to conquer the continent by any ans necessary.
And their conquest of the continent will likely succeed.
Because they’ll have an army that’s both larger and stronger than all the continent’s armies combined.
“I don’t know what will remain on this land after the war ends. But it seems Gatren wanted the continent even if they had to go that far.”
“They’re really exceptional psychos…”
“Anyway, even for them, the Empire’s Sacrifice is a last resort. That’s why they’re attempting this negotiation disguised as threat. To avoid using that final asure if possible.”
“Thanks to that, we have no choice but to comply?”
“I have no intention of forcing you.”
“We can’t not do it. If we don’t, the continent will be destroyed…”
The enemy held out a nuclear bomb switch that could erase the continent as a negotiation card.
And they said.
If you don’t want to see this button pressed, co and sacrifice your life.
What else could be done besides dying here?
“By any chance. Is there no way to stop that magic?”
Then, Choi Hyun-seok, who had only been listening, joined the conversation for the first ti.
The Emperor shook his head at that question.
“Unfortunately, it’s impossible. We haven’t fully understood the magic yet, and above all, we lack ti.”
“Speaking of ti?”
“We would need to simultaneously attack and destroy the continent’s major grand temples, but that’s physically impossible. If we show any half-hearted attempt to attack the temples, the enemy might activate the magic circle first.”
“Ah…”
To make an analogy:
To prevent the nuclear bomb from exploding, you’d need to completely cut off the switch’s power.
For that, you’d need to shut down power sources spread across the entire continent.
It’s physically impossible.
If you make hasty moves to cut the power, and the enemy presses the switch before the power is completely off, that’s the end.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t intend to force you. If you continue fighting as you have been, we would be grateful for just that.”
Park Hyun-a sneered at the Emperor’s words.
“No need to worry so much about your image. I understand. Honestly, you can’t help but hope for it – if just us two die, you can cleanly protect the continent.”
“Hmm, you seem to misunderstand. I’m speaking sincerely.”
“Sincerely?”
“Peace obtained through your sacrifice. That would only be temporary.”
Emperor Lambert continued with a grave expression.
“They would still have that bomb switch. After we hand you over, what will they demand next? Influence over neighboring countries? Dissolution of alliances? As we give in one by one, eventually they’ll demand it.”
The Emperor’s eyes were filled with certainty as if seeing a predetermined future.
“Hand over our empire.”
He smirked and waved his hand.
“When such a future is so obvious, why should we force unnecessary sacrifice upon you?”
“But if we don’t, the continent might be destroyed right now, not in the future?”
“You’re not wrong. However, we are the Drason Empire.”
The Emperor leaned back against his chair and continued.
“Even if the continent falls, we will be the last nation remaining on this continent. If we survive, we will rise again, and if we fall, that will be the end of the continent.”
It was arrogant.
It was practically saying that the Drason Empire was humanity itself.
However, the Emperor was as composed as soone stating obvious common sense.
“Although the damage would be great, my honest feeling is that we’ll find so way before humanity is destroyed.”
“This Emperor fellow is quite carefree.”
“That’s what being Emperor is about. One can’t live their full life if they worry about trivial matters.”
To call the potential destruction of the empire, even the continent, a trivial matter.
Even if it was a joke or bravado, his nerve was impressive.
‘Looking at his expression, he might be serious.’
Seeing his consistently relaxed expression without any wavering, it seed like he might really an it.
“I won’t demand an answer right away. Gatren has given us ti as well. Three days. Answer within that ti. Whether you will go to die or not.”
Park Hyun-a shook her head.
“Why not just say it now? It’s not like giving us ti will change anything.”
Having already discussed this with Choi Hyun-seok, their opinions were aligned.
There was no need to wait three days.
No, from now on, ti was gold.
They needed to make a decision imdiately and move quickly.
“Whatever. Let’s die once.”
Despite everything, they were heroes.
When villains threaten humanity as hostages, they can’t run away cowardly.
And being helplessly defeated by villains is also far from a hero’s duty.
“However, things won’t go the way they want.”
So they would stake their lives as the enemy wanted.
And thoroughly destroy them.
As they always had.
“We’ll defeat the villains like proper heroes.”
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