novelraw Chapter 377
Chapter 377
Lena - Shackles
A mysterious occurrence. The appearance and hunting of monsters. Rumors of seeing fairies, meeting fairies. Blessings. Miracles.
These were all, to some extent, real and familiar enough to encounter.
But this situation unfolding before my eyes was beyond belief, even as I watched it.
Something enormous had appeared in the royal palace.
There was no other way to describe it but that it had appeared. If this enormous entity had burst through a wall to make its entrance, there might have been other ways to phrase it. But that wasn’t the case.
I blinked, and suddenly a shoulder-like protrusion jutted out of the wall.
The floor surged, connecting to that shoulder, giving the impression of an arm. No, the floor rippled as if the arm itself were moving.
When I entered the banquet hall, the sight became even more absurd.
The chandeliers on the ceiling were pushed aside, and something unmistakably human-like emerged—a face confronting Prince Lean.The prince looked pale.
“You knew I was coming, Astroth.”
- Indeed.
The gray face, its features barely discernible, spoke as though enduring great effort.
- I also know you haven’t come to fulfill your promise.
“How do you know that?”
- Because this has happened before. Enough. I have no desire to speak with a mere copy. I am tired. I am sick of this. I am angry. Die. You’ll come back to life anyway.
“What?”
A hand rose from the floor like a wave.
No, rather than a hand, it resembled an eagle’s talons, and it aimed to crush the prince.
At that moment, Ray darted forward. I... I could only watch as Ray rushed out.
My body wouldn’t move. To be honest, I was too terrified to move.
Not just me—every noble, knight, and soldier present was frozen in fear, staring at the ceiling.
Like rats caught in the gaze of a snake.
The only ones moving were Prince Lean, Ray, Mr. Rev, Miss Lena, and... Marquis Tatian and the Swordmaster.
The marquis tilted his head.
“What is that?”
The count didn’t reply. As if possessed, he charged, and his aura blade slashed the ceiling. The enormous face was split in half, but the inside was hollow.
The situation didn’t improve.
The face moved even as it remained split, and terror oozed from the cracks. Black moss spread, covering the ceiling, walls, and floor.
People collapsed in order of their fragility. Some clutched their chests as if suffering heart attacks, while others convulsed from hyperventilation.
I wasn’t much different.
I had always prided myself on being a courageous person, yet I couldn’t even move a finger in the face of this fear. The terror we felt was unrelated to courage—it stemmed from the sheer enormity of life and death itself.
It wasn’t the fear of dying.
It was the fear of being alive.
Terror gnawed at us, stripping away our composure and reverence until one by one, we began to kneel.
“Lean! Why are you just standing there? Are you okay?”
Ray carried the prince on his back, dodging the talons and moving him to safety before shouting.
Prince Lean de Yeriel finally seemed to come to his senses.
“Thanks. But this is bad. The worst.”
“Why?”
“Yesterday, you told me I married Lerialia in the previous cycle. Now I know why. That wasn’t me who married my sister—it was him.”
“That’s impossible. How? We didn’t even approach Astroth in the last cycle!”
“I don’t know that either. For now... let’s fight. Rev, now!”
Mr. Rev nodded. Taking a deep breath, he shouted:
[Achievement: King 6/6 – ability granted to the Leos. Time (1y)]
"Wakha-!!"
"Whoa! Ha!!"
The shout was like the cry of a warrior at the pinnacle of battle, the roar of a general leading a million-strong army, or the desperate scream of a king on the brink of destruction.
Whatever it was, the fear dissipated.
As people stumbled about in their own ways, turning the banquet hall into a chaotic market, Miss Lena shouted:
“I deliver the words of the Saintess!”
It wasn’t the soft-spoken woman who often seemed too naive for her own good.
A {holy} light emanated from her.
Her voice was firm, commanding, and impossible to ignore.
“Expel the evil shadowing Orville! There shall be light! Cast away your fear and rise! Glory will follow! The Cross Church is prepared and stands with you!”
“Th-the Cardinal has arrived!”
“The Crusaders!”
Priestess Ophelia, who had disappeared after entering the palace with the captain of the royal guard, returned with the cardinal, Orville’s priests, and the Crusaders.
Their timing was impeccable, almost inspiring admiration.
Light descended upon the darkened banquet hall, and the floor, which had been overtaken by black moss, became illuminated with the emblem of the Cross Church.
Religion was powerful.
It gave the divided nobles a reason to unite and clearly identified the enemy.
The nobles summoned their guards and urged their attendants to call for reinforcements. The knights, freed from fear, were ready to fight. They drew their swords, awaiting orders. The soldiers held their positions.
Astroth, however, looked down on it all with disinterest.
The struggle of humans seemed pitiful, and he realized this was merely another page in the filthy main god’s history.
A history that was modifiable, ready to be torn and rewritten at any moment.
***
Astroth had first noticed something amiss two years ago in the summer.
While waiting for the prince of the Kingdom of Aisel and scheming ways to humiliate Marquis Tatian, whom he could never chew up and spit out enough, he had noticed something odd.
"What? Oriax? Malhas?"
Two Ashin of considerable power—though not his equals—had suddenly vanished.
Ashin disappearing wasn’t unheard of.
When faith dwindled or divine power was exhausted, their disappearance occurred sporadically. But this was different. It was as though the two had been erased from memory.
He couldn’t recall the exact moment they vanished or what they had been doing.
"Malhas, maybe… He could have withered away, stuck in that frozen island where he’d split himself in two. But Oriax? He’s not the type to fade quietly."
Oriax had survived long after losing his worshippers millennia ago, likely due to a trick he had learned after descending to the mortal world. Such a being wouldn’t simply vanish—no more than the seas would dry up overnight.
Astroth felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was as if this had happened before.
When was it? His memory, burdened by the weight of his long existence, took months to unravel.
In the meantime, Prince Vivian had come and gone. Astroth had orchestrated a kiss between his daughter and the Swordmaster’s son in front of the prince, inciting the war he had desired.
When had it been? The memory felt so close yet so elusive.
He continued his schemes as he searched his memories. He arranged for his daughter to sleep with Marquis Tatian’s son to further antagonize the marquis. He even enchanted Toton Tatian to ensure his compliance.
He hadn’t expected the marquis to kill his own son immediately… What a cruel man.
Astroth’s memories spanned his birth in the darkness, the millennia chained to stone, his first meeting with Leonel, Leonel’s promise to free him, the moment that promise was broken, and countless other moments.
Finally, he recalled it.
When he had felt this before.
But This Memory Felt Like an Ominous Warning
It was the same as when Saint Azura had pursued me.
2,500 years ago, Astroth was abruptly ambushed by Saint Azura and fled to Mount Astro after being soundly beaten. Even there, Azura relentlessly pursued and battered me into a state of utter ruin.
Azura was so overwhelmingly powerful that I cursed and gave up in disgust, abandoning my host body and fleeing.
Hiding in the Vadobona Castle, I waited for Azura to give up the chase. It was during that time that an event similar to today occurred.
Ashin vanished from memory.
The Ashin in question was so ancient I couldn’t even recall their name.
However, even though the memory of what they had been doing was erased, I could still infer it because of the evidence they left behind. They were building mountains.
Yes, that’s right. That Ashin was a giant who feared the sea and declared they would build a mountain range encircling the continent to shield it.
They started at the southern coast, building mountains that extend past the southwest. These became the present-day Rodran Mountains of the Kingdom of Orun.
At the time, I didn’t investigate why the giant disappeared mid-construction. I was too busy running for my life from Azura. But now, I understand.
The giant building in the mountains was killed by Azura.
Yet, a mystery remained.
"Why was the memory erased? If they died, they died. Why erase the memory?"
Even if there had been a battle, I should have felt its aftermath. But I didn’t. The giant simply disappeared.
From that moment, I began investigating Azura. I sent my daughter to dig through the royal library, cross-referencing the findings with my own memories. I already knew Azura was the reincarnation of Leonel, but then I discovered an unsettling phrase.
"Azura was a criminal in his youth? A drunkard?"
Records I hadn’t known existed hinted at a secret history.
Azura, a deserter and swindler, had led a reckless life in his youth before returning to his hometown. There, he lived quietly as a farmer in his old age until one day, he suddenly left for Orville. That’s when he came to find me—and beat me senseless.
...Impossible.
The Azura I first encountered was unimaginably strong.
He was as powerful as Leonel at his peak, enough to make even me feel fear. That’s why I ran.
I questioned the validity of this secret history.
I verified it against other texts, tracing the original record to a church in the Toddler region.
Toddler.
The name Leonel had given himself upon ascending the throne was Toddler Akiunen. Toddler was both Leonel’s and Azura’s birthplace.
I gathered every legend about Saint Azura that remained in Toddler. The findings suggested the stories about him being a swindler and drunkard were largely credible.
But how could this be?
Was I, Astroth, the Grand Duke, beaten by a cowardly deserter, a lazy drunkard who had achieved nothing in life?
It would have been easier to accept if he’d been empowered by the main god. But no one knew better than me that the main god would never do such a thing.
Even Leonel, who was showered with the main god’s love, took considerable time to become a Swordmaster.
Even more so, the very concept of mana had been created for Leonel.
So how? How did Azura grow so strong so suddenly?
Let’s analyze the premise.
"It’s impossible for Azura, an old drunkard, to suddenly become so strong."
That’s the problematic proposition.
First, it’s not impossible for Azura to become strong. He is Leonel’s reincarnation, after all. So, the issue lies with the word suddenly.
What if it wasn’t sudden? What if it was gradual? No, that’s nonsense too!
I couldn’t solve this riddle, but I formed a hypothesis.
The problem lay with time.
With this suspicion, I withdrew, keeping a low profile while pondering the unsettling scent of a hunter that filled the air around me.
While I couldn’t solve the mystery, Astroth hadn’t been too upset back then.
I even felt a bit excited, wondering how Leonel would appear this time.
Of course, Leonel manifesting as a commoner—Azura—was an infuriating betrayal.
The first king of humanity! Leonel! I hadn’t expected that. Still, it was a wryly amusing blow from the past.
But surely not again.
No, this time would be different.
Leonel had made a promise.
I believed in that promise.
He promised to give me everything he was born with.
That included the love he received from the main god. In truth, that was all Leonel had—and everything.
Leonel was unbound by shackles. No, more than that, he was the sole being for whom shackles didn’t exist.
If I could wholly claim him, I, Astroth, would achieve complete freedom. That hope sustained me.
But now...
"I’ve been playing."
Today, Leonel appeared as three individuals.
Even if he reincarnated, Leonel could never split into two, let alone three.
And so, Astroth realized.
Time had overlapped.
Those three were versions of Leonel rooted in different timelines. Leonel couldn’t have done this himself. It was the main god’s trickery.
And it carried significant implications.
Time is history, and history is the world.
If the main god could manipulate time, then history and the world were also at his whim.
There must be at least three versions of history and worlds now.
The giant’s disappearance was ancient enough to belong to a shared history. But in one timeline, Malhas was missing. In another, Oriax alone was absent.
And now, in this world, where both were gone, I had become the pRay.
Astroth sank into regret.
If the main god could manipulate the world this way, then the promise of breaking the shackles was meaningless. The outcome would always be as the main god dictated.
Futile and hollow.
Astroth raised his hand, intending to kill Leonel once and for all to rid himself of this lingering hope.
He knew it wouldn’t change anything. But at least he could erase these clones from his sight.
In that moment of hesitation, the filthy servants of the main god—priests and crusaders—swarmed in.
And then.
"Hm?"
“He’s moving! Stay alert and finish receiving your blessings before advancing!”
Astroth’s lips curled into a smile.
After all, he wasn’t bound by shackles. There was still hope!
Being unbound meant no set process, no predestined end.
It also meant the main god couldn’t dictate his future. His life was governed by free will.
In other words, the future Astroth desired would always, in any scenario, exist somewhere.
Astroth sensed Reisia stirring in the royal palace’s underground. Reaching out, he grasped her and effortlessly lifted her into the air.
Lerialia let out a piercing scream.