novelraw Chapter 615: Chief Culprits
Chapter 615: Chief Culprits
"... Helaire?"
Fisher covered his chest, seemingly feeling a bit of coolness from a gentle breeze brushing against his muscles. Thus he looked down, only then discovering the clothes on his body had already been completely stripped away. On his chest revealing sturdy muscles, an approximately palm-sized spiral scar had abruptly appeared at some unknown point in time.
And at this moment, the Completion Manuals that had always been inseparable from him bizarrely only had two books left, namely the Demi-Human Completion Handbook and the Life Completion Manual...
Caleb Uz's Soul Completion Handbook had completely disappeared, its whereabouts unknown.
Thinking of this, Fisher wanted to reach out and touch that scar, but before getting close, he felt a piercing pain originating from his soul. Simultaneously, the sound of splashing waves faintly transmitted beside his ear. His palm was also caught mid-air by a set of fair, soft fingers, pausing midway.
That precisely was the place where he swallowed those chaotic materials shaped like Black Mud. They didn't disappear, but seemed to have completely assimilated into his body...
"It's me, honey. That place is still unstable, don't touch it."
Fisher's eyes raised, seeing the Angel before his eyes had already sat at the edge of the bed facing him sideways.
Her raised right hand grabbed Fisher, while her other hand placed the book she was previously reading face down on the bed surface, revealing the text of Saint-Nazareth on the book cover.
That seemed to be a fantasy travelogue from Saint-Nazareth's past pioneering era. It was just that Fisher had never read it before and didn't know the specific content inside.In this sideways sitting posture, she crossed her legs that were slightly concealed by the white robe, thus revealing more of the skin previously hidden under the white robe.
She sized up the Fisher before her, watching him sizing up his surroundings after calling her, and also watching him slowly quiet down after recognizing this was her palace.
Fisher, who had just woken up, perhaps still had a somewhat groggy brain, or perhaps still didn't dare confirm what exactly the current situation was. But Helaire could tell that there were some questions in his heart urgently waiting to be understood and asked clearly from her.
Seeing his lips quiver slightly, right before he wanted to ask something, Helaire's slender golden eyelashes drooped slightly, stating the current situation,
"Stop looking, Raphaela was sent back to the surface by me. After the contaminated Blessing on her body burned out, the Fafnir bloodline within her completely awakened, beginning the process of entering the Mythical Rank. But the aura of the authority of Death inside the Dynasty was too dense; this was a hindrance to her, causing the progression of her advancement to stagnate, to the point she hadn't woken up until just now. Therefore Eliog had no choice but to send her up to the surface. She just left and hasn't returned yet..."
Without looking at Fisher, Helaire lowered her head, smiling and saying somewhat carelessly,
"As for the others... going up together was also that Whale-person who is the God of Destruction's daughter, she was responsible for watching over and taking care of Raphaela. And that friend of yours with a Completion Manual crawled out of the magma, and is currently waiting for you outside my palace with that little thing Eimhart. You know, that little thing is very afraid of me."
Upon hearing that Raphaela was safe and sound, a huge boulder in Fisher's heart finally fell heavily. He breathed a sigh of relief, broadly having a bit of judgment regarding the current situation in his heart.
Since Helaire said it was Eliog who sent the two of them up, then it also meant Barbatos's side was also defeated by Eliog. The upright Agreas couldn't rival the Chaos sealed within his body, and at the final moment, he himself rescued Raphaela from within the Black Mud. Before his consciousness grew muddy, he didn't quite remember how Helaire helped Raphaela, nor what the final outcome was...
However, at least as it currently appeared, this whole huge mess of things that had continuously emerged since his return finally came to an end and ceased.
And the initiator of this series of events after his return was currently sitting before him at this moment, just a short distance away.
Fisher couldn't help but glance at Helaire who was quietly gazing at him before his eyes, but perfectly caught her stunningly beautiful side profile and the ear revealed from amidst her clustered golden curls.
It seemed Fisher didn't confirm she truly existed until this moment. He also simultaneously felt that this seemed to be the first time he met her since returning to the present from ten thousand years ago, even though she had previously conversed with him through those two Familiars at the Red Dragon Court shipyard...
He merely felt that everything previously was unreal.
"..."
Fisher's inner complexity couldn't be described with words, so he could only use silence as a substitute, carefully gazing at the time she had experienced that was separated by ten thousand years to her.
The time of ten thousand years hadn't left any traces on her body. She was beautiful just as before, only her body had gained some dense aura of the authority of Death.
And besides beauty, to Fisher, her image was entirely hidden in a mysterious fog, making him unable to see clearly or fathom fully.
What even he hadn't expected was that the continuous questioning and complaining confrontation he originally thought of in his heart didn't come out of his mouth at this moment, but only an indescribable gazing remained.
She generously let Fisher use his gaze to appreciate her beauty just as before. Yet Fisher at this moment wasn't reading her beauty, but more resembling scrutinizing her soul.
After a long while, Fisher still couldn't help but speak, and the content of his words was concern he hadn't even thought of himself,
"Your body... how could it have the aura of the authority of Death, and so dense at that?"
Helaire raised her eyebrows, appearing somewhat surprised. Subsequently she replied,
"I thought you would continue asking matters regarding Raphaela, but since you asked me... I was too focused on this plan of yours after your return, so I didn't expect that Solomon secretly collected the marks of the First Pillars behind the ten gates over these several thousands of years behind my back when I wasn't around..."
Helaire roughly told Fisher of Solomon's deeds and the subsequent handling methods. But Fisher hadn't shown any reaction for a long time after hearing it, merely looking at the Helaire before him, just looking at the other party like this.
"... Helaire, are you telling the truth?"
Fisher lowered his gaze slightly, not looking straight into her bright blue-gold eyes, but abruptly asking such a question. While Helaire tilted her head, continuing to say,
"Why ask this?"
"Just a feeling. It made me somewhat angry previously, yet changed into hesitation until now. Because of my feelings for you, because of my greed and the debt incurred by making you wait, these all make me always believe the words you say. But I increasingly cannot understand what exactly your goal is, what you want to do... I already cannot distinguish whether the words you're saying to me at this moment are sincere, or just to pave the way for your next unknown plan..."
Fisher raised his eyes bit by bit, locking onto Helaire's appearance that was no different from his memory,
"Sometimes it really makes me hard to distinguish whether you're exactly the Demon God Baimon in others' mouths, or that Angel Helaire in my eyes. It's as if during the ten thousand years of our separation, you were always that Demon God I don't understand, and only the period we spent together was Helaire. Or rather, you had long become that terrifying Demon God, and only me, this guy who returned from ten thousand years ago, still foolishly thought you were the same as before?
"Can you tell me, right now before me, is it exactly Baimon, or Helaire?"
Helaire's eyes blinked. Subsequently, only then did she lower her head to look at the half-read book in her hand.
She didn't read the content within, merely slowly closing that face-down book, softly saying,
"I've always been your Helaire..."
"Thump!"
Fisher frowned, drawing closer to the Helaire before him bit by bit. He restrained his actions with all his might, yet it remained difficult to conceal a bit of excitement. Until the next moment, he finally couldn't endure anymore, reaching out his hand to grab her shoulders, fiercely pulling her back.
She didn't resist, merely those slightly widened, jewel-like blue-gold eyes reflecting Fisher's visage. The next second, that reflection fiercely drew near her, viciously pinning her onto the bed. The golden curls on her forehead also scattered beneath her along with the force of her falling, like a shattered rose.
Fisher lowered his gaze. The questioning in his eyes was like a wild beast, even the veins on his forehead bulging bit by bit. Yet he still tried his best to make his tone calm. As for how calm it actually was, that would require a third party to evaluate. He merely asked unwillingly,
"Then why did you design such a scheme? Why did you plots to harm others like this? Don't you know doing this will kill many people? This time's Dragon Court plan was like this. Then before this, before I returned to the past, before I even knew you, were you already by my side? Taking advantage of my ignorance to do who knows how many irretrievable things?! And you kept your mouth shut about this, treating me as if I knew nothing?!
"I know you are a Mythical Species, a living creature much, much older and higher in rank than me. So in power you're much stronger than me, and in experience much more knowledgeable than me. but is this the reason you treat me as an ignorant child? You just treat me as a spineless infant, and you are my guardian who has to make all decisions for me and arrange everything for me? Why are you unwilling to tell me anything, what exactly are you doing all this for?"
These doubts, these questions Fisher wanted to confirm the answers to, were all poured out by him at this moment. But these questions perhaps weren't merely questions, but Fisher's fluctuating emotions at this moment.
His fingers tightly gripped Helaire's shoulders, as if wanting to embed them into her body, hoping she could give him an answer.
"I did it to save you. Raphaela is the key to initiating the destruction. As early as five years ago, she should have died in Pherone City. Even if you saved her, even without me, the Blessing in her body would sooner or later burn, thereby initiating the destruction. Only with her death can you extricate yourself from this maelstrom, and the horn of destruction would also be postponed because of this..."
"Are you making excuses? Using possibilities that haven't occurred as the basis for your actions? If it wasn't for you causing trouble in the middle, if you hadn't released the Demons to threaten her and her Dragon Court, how could the Dragon God's Blessing within her body have burned?!"
"Are you sure, honey?"
Helaire merely smiled looking at the Fisher before her, or rather, his chest.
Fisher looked down in disbelief towards the spiral scar on his chest. Through his own flesh and blood, he saw the Chaos within it and, naturally, also figured out some key points.
Fafnir being bestowed a Blessing by Dagon was obviously to abide by his duty of guarding the Crevice. It was unimaginable that such a Blessing could possess destructiveness. Yet now it had genuinely transformed into the horn initiating destruction, because during the Mythical War it was contaminated by the Soul Disaster formed by Caleb Uz, ultimately becoming a weapon attacking the Crevice...
Which meant, as long as the Soul Completion Handbook existed, as long as the Chaos within it existed, the detonation of Raphaela's Blessing was an inevitable outcome.
"I've already said, as early as five years ago, the Blessing in her body had already reached the verge of burning, and should have erupted back in Pherone City. But at that time you saved her... yes, you indeed saved her, prolonging her life, but that contaminated Blessing still hadn't mitigating in the slightest. It was only because four and a half years ago you were forced to bring the Completion Handbooks back to the past and got expelled. Your departure caused the Soul Completion Handbook to disappear in this timeline, so she also lived safe and sound like this for four and a half years...
"Yes, I prepared everything during these four and a half years, but do you really think it was me who caused the Blessing in her body to burn? Even if I did nothing, within the few months you spent with her after your return, the Blessing in her body would suddenly erupt and initiate the World-Ending Prophecy due to being influenced by the Soul Completion Handbook again, and she would also lose her life in her sleep..."
The force of Fisher pinching Helaire's shoulders weakened bit by bit. The muscles on his face trembled slightly, closely followed by him saying,
"Raphaela... is just the manifestation of the destruction. The essence of the destruction are those Completion Manuals, and the Chaos hidden within them..."
"Yes, honey, you're always able to discover the essence of the problem without being constrained by superficial appearances... But, then what?"
Helaire motionlessly lowered her hands, just letting him control her like this. Her smiling expression also slowly faded bit by bit, yet didn't completely disappear, only casting shadows over that smile,
"Oh, then, you of course will seek out and read all the Completion Manuals, because you've already discovered your uniqueness. Those Completion Manuals that mean destruction and poison to others, you can read more than one, and can even control the Chaos they form, just like what you're doing right now? You think choosing this path will effortlessly succeed? Anyway, as long as those women who have a close relationship with you are fine, whatever happens is good, right?
"You fundamentally don't know what doing so implies, nor do you know what you'll lose, what kind of pain you'll face... You think you can be so special that you just need to appear to make the Chaos behind those Completion Manuals bow in submission to you? No, you will only die in the most miserable and painful way, and then lose everything... This time, only Raphaela's death is needed to completely eliminate the Blessing initiating destruction within her body, and you can also thoroughly extricate yourself from the sea of suffering..."
Fisher frowned, retorting,
"Extricate? Could doing this lead to extrication, could doing this eliminate the World-Ending Prophecy? Just depending on sacrificing Raphaela? The other Completion Manuals still exist. If the fundamental issue isn't resolved, you, me, and all living beings in this world will ultimately meet destruction!"
"The significance of the World-Ending Prophecy's existence is exactly to prove the process of destruction will be a chain reaction, everything in it is interconnected, and Raphaela is the prerequisite for all this. At the moment the Blessing within her body burns the Crevice out completely, the barrier between reality and the Spirit World will be broken. When the time comes, the iron rule of 'Deities cannot intervene in reality' is going to be broken. This iron rule isn't just a rule limiting the Gods from taking action; it's the most solid protection for this world. Yet all this is about to change because of the Crevice being burned to ashes...
"As long as the World-Ending Prophecy isn't initiated, the power of Chaos cannot enter the foundation of this world. Even with those Completion Manuals, it will ultimately not cause fatal destruction. Moreover, there are still the Gods. If after the World-Ending Prophecy fails to initiate, They as True Gods remain powerless towards this, can it be done relying on you?"
Fisher froze slightly, because at this very moment, he suddenly remembered the words Renee said when he met her previously.
She said: "We already have a method to resolve the World-Ending Prophecy".
If he chose to believe this group of Deities who created the world, perhaps Helaire killing Raphaela to slow the process of destruction was indeed worth consideration. At least it seemed now, the Crevice starting to burn was definitely disadvantageous to Them.
"... But, this time I succeeded. I successfully sealed the Soul Chaos into my body, the Soul Completion Handbook has already disappeared."
"Yes, but perhaps it's just your good luck. The source of the Soul Chaos doesn't plan to make things difficult for you? Next time maybe there won't be such luck..."
"You mean... but why wouldn't He make things difficult for me?"
Helaire merely smiled looking at Fisher, those loose blue-gold pupils motionless. Seemingly having heard Fisher not believing the source of Chaos let him off, her smile even contained a bit of speechlessness and illegible doting,
"Who knows. I just think so, you lucky fool."
The annoying Angel before his eyes was obviously teasing him. Fisher gritted his teeth, right as he wanted to refute her, she had already shaken her head saying,
"However, there's no need for you to debate with me on what to do anymore. My plan has already failed. Now the Blessing in Raphaela's body has already started burning the Crevice. Even if I persuade you further, it's impossible... Or rather, I never thought of persuading you to sacrifice Raphaela, because I knew this was impossible. Therefore, I decided to play the villain myself, saving you from making a choice...
"If you want to blame me, then blame me. Blame me for almost causing your Raphaela to lose her life. Even if I did it so you could escape the sea of suffering... hehe, sometimes I really wish I did all this just to satisfy my possessiveness, simply because of jealousy wanting to kill those women coveting the Fisher who originally pertained only to me ten thousand years ago. Would such a ridiculous reason make you feel more at ease? Only unfortunately, I don't care about them, and they won't care about me either, so... let it be just like this."
With her words reaching this point, she also heaved a long sigh. She mumbled so softly, yet simultaneously closed her eyes. So under her casually descriptive words, Fisher couldn't read whether she was disappointed or not because all her previous preparations went down the drain.
She turned her head sideways, and also didn't resist Fisher. Following her slight sideways turning motion, her fragile neck was completely displayed before Fisher, just like waiting for him to personally snap it.
"..."
Fisher was silent for a moment. His hands gradually distanced from her shoulders. Yet Helaire remained utterly motionless, just like being exhausted and wanting to rest, even unwilling to move those slender golden eyelashes.
"Raphaela, is pregnant."
"... Oh, should I congratulate you, honey?"
Helaire didn't open her eyes, instead lifting her feet that had originally rested off the bed onto the bed. She gently grabbed the quilt Fisher had covered himself with just now and draped it over her body, curling up just like this. Subsequently, only then did she blink her eyes, looking at Fisher with a beaming smile and asking like this.
"I don't want to lose everything I've obtained, even if it meant losing myself to do so. Now I think so, and back in the Ideal State I thought so too... So, I'm very sorry for disappointing you, Helaire."
Helaire's curled up body flipped over inside the quilt. Because of curling up, the quilt obscured half her face, leaving only those blue-gold eyes looking at Fisher. From them, Fisher still couldn't decipher whether it was disappointment or not. Over course, Fisher also couldn't decipher any apologetic feelings.
Perhaps to Helaire, it was as it should be to be considerate for Fisher, but this didn't mean she had to be considerate for other females.
She just looked at the Fisher before her, suddenly asking,
"If my plan truly succeeded, and I killed Raphaela back then, would you never forgive me forever, even if you could survive because of it?"
"..."
Fisher opened his mouth, equally looking at her lying sideways beside him, without speaking for a long time.
Until a good while passed, Fisher finally felt her hand extend from under the quilt, grasping two of his fingers with ice-cold temperature.
"Only unfortunately, the one who knew all this and had the ability to save you is me, not her. Because, I can be certain of the answer you just wanted to say, and can also be certain whether she would save you by sacrificing me if everything was reversed. It's just that, I'm suddenly uncertain if, after reversing everything, you would be like unforgiving me, unforgiving the pregnant her..."
"..."
Fisher fell silent. He lowered his head, raising his other hand, wrapping her ice-cold palm that was pulling his fingers. Subsequently, only then did he softly say,
"I would unforgive myself, same for this time."
"Shish..."
Her curled up body drew closer to Fisher bit by bit, behaving like a little deer as she lay prone surrounding him. She said somewhat indistinctly,
"I'm suddenly a bit sleepy, seems like this is the first time in ten thousand years."
"... To an Angel, what is spending ten thousand years like?"
"I don't know, maybe to me it's not even thirty years?"
Fisher was somewhat not knowing whether to laugh or cry, thus asked in return,
"Really? Is an Angel's perception of time really so blurry?"
"Mm, after all, your thirtieth birthday hasn't arrived yet..."
Fisher opened his mouth. Right as he wanted to say something, it got choked in his throat again. He didn't release Helaire, merely sensing the ice-coldness transmitting from her fingertips, and subconsciously gripped a bit tighter.
He didn't speak anymore, merely heaved a sigh, just silently gazing at her appearance with closed eyes like this...
Scrutinizing himself and her in this room, these two chief culprits.