Episode 211 The Crusade of the Abyss – Salvation
The collision of a battleship running at full speed.
Even if I had prepared for it, an overwhelming amount of violence that would have been difficult to withstand hit my body – and I was thrown away along with the body of Barbatos, whose blood was gushing out like a fountain.
The feeling of your body floating.
And the water surface is rapidly approaching.
‘Christine.’
The moment my mangled body hit the surface of the water, my consciousness was cut off.
* * *
“Kill the blue blood!”
A cry full of hostility and murderous intent.
Shiny malice.
Ah again.
Even after more than 10 years have passed and we face a completely different future.
A nightmare you can never forget and never leave.
A place full of bloody smell that fills the square where people died in their previous lives.
My failure, my end.
“Kill the dirty witch!”
witch?
Only then did I realize that what I was seeing was not my memory of Pierre de Lafayette.
The square I saw as I was about to die, or the scenery from the day I did not see.
Memories of other people who walked the same path and met death.
Eris.
The moment of realization.
The feelings she felt began to flow into her thoughts.
During the chaotic era of civil war and revolution, she had to live an endless life of refuge, unable to let go of her mind due to her status as a princess.
Nevertheless, following my mother’s teachings, I did all the things I did to thank people, to give back, or simply to help them out of my natural goodness.
But the result.
“Ha, a saint? “You look like a vicious witch!”
“You fooled us all with your smile on the subject of damned royalty!”
Those who arbitrarily called her a saint and begged for her to be saved started pouring out criticism.
“Esiliste Liliane de Frangia, the third princess of a corrupt and corrupt royal family and a witch who deceived the people of Francia. “This court sentences the defendant to death in the name of freedom, equality and fraternity.”
They gave death in the name of their own justice.
The feeling of resentment rising over unrequited good intentions and the whirlwind of emotions that make you try not to blame them.
The pitiful feeling of thinking that I couldn’t blame my eyes because they were half burnt out by the sunlight and I couldn’t see properly.
The image equates their transformation with that of their mother, who had changed after a life of running away and was blaming Eris.
In the end, at the end of all the emotional whirlpool, instead of spitting out resentment and curses, the process is to just shed tears, give up, and head to the guillotine.
It pierces my heart as vividly as if I had experienced it myself.
After touching the smell of blood and the cold feel of wood that seemed to stain my soul.
Black, soggy resentment welling up.
Endless regret.
I think that if I had died while living freely and doing my best, I would have been able to ask God to show me mercy to my mother.
That feeling makes me cry too.
And the moment when Eris finally closed her eyes in resignation.
The hallucinations she saw were visible to me too.
Just like today.
A human army fighting against demons.
And in front of them was a blonde saint with golden eyes who led the people.
…Gremory?
The moment I realized, I made eye contact with Gremory.
The very next moment, Eris opens her eyes and
darkness slowly falls.
As my vision gradually darkens,
Eris’ last image seeped into me.
Eris’s first and last prayer to God as a saint before her return.
Even after such an unfair death, he thinks he is just being punished.
Not your own salvation. Not even someone precious to you.
Just a prayer to give a chance to someone else who might try to change this ending.
There is not even a single shred of selfishness in that altruism.
That’s why it’s more earnest, and that’s why it’s infinitely closer to a miracle.
The saintess’s final moments were met with a smile despite the eerie sound of falling blades.
* * *
In the darkness, completely drawn down like a curtain.
A tingling pain seeps through my entire body.
A realization that I have finally come to know in the hazy sensation of the pain spreading.
Was that how it happened?
The source of a second chance that would never have been given in the first place.
A miracle brought about by the prayers of a saint who I had never met in my previous life and who was merely executed in the same place the day before my death.
I received such a miracle.
I came this far after saving Christine.
I can’t fall like this before I can drive out all the demons that are the culprit.
I looked down and saw the sword of Barbatos still lodged in my stomach.
Blood flowing continuously.
A chill spread from the shoulder and leg where the gunshot wound was.
Even if I don’t like it, I realize that it wouldn’t be strange if I died right now.
And at that moment, light appeared in the darkness.
I turned my gaze blankly and
looked at the golden demon, which shined even brighter in a pitch-black space without a single ray of light.
A succubus dressed in a black nun’s uniform.
“…Gremory.”
“It’s been a long time, Marquis de Lafayette. Asking how you’ve been… isn’t a bit appropriate in the current situation, right?”
I unconsciously raised my left hand to cover my eyes, but I laughed when I saw that my index and middle fingers had been blown off.
“Did you see it?”
Gremory slowly floated through the darkness and approached me and answered softly.
“Yes, I saw everything. sorry. …But I finally understand it now. “The Marquis’s memories were all mixed up in a random manner, and I don’t even know how such divine power remained in his body.”
The devil was the first to notice the interference of divine power that neither I nor Eris knew about.
-I’m still a little more skilled than the Marquis’ young saint.
“Are you a saint from 400 years ago?”
Gremory just smiled quietly and did not respond.
“How or why?”
An unfortunate saint who led Franzia and humanity against the devil’s army until the very end, but was captured by devils in the final battle.
That saint has become a succubus?
Is it possible for a human to become a devil? Are they of different races?
“do not misunderstand. I was half devil from the beginning. … Even back in the days when you called her a saint.”
“What is that…”
A succubus was praised as a saint and led humans to fight against demons?
As I was confused by the incomprehensible content, Gremory reached out and grabbed my left hand.
Soon, an intense light covered the dark space and
I shuddered at the unfamiliar feeling of something growing that had disappeared in the pain.
Gremory let go and I lifted my left hand and saw that my hand was still intact, as if half of it had been blown away.
In the midst of all the swirling and confusion of emotions, the only thing I managed to say was a question.
“why?”
Gremory smiled, rolling his golden eyes, then slowly tilted his head and muttered lowly.
“Well, I wonder why…”
It doesn’t seem like a ploy to deceive me.
No, not in the first place.
If I just left it alone, it would have died.
What on earth does this succubus want?
Gremory chuckled and reached out again to fix the shoulder and leg that had been hit by the bullet, adding:
“I don’t know either.”
“I started a war to destroy you. “You probably don’t know.”
“I know, Marquis de Lafayette.”
“It’s meaningless if you’re trying to change the line. Since we are the Allied Powers of all mankind,
they said they would spare my life-” Gremory stopped me as he covered my mouth with his left hand- Gremory just pulled out the sword stuck in my stomach with his right hand.
“…!”
While the scream that came out in terrible pain was blocked by the succubus’ hand, light came out again and the pain began to subside.
“Huh, huh, huh…”
When Gremory finally let go of my mouth and was breathing heavily, Gremory lightly flapped its wings and swam in the air, moving away a little.
“…I don’t understand what you’re thinking. “Thank you… I should, but honestly, I doubt your intentions.”
Gremory didn’t do anything particularly wrong to me.
The problem was that he was a devil, but I thought he treated me well, and I guess he was more of a benefactor.
however.
-The upper classes of each country bought by the Abyss Corporation have enough influence to make the groundless cries of distant pagan peninsulas and seditious revolutionary countries ring hollow.
In the end, Gremory also played a part in all these tragedies as a member of the Abyss Corporation.
Didn’t he say that with his own mouth in the first place?
“You said you were a moderate who wanted coexistence, but no matter how you look at what the Abyss Corporation is doing now, it is a war between the continent and its destruction-” “
Marquis.”
Gremory, who interrupted me, smiled softly.
“I know. In the end, I didn’t think I could understand it and I thought there was nothing I could do about it. As a result, I did quite a few things that were unacceptable to you.”
If so, even more so.
If you are even aware of such things, why?
“Just…”
Gremory smiled self-deprecatingly and opened his mouth.
“Because I’m half-demon and half-human. I gave up on everything for that very reason and just went with the flow and saw what happened. … Even though I don’t like it, I end up comparing myself to that young saint.”
The succubus added with a slight smile.
“Please think that the false saint, who was nothing but a deceiver from the beginning, is now comforting herself by reliving memories.”
As soon as Gremory finished speaking, the dark world shook.
-Er!
While a ringing voice is heard.
“…I have no intention of annihilating everyone, even those who don’t even want to fight. “Leave the island with those in charge of you.”
After hearing what I said, Gremory stopped and smiled.
With a face that looks somewhat sad and not at all like a devil.
The golden devil said goodbye.
“Then go ahead, driver. … It was nice to be able to think of someone I couldn’t even remember.”
With that, the world of darkness collapsed.
* * *
“Pierre!”
I heard a scream that pulled me out of the dream world.
“Wow!”
I came back to reality, spitting out water from my mouth.
My whole body is cold and wet.
Oh no.
My beloved Lady’s face is covered in tears.
I slowly raised my hand and touched Christine’s cheek, thankful that it was still intact.
Originally, my fiancee would have died before we got to know each other properly.
A miracle preserved through the prayers of a saint who begged for a chance to be given to a person whose name he did not even know.
“…I’ve made you worry.”
Christine burst into tears without even being able to answer and buried her face in my chest.
“Every time, every time. If this is going to happen, I’d rather…!”
I responded softly to the wailing voice.
“Because I think so, just as you think so.”
Christine was in danger right now, and there was no way to win by standard means, so I tried to protect her even at the cost of my life.
But to think that Christine would give up her life for me.
I too must suffer this much.
“sorry.”
After hearing my apology, Christine couldn’t say anything and just sobbed.
All I can do is pat her on the back.
Then, through my still blurry vision, I saw a butterfly with unique wings of gold and black that did not match the sea, fluttering away.
…Did you say she was a false saint, Gremory?
Even Eris, who was a real saint, was accused of being a witch and died, so what is the meaning of the saint being a succubus?
At least everyone in history praised and followed her as a saint.
I don’t know why Gremory, a succubus, fought as a saint among humans, but at least to them, Gremory must have been a real saint.
It would be right for me, who was saved, to also be thankful.
I slowly turned my gaze to look at Libre Captain Ludovic Duhong, whose clothes were a mess and a shy expression on his face, and Crocs, whose huge body was covered in blood.
“We won, brother.”
Crocs gave me the answer I wanted before I could ask, and I let out a quiet sigh, feeling deep relief.
“Thank God.”
I was dumbfounded by what I had said without realizing it, so I smiled bitterly and added sheepishly.
“…Let’s go back to the port first.”
When I go back.
To Eris.
And to God.
Let us give thanks for this miracle.
