300 – Final Battle
The goddess couldn’t hide her sadness as she stroked my cheek.
“It must have hurt a lot. “Please be patient.”
The comfortable energy of moonlight soothed my pain.
Of course, my physical condition was not completely cured. The only way to restore my current body to its original state is to go back in time and return it to the way it was when it was healthy in the past.
In order to do so, it is necessary to first liberate Eterna and escape from the ban.
In other words, my complete recovery is something that can only be realized after all the fighting is over.
From now on, there will be a fierce battle of speed in which not a single minute or second should be wasted.
Now that the Goddess has awakened from her seal and gained her own body, the gods of the sky must have also noticed her existence.
“Goddess. “Let’s go back to London.”
She stared at the hand I held out for a moment, then smiled and spoke.
“Eldina.”
“···Yes?”
“From now on, please call me by my name, not goddess.”
As I was dumbfounded by that unexpected proposal, the goddess, or rather Eldina, gently held my hand.
“We no longer have a vertical relationship between gods and servants, but a relationship between men and women as equal colleagues.”
I pondered her words several times and slowly nodded her head.
“···Eldina.”
“hehehe. “It’s such a sweet thing to have someone call my name.”
She closed her eyes and smiled softly, then gently opened her eyes and whispered softly.
“Of course, it’s because you sang it with your voice. “No one else would dare make me feel this way.”
It was sweet words. The moment I had always hoped for was coming true in reality, to the point where I wanted to forget for a moment that the situation was urgent and enjoy this reunion more leisurely.
“How should I call you? “Tell me the name you want.”
“Raven. “That’s enough.”
The name given to the new life that began after meeting the goddess.
For me now, the phantom thief Raven was no different from his true form. I’ve lived a lot of lies so far, but the life I lived as Raven the Phantom Thief was real.
“Let’s leave now.”
“Okay. “It starts now.”
Reunion with Eldina was not the end, but just the beginning. Only by winning the final battle that will unfold in earnest from now on will we be able to achieve a perfect future.
I boarded the ship with her returning to Britain, looked out at the sea at night, and talked to her about various things.
“I guess the priority is to regain my divinity first.”
“Sharon will be helping you with that.”
Fragments of Eldina’s divinity scattered throughout the world. That’s why we worked hard as phantom thieves to steal all kinds of jewels.
I didn’t know it in the past, but Franken had known the whereabouts of all the jewels through the Magic Engineering Society over a long period of time. Of course, according to the original plan, Cro had to find all the gems, so there was no reason for me to move them myself.
But since you have decided to scrap all your plans and move for the present, there is no reason not to use such valuable information. I immediately asked Sharon to join forces with the Magic Engineering Society and collect her gems.
Operator and head of the facility. There won’t be much difficulty since two transcendents will help you and you can ignore distance restrictions by using the magic engineering train.
And I asked Juliet to look into the movements of the enemies.
The main enemies of this final battle are, of course, the gods of the sky. However, they are bound by prohibition and cannot exert direct influence on the land. Therefore, the real enemies in this fight are the apostles and religious denominations that act upon revelation from the gods.
Today, when the Industrial Revolution is in full swing, the prestige of the religious denomination has greatly decreased, so it is not a big risk.
The problem is the apostles who use some of their divinity. They also have combat power that can rival that of transcendents. The most representative example would be the Count of Monte Cristo, who was the apostle of the sun god.
At that time, the Count faced Gina, who had summoned the dragon, and was able to defeat the transcendental engineer, who was exhausted from the previous battle.
But since it was 5 years ago, Gina cannot summon the dragon. The transcendental leader and operator are having a hard time helping Sharon collect the gems.
In such a situation, it could be quite dangerous if the Count blocks my path. It is especially dangerous if not only he but also other apostles appear at the same time.
So, Juliet, who has memories of working in the resistance, watches over the count and keeps an eye on her movements.
If the Count praises the glory of God, there is a high possibility that he will actively take the lead in this situation and rally the apostles. So, if you only watch the count carefully, you can also check the movements of the other apostles.
Anyway, the moment Eldina completely regains her power, the apostles are no match for her.
How can an apostle who only borrows power from God to defeat God itself? So, all we have to do is safely avoid the apostles until Sharon and the others retrieve the jewels.
From then on, we will win if we use the power of Eldina to rescue Eterna, who is tied up in the sky, and completely destroy the forbidden system through the power of the two goddesses so that the gods can no longer interfere.
When I told Eldina the whole plan, she was purely amazed.
“I can’t believe you made such a plan in such a short period of time. “That’s amazing.”
“···It doesn’t matter how detailed the plan is. “What’s important is how well you can make the best choice in the split second of a crisis.”
Anyway, planning is an act of assuming the future. However, no person can lead the future as he or she wants. The same applies even to me, who has the power of uncertainty.
All I can do is destroy the fate that has been set. No one knows what direction the broken, shattered future will take.
That is why we need to focus more on the present rather than the future.
No one can know the future, but everyone can know the present.
Eldina nodded her head at my words and muttered while smiling faintly.
“It’s amazing. It’s surprising that you’re really the same immature child you used to be. I also liked that she looked cute like that. Still, it’s not bad to look as dignified as you do now.”
“Because I learned a lot during that time.”
I gazed at something beyond the endless horizon. That’s probably a memory from the distant past.
“The goddess said that no matter what end I face, she would be with me until the end.”
I still remember it clearly. When I first heard about my fate from the witch of prophecy and was distraught, she said the words the goddess had said to me on the train on the way back.
Those words were too warm and soft to be simple empty words. Even though I couldn’t see them, I felt like a goddess was holding me in her arms and patting me.
“Okay. “It seems like I said that in a dream.”
Of course, it was something from the future that she had never experienced. It was a moment that only I remember in another timeline.
But is it because he is a god who transcends human common sense? Or did she just reply with a white lie for me? Maybe a miracle for which I don’t even know why happened and she really remembered her memories.
I didn’t know the answer, but Eldina’s eyes, looking across the horizon just like me, were clearly filled with a sad feeling of longing for those days.
“Thank you. “Those words really helped me a lot.”
“Raven. It remains the same from then to now. I will always stay by your side. Even if only terrible destruction awaits at the end of this road. Even Gehenna will be warm and cozy with you.”
Eldi I said that and she gently laid her head on my shoulder.
I slowly closed my eyes as I saw her eyes closed and a gentle smile drawn on her lips.
***
When we reached the mainland of Britain, the night was fading away and the dawn was rising.
The sight was quite beautiful, but for her, the goddess of the night, and for her, her apostle, the fact that the night was ending was not a good thing.
The energy of the moonlight that had permeated her body disappeared, her body became heavy again, and the painful pain began to gnaw away at her mind.
Eldina noticed my condition and asked with a worried expression.
“Are you okay? “If you’re not feeling well, let’s take a rest nearby.”
“If you stay in one location for too long, they will notice. Let’s move to a safer place and rest. Because I’m fine…”
Of course it wasn’t okay, but now I was in a situation where I had to force myself to be okay.
If we were to act harshly here and the enemies blocked our way, it would be a real problem.
If you have to fight the enemy, it must be at night. In the middle of the day, I was not confident that I would win against the Apostolic Union.
First, let’s hide ourselves and contact Sharon and Juliet to hear about the situation.
And then…
I was so lost in my thoughts that I belatedly realized that someone was standing in front of me.
Someone stopped quietly, as if blocking the road, rather than passing us by.
I couldn’t help but frown at the familiar face of the other person.
“Siegfried…”
Siegfried, a member of Drakan and the ice wizard, was looking at us with an eerie smile.