46 episodes
13 The Welcome Army (11)
‘You have arrived right.’
What caught Zion’s eyes as he entered the cracked space was a huge cavity.
Countless stars were shining like the night sky on the ceiling of the cavity, which had a dark light overall, giving a mysterious image.
The achievements of the ancient god Cronus engraved on the common wall with him.
Sion nodded as it was the same as the description of the reward space written in the chronicle.
at that time.
“ Has the cursed army finally passed away?”
A voice came to Shion’s ear.
A man with a large stature came into Shion’s eyes as he turned his head.
A long-haired handsome man with long golden hair hanging over his shoulders.
“ Um? Aren’t you asking who I am?”
Seeing himself like that, Shion was not shaken at all.
Because all the first words that people who have come to this place have said when they see a man have been asking about the man’s identity.
But unlike them, Zion already knew the man.
‘ The Guardian.’
In the Chronicles of Flosimar, it only appeared like that.
In the chronicle, the hero asked the man’s identity.
Even then, the blonde man only introduced himself as a guardian, but didn’t say anything else about himself.
He could only guess that he wasn’t human, looking at his pupils that were split vertically like that of reptiles.
“ Where is the ‘Five Questions’?”
Since he had no interest in him anyway, Shion asked the Guardian for the Noble Phantasm of Kronos to obtain here.
“… … Do you already know what you will receive? I must also be a warrior… … for a moment.”
Shrugging his shoulders and opening his mouth toward such Sion, the guardian’s words stopped.
“ You… … I am not a warrior.”
With him, his eyes gradually become more and more suspicious.
“ How did this happen? It is certain that the hero must destroy the army and come here… … .”
“ Destiny?”
There were also doubts in Zion’s eyes.
Because it was a word I had never read in the chronicle.
The guardian in front of him was speaking as if the one who had to destroy the army and obtain Kronos’ Noble Phantasm was determined to be a hero.
“ Where did you get twisted? Hmmm, this is difficult… … .”
“ What do you mean?”
Shion asked once again at the guardian who was rubbing his chin while wrinkling his eyebrows even at his own question.
It was then that the guardian, conscious of Zion again, opened his mouth.
“ Yeah, you’re here too, so you deserve to be heard. Do you know what fate is?”
Shion nodded at the question.
All records of a being’s past, present, and future are luck.
The length of time a being exists in the world is 命.
The two combine to become fate.
“ That fate was decided from the beginning. Therefore, it cannot be twisted or changed in any way. So, it means that everything that people say about their own destiny is all bullshit.”
With those words, the guardian stretched out his finger and pointed to where Zion was.
“ Originally, by such fate, the hero had to defeat the cursed army and stand where you are now. Come to think of it, I think it was too early.”
It was fixed from the beginning and could never be changed.
In addition to that, the conditions for entering into this pupil were also made so difficult that it was impossible to enter without knowing the way in advance.
Because I had to block all variables that might exist.
‘ If it’s fate… … Are you talking about chronicles?’
Shion’s eyes went cold.
The contents of the chronicle and what the Guardian is talking about now coincided with the determined destiny.
If so, it was said that the chronicle of Flosimar might have written the fate of this world.
“ That means that fate has changed… … For that to be possible, a transcendent being must intervene.”
Zion knew what that transcendent being meant.
God.
“ I have no idea what happened. There you… … .”
The guardian, who had been talking up to that point, shut his mouth and stared straight at Zion.
In fact, from the moment he found out that Zion was not a hero, he continued to try to read Zion’s fate.
By the way.
‘ Why can’t I see it at all?’
It was not simply unreadable.
Fate itself didn’t exist.
As if they didn’t exist in this world.
It was the first time he had lived through countless years.
“ So you’re not going to give it to me?”
Thinking that there was no more information to be obtained, Sion turned the topic while looking at such a guardian.
“ No, it is not. Just coming in here is enough to qualify you for the ‘five questions’. Well, this must be another fate.”
Initially, his job was to deliver Kronos’ Noble Phantasm to those who came to this cavity, so the guardian shook his head and snapped his fingers.
OK.
Whoo!
On the guardian’s palm, the space shook, and then a gold bracelet that looked gorgeous appeared.
‘ That’s it… … .’
A young person in Shion’s eyes.
Five Questions of Kronos.
A myth-level Noble Phantasm containing the power that embodies the five questions asked by the ancient god Cronus to humans.
The five colored gems embedded in the bracelet each meant one question, and the power contained in each was more than a genius.
A variable capable of destroying the entire board, no reversal under any circumstances.
Except for the fact that each can be used only once because it is consumable, the name of a mythological class was the most appropriate item than any other Noble Phantasm.
“ The ‘question’ missing here will be filled if you bring your ‘coordinate’. In the first place, the phantom army is derived from the power of that ‘question’.”
Unlike the other four places, the guardian pointed to a hole that was not filled with jewels and spoke, then held out the bracelet to Zion.
Paah!
As soon as the bracelet is handed over by such a guardian, a new type of Shion that gradually begins to fade with a bright light.
“I will only ask you one thing.”
Watching Zion disappearing from the void, the guardian asked one last time.
“ Who are you?”
Rather than simply asking for a name or identity, a question about the existence of Zion itself.
“ Well.”
After answering the question with a grin, Zion’s body finally disappeared completely from the cavity.
* * *
“ What happened… … .”
As he watched the battlefield slowly being organized, the leader of the 5th division of the Gray Lions, Charon, muttered blankly.
After the sword of the blue flame that filled the sky suddenly disappeared, the barrier that covered this place and the remaining phantom forces were also disappearing naturally.
A scene from a while ago came to his mind with him.
‘ It must have been Prince Zion.’
A sword of calamity crafted by the king of the phantom army.
It was such an overwhelming sword strike that even Charon himself had no choice but to stare blankly.
It was Prince Zion who destroyed such a sword strike with one blow.
‘ How is that possible?’
A shiver welling up in my body just by thinking about it.
Before entering the barrier, the awareness of Prince Zion that he had had long since disappeared.
The power of Prince Zion, whom he had seen a while ago, was so great that it shattered all the prejudices he had seen and heard.
To be honest, I still couldn’t believe it.
‘ But… … Where did Prince Zion go?’
With such a question, Charon looked at the place where Zion had stood a while ago.
“ Are you here to kill the master too?”
Liusina, who had sent all the handshakes back to Charon and the 5th Squad, approached and asked.
Even though she had killed so many phantoms a while ago, her eyes were still gleaming with life.
Therefore, Riusina was hoping that the newly appeared Charon and knights would be Zion’s enemies.
“ No, we are the knights sent by His Majesty Ibelin to protect His Majesty Zion.”
Recognizing that she was Zion’s subordinate, the commander Paulo spoke instead of Charon.
When Liusina tried to open her mouth again.
“ That would be correct. At least Charon I know wouldn’t take on an assassination mission.”
A new voice was heard in their ears.
Charon’s eyes widened as he turned his head to confirm the owner of the voice.
“ Uh… … ? General Liam? Why is the general here?”
Liam Reiner.
In the past, before joining the Ashen Lions, Charon was his superior when he worked at the border with the Magician.
In fact, even if it wasn’t for that, there was no way he could not have known him, who was the hero of the empire.
“ I heard that he was retired, but… … Is this where you came from after that?”
“ Yes.”
Liam nodded his head with a blunt face as usual in response to that question.
But unlike his face, his heart still hadn’t calmed down.
It was because he had seen sights that he had not seen even on the battlefield he had been on for decades in a matter of hours.
It was surprising that the phantom army had attacked the village, but now Liam’s head was filled with the red-eyed woman and Prince Zion beside him.
‘ You’re really going to face the whole army alone.’
Liam, in particular, thought he would never forget the scene where the force of a handshake crawls out of the woman’s blood.
“ I am glad that you are safe. But General Liam. Do you know what happened here?”
“ As you can see. An army of phantoms appeared, and Prince Zion and that woman annihilated them.”
I already knew it in my head, but Liam’s words to confirm it once again were enough to silence the knights.
“… … .”
Because it was the story of the complete disappearance of the phantom army, one of the seven great plagues of the Empire and the most difficult one.
Even by the two of us alone.
No, even if there were three including Liam, it didn’t make sense.
But seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn’t help but believe it.
‘ But the monsters who were fighting the phantom army… … .’
When a new question arises in Charon’s head because he didn’t see Riusina summoning the handshakes.
“ By the way, where did the owner go?”
Liusina gently furrowed her eyebrows, then looked around and opened her mouth.
Did her words become a signal?
Wow!
In a place not far from where the people were, the air parted, and Zion slowly walked out of it.
“ Uh, are you here?”
“Your Majesty Zion!”
Liusina, who raised her hand to Zion, and the knights running beside her, calling out Zion’s name.
“ I need some rest.”
Looking at the people approaching him like that, Zion said with tired eyes.
* * *
5 days.
It was the time it took for Shion to fully recover her body damaged by the recoil of the lunar eclipse.
Sion, who had been living in the Kurdish village for a while, was now standing at the entrance of the village.
Next to Shion, Liusina and Nariega, and behind Charon, the 5th Division of the Gray Lions were lined up.
“ I will go.”
Shion opened his mouth briefly, looking at Liam standing in front of him and Ferna and other villagers who were lined up behind him.
“ I will follow.”
Liam with a large bag stuck to Zion’s side as if he had already finished preparing to leave.
“ Are you going with me?”
Shion looks at Liam like that and asks.
“ Because a promise is a promise.”
Liam remembered what Shion had said when he came to his house before confronting the phantom forces.
Liam promises to save himself and the village once instead of going down.
Zion kept that promise.
At that time, Liam did not agree, but since he had already received the price, it was impossible for him to pass it on due to his personality.
Even more so if you owe your life there.
‘ Of course I would like to stay in town longer, but… … .’
With that in mind, Liam glanced towards Ferna.
at that time.
“ No, I am here now.”
Shion smiled and said to Liam like that.
In the first place, the purpose of coming out of the Imperial Castle this time was to prove the successor and to acquire the ‘Five Questions of Kronos’.
Liam Reiner was a side benefit to that.
For now, it would be nice to have it, but it doesn’t really matter if you don’t.
Of course, it will be different when the full-scale war with the demon begins later, though.
“ I’ll call you later when I need it.”
Liam, who was silent for a moment with wide eyes at Shion’s words, which he had not expected at all, smiled.
“ The Prince always breaks my expectations. Then I won’t give it a go. Call me whenever you need me.”
A retired hero who bows his head toward Zion with all his heart and respect.
Along with him, the Kurdish villagers behind the hero also bow their heads toward Zion.
Leaving those people behind, Sion began to slowly move toward the Imperial Castle.
‘ It must have been ripe.’
Slowly, the light of expectation is young in Shion’s eyes as he walks like that.
The seeds that were sown before Hwangseong came out.
Now it was time to harvest one of them.