The Final Holy Grail

[T/N: Remember Hari & Co were being captured...]

After a quick surrender, the four were dragged away in hoods.

"What are we going to do?"

"You're all going to die, you bastards!"

"Will you shut up, you criminals!"

""Yes, I will shut up!!!"

The four people shut up right away.

Loxley, the Holy Knight of the Sun and Judgment, personally put them in a carriage and headed off somewhere.

'Uh, I wonder where we're going, sis....'

'The execution grounds?'

'No way....'

'Why don't they give us a chance to be serfs first? We're not even followers of the demons!'

'Isn't it better to just die than to become a serf?'

"That's true."

But gradually, as the carriage's path became more and more even, Ha-ri realized that this carriage was going up somewhere.

'Could it be…The Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods?'

If they were taking them to the temple, did that mean they weren't going to throw them in jail?

Ha-ri was dragged from the carriage and led for a while to a familiar place.

'Huh? This place?'

Then, with a snap, the hoods were lifted, and the four of them could see a bath filled with holy water and a crowd of people standing around.

"Hmph…!"

The bathtub was filled with an eerie density of dense holy power.

It wasn't just the holy water that was poured into the bath. It was even denser than when Ha-ri first came here.

A demon would have died upon entering.

'These people can't all be....'

'It's obvious, they're all Holy Knights or the equivalent.'

Gillingham, Holy Knight of Sky and Thunder, on the left.

Loxley, Holy Knight of Sun and Judgment.

Anak, High Priestess of Light and Justice, on the right.

Isabel, High Priestess of the Moon and Purity.

And in the middle of it all, looking down on them with an icy gaze, was the Lion King, agent of all the gods.

As the others remained silent until Leon spoke, he eyed the four of them carefully…especially Ha-ri.

After all, she was the one who had blessed him during the Great Blessing Ritual to cleanse him of the Demon Archduke's curse.

"First...."

In such a murderous mood, Leon spoke up.

"Throw them in the holy water, Lord Loxley."

"Yes!"

The Knight of Judgment drew his sword in a flash. He pointed it with a searing gaze at the four whose arms were bound.

"Sinners, throw yourselves into the holy water!"

"What?"

They heard that Yappy and Beatrice's water torture was so brutal, but this was the original!

"Do I have to say it twice or do you want to have your bristles blown off by the sword?"

"Ah, no, no!"

"I'll dive right now!"

If they stayed in the water for much longer, they would be blown away. Jae-hyuk was the first to jump in, followed by Ha-ri and Soo-ho.

"Haa...."

So-yeon dives in quietly, not wanting to lose her dignity in this situation. Her gaze is fixed on Leon from start to finish.

They had been submerged in the holy water for so long that if they jumped out of the water, they would be hit with a skull-crushing chop, but they heard Leon's voice.

"Come up."

"Come on up!"

""Puhap!!!"

In unison, the four rose to the surface of the holy water. However, as they usually did at the TTG Guild, they stayed just high enough that the king would never look up.

"Hmm…."

"Your Majesty~ Since they don't dissolve in the holy water, I'm guessing they're not demons?"

These were the words of Isabelle, the High Priestess of the Moon and Purity, whose gaze was not very suspicious of the four people from the beginning.

"They've embraced the holy power, so they can't be demons."

"You are right, Mother Anak, and that is why I have led them without question."

Gillingham, who had brought Ha-ri and the others, also spoke up but one man disagreed.

"Who knows what those wicked demons might have done!"

Loxley, the Holy Knight of the Tatar, God of the Sun and Judgment, was still skeptical.

There was one more reason he was still suspicious.

"There's no way Your Majesty, a living demigod and the Divine Mother, wouldn't know about this!"

'It's simply that His Majesty can't have made a mistake.'

"Lord Gillingham, I hear there are two more."

"Ah, yes! A woman with the divinity of dreams and death, and a half-breed with the divinity of iron and blacksmithing, both of whom… have the holy power of living saints."

""...!!""

The words startled everyone, including Loxley.

A living saint is a supernatural powerhouse, a Holy Knight, one of the very few in the Lionheart Kingdom.

But there were two of them?

If they were, there's no way Lionheart, the organization that oversees all the faithful, wouldn't know about it.

"It's been twenty-four years since Lord Jerea ascended. If you think a new heir has emerged...."

"No, it hasn't."

Leon dismisses Isabel's speculation and looks around at the four saints and sisters.

"Please step aside. This king has a question for them."

"Your Majesty, that can't be…!"

"Lord Loxley, I understand your loyalty, but for now, trust this king's judgment."

"...I understand."

Each of the four saints cast a glance at Leon, and then they were out the door.

"Then...."

Leon glared. The four swallowed hard.

Ha-ri glanced at Leon, expecting to see some sort of response, but instead his gaze turned to the next person.

"State your names."

"I'm Kim Jae-hyuk."

"Ha, Han Soo-ho."

"I'm Chun So-yeon."

"Hmph...."

Leon looks puzzled as he considers the four names. He asks further questions.

"Where is your hometown?"

"That, that...."

The four look at each other and hesitate to answer. As they contemplate how to formulate a response in their native language, Leon shouts at them.

"Where are you rolling your eyes, why can't you answer immediately?"

"Seo, Seoul, Seoul, South Korea!"

"Uh, it's a very far country!"

"Yes, it is very far!"

"...."

Leon stared at them wordlessly, and then, as if comprehending something, he drew upon his overflowing holy power. And then──

A huge presence appeared behind Leon's back.

An enormous sense of imposing power descended upon them.

"Surely… this is a child I have never seen before."

Arianna, Goddess of Light and Justice.

"How is it then that they bear our blessing?"

Poma, goddess of the sea and waves.

"Is this not the work of the evil ones?"

Petos, god of war and flame.

"I remember all those to whom I have bestowed my blessing, and if they are fakes, I will tear their souls to shreds!"

And Ultima, god of the sky and thunder.

The four gods Leon had instantly descended upon pressed down on the four men with an immense sense of authority.

"What about Ventasis? That girl must be one of her contracted avengers."

"He has many contracted avengers, and he is the one who is profiting the most from these turbulent times."

As the four stood before Leon, clad in the robes of the gods, they realized they had been sorely mistaken.

'Fighting the Archduke…was a small part of his power?'

'The descent of the gods… Isn't that something that even His Majesty on Earth has never shown?'

Until now, the gods had revealed themselves by voice or through a medium.

Only once did Leon a god descend and that was when he appointed Yakt Spinner as Holy Knight.

'Even then, his majesty coughed up blood after only a brief summoning, but for his majesty here… it's no big deal, is it?'

As a Holy Law user, Ha-ri had felt the fullness of holy power in this world, but she hadn't expected it to be this much.

If Earth became a land filled with such power… the current Gate situation itself would not be difficult to resolve.

"It is not for nothing that this king has come to take you captive. None of the gods know you, even though you are blessed by them."

"Ah...."

And for good reason.

Ha-ri's connection to the gods is due in part to Leon's time on Earth.

The gods here are technically in the past. They're recreations, so they don't know they exist.

"Be honest with this king. Tell me where you came from, how you got here."

Ha-ri didn't know where to start or how much to say, so she decided to tell him everything.

Leon might be a bit of a maverick, but he wasn't a complete idiot.

"...."

Leon and the gods were silent for a while after she told them everything. For them, it was a shocking realization that they had a predetermined future and that they were recreated beings, even if it was only the past that they could barely speak of.

"I see. By the gods, is this possible?"

But Leon was surprisingly calm. Had he already accepted that their destruction was a foregone conclusion?

"It is not impossible."

Arianna didn't start by denying Ha-ri's claim.

"Time is beyond the reach of even the gods. If there were a record of the entire universe across dimensions, it would be possible to recreate something that even our gods would not recognize."

"...So that's how it happened."

Leon's gaze flickered back to Ha-ri, but was somewhat detached.

"Your role, then, is to assist this king in moving into the future."

Obediently, she accepted her role.

* * * *

Beatrice found the place where the Tree Men and Sages gathered, a short distance from the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods.

Protecting and tending the forest, they are the spirits of the woods, themselves the embodiment of nature's will.

They are said to be actively aiding the Alliance during this unprecedented crisis, but at night, when their work is done, they blend into the forest around them.

"Who art thou?"

"Such a clear aura of Fle."

"The Twilight Knight must have ascended."

"The new priestess."

They scanned her as if of one mind. Beatrice smiled brightly.

"I am Beatrice Alighieri Spero. Sages of the Forest."

Her voice echoed through the forest. The spirits of the forest firmly recognized the voice.

"High Priestess of Fle."

"On what business."

"To visit the forest."

"Will you look at this?

Beatrice revealed what she had brought: the seedling of Gunnar, which she used as a coordinate to open this gate. The Sages who saw it were surprised.

"This is...."

"Our seedling...."

The forest awakens. One by one, the giant trees reveal themselves, until one of the smaller ones approaches.

"This is Gunnar. An old friend of King Lionheart, and the owner of this seedling."

Gunnar recognized the seedling he held at once, and his guess was a natural one.

"Lady from the far future, how come you have my seedling?"

"It is not mine. I borrowed it from a future monarch."

"Is he the Lionheart King of our time?"

"Yes, you recognize him?"

"Our seedlings are not given to anyone by nature. The only one who might have it is my one true friend."

Gunnar was a friend Leon had traveled with since his days as an acolyte.

They had been by each other's side from the time he was a young Tree Man to the time he grew to become a Tree Giant, nearly 100 years later.

"If Leon has entrusted you with a seedling, your will is his will."

Leon knows the value of this seedling: it is the "child" that the sages of the forest produce once in a lifetime.

He trusts that he would not have entrusted it to a woman who did not know such things.

"Actually, the reason I've come to you is because this seedling is failing to grow, and His Majesty has deemed it worthy of your advice in this day and age."

"Hmm…If there is one possibility."

Gunnar pointed to the seedling.

"It is from the world of the dead. Its nature has been altered by the taint of paradise."

"Then...."

"It only grows in paradise."

"...!"

Then Leon's grand plan is undone. Leon had planned to grow it on Earth, and the effects had surprised even Beatrice.

Should she give up? To Beatrice's distress, Gunnar adds.

"Perhaps there is a gift we can leave him."

"Are you going to do it?"

"If that woman is to be believed."

"We are re-creations of the past."

"It is right to let you take it."

Beatrice glanced up at the echoing voice that shook the forest.

"Do you have other plans?"

"There is. Originally, I was going to take this hardship to the Lionheart King."

"He will accept it."

"It will require a 'sacrifice' from the gods and his priests."

The sages of the forest insisted that it was a worthy cause, even apart from acceptance, and it was──

"Shooting down the moon."

"The first hunter of the moon."

"Will sacrifice itself to create a new star season."

"And with it."

"Distill the essence that will complete the final Holy Grail."