Chapter 24: Terra Australis Incógnita (III)

A deathly silence fell inside the submarine when the ball of light passed through the windows. It didn't matter if they were fallen angels or humans, they all began to whisper the words: God and Father. No one could deny that the presence belonged to that person; the biblical God. The one who reigned over the Heavens; that God who created the angels. Said being, who created Lilith, Adam and Eve. The one who hated dragons and loved humanity.

Jon felt that his presence was warm, but also a little oppressive. His voice was calm, but also heavy. He was supposed to be dead, but here he was, apparently still alive.

"How?!", Sahariel decided to ask as tears fell down her cheeks. "How are you alive?! Father!"

"..... Alive?", after a bit of silence, God answered. "Sadly, I'm already dead. What you see right now is just a small part of me that I left behind to guard this place. You kids shouldn't have come this far."

"You're not telling me where to go, you bastard!" Ddraig roared at that moment, causing Jon to sweat in fear. They were facing God! Not a normal God, but the one who created Sacred Gears and angels! An existence that would definitely be at the top of the most powerful list if he were still alive. He wasn't an opponent they could defeat right now!

"That voice... Is it you, Ddraig? If you're with that child, it must have been a while."

"Don't give me your greetings, Yahweh. I still hate you, you know?"

"Is that so? Even in this form, which is a mere echo, I can still feel emotions. To me, you seem quite at ease. Is it because of that child? He's a... Huh...? You, child, aren't you from Earth?"

 "Uh... No?" Jon didn't really know how to behave.

"No wonder! You feel different."

"My partner is not for you to analyze, twinkles!"

"Haaa~ Calm down, Ddraig. I was just impressed to see a human from another place. I, as a God bound to humanity, can tell. I was just curious, you don't have to be so defensive."

"You destroyed my body!"

".... You were too destructive."

"No! What's with that silence at the beginning?! You definitely resented me!"

"Anyway, Sahariel," Yahweh decided to ignore Ddraig. "Why have you descended to this place?"

Sahariel looked at the ball of light longingly as she replied. "Investigations. Jon, as he is not from Earth, began to investigate ways to return home. Sirzechs, the current Demon King Lucifer contacted Azazel, who began to build a ship like a Vimana and a Skidbladnir as a base. However, we need Orichalcum to run the ship's core reactor."

Sighing to take a break from her father's presence, Sahariel continued shortly after. "I knew that a meteorite fell in Antarctica a while ago. We managed to take some a while back, but it was used for Azazel to create an artificial sacred gear. Now we were hoping to find more in the depths of the Antarctic ocean."

The ball of light that was Yahweh vibrated for a moment. "Current Demon King Lucifer? That's right, he died alongside me... What is the current one like?"

"Well?" Sahariel replied with some doubt. "I mean, the Underworld doesn't work like it used to. They left the business of suffering, domination, and soul-stealing in the past. Many humans have joined their ranks through a process of reincarnation. Of course, evildoers don't cease to exist, but even if the enmity between the three sides continues, a peace agreement is already being sought to form a full alliance."

"That... Haaa~ What a pity, I'd like to witness those kinds of changes. Well, it really can't be helped."

"Father..." Sahariel decided to ask an important question. "What did you seal in that place?"

Yahweh was silent for a long moment, until he moved softly until he came to the side of Sahariel, who could feel the presence of God much better. Once upon a time, when he and the rest of the fallen, could feel that warm presence above their heads. Sahariel, as an angel, was not a really powerful existence, but it is not like he committed heinous crimes either. His mistake was feeling love for a human woman, a love so great that it made him sleep with her. And all the fallen who descended from the Fifth Heaven, went through similar things, including Azazel. 

"That...", Sahariel came out of his thoughts when he heard his father's voice. "It's not like I can stop them anyway, but proceed with caution. They may be able to pass through the seals, but they will definitely enter into a life or death struggle."

"EH!", Ddraig raised his voice. "It seems that you could not predict this."

"Not really," Yaweh easily acknowledged. "My predictions are tied to Earth's humanity. And that child is from outside, an inhabitant of another world. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, that child is not tied to Earth. And you must be careful boy, your actions can bring about changes both good and bad."

"It doesn't matter if something bad appears! Jon will become the strongest Emperor Dragon of the past and the future. I know it. I can feel it in my scales."

"Then it's good, Ddraig. Because in this world, there exist two extremely dangerous things. This is the first, and the second, the one that bears the number of the beast, is sealed somewhere else."

"Trihexa?!" Sahariel exclaimed in shock.

"That very one. It was the true cause of my weakness in the Great War. I had to deploy thousands of forbidden seals on the Emperor Beast of the Apocalypse in order to properly seal it."

 "The... Thing... that is sealed in front of you, does not come from this world. It is an alien thing. It is not human, it is not even made of flesh and bones. It is a machine from beyond the solar system."

"What?!", Sahariel shouted once more, while all the technicians of the submarine whispered in disbelief.

"If it were not for the fact that it can detect its appearance, then the Earth would have been finished millions of years ago."

"Can you tell us anything else, Father?", Sahariel asked worriedly. "How strong is it?"

"Fortunately, it cannot use magic. All of its attacks are based on advanced technology. When it was alive and I came to stop it, I was able to disconnect its communication systems and GPS, so the civilization that sent it does not know where the Earth is. They can fight with everything they have without problems. I will accompany them during the battle."

"It seems that you want us to face it. Even though you said that it was better not to enter," Jon commented for the first time.

 "You're right, kid. Even though I'd rather they live, leaving that thing is too dangerous."

Jon frowned. "Do we have a chance?"

"I said it would be a life-or-death battle, but not that it's an unwinnable battle."

Sahariel frowned before starting to work on the holographic terminal. Soon, Azazel appeared on the video call.

"Sahariel?"

"Oh, isn't that Azazel? How nostalgic..."

Azazel froze upon hearing that voice. His smile trembled as his eyes trembled slightly. "Hey, that voice..."

"There's no time!" Sahariel interrupted him. "Azazel, we've discovered a dimension created and sealed by Father long ago. According to the echo it left behind, it's a mechanical life form from outside the solar system... We'll go in!"

"What?! Wait a minute, Sahariel! I'm confused right now. An echo of Father? Mechanical lifeform? Seals? Nothing makes sense!"

"Azazel!" Sahariel raised his voice as he looked down. "I... right now, I want to. Please, just once. Just once, let me make things right."

"I think my fallen comrades may feel the same way. No one here regrets loving. But... we regret walking away from his grace. So, please..."

Azazel had a look filled with pain as he looked at Sahariel.

"You... Fine... Just... make sure you come home! Jon!"

"Yes, Azazel?"

"Please take care of him."

"I can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can."

"That's enough..." Azazel nodded before falling silent for a few moments. "You're there, aren't you, old man? Listen, if my brothers don't come back, even if you're dead, I'll really hate you. This... this kind of thing isn't something you can just do. Appearing out of nowhere! Spouting this kind of crap and then asking them to go to war with something completely unknown to them!"

"You can't just think it's okay because of who you are!"

Yahweh gently moved until he was standing above Sahariel's head. And, for an instant, Azazel thought he was seeing his brother in the form of an angel. "I never intended to cause harm to my children. Although... I have to say, I never thought they would feel this way, as Sahariel showed. Perhaps... I was a little harsh in the past."

Looking at the ball that was his father's echo, Azazel frowned. "Why? This is something I always wanted to ask, but never could: Why did you push us away simply for loving human women? Would it have been fine if they were angels like we were back then?"

"I've never hated humanity, my child. Never. And it was never because those women were humans. Love is a universal thing, everyone has at least a little of it, even the most twisted people. But did you ever wonder why humans were born? Or, why did I get angry when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of knowledge? Humans have the greatest potential; they are born weak, but with enough, they can be the strongest. They can persevere in incredible ways, to the point that their desires serve as a method of propulsion in the sacred gear. However, they can also use their strengths for evil."

"If I didn't do anything with you, the others would think that what you did was right. At that point, wouldn't everyone have fallen?"

 Azazel looked to the side, as if he was avoiding God's gaze. He clicked his tongue, "Tch," before sighing.

"I hope you don't die, Sahariel."

"I won't," the fallen angel declared with a confident smile. When the communication ended, he looked to the side. "Let's move forward. We're going to break through the seals."

"Aye!"

Sahariel walked quickly in front of everyone as the submarine sped forward. "Guys, I fully understand that I'm being selfish right now! Anyone who doesn't want to get out can stay safe in the submarine! I don't expect you to fight by my side, not with something like this coming out so suddenly."

"Oh, shut your mouth, you thigh-dead maniac. We'll fight with everything!" a human growled at that moment. "Anyway, we can't look like cowards with God here, right next to us."

 Sahariel coughed at being called such a derogatory name.

"It's been a while since I fought by his side. Even if it's just an echo of his true self, I'll give my all in this battle."

"True. I agree."

"Even though we fell from your grace, I cannot regret the love I felt. Still, I want to fight by your side, would you let me?" a fallen asked with a slightly hesitant tone.

Yahweh trembled for a moment, feeling the determination, the love, and the voices of everyone.

"My children, I am proud of you all. Thank you for listening to this old man."

Jon, watching from the front, smiled at the determination in everyone's eyes. He turned his body and looked forward, watching as they slowly broke through the seals. He didn't know how it worked that way, perhaps because of the presence of God, but they were entering. And together with Sahariel, they were the first to see the mechanical life form inside the dimensional space.

There were mountains surrounding the place, right in a huge field torn apart on all sides. Craters, ditches, and rocks piled up everywhere. Right in the center, where there was a large crater, was what looked like a large animal, almost like a spider. Huge, long, sharp-pointed legs. A triangle-shaped head and what looked like an oval-shaped shell with lights flashing in a light blue color.

Yahweh came over to speak to them at that moment.

"After I confronted it, I was able to decipher the information in its database. Its name, or rather, its designation is: Stellar Harvesting and Predation Device. It is a machine sent to different planets to search for, target, and eliminate intelligent life for later harvesting."

"Why didn't you destroy it?" Jon asked doubtfully. The closer he got, the more doubtful he was about Yahweh's reason for not destroying that thing. It was too dangerous to even keep it sealed!

"I couldn't."

"Huh?"

 "Fighting that thing, it might not wear me down enough, but I still spent some time on it. It's not that it's extremely strong, it's that it had no concept of death. It's literally a machine created for extermination. Its materials don't even come from this galaxy. And probably, the beings behind it, are existences that surpass normal Gods."

"The seals here aren't just to maintain it, but also to grant it a concept of death to be destroyed."

"How screwed," even Ddraig couldn't help but comment on such a thing. After all, for everyone present except for Yahweh, it was the first time they heard of something that had no concept of death. In the world, even stones had a concept of death; even if a lot of time passed, in the end, a rock would end up being eroded to the end. But that thing, the Star Harvesting and Predation Device, didn't have it.

It was too weird!

 "I guess we'll just have to go all out from the start, huh, Ddraig?"

"We have to push our limits!"

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