Arc 2 - Chapter 41: A Place for Dreams to Come True (1/2)

The Goddess Rhea's side had been weakened in battle; the demon army of Bedivere of Gluttony had conquered the entire eastern part of the world, even the unmapped parts, creating wounds that could not be healed even decades later.

It could not be repaired, not even in tens, hundreds or even thousands of years. Wounds that would never be healed if Bedivere's army won the war.

His hatred for the gods was so great that he had no problem destroying the whole world and eating every living thing in order to attract them to himself.

But it didn't seem to do any good. Because it didn't work out the way he wanted, only one of the deities of heaven had descended to earth: Rhea, Goddess of Earth and Nature, Protector of Rolderhelm.

Expelled from heaven nearly four centuries ago, Azer had fought for the world with Rhea, but after his death and that of his descendants, Rhea was the last remaining deity on earth. After her death, there would be nothing to prevent the complete destruction of this world.

To gain the power to reach heaven, Bedivere would eat every soul left on earth after Rhea's death, and if his hunger was not satisfied, he would bring souls from other worlds, as he had done until now.

Galahad, Bedivere's brother, was the best leverage they had against him, but he had died trying to protect Rhea. Rhea saw no point in fighting after his death.

Denise, Eumia and Natalia were standing, trying to convince the goddess sitting on the chair.

"There is no point in fighting anymore," Rhea said. The life energy in her eyes was drained. "Heaven has left this world and with the power we have we can do nothing but delay our death. The end of this world has come."

"How can you give up! Aren't you supposed to protect the world!? Aren't you supposed to protect the people who believe in you?!"

If Rhea wasn't a goddess, Rolderhelm's crown princess would have already slapped her in the face, but instead of slapping him, Eumia could only clench her fist.

"Galahad is dead, who else can stop Bedivere? I am mortal on earth and once he take the soul of another deity, Bedivere will be unstoppable. Azer's soul has already made him strong enough..."

"What are you going to do then!" Denise slammed his hands on the table. "Run away so Bedivere won't eat you? How far!"

"What kind of goddess are you?"

The white-haired young witch became angry and threw the items on the table on the floor.

"May the gods continue to dwell safely in heaven! And you flee to Rolderhelm and return to heaven! But we will fight! This world is the only world we have, the only world these people have! People will keep fighting until the last soul has passed away!"

Natalia stormed out of the tent, looking for one last place to calm down in a world that was about to end.

Denise never found out what Natalia had done after she left the tent.

---

She was the most beautiful being that ever walked the earth. She was graceful, kind and possessed all the beautiful virtues. How many people had she made fall in love with her since she came to earth?

But this beautiful deity's green hair was dyed red with blood, her face was grief-stricken and her soulless body lay on the ground. The body of the goddess Rhea was slowly disappearing from the world.

Eumia, the girl Denise loved, was also killed by a demon's sword and entered the stomach of the Bedivere of Gluttony.

Not only Rhea and Eumia, but every man, woman and child who had made the last stand was slaughtered, their souls gone to Bedivere, who no longer even had a body.

Denise and Natalia were the only two beings left in İlonya. With the mana left in their bodies, all they could do was, as Rhea said, delay their deaths.

"I died once in my world, Will I die once more here? Fuck it!"

Bedivere was utterly terrifying. His power was so great that even his physical body, carefully created by the Goddess İselle, could not withstand it and was destroyed. Now all that constituted him was a shadow that absorbed even the light around him.

It had no legs, it floated in the air, a formless shadow. Hands, heads and feet emerged from the shadow that formed it, but none of them belonged to Bedivere, they all belonged to the spirits that were trying to get out of it.

"M-y h-u-n-g-e-r, I a-m h-u-n-g-r-y, h-u-n-g-r-y f-o-r r-e-v-e-n-g-e." 

Was it Bedivere who spoke? Was it even a man, a woman, a child, a human being? It was not clear...

Every letter in Bedivere's words was voiced by someone else. They felt their souls grow heavy as pure gluttony approached them.

Denise gave up when he realized it was the end. No, he had already given up when he saw Eumia's death. Now he could understand Rhea giving up when Galahad died.

But there was still one person who refused to give up. Natalia, the Witch of Clermont, refused to give up. As Bedivere's form of despair, pain and grief washed over them, destroying the colors of the world, Natalia's expression changed for a moment and she smiled a devilish smile. It was a single second, a single moment, but Denise saw her eyes turn red.

Natalia raised her arms, formed a purple orb of light in her hands and threw it at her feet. At that moment the whole world went dark and Denise and Natalia were left alone in the darkness.

"There is still something to do, I will not give up."

"If you have such a spell, why didn't you use it before!"

Denise grabbed Natalia by the collar. The first thing he thought of was not Natalia's words but Eumia. If she had cast this spell earlier, Eumia might have lived.

"There is a way to turn back time." Natalia pushed away the hands clutching her collar. "There's a place called Nekoverine, if we get there we can rewind time and warn Galahad."

Denise was crying. Eumia's death had affected h,ö so much that he saw no point in finding out the solution to everything now. After all, the Eumia he would find when they rewound time would not be the Eumia who had stayed with Denise until the very end.

Since Eumia was the one he would find when he returned, he would still care and love her, but how could his conscience be clear?

"Why didn't you tell me before..." The sentence didn't come out of his mouth like a question. He spoke just to speak and fell to his knees in front of Natalia.

"There was a price."

Natalia had a vague sadness in her eyes. They left the darkness to find Nekoverine.

***

From the Princess's right to her left were Yu, Yurine, Lylphia, Sivina, Ana and Raul. They stood at attention in front of the throne in the hall of the royal palace.

Princess Eumia el Rolder of Rolderhelm, prepared to place the badges of honor in the chest held by her maid of honor, while behind them knights, nobles, and the bourgeoisie who help keep Rolderhelm's economy running stood in silence.

In fact, not all of them had gathered here to celebrate the success of Redchapel. It was only because it coincided with the holiday that there was such a large crowd.

"I congratulate you on your success and thank you for saving Rolderhelm from a monster. Please accept these badges as a token of my gratitude."

Yu watched out of the corner of his eye as Eumia started to put on the medal.

"I was expecting to be knighted or something, they just give a medal. I wonder if it's real gold. How much is this insignia worth?"

Since they were going to rewind time, it didn't matter if they had a badge on their chest. It made more sense to sell it and use the money for their cause.

"But they are really shameful. They could at least give me a prize money, like a thousand gold coins or two thousand gold coins. I would even settle for a hundred gold coins. It's so dry like this. Is this unbecoming of the Princess of the great Rolderhelm Principality? It's stingy."

The Princess moved from left to right. First on Raul's chest, then on Ana's, then on Sivina's.

"Sometimes you just want to be a medal of honor."

Sivina looked very charismatic in his white knight's uniform. She was fully recovered and ready to take on new challenges.

Her spirits were at their highest, especially after the celebrations held for her in Redchapel. The townspeople had organized such a big party for Sivina that even the gothic town seemed beautiful to Yu for a short time.

After Eumia placed the medal on Lylphia's large breasts, it was Yurine's turn.

The princess knelt down so that the little sword fairy could wear her medal. Yu would normally imagine a noble like her to be arrogant and not kneel before anyone, but she had heard on his way to the palace that the royal family was extremely humble.

Yurine's tail wagging as she examined the medal on her chest gave Yu a small smile. Yurine was acting like a child, as she should have been since Yu had promised her. Princess Eumia stroked Yurine's head with her hand and congratulated her with a kiss.

When it was Yu's turn, he braced himself. He had to say something to her now, something that would make sure she would pass it on to her husband. He couldn't afford to miss this chance as he didn't expect to meet Eumia or the prime minister later.

The princess stood in front of Yu. In the story, her hair was described as pink, but the Eumia in the story had perhaps just turned twenty. The Eumia standing in front of him now was a gray-haired granny who had turned sixty.

"I read the paper your husband left at the academy."

The princess didn't understand what Yu had said and just stared at him. Then Eumia, thinking it would be awkward to linger, put the engagement on Yu's chest and stepped back.

"A banquet will be held this evening in honor of the heroes of Redchapel, and entertainment at the palace will continue throughout the day!"