With an angrily contorted face, Wood ground his teeth in frustration. The fact that he had no retort only fueled his anger, his arms trembling as he pressed them against the ground.
Creed, who had only intended to warn and had followed the carriage for that purpose, decided that it was time to wrap things up.
"So, stop being interested in other men's women."
The line was a clear warning to not cross him further.
Creed disappeared like a mirage after those words, and Wood, with a cold and hardened expression, stood up and headed towards the carriage. The coachman was nowhere to be seen, possibly having fled.
"I want to kill him."
If he could, he truly wanted to kill Creed by any means.
Crack!
Wood severed the reins tying the horse to the carriage and mounted the horse.
"Don't tell anyone and in two days, take me to Agnes yourself."
"Another man's woman... Taking another's woman isn't too bad either."
Wood returned to the Duke's residence, for in two days, when Navia came, he had to find a way to imprison her.
When he arrived home, Wood sensed something was off. The house was in slight disarray, or rather, the air felt heavy and suffocating. He alighted from his horse with a slight frown, noticing the absence of any servants to take the horse's reins.
"What on earth is everyone doing?"
Wood muttered irritably and passed the horse to a passing servant before entering the lobby.
Inside, he saw Vivian, whom he thought would be holed up crying, directing the servants.
"No, the console goes here. Move the cabinet this way."
Wood raised his eyebrows and approached her sharply.
"Hey."
He called out to Vivian with a half-shout.
Vivian completely ignored Wood and continued adjusting the furniture's position.
"Hey!"
As he raised his voice, Vivian looked at him with an annoyed expression.
"Be quiet."
Their relationship had been strained since Navia left the house and hadn't improved since.
"Are you mad?"
Wood sharply rebuked her, to which Vivian asked indifferently.
"What?"
"Emperor His Majesty has passed away, and you're redecorating at a time like this? It's not just a family disgrace; what if Agnes gets accused of being disloyal to the royal family because of you?"
His response, though rational, was met with derision from Vivian.
"You care about that? But tell me, isn't it more disloyal to follow a woman around, especially when the Emperor just died?"
She knew why Wood had dressed up early that morning and gone to the palace.
"Did Navia Eseled agree to meet you? You look like you've been badly beaten."
Vivian laughed mockingly.
Wood's eyes widened in anger, and he clenched his fist.
"You're asking to die…!"
Before he could approach Vivian, a sudden barrier of water sprang up between them.
Wood, seething, lowered his fist and turned to see Nikan approaching.
The water barrier disappeared, and Nikan scolded Wood harshly.
"Vivian is your sister, how dare you raise your fist against her!"
"But Father, at a time like this, she's decorating the house! How does that make sense?"
"It does. It's a task assigned by me."
"…What?"
"You're foolish. Where have you been roaming around, not knowing about such important matters at home?"
Wood, having been out since early morning, was clueless about the scholars who had visited the ducal residence and couldn't guess what was happening.
Nikan clicked his tongue and extended his hand.
"Behold this power."
Wood then realized his father was holding a book.
"What's this book?" he wondered.
The servants stopped moving, their eyes glazed as if their souls were drained.
Wood swallowed dryly and spoke hesitantly.
"Could this power be... the demonic power once used by Prince Ares?"
He hoped it was a mistake.
But Nikan shattered his hopes.
"It's divine power, my son."
More precisely, it was the temporary release of the energy from the Pantheon.
The reason Vivian was rearranging the furniture was to create space for a magic circle that would fully open the Pantheon's energy in this place.
In simple terms, they were in the process of turning the Agnes Ducal Residence into a Pantheon.
As Nikan withdrew his hand, the malevolent energy filling the room vanished instantly.
"Power eventually gravitates towards formidable force."
Wood was confused about how to react to the situation.
"But Father, you've seen Navia's power. If this is pointless…"
"Don't worry about that. To fully release this power, Navia must enter Agnes and become a sacrifice."
"…A sacrifice?"
Nikan smiled satisfactorily.
"Yes, in two days, Navia will become a sacrifice for our family."
In two days? That was when Navia was supposed to come to Agnes.
'Could it be, they already know about this situation?'
"Father, this is a trap. Stop this at once!"
"Stop it, brother."
Vivian looked at Wood with disdain.
"Our family is now forced to lock our doors because of the Empress and Prince Ares. Both you and I will have to live cooped up in this house until we die. How is that any different from death?"
Vivian laughed mockingly.
"Ah, are you upset because you wanted Navia but now you'll have to embrace a corpse instead?"
"Will you shut up?"
"Enough, both of you!"
Nikan glared at Wood with wide eyes, speaking sternly.
"There are plenty of beautiful women in the world. You will have the world at your feet, so why focus solely on Navia?"
"..."
"Wood, think carefully about what's more valuable."
Wood bit his lip so hard it almost bled. He was already deeply enchanted by Navia. But was there really a way to make her his?
"So stop being interested in another man's woman."
Navia was engaged to a duke. She already belonged to another man.
Yet, he still wanted Navia. Even if she was a corpse, he had to have her.
"Actually, it's a good thing. Navia herself said she would come here."
Upon hearing Wood's words, Nikan smirked.
"Such an arrogant woman. She will die the moment she steps into the mansion."
Thus, the world would come to lie at the feet of Agnes.
|
Fate
|
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed across the vast land as if thunder had struck the ground.
Soon, the smoke cleared, and Lark appeared. He looked around, unable to hide his disgust.
The mysterious energy that lay like a thin cloud on the ground and the twilight sky made it clear this was the northern part of the divine realm.
"If a person comes, they should come out to greet, why is no one here?"
No sooner had he grumbled than the air split vertically, and Nyx emerged.
"Acting like we'd never meet again, why are you here?"
Lark spread his palm and thrust it towards Nyx's face.
"Here's Niratoinira. I've come to eradicate it."
"…With your power, you could easily do it in the human realm. Why come all the way here?"
"I have other things to take care of while I'm at it."
Nyx felt a certain unease at those words.
What could Lark possibly have to do in the divine realm?
Nyx glanced at him with a displeased expression before creating a vine-like prison between them.
"Put it in here."
As Lark reached towards the prison, an evil aura emanated from it. It was the energy of Niratoinira.
Nyx watched the scene with a strange look.
"I still can't believe you're allowed to stay in the human realm. This is just divine, isn't it?"
A human wielding the power of a god, isn't that a destroyer of the ecosystem?
Lark was nonchalant about it.
"I've traded almost all my divinity for deals. If you want to get technical, I'm almost a demi-god."
"It's not about being a demi-god. The problem is your power. How can a demi-god easily defeat gods from the outside like it's nothing?"
"I was just born lucky, what do you want me to do?"
Nyx sarcastically replied, "Oh, is that so?"
Just then, Lark, as if he just remembered, relayed news from the human realm.
"Oh, there are crazy people trying to connect the human realm to the Pantheon."
Nyx's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"What? You leave that be and come here? You should take care of it immediately!"
"It's bound to fail anyway."
There was such certainty in his voice that Nyx frowned for a moment before slowly nodding.
Thinking about it, Nyx seemed to understand why he was so confident.
Lark grinned and cast his gaze into the distance.
Towards the Pantheon hidden somewhere in the farthest north, still shrouded in darkness.
"The moment they try that, they'll expose their location to me. Why would external gods bother going to the human realm, which is much more restrictive, to face a terrible enemy like me?"
If Lark left the human realm, the beings of the Pantheon might harbor other intentions and quickly infiltrate the human realm.
'To prevent that, I made Creed my avatar.'
As long as his traces remained in the human realm, no god would dare move rashly.
To face Lark, they would inevitably have to release all their divinity in the human realm, creating a causality for the native gods to descend.
From the perspective of external gods, there was no need to go to the much more restrictive human realm to fight a terrible enemy like Lark.
Nyx shook her head.
"Well… Even gods of Azathoth's level wouldn't know, but for those of lower rank, there's no disaster as terrible as you."
At that moment, Niratoinira, shriveled in a miserable state, was transferred into the prison created by Nyx.
- Kyaahh! -
As Niratoinira let out a scream of agony, Lark irritably kicked the prison.
Bang!
"Ah, my ears are ringing! Keep quiet if you don't want to be beaten more, brat."
Niratoinira, seemingly terrified of Lark, just made a shushing sound, quieting down.
Similarly annoyed by the noise, Nyx, who was covering her ears, shook her head at Lark.
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