Chapter 1858
Gradually, it became clear.
Her mother—from the beginning, Beriache gave birth to her in order to make this her own body. Her power that worked to Beriache’s advantage, contrary to her will, was the proof. Her body accepting Beriache’s soul without any resistance was also evidence.
“”I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sad. You will bitterly resent and hate me. But putting aside your feelings, I feel a deep affection for you. You, whom I gave my life to give birth to, you who look like me, you who have lived for me... I love you, my daughter.””
Beriache’s soul permeated Marie Rose’s body while whispering eerily. She took for granted the body that had been born and nurtured for her from the beginning.
“......”
Her hands, legs, and mouth—once she finally realized that even her heart was beating for Beriache, not for herself, the vitality in Marie Rose’s eyes faded. In fact, the preparation of her mind was over.
Marie Rose realized that her resistance was meaningless from the time she noticed that the power and magic power she had accumulated over the years was working for Beriache’s advantage without harming her. A strong sense of destiny filled the air. Emotions that couldn’t be expressed as just desolation or loss made her infinitely helpless.
Let’s give up...
Suddenly, the sights that entered her vision were different from what she wanted to see. Marie Rose stopped struggling. She was unable to hold onto her fading spirit and offered ‘herself’ to Beriache.
“...Why?”
Then suddenly, she heard his voice. His voice trembled with all types of emotions. It caused her to remember the verses of the epic that she had savored while sitting alone in the dark palace.
[The God of the Surface stood up again.]
Baal, who had overcome countless deaths—he could’ve been frustrated by the infinite power of the king of hell, but he rose again at every moment without collapsing.
[The God of the Surface said there is no need to be afraid.]
Finally, Baal reverted to his primal form and became a giant. Even when the king of hell made the surface despair by showing a will to never fall down with a body larger than a mountain, he stood alone and calmly spoke.
[The God of the Surface cut off the source of fear. ]
Finally, he proved it—the power of an unbreakable will.
[I fought for you.]
The reason why his will wasn’t broken. He said it was for the people.
For the weak. To help them survive, he gritted his teeth and persevered.
Yes, he isn’t fighting for me. I am not an underdog. I’m not someone to be protected.
She thought so, but she was mistaken. His short words, stained with anger, sadness, and pain made her realize it.
‘You... you fought for me too.’
The moment her thoughts went crazy, Marie Rose reached out. Her body had been taken away by Beriache and naturally didn’t respond. Marie Rose had reversed her position with Beriache. No, her situation was worse than Beriache’s a little while ago. Beriache was free to act in her soul state, while Marie Rose’s soul was trapped in her stolen body.
Marie Rose seized the will that had been broken after knowing the cruel reality and raised it up. She followed the will of the man who would be her companion.
Baal’s power—the powerful force contained in Beriache’s soul was gripped by Marie Rose’s soul. The same was true of Amoract’s power. The power that Marie Rose inherited from Beriache was at work. The power of 10,000 beings—the power had been powerless against its source, Beriache, but it worked properly at this moment. It was only possible thanks to Marie Rose being swallowed up by Beriache. The power that had taken root inside Beriache was exposed to Marie Rose.
“If we get married and have a girl, it is okay to name her Marie Rose...”
In honor of her daughter who was about to disappear—
Beriache, who was talking nonsense with a different common sense from humans, closed her mouth. She noticed that Marie Rose’s soul, which had been fading inside her, was becoming incredibly powerful.
A chill went down her spine. The powers of Baal and Amoract that she had just taken from hell were getting out of control. They started to respond to Marie Rose’s soul, not hers.
What was going on? Beriache found what she had overlooked and hastily summoned her power. She struggled to grasp the powers of Baal and Amoract, which sought to free themselves from her.
It was meaningless. The reason why Marie Rose couldn’t beat Beriache was purely because of their compatibility. She was superior to Beriache in every way, and she was much more skillful at handling powers. From the point when Baal and Amoract’s powers were exposed to Marie Rose, they completely belonged to her. Even the power of the recently deceased Noll was like this.
‘Mother... we have to cherish and love each other.’
Noll’s soul enveloped Beriache. He grabbed onto Beriache’s soul, which had already been deprived of strength and weakened, and didn’t let go. It wasn’t an attitude to hurt her. He simply had the will to be together. It was the power of compassion. It became a powerful poison.
Beriache’s soul, about to be extinguished, grabbed onto Noll’s soul. Against Beriache’s own will, she relied on the love of her child.
“Kik...”
Beriache was gradually feeling dizzy. Then she heard the noise filled with ridicule that was made by Marie Rose and suddenly came to her senses.
“Wait, dear husband.”
Beriache realized that Marie Rose didn’t even care about her. She realized that everything had already fallen apart.
“”No...! This can’t be! I have a duty to protect my father’s world...”” Beriache’s soul cried out desperately before closing her mouth.
A world dyed by the sunset—she was inside Marie Rose’s newly blossomed mental world and faced Marie Rose’s cold eyes.
“Yatan’s world is no more. It is already Grid’s world.”
An attitude toward filth—Marie Rose no longer respected Beriache. After informing Beriache of the cruel reality and plunging her into despair, Marie Rose turned her back on Beriache without any regret. She left Beriache behind in the world full of Grid’s divinity and her affection for Grid.
“”Marie Rose...!!””
There was no escape. She would gradually fade and be swallowed up in Marie Rose’s ideal world...
Beriache’s scream of despair as she realized the punishment she would receive echoed meaninglessly.
Meanwhile, Marie Rose’s consciousness was focused solely on reality.
Lightly.
She jumped from her throne and stood in front of Grid.
A complete body—Marie Rose had swallowed all the powers of the Three Evils of the Beginning and cut off her natural destiny, so she was different from before. It wasn’t that her appearance had changed. She was still beautiful, but there was a warm and innocent smile added to it.
A face that was so beautiful that it didn’t look like a human being. It was a smile that washed away the rejection Grid felt.
‘...Really pretty.’ Grid was limited to feeling just this sentiment. He forgot about the context and was fascinated by Marie Rose in front of him.
Marie Rose’s smile deepened. “Yes, it is a good attitude. Dear husband, you just need to look at and care about your precious things without any worries. That is enough.”
“Ah...”
It was strange. Grid was greatly comforted by this seemingly insignificant remark. He wondered about the reason.
During the hell expedition, Grid had faced a series of difficult and unexpected circumstances that were more than he had anticipated. Killing Baal, purifying hell, etcetera—he felt more fatigue than a sense of accomplishment in achieving his purpose.
The cause was the stress caused by all types of obstructions and things not going as planned. Of course, it would sound arrogant to others. Most people in the world were frustrated by repeated failures. In any case, it was difficult to understand from a general point of view why Grid would be dissatisfied after achieving his purpose.
However, Grid took a different position. The time, money, and effort he invested in preparing for this expedition went beyond the territory of ordinary. Grid didn’t prepare it alone.
To give a simple example.
Thousands of people invested in procuring materials to manufacture consumables such as buff potions for the expedition. Even that was only a small part of it.
Grid was the emperor. Executing his plan meant moving the Empire. The manpower that Lauel and the Overgeared Guild had been using over the past few months was in the hundreds of thousands.
Grid fought with their sweat and hard work, and the aspirations and destinies of many more people than him. He was in a position to disappoint and frustrate too many people if things went wrong. Therefore, he had no choice but to react sensitively to the slightest twists. He wasn’t happy despite all his achievements.
But at this moment, Marie Rose had declared it.
Don’t worry, don’t worry about anything.
It meant she would be there to help him take care of it even if he failed. He felt like he was relieved of the burden he had been carrying for so long.
Marie Rose—she was one of the few beings who could ‘completely’ support the present Grid.
“Let’s get married,” Grid said while grabbing Marie Rose’s hand. It was while giving her a desperate and affectionate look.
“Let’s get married without delaying any longer.”
“......”
The smile disappeared from Marie Rose’s face. Was this proposal not romantic enough?
It happened as Grid realized that he made a mistake because his heart got ahead of him...
“...Thank you.” Marie Rose’s eyelids fluttered and her stiff lips smiled again. It was a smile that was brighter than it had been before. “For needing me.”
A woman whose existence was almost lost to the woman who gave birth to her—a miracle happened when she, who had questioned the value of her own existence, realized many things through Grid and removed the shadows in her heart.
[Vampire Duke ‘Marie Rose’ has shown mercy to her brother.]
[Vampire Earl ‘Noll’ has been resurrected.]
The bones and flesh of vampires were different from that of humans. They were created through the medium of blood and their bodies were pure, red blood. Therefore, they had the power to scatter their body into mist. Marie Rose clearly transcended the progenitor, Beriache. It wasn’t difficult for her to resurrect Noll using his magic power and blood, which had been captured by the power of 10,000 beings.
“...Noll?”
Noll suddenly came alive and looked around. The boy, one of the few vampires Grid held dear, didn’t understand what was going on, but he came to his senses when he heard Grid’s voice. He roughly grasped the situation and his face turned red. “You... you saved my life, Gri...”
“What? You died?”
“...d.”
The deep emotion was broken.
Noll immediately made an expression like he was chewing on poop.