Simple man with his overpowered army Chapter 39: Hell is other people to some

It all starts like any other day. People waking up from the night’s rest to face the new day. What most people don’t know is that today... Today is going to be a day rembered by many. A day that will be etched into the history books of this particular tiline.

In the abyss, Nesis talks to his sin carriers. He starts with "I’m getting quite impatient. How have our preparations for the chosen tiline gone? Oren."

Oren cos forward and says "Yes your majesty. As per your plan, the nobles have hoarded produce in the scale that makes the lower classes feel hungry. and Roth have also made sure that the nobles of each realm have gobbled up as much as they can so that their forr beauty was destroyed."

Roth says "Yes. And as for Oren’s part, which he failed to inform just now, the nobles have increased security and in general the soldiers of each realm have beco also quite posh, corrupted and overweight."

Nesis says in satisfaction "Excellent. How is it going in your end, Ilil?"

Ilil bows and says "Yes. The lower classes are about to start riots all over the place at the sa ti as per our plan."

Nesis nods and says "Good. And Riatla. Have you actually done your job?"

Riatla yawns and then says "Sure. When the lower classes rioted, most of the ’chosen tiline’s’ nobles remained idle. This caused irreparable damage to the trust that people have to each other and it is with that I suggest that we start our assault on the ’chosen tiline’ near the end of that chaotic day."

Nesis nods in satisfaction and says "Excellent. All forces, turn your gaze to the chosen tiline and crush them with all the might of the Swarm!"

Everyone but Riatla shout in unison "For the destruction! For the Swarm! For the Swarm King!"

And so the Swarm attacked.

But during the day of the attack, things looked quite peaceful in Elysium. This was mostly due to the fact that Li’s protection has made the influence of the abyss hinder the judgnt for the people of Elysium.

But still, Lud got a troubling report from Altair. She said to him via telepathic link "Things aren’t looking good boy. People have begun to riot all over the place. The lower realm, middle realm and the higher realm all began at the sa ti, so I believe that it has to do sothing with the abyss."

Lud says "Right. Have you heard anything from Tiara?"

Altair responds with "Not much. All that she had ti to ssage was to say that she had her hands full trying to manage all the hoarding that nobles have done these past few days. But when the riots started early in the morning, I didn’t hear anything back from her."

Lud says "I see. How are things on the space stations?"

Altair responds with "Not good here either. While it isn’t as bad as other places, we still have many criminal reports piled up. What I could gather from our intel is that the dragons had the least amount of problems with riots, but they had a whole other thing going on with a bug infestation."

Lud connects the dots "Bug infestation you say. Then it is quite likely that the Swarm has already started its attack."

Altair says "That is my and the council’s conclusion as well. The gods have also prepared their angels to calm things down a bit in the realms, but their support has to be minimal in case of aether poisoning. But that brings to the other thing I wanted to tell you about."

Lud asks "What is it then?"

Altair takes a deep breath and says "Whatever you do, don’t send reinforcents to other places."

Lud is a bit taken aback and asks "But why? There are no issues in Elysium that prevent us from sharing forces."

Altair says "Listen closely. You are a king and your sworn enemy has started causing problems all over the place. I can sll that this is a trap to thin out your forces and then attack when you are most vulnerable."

Lud says passionately "But if we don’t send reinforcents anywhere, then many people will suffer!"

Altair tries to remain calm within the chaos and says "Listen. As a king, your people co first. Focus on your people. No matter who asks it, even if Tiara calls you for help, do not, and I repeat, do not send any of your forces because you are going to need most of them there any mont now."

Lud says in desperation "But if I don’t do sothing, then a lot of innocent people will die!"

Altair says calmly "That is sothing you have to co in terms with as a leader. You should have learned by now, but in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you this. The higher the person is on the food chain, the bigger their actions affect the others in the food chain. Sotis a leader has to make hard decisions that will cost many people their lives."

Lud, still desperate, says "But... If I just send a few of my forces, then..."

Altair explains "We cannot save anybody Lud. That is the harsh truth of this world."

Lud realizes sothing and says "Toki. I just make Toki do sothing and..."

Altair stops Lud’s idea by saying "Even singular beings aren’t able to save everybody. Sure, she can co here to fix things, but that also makes her vulnerable for mistakes. Mistakes that she cannot take back if she makes the wrong judgnt. Do you understand Lud?"

Lud stays silent and Altair says "We are all in this together. If it is too hard for you to bear, then you can bla it all on at the end of all this. I promise you Lud that things will get better and this isn’t the end."

Lud says without thinking "And how would you know if this is the tiline that perishes."

Altair stays silent after that and Lud realizes what he just said, so he says to her "I’m sorry. I didn’t... I didn’t an to be a downer. I... I will remain vigilant in case the Swarm attacks Elysium. You do your best as well out there, okay?"

While Lud cannot see it, Altair smiles a little and says "Yeah. Let’s go have a drink after all this is over."

Lud smiles back "Of course. The drinks are on ."

Altair chuckles and says "You better not go back on it and pay for it from the national funds, okay?"

Lud chuckles back "Of course I won’t. While I may not be the richest man alive, I’m sure that I can at least satisfy your appetite."

Altair says "Well then. Let’s have a good old ti when this is all over. Stay safe Lud."

Lud says before cutting the connection "You too."

Ti flew by as Lud anxiously waited. He did so paperwork, but he couldn’t help but worry how others were doing outside of Elysium.

When the night ca, so ca the swarm. Many horse sized bugs and insects started their assaults all over Lutah, most notably Elysium.

Luckily Elysium was preparing for this, so they managed to get on top of the situation quite quickly.

The citizens were evacuated to the castle and Lud stood as a last line in defense if any got past. He knew that he couldn’t do much, but at least he could summon soone to co there quickly if they were available. His gravitational magic had also improved quite a lot, so he wasn’t completely defenseless either.

As Bai and other fingers were fighting alongside the rest of Elysium’s forces, a gate opened and through that ca the death knight that Thews promised to provide.

While Bai couldn’t spare ti to notice, Weiss has also joined the battle as per Sante’s request.

And where was Thews? He was sleeping. He couldn’t be bothered to go if it weren’t one of the sin carriers that he would be facing, so he just lazed around in his palace.

The battle was furious as the swords and canons were clashing against the swarm. Eventually, Weiss and Bai would notice each other, but it wasn’t ti for pleasantries as the swarm vigorously kept on coming.

Soon Bai and the rest of the fingers could hear a noise that brought back bad mories. A noise of envy echoed through the battlefield and the fingers had so trouble controlling their bodies.

Luckily that issue was soon fixed as Xu had prepared sothing to counteract Ilil’s tricks. Ilil watched from the sidelines as her power was mitigated by soone she thought was inferior, which made her attack Bai in frustration.

The two then clashed swords and soon even Weiss ca into the picture to assist Bai. It was as if fate brought the three of them together to finish past grievances.

Ilil taunted the two "You sure you are feeling well Bai! You don’t have any itch to skewer your friend again?!"

Bai retorted "I never skewered her in the first place. Only choked her to death."

Weiss comnted "You could have worded it better."

Ilil continued taunting as she focused on the two "How about you fleshling?! Feeling a little nervous, right?!"

Weiss said proudly "There is nothing to be nervous about. I have my enemy in sight and that is my only concern."

Ilil was having hard ti to keep up with the two and the fight beca that of attrition for her. For Ilil, endurance was not one of her strong suits as her power corroded all the bodies that she used.

Ilil tried to gain distance by going to the city, but her two enemies were hot on her tail and would not give in.

When Ilil saw Lili, she charged past Weiss and Bai, burning with a fierce determination to erase her unworthy self from this tiline—a self that, right now, was a source of nothing but sha. She swung her sword at Lili, only to find her blade slicing through air. The Lili she saw was an illusion, conjured by the surrounding devices.

Realizing it was a trap, Ilil tried to flee, but a sharp, searing pain struck her body, freezing her in place.

"What is this?!" she snarled, struggling to break free. "Let go! Let at you, atbags!"

A familiar voice echoed around her. "This is sothing Xu, Illi, and I ca up with."

The real Lili appeared before her, calmly holding a device that looked like a controller.

"Of course, we had a little help from Toki," Lili added with a smirk. "Though she insists we would’ve managed ’just in ti’ without her. Emphasis on just."

Weiss and Bai moved in to assess the situation, though only Weiss seed unaware of the plan to capture Ilil.

Ilil spat, "You atbags! Always with the tricks, always boasting you’re sohow superior. But you’re not. You hear ? Not."

Unfazed, Lili explained, "Those pylons around you? They generate a field outside the flow of ti. I don’t completely understand the theory yet, but it’s enough to let us extract the sin mark from you. Permanently."

"Ha!" Ilil scoffed. "You really think your pathetic bio-brain could create anything that could destroy our lord’s gift? You might call yourself a version of , but you’re not worth a damn. Not. A. Single. Damn."

A slight smile tugged at Lili’s lips, which only infuriated Ilil more. "What’s so funny, huh? You think you’re better than , even when I explain things as simply as possible? Pathetic, even for a atbag."

Lili shrugged, then asked, "Have you heard of the theory of reverse aether erasure?"

Ilil’s face twisted in confusion. "The what now?"

"Aether erasure theory," Lili explained, "says that if you use a high enough frequency of mana and ana, you can destabilize aether’s core properties, making it effectively disappear."

Ilil’s confidence wavered, a hint of sweat forming on her brow. "But... you said ’reverse aether erasure.’ How does generating more aether help you destroy a sin mark?"

Lili smirked. "Oh? You haven’t figured it out yet? Allow , the better version of you, to enlighten you."

Ilil’s jaw tightened, but Lili continued undeterred. "Reverse aether erasure works the reverse. By introducing a low enough frequency, aether’s activity increases, making it more abundant. So, tell —how exactly does the sin mark work?"

Proudly, Ilil replied, "The sin mark channels a portion of Lord Nesis’s power to us. It’s a power unmatched by the likes of you!"

Lili nodded. "But how does Nesis’s power work exactly? What makes a single being so powerful?"

A realization dawned on Ilil, her confidence giving way to panic. "No... You wouldn’t dare. That’s insane!"

Lili’s voice was cold as she pressed on. "Yes, Nesis’s power cos from the Abyss itself, drawn from processed aether it consus. By amplifying aether within this field, the sin mark will overload, flooding you with raw aether—far beyond anything even Nesis could withstand. Tell , what would your dear lord do if his very life were on the line?"

Ilil’s voice was hollow as she whispered, "He... he would sever the sin mark to save himself."

Lili’s eyes glinted. "Exactly."

Desperation crept into Ilil’s voice. "But he won’t let it happen to , right? He’s already seen what you’re planning. He’ll intervene. He has to! There’s nothing you can do against the might of a singular being! Hahaha... hahahaha!"

Lili raised an eyebrow. "Then tell , why didn’t he intervene when Ill and the sin mark of wrath were destroyed?"

Ilil’s face paled as the horrifying truth settled in. She muttered, "There... there wouldn’t be enough ti for a singular being to respond to sothing that kills them in monts."

"Exactly," Lili said, her tone almost pitying. "Glad to see the other can still put two and two together."

Ilil looked up at her in horror. "You... you wouldn’t really do it, would you? Because if you do... then..."

Lili’s voice was steady. "Even if you sohow survived the raw aether surge, you’d still need to die before we release the trap. Our minds would sync as one, you and I—after all, the world sees us as the sa person."

Ilil’s defiance shattered, replaced by desperate, choked sobs. "Please... please, don’t do this... I beg you. Please! I don’t deserve this! I worked so hard... harder than anyone! I poured everything into making Elysium see , into proving my worth! I worked harder than even you! Why should I be the one to die? Why can’t you be the one to disappear? Why can’t I be the version of us that survives? Why? WHY?!"

Lili’s gaze softened, a faint flicker of understanding in her eyes. "I get it. In a way, I understand. My strength relies so much on tools and devices—I can see why you’d crave that kind of perfection. I do understand, Ilil... I really... sigh... I really do."

"Then don’t do it!" Ilil scread. "You don’t have to do this!"

Lili’s expression hardened. "Yes, I do. Because I can’t stand to live knowing there’s a version of that’s fallen so far. So... pitiable."

With that, Lili pressed the button. Ilil’s agonized scream tore through the air, echoing across the city as the battle raged on. "Please! PLEASE! PLEASE!!!" The desperation in her voice lingered until, in a final broken gasp, she cried, "This is so unfair!"

Lili whispered in response, "I know."

As ti passed, the cries faded, and all that remained was Ilil’s lifeless body. The sin carrier of Envy was gone, forever erased from the world of Lutah.

Bai spoke quietly, "So, it’s finally over."

Lili nodded. "It is. But we’ll need to deal with the excess aether at the site before shutting down the pylons. Toki said she’d handle it, so let’s get back to the battle."

Bai gave a brief nod. "Yes. Let’s go, Weiss."

As Weiss followed, she couldn’t shake a lingering unease from what she’d overheard between Lili and Ilil. For Weiss, her other self, Siew, symbolized pride—an ideal to strive toward with enough effort. But to Lili, Ilil was a distorted reflection, one that represented everything she despised.

For Weiss, Siew was a mark of pride; for Ilil, her counterpart was a source of envy.

The simple words Lili had spoken to Ilil, "I know," echoed with a profound weight. In saying them, Lili acknowledged her vulnerability and the truth that her survival was a matter of luck. She understood that she could easily have beco the version of herself who chased perfection to ruin—and perhaps, one day, she might fall to that fate without realizing it.

It was a conflict that would haunt Lili, likely for the rest of her life. And Weiss suspected that this, too, was a burden Lili now carried. Sadly, her suspicion was not far from the truth.

Two of the sin carriers were now gone.

anwhile on the lower realm, at the heart of the forr corrupted land, the cryzalin capital, Oren walked around, trying to piece together his history as they were long gone. Only one thing was certain for him and that was the fact that Zolotifa once tricked him into doing sothing abhorrent, and hence, he had to have his revenge.

That being said, Oren had trouble with his motivation, as these things were only told to him by Roth.

As he walked the forr Cryzalin capital, Oren saw Atkoosa walking towards him.

Atkoosa said "Of course you would co here. The symbol of your arrogance will always bring you back."

Oren says "And who are you supposed to be?"

Atkoosa said proudly "Gaze upon , for I am the sun god Atkoosa. And here is the god of rembrance and reflection Epithos and the god of death Mors."

Soon Epithos and Mors showed themselves.

Oren says "So, the gods have co to judge for my past sins, have they? Very well. I’ll accept this challenge with all of my heart!"

Soon, a battle of imnse magnitude happened at the old Cryzalin capital as three gods and a sin carrier fought.

Oren, with his power of greed, could harness the power of all he owns into his attacks, causing significant damage to the three gods. While Oren was never the strongest sin carrier, his power made him much more formidable in actual combat than Ilil, Raet or Roth.

In case you were wondering, Siew was the strongest, then ca Riatla and then Ill. Oren was right in the middle in terms of combat power. Below that was Raet, then Roth and last was Ilil.

But back to the fight at hand. As the battle continued, the once pristine crystal houses that have stood there for many millennia crumbled into sparkling dust. The scene could be described as otherworldly.

Eventually there was a pause in the fighting. Oren said "Why do you continue to protect Lady Zolotifa? Why do you continue to fight a aningless battle when the outco is all clear to you?"

Mors said "You might think that we are protecting Zolotifa, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. While she may exist among us now, she isn’t our primary focus."

Atkoosa said "We are here to protect our world. Zolotifa doesn’t bear any reason for us fighting you this day."

Annoyed, Oren says "Then why do you let her be? Why haven’t you done anything? Why are you so incompetent that you let your enemy stay in your garden? Why? Just why?"

Epithos says "It seems that you focus too much on Zolotifa. As far as I understand your way of doing things, the real Zolotifa resides in the abyss, not in this tiline. So tell Nero, why do you wish to destroy this tiline?"

Oren is speechless for a mont and then he says "I... my na was Nero, wasn’t it?"

Atkoosa asks "You don’t rember?"

Oren answers "Yes. All that I know is that my reason I work for my king is so that I’ll get revenge on Lady Zolotifa. I... I don’t know anything past that."

Mors asks "So you blindly trust people and you don’t even try to seek out if it’s true or not?"

Oren answers "I... I no longer have a choice. I... I just feel like there is a connection to Zolotifa and what Roth told just makes sense sohow. Even... Even if I did try to find out, I have a feeling that it will be seen as a betrayal of my king’s trust, so I... I no longer have the choice."

Epithos says "You were once a proud king of Cryzalin empire. You led your people with brave and just heart and supported those being oppressed. However, when your people migrated to the lower realm, the people of the middle realm saw an opportunity to desecrate your sacred burial grounds in the middle realm that had stood there for ages. There, they took the sacred eyes of the remains of the dead, those being the crystal that is in each of cryzalin people’s heads. They sought to use that crystal for their benefit, which succeeded, and hence they started the hunt for further sacred eyes and poached your people for profit. That is... what I think drove you to encase your people in crystals in order to protect them."

Oren, deep in contemplation, asks "So... what was Lady Zolotifa’s part in it?"

Epithos answers "That I do not know. Though given how Zolotifa has operated in the past, I believe that she saw your suffering at the ti as amusing and made you go through with the PEACE. But sohow, I feel like you once revered Zolotifa."

Oren asks "Why do you think that?"

Epithos chuckles a bit and then says "Well, you do call her Lady Zolotifa, don’t you? That is the sign of respect that I see reflected on your being."

Oren says "But... I thought that it would be only appropriate since that is how my king calls her."

Epithos asks "Then what does our subject matter say about this?"

Tifa appears and says "Well honestly, he was a sucker at the ti and was ready for any kind of solution."

Oren is surprised by Tifa’s sudden appearance and says "Lady Zolotifa. Why are you here?"

Tifa says "I felt like I had to clean up a bit since you looked so pathetic. Look, I used you, or a version of you, but there was never any mind control shenanigans as far as I can tell."

Oren is astonished by this and mutters "Then... then that ans..."

But Tifa says "I an, I did nudge things forward with so of your researchers at the ti, but I don’t think that would have been necessary at the end of the day. They would have gone through with it whether I did anything or not."

Oren says "Then... is my grievance... misplaced?"

Tifa scratches her head and says "I don’t know. I only have vague mories of the ti, so I can’t promise that I am telling the whole truth to you now. So stay skeptical at least."

Oren is dejected and asks "But... what am I really fighting for?"

Tifa sighs and says "For your people, obviously."

Oren is lifted up by those words as he repeats them "For... for my people..."

Tifa says "I an I did hear what your initial plan was for joining Nesis from the report. Do you want to tell you what you had planned?"

Oren says "No... No, I’ll feel like that will only bring more suffering sohow. I... I really don’t feel like this mark of sin really fits at this point. I... I think that if I knew the truth, I’d be misplacing my beliefs for so reason. Like I’d try to do sothing that... my people wouldn’t approve of."

Atkoosa asks "So is the fighting over then?"

Oren says "No... There is one thing you need to do before you leave. You... you must destroy the sin mark."

Mors says "But what I can gather, the sin mark is what helps you exist in this tiline without rging with this tiline’s version of you. And since this tiline’s version of you is still here, you’ll rge with him and you’ll be stuck like him."

Oren takes a deep breath and says "I... I still think that this is necessary."

Mors looks at Tifa with expectation and Tifa says "Fine, I’ll deal with the mark."

Tifa puts her hand on Oren’s shoulder and begins extracting the sin mark from him.

In that brief mont when Oren didn’t carry the sin mark and wasn’t in the sa state that the other him, he felt soone calling for him. A cheery voice that sounded familiar to him sohow.

"Sire! We have been waiting for you! Co! The people are eagerly waiting for you to join them!"

After hearing that, Nero couldn’t help but to smile and say "Right. I’ll be with you soon." And so, the sin carrier of Greed Oren was defeated.

Tifa was left holding an ornant that had a golden glow. The ornant was the sin mark and Tifa asked the people there "So what will we do with this thing?"

Mors said "Give it to and I’ll have a trusted person take care of it."

Tifa hands it over and Mors says her thanks and goodbyes and goes to the afterlife. There, she finds Thews just lazing around, but by the end of Mors’ visit, the sin mark of greed was destroyed. Three sin marks were now destroyed.

Not long after, Siew and Thews stood on the battlefield. No one dared to attack the two of them and the two had a hearty conversation.

Thews started "So... You are the person who holds yet another Elysium in their hand."

Siew says "That is true. The battle that I had with one version of you was one that I could never forget."

Thews says "So... who won?"

Siew answered "The goal was to impress the king of death, and I did just that. But..."

Siew takes out Elysium and points it at Thews "It wasn’t decided who won the battle, so why don’t we have one for the ages?"

Thews smiles devilishly and brings out Matrix as a sword and points at Siew "I wouldn’t do this any other way."

Then cheeky Roth ca to mock Thews with the words "Oh! You think you can beat our strongest?! Too bad for you, Siew’s has an ability that can cut through anything in existence, so you better..."

Thews got annoyed and destroyed Roth with the power of Matrix. The sin carrier of Gluttony Roth was dead and so was the sin mark. Four sin marks have been destroyed.

There was a brief silence between Siew and Thews. After a short pause, Siew comnted "No rcy I see, but can we have a regular sword fight at first before taking out the big guns?"

Thews shrugs and says "Works for ."

And soon the two started clashing swords. The speed was unobservable for most people and the sound of two blades clashing was ear shatteringly loud. They even made their surrounding turn to shreds with their fighting going on and no one, enemy or friend, dared to get close to the two clashing. Unfortunately, the fight ended up taking out both friends and foes accidentally, but those losses didn’t matter to the two. The thrill of fighting was all that mattered to them. Two mad swordmasters were smiling ear to ear, not giving other the ti to rest.

anwhile Raet was infiltrating Elysium and was getting closer and closer to the castle. She muttered "Can’t wait to have daddy for breakfast!"

But then suddenly, soone ca from the sky and almost crushed Raet with her feet. It was Trix.

Trix says "So there was soone who tried to go for the booty of my future son in law. Have at thee." And with that, Trix kicks Raet like a football, which sends the poor spider lady through multiple houses.

And in case you were wondering about the future son in law part, let’s just say that Toki and Trix had a brief interaction before the invasion happened, so yeah.

Raet flies quite far, but eventually she is captured by Tear’s web. Raet says, barely conscious "Oh great ancestor. It is good to see you. Why don’t we take turns on Faust after you help ?"

Tear comnts "Intriguing offer. However, this feels all sort of weird, so please die."

And with that, Tear strangers Raet, which is basically one of her descendants, which makes it a bit more weird. But still, the sin carrier of Lust Raet is dead as her body is ripped to shreds."

Soon Trix and Toki co there and see the ss Tear made, so Trix says "Couldn’t you have been a little more clean with your kill?"

To this, Tear comnted "Well I didn’t bust her through multiple buildings, so you can’t really lecture , can you."

As the two bicker, Toki extracts the sin mark of lust from Raet’s remains and holds it in her hand for a mont. The ornant is glowing with a pink light.

Trix asks "What are you going to do with that, granddaughter?"

Toki answers "I an, I should destroy it, but I’m still not sure how to do it with minimal damage to the area."

Trix says "Can I see that?"

Toki says "Sure" and hands the sin mark of Lust to Trix.

Trix stares at it for a mont and then eats it.

Toki and Tear look at Trix for a mont in astonishnt.

Soon after, Toki panics and starts to shake Trix furiously. Shouting "What have you done?! Please spit it out this instant grandmother!"

Trix just says while Toki is shaking her "Don’t... wor-ry... My... stomach... acid... is strong..."

And then a familiar looking man for Toki and Trix casually walks by and says "And so, the fifth sin mark has been destroyed." And with that, the man disappears to the forest, leaving all three won whose nas start with "T" speechless.

anwhile on the battlefield, Thews and Siew are still fighting vigorously. The ground has seen better days and the sa can be said about the forest and the walls of Elysium.

Eventually the two stop their bout, Siew is out of breath and her violet hue is slowly fading away. anwhile Thews just says "Boy, what a workout! Could use this more often!"

Siew chuckles and says "So... you haven’t even gotten started yet, have you."

Thews stretches and says "I an, I’ve fought for so long and faced so many opponents that it has beco quite easy to learn the patterns of people. Still, you are absolutely THE swordmaster of Lutah, I give you that."

Siew says "You say that, but aren’t you in much better condition than I am now?"

Thews makes "Pfft" sound and says "Details detail. I’m not even originally from Lutah, so counting amongst you is not really fair."

Siew asks "Say... How high would I rank in all the opponents you have ever faced?"

Thews ponders for a mont and then says "I’d say you’d be close to the third hardest opponent I have faced."

Siew says "So not even the second best, huh... Say, how about we end this."

Thews smiles maniacally "Of course. I’d love to see how far your all cutting swing can go in the presence of absolute death."

Siew gets ready to attack, but before she does, Thews says "I can totally see why I gave you that sword. Perhaps the old man even planned to hand it to you from the very start."

Siew smiles shortly, raises her sword on top of her head and shouts "Sin of Pride: Absolute Cut!" As she swings her sword.

As the cut approaches, Thews has so ti to contemplate. For him, the strike is slow, but to any other person, it would be a near instant attack.

Thews takes a serious stance, makes a serious face and says calmly "The Stillness of Absolute Death." With that, everything beca still. Not even the Absolute cut could move in the environnt of absolute death.

What Thews’ skill does is that he makes the presence of death so strong that the very building blocks of the world, mindless as they be, have a brief mont of fear of death. So in this absolute stillness, nothing, and I an nothing, not even electrons dare to move an inch. So... the coldness of the area becos that of absolute zero as the dread of death is all around them.

With that, try as it might, the absolute cut cannot move from the spot it was in and eventually fades away into nothingness. Siew, barely being able to rely exist, can only make one connection within her brain. And that is...

That she never stood a chance.

The Sin Carrier of Pride, Siew, has been defeated. And with one swift movent with the sword Matrix in his hand, the sin mark of Pride was also extinguished.

And so, the sixth sin mark was destroyed.

anwhile in the abyss, Nesis was throwing a tantrum as sothing he thought impossible had happened. He shouted "Why?! Why?! WHY?!"

The furniture was thrown to the walls while the last remaining sin carrier stood still nearby. Nesis shouted "Why haven’t you done anything?!"

Riatla said calmly "There was nothing I could do. Once soone is sent to a tiline, we in the abyss cannot alter what happens before our intervention. A weakness that you should have known by now, my lord."

Nesis shouts "But it should be impossible! So why... WHY?!"

Riatla says "I think the best course of action is to gather our remaining forces all across tilines and make one final frontal assault. That way..."

Nesis shouts back "Don’t you dare pretend like you didn’t have a hand in this! You knew very well how all was going to pan out, but you chose to let it all happen!"

Riatla says in a sarcastic tone "My lord, I would never do such a thing. I only care for the well being of our dear swarm."

Nesis grabs Riatla with his claws and tightens his grip. He says in frustration "You better shut your mouth. I should replace you as soon as possible for your transgressions, but you technically haven’t done anything that I haven’t ordered, which makes frustrated."

Riatla says in surprise "You’ll... forgive ?"

Nesis says "No" and throws Riatla to the wall while he goes sowhere. Riatla follows suit as soon as she gathers herself.

Riatla asks "Where are you going, my lord?"

Nesis smirks and says "Unusual circumstances require unusual solutions, so I’ll do what I have been planning on doing for quite so ti."

Riatla asks "But what are you..."

Then Nesis opens a vault door that Riatla hasn’t seen before, and once opened, they see a huge amount of items that Riatla didn’t expect to see.

Riatla says "My lord, these are..."

Nesis says smugly "Yes. These are what the people of Elysium call the Grail of seven sins. World items that were supposed to be only one in the whole world where they ca from, but here in Lutah, thanks to the tilines, we have many of them gathered here."

Riatla asks nervously "What... What are you planning to do with them?"

Nesis gives an evil smile and says "To consu all of them, of course."

Riatla didn’t know the implications of what consuming even a singular world item would do to a person, but then you multiply it by an unimaginably high number. All the Grails of seven sin that Nesis have gathered would be able to destroy on tiline many tis over with little to no effort, but Riatla didn’t know of this.

Nesis then turns huge, splits up into many of himselves and starts consuming all the Grails of seven sins all at once. It takes so ti, but once all of them were consud, Nesis gathers all of himselves into one singular entity, and so begins the process of absorbing all the world items that he had gathered.

Nesis screams in agony as his very being is turned to cinders and reconstructed again and again and again, but his will won’t falter. This amount of pain is nothing compared to his early days. A story of what once was beautiful, lost its shine. And in that chaos, born annihilation.

Riatla could do nothing but watch in horror of the amalgamation that was forming in front of her. But eventually it all gathered into one human form. A human form that was all too familiar to Riatla.

Riatla says in astonishnt "This can’t be... So you really were..."

The new Nesis looked at Riatla and asked "What’s wrong Riatla?"

Riatla says "Your... your body, it’s..."

Nesis touches his face in confusion and realizes that he has gained his forr appearance. He smiles and says "So this was all it took to gain back what was once mine. My original appearance."

Riatla says "So... you really were Faust all along."

Nesis says "Yes. Once upon a ti, a foolish star elf made drink their essence in order to seep into the abyss, only what awaited was an emptiness that no mortal man could overco. So in desperation, my tiline’s Sarah placed the Grail of seven sins into in hopes of bringing back, but all that ca of it was the ego of that world item. An ego that had no way of moving and expressing themselves. Only when the end of ti arrived, the egos gathered into one place, giving birth to ."

Riatla says "So... The reason why you recruited and haven’t gotten rid of after all this ti is..."

Nesis says "Yes... I wanted to watch your wretched self closely as you sink into the depravity of sin once more. For the suffering your other self caused, I wanted to have one of yous to suffer. You just happened to be one of the unlucky ones that I chose. And now..."

Nesis grabs Riatla by the chin and says "You have nowhere left to hide as all the world items in can make you act like a wretched puppet of mine."

Riatla can’t say a word, and then Nesis gives her a sickening kiss and makes his power flow in her.

When Nesis lets go of Riatla and walks away, he says "Now then, go destroy the barrier between life and death in the chosen tiline. After you have done so, I’ll manifest into that tiline as well and show them the real power of the Swarm King."

As Siew disintegrates into nothing, Thews can feel that sothing terrible has happened. The barrier between the afterlife and the rest of Lutah was destroyed and the aether is getting all mixed up. The chaos that ensues is deadly as poison.

But in that brief mont of chaos, all calms down a bit. Though not fixed, the barrier between the afterlife and the rest of Lutah has been temporarily fixed. But that isn’t the main issue that Lutah had in hand. The call of the Swarm King was approaching.

In a briefest of monts, Thews had a feeling that he must activate his skill as soon as possible because sothing big was coming. He did so and the area got cold, but it didn’t matter since the beam of light that ca from the sky destroyed most of the area. The chasm that ford was enormous and would be really troubleso to fix later, but that wasn’t the main issue.

From the skies, Nesis approached. Thews whistled a bit and said "So the main boss was the other version of the boy. I must say, I’m impressed. Still..."

Thews directed his skill towards Nesis, who then just floated closer and closer without any sense of fear.

This astonished Thews since not even Mors could move that much when he challenged her. Nesis just makes a snide comnt "To think that I was deathly afraid of this power monts earlier that I didn’t even dare to try and co. How immature of ."

Thews changed tactics and attacked Nesis with all his might, even using Matrix to destroy Nesis’ very being. But unfortunately, it seemingly didn’t have any effect on him, so Thews gritted his teeth and struck again and again.

Every attack from Thews was casually blocked by the Swarm King, a feat that was sothing Thews had never experienced. But instead of dread, Thews got excited and started summoning his sword and having a real battle.

In the middle of all the sword attacks, even Toki ca to strike at Nesis. But again, it had no effect.

Toki had no choice but to turn Nesis into Eonite, so she used her skill "Eonite transfusion." And with that, Nesis turned into eonite.

But soon after, more beams of light that destroy everything in their path ca raining from the sky. Thews and Toki could barely dodge, but the damage it did to the surroundings was sothing to behold. Now, the mighty city of Elysium was but a shadow of its forr self.

Toki shouted at the Nesis who was descending from the skies "What did you do?!"

Nesis started laughing hysterically for a while, not even considering the possibility of him being in any sort of danger. He laughed, laughed and laughed. Until his voice got a little dry and he had to stop.

Nesis says "I’ve attained power that is beyond your wildest dreams. Now, destroying a simple tiline is but a flick of the wrist for , but since you are the first ones that I’ve used this power on, I have a little fun with it for a mont.

Nesis began to laugh again and Thews and Toki had no way of countering his attacks, until suddenly they heard an all too familiar voice.

"All the conditions have been t. Now it is ti for the surface cleanup. Marumaru’s secret art. House extension. My house, my rules. Part 2."

And suddenly Nesis, Thews, Toki, Lud find themselves on the center plaza of Elysium like it was before the attacks. Maumar says to the crowd "Now that we all have been gathered here. Let ask you sothing, Ludwig Freigner. Are you ready for the second trial?

Nesis tries to say sothing, but he soon finds out that he cannot move much, much less speak at all.

Lud says " I’m confused. Can you at least tell what it is about?"

Maumar says in his usual monotone voice "The second trial consists of you and Nesis having a sit down for a while. Do you accept?"

Lud says "What is the prize?"

Maumar says "That depends on who wins. But still, it is the most peaceful solution for all parties involved."

Lud says after thinking for a mont "Sure. As long as it doesn’t take too long."

Maumar nods his head and says "Of course. Well then, now that we have all conditions t, let us comnce the second trial."

With the clap of Maumar’s hands, Lud and Nesis disappear.

Then Maumar comnts "I an relatively speaking, it is quite a short ti."

Toki shouts "What did you do?!" And Thews follows "Yeah, what did you do to the two?"

Maumar says "As I said, they’ll be having a sit down. But for you Centipede Mathews Witsur, I am ’happy’ to inform you that the barrier between the afterlife and the rest of Lutah have been fixed."

Thews says "I see. But are you sure the two of them will be okay?"

Maumar says "Don’t worry. For you all, it’ll be but a mont."

Toki says "You didn’t answer the question."

Maumar ponders a bit and then says "Rest assured, things will end up relatively fine and things will beco more stable in the future. However..."

Maumar turns to Thews and says "You should know that the montary breakage of the barrier between life and death has caused irreversible damage to the world and now it needs soone to fix it."

Thews asks "Oi oi, how do you expect to fix irreversible damage?"

Maumar pats Thews’ head and says "Don’t worry. Trust your companions and you’ll do fine."

Thews says "Yeah yeah, fine. I’ll figure sothing out. But don’t be too disappointed if I fail to et your expectations."

Maumar says "Don’t worry. I have... faith... that you succeed."

Thews says "Okay then. Ti for and my posse to leave, I supposed. See yeah!"

And with that, Thews disappears back to the afterlife with the death knights.

Then Maumar mutters "Or was it to trust people around you?... People who are offering help? I wonder which would have been more appropriate."

Toki says "Grandpa."

Maumar asks "What is it?"

Toki says "Are you sure everything will end up fine?"

Maumar doesn’t hesitate and pats Toki’s head as well as he says "Of course. Though so things will change. Let us go to your father’s bedroom and he’ll be waiting for us there."

Toki says "He’s already back?"

Maumar says "My dear granddaughter, you should know that ti is but the fiction of mind."

Toki says "Sure. Then... let’s go."

Little did Toki know, the Lud that was on the bed was a man who just experienced hell.