Lara recalled a time of the past.
She was having a restless night, kept up by the thought that she might actually be a real saintess. The next day, she went to Hautean's Temple of Glory with Konny. It was early in the morning. The damp and heavy atmosphere made her heart stuffy. While stepping on the land of the temple that she really did not want to step on, Lara prayed that she was not the saintess.
Lara was so happy after returning to the past and living again. She thought that she could just correct her mistakes and not have to repeat the same tragedy again, the world coming to destruction had never crossed her mind.
Her heart tickled every time she saw Isadora's face. Isadora was still as busy as ever and was not good at expressing her feelings. Lara only understood her mother's mind when she returned to the past. She did not abandon Lara. She just did not know what to do.
She even extended her relationship with the cute Konny, the cowardly Valentine, Eunice and Ximena, and Princess Sonnet. The number of people precious to her had increased. Before she died, Lara loathed going to bed because the fact that tomorrow existed was terrible for her. But after coming back, she would get so excited about what she would do with whom tomorrow that she would find it hard to go to sleep anyway.
Demian. She felt sorry for herself in the past who loved him yet did not realize that fact. She loved him that much. She wanted him that much. Even before her death, Lara could not take her eyes off Demian when he left for the battlefield. And on the day of his return, she waited for him and was unable to sleep.
The reason why Lara could not take off the veil that she started wearing at the suggestion of Marquess Bailey and Prince Sidhar was because she could not take her eyes off Demian every time she met with him. She was afraid of that brief moment together being taken away. He was the man who said he would do anything for Lara, and the same went for her.
Numerous eyes were transfixed on the altar. There was a mixture of astonishment, admiration, madness, and concern in the people's gazes. Lara raised her head proudly to those gazes.
God gave her a second chance. He threw a bait she could refuse with his devilishly seductive whispers.
Lara did not resent Abraxas. She hoped she could tell him someday how precious and wonderful her second life was. She was glad that he was an all-powerful God and that she was lucky enough to be chosen out of all those people.
When she realized that she was a real saintess in Hautean's Temple of Glory, Lara read all of the temple's lithographic stones that had the legend of the saintesses.
From no. 6 to no. 22, most of the records carved on the seventeen lithographic stones were close to legends or folktales. However, among them, there were words that remained particularly vivid in Lara's memory. The saintess was a herald representing the voice of God, but she was also a medium for calling God to the land of humans.
A saintess was a key to calling God.
Lara found out that she was destined to be born a demon lord, but she could not conclude that she was no longer a saintess.
So what if she was a saintess? So what if she was a demon lord? Abraxas was a God, yet he was also called a demon. She could summon Vassago, a demon of a demon lord level at once with a few drops of blood from a small wound. Even if Abraxas was fast asleep in Demian's body, she could call him out as much as she wanted.
"Abraxas."
Lara whispered.
"This time, I will give you a second chance. Come out. Come here and correct your mistakes. That's what God does."
The point of the dagger touched her chest. The sharp blade tore through her tender flesh and sank into it. Red blood poured out. It was painful, but Lara stood up straight to the end and said.
"Come to me."
If God had gone mad and abandoned his duty, she could just grab him by his hair and slap him in the face to make him come to his senses. That's what a saintess would do.
She could hear Acerus shouting in the distance. He was begging Lara not to do that, asking her to please stop.
Acerus tried to go to Lara, pushing his way through the black sorcerers and demon worshippers who gathered like clouds in front of the altar. But his knights risked their lives to prevent their liege from leaving.
The dagger went a little deeper. Hot blood flowed down Lara's body. Her chest burned and her head turned dizzy. Lara wondered if she had stabbed her heart. Still, she could not help it. This was not a gamble, but a certainty. It was fine. She could still hold out.
Lara stumbled little by little and lost her balance. Her vision was blurry. The madness uttered by the demon worshippers opened the gates of hell wide. Lara stood on the altar at the edge of the cliff. Slowly, she collapsed.
The dark sky was covered with shade from the dense forest. Darkness had colored the world like a smear of ink. Then, night suddenly came to the sky above the mountain ranges. Suddenly, everything was pitch-black, and the wind ceased to blow. The demon worshippers fell on all fours and trembled all over.
A man jumped out of the dark sky, where there were no stars or moon.
At first, his white hands popped out, then, his two arms followed. It was a continuously moving motion, like water flowing down a stream. After his white face appeared, his slender body came out.
It was Abraxas.
He caught Lara as she stumbled and fell in his arms, and said.
Lara opened her eyes. There was a faint smile on her pale face.
"Abraxas, send them all to hell."
Do everything you have ever wanted to do. Forget the will and karma of the world and show what God is like.
Lara's voice reached Abraxas. The whisper of the saintess reached God.
God said.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
The gates of hell opened. A sticky darkness resembling the snouts of beasts bares its teeth and gnaws off the valley.
Rumble
An earthquake shook the entire mountain range. The altar, being on the cliff's edge, was the first to collapse. It was where numerous sacrifices bled to death. Following the crumbling altar, the black sorcerers around it were sucked into the gates of hell.
A terrible scream ensued. As soon as they touched the sticky darkness that flowed from the gates of hell, they fell into it as if they were sucked into it. They struggled and screamed to no avail. The hell they summoned was equally a place of punishment for them.
The black sorcerers tried to run away and sacrificed each other. Eventually, they began to kill the demon worshippers. It was a mess. Even the demon worshippers, who were drenched in madness, finally came to their senses and ran away. But it was all useless. When the gates of hell under the valley opened its mouth and began to gnaw off the cliff, hundreds of people on it fell at once.
The sticky darkness began to split. It chased after the fleeing demon worshippers and snatched them from their ankles. The Hell Corps, which was chased by the Allied Forces, arrived just in time. The situation became worse.
There was no place for them to escape. All the roads had disappeared with the rising of the giant of fire and its impenetrable flames. The rats had already gone into the trap.
Above the head of the wandering Hell Corps, the best Allied Forces warriors rushed with their weapons. They were the Barbarians. Demian was at the forefront.
With his fluttering cloak reddened with the blood of the Hell Corps, Demian raced through the battlefield. His blue eyes were bloodshot.
"Lara!"
Demian shouted. Lara was floating on the gates of hell below the valley. Her eyes were closed, she was swaying with her body soaked in blood. Lara seemed to be unconscious, the hell underneath her opened its mouth greedily. Demian shouted, not even realizing that his lips were torn and bleeding.
"Lara!"
He had to go to Lara. That was the only thought in Demian's head. He could not lose Lara so helplessly in this life too. He did not want to imagine that. In the past shown by Abraxas, Demian was so desperate that he led the world to destruction.
But things were different this time. Demian clenched his teeth and threw away his cumbersome cloak. He took off his heavy armor and threw away his shield. Every time he swung his sword, dozens of Hell Corps collapsed with their blood spattered.
First, the Hell Corps, then, the demonic beasts, after that, the demon worshippers and black sorcerers were shattered before his dash.
As Demian passed, a path of blood was created in its place. On the red and damp road, Demian threw away the sword he had been holding until the end and stood on the edge of the cliff.
Hell was still gnawing off the valley with its mouth wide open. The earthquake was getting stronger and even the ground that Demian had stepped on seemed to be collapsing soon. In the midst of the screams of the demon worshippers and the sound of the mountains collapsing, Demian stood narrowly on the cliff and looked at Lara floating above hell.
Hell wanted the demon lord. The sticky hell was reaching for Lara, whining like a child. It beckoned for her to come back to hell. It wanted her, the woman who was destined to be born a demon lord, but saved the world from destruction by becoming a saintess.
"Not her."
Demian threw himself in. He himself dived into the black mouth of hell. Then, just before Lara was swallowed by hell, he pulled her into his arms. And as though he would never be apart from her from then on, he carefully hugged her so he would not even miss a strand of her hair.
With Lara in his arms, Demian's feet reached hell. It did not matter. The world without Lara was Demian's personal hell. Demian did not even hesitate to answer when God said he could only save either Lara or the world.
"Lara."
She was his everything.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Abraxas felt his presence dissipating little by little.
It was the first time he experienced it while living for a long time as God. At first, he felt lighter, and soon, his heart softened. Instead of limbs disappearing, he felt like wings were sprouting. The long-awaited oblivion came to a place filled with only sorrow and pain.
Forcibly manipulating the gates of hell and driving the demon worshippers and hell legions were a big deal for him too.
Abraxas stopped the demons who were looking for opportunities to come over to the land of humans and drove the humans into hell. The black sorcerers and demon worshippers fell bare in the land of the demons they had longed for. The world shrieked and pushed God away when the mountain range was struck by earthquakes.
Abraxas did not stop though. This wish was what his summoner demanded with her existence at stake.
Lara, since you have put your existence at stake, I will also put my existence at stake. Never again will the tragedy of the saintess and demon lord being born to kill each other happen. The balance will not be broken, and destruction will not come due to divine intervention. No more will the will of the world be able to intervene in human destiny.
He had been waiting for this for a long time. Abraxas smiled joyfully as he looked at his scattered body.
He would never be born a God again. He would never fall in love like that again. Because he did not want to go through such a separation again.
My love, my lover.
How I wish God could die and go to the afterlife as the humans say.
"I'll be waiting."
How I wish you were waiting there for me.