novelEpilogue. Evan D. Sherden, Awaken from the Dream.
| ← Ch.394 | Ch.396 → |
It was too late when Evan felt it.
"Huh? ...Everyone, watch out!"
―Kyuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Although all flows were frozen, the magic field shone brightly, and the Demons that filled up the area started to meltdown one by one. With Evan's urgent voice, Gnar, who was resting with its wings spread out, had everyone board itself and flew up high. But there was just one person held by the magic field, and that person was Evan.
"Oppa!"
"Evan!"
"Don't get down; I'll solve it! ...Forced activation of the magic field? When my power stopped everything? No, that's impossible. Then..."
Did the magic field begin when they set foot there? And it stayed hidden from Evan and his members? But then, how and by whom? Say no more. This was perhaps the Demon King's intention. It meant that the Demon King planned to activate this magic field ever since he was summoned to the world. Then what was it with this magic field? Evan drew out the Annihilation power that flowed in his blood to the maximum level and tried to stop the flow of the magic field, but it was of no use. He knew that his ability to stop the flow was still incomplete. Moreover, Evan was terribly surprised by the resistance put up by the magic field as if they knew such power existed in Evan.
'Hell, is it related to the barrier on Merdin!?'
As a result of freely using his strength to break all the barriers, the magic field shared the data with them and gained some resistance against Evan's Annihilation! That was an amazing achievement. Even God would be amused by it and praise the Demon King for finally making such an achievement.
"The Demons...are already gone."
The frozen Demons on the ground of the Eternal Glacier, tens of thousands of them, just melted away in an instant. That enormous army, many of whom were the elites in the Demon realm, all sacrificed for the sake of the magic field...was the Demon King insane?
'No, wait. '
Evan let out a deep sigh after feeling that the power of the magic field was strongly combined with something within his body. Was this perhaps...the World's Curse? It definitely was. The World's Curse! It was an identical power with the World's Curse that tormented him, affecting him without him realizing it! This magic field was a trigger to activate the World's Curse!
"What the hell just happened...!?"
As expected, the Demon King had his eyes on Evan all along. He was only alerted against Evan while ignoring Save and the others. That meant...wait, there was no time to indulge in such thoughts. The World's Curse, which he failed to fully resist in the past, was now choking his neck after evolving into a more deadly form.
"Argh, the full power...!"
Failing to resist it would crush him to death. The world itself was denying his existence. A terrible pressure that was more than what he felt when he was fifteen years old bore down on him. If his curse resistance didn't improve that time, he would have been crawling on the ground crying.
"Grrrgh!"
"Master!"
"Commander...!"
"You can't do much even if you come, so don't! Check out the Demon King's area!"
It was a good thing that only Evan was the target of this magic field. At least the party members that were fighting against the Demon King weren't bound. In fact, Evan considered the possibility of the Demon King being dead already. The powerful miasma from the magic field reminded him of the Demon King. Well, only the Demon King was capable of putting Evan into this kind of situation. He should've expected no less from the Demon King. What if he went to fight against the Demon King himself? ...That would have bounded him faster. The mastermind of this magic field wasn't stupid enough not to expect his death to come.
"Master!"
Belois came out from the crumbling cave. Looking at her calling out Evan's name as if she didn't care about the Demon King, he was the trigger behind the sudden activation of the magic field.
"Master, that curse again! The Demon King, that guy called you Zero...!"
"Lua, don't come close and try to see how to lift my curse."
"I'm already on it! But...!"
That was expected. Come to think about it, he wasn't able to find the solution to lift the curse, although he had it on his body for the past four years. A curse that didn't exist in the game; maybe it was a unique skill. The unique skill of the Devil. Then, how could it be lifted?! It was amazing that Evan actually succeeded in partially resisting it!
"...!"
The World's Curse crushed Evan's body from all directions. Belois was furious as she observed the situation. She must've been angry towards herself for putting Evan into the same situation twice. Evan could only just smile at her.
"I won't die. Don't worry."
"But Master...!"
"It's no use; all magic is being deflected!"
"It looks like the world doesn't treat him as an existence...no."
Evan's party members were the strongest on the entire continent, but even their magic was useless. The same applied to Save's party that came out from the cave after Belois. They didn't know what to do at the sight of Evan being bound by the magic circle that covered the entirety of the Eternal Glacier.
"If we break the magic circle!"
"It's no use since it's already fused with Master Evan..."
All manner of ideas came up but were turned down. Meanwhile, the light from the magic circle became brighter. Evan twisted his body to resist it. He used the Annihilation to deny the world that tried to eliminate him. And the realization hit him while resisting it. One mistake, and the world might crumble. It was an outrageous event if the world would be destroyed by clashing with one person, but Evan's powers were that strong...
'I didn't lower my guard, but I messed up big time in the end. '
Was it his mistake to send Save's party to defeat the Demon King? But if he didn't do that, the bind would have been cast faster. Well, it's hard to make the right decisions all the time; Evan sighed as the realization hit him.
"Master, you shouldn't give up!"
Despite his warning not to come close, Belois was already holding Evan's arm. Her teary face made him feel sorry, but it also looked cute as well.
"It's all right, Lua. I don't think I'll die."
"Why are you so relaxed!?"
"Hmm, nope."
But he actually thought he wouldn't. Evan gently looked at High Elf Mirole, who had a calmer composure than the others.
'Is this what you wanted?' said the sorrowful look given by Mirole, and she nodded several times with some sense of happiness.
'Good, then I won't die, after all. '
"Lua, you have to keep your distance now. You might get involved in this."
"But without you, I'll di—!"
"I won't die, but you could. It's all right. Have I ever lied to you?"
"But still...!"
After kissing the worried Belois, Evan had her stay away from him. It reminded Evan of the first day that he met her when she was shedding tears silently.
"It's really fine. Don't worry, Lua."
"Aaaa...!"
"Here, everyone aboard Gnar. It's dangerous here."
"Mr. Evan!"
"Master? Master!"
Evan stopped Louise, who was as worried as Belois, from getting to him. Louise's resistance was lower than Belois, so she could really die because of it.
"Now, everyone, evacuate!"
The members boarded Gnar because they couldn't disobey Evan's order. Only Belois held him till the end, but she let him go because of the firm look she received.
'Then, what should I do with this?'
The world might fall apart if he got serious about getting rid of the curse but staying idle might kill him. There was one thing that came to his mind, but how to start it was still unknown. Would the time come if he continuously resisted like this? Nope, that was too complacent...therefore, the only option available to him...
"..."
"Evan...no way."
Arisha spoke as she was the first one to realize what Evan had in his mind.
"No, this is the only thing I can do."
Evan replied casually, although the World's Curse was pressuring him. Besides, what he was doing was killing slimes.
"Hey! For real...!"
Even the flowing tears might dry up since everyone was at a loss for words. Arisha also thought, 'Perhaps it's not dangerous, after all?' in her mind.
But it isn't...is it!?
"Calm down, Arisha. There's nothing wrong with my action."
However, Evan was very calm. Perhaps he regained his composure because of Mirole.
"What else can I do besides this? I'm continuously resisting the curse, and I can't expect help from outside. Then all that's left is leveling up."
Was there a need to level up from that point!? Unlike Arisha, who was speechless, Evan was serious.
"Besides, I need to complete Miraseul's necklace. It'll be too unjust for me to die without seeing what happens, won't it?"
"Bring back my tears, you bastard!"
It was no other than Arisha who was able to talk back to Evan. The rest of the members were too exhausted! It was that moment. The Miraseul's necklace started to shine. The annoying last piece of jewel on the necklace finally had a light in it! It was a dazzling purple jewel. Evan was lost in admiration while looking at the light emitted by the jewels on the necklace.
'Come to think about it...the prologue had it, too. '
With the colorful shining lights, a man appeared in this world. A man whose origin nobody knew. But he was the person that left the biggest legacy on the world...a man who brought peace to the ancient times when chaos engulfed the world.
'It surely was the prologue of Yo-Ma Great War Zero. '
The light from the necklace enveloped Evan. It was an ancient magic technique that nobody could imitate, and Evan was able to realize its identity since he had similar powers through which he could control it.
'An irresistible, overwhelming flow. A flow that even the World's Curse can't defy...'
No one except the developers would have known the result of completing the Miraseul's necklace. No, perhaps even the developers didn't know.
"Master!"
In the final moment, someone jumped on Evan. His reflexes made him hug her back, and he scowled a little, but Maybell's cute smile welcomed him.
"You knew about this, kid."
"I only received a request to help you wherever you go."
"From whom? No, there's no point in asking."
"Master!"
"Me, me too...!"
Others, including Shine, gathered up on Evan as they saw Maybell cling onto him, but sadly, it was no use. Maybell was able to be with Evan not just because of their physical contact. Evan felt a giant flow that overwhelmed him and Maybell, so he let out a deep sigh. And he shouted.
"Mirole! I'll scold you once I get back!"
"Yes!"
Mirole shouted in happiness.
"Please...scold me!"
She sure was a pervert, after all. But Serena shouted as if she realized something.
"Oppa, bring me a gift when you come back!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll just bring back the entire universe for you!"
Right after smiling at what Serena said in a relaxed manner that made everyone forget about the tension earlier, the irresistible flow blasted Evan away. To a place where the World's Curse couldn't reach. That unseeable force succeeded in sending Evan to a secured place. However, it also sent some debris to different places in-between. Right, that was the perfect method of avoiding the curse.
"...Ha."
Evan sighed once more at the suddenly changed scenery along with how the World's Curse that pressured his body disappeared completely. Maybell sounded scared as she instinctively clung to him.
"I didn't know we would be sent away from this far back, Master!"
"Yup, I somewhat knew about it, though."
Unlike the Eternal Glacier, green woods greeted them. One thing that indicated that the forest was different from Evan's was that everything was too big. The grass was three meters high, and the shortest tree was over fifty meters. And there was a sparrow nearby that was flying up in the air, which was five meters huge.
"Ma-master. Is this perhaps...?"
Maybell was so nervous as she saw what Evan had seen. Evan nodded and replied.
"Yeah...I guess we are in God's Era."
God's Era, or the time of the ancients. The time when a small number of humans and
"So, Zero was referring to the great wizard of the ancient time."
Evan, no, Zero frowned as he faced the truth, which he had been trying to ignore. Yo-Ma Great War's main arc paused for a moment, and the spin-off story with the largest story volume, Yo-Ma Great War Zero, just began.
| ← Ch. 394 | Ch. 396 → |