chapter 169

Frey tilted his head to the side.

According to the information he got from Milled, there were three Demigods in Nempatal. But the divine power that he was currently sensing didn’t match what he would expect to come from three Demigods.

‘Did Milled say the wrong information?’

Or was there another reason?

Frey kept his guard up.

“There are many Demigods in the city.”

Frey nodded at Dro’s words.

This made it hard for him to just take Nix and run away.

However, he thought that this could also be an opportunity. If they could deal with the Demigods here, then the Demigod forces in Silkid would drop to less than half.

This would make it a lot easier when it was time to fight Agni.

Besides, Frey had found himself a strong helper.

Then Dro suddenly spoke.

“Head to Nempatal alone.”

The cold words of his helper caused a question to immediately pop out his mouth.

“Why?”

“Other guests are coming.”

“By other guests you mean…”

“Demigods.”

Frey couldn’t help but feel a little nervous when he heard that.

“There are more Demigods?”

Agni, Milled, and the Demigod Dro dealt with. Plus the three Demigods chasing Nix already made six. This figure was already almost double Frey’s initial expectations, which was three or four at most.

‘There are more?’

How many Demigods were currently in this desert?

“Are they close?”

“They should be here in about 30 minutes.”

“How many?”

“At least two. Maybe more than that. Hmm. I can’t tell specifically.”

Two Demigods.

Frey’s complexion changed.

However, a question soon emerged. After absorbing Milled’s crystal, Frey found that he was much more sensitive to the movements of divine power than before.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t find any sign of Demigods approaching Nempatal.

‘Dro is more sensitive to divine power than I am?’

Frey was a little puzzled by this, but he suppressed it and instead asked.

“It’s going to be hard to deal with them alone. Are you confident?”

“I can’t guarantee my victory over the Demigods. I understand that now.”

Frey nodded at that.

The Demigods had very independent personalities and their individual abilities varied greatly. It was none other than Frey who had explained this to Dro.

Just because he had managed to defeat a Demigod without taking a single scratch didn’t mean he was invincible.

He didn’t know what the Demigods he would face were capable of.

‘However…’

Frey felt that with his current abilities, he would be able to tell what the Demigods were capable of. And whether he’d be able to win or not.

“I’ll see you soon.”

As he said those words, Dro turned and began walking away from Nempatal. Frey had no chance to stop him.

No. He didn’t think Dro would listen to him even if he were to stop him.

Frey shook his head.

He wasn’t confident in his victory, but he was still willing to give it a try. In other words, he had the confidence despite throwing himself into such a dangerous situation.

Frey turned to look at Nempatal once again.

‘Three Demigods.’

The weight of those words made him sigh.

Suddenly, his gaze fell towards the ring on his finger.

It was the magic tool given to him by Schweiser, no, by Anastasia.

If she appeared in time, then she would be the perfect reinforcement. But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine a good situation.

Frey stopped thinking about it and instead ran towards Nempatal.

The worst case scenario was the Nix had already been taken away or had already killed herself.

‘I hope I’m not too late.’

He wandered through the city which had thick black smoke filling the air unpleasantly.

Dead bodies piled up like mountains. It wasn’t just warriors. Civilians were also included.

It seemed that it had been quite a while since they died.

There was nothing but fear and panic on the faces of these corpses.

Frey grit his teeth at this terrible sight.

Though he’d been traveling down this long street, he hadn’t yet found a living person. This meant that at least half of the city’s population had already died.

‘Bastards.’

Frey forced himself to swallow his anger.

Nempatal was currently a perfect example of what a world ruled by Demigods would be like.

This was the future for those who surrendered to them.

The Demigods did not care about any creatures other than themselves. They had slaughtered thousands of people just to find Nix, but he was certain that they wouldn’t feel anything because of it.

It would be the same afterwards as well.

Just because you bowed your head and submitted yourself wouldn’t mean that they’d favor you more than others.

They would kill those who surrendered to them without any remorse or hesitation as long as they thought it was necessary.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, a huge flame spread its wings to the sky. Giving the sky an enchanting red glow.

Frey stopped and looked at this scene.

“…!”

In the next moment, Frey’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he saw a bloodied red-haired woman fall from the sky and another person follow her down.

His body had already moved before his mind could even begin to process it.

Frey’s figure disappeared.

* * *

For the first time in a long time, Nix was actually controlling her own body, but she didn’t have the time to feel moved by that fact.

In the first place, she had given Torkunta control in order to escape Agni’s clutches. Since the situation had already reached the point where it didn’t matter, it was better for her to move around herself, even if it wouldn’t be for very long.

That didn’t mean the situation was good, however.

“That’s a pretty intense flame.”

“…”

“Huh? Don’t you know how to talk? A phoenix is a Spirit. It should have intelligence.”

Nix responded to this Demigod, Verdandy, for the first time.

“The people in this city had nothing to do with this.”

“Huh?”

“Why did you kill the people here?”

At those words, Verdandy looked around.

The first thing that appeared in her sight was the appearance of Nempatal which had been devastated.

“Ah.”

Only then did she seem to realise what Nix meant.

“No. I didn’t really intend to do that. These humans were just unlucky.”

“What?”

“We used our abilities and there just happened to be an unlucky human settlement here. That’s all.”

Then she laughed.

“If you hadn’t fled here, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. So in a way, this is your fault.”

It was sophistry, but she wasn’t completely wrong.

If Nix had accepted the fact that she’d fallen into Agni’s hands earlier, this tragedy might not have happened.

“Do you feel guilty, Phoenix? Huh? There’s nothing special about a couple thousand humans dying.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Nix muttered these words with a low voice.

The one who saved her life was a human, and the one she wanted to protect was a human.

At her words, Skuld, who was standing beside Verdandy, frowned.

“You’re so annoying. I don’t know if you’re aware, but if you weren’t Agni’s Apostle, you would’ve died a hundred times by now.”

“…”

When Nix didn’t respond, Skuld grit her teeth.

“I tried to take you back with as little damage as possible, but I quit. I’ll just make sure you’re half dead before taking your away!”

After saying those words, Skuld’s figure disappeared.

Nix bit her lip.

Lord and the Apocalypses. She could tell with just a glance that the three Demigods chasing her were weak when compared to those Demigods.

However, they were only weak when compared to ‘other Demigods’. With the power she currently had, it was impossible for Nix to even deal with one of these Demigods.

‘Because I’m weak.’

She lost everything.

If she was strong. If she was stronger than Skuld in front of her, Agni who ruled over Silkid, and Lord who ruled all of the Demigods, then she wouldn’t have to run.

Then Nempatal’s innocent citizens wouldn’t have had to die.

…then she could have enjoyed the pleasure of reuniting with him.

Paht.

She could feel the changes around her.

Fwoosh!

Flames erupted from Nix’s body, shooting in every direction.

The flames burning around her carried a very fierce heat.

“Hmmm.”

Skuld appeared in the distance once again.

She wasn’t running away, she’d simply stepped down. She had to. There was no need for her to push herself too far in this situation.

He spoke while holding a sword in her hand.

“The flames of a Phoenix combined with Agni’s power. It’s pretty hot. If I force my way in, my skin would probably get burnt.”

Her eyes curved like crescent moons.

“But you’re burning away your life to get that firepower. If you keep going like that, will your body be able to handle it?”

Her words were true, but there was no point confirming it. As Skuld said, without those flames, she wouldn’t be able to do much damage.

Then Skuld shouted out urgently.

“Aht! Sister!”

Sister?

Verdandy was standing beside her.

Then Nix felt a cold sensation in her back and stomach.

When she looked down, she saw a spear sticking through her abdomen. It was a bit unbelievable to see the parts that were meant to be inside her, sticking out.

Then the intense pain came.

‘How, when…’

As if to answer her question, a calm tone came from behind her.

“I’m sick and tired of the back and forth. You didn’t think you were too strong to be caught did you?”

Urd.

The last of her pursuers who she hadn’t revealed herself before, had taken Nix by surprise.

Nix hadn’t even noticed her movements because all her focus had been on Verdandy and Skuld.

Urk.

Nix vomited blood as her body fell helplessly to the ground.

“Sister! You said you’d leave it to me!”

“I’m afraid that Agni would get upset if we made him wait any longer.”

“Ohoho. Stop fighting. Let’s just collect the Phoenix and take it back.”

“Uh, then what about this city?”

“Let’s just get rid of it. It’s half destroyed already anyway.”

She could faintly hear the Demigods’ conversation above her.

Nix closed her eyes.

‘This is it.’

She could no longer escape.

Nix only had one more option.

Use the last of her vitality to control her flames. As a result, an explosion would cover the entire area. If she was lucky, she might be able to take one of them down with her.

‘Sorry, Torkunta.’

Nix apologized to Torkunta, who was sleeping deeply in her consciousness.

‘I’m sorry.’

Then she thought about that young man with grey hair.

She was glad that she could at least be helpful. When she died, Agni would be forced into hibernation.

She couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

“Hmph.”

Seeing this, Urd snorted.

The idea that the Phoenix might kill herself had always been on her mind.

She raised her spear and prepared to throw it. It was a simple attack, but it would be more than enough to disrupt Nix’s concentration.

Her body might break in half, but she was a Phoenix. She wouldn’t die so easily anyway.

“Hmm?”

A change suddenly occurred.

Urd slowly lowered her spread, and Verdandy and Skuld stopped chatting.

Then Nix felt warmth.

‘-ah.’

Her consciousness stopped failing and the pain stopped. She could also feel that someone was hugging her body.

It was warm.

She’d only ever felt this warmth once.

It was hard to even lift a finger, but Nix struggled to open her eyes.

Her vision was blurry and she couldn’t see very well, but she knew who this warmth belonged to.

“Didn’t we promise to have a happy reunion?”

Then a friendly voice sounded in her ears, causing tears to come to her eyes. No, she was already crying.

She was hearing the voice she always wanted to hear, and feeling the warmth she had longed to feel, both at the same time.

She choked a bit, barely managing to open her mouth.

“…why did you come.”

Words filled with irony escaped her lips.

In the end, that was all Nix could say.

She wanted to say thank you. She wanted to shout how happy she was to see him again.

But she couldn’t.

Her worries outweighed her joy at their reunion.

And her feelings were being conveyed to this person without any filtering.

“I didn’t want you to come. This place is…”

“Did you want to say it’s a dead end?”

“So you knew…”

“You did it that time too.”

Nix took a breath.

She knew that he was referring to the fight against Torkunta.

“You must have known that you might die at that time. So why didn’t you stop? What were you thinking when you rushed towards Torkunta?”

At that time she just had one thought.

She had to save him. She had to do it somehow.

Even if I had to give my life-

“I will not let you die.”

Nix and Frey’s thoughts overlapped at that moment.

Frey laughed.

“That’s fine. I think so too.”

Frey turned to look at the Demigods in the sky.

He looked at their faces. The three sisters in the sky trembled under his gaze.

As had been mentioned before, the current Frey could sense the capabilities of the Demigods. Whether he could defeat them or not.

He could see even more clearly when he was looking at them with his own eyes.

He reached a conclusion.

“I’m stronger than them.”

Frey wasn’t one to talk nonsense.

Especially when it was about Demigods.

In other words, Frey wasn’t just confident.

He was certain.