Chapter 311: There’s Only One Answer

“Why... are there two?”

“What do you mean,

why

?”

“No, it’s nothing...” Karyl trailed off, his shaky gaze still fixed on the ice pillar.

The Black-Eyed man inside the ice, sealed within, was undoubtedly the ancestor of the immigrant tribes that Karyl had seen in his past life.

But...

Who is the man standing next to him?

The ancestor with black eyes was frozen in place, mid-attack, as if he was ready to strike someone down with his sword.

[Unbelievable. I didn’t expect him to be sealed here.]

[Ethereal, was this seal made with your power?]

[No. This seal was placed directly by the gods. Though it’s true that water magic was used to maintain the form within this world... But honestly, it’s more of an illusion than a seal.]

An illusion?

[A seal typically sustains the entity itself, allowing it to awaken after time has passed. But this... this isn’t like that.]

[No wonder.]

[That makes sense.]

Ramine and Duaat chimed in agreement with Ethereal’s explanation.

What does that mean?

Karyl pressed for more clarity.

[It means that if you break the seal, those two will disappear. This isn’t a seal meant to preserve their existence, but rather a snapshot of a moment in time, frozen like a painting.]

“...”

Karyl looked at the ice pillar again.

Then, do you know who that man is?

[Of course.]

[We do.]

The Spirit Kings responded to his question.

“The first Blader,” Alteman spoke up as if to answer Karyl’s unspoken question. When Karyl turned his gaze toward him, Alteman gave a faint smile.

“Though my ears were cut, I’m still an elf. My affinity with spirits is stronger than that of humans. I assume you were conversing with the Spirit Kings? Don’t worry, I can’t hear what they’re saying. I can just sense their presence.”

Alteman, anticipating Karyl’s question, quickly reassured him.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have anything to hide,” Karyl said calmly. “Besides, you deserve to hear about this.”

With that, the three Spirit Kings emerged behind him, surrounding the ice pillar.

[Alteman is correct. You, too, must be curious about the being sealed within. Though he doesn’t exist in recorded history, he was the Blader who led us in the Mythical Era.]

[He was the first to wield both the sword and magic, as well as command spirits.]

[His name is Judex.]

It was then that Allen, who had been listening quietly, suddenly shouted in disbelief, “What? Judex?”

“Why? Do you know something about him?”

“Are you all spouting nonsense? Judex? The leader of the Bladers in the Mythical Era? You’re all sealed, so do you even know what’s going on?”

[You insolent fool!]

[How dare you, a mere mortal, speak with such impudence to us, beings born from the rift! We could annihilate your soul right this instant.]

Ramine and Ethereal growled at Allen, and their voices sounded sharp with anger.

“Go right ahead,” Allen snorted. “But if you destroy me, the Dark Spirit King will disappear as well. Karyl and I are bound by a soul contract. While I am technically his subordinate, my power is linked to his. If I vanish, Karyl will suffer too. You know this as well as I do.”

“You all know that only the two forces of Light and Darkness—Rasis of Light and Duaat of Darkness—can truly harm the gods. To achieve the goal you all so desperately seek, I am essential.”

[...]

[...]

His words silenced the two Spirit Kings.

“Enough. Allen, what do you know about Judex?”

“Judex... That name may have referred to the leader of the Bladers in the Mythical Era, but in my time, the Magical Era, it became the term for the highest-ranking figure in the Church. And given that my era is closer to the present than the Mythical Era, I doubt the meaning of the name has changed much.”

“...The Church?”

Karyl looked to Alteman for confirmation, and even he nodded, and his expression seemed troubled. Despite having guarded the Thousand-Year Ice Cave for so long, even Alteman hadn’t known the name of the man sealed inside.

“He’s right. Honestly, I’m at a loss for words... Judex... It means “judge” or “executor,” a title higher than a bishop, reserved for those who fight solely for the gods. How could that name be linked to a Godslayer?”

These were two completely opposing concepts of words.

Yet the person referred to by both titles was the same, and the weight of that realization left everyone present in silence.

“Does a Judex still exist today?”

“No. There is no current Judex. Like the Sword Demon, it’s just a title. It’s said to be bestowed directly by the gods, and even the bishops have no authority to grant it.”

“Hmm...”

“Karyl, you know that the Bladers who fought in the Great War of the Spirits and Gods lost their mana as a result of their defeat. But not all of them did.”

Karyl nodded at Alteman’s words, immediately thinking of the people of the continent.

The people of the central parts of the continent, unlike the immigrant tribes of the north and south, were born with mana, and they labeled those without it heretics.

“Not all of humanity sided with the Bladers, then. Or maybe there were traitors among them.”

Karyl gestured toward the two figures in the ice pillar.

“Indeed. We always believed that the people of the continent were traitors who sided with the gods, and the immigrant tribes were the humans who opposed them. But what if that’s all a lie?”

“A lie?”

“Think about it. Why would the gods reward those who sided with them with mana, while leaving behind the title of Judex for the Church? What if the leader of the Bladers was actually aligned with the gods all along?”

[That’s absurd.]

[How dare a soul barely a thousand years old presume to understand the cataclysmic war that shaped the world!]

As soon as Allen finished speaking, the Spirit Kings radiated an overwhelming sense of fury.

“Spirit Kings, I’m not belittling the war you fought so hard in. But if we’re searching for the truth, we must be willing to question everything.”

[...]

Only one of the three Spirit Kings, Duaat, remained calm, in stark contrast to his peers.

“Then who is this man?” Karyl asked, pointing to the golden-eyed man facing the Black-Eyed Blader. “The one your leader is trying to kill.”

[We don’t know. He didn’t exist during the Mythical Era.]

[It must be something that happened after we were sealed. We were bound before the Bladers met their fate after the defeat in the Great War.]

“The problem is that they’re fighting. As Allen suggests, we don’t know who’s really on our side, making the truth even more uncertain."

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

[Who’s on our side? The black eyes are the proof of a Godslayer. That much is clear.]

At that moment, Duaat, who had been silent, spoke up in disagreement, [Not necessarily.]

[What do you mean?]

[Have you forgotten the balance of the two powers? If there is darkness, there is also light. Among the beings born from the rift, one of them wielded power similar to that of the gods.]

[You don’t mean...] Ramine’s voice quivered.

[That’s right, Rasis of Light. The one who wields his power doesn’t have black eyes.]

[Duaat, are you suggesting that this man is somehow connected to Rasis?]

[I don’t know. I was sealed along with you all, after all. But if that’s the case, Rasis would be the one who knows the truth. Yula was always burdened by the power of Rasis, which is why she sealed it in the most hidden place. A place where the gods’ power is strongest. It could very well be within the Church.]

“Rasis...” Karyl whispered the name of the Spirit King of Light as he mulled over the revelation.

[If we were to break his seal, we might gain some answers. Though we each lived in different eras—the Mythical, the Magical, and the present—the gaps between us are too vast to be certain of anything. In any case, we won’t uncover the truth if we just sit here and ponder.]

“Thanks for laying it out. Coming here hasn’t been a waste. At least now I know what I have to do next, which is to find the Spirit King of Light.”

[Yeah, there’s no doubt. It was something you were going to do anyway. Nothing much has changed.]

“True.”

Karyl chuckled slightly at Allen’s comment.

But... that means the seal was broken in my previous life. The question is, when Kuwell told me the secret of the Thousand-Year Ice Cave, did he know whether the seal had been broken?

Though Karyl briefly considered the possibility that one of the sealed beings might have been revived, Ethereal’s explanation of the illusion suggested that this wasn’t likely.

However, one crucial question remained in Karyl’s mind. Out of the two who had been sealed together, why had only one vanished? And...

Who?

Why?

For what purpose?

These questions still lingered, unresolved, and if anything, they had now just deepened.

With the Oracle War fast approaching, Karyl realized that as he delved deeper into his quest to clear the immigrant tribes’ name and claim the continent’s throne, countless secrets kept surfacing.

“The one who taught you the Sword Demon’s techniques was the Platinum Dragon, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“At the very least, that means he knew the secrets of this place.”

Alteman nodded at Karyl’s words

“Whether it's black eyes or golden eyes, it doesn’t change the fact that dividing humanity was the gods’ manipulation.”

Though the mystery had only deepened, one thing remained clear.

“Perhaps it’s for the best. Now I have an even stronger reason to crush the empire and unite the continent. I can’t explain these secrets to millions, but whether they descend from Godslayers or Judges, they’re still human. Even if the Black-Eyed ancestor was a fraud or a traitor, it changes nothing.”

Karyl’s voice was low and resolute.

“I’ll just start anew. When I become the new king and take the throne of the continent, it won’t matter what bloodline or heritage anyone has.”

Alteman couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration as Karyl effortlessly simplified this complex situation into a singular, powerful goal—becoming king.

“If you ignore the gods’ manipulations, everything else becomes meaningless. I never intended to be the king of just the immigrant tribes. Once the entire continent is mine, everyone will be united under me.”

“The king of mankind...” Alteman uttered those words almost as a sigh.