WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 395: Heroes Are Born in Troubled Times

──────

It was easy to knock down and rebuild a single small block. But a tower built from hundreds or thousands of blocks was difficult to topple and just as difficult to rebuild. The conflict between vampires and the Sanctum had existed alongside human history, an impregnable fortress built upon hundreds of millions of people and dozens of nations.

A current that had begun in the distant past and continued to the present was so vast and natural that it seemed like truth itself. Vampires hated the Sanctum, the Sanctum despised vampires, and both sought to drive the other out. In that struggle, considered inevitable, powerless humans either submitted and followed along or died because they could not.

But was it truly inevitable?

Even without becoming Demon Gods, humans changed the world.

And humans were part of that world too.

Therefore, humans could change humans. It was nothing remarkable. Vampires were human too, yet they changed humans, turning able-bodied people into food to satisfy their hunger.

If vampires could do it, other humans could as well. The only thing separating the possible from the impossible was whether one possessed the power to do it. Unfortunately, the Thunder Lord and the Thunder Guardians lacked the strength to overcome the catastrophe of the Elders. Calling that incompetence would be far too harsh. If power were so common, the Elders would not have drawn such attention in history's cruel rankings. The blood of those about to die was no more than a drop of ink staining the Elders' cruelty.

That said, it might be different for someone with enough power.

"Ahhhhh! So annoying, annoying, annoying!"

Cabilah was consumed by rage amid the slaughter.

Her specialty was black magic that used blood and bones as sacrifices. The easiest and most efficient way to use it for physical force was to imbue it with power and create thralls. Having received darkness from the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka, Cabilah stitched that darkness into her dolls and created thralls that would not break. Demons that looked as though they had crawled out of hell raised their blades.

Darkness itself might not rust, but the vessels containing it could break. Verdigris's power relentlessly destroyed her toys. The edges of their swinging blades chipped away, and their bone joints snapped apart. The thralls began collapsing the moment they were completed, vanishing after leaving only wreckage behind.

It was like someone grotesquely smashing a carefully crafted doll the moment it was put on display. To a dollmaker, there could be no greater humiliation.

"This is the first order I've received in three hundred years! You're getting in the way of something Sister personally ordered me to do?! Seriously, I'll make sure I kill you! I'll turn you into a doll and use you!"

Humiliated before the Progenitor she adored, Cabilah pulled out a bone saw and shouted. The main reason she did not immediately act on her words was not that she was all bluster, but that Tyr stopped her.

With only a glance, Tyr stopped Cabilah before speaking softly to Perru.

"Given our history, I do not wish to lay a hand on even you. When my indifference falls heavily over this place, hide in its shadow. Darkness is gracious enough to conceal one person."

Perru could feel both the Progenitor's arrogance and her mercy. Tyr was saying that although Perru stood within reach of death, she would not bother killing her.

"...Then take him and go. Don't destroy Claudia any further."

Without taking her eyes off me, Tyr replied, "They were the ones who broke all my precious things first. If they broke them, shouldn't they be broken in the same way? Wouldn't that be fair?"

"...Are you planning to kill every human in Claudia? Just because the Thunder Lord believed that?"

"I am not quite so cruel. But."

Tyr added one more word, then declared with a chill in her red eyes.

"I will turn this land upside down and rip out every trace of it by the roots. Weeds that spread without restraint must be uprooted completely."

The process would be stained with blood. Many people trembled in fear or showed hatred at the very mention of vampires. Besides, vampires needed human blood. Wherever vampires passed, the stench of blood would fill the air in one way or another, whether from corpses or food.

Claudia was Perru's village. She could not allow a city of the Lesser States to fall under someone else's control.

"...We don't care. What vampires are, who belongs to the Sanctum, what happened between you. So please leave. I'm begging you."

"You must learn now what happens to those who call God's name beneath a vampire's jaws. I will write it upon the world, upon history, and in your blood, so you will never forget."

Just as vampires had done until now. Just as they would forever, so long as the Sanctum existed.

Like every other human, the only thing Perru could do was barely preserve her own life and watch.

"...."

As Perru gritted her teeth in deep helplessness.

Thump.

My heart beat hard. Tyr felt my body twitch and looked at me.

"Hyu?"

Under Tyr's expectant gaze, I sprang to my feet.

It was not that I had awakened after seeing people die, nor had I returned by defying death. I had simply figured out how to use the Demon God dwelling inside me at last.

The power to summon lightning? It was nothing so grand. What Frang had sought to hide was never the imposing, deafening power of lightning in the first place. I had only been granted enough strength to use a tiny portion of the mystery of lightning contained within this frail body.

Ironically, that was the secret the Lightning Thief had wanted to hide most.

The electric sensation running down my spine felt clearer than ever today. I clenched my fist. Lightning spread through my entire body, moving it and curling my fingers inward. Clenching a fist was something I did all the time, but this was the first time I had grasped the principle, twisted it, and done it according to my will. I controlled my consciousness through willpower.

Frang, the Lightning Demon God. Now that I had glimpsed the meaning he had hidden away, I could control the small lightning flowing through my body as I pleased. Realizing that, I sighed inwardly.

Wow, this was completely useless.

What was I even supposed to do with power like this? Use it to force my wrecked body to keep moving? That was just overworking it. There was a reason I had passed out. Could everyone please respect my body's declaration of strike? Was gathering Demon Gods even worth it at this rate?

Still, I had something to do now.

"Hyu?"

Leaving Tyr's voice behind for a moment, I walked up to Perru. Standing before her, I moved my lungs after an incredibly complex and precise calculation and forced out my voice. Only I knew how difficult speaking was right now.

"Are you still worried that you'll break things?"

"...."

"Are you afraid your own power will destroy this country, so you hesitate to use it even at death's door?"

She possessed power, yet hesitated. Verdigris's power was all she had ever used. Even now, with the Lord of Gold's authority entrusting its will to her and the Lightning Thief watching, Perru could not even consider wielding that power. Her lack of experience using it was a secondary issue. Perru was worried about whether she was allowed to use that power at all.

"Humans worry about useless things all the time. The great laws of nature, the lofty will of heaven. They make a huge fuss as though touching the wrong thing will bring disaster. When you think about it, it's all completely meaningless."

Humans were the only beasts that attached meaning to every action from the moment they were born. That was how they began creating reasons for living where none existed and arguing about value and all that. Eventually, they made it seem as though life had a correct answer, and they had to live in a way worthy of it.

Beasts, really.

"If humans are part of nature, then everything humans do is also part of nature. If the will of heaven is clear, human will must be woven into it as well. To declare that something must not be done is to see humans as far too great. Are there really things that can be done and things that cannot? What nonsense. We do it because it works, and it works because we try."

I glanced at Tyr behind me.

"We have a living witness right there. If you hold to one belief for a thousand years, it becomes common sense and then truth. Even when nothing was decided from the beginning, it can become an eternal truth."

Beasts had no truths. Sheep did not regard wolves as their race's sworn enemy and try to kill them. If they did, there would be no such thing as a shepherd dog.

There were no facts decided from the beginning. Choosing and deciding things was something beasts did. Surprisingly, it was neither noble nor special. It was everyday life.

"...You're telling me to fight?"

"How can you move forward without clashing with something? Well, if you're scared even with that power, running away is fine too."

"...Can I do it?"

"As long as you don't abandon it."

I was only giving her a push so she could make that ordinary choice with confidence.

Perru, having made up her mind, raised her bell. The bell trembling in her pitifully shaking arm made only a faint sound, like a dying insect. Perru shook it with difficulty.

"...From now on."

Those sensitive to power all stopped there. A shiver ran down their spines, and they closed their mouths as they turned toward her.

Toward the sight of power too great to belong to one human being being unleashed.

"...No one here will die."

A small vow was elevated into power.

Jingle.

The small bell's sound spread through the fog. The Lord of Gold's power of restoration returned everything to its former state without distinguishing friend from foe.

Cuts were forcibly sealed. Broken limbs rejoined. Their bodies were remade not through healing and regeneration, but through the concepts of restoration and reconstruction. The Thunder Guardians, born as byproducts of alchemy. Those among them who had not yet died were granted a temporary reprieve.

On top of that, something slumbering heard the bell and awakened. Light flashed from the Thunder God's remains, and an enormous mass of metal took shape and rose to its feet.

Clouds whirled and were sucked inward. Lightning-filled clouds seeped into the gaps of its framework and formed its body. Lightning flashed from its eyes, and storms raged from its mouth.

The Thunder God, restored to wholeness through alchemy, stood behind Perru and roared.

[----!!!!]

Having decided to use even power beyond her means, Perru no longer had anything holding her back. Claudia's wish had been to eliminate the Thunder God. Perru had undone that outcome, and with the manifested Thunder God at her back, she spoke.

"...I won't allow anything beyond this."

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried