WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 677: Story of Stopped Time. Holy Maiden's Tea Time

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Frozen time was dark and silent.

In a moment cut away from the world and imperceptible to anyone, only one girl existed. People, sounds, the universe itself, and even its laws had been left behind as scenery while Ruel, as always, sank into thought.

'That was certainly Lankart's innate arcane. Can the King of Humanity use someone else's innate arcane?'

Borrowing Ruel's innate arcane would do Hughes little good. She received support from the Celestial God's system, and her light magic had grown powerful through immense mana and divine power. Innate arcane alone meant nothing.

Still, using another's innate arcane could not simply mean exactly what it said. He must have perfectly understood that innate arcane's inner image, structure, principles, and phenomena.

'So that's why Lankart is loyal to him. He must be the only one who understands an innate arcane as audacious as the Right-Handed World.'

A perfect understanding of another's inner image. Could it truly be limited to inner images alone? How far could he understand humans? Did he choose to deny order even while knowing human sin, madness, and instability?

Her reflections came to an end. Ruel savored the brief pause before she moved.

Strictly speaking, Ruel's authority was not time stop. It was closer to observing an instant that lasted only a moment for a long time. In frozen time, only light illuminated the world. No one, including Ruel, could move. All she could do in this stretched-out time was slowly examine the situation and sink into thought.

Whenever she faced a difficult problem or needed to broaden her thinking, she folded away the flow of time and reflected until she had thought things through. Ruel was exceptionally intelligent even among Holy Maidens. Nearly infinite time had made her wiser still.

Ruel had originally been destined to become the Holy Maiden of Wisdom, sharing the outstanding knowledge she had learned and mastered with everyone.

'If I had not awakened to my innate arcane through the grace of light, I might have become a girl who simply enjoyed this quiet reflection.'

That life would likely have been good enough. Yet Ruel was both a Holy Maiden and a mage. She took joy in reading, learning, accepting, pondering, and endlessly exploring. Every time she acquired higher knowledge, a thrill ran through her.

In the end, Ruel awakened her innate arcane and became the Holy Maiden of Light.

'All this came to pass because the First Holy Maiden foresaw it. O First Holy Maiden who blessed me, I, who carry on your will, offer you this prayer.'

After offering a short prayer in her heart, Ruel finally looked around.

The King of Humanity stood before her. Though his body was being torn apart and burned, he had still reached her. A calm smile rested on his face, strangely unsuited to such fierce savagery. It was as though he were warmly greeting her in the morning. If not for the sharp skewer, Ruel might have believed it.

'I acknowledge you, King of Humanity. The fangs of barbarity are sharp enough. Yet fangs can only harm the person directly before them.'

A true miracle was built up and brought to completion.

Like a mason who stacked bricks into a tower to see the sky up close when he knew nothing. Like a compiler who wrote each character in turn and assembled a book. Like a craftsman who gathered knowledge passed down through generations and turned it into technology.

Anything made over a long time deserved respect equal to the years and history contained within it.

The people of the present stood atop the past.

'O First Holy Maiden who blessed me, please watch over me in this moment.'

She drew a magic circle in frozen time. Even the most skilled mage needed considerable time to draw one, but Ruel, who drew magic circles with light in frozen time, was free from that limitation.

Shimmering light flowed across her pale skin. The magic circle drawn in light spread over her entire body. Her revealing outfit, through which the outline of her body was partly visible, was not simply for display. There could be no darkness on the body of Ruel, the Holy Maiden of Light.

Her innate arcane gave light physical force.

Combined with the secret art of the White Ivory Tower, it became Light Materialization.

Then came a miracle no one had ever seen.

Divine power, mana, and innate arcane intertwined.

'Avatar of Light.'

Ruel became light.

Light Materialization preserved the shape of her body, while divine power and foresight sustained her thoughts. Having become light, she was free from the constraints of time. The Avatar of Light moved forward through frozen time.

'No. I should say I can only move in frozen time.'

Even after achieving Light Materialization, she had replaced her body with unstable light. If anything interfered with that light, her body would be in danger. She could not move into darkness, and there was a limit to how long she could maintain it.

She had only dared attempt such dangerous magic because time had stopped. Otherwise, she would never have even imagined it.

'Yet the ability to move in frozen time is miraculous enough to accept every risk.'

The Avatar of Light was allowed only nine seconds. It was brief, but in a battle where an instant decided victory or defeat, it was more than enough. Nine seconds was far more than she needed to move behind the King of Humanity, draw a magic circle, and pass judgment with light.

'As long as you affirm humanity's barbarity, you will never become the King of Divinity. Disappear here. I will wait for the next king to be kinder. I am used to waiting.'

"Ruel."

At first, Ruel did not understand the situation. By the time she recognized the voice, she dismissed it as a mistake. Yet when her foresight showed her a faint shape moving before her, she gasped and could not even breathe.

'Dear heavens. O First Holy Maiden who blessed me, is this also your arrangement? Even the Holy Maiden of Heaven could not interfere with my time...!'

It was Shei. Her washed-out white hair melted into the light, and her seven-colored eyes were nothing while holding every color at once. The peaceful smile of someone who had seen all creation did not suit Shei, but it was unquestionably her.

She was the final Holy Maiden whom even the Sanctum had failed to find. It should have been impossible for her to intrude upon another Holy Maiden's foresight. Yet for some reason, Shei had appeared in Ruel's foresight.

Shei was faint. If Ruel was the Avatar of Light, Shei seemed like an avatar of transience. It was as though she had left most of what made her somewhere else, or scattered it throughout the world.

From within that ambiguity, Shei spoke.

"Sorry. The interval is too short, so it's hard to fix the displacement. This is the only way I can get a message to you. Reply in light-speech."

Regaining her composure, Ruel conveyed her intent through the light.

[Did you use foresight to stop me? What kind of foresight is this?]

"It isn't foresight. It's power gained from a future that no longer exists. The Original Sin of Indeterminacy. A measurement limit that cannot be overcome by any means. I gained it through foresight, like you did with your innate arcane."

[Is it the Demon God?]

"Not quite. It can't rise to the level of the Demon God when a fool like me is the one using it. It's closer to imprinting knowledge that exists only as possibility onto my body."

Foresight could not be shared, even between Holy Maidens. Ruel realized she would never know what Shei had seen.

[That was a meaningless question. It would have been more useful to ask why you interfered with my foresight.]

As a mage, Ruel asked the question that struck at the heart of the matter. As though she had expected it, Shei flickered faintly. After becoming nearly indistinct for a long while, Shei regained her form and spoke.

"Leave now."

[You are protecting the King of Humanity.]

"Yes. At the same time, I am protecting you. You may be able to hurt Hughes, but Hughes will leave you with an irreversible wound too."

Ruel doubted her ears.

[He will hurt me in this frozen time?]

"Yes. Because it's Hughes."

That was impossible. He could not move even a fingertip in frozen time. Naturally, he could not harm Ruel either.

So Ruel chose to interpret it differently. If she touched the King of Humanity, Shei would harm her.

'She probably cannot move freely in frozen time either. That faint form, like my light, must only grant her the right to act in frozen time. She cannot threaten me. Of course, I should not jump to conclusions before I understand her means.'

They were both Holy Maidens. Since both had been blessed by the First Holy Maiden, they should at least show each other a measure of respect. Before killing the King of Humanity, Ruel decided to ask Shei's intentions.

[Why are you helping the King of Humanity? If you have seen even a little of the future, you must know that chaos and barbarity bring an inevitable end.]

When someone chose the worst possible option, humanity and civilization met a futile and cruel end. The world stood on a thread-thin miracle. A today like yesterday was a blessing, and people should be grateful that tomorrow arrived.

At times, those whose yesterday had been despair rushed forward to shatter tomorrow. Yet such attempts usually returned as tragedy for everyone. Those who had despaired did not know how to imagine hope. They only passed their despair on to others.

Ruel asked the Holy Maiden who had taken the King of Humanity's side, and Shei answered with all the affection in her heart.

"I believe in Hughes."

Footnotes:

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