WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 387: Episode 74: Great war of Angels and Demons (2)

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Han Suyeong was the first to object.

"No, how could you even think that? Does the regressor get dumber the more he regresses?"

"That's what I should be saying. I never expected a Writer to have such a disgusting imagination."

Suyeong and Junghyeok growled as they glared at each other.

Suyeong was the first to back down.

"Hoo... I guess after regressing three times or so, you could lose your mind and start having weird thoughts. Fine... you're saying Secretive Plotter is 'the future Kim Dokja'?"

"That's what I think."

"Well, it isn't completely impossible. The Star Stream is where anything can happen, and..."

Suyeong was about to say, "Because this is a world where novels have become reality," but swallowed the rest of her words. Even if it were true, she didn't think it was something she should say in front of Junghyeok. Instead, Suyeong said something else.

"The fastest way would be to ask Secretive Plotter. Did you check?"

Junghyeok nodded.

"I made a contract with him. If I granted his request, he agreed to answer a question I wanted answered."

"What did you ask?"

"I asked whether Secretive Plotter was Kim Dokja from the future."

"And?"

"He said no."

"Then why do you―"

"To be exact, he said, 'I may have been something once, but now I am nothing.'"

He had once been something, but now he was nothing.

Suyeong realized the loophole in those words.

Secretive Plotter's answer wasn't one that denied he was the future Kim Dokja. If anything, it was closer to saying that he might or might not have been Kim Dokja. Thinking about it that way, she could understand why Junghyeok refused to abandon his theory.

Suyeong asked again.

"Is that all you heard?"

"He said he knew every round I have lived through."

Someone who had once been something, but was now only Secretive Plotter.

And a being who knew every round Junghyeok had lived through.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Are you kidding me? You fought tooth and nail, and that's all you asked?"

Suyeong shouted, fuming.

"He wasn't in any of the previous rounds, was he? If you couldn't learn his exact identity, you should've at least found out more!"

"I did hear his purpose."

"What did he say?"

"He said there was something he wanted to change. And that there was someone he wanted to kill."

The more she heard, the more it felt like she was sinking into a swamp. Someone he wanted to kill also meant someone he still couldn't kill.

Could even a divinity like Secretive Plotter have someone he couldn't kill?

"That's all I heard. That was all the right to ask questions I was allowed."

"Can't you get more information out of him?"

"Then I'd have to make another contract with him. If I do that, I'll pay a greater price than last time."

Junghyeok said only that before looking up into the air.

Suyeong looked up at the sky as well. Then Midday Tryst activated.

―Is he watching?

―I can't sense his gaze.

It was a slightly disappointing result.

They had been talking loudly so he would hear them, but it seemed the person in question wasn't watching this scene. It wasn't very Secretive Plotter-like.

Suyeong said.

―This is troublesome. If a divinity of that level intervenes at a crucial moment, even the most thorough plan we make will be useless.

It was even more worrying on an important stage like this Great war of Angels and Demons. When a single small variable could overturn the entire board, there was no way not to be concerned.

Junghyeok thought differently.

"He won't act directly."

"Why do you think that?"

"The very fact that he pushes Kim Dokja or me to make things happen is proof enough. If he could move directly, he would've done so from the beginning. A being like him would consume enormous Plausibility simply by acting on his own."

"That makes sense. I never thought the day would come when I'd be grateful for this damned Plausibility."

"I have something to ask as well."

"Yeah?"

"You still haven't explained the basis of your disgusting imagination. Why do you think Secretive Plotter is that person..."

Suyeong snickered at Junghyeok's question.

"What, I thought you weren't interested. Is it bothering you?"

"You never miss a chance to argue."

Junghyeok was about to grip his cold sword hilt when a sly voice interrupted.

"You two get along well, don't you?"

Their murderous gazes landed on Kim Dokja at the same time.

Kim Dokja smiled bitterly and waved them off as he stepped back. Then a Scenario message appeared in the air.

[New coordinates for the 113th local battle have been set.]

It was finally time to move again.

"Let's have another round."

As if they had been waiting, the fables of Kim Dokja Company began to clamor.

[A new fable is budding within the Demon King Demon King of Salvation!]

[A list of candidates for Demon King of Salvation's second modifier has been created.]

* * *

The second-in-command of the Demon Realm was known by many modifiers.

Ruler of Hell's East. The Demon Realm's Many. Destroyer of Dignity.

Despite having so many names, Agares had only one True name.

Agares, master of the Second Demon Realm.

After the master of the First Demon Realm suddenly vanished, Agares had guarded the Demon Realm for thousands of years. He had cut off the heads of the Archangels who coveted his territory and protected the fables that allowed evil to endure as evil.

Testing, regulating, and ruling over the qualifications of evil, Agares had focused on only one question.

What does evil exist for?

Whether that question could truly be answered didn't matter. The question kept him alive, and so he had continued to dwell on it.

Sometimes, he felt as though he knew the answer. Other times, he felt strange, like he did now.

[The 113th local battle has been forcibly ended.]

[The 114th local battle has been forcibly ended.]

It was a sight even Agares, who had lived through such distant ages, had never seen before.

―Everyone, hold on a little longer!

―We've almost subdued them!

There were people saving Reincarnators amid the pandemonium of the battlefield.

Regardless of the outcome of the great conflict between good and evil, someone was saving the expendables being sacrificed there.

The problem was that the one doing it was a "Demon King."

[The chaos score has increased by 4.]

[The current chaos score is 60.]

[Warning! The chaos score has exceeded 60!]

Chaos.

Something that was neither good nor evil.

Something outside the world's Plausibility and order.

[They're trying to stop the Great war of Angels and Demons by increasing the chaos score?]

Red horns sprouted from either side of Agares's fedora, which was pulled low. It was a sign that appeared whenever Agares found something interesting.

[Preventing a small destruction under the pretext of a greater destruction. That sounds like something only the Demon King of Salvation would think of.]

The one who said that was Asmodeus, the Demonic God of Wrath and Lust.

Agares wiggled the fingers resting on his throne and asked.

[Why doesn't he take the side of evil? He would lose nothing even if he sided with us.]

[His turning point will be completed once this Great war of Angels and Demons ends. It likely means the ■■ he seeks isn't on the path of evil.]

[He doesn't seem to be pursuing the ■■ of good, either.]

It was more troublesome than if he had taken either the side of good or evil.

Agares asked again.

[What do you think?]

[Metatron will move before we do. That old angel, who has desired this war longer than anyone, won't stand by and watch their board be ruined.]

The moment those words were spoken, a single message arrived through the demon king communications channel.

―Agares. I contacted you because I have something to say.

Agares raised the corners of his split mouth in a smile.

―Metatron. We aren't close enough to have a leisurely conversation, are we?

The strongest beings of the current Demon Realm and Eden faced each other through a screen. Intense sparks of Plausibility flew from the exchange of their gazes alone.

―I'd like to humor you, but I think I'll need to borrow your strength for a moment this time.

―Have you ever heard a story where good and evil join hands?

―Stories of evil using any means to achieve its purpose are quite common.

Metatron remained calm despite Agares's mocking voice.

―There is a young, immature nebula. They are young juniors who believe they are the center of this world.

It was obvious who Metatron meant. Agares laughed.

―You opened a hotline just to crush one small nebula? How ridiculous.

―If we aren't careful, that small nebula could bring down the Great war of Angels and Demons.

―You want to put them in their place as a senior in the Star Stream, is that it? You still have an old-fogey streak.

―Let's say I want to teach them the world's true principles.

―I refuse. Even without joining hands with the likes of you, crushing a nebula like that would be easy.

―I'm not asking you to join hands.

―Then what?

Rather than answer immediately, Metatron made a small cross float above one hand. The cross spun round and round in the air.

―Kim Dokja Company can disrupt the battlefield because they take advantage of a balance between equal forces.

―So?

―What if the balance of power was broken from the beginning?

Metatron blew on the cross. Its axis of rotation slowly collapsed, and it began to wobble.

Agares asked, sounding displeased.

―Are you suggesting we open a battlefield where one side is disadvantaged from the start?

―That's right.

It would be one thing if both sides were evenly matched, but if the balance had already tipped to one side, Kim Dokja Company would have to counterbalance it by that much. If the weight tipped toward evil, they would have to support good. If it tipped toward good, they would have to support evil.

If they used that in reverse, it wouldn't be impossible to design a local battle that would wipe out Kim Dokja Company.

―Which side will the battlefield disadvantage?

―We should be fair about this. If we open one local battlefield that disadvantages evil, we will also open one that disadvantages good.

―Interesting. You want to catch them even if it means sacrificing angels?

―We cannot allow the chaos score to keep accumulating. And we must open several local battles to scatter Kim Dokja Company.

―What if they don't respond to the provocation?

―Wouldn't that be enough as well?

Metatron's eyes glowed white through the screen.

―If they don't respond, good and evil will be the victors of this war anyway.

* * *

[A gate to the 115th local battle has opened!]

[A gate to the 116th local battle has opened!]

[A gate to the 117th local battle has……!]

I let out a hollow laugh as I watched gates cover the air in real time.

Of course, Metatron and Agares wouldn't let this slide.

Jeong Huiwon watched portals appear and disappear in real time before asking me.

"Dokja-ssi, what's going on?"

"They opened several local battles at once."

"Can that happen?"

"Normally, it can't. Even local battles don't appear and disappear that quickly."

[The 115th local battle has ended!]

[The 116th local battle has ended!]

As the battlefields ended in real time, a Scenario message appeared.

+

[Great war of Angels and Demons Progress]

Absolute good alignment: 57

Absolute Evil score: 57

Chaos score: 60

+

As if opposing the chaos score we had accumulated, the good and evil score was rising quickly.

Hyeongseong was the one who finally sprang to his feet.

"We can't stay like this."

Hyeongseong clenched his fist and continued.

"Reincarnators will be sacrificed in those battlefields, too."

Suyeong bit down on her fingernail.

"Of course there will. But we'll die too if we go in there."

"What?"

"Don't you get it? Those are traps. They're plotting to crush us."

At Hyeongseong's blank gaze, I nodded.

"Suyeong is right. We'll probably be attacked the moment we enter."

"It will be over for us even if we don't enter."

The expressions of my Allies darkened further at Junghyeok's words.

Kim Dokja Company was split between good and evil. If the victor of the Great war of Angels and Demons was decided like this, the losing side would suffer terribly. The destruction of their Incarnation bodies would be a given, and even if they were lucky enough to become souls, they would be tormented by the scorching heat of hell until their sense of self was destroyed.

In the end, we had no choice but to participate in those battlefields.

"It can't be helped."

Sometimes, you had to walk into a trap even when you knew it was there.

I quickly divided up my Allies.

"Jeong Huiwon-ssi and Lee Hyeongseong-ssi, participate in the 117th local battle. Suyeong and Junghyeok, take the 119th gate―"

"Wait, then what about you?"

"I'll take the 121st gate alone."

Junghyeok silently gripped his sword hilt as he glared at me, so I hurriedly defended myself.

"No, that doesn't mean I'm actually going alone."

"Who are you going with?"

"Someone who will take our side."

Suyeong immediately objected.

"Who? Who would take our side in a situation like this?"

Normally, no one would.

But if I was right, there would be at least one. No, two.

[The nebula Underworld is waiting for you.]

I grinned.

"My parents."

Footnotes:

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