Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 543: Black Flesh (1)

By the time only four days remained until the final battle—

“It seems I have now helped with everything I can.”

“So it seems.”

Alon was receiving Sia’s final assistance.

Saaaa—

Feeling the violet Divine power slowly fading away, Alon let out a low sigh.

‘With this, I suppose I have reached the end of the path I can advance along at this point in time.’

Strictly speaking, it was closer to reorganizing the power he had already obtained than moving forward into something entirely new, but Alon still considered this undeniable progress.

Unlike before, he now possessed enough power to fight at a level similar to back then even without laws.

‘......Of course, I still have not properly used it in actual combat.’

While Alon organized his thoughts, Sia, who had been watching him, opened her mouth.

“Then, I will leave it in your hands.”

Simple words without any embellishment.

But Alon understood what she meant.

“I will do as much as I can. Our goals are the same anyway.”

At that answer, Sia smiled pleasantly.

Then, as though something suddenly came to mind, she widened her eyes.

“Ah, wait just a moment, would you?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes, there was something I wanted to give you, but I only remembered it now.”

Telling him to wait a moment, she opened the inner door and went inside.

And after a short while passed—

“Here, take this.”

Alon received a small wooden box from Sia.

A wooden box with an antique atmosphere.

“......This is?”

When Alon asked, Sia answered.

“If, on the day of the final battle, a moment comes when you truly cannot see any possible way forward, then please open it.”

It was impossible to understand what she meant.

“I am certain what is inside will help you.”

Alon looked at the small wooden box once more.

“......If it is something helpful, would it not be better to open it now?”

He voiced a reasonable opinion, but Sia firmly shook her head.

“No, this must only be opened when Lord Alon truly judges that there is no answer left in this situation. Otherwise, it has no meaning at all.”

“......Is that possible?”

“Yes, because this item is that kind of item?”

Sia added with a smile.

At that, Alon examined the wooden box, wondering whether it itself was some special artifact, but it did not particularly seem to be one, so he felt puzzled.

“Can you promise me?”

At Sia’s continued question, almost like a request—

“......Fine. I will do so.”

Alon nodded.

“Good. That is a relief.”

Only then did Sia finally erase the firmness from her face again and nod in satisfaction.

Sia did not doubt him in the slightest.

At that sight, Alon unconsciously asked:

“You do not doubt me?”

“Doubt you?”

“Yes.”

“What part?”

“This box. I could say I will not open it and then open it anyway.”

Alon’s question.

“I know you are not that kind of person, Lord Alon.”

At that, Sia let out a low little “Ah—” and answered.

“Then I will be going now. We must move tomorrow, after all.”

“Yes.”

Right after that—

After exchanging a few more words with Sia and parting ways, Alon returned to the lodging within the royal castle.

“Ah, Lord Alon, you are back?”

Near the lodging, he saw Penia and Evan absentmindedly looking out the window.

“Yes. But what are you looking at?”

Alon asked while looking at the two of them.

At that, Evan lightly pointed outside and spoke.

“We were looking at the scenery. Lord Alon has seen it too, of course...... but does it not feel rather horrifying?”

Evan’s words.

At that, Alon naturally shifted his body and looked out the window.

“......It certainly does.”

He quietly agreed with Evan’s words.

“It really looks like the world’s true destruction has arrived.”

Penia muttered softly.

Alon did not think those words were exaggerated at all.

Because the scenery before his eyes truly looked as though it would not be strange if the world ended at any moment now.

A world even redder than before.

In the sky above it, the mass of organs writhed while intermittently emitting something with a chilling blackish-red glow, as though it might give birth to something at any moment.

And below that, on the plains that had still been clean when Alon’s group first arrived, flesh masses that had not been there before could now be seen rising from the ground.

The erosion phenomenon was becoming visibly more active.

“If things keep going like this for just a few more days, everything really will get swallowed up.”

At Evan’s mutter, Alon unconsciously nodded.

Certainly, just as Evan said, the world already looked as though destruction had arrived.

And so, while blankly staring into empty space, Alon suddenly shook his head.

Because the thought, Can I really do this? had unconsciously crossed his mind.

‘No. No.’

Alon shook his head and organized his thoughts.

This was not something he could avoid anyway.

Then what Alon needed to think about was not whether he could do it, but how he should do it.

For the sake of surviving himself.

And because it was also right to think that way for the sake of saving Penia and Evan, who had fallen into this place in order to save him.

“We should head inside soon. There is nothing good about continuing to look at this.”

Alon began heading toward the lodging with Penia and Evan.

“And tonight, get plenty of sleep.”

“We are leaving tomorrow?”

“Yes. They said if we calculate the time needed to reach that place, we must depart tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

“So the final battle is finally here.”

Penia muttered.

At that, Evan, who had been staring at her, grinned.

“What, are you scared?”

“Shut up. If I were scared in the first place, I would never have come this far.”

“But for someone saying that, your complexion looks pretty dark?”

Evan snickered.

To someone else, it might have seemed as though they lacked too much awareness of the crisis.

But Alon knew.

The reason Evan was acting like that was not because he truly wanted to joke around, but simply because he was trying to ease this gloomy and tense atmosphere.

And so, Alon smiled faintly.

####

The next day.

Just as Sia had said, the army gathered in Keremenia departed for the final battle.

People wearing all sorts of different armor could be seen here and there, and behind them stood countless soldiers.

Soldiers gathered regardless of whether they were men or women.

Some soldiers behind them had not even received armor in time and stood there holding only weapons.

To be honest, it was not an army one could call well-prepared.

But Alon did not find the situation strange.

Because if they could not win this final battle, then this world was doomed to perish anyway.

‘......Still, there are many of them.’

Alon was slightly surprised at the sheer number of soldiers, enough that it was difficult to take in at a glance.

There were so many that it almost seemed as though every living person in Keremenia had been armed.

He only stared in surprise for a moment.

“Then let us depart.”

With Sia’s words from the very front of the formation, Alon’s group was finally able to begin marching toward the place where Al-Akulakka was.

####

The atmosphere of the march was neither particularly good nor particularly bad.

The world being dyed red made it easy for morale to collapse, but perhaps because Sia and several people who appeared to be nobles had done well encouraging them, the soldiers’ expressions did not look that terrible.

Rather, considering the situation, one could say that the atmosphere being this stable was already quite impressive.

But unfortunately, as time passed, that atmosphere slowly tilted in a worse direction.

And exactly two days after the march began, when the capital where Al-Akulakka resided finally became visible in the distance—

“Ah—”

“T-This is insanity......!”

“How are we even supposed to—”

The soldiers’ morale had effectively fallen to its worst state.

And it was not only the soldiers.

“......This.”

“Huu—”

Even the nobles who had been diligently encouraging the soldiers until moments ago all grimaced or stiffened while staring ahead.

“.......”

And Sia as well, standing before them, merely looked forward in silence.

“......This is.”

“It truly does not make sense.”

Because of the scene spread out before their eyes.

“.......”

Looking upon the ground, all that could be seen was flesh.

Plains, mountains—no terrain remained anymore.

There was only flesh.

And not merely hundreds.

Not merely thousands or tens of thousands.

It filled this entire space.

“.......”

There were so many flesh masses there that even if Voracious Thunder devoured every last bit of its magic power, it might still not be enough to eliminate them all.

The next thing visible was the red sky.

No, strictly speaking—

“......That is—”

“Looks like we arrived at exactly the right time.”

—the blackish-red sky.

“Or perhaps a little too late.”

At the center of the capital’s sky floated a gigantic black sphere like some unknown tumor, connected to the mass of organs hanging in the heavens.

A black sphere writhing in unison every time the organs in the sky pulsed, as though the two had assimilated together.

Watching the sphere beating powerfully as though something inside it might be born at any moment, Alon calmly thought:

‘......What should I do?’

If he used Voracious Thunder, then even if he could not erase all the flesh masses here, he should at least be able to carve a path through them.

But the reason Alon could not easily make that choice was the battle with the Karma of War that would follow afterward.

‘The rule of the Karma of War is not to completely restore the body, but merely to return it to the point at which the ability was applied.’

In other words, for Alon, who had already lost his laws, using Reverse Heavens would still be a burden even if he could restore his magic power afterward.

Reverse Heavens would inevitably place strain upon Alon’s mind, and that would work against him in the battle against the Karma of War.

“.......”

Alon looked around him.

What entered his sight were the expressions of the soldiers.

The nobles commanding them.

The soldiers wearing armor.

The soldiers without armor.

Every single one of them stared ahead with despair written across their faces.

Before the battle had even begun, fear had spread through them like a plague and was consuming everyone here.

“Huu—”

And the moment he saw that, Alon decided what he needed to do.

Naturally, the earlier premise could not change.

In order to defeat Al-Akulakka and, beyond that, fight the Karma of War, he could not use too much power at this moment.

Even if he used it, the amount had to remain small.

But that was fine.

Step.

Because even that was enough.

Alon quietly began walking.

Passing through the soldiers frozen in fear, he moved to the front.

He passed Sia.

And finally arrived at the very front.

Then closed his eyes.

And with that, what appeared was his form.

There, was the ‘eye’ twisted and transformed by Divine blood into something that inspired fear just by looking at it.

It was by no means holy.

It did not look great or majestic in the slightest.

But that was fine.

“.......”

If the ‘eye’ that inspired fear merely by being seen was an ally—

And if this world was one that had once served countless gods as kings—

Then that alone was enough for Alon to obtain what he wanted.

“Manifestation.”

Namely—

Saaaaaaa—!

—the purpose of planting hope.

And then—

Along with the explosion of violet Divine power—

Craaaack—

The ‘eye’ descended upon the world.

A gigantic eye looking down upon the world.