Chapter 764
Chapter 764
Davey remained silent when he received the urgent news from Asgard monitoring Perserque in real time.
"No... You.. can’t... kill... "
Davey ignored Skuld desperately trying to stop him and sighed.
Russian troops had attacked. There was a possibility she might have started attacking Russia first, but there was no reason for them to provoke her while she remained still. He figured they would have judged that it would not be beneficial for them at all—even if it was, they wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.
"Ple... ase... " Skuld hoarsely croaked.
[Wise Teacher! You must move quickly! If Princess Perserque, whom Miss Rinne just managed to calm down, runs wild again, there will be a huge catastrophe!]
He heard the urgent cry of one of the dwarves frantically coming through the communication artifact. Perserque already had a history of going on a rampage—Rinne had suffered serious injuries even after turning into a Sephiroth when she went on a rampage in Korea that one time.
Davey looked down at Verdandi with a cold gaze. She was just sitting down with a resigned look on her face, staring at the floor—he could tell she had already chosen death.
But for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Skuld had said. In a way, it was only natural for them to be related like that. Eclipse was Hercules' wife, and the three sisters, Verdandi, Urd, and Skuld, who had finally regained their memories, were the adopted daughters Hercules brought in. In other words, Eclipse was Verdandi’s stepmother.
Davey couldn't leave her alone since she had regained her memories. But whatever her relationship with Eclipse was in the past, he figured he should’ve predicted what she was going to do..
Davey's hand trembled as he held Blue Ribbon.
“Nevermind. Any last words?"
"..."
She looked at Davey with an empty face. She stared at him with resigned eyes and pursed her dry lips. Then Davey raised Blue Ribbon without hesitation.
Shing!
***
Fighter jets cut through the cold coniferous forests of Siberia at supersonic speeds, making sounds that seemed to tear the air apart.
Bzzzt... Bzzzt...
The pilots in the fighter planes ignored the continuous noise and began firing all the weapons built into the planes as soon as they reached the target point. The dozens of artillery bombardments headed for a devastated field.
The field was originally a forest, but that label was no longer fitting. It was a place where only one large tree remained, the one which Perserque had leaned and fallen asleep against.
Even as missiles came within close range, Perserque still remained silent. She slowly opened her eyes, their red color having become more a mixture of red with scarlet.
Zoom, Boom!!!
She was dazed as a barrage of missiles began to rain down on her. A huge explosion occurred with a tremendous shockwave.
Shhh, SHHH!!
Then a missile that seemed to have been shot with extreme precision flew in, spraying a large amount of chemical powder and instantly extinguishing the area’s flames. The enormous barrage of bombings was enough to demonstrate the capabilities of Russia, a nation once called a military powerhouse.
Despite this, however...
[Bzzzt... Continuing bombardment. Confirmed the survival of the Awakened Task Force target...]
There was something they were mistaken about—although she didn’t have the absolute authority to resist all firearms like the Neltarid side, these soldiers’ level of firearms was insufficient to cause her harm.
[Hmm? Wait. Something's wrong...]
Crack!
A huge roar came from a reconnaissance aircraft roaming the battlefield at high speed, though it was not moving as fast as a supersonic fighter.
[What is happening? Reportin—]
Crack!!
Another loud noise rang out. After the forest fire was belatedly extinguished, the Awakened who entered the scene soon realized the reason behind the strange communication.
Pitch-black pillars had risen from the ground like trees, impaling the fighter jets in the sky. Even though the aircraft had lowered their altitude for reconnaissance and bombing, they had still been flying at a significant height. They were shocked that even a fighter jet flying at supersonic speeds was hit.
"I-Incoming!!”
At that moment, the Awakened individual at the front shouted in surprise. The beautiful girl who had been sleeping and motionless, leaning against a tree during their briefing, now had a black haze surrounding her entire body.
Although they were aback by her beauty, they were professionals. Their orders were to either get rid of her or face death themselves. Of course, they didn’t want to die—as such, they got ready to attack her despite their nervousness and reluctance.
Splosh!!!
"Gaaa?!”
Before they could take action, those who made visual contact with her figure were struck speechless. Her hazy figure showed extreme ripples and distortion, and before anyone could react, she had come close and pierced their bodies. Only one lucky man had frozen in his steps, now looking at her and his comrades’ corpses littered around her.
Sss...
Frightened by the sight of his colleagues instantly dying, the man fell backward onto his bottom. Perserque slowly approached him, stretching out her hand. The black haze grabbed his arms, legs, and neck before lifting him into the air. Its eerie and emotionless emptiness scared him to the point that he thought he was going to lose his mind.
"Ugh... Aaaaaaa!!!”
He screamed in absolute fear, but nothing changed. Perserque looked up at him with an empty face before faintly smiling. Although she was beautiful, like the reincarnation of a goddess, her smile made him feel like he was looking at the goddess of death.
"Hah... Heheheh..."
She maintained her charming but grim smile as tentacles of black haze began to grab the man’s limbs. The terrified man couldn't even resist, simply sobbing. His reaction wasn’t surprising—no one would be able to maintain their sanity if their enormous army was instantly annihilated right in front of them.
On the other hand, Perserque didn't have a single mark on her face despite the massive bombing. She was literally a monster.
An eerie noise rang out as sounds of dismemberment seemed to echo, but the man’s body was still intact. Just before his body was completely torn apart, a white blade energy poured down from the sky and cut the black haze.
Thud!! Thud!!
As the entire area shook violently, Perserque, still with an eerie smile on her otherwise empty face, staggered and retrieved her haze.
“...”
The man who survived the sudden shock looked at the young man dressed in black who appeared in front of him, forgetting about the wound on his shoulder.
"The Prince of Tionis..."
“Maybe I should have let you die,” he muttered.
The man stiffened and shuddered at his cold muttering. The young man, Davey O’Rowane, looked back with eyes full of murderous energy.
***
Russia's commander-in-chief, Vladimir Kutin, openly displayed his anxiety by biting his fingernails.
“Who initiated the attack?! Why aren’t there any reports yet?!”
“Sir, we are currently investigating! If you could give us just a little more time...!”
“Do you have any idea how much damage will be done to this country in that short period of time?!”
As Kutin shouted, the men around him fell silent. Returning favors with vengeance was already a subject of great criticism, but he had ended up messing with someone he shouldn't have. In a situation like the present, which was basically a transitional period, he knew such an act would jeopardize the future of Russia.
Of course, this attack was not his order. All that was currently known was that the several figures from the military who gave the order and the Awakened leadership had been in contact with someone in common.
That someone was a strange green-colored being.
Not knowing the true manipulators behind the scenes, the subordinate legions and Awakened units simply followed their orders, provoking a weapon of mass destruction that shouldn’t be touched.
Her rampage was a problem on its own, but what made Kutin even more anxious was her husband from another world—Davey, the world's strongest ticking bomb believed to be the most transcendent of humans at the moment.
Kutin knew how deeply Davey cared for his wife. Since his country had bombed her under his watch, he couldn’t help but gulp. Considering what he had done, it wouldn’t be surprising for a large country like Russia to be brought to the brink of destruction. Although it might sound ridiculous for a nation to have its foundation shaken by just one person, the possibility existed as it was currently quite difficult to completely stop the monsters that appeared in the world without his help. Even if they managed to block the monsters on their own, there would inevitably be enormous human and material losses.
Kutin had gone through a lot of trouble to build a friendly relationship with Davey, but someone had interfered and set that bridge on fire.
"Go find out who decided to burn my country’s delicate bridge with Davey and bring them to me right away!”
The men nodded at once.
“We have already dispatched special forces. We don’t have any obvious leads at the moment, but we will be able to quickly find and detain those who gave the order.”
“As long as they’re still breathing, I don’t care if they’re missing a limb or two. If they resist, threaten them with their families and bring them to me. Use any means necessary.”
Kutin's anger caused his followers to tremble. As an Awakened, his intimidation was far greater than in the past.
***
“...”
Davey couldn't say anything as he looked at her expressionless face. Even when he opened his mouth, his words froze in his throat.
He wondered if she was okay. He wanted to know what on earth made her like this. There were so many things he wanted to know, but there was nothing he could do with certainty at the moment.
He was glad that he had removed Thanatos using the power of Goddess Freyja. But even so, he hated what that damned god of the Abyss had done to her on his way out. Davey figured it didn’t seem like she had any conscious reasoning ability—if she did, Rinne wouldn’t have suffered such serious injuries.
Davey walked toward her with his fists clenched. “Per,” he called softly.
He felt a million different emotions. She had given up everything for him. She came up with excuses for wanting to come along at first, but he knew she had feelings for him from the start.
On the other hand, Davey didn't believe her at first, despite knowing about her. Now, he couldn’t deny how precious she was to him—she held an irreplaceable place in his heart.
Ssss!!!
Eventually, she gracefully stood straight and held her hand out to him. At her gesture, the black haze formed into tentacles and came toward him.
“I remember you telling me that you didn’t like tentacles...”
Davey then closed in and hugged her.
Splosh!!
Several bundles of tentacles pierced his body. He saw her empty eyes fill up with shock—it seemed she hadn’t expected him to not retaliate or defend himself. As Davey continued to hug Perserque, frozen in her daze, he lowered his head and finally spoke.
"I... I will save you, no matter what. Whatever state you’re in. It doesn’t matter if you’re under that damn god’s control.”
Since Davey had already chosen Perserque over the world, he wasn’t going to go back on his decision.
"I... I will... “
He hugged the trembling Perserque so tightly that he almost snapped her bones/spine in half.
“I will free you, so you just wait.”
[Are you crazy?! I only told you to check if she has any traces of emotions left! Who told you to abuse your body like this?!]
The crystal ball let out a cry of horror, but Davey didn’t listen.
“Shut up and move. Don’t willfully interfere.”
Even if he had to absorb her entire body’s Abyss energy, he was determined to save her.
Perserque, eyes wide open in surprise at his actions, struggled and pushed him away. Then, with a venomous gaze, dozens of black hazes flew at him as if they were going to kill him.
“Even if it hurts... just stay patient.”
With that, Davey gathered black energy in his bare hands.
[Blood Demonic Attack]
Davey now wielded a composite martial art by combining the Heavenly Demon Divine Power and Necromancer Mana.
‘I didn’t want things to turn out this way...”
But he knew this was the only way to save her for now.
For the first time in a long while, he let out a crude curse word from his past life.
“Fuck.”