I Am The Heroine's Father: The Cannon Fodder's Ascent-Chapter 76: Everyone Matters

"Are you sure Radhaan didn’t receive any information?" Orihime asked seriously, still not trusting Johan’s [Defuse] capabilities.

"We would be dead by now if not for that. Anyway, to go deeper, we gotta use [Divine Protection] or our minds will be corrupted. Get some rest while I prepare the spell for it," Johan said, munching on a cookie bigger than his hand, gulping it down with cold water leisurely.

Orihime nodded thoughtfully, turning her head towards Olivia and Sebastian. "You two should eat now. I will take over the job!" she said emotionlessly.

By job, she meant protecting against the monsters rushing toward them by sensing their aether. They were splitting it—while Johan and Orihime ate, Olivia and Sebastian fought the monsters, and vice versa.

Sebastian released another [King’s Authority], pausing rhino-like monsters mid-movement, their eyes widening with horror as Olivia—her every inch of exposed skin and dress soaked in the blood of all kinds of monsters—rushed toward them with a wide grin, chopping them into hundreds of pieces in a single movement.

"..." Orihime stared at Olivia for just a second before focusing on the bread in her hand again, tearing it softly—but hesitantly—as if holding back an urge to puke.

Johan chuckled to himself looking at Orihime’s face, but then his own grew serious. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"She said, fall into the Abyss if it’s for saving the one you love. She said, fall again if it’s for making them smile. She said, I will give them my light so they are not lonely in the Abyss. She said, I will always be there for them, always." Johan started reciting the cast for the spell.

He wasn’t taking any risks here. The virus in the fear of Asura was too horrific.

Pure aether started gathering in Johan’s palm—gooey and golden—which looked like fresh yellow cow dung, but it gave off a pure, comforting vibe.

Johan, turning toward Orihime, who sat across from him on a small rock, began to speak mysteriously as the gooey substance gathered.

"The air has molecules of a manabeast called Symbiote. It enters through the holes in your skin, ear, nose, mouth—basically everywhere—and starts molding your brain’s patterns to its wishes to gain more energy to reproduce and replace your cells one by one."

Johan smiled warmly. "Once it’s done, your body will be under its control."

"Gulp! Cough! Cough!"

Orihime swallowed the bread whole down her throat without chewing, choking on it. Sebastian, who was standing just beside her using spells, slapped her back, making her finally able to breathe properly.

"A-Are you sure this spell will protect us?" Orihime asked through gritted teeth, greedily swallowing air.

Both the clone and the original body shared the same brain—if the clone got infected, she would too.

’I should never have agreed to this mission...’ Orihime started to regret her entire life choices while Johan just deeply stared at the aether gathering in his hands, not in a hurry to reply.

Just as Johan was about to answer, Sebastian’s voice—shaky but serious—rang out. "What if they are already taken over by the virus!?"

Johan instantly understood who Sebastian meant by they from the panic and... fear in his voice.

"...Acier, Diana, and Julie seemed to be protected by some kind of spell... but we can’t say anything till we get there." Johan said with a sigh, turning his eyes away from Sebastian, unable to look at him break down after the news.

Sebastian’s raised hand, which had been holding monsters down, fell. His eyes grew heavy.

"Don’t worry about me, Johan... The people who are supposed to win, always win. It’s like natural selection, you know? How, even after what happened with Alya, at court, you always survived. Maybe... this was all because of luck. The world itself was helping you. And... this is common for all winners. Be it me, Velmire, Radhaan... we always get lucky," he spoke softly.

Orihime and Johan turned their heads toward Sebastian, both their eyes filled with shock.

"What are you trying to say... Sebastian?" Johan’s voice came out louder than intended.

Sebastian took a deep breath. "You know what I mean... Johan. If Hanzo, Master Theo, Daniel, and all the other servants and vassal family members infected mattered... they will survive. If they do not..."

He said it firmly.

Johan stared at the rocky ground. "...That’s cold," the words escaped on their own.

But maybe... it was how Sebastian really was. He was the right-hand man of one of the most evil people, after all. Just that the original game didn’t show it enough...

Johan did have memories of Sebastian killing innocent people. Like the entire family of Olivia—the girl Alya replaced. Kids of nobles Johan hated, to make them spiral into depression. He was the one who led all the dirty work done by Johan.

Johan had forgotten—only he was different. Everyone around him, be it Kirin, Acier, Sebastian, Olivia, or even Selene, was a lunatic in their own way... like him. But he was actually trying to change. To become more like James, rather than being overtaken by Johan.

Whereas they couldn’t care less about anyone other than their loved ones.

Ultimately, Johan chose to drop the topic.

He couldn’t save everyone if they were infected.

But... he would try his best.

But alas, Johan thought of one thing he really wanted to say to Sebastian—not as Johan to manipulate him, but as James, who always thought the character of Sebastian was... cool.

"You know, Sebas—for Hanzo to be alive at this very moment, he had to beat one-in-a-trillion odds by being the sperm that won the race. And this was the same for his father. For you. For every ancestor you ever had. The same for your wife. Every one of your wife’s ancestors. And then the same for each ancestor of both of you meeting at the right time.

All of them survived everything up to this point. You know how cruel this world was before the Aurelian Empire. Thousand-meter-tall monsters. Demon-human wars. Harsh winters. They pushed through every single thing—surviving all of it so that Daniel could be born.

What are the odds of this happening?"

Johan asked, his voice soft.

Sebastian went silent, unable to form a reply.

"Accept this fact, Sebastian Bonewit—everyone born is special. ’Lucky’ in your words. Bursting with millions of dreams, aspirations, desires. Love. Hate. Ideas. Radhaan? Daniel? No difference. They’re both winners. Everyone matters. Everyone."

Johan said in one breath, making all three—Orihime, Olivia, and Sebastian—stare at him dazedly, not believing this was the same man they had known for so many years.

Johan turned toward Orihime.

"To answer your previous question, yeah, I’m sure this spell will be able to protect us... it’s a stage 0 Celestial Edict spell, taking its energy directly from the Goddess of Love, Aethiria."

A.N.= Alright, oh my fucking god this Chapter was amazing, one of my strongest yet, I love this, I spent so much time but this was worth it. Maybe I will write the extra later sorry just one Chapter, but you know what, this was worth it.

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