The presence Neltarid gave off was completely foreign. Their actions were clearly different from the Neltarid that Davey knew.

He had no idea what had changed them like that. He also didn’t know why the Goddess was staying silent in such a situation.

It was true that Goddess Freyja didn’t have much power. Nonetheless, it was clear that when she transferred the authority of sacrifice, she had awakened a certain level of power.

Davey hadn’t told Illyna what he had seen in the red ore’s memory, or why Neltarid, who had suddenly appeared after he glimpsed the memory, said what they did.

He knew that planting unnecessary seeds of doubt in an uncertain situation was dangerous.

The mad angel had caused countless casualties, and the cleanup afterward proceeded quickly.

Since there was practically no monster corpse left, all they could do was lift the blockade and remain vigilant for any potential threats.

“Davey. Tell me, what exactly did you see?” Illyna carefully asked, frustrated that he kept it all to himself.

“Nothing’s certain yet. I need to check one more time.”

It was as if the information was sealed in stages. Just like a tv series divided into multiple episodes, all he had confirmed was parts of some episodes.

“I need to find more mad angels.”

Only then could he understand why Neltarid changed so drastically. No. Perhaps he already understood, to some extent. That was why he had to be even more cautious.

If his prediction was correct, it meant that the situation was already too late.

* * *

Finding another mad angel wasn’t difficult.

It was because two mad angels appeared simultaneously this time.

Contrary to his expectation that Neltarid would struggle to control multiple mad angels, they succeeded in manifesting two of them.

They were in a desert region in Iraq. Once an oil-rich nation ruled by a dictatorship, it had suffered tremendous damage from past wars and subsequent monster attacks.

The transformed Awakened individuals were an A-rank and a B-rank. While their ranks were lower than he expected, that didn't weaken the mad angel’s power.

The mad angel itself was clearly a great disaster.

“WOOOOOO!!!” The giant mad angels let out bizarre howls like the cries of massive whales. Yet, despite howling in sync, they didn’t show any other real coordination.

Even a single one was enough to be a disaster. For Iraq, the infrastructure of which had already been weakened by extensive damage, the simultaneous appearance was unbearable.

Swoosh!!

Someone rapidly approached one of the mad angels that was floating over the devastated, empty city.

One of the mad angels noticed a figure dart in at a speed almost impossible for a living being.

It tried to let out a massive howl, yet before it could, a thin, long, momentary silver flash blinded its eyes.

“Kieek?!” The mad angel froze instantly.

Then the same thin, long silver flash streaked twice in the empty air, slashing its body.

The flashes rapidly increased in number until they were too many to count. They forcibly refracted and twisted every space within range.

That was a power that even a complete god would deem dangerous. It was safe to assume that the mad angel, just a maddened divinity, had almost no chance against the attacks.

The mad angel, now divided into dozens and even hundreds of fragments, tried to restore itself. However, the already fractured space hindered its recovery, blocking its movements. After struggling for a long time, one of the mad angels went limp, as if completely drained of energy.

Boom!!!

At the same time, the other mad angel in the distance was being twisted, crushed, and torn apart.

The mad angel that had been split into hundreds of fragments was by no means intact, but the angel that was completely being ground up looked even worse.

Massive energy twisted, and one angel was completely annihilated.

Davey rushed over with a grim face and placed his hand on the core of the mad angel that Illyna had diced.

“Davey! Wait!!”

“It’ll be quick. Just wait for a moment.”

Illyna couldn’t find anything to say. All she could do was watch him interfere with the core of the second mad angel and read the memories of the red ore.

Even though Davey had told her she just had to wait, she couldn't help but worry.

So, knowing she could do nothing else, she placed her hand on his shoulder to encourage him and infuse him with her power.

Then, something astonishing thing happened.

His body began to rapidly absorb her mana, and his resonance with the red ore started to become more stable.

At the same time, the memory began to flow into Illyna as well.

* * *

Putting aside national issues on Earth, Davey focused entirely on the twisted Neltarid. He was certain that the reason why they had to do such things would be inside the mad angels.

He ripped through space and once again entered the deep consciousness, assimilating with Neltarid's memory fragments. Their memory, embedded in the red order, showed the same location as before. However, unlike before, Illyna's mana enveloped him as if to protect him from Neltarid’s interference.

‘She’ll be assimilated with the memory too... Should I compliment her, or should I get mad cause she acted so recklessly...?’

Regardless, the important thing was that he couldn't miss this opportunity that Illyna had created.

The young man who reappeared spoke as he knelt on one knee before a tombstone with a stone staff embedded in it.

- It was to protect you.

The trembling voice was so unstable that it was hard to believe it belonged to Neltarid.

- I devoted my entire life to protect you.

He spoke as if making a confession.

Zzzt.

It felt like Neltarid kept trying to interfere, but Davey felt like he was part of this world completely.

His voice grew more muffled as it sank.

- I sacrificed everything for the peace you wished for.

It was impossible not to know who he was talking to.

The woman Neltarid spoke of, Freyja. The being who gave Goddess Freyja her name, not the Goddess Freyja herself. The Priestess of Transcendent Will.

Davey's life two lives ago, ten thousand years in the past. Priestess Freyja.

Neltarid was talking to her.

- I became a God to protect you. Yet, that very divinity made me kill you.

His head dropped, and his voice was tinged with deep sorrow, hatred, and despair. His voice trembled even more.

- You don't resent me, even after all this.

As if comforting him, faint particles of light flowed from the tombstone, seeping into him as if to soothe him.

- But I...

He began to choke up.

- I cannot do that. Unlike when I had no emotions, I cannot bear it anymore.

Hot tears streamed down his face as he slowly raised his head.

- Even after killing you with my own hands, I only chased practicality, shamelessly not even truly feeling guilt. I just wore the shell of guilt.

Davey listened to his words without saying anything.

Since he had no emotions at the time, he’d killed Priestess Freyja without any hesitation. Even though he had become a god to protect her, he was the one who killed her.

Of course, the destruction side of him went on a rampage during that process, but because he had no emotions, he couldn’t feel proper sadness or hatred.

- I resent myself... Myself who killed you... My apostle who killed you... This world that made you die!! This providence!!!

It was an act of defiance that the usual Neltarid would never have committed.

However.

The Neltarid Davey was seeing now clearly had emotions, unlike his usual self.

Shockingly, they were complete emotions.

- You wished for peace. I still love this world that you wished to make true. But at the same time, I hate it so much I can't bear it. This dreadful and cruel world built up under the name of practically makes me sick.

However.

- But the instinct within me to protect the world and maintain peace is still eating away at me. Haah. Freyja, answer me. Was it right when I had no emotions? Is this eternal sorrow your punishment upon me?

As he sobbed with his face buried in his hands, his voice slowly distorted.

- I can't endure it... I'm not that perfect... I want to crush this world and burn everything related to it, right here and now.

Simultaneously, red crystals gathered in his hands.

‘Wait, those are the same ones I have...?’

- Even if all of this is predetermined providence. Even if I commit a sin I can never take back.

The actions of a God who lacked emotion could only appear so cruel when looked back on after gaining emotions.

- I will not forgive this world that created false divinities using your souls.

The red crystals began to seep into him, and his body turned black.

The pair of wings on his back hardened as if they were crystalizing, then soon crumbled, revealing dreadful bones.

- Perhaps destruction was merely a remnant of the emotion that remained within me.

His body, which had turned completely black, soon transformed into something wearing pitch-black armor.

Thud!!

At the same time, dreadful eyes floated up around him.

- Will you resent me, or mock me for being foolish? If not even that...

He spoke in a completely fractured voice.

- Will you pity me?

As he slowly rose, all the space around him twisted and was destroyed.

The power Davey felt in that moment was even greater than what Neltarid originally possessed.

- There is no longer a place for a sinner like me in this world that has found peace.

Davey had no intention of offering him platitudes, saying it was okay or that he didn't care. Although she was the being from his past life, Priestess Freyja was strictly a different entity from Davey.

The only thing they shared was the essence of their souls. Nothing else.

However, the fact that the essence of their souls was the same seemed to appear differently from a God's perspective.

- So, before it's too late, cut me down with your own hands.

Deep sorrow resonated, disorienting his mind.

- Freyja...

What Davey felt from the final voice was not Neltarid as a god. It was the voice of a protagonist in a terrible tragedy, one who had thought for himself and had to face a cruel ending.

With that, the Neltarid that Davey knew completely vanished.

* * *

Thud!!

Davey was thrown out of the space. The red ore in his hand completely crumbled into dust.

Illyna, who had held and supported him to keep him from collapsing, slumped down as if her legs had turned to jelly.

She stared blankly at Davey, unaware that she was crying. “Davey... What did I...? What on earth...”

He didn’t know what to say, as he felt the same as she did.

The reason Neltarid had changed like this was probably the presence of emotion. The god who thoroughly pursued practicality ended up like this because Goddess Freyja made emotions bloom within them.

He wondered why the goddess had done such a cruel thing. Or rather, perhaps doing nothing and just leaving them alone would’ve been even crueler.

If not that, there was only one possibility. Obtaining emotions might have been that Neltarid’s own choice, part of a promise made with the goddess.

In that case, he couldn’t begin to imagine how much sorrow and guilt the goddess’s avatar, who now had emotions, felt toward Neltarid.

It was frightening to even imagine.

The fact that Neltarid had been favorable to Davey and cherished him, calling him Freyja, might’ve all been because he calculated efficiency and practicality as a god.

The truth was so cruel and sad.

“Davey...” Illyna sobbed and grabbed his arm. “I... What am I supposed to do? What on earth is this?”

He remained silent with a grim expression.

“There's no turning back. Neltarid made their decision, and...”

Now, the only thing he had to do was make a choice.

Assimilate with them and resent this world. Or, for the sake of the family he protected, annihilate another god who had protected the world. It was a matter that should’ve required no thought in the first place, yet the decision was hard to make.

The part of Tranquility from which Destruction had vanished.

Neltarid indeed loved the world. That was a certain truth.

Davey made his decision. “I’ll annihilate Neltarid.”

He instinctively knew that what Neltarid truly wanted was release from their hatred and sorrow toward the world.

And to be destroyed by the one he had killed. By the reincarnation of Priestess Freyja.

By Davey himself.

“Perhaps his destruction side already knew that.”

Though they ended up twisted at the end.

In the end, Neltarid’s destruction side may have been triggered by the overwhelming emotions they had before becoming a god.

Whatever the case, the time for Davey to make a painful decision had come.