n

n

nTranslator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

n“…You make it sound quite nice, but it’s all meaningless.”

nPerhaps a passionate idealist’s speech would receive applause, but whenever his ideals clashed with people’s personal benefits, cruel reality and practical brute force would forever tell him that the world was really ruled by violence.

nDid nobody hope that this cruel world would become slightly better? Did no genius ever discover a path to improving the world? Of course people did, but intelligent people were typically physically weak. In this cruel world, any righteous path that wasn’t backed up by force wouldn’t get anywhere at all.

n“I need power in order to spread reason. I need to have even more power than those who act as they please.”

nI knew that no matter how moving the speech was, it would never move the heart of the greedy. That was why I wished for the power of Law to envelop this entire world. That wasn’t because Law was high and mighty, nor did I think that it was the representation of advanced civilization. It was because I believed Law to be a power that could give more power to ordinary people in this cruel world.

n“I seek a power that can protect the weak. I wish to create a sword of judgement which will protect the kind and slay only evil. I wish for light to cover the land, even if some people are destined to become the shadow to make it happen.”

nSince this was a world where the strong ruled the weak, I would help ordinary people to become stronger, strong enough to take charge of their own fates.

nBut when I really started taking this path, I discovered that there had been far too many before me who tried this path already. Some of them were killed by their own ideals, some lost their ideals, and some were still struggling to their utmost in confusion. They were all searching for that almost impossible path to improve the world.

nSo many civilizations had become nothing more than rubble. So many had despaired. Perhaps the Gods high above simply viewed them as nothing more than mortals overstepping their boundaries. But, what I saw were generations of heroes that were willing to resist against fate itself. No generation would ever lack for idiots willing to angrily roar at the heavens.

n“Why, why can’t we have a way to just survive!”

nPerhaps some people would believe that I was an incredible person. After all, the successful creation of Hell was a major world-changing event destined to enter the history books, and I was the one who planned it all.

nBut only I knew that I was simply lucky… I just happened to meet companions who were able to help me achieve my dream.

nWithout Estrada, Holy Light wouldn’t have received salvation… and Estrada was nothing more than another Holy Knight like countless before him, walking the path of protection. Only when his silver war hammer became mine did I discover the true weight that it carried.

nThe first Holy Knights who protected humans in the frontier age were the source of this path of protection. Estrada had simply inherited this path. The true nameless heroes were those first Holy Knights who took up this job on those plains of despair. Perhaps none of them had the power to defeat a God, but their anger and resistance against the God of Holy Light meant that Holy Light could finally take a new path.

n“With the path of Holy Light that I carry, I swear to protect the weak, I swear to expel the darkness, I swear to act with kindness for my entire life, and I shall fight for the sake of protection and ordinary people!”

nOnly from that moment onward did the Dawn Generation truly begin. Holy Knights were finally freed from the God of Holy Light, and could follow the path of protection in their hearts. That was the new future of the Holy Knights. And, the Holy Knights who died on the plains of Bardi together with Estrada were the true heroes who opened up this path to the future.

nAnd now, on that plain, even if the God of Holy Light forbid anything to be erected there in memorial, the ordinary people who were there and experienced the event kept spreading tales of honor and glory about those heroes’ angry roars as they died, even if these heroes’ names were all unknown.

nThe Holy Knights’ sacrifices were only the first among all the ordinary people…

nAyer sacrificed eternal life to finally break the unchanging Cycle of Reincarnation. Orloss, who had seen through everything, ended up gaining the reputation of the most foolish emperor in Bardi’s history.

nMy empty dreams would have been nothing without my companions’ sacrifices. It was thanks to all my companions who also desired a better world that we finally managed to realize my dream, which was so inconceivable. My companions included Gods, demons, and devils, but most of all, truly ordinary mortals. They all desired to only be able to survive in this f*cked-up world.

n“We only want to survive. Why is that so difficult? Dear Mother Eich, don’t you love us all? Why do our parents…”

nDespairing people finally abandoned thoughts of asking the Gods for salvation. Since people didn’t want to give everything to the Gods only to have their children end up impaled by bloodthirsty villains’ spears, it wasn’t possible that the fires of resistance would die out.

n“…My seniors’ sacrifices won’t become meaningless.”

nWhen that formless flag was erected, the banner included ancient humans from the first generation, a survivor from the scholars’ generation, the princess from the Gold Elf kingdom, human warriors and wise ones, evil dragons and dark elves from the Underground, and the prince of a certain destroyed kingdom.

nInconceivable? Although it sounded nice to refer to such people as seniors, they preferred to sardonically refer to themselves as “the leftovers barely clinging onto life even though they should have died long ago.”

nThe ironic part was, once the Cycle of Reincarnation was finally broken, it was us leftovers, who had already lost our homes, inheritances, friends, families, countries, and even cultures, that sacrificed the most and worked the hardest.

nWe worked our very hardest, all for the sake of future generations not needing to take the same path as us. We exchanged our experiences in losing our countries or our species, all so that the terrible tragedies of losing your entire country or species wouldn’t happen yet again.

nAlthough it might sound like a joke, our final conclusion was: “Don’t be a coward, just fight head on!”

nThat was right, on such a despairing brink, any attempts at convincing others through morality would be useless. It would be the most foolish thing possible to expect the Gods high above to have an emotion such as pity. Practical brute force was the only method possible to solve all the problems.

nNo matter what we intended to do, in the end, it was inevitable that we would have to fight both the Order and Chaos factions. And what happened was that the battle of Hell was a direct fight against both Order and Chaos so that Hell could be successfully constructed. And, we won! We actually won!

nCynthia died as a result? Our hard efforts had come to fruition? Our job was finally over?

n“Ha, what a joke. Just look at this world. There are more than one hundred and seventy countries currently at war. Countless invaders and ambitious schemers are casually trampling over ordinary people’s lives and souls. Is this really all over? Is this really the peaceful world that you wished for?”

nIndeed, all our hard efforts up until now had only managed to avoid the Armageddon kind of certain death ending for this world. It was still unknown whether we would all be able to survive this cruel, last Holy War of all.

nIn every Holy War in history, more than ninety-five percent of all life forms would perish. Although those Holy Wars didn’t have the despairing ending of the Creator Goddesses awakening and destroying everything, such Holy Wars were still incomparable tragedies. And since this was the final Holy War, it also meant that all accumulated grudges and historical enmity would explode simultaneously. Since every single species desired to become the final victor in this war; the final Holy War would naturally be the most brutal of them all, with no so-called victor ever emerging.

nHell now had its Four Pillar Gods of Holy Light, Law, Death, and Ice. Ordinary people could obtain new power from them. When Law truly protected every single ordinary person, and when ordinary people became the strongest species, perhaps a relatively long period of peace would finally arrive in this world. Ordinary species would all learn to communicate with each other peacefully. However, it would take time for the power of Law to fully mature, and our enemies would never give us such time. Everything would be meaningless if we couldn’t make it past this Holy War.

n“Don’t be a coward, and fight head on!”

n“Come, no matter who the enemy is! Come, no matter how powerful you are! Come, since everyone believes that power is the only reason in the world, then let a half-dead leftover like me talk some logic into you. Come, and I’ll show you that an old dog like me still has some teeth.”

nThe cold wind brought along the smell of corrosion, and behind it were the living who were hurriedly solidifying the town walls. Before us was an endless sea of undead, while I was merely a single person who was standing on top of my large Heavenly Knight #1, Mars of War.

nI was facing down countless hordes of undead, yet this was actually a case of the strong bullying the weak.

n“Come, weaklings who fear true death, welcome your eternal rest! Come, let your Granddaddy Yongye teach you how to truly become dead!”

nWhen the silent undead army blew the horns of war to begin their first charge, it was the end of my vacation time of loafing around with no battles. The final Holy War to end all Holy Wars had started yet again.

n