I Became the Teacher of the Imperial Family’s Bastard

091. Foreign News (1)

Beatrice broke out in a cold sweat.

An overwhelming sensation.

The creature standing there, uttering a few words, undoubtedly boasted the most terrifying power she had ever witnessed in her life.

But was this unfamiliar? The answer was ‘No.’

Beatrice knew this sensation.

To be precise, she had experienced a similar sensation before.

‘A demon…?’

It was endlessly similar.

Taking a human as its vessel, anchoring its existence to this land by using that human’s power as a template, even this voice that hammered into her mind.

[Yes, they say some things never change with time. Though it’s unfortunate that it happens to be that bloodline…….]

It said something towards Callios.

At that moment, Beatrice regained her senses.

Kiiiiing―!

The magic core roared.

In an instant, the magic connected the minds of the allies.

‘We have to fight!’

Callios flinched at that voice.

He, who had been gasping, soon realized how to use the magic and conveyed his words.

‘What is that?’

‘I don’t know. It’s just something that came out in a way similar to a demon. Based on that, I’d say its combat power is similar to that of a water body. A water body is…’

‘…a Grand Duke?’

‘…Yes.’

Beatrice glanced at Tibria.

Her expression twisted ferociously.

Her emotions were visibly shaken.

But the situation wasn’t good enough to take care of that.

‘Grand Duke.’

‘…Is there a way to unravel it?’

Not for him.

Historia wouldn’t know the way either, and Callios wouldn’t be of help in this area.

However,

‘The Taesa can do it. If we can just incapacitate it somehow…’

‘Then we have our answer.’

Thud!

Tibria stomped her foot.

Her body was engulfed in flames.

‘I’ll half-kill it. Until Yuren arrives.’

The monster laughed, “Ahaha!”

[Good. Are you resisting? Yes, you should.]

A mist carrying stars spread around her body.

[That’s what makes you worthy of being called the creatures of that woman who should be torn apart, isn’t it?]

The monster clasped its hands together.

The mist began to churn like boiling water.

Callios shouted.

“Danger!!!”

His sword energy slashed towards the monster.

Boom―!

The battle began.

A battle that might be a desperate struggle.

* * *

The spirit was distracted.

To be precise, it seemed to be in a hurry to say something, explaining things to me in a disorganized manner, and in that context, something that couldn’t be overlooked slipped out.

“Foreign gods?”

[Yes!]

“Why are foreign gods suddenly being mentioned?”

These spirits were the ones invited and promised by the spirits themselves.

So, what I expected was the content of the promise, and if it was bound by a prohibition, some strategic support arranged by the invitation.

But this time was different.

What they gave me was information.

Why they were here, what the identity of the force causing this cold wave was.

And also, why foreign gods suddenly appeared.

The spirit took a deep breath.

[So…]

The story began a long time ago.

[Let’s start from the time when gods and demons, and newly born creatures roamed this land. Foreign gods first appeared then. Not as visitors, but as invaders.]

[The foreign gods tried to spread their faith on this land. They wanted a dimensional presence. The gods of this land, feeling displeased, did everything they could to stop them, and the foreign gods resorted to tricks. They built their apostles on this land to spread their faith.]

[They polluted a land called Ogygia and coiled there. That was the beginning of the first and last war of the mythic age.]

I let out a hollow laugh.

‘Mythic age?’

It was a time now considered mere legend, with no historical records remaining.

But it couldn’t be dismissed as nonsense, for this was a spirit.

Judging by the amount of force visible, it was quite likely that this spirit had experienced that era firsthand.

For now, I listened.

[It was a very fierce war. The gods severed the passage between this land and the divine realm to prevent the foreign gods from descending. They were willing to bear their own losses to stop the appearance of the foreign gods. Only communication through revelations remained. Thus began the proxy war between the gods and the foreign gods.]

[The apostles first appeared then. Creatures wielding the power of the gods. They became the focal point for the creatures and began to protect this land.]

While listening, I suddenly said,

“I don’t know why you’re suddenly bringing up that story.”

How far back do we have to go?

I blurted out in my impatience, and only then did the main topic come out.

[It had to come out. That war was the beginning of the Orthea bloodline.]

“…?”

[Didn’t I tell you it was a brutal war? There was a woman who made a move there. She was the Goddess of Hope, one of the creators of humanity.]

My body froze.

Hope, who had never intervened in history, appeared with the name Orthea.

“Hope…?”

[Yes, Hope.]

Saaa—

When the spirit gestured, ice fragments gathered and painted a scene.

It was a vast plain with countless troops clashing above it.

[Humans were the weakest. They were a species that burned intensely and died while chasing hope within the shackles of fate. How many do you think died in the war?]

Some troops fell as if swept away.

The spirit continued.

[Fate itself called it fate. It said that dying and being reborn was the natural order. Hope couldn’t accept that. So she bestowed the power to overcome it. Not divided, but to a single person. So that he could find a single answer amidst all providence and adversity. As the light of all humanity.]

At that moment, a man rose from the fallen troops and raised his sword high.

The spirit smiled faintly.

[That was the first hope, the beginning of Orthea.]

My gaze was fixed on that man.

[Hope bestowed all her power on one man. It was something no god in the divine realm had ever attempted. Of course not. Doing such a thing would degrade their own status.]

The man charged into the enemy lines with his sword.

Then the enemies fell like autumn leaves.

[Thanks to Hope, who took such a risk, the man was strong. He was braver than anyone, and his brilliance encompassed all the battlefields of the Myth War.]

All the apostles gathered around the man.

The war, which had been evenly matched, began to tilt in favor of the creatures.

A land filled with lurking threats unfolded.

‘…Awe.’

The army entered that place.

And then the monsters appeared.

[…The battle there was even more intense.]

Countless deaths occurred.

The apostles who followed the man fell one by one, and the troops couldn’t even approach the vicinity and were pulverized.

In the midst of it all, only the man continued to advance.

Even as his entire body was slashed, he cut down the grotesque beings.

But a greater despair lay there.

[The foreign gods were at a disadvantage. But the foreign gods couldn’t end it like this. So they devised a method: a pact.]

The grotesque beings of the outer realm performed a ritual.

Then their lives were extinguished.

I narrowed my eyes.

‘…Demons.’

They appeared.

The demons laughed gleefully as they twisted their own necks.

From the pool where their corpses melted, something rose.

[Descent. The foreign gods sought to set foot on this land directly through the demons who sat on the opposite throne of the gods. It was a method that struck the gods from behind.]

The foreign gods appeared before the legion.

The situation turned unfavorable.

Many died.

But only one person did not stop, and that was the man.

The spirit laughed.

[The man’s power was the ‘rank’ of a god. And his rank, ‘hope,’ was such a power. The only power among all powers that denies absoluteness. A power that erodes absoluteness under the name of hardship and adversity, making it surmountable.]

The man’s sword struck towards the foreign gods.

[…A power to kill gods. That was what the man possessed.]

He cut down the foreign gods.

One by one, the foreign gods who lost their physical bodies and were struck in their true forms were reverse-summoned.

The situation turned favorable again.

Thus, the dreadful war ended,

[The task was completed.]

The last foreign god was banished from this land. His lips moved slightly.

At that moment, the scene drawn by the ice fragment changed.

The man died. He expelled all the foreign gods and couldn’t endure the aftermath, so he died.

The creatures wail before the death of a man.

His name became a legend.

They called him a hero. The man from your fairy tales is this very man.

As the spirit said, it was a fairy tale ending.

I watched him silently.

Something came to mind.

‘The first emperor, and the crown prince are distant descendants of that man.’

Thinking that way, I understood something.

‘The crown prince easily escaped the devil’s temptation.’

I thought it was simply because the crown prince was exceptional.

But there seemed to be another reason.

A ridiculous emotion briefly surged.

But, it didn’t last long.

Because the spirit continued speaking.

…The fairy tale ends there.

From now on, it was about the inevitable questions that followed.

The foreign gods retreated. The man died. But there was still something left.

A boy sat in front of the man’s grave.

The successor who received a fragment of that power. The blood that defied the gods remained.

The boy pounded the ground and wailed.

After a while, he covered himself with a cloak and left.

The boy was a disaster for all gods. The passage to the earth was already closed, making it impossible for them to descend. But the seed of hope he planted was a force that denied their absoluteness and made the creatures self-reliant. It shouldn’t have remained in the world. That moment was the end of the divine realm.

I seemed to understand something.

“…The reason humans became slaves?”

Until the liberation called the racial war, humans were slaves to other races for thousands of years.

Just because they were the weakest?

The reason couldn’t be that simple, the cause was unfolding before my eyes.

The spirit affirmed.

They had to find the boy. They had to erase all the bloodlines of the god-killers. That was the reason of the gods.

Humans were captured.

The other races slaughtered them, and sometimes, they bred them.

[Hope resisted. She opposed the gods until the end. Her only ally was the World Tree. Even fate… did not help her.]

If I recall correctly, it was like that.

‘The elves…’

They were lenient towards humans.

That was the reason they remained the most powerful allies even in this era.

They enslaved them but did not kill them.

When the first emperor rose, they were the first to become allies.

It was around that time when such thoughts crossed my mind.

[More than anyone, fate hated hope. The force that denied the gods inflicted the greatest damage on fate, as it was the most vulnerable to the force of resistance.]

It was a strange story.

Fate cared for humans until the end, and hope did not respond.

But the answer soon came.

[Hope had no choice but to remain silent. She had betrayed her twin sister, so she had to watch the downfall of humans as fate intended.]

In the landscape drawn by the spirit, only human slaves remained.

And at that moment, as it quickly passed by.

[It had been thousands of years. And the gods finally found it. Or rather, is it right to say they found it?]

“…!”

I gasped.

Two figures appeared above the model.

[The bloodline of the godslayer revealed itself on this land. Turning all myths and their creations into enemies, calling itself an empire. Accompanied by only one guide.]

I knew those two.

‘The founding emperor.’

And, the first Pharos.

The spirit spoke.

[Now, this is the beginning of the empire that fate despises.]

It was a very sad voice.