"Please don't hate your own bloodline."
"You're very strong, so you can definitely do it."
"—but I can't do it."
I just keep walking forward, forward, with mechanical steps, and my mind keeps repeating the words that my former loved one said when he chose to die.
The Avenger looked at his hands.
Hatred, fear, slander, a body filled with desire for revenge.
"Megara, I love you."
Every time she screamed, blood from her nose fell into her mouth, and even her breath smelled fishy, the smell of pain that was shattered by the instigator.
The man's mind was circling back to the past -
A long time ago, so long ago that this body can no longer remember it. It is an irretrievable long time ago, when I spent the warm days with my lover and children.
But everything was manipulated by the steel remains, leading to the destruction of the family.
"...As expected, the last person who blocked our way was you."
In front of the final gate, the person standing before Alcides suddenly shone brightly.
"Yeah, me."
It was a body completely different from that of the Avengers. Its body surpassed the limits of human appearance, and its appearance could be described as a statue carved by God.
His height was over two and a half meters, and the ends of his hair almost touched the ceiling. Although he was a burly man with bulging muscles, every muscle fiber and every drop of blood flowing in his veins was filled with pure internal magic power that could be called divine.
Before the Avenger Alcides was forcibly distorted, his true appearance as a noble hero of the Archer Order, Hercules.
"You are an Avenger. Because you are an Avenger, you are completely sure of yourself. You keep killing people. You have no doubts about yourself as you move forward towards your long-cherished wish. You identify with yourself and accept it.
But I am different. I cannot believe, like you, that it is right to attack children. I cannot, as an avenger, focus only on revenge. Even if someone is saved because of my fight and that person stands in front of me ecstatic, I cannot help but look at the bodies of the victims lying around me.
But I can only do this and move forward on one path.
Even so, I absolutely do not approve of the path you are taking, and I do not think it is the right one.”
"You saved me earlier when we were fighting the King of Heroes, and I have repaid you by not killing that child."
"Ok, I know."
As soon as the words came out, the two started fighting instantly.
Even if he was entangled by hundreds and thousands of 'mud hands', even if everything except the Avengers was stained with black and red magic.
Yet to Hercules, he still existed in this world as a human-shaped radiance.
As for the attacking 'mud hands', you only need to use your hands to tear them into pieces.
A quiet rage filled the space, and the vengeful hero reached out to the glorious hero.
The black and red mud turned into hundreds of sharp thorns, ready to pierce Hercules with great momentum.
Picking, tearing, tearing, the overwhelming torrent of magic power is about to move -
Despite this, it did not cause any serious harm to the noble hero.
Then, when the Avengers soared into the sky, a mighty voice echoed above the sky and resounded throughout the world.
"I am Hera."
The world seemed to stand still, and Olympus returned to its original peace and glory.
In an instant, the rage of revenge swept through all obstacles.
This made the Avenger's eyes turn scarlet instantly, and pure power burst out from his hands.
"My flesh and blood, my soul, are the shadows of fools who have fallen into the status of gods! Gods who want to deny, ravage, and slander, I will return this pathetic life here, my iron remains—"
With that hateful declaration, the Avenger unfurled his bow and aimed at the solemn realm where the gods resided.
"——Today, I will take complete revenge!"
This is an unstoppable determination, a burning light of the soul that not even the gods can stop.
At this moment, Alcides showed a real smile.
Hercules stretched out his hand and held the blow above his head tightly to deal with this blow that could kill gods. However, how could he hold it so easily when it was a blow of revenge that gathered all the power of the Avengers?
"I am still struggling fearlessly until now..."
The Avenger couldn't help but want to laugh, but he felt a little confused.
Is that why 'Hera' took no defensive measures at all?
Then, brilliant lightning fell from the dissipating clouds, bursting out with a final thunder.
But at the same time, Alcides' smile froze as he looked at the woman falling from the sky.
"...How can you do this? You two don't have to go to this extent. After all, all the children born in Europe are my descendants. Good children, you are all good children."
"Europa!!!" Alcides asked angrily, "Where on earth is Hera!"
The blonde woman was not the Queen Hera as the Avengers remembered her to be, but the Mother of Europe.
"Because I am now Lord Hera. Before I came here, I secretly took Lord Hera's core and installed it on myself. To you, all the adults are like steel, not gods or humans. So, as long as you destroy this core, it doesn't matter who you are, right?"
The blonde woman who fell from the sky stretched out her hand with difficulty, trying to touch the face of the Avenger, and gently told him:
"Ah, but I actually know that Lady Hera has been saying a few days ago, go and apologize, go and apologize to that person, and she was referring to you, Alcides. Therefore, I can't let the cute little Alcides and the cute Lady Hera have an irreparable duel.
Just think about it, as a mother, I failed to take good care of the child born on the land named after me. I also have a great responsibility.
Then, I will take over for Master Hera. Even if the gods and the world will never respond to your constant pursuit of revenge, I will. I am sorry that you have to endure so many painful memories..."
Europa's arm had been burned up by the blow of vengeful fury.
An uncontrollable collapse spread from her innermost part. After exhausting all her efforts, she finally came in front of the 'child', but she couldn't even do the most basic touch.
But unexpectedly, the Avenger took the initiative to hold her and lifted the 'cloth' on her face.
He was just a little confused and didn't know what to do next.
"You've always been a good child. Come on, good child, good child. Good children deserve to be patted on the head, don't they? My child..."
She closed her eyes.
"——You have completed your revenge now, right?"
At that moment, Europa completely disappeared without a trace.
The Avenger stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the last afterglow in his hand. It was unclear whether it was mockery or sadness on his thin and pale face, as if he couldn't believe it.
In a trance, Alcides seemed to see Novia again, whom he had only met once.
From the surging phantom light, the man emerged again.
"Then, Avenger, as the one who gained your power in the past, I have an obligation to help you."
He left behind a voice full of love, and many stars passed by behind his body.
Suddenly, a meteor flashed by, which was extremely dazzling to the Avenger. At this moment, he knew that it was really the "shooting star" that Hercules had become.
"You are guilty, but not incomprehensible. There are no eggs that refuse to hatch, and no flowers that do not want to bloom. This is not a matter of will."
As if to say, whether in the endless curse or in the sacred world, 'Hercules' is still 'Hercules'.
Endless thoughts kept emerging in the Avenger's mind, and he was depressed. His thoughts were like sand that was blown away, and he didn't know where they disappeared to.
Everything——
It all feels empty and ethereal.
"Then, Rome, Hercules, you are no longer evil, but good, and you have no will to perish, so go forward."
After a few seconds, Alcides stood up and said to Hercules:
"...This is the end."
The remaining blood fell on Alcides' face, lighting up his dim eyes.
"It's obviously the same person, but at this moment, he has split into two concepts: Greek and Roman... Now, this is really a strange feeling."
Hercules then solemnly declared:
"But come on, Rome, your enemy is Greece."
The collision between the two people, who were the outsiders and the insiders of each other, only took a moment. There was no loud noise, only a tiny sound like a bubble bursting.
The power and countless concepts of both sides are in an equal confrontation with each other. It can be said that they are fighting against their own shadows, and naturally they will fall into a stalemate.
And in the end, no one knew how much time had passed, and what was finally engraved on this reappeared sacred mountain was the exterior and interior that had passed away together.
190: The Holy Spirit in City of God (4k)
It has been two days since the news of Novia's appearance in the Holy Grail War was released.
Just its existence shocked everyone in the entire Holy Church.
Just by appearing, everyone who knows magic can feel its majestic power.
After the Age of Gods ended, someone who accomplished unparalleled feats in the human world.
At this time, outside of Xueyuan City, people from the Holy Church were everywhere.
Under the tough attitude of the church, the Clock Tower and the United States could not intervene. The most they could do was to send some spies.
However, just as the United States, which had originally planned the Snowfield Holy Grail War, had detected, the city that now appeared before the eyes of the visitors was empty.
In this situation, the mumbling voice of a blond boy echoed in the makeshift room of the church.
"...It's a terrifying ability, but it's normal. After all, he is Lord Novia."
The priest of the Cathedral Church, Mario Giallo Bestino, is officially the grandson and adopted son of Cardinal Laurentius.
He was confirming the contents of the report submitted by his subordinates, "Although the person cannot be seen, there is a flow of magic power and normal technological exchanges are possible," while frowning and muttering to himself.
He himself had personally used magic and telephone to observe in this deserted snowy city last night, so this statement was reasonable.
During these two days of observation, we can also feel that apart from the first Pope, there is a huge magical power with "malice". However, in just a short moment, like the wind, it changed from being crazy and violent to being gentle and warm, which further confirmed this statement.
The first Pope who appeared during the Holy Grail War, in order to prevent the harm to people caused by the "disrespect" of many Heroic Spirits, in order to protect those in the Holy Grail War, he covered the entire city with a barrier similar to the Reverse Inherent Barrier.
The inherent barrier is a great magic that is close to magic even in the world of magic. It is an act that can distort even the laws of physics and cover reality with the "world".
The reverse inherent barrier does not replace reality with the mental world, but seals the real things into the mental world.
"However, according to Xier, that guy also ran to Xueyuan City. Is she planning to do something? If she wanted to do something bad, she should have been killed in advance. However, that kid asked me to eliminate those old guys who wanted to harm Beizhe before, and it took me a lot of energy to deal with them...
Those guys are really too bold to think of anything, they actually put their minds on Bei Zhe for immortality, and even teamed up with the dead apostles for this, it can be said that it is all thanks to her... "
Although he is only fourteen years old, the boy's expression is completely different from that of a normal person of this age. He looks more like an old man in the appearance of a child.
"Come to think of it, Xiel had previously asked Sugata Nao, who was picked up by Narubalek, to go to a strange coffee shop in Japan to observe two working girls... Never mind, I won't delve into it this time. It just happened to offset the favor she saved me once before."
Mario's apparent identity is the adopted son and grandson of the cardinal, but in fact he is Sir Laurentius himself, who used the abilities left behind by someone who defected from the church to grow backwards.
It should be noted that Sir Laurentius is considered one of the strong contenders for the next Pope and has more than twenty adopted sons.
Cardinals cannot marry, and in principle all their offspring are adopted. However, all of Laurentius's adopted sons look strikingly similar to himself, and many church members have the impression that he is "a worldly man who is greedy for beauty and power."
Mario claimed that he was the illegitimate son of the old man and his mistress when he was over a hundred years old.
In the world of FE, Sir Laurentius is the Pope of the Templar Church in the 1930s of the 21st century.
Sir Laurentius knows what kind of guy he is better than anyone else. Now he is just like a 'ghoul'. Eventually, one day, he will even forget what he looks like. He will gradually become unrecognizable and have no dignity anymore... Before he completely degenerates, he will definitely deal with himself.
But he did so much just to become the Pope, and he still met the most basic requirements of the church. At least he would not arbitrarily exploit the church funds that passed through his hands to provide subsidies to the poor or disaster victims.
How should I put it? After all, when you join the church, you will swear an oath that 'all people are one, and we must help each other'. In Sir Laurentius's opinion, although it is just a slogan, it has been recited so many times. Although you may not really think so in your heart, you should still try your best to do it...
Although you are allowed to engage in intrigue, you cannot do anything that would bring bad reputation to the church because of intrigue. This has been an unspoken rule within the church since the fifth century. On the contrary, they are also afraid of going too far and causing another "Fifth Century Destruction".
The church has more information about Avia, the Hun king who once led the Dead Apostles, Fantasy Species, and various creatures to destroy the Xiluo Empire and the former main church department than any other force.
For example, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Augustine wrote and published The City of God, which is still kept in the church today. It says:
