Chapter 436: The Purpose of The Last King's Existence
So, the origin of Campiones has been clarified.
What about the so-called Last King then?
Both of them cast inquisitive gazes toward Pandora, who appeared to be in the form of a young girl around twelve or thirteen years old, yet exuded an enchanting charm.
"You know? There's someone—no, it should be said many gods think this way—who believes that 'humans should behave like humans, and gods should behave like gods.'"
Pandora didn't immediately reveal what they wanted to know. Rather, she began by explaining the cause before delving into the matter.
"What do you think this means?"
She then posed this question to them in return.
"I don't have time for riddles. I'll head back first. Please inform me later, Princess Alice, when Mother gets to the main point."
"Hey, wait—really, so impatient."
Pandora was utterly exasperated and hurried forward to stop her, or else she would truly run off.
"It means they believe humans should remain powerless before the great gods and nature, subject to their whims. Humans should only accomplish what is within the limits of their species, without exceeding them, let alone achieving what gods can do. This is considered the correct principle of the universe's operation."
This is partly why even gods in the immortal realm despise Campiones and harbor hostility toward Pandora and other gods.
"In other words, the existence of Campiones and humans killing gods is something that shouldn't be allowed. That's why The Last King exists—to deal with Campiones and carry out corrections, right?"
"Exactly, Alice."
"So, the gods dissatisfied with the Campiones created The Last King?"
"That's wrong, Annie. The Last King wasn't created by multiple gods, but by that woman—created because she didn't want the story she wove to go off track. Perhaps it should also be said she suddenly grew fond of the 'hero defeats the demon king' script and created him."
So who was this "that woman" Pandora mentioned? Alice and John were particularly curious.
"Is that woman powerful?"
"Powerful? That word can't even begin to describe her, Alice. Perhaps even me telling you all this right now might be part of the script she arranged."
Though spoken with a joking tone and expression, Alice and John sensed Pandora wasn't entirely certain herself.
"Is that woman omniscient about everything?"
"No. If she were omniscient, she wouldn't have allowed the principle that 'humans should be human-like, gods should be god-like' to become distorted. Nor would she have created the 'Oath Enhancement' support system specifically to help The Last King deal with multiple Campiones."
This left the two somewhat confused.
"What is the Oath Enhancement?"
John's follow-up question felt more like urging than inquiry.
"To perfect the proper historical narrative of the hero eliminating all demon kings, during this process, The Last King would face all kinds of Campiones, right? Some strong, some weak? It could be one-on-one duels or one-against-many battles. So how to ensure The Last King never falls into disadvantage? That's where the Oath Enhancement comes in—the more Campiones appear in the mortal world, the more Campiones he faces, the stronger The Last King becomes."
"Then what's the limit of this strength? Enough to defeat Campiones consecutively? Or capable of facing all Campiones at once?"
John raised this crucial question.
There was a huge difference between consecutive battles and simultaneous confrontation.
"Of course, it's the most difficult scenario."
"You mean possessing power to directly resist the combined force of all Campiones?"
This was troubling.
It meant if any Campione strayed from the group and encountered The Last King, it would be almost certain death.
That lone Campione would have to face The Last King alone, who possessed power equivalent to all Campiones combined.
In other words, in this current era, The Last King possesses strength matching the combined power of six Campiones.
If any isolated Campione encounters The Last King, it would be equivalent to one Campione fighting six—an unwinnable scenario by any measure.
This means the more Campiones are born, the stronger The Last King becomes.
"Then, why not simply make The Last King's power unlimited?"
Alice asked this question.
"That's naturally impossible. If that woman could do that, wouldn't she be omnipotent? Her Oath Enhancement exists based on my Campione ritual—they counterbalance each other. Whenever the universe produces new positive elements, corresponding negative counterbalances emerge. She simply found the negative counterpart to counter my Campione mystery rite."
So, as she said this, Pandora proudly straightened her posture, for this could be considered the closest she had ever come to a draw in her confrontations with that woman.
Yes, infinitely close to a draw.
After all, the number of victories achieved by the Last King created by that woman against Campiones was far greater.
"Now that there are six Campiones, and the other side hasn't appeared yet? What's going on?"
The oldest Campione currently is Marquis Voban, who has been a Campione for over two hundred years, yet he has never encountered the so-called Last King.
Moreover, there are almost no records or tales about the Last King, which means the time since the Last King last descended into the world far exceeds two hundred years.
Has something gone wrong?
"Well, it's because the Last King grew tired. After annihilating the Campiones of that era around fifteen hundred years ago, he fell into a deep slumber and has been unwilling to wake up~"
These words, filled with sighs and a tinge of sorrow, left John and Alice in silence.
It was clear that the so-called task of annihilating Campiones assigned to the Last King was something forced upon him.
"So, is he going to wake up now?"
"I don't know, but I sus-pect that something from another parallel world breaking into this world is one of that woman's schemes."
"Mother, are you sure?!"
"That woman's scripted worlds aren't limited to just our world!"
Pandora spoke these words with unusual gravity, as this was something she had recently discovered.
Although the existence of parallel worlds was known, she never imagined that woman was also the weaver of fate in those worlds, and that those worlds were also part of her scripts.
Correction—not just one world, but multiple parallel worlds, where battles between Campiones and gods also took place.
Of course, there were some differences compared to this world.
Pandora believed that woman was conducting experiments in these worlds to observe how things unfolded, allowing her to better adjust and target this world accordingly.
Thus, some Campiones who had mysteriously vanished from this world in the past were likely sent to these parallel worlds.
As a result, in worlds where her secret rites did not exist, humans capable of defeating gods emerged precisely because these humans were the descendants of those Campiones.
Only descendants who inherited a portion of their power could successfully slay gods.
Therefore, when the God of the Bible attempted to contact another version of himself in a parallel world, it was undoubtedly a futile endeavor.
Upon hearing this, the expressions of John and Alice changed completely.
Was it because the [Last King] had gone on strike, causing the "company" in this world to malfunction, that personnel were being transferred from other branches?