Chapter 150: The System Core, Goddess Sariel
Countless ages ago, Sariel had strictly warned the people who desperately reached out for MA energy.
At that time, however, absolutely no one took her words seriously. It was only when the world was balancing right on the edge of total destruction that the people finally uncovered a single shred of hope amidst their pure despair.
Sacrifice a single woman to restore the world, or go down into absolute ruin alongside it.
The people decisively chose the former. Facing the countless living beings begging for salvation, the Goddess ultimately granted their desperate plea, willingly transforming herself into a living sacrifice to keep the world running. From that monumental milestone onward, the people revered Sariel as their Goddess, dedicating their absolute faith to everything she stood for.
Yet, where exactly was this grand devotion when things were falling apart in the first place?
Back then, Ariel was nothing more than a sickly, frail little girl who could do absolutely nothing but watch the horrific tragedy unfold before her very eyes. But things were entirely different now; the inhabitants of this world would absolutely pay the proper price for their actions.
"Goddess Sariel... being trapped in a state like this... it must hurt terribly, doesn't it?"
Tears welled up in Ariel's eyes as she gently reached out to brush her fingers against Sariel's pale face, her expression shifting into a fierce mixture of pure madness and absolute resolve.
The fundamental duty of a Combat Angel was to safeguard the world; that was Sariel's personal conviction. But that specific grand ideal had absolutely nothing to do with Ariel. The survival of the masses meant nothing to her.
*The only thing I truly want is for you to live a peaceful, proper life, Goddess Sariel. That is all.*
She silently swore an absolute oath to extract Sariel from this agonizing containment no matter what it took.
"Fighting completely on your own all this time must have been incredibly exhausting," Shiro murmured with a gentle, soft smile. She stepped closer to wipe away the tear stains lining Ariel's face, lightly rubbing her back to comfort her.
"I am definitely not fighting alone anymore." Ariel tightly wrapped her arms around Shiro's waist, burying her face into her chest to draw in her soothing scent as a wave of absolute peace and tranquility washed over her heart.
"Alright, the true battle has only just begun. I am supposed to be the absolute grand villain of this world, so I can't afford to just sit around here feeling sorry for myself." Ariel raised her head with a sharp smile, the residual warmth in her eyes instantly freezing over into a cold, dark resolve.
"Shiro, keep a close eye on Güli-güli. He will never sit back and willingly watch over half of the human and demon populations face permanent termination."
"He fully inherited Goddess Sariel's core drive to protect the world and its people. If those souls were simply entering the normal reincarnation cycle, he wouldn't mind it. But if their spirits are going to permanently fracture and dissolve into nothingness, he will absolutely step in to halt our operations."
"The only reason he hasn't made a sudden move against us just yet is because our primary target is currently the elf race."
"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of him if he tries anything," Shiro answered, shaking her head with a confident chuckle. She had a massive array of lethal trump cards up her sleeve, leaving her with absolutely zero reason to back down. When the time came, the two of them could just team up and deliver a relentless double-team assault. Could a single Güli-güli really withstand that? Completely impossible.
Seeing her absolute certainty, Ariel dropped the subject and turned her focus toward the surrounding space. "Let's begin."
Shiro nodded firmly, throwing her hands wide as countless magic formations unfolded across the open void.
In an instant, a dense, shimmering network of intricate magic circles pulsed with a deep, eerie light, their complex patterns shifting through countless ancient variations. Layer upon layer piled on top of each other, growing brighter and more dazzling by the second until they resembled a sea of brilliant stars, effortlessly drawing in the gaze of anyone looking upon them.
This specific area housed the fundamental working logic governing the entire system. To put it simply, this location functioned as the central server and database for the world.
Shiro was currently acting as an elite hacker, systematically infiltrating the network to alter the core code. She needed to map out a precise path to safely dismantle the system's bloated, unnecessary functions, safely sever Sariel from her bindings, and ultimately restore the planet's vitality. Executing all of these steps would require a significant amount of uninterrupted time and immense concentration.
Fortunately, her foundational mastery of magic was exceptionally deep, allowing her to easily decipher the system's complex architecture. After all, this specific kind of magic originated directly from D, and Shiro's entire bank of cosmic knowledge had been inherited from D as well.
For an apprentice to thoroughly exploit their own master's work was practically a walk in the park.
Meanwhile, across the world, Dustin found himself thoroughly startled yet again by the sudden manifestation of a red-robed man right in front of him.
"I must ask, could you please give me a proper heads-up next time? An old man's heart can only take so much excitement."
Shirazawa completely ignored his complaints, getting straight to the core point of his visit. "We are moving to eradicate the elf race."
"Excellent. Consider me all in!" Dustin agreed without a single shred of hesitation. He had been waiting for this exact moment for a very long time. Now that the opportunity was finally within reach, an intense surge of excitement washed over him.
"Uh... don't get ahead of yourself just yet. I am simply giving you an advance notice; the official operation is scheduled for three years from now," Shirazawa explained, waving his hand slightly.
"What specific assistance do you require from my end?" Dustin paused for a brief moment before adding, "Speak freely without any reservations. Lay out your demands, and I will see to it that they are fulfilled."
"Dismantling the elves is a task our faction can handle entirely on our own. However, when it comes to fully restoring the planet, we are still facing a massive deficit of raw energy."
"How many casualties are we looking at?" Dustin's
"At least half the global population. And to be absolutely clear—their souls will permanently dissolve, completely stripping them of any future chance to enter the reincarnation cycle."
Dustin was a thoroughly practical, intelligent man who knew exactly how to weigh costs against returns, which was precisely why Shirazawa chose to lay out the raw truth without any filters.
Sure enough, Dustin merely paused for a brief 0.5 seconds before nodding his absolute agreement. That fraction of a second wasn't spent wrestling with moral hesitation; he was simply surprised by the sheer scale of the number Shirazawa had voiced.
The laughably naive fantasy of wanting to save the world without forcing a single individual to make a sacrifice was a trait reserved entirely for people like the late Hero's younger brother, Shun.
In stark contrast, a hardcore realist like Dustin fully understood that securing a completely restored, stable world at the cost of only half the population was a bargain.
What he needed to focus on now was utilizing the absolute authority of the Word of God Religion to systematically manage and suppress the global panic that would inevitably erupt when the population suddenly plummeted in three years. After all, if the world ground to a complete standstill following a massive, sudden purge, it would ruin the ultimate point of the operation.
"Aside from managing the aftermath, is there anything else you need me to take care of?"
"Hmm... I heard your people recently uncovered a new reincarnator." With everything else fully sorted out, Shirazawa moved toward a few personal matters.
If the opportunity presented itself, he was actually planning to have Dustin restructure the Word of God Religion into the Church of Shirazawa, before moving to absorb the Goddess Religion along the way. All of that ready-to-harvest faith energy was just sitting there waiting to be claimed; leaving it to waste would be an absolute crime.
Furthermore, once the messy affairs of this planet were fully wrapped up, he could potentially deploy an old religious manager like Dustin to other worlds to help expand his personal territory, spreading the glorious light of the White God Church across the infinite paths of the multiverse.
*Honestly... that sounds like a highly viable plan.* He began to scheme against the church's assets.
"We did indeed locate a reincarnator. A young orphan girl who possesses the perfect latent talent to become a Saint—Yuri Uren."
The absolute influence a Saint wielded within the Holy Kingdom of Alleius was virtually on par with the Hero, serving as a designated lifelong partner meant to march alongside the Hero across every generation. At this moment, Yuri had just been brought in as a Saint candidate, and the church was preparing to pour all of their resources into training her to step up as the next official Saint.
"I'll be taking that person off your hands," Shirazawa stated smoothly, his casual demand causing Dustin to hesitate slightly. After all, a single Saint candidate didn't seem to have any logical connection to their grand operation of restoring the world and destroying the elves.
Yet, before Dustin could even open his mouth to ask for clarification, Shirazawa's very next sentence left the usually unshakeable religious leader completely rooted to the spot in absolute shock.
"Actually, building a brand new church from scratch sounds like an absolute hassle. Let's just officially rebrand the Word of God Religion into the White God Church moving forward."
"Huh?!!!"
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