Episode 940
Chapter 233. Ayula (2)
Regeneration.
Unlike Ron, Jin didn’t fully grasp the nature of the power he had gained upon ascending to Changseong.
“Regeneration… Are you saying I’ve acquired such an ability?”
“Any being who reaches Changseong immediately understands the power they’ve newly obtained. Your father, Siron, was like that. So was your brother, Ban. And Dante’s grandfather, the previous Sword Emperor, as well.”
“But unlike them, it doesn’t come to me clearly. I’ve definitely grown far stronger than before… and I had a vague sense that I could heal or restore something broken or injured. But I couldn’t say for sure that this was the power of regeneration.”
“That’s only natural. It’s because the regeneration power you’ve gained is incomplete.”
Ayula gently caught a wisp of golden energy swirling near Jin.
“Unless you’re a divine being like me, you wouldn’t even begin to guess what kind of power this energy holds. You’d probably just think it’s some strange aura mixed with magic. But this mysterious force carries a potential so vast and deep that no one dares to fathom it—even in its imperfect state…”
“May I ask how you could tell my power was incomplete right away?”
“Instinct. The moment I faced that power, a memory surfaced—the moment I was first formed. It must have been the day I was shaped from a fragment of the Sun God, Kinzelo.”
Ayula spoke with certainty.
She was convinced that the regeneration power Jin possessed was the very same force the Sun God wielded when whole. Though she had never seen the Sun God in person, she sensed it instinctively.
“The Sun God…”
“The power you’ve gained is definitely connected to him. But since he shattered into countless fragments, it can never be complete.”
“So, to perfect Jin’s power, must he find and absorb the Sun God’s fragments?”
At Hedo’s question, Ayula shook her head.
“Jin didn’t gain his power by absorbing the Sun God’s fragments. It likely manifested the moment he ascended to Changseong, when his will aligned with a part of the Sun God’s. So I’m not sure if absorbing the fragments would help. Maybe it would… but—”
Ayula released the golden energy and paused.
“If you were to gain the full power of regeneration that way, could you still call Jin human? The complete power of the Sun God can, by sheer will alone, reverse all destruction and death. For one person to wield that is a terrifying thought.”
The companions all nodded in understanding.
Jin’s goal was to live as a human, not to become a god who governs life and death. He had never wished to be a god, and that remained true now.
“Still, I said this power could ease your suffering a little. Now, I’ll show you why.”
Crack!
Suddenly, Ayula tore one of the wings on her right side with her hand. The sound of flesh ripping and bones breaking shocked the group.
“Ah, Lady Ayula!?”
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt that much. But I can’t tear them all off alone. Help me—but don’t cut with your sword. This is my own form of atonement.”
As Ayula began tearing off her second wing, groaning in pain, the companions reluctantly obeyed.
When all ten pairs of wings were removed, Ayula’s entire body was stained with red blood. Yet, remarkably, not a single drop of blood stained the wings lying before them.
“These wings don’t originally belong to me.”
“Other gods, you mean…?”
“The God of Hope, Numerus. They’re his.”
—They say Ayula threatened any god who caused excessive chaos in the mortal realm under the guise of a meeting. Before I was even born, she once destroyed one. I think it was the God of Blessing.
—Really?
—There was a time when rumors spread that Ayula might have been the one who destroyed Numerus among the dragons. She’s quite the radical.
Jin recalled a conversation with Murakan during the past kingdom incident.
“Eight drops of tears and a hundred drops of blood. That’s all the legacy Numerus left behind when I destroyed him, as humans know it. Ban’s right. But before I ended Numerus, I kept his wings. They look like wings, but they’re actually the materialized form of his will.”
The companions glanced between the wings on the ground and Ayula.
“Numerus and I could be called siblings. Born from the same fragment at the same time… I became the God of Peace, and he the God of Hope. We were very close. So why would I destroy him?”
“…Because Numerus interfered too much in the mortal world?”
“Exactly. He loved humans too much. Through his power, he resurrected those he especially cherished—people who should have moved on to reincarnation or fallen to hell. Many old myths and legends about resurrection, especially those before the founding of Vankela, are true.”
Numerus had drawn Ayula’s wrath just before Vankela was established. She had tolerated his deviations for quite some time.
“I decided to kill him the moment he performed a large-scale resurrection—the Great Resurrection of the Arlehin Kingdom. Have you heard of it?”
The companions all nodded. It was a well-known legend: the Arlehin Kingdom was suddenly destroyed by a flood, but the next day, everyone in the kingdom was resurrected.
“After that incident, I could no longer stand by and let Numerus continue. When I confronted him, he already knew I was coming. He begged me to stop him. He was losing his mind from the cost of resurrecting so many.”
Ayula had destroyed her brother god, Numerus.
During that process, eight drops of tears and a hundred drops of blood spilled from his broken body, scattering across the mortal realm.
“But I never thought his love for humans was entirely wrong. His method was flawed… So I left behind his will like this, thinking there might come a day when his power would be needed. And thankfully, that day has come.”
Ayula looked down at the wings.
“These wings—the will of Numerus—have no power on their own. But combined with the power you’ve gained, they can postpone all the deaths that spread across the kingdom today.”
“Postpone death…?”
“It means the children I lost to the demons today can exist in spirit form within the kingdom. Until you die, they will remain as translucent souls, retaining their memories and appearance from life. It’s not a full resurrection, but it’s not complete death either.”
Like Theben and Zen in the Maliet Hister’s sacred grounds, the citizens of the kingdom could now delay death through Numerus’s will and Jin’s power.
“…You’re making a choice similar to the past Numerus.”
“Yes. But I’m not postponing the children’s deaths for my own happiness. This is a choice for you. And it’s because you, Jin, are the one who gained the power of regeneration that I made this decision.”
Jin flinched and looked at Ayula.
He had a feeling she had sensed his time regression, and Ayula nodded as if confirming it.
The moment Jin confessed his regression to Paelito, Ayula had heard his voice.
“The deaths along your path are not your responsibility. They belong to the one who made you this way. But when you reach the end of that path… perhaps you won’t be crushed by so many deaths. There must be a reason you gained the power of regeneration the moment you became Changseong.”
Hedo and Dante didn’t understand what she meant but didn’t ask.
“Numerus’s will only serves to ease the sorrow you experienced in the kingdom today. Even without it, you could have postponed the deaths of my children—but only as golden light forms, without their memories or life-like appearance. Touch one of the wings before you.”
Jin placed his hand on a wing and felt a group of recently deceased citizens nearby awaken in spirit form.
Dante and Hedo gasped in surprise, mouths agape. The newly awakened souls, meeting their eyes, cried out in shock.
“W-What!? Lady Ayula!”
“Are you… not dead? Why are your bodies so transparent…!?”
Souls were awakening all over the kingdom without pause. Without Numerus’s will, they would have only appeared as golden light without any ability to express themselves.
Jin silently repeated Ayula’s words in his mind: When you reach the end of your path, perhaps you won’t be crushed by so many deaths.
“Someday, you may be able to give them real life again. To those who died senselessly, swept away by you and the great powers opposing you—real life. Not the twisted resurrection Numerus performed, but true life.”
The life they lost because of his regression.
Ayula whispered this to Jin. Dante and Hedo, watching the souls just beginning to rise, didn’t hear her words.
“So don’t let yourself collapse under the weight of guilt, Jin. You must never fall, not for those who died before, not for those who will die after. You carry the life that must be returned to them.”
Jin nodded.
A spark of hope blossomed within his chest. The heavy burden of guilt he had to bear as a time traveler—maybe, just maybe, he could one day completely shake it off.
“Now, this is the last thing I have to do. Jin, let’s awaken all my children who fell today in the Holy Kingdom. Dante and Hedo, go and deliver the message. We need to explain the situation to those who have awakened.”