Chapter 384 Remembering A Distant Past.



'This voice, I know it, is that of the ring! But what am I doing here? Is it...?...

**Yes, these are my memories and also yours since we're one and the same entity. I had taken some precautions in case the situation became out of control. But I'd never have imagined that you could have so much trouble managing these groups of incapable people. Sigh, to believe that you are really incompetent.**

*Tss~, another speech similar to Shadow's, huh? But it doesn't matter too much, tell me what I'm doing here instead. I have people to pro--

**As weak as you are, what do you think you can protect? You won't even be able to protect yourself without talking about others.**

'...'

**But I'm not here to make you understand something you know better than I do. Instead, keep your role as a spectator and understand who we are and what we had experienced before we became such a pathetic and weak being as the insect you are now.**

As he heard the other voice thunder in his mind with serene eyes, he was suddenly propelled out of his body and appeared behind Askald and Elena.

'I am now beginning to understand why I had made strange decisions and why I had allowed myself to be captured by these bastards who are currently attacking my life; it seems that all this took place in a distant past and that I didn't have the slightest influence on events.'

**It's true took the trouble to momentarily seal your memories so that you could feel again what we had felt at that time.**

*Why? *

**You will know soon.**

--

[I am Zaldophiris, the executor in charge of arresting people like you who--!

-BOOM!!

Before the blond man finished his sentence, Elena bombarded him with an orb of fire that she nonchalantly created.

**Of all the other subordinates, she was the most stubborn and only followed my orders when it suited her.**

Seeing the spirit of the ring explain briefly with a bland smile, Alvine momentarily focused on him and realized that he did not have the slightest energy around him.

Not that he had masked his aura like Alvine, but he was dispossessed of aura.

Apart from his dark pupils, he also had skin covered with draconian black scales, and the few parts of his skin that were exposed were white like that of a newborn, with two pointed horns on the temples and one in the middle that was dark as coal, unlike the others that were blood red.

'...' Strangely, even if it was the first time Alvine saw this strange shape, he did not find him abnormal.

'You said earlier that they are your shadow monarchs. Does that mean they gave up wanting to kill you?' Alvine asked, focusing on the large-scale battle that was taking place between Elena and Zeldophiris with subordinates ones.

All he could see were the streaks of lights emanating from their energies that flashed in front of him before appearing hundreds of kilometers away.

**Not exactly; that's why I kept these two with me, hoping they would become strong enough one day to entertain me, but unfortunately, it never happened. Maybe they will do it now, given how weak I have become.** He briefly answers Alvine's question with an ironic smile.

Noticing Alvine's silence, he continued with another question.

**Do you know what is really important in this world? And what is the ultimate goal we are looking for?**

"Isn't it to protect those who are dear to us? As for the ultimate goal, I'd say that it's the absolute power to allow us to protect our loved ones." Alvine responds by frowning.

-Smirk...

"Sigh, I guess you were waiting for me to give this answer?"

**Not quite; it's strange to see how much I could have changed over time.**

"...What kind of answer did you expect from me?" Alvine asked with contracted eyebrows.

But the spirit of the ring ignored him and continued to look at the scene between the two.

Time ran again, and Alvine could not know how much time had passed since Elena began to face the group of ten people with Zelodopheris, the leaders.

[Kekekh, don't tell me that it's with this pathetic power that you intend to defeat us?] After an indeterminate duration, Elena's disdainful voice sounded in the void as she looked at her opponents in agony and lying in their pool of blood.

'Huh?! Did she defeat them on her own? In addition, without suffering a single injury?' Alvine exclaimed at the end of surprise.

**This is because her enemies were weak.**

'Weaks, huh?' Alvine whispered to himself with dark eyes; he had the impression that the spirit of the ring was indirectly lowering him.

But he didn't comment on it since there was a part of truth in his words. Even if Zelodophiris and his squad weren't weak, Alvine was still weak compared to everyone with him.

[Are you going to kill them?]

At that moment, the ring's spirit asked Elena in a plate voice.

[Do you have a problem with our decision?] Instead of Elena, it was rather Askald who asked her this question while frowning.

[Do as you wish; it doesn't concern me.]

'It's obvious; I was just saying his words in his place.' Alvine murmured when he heard the response of the ring's spirit and saw the flat expression on his face.

As for the twins, they frowned when they heard the latter's answer.

[Listen to me very well, sir 'nothing interests me; if you have nothing to say, then shut up and stay silent as you do. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with us!]

'-! What kind of mentality is that?!' Alvine remained speechless when he saw Elena and Askald get angry for so little.

**This is just an excuse; in reality, they simply wanted to know more about our power. These were their goals from the beginning. Remember, these two had followed us only to kill us when the time came for them.

"Yet, but I don't think that's the case; I mean, what's the point of having lost all this time if it was to act so flagrantly?"

**You still haven't understood? The so-called opportunity was not to set a trap for us but to find a valid reason to attack us. And that's what is happening at the moment precisely.** He answers Alvine with a vicious smile on his lips.

__!

Suddenly, Alvine and the others found themselves in the infinite darkness.

But it lasted only a second before everything returned to normal, with a close exception.

The corpse of Elena and her brother lay on wild herbs, while those of the members of Zeldopheris' squad had disappeared without even leaving a trace of blood behind them.

-!!

Seeing this scene, Alvine was sure that the ring's spirit had not accelerated time to show him the result, but it was just that the defeat of the twins had happened in a flash, like a sudden current of wind.

**Do you know what power is? What is it for?** The ring's spirit's disappointed voice roared once again, awakening Alvine in his dazzling.

"...I don't have an answer to your first question. But power is used to protect our lives (With those close to us), I think." He announced in a doubtful voice.

**I see.** Like last time, he did not affirm or contradict Alvine's answer.

**These two did not yet know how to gauge the strength of their enemies. I think it's partly because of that I let them accompany me. Because all those who crossed my gaze before them lowered their eyes or avoided my gaze. It is a primitive instinct that all the beings I had met before had.**

"..."

**Maybe they were just idiots? Finally, it was also this question that influenced my next decision.** He continued by seeing Alvine silent.

**And above all, everyone who died in my hands had different eyes from theirs. Look into their eyes, and tell me what you see.**

Upon hearing his question, Alvine unconsciously looked at the twins' eyes and realized that the two had no despair in their eyes but smiled as if they were excited to meet someone stronger than them finally.

"It's...they are idiots, at the end." He concludes with a strange sigh.

**In this case, we all are.**

"Huh?"

**...Remember the purpose of my quest. Unlike them, who have met a being beyond their powers, I'm always here to envy the dead. It was at this moment that I also discovered another feeling, jealousy. It was the very first time I envied someone to the point of being jealous of them. Look at them; why were they smiling? Was it happiness? The happiness of finally having reached their goals? That's when I understood one thing; these two had used me to achieve their goals, which was unacceptable!**

"...I understand; you're also an idiot."

**-!! Kukukh, it's possible. But to wash my honor, I made sure to find a solution. But I had not yet become aware of the extent of my powers, like you, now. And by digging my head, I tried to reverse the time to make them resurrect. But time could not influence beings like them because of their power. Faced with this dilemma, I had spent about a century in front of their corpses that did not rot for--

"A century?"

**Yes, it takes a century to find a way to bring them back to life because, for the first time, I was not ready to leave idiots who would not hesitate to face me even if they came back to life more than a billion times!

"-! You're also a crazy one!"

**Stop interrupting me if it's to insult me.**

"Sorry, but it had to come out!"

**... Sigh; in short, to put it simply, The truth about the soul was still unknown to me. I really didn't know what happened after the death of the supreme beings. But even if I didn't know this truth, my powers, they knew what I wanted. And it was at this moment that I understood another detail. A supreme being can only influence supreme laws, but not universal laws. But we were different, and it was unfortunate.**

As his voice reached Alvine's mind, his body pointed both palms toward Elena's corpse and Askald's.

[Wakes up!] He murmured.

-!!

Hearing him whisper these words, Alvine had the impression that his world was collapsing when he noticed the twins' bodies suddenly shaking as if a terra-Watts lightning discharge had just electrocuted them!

-Rumble- RUMBLE!!!

At the same time, a giant door, which was sealed by flaming chains, gradually appeared underground following the fierce tremor.

At the same time, the voice of the ring's spirit roared in his mind.

**It was during my first attempt to bring a supreme being back to life that I also discovered another world that I had never visited before, the world of primordial demons; if you prefer, the demons of the underground worlds; one of the most powerful races in the known universe.**

"You mean that the hell really exists?"

**...I am not omniscient to answer this question. But this place had nothing to do with the hell you are thinking of. Of course, they collect powerful souls and have the most powerful flames than any other species, but it stops there. They harvest souls to purify and absorb them for the sole purpose of increasing their powers and not to reincarnate them after having purified them from their sins.**

"-! Isn't it the same concept as the purification room existing on the original planet?" Alvine exclaimed in surprise.

**Kukukh, of course, I obtained this skill by venturing behind these doors. And it was also in this place that I met the second general, the queen of primordial demons, Heepha Blaze, also called the queen of flames.**

-!