Little Tyrant Doesn't Want to Meet with a Bad End

Chapter 548: Mother Goddess

‘The world turned dark.’

Roel had always thought that this phrase was an exaggeration, even in this current world he lived in. Not even the strongest army spell had the ability to faze the entire world.

But this common sense was shattered today. The sun descended from the sky like a shooting star, and the world was robbed of its warmth and light. From the moment he was illuminated by the moonlight, his fate had already been sealed.

“Found you.”

Blood drained from the faces of Roel and the angels, but they were powerless to do anything about the situation. The shackles of the gentle moonlight were firmer than anything else in the world.

However, the angels had a backup plan in case of such a situation. As soon as the group was shackled by the moonlight, the platoon commander’s body emanated a brilliant light. The next moment, a pillar of golden light suddenly surged out from the ground and rushed toward the sky.

Boom!

An earth-shattering explosion ensued.

Angelic voices rose from the surroundings one after another and harmonized into a beautiful chorale. A mist settled in and billowed with increasing fervor as their choir crescendoed. They were demarcating this land to be their holy sanctuary.

Thousands of angelic silhouettes manifested inside the mist, intercepting the moonlight that was shackling Roel’s group and returning their freedom to move. The platoon members cheered with a mix of relief and excitement.

“It’s our Archangel Sanctuary!”

“We’re saved!”

The angels zealously brandished their weapons, displaying none of their earlier fear. They had unwavering faith that their Archangel Sanctuary could save them from their current crisis.

However, Roel noticed that the angelic silhouettes had strained frowns. This was the strongest barrier he had seen to date, but the enemy was also a foe of unprecedented strength.

‘The Mother Goddess mustn’t be defied.’

These absolute words were the warning that the ancestors of the Ascart House passed down through the generations. The overwhelming power that twisted even the world’s natural cycles showed that the warning was well justified.

“This won’t work! We need to flee right now! Something of this extent can’t stop–”

Boom!

A loud explosion interrupted Roel’s words. He instinctively looked toward the sky, only for his golden eyes to narrow into slits.

The moon in the sky had split into two, one silver and one black. The former emanated brilliant light, whereas the latter was like a void that devoured everything. This phenomenon was unlike anything Roel had seen before.

The platoon members’ cheers quietened down. The angels’ chorale fizzled out. The world came to a halt, leaving nothing but a deafening silence. Everyone was overwhelmed by the intriguing sight before their eyes.

Blinding light suddenly enveloped the world. It was glaring even with one’s eyes tightly closed.

The sanctuary that the angels had thought to be impregnable abruptly shattered, and the thousands of angelic silhouettes exploded like squashed bugs. The billowing mist scattered without leaving a single trace.

It was hard to believe that a force this powerful was just a mere mana pulsation. The intense physical pressure arising from it left Roel feeling a hundred times heavier. Under the show of such overwhelming might, he found his mind turning completely blank.

Is this… a spell? Is this where the limit of spellcraft lies?

The supreme power displayed by the Mother Goddess shook him. It was the first time since he had become a transcendent that he had experienced such penetrating fear that stripped him of any courage to resist. What was happening transcended his comprehension.

While he was startled by the absolute show of might, the Mother Goddess’ attack finally landed not too far away and induced an earth-shattering explosion.

Roel snapped out of his daze and desperately released every single bit of his mana to protect himself. In contrast, the platoon members escorting him weren’t able to recollect themselves from the shock of witnessing the collapse of the Archangel Sanctuary.

A blast of white light and a devastating shockwave rippled in quick succession.

Roel crossed his hands before his chest and lowered his posture to withstand the incoming impact, but even so, he only managed to stand his ground for a brief moment before he was blasted into a pile of shattered stones behind.

By then, the platoon members were already nowhere to be seen.

It took a long time before the blinding light and raging winds died down, and he opened his eyes once more. Under the cold moonlight, he saw an ethereal silhouette quietly floating in the sky.

“You are…”

His arms were still crossed and he was gasping for air when he asked that question in a daze, but halfway through his words, his mouth suddenly fell agape. Seconds later, his eyes widened to their fullest extent.

The silhouette floating in the air had a familiar appearance—silver hair and ruby eyes.

…

Roel lay inside the shattered wall, his eyes filled with disbelief and his mind frozen to a halt.

It was unnecessary to ask who the person floating in the sky was; the two moons in the sky were the best answer. But not even in Roel’s wildest imagination could he have thought that the being whom he had deemed to pose the greatest threat to him would look like that.

Long silver hair that gently cascaded down, ruby eyes that glimmered in the dark, fair skin that was as smooth as jade, a tall nose bridge, and cherry-colored lips quietly conveyed a regal beauty. Her powerful presence left no doubt that She was the center of the sky, the ruler of the world.

But what Roel was more concerned with was Her familiar appearance.

Alicia?

No, that’s impossible. The age doesn’t fit either. In other words… an adult Alicia?

Standing before him was a woman whose age clearly exceeded both his and Alicia’s, which was why such a ludicrous thought popped into his mind. He shook his head to wake himself up, and that elucidated some differences between the two.

Despite the uncanny resemblance between Alicia and the woman before him, there were subtle differences in their facial features. Furthermore, the woman’s features had begun to change; Her hair was darkening, while the crimson gleam in Her eyes slowly extinguished.

When the two moons in the sky finally merged into one, the woman had already transformed into a black-haired, golden-eyed beauty. Yet, this transformation dealt Roel the greatest shock he had suffered to date.

“How could this…” he muttered to himself.

Black hair and golden eyes were the distinctive traits of the Kingmaker Clan. To this day, Roel had never seen anyone outside of the Kingmaker Clan bearing such traits.

But there was no way the woman before him possessed the Kingmaker Bloodline, or else their bloodlines would have resonated with each other, similarly to what had happened between Lilian and him. In a sense, that was a relief, for he would have likely exploded from the resonance with the tremendously powerful Mother Goddess.

Could this just be a coincidence? Roel wondered.

He was so absorbed in this thought that he failed to notice the changes in the Mother Goddess’ expression. As much as he was assessing Her, She was also observing him. There were subtle changes in Her expression as conflicting emotions flashed across Her eyes.

Sorrow, anger, disappointment, and many more—these emotions reflected the dilemma She was facing. Hesitation gripped Her as Her forehead scrunched to form a pained frown. After a long moment of stifling silence, She finally spoke with an uncharacteristically hoarse voice.

“…I’ll grant you one last chance.”

“What?”

Those words jolted Roel out of his thoughts. He reflexively looked at the Mother Goddess with questioning eyes.

“You may choose not to acknowledge Me, but I won’t permit you to help Him… Don’t force Me.”

“…”

Her final three words sounded both like a warning and a plea.

Roel widened his eyes in bewilderment as he quickly churned his mind in an attempt to decipher the situation. It would appear that the Kingmaker whom he had substituted for in this era was very important to the Mother Goddess, to the extent where She would personally set out to capture him, though Her initial intention seemed to be executing him.

To be frank, it was a wiser decision for the Mother Goddess to get rid of the dangerous variable known as the Kingmaker once and for all, especially when She suspected that he had defected to the Savior. Yet, there seemed to be some deeper ties between them that compelled Her to hold Herself back.

This left Roel in a confused state. He didn't know what to make of the situation, let alone how to react. Surprisingly, the Mother Goddess keenly picked up on his emotional state and questioned him.

“You can’t understand why I am doing this?”

“…Mmhm.”

“You’re the one child I struggle to sever ties with. That’s why… Please don’t let Me down again.”

“!”

Roel’s golden eyes sharply narrowed. He stared at the woman who had just proclaimed Herself to be his mother, but his mind only further descended into chaos.

Child? I am the Mother Goddess’ child? No, that can’t be right!

While Roel was in substitution, he knew for certain that the Mother Goddess couldn’t have been from the Kingmaker Clan despite sharing the same traits, for She didn’t possess the Kingmaker Bloodline. It didn’t make sense that his ancestor was the child of the Mother Goddess.

Taking a step back, if his ancestor was truly the child of the Mother Goddess, there was no reason for them to be conflicted as to whom they should back in this war; it went without saying that they should choose their own mother! It was such a simple and instinctive decision for the Kingmaker Clan, who valued their own brethren above everything else.

Roel could only think of two possibilities for how things had turned out as they had.

The first possibility was that the Mother Goddess was off Her rocker and was randomly acknowledging others to be Her children. After all, there were plenty of senile elders in his previous world who couldn’t recognize their own children, so it was not entirely implausible for it to happen here as well.

However, Roel soon shook his head and refuted that possibility. He remembered the incredible spells the Mother Goddess had pulled off earlier—those would require astounding control and analytical capacity—and it was hard to imagine that a lunatic would be capable of that.

Besides, it was too unlikely for someone as powerful as the Mother Goddess to go senile.

The second possibility, as well as the one Roel thought to be much more probable, was that the Mother Goddess was related to Sia.

Many questions that had been looming in his head were automatically answered as soon as that thought popped into his head. He had always thought that the term ‘Mother Goddess’ was very odd for a god, for it could have easily been considered blasphemy against Sia.

Sia was the Genesis Goddess, as well as the Mother of All Life. ‘Mother’ was a word that was commonly used to refer to Sia. The gods in the ancient era would have never allowed one of their own to assume such a title, let alone condoned it.

However, this would all make sense if the Mother Goddess had a special bond with Goddess Sia that allowed Her to inherit the latter’s legacy. That would explain why She had called Roel Her child, for every living being in this world was Sia’s child.

Despite Roel’s guess, he dared not say too much in this situation, knowing that he was still in a precarious position.

While they were in the midst of their conversation, many figures began appearing on the distant horizon. Their varying shapes and sizes suggested that they were an alliance made out of many different races, and indeed, it was a surprisingly diverse army consisting of races like the elusive Blood Clan, the brawny lycanthropes, and the deformed undead.

This alliance quickly advanced in Roel’s direction while making sure to maintain their ranks.

In response, a platoon of high elves dressed in long robes surrounded Roel and awaited the Mother Goddess’ edict.

Roel chose to remain perfectly still, having resigned himself to the fate of a hostage. Little did he know that his actions were reshaping the Mother Goddess’ thoughts.

His composure had taken the Mother Goddess by surprise. She couldn’t understand how the Kingmaker could tolerate this unprecedented offense. It sparked a sliver of hope in Her heart.

Did my words work?

The Mother Goddess nervously clenched Her fists. After a moment of thought, She decided against Her initial intent.

“…There’s no need to imprison him. Bring him to My chamber.”