Chapter 363: The Beginning Of The End [XXV]

“Haah!”

[Ardeon may ask his second question.]

He couldn’t afford another mistake.

He had already lost one question, and the sting of that failure still burned in his chest.

The arena felt colder now, as though the sky itself had grown impatient.

Students whispered among themselves in nervous voices, but their words were muffled by the beating of his own frantic heart.

He needed his second question.

He needed something sharp.

Something that could cut through Aestrea’s calm and expose something, anything that could drag him down.

“Huuhh….” Ardeon inhaled deeply and let his consciousness sink inward.

Magic flickered faintly across his irises as he reached out to his team, tapping the connection they shared.

Seris. I need information. Everything you know about Aestrea. Now.

There was a short pause, a soft mental click, and then Seris’s voice entered his mind, hurried, breathless, and strained with worry.

Ardeon? What’s happening? Did something in our plan go wrong?!

Just tell me what you know, Ardeon snapped, his voice tight with urgency.

Quickly.

Seris didn’t argue as she simply began talking.

She poured out every detail she had: Aestrea’s habits, his grades, his public actions, his personality, the way he behaved during missions, the strange gaps in his history, the way he was always complimented by the people around him, the fact that he caused a lot of trouble, and that he didn’t break any academic rule so far.

Every scrap she had collected over months, she delivered to him without hesitation.

Ardeon listened to all of it in a matter of seconds.

And when she finally stopped, when her last word echoed through his mind… his face slowly fell.

There was nothing for him to use.

Not a single weakness.

Not a hidden ambition.

Not even a suspicious pattern.

Aestrea was… clean… to fucking clean!

Ardeon’s breath shook with frustration.

He felt the weight of a thousand eyes on his shoulders. The sky’s glowing script hovered overhead like a judge waiting for him to make his move.

He had no choice.

If he couldn’t attack Aestrea’s past, then he would attack something that defined him now.

His loyalty.

Ardeon lifted his head. His eyes glowed with a deep red light, a mix of anger and desperation swirling inside them.

“Aestrea…” he said, voice trembling with both rage and fear. “Do you ever plan on betraying Lunara for your own interests?!”

The question thundered across the arena.

Some of the students gasped aloud. Others turned their heads toward Lunara, whose eyes widened in disbelief. Even the professors, who had stayed silent until now, shifted uneasily.

The question was truly cruel as it was meant to strike at the heart of Aestrea’s relationship with Lunara, to drive a wedge between them and expose something dark.

It was the kind of question that could destroy trust forever.

And yet…

Aestrea didn’t hesitate for a second.

He didn’t even look at Lunara for reassurance or permission.

He simply answered.

“Yes. If truly needed, I’ll betray Lunara in a fleeting moment.”

His eyes were clear as if the truth was simply a fact of life.

The arena fell silent.

Completely silent.

Phew~

People could hear the wind brushing against the stone.

They could hear the faint clatter of metal from the colossal scale suspended in the sky or even the soft heartbeat of tension that wrapped itself around every person present.

Lunara stood behind him, frozen in place.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. She didn’t know if she should be hurt… or relieved… or terrified.

Ardeon stared at Aestrea as though he had just heard something impossible. He expected a lie or even a hint of hesitation…

He expected anything but that simple, direct, honest answer.

[Truth.]

[Now it’s Aestrea’s turn to ask.]

Aestrea had spoken the truth.

Ardeon felt a wave of confusion crash through him.

His mind struggled to understand how someone could answer such a question so openly. How could someone admit something so dangerous without even blinking?

Did the pressure caused by the heavens itself simply not affect him?!

“My turn,” Aestrea’s lips curled up.

And instantly, Ardeon felt his stomach sink.

“Is it true,” Aestrea asked calmly, “that you made a contract with the Vice Headmaster—agreeing that once the Valkyric Division gains full control of the academy, you would hand him the position of Headmaster?”

His voice carried through the arena, steady and merciless.

For a heartbeat, silence ruled the air.

Then the students erupted.

“W-What?!”

“No way—are you serious?!”

“He’s lying, right? He has to be lying!”

“…Wait. No. Don’t jump ahead. Let Ardeon answer first.”

“But if it’s true—!”

“Shut up! Let him answer!”

The crowd’s shock crashed like thunder across the field.

Ardeon’s face turned to stone.

’HOW DID HE EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT? EVEN LUNARA SHOULD ONLY KNOW THAT I HAD THE VICE HEADMASTER’S HELP, BUT HOW DOES HE FUCKING KNOW ABOUT THAT DAMNED CONTRACT?!’

His throat tightened as the heavenly pressure pressed down on him, urging him toward the lie. His instincts screamed, his heart pounded, and his willpower almost cracked.

He bit down so hard his teeth cut into his lip, spraying sharp drops of blood.

But he still forced the word out.

“Y-yes!”

[Truth.]

[One question remains for both participants. Ardeon will ask next.]

More glowing lines unfurled across the sky like divine handwriting.

Aestrea stayed perfectly calm.

Ardeon did not.

He was shaking now, not with fear alone, but with frustration.

What could he even ask? What did he know about Aestrea? Nothing. Nothing at all. Aestrea had become an unpredictable monster in the span of minutes.

And what terrified Ardeon even more was…

What question would Aestrea ask him?

He was practically an unsolved enigma!

He got information that should have been impossible to get!

’THINK, ARDEON, THINK! WHAT KIND OF QUESTION CAN I ASK HIM FOR HIM TO LIE ABOUT?!’

’THERE’S NO INFORMATION ABOUT HIM SINCE HE ASCENDED JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO!’

He gripped his head madly, shaking it slightly.

’JUST LIKE WHEN THE APPEARANCE OF THE FALLEN GOD WAS ANNOUNCED… j-just like when… appeared…’

His eyes brightened in realization, and suddenly, he began laughing, unsteady at first… before rising into wild, triumphant hysteria.

“Hahahahaha—MY TURN NOW, AESTREA!”

He lifted his chin high, pride swelling in his chest as if he had uncovered the world’s hidden truth.

“IS IT TRUE,” he roared, “THAT YOU, AESTREA—THE GOD OF KARMA—ARE NONE OTHER THAN THE FALLEN GOD?!”

The arena fell dead silent.

The wind stopped.

Conversations ceased mid-breath, and even the scale’s chains seemed to still.

And for the first time… Aestrea did not answer immediately.

“HAGAAGHAHAHA, I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!!!” Ardeon burst into loud, crazed laughter, believing he had cornered him.

Elijah stared at Aestrea with pure disbelief.

The professors stiffened.

Students clutched each other, unsure if the accusation was a joke or a nightmare.

But Lunara…

Lunara felt something entirely different.

Her chest tightened as a mixture of fear, confusion, and something painfully human twisted inside her.

She was old, older than most beings could imagine, and because of that, she directly knew that she had fallen in love with Aestrea.

But if he truly was the Fallen God…

She clenched her fists so hard her nails cut into her palms just thinking about it!

Everyone’s attention focused on one figure alone.

Aestrea.

He slowly lifted his eyes and looked straight at Ardeon, quietly, calmly, yet with a depth that made the air itself tremble.

Then… slowly, his lips parted.

“I am…”

His voice faded for a moment, drifting upward as he tilted his head toward the sky… toward the same heavens that had judged them all.

“…not the Fallen God.”

Silence swallowed the arena.

[F—]

The glowing line flickered, jittering like a heartbeat skipping a beat.

[—Truth!]

[Judgment complete. Aestrea, representative of Lunara, is the winner. Lunara’s authority may now be fully exercised.]

“W–WHAT?!” Ardeon shouted, shock twisting his voice.

But he didn’t even get to take a breath…

CRACKLE!

Lunara appeared before him in a flash of gold and white, her presence overwhelming.

The divine balance manifested at her side like a towering verdict, and her eyes blazed with radiant fury.

“Your time to die has come.”

CRACKLE!

Lightning erupted, wrapping her body in a curtain of blinding white light. She raised her hand just slightly, yet the air shook as if the heavens themselves bowed to her command.

“L–LUNARA! YOU WOULDN’T—YOU CAN’T—!”

BAAAAAAM!!

Ardeon poured mana into his scepter in desperation. Space bent and cracked violently around him as red and black lines split the air, threatening to tear open.

But Lunara didn’t react to this.

“Too late, Ardeon.”

Snap.

A simple flick of her fingers.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!

A blast of compressed divine force tore outward like a star collapsing. The shockwave hit Ardeon’s scepter first, and the weapon exploded into dust.

His body followed a heartbeat later, flung high into the air like he weighed nothing at all. He crashed through the wind, tumbling helplessly, blood spraying from his mouth.

But before he could even fall, Lunara pinched her fingers lightly.

FWIP!

His body froze midair.

Every muscle of his neck, ichor streamed from his eyes, ears, and nose as his face twisted in terror and agony.

Lunara lifted her hand toward him, her expression cold as the winter.

“Goodbye.”

Her fingers curled into a fist…

SPLURT.

And Ardeon’s body imploded into a burst of flesh and blood, scattering across the sky like a gruesome red mist.

She had killed a 7✯ True God in a matter of minutes.

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