‘Fairy race……’

What I was curious about was whether I had really become a fairy. I vaguely knew from my skills and traits, but I couldn’t be sure until I just heard it from her lips.

Things like how I lived before returning to Earth to become a half-fairy.

“…so, it’s been a while since I’ve treated a fairy, so I was a bit confused. It’s extremely rare for a race to change during awakening. I never thought you, Yohwa, would be that…”

The saint’s explanation was long. Since it was awkward to interrupt, I half-listened.

“Anyway, I heard you’ve encountered a military god. How much explanation have you heard?”

“Pardon?”

I had zoned out for a moment and the topic had drifted elsewhere. When I responded in surprise, the saint gave her usual gentle smile.

“Silence asked me to persuade you too, you see. First, I need to know how much you already know. Yohwa, how much do you know about the apocalypse?”

“Not much…”

“Hmm, then where should I start explaining from? Ah, Emperor. Could you please clean up the surroundings? I set the healing range too wide out of laziness, and even the trash came back to life.”

“Mm, leave it to me…”

The Emperor who had been sitting like a corpse stood up. When I tilted my head in confusion, the saint laughed.

“It’s better not to look.”

As soon as those words ended, a chilling sensation arose. Screams bursting out and lives fading away. It was so one-sided it could be called a massacre.

“Yohwa.”

The saint looked into my eyes.

“Those classified as villains are no longer human. They’re just trash that can be killed without concern.”

“…Are all those people villains?”

“Well, there are some who haven’t been branded villains yet, but living like that, they’ll eventually become villains anyway. We’re just cleaning up in advance.”

“…”

“You look displeased. Well, I suppose it could feel unpleasant. But you’ll have to get used to it. Someday, Yohwa, you too will have to execute such people.”

“…I don’t want to get used to killing people, even if it’s monsters.”

“Oh my.”

The saint reacted with surprise at my words about not wanting to kill people.

Screams could be heard from behind. It’s not that I sympathized with the people dying now. I had seen fragments of what they had done, after all.

It just felt strange, as if the world I had lived in until now was being denied.

The teachings that under no circumstances should a person kill another person.

Seeing my expression, the saint put up a thin barrier around us. The scent of death could no longer be felt. Is this consideration? The saint who had shown such kind and gentle consideration spoke to me like this:

“It’s strange to hear you say such things.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. More importantly, I should explain first. Do you know that all prophecies from the ‘Celestial Palace’ come true?”

“Yes. It’s the world’s strongest prophecy guild led by Silence…”

“Though it’s called a guild, there’s only one member, Silence. Anyway, there’s a prophecy that’s been around since the Celestial Palace was established. Someday this world will face destruction again, and your existence is needed to prevent it.”

“…”

“Until now it was just a vague prophecy, so we couldn’t be certain, but with your existence confirmed, many things have changed. The prophecy of destruction has become more specific.”

Like a teacher lecturing on history, the saint’s voice was simply calm.

“There’s less than 10 years left now. To prevent it, you and Jeokcheon, both of you are essential…”

“I’ve finished cleaning up.”

“Oh my, already? That was faster than I expected. Then could you open the gate exit now and help evacuate people? It’s chaotic and confusing, so someone might get trampled, please.”

“Mm.”

Her explanation was interrupted by the Emperor’s intrusion. Unlike his position as the strongest, he seemed to follow others’ requests well and began mobilizing skeletons to organize people as the saint instructed. I pretended not to notice the energy of people terrified at seeing the skeletons.

“Now then, back to the explanation, the apocalypse is said to take four forms. Among them…”

She started explaining again. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t focus. Instead, something else caught my attention.

“An extreme cold starting from Korea, called the endless winter…”

“Watch out!”

“Huh?”

A crack that appeared despite being inside the gate. Sparking right next to the saint, it soon burst into a storm with a huge roar.

“…Nisha!”

With a voice calling out from somewhere as the last thing I heard.

“Oh dear, don’t worry about this side and focus on cleaning up first!”

A massive darkness engulfed our surroundings, overwhelming all five senses.

An unfamiliar place. I decided to humbly accept this situation. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been caught up in gates in random places now.

The place where I opened my eyes was a forest and ruins at the same time. It felt somehow familiar, yet gloomy, and somehow sad.

The saint who fell with me sighed and said:

“Oh dear, we’re in trouble. To think only the healer and supporter would fall, and in such an anomaly too.”

“Healer…?”

I looked at the woman who had said that killing the enemy before they kill our team is the best heal. She just kept sighing as if something really had gone wrong.

Anomaly. A term for extremely rare system abnormalities.

It generally refers to unknown gates, or gates appearing inside gates.

I, an unawakened returnee, was also one of the anomalies.

Seeing that I wasn’t surprised, the saint looked at me as if it was unexpected.

“You’re surprisingly calm. I thought you’d be flustered.”

“Well, I’m kind of getting used to it…”

After waking up in unfamiliar places suddenly about four times, there’s nothing to be surprised about. I touched one of the nearby trees.

“Hmm, anomalies are usually unknown rank, so I’m a bit worried.”

“I think it’ll be fine. Just my intuition though.”

“I see.”

“More importantly, there’s something I want to ask.”

The tree was clearly alive, but I felt nothing from it. As if it was alive yet dead, or as if this whole forest was consumed by sorrow and death.

The saint answered my question:

“Ask whatever you’re curious about.”

“If saving the world requires someone’s sacrifice, would you consider that natural too?”

I’d been wondering since earlier. Silence said he asked the saint to ‘persuade’ me. So is she trying to convince me that sacrificing myself for this world is natural?

Am I selfishly refusing what everyone else accepts as natural?

My question seemed unexpected, as the saint laughed.

“Salvation premised on someone’s sacrifice.”

After looking around, she said:

“Yohwa, do you know why my title is ‘Saint’?”

“…Because you’re kind?”

“Haha, what an interesting answer. I’ve never actually tried to live kindly.”

The saint, Nisha, laughed. Shall we walk around and look for clues to escape? I accepted her suggestion.

“I’m also a returnee like you. I saved a world once, and lived there as a divine messenger. If possible, I would have liked to live my whole life in that world rather than this one that rejected me.”

“…”

“It was quite a nice life. Saving the world at my own expense, and being rewarded for it. As a savior, a saint, a divine messenger… But there was always a situation that was forced upon me each time.”

Light didn’t penetrate well into the forest. Debris scattered here and there was covered in green moss.

“It’s your choice. I’ll try to persuade you, but I won’t force anything.”

“…You knew.”

Silence prophesied. This world can continue to exist through my sacrifice.

He asked the saint to persuade me to sacrifice myself.

The saint said she would neither persuade nor force me.

She simply said it was just my choice.

“I don’t know exactly what sacrifice you’ll have to make though.”

She stopped walking. There was an altar where light uniquely shone through.

“Parents will kill their children, children will devour their parents, and lovers will point blades at each other. Uncontrollable bestial desires and madness will cover the world.”

The saint said as she traced the altar with her fingertips.

“And so the end of this world approaches… If such fratricidal strife unfolds before your eyes, unrefined chaos and madness, how will you act?”

“…”

“Sacrifice isn’t always noble and grand. Sometimes it’s selfish, and sometimes it’s sad.”

The saint’s voice as she said this was gentle, yet tinged with sorrow.

I realized in that moment. The destruction that only I can prevent. The way to save people fallen into madness and chaos.

I just need to cast a stronger suggestion on them.

To not kill each other, but to cherish and love one another.

“So think about it more. Someday, if the world needs you, Yohwa, whether to accept it or not is entirely your will.”

As I listened to her words, I thought. If such a day comes, and I sacrifice myself for the survival of the many, is that truly my own will?

Will the people saved upon my death consider my sacrifice noble?

“I wonder. Is such contemplation really necessary?”

As if voicing my thoughts, a gloomy and melancholic voice was heard from somewhere.

“It’s pointless contemplation. ‘Your’ world will be destroyed in the end, so is there any need for you to sacrifice yourself for such things, Shin-ah?”

Someone embraced me from behind. It was a familiar sensation.