Sarah was on the verge of exhaustion.
Even after becoming an Apostle, the sparring with Isis still made her feel she would die just like the first time.
She laid down on the floor as she gasped for air, looking at the bright sky.
It should have been a sunset, but seeing that the sky looked bright yellow, it seemed like she was feeling sick.
“Because I want you to use your power as an Apostle.”
Isis, who was sitting across from her and resting, sighed, wondering if she could see that side of her disciple.
If she used the power of Gaia, she wouldn’t be sweating this much, and her stamina would recover quickly, but Sarah was stubborn and just used her sword.
Sarah smiled as she answered,
“When I lie down in such a state, the wind gently blows and cools off my sweat, which is nice.”
“I see you have a taste for odd things.”
“So cool~”
After recovering from exhaustion, everything felt refreshing. Exercise was a difficult thing to do, and after doing it, there was nothing more refreshing than this.
And she definitely recovered more stamina.
As she was enjoying the evening air, there was a flash in the training hall, and Jamie appeared.
“It is seriously happening.”
“Brother!”
When Jamie appeared, Sarah jumped up and ran as if she weren’t exhausted.
But Jamie, who had no intention of cuddling with his sweat-covered sister, grabbed Sarah by the forehead and kept her at arm’s length.
Sarah stretched out her arms to hug him, but the difference in their body structures didn’t let that happen.
“Your brother is being mean. Your sister is only a little sweaty.”
Isis, who was watching them, smiled.
Jamie snorted and swung Sarah around with her other hand. A refreshing breeze blew, and the sweat on Sarah vanished.
“Wow. This feels amazing.”
On a spring day, it was like the wind blowing in the scent of flowers through the window.
Sarah, who recalled her memories of her childhood, quietly inspected her clean body.
Jamie told her,
“Let’s go now.”
“Where?”
The younger sister tilted her head at her brother’s words about leaving for a place that he hadn’t mentioned beforehand.
Isis asked as if she were also curious.
“War is right around the corner. Where are you leaving?’
“I will be back soon.”
“Right, so where…”
“To Mother.”
Sarah’s eyes widened at the word ‘Mother.’
“M-M-Mother?”
“Right.”
“Really…?”
“I need to go see Mother’s face and Father’s grave. I will come back before the sun goes down.”
Jamie held his hand out, and Sarah, who looked at it, squeezed it tightly.
She showed the determination to never let it go, and then she glared at him.
“It’s not a lie, right?”
Jamie ruffled her hair and turned to Isis.
“I won’t be away for long. Take care of the tower while I am gone.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Okay then.”
Jamie slowly raised his hand and disappeared with Sarah.
Being left alone, Isis looked at where the siblings had vanished and scratched her cheek, mumbling,
“I need to see my father too.”
Sears was staring out the window.
She looked still.
She hadn’t seen her son for three years, and her daughter hadn’t returned for months now.
Yet she was familiar with what both of them were doing.
Jamie was in that distant tower to avenge her husband, and Sarah would leave home for months to do odd jobs in order to feed her.
“I miss you.”
She had never said this to anyone.
Even when her son left and when her daughter began to suffer, she always smiled, not wanting to appear weak.
Her legs became thin, and her body weakened, but she didn’t show signs of it. She couldn’t.
If she had shown her suffering, Sarah would have felt bad. And she already saw Sarah suffer because of her.
For a parent, watching her kid suffer was the worst.
So, in front of Sarah, she acted fine with a positive outlook. But in reality, she wasn’t.
Sears was already dying from the inside.
From the day Count Welton died until now, she was always running towards death.
She slowly raised her hand and stretched it to the window. A black tower could be seen in the distance, but her hand could never reach it.
She wondered if she would never be able to reach it forever or if she would live without seeing her son’s face for the rest of her life.
It was so scary.
It was more difficult not to see her son until the day she would die than to be ill and near death.
“Jamie.”
Even though she hadn’t seen him for over three years, she mumbled the same thing every day. Again, as usual, she tried to call her one and only son.
“My son, Jamie.”
And the answer came.
“Yes.”
Sears’s eyes went wide as she turned to the side. And her already wide eyes widened even more.
Water welled up in her eyes, and in her blurry vision was a man and girl holding hands.
She hastily wiped the tears from her eyes.
Wondering if what she saw was a mistake, she continued to wipe her eyes and looked again.
However, the tears didn’t stop and came again, and she wiped them again.
As Jamie smiled at Sears, he said,
“I am back.”
His greeting made Sears unable to think anymore.
“Jamie! My son Jamie!”
Even though her legs wouldn’t move, she tried to get out of bed, wanting to reach her son even a little.
Then her body fell, almost hitting the floor.
“Mom!”
Sarah hurriedly ran toward her mother before she got hurt.
However, Jamie moved faster than her, gently wrapped her body around his, and lifted her onto the bed before Sears fell.
“Are you alright?”
“My son…my son!”
Sears almost hurt herself, but she didn’t care and just hugged Jamie.
She cried out Jamie’s name incessantly, crying like a child.
“Jamie! My son! My sweet son! I wanted to see you! I missed you, my son!”
Sarah covered her mouth and wept.
Seeing her mother sob while holding her brother, she could understand what her mother felt in the past, and because she knew that Sears was hiding her pain, she was unable to hold back her emotions.
Jamie gently patted Sears on the back and apologized to her.
“I am sorry for only coming back now.”
“Jamie… Mother is… Mother really wanted to see you. I missed my son so much, and it was really hard. Thank goodness. I am so glad my son is back. I am really glad.”
“I am really sorry.”
“No. I wished you would come and just show up in front of me again. It is fine. Everything is fine now.”
The two continued to hug each other without saying a word.
Blazer was climbing the Sun Temple.
The white stairs that rose to the end of the sky looked endless.
Perhaps if an ordinary person were to climb this, they would die before reaching the end. It was a stairway that only the chosen ones could climb.
It was the only way to reach the heavenly world.
After climbing the stairs for a while, Blazer noticed an intense light in front of his eyes, and he was now standing in front of a huge temple above the clouds.
“Late.”
Someone landed right next to Blazer.
It was a black humanoid that had thunderous energy moving around its body.
It was the Thunder God, the newly accepted God created by Ra.
The ability he held was extremely powerful because it was created based on the mighty old God Zeus, who controlled Bless in the past.
In addition, several other energies could be felt inside the temple.
“It seems like everyone has gathered.”
“Hurry inside.”
The Thunder God vanished like lightning, and Blazer slowly moved into the temple.
From the distant past to the present, the Sun Temple was the most powerful and had enormous strength.
However, there was a time when people didn’t come to this place. It was because it was a space for one God alone.
It was a private space that no one else could enter. It had been such a long time since this place had been crowded.
To say it was crowded. There were, at most, just ten or so individuals there. Actually, there should have been a couple more, but they no longer exist.
One was pathetically defeated by a being that had just turned into a God, and the other disappeared from the world due to Ra’s purpose.
“You came?”
It was not a voice that had always resonated in his head, but the voice passed through the air and pierced his ears.
Blazer saw the Sun God looking bored on his throne. He flapped his cloak and kneeled down to him.
“The Sword of the Sun, Blazer, has arrived.”
“Get up now.”
With Ra’s permission, Blazer got up and bowed once more as he moved to his seat. And then he looked at the faces of those who had gathered here.
If the 12 Gods of the past were ones whom Ra collected from various planets, then these were the ones whom Ra gave birth to. Of course, even if it were Ra, it would be impossible for him to create so many Gods alone.
He succeeded in creating the current 12 Gods based on the old Gods he defeated.
They could be seen as a terrifyingly powerful force that only Ra could handle.
‘Although their personalities are inferior to the previous ones.’
The 12 Gods of the past were rulers of each planet, so they had their own personalities. So, there were some who were fun and some who weren’t.
Now all of the 12 Gods were like puppets.
It wasn’t known what they would be like in front of the enemy, but at least here, they would faithfully follow orders.
But…
‘As much as that power is real.’
The God of Gluttony was in the process of restoring his strength.
And because he wasn’t perfect, he was defeated by Isis, who had recently awakened the power of an old God within her.
If he had been completed, the result would have been different. Their power was objectively much stronger than that of the old 12 Gods.
It was only natural.
They were made from the blood that had been collected from the rulers of the forces who ruled Bless.
That meant that all of them were the same as Shiva.
‘The details might be lacking, but the power of the Black Tower cannot stop them now.’
Unless they were Jamie Welton, Isis, and Ricky, who have fully inherited the strength of Pyro, whom they couldn’t fight against.
Also, the difference in their military power was a bit overwhelming.
The Sun had been created from the remnants of the 12 Gods.
They had proven that their strength could rival the Rans at the Rotomo Strait. In addition to that, they absorbed the power of the old 12 Gods, and humans from every continent except the North considered them to be on the justice side.
By all accounts, this war was bound to be overwhelming.
However, there was just one thing that bothered him.
Blazer shifted his gaze.
‘I don’t know what you are thinking.’
If it were up to Blazer, he would have moved before the Black Tower recovered and wiped out the northern part.
And that would have been three years ago.
He didn’t know why they had been left alone there or what purpose they had because he had never shared such things, so the future of this war seemed hard to predict.
Even if they had overwhelming power on their side, no one knew what kind of tricks he would pull, such as throwing Yeomjae at Jamie Welton.
However, Blazer didn’t ask anything.
Since he was the Sword of the Sun, he only carried out the orders he was given.
And Ra, who had been silent until then, said,
“The time has come.”
The 12 Gods.
To be precise, with just 10 of them left, the Gods turned to Ra.
With a grin, he said,
“Get ready soon, people. This will be regarded as the last war for supremacy in this land. Gentlemen, this is the time for our victory.”
