Chapter 215. The Greatest Hero (4)
On one side stood Heracles, the greatest warrior.
On the other stood Merlin, the greatest magician.
It was an overwhelmingly absurd lineup.
Objectively speaking, the moment I found myself facing those two together...
my defeat should already have been decided.
“Merlin, once I revealed myself, you planned to capture me with Heracles.”
Even so, I kept my head high without shrinking back in the slightest.
“That’s why you had Heracles attack Kang Yujin.”
“To lure me out.”
If Kang Yujin was attacked by Heracles and placed in danger, the Nameless King would appear.
That was what Merlin had predicted.
Even though I had never openly behaved that way in front of others.
“You seem to understand my psychology very well.”
“Yes. I do.”
A smile appeared on Merlin’s lips.
“My Constellation title is ‘Prophetic Magician.’ Predicting how you’ll move is easy enough.”
"..."
“Besides... I’ve been watching you for quite some time.”
Just how long had this magician been watching me?
Since I refused the Committee’s invitation?
Since I defeated Hector and revealed my Constellation title?
Or...
since the Count of Monte Cristo first began sponsoring me?
“But I don’t quite understand why you’re so confident that you’ve figured out my objective.”
"..."
“I’d like to hear it, Nameless King.”
Merlin held out one hand toward me.
“What exactly do you think I’m trying to accomplish?”
“Merlin, you were controlling Ha Mina from behind the scenes.”
Ha Mina had been manipulated by Merlin without even realizing it.
And after she was captured, Merlin silenced her before Korea could begin a proper interrogation.
“As a result of you manipulating Ha Mina, countless ‘Vessels’ were created all over the world.”
"..."
“And they all began fighting in their own ways.”
It wasn’t just Kang Yujin.
Saionji Keito conquered Japan and then tried to expand into Korea.
Thomas Price commanded Round and hunted other Vessels.
“All of them were people who operated on a huge scale.”
“They didn’t simply hunt monsters around their own homes or clear Events and Quests.”
“They crossed borders and started conflicts in other countries.”
"..."
“Until then, most Contractor activity was local.”
“Very few Contractors traveled to other countries just to fight.”
“But those people were different.”
That was right.
In the past, once Contractors established themselves somewhere, they rarely wanted to leave.
At most, they moved around within their own countries.
Cases where someone traveled abroad specifically to fight were extremely rare.
Kang Yujin, Saionji Keito, and Thomas Price were different.
They aggressively expanded into other countries and constantly created new conflicts.
“As the Vessels moved throughout the world, interaction between Contractors from different countries increased.”
“Of course, it wasn’t always peaceful interaction.”
“Physical conflicts increased too.”
“And because of that, many Contractors grew rapidly stronger.”
Kang Yujin was the most obvious example.
But Saionji Keito or Thomas Price could just as easily have taken his place.
“Recently, I used the Committee’s intelligence network to look into conditions around the world.”
“In just the last year or two, the number of Contractors operating across multiple countries has increased rapidly.”
“And among the strongest of them... many were clearly Vessels.”
Of course, I could say that so confidently because I had obtained information about the Vessels from Ha Mina.
It was true that Vessels across the world had been operating on an unusually large scale.
“Ha Mina wanted the Vessels to fight each other so she could improve their performance and find the one best suited to Lucifer.”
“But there was another meaning behind it that even Ha Mina herself didn’t understand.”
“You were pushing the Vessels into other countries so they would accumulate more experience.”
Even Kang Yujin was naturally aggressive and proactive.
Saionji Keito and Thomas Price were the same.
With Ha Mina and Merlin subtly steering them from behind the scenes, those people repeatedly collided with powerful Contractors from other countries.
“Merlin, while using Ha Mina to move the Vessels, you also personally manipulated Hector and King Arthur to start wars.”
It was Merlin who had told Hector to move Japan against Korea.
And King Arthur’s decision to order Round to invade Korea had also happened because Merlin had secretly manipulated him.
“You were behind many of the conflicts happening across the Material Realm.”
“An interesting theory.”
Merlin nodded.
“Fine.”
“Let’s say everything you’ve said is correct.”
"..."
“Then why am I causing so many conflicts?”
“What is my real objective?”
“I don’t think you’re simply a warmonger who loves fighting.”
“And I don’t think you’re some kind of arms dealer profiting from war either.”
“Your true objective is...”
I looked directly at Merlin.
“To throw this world into chaos so Contractors become stronger.”
That was Merlin’s true goal.
“King Arthur thought you were trying to create a new king.”
After Round surrendered, King Arthur had said that.
Just as Merlin had once created Arthur as king...
Arthur believed Merlin was trying to create another king in the Material Realm.
“But that wasn’t quite right.”
“You weren’t trying to create a king.”
“You were trying to create a strong one.”
An absolute powerhouse.
It didn’t matter whether that person became Kang Yujin, Saionji Keito, or Thomas Price.
All Merlin needed was for an overwhelmingly powerful individual to emerge.
And if other Contractors grew stronger in the process, even better.
“To prepare for the final war that will happen someday.”
“Armageddon.”
"..."
Armageddon.
The greatest Scenario in history.
Only a handful of Constellations knew about it.
King Arthur had said he first learned about Armageddon from Merlin.
“Well...”
Merlin sighed and slowly shook his head.
“If you expose absolutely everything like this, I can hardly keep pretending anymore.”
"..."
“Impressive.”
“How did you figure all of that out?”
“I didn’t come up with it alone.”
Most of my deductions had been built from hints Holmes gave me.
If he hadn’t shared his reasoning with me, I never would have understood Merlin’s objective.
“In any case, you got everything right.”
“Yes.”
“I’m trying to create an absolute powerhouse in preparation for Armageddon.”
Merlin turned his head.
“You could say it’s similar to the gods of Olympus creating Heracles in preparation for the Gigantomachy.”
"..."
Merlin continued while looking at Heracles, who stood silently with his arms crossed.
“In fact, Heracles was what inspired my plan.”
“According to my predictions, if the Contractors of the Material Realm were simply left to develop naturally, they would obviously lose during Armageddon.”
“Just as Zeus heard a prophecy and prepared Heracles in advance, I needed to prepare an absolute powerhouse in advance too.”
“So you decided to interfere artificially?”
“Exactly.”
“In a way that differed from other Constellations.”
Merlin nodded and looked back at me.
“Nameless King, I am different from Constellations like King Arthur or you.”
"..."
“You and King Arthur personally looked after the Contractors under your influence and raised them one by one.”
“But that approach has limits.”
Merlin spread both arms.
“I created a grand plan encompassing the entire world.”
“Not just the Contractors of this Material Realm, but even the Constellations of the Spirit Realm.”
“A Scenario on an enormous scale.”
“So Kang Yujin and Ha Mina... and even Constellations like King Arthur and me... were all dancing in the palm of your hand?”
“That wording is a little inaccurate, Nameless King.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I never gave anyone detailed orders telling them exactly what to do.”
“I only guided them so they would naturally move in the direction I wanted.”
“In fact, you probably never felt particularly controlled by me, did you?”
“Maybe not me.”
“But King Arthur certainly would.”
Merlin had been the one who placed Thomas Price beside King Arthur in the first place.
“King Arthur never thought he was being controlled by me either.”
“Because he didn’t know the truth.”
“He was pretty shaken when I told him.”
“What an unnecessary thing to do.”
King Arthur wasn’t hiding away because Round had lost.
He had withdrawn because of the shock of realizing Merlin had been manipulating him.
After all, King Arthur had believed he was fighting against Merlin’s conspiracy.
“Anyway... your plan had been going well until now.”
Just as Merlin himself had said, his plan operated on the scale of an entire world.
It was designed so that no matter who won or lost, events would still move toward the ending Merlin wanted.
“When Round attacked Korea, you didn’t care whether Kang Yujin won or Thomas Price won.”
“That’s right.”
“Whoever won would become stronger through that victory.”
“That was enough.”
“Exactly.”
“Because it always worked that way, you never needed to intervene directly in the world.”
Until now, my actions had never truly interfered with Merlin’s plans.
No matter how much I rampaged around, his overall Scenario remained intact.
That was why Merlin never had to reveal himself before me.
And why I eventually needed to force him onto the stage.
“But now the situation has changed.”
"..."
“Because I started leading Constellations into direct military action in the Material Realm.”
That was precisely how I had forced Merlin out.
“Merlin, your plan is still only halfway complete.”
“You need Kang Yujin and the other candidates for your ‘absolute powerhouse’ to fight many more battles.”
"..."
“And Pandemonium’s demons are perfect ‘prey’ for those candidates.”
“You must have arranged things so they could gain even more experience by fighting the demons.”
Perhaps Merlin was even manipulating the Seventy-Two Demons of Pandemonium in some way.
“But now... the Constellations are stealing that prey and hunting it themselves.”
I had led Constellations into Paris.
We slaughtered Marbas and his personal forces, enemies the European Contractors would originally have needed to fight with their lives on the line.
Then we simply left.
“Your candidates for becoming absolute powerhouses lost a massive opportunity to gain experience.”
“What happens if that keeps happening?”
"..."
“Our last operation caused an enormous stir in the Spirit Realm.”
“Constellations are lining up to contact us because they want to descend and fight in the Material Realm too.”
“If I decide to, I can start a full-scale war against Pandemonium right now.”
Constellations had never been especially proactive beings.
Most spent their days shut inside their thrones like reclusive shut-ins, simply watching the Material Realm through their Observers.
But there had always been some who enjoyed actively interfering with the Material Realm.
And because I had aggressively promoted my activities through Constellation Tube...
the number of those Constellations was increasing.
Then I gave them the chance to descend directly and fight.
“More and more Constellations are starting to think it might be fun to descend personally and fight.”
"..."
“If this continues, the proper roles will reverse.”
“Instead of the Contractors, the Constellations themselves will step forward and drive out Pandemonium.”
“And then the protagonists of the Material Realm won’t be the Contractors.”
“They’ll be the Constellations.”
Could the Contractors still grow rapidly according to Merlin’s plans in a world like that?
“You won’t be able to create the absolute powerhouse you want.”
“It’ll become impossible.”
“That’s true.”
Merlin nodded and let out a long sigh.
“You’re right.”
“And that is exactly why... I had to stop you.”
“That’s why I finally showed myself.”
Watching him, I realized something.
As expected... Armageddon must be a battle that the Contractors have to win themselves, not the Constellations.
Merlin and Heracles had descended directly into the Material Realm.
That meant they had access to a Gate, just as I did.
If Merlin’s only objective was to win Armageddon, it would be far faster to assemble an all-star team of Constellations like Heracles instead of spending years raising Contractors like Kang Yujin.
The fact that he was doing this anyway meant there had to be something about Armageddon that Constellations themselves couldn’t easily deal with.
“Nameless King, to be honest, I intended to lure you out and persuade you.”
"..."
“But if you already understand everything this well...”
“Then no matter what story I make up, it won’t work.”
Merlin sighed deeply.
“So... I suppose there’s no choice.”
He covered his face with both hands and murmured regretfully.
“Heracles.”
“Looks like you’ve reached your conclusion.”
Heracles, who had been standing there with his arms crossed, stretched as though he were bored of waiting.
“The barrier is secure, right?”
“Yes.”
“No one can enter, and no one can observe what happens inside.”
“Good.”
“That’s enough.”
After hearing Merlin’s answer, Heracles nodded.
Then his enormous eyes turned toward me.
“So... you were called the Nameless King?”
He looked at me with little interest.
“Sorry.”
“But you’ll have to die here.”
Heracles’s enormous body...
charged straight toward me.
