Overgeared

“I’m surprised you didn’t try to duel Asura to the death.”

Grid and Mumud were acquaintances. A few months before, in the desert of Reidan, the Overgeared members, Marie Rose, and Hayate had fought against Fire Dragon Trauka. Judar and Chiyou had come in one after another to make the situation even more chaotic.

Grid had arrived later after parting ways with Nathaniel and collided with Mumud. Then, they had a short but deep conversation. He had informed Mumud that Braham used to be his teacher. Grid even mentioned Mumud becoming a lich and how he had come back to life.

However, that was it. Grid didn’t know to what extent Mumud’s memories had been restored. He could only hope that the angel hadn’t remembered that much since there was the risk of remembering Braham betraying him.

Thus, Grid didn’t dare to criticize Mumud. He understood why Mumud joined forces with the demon cultivators. Now, he was an angel in charge of defending Asgard, and he also had a history of hating humans.

“He is stronger than I expected,” Grid replied. “I wasn’t sure if I could finish him off quickly even if I teamed up with Marie Rose.”

Grid was running out of time. How much of the Full Moon Fortress had been constructed and where was it? He had to destroy the Full Moon Fortress of the demon cultivators despite having absolutely no information about it, so he challenged himself to speed run this. This meant it was better to avoid fights that he didn’t need to take as much as possible. Thanks to this, he was now standing in front of the Full Moon Fortress.

Mumud seemed bitter about something.

“Braham must not have believed me.”

“......?”

Mumud was speaking so quietly...

Repeated loud noises came from the Full Moon Fortress behind Mumud, so Grid couldn’t understand what the angel said despite his good hearing.

“Asura will probably become stronger by the time you leave. Fortunately, this isn’t the worst case scenario. It’s the development of a lesser evil.” Mumud raised his voice when saying this, so the conversation picked up again.

Grid murmured, “He is going to get stronger... Do you think Asura will devour the gods of Asgard?”

“Yes. The gods will have an advantage at the beginning thanks to Dominion, but... As you know, Asura is a monster who can take others’ powers without having to kill them. This is a miracle created by Baal’s deformed desire.”

“...There is a reason he didn’t come after me.”

The moment he shook off Asura’s pursuit and entered the temple, Grid had been wary of Asura coming after him. However, the firmly closed entrance never reopened. Asura didn’t bother to chase Grid. It was as if it didn’t matter to him what happened to the Full Moon Fortress.

“No. Asura is obsessed with you. He didn’t enter the temple because of me. I put up a barrier to keep him out.”

“......?”

Mumud’s explanation baffled Grid.

“Why? You knew for sure that he would go to the place where the gods are imprisoned, so why?”

“If I allowed Asura to pursue you, we would have never had a second chance to talk like this.”

Mumud’s smile was warm. He was like the stereotypical benevolent being portrayed in myths. He looked like an angel who would wrap human beings in infinite warmth in return for their faith and prayers.

Something was different about him. He was radically different from the angels Grid had met and fought.

In fact, isn’t he working hard for the sake of humanity?

Grid had such hope. Frustrated, he frowned.

‘...As expected, he didn’t regain all his memories and only recalled about half of them.’

According to Braham, he had raised Mumud as if Mumud was his own child. This didn’t mean Braham showered him with love and affection. After being exiled by Beriache, Braham wandered aimlessly through the cities of humans and accidentally discovered an orphan named Mumud. Braham was fascinated with his innate talent and took him as a disciple in the hopes of helping with his own studies.

But from Mumud’s perspective, Braham would’ve seemed like a parent. How could he not love the benefactor who saved him from dying in a war-torn village, gave him food and shelter, and taught him magic?

What if Mumud only recovered his memories up to this point? In other words, he didn’t know what Braham did...

If so, then Mumud could have a favorable attitude toward humanity. Based on his memories, humans were the ones who had given him love and kindness. This was a good thing.

Grid was sure that was the case...

Throb!

He suddenly clutched his chest. He felt so sorry and sad. Mumud was an unlucky genius who had received a heavenly talent but died from a terminal illness. He had suffered until he died. The physical pain caused by the life-threatening illness, the mental pain caused by the betrayal of the person he trusted the most in the world, his teacher... In the end, he died, became a lich, and even had his soul wounded.

Grid felt disgusted at himself for pretending not to know the truth even though he clearly did, expecting to receive favors from Mumud.

“...My dear husband.”

Marie Rose’s soft hands stroked Grid’s back. She understood how he felt.

“I will make Braham pay for his sins by killing him,” she said eerily in a sweet voice.

Thanks to her, Grid came to his senses and asked Mumud a question.

“Why did you want to meet me? You must’ve known that I was planning to destroy the Full Moon Fortress of the demon cultivators. Shouldn’t you be protecting that?”

Grid was suddenly showing Mumud respect. The angel blinked at Grid’s sudden change in attitude and laughed.

“Haha, you’re exactly as I expected. Well, if I had to explain why... I wanted to persuade you.”

“Persuade me?”

“Yes. Can’t you wait for this Full Moon Fortress to be completed?”

Grid narrowed his eyes. The jade fortress was towering high above his head. He stared at the Full Moon Fortress that was bigger than most cities. It almost filled the center of the temple.

“That won’t work. I have no intention of allowing the cultivators to set foot in this world again,” Grid said firmly.

“I was involved in the construction of this Full Moon Fortress from the very beginning.”

“......!”

Grid was startled. What Mumud said was important. Grid recalled the information he had learned by using the Memory Searching Technique against a demon cultivator. He knew that, thanks to the help of Mumud and the gods, the demon cultivators had been able to build the Full Moon Fortress.

So Mumud had been at the construction site of the Full Moon Fortress from the very beginning. Would the rare genius, who made Braham jealous when he was just a human, waste such an opportunity? Definitely not.

“...Are you certain you can control the Full Moon Fortress?”

“Yes, the fortress is actually mine.”

“......”

Knowledge was a scary thing. Wise people could easily do things that seemed impossible to others and deceive them. Grid had seen Braham do this many times before.

“I made full use of the knowledge I gained in return for helping the demon cultivators. I changed the formations installed in the Full Moon Fortress. Most of the high-ranking cultivators who would’ve noticed this were either killed by Asura or by you.”

Mumud still had a gentle smile on his face. He also had an angel’s halo and white feathers fluttering around him. Thus, Grid hadn’t noticed until now how cold Mumud’s eyes were.

“The demon cultivators who will come through this Full Moon Fortress will have a very low level of cultivation. Each individual’s power and resourcefulness won’t reach the level of angels.”

“...In other words...”

“Yes, they will be treated as slaves. Their only role will be to worship Asgard. The gods of Asgard will be kept alive because of them.”

This meant separation from the surface. Mumud was seeking Asgard’s independence. He planned to eliminate the cause of the conflict between Asgard and the surface by making the gods no longer obsessed with humanity’s worship and sacrificing powerless cultivators.

“That is the ideal way to do it...”

But it was terribly cruel. Grid couldn’t continue speaking. Marie Rose snorted on his behalf.

“You really are Braham’s disciple.”

Telling someone that they were similar to Braham was the best insult that Marie Rose could come up with.

Unlike Braham, who hated her, Marie Rose had no feelings toward him. She was grateful for the help he had given her during the Beriache incident, and was starting to care about her brother...

In other words, the relationship between Marie Rose and Braham was quite good at the moment. However, that was a separate matter. Like most siblings in the world, Marie Rose hated Braham to a certain extent.

Mumud explained. “Teacher always said that, the more reasonable the method, the more sacrifices or forsaking will have to be made. Back when I was human, I couldn’t admit that, but now I have no choice. I am going to put it into practice. I can’t think of any other way to protect Asgard.”

Judging by his long explanation, he definitely realized that being compared to Braham was an insult. A light flashed in Grid’s eyes.

“Based on what you’re saying... I take it that you’ve regained most of the memories of your past life, correct?”

“Yes.”

Mumud did say yes, but he didn’t say how much he remembered.

Grid became a bit restless. What if Mumud had regained all his memories? What if he wanted to protect the Full Moon Fortress because of the grudge he held against Braham?

“Grid.”

“......?”

“I don’t blame Braham for what he did.”

“......!”

Surprisingly, Mumud remembered everything. Grid’s eyes widened. He wanted to say something. Mumud smiled at him.

“This is all thanks to the time I spent as Agnus’ lich. I witnessed how much Braham regretted and blamed himself for what he had done to me. I clearly remember the moments when you tried to apologize to me.”

Mumud recalled Braham, whom he had met in Reidan a few months earlier. His teacher’s eyes, which still looked the same as before... were painfully sad and distressed.

“...This is hard to believe.”

Grid was suspicious. Mumud was a genius, not a saint. He didn’t blame his teacher for taking away all his achievements and turning him into a lich? That was hard to believe.

However, Mumud thought differently. He definitely wasn’t a saint, but he was a good person. He understood other people’s circumstances and their mistakes, so he forgave them.

“Why don’t you believe me?” Mumud wondered.

“If Braham had done to me what he did to you, I would’ve gone to the depths of hell to kill him.”

“......”

Braham was different from Pagma. He had no cause to justify his actions. He had indeed stolen his student’s achievements out of sheer jealousy and personal greed. He had turned his short-lived disciple into a lich because he felt sorry.

How could Mumud forgive something so despicable?

Grid decided he had to draw his sword. He was determined to cut down that Full Moon Fortress behind Mumud. He didn’t want to have any regrets.

“You definitely want revenge on Braham. I can’t trust you.”

“I really don’t...? I told you that I have forgiven him...”

“That can’t be true. How can you forgive someone so despicable?”

“Despicable... No matter what you have accomplished, it’s hard for me to do nothing while you criticize my teacher.”

Noe had an incredulous expression on his face. “Did your guys’ opinions on Braham switch...?”