The reason Noxana quit all of this was simple.
She just loved a little more.
More than hating and despising Lumensis, who betrayed the gods and tried to usurp this world at will, she loved the people living in this world more.
Noxana ended all of this with her own hands.
At that sincere heart, Franz felt something welling up in his chest.
Normally, he would have held it back, but now Franz couldn't do that.
"Why on earth!"
Noxana's eyes turned to Franz.
"If you were going to do this, why did you cause such a thing in the first place! Why!"
Just how many people died because of this incident?This isn't just a national situation.
This was a dangerous situation that required vigilance beyond humanity, even extending to all non-human species.
Many people died to prevent this.
And among them was Clara Cowen, the master of the Dream School.
"If this was your intention from the beginning, then my mother, and the others..."
Franz finally couldn't hold back his frustration and bowed his head deeply.
Noxana looked down at Franz with compassionate eyes.
"Child. I think it's unfortunate that you lost someone precious. In a way, all of this would be my negligence. It happened because I couldn't properly handle my apostle."
Noxana apologized to Franz.
"I'm sorry."
It was unbelievable.
A god, far superior to humans, uttering words of apology.
Even though it was just a manifested form, it was Noxana's inherent will.
This was fundamentally different from an elephant bowing its head to apologize to an ant.
Franz raised his head at Noxana's apology.
His eyes, red and swollen from tears, stared at Noxana in utter disbelief.
Franz's lips trembled.
"Sorry? You called me! Decades ago, on that day! The day my father died!"
Franz remembers that when he first fell into the depths of Dreamland, he received a call from something.
Franz remembers that day and he always thought and thought again.
Who could it be? Who breathed life into the fragment and called to him?
At first, he didn't know, but now he seemed to understand.
It was the goddess before his eyes, Noxana.
That it was this being who had called him that day when he knew nothing.
Because of you, everything of mine was ruined.
If only you hadn't called me.
My life wouldn't have turned out like this.
"Child. I know what situation you're in. All those feelings too. That's why I can only say I'm sorry. That's all I can do while being sealed."
"..."
"Yes. Just words won't be enough. Even if they were adoptive parents, you lost someone precious, so how great must your sadness be."
There was sincerity in Noxana's words.
That fact made Franz's heart ache even more.
He knows it's meaningless to argue like this.
There is no malice in Noxana's actions. All she possesses is a love that's difficult to estimate.
But because she is a divine being, that love was not something humans could possibly endure.
Can a person gently stroke an ant's head?
Can they give the food they were eating out of affection?
While that might be goodwill and love from their perspective, how would the receiving ant feel?
The loving gesture would become the crushing pressure of a great mountain.
Food imbued with a god's favor would become a disaster that swells and bursts the stomach.
Humans were easily broken by even the slightest goodwill of a god.
If only they didn't love at all.
If only they just passed by, looking at us like insignificant bugs.
Noxana, being a goddess, could not possibly miss understanding Franz's feelings.
"It's truly regrettable. I love my children, but the children who receive my love end up broken."
Noxana's gaze lingered briefly on Rudger.
"Perhaps that's why the other gods are fond of you. Because you don't break easily."
Noxana let out a small sigh.
"The call that day wasn't my will. For you, it was, well, a bit like sleep-talking. Just a trivial sleep-talk, like briefly wiggling a finger after falling asleep."
Noxana said this while showing her open palm.
A fragment of a relic appeared on the empty white hand.
"That's..."
"This fragment contains my power."
Franz also recognized the fragment.
How could he forget that object preserved in the depths of the Dream School?
"Yes. That's why. That's what made me..."
"That would be because of this object's peculiarity."
Noxana asked Rudger.
"Child. You came looking for this. Do you know what this is?"
"Not exactly. Who made it and how it came to be. I only know that when all the pieces come together, a very powerful ancient artifact will be completed."
"Relic. Yes, you call this a relic. Strictly speaking, that's not wrong."
The surrounding landscape gradually began to collapse.
As Noxana's main body began to fall back into sleep, the summoned [Nursery Rhyme] was also losing its form and beginning to crumble.
"There's not much time left. I need to explain as quickly as possible."
"What exactly is that object?"
"What you call a relic is something we created."
The word 'we' came from the goddess' mouth.
Franz was shocked, and Rudger let out a sigh.
"Judging by that reaction, you were vaguely thinking about it."
"...It was because they were objects that couldn't be analyzed even with the knowledge and science of the era, which seemed too advanced to have been made by ancient humans. I did think they were imbued with more mysterious powers, but..."
Who would have thought it was an object imbued with divine power?
"That's right. What you call relics are toys we created. Like this child, [Nursery Rhyme]."
At Noxana's call, the gradually disappearing [Nursery Rhyme] trembled with a ‘woowoong’ sound.
A divine instrument with will.
A terrifying tool that neutralizes all beings with just one ring.
That alone would be frightening, but [Nursery Rhyme] even had its own consciousness and power to deal with enemies.
And to think that relics were divine instruments like [Nursery Rhyme].
"But most relics have weathered over the ages, and their performance has severely degraded. Current relics can only exert a tiny fraction of their original performance. But this one is a bit different."
Noxana shook the relic fragment in her hand.
"Usually, when a relic breaks, it can't fulfill its role. Even if made by gods, it must at least maintain its form. But this one doesn't lose performance even when broken. Rather, if you gather all the scattered pieces, it will perform much better than its original capability."
"Why is that?"
"Because more than one god made this."
"By more than one, you mean..."
"Yes."
Noxana nodded, confirming Rudger's thought was correct.
"This divine instrument was created by several gods combining their powers. Naturally, even though it's broken into pieces, each fragment contains its own power, so there's no performance degradation. You just need to bring them all together."
Noxana showed a sad expression.
"Of course, I also participated in making it back then. The piece I'm holding now is the fragment imbued with my power."
"So..."
Why was this fragment in Dreamland?
No, before that, why did Nathanael try to throw this into Dreamland?
Why was Franz naturally drawn to this?
It was because this relic fragment was an object imbued with Noxana's power.
In other words, the cause of this tragedy, from Nathanael to Franz, was due to the unintentionally imbued divine power.
"Then does this fragment itself possess power?"
"What a strange question. Haven't you already seen the result with your own eyes?"
"That..."
"I can see. What you experienced in the past. The moment you discovered the abandoned relic fragment after falling into a well, the gears of fate in this world finally began to turn."
At Noxana's words, Rudger reflected on his past.
The day he fell into the dry well.
Without any hand of rescue, at the moment he had no choice but to choose death.
Was it really a coincidence that he discovered something shimmering in the moonlight from the cracks in the dry earth?
And the moment he grasped it, seeing the scene unfold before him like a small hand mirror.
Was it fate that he ultimately chose to live and came here?
"Coincidence and inevitability. Things that shouldn't happen and things that must happen. All of these intersected. After all, this is something you must step up to do, and that's why I wanted to give you an opportunity."
Saying this, Noxana extended the relic toward Rudger.
"Take it. This is now yours."
Rudger did not refuse.
Having obtained the last fragment of the relic, Rudger gazed at it with complicated eyes.
He knew relics were extraordinary, but he never expected it to be an object created by the gods.
But that made him more confident.
With this, it would be enough to achieve his purpose.
"I'm truly sorry to you."
Noxana apologized to Franz again.
Franz stared at Noxana, then bit his lip and shook his head.
"...I actually know that you have no malice. That all of this is merely like a natural disaster."
Let's say there's a human who lost family to a natural disaster.
Could they possibly hold that natural disaster accountable?
If it's a being with power thousands of times greater than that natural disaster, and with a self that's incomparably vaster than humans.
Indeed, what human would hold them accountable?
Nevertheless, Noxana apologized.
Franz was not unaware that her heart truly cared for them.
That made it all the sadder.
Franz released the strength from his clenched fist.
He spoke in a weak voice, like someone who had attained enlightenment.
"I know it's useless to lament my tragic fate now. I came here for revenge, but I realized that's not what I really wanted."
"You've decided to accept it."
"Yes. I will accept it. That's what my late mother would have wanted too."
Noxana looked at Franz and smiled as if proud.
"I don't have a mother. I am everyone's mother, but no one has ever been my mother. So I don't know what it feels like to lose a mother. But just from the sorrow I feel from you now, I can tell how painful it is for you."
Yet Franz said he would accept it.
"You are brave."
"That's enough."
"No, my words are always sincere. Yes, such a brave child deserves some kind of reward."
"A gift? Why?"
"Because your mother would have wanted it too. Isn't that answer enough?"
"..."
Franz made no reply to those words.
Since it wasn't a refusal, Noxana reached out her hand toward Franz's head.
Noxana gently stroked Franz's head with her white hand.
"Strong child who overcame sorrow. May there be blessings in your future."
Golden energy rising from Noxana's hand seeped into Franz's body.
Rudger saw this and opened his eyes wide.
'That's...'
It was similar to the dream sand that Nirva handled, no, a much purer power.
'Could it be that she's making Franz an apostle now?'
It was hard to dismiss as a simple misunderstanding, as golden light began to flow in the center of Franz's eyes where that power had settled.
Wasn't Nirva the existing apostle?
A single god can only control one apostle.
It's not that Noxana had taken away the authority of the existing apostle.
That meant Nirva was dead.
'Did the Dream Walkers finish him off?'
Rudger couldn't help but think so.
"No. Goddess. Why, why are you doing this?"
Nirva flew, flapping his wings full of wounds.
Though feathers were falling out sporadically and golden blood was flowing through his wounds, Nirva had no capacity to care about that.
Noxana, who had just awakened from sleep, had chosen to dream again.
For Nirva, this was something impossible to understand.
'The goddess hasn't completely fallen asleep yet. If I can somehow persuade her...'
Nirva's thread-like hope was blocked by a sword that dropped from the sky.
"...!"
One of Nirva's wings, too late to dodge, was pierced by the sword.
Not stopping there, Nirva's body crashed to the ground.
"Who's there!"
Staggering to his feet from the dust cloud, Nirva squinted his eyes to find his ambusher.
His fierce golden eyes widened when they saw the black silhouette emerging beyond the dust cloud.
"Hello, Nirva. Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?"
Zero Order waved at Nirva with a smiling face.