Vol. 10 - Chapter 542 - Final answer
Formar shouted loudly, but Sophie could not hear him. So he tried to jump into the mirror, but it was too sturdy and stopped him, and would not break no matter how many times he punched it. Meanwhile the Spirit Beast had flung Allen and Merus away, and now headed towards Sophie.
'I won't let you! Barrier!!'
The Space Great Spirit Jigen tried to protect Sophie, creating a cube barrier around her. But the barrier shattered with the first impact. Jigen then stood in front of Sophie to protect her with his own body, receiving the attack himself.
"Lord Jigen?!"
'Mugh?!'
Receiving the attack, Jigen lost the power to remain in physical form, and vanished in particles of light.
"Stand further back Sophie! The Spirit Beast will stay where the Dew of Life is dripping down!!"
Allen's loud voice echoed through the cave.
'Ohh, one of the spirits is finally defeated. Their resilience is commendable. Formar, I can't watch with you in the way, could you move to the side a little?'
The Great Spirit God Easley was watching the fight a distance back from them. Elize grabbed Formar's hand and pulled him towards the Great Spirit God, who slowly went from looking at the fight to looking at Formar.
'Lord Easley, please stop this already.'
'Elize? So your consciousness is still alive within the Spiral of Life…'
The Great Spirit God looked slightly baffled.
"Please, try to calm down, Great Spirit God Easley."
Formar could not keep himself quiet as the two spirits talked. Sophie could die at any moment, so he interrupted them.
'Oh, you must be Formar. I didn't expect you to jump into the Dew of Life to approach me here.'
That was not the reason why Formar had jumped into the Dew of Life. But not even trying to correct him, Formar knelt down to bow at Easley.
"I apologize for my friends' rude behavior, please be lenient with them."
'I'm always lenient. Though well, just wait until your friends join you here in the Spiral of Life.'
Formar had seen fragments of the history of elves before, so he tried his best to be understanding, but the Great Spirit God did not seem to have any empathy towards him.
"..."
The Great Spirit King no longer said anything, so there was just silence for a while.
'Ghahh?!'
"Kaka! Are you okay?!!"
The shouts of Formar's friends could be heard behind him.
"...I'll do anything you want, so can you just get the Spirit Beast to retract its claws and fangs?"
Formar begged with everything he had, unlike all of Allen's theatrics.
'I can't do that. I've already given them a new task.'
But Formar's desperate plea was denied. This was a critical moment, and he needed to negotiate somehow. He was the only one who could. As he thought of that, negotiating reminded him of Allen's methods.
"Can we negotiate..?"
'Look up, Formar. You won't be able to see your friends' final moments.'
Formar slowly stood up when told that, but he did not look at the mirror.
"Let me negotiate, just one thing."
'Negotiate? I believe I already declined that. But what is it you intend to negotiate about?'
"Merus told me that this is a new task you've given them. Is that correct?"
'That is true. What about it?'
The Great Spirit God seemed to get curious about it, leaning forward to look at Formar closely.
"So you gave us a second problem to solve, regardless of the outcome of the first one?"
'So?'
"We worked really hard to solve the first problem you gave us. It seems our solution wasn't to your liking though. Still, I believe we deserve a reward for solving it."
'A reward?'
"Yes. We were given a trial by a God, and we fulfilled it. We're owed a reward."
Formar was not used to negotiating like Allen.
'...I see, so you believe I should give you a reward to settle that first problem first, before I destroy the elves and dark elves because of the answer they gave. But I hope you realize that won't be enough to save everyone here.'
Formar's request made sense, but there was a limit to how much he could ask for.
"I just need to save one person. Please save one of the people here."
'...That's an interesting request. But I'll agree, I'll spare one of the people here.'
'Wait, Formar. Are you trying to just save Sophie like that?'
'You remain silent, Elize. But that's alright, Formar. As a reward for working on the first problem, I'll let you save one person.'
That was the last question the Great Spirit God would pose. Allen's party was about to be defeated by the Spirit Beast, and one person would be saved, who would it be?
"...So I can pick anyone who's here, right?"
'Of course. If you want you can even save yourself. You're already here in the Spiral of Life, so you could be reborn through the Dew of Life if you wish.'
The Great Spirit God knew that Formar was trying to negotiate with a specific plan in mind.
"Just to be clear, I can pick anyone that's here, right?"
'You're really persistent, but yes. You can pick anyone. Even Rosen who you venerate so much.'
Elize and the Great Spirit God stared at Formar attentively, wondering who he would pick. Seeing that, Formar smiled softly, then bowed as he gave his answer.
"Then please save Lady Elize."
'Wha-?! Hey, Formar, what are you saying!!'
Elize shouted loudly, thinking that Formar had gone insane.
'...May I ask why?'
"It felt like Allen was struggling to end the fight, but having more allies could alleviate that. I know Lady Elize used to be a Spirit King, so she would be the best choice."
Formar had never cared about his own life, he did the best he could for the rest. He wanted Elize to return to her prime so she could help Rosen. The Great Spirit God slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again after a while.
'How strange. Once again I get a reply I was not expecting. Maybe there's still an answer I haven't found out there too then…'
"Than, please do so!!"
The Great Spirit God seemed to be musing about something, which made Formar impatient.
'Of course. This means your Divine Power will also return, but what do you think, Elize?'
An orb of light appeared in front of the Great Spirit God. If Elize touched it, she would revive.
'I became a Spirit Beast to atone for my sins. I'm sorry, but I doubt I can go back to my body.'
Elize announced that as she looked at the orb of light.
"N-no! Please, help my friends!!"
Formar had done his best to come up with a solution, but Elize rejected it.
'But you've managed to produce all of this Divine Power.'
'What are you thinking of doing, Elize?'
"This! Uryaah!!"
She held her hand straight like a blade and sliced the orb of light in two. Then vines came out of her fingertips, which wrapped the the two pieces.
'Elize, are you trying to make that your Divine Artifacts?'
'I'll use this chance as best as I can, and give Formar the power to fight!'
A greatbow made of wood and archer gloves appeared out of it.
'But what's the point of giving him two Divine Artifacts? Formar jumped into the Dew of Life and died.'
"I-I know."
Formar was glad to obtain a new weapon, but his physical body was gone.
'I'll just do this! You can have my body!!'
Formar had gotten Elize the power she needed to revive. So she decided to use that power however she saw fit. There was still some power left in her hands, and she poured that on Formar.
"L-Lady Elize?!"
Formar was starting to understand what Elize was doing.
'Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate. I'll resurrect your body! Ghngghhh!!'
Elize's hands slowly turned into particles of light and began to vanish. She had created two Divine Artifacts, and then used all of her existence to bring Formar back. First her hands vanished, then her arms, and shoulders.
"Ah…ahh…"
Formar did not know if letting Elize vanish so he could revive was really the best option for his friends, and the worry made tears well up in his eyes.
'Just keep quiet, you made the right choice. I'll revive your body…'
Even though her arms were gone, Elize continued pouring her life into Formar. Meanwhile the Great Spirit God looked at the First Angel Lupto on the other side of the mirror. She was watching Allen's fight with a severe face.
'Elize, you're always pushing yourself in the craziest of ways, and your influence on others has already brought me no end of trouble… But alright, this is my reward for hearing such an amusing reply from you, Formar. I feel like I've given out too many rewards now though.'
"This is…"
Ba-dump ba-dump
Elize's body stopped vanishing, and Formar's body began to glow. The Great Spirit God had given life to Formar, and he could feel his heart beating.
'Selfless hero, the future might not change, but do your best to change the fate of elves.'
'Now go, Formar. You can do it!'
Formar's body vanished from there, showing he had successfully revived.
Small announcement regarding the release schedule Moving forward there will be 4 releases a week. This affects patreon as well, where tiers had to be revised to reflect how many weeks in advance each tier is. This means an overall decrease in chapters available, so to keep the newest ones available we've introduced a new teir (Unbound), while also providing more chapters