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Last Embryo Volume 4 Chapter 7 Part 5

Now that the both of them found themselves high in the air without damaging the city below them in any way, they flew over to the eastern half of the continent of Atlantis in the blink of an eye and then fell back to the ground. Krishna ended up falling to the bottom of a cliff, but due to him possessing the body of Heracles, who was a Demigod that possessed one of the sturdies mortal bodies which was then additionally enhanced with the Divinity that was bestowed upon him, he did not receive any serious injuries from it.

Moreover, even though Parashurama was sure that her initial attack managed to cover his entire body with flames, even that amount of heat that she managed to gather for that attack did not seem to inflict any kind of lasting damage onto him either. Things would have gone differently if Parashurama was still in her original body.

If that was the case, she could have even allowed herself to run wild without carrying too much about the damage inflicted upon herself or her surroundings, but at this moment the body of her host was not in a state where pulling such stunts would be wise. Worst case scenario, she might have ended up unintentionally killing her with just the heat that {Brahmastra Origin} would be producing over the course of the ongoing fight.

Meanwhile, Krishna picked himself back up from the ground and jumped back on his feet with cat-like lightness, and then frowned with dissatisfaction. Parashurama followed shortly after him by jumping down from the top of the cliff and gliding downwards through the air to land right in front of him, and Orpheus, who ended up being dragged behind Krishna due to his threads still being entwined around him somehow managed to land on his feet without getting himself damaged in the process as well.

「This particular turn of events. . . is not something that I have anticipated. Orpheus is one thing, but to think that a sage and Avatar like Parashurama would end up being so foolish as to try and fight against her own destiny? Does {Uroboros} no longer have anyone with a sense of virtue in their midst right now?」

「Hmpf! Sense of virtue? I do not much care about that. The fate assigned to me by my master, the Supreme God Shiva, is to pass down the 「Astra」 to the Last Avatar, Kalki. Other than that, I do not know anything about that Star Particle Bodies, or nanomachines or whatever it is you want to call them, but the bottom line is that I do not think I did anything to betray my mission.」

「To that end, I also feel like I did not do anything that could be classified as 「betraying」 you. It is just that I felt that as their senior, it was my duty to help the young ones out by making sure they are going to get as much time as they need to figure their solution out. That, and I also wanted to ensure that they will not have to dirty their hands with the 「Original Sin」. . . . . . . . . and besides, there is also one more thing that I have been wondering about: whether you really are the real Krishna, or are you merely pretending to be him?」

That last comment got a reaction out of Krishna: he raised his brow in surprise. Orpheus smiled at it and continued to talk after laughing frivolously.

「During your conversation with Sakamaki Izayoi, you mentioned that you once fought against Indra when he was still only the strongest of the Gods of War, and that you met your dear friend Arjuna as a result of that battle?」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes, that is indeed what I said. What of it?」

「Oh, nothing much. . . . . . . . . . . . . . it is just that it is clearly very strange, you know? The Great Migration of the Aryan people who worshipped Indra as their God occurred around 1 5 0 0 B.C, while Arjuna is said to have been born around 1 0 0 0 B.C, during a period of of history in Indian mythology where the annexation of both the indigenous people and the immigrants was said to have began in earnest. . . . . . oh? My oh my, what is this? Ladies and gentleman, it looks like the time periods do not match! What do you have to say to that, Mr. Scheming Hero?」

In order to properly understand what the proper setting of this story was, the former Poet provoked Krishna with his words. And for the first time, these words managed to get what looked like a genuine reaction out of him: the one that looked like a mixture of anger and contempt. Seeing that reaction, Parashurama placed her hand on her chin and continue to pursue Orpheus’s line of reasoning, feeling that he might have found just the right way to make him involuntarily slip up on something that he would have never said otherwise.

「I have been wondering about that myself as well. Because while I have heard about Krishna the God, even if only by the word of mouth, I do not remember hearing about Krishna the Hero at all. . . 」

「Ohhhh, and there it is, a comment from someone familiar with the times! Nice support, really nice. . . but in all seriousness now. Even though dear Parashurama here basically confirmed our suspicions, but I would still like to ask that of you one more time.」

And Orpheus repeated his earlier question with an even more frivolous smile on his face.

「Just. . . . who are you, exactly? Because you cannot be the real Krishna the God. So, what are you planning by causing a historical paradox?」

The emotions they have previously seen on Krishna’s face disappeared from it completely. But even though it still had the same look of Heracles’ facial features, now it looked more like he was actually wearing a mask in order to hide his true emotions from the rest of the world. Even the faint smile he made by curling his lips upwards ever so slightly seemed more like something mechanical, something he had to practice for a long time to finally make it look passable than something that a genuine person would make. . . . . and then he burst into a fit of laughter so uncontrollable that his canine teeth began to show while the bursts of black wind appeared all around him.

「Ahhhh~~~ that is right, I forgot that you are not simply Orpheus from the Greek mythology but Orpheus from Greek mythology who also experienced the full horrors of the Dystopian War. Your level knowledge and understanding of the cultural spheres of other countries and mythologies is truly terrifying.」

「Well, what can I say except. . . I guess so? You can attribute it to the fact that ever since I quit my life as a poet and got married I had more than enough time to travel around the world and enjoy the various things it had to offer. I might have went through quite a downgrade in comparison to my Poet self, but I am damn glad that my knowledge could have been expanded so much as a result. It is so. . . . human-like, would you not say?」

Orpheus and Parashurama prepared themselves for battle while facing the raging gusts of black wind. The Divinity they were sensing right now had a terrifying, sinister feeling to it unlike the one they were sensing before, which only served to assure them that whoever. . . or whatever the enemy in front of them was, it was definitely not Krishna, because no myth or legend described in the Mahabarata ever mentioned Krishna being able to control such an evil phenomenon that Orpheus was suspicious of ever since that monstrosity in front of them used it in order to hijack Heracles’ body.

「For someone who was going on and on about how they did not want to hide their identity, you sure are doing the exact opposite of that. What do you want? What is your aim? Taking over The Little Garden and The Outer World and rule them as king? Or perhaps their ruin?」

「Neither of those two. What I have desired has always been nothing but salvation. I possess both the will and determination to save the world. It is exactly for that reason that we have created {Uroboros}.」

Out of everything this monster said, that was the only thing that sounded genuine, and not like a lie made just for the purpose of keeping up appearances.