[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-became-the-patron-of-villains":3,"chapter-became-the-patron-of-villains-became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-362":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Became the Patron of Villains",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},759652,1006,"Chapter 362 : What Must Be Done (5)","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-362",362,"\u003Cp>That night, after Alon had spoken for over three long hours at the meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whew—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you all right, my lord?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Evan’s concern, Alon nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though his eyes were sunken with fatigue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you finish what you set out to do?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well, more or less.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm—well, no one in their right mind would dare ignore the Marquis when he speaks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that so?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The one who answered wasn’t Evan, but Basiliora, who slipped out from the ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Hmph, those fools were just flailing around with no clue what to do. Of course they’d listen to you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They seemed hesitant enough, though.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Humans are greedy by nature. They’ll do anything to avoid loss. It’s to be expected. That friend of yours—the queen—is the only one with half a brain. The rest are idiots.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Basiliora clicked his tongue as he insulted the kings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon agreed with his words, yet he still understood their position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world might be on the verge of destruction, but they were still kings—leaders of their nations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only natural for them to consider the aftermath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Though, if the world perishes, all of that will be meaningless.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Alon thought to himself, Evan spoke up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, my lord, just out of curiosity—do you really need the kings’ help?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean by that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well, most of the main forces in the Allied Kingdoms are the kind that come when you call, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The soldiers don’t, do they?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do we really need soldiers?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evan added skeptically, “From what I saw earlier, it looked like any ordinary soldier would just be slaughtered in a single strike…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it came to fighting the Sins, what mattered most was overwhelming individual power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary soldiers were more likely to become a liability than an asset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, despite knowing that—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon had still attended the meeting to rally troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, the Sin they faced was Wrath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re necessary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Really?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. Especially this time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon spoke as he recalled the nature of the Sin of Wrath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, and have you spread the word?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You mean to the others? I’ve already informed the entire Information Guild. Just in case, I asked Magrina to contact Historia and Ryanga as well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that report, Alon nodded and murmured quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s hope they all gather in time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he had tasked Evan with was summoning all the major forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To win against this Sin, they needed as much strength as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon suddenly remembered the scene he’d seen in the conference hall earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ashtalon, reduced to a complete hellscape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The devastation was horrific even in his eyes, yet there was one small relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If only it stays that way.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From what Alon knew—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the Sin of Wrath was fully awakened, it would begin tearing through kingdoms, slaughtering humans, and piling their bodies into mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And those mountains of corpses would, in turn, strengthen Wrath’s power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the more corpses it amassed, the stronger it became.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why Alon felt a faint sense of relief knowing Wrath had stopped after destroying Ashtalon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, he couldn’t help but wonder why.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew the Sins didn’t always act the same way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unlike Sloth—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wrath benefited the most from constant movement and destruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mountains he built were his source of power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Alon first heard of Ashtalon’s fall, he had let out a hollow laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Wrath truly acted with that kind of absurd speed from here on out—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be nearly impossible for Alon to stop him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet after destroying Ashtalon mere hours after manifesting—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wrath had shown no further movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if saying, “This is enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or perhaps believing that it really was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That, to Alon, was utterly baffling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other Sins had acted differently from his expectations as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wrath was the hardest to comprehend of them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the others, whose silence could still be rationalized—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wrath’s very nature was to move, to destroy, to burn the world to ashes once it was ready.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, it was quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon shook his head after a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now, he couldn’t understand why Wrath behaved that way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nor could he understand why Eliban had become a Sin in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon thought of Eliban.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What still came to his mind was that bright, cheerful smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Eliban he’d seen through the magic orb...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after hearing the reports, Alon had inwardly refused to believe Eliban had turned into a Sin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He told himself it might just be misinformation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, it was Eliban.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the moment he saw that image reflected in the orb—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could no longer deny it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how hard he tried to refute it, the truth was clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eliban really had become one of the Sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘...Why?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon hadn’t spent much time with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’d met only a handful of times over the past few years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it because Eliban was the hero of Psychedelia?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it because he was destined to become Alon’s greatest enemy?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was because Eliban had always been the embodiment of pure good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon had believed that firmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike anyone else—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a hero straight out of a painting, whether in the game or in this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If I hadn’t intervened in the beginning... would everything have unfolded just like the story?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If so...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then this Eliban now—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was he ultimately something Alon himself had created?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My lord?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evan’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well, uh... did something unpleasant happen?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What makes you say that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s just... you were frowning really hard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without realizing it, Alon reached up and touched his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, even he could feel that his expression had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Was I?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, it was a face I’d never seen before either…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evan’s voice carried a trace of worry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon let out a sigh and pressed his aching temples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed to stop thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rose from his seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where are you going, my lord?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evan asked, his face marked with exhaustion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d driven the carriage nearly sleepless just to make it to the meeting on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After checking Evan’s condition, Alon began to walk alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m going to see Heinkel. Get some rest.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was going to discuss the plan he had set in motion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Guardian Weapon of the Illanef Empire — the Sin (罪惡)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once again, Rine entered the Forbidden Section of the Eternal Library.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She frowned, unable to make sense of what she was reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Up until now, she had gathered her knowledge about the Sins from forbidden tomes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were still countless mysteries left unsolved, but she had nevertheless learned much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the content written in the book she had just discovered—just two short lines—completely contradicted everything she’d learned from the Eternal Library.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The one who gave birth to the Sins was the Sleeper.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rine knew almost nothing about the Sleeper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All she knew was that he had once been a True Mage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t even know how long that being had existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, even with so little information—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The statement that “the Sleeper created the Sins” was enough to throw all her prior knowledge into question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Could there be falsehoods within the Eternal Library?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She shook her head immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything recorded in the Eternal Library was truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Falsehood could not exist here by definition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which meant that both pieces of knowledge Rine possessed were true.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She sat there for a while, lost in confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When she finally calmed her mind, she began reading again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...Ah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A quiet exhale escaped her lips, as though she had finally understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The book she held wasn’t long, yet it contained enough to dispel her doubts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To summarize—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Illanef Empire created the Sins, but never used them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Illanef Empire had indeed created the Sins, but they were never deployed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, the creations eventually fell into the hands of the Sleeper, who awakened them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having resolved the contradiction, Rine kept reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There wasn’t much left, but she pressed on carefully, absorbing every word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She learned more—this time, about the strength of the Sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected of the empire that had forged Pluto, a weapon Rine herself could barely control—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a Sin fully merged with its ideal vessel, becoming a complete manifestation, its power was beyond her imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, she wondered if Pluto could handle such an entity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she quickly shook her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could barely control Pluto herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had never even seen a perfect manifestation of a Sin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she couldn’t possibly gauge its strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, she suspected—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That even Pluto would fail to stop it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the Illanef Empire had been destroyed by the Sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Pluto failed to stop the Sin…'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rine muttered unconsciously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She still knew little about Pluto.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could summon it, yes—but she didn’t yet understand how to wield it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her knowledge was scattered like fragments, impossible to assemble completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, even as she made that grim assumption, she found it difficult to accept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could sense the immense power Pluto held.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Of course, that’s assuming the Empire had mastered it completely…’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, if the Sins truly achieved perfect unison as the text described—perhaps even Pluto would have struggled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hm…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she pondered this, Rine suddenly felt a strange sense of wrongness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like an itch at the back of her mind—something she should have noticed but hadn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An uncomfortable prick, like a tiny thorn in her throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how hard she tried to recall it, the thought wouldn’t come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she shrugged it off and kept reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, she reached the end of the book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet there wasn’t much more to gain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oddly enough, though the book claimed to describe the origin of the Sins, it never explained why they were created.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All she could infer was one peculiar statement:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'The Sins were created for delay.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other than that, the only notable line lay at the very end of the text:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'The Sins were never used until the fall of the Illanef Empire.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she reviewed that final statement, confusion filled Rine’s mind again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That faint feeling of déjà vu from before grew stronger—unpleasantly so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And when she stared blankly at the sentence, turning it over in her mind—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She suddenly realized what that feeling was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her mind clicked into place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The Sins were never used until the Empire’s end… Then that means—’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Illanef Empire wasn’t destroyed by the Sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rine’s eyes widened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her expression was now filled with even deeper confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She understood more now—yet one new, troubling question had emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From what she knew, the Illanef Empire had indeed been destroyed by an enemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the truth recorded in the Library.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she had never thought much about it before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had always assumed that “enemy” referred to the Sins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, if the Sins had never been used before the Empire’s fall—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then who, exactly, destroyed the Illanef Empire that had created both Pluto and the Sins?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rine fell silent, lost in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>",1865,"2026-06-02T12:43:45.413Z",1,"novelbin.me","820724d2d3305e4d46de6b5441e0560dc633b08ea392e282639b8ee7b512760a","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-363","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-361",479,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbecame-the-patron-of-villains-cover.jpg"]