章 249: Free Will

After restraining the last of the apostles, Alex brought them all forward as if he was offering them to the Angels and asked,

"What does the goddess wish to do with them?" Griselda moved forward as if to accept them while saying,

"We will take them to her, where they may find forgiveness and hopefully redemption after purging the influence of Ehito's control from their minds. Their fate was the cruelest of all, being created to be utterly devoted to one who sees them as simple tools or things to throw away." Having said her piece, Griselda and the other angels disappeared in a blinding flash of light before the projection cut off and Alex drifted back down toward the palace courtyard.

Waiting for him was Shizuku and Kaori along with their classmates, and Liliana with Meld, Shia, the queen, and Lilliana's younger brother, the prince Randall. The three of them had gone to determine the safety of the remaining royal family members, and Alex could swear he saw a few already dried tear tracks on Liliana's face, evidence she most likely knew about her fathers fate. As he landed Alex reached a hand out and pat Liliana on top of her head to comfort her. She managed a small smile in return as she nodded thanks for Alex's action, which was brought to an end when both his ears were suddenly grabbed.

"First you shamed a woman in front of millions, and now you're over here trying to curry favor with the princess, who's only fourteen! What are we going to do with you?" Grayfia exclaimed from one side while Rias nodded in agreement on the other while everyone else had similar looks on their faces as they arrived. Alex adopted a wronged expression while saying,

"What happened to Noint was an accident so don't blame me, and Liliana just found out her father died so I was just being considerate!" Liliana also took that chance to speak up as she said,

"It's true, he was just trying to comfort me! Either way such a thing is impossible so there's no need to worry!" Though she was speaking truthfully, both Rias and Grayfia couldn't help but narrow their eyes as they released his ears, and Alex rubbed at them like he'd been wronged. He then turned serious and faced Shizuku and Kaori before saying,

"We should go now, everyone's fine and we'll be back in a few days at most." Though they seemed to want to stay with their friends, both girls nodded and went to follow Alex and the others as they started to gather around Grayfia to meet up with Kuroka. As they did Suzu ran up to Shizuku and asked,

"You're leaving again Kaorin, Shizu Shizu?! But you all just came back?" Shizuku smiled bitterly and replied,

"We'll be back soon, we're not going very far you know. I'll see you guys soon." With that Shizuku turned to join Alex and the others on the magic circle as they teleported to the church's headquarters.

"Nya, what took you guys so long? I was getting bored you know." Before the light even vanished, Kuroka was complaining about how long she had been waiting while the Angels gathered around her rolled their eyes at her attitude. Griselda then stepped forward and said,

"We brought them here like Grayfia asked, but what exactly are you going to do with them?" Alex stepped forward and picked up Noint to move her before answering,

"I'm going to try and see if it's possible to remove Ehito's influence from them before just jumping into killing all of them. They were basically programmed to be completely loyal to him like machines, but it looks like they have some kind of soul so I want to see if it's possible to help them." Alex recalled from Arifureta's after story that two of Hajime's spider golems were suspected of housing the souls of two apostles, so if that was the case then it wasn't too hard to draw the conclusion that they were simply brainwashed to follow Ehito from the moment of their creation, and if given a chance to act otherwise they may be able to live completely different lives. He then turned his attention inwardly towards Lauren and asked,

'So is it possible?' Lauren was silent for a few seconds as she thought about it before answering,

'Yes, but it would require another force to invade and control them in order to purge Ehito's. Try using your slave magic on them to see what kind of results you get.' Alex frowned mentally and replied,

'But wouldn't I just be controlling them like Ehito did? Though it would be useful to have so many loyal people to fight for me, how would I be any different than Ehito?' Those that found it kinky aside, the only people Alex actively enslaved were criminals that were considered unredeemable; Nyx who was a global scale terrorist that threatened pretty much every existing governing faction, the crime lords of Furhen who kidnapped and illegally sold child slaves, and Eri who killed and reanimated several high ranking officials including the king simply because it made things easier for her, though Alex had only applied his slave mark on her to prevent her acting out until he actually decided what to do with her. Lauren's reply actually surprised him as she said,

'You can always remove the slave magic afterwards, I doubt Ehito would try and retake control of them since he would view them as already being disposed of. Applying it for now is just to try and remove their devotion towards him since their thought process is so basic.' After thinking about it for a few seconds Alex decided it was the best idea he had, so he started applying his slave crest to the back of Noint's hand.

As Noint was unconscious there was simply endless darkness around her, it was impossible for them to dream. However in that darkness two figures formed, one her master whom she served faithfully for millennia, and the other was the irregular who defeated her. As she was trying to figure out what was going on, her masters figure started shrinking as it slowly disappeared from her mind.

'Master! Don't leave me!' Noint cried out as Ehito's figured visibly turned its back on her.

'I have no use for a tool that doesn't work, so I'll throw you away now.' Noint started experiencing emotions she never thought possible as the figure of the irregular grew stronger within her. She was a tool, that she knew. It was an inevitability that one day she's no longer be useful, but she would gladly be recycled or destroyed rather than another person using her. As the irregular's figure grew however these feelings changed and, instead of the despicable irregular, she now started seeing him as a new potential master. By the time Ehito's figure vanished completely she couldn't care less, as every fiber of her was fixated on another person.

'My master.' She said as she gazed at Alex with reverence, before suddenly his figure also stared to fade. Noint practically started to panic as she didn't want to lose her new master so quickly.

'Please!' Noint cried out futilely as Alex's figure continued to fade, before it too vanished entirely. As an emptiness she never before felt filled her, Noint couldn't help but wonder what point she had left to live if she had no master to serve, before she suddenly opened her eyes.

"There she is." Alex said out loud as Noint seemed to recover her consciousness. However he seemed mildly concerned as her eyes were even emptier than before after she lost the purpose of her existence. As she slowly sat up, Alex hesitantly asked,

"How are you feeling Noint?" Though it took her a moment she answered with a single word,

"Empty." Alex frowned when he heard her reply and wondered if something went wrong, but before he could ask her anything further Lauren spoke up,

'She's been devoted to something that was suddenly ripped from her and has no experience actually feeling anything, it's not too strange that she'd feel a sense of loss now that it's gone. The other apostles will probably have similar reactions as well.' Though he felt it was an issue, Alex decided that time would help them more than anything and turned his attention towards the rest of the apostles. As he repeated the process he performed on Noint, she stood and started walking towards another place to sit while no one bothered to stop her, they only made sure to keep an eye on her. Slowly but surely the other apostles ended up joining her as well, as Alex finished removing Ehito's influence from them and they felt the exact same sense of loss she did. Having finished with the last one, Alex momentarily ignored the now visible spirit of Laus Barn and made his way over to the depressed apostles while everyone else watched and waited for him to finish with them.

"I suppose it's kinda redundant to ask, but are you all alright?" Noint seemed to be the speaker for the group as she looked up at him and asked,

"What do you think? Everything any of us ever were was stolen from us." Alex nodded in understanding, but then said,

"You could look at it like that, or you could see it as now you can actually be your own people instead of just tools." Noint looked at him like he was an idiot and said,

"We have served Ehito for literally millennium and are responsible for deaths that number in the millions in his name, how can we be anything else? You revealed us and what we've done to world, how can we live with others not despising us?" No matter how horrible it was Noint and the rest of the apostles felt no remorse for anything they did under Ehito's orders, but they knew that they would never be forgiven for their actions regardless of if they apologized or not. Alex was silent for a moment before saying,

"Then how about following us when we leave Tortus?" Noint's look then seemed to turn into anger as she spat out,

"You threw us away though!" Alex signed in response while the rest of the apostles also turned to glare at him. They were created to serve and had done nothing else for millennia, without a master they had no purpose. Alex then explained,

"I don't mind if you want to follow me or call me your master, but I would prefer it if you do so of your own free will instead of my magic binding you. I only actively enslave those who are unredeemable, those who if I killed them it would be too swift and too easy a punishment for their crimes. As far as the blood on your hands, I'll tell you he same thing I told Tio when I freed her from her brainwashing as well; if a man kills your family you don't blame the sword he used, but the man himself. All of the blood on your hands, it's actually on Ehito's hands instead; he created and ordered you to perform such actions, he designed you to be cruel and heartless. The fault never lies in the tool, but the one who wields it." At this point all of the apostles were listening to Alex, and thinking on what he said. They had never considered free will to be an actual concept, just a thing that the lesser mortals made up to comfort themselves in their actions; but now they realized that the decision they were about to make had nothing to do with orders, but of their own free will. As they thought of this and of what Alex told them earlier, Noint was the first person to stand up and face Alex before saying,

"I would like to follow you in the future, but I cannot guarantee that I will want to forever." Alex smiled as he replied,

"As long as you follow our laws then you are always welcome to my country, and if you so choose to leave then as long as you don't endanger those who live there I won't stop you, that's what free will is all about anyways." Though she seemed taken aback at first, Noint then stunned everyone present when she managed a small smile and nodded in return. Following her lead, the rest of the apostles then hurried to put forward their intentions to follow Alex as well. Seeing them all take the first step towards living their own lives, Alex smiled before turning back to a pressing matter as he then said,

"Alright, now that that's taken care of lets get this labyrinth done! To start with, everyone raise your hands if you can see the ghost over there." As he finished speaking Alex pointed towards the phantom spirit of Laus, and was slightly surprised at who's hands went into the air. As the one who wiped out the entire headquarters of the church by herself Kuroka's hand was obviously in the air, but as they fought and helped defeat Noint and the others every one of the gathered Angels had also raised their hands. What surprised everyone however was that Noint and the other apostles also raised their hands as they looked directly at Laus, before answering the question Alex was about to ask,

"No we don't have access to what is referred to as age of gods magic." Alex nodded as he thought for a moment, and theorized,

"It's might be because you were all devoted servants of Ehito and, regardless of how it was done, are no longer his supporters." Knowing the theme of the labyrinth, everyone else couldn't help but think this was the most likely reason why Noint and the others were able to see Laus. After stating his theory Alex then turned towards those who didn't raise their hands, Anne, Grayfia, Rias, Yue, Shia, Tio, Shizuku, Asia, Valerie, Gasper, Hajime, and Kaori before saying,

"I'll go ahead with them while the rest of you decide how you want to proceed. You can try and kill those Kuroka captured and shortcut it, or you can go the long way and undergo the labyrinths real tests. Once we're done I'll return with them to Asora to get Noint and the others set up and to take care of some matters there, we'll wait to return to the kingdom until everyone has passed the tests or given up." Everyone nodded once more while a few like Anne, Asia, Kaori,and Valerie had pale faces from the thought of killing those Kuroka had rounded up; after all killing in the heat of battle was one thing, killing someone in cold blood just to take a shortcut was something else entirely. Alex then turned and led those who were ready as they followed the spirit of Laus, and it led them deeper into the maze like tunnels beneath the church. While they were walking Kuroka came up to Alex's side and clung to his arm while saying,

"Nya, so are you going to try and bring him back like Miledy, or are you just just going to ignore him since he's a guy~Nya?" Alex grimaced at her question and replied,

"His gender has nothing to do with it, but I'm just going to leave him. Unlike Miledy I don't think this is the actual Laus's spirit, but maybe it's like a preprogrammed recording or something? If he did stay behind as well then Miledy probably would have mentioned it when we spoke to her." Kuroka looked thoughtful for a second before nodding in understanding since she didn't detect anything from the spirit to begin with. The Angels didn't say anything as they silently followed, though Irina moved up and seized Alex's other arm with a happy smile on her face as they walked. They didn't really plan on challenging the labyrinths as well, but since they apparently cleared the requirements for this one already then why not take what was offered? Besides of all the age of gods magic, spirit magic might be the most compatible to those related to heaven. Meanwhile the apostles silently followed behind him since, because they made the choice of their own free will, they now largely considered Alex to be their new master. If their master decided to grant them more power, then why should they deny him?

As they followed the spirit they were eventually led to a room similar to the others the liberators left behind, except this one had a stand with a large tome sitting on it. Flipping through the pages one could see that it was a diary kept by Laus when he was alive, but since it mostly just detailed some of the same things they already learned from previous labyrinths no one looked into its contents in detail. Twenty-three people then crowded onto the magic circle present in the middle of the room, before it started the usual process of confirming that they had actually passed the requirements in order to learn Spirit magic, before the notifications dinged in Alex and Kuroka's minds. Once that was done Alex turned towards everyone and said,

"Ok, now that that's done let's return to Asora." While Kuroka and the Angels nodded, Noint asked,

"I was wondering before, but you mentioned that you had a country and a place called Asora, what is that about?" Alex smirk while not answering her question, and instead summoned the mist that surrounded everyone present. Though they retained their calm dispositions when the mist engulfed everyone, the apostles looked visibly shocked when they saw what awaited them when it cleared. Alex was pleased with the surprise on their faces as he said,

"This is Asora." As he spoke Alex gestured towards everything below them, as he moved them to a small mountain overlooking the city. While the apostles were visibly shaken from the land that shouldn't exist, Alex turned towards sister Griselda and said,

"I'll leave them in the Angels hands since you're the most similar to them. I want to focus on getting them settled first before we put them to work." Sister Griselda nodded since the new residents needed to be addressed, and started leading them to where Gabriel was to meet with her while the rest of the Angels dispersed. As Kuroka and Irina also departed, it was just Alex and Noint left as he wanted her to stay behind for something.

"Let's go this way, I have something that I may actually need your help with." He then started leading the cool beauty towards the area that held the few prisoners they had, one of which had been waiting for well over a year from her perspective now to meet Alex, Cattleya. It was also where Eri should have been moved by now so Alex intended to go and talk to her in order to decide what to do with her. Noint was silent as she obediently followed behind him, and eyed everything around them with insatiable interest as they walked. She then asked what the biggest concern on her mind was,

"What is this place?" Alex smiled and answered,

"It's Asora, an entire world tied to my soul. It's where I brought those closest to me to live, as well as those who wanted to get away from the violence or oppression of the world they lived in." He then went on to explain about Asora and those living in it since Noint was now one of its residents, but he never would've expected what she was secretly thinking the more she learned about this place. The more she learned about Asora, the more she couldn't help but compare it to Ehito's divine realm that he resided in. Alex went on to explain some of his potential ideas and possible people that he'd like to recruit to live in Asora someday, not knowing that Noint had already equated his status to that of a god in her mind.

***

Freid Bagwa was pacing back and forth in his room in the castle where the demon race royalty lived. He had just returned from the disaster that was the campaign into the Sea of Trees, and due to the most ridiculous reason, the damn rabbitman tribe. Though he didn't know how many there were, the rabbitmen tribe had singlehandedly turned the tides of battle by assassinating the members of the that he had given control of some monsters to, as well as hundreds of the monsters they brought themselves. As a result they had failed to make any headway towards capturing another labyrinth, a fact that disappointed him greatly. At this thought Freid's mind wandered to that champion of the self proclaimed goddess, and his hands started involuntarily shaking slightly. He still recalled how easily such a person managed to overpower himself and his army of dragons, and worried about how powerful he may had grown since then. His thoughts were disturbed when a messenger arrived for him.

"M-my lord, y-you are needed in the t-throne room!" Though he was about to yell at the messenger for disturbing him, Freid stopped when he heard how shaky the boys voice was and decided to go and see what was wrong. As he arrived in the throne room Freid got his answer almost instantly as his forehead almost immediately hit the floor and he cried out,

"This lowly one greets your divine lordship!" A figure looked down at Freid and said,

"Raise your head my child, for we have matters to discuss." Freid raised his head yet dared not to look directly at the god Aruvhite in front of him. Though he wanted to know what the god wanted of him, he dared not question him and simply awaited his divine decree, something that surprised him a great deal.

"The irregular you spoke of before, he's becoming a great annoyance. We sent our forces to fight him but they were ultimately defeated, so my lord has come up with another idea, a champion of his own!" Freid's heart started pounding as he listened to the gods speech, but when he heard his god mention his lord he couldn't help but ask,

"Your lord?" Aruvhite smiled at Freid's questioning look and answered,

"Yes, the god of gods! The one who rules over all! Such a being has chosen you Freid to fight for him against this champion of the false goddess, will you be his own champion and fight on his behalf?" There was no hesitation in Freid's mind as he declared,

"I will! Please, take me to this god of gods and I will devote myself to whatever he requests of me!" Aruvhite smiled as he summoned the doors to travel to Ehito's divine realm, before he lead Freid to meet directly with Ehito.