Chapter 169: The Girl Who Crossed Time, From the Future of the Great War?
The phrase "final battle between gods and humans" seems straightforward to understand.
It means the gods and humans are at war, engaged in what might be the ultimate final battle.
But how could humans possibly wage war against the gods? It's completely impossible.
Wait, that might not be entirely true.
The attacks of those mechanical lifeforms bear a striking resemblance to human weapons.
Could it be that humans created these mechanical lifeforms? And then started a war with the gods?
But do humans currently possess such power? That's simply impossible.
Then, looking at it from another angle, could it be that the mechanical lifeforms provided humans with technology, allowing them to obtain powerful armed forces?
Then, they instigated or secretly manipulated humans into starting a war with the gods?
This possibility seems quite high.
But currently, no war has broken out, and yet the other party's behavior suggests they're already in the midst of a great war. There couldn't possibly be no signs at all.
So, Sona suddenly thought of one possibility.
"It's the future!"
Rias and she said it simultaneously.
"In other words, they triggered a war between humans and gods in the future."
Akeno found it hard to imagine that humans could actually oppose the gods.
Although since ancient times, there have indeed been special individuals capable of confronting gods, those were rare exceptions.
The current speculation suggests that the entire human civilization achieved tremendous advancement, enabling them to wage war against the gods—it's simply unimaginable.
"If that's the case, then things are really not looking good"
Sona's expression also turned grave.
Because the gods cannot exist without humanity. Once humans disappear, the gods would essentially be doomed, as the primary reason for the gods' existence is human faith.
Of course, this doesn't mean forces like devils and fallen angels would remain unaffected. As long as they belong to mythological systems, they would all be impacted to some extent.
If humanity were to perish, all mythological systems would suffer tremendous shocks.
And that Moon King of [Rahu Seven Luminaries] mentioned that King Solomon died in the future's Final Battle Between Gods and Humans?
Doesn't this mean King Solomon ultimately became an enemy of the gods?
"Wait, something's wrong"
Sona noticed the problem.
If that was the future, then why was the Moon King of [Rahu's Seven Luminaries] so shocked?
Weren't they initially trying to capture King Solomon? They knew he was alive.
Later, after pulling him into that strange otherworldly space, they seemed shocked about King Solomon, saying he should be dead—this was clearly contradictory.
It should be like this: before being pulled into that space, the Moon King's understanding was that King Solomon shouldn't be that powerful yet, unable to transform into that demon god-like form.
Therefore, they were shocked that King Solomon in this era shouldn't possess the abilities of the future King Solomon.
It's like the [Rahu's Seven Luminaries] traveled to the past, and King Solomon, who should have died in the future, also traveled to the past and merged with his past self.
That's probably why the Moon King of [Rahu's Seven Luminaries] was so shocked.
So, Sona shared this speculation with Rias.
"So you're saying that girl beside the church's holy sword user is actually from the future, and her purpose is to prevent the conflict between humanity and the gods, right?"
It was precisely because humans and gods went to war that the otherworld mechanical lifeforms found an opportunity to invade.
"If she really is from the future, it's not certain she can prevent the so-called Final Battle Between Gods and Humans"
The person who suddenly said this was Yuuto Kiba.
"How so?"
Rias asked.
"Time paradox"
"I see"
Sona understood without needing further explanation from Kiba.
Actually, everyone else immediately grasped it too.
No—
"What does that mean?"
Koneko didn't quite understand.
"Let me use an analogy: if someone travels to the past to kill their own ancestor and succeeds, then the question arises—since the ancestor was killed, there wouldn't be their future self, meaning the time travel never happened. But if the time travel never occurred, then isn't their ancestor still alive?"
"Huh?"
Koneko was stunned for a moment, only realizing after a while that this problem seemed unsolvable.
"Wait, I've seen movies with similar plots, but weren't they successful?"
"You know those are just movies—who can prove whether they're real? And if successful, there's actually another hypothesis—that they're no longer in the original world but have gone to an identical parallel world where the so-called ancestor doesn't exist, while the original world remains completely unchanged"
Sona further explained this.
So, assuming that girl really is from the future, is the world they're currently in a parallel world from the girl's perspective?
If that were not the case, it would mean the girl had truly traveled back in time, and all subsequent actions were merely repeating a history that had already occurred.
Since it was a repeated history, wouldn't these events be conveyed to the future version of the girl once the timeline reached that point?
Perhaps something happened that prevented these records from being preserved and transmitted to the future girl.
Alternatively, when the girl traveled to the past—this era—her memories might have been compromised or other issues arose.
However, these were currently just personal speculations. Only by contacting that girl could the truth be understood.
Of course, there was another way to learn the truth—by directly asking him.
"Perhaps we should have forcibly taken that girl from the Church's hands back then," Akeno sighed as she spoke.
"No, leaving her with them to convey the message about the otherworld's invasion is fine," Sona felt this was acceptable, as it would avoid the headache of his identity being exposed.
"Additionally, I hope we don't tell him about this girl," she then proposed, which left Rias stunned.
"What do you mean, Sona?"
"He forbade us from revealing his identity, not even to my sister or Sirzechs-sama. This might mean he doesn't trust these two. So, Rias, do you understand?" Sona's words caused Rias's expression to shift slightly.
If he didn't trust them, did that mean the two might become enemies in the future?
"Would my brother be his enemy?" If so, would she have to oppose her brother when the time came?
"It's not necessarily that scenario. There's another possibility, Rias," Sona believed it was this situation.
That is, something might happen in the future that her sister and Rias's brother would need to face.
If they were informed about him now, it would be equivalent to altering the future, potentially preventing a certain outcome from occurring.
And the arrival of [Rahu's Seven Luminaries] in the past might be precisely to disrupt something in the future that threatened them.
Therefore, Sona felt uneasy about what her sister and Rias's brother might have to endure to ensure history proceeded normally—something that could cost them dearly.
For example, the price of their lives.
Thus, it wasn't that he distrusted her sister and Rias's brother, but rather that he might need the two, unaware of the truth, to pay some price.
This was why Sona proposed not informing him about the girl who might have traveled through time to this world.
Concealing this wasn't betrayal; the thought of betrayal never crossed her mind.
It was purely an act of concern for her family.
Perhaps the consequences would amount to betrayal, but this kind of betrayal differed from the ideological aversion to betrayal she held.
Besides, these were all speculations.
Due to insufficient information, her familial emotions overshadowed her sense of loyalty.