CHAPTER 61
The final chapter of the original novel.
When Ceres died, the one who stayed by his side was Viol.
Because the others didn't even know Ceres was dying. If they had known, they would have done whatever it took to get there.
There was no time to heal him properly, and because Ceres himself desired death, neither Holy Power nor magic worked on him.
Holding the dying Ceres, Viol finally regretted everything, and at that moment, she said something strange.

[The Heavenly God must be furious at us for driving you to your death.]
[The earth shakes as if it will shatter everything.]
[Yes, I would rather everything just shatter. A world without you has no value anyway...]

She only described the situation through her words, so honestly, the depiction was vague.
When I read it back then, I couldn't tell if a real earthquake was happening or if her mind was just so shattered that she was spouting nonsense.
Honestly, even now, I couldn't be entirely sure if this was that earthquake, but the earth was definitely shaking as if it would shatter everything!

"Damn it, where are you?!"
"Over there, Ceres!"

As I stared blankly at the earthquake, I heard familiar voices.
Viol was stumbling around looking for me, but Alios, a supreme master of martial arts, ran stably despite the shaking ground and reached me.

"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but what the hell is going on?" I asked bluntly.
"I don't know either! It must be a natural disaster!"

Alios looked around as if she was just as panicked. Just then.

"Do not step away from the vicinity of the Imperial Palace."

Sibylius elegantly floated through the air, passing the still-stumbling Viol, and approached me.
"I have cast magic around this area to minimize the damage."
"Ah, so that's why it was fine here."

But if that was the case...

"What about the other places?"
"..."

Sibylius silently shifted her gaze elsewhere. Where she looked, buildings were collapsing.

"Ceres, are you safe?!"
"Is Ceres unharmed?!"

Ares and Hames came running right after, but I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to them.

"We have to do something..."
As they hesitated, Red, who had appeared out of nowhere, spoke firmly.
"There is nothing we can do. Even if the Demon King came back to life."

What could a single individual do in the face of a natural disaster?
Red assessed the situation cynically as she spoke, and I couldn't say anything more either.

A short while later.
The earthquake finally ended.

"Call the soldiers! Assemble the army!"

Once the earthquake stopped and she confirmed I was safe, Viol immediately called for the soldiers.

"Protect the entire capital and rescue the injured, hurry!"

She was issuing orders to the soldiers to handle the aftermath as the Emperor, but...

"What is this? Why are there so few of you?"
"...A significant number of us were also hit by the earthquake."

The earthquake hadn't only struck civilians. Naturally, the soldiers were caught in it too, and only those who were uninjured had gathered, so their numbers were few.

"Tch, it can't be helped. Ares! Alios!"

When Viol called their names, both women stepped forward, albeit reluctantly.

"I will try summoning the soldiers from our territory."
"I'll contact my mother."

Both of them temporarily set aside their personal feelings toward Viol.

"However."
"...That's only possible if our side is safe."

Both had the will to help the capital, but they couldn't be certain, as their own territories might have been ruined by the earthquake.

"Hames."
"I will contact the temple."

Hames also headed off somewhere to contact the temple in the capital.

"You two demons over there. Do you have any abilities that could be of help?"
"...Well."
"I can implant a part of myself into humans to enhance them, but..."

Being asked for helpful abilities in the aftermath of an earthquake left both Sibylius and Red at a loss.
I chimed in.

"What should I do?"
"...Don't do anything useless and just stay put. It's going to be a madhouse soon enough anyway," Viol said.
"What?"
"Have your escort knights guard this Imperial Palace."

For now, I did as I was told and had the Death Knights, including Niobe, guard the Imperial Palace.
And a little while later, Viol's prediction hit the mark perfectly.
People swarmed in front of the Imperial Palace like storm clouds.
There were so many it was impossible to count, but they hadn't gathered to ask Emperor Viol to resolve the situation.

"Ceres!"
"Sir Ceres!!"
"Please come out!"

Because the name the people were calling was mine.

"I'm begging you, Sir Cereeess!!"
"Please, heal my son!"
"My dead wife, please revive my dead wife!!!"

The massive number of injured and dead caused by the earthquake. All of them were desperate for my power.

"...This is exactly why we told you not to show off your abilities recklessly." Viol sighed as she looked at the swarming crowd. "In a situation like this, anyone would lose their minds looking for someone with the power of resurrection."
"No, come to think of it, they'd come looking for you just for your existing healing powers."

He shouldn't have been caught having healing abilities in the first place. Alios sighed exactly the same way.
What are you going to do? Both of them looked at me with eyes asking that very question.

"If you want, I can chase them away," Viol offered.
"...A crowd of people so agitated they won't even listen to reason?"
"If words don't work, I'll have to chase them away by force."

"Forget it." I stopped Viol and Alios. And then...
"I'll just try to do as much as I can for now."

I wasn't sure if even I could resolve all of this, but I had to try.

"I contacted the Whiperion territory, and they said there's no significant damage on our end."
"Same for us."

It was a silver lining in the midst of tragedy.
Our Whiperion territory and Alios's side were completely fine. The two women said their soldiers would be coming to help soon.

"Let's try using magic to clear the rubble for now."
"Let's just enhance the humans and let them clear it themselves."

Sibylius and Red also joined in, despite finding the situation tricky.

"I've gathered the priests. They will all join Ceres, and I will treat the injured alongside them as well."

Hames said as she returned. While everyone was managing the aftermath like that, I was also utilizing my healing abilities.
I used my Divine Power just like normal to perfectly heal people. With the priests Hames brought helping out, the environment was easier than usual.
However...

"Sir Ceres, please revive this person!"
"...That's just a wrist?"

The situation progressively worsened.

"Sir Ceres, the injured are asking for Sir Ceres!"
"Even when we tell them we can heal injuries of that level, they keep demanding Sir Ceres!"

Even though the priests were helping me, the people were dissatisfied with them.

"Over here, my family is crushed under there! Hurry..."
"If they are crushed under a building, reviving them means they'll just be crushed again!"

It even reached the insane point where resurrection was impossible due to the terrain.
The earthquake had only lasted a relatively short time, yet it had created a state that was utterly impossible to restore!

"This isn't a situation that can be solved just by healing people."

I pulled back for a moment and consulted my group.
"If we don't clear the buildings and calm the people down, it's going to hinder the healing process too."
"I suppose so. But how do you plan to do that?"

Viol, who had been directing the site, asked dubiously. "Just clearing the rubble alone will take months."
"...Then what if I heal the rubble too?"

When I thought about it and suggested the idea, Sibylius's eyes went wide.
"Is such a thing even possible?"
"I don't know, but I don't think it's impossible either."

If I could heal the undead, why couldn't I heal a building? And if I used it over a wide area like I had done before, I thought I could resolve the situation quickly.
The problem was whether I could master such a high-level technique in a short period.

"Even if it's possible, it will be an incredibly difficult technique."
"Still, since I'm not human, shouldn't it be possible?"

I replied skeptically to a worried Hames, unable to guarantee it myself.
Let's just try it first.
First, I gathered my Divine Power. Then, I expelled it like an orb of light.
I controlled it so it wouldn't harm my group—Red, Sibylius, and Niobe—but the result wasn't good.
It just ordinarily healed their wounds.

Is this not it?
Come to think of it, when I realized how to heal the undead, my mindset had been completely different from the start.
How do you fix a complete object that was never a living creature to begin with?
Wouldn't you have to interfere with something more fundamental that makes up matter?

Since that thought crossed my mind, I pictured the image of touching the 'source.'
Holding that image, I gathered my Divine Power.
I'm touching the source, I'm connecting to it, I've called it forth—with that mindset, I unleashed a massive amount of Divine Power all at once.
Then, my Divine Power shot high up into the sky and grew increasingly massive.
It transformed into the shape of a giant human whose entire body glowed and who had wings on his back.

[You called?]

The figure formed by my Divine Power suddenly spoke to me.
"...Who are you?"

[I am the Heavenly God you just summoned.]