Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Sorry, I wasn't sure how things would pan out, so I needed to keep up the act." Julius' apology was met with a full-body tackle from Dukiel, Anerias, Nessa, and Violina. They collapsed on top of him, making sure to include Zach in their hug but without worsening his injuries.

They had a lot of things they wanted to say to him, but right now, the only thing they could do was hug him a little too tight for comfort. He had been rude and mean when he knocked them out and tied them up. But so what? He had spent two years in the Underworld. He had cut off his own hand and acted like a part of the Underworld while plotting against the Great Ugor.

It wasn't like they weren't used to Monolith knocking them out, and there were worse things than being tied up. The worst of it all had been being forced to watch Zach's familiars fight to the death with the Great Ugor and the Great Ugor strangle Zach. It had been unbearable and the reason they had to knock Soara out.

"Still! Couldn't you have told us anything while we were watching? If you had, we wouldn't have struggled!" Nessa chastised Julius as soon as they were done with the group hug.

Julius shook his head.

"As I said, I wasn't sure how things would unfold. If the Great Ugor survived, I would have needed to trick him into letting down his guard." Violina's eyes widened.

If the Great Ugor had survived in that situation…

"Would you have let Zach die?" Her question didn't beat around the bush.

"..." Julius closed his eyes and tilted his head forward.

"...I'm sorry, but it's possible. This…" He held up the gem. "Is more important than all of our lives," he said.

"If the Great Ugor kept it for much longer or if the anti-underworld potion destroyed it, the consequences would be irreversible," Julius's voice was dead serious as he spoke.

"It's a cornerstone of our world. If it's handled improperly or used incorrectly, what do you think would happen?"

The four looked at the stone in his hand with frowning expressions.

"You're saying that little gemstone is that important?" Anerias asked doubtfully. They were all doubtful.

Julius nodded.

"How do you even know that?" Violina questioned. It wasn't like it was written on the gemstone's back or anything.

"She told me." Julius nodded toward the Daughter's grave.

"It is the physical core of the Underworld, and the Underworld is a vital reflection and aspect of our world. You heard her explanation, right? All the heavy feelings that have nowhere to go in our world go to the Underworld. But what would happen if there was no Underworld?

"The heavy feelings wouldn't go anywhere. They would seep into the ground, filling it with impurities. It might take thousands or tens of thousands of years, but all life would cease. All life is reliant on the ground. It's the cycle of life. If you remove the beginning of the cycle, the rest will soon follow."

Julius' explanation kind of made sense. But the others had trouble believing it. Could the destruction or corruption of one little stone really cause that much damage? Julius saw their expression. He didn't think they would believe him that easily.

"You saw how Jigak grew stronger due to his feelings, right? It's safe to say that he is a physical manifestation of the power of heavy feelings. He grew that strong in just a few decades by harnessing that power. But what if that power was built up over thousands of years and released into the wild? What if all of the liquid underworld energy in this moat was stuffed into people who could handle it and wield it at Jigak's level or beyond and then given a thousand years to train before being unleashed onto the world?"

Those arguments were more convincing. The students knew there were powerful people on the surface who could fight Jigak, but Julius' what-ifs weren't literal.

The surface wouldn't be fighting against physical people. They would be fighting against something similar to a non-physical concept wreaking havoc at the depths of the world, destroying it from within. How would they even begin to do something about that? The students didn't know.

But this was all based on the premise that what Julius first said was true.

"How can you be so sure?" Dukiel asked. The Daughter had told him, but she was dead, so she couldn't confirm that. Even if that part was true, couldn't she have told him to get his help in taking down the Great Ugor?

"I can feel it," Julius said. He looked at the gem resting in his palm. He wasn't holding a gem. He didn't know what he was holding, but it felt like he was holding the world in his hand.

He gave it to the others to try.

"I…don't feel anything," Dukiel said after trying. The other soon echoed him.

Julius frowned. He was about to try and convince them when someone else spoke.

"He's…right," Zach wheezed out. His world essence energy had reacted to the gem. Even now, it was pulling a little in its direction. It wasn't enough for him to covet the gem, and he wouldn't have noticed if not for how sensitive his destroyed body was, but it gave Julius' words some credibility.

The world essence energy being drawn to the gemstone had to mean something. Zach wasn't sure what the world essence energy was or how it worked. But by its name, he could tell it was an energy related to the world as a whole. If the gemstone was a cornerstone of the world, it made sense if they reacted to each other.

The others were silent for a moment. Zach supported Julius, which made it more credible. But how and why did he know whether the gemstone was what Julius said it was?

"Yanael…" Zach raised a weak, skeletal finger in Yanael's direction.

He was tired of hearing them babble. Could they do something important and check on his familiar for him since he was too weak to move? If they wanted, they could even check on him instead of just focusing on the gemstone.

'Greedy brats.' Zach would have shaken his head in disappointment if he could have moved a muscle. Raising that finger was all he had left.