Chapter 459
Chapter 459
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 459
Chapter Title: 2-129. If You've Seen Me Somewhere
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“Come in, Corporal Ronan.”
Ronan stepped into the field tent. The Grand General, dressed in her uniform, greeted him.
Adeshan de Acalusia was staring intently at the operational table that miniaturized the entire battlefield.
Ronan, having wiped the blood and rainwater from his face, asked irritably.
“You're swamped... What is it?”
“Time is short for both of us. I've heard your report—you're the only one who can deal meaningful damage to that monster. I've scrapped all previous plans and drawn up a new one. Cooperate.”
The Grand General explained the new strategy as she spoke.
It was simple and straightforward, but utterly insane.
Rain and explosions continued rumbling beyond the tent.
After listening intently, Ronan let out a hollow laugh.
“This... 'war of attrition' doesn't even cover it. Everyone's just cannon fodder.”
“If you succeed, it won't be cannon fodder.”
“This is madness. You plan to treat the entire legion like a penal unit?”
“I don't care. If they resist, I'll force them with my power. You just focus on reaching the target.”
“That's brutal.”
“Curse me all you want. As long as that monster Ahayute is slain, nothing else matters.”
The Grand General finally lifted her head.
Her eyes, meeting Ronan's, flickered with gray shadows.
Ronan recoiled. She was already using her ability.
Shouts of soldiers charging toward hell echoed beyond the tent.
Ronan, staring back at her silently, nodded.
“Fine, let's give it a shot. I'll be off then.”
“Wait.”
The Grand General's voice halted Ronan's steps.
“Yes?”
He turned. The Grand General was staring at his face as if it were a strategic map.
She tilted her head with a subtle expression before speaking.
“Have you... ever seen me somewhere before? Outside the military, I mean.”
“No.”
Ronan answered sharply. As if.
The only connection between a lowly penal soldier and the empire's great Grand General was some worthless shared hardship.
“...I see. Thank you. Good luck out there.”
“You too, Grand General.”
The conversation ended there.
Ahayute was raining spears of light from high above the distant battlefield.
Each white streak piercing the ground erupted into pillars of light.
Exiting the tent, Ronan muttered under his breath.
“What? She interested in me or something?”
The memories of my first life, now faint like a bell tolling from across the sea.
Why they suddenly resurfaced, I have no idea.
****
I couldn't fathom why Adeshan was here.
In the structure of parallel worlds, she and I shouldn't have crossed paths.
Parallel worlds began after Adeshan died, carrying over to the next realm.
But I had no time for such trivialities.
My heart was fading alongside one woman's life.
“Adeshan, stay with me. Adeshan!”
“Help... me... I can't... move... sob, I can't move...”
“I'll help you. I will... Damn it, why won't the bleeding stop!”
I shouted in frustration.
My head burned so hot I couldn't think straight. I was pressing my palm against Adeshan's abdomen to staunch the blood. I'd managed to stuff her spilled intestines back inside.
“Ah... aah...”
But no matter how hard I pressed, the bleeding wouldn't stop. The blood gushing between my fingers burned like tears.
Adeshan mumbled deliriously, barely aware of my presence.
“Who... who's holding me? So cold...”
“It's me, Adeshan. Ronan's here.”
“Ah, I can't see anything... can't hear... sob, I don't want to die...”
“You won't die. Don't worry. You'll live and go home.”
I gripped her hand as I spoke. It was ice-cold. Her pale, corpse-like hand held no warmth. I rubbed my cheek against the back of her hand, repeating.
“Please.”
Her thighs above the knees were bound with strips torn from clothing.
That was why she still breathed. Her beautiful, slender legs that turned heads were gone, reduced to rotting flesh.
I knew it. This was a fatal wound. Even if she survived by some miracle, she'd live in agony forever.
“Please. God, if you exist.”
For the first time, I prayed. I needed a miracle now.
Adeshan's breathing grew fainter. She was already dipping her toes into the river to the afterlife.
Suddenly, a flash of hope struck me.
“Right, this!”
I frantically rummaged through my coat pocket like a madman.
Soon, my hand emerged clutching three ugly stone fragments. Seniel's shards. They had lost their glow since blocking Akasha's ambush, but it didn't matter.
I placed them on Adeshan's abdomen.
“Heal her.”
The same method I'd used to heal the emperor in the second parallel world.
The dying emperor had regained his vigor instantly from Seniel's life force.
Staring between Adeshan and the shards, I bellowed.
“Heal her, you stupid rocks!”
A flock of crows took startled flight.
But Seniel's shards remained silent no matter how long I waited.
“You've worked fine until now. Why silent now?”
I picked up the shards with trembling hands. No life force at all. The star spirit's vessel had become mere stones.
“Huff... huff...!”
I couldn't breathe properly. Without this, there was no saving Adeshan. Blood seeped anew from her abdomen. Her lips trembled.
“There...”
“Adeshan?”
“If someone's there... one request... haa, please... grant it...”
Her half-closed eyelids gazed at the sky, not me.
She shakily raised her left arm, touching her neck.
“My father's... in Lundalian... the dog tag around my neck... please deliver it...”
“No.”
“He's alone... so pitiful... if you can, tell him I'm sorry... cough! Cough!”
“Adeshan!”
She coughed violently mid-sentence.
Blood surged from her mouth and wounds. I hurled the Seniel shards aside and embraced her. Even in contact, her heartbeat was faint.
As I stroked her hair, gritting my teeth to the breaking point—
『A worthless life still clings on, does it?』
A low, deep voice resounded from above.
Every crow on the battlefield took flight at once. Thousands of black feathers danced down.
The familiar baritone chilled me to the bone. The hairs on my neck stood on end.
Still holding Adeshan, I looked up.
A four-winged giant gazed down from the distant sky.
『Ahayute shall execute judgment.』
His massive wings scattered clouds with gale-force winds.
It was definitely the Ahayute I knew. I'd killed him four times across the original and parallel worlds. Why he was here was a mystery, but irrelevant now.
Blood boiled in my veins like molten steel.
“You bastard.”
He was the one who did this to Adeshan. I gripped my hilt, drawing the blood-red blade. Killing trash like him would take a fraction of a second. Light particles gathered in Ahayute's grasp, forming a spear.
As I moved to end the bald fool—
Boom—!
Ahayute's body exploded mid-air.
“What?”
『This is...』
The severed head gasped in shock.
It happened in an instant. His enormous, sturdy body dissolved into blue liquid. Like a bomb had detonated inside.
Before Ahayute could utter another word—
Boom—!
His tumbling head exploded like his torso.
“What...!”
My eyes widened. Giant's blood poured down like a torrent.
I spread my coat like an umbrella, shielding Adeshan. As the patter of blood droplets faded—
I sensed movement behind me and whipped around fiercely.
“What the hell are you doing!”
My blade arced in a crescent. The reddened edge primed to unleash sword energy at the intruder.
Then I saw it. My lungs gasped in shock.
“You.”
I forgot how to speak.
The most suspicious figure, yet no energy fired.
Akasha, whom I'd thought dead, stood there.
“Akasha.”
『......』
Silence fell. He stood about ten paces away, watching us.
His masked head intact. Severed limbs regenerated. His pristine cloak suggested full recovery.
‘...Hasn't he gotten smaller?’
But his size had changed. His eye level, once towering over me, now reached my chest. If my eyes weren't deceiving me, he'd shrunk.
My mind went blank. No clue what happened, and we couldn't fight anyway. Despite shrinking, he felt far stronger than our last clash.
Steadying my breath, I spoke.
“Did you... take down Ahayute?”
Akasha didn't answer. Blue blood now drifted like mist.
Tension mounted in our standoff—
“Cough! Hack!”
“Adeshan.”
Adeshan suddenly vomited blood clots. It sounded dire. The dark red mass looked dangerous. Forgetting Akasha momentarily, I checked her.
Delirium spilled from her cracked, dry lips.
“The north... I've never... monster in the world...”
“No. Hang on.”
“Cold... wildflowers bloom and wilt... Grand General... still... huff.”
This was bad. Death approached. I gently adjusted her position, urging her to hold on.
Something sharp poked my back.
『■■.』
“What?”
I turned, eyebrows shooting up.
Akasha had closed in during that instant. I had to bow to meet his mask. Like a beggar blessing the faithful, he extended his right palm toward me.
“Seniel?”
On his bony palm lay the three Seniel shards I'd discarded. They looked even uglier there.
“Why do you have...”
For some reason, no malice emanated from him. He seemed to be offering them. Instinctively, I reached out and took the shards. Lightning-fast, Akasha's other hand seized mine.
“Damn it! What the hell?!”
I yanked back in panic, but he held firm. His other hand clamped my fist like shackles. As I drew my sword for a slash—
Blinding light erupted from Akasha's hands.
“Argh!”
My eyes slammed shut. The brilliance was unavoidable. Squinting, I gasped.
Prismatic light warped the surrounding space. But the true shock was the power's source.
“Life force...!”
The strongest I'd ever witnessed swirled around us.
Even full-powered Seniel couldn't match this. Enough to birth a new star. My wounds from fighting Akasha were long gone.
Suddenly, I realized: Akasha was unleashing all the life force he'd absorbed wandering parallel worlds.
“Damn it, what are you trying to do?”
I couldn't predict.
Suddenly, space normalized. Light vanished. The residual shockwave rippled across the battlefield like pond waves.
“Ugh.”
The shift unbalanced me. Akasha's grip kept me upright.
Adeshan lay gasping, somewhat improved but death's shadow lingered.
As my vision steadied—
“Do what must be done.”
A human voice emerged from beneath Akasha's mask.
“What.”
My body froze. A voice beautiful enough to bloom flowers. Before I could reply, Akasha released my hand and stepped back.
“......Did you just speak?”
No answer. He nodded farewell-like, then shot skyward like a black bullet. A rift tore open just before the clouds.
In the monochrome world, giants' wingbeats echoed. As Akasha vanished into the rift, blue blood gushed.
The rift sealed.
“Do what must be done...?”
I muttered dumbly.
I couldn't grasp the situation. Suddenly, something foreign in my gripped hand. I opened my palm.
And realized.
“...Ah.”
This was the first world.
Before everything began.
The world where the Grand General hadn't tasted death, untouched by any regression.
“Damn it, for real.”
The puzzle in my head clicked rapidly. Why Akasha hoarded life force so desperately. Why so much power was needed.
I wiped my blurred vision with my sleeve and looked at my palm again.
In place of the three shards lay a single blue orb.
“So this is how it happened?”
First time seeing the real thing.
I knew its purpose.
I placed the orb in my mouth and approached Adeshan.
“Haa... haaa...”
She was still dying.
But influenced by the life force during its creation, her face looked more at peace.
Kneeling on one knee, I kissed her.
“Mm...!”
I pushed the orb in. Her white throat bobbed.
Swallowing it, Adeshan began coughing.
“Cough! Cough!”
“Adeshan.”
Blinking at the sky, I pressed my forehead to hers and continued.
“What you just swallowed... it's an orb that turns back time.”