She Was Dead
Before I knew it, I had grown accustomed to the daily routine of being tamed.
I learned how to avoid crossing her, yielding to the affection she demanded so my mana would never starve, all while quietly teasing out pieces of information about this world whenever the chance arose.
One evening, we were sitting together on the sofa in her quarters while she sipped her tea. Cold moonlight filtered through the window, casting long, pale shadows across the floor. Watching her hair as she leaned her head against my shoulder, I eased into my usual routine of gathering intelligence.
"Ella... why are you so obsessed with possessing me?"
She quietly set down her teacup, gazing out at the moonlight with a wistful expression before answering.
"Being a spiritist... is an innate talent. You have to be born with it. Because the types of spirits one can summon are virtually limitless, a single spiritist can fulfill every role alone—vanguard, rearguard, even healing. ...But it comes with a fatal price."
Her voice dropped to a low, chilling murmur.
"Every spiritist shares the same fatal emotional defect. No matter how hard we try, we can never experience true love for another person."
She clasped my hand tightly and looked up at me, her eyes ablaze with an intense, suffocating longing.
"That day in the plaza, the moment I saw you manifest... for the very first time in my life, I felt the emotion called love. It wasn't just because of your handsome face. It was simply that my soul and my mana were screaming it aloud: that you were my fated partner..."
Not because of my appearance, but because her mana itself had called out to me.
Knowing that Yeonwoo and Ella were both spiritists, I had suspected there was some underlying connection. While I now understood that spiritists were instinctively drawn to me, it seemed Ella didn't know the exact mechanics behind it either.
A few days passed. It was just two days before the grand expedition to the Tower.
Thinking this might be my last chance, I asked Ella to let me see Yeonwoo in the underground dungeon. She hesitated for a moment, but seeing the grim resolve in my eyes, she finally relented.
Her steady footsteps echoed as she led me down into the subterranean depths.
It was there that, for the first time in my life, I truly understood the stench of blood. I finally understood why people called it a sickening, metallic reek.
"Mm..." Ella hummed lightly under her breath.
With every step down the stairs, the foul odor grew thicker. Dark forebodings churned through the corners of my mind. When we reached the solitary confinement cells on the third basement level, I peered through the iron bars.
My heart plummeted into an abyss.
Yeonwoo was shackled to the stone wall by long iron chains, her limp arms trailing against the ground. Her head hung deep against her chest, slumping motionlessly against the wall. Matted, damp hair covered her face completely, hiding whatever expression she had worn in her final moments.
"Yeonwoo...! Yeonwoo, wake up!"
I gripped the iron bars, shouting her name like a madman.
There was no answer. Not the faintest twitch of movement.
Beside me, Ella knitted her brows and muttered casually, as if remarking on nothing of consequence:
"What... is she dead?"
My pupils dilated, trembling uncontrollably.
No. It can't be.
Pleading that it wasn't true, every muscle in my body seized rigid.
"Yeonwoo...! Yeonwoo! Answer me!"
I screamed her name until my throat burned raw.
"Tsk..."
Ella clicked her tongue, then barked at a nearby guard.
"Did you idiots not feed her on schedule like I ordered? Why is the prisoner dead?!"
The guard stammered in panic, flustered and trembling. "Th-That is... Captain, it seemed you despised this spiritist so much, we thought we should take the initiative..."
"Haah... you're all so utterly useless."
Ella glanced sideways at me, scolding the soldier in a performative display of displeasure before waving her hand dismissively.
"Tsk, what bad luck. Clear out the corpse and clean this up at once."
I could do nothing.
Exploding in rage or rebelling here would only bring down her Torture Magic, forcing me to my knees in agony. Clenching my fists against the crushing helplessness, I forced my mind to work.
The guard unlocked the iron door and unfastened the shackles from Yeonwoo's wrists.
Thud...
Her limp, cold body collapsed against the damp floor. The guard grabbed her by the ankles, preparing to drag her out like a discarded sack of garbage.
Blood rushed to my head.
My sanity teetered on the brink of snapping, but I gritted my teeth and swallowed the fury.
"Wait."
I glared at Ella.
Instantly expanding my spirit form, I surged forward. My blue smoke billowed outward, enveloping Yeonwoo's cold remains and drawing her body deep into the core of my mist.
With a soft hiss, she vanished within me.
Ella narrowed her eyes. "My dear Spirit? What do you think you're doing?"
Refusing to back down, I met her gaze evenly.
"...I will bury this child myself."
Perhaps she read the murderous intent simmering behind my eyes. Deciding this was one concession she could afford to make, Ella sighed and gave a light nod.
"Fine. Have it your way."
...
"And... you're coming to the market with me right now."
"The market? Whatever for?"
"I need chemical agents to prevent her body from decomposing. You can grant me at least that much, can't you?"
Exhaling an irritated breath, Ella decided there was no need to visit the market in person. She raised a hand to her ear, activating a short-range communication spell to contact her secretary.
"Woohyeok, come down to the third basement level immediately... My dear Spirit, tell him what you need."
Even centuries ago, when I was obsessed with arcane magical research that no one understood, I had retained a fundamental grasp of modern science and chemistry. Without hesitation, I rattled off the compounds:
"Formaldehyde, methanol, and eosin... Procure those immediately."
They were the essential agents for embalming and tissue preservation.
"Did you get all that?" Ella asked through the channel.
"I will procure them and deliver them up as quickly as possible, Captain."
With that curt reply, the connection severed.
"Most of the world's greatest miracles and rarest magical phenomena happen inside the Tower."
I had never forgotten the words Yeonwoo shared with me when we first met. A miracle capable of resurrecting the dead was impossible within the bounds of modern science, nor could it be accomplished with my shallow magical knowledge. But within that Tower, where every wonder of the world converged, I might just find a sliver of hope to bring her back.
I swore to myself, again and again, that I would revive her.
Two days later, the dawn of the grand expedition to the Tower arrived.
"Waaaahhh!"
"Hey! Make sure you reach the thirty-third floor this time!"
The entire city of Raul was engulfed in feverish excitement. Endless crowds lined both sides of the thoroughfare, showering the marching Magic Law Enforcers with deafening cheers and blessings.
"Why are people so enthusiastic?" I asked. "It's just an expedition to conquer the Tower."
Ella, leaning comfortably against my shoulder as we walked, offered a fond smile.
"Because clearing the Tower brings immense prosperity to this city—no, to the entire world. Wonders that defy common sense happen inside the Tower all the time."
According to her, even floors that had already been cleared required continuous subjugation.
"Once a floor is conquered for the first time, the boss monster ruling that domain is drastically weakened."
"The boss monster?"
"Yes. Monsters are classified from E-Rank to S-Rank, and high-tier monsters of A-Rank and above possess intellect and reasoning comparable to humans. But once they are defeated, they are permanently degraded to B-Rank or lower, losing their sentience entirely. That makes subsequent raids far easier."
Listening to her explanation from the head of the enforcement column, we soon arrived directly in front of the colossal monument looming over the heart of the city.
...What on earth is this?
The Tower rising before my eyes bore no resemblance to the medieval stone spire I had envisioned. If anything, it resembled a futuristic megastructure far more advanced than the technology of the world I had lived in centuries ago.
It was impossibly thin, almost two-dimensional like a sheet of paper, yet its height stretched endlessly into the heavens until it pierced the sky. Its silhouette formed a sharp, crystalline rhombus, and its entire surface rippled with a blinding, ethereal blue luminescence.
That countless monsters and vast, sprawling environments could exist inside such a wafer-thin, planar monolith was completely beyond human comprehension of spatial geometry.
Ella stepped to the very vanguard of the formation, raising her blade high as she launched into a rousing address to kindle the enforcers' morale. Her commanding presence set their spirits blazing.
Meanwhile, my eyes scanned the densely packed crowd.
Suddenly, something intensely familiar caught the corner of my vision.
...!
Parting the sea of onlookers was a figure clad in leather armor engraved with a recognizable crest, wearing a distinctly rugged uniform.
There was no mistaking that attire and emblem.
It was identical to the gear worn by the man who had ambushed me hundreds of years ago.
And right now, standing amidst the throng, that very man was staring straight at me.
"That's...!"
I pivoted, lunging toward the crowd.
"My dear Spirit! Where are you going? We're departing right now!"
"Wait—!"
Before I could finish my sentence, Ella caught me by the arm and pulled me forward, dragging me straight through the threshold of the Tower.