Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Uninvited Guest (7)
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1.
A hearty personal insult was followed by a chilling silence.
It might have been less terrifying if she'd exploded in rage.
But the cold, sunken fury gathered in Ea's eyes as she stared intently at Siwoo.
The eerie sensation of a venomous snake slithering across bare skin.
Yet there was no time to waste on fear.
Playing defense was no longer an option.
He'd landed his insult, and with the twins slipping away right under her nose, Ea's wrath would now turn fully on him.
All that remained was to stake his life on one final desperate struggle for survival.
Grip your spear.
"Pierce!"
From one of Siwoo's arms rose a black shadow, forming a massive lance over five meters long.
A cavalry spear crafted solely to impale enemies.
No longer did he need mana to draw out shadows or spare mental energy to establish mobility.
Siwoo lowered his body, aimed the spear, and charged at Ea.
Water Dragon Lizard Step.
A spear of utmost hardness, forged from shadows woven into a dense lattice structure.
Shadows erupted from his back like wings, accelerating his body forward.
The recoil of acceleration shrank his perception of time in an instant.
A headlong rush riding the wind.
The distance to Ea, far off moments ago, closed in a flash.
"I've had enough of that."
Among the dozens of writhing ribbons.
A single ribbon sliced through the air.
Just one ribbon clashed against the spear.
"Ah..."
Siwoo halted in place.
Just three steps.
Three more steps, and the spear tip would have reached Ea.
But.
"After I played around with you a bit, do you think you've accomplished something?"
The spear shattered.
The lance, hardened to its maximum using a lattice structure, split like bamboo at the touch of the ribbon.
The armor encasing his arm flew off from the shockwave, and the hand gripping the spear twisted into an unrecognizable mess.
Without the plate armor and gauntlet, his entire arm would have been torn clean off in the collision.
"Urk... blegh..."
Hot blood surged up from deep in his throat.
The metallic tang filled his mouth, and his vision, already stained red, grew darker.
Siwoo blankly looked down at his hand.
His nails were gone.
His fingers, bent and broken like they'd been caught in factory machinery, might even be knotted if he tried.
Pain?
Was this what they called pain?
No, more than that—human hands could twist like this?
The all-or-nothing resolve he'd squeezed from every fiber of his being shattered against a single ribbon.
The blow from Ea that Siwoo had barely withstood was, to her, little more than a momentary diversion.
The overwhelming gap that had existed from the start now shed its veil of illusion.
He'd known it all along.
He could never reach her.
"Cough! Hack! Gah...!"
Blood burst from his mouth in that instant.
When magic forcibly lost control and collapsed, there was a price to pay.
Siwoo retched, vomiting blood onto the dirt ground.
The pool, spanning the width of a cushion, contained chunks of flesh whose origins he dreaded to identify.
The black armor that had cloaked his body vanished.
All his mana essence was depleted.
His knees buckled, legs stiff as logs, refusing to move an inch.
One ear had been deaf for ages.
His eyes, crusted with blood, wouldn't open properly.
His fingers had morphed into grotesque human artistry.
Each heartbeat thundered like a drum, threatening to split his skull.
Yeah.
This was pretty good.
What slave had ever given an exile this much grief?
Ea walked toward Siwoo with deliberate steps.
She gazed down at him, motionless, with haughty eyes.
"Where did the twins go?"
"I don't kno—"
Without waiting for his answer, the pointed toe of her shoe slammed into the pit of his stomach as he barely managed to lift his torso.
Not even a scream escaped.
It wasn't infused with mana, but the vital strike into his battered state made Siwoo's head spin.
"Ah, seriously. This is pissing me off."
The sound of her grinding teeth echoed above his hunched back.
"I finally had a chance for revenge... and you ruined everything."
Slender fingers seized Siwoo's hair, yanking his head up by force.
"What are you going to do about it? How will you make it up to me? You're making me so mad! I'm going insane!"
Ea's hand caressed Siwoo's cheek.
Her sharp thumbnail slowly dug into his left eye.
The adrenaline that had numbed his pain meant nothing against the agony of his eyeball being gouged.
A grotesque moan leaked from Siwoo's gaping mouth.
"Th... urk... gah... th... ah..."
"Yes, yes, that's cute. Cry even more adorably."
"You... fucking... bitch..."
Siwoo, sensing death, glared at Ea with his one good eye full of venom.
"Honestly, sending you off this easily doesn't sit right with me. But it seems your master is about to return."
Ea's hand withdrew from the socket.
Mashed vitreous humor and blood dripped from her fingertips.
A single ribbon slowly extended toward Siwoo's empty eye socket.
"Now, hold still."
Siwoo sensed death.
The barrier rippled as one person stepped through.
Her hair and clothes were a total mess from her frantic rush—nothing like the usual Amelia.
He thought that for a fleeting moment.
"Siwoo...!"
Amelia's face paled as she spotted Siwoo and Ea amid the anomaly enveloping the mansion.
"Farewell."
The moment Amelia called Siwoo's name, the ribbon—sharpened to a needle point—plunged into his skull as if on cue.
"Ah..."
Blood dripped from Siwoo's open eyes, nose, and mouth connected to his sinuses.
The gushing torrent, like a faucet unleashed, mingled with a slick, transparent fluid.
Final thoughts swirled in his pulverized mind like a deathbed delirium.
Shin Siwoo, the twins beyond the barrier, Sadal Melik wanes past the bounds of fate, I'll cum on your face, I want cola, how does human thirst work, Gehenna's moon is always full, the beauty of creation, mysterious constant pi, 3.14159265355820...3025... what came next? Ah... 152674450, how many digits did I memorize, finally reaching it, the first 999999, Feynman point, whispers, open your eyes, recall memories and sing of freedom, in the world of zero shadows stir once more, burn this body eternally.
Blackout.
"Nice to meet you, Baroness Merrygold."
Ea, having pierced through Siwoo's eye into his brain, tossed his body aside like a ragdoll and spread her arms wide to welcome her long-awaited prey.
2.
She ran, ran, and ran.
Hundreds of particles enveloped Amelia's body.
Amelia shot forward dozens of times faster than with Water Dragon Lizard Step.
An impulse swelled in her chest.
Like centrifugal force growing with each rotation, a single conviction hardened and took root.
"Siwoo... Siwoo... Siwoo...!"
Just murmuring his name.
She wanted to convey this newfound emotion to him.
Thank you, I'm sorry.
And...
She wasn't afraid.
No longer scared.
Anxiety and unease were crushed beneath a swelling warmth, leaving only confidence that she could do this surging in her heart.
With each step touching the ground, countless light particles coalesced and exploded.
Amelia cleaved the sky like a bird.
The mansion came into view.
The one she'd shared with Shin Siwoo lately.
Was he still there?
Had he fled?
Amelia pushed harder.
And saw it.
-Ripple!
For an instant, the flask-shaped barrier around the mansion turned faintly translucent before reverting to transparency.
"Wha...?"
Amelia didn't slow as she raced across the field.
Recognizing the transparent barrier took no effort.
Otherworld Barrier.
A proprietary spell severing the outer and inner worlds.
Its seamless integration—no sense of distortion until it wavered—spoke to its high caliber.
"........."
Dread surged.
Otherworld Barriers were used in the mortal realm to shield witches from trouble.
But this was Gehenna.
No need to hide witch status from exiles, nor minimize homunculus hunts' impact on the mortal world.
So why a barrier on Amelia's mansion?
Someone inside wanted to conceal spellcasting.
"Siwoo...!"
Who in Gehenna would hide magic use?
Exiles.
Those wicked witches of malice.
Amelia's vision darkened.
Regardless, her body hurtled through the air faster than ever.
The mansion beyond the barrier looked normal.
But that was camouflage to hide internal chaos.
Amelia extended her arm; a mass of particles from her fingertips tore into the barrier.
Plunging inside, Amelia beheld a garden ravaged like a typhoon's path.
Ornamental trees uprooted and tumbling, lawns flipped to expose soil.
And an unidentified witch clutching Shin Siwoo.
His state was beyond "miserable"—blood soaked him from head to toe without exception.
"Siwoo...!"
Amelia reached out to cast a spell.
Mana boiled from her womb, gathering like water droplets in her hand.
First, wrest him from that witch's grasp—that was all she could think.
At Amelia's intrusion, Siwoo glanced her way with his remaining eye.
"Farewell."
Before his lips could form words, the ribbon aimed at him speared his head.
Easy as forking a steak, unreal as it pierced his face.
No time to shout stop.
No time to shield him with magic.
As the witch rose, Siwoo dangled limply from the ribbon's tip.
His wretched corpse flew through the air toward Amelia.
Reflexively, she extended her arms and caught him.
"Nice to meet you, Baroness Merrygold."
His body, slick with blood, sweat, and some unknown viscous fluid, filled her embrace.
It twitched like a dying insect.
Foamy blood bubbled from his mouth; his empty socket tangled crushed vitreous, nerves, and vessels.
"Ah... ah... aahhh..."
A horrific nightmare.
Why this?
She hadn't apologized yet.
Hadn't said thank you.
Hadn't told him to come to the mortal realm with her, to stay together from now on.
"W-wait... I-I'll heal... heal you..."
White particles from Amelia's body enveloped Siwoo.
She wasn't versed in healing magic.
No witch, placed here without tools, could mend wounds this grave.
The fluid from his nose and mouth was brain fluid.
The exile's strike had pierced his brain.
Even clutching him, his life ebbed endlessly.
"Ah... ah... why... why now... when I finally have things... to say..."
All she could do was hold him.
Her gossamer dress soaked through with blood.
"I'm Ea Sadal Melik, the witch here to steal your stigma. Perfect timing—I hit a wall in my research and luckily got my hands on your perfume. It should prove quite helpful."
"........."
"You must treasure that slave dearly? Good thing. Right up to the end, he was bawling, 'Baroness Merrygold! Please save me! Baroness Merrygold! It hurts so much!' Pathetic, weeping your name. I should've shown you that sight too."
The trembling in Siwoo's body faded.
Ignoring Ea's prattle, Amelia stroked his cheek.
His pallid face chilled her to the bone, like touching plaster.
Her chest tightened.
The pain of loss strangled her breath, denying even time to dwell on grief.
Once again, like this.
Left alone?
Amelia cradled Siwoo preciously.
The familiar solitude and loneliness bloomed as a single black rose in her heart.
Poison named rage beaded upon it like dew.
With the incantation, azure light began to flow from Amelia's eyes.
Yes.
For Amelia Merrygold, magic was always a poem of tears, composed to mourn the departed.