Chapter 307
Chapter 307
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 307
Chapter Title: True Feelings
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Arthur had known for a long time that Krash was quick on the uptake.
She already knew he was skilled at seeing through people.
But she never imagined he could pierce even the things she had deeply buried in her heart, deliberately ignored, and forgotten.
Arthur's face began to flush bright red.
It was embarrassing.
Her deepest shame, which she had hidden away so carefully, had been laid bare, and it mortified her.
At the same time, a torrent of self-loathing and other emotions overwhelmed her.
A desperate urge to flee this place welled up inside her.
She finally realized her own selfishness.
All the things she had done under the pretext of saving the world.
And even with her lover, whom she claimed to love, she had never truly thought of him.
She had only ever acted for herself.
And she could no longer bear the disgust she felt toward herself.
"Let me... let me do it over again."
Perhaps if this had been during her first regression, Arthur might have accepted Krash's advice.
And she might have stood against the world's destruction alongside him, truly loving him.
But after countless regressions, the once radiant Arthur had worn down and eroded, unable to accept her self-disgust.
In the end, the path she chose was escape.
Abandoning Krash, who now knew her shame, and a world marching toward ruin, she would regress.
That way, none of this would ever happen.
She could just do better next time.
That was her conclusion.
Krash stared at Arthur with a blank expression.
And at that moment, Krash realized it too.
That Arthur was already broken beyond repair by her regressions.
Light began to emanate from Arthur's body.
Proof that she had resolved to regress and activated the skill.
Krash's eyes widened in shock.
He had to stop her.
If she left like this, she would be ruined forever in the next regression too.
Even if she chose to regress again in this world.
He couldn't let her regress in this state today.
For her sake, Krash had to prevent her regression no matter what.
"Stop, Arthur! Stop it!"
Krash shouted and grabbed Arthur.
But her eyes were already dead, fixed with resolve as she activated her regression.
"Next time... next time, I'll do better. It's okay. I'll do better next time."
Krash ground his teeth.
He had thought of ways to stop her regressions before but had never used them.
But seeing her now, he realized.
There was no other way.
"Arthur, regression will destroy you completely one day."
So Krash quietly told the regressing Arthur.
"I wanted you to always shine as the radiant Hero King. And I wanted to stand by your side at the end."
Krash looked at Arthur with bitter eyes.
Eyes of someone bidding farewell to their lover.
"So I hope this choice today at least becomes the trigger that changes you."
Arthur's eyes faintly turned toward Krash.
Because she didn't understand what he was saying.
"Arthur Gramalte, from now on, I'm taking your regression."
Arthur's eyes slowly widened.
"From the day I heard about your regression, I've met the conditions for Black Hood. The requirements to steal your regression have already been fulfilled."
"...What?"
Arthur's eyes trembled in bewilderment.
At the same time, Krash's hand began to glow fiercely.
A sign that he was activating Black Hood.
"I'll take the regression. I'll protect the world you couldn't."
Krash's eyes were filled with sincerity.
He truly intended to steal her regression.
Various thoughts flashed through Arthur's mind.
What would be left of her if her regression was taken?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Regression was everything to her now.
The moment it was taken, she would be left empty.
"S-Stop, stop it!"
Arthur felt as if the regression was truly being pulled from her body.
Shivering, she screamed at Krash to stop.
But Krash simply proceeded with using Black Hood.
"From the beginning... were you by my side planning this all along?"
Arthur screamed at Krash in fury.
But Krash gave no answer, merely gazing at her coldly.
Tears welled up in Arthur's eyes.
Her mind couldn't think straight.
Already shattered by self-disgust, her mental state was a wreck.
And now Krash had declared he would take her regression.
It was the final nail in the coffin for her chaotic mind.
Normally, she might have pondered his intentions more.
But she had no room for that now.
In that instant, her thoughts shifted from fleeing via regression to protecting her regression.
If it was taken, all that awaited was struggling and dying in a doomed world.
Then she could never save the world.
She could never fulfill her mission.
"Krash!"
In the end, Arthur shoved Krash away with a shout.
His hand was still activating Black Hood.
If she lost her regression, both she and the world were finished.
With that judgment, she drew her sword from her waist.
The drawn blade thrust straight toward Krash's heart.
A flash of the sword scattered.
Krash, who had mastered Extreme Blood Poison Infusion, was a powerhouse who had operated with the Generation of the Sky.
To end him in one blow, Arthur poured all her power into the strike.
Crack!
Krash couldn't dodge Arthur's full-force attack.
The flash erupting from the sword embedded in his heart tore him apart.
Krunch!
Arthur faced Krash's final expression beyond her thrust sword.
The fragile smile on his face burrowed deep into her mind.
Boom!
The shockwave following Arthur's flash reduced the surroundings to rubble.
Not a single scrap of Krash's body remained there.
Thud—
Arthur collapsed to the ground.
Having killed her lover with her own hands to protect her regression, she stared blankly at her sword.
Not even a drop of Krash's blood stained it.
Her regression could no longer be taken.
She staggered to her feet.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
Unknown emotions tormented her relentlessly.
She couldn't identify what they were.
All she knew was that she had to escape from here.
"Regression... regress..."
If she regressed and changed things again.
As that thought crossed her mind, Krash's final smile resurfaced.
Why was that?
She couldn't regress.
Had he somehow stolen it after all?
No.
Her regression was still clearly inside her.
The reason she couldn't regress was because she felt she shouldn't right now.
Arthur couldn't understand why.
She lifted her head blankly.
Rain began to fall in scattered drops from the sky.
Dark clouds filled the heavens.
She staggered away from the spot.
And she vanished from the world.
Even as the world marched toward destruction.
She watched it blankly, unable to regress.
Whenever she tried to regress, Krash's face always came to mind.
It was a kind of curse.
A curse that prevented her from regressing rashly by bringing Krash to mind every time.
Krash had clearly tried to steal her regression.
He had said himself that he had prepared to take it from the day he learned of it.
Yet even in his dying moments, he had left her with this curse.
"...You bastard."
Arthur cursed Krash.
She hated and despised him for betraying her.
She knew.
Arthur wasn't a fool.
Why Krash had said those things.
Why he had tried to stop her.
And whether he could truly steal her regression, or if it was all an act.
Even knowing all those truths, she had to hate him.
Because that's how she could survive.
Her selfish self could only endure that way.
"You bastard..."
Tears streamed from Arthur's eyes.
A vicious curse bound her.
A curse so vicious it wouldn't lift even if she regressed.
"You should have just taken it. It would have been better if you had."
Arthur sobbed for days, collapsed in place.
Even after countless regressions, this was the first time she had cried like this.
"...I loved you."
To him, of whom not even fragments remained.
"I really did love you."
Answering the question he could no longer hear, of whether she had loved him.
"...So next time, take it from me."
On the day he resolved once more to steal her regression.
So she could hand it over to him.
"Until then, I'll do everything I can."
Arthur resolved to live with all she had.
She, who had wasted years in vain, rose.
She lifted her head.
The White Knight of Conquest was descending from the sky.
This world was surely at its end.
Regression was all that remained.
But to the very end, she refused to regress.
Arthur had to fight desperately until the last moment.
That was Krash's curse and promise.
She hated the curse he left her because she loved him.
Because she was unworthy of standing by his side.
She had to carry this hatred her whole life.
So that on the day he chose differently.
She wouldn't speak of these feelings etched deep in her heart.
May you hate me as much as I hate you.
Arthur raised her holy sword, suppressing her emotions beneath hatred.
The fully awakened holy sword emitted a fierce light.
A light fierce enough to illuminate a world shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
The fog of the sanctuary no longer existed.
For all the remnants of the gods had been absorbed into the holy sword.
Arthur looked up.
To the very end, not a single divine messenger could attack her.
She hurriedly searched for Krash.
Then she froze.
There stood Krash, in a utterly wrecked state.
Krash had already exhausted himself fighting the White Knight of Conquest up ahead.
After a brief rest, he had run for a long stretch before diving straight into battle in the sanctuary.
Surviving was a miracle.
"Krash, you..."
"...Awakened it?"
Krash asked in a voice on the verge of breaking.
Arthur bit her lip hard and held up the awakened holy sword.
"Yes, I can defeat the White Knight of Conquest with this."
Hearing that, Krash let out a long breath and slowly sank to the ground.
"...I'll follow soon. Go on ahead."
His breathing was nearly gone.
Watching him quietly, Arthur bowed her head.
"I'll defeat it."
Arthur shot forward in a flash of light.
It was already far too late, but to protect the world until the end.
She charged to confront the White Knight of Conquest.
Why was it?
After seeing Krash, she missed him more intensely than ever today.