Chapter 329
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 329
Chapter Title: Hero of the Imperial Family
A pure white inferno, blazing like a star, soared through the Imperial Palace.
Amid that overwhelming sight.
Sigrin, her body nearly burned to a crisp, slumped to the ground in a battered state.
The light was fading from her eyes.
In the end, she realized one final truth.
'...Abella used the Black Witch to brainwash me.'
Even Sigrin, already pushed to her mental limits, wouldn't have acted so recklessly.
She would have made more thorough preparations, at the very least.
But her shattered mind was far too vulnerable to brainwashing.
The intrusion slipped past her loosened defenses, deeply stirring the resentment and rage buried within her soul, ultimately leading to this disastrous end.
"Ha, haha, that bitch..."
Sigrin spat curses as Abella came to mind.
Thinking back, they had only been together because of their shared connection to Arthur.
Sigrin and Abella weren't close at all.
If anything, they were rivals.
Abella's obsession with Arthur was excessive, even in Sigrin's eyes.
She didn't want him looking at any woman but her.
If Arthur hadn't persuaded her, Sigrin would have fought Abella to the death to claim him for herself.
'So this time, she decided to erase me.'
In Sigrin's view, Abella's invasion of the empire had purposes beyond just its destruction.
And her own death was just an added bonus.
With all eyes on the palace, there was even a chance to kill the emperor if luck was on her side.
Realizing this, a hollow laugh escaped Sigrin's lips.
To be used right up to the very end.
What a truly meaningless life.
Thud...
In that moment, footsteps reached her ears.
Sigrin weakly opened her eyes and lifted her head, spotting dark blue hair.
White smoke billowed from Krash's mouth as he approached, dragging the Thunderclap Sword's blade across the floor.
He looked every bit the grim reaper.
Only then did Sigrin realize death was at hand.
She, who had survived to the end even through the world's collapse.
Was she to die here?
No.
That couldn't happen.
I don't want to die yet.
A world where Sigrin Epania dies? Impossible.
Thud...
"Hic, eek!"
Sigrin screamed and flailed upon glimpsing the killing intent in Krash's eyes.
She pushed against the sand-like floor with her charred arms and legs, scrambling to flee.
But Krash pursued her at a steady pace, unperturbed.
Sigrin dragged herself along the ground, desperate to escape.
Yet her limbs had long outlived their use.
Crack...
Her burned arm shattered, slamming her face into the floor.
Covered in ash, she desperately lifted her head using the broken limb.
Thud.
Krash's footsteps stopped.
She slowly turned her head back.
There stood Krash, gazing down at her from shadowed heights.
Terrifying.
He looked ready to sever her neck at any moment.
So Sigrin cast aside her pride, groveling pathetically before him.
"S-sorry. I-I messed up. I was just scared, that's all..."
Krash listened silently.
For several minutes.
"What was it you said back then, Sigrin?"
Krash tapped his temple as if recalling a memory.
Sigrin flinched, looking up at him.
She feared what he might say.
"Ah, right. 'A trash who only knows how to steal!' Something like that."
Krash spoke to her as if the memory had finally surfaced.
Sigrin's face drained of color.
She had already suspected his regression.
But his confirmation in this moment filled her with dread.
Because in the past, she had done countless cruel things to him.
In this cycle, it wasn't so bad.
Their entanglements hadn't bred deep grudges.
But in the previous cycle, even Sigrin shuddered at the memory of how relentlessly she had tormented him.
"Th-that was... I wasn't myself! Y-yeah! Stress or something! I had to become empress, so I had no choice, really, I swear! I wasn't trying to do anything to you, Krash."
"Pfft, ha, hahaha."
Krash burst into laughter.
Sigrin forced a fawning smile to match him.
"N-no, that's not it. Sigrin, that's not what I meant."
Krash slowly stopped laughing and fixed her with his gaze.
"I'm trash who only knows how to steal, just like you said. That's what I wanted to admit."
Sigrin stared up at him blankly.
She couldn't grasp his meaning.
Why admit it now, in this moment?
Terror began to build within her.
His admission frightened her even more.
"So, like the trash you described, I've decided to take everything from you."
"Wh-what?"
Sigrin gaped.
Confusion filled her eyes.
"What from me?"
"First, your secret Sword Light."
Sigrin's body stiffened.
"I'm going to take your Sword Light."
Krash raised his hand.
Black Hood's glow emanated from his grasp, dazzling Sigrin's vision.
She felt something draining from her body.
"St-stop!"
She shrieked and convulsed.
But Krash didn't halt Black Hood.
Squeeze!
As Krash clenched his fist, the light vanished.
Sigrin sensed the emptiness inside her.
It was gone.
Her Sword Light had truly been stolen.
"N-no, no, no, no, no!"
Sigrin clung to Krash's leg with her shattered arm.
"It's mine! The Sword Light is mine! Sorry, give it back. Please, give it back!"
She babbled incoherently, begging him.
Krash knelt, gently stroking her head as he looked down.
"Sigrin, the story isn't over yet. What am I supposed to do with you like this?"
Sigrin looked up at him through tear-streaked eyes.
"I still have so much more to take from you."
"What? Take what?"
"Your position as princess."
Sigrin's body froze.
She gazed up at him, as if asking what he meant.
Krash met her eyes with a radiant smile.
"When this is all over, you'll be a criminal, not a princess. And on top of that, I'm going to steal the empire you so desperately wanted."
"Th-the empire? You? How?"
"You know how. The way you made Arthur emperor."
Sigrin froze, speechless.
Krash had watched it all from the sidelines.
Just as he said, it wasn't impossible for him to become emperor.
It was possible.
With Krash, who had regressed alongside her, it was more than possible.
Overflowingly so.
"Urk, guh, hngh."
Tears poured from Sigrin's eyes like they were aflame.
Knowing her entire life would be stripped away by him, she drowned in terror.
"No. I-I'm Sigrin Epania, the empire's third princess. A princess."
Clank.
In that instant, steel shackles locked around Sigrin's neck.
Imperial Family shackles, engraved with the same effects as those on Mary.
An item Krash had specially obtained from Sizli.
She could no longer defy any Imperial Family command.
Not that she'd be summoned anyway.
A royal's treason was something the Imperial Family desperately wanted to hide.
So they'd blame Ixion, and Sigrin would rot eternally in the deepest dungeon.
Krash would never see her again.
Having forcibly burned away even the White Dragon King's shell, she was no different from a commoner after today.
Especially without her Sword Light.
Nothing remained for Sigrin now.
Visions of crushing solitude and hellish despair loomed before her.
"Sigrin, from your cell in the dungeon, watch with your own eyes as I take everything you'll ever achieve in life."
Sigrin couldn't respond.
Her vacant eyes stared wide, her mouth agape in a daze.
Drip...
The sound of leaking liquid echoed.
Krash glanced down to see Sigrin's skirt soaking yellow.
Her broken mind had lost control of her body.
What a vicious fate.
From their first meeting to this day, despite rolling through battlefields together, Krash had never once opened his heart to her.
Nor had she to him.
Krash gazed at her a moment longer, then turned away.
"It's a relief you stayed true to yourself until the end."
He had taken her Sword Light.
Their tiresome bond was finally severed.
In the distance, the White Dragon Knights approached.
To clean up and wrap things up.
Slash!
It happened then.
As Krash whipped his head around at the sound, Sigrin's head sailed high into the sky.
Thud.
Her head hit the ground and rolled away.
Krash's eyes widened at the sight.
In the distance, Siran approached.
He glanced at Krash before speaking.
"Sigrin Epania valiantly perished fighting Ixion's wicked minions."
Krash understood the implication.
"...So you won't let any disgrace tarnish the Imperial Family."
Sigrin's downfall was already common knowledge among the nobles.
Such rumors sullied the Imperial bloodline.
So they killed her off to serve the family's interests.
Quintessential Imperial Family pragmatism.
"His Majesty the Emperor will bestow great honors upon you. He hopes to maintain close ties with the empire going forward."
That was Sizli's doing, no doubt.
Krash let out a brief sigh.
He had no intention of antagonizing the empire.
For the future, they were needed as a bulwark.
Beings like Ixion and the World Erosion swarms would target the most populated areas first.
In the distance, knights retrieved Sigrin's rolling head.
Even in death, her eyes remained blankly unfocused.
For a princess who had regressed to escape doom and survived to this day.
What an utterly hollow end.