Chapter 11

The witch’s voice was right behind me.

So close it was practically in my ear.

If I fought back, she’d go after the children.

The ones who couldn’t even use magic weren’t going to help me now.

“I surrender.”

I raised both hands to show it.

If I pissed her off now, everything would be over.

Damn it. I had no idea this was that kind of room.

Besides, my mother was probably here too. Did I really have time to be standing around like this?

Maybe...

There could even be someone stronger than the witch.

It was a perfectly plausible theory.

“Oh, how boring. We could dance together, you know. How about one song?”

Fssss—

The witch’s hand touched my shoulder.

Frost clung to it, then crawled upward along the grain of my body.

Hold on...

This was still bearable.

The chill reached my fingers, and just as my sensation began to fade...

Snap.

“Boring.”

The witch flicked her finger, and the frost swallowing my body vanished at once.

If this had been back then, I wouldn’t even have been able to look her in the eye...

I felt filthy.

Not just filthy, but like I’d been dumped headfirst into a sewer.

Should I fight?

No. Not when the children behind me were at stake.

Then what am I supposed to do...?

“You seem to be thinking hard. Well, you should at least be punished for trying to run, don’t you think?”

I flinched.

Sharp ice filled my vision.

I should have reacted, but the attack had been too sudden, and my body moved too slowly.

Fuck! This miserable body!

“Jayeon...!!”

Thud—

Yehwa dashed in and shoved me aside in an instant.

When had she started running?

When the ice first appeared?

Could Yehwa really move that fast?

That thought lasted only a second.

Then the sight I never wanted to imagine unfolded right in front of me.

“What!”

Smack—!

Yehwa’s arms and legs were pierced by ice spears.

“Tsk. I was aiming for the cat, but I hit a lizard instead.”

The witch tilted her head, sounding disappointed.

“Why?”

Yehwa seemed unfazed by the pain.

She gave me a faint smile.

“I-I can protect you too. Run...”

“What are you—?”

Thud—

Ice drove straight through Yehwa’s lung.

“Now then, it’s time for the noisy lizard to exit the stage.”

The witch laughed in delight.

This is funny to you?

The child who had given me my first real smile.

The child who was only twelve years old.

Was bleeding out and closing her eyes in front of me right now.

My first disciple.

A precious friend I had gained in this life.

“N-no.”

Are you taking someone precious from me again, right in front of my face?

Why?

I tried to go to Yehwa, but ice erupted from the witch’s body and blocked me off.

My hand, reaching forward by sheer will, froze solid and wouldn’t move an inch.

“Our little kitten. Now that the nuisance is gone, it’s time you got your punishment from big sister.”

The witch’s fingers, horribly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠disgusting, touched my chest.

White frost spread over my breastbone.

I wanted to cut that hand off right this instant.

At some point, I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my head.

It was as if a second heart had been born inside my skull.

Thump.

Yehwa’s face and my father’s seemed to overlap.

I had to save them. Had to protect them.

But how?

Thump.

My vision tangled, and the witch’s face overlapped with the Demon King’s.

Kill her, it said. I had to kill her.

But could I even do that now?

I have to.

Find it. Find a way.

Past life or present life, it didn’t matter.

Rake through every memory I had.

Find it.

Thump.

“Haa, haa...”

My mind was working so hard it felt like my head might split open.

Heat surged through my whole body.

I was so hot that I felt like I’d suffocate if I didn’t keep breathing out.

The breath spilling from my mouth melted the frost around me and turned to steam.

The witch just mocked me for it.

She did not see me as an opponent worth taking seriously.

Coldness gathered again around the melted frost.

“Oh? Our kitten’s doing something cute again? What is it this time? Going to show me a little magic trick?”

Shut up...

Thump.

The Demon King’s voice rang out.

If you, Sword God, had been an elf...

Would it have been different?

Shut up. I was an elf now.

And nothing changed anyway.

This wasn’t it.

Give me another memory.

I heard my own voice from long ago.

Is it true that Awakening can only happen at twenty?

It was a question I had once asked my mother in my previous life.

Why was this coming up now...?

Mostly, yes.

Mostly? Then there were people who weren’t like that?

Why was I remembering this?

It was just a normal conversation about history.

There was. The first Awakened one was like that. Once at fifteen. Once at twenty. They went through Awakening twice in total.

Ah. Right. That was what she had been trying to tell me.

Twice? How?

Well, that person was...

The idea that Awakening could only happen at twenty was something that applied only to ordinary people.

They were a regressor.

The recollection ended in an instant, and my vision snapped back to normal.

The heartbeat pounding inside my skull disappeared.

So that was it. My work here was done.

The experience granted only to those who had been given two lives.

Partial Awakening.

I knew the method that could forcibly draw it out.

From the moment I was born, I had already used it once.

I lowered my consciousness. My essence.

A world flooded with red blood.

Within it, I searched for the power I needed.

Found it.

At that very moment, a familiar voice filled my head.

Fwoooosh—!

My mana turned red and spread outward through the air.

My remaining lifespan was being shaved away. My limbs grew.

Unlike back when my lifespan had been spent and I’d turned into an old man, this time my body was undeniably that of an adult.

An overwhelming current wrapped around my entire body.

A sense of omnipotence twisted through my head.

“Haaa... now that feels better.”

Crack. Crack.

An all-too-familiar height. An all-too-familiar sensation.

I rolled my neck a few times and looked at the witch beside me.

So this was what a nobody looked like.

“Ki...tten?”

“Shut up.”

I was still taking it in.

Yes. This was it.

This feeling of talent flooding every part of my body.

My vision widened, and the familiar world filled my sight.

I could see the thin lines of the system binding me.

Should I cut them?

No. Not yet.

What needed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be cut now wasn’t that.

It was her.

“D-don’t look down on me!”

The witch flung her white hair behind her and attacked.

Should I kill her?

Yes. Let’s kill her.

***

He changed.

He had looked strong enough for a kid, but he had never been my equal.

He was just a brat.

But now things were different.

At some point,

the little brat’s whole atmosphere had changed all at once.

No, even his appearance had changed.

He had grown taller. His body had developed.

He had suddenly matured.

Almost like someone who had gone through Awakening.

But that’s impossible, isn’t it? He’s a twelve-year-old kid.

And not just any one, either.

It was him.

That being I had seen long, long ago.

A being whose mere approach turned everything into meat.

The being who radiated a suffocating aura.

The Sword God.

There was no way that brat was the Sword God. A hundred years. A hundred years.

Then what was this unease?

Why did it feel like my own guess was right?

Wait...

What was the Sword God’s name again...?

Jayeon. Right, that was definitely it.

The same name as that brat.

No, that couldn’t be.

The Sword God couldn’t be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here.

That person was dead.

The aura leaking from him was nothing more than a last blaze of madness before death.

His appearance had only changed because he was burning through his final strength.

That had to be it. Things like Awakening only existed in comics.

They didn’t happen in reality.

“Ki...tten?”

“Shut up.”

“What?”

Something was different. The atmosphere was definitely different from a moment ago.

Before, there had been a trace of defiance in his eyes, and that had made him fun to torment.

Now?

He’s looking at me like I’m trash.

It was the same look I had seen from the Sword God a hundred years ago.

Trash. Not even worth killing.

That cold look still came to me in dreams and tormented me.

I couldn’t accept it.

If I ran away now, nothing would be any different from then.

“Y-you...! D-don’t look down on me!!”

I hurled ice formations at the brat.

“I’ll turn you into a pincushion, just like that dragonian!!”

An ill-mannered toy needed to be disciplined.

That was what I thought.

But...

Fssss—

All my ice formations turned to powder at a single gesture,

and the thought I had been holding onto crumbled with them.

“W-what the hell! Y-you, what are you!! What are you saying!! This can’t be real!!”

“Be quiet. She’s a kid.”

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠voice came from right behind me.

What? Since when? He was definitely in front of me.

“H-how...?”

The brat had slipped out of my sight and was now standing with his hand on top of the dragonian girl’s head.

The ice I had driven into the girl had vanished without a trace.

He cradled the blood-soaked dragonian in his arms and flicked his fingers.

“You’re done now. Leave.”

“What?”

Swish—

My vision flipped over.

The ceiling rushed closer.

Huh? Had my body just gone up?

No.

That wasn’t it.

I could see my own body.

Why am I over there?

Standing still, head severed, the body swaying where it remained.

It was an utterly hideous sight.

My head... was cut off?

What are you even...

Thud.

Ah.

So I’m dead.

***

Pouring a potion onto Yehwa now, while she was covered in wounds, would be no different from pouring water into a cracked jar.

Slice it away.

Nothing in this state could resist my blade.

The difference was only whether I recognized it or not.

I cut away every “wound” on Yehwa’s body.

“Haaah—”

Yehwa’s breathing returned to normal.

The rest would have to be left to her parents.

Please. Don’t let it be too late.

I didn’t have much time left to keep this power.

At most ten seconds.

Already, my whole body was beginning to ache.

“You kids! Take good care of Yehwa!!”

I cut away every restraint binding them.

They had been called geniuses for a reason.

If they could use their mana again, they’d be a useful fighting force.

And there was one thing left that needed cutting.

“Brat.”

The girl with the white hair.

The witch had white hair too, but this girl was different.

Her original hair must have been blue, because blue still showed through between the white strands.

The two colors merged into something that reminded me of the sky.

There was demon energy clinging to her, but the child had done nothing wrong.

“Live.”

I severed every restraint around the girl.

I cut away everything that bound her.

Clang. Clang.

The chains crumbled into dust and fell to the floor.

Along with them, I erased all the scars left behind by the experiments that had tormented her.

Then the girl’s appearance changed into that of a cute child her age.

“So that was what you really looked like.”

“My... eyes...”

Our gazes met.

Blue, like the sea.

“Pretty eyes. Keep them that way from now on.”

With that, I toppled forward.

I can’t hold out any longer.

I had forced myself through those last five seconds on sheer willpower.

And then pain came tearing through me, ripping my body to pieces.

It was pain I couldn’t withstand.

My flesh dragged my consciousness down by force.

If I scream here, the kids will be startled.

So instead,

I forced out what I wanted to say, not a scream.

“Live.”

I’ll carry all the pain.

So you all go on ahead.

Thud—

The world went dark.