Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Arvel
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[ Piercing through the essence of 「Space Mage」. ]
ZZZZT—
The world came to a halt.
All sounds cut off, even light flowing sluggishly.
A panorama of someone's memories projected before my eyes like a film reel.
‘…This is.’
Fragments of a life both utterly foreign and vividly real flowed by.
—I wanted to be a hero.
It started simply.
A realm no one had reached. A path no one had forged.
“Thank you….”
“Thanks to you….”
Wherever he went, the world chanted his name.
‘…So this is the essence of the Space Mage?’
—He swore.
As long as his life burned, there would be no one he couldn't save.
There would be no version of himself who failed to save them all.
That oath became his conviction, and his conviction became his life.
‘….’
—He was forced to choose.
“There’s no time. If we don’t stop the disaster now, thousands will die!”
“…You know which side holds more lives.”
Family or the world.
It didn’t take long to decide.
Reality demanded he place one on the scale.
In the end… he chose numbers.
He chose the world.
And when he returned after saving thousands, what awaited him was a hand grown cold.
A form so mangled he couldn’t even confirm the face.
That was all that remained.
‘…Ugh.’
The pain of a heart tearing apart transmitted straight to me.
Whether due to the power of 【Disaster Devourer】 or simply my empathy for that sorrow… I couldn’t tell.
—From that day on, he could no longer smile.
The voices of the world still reached his ears.
“Thank you… truly, thank you.”
“We survived… thanks to you.”
They didn’t know.
What price he paid to save them.
What nightmares he dreamed each night.
How his heart tore further each time he ripped through space.
Yes…
If that were all, perhaps he could have comforted himself.
More lives were saved. That… had to be enough.
—But when he learned the truth, he raged.
The disaster that day had been summoned by humans.
For power and material gain, they had shattered a taboo that should never be broken.
Their greed killed his family, killed countless others.
The deaths that day… the tears that day… all human-made.
Rage blossomed wildly.
Thousands, tens of thousands of humans vanished that day.
Children, adults who were once children, the elderly—every life there was erased.
—Oath.
He was no longer a hero.
His oath was broken.
The vow to save all, shattered by his own hand.
In exchange, the world erased his existence.
From history, records, even people’s memories.
No one remembered him, but he remembered everything.
His family’s warmth, the coldness of that day.
The smile of one traded for thousands of lives, and the horror hidden behind it.
He never forgot any of it.
ZZZT… ZZZZT…
‘…….’
The final reel played.
Every day of his bore the same expression.
Smiles gone, light extinguished in his eyes.
—Disaster.
Only then did he realize.
Something had taken root inside him.
A fragment broken from disaster, or perhaps the curse he had summoned himself that day.
Its true nature unknown, it slowly eroded his flesh.
His heartbeat grew distant.
The sensation of being alive faded, replaced by the power of the disaster he so despised filling his heart.
He knew.
Soon, he would vanish completely.
And so… he chose. To fall into a deep, endless sleep.
‘…Cradle.’
He looked down upon the world.
Shining cities, streets filled with endless laughter.
Amid the greed and hypocrisy repeating within.
Where humanity shone most brilliantly.
The Cradle.
He decided to burn the world starting from there.
Leaving not a single trace, not a single record.
To swallow the path he walked and all the oaths he broke into disaster.
Upon his shattered oath, he carved another.
“With every step, I shall remember.”
“With every second step, I shall reaffirm.”
“On the third step, without sorrow.”
“On the fourth, I shall wail.”
“On the fifth, rise again and walk.”
“On the sixth, knowing it shall not end.”
“On the seventh, never to give up.”
“I swear.”
ZZZT…
The final reel reached its end.
[ Pierced through the essence of 「Space Mage」. ]
[ Absorbed 【Fragment of Wrath】. ]
[ 【Fragment of Wrath】 is subsumed into unique trait 【■■■■】. ]
Snap—
The frozen world began to flow again.
“Grraaaah…!”
His voice had changed.
The voice that had been laced with static moments ago now carried raw fury.
“What have you done, you worm…!!”
The shadows enveloping him tore away.
The black veil crumbled, revealing the truth hidden beneath.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Arvel ]
Attribute
: 「Space」
Skills / Traits
: 【High-Speed Synthesis】
: 【Reflux】
: 【…】
Unique Skill
: 【…】
Unique Trait
: 【…】
Stats
: Stamina : 39 (A)
: Strength : 35 (A)
: Intelligence : 39 (A)
: Mental Strength : 50 (S)
: Mana : 40 (S)
Talents
: 【Magic(S)】
: 【…】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
A name never revealed within ‘Cradle of Disaster.’
A hero who clutched a broken oath to his chest, never to smile again.
Arvel.
“You worm…!!!”
- Whoosh!!
“Adel!”
Before Klaus’s warning could finish.
- Snap.
Mana flow returned.
I immediately wrapped mana around my body and hurled myself into the air.
- Boom!!
The ground where my feet had been tore apart.
No, it wasn’t even ground worthy of the name… the space itself collapsed.
“How dare you… how dare you…!!”
Arvel extended his hand.
A hand now in human form, unlike before.
The hand that once fought as a hero, protected others.
Space gathered at its fingertips.
Everything around was sucked in, compressing into a single point.
────────────!!
That instant.
Leviathan burst from the abyss.
Its massive form bit off half of Arvel’s body.
No crimson blood flowed.
Only pitch-black shadows spilled out.
- Flash!
“Now let’s end this…!”
Klaus raised his broken sword high.
Dazzling brilliance exploded from it, blinding as sunlight.
- Crackle…
At the same time, I deactivated 【Silent Walker】.
Behind Arvel, just three steps away.
“What…!!”
[ Using 【Disaster Devourer】. ]
Once more, the world stopped.
And what unfolded before my eyes was no battlefield.
A small dining table.
Warm light spilling out.
In a shabby but clean home, a boy was smiling.
Seated opposite him was a woman with a gentle smile.
Likely… his mother.
They ate in silence.
Simply gathered together, living a happy daily life.
‘…….’
The system hoped I would understand the disaster.
This memory was perhaps a warning not to see him merely as evil.
But… did that matter to me?
The 「Space Mage」 I saw was a disaster.
An absolute evil scattering despair.
Who he had been, the path he walked—right now, in this moment, it meant nothing to me.
- Swoosh!
All I could do.
Was cleave the disaster, the 「Space Mage」.
[ Fully absorbed the disaster. ]
Arvel’s body lost its power and crumbled.
Like the space floor collapsing, his form sank into the void.
[ Acquired attribute 「Space」. ]
***
“Huff… huff… it’s finally over….”
Klaus flopped onto his back on the ground.
I lay down similarly a few steps away.
“Adel… you okay?”
[Probably still #1]
Writing with mana felt awkward.
My handwriting was crooked, some letters nearly illegible.
- Hum.
Then… rays of light gathered, forming a rift in the air.
Klaus slowly rose, prodding the rift with his fingertip.
“Looks like the exit…?”
- Snap.
Still lying down, I wrapped mana around my body.
Barely crawling at best, but in my current state, it was the most I could manage.
Klaus moved to help me up, but when I dragged myself over, he waited silently.
Together, we crossed that boundary.
Light faded, and the next moment…
“Hey, Your Highness, don’t underestimate me?”
“Never have.”
Leaving the battlefield, another greeted us.
Metal clashed, sparks flying.
At the center, Seros and Ruphus were locked in combat.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
Their gazes swept over blood-soaked me and Klaus.
“Wow… how brutal was your fight?”
“Hmm, I offer my respects.”
Ignoring them, I activated the magic tool on my wrist.
Worried it might’ve broken fighting the Space Mage, but luckily, it worked fine.
[1st: Adel 「138」]
[2nd: Lev 「44」]
[3rd: Seros von Spade 「19」]
[4th: Ruphus von Leonhardt 「18」]
[5th: Laphia von Ayrin 「13」]
‘Score… I’m still #1.’
No worry of losing first.
Fewer than ten students left anyway.
And then, suddenly.
- Crack.
Something shattered.
‘?’
My magic tool.
Turning, Klaus grinned sheepishly.
“Ahaha… sorry, Adel? Gotta survive too.”
[1st: Adel 「138」]
[2nd: Klaus 「100」]
[3rd: Lev 「44」]
[4th: Seros von Spade 「19」]
[5th: Ruphus von Leonhardt 「18」]
Klaus’s score rocketed to second in an instant.
‘Ha… you bast—’
Finally, my body vanished amid light.
***
- Crack… CRACKLE!!
Space tore with a harsh sound.
“Ha… this crazy bastard… separated space into a whole other world?”
Veronica.
She appeared before the Space Mage with a hardened expression.
“Long time no see?”
“…….”
“Arvel.”
Her rage enveloped the entire space, shaking it until it began to crumble.
- Step.
Amid the collapsing space, Veronica stood before Arvel, half his body gone, collapsed.
“Why’s the kid once hailed as a hero lying here like this?”
“…Long time no see, Dean Veronica.”
“Yeah, so answer me.”
“…….”
“Why did the kid called a hero, the one who shouted he’d save everyone—why did he become a disaster here, of all places.”
Arvel closed his eyes.
From the thick darkness, he slowly revived the past he had erased.
Dreams filled with hope and possibility for the future, yet simultaneously unrealistic and hollow.
“…The world was too harsh on that kid, it seems.”
“What bullsh—”
“I was a hero, but before that, an adult—and before that, a child.”
“...”
“The world demanded too much of someone like me.”
Voices from the distant world echoed faintly.
Thanks and respect. Hope and expectation.
“I tried to meet those expectations. Carried the hopes and trust of countless on my back, bore the heavy burden.”
“…….”
“But no one knows. What I lost in exchange for all that, what nightmares I dream each night, how torn my heart is.”
From the day he lost everything, every night those losses resurfaced.
“I couldn’t keep that oath. The disaster that day was ultimately born of human greed.”
“…Disaster.”
“Those who crossed the line never to be crossed for power and profit—they took my only family and countless lives.”
“So… you resented them, came to hate everything?”
“Yes. Remembering it all, I raged more than anyone.”
“And that rage birthed the disaster?”
“The oath broke. The vow to save all—I shattered it with my own hands.”
Memories flashed through Veronica’s mind.
The hero leaping through space with a smile.
The boy before becoming a hero, dreaming innocently.
“Without a trace, without a record. I’ll bury my path and broken oaths in disaster.”
“…You crossed the line. A line you can never return from.”
“The world crossed it first.”
“…….”
“When I protected the world… what did it do for me?”
“…Arvel.”
“Dean, don’t forget.”
“...”
“Arvel died. Only the disaster remains.”
Veronica heard Arvel’s heartbeat.
Slow, signaling the end.
“…Yes.”
Veronica stepped closer, reaching out.
“Don’t hold a grudge.”
Her slender fingertip touched above his heart.
“I’m softer-hearted than I seem.”
- Crunch!
A single drop of blood trailed down Veronica’s cheek.
And the beating heart stopped.