The Guardian Star and the Last Sin (3)

Author's note: The final stretch of the novel is told from Sirius's point of view. I'll mark where the perspective shifts, so don't worry — just enjoy the read!

Slaash! Shrrk!

Scarlet blood scattered through the air and came raining down hard against the ground. We were in the middle of a battle against an overwhelming horde of demonic beasts.

Ellie had drawn her own blade, since her original sword hadn't broken, while Yeon-i and I swung windswords forged with the skill Thunder God, carving through the beasts without pause.

Thirty minutes earlier, we had reached this place and slipped inside a tunnel thick with crouching darkness. The moment the entrance sealed shut behind us and we realized it was a trap, we raised our weapons without hesitation. The third trap was a demonic beast den.

Bret had deliberately exposed and corralled the desert's wildlife using thickening demonic energy, manufacturing his beasts artificially. Realizing the trap couldn't be avoided, we decided to break through it head-on, meeting it with pure audacity.

The terrain was a cylindrical shaft of slopes and tunnels. Both the entrance and the exit were massive iron doors, and the instant we entered, they slammed shut with a bone-deep boom. Then, as if offering us some twisted mercy, torches flickered to life one by one. As the space darkened, the beasts began to emerge from the shadows, filling the air with a chorus of noises.

The most conspicuous were the wolf-type beasts swarming in from the left. There were a lot of them. Most likely the same species as the desert wolves — an entire pack, caught in Bret's snare and twisted into monsters. Roughly a hundred of them, and with the ordinary demonic beasts added in, somewhere around three hundred in total. It made me wonder how on earth he'd gathered so many animals in one place.

Any normal animal would have sensed our auras and bolted instantly, but the demonic beasts charged at us mercilessly, as if such things were beneath them. A serpent beast lunged for me first, and behind it came one firing enormous spikes, clearly intending to skewer me like a shish kebab. That was the situation as it stood — us cutting a relentless path through anything that blocked our way.

Setting me aside, the others were each masters of their own domain — one at the Peak of Sword Expert, the other a full Sword Master. We divided the work by type and set about clearing the field. Ellie took the insectoids, Yeon-i the amphibians, and I handled everything else.

While I was occupied with the serpent beasts and a hedgehog-like thing spraying spikes, three wolves came bounding in for my flank. As they spread their jaws wide to tear into my side, I drove my knee upward into their open mouths. Then, running current through my blade to scramble the serpent's senses, I shook it off — and in the same motion, took the head clean off one of the wolf-type beasts that had brought its jaws to my flank.

Even watching their packmate die in front of them, the wolves pressed their attack without a heartbeat's delay. And then something tore into their throats with equal savagery — Jeongryong, the leader of my wind spirits, wearing the shape of a wolf herself.

Jeongryong snatched up one of the blood-soaked corpses and hurled it aside.

Grrrrrr….

It was a warning growl I'd never heard from her before. But the wolf-type beasts refused to yield either — their packmate began howling, calling for reinforcements. The howl spread through the entire trap in seconds, and soon more wolves came swarming in to answer the call.

Yet I didn't summon additional spirits for Jeongryong. Part of it was that her body already dwarfed the demonic wolves three times over — but Jeongryong herself seemed to have tapped into that instinctive wolf-like battle sense and refused any reinforcement outright.

Soon the beasts pounced on her — one aiming for her throat, one for her flank, one for her right hind leg. She slipped backward, dodging them with effortless grace, then shot forward with startling speed to sever one beast's windpipe while pinning another's skull beneath her forepaw — the very wolf that had been trying to bite into her — crushing it in one merciless squeeze.

Meanwhile, I fought my own battle without a moment's rest. Because Bret hadn't been picky about what he turned into beasts, venom-spitting serpents had begun appearing as well. Fortunately, I swept their poison aside with the windblade and cleaved them in two, neutralizing them on the spot — but the venom was a genuine nuisance.

Getting hit was bad enough on its own, but even if we dodged the spray, the toxins would mingle with the air in this sealed chamber, and that was nothing short of poison gas. There was no telling what harm it might do us. I had the Authority of Purification, but this was a situation where every drop of mana I could save was worth saving.

I put Intuition and Dragon's Senses into full play, kicking off the ground and vaulting fearlessly across the beasts' backs. First priority: the venom-spitting serpents. Second: the hedgehog-things spraying spikes into our path.

Unlike the other serpents, the venomous ones wore brilliant, ornate frills across their chests — almost as if they were proud of their poison. Like cobras.

Shrrk!

One of them. Shaaaak!! It coiled and lunged, fangs bared, to sink its venom into me — but against someone running Intuition and Dragon's Senses, every move was telegraphed. I drove my blade through its upper and lower jaws simultaneously, locking its mouth shut, then sent a violent electrical surge ripping through its body. The smell of burning protein sizzled in the air as the serpent beast went limp. Two down.

Sheathing myself in wind from head to toe, I carved through everything that stood in my path. Roughly thirty minutes passed that way — and by the end, every last demonic beast lay motionless, unable to escape its fate as a corpse. The battle was over, all of us having escaped with nothing worse than minor wounds.

"My body feels a little hot…"

"Ah! Hyun-ah, could you maybe go a little easy on me?"

Yeon-i's hand had brushed against poison smeared on the wall — the narrow space had cramped her swordwork, robbing her blade of room to show its true strength. Ellie, swinging her sword with Sword Flame raging to hold off so many enemies at once, had her left hand pierced clean through by the hedgehog-type beast.

Yeon-i had flooded her body with crimson sword aura to keep the poison from spreading, but she'd been a beat too slow, and her body was already running hot. I immediately unleashed the Authority of Purification and the Authority of Life together, healing their wounds and doing everything I could to cleanse the poison from their systems.

And the chamber had been sealed for quite a while now — the air was steadily growing thick and stale.

"We need to get out of here. Fast."

"Yeah."

"Understood."

Running hard would spread the small traces of venom still in Yeon-i's body, but escaping came before anything else. With no time to waste, we charged forward, and I sheathed my blade in lightning to cut through the massive iron door that blocked out the light ahead.

"Hrk…!"

Behind me, the sound of someone retching came again and again. That was Yeon-i's voice — I needed to brace myself before I turned around.

I swept my blade forward in a lightning-fast arc, and with a tremendous crash, searing white light flooded the space ahead. One more time! Coiling current around my blade again and swinging, the white glow widened until it was large enough for all of us to pass through. At last I cleared the iron door, spun around to check on Yeon-i — and saw fresh blood smeared across her clothes and hands.

Even though she'd been coughing up blood, she'd prioritized our escape and hadn't said a word to Ellie or me.

"Hahh… hahh…"

A nice notification, sure — but not what I needed right now. I dismissed the status window and rushed to Yeon-i's side. She was still coughing intermittently, spitting up blood. The poison was coursing through her frighteningly fast. If I didn't infuse her with my power immediately, her condition might become irreversible — and to make matters worse, blood vessels were beginning to burst in her left eye, the sclera flooding red.

Seeing that, I slowly poured the Authority of Purification into her, careful that her mana wouldn't reject it. There was a foul, sticky, repulsive energy clinging to everything. The poison hadn't come alone — it carried demonic energy with it. Which made sense. Ordinary poison punching straight through the sword aura of a Peak-level Sword Expert would have been a revolutionary discovery all its own.

Naturally, with mana-suppressing demonic energy injected into her body, it had clashed violently against Yeon-i's internal mana — and that backlash was what had made her vomit blood.

"It hurts, doesn't it? I'll heal you right now."

She gave a weak nod. I invoked the Authority of Purification and the Authority of Life simultaneously. If my little sister had been here with us, this would almost certainly have gone far worse — she wouldn't have dodged poison like that at all; she'd have simply taken it head-on. If a glancing touch did this much damage, a full-body hit would have been catastrophic.

The white light swelled, and with it, Yeon-i's breathing slowly began to steady. Just to be safe, I turned her head to the side and kept channeling mana into her. At last, the poison was overwhelmed by the Authority of Purification and vanished entirely.

"Hahh… hahh… thank you…"

The poison had drained her badly — a woman who never so much as panted during sparring matches was now slumped against a boulder, completely listless, gasping for air. We were at the midpoint of the fourth mountain. The stairs stretched endlessly upward, and we decided to rest a while for Yeon-i's sake.

Perhaps because I had quietly kept feeding her the Authority of Life the whole time, she was back to normal within about two hours. She'd have scolded me for wasting mana if she'd known — but this wasn't the time for that. To me, Yeon-i mattered more than my mana reserves. And it would have been the same for Ellie, as lord of the territory; they were kindred spirits who had lived through the same circumstances, partners bound to each other for life.

Having caught our breath, we began climbing the stairs. At the summit of the fourth mountain, we found Bret's fourth trap. A sphere of darkness hung suspended above the ground without touching it — then it suddenly swelled, swallowed us whole in a single gulp, and when my eyes opened, the world was nothing but blackness.

The trap began alongside a message I'd never seen before, the world around me shifting and reforming. And I recognized this place. The Cumul estate. But something was off — terribly off. From the layout of the rooms down to the servants themselves, it was filled with people I had never known. None of them recognized me; they simply passed me by.

I wondered for a moment whether I could walk straight through them, so I approached a maid carrying a laundry basket piled high — and she gasped in shock at the sight of me and toppled over.

"Oh my goodness!"

"S-sorry about that!"

I instinctively gathered her scattered laundry for her and quickly made myself scarce, then began assessing the situation. The Cumul estate, yes — but with servants I didn't know and a layout I'd never seen. …I had no idea what was going on. I needed more information.

Then I lifted my head, and a low, resonant baritone reached my ears.

"Where does today's campaign take us?"

"…We may have to cross the barrier once more."

"My lord, you did promise you would attend Lady Ellie's birthday this time, did you not?"

Ellie? Could it be…?

When I turned my gaze toward the deep voice, I found a strikingly handsome man in his prime — so much so that I would have believed he was a male version of Ellie herself. So this was the Cumul estate of the past.

"…I have no choice. If not for my own sake, then for the sake of a stable territory for that child to rule someday, I must take up my sword."

"…As you say, my lord."

First — Ellie's room. Please, let her childhood room be the same as the one she lives in now…

As I drifted slowly toward Ellie's room, the sound of crying reached my ears. I peered quietly inside and found a girl of about fifteen, weeping.

"I hate you, Father! You promised you'd be there at my birthday party!"

That girl — that had to be Ellie as a child. And when I turned my head, I saw her: the adult Ellie, staring silently at her younger self. When I hurried to her side, she simply kept gazing at the girl with dead, hollow eyes.

"You… who are you!"

Oh. Right. I can be seen right now!

Looking down, I found Ellie — dressed in a yellow dress that matched her hair — glaring up at me, both hands planted on her hips, radiating fury.

"You… you're an intruder…!"

"No, I'm not! I'm not!"

Around the girl's neck hung a bright red whistle — it looked like a failsafe, something prepared in case of an intruder or danger to young Ellie.

"Just going 'no, I'm not' like that makes you look suspicious, you know! Doesn't it? Hyun-ah?"

"…Huh?"

The Ellie of the past was suddenly calling my name.

"It's all right. I think I've entered my younger self's dream. My actual body seems fine."

What on earth did that bastard Bret build, that he could set a trap like this? It made me genuinely curious. This was technology that had long since surpassed Earth's science, wasn't it? I'd ask him in person when we met. Going by the current situation, it resembled that nightmare I'd once experienced — except this time, I was visible to others, and I could touch people and objects normally.

For now, I tucked the healthy adult Ellie under the covers, scooped up her younger self in my arms, and began frantically searching for a way out. I tried using Intuition and Dragon's Senses to find an escape route, but as if cheating simply weren't permitted here, they only flooded my head with useless trivia.

Still, escape took priority — Yeon-i, like Ellie, was almost certainly trapped in a nightmare of her own somewhere in this place. I gathered information rapidly with Intuition and Dragon's Senses. And then, what crossed my mind would have been utterly cruel to Ellie.

The way out was to experience the exact same nightmare once more — watching her father die again. That was the only escape route this trap offered her.

But how could I possibly tell her? How could I say, the way out is to watch your father die one more time? I was practically the only person alive who knew in full what pain and hardship she had endured to stand where she stood. And I, too, was someone who had watched my own parents die. How could I ever ask my lover to do something so monstrous? How could I make her watch her parents' deaths a second time — once was more than enough for anyone?

I absolutely could not do it.

So I was trying to combine Thunder God with Dragon's Senses to hunt for another escape route when —

"Hyun-ah? Did you find a way out?"

Ellie's voice came from behind me. I would never, ever tell her about this method. I would never let her read it off my face. I managed my expression, turned around, and shook my head — and Ellie walked slowly toward me.

"Hyun-ah. You're lying."

"…No? I'm not lying."

"…How long do you think I've known you? Whenever you lie, your eyebrows dip. And you always, always try to hide your expression."

"…"

"You found it… so why won't you tell me? What's the solution? Tell me. Hyun-ah."

"How am I supposed to say it… how am I supposed to tell you this is the best way, Ellie…!"

Stroking my face gently, Ellie spoke.

"What's the escape condition? Is my father dying again the trigger?"

When I pressed my lips shut, she went on.

"My father is precious to me. It's true. The reason he never came to me after the wars ended was the smell of blood and smoke that clung to him."

"It was never the kind of smell that a single day's washing could strip away."

"But he never came. He ignored his promise to me — broke it — and I knew, deep down, that he did it believing it was for the best. So all I could do was resent him in my heart."

"In the end, the only ones who stayed by my side, even on my birthday, were the servants and the maids."

"My life was an unbroken chain of suffering, until the loneliness finally overflowed and flooded everything."

"And that suffering lasted through my adulthood, past my coming of age, until I was older than my mother ever got to be."

"And then you saved me. Of course my father matters to me. But what matters now is the living — you, and Yeon-i. The two of you, who breathe beside me, who share love with me, who give me something to feel."

"…No one can move forward while chained to the past. You run by looking ahead. How could anyone sprint at full speed while staring behind them? That was the realization I gained when I met you."

"And you pity me for that realization? I had only just crawled out of my own pain — so why are you the one suffering it in my place?"

"So tell me. We have to go save Yeon-i."

…She was right. How long was I going to cling to a past that bound me? What mattered now was letting it go and protecting the precious people standing in front of me. The past that was already gone was… just that — the past. It had simply taken me far, far too long to understand that.

I quietly told her the escape condition. And she said:

"I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see. Then let's go. I know exactly where my father died."

How many hours passed after that, I couldn't say. I'd learned by then that time in a nightmare's world doesn't flow the way it does in reality.

At last, with Sirius's farewell ceremony behind us, we walked slowly toward the battlefield alongside the marching army. And Ellie stood upon that cliff, watching in silence as her own father died at Asmodeus's hands.

"How dare you even glance at her, you filthy abomination!"

Sword and claw traded blows beyond counting. Sirius had reached the realm of Sword Master — but the innate limits of a human body betrayed him, and at last, the demon's blade found his heart.

"Gahk—!"

"No… no…! My daught… don't…!"

Ellie watched every moment of it — her father's futile, meaningless end — and then wept quietly at my side. And the words that finally left her lips were these:

"Father, I've found someone precious to me. So please… rest easy now. The one who will protect me from here on… is right here… beside me!"

"I love you, Father."

Tears streaming endlessly down her face, Ellie forced every last word out anyway, as if she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were determined to keep walking forward no matter what. And as she stood weeping atop that cliff, something impossible filled our eyes. The final words Sirius mouthed to us were:

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

'My daughter — she's in your hands now.'

The moment Ellie read his lips, she understood. The father she had watched all this time was no illusion. He had known, right up to the very end, that he was going to die — and he had chosen to face that death one more time, for her sake. And even as he died, his resolve to treasure his daughter — Ellie witnessed it all, plainly, one final time.

"Fa… Father…! Father…!"

She clung to me and sobbed her heart out. I don't know why any of this was possible — how a man already dead could walk into a nightmare at all. Even I, a Successor, had no choice but to believe this was a miracle.

"Hahh… why on earth did I wish for something like this? I had a chance to reincarnate into a good, new life, and instead I go and wish for this. Honestly."

The blue-haired man pressed him about it, as if reproaching him for how the torment had bleached his golden hair snow-white — and the old man just laughed, deep and hearty.

"You can still laugh, after casting a wish like that?"

The old man, mid-belly-laugh, kept the smile on his lips as he answered.

"Fifth Azure Dragon, do you remember? Back when I helped you ascend to the divine realm, you thanked me and said you would grant me a wish."

"Of course I do. If I'd known your wish-granting was this absurd, I'd never have sworn such an oath. And I saw that blonde little girl tagging along behind you, too."

At the Azure Dragon's mention of her, the corners of the old man's mouth curled upward as he reminisced on a fond memory.

"Back then, that little girl could barely walk, yet she came toddling toward me calling me 'Father.' I never forgot it."

"How could I? My only treasure, born of the woman I loved — my most precious treasure in all the world."

"…I only wished to send my gratitude to my daughter — and to the young man who stood beside her and protected her."

"Yeah, well, I can understand worrying over your child. Your wife is already walking the road of rebirth. Seems she meant to wait for you."

"Is that so…"

"The bond between husband and wife doesn't sever unless one of them commits a great sin. Go on. Go."

"Thank you for granting my final wish, Fifth Azure Dragon."

"Stop grinning like that, it's unsettling — now get going!"

And so the old man's blue eyes — eyes that had never once lost their light — shone brightly one last time before his figure faded away.

"Cumul Alice, was it? Do you know? Do you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know just how much suffering your father endured, and why he insisted on repeating the same past all over again?"

For a human soul to experience death twice is agony grave enough to scar both mind and spirit. Even the gods fear death — it's in their nature. And yet that man, nothing more than a mortal, had used a wish that could have granted him anything, everything — and chosen death a second time, standing tall. All because he could not bear to leave a deep wound in the heart of the last treasure he left behind: his darling daughter, a girl nothing in this world could ever compare to.

Cumul Sirius lived, to the very end of his life, for his daughter, Cumul Alice.

"For the sake of a father who bore that much suffering, at the very least — survive to the end. Cumul Alice."

And so, the life of Cumul Sirius came to its close.