Chapter 98
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: And Yet, I Move Forward (3)
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Lee Eun-hee had said that before entering the Tower, she was an employee at a construction company.
It was obvious without even seeing it how much she, who wasn’t even an athlete, must have struggled with a weapon like a bow.
[Ahem, at first, she swung me around like a club.]
The bow whispered, perhaps having read my mind through our mixed mana.
Nothing to be proud of, you punk!
I could tell from the hand I held.
Lee Eun-hee’s hand was incredibly rough, and every knuckle bore scars that would never fade in a lifetime.
I knew without her telling me how many failures and how much effort had gone into firing that single, bomb-like shot.
All I could do for Lee Eun-hee was push her from behind so she could move forward.
[Ah, what a waste.]
[Do not covet it. That one already has a master, stranger.]
[I know.]
He wasn't that foolish.
The arrow that left Lee Eun-hee’s hand split into tens, then hundreds of streams, all heading for Rhys.
“What is this…”
The rain of arrows pouring down from the night sky could have easily been mistaken for a meteor shower.
Rhys deflected the cascading arrows one by one.
The deflected arrows caused explosions, both large and small, setting off a chain reaction.
*Fwoooosh.*
*Craaaash.*
The falling cluster of stars engulfed Rhys and the garden.
The night clouds rippled as if fireworks had gone off.
The flowers that had colorfully adorned the garden were scattered in every direction by the storm of mana.
I plunged my sword into the ground, creating a mana barrier to block the falling debris.
I grabbed the arm of Lee Eun-hee, whose legs had given out.
“Wh-whoa…”
“How was it?”
“What part of that was ‘how to shoot a bow’?! You idiot!!”
Shoving my hand away, Lee Eun-hee staggered to her feet.
She swayed again, as if just standing was a struggle.
I had no choice but to pull her into my arms.
“Hey! Let go of…”
“And here you are, unable to even stand properly.”
“It’s because of you!”
It was true she had drawn on a lot of mana.
Looking at the decimated garden and the half-collapsed castle, I felt a pang of regret that I hadn’t told her to hold back.
“This isn’t about power control or anything. This is just… brutish…”
Catching her breath, Lee Eun-hee looked behind her.
The scene was so catastrophic she couldn’t believe she had done it.
“You couldn’t have done it with your mana alone.”
“W-well, that’s true, but…”
“What is power control, anyway?”
“Obviously… it’s about going easy.”
Lee Eun-hee gripped her bow tightly.
Blood trickled from the wounds on her splayed hand.
“The first time I shot a bow, I hurt my comrade.”
“Oh, really?”
“It’s not an ‘oh, really’ moment! My power… because of me… it’s because I couldn’t control my strength.”
“What the hell are you talking about? It’s the fault of the one who got hurt. Why blame someone else for their own injury? What kind of lunatic does that?”
Lee Eun-hee stared at me as if I were insane.
I knew this, too, was nothing more than an excuse, a form of self-comfort.
I understood Lee Eun-hee’s feelings, and I understood the people who had no choice but to blame her.
And yet.
Lee Eun-hee hadn’t given up.
She chose the path of moving forward.
“You were just scared. How dare someone who’s afraid of their own weapon even mention power control?”
I pointed at the scene Lee Eun-hee had created.
“Look.”
“I…”
“Open your eyes and look. That is your power.”
Lee Eun-hee’s gaze was fixed on the ruined garden.
“Though I helped with about half of it.”
“You always have to say something to ruin the mood, don’t you?”
“Still, it’s your power.”
All I did was lend her a little mana.
The first step is always the hardest.
There are many things in this world that turn out to be no big deal once you accept them.
“There’s no paradise in the places you run to.”
“I know that without you telling me.”
Lee Eun-hee turned and drew her bowstring.
The arrow flew cleanly, aimed at Rhys.
*Grrrrr.*
The soul-form, now too large to be called a puppy, swatted Lee Eun-hee’s arrow away with its front paw.
The arrow exploded in mid-air.
“Weak.”
“Sh-shut up! I was controlling my power!”
“You sure you didn’t just run out of mana?”
“That’s because of you—ah.”
Losing her balance, Lee Eun-hee fell to her knees.
I swung my sword in a wide arc at the charging puppy’s soul-form.
The crescent-shaped slash flew through the soul-form and toward Rhys.
“As I thought.”
“What… what is that?”
As the dust settled, Rhys’s form was revealed.
Instead of blood, black ichor flowed from the gash.
“Do you know why nobles are nobles?”
“Because they have a lot of mana, right?”
“And what does having a lot of mana truly mean?”
“I’ve never thought that far.”
“They are nobles because they are close to the gods.”
Just as thicker blood signifies a closer relation.
The nobles were granted more of the gods’ essence than anyone else, and they possessed the right to draw nearer to the gods than anyone else.
The space between Rhys’s shoulder blades split open, and black fluids gushed out all at once.
The fluids took shape, stretching out wide on either side.
Black feathers fell from above her head.
—Die, die, die
—Who are you?
—Come with us, come here.
A feather that touched my hand seeped into my skin, creating voices.
A woman with black wings under a full moon.
“You look like a fallen angel.”
“Die.”
Thousands of feathers sharpened and flew at me all at once.
Each one carried the resentment of those who had died by Rhys’s hand.
The aura of death was so strong it was hard to even breathe.
I gently relaxed my grip on the sword and took a deep breath.
The things I thought were over, the things I only wished were over, came back to haunt me.
—Hey! You crazy bastard! How am I supposed to dodge this?! I-I almost died!
—Why are you still alive? Didn’t you kick the bucket?
—I said I *almost* died, not that I died! Dead people can’t talk!
—I never once told you to dodge. Open your eyes wide and watch closely. See how this sword, this attack, aims for your heart and tries to sever your limbs.
It was the same for Lee Eun-hee and me.
We could stand here because someone had reached out a hand to us.
For me, it was Luciel. For Lee Eun-hee, it was the god behind her and her bow.
‘I wish he would think that way, too.’
I wasn’t sure if that day would ever come.
When I met Lachesis, I never thought it was the end.
Not yet.
My battle wasn’t over yet.
Power flowed smoothly into the hand gripping the sword.
I could see the things targeting me with incredible clarity.
My feet felt fused to the ground, as if they were one.
I swung swiftly, precisely, and without haste.
One swing became two, two became three, and the number multiplied endlessly.
—The Falling Blossom Sword. The one I just showed you.
—You want me to copy that now? There’s no way I can! You might as well tell me to chew on my sword!
—Wanna try chewing on a sword?
—No, I’ll do my best.
*Fwoooosh.*
The clashing mana couldn’t withstand the pressure and exploded.
The scattered black feathers were sliced apart.
As the feathers disintegrated, they created a sparkling light.
The light spreading in all directions made it feel as if I were standing in the middle of a firefly forest.
The dream didn't last long.
A black shadow oozed from around Rhys, slithering upward.
The substance, which rippled like mud, soon took on human forms.
There were countless people: the villagers, the many servants who had worked at the mansion, even Rhys’s school friends who had vanished without a trace.
“You made a mistake. A chaotic battle is what I do best.”
At Rhys’s signal, the dolls charged all at once.
With every swing of my sword, people screamed and vanished into the ground.
Each time the black ichor splattered on me, agonized screams pierced my mind, but they did me no harm.
This is what war was like, wasn't it?
There was a reason I had received such an absurd divine name.
A child, no older than ten, stood before me, holding a sword taller than himself.
He looked like he could barely hold it, let alone swing it.
“P-please save me.”
A hand rising from below grabbed my ankle, conveying the boy’s voice for him.
I lowered my sword and walked past the boy.
The moment I showed my back, the boy’s eyes changed, and he raised his sword high.
Ignoring him, I took another step.
“Hey! Watch…”
Lee Eun-hee, watching from behind, raised her bow.
But she never got the chance to draw it.
The boy’s body, a large gash across it, pitched forward.
Traces of the boy remained on the blade of the Sky Sword.
The glowing blue sword flicked away the remnants clinging to its blade.
“Why! Why, why aren’t you going insane!”
“Not much I can say when a crazy person asks me why I’m not going insane.”
I let out a bitter laugh.
Rhys was right.
A normal person like Lee Eun-hee would have gone mad a dozen times over seeing something like this.
“That’s why I told you.”
“…”
“You don’t know me either.”
I never asked for understanding, nor is there any need to understand.
The Sky Sword hummed, glowing brightly.
The more I used it, the more I realized it was a sword far too good for me.
Its color changed from blue to white, then to gold.
“Die!!”
The remaining mana sharpened its edges and rushed at me as if to devour me whole.
I swung the sword high.
*Craaaasssssh.*
Rhys’s black mana clashed with the Sky Sword.
All sorts of memories seeped through the cracks in the mana.
—Cursed child.
—She’s creepy.
—Muelle? Still, how on earth was a child like that born?
Did she kill them because she loved them?
That was nothing more than one-sided love.
“You pitiful person.”
“Shut up, just shut up! Be quiet!”
Everything Rhys touched died. Because the power she possessed was…
“Death.”
Only the dead, not the living, could understand Rhys.
I drew upon my power.
Rhys’s black mana and my deep blue mana tangled together in a struggle for dominance.
Clutching my sword, I advanced, one step at a time.
With every step, my entire body screamed.
But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
“Stop, don’t come any closer!”
“…”
“I just… I just wanted to be loved. I never wanted… wanted a power like this.”
Holding my sword high, I silently nodded.
It was the same sentiment as Lee Eun-hee’s story.
If. If Rhys hadn’t been born with the power of death, would she have been able to live a normal life, even if her body was a bit frail? Everyone has such thoughts.
“No one ever told me. No one told me what I was supposed to do! What, what should I have done? You’re going to tell me I was wrong too, aren’t you!”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“What?”
“There are no ‘what ifs.’ You were just…”
Glimpses of Rhys’s memories seeped into me.
She held a dagger for the dying puppy in her arms.
She used her power against her father, who tried to kill her in the name of love.
She wanted to be loved, and she wanted to live.
“You were just fighting to survive. What’s so wrong with that?”