Chapter 455: Proof of Existence (43)
Chapter 455: Proof of Existence (43)
“…That’s why this fake is special.”
I fell silent at the girl’s long-winded story.
I could hardly bear to meet her eyes. I had never imagined that the affection I poured into my younger sister would plant such a twisted obsession within this girl.
Lia felt the same.
Though the girl’s foot was idly prodding her, Lia chose silence over protest. Only her faint groans and the cold sweat trickling down her face betrayed her complex state of mind.
Of course, the girl didn't care about our reactions in the slightest.
As if her past meant nothing to her, her golden eyes blazed with scholarly fervor.
“She’s a special specimen capable of sharing senses with me. But whatever Mitram did, this fake started using a portion of my power a while ago… and losing the sensory link was just a bonus.”
Hearing her words, a certain scene flashed through my mind.
The bursts of strength and reflexes Lia had unconsciously displayed recently—it seemed those were powers borrowed from this girl.
The girl seemed quite annoyed by that fact.
“I’d like to ask Mitram, but he’s been dead for a long time… Well, nothing I can do, right? I’ll just have to research it myself.”
That was the last bit of interest the girl showed in Lia.
Soon, her bright, innocent smile turned toward me.
“More importantly, isn't this funny? This situation… it’s just like how I used to be.”
“What do you mean?”
I couldn't bring myself to ignore the question from the abandoned sister, so I asked back.
The girl still wore a beaming expression.
“I was restrained just like this. I prayed to the heavens, I searched for my parents… but salvation never came. In truth, salvation isn't something achieved by the hands of others.”
Step, step.
With every light footfall, the arc of the girl’s smile deepened. A cold flame flickered in those golden eyes.
It was pure love-hate.
That was the only way to define the emotions she held for me.
She loathed and hated me. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't shake the desire to have me.
Because I was the final puzzle piece needed to complete the life she had lost.
Wasn't it a ridiculous sight?
“The only one who can save me is myself… There is no such thing as a God. Despair, wail… and now, accept the truth, Brother.”
“…Where is Yuren?”
It was another question I barely managed to squeeze out.
I couldn't think of a single word to refute her. Perhaps it would have been different in the past.
I would have told myself to just never give up.
I would have told myself it was fine to move forward without abandoning anything, even if it meant forsaking myself.
My achievements had been built on a series of lucky breaks. But I had assumed that luck would last forever.
Without even realizing that those miracles were paid for with the blood of so many orphans.
So, this question was merely a final, desperate struggle.
“Where did Yuren go?”
“He went to find the Saintess.”
A short, simple answer—enough to make my vision go dark.
“That woman is dangerous. If she finds out you’ve vanished, she’ll use every means possible to find you. And if the truth about the Blood Essence is revealed, the Saintess will be in danger too, right? That’s why our partner went to her as an escort knight.”
“What are you planning to do…?”
“Confine her, obviously.”
The girl burst into a giggle, as if I were stating the obvious.
“Who would suspect an escort knight? While she’s distracted, our partner will simply vanish. And once chaos erupts in the Holy Kingdom, ta-da!”
The girl raised both arms high and let out a cheer.
“The plans we’ve prepared will begin one by one! Isn't it grand? Won't it be fun? I wonder just how many hypocrites will be wailing…!”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I was wrong. I should have listened to the Saintess from the start.
I had been blinded by the thought of Lia being kidnapped. If I had approached this more cautiously—if I had at least known Yuren was the traitor—I wouldn't have been pushed to the edge of this precipice.
I felt sorry for the Saintess.
And I doubted the existence of God.
Was this truly the end? Was there no such thing as salvation?
The girl took a step forward, her face filled with ecstasy.
One step, two steps. Just before she reached me—
Vrrr, vrrr.
Something inside my shirt began to cry out.
The girl’s brow furrowed slightly.
“…What is that sound?”
I was just as surprised. My eyes immediately darted to my chest.
A single bead was vibrating violently there.
In that moment, as my mind went blank and I tried to trace the origin of the bead—
BOOM!
An explosion erupted from somewhere.
It was a distant sound, but the vibration that rattled my eardrums was real. Everyone in the room, including myself, turned toward the source.
Something was coming from far away.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions were getting closer. The speed was beyond imagination, forcing the girl to mutter blankly without even turning her head.
“An intruder? But how…? It’s too fast. If a group had entered, there’s no way I wouldn't have noticed.”
Vrrr, vrrr.
The bead’s cry grew even more intense. Along with the explosions, the cavern began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
Dust fell from the ceiling in heaps, and just as the girl, unable to bear it, whipped her head around—
Crackle!
A faint discharge of electricity flickered past the thick iron doors.
Before the girl could even react to the sight—
KABOOM!
A massive roar, incomparable to the previous ones, struck the air. The shockwave sent clothes and hair fluttering, and a pungent smell of ozone wafted from behind the violently thrown-open iron gates.
Skreeee!
Gurgle!
The faceless monsters, now reduced to charred lumps of coal, twitched and convulsed.
It was their final death throes.
The monsters, whose blood vessels and nerves had been completely incinerated, soon drew their last breaths.
Even then, the girl stood frozen, unresponsive. She merely stared straight ahead with a furrowed brow, as if unable to believe her eyes.
A tall man stood there.
Whir, thud.
A jet-black rod danced through the air before falling into his hand.
Beyond the thick mist, blue eyes blazed like will-o'-the-wisps.
“I came to check since I hadn't heard from you in so long…”
A voice stripped of emotion flowed out like a sigh.
The middle-aged man’s blue eyes began to scan the room. Starting from me, to the girl, to Lia, and finally to Senior Elsie.
With an expressionless gaze, the man asked.
“Nephew-in-law. Let me ask one thing… Is this also a part of your peculiar fetishes?”
The question was so absurd that I couldn't even process it properly.
My answer was blunt.
“Are you crazy?”
“Right, I thought so…”
Whir, thud.
The jet-black rod flew through the air once more before returning to the man’s hand. The middle-aged man, who had quietly closed his eyes, possessed an aura as calm as the sea before a typhoon.
The girl, who had been silent until then, had veins bulging in her neck.
“You, who the hell are…!”
“During my mercenary days, I was sometimes called the ‘Thunder God of the Battlefield.’”
The girl’s body flinched at his unexpectedly calm tone.
The man’s eyelids slowly opened. The intense light leaking from within them signified only one thing.
One who had glimpsed the edge of Truth.
The truly powerful who could change the tide of war and reshape the terrain single-handedly.
“I returned to my family, joined an organization, and suppressed my temper for a while… Then one day, a certain brat lit a fire under the lamp in my heart that I thought I’d lost.”
The Archmage took a step forward.
The air shimmered like a heat haze. It was an anomaly that only high-density mana could produce.
With a flick of his gaze, his blue eyes gestured toward me.
“He is my nephew-in-law.”
It was a declaration made in a voice without a single inflection. At those sudden words, the girl, who had been dazed, finally burst into laughter.
“Pfft… Ahahaha! What is this shriveled-up old geezer talking about? Did you think you could face me alone just because you’re an Archmage? Delusions have their limits…!”
“Why should I face you alone?”
That was the counter-question Reynold posed just before a blood-red sun appeared in the air.
The girl’s body trembled, unable to grasp his intent.
And at that moment, a whip of lightning tore the world in half.
The crackling sound was loud enough to deafen. The majesty of the whip, painting the vision pure white and bisecting the ground from the heavens, was terrifying.
Of course, that didn't apply to the girl.
Clang!
The blood-red whip wrapped around the girl’s arm struck down the whip of lightning. Unable to overcome the force, the lightning whip bounced into the air and shattered into pieces.
The girl burst into a contemptuous laugh.
“Ha! With just this level of magic…!”
But her composure didn't last long.
Because among the fragments of the shattered lightning, familiar blades were visible.
The armaments falling toward me were all too familiar.
The Sword and Hand Axe.
I simultaneously released all the Aura I had been secretly gathering.
Clang!
The steel restraints shattered pathetically and scattered. Just before the girl could react, the sword and hand axe landed in my hands one after the other.
I crossed the sword and axe in front of me, taking a defensive stance in the form of Binding.
It was a perfect pincer attack formation.
Faced with the suddenly shifted tide of battle, the girl was left utterly stunned.
Only then did the Archmage let out a hollow laugh.
“A pincer attack is also a tactic. Especially when fighting a mercenary. Anyway…”
But because that dry laughter contained no emotion.
The girl gnashed her teeth and hurriedly raised the blood-red sun. Perhaps because she had been interrupted just before achieving her goal, her eyes were filled with clear resentment.
An eerie vibration was slowly consuming the space. Vrrr. The already trembling sword and hand axe seemed to foreshadow the coming storm of lightning.
“Shall we settle the price for taking my niece?”
“Don't make me laugh, you old fossil…!”
Immediately after the voices of the two powerhouses crossed.
The world was dyed pure white.