Chapter 459: Proof of Existence (47)
Chapter 459: Proof of Existence (47)
The girl’s movements, which looked as if she were about to lash out with her whip at any moment, came to a halt. It seemed her curiosity had been piqued.
Eyes that held only the faint embers of a dying fire stared straight at her.
"You said I ran away?"
"Of course," the girl replied, her voice as clear as a song. "You ran to your family, didn't you? Forgetting your revenge, forgetting your grudges... It would have been so much easier if you had just lived your life buried like that."
"……I see."
The middle-aged man’s blue eyes flickered to the side.
His gaze was fixed on me.
"I suppose I was quite a coward."
The words left his lips like a heavy sigh.
That was the end of the conversation. Once again, the magic circles began to vomit fierce electrical charges, and the girl extended her blood-red whip in response.
The outcome of the impending collision was obvious.
Sir Reynold had already clashed with the girl once before. He couldn't withstand her then, and now, with his internal organs in a state of total upheaval, it was out of the question.
The moment I realized this, I found myself struggling. I didn't even know where this strength was coming from in my battered and broken body.
"Gah, cough… Rey, Reynold……! Sir Reynold!"
But my struggling was just that—struggling. Flailing about out of nowhere wasn't going to produce a miracle.
The two were already on the verge of impact, and I was far too distant from them. Not to mention, I could barely move.
It was then.
With a sharp thud, someone hugging Celine’s body rolled across the ground. Celine struggled, but the woman pinned on top of her gritted her teeth and held on.
It was Ria.
How on earth did Ria…?
Before I could even process it, Ria screamed.
"Go, quickly… Brother!"
It felt as if a bolt of white lightning had pierced through my spine.
I scrambled to my feet, reaching for my sword and hand axe lying on the ground. My beloved weapons had rolled quite a distance away.
And time was running out by the second!
As I gritted my teeth and took a step forward—
"Ma-Master……!"
Grind.
Gritting her teeth, Senior Elsie’s blue eyes turned toward me.
She wasn't trying to chant. It was already too late to start a spell after breaking free from the restraints.
Nevertheless, Elsie was gesturing to me with her eyes.
She kept pointing toward the spot where the two were about to collide.
It didn't take long for me to understand her intent.
I lunged forward and scooped up Elsie’s small frame.
Immediately, a dizzying pain surged through my nerves like a static shock.
"Argh, aaaaaagh!"
Forcing my contracting muscles to obey, I lifted Senior Elsie and aimed for that distant point.
There stood the girl, letting out a burst of laughter as she prepared to swing her whip.
"Go ahead and regret it in the afterlife! Regret your foolish choice……!"
With a grunt, I threw Elsie’s body with everything I had. She soared through the air.
The blood-red whip tore through the world immediately after.
Until that very moment, the girl didn't hide her triumphant smirk. She was certain of her victory.
And she likely would have achieved it.
If not for Senior Elsie.
As Elsie suddenly appeared before her, time seemed to freeze for both the girl and me.
Even from a peripheral glance, the scene was clear.
One falling from the sky, and one standing firmly on the ground.
The expressions of the two girls were in stark contrast.
Senior Elsie, her face contorted in pain, yet wearing a trembling, persistent smile.
And the girl, her eyes wide with shock, gasping in horror through gritted teeth.
"This is—impossible……!"
Crack, snap! With a sound like bones twisting, the blood-red whip crumbled of its own accord.
It was because of the contract.
The girl had contracted not to touch Senior Elsie for the duration of this day.
It was the price for me quietly enduring her whims while bound.
But I had been freed, and there was no way to reclaim the price already paid.
Just like all the others the girl had traded with before.
The atmosphere hummed. A gale raced forth, soaked in exhilaration.
In that brief window, the girl managed to roll away and put distance between herself and Elsie. Since Elsie was paralyzed from the electric shock, the girl likely judged that simply avoiding her was enough.
It was a correct judgment.
However, Elsie hadn't just bought time for Sir Reynold.
I sprinted forward, my hands finally closing around my sword and hand axe.
A silver arc sliced through the world.
Thwack! The axe blade bit deep into the wrist of the girl as she desperately tried to leap away.
Gritting her teeth, the girl turned a resentful gaze toward me.
But that wasn't the end.
Thud! The blade I threw next struck the side of her knee.
Blood sprayed, and the girl’s posture faltered slightly. Even so, the opening lasted only a few seconds. It was then that everyone’s attention was drawn toward the sky.
Crash!
The heavens were collapsing.
It wasn't a physical concept like a ceiling or a roof. The void itself was literally crumbling. At first, it was just a small crack, but the fissure grew uncontrollably, raining down shards of reality.
I could see it.
Beyond the rift, white lightning resided. In that infinite space, the flickering electrical charges seemed to strike directly at the foundations of human common sense.
How could a single created being bring about such a miracle?
Even the girl looked up at the sky, lost for words.
A boiling voice leaked through Reynold's clenched teeth.
"It shouldn't… be like this……!"
Staggering to her feet, the girl forced a despicable smile.
Her shoulders were heaving for the first time.
It meant the accumulated damage was finally taking its toll. Despite that, a pale blue arc of a smile remained etched on her lips.
As if she still had one move left.
Whir, snap.
The Archmage’s gaze remained unwavering. Facing those blue flames, the girl let out a weak laugh.
"Fine, fine. I'll admit it… Reynold Lainella, you actually surprised me."
"Are those your last words?"
"No."
Gritting her teeth, the girl snapped her fingers.
The hand that was about to throw the Pitch Black Rod faltered. My eyes widened in horror.
Faint, blood-red threads were connected to his arm.
Just like when Celine was being manipulated.
"I told you… there is no salvation! There is no God! There is only despair! At the end of that despair, you sold your fate to me!"
The Archmage silently looked down at his own hand. That hand, no longer listening to the commands of his brain, remained motionless as if it had turned to stone.
The girl burst into laughter.
"Pfft, ahahaha! Now, finally, it's proven… no one is coming to save you."
She pounded her chest, her voice rising in a frantic sermon.
"Only oneself! Only a human who has abandoned God can save themselves! From the moment you were intoxicated by mere emotions and rejected my mercy to let you live……!"
Whir, snap.
The girl’s words were cut short. Her vacant gaze followed the Pitch Black Rod as it drifted through the air before falling.
"……I see."
The girl’s eyes slowly moved toward the Archmage’s hand, and only after following her gaze did I realize what had happened.
Sizzle. Electrical discharges were wrapping around his right arm.
He had induced an electric shock to force his muscles to lock up. So that they couldn't move at all.
Even as the blood-red threads strained to pull the arm, the Archmage didn't budge.
He simply used his remaining hand to repeatedly toss and catch the Pitch Black Rod.
Finally, the heavens began to tear wide open.
"This… this is a breach of contract!"
The girl screamed, her eyes bloodshot.
"Fulfill the contract immediately, Reynold Lainella! Your fate belongs to me! If you try to violate the contract with such tricks, your heart will explode with pain beyond your imagination and—!"
"Since this seems like a good opportunity, I'll teach you our family motto. My dear lady."
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, the Archmage smiled.
At that moment, the Pitch Black Rod he threw did not return.
The rift in the sky was already encroaching upon the earth. The pure white lightning crackled as if it could no longer contain itself, asserting its overwhelming presence.
For the first time, pure terror filled the girl’s golden eyes.
How could one even describe it?
It was a whale made of lightning.
No matter how much one craned their neck to look up, there was no end to it. Even the attempt to measure its scale felt like an act of blasphemy.
The giant of lightning stepped across the boundary.
Boom! From the gap in the torn sky, the essence of light and heat reached down.
"Lainella's fate is……"
Only then did the girl desperately wrap herself in blood-red threads. But even that would not guarantee her safety.
The vivid fear in her golden eyes and the cold sweat beading on her forehead bore witness to that truth.
Just before the world was submerged in a sea of lightning—
"Impossible……!"
The girl’s scream, filled with disbelief, rang out.
"……decided by Lainella."
Through the rift in the shattered sky.
The Wrath of the Thunder God, destined to cover everything, descended upon the earth.