Chapter 606: Jealousy is My Power (106)
Chapter 606: Jealousy is My Power (106)
The ‘Boundary’ is an ambiguous space.
It is a place that the vast majority of people do not even realize exists. Because it is, quite literally, the ‘boundary’ between reality and unreality, the possibilities arising from it are infinite.
Past and future might intertwine.
Phenomena that defy common sense might occur.
Causality might be twisted.
One could even physically destroy conceptual things. It was no exaggeration to say that a new world opens the moment one catches a glimpse of the ‘Boundary.’
However, such power always comes with a price.
No one truly understood or fully controlled the ‘Boundary.’ If anything, far more people were swept away by its unprecedented currents, never to regain consciousness again.
Even the ‘Master,’ that great being said to have seen the end of both martial arts and magic, found it impossible to comprehend every strange phenomenon caused by the ‘Boundary.’ The ‘Great Witch’ was no exception.
Unfamiliar memories were intermingling.
She couldn't understand why. In fact, looking back, it had been that way for a while.
Was it from the moment she first met that brat, ‘Ian Percus’?
Or perhaps, after he had soothed the pain that was gnawing away at her entire body?
There was a woman occupying a corner of the Great Witch’s unconsciousness. It was a sensation that wasn't entirely foreign.
She wasn't without a guess as to the cause.
It was likely the influence of the ‘Boundary.’
The vampire had opened the gate of the barrier that manifested the ‘Boundary’ right in the middle of the Academy. Naturally, it wouldn't be strange for things that defied conventional understanding to happen.
For instance, even if memories that shouldn't exist began to pierce her mind.
Even if her emotions fluctuated wildly of their own accord, there was nothing she could do. The strange sense of familiarity she felt toward a novice she had never seen before must also stem from such exceptional phenomena.
However, there is no such thing as ‘by chance’ in this world.
Even coincidences are born from the seeds of some form of causality. The Great Witch had always wondered about that point, and only now did she feel like she understood the reason.
“First Child.”
It was a short call.
It was a title that had somehow stuck to her lips of its own volition. A word used to call a certain man within those unfamiliar memories.
Beyond the ‘Boundary,’ another future was invading.
It wasn't just the ‘Great Witch.’ Though she didn't know what he had done, Ian was also being strongly affected by the ‘Boundary.’ One could tell just by looking at his berserk state moments ago.
‘Encroachment.’
The reason Ian’s body, which should have been dead, was still holding together, and the reason he couldn't control his own emotions, were also related to this.
He could not distinguish between his own memories and those of another.
And so, he was seeing unfamiliar memories overlaid upon the current landscape.
Of course, it wasn't entirely disadvantageous. As the man’s mind was gradually painted over by those strange memories, his power was also improving by leaps and bounds.
That was likely Ian’s objective.
To sacrifice his own body, accept more memories than he could handle, and use them to overwhelm the vampire.
It was a suicidal act.
The Great Witch realized this instantly. It felt as if the personality from beyond the ‘Boundary’ was screaming at her.
That she had to stop him immediately.
The Great Witch willingly decided to answer that inner voice.
“Master….”
The eyes of the man who feebly murmured were nothing but cloudy. He was in a state where he didn't even realize who he was—that was how many memories from beyond the boundary he had accepted.
They likely belonged to that man called ‘Pride.’
That title, ‘Master,’ must also be originating from his memories.
To that extent, the current Ian was closer to the ‘Pride’ from beyond the boundary than the ‘Ian’ of this world.
It was the typical end for one who drew upon power they could not handle.
If things continued like this, his physical form, unable to endure the imbalance between body and mind, would collapse on its own.
However, a temporary fix was possible.
“……You did well.”
Though she didn't know the full details, it was clear that the Great Witch and the man shared some kind of relationship in the world beyond the boundary.
That was why her heart ached so much. The reason a faint moisture clung to her voice was the same.
The primary cause of his berserk state was his inability to control the emotions contained within ‘Pride’s’ memories.
In that case, she simply had to soothe that terrible resentment. By borrowing the memories from beyond the boundary, no less.
The Great Witch began to separate the emotions that were slowly filling her chest. The memories, the recollections, and the pain all originated from unfamiliar imagery.
There was just one thing.
One point that had been nagging at her. The Great Witch’s mental imagery was solid, and thus, she was not easily influenced by external factors. Despite that, why were these memories and emotions invading so freely?
“You’ve suffered so much… You worked so, so hard.”
The man’s ragged breathing gradually steadied.
It was proof that his rampaging emotions were subsiding. Conversely, the Great Witch’s emotions were as unstable as a storm-tossed sea.
A low breath escaped the lips of the man who had been wandering through a past that never existed.
“Revenge, I have to get revenge….”
What did that mean?
There was no time to understand. The Great Witch simply let her lips move as they pleased.
Yes, now she understood.
How the mind of a Great Witch, who had reached the level of a Master, could be this unstable.
“Why you? Something like that… I’ve already taken care of it.”
“In the end, I couldn't protect anything.”
“As long as you are okay, that is enough… Haven't I always told you that?”
That was how desperate it was.
The wish held by the ‘Great Witch’ beyond the boundary, her unconsciousness, had remained in the boundary and flowed in.
She didn't know why she had wanted to talk to this man so badly.
However, a certain image flashed before her eyes.
It was different in kind from the unfamiliar memories that had been piercing her mind until now. If those had been intoxicated with happiness, this was closer to a heartbreaking regret that pricked at her heart.
The burning Great Forest.
There, a woman reached out her hand to wipe away a man’s tears.
Because she felt sorry for him as he cried?
She didn't know the details, but it seemed the memories of the ‘Great Witch’ that had crossed the boundary desperately wanted to reunite with the man.
“The relationship between master and disciple is like parent and child, and the relationship between fellow disciples is like siblings. That is why we are the most important.”
“But….”
“To me, you were the most precious.”
It was around then that the trembling in the man’s pupils stopped.
“Not just me, but the second child too… Do you really think we would have wished for your sorrow?”
Silence.
The rough breathing subsided, and the overflowing blood receded. A sign that his blood pressure was stabilizing.
“You can stop remembering now.”
“How.”
“Are you going to make me regret my decision as your master?”
It was a common story.
Unable to forget death, the man’s life had become a funeral, and the master, saddened by this, wanted to put an end to that grief somehow.
To tell him that she had no regrets in her choice to die for him.
Light returned to the man’s hollow eyes, like mist clearing. The golden pupils that flickered for a moment at the end looked terribly weary.
“……You’re still the same.”
That one bitter sentence lingered particularly long in her heart.
With this, it was over.
The Great Witch’s mind, having finally shaken off the lingering regrets from beyond the boundary, felt momentarily dizzy. It was only natural, considering these were memories that had been shaking her personality and emotions for days.
Was it the influence of that intense wish?
Before long, a cluster of pure white light began to seep from the man’s empty shoulder. This was the ‘Boundary,’ a place more strongly influenced by mental imagery than anywhere else.
The final appearance remaining in the memories of the ‘Great Witch’ from beyond the boundary was being reproduced. This, too, must be a byproduct of the desire to recreate the scene from that time.
Either way, there was no loss.
The man had finally escaped the crisis of death, and Ian, who had closed and then opened his eyes, soon regained his senses.
“……Great Witch?”
It was a dazed voice for someone who had just been saved from the brink of death.
The Great Witch could only swallow a hollow laugh the moment she heard that voice. Finally, she let out a sigh of relief.
A small hand went thwack, striking the man’s forehead. Even so, her physical strength wasn't particularly high, so it didn't cause any significant pain to the body of a sturdy knight.
Before Ian could even say anything.
The Great Witch burst into a faint smile.
“Are you finally awake? You pathetic fool, there’s still work to be done….”
And then, thump.
Time stops. A blood-red spear pierces the woman’s small body, and the Great Witch’s body, her eyes wide with shock, buckles in the direction of the spear’s momentum.
It was fortunate that a shield of mana had diverted its trajectory at the last moment. The barrier Elsie had hastily woven from afar prevented the worst-case scenario of her heart being pierced.
But that was all.
Like a leaf caught in a gale, the Great Witch’s body vanished in an instant. Only bloodstains remained in the empty space where the woman had been blown away without even leaving an afterimage.
Startled, Ian fumbled against the ground as he pushed himself up.
The surprise attack on the Great Witch wasn't the end of it. Soon, an amorphous tidal wave of blood surged toward her.
There was no time to hesitate. Following the judgment of the remaining memories, Ian desperately swung his sword downward.
CRACK!
The blood in the area split apart, losing its momentum. However, by then, the blood-red wave was already right in front of the Great Witch.
A forgotten laughter erupted.
“Puhu, aha, ahahahaha!”
It was a laughter that was now all too familiar.
The woman, whose half-body should have been torn away, was already standing with her body regenerated, wearing a vivid blue smile.
“……Why are you ending it on your own? We still have debts to settle. Don't we, kid?”
The monster’s body swayed as it took a step forward.
No matter how one looked at it, she wasn't normal. That didn't mean she looked like an easy opponent, though.
Ian momentarily furrowed his brow, unable to show a proper reaction. It was because he had only just come to his senses and wasn't fully himself yet.
Who could have predicted such a persistent struggle?
“Now, let’s end this…!”
There was only one person who had been prepared for any eventuality.
The sky is torn apart.
No, in fact, the sky had been torn for quite some time. It hadn't been long since the Wrath of the Thunder God had begun to pour down.
BOOM!
A storm of lightning struck down from beyond the unhealed wounds of the sky. The ground, shattered by the aftershock, scattered in all directions, but Ian didn't have time to stand dazed before it.
“What are you doing?! Run, now!”
At the familiar voice heard from afar, Ian’s body instinctively kicked off the ground.
The berserk state had ended, but the memories of that time still remained.
The solo charge of the man whose body had even healed was terrifying. It was enough to instantly blow away the woman’s body, which had been unable to move within the waterfall of lightning.
First, Binding.
Concentrated starlight pierced through the surging waves of lightning and aimed for the woman’s heart.
Tak. The projected sword light stopped right in front of her heart. It meant that even while her muscles were contracting from the electric shock, the vampire had forcibly squeezed her muscles to block it.
Soon, the descent of the Thunder God ended.
The vampire laughed, forcibly steadying her trembling lips.
“……You’re a little late?”
Ian’s response to that was concise.
“Unbinding.”
An application of Binding and Unbinding learned from the Great Witch.
What happens when aura that was widely spread is suddenly concentrated and fired?
Bang! The concentrated aura exploded, drawing a single line of light.
The vampire’s body vanished.