Chapter 608: Jealousy is My Power (108)
Chapter 608: Jealousy is My Power (108)
Her voice was calm and mature.
The Vampire’s pupils constricted in an instant.
“Long ago, the first of humanity looked upon nature and believed that this world moved in cycles. Just as spring follows winter… and the moon wanes after it is full. They believed the world itself repeated a cycle of creation and destruction.”
“Nonsense.”
The Vampire added those words between ragged breaths.
Her trembling pupils betrayed her true feelings. A bizarre sensation was scraping against her five senses.
It happened in a heartbeat.
Before she knew it, the Vampire stood alone, isolated. The landscape stretched and receded so endlessly it felt like a hallucination.
There was no one else around her now.
No one, except for the mysterious woman standing directly in front of her.
Dark blue hair fell to her waist. She had light green eyes that held a profound depth, and her body possessed elegant, beautiful curves.
She bore a striking resemblance to the Vampire.
It was only natural. After all, the two were sisters.
Recalling an unpleasant memory, the Vampire let out a desperate shriek.
“That’s nothing more than a legend…! I realized it through my research. The primitive insights of early humans don’t necessarily contain fragments of the truth!”
“Perhaps.”
The woman with dark blue hair—the Great Witch—replied with a faint smile.
“But what the first humans saw wasn’t just the landscape of the earth….”
As she spoke, the Great Witch slowly extended her palm.
Starlight began to dance upon it. One, two, three. Then dozens, hundreds, and finally, an uncountable number of stars.
They rotated and circulated, forming a single sphere.
A circle and a globe.
Shapes that complete themselves, possessing neither beginning nor end.
The symbol of the ‘world.’
The Great Witch’s fingers curled inward, and her arms and hands began to tremble violently. As they did, the rotation of the starlight forming the sphere accelerated even further.
Soon, the stars in the heavens began to move.
At first, they moved so slowly it was hard to notice, but the lights in the firmament, trailing silver tails, soon formed a circle.
It was then that the Vampire took a step back, her voice hollow with disbelief.
“This… this is impossible….”
This was a spell woven by a mere creature, was it not?
It was an impossible miracle. That the celestial bodies of the heavens would respond and move at the call of a being who, by comparison, was not even a speck of dust.
Yet, the voice of the one who had caused this miracle remained perfectly composed.
“After being trapped in the Great Forest, I spent every night looking at the sky and wondering… what truly lies close to the essence of the world. This is my answer. Though I cannot claim to have realized all the principles of the ‘Four Phases’….”
Crackle, snap, k-k-k-krack!
The starlight that continued to rotate above the Great Witch’s palm began to emit a blinding radiance. Then, a small sun slowly rose into the sky.
“……I have learned to mimic it.”
The stars tracing circles in the heavens narrowed their orbits one by one, converging into the sphere of light.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands.
As the number of stars contained within it grew, the vibration of the light sphere intensified. Eventually, it reached a point where not just the sphere, but the entire world seemed to vibrate.
It was a sight of exquisite beauty.
So much so that it was hard to believe a mere mortal had woven it.
The Vampire, too, was someone who had once dedicated herself to the magical arts. Naturally, she could sense the sheer power contained within the Great Witch’s spell.
But because of that—
Unable to contain her rage, the Vampire screamed and scattered her own blood.
“Don’t… don’t make me laugh! To a thief like you… to a thief like you, once again…!”
The Great Witch’s low declaration echoed through the air.
“Binding.”
As the Great Witch raised her index finger, the frantic vibration of the sphere ceased.
Even then, the Vampire was squeezing out every drop of her power, staring at the sky with bloodshot eyes.
“Once again! Once agaiiiiiiin!”
That was the end.
The Great Witch’s index finger slashed downward, and the final syllable was exhaled.
“Unbinding.”
Light, stars, and the moon.
And another world plummeted, tearing through the firmament.
Crushing a world beneath it.
It was the end.
It was a story from a long time ago.
So long ago that no one could remember it, there lived a promising mage. She was a woman so talented that people said it was hard to find her equal in the entire continent.
From her childhood, she lived a life where she lacked for nothing.
Not long after she began to distinguish herself, she was designated as the next head of the family. The retainers dearly loved their capable and beautiful successor.
Interest and affection followed her wherever she went. Though there were those who envied the brilliant woman, what did it matter?
They were nothing more than dregs, not even worth a glance. The woman believed in her own talent, worked hard to meet the world’s expectations, and spared no effort to become a magnificent head of the family.
However, even a woman who had everything had her own worries.
The woman was deeply concerned about her younger sister, who, since childhood, rarely cried or laughed. Her sullen expression and eyes that seemed to have mastered the ways of the world made her look like a premature adult.
And that was despite being born with such a lovely appearance.
Pity soon turned into interest, and interest into affection. Even if everyone in the world called her strange, the woman remained on her sister’s side.
No matter how cold the ice, it is powerless before warmth.
The younger sister, who was initially only prickly, eventually had no choice but to open the door to her heart. One day, as they shared news and talked about how the world was turning—
The younger sister revealed her long-hidden, true feelings.
“Can I… become like you, Sister?”
It was a wish confessed with a slight blush.
That day, the woman was so happy she felt as if she had gained the whole world. It was the first goal her younger sister, who had never shown interest in anything, had ever spoken of.
The tutor the woman arranged arrived the very next day.
There were so many refinements a noble had to possess. Social studies, economics, the study of emperorship, along with training in magic and swordsmanship.
The younger sister mastered all that knowledge with startling speed. The retainers were amazed that another genius had been born to the family, and they even praised the woman’s foresight in recognizing that talent early on.
But from when did it start?
“The young lady is a genius that appears once in hundreds of years!”
“She is already beyond the level of what I can teach. You should seek out the ‘Great Sage’ of the Empire.”
“The greatest divinity of the continent has been born in our family!”
The eyes and mouths that used to be directed at the woman became the younger sister’s portion.
“I heard she’s already on the verge of becoming an Archmage? While her older sister hasn't even shown signs of becoming one yet….”
“They say in a few years, she’ll be a talent who advances the current magical system by decades.”
“Then, what about the next head of the family?”
“The strong take everything… is that not the law of the Great Forest?”
All the pride and empty fame that had supported the woman began to crumble.
One by one.
The frequency with which the younger sister was called to the places where the woman used to stand increased. Before she knew it, the brilliant spotlight that should have been hers was shining only on her younger sister.
Interest, affection, and even envy and jealousy.
All of it became her younger sister’s exclusive possession. On the day she was stripped of her position as the next head of the family, the woman finally realized.
The fact that she had become one of those beings in the shadows she had once mocked so much.
Dregs that no one looks at, that aren't worth paying attention to, and that do nothing but envy the shining others.
The woman could not bear that fact. She hated her lovely younger sister, she hated herself for hating her, and she hated herself for losing the light she thought would be hers forever.
So, she locked herself in a small room.
If she lacked talent, she would make up for it with effort. If she could complete a research project she had poured years of agonizing effort into, the whole world would have no choice but to notice her again.
Then, she could stand proudly before her younger sister once more.
Not as a pathetic older sister hiding in the shadows like a rat, sending looks of envy, but as her former self, brimming with confidence and composure!
But in just a few weeks.
“The genius has solved the difficult problem!”
The research topic the woman had been immersed in for years was easily resolved.
By none other than her younger sister’s hand.
This was talent.
The woman was beyond despair; she trembled. If you lack talent, just work hard?
It was nonsense. Before absurd talent, before that overwhelming gap, all struggling was meaningless.
In that way, the woman’s life was stolen from her.
The continent’s greatest prodigy, the promising mage, the next head of the family who carried the expectations of all the retainers.
Those shining titles now referred to her younger sister, not her.
Since she had been a being above the heavens from birth, the fall was just as dramatic. The woman grew haggard day by day and gradually went mad with jealousy.
To the point where she had to slam her head against her desk and scream every time she heard of her younger sister’s exploits.
Why?
Why are you taking everything from me too?
You’ve taken enough. Before you were even born, all that glory was mine. So why does it have to be you!
You, whom I can never reach no matter how much I struggle!
Then, one day.
The woman received a guest with red eyes.
“Do you want to take it back?”
There was no object to the sentence.
The woman simply nodded her head frantically. And according to the words of the woman who said she would give power in exchange for a price, she sacrificed the souls of all her retainers.
It was the birth of ‘Jealousy.’