Chapter 191: Battle for Possession (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 191: Battle for Possession (1)
Kang Geomma slaughtered the snake as if crushing it underfoot. Its screams were agonizing, but in this pitch-black space, there was no exit. The Basilisk was hacked apart where it stood, its flesh stripped away bit by bit. Resistance was impossible. It had no choice but to humbly endure the cold, blue blade.
Slash!
Darkness swallowed its vision. The Basilisk had just met its 3,423rd death. Yet no sooner had its consciousness vanished than its eyes snapped open again. Once more, the same place and the same human greeted it. And the outcome that awaited was precisely the same.
This was a space beyond the boundaries of time. Thus, the duration of the [Blessing of Painlessness] was infinite here. Kang Geomma swung his sashimi knife. The merciless blade tore through scales, spilling a thick, petroleum-black fluid from within. Experiencing an excruciating agony that never dulled no matter how many thousands of times it was felt, the snake's head fell. As it gasped out its final, lingering breath, a new life was granted—and immediately snuffed out by the sashimi knife.
In a world where violence was taken for granted and respect for life was dismantled, the Basilisk had its very soul chipped away by a human it had once looked down upon and mocked.
Thwack!
The snake died. It died thousands of times. It died hundreds of millions of times over. By the time the boundary between life and death blurred, the snake chose to pitifully beg.
"...Please. Just... kill me for real now."
The Basilisk pleaded with Kang Geomma. Its eye muscles had completely slackened, pupils wide and unfocused.
"That's a contradiction."
Kang Geomma said, flicking the blood off his sashimi knife. His face remained entirely expressionless—a sight that triggered primal, visceral terror in the Basilisk.
"I've been killing you over and over this whole time, and now you're asking me to kill you? Guess it hasn't been enough."
"Th-That's not what I mean! I'm begging you to free me from this torment!"
"Your attitude when begging is pretty terrible."
In truth, Kang Geomma had been getting bored and was considering calling it quits. But seeing the snake's reaction, it seemed it still wasn't enough. He let out a bored sigh and adjusted his grip on the hilt—a silent rejection of the creature's request.
"Die a few thousand more times while you think about it. Figure out how you should properly grovel if you want to die."
"W-Wait...!"
Murasame mercilessly struck the Basilisk's entire body. The cleaned blade was stained once again with fresh blood.
Only after the Basilisk died over and over until its mind was reduced to a vegetative state did the hacking finally cease.
Only then did the Basilisk realize that true pleading was silence.
By the time it reached its 9,608,251,206,530,847th death.
* * *
Hon stood dazed, gazing at the scene with blank eyes. She was certainly watching it happen, yet none of it made any sense.
Standing before a phenomenon that went beyond supernatural, her legs gave way. She muttered softly,
"Is this... the Evil Eye of the Loop?"
A Demon Eye thought to exist only in legend. She was witnessing its power with her own eyes. The surrounding landscape was rewinding to how it was before destruction. It was the reversal of time.
Chzzzz.
Just then, the completely shattered stone statue regained its original form. Choi Seol-ah was reassembled in midair in a weightless state. Then, the cold stone surface gradually faded away, replaced by soft, living skin.
Soon, Choi Seol-ah tumbled down, bumping the crown of her head right where she had been smashed.
"Ouch!"
Choi Seol-ah groaned, clutching her head. Tears welled in her eyes from the splitting pain. She stayed like that for a moment before sudden goosebumps rose all over her body.
'Ah, right. I died.'
As realization struck, her heart sank. Trembling violently, Choi Seol-ah lifted her head. An unbelievable sight was reflected clearly in her eyes.
'...Is this the afterlife?'
It was the exact place where she had died. But the scenery was playing in reverse, like a rewinding tape.
When she thought of the afterlife, she had pictured crossing the River Styx or having a one-on-one interview with King Yeomra, but this was entirely different from the underworld she had imagined.
"M-Miss Boradori?"
Just then, a trembling voice called out to her from behind. Thinking it might be a ghost, Choi Seol-ah squeezed her eyes shut at first, but the voice sounded familiar. Annoying, yet intensely welcome.
Choi Seol-ah whipped around. The sly elf. Hon stood trembling slightly, covering her mouth with both hands. Choi Seol-ah's eyes widened nearly three times their size.
"Huh? Wh-Wh-What! Did you die too, elf?! Agh, you dummy! I told you not to come! Of all things, you decided to be my companion to the afterlife?! Huh?!"
In sheer frustration, Choi Seol-ah held her forehead. She was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was dead. Listening to her blunt scolding, Hon wiped the corners of her eyes.
"I never died... Miss Boradori, you were the only one who died. But that is no longer the case either. You are alive."
"Hey, elf. Look... I get that the shock of dying delays your situational awareness, but that's why you need to evaluate things coolly. Look at me. See how calm I am even though I'm dead?"
"..."
"I don't know about anything else, but I just hope I don't go to Hell... Heaven might be out of the question, but maybe somewhere in the middle? Or a compromise, like the least awful level of Hell? Is that too greedy?"
"..."
Listening to Choi Seol-ah's endless nonsense, Hon felt the emotion of their reunion cool off completely. Her moist eyes dried up in an instant.
"Haa... You really don't change, even after dying and coming back. Usually, after going through something so major, a person changes..."
Hon let out a deep sigh. Instead of explaining further, she pointed in one direction. Choi Seol-ah tilted her head, then shifted her gaze that way.
"Huh? Uh? HUH!"
Choi Seol-ah's face went blank with shock. A black-haired figure standing with his back turned, holding two gleaming sashimi knives. Her initial reaction was intense bewilderment, followed immediately by a wave of overwhelming relief.
She couldn't fully comprehend what Hon had said. Dying and coming back to life? That sounded like sheer lunacy. But she was certain of one thing.
"My... Lord..."
There was no way he could be dead. And she existed in the same place as him. Therefore, this was no afterlife—this was the realm of the living.
'I'm alive.'
Through that simple syllogism, Choi Seol-ah realized she was indeed alive. Teary-eyed, she clutched her chest. She could feel something welling up within her.
The embers of 'emotion' that had turned to ash when she became a villain were reignited. She had died and been resurrected. Having literally been reborn, her humanity had returned as well.
Under her fingertips, Choi Seol-ah felt her thumping pulse. Her heart was beating. Yet an ecstasy far greater than the joy of coming back to life burned through her veins—a pure, unadulterated reverence for her Lord.
"Ah, I'm tired."
At that moment, Kang Geomma stretched his neck side to side and abruptly turned around. There stood Choi Seol-ah, sniffling. Her lips wobbled as if she were trying to say something... Watching her, he felt the frown on his face smooth out.
'...Choi Seol-ah came back from the dead, so I can't even fathom how messed up causality must be now.'
Well, whatever. The important thing was that Choi Seol-ah was safe and sound. That was enough.
Kang Geomma spoke with a faint smile.
"I'm sick of this place. Let's clean this up quickly and head back."
Hon nodded slightly, while Choi Seol-ah nodded furiously.
* * *
Time flew like an arrow.
Choi Seol-ah, Hon, and I agreed to take plenty of rest. Having gone through such a massive ordeal, everyone was exhausted. Of course, we didn't just lounge around doing nothing.
Over those few days, I reported the subjugation of the Basilisk to Medea. I left out sensitive details like the [Evil Eye of the Loop], as I couldn't even begin to imagine how to explain that to her.
Predictably, Medea blew her top. She railed on about how I could go off on such a mission without saying a word to her, taking along some greenhorn instructor instead.
I stopped Medea from summoning Choi Seol-ah to interrogate her right then and there. It wasn't because I was worried about her salary getting docked, but because one wrong move could expose Hon's identity to the whole world. Fortunately, Medea didn't pester me further, though she sat there pouting sourly.
For the record, Hon was still staying at Choi Seol-ah's place. Her task was complete, yet she had chosen to remain at the academy rather than return to the Demon Realm.
From what I gathered, some sort of deal had passed between the two of them. Occasionally, Choi Seol-ah sent me complaining texts about how the elf was draining her bank account.
Naturally, I ignored every single one of them. It wasn't worth responding to.
"..."
I lay down with my head resting on my arm, staring blankly at the ceiling in deep thought. Having handed over the 'Magic Stone of the Fallen Dragon' looted from the Basilisk to Wieland, I needed to let my brain cool off for a bit.
'I've been sprinting forward nonstop lately, after all.'
Still, thanks to that effort, I was now in possession of four Memory Fragments. For the time being, I intended to condition my mind, body, and spirit. Only then would I be able to keep pushing forward without burning out later.
Lying there for a long while, a pleasant drowsiness crept into my mind. Beyond the window, the setting sun dyed the western sky like orange paint.
'The evening breeze has gotten noticeably colder over the past few days.'
November was right around the corner—the time when the tail end of autumn overlaps with the beginning of winter. Once it arrived, I would have experienced all four seasons at Joaquin Academy. It gave me a strange sense of novelty.
"When I first enrolled, I was struggling just to survive..."
I chuckled bitterly and got off the bed. Taking it easy was fine, but slacking off didn't suit my nature.
So, I decided to pay a visit to the academy training ground for a change. The membership was expensive, but I made up my mind to pay for it. I couldn't keep hanging around the public martial arts grounds forever. Every time I went there, somehow the cadets would find out and swarm in droves.
The male cadets recorded my every move with their smartphone cameras, while the female cadets shrieked and squealed. If I hurried to run away, they pursued me relentlessly.
As someone who naturally disliked crowded places, it was immensely uncomfortable. I didn't like drawing attention, and the sticky, intense gazes from the female cadets felt overwhelming.
That was why I shelled out a large sum for the private training ground—simply for a pleasant environment. My primary objective was raising my 'Body Rank' rather than refining my skills.
"I hope no one's there today either."
If even that place turned out to be crawling with cadets, I would have nowhere left to go. Feeling a faint prick of anxiety, I headed to the training facility.
* * *
The training ground at Joaquin Academy.
Abel stretched her arms and legs to warm up. Since it was her first training session in a while, she needed to properly loosen her muscles.
Lately, Abel had been focusing more on building flexibility than on pure swordsmanship training. That was why she had taken up pilates, which Shail had recommended endlessly.
She had tried it half-skeptically, but it suited her surprisingly well. Still, if she abandoned the sword entirely, her touch would dull, so she had come to the training ground after nearly two weeks.
"This should be enough."
Finishing her stretches, Abel gripped her sword. Perhaps because it had been a while, the hilt felt perfectly snug in her hand today. On top of that, she had gained insight into a sword principle during the Haunted House commotion. Visible growth was the best motivation.
'If I improve further from here, maybe someday even I...'
Just as Abel took her stance with a proud smile, someone walked lazily into the training room.
'...Saki?'
Abel stared at Saki with surprised eyes. Saki gave her a brief glance before setting up camp far away from her.
'She came to the training ground?'
Abel knew Saki's personality well. Back when they were in the same class, Saki had despised physical training to an extreme degree. During every running session, she had run off to the infirmary just to sleep.
And she had come to the training ground? Abel suddenly turned her head toward the window. The sunset was sinking in the west. The sun sets in the west after rising in the east.
'It's not even like the sun is rising from the west!?'
Abel turned her gaze back to Saki. Seeing Abel flustered and fidgeting, Saki spoke with a disinterested expression.
"What are you staring at? What, checking if the sun's rising in the west just because I showed up at the training ground?"
Abel flinched. Hit dead center on the mark, she couldn't even offer a rebuttal.
Saki narrowed her eyes before taking her gaze off Abel. She pulled out her equipment—a training bow. It was a C-rank bow, the same rank as Abel's training weapon.
She tested the equipment by drawing and releasing the bowstring. Though a bit stiff because it wasn't fully broken in, it wasn't half bad.
"Abel."
"U-Uh, yeah?"
Saki trudged closer until she stood directly in front of Abel. Then, she blurted out out of nowhere:
"Let's spar."