Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: Eternal Unquenchable Flame (6)
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A distant yet vividly felt past.
A girl perched on a rock kicked her legs petulantly, throwing a tantrum. The man deftly diverted her attention with a question.
“Then, according to that theory of main attributes based on personality, what element suits me?”
The girl closed the record. No answer lay within. She gently shut her eyes and touched her lips.
The hero was ‘light’, the priest ‘water’, the shrine maiden ‘earth’, and she herself ‘fire’. In that case... what element suited this man? No matter the trials he faced, he never gave up. To protect his comrades, he shouldered burdens heavier than anyone else. What element best fit this warrior?
After endless deliberation, her lips parted.
“...Steel.”
“...”
“You are... steel, Kadim.”
The man’s pupils wavered emptily. The girl’s words continued with solemn gravity.
“You’ve been tempered thousands of times in agony and despair, hammered tens of thousands by ordeals, yet you never break—instead, you grow harder and stronger. That’s you. Even after a millennium, you’ll never shatter and will forge steadfastly ahead on your path. And depending on how it’s honed, it can become a blade that slaughters indiscriminately... or a sturdy shield guarding what’s precious...”
“...An interesting tale.”
With that, the man departed.
But the girl’s words did not cease. Toward the empty seat he’d left behind, she murmured a lonely soliloquy.
“But... do you know, Kadim?”
Her mutter trailed off poignantly, like embers fading to ash.
“To forge steel unbreakable even after a thousand years... there must always be an ‘unquenchable flame’ at its side...”
A near yet unreal present.
The scrap of paper in the man’s grip finally burned in the blaze of blood flame and scattered as ash. The girl, now a woman, kept her gaze fixed on the rift as she murmured bitterly.
“Yeah, at first I didn’t even realize it was Gale... He was such a wreck... and he barely recognized me...”
Through the endless years enduring hell, Melissa occasionally crossed paths with familiar souls of the dead.
Some she had slain herself, but most were humans Kadim had killed to cut off future threats. They writhed in horrific torment, pleading for salvation. Nine times out of ten, they were wicked souls—and with her mission to slay demons and seal the rift, Melissa never spared them a glance.
But one day, in hell’s deepest abyss... she encountered someone impossible to ignore.
The heart of the hero’s party. The hero who’d received the revelation to strike down the great demon, holy sword in hand: Gale.
At first, she thought her eyes deceived her. No reason existed for him to fall to hell. But it was unmistakably Gale. That mangled lump of flesh, chewed ragged by packs of high demons and torn asunder... was their hero, the one who always rallied the group and lit their path like a beacon.
“Those vile demons... Even when I lashed them with hellfire and raised barriers like mountains, they swarmed back. Gale’s pain and despair must’ve been a feast beyond compare for them. And souls in hell don’t vanish upon death...”
“...”
“The demons came endlessly until I hit my limit. For years, I could only watch helplessly... as Gale was ripped apart...”
Witnessing a loved one’s death scars the soul for life, even once. Melissa had endured that sight thousands, then tens of thousands of times more. Her mind, barely holding against hell’s extremes, finally shattered.
Yet Melissa never surrendered.
Defying high demons’ powers, sacrificing her summoned spirits, pouring out endless mana, battling for hundreds of sleepless nights—she finally freed Gale. She didn’t care that her ragdoll rescue couldn’t recognize her. Her sole focus: return to the rift and pull him from hell.
But the moment she reached it, Melissa’s hope crumbled.
“Yeah, the dead... can’t escape through that rift.”
“[...]”
“So ironic. Demons slip out that narrow slit with ease, but the innocent can’t even from the center... In the end, I left Gale and crossed back alone.”
Melissa stared beyond the rift, where her comrade still lingered.
That instant’s despair corrupted the Magic Tower Lord’s true body into a high demon—and forged the hell-returned woman into the tyrant of the great forest. A flicker of poignant regret rippled in her eyes, swiftly drowned by a grotesque gleam.
“But now I’ve found the way. Yeah, just shatter the rift’s core completely.”
“[...]”
“A barrier blocks the dead, but it weakens as the gap widens—the power disperses. Destroy the rift entirely, punch a massive hole, and I can surely pull Gale through.”
“[...]”
“But after all I did to wither that root... if they revive it like that on their whim...”
Kadim clenched his fist in silence. Before he could argue or act, Melissa snapped, clawing at her hair.
“I know, I know. Yeah, I know damn well... This—this is something I mustn’t do.”
“[...]”
“Dooming the whole world to hell for one soul...? That’s demonic selfishness... I fought so hard against the great demon’s horde without falling to their corruption... I can’t become a demon. Demons are revolting, horrific... Demons are what you hate most, Kadim...”
“[...]”
“But it’s all wrong from the start, isn’t it...? Why is Gale in hell? What sin did that noble hero, who strove to save the world, commit? I—I can’t comprehend... What are those heavenly gods doing, those bastards? What’s this world even for? Just their inscrutable playground to toy with us?”
“[...]”
“So... how’s Gale holding up? Still getting shredded by demons and faring ‘well’?”
Kadim ignored the rambling tirade, save for the final question, which he answered curtly.
“[He became light.]”
“...What?”
“[No clue what, but a walking lump of light.]”
“...”
“[No worries about demons tearing him now. Hell, he helped me. Calmed my frenzy rampage and shoved me out of hell.]”
Melissa’s gaze scattered blankly.
A disbelieving hollow laugh escaped her, but soon her eyes brimmed red, her throat quivering. Emotions beyond words wove complex waves across her face.
“Light... he became light... Truly light now... No more torment from demons...”
“[...]”
“No, no, no... Still, must save Gale fast... Abyss demons might snatch him anytime... Collapse the rift now, yank him from hell...”
Kadim turned away, exhaling a sigh of flame.
“[Agreed on pulling Gale from hell. Mostly agree those sky gods are scum. But collapsing the rift? Can’t sign off on that. Better find a way to snag just Gale, not unleash hell’s hordes too.]”
“Kadim, I—I searched. Think I’d pick this extreme without trying everything...?”
“[Search more. Reviving that root buys forty extra years, they say.]”
“Shut up—!!! Over a century searching—!! No other way exists—!!!”
Roarrrrr—!!!
Red, white, and black flames erupt wildly
Her roar birthed an explosion of red, white, and black hellfire. But before Kadim could snuff it, Melissa gasped raggedly and quenched it herself.
“Hic, haa... sorry... sorry, Kadim... That wasn’t me...”
“[...]”
“I—I don’t get it. Thought my whole self burned to ash, but deep down, flames still rise... I know they ruined everything... yet I keep spreading them at fire’s command...”
“[...]”
“And now, wanna know what that fire whispers to me, Kadim?”
He didn’t. But he learned soon enough.
From the glare reflected in her limpid pupils. From the crushing heat weighing his spine.
A meteor shower rained down.
Hundreds of blazing trails slashed the sky mercilessly. The heavens, spilling sunset glow and twilight haze, bled red with searing heat once more. As if some sovereign had flayed the firmament’s flesh with a burning blade.
Every meteor’s path converged on one target: the World Tree.
“Huhu-huk... It says kill Hesilia... Like slaying demons to ascend ‘rank’, kill the elves’ god for ‘divinity’... Become a new god, save your old comrade, then burn this flawed world from its roots...”
Kadim’s eyes flew wide.
“[What the...?]”
“Yeah, exactly. Madness... I don’t want to slay the elves’ god who at least descended and beheld the world... But look—I’ve already done it. My power, my will... can’t tame this unquenchable blaze anymore...”
“[...]”
“If only heartfire could be quenched by a flick, like cast flames...”
Melissa gazed skyward, blanketed in meteors.
Her blood-smeared face mirrored the firmament scarred by fiery tails. Less apocalyptic sorceress summoning doom, more helpless woman beholding ruin.
From cracked lips spilled her deepest dread—and truest wish.
“Kill me, Kadim.”
“[...]”
“This flame is me now. Slay me quick, hurl this unquenchable blaze into hell’s pit. Only way to save the World Tree... stop the end...”
Silence fell like ash.
World ablaze, yet their flames alone stilled.
Not for long.
Kadim flared his flames anew. Blood flame, sovereign over all, glared at the world-devouring inferno. Air warped in savage heat, devouring fireballs whole as he growled.
“[Don’t die like that.]”
“...”
“[Don’t burn out futile like a moth—pathetic end for cowards tumbling to hell in defeat. If your fire wrecked all, then—even ripping wings on stone, slamming into muck—snuff it first. Then die.]”
Her face blanked in daze. Speechless, hands spasmed. Centuries of hammered helplessness had long snapped her resolve.
Self-reproach strikes involuntary. Awareness it’s undeserved? Still surges beyond control.
The man clenched eyes shut, then snapped them open, growling.
“[Spew it at me.]”
“...Huh?”
“[Vomit your inner blaze on me. Not at blameless World Tree or world. At me—who broke my vow to stay, abandoned your fire.]”
“Wh-what...”
“[So unleash full fury, every flame solely on me. I’ll bear it. Devour your unquenchable blaze. Claim the fire fused to your life, shoulder its sins, fury, regrets.]”
“...”
“[I’ll seal the rift. Save Gale. Slay the tyrants who mocked your fate, Melissa.]”
She shook head wildly, eyes quaking.
“N-no, Kadim... Not your load... Not your sparked flame... Just my folly... too dumb to quench in time... let it grow wild alone...”
“[Wrong. That fire’s mine. Sparked by me. Wasted ‘cause I ghosted. Its birth? Precisely...]”
“...”
“[...‘Unquenchable flame’ must attend steel, unbreakable past a millennium.]”
Melissa’s eyes bulged.
For an instant, heartbeats seemed to rewind eternally.
Distant, vivid past. Listenerless mutter crossed ages... returned to its teller.
...No more delay.
Kadim hefted Judgment of Atala firm. Crimson blood flames unfurled savage wings. Amid resonant blaze, his vow boomed suffocating.
“[As said before... once more...]”
“...”
“[...Thy hottest blaze—with soul entire—clash, Melissa.]”
Enveloped in thick reverberation, Melissa pierced the man before her with gaze alone.
Yes. She knew.
That form.
His true self, etched in memory.
Unshattered through thousands temperings of pain, despair. Unbowed through myriad beatings of trial. Rising dogged through any abyss. Ever shielding beloved—shouldering others’ loads, burning self utterly.
Melissa shut eyes. Drew deep scorching breaths. Mind razor-sharp. Mana all-in, she wrenched every World Tree meteor toward them.
Ember eyes snapped open true. She faced straight the warrior crossing three-century eons.
“[Huaaaaaaaaah—!!!]”
Come. Come. Erasable not, in eyes-shut dream profound, Fading not, hell-wandered blood-swallowed nights, Forgettable not, soul ashed entire. The one remembered, The one beloved. Steel-clad warrior, millennium-unbroken. At last not world-scorching apocalypse, But solely thee to hone—flame pure, Eon-enduring steel-infusing ember, Eternal unquenched flame-seed sown. Life’s final stained-with-waiting page, With heart-blaze thundering fierce, No regret left, hottest scripted down.
⟨ Eternal Flame Tempering ⟩
――――――― Kwa-gagagagakwang—!!
―――――――― Kwa-gagagagakwang—!!
Meteors plummeted. Earth erupted in waves, divine silhouette leaping ablaze.
Hwarururuk, Jjeo-geok!
Blood-flame-wreathed axeblade cleaved deep her breast.
Embraced tome burst apart; crimson droplets scattered like falling petals.
“...Kadim.”
The girl mage, with poignant smile, placed the final period on the chronicle of her fateful odyssey with that chance-met man.