The Sin Called Cynthia

“This is where it ends for you.”

[Isn't that the kind of line a villain would say?]

“Shut up.”

[Usually at this point, don't you hear the person's side of the story?]

Surely Asea had her own reasons. Reasons desperate enough that she could endure even excruciating pain.

But none of that mattered.

“Why would I make allowances for the circumstances of the person who wrecked my life?”

He aimed Peace Breaker's muzzle straight at Asea. If he showed mercy here and she got in his way later, that would be a problem. Hadn't even Black Snake failed to bare its broken fangs until it was too late?

So he'd learned from the Black Snake and Iron Blood incidents: the answer wasn't to snap fangs, but to crush the enemy so thoroughly they could never fight back.

He pulled the trigger without hesitation. Peace Breaker's bombardment slammed into Asea once more.

The instant his finger squeezed the trigger, some instinct told him the attack was going to be deflected. And true to that instinct, the barrage bent off in a bizarre direction right in front of Asea.

“That dagger of yours must be stronger than the bugs you've been using.”

What had stopped the bombardment was a newly drawn dagger in Asea's hand. He leveled Peace Breaker at her again, intending to subdue her fast, before she could do anything strange.

But Asea was faster.

She plunged the dagger, dark light swirling in its blade, into her own leg — implanting a bug into her limb to numb the pain in her lower body. The black glow of the dagger drained into her as if swallowed, and her entire body began to blacken.

This time the bombardment didn't merely bend — it was neutralized an inch from her face.

“Damn it. Note to self: never give them an opening to counterattack.”

Asea's whole body had turned pitch black. He tried to fire again at her wavering figure, but by then she had already vanished from his sight.

Her blade flashed past just beneath his neck. A slash launched at a speed the eye couldn't even register — if not for his Intuition, his head would have left his shoulders.

The next instant, she vanished from view again. Even the combined enhancement of Sword Saint's blessing and the Demon God's Blessing couldn't track her movements.

Danger!

Only Intuition Lv3's warning let him evade her strike by a hair.

“Even bugs should have limits. You're telling me this kind of movement is possible?”

[Analysis complete. It appears to be a bug that forcibly rewrites the avatar's specifications to append superhuman capabilities. The strain is correspondingly severe, so it won't last long. Thirty seconds at most, Master.]

Transcendent power came with a transcendent price, it seemed.

[The problem is that even for you, Master, surviving thirty seconds will be... difficult.]

Dodging her attacks alone was a struggle. If Asea hadn't been losing control of her own strength — leaving a stagger between each strike — he couldn't have held out even a moment. Her every attack was a bug-fueled, one-hit-kill. Intuition Lv3 was already warning him: at this rate, Ryu Hwi's neck would leave his body within ten seconds.

Overwhelming speed even he couldn't catch. The means to answer it was—

Godspeed's duration was a mere fifteen seconds. Shorter than the time Asea could even keep her bug alive.

But this was no time to hesitate.

The moment Ryu Hwi activated Godspeed, an effect like scattered feathers flickered around him and vanished.

Demon God's Blessing, Sword Saint's Sword Mastery, and on top of those, Godspeed and Hawkeye. As the skills' effects stacked, he finally caught sight of the bug-born 'Asea' in a realm where tracking her with the naked eye should have been impossible.

Unnervingly fast.

A speed he could only follow by chaining skills together. It was leagues beyond even his current self.

But there was a world of difference between tracking something with your eyes and being able to respond to it.

Clang!

“......?!”

Because he had Parry.

Ryu Hwi swung his blade and knocked Asea's strike aside. It was a horrifying attack — a single touch meant corruption by the bug — but in that sliver of an instant, he sensed the bug's most vulnerable point and struck back with his debug-tool-infused sword.

Asea faltered, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠visibly shaken. But she quickly steeled herself and rained attacks down on him again. She knew as well as he did how short her window was. She meant to end this within it.

Faster still.

Sword strikes that left no afterimage whatsoever crashed down on Ryu Hwi.

Clang!!

“Guh!”

This time, too, Ryu Hwi reacted to her attack — and his movement was faster than the last. Every successful Parry sharpened his whole body's reflexes. Demon God's Blessing, Sword Saint's Sword Mastery, Yongjin Qi Arts, Godspeed, Hawkeye — and Sword Saint's Parry on top.

Godspeed would run out before Asea's bug did. He had to finish it inside that window.

Wielding every skill at once, Ryu Hwi surged onto the offensive.

Four slashes — no, not even a combo; it was closer to four slashes launched practically simultaneously.

And Asea blocked all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠four.

Even now, even in this moment, she was faster than him. It was a scene that laid bare, without regret, just how absurd the bug she was using truly was.

Having repelled the assault, Asea swung her blade again without slowing in the slightest.

Ryu Hwi didn't panic. He had already intuited that Flying Swallow Slash would be blocked. From the start, the skill had been nothing more than a means to pin her movement for a single instant.

Behind Asea, a black shadow erupted upward.

The speed of Rammut's shadow flames was very slow — but fired at point-blank range, that was a different story.

The shadow flame shot skyward. Even at Lv1, its power was more than enough.

The instant she felt the threat of the flames, Asea was caught in a split-second dilemma. Dodge Rammut's fire? Or cut down Ryu Hwi as planned?

One heartbeat of hesitation.

Asea chose to cut Ryu Hwi down, even if it meant her own body burned to nothing for it.

And Ryu Hwi did not miss the opening born of that instant's doubt.

Both of them were moving at transcendent speeds, far beyond their limits. If Asea had known his Godspeed lasted only fifteen seconds, she would have chosen to retreat. But because he had never once used Godspeed outside of practice, she made the wrong call.

In that single instant of her hesitation, Ryu Hwi activated the function of the 'armor' he wore.

The wind roared. A gale that erupted without warning around the armor on his body shattered Asea's stance — and because of it, her blade grazed past just above Ryu Hwi's head.

“Got you.”

Peace Breaker's blade tip touched Asea.

“Watch your wish outside the game come crumbling down, Cynthia.”

“Ryu—!!”

A light that devoured darkness surged toward the far edge of the sky.

Why?

How?

This can't be happening.

Within the light that was tearing her body apart, Asea asked herself the same questions over and over.

Asea had one twin sister. Her name was Cynthia.

Cynthia and Asea both had frail bodies. They spent more time in hospital rooms than out in the world.

Ether Immunity Deficiency — a congenital illness of a rare constitution unable to adapt to the 'Ether' of Yggdrasil. It was miserable, but with each other there, they could bear it.

But as the days passed, their condition worsened. Both of them received the same diagnosis: they would be lucky to survive another half year.

While their family was drowning in despair, a doctor at Saint Yggdrasil Hospital made a proposal.

'The organs where the twins' immune abnormalities originated are different.'

'If they transplant each other's organs, one of the two can live.'

Asea was terrified. Even if it meant surviving, that world would have no Cynthia in it.

It was Cynthia who soothed her.

“It's okay. Even if only one of us makes it, we'll still be together forever.”

Even if Asea died, her body would live on as a part of Cynthia. Even if Cynthia died, her body would live on as a part of Asea.

The twins cried all day long. And their parents, unable to bear losing both daughters, made a cruel and heartbreaking decision.

Citing the need for preparatory time before surgery, the hospital separated the twins into different rooms.

Two weeks later, the surgery was scheduled.

When Asea opened her eyes after the operation, she realized she was alone.

And yet, somehow, everyone around her recognized Asea as 'Cynthia'.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Had something gone wrong during the surgery?

It had. The SEEDs implanted in the two girls' bodies had been switched at transplant. Asea had died; Cynthia had survived. Asea was fated to become Cynthia.

That was the only atonement she could offer the one who was gone.

Ten years passed like that. The girl who wasn't supposed to live long grew into an adult.

She told Ryu Hwi that 'Cynthia' was a pseudonym she'd used during a brief stint at Linzea — but in truth, she had lived as Cynthia far longer than she had ever lived as Asea.

She worked herself to the bone, determined to live the portion of life that had been meant for Cynthia too.

Then one day, it happened. A minor traffic accident.

An impact that should have meant nothing — but it awakened 'memory data' that had been sleeping inside Cynthia's SEED.

And within those memories, Asea witnessed scenes that turned her stomach.

Voices preserved in the memory of Cynthia, her mind hazy under sedatives.

Those were the last words. After that, Cynthia's memories simply stopped.

Asea was haunted by nightmares. For a month, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she could barely sleep.

The voices left in Cynthia's memory hinted at something too dreadful to even imagine. Once she finally pulled herself together, Asea moved to uncover the truth. She did everything within her power.

Through 'certain information', she learned that Latia Soft and Linzea Guild were connected to the experiments. To infiltrate Linzea, she took the position under false pretenses.

Burning with vengeance, Asea stopped at nothing. Where necessary, she climbed upward by trampling anyone in her path. Her actions ruined countless lives — but she did not stop.

Everything, all of it, to expose the tragedy that had befallen Cynthia.

'Ah.....'

Asea remembered Ryu Hwi at the moment she betrayed him. The image of him calling out the name 'Cynthia' with dead, hollow eyes.

Her time with him had been peaceful. She'd even caught herself thinking — wouldn't it be wonderful if she could just forget everything and keep living as 'Cynthia'?

But the nightmares, repeating endlessly, made a demon of her. The gentle eyes that had once looked at her lost their light and flooded with hatred — and the 'self' reflected in those pitch-black eyes was nothing short of repulsive.

After that, she cast away every last hesitation and became a monster. Nothing could stop her anymore.

And yet, because of her, another 'monster' had been born.

That monster was staring at her now with emotionless eyes. Not a trace of the old tenderness remained.

'Cyn.....thia..... I was, from the very beginning, wr—'

She thought she heard laughter. The laughter of her precious twin — laughing through the pain, forcing a smile.

And then the light swept away everything she had ever built.

[This is critical damage. I anticipate effects on the physical body in reality as well.]

“The real body too? Why?”

[Even account data is linked to the brain — or more precisely, to the SEED. The access terminal has safety mechanisms, but the bug appears to have corrupted even those functions. The logout process isn't completing properly either.]

“So because she used a bug, her device destabilized — and the damage carried all the way through to her actual body?”

Short of the most fatal outcome — brain death — it was all but certain something, somewhere, had gone wrong inside her.

Ryu Hwi quietly looked down at Asea.

[Do you regret it?]

“No.”

Karma. You reap what you sow.

“I just thought it was finally over.”

The karma Asea had created had circled around, and now it had come back to her as retribution.

Two uses of Delete remained. Ryu Hwi had intended to spend one of them on Asea — to erase even her trace from this world entirely.

“Wait!”