Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Memory World Shatters
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“Ugh…. Where is this?”
Agnes opened her eyes to the electric current prickling her skin.
She had climbed the long stairs of the ziggurat and entered through a massive door whose interior couldn’t be seen. After that, her memory cut off.
An ambush? Then this must be inside the ziggurat.
But the smooth metal interior was vastly different from the ziggurat made of stone.
“Urk! This smell….”
The acrid stench of burnt flesh brought tears to her eyes. Once she gathered her wits and looked around, she saw charred black corpses scattered everywhere.
The clothes they wore were quite different from those of the people she’d seen outside. The baggy robes looked like something mages would wear.
“Wait, me too….”
It wasn’t some skimpy outfit that revealed more than it covered. It was the same clothes she’d been wearing when she entered the ruins.
Her sword was securely fastened at her waist as well.
Hum. Mana flowed normally through her body too. She had no trouble using aura either.
Why all of a sudden… Had something changed in the world of memories?
“Ah, Lord Damian!!”
She couldn’t see Damian anywhere.
Perhaps these changes were his doing. First things first, she needed to confirm he was safe.
“Hearing that name in your voice right now feels oddly strange.”
Her steps halted at the voice from above her head. Even without mana infused in it, the voice carried an eerie power.
“Lady Rubia….”
It came from the violet currents tickling her skin. From Rubia, floating in midair.
She had returned to her original form, just like Agnes. Her signature color was with her too.
The corpses of mages strewn about. It was obvious they were Rubia’s handiwork, no questions asked.
“Who the hell are these people? And where is Lord Damian?”
“I don’t know either, so could you just shut up for a bit?”
Rubia snapped curtly. Though laced with hostility, it didn’t seem directed at Agnes in particular.
If anything, her animosity was aimed at the current situation itself.
“When I came to, I was tied to some weird device, and these guys sure as hell didn’t look like allies, so I took care of them. They’re not even human to begin with, right?”
She wasn’t wrong. This was a world built on someone’s memories. Everyone except the five of them—Agnes included—was just an illusion.
But ever since arriving here, Agnes hadn’t sensed the people around her as anything other than human.
That was how realistic this world was.
Yet Rubia hadn’t hesitated to take their lives.
Whether they were enemies or not didn’t matter. They’d caught her eye, so they burned under her currents.
Even if this were the real world, the current Rubia wouldn’t have hesitated.
‘Was she always like this?’
Rubia de Clarent, the lady of Clarent. In terms of noble blood, she was right below the imperial family.
So her haughty personality was practically genetic.
But the pressure she exuded now went beyond that.
A madness that defied words. It pressed down on Agnes harder than the crackling currents.
“Miss Agnes. You go find Damian. He’s your precious ‘fiancé,’ isn’t he?”
Rubia’s lips smiled, but her eyes didn’t.
“What will you do, Lady Rubia?”
“Well….”
Crackle! Violet lightning shot upward. The ziggurat’s walls melted away helplessly, revealing the bizarrely twisted sky.
“I’m just doing what needs to be done.”
Rubia soared into the sky.
Something wriggling appeared beyond the horizon, inching closer to them.
She didn’t know what Damian had done, but it was clear the end of this world was approaching.
This time, she turned her gaze downward. Crowds of people panicking from the sudden upheaval. Among them, she spotted the Red Bear couple, Anton and Lien.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Are the others okay? Shouldn’t we charge into that ziggurat or whatever it is?”
People lost to reason rushed at the two. But they crumpled helplessly before the axe and sword.
The Red Bear couple could wield aura again, so handling them one by one was no issue.
But they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. And most critically.
“W-We don’t want to do this either!!”
“Our bodies, they’re moving on their own!!”
“Mommy!! Mommy!!”
Even the people charging at them were being controlled by some force.
Of course, as seasoned mercenaries, the pair didn’t falter and kept fighting.
They aimed to subdue rather than kill as much as possible.
They knew these weren’t human. Just recreations from memories.
But in their minds, these were living, breathing people. Victims swept up by some power.
“Guh!!”
“Anton! Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry. It’ll take more than this to kill me.”
Anton clutched the wound in his abdomen, down on one knee. He’d been stabbed by a child who’d slipped through the crowd.
“S-Sor, sorry… I’m sorry….”
The child couldn’t help it—his body had moved on its own. Anton and Lien hadn’t been able to subdue the kid.
‘Why is she doing this?’
Rubia was genuinely puzzled. Even if they were real, living humans, she wouldn’t spare them.
Boom! Violet lightning crashed down around Anton and Lien.
When the pair opened their eyes again after the blinding flash, nothing alive remained nearby.
Only black clumps vaguely resembling human shapes were left.
Thud. The hand of the child who’d stabbed Anton crumbled to black ash and fell away.
The battle ended in an instant. The two could only stare up at Rubia in stunned silence, too shocked for any reaction.
-You don’t have to thank me.
Her mana-infused voice echoed from the sky.
Mercenaries Anton and Lien had received aid from their employer—a situation where gratitude was the least they owed.
“That appearance of hers….”
“Is that really Lady Rubia…?”
But they couldn’t bring themselves to think that way.
Having witnessed the violet lightning—once thought merely beautiful—brutally ravaging the world, even battle-hardened mercenaries like them couldn’t help but shiver.
Boom!! Boom!! Rumble!!
Afterward, Rubia’s bolts continued to ravage the world of memories.
Whether they showed her hostility or not, whether it was by their own will or not—it didn’t matter to Rubia.
Existing in this world was sin enough.
This place, created by ancient magic, was certainly a high-level construct, but to Rubia, it was just an annoyance.
“Found you.”
“Wh-Wh-Who are you?”
Amid the lightning shaking the world, Rubia located the merchant who’d laid hands on her.
“Gaaahhh!!!”
The merchant screamed under the violet currents. She’d deliberately toned it down. He’d insulted her, after all—she couldn’t let him die so easily.
She knew it was pointless. Torturing memory constructs held no value.
But she wanted to. So she did.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve held back too long.’
It started when Damian arrived at the Magic Tower.
Not knowing what tricks Ezekiel—more precisely, Tower Master Ariella—would pull, she’d had to stay vigilant.
Which meant she could only watch as that wretch Agnes Schubert strutted around.
‘Knows nothing of her place.’
Did that paper-thin engagement make her think she had some real tie to Damian?
What a delusion. In a few years, one flick of Rubia’s finger would erase it.
The Empress, the Archmage, and Damian.
All things Rubia desired, and she had the divine right to claim them.
Anything in her way, she’d smash to pieces.
Just like this world that had insulted her.
* * *
“Putting on quite the show.”
Reunited with Agnes, Damian watched from atop the ziggurat as thunder and lightning tore the world apart.
“….”
Agnes watched the scene, utterly speechless.
She could feel with her own skin why Rubia was hailed as the next Tower Master and Archmage from a young age.
‘Is this her current power?’
But Damian wasn’t all that surprised. He’d already seen Rubia at her peak.
‘Compared to before my regression, she’s still far off.’
The Rubia of back then wouldn’t have fallen into a trap like this.
Compared to his current self, Rubia was still superior.
But Damian’s growth was accelerating even faster.
The Damian of half a year ago was incomparable to now.
So he had to surpass her before she reached her peak.
Whoosh. The grand ziggurat and all the buildings forming the world slowly turned to dust and scattered into the sky.
Damian’s single strike had dealt massive damage to the internal structure, and now Rubia had fully dismantled it.
The sludge approaching from the horizon couldn’t withstand her lightning storm either.
Most of the sky was already under her dominion.
“Ah, Damian.”
The five reunited in the flattened world, courtesy of the thunder and lightning.
It hadn’t taken long to find each other. They were the only living ones left.
“We got our original powers back thanks to you, right?”
“I found the memory’s owner.”
“Hehe. I’m a bit tired. Haven’t pushed myself like this in ages.”
Rubia leaned slightly against him. Her expression was brighter than ever. She’d vented all her pent-up frustration.
“““…….”””
But the other three, excluding Damian, couldn’t bring themselves to match her mood. They’d witnessed her violence through magic with their own eyes.
“Lady Rubia, I’ll support you. Lord Damian fought hard too.”
Agnes wedged herself between Damian and Rubia. But unlike at the welcome party, she couldn’t face it with a stiff expression.
Her fear, like prey before a beast, was plain to see. Even so, she did what she had to.
“You found the memory’s owner? Then why haven’t we escaped yet?”
At Lien’s question, Damian explained what happened with Aumpasha and the memory’s owner.
Of course, he couldn’t mention black magic, so he embellished appropriately.
“It’s fine, Damian. Leave the rest to me.”
Mana gathered in Rubia’s hand, then sliced space in two. Inside was filled with the mana circuits sustaining the memory world.
“At this point, controlling this space wouldn’t be an issue. I don’t fully grasp the principles yet, but I get the rough idea.”
Just like Damian, she’d interpreted and applied the ancient magic from her own perspective.
“…How is that possible?”
“I pieced it together bit by bit while destroying the world. Even if I’m wrong, it’s my own understanding.”
The same method Damian had used to comprehend this world.
The difference was, Damian had found answers by observing Aumpasha’s battle, while Rubia had fought and understood simultaneously.
Moreover, she’d gone beyond mere destruction like Damian—she’d interfered and manipulated it outright.
‘I can’t let my guard down.’
In this incident, the artifact nullifying black magic hadn’t fallen into her hands, but her understanding of ancient magic had leveled up.
For Damian, that was cause for wariness.
Whoosh. Their vision shook violently once, and there was Rubia touching the crystal orb. They were back in the ancient ruins.
“Hm? This…. No way.”
“What’s wrong?”
Rubia, stowing her magic, furrowed her brow.
“According to the info stored here, we weren’t the only ones sucked into this world…. Urk!!!”
Suddenly, blood trickled from between Rubia’s lips.
Drip drip. Blood droplets fell from the sword piercing her chest.