Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: What is Rebirth?
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The king of the wolfkin had always desired only the survival of his race.
Watching the immortals on this frozen land probably made it even more so, but he possessed an essential will to life. His will was transmitted to his race through his horns, allowing them to endure this harsh world and its bitter cold.
But since he had been slain by an imperial knight, his son carried on the just as the Demon King had spoken.
'Ponder it, my horn. Until I return, prepare your answer for me.'
After receiving the horns and becoming the Demon King, he had inherited the Great Demon King's will and could do nothing but continue to ponder. The Great Demon King truly desired the prosperity of the demons.
And at the same time, he harbored a hatred even chillier than this frozen land. A hatred for the princess-the god El Miflas, who had started it all. Lebanaharon had received that immense will.
And so, in the end, the Demon King would defeat the princess and save the Hero. Then what role was he to play in this tale? What life was he to live?
'When the kin of sin descends from the mountain, return to Promnain.'
Iveldra had assigned him that one role. Of course, it was merely a segment in the grand narrative plotted by Hyeon, the king of demons, but Lebanaharon gladly followed it. And yet he never forgot to ponder. He also sent his will to the surviving wolfkin, gathering them. He never forgot to ponder. He kept them alive and prosperous, letting them live alongside humans within Promnain. They learned a different way of life from his own and survived once more. They grew stronger and developed an even fiercer will to live. And so, in the end, he never forgot to ponder.
"Perhaps... this pondering itself is life?"
In this process, Lebanaharon gained one realization.
What is life? What is prosperity? What are demons?
All of it was life itself.
He resolved to give this answer to the Great Demon King. In that moment, he truly longed for him and eagerly awaited the kin of sin's descent.
Bang!
"Perhaps you and I share the same thoughts."
Lebanaharon casually deflected the one-armed knight's sword with his trident, speaking as if brushing it aside. Sparks flew as metal clashed.
"So ponder even more!"
In that instant, it all became clear. An imperial knight who followed the Hero, yet swallowed by the Demon King and vowing revenge-a kin of sin who silently pressed on, turning her blade solely upon herself because she knew not where its tip should aim for that vengeance.
"Haa!"
Elis twisted her body mid-leap, adding rotational force as she brought her sword down. Lebanaharon blocked it again, feeling her heart. He suspected he might have been used as a mad role for the Demon King's revival, but ignoring even that, he sensed the nobility in her life, forcing her to swing her sword ever harder.
He didn't fully grasp the tangled chains of cause and effect or her messy past, but he could clearly understand the heart behind her expression, on the verge of tears, wielding such a wretched blade. Their eyes met as swords clashed and glanced off, sharing the same resolve.
"But my life is stronger."
Lebanaharon didn't yield an inch, repelling her. Elis barely halted by thrusting her sword into the ground, but in her current state, she knew she couldn't defeat this incarnation of potent life-the wolfkin king. She had realized it upon clashing blades. He was no different from her.
"But this will be my final death!"
'Knight's Spear Piercing the Eyes'.
But she could never stop.
She had set her goal, and her sword's tip no longer wavered. No-even if it wavered, she could never stop. She had to cease hesitation, cease rage, and give her all solely to what she sought to achieve. Wasn't that the life she had been reborn into?
Whiiiir!
With only one arm left, she gathered her maximum power and thrust her sword. Light swirled as if being sucked in, pouring forth in an instant. The wolfkin king didn't move to stop it, and a massive hole pierced straight through his heart.
"The power I received from the Great Demon King through my horns is regeneration. No matter how many times you kill me, like the pondering that persists endlessly in living, I will keep pondering and living. So my life is the stronger one."
His long horns gleamed dark blue as flesh filled the hole. Seeing such absurd power, fit for a kin of sin, Elis decided to change her approach.
"Planning to block this time? Fine."
Lebanaharon gripped his spear in his right hand and slashed the air with his left as if tearing it apart.
"I'll fight with one arm too."
'Fangs Tearing the Eyes'.
Whiiiir!
A roar like Elis's own. But the attack from the king of a race-the Great Demon King's mightiest horn-was thick and black, or ominous and mystical in hue, ripping through space. The spatial slash extended from his claws like crackling lightning, striking and embedding into Elis.
Elis was torn apart at once. Dark blue lightning patterns cracked across her body like fissures in ice, spilling blood. Her right eyeball suffered the same.
"Gasp."
Her pupil tore, splitting the enemy before her. But was this the end? From the rents in her body and right eye torn by Lebanaharon's technique, Elis spewed forth red, ominous energy.
"I'll throw it right back!"
It hurt more than all the pain she had felt upon revival combined, her reason already flown, but the kin of sin moved her tongue, body, and sword on instinct.
"Die!"
And so Elis thrust her sword once more, laden with vengeance for all the damage she had endured thus far.
Crack-
"My fangs regenerate too."
As Lebanaharon spoke, dark blue lightning burst from her body again and again.
"Guh!"
Before she could exact revenge, her body was shredding to dust. Before vengeance could halt it, pain numbed all sensation. Repairing her body was slower than its collapse.
"You lack torment."
Flesh grotesquely knit, bones splintered by fangs jutted out. Her body sprouted like a bizarre tree, but his fangs grew into an even vaster one. The horrific agony persisted until her will to live faded.
"Kill... me..."
As he regenerated, Lebanaharon approached the crumbling Elis and said,
"I'll claim your madness. I will remember you, nameless knight of the Demon King."
Lebanaharon slashed with his spear's blade, carving through the tree-like thing-neither alive nor dead.
Thus ended Elis's final attempt to descend the mountain bearing madness.
***
Oh girl who held the most radiant hope, rest here.
Iveldra slowly rose in a small clearing beside Raha on the summit of the Hatharm Mountains. Where she had sat lay a single wilted purple flower of unknown name.
Wilted yet alive, abandoned alone on this frozen land, it seemed to mourn someone-but Iveldra felt no such emotion. She turned slowly, hurrying her preparations to leave the mountain.
"Now, I'must go to Promnain."
The young wolfkin king had handled things well, so now she could revive Iven. She had also heard news of Hyeon, the Demon King. Now she could revive the Demon King according to plan.
Without a hint of hesitation, she stepped forward. Her quiet steps and thoughts sorted themselves, eroding like the snow. Here, the girl who had written a brief segment in the grand tale was buried.
She had reclaimed her sword and dreamed the brightest dream amid her contradictory heart. But in the end, she could not live.
Having endured so many deaths and confirmed countless more, she was ultimately buried by the strongest life. She would not linger long, nor be remembered by anyone.
How would she have defined that brief, fierce existence she had revived into?
Swish.
A sound broke her quiet thoughts. Iveldra halted and turned. The wilted purple flower that had been there was gone.
"Elis Hope?"
There stood Elis, reborn once more. Bloodied and tear-streaked, without Iveldra's wings, soaked in the blood from her hideous wounds, she approached with a murderous glare, gripped Iveldra's throat with both hands, and demanded,
"What... exactly did you want?"
Her grip tightened. But Iveldra merely replied.
"I am Iveldra, the dark Mir symbolizing death."
At that warm voice, Elis shed bloody tears. She realized the truth. Iveldra lacked even the indifference to use her as a mere vessel for madness. She had simply sought a way to serve the one she followed and done it.
So even her revival now had been unforeseen, prompting Iveldra to reintroduce herself. Or perhaps she had foreseen everything up to this point. Having seen the role only Elis could play in this twisted tale, she had kept pondering and questioning.
"Elis, shall I now grant you eternal death?"
Elis released her hands and walked past, replying,
"Fine."
Iveldra's wings draped over her once more as she asked again. Covering her mouth, Elis answered,
"I'll descend again. This time, by my own will."
Elis finally plunged into the abyss and began to walk its depths.
Thus ended Elis's final descent attempt, and her true life-reborn anew-began.
The path of the pilgrim who shatters fate.