Chapter 404: Karmic Fire (Finale)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 404: Karmic Fire (Finale)
"Is this the sun? It really is warm."
An ethereal shadow emerged. A little girl in a dirty dress looked up at the blazing sun, a look of bliss on her face.
She turned her head, looking curiously at the girl beside her, and asked, "Don't you think so?"
"I..."
Liya finally snapped out of her daze. She looked at the sun, then at the golden-haired man standing in solitude. Her small face was a mask of bewilderment.
"An Evil God’s divine blessing? Muen? Why? I..."
Too many unexpected things had happened. Liya couldn't help but fall into a state of confusion and chaos. She hadn't even noticed the little girl who had appeared beside her at some unknown moment.
"Huh? He seems to be in a lot of pain."
Rabbit seemed to have discovered something, murmuring softly as if to herself.
"Pain?"
Liya straightened up, her delicate body trembling.
She saw the golden-haired man standing in the shadow of the sun. He suddenly staggered, clutching his head in agony as he dropped to one knee.
Wisps of pitch-black mist surged from nowhere, like the sea of mud that had swallowed those in pain, slowly consuming him.
"Is that... resentment?"
Liya’s heart hammered against her ribs. The rush of blood back to her heart left her limbs feeling cold.
She recognized the source of that black mist.
It was the power of resentment, born from the pain and despair of a million people and catalyzed by some unknown force.
In other words, it was sin itself.
It was the one thing a Saintess, who was meant to stand in eternal light, should never be tainted by.
It could drag one from the heights of radiance and cast them into the eternal abyss.
"Aren't you going to do something?" Rabbit suddenly asked.
"I..."
Liya gripped the cold, brilliant crystal. She nodded and then shook her head in a daze, biting her lip. "I don't know what to do."
What should she do?
Should she, as a Saintess Candidate, step forward and strike down the man who had colluded with an Evil God? Should she stop this inhumane slaughter so that all sin would cease to exist?
Or should she, as his Saintess, turn around and walk the path of light he had paved for her? Should she ascend to the position she had always dreamed of, while allowing her knight to be covered in filth and blood on the road behind her?
Or...
Liya’s eyes reflected the golden-haired figure. Every time he winced in pain, she felt a sharp pang in her own heart.
She felt as if she were trapped in a labyrinth, utterly lost.
"Will he die?" Rabbit asked.
"No, he won't. He definitely won't."
Liya spoke softly, "I believe in Muen. He’s stronger than anyone. My knight would never fall in a place like this."
"So you plan to do nothing?" Rabbit asked again, tilting her head.
"No... It's not that I'm doing nothing, it's just that Muen... Muen said..."
"What does that have to do with him?" Rabbit looked at Liya, puzzled. "Isn't this your choice?"
"..."
Liya choked on her words. her bloodless lips trembled palely.
Yes, this was a choice. This was her choice, and it had nothing to do with anyone else.
"But... the choice... how am I supposed to make it?"
Liya felt a chill and huddled into herself, clutching her shoulders.
In a trance, she felt as if she had returned to ten years ago—back to that equally cold evening when she had first stepped onto this path.
Back then, faced with the first major choice of her life, how had she answered?
The waves of memory surged. Liya saw her younger self sitting before a campfire, incessantly wiping away tears.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Saintess Teacher." The little girl hiccuped between sobs. "In the end... I still don't have the courage to make a decision."
So... even back then, I didn't have the courage to choose?
Liya gave a self-deprecating smile.
She had thought that after everything she had been through recently, and with Muen’s help, she had grown.
But in the end, at the critical moment, nothing had changed.
"No, Liya, you did very well."
In that moment of distraction, the Saintess Teacher from her memory gently patted little Liya’s head.
"Haven't you already made your choice?"
"I did? But I..."
"Giggle, do you really think so? Little Liya, don't you know? Your so-called 'abstention' means that the man's punishment will follow the rules of the Church. And since you've already memorized the canon, you should know exactly what happens when we follow the Church's rules."
"..."
The observing Liya froze, then realization dawned on her.
How could she have forgotten? In reality, "giving up" wasn't an option.
Her refusal to choose was, in itself, a bias toward a specific outcome.
"It seems little Liya has a hidden 'black-hearted' side," the Saintess teased with a light laugh.
"Then... am I unworthy of my title?" Little Liya looked up, her eyes red. "As a future Saintess, is this behavior..."
"No," the Saintess replied. "The purpose of this lesson wasn't to teach you how to be a Saintess."
"Eh? Then what was it?"
"I wanted to teach you how to be a good person."
"How to... be a good person?" Little Liya tilted her head in distress. Her small brain couldn't quite grasp such a complex concept yet.
"Yes, little Liya," the Saintess said seriously. "The 'good person' you should be isn't someone who saves everyone. It's... someone who saves the people they want to save. As for those you don't want to save, let them die."
"B-but, doesn't that go against the Saintess's creed?" Little Liya was stunned, her eyebrows furrowing as her worldview took a significant hit. "A Saintess needs to be selfless and sacrificial. But this... this is just being selfish."
"It is selfish." The Saintess ruffled Liya’s hair and sighed softly. "You always think too much. The higher you stand, the easier it is for things to cloud your eyes."
"So, in times like these, you must discard those complicated things—like your status, your gains and losses, and all the rules of this world."
"You must make a choice simply as 'Liya.' For a kind person, selfishness isn't a bad thing."
The Saintess suddenly leaned down and asked earnestly, "So tell me, little Liya, will you always be kind?"
"Of course!" Little Liya’s brows arched high, and she answered without a hint of hesitation. "I will always be the kind Liya!"
For ten years, every single day.
Every effort Liya Angel had made was not out of a desire for the power of a Saintess or the adoration of the masses.
It came from her most fundamental kindness.
She wanted to save more people. That had never changed.
"In that case..."
The corners of the Saintess's mouth curled upward.
Suddenly, the world shifted.
The remnants of memory vanished, and reality returned.
Only the image of the Saintess seemed to linger before her eyes.
But the Saintess now was no longer the Saintess.
She slowly raised her head, revealing a face... that was identical to Liya’s.
Liya looked at Liya and smiled.
"Then, if the kindest Liya in the world wants to save something at all costs, it must be the most precious treasure in the world, mustn't it?"
*
The sun continued to incinerate the souls of the sinners.
Seeing Liya suddenly fall into a daze and stop speaking, Rabbit used her pickaxe to dig here and there, scratching her head anxiously.
Finally, she stomped her foot and blurted out:
"He said... he likes you!"
In the sudden, brief silence, Liya finally moved.
She slowly turned her head, then nodded vigorously, her face covered in tears.
"Yeah. Me too."
*
"Black Book, save me!!!"
After realizing the tragic consequences of being eroded by this resentment, Muen immediately called upon his ultimate trump card.
"Black-a-mon, you must have a way, right?!"
【...】
【Apologies. I can help, but only a little.】
"Only a little?" Muen froze. "What does 'only a little' mean?"
【I can help you stabilize your soul so that when you turn into a monster... you can barely maintain a human shape.】
"What's the point of barely being human-shaped?!" Muen roared in fury. "Isn't that still a monster? You just want me to be human-shaped so it's easier for the Church to tie me to a stake when they catch me, right?!"
【This is the resentment of a million people, combined with the seed left by the Evil God. You can only rely on your own will to pull through.】
【However, perhaps...】
"Perhaps?"
The Black Book didn't reveal anything more. With a slight shimmer, it retreated back into the depths of Muen’s consciousness.
"Dammit!" Muen was horrified. "How are you this unreliable too?"
But he didn't have time to wonder if the Black Book had been infected by that old loli’s personality, because the ultimate pain had arrived.
A frigid aura seeped into his body, like being trapped in a nest of vipers.
Noisy whispers echoed in his ears, like a summons from hell.
The black mist surged. Muen felt as if the skin over his body had come alive; his flesh began to writhe of its own accord.
This was the distortion brought by corruption. Before long, Muen saw a pitch-black eye snap open on the back of his hand.
"Dammit!!"
Muen gritted his teeth and tore the eye out along with a chunk of flesh.
"I'm not becoming a monster! Not even a human-shaped one!!"
His eyes had turned blood-red. He was relying on his sheer will to resist the encroachment of the pollution.
But this was the resentment of a million people. Even if Elizabeth could help him block a portion of it, and even if the coolness from the Black Book kept his consciousness somewhat clear...
Muen still felt like he was on the verge of collapse. If his spirit and will hadn't been forged into something incredibly resilient through day and night of training within the Black Book, he would have been crushed into dust and transformed into a twisted monster long ago.
Darkness still loomed. He had to endure everything alone. He had lit this sun himself, yet he could not share even a fraction of its warmth.
Muen felt as if he were walking on the edge of an abyss, sliding deeper and deeper with every step...
Until...
"Muen."
Suddenly, the darkness of the abyss was torn apart by a beam of light.
He heard a familiar voice.
And... a familiar warmth.
Even the cold and pain seemed to dissipate significantly; the pressure lightened.
Muen’s clouded, crimson eyes slowly regained their clarity. He looked down and saw the girl who had thrown herself into his arms.
"Liya, you..."
Muen froze for a second, then shouted angrily, "You—why are you here? Leave! Get out of here! Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
"Yes, of course I do."
Liya nodded gently. The crystal in her palm floated up. The once-flawless crystal was now being stained by filth.
"I've come... to save you," she whispered.
"Save me? Do you know what you're saying?"
Muen mustered what little strength he had left and grabbed Liya by the shoulders.
"You were so close to fulfilling your dream, to becoming the Saintess! Why would you do this... I don't need you to save me!"
"But..."
Liya gazed at the face that was now engraved into the deepest part of her soul.
"I've already found my most precious treasure. Protecting what is precious to you... that's what Muen has always been doing, right?"
"But you..."
"I know. I'll be tainted by these sins too."
Liya hugged Muen even tighter, speaking without a hint of hesitation. "But I came here to bear them with you. The Holy Light in my body is exhausted; this is the only way."
"And..."
Liya pointed. "I'm not the only one who came."
Muen looked up in a daze and realized that, at some point, ethereal figures had gathered around them.
They were the remnants of souls—the souls of those Muen and Liya had saved from eternal agony.
"Hey."
The little girl in the dirty dress tilted her head and smiled.
"You were right. The sun really is very, very warm."
"Rabbit..."
"Don't be sad. Now isn't the time for tears."
Rabbit stood on her tiptoes and patted Muen on the shoulder. "For your sake, I had to take the long way around for quite a while. Good luck."
Rabbit stepped forward, passing by Muen.
More soul remnants passed by.
In that moment, Muen heard their voices.
"Thank you."
"You... are not a sinner."
The darkness was torn asunder as beams of light descended.
And the brightest beam of all shone upon the man and woman locked in an embrace.
Muen watched as the remnants vanished one by one with smiles on their faces. Finally, he took a deep breath, turned, and looked down at the familiar, lovely face.
Under the bright sunlight, Muen could clearly see the feelings contained within those beautiful eyes.
After a moment of silence, Muen spoke in a raspy voice:
"I... I'm a scumbag."
"Mm-hmm." Liya let out a little giggle. "I knew that from the start."
"I'm not a good person either."
"I know. You're a bad guy."
"I'm involved with Evil Gods. Did you see? That fire came from the Withered King."
"Yes, I know."
"I'm in the middle of killing a million people."
"Yes, I see."
"I'm not worth saving."
"Maybe... to everyone else."
Liya caressed Muen’s face.
"But even if the whole world thinks you aren't worth saving, I will still come for you."
"Because I am your Saintess. Yours alone. One of a kind."
"Just as you are my knight."
Liya threw her arms around Muen’s neck, stood on her tiptoes, and pressed her soft lips against his.
"I love you, Muen."
*
【Lust Progress: 100%】
*
End of Volume.
Ps: Happy New Year.