Chapter 196: Ring(1)
The sky was gloomy.
Gray clouds veiled the sky, which looked as if it could pour rain at any moment.
Whenever Lina looked at a sky like this, her head would throb with pain.
It felt like a sky she had surely experienced before.
Beneath the overcast sky, a masked man lay fallen. The sight of him made her heart ache.
"It's all over now... Ruler of Mana."
“…”
The Ruler of Mana said nothing.
Was he ignoring her?
Perhaps it was for the best. If he were to speak, Lina didn't have the confidence to make a decision.
Lina approached the fallen Ruler of Mana, as if to put an end to it all.
Seeing this, Victoria came to her side.
"Lina, do you really have to do this? He's already a defeated enemy."
Victoria could tell. Just by Lina's heavy steps, she knew that her feelings for this man were anything but ordinary.
"If it must be done, let me do it instead…"
Lina shook her head.
The Ruler of Mana had changed.
He was a public enemy, trying to start a Holy War across the continent.
If she let this man live, he would surely resurrect the Black Witch.
He was that capable. A man she could not afford to be careless with.
She didn't know why he had changed. No matter how many times she asked, how many times she screamed, he never answered.
Lina's head ached as if it were being squeezed in a vise.
Her chest felt so tight she wanted to claw it open.
Her steps toward the fallen man felt heavier than lead.
But at last, Lina stood before him.
Beyond the mask, she could still see his vacant eyes.
Just looking into those eyes made her heart waver, as if she might collapse on the spot.
'I have to do this… I have to save the world…'
Lina had always felt a compulsive need to save the world.
She always pushed the schedule, always pushed herself.
At first, she thought it was simply because of her duty as the hero.
But… now she wasn't so sure.
Had she really pushed herself so hard just because she had become the hero?
She didn't know.
"I no longer care who you are. Whoever you were, you've changed… You've become an enemy I must kill."
Even if the Ruler of Mana had been precious to her in her past life, as long as she alone endured the pain, she could save the continent.
For Lina, that was enough.
Lina gripped her Spirit Sword. Its tip seemed to gleam with a particular ferocity today.
She raised the sword high, preparing to stab the Ruler of Mana.
She should have been resolved, yet the tip of the Spirit Sword trembled uncontrollably.
She had to bring the sword down, but her body wouldn't obey.
It was then.
The Ruler of Mana suddenly lunged at her with a dagger.
Shunk—
With the sound of tearing flesh, red blood began to flow.
The blood, of course, belonged to the Ruler of Mana.
Lina's Spirit Sword had pierced his chest.
The sensation of parting flesh and bone was vivid in her hands.
Blood gushed from beneath the Ruler of Mana's mask.
It was over.
With this, the public enemy who sought to bring a storm of blood to the continent was gone.
What kind of face lay beyond that mask?
She had resolved not to care who he was, but she couldn't bear it.
Just as Lina reached for the Ruler of Mana's mask…
Before her hand could touch it, it fell away with a clatter. Finally, she could see his face.
The moment she saw that face, Lina's pupils widened.
“…”
A forgotten memory.
A memory that had been shrouded in mist began to return with sharp clarity.
So clearly that she wondered how she could have possibly failed to recall it until now.
The Goddess's Ring on Lina's finger began to glow violently.
In the memory, Lina was crying.
Holding the Ruler of Mana in her arms. Red blood stained his clothes.
Her own hands were stained with red.
Along with the memory, the horrific sensation of stabbing him began to resurface.
"No… no… it can't be…"
The memory of laughing with him.
The memory of him helping her.
The memory of him comforting her.
The memories she shared with the Ruler of Mana came rushing back, a storm of perfect clarity.
Finally, the memory of him ‘sacrificing’ himself for the continent emerged.
Only then did Lina understand.
Why she had yearned so desperately to save the world.
Lina was terrified.
The Ruler of Mana had thrown his life away. He had sacrificed himself for the continent.
He had entrusted everything to her, but she had failed to save the world.
She had failed miserably.
As her memories of him returned, it was as if they were speaking to her.
[You let me sacrifice myself, so why couldn't you save the continent? Was my sacrifice meaningless?]
The clearer the memories became, the more she seemed to hear his resentment.
Lina was being buried under the weight of those memories and her guilt.
The Ruler of Mana, bleeding from the Spirit Sword piercing his chest.
Just as she had in her past life, Lina pulled him into an embrace.
Tears streamed endlessly from Lina's eyes.
She couldn't say a word. Her eyes stared into the distance, as if her soul had left her body.
She had sacrificed him with her own hands once again. A terrible guilt washed over her.
A phantom of the Ruler of Mana whispered in her ear.
[You killed me again… all to save the world…]
The Goddess's Ring on Lina's finger flared with a brilliant light.
At the same time, divine power erupted from her body in surging waves of gold.
A massive pillar of golden light shot high into the sky.
Her divine power was running berserk.
*
There was someone who saw that light. It was Kerry, flying through the sky with Nabi.
The moment he saw the light, Kerry flew at full speed.
After landing a short distance away and running over, he saw the rest of the party, frantic with worry.
'I hope I'm not too late.'
The party members spotted Kerry and shouted.
"H-Husband! It's Lina! She suddenly—!"
"Kerry, you're here. Thank goodness. But something's wrong with Lina! What in the world are we supposed to do…"
"What do we do! Something's wrong with Lina, Kerry!"
The party began to explain the situation to Kerry.
Perhaps because of Lina still being in her berserk state, their words were jumbled and hard to understand.
But even without an explanation, he could guess what had happened.
The trap Elpis had mentioned.
Lina had fallen right into it. He should have arrived before the Ruler of Mana died.
He could see the brilliant golden pillar erupting from Lina's body.
The power was so intense that even approaching was a struggle.
Kerry shouted toward Lina, who was inside the pillar of golden light.
"Lina! You have to snap out of it! I'm right here! That guy was a fake!"
But Lina didn't react to his voice.
She just stared blankly, tears streaming down her face as she muttered to herself.
"I… I killed him…"
Her face was etched with deep remorse. Kerry had seen many deaths in this world.
Lina was wearing the same expression as someone facing their own death.
'This can't go on.'
Kerry observed Lina carefully.
Amid the golden light, one object was glowing with particular intensity.
"The Goddess's Ring?"
The ring on Lina's hand was emitting a blue light.
Kerry remembered the day Lina first received the Goddess's Ring.
When she had received it, he had used the Goddess's Eye.
[You do not have the authority to view this information.]
That was the message that had appeared for the ring.
Even now, he couldn't see any information about the Goddess's Ring.
Back then, he had just assumed Elena had played a little trick to show off.
But that wasn't it.
That ring. That ring was the problem.
It wasn't just the wounds of the past that were making the strong Lina so weak.
Kerry walked slowly toward the massive pillar of light.
"Husband! No! It's dangerous!"
The others tried to follow him, but it was no use.
They were simply thrown back by the storm of divine power.
Even for Kerry, getting close to Lina wasn't easy.
It felt like walking into the eye of a typhoon; his body felt like it could be blown away at any moment.
But Kerry could withstand it. He had divine power, too.
Though it was meager, he wrapped himself in that divine power and barely managed to push through the golden storm to its center.
Lina was there, crying.
Kerry held her face in his hands and spoke.
"Lina! You have to come to your senses. I'm right here!"
Lina couldn't even hear Kerry's words, though he was right in front of her, and only continued to cry.
First, Kerry pulled the Goddess's Ring from Lina's finger.
But even with the ring removed, her condition didn't change.
The berserk state of her divine power, which seemed to pierce the heavens, did not stop.
The golden storm still raged, threatening to blow Kerry away.
In that moment, Lina was trapped in a vision of that terrible day, weeping.
The day she had let the Ruler of Mana go from her arms repeated endlessly.
The phantom Ruler of Mana in her vision provoked her relentlessly.
[I believed in you… I never doubted that you would save the continent…]
[You made my sacrifice meaningless.]
[I trusted you, Hero. But you…]
Lina couldn't say anything.
Inside that prison of visions, Kerry's voice was only a faint echo.
Then, a sensation broke through, waking the Lina trapped in the vision.
A warm, soft sensation.
An ecstatic feeling she had felt only once before.
The feeling from that day, one she could never forget, was awakening her.
When Lina opened her eyes, Kerry was kissing her.
[…I finally get to steal a kiss.]
It was the same feeling as the kiss from the Ruler of Mana, right before he died.
With the Goddess's Ring gone, Lina's mind began to clear.
The constricting headache vanished, and the phantom's nonsensical words that had stabbed at her heart faded away.
All she could see was the Kerry before her, all she could feel were his lips.
The pillar of golden light gradually began to shrink.
Within the golden light, Kerry and Lina pressed their lips together without hesitation.
They kissed with all the love of lovers reunited after months, even years, apart.
Lina's fragrant lips met his, and her tongue slipped past his own.
It was after that passionate kiss ended.
Lina clutched Kerry's face.
Now, she could recognize that face clearly. The Ruler of Mana was alive.
He had been by her side all along. He was still with her, still helping her. Just like in her past life.
She didn't know why she hadn't been able to recognize him until now, but it was as if a fog had lifted from her mind.
Lina caressed Kerry's face and spoke.
"You were still alive… you were alive… you didn't die…"
The chance to fix everything still remained.
The man Lina had loved, and killed, was alive in this life.
Lina collapsed into Kerry's arms, sobbing.
Kerry simply patted her on the back.
Her memories fully returned, Lina lifted her head from Kerry's embrace.
Kerry wiped away the tears from her tear-streaked eyes.
"I'm glad. You've come to your senses."
Lina nodded.
Kerry continued to hold Lina for a while. She showed no sign of letting go.
For some reason, it felt like Lina was being childishly affectionate.
Once she had calmed down, Lina finally smiled.
Her face was a mess from the tears, but even so, she was dazzlingly beautiful.
"Lina, you know what they say, right? If you laugh while you're crying…"
“?”
“…Never mind.”
For a second, I must have lost my mind. Trying to crack a dad joke like that.
By the time Lina had calmed down, the rest of the party finally approached.
It seemed they had commendably kept their distance, sensing the mood.
However, just as Lina's berserk state had been calmed, someone else was on the verge of going berserk.
It was Natasha.
Victoria was holding her back. She was radiating a dangerous aura, as if she could explode at any moment.
"K-Kerry… hurry up and do something about Natasha! Why are all the women in our party like this?!"
“Grrrr!”
Beside them, Arwen also looked completely dejected as she watched Lina.
She looked as crestfallen as if her lover had been stolen away.
He'd solved one problem, only for another to pop up.
Kerry looked at Lina, who was clinging to his arm.
To calm Natasha down, he first needed to get some distance from Lina.
He gave Lina a look, hoping she would understand.
'The mature Lina would surely understand.'
Just as Kerry carefully tried to pull his arm away…
It wouldn't come free. On the contrary, Lina clung to him even tighter, stubbornly refusing.
Lina met Kerry's gaze for a moment and blushed. But she was clearly in no mood to yield.
Lina, acting so clingy. It was something he could have never imagined.