My ■■■ (8)

In the midst of the magical storm, Kruud saw Anne’s silhouette violently shake as he could only watch from a distance, unable to approach.

A streak of light, a gunshot, and red blood scattering.

The storm subsides.

‘Now’s my chance…’

If he missed this opportunity, there wouldn’t be another. Though the scrolls must have their limits, Kruud was more likely to fall first before that happened.

Kruud immediately charged forward with his spear held horizontally.

Anne already knew all the techniques he used.

He had bragged about learning these techniques. He thought his sponsor deserved to know.

He had revealed all the characteristics and weaknesses of the techniques he bragged about – with techniques whose depths were already visible, he couldn’t defeat Anne.

Then he would grasp this miracle. Whether it was coincidence or someone’s intervention, he didn’t care. Right now, he just…

“More than the me you know.”

Had to show a stronger side.

Anne steadied herself after staggering. The book that had lost its light once again radiated colors of all kinds.

Magic pours down.

Crude low-level magic and high-level magic dangerous even from a graze intersect.

He pushes away a massive chunk of ice with his spear. The gray aura enhances that force as it spins.

In the moment his eyes followed the 5th circle magic he had completely deflected to the side, lightning struck right before him.

Crackle!

Lightning shot through the gap created while deflecting the attack.

It was originally a technique with large movements.

Anne knew this too, which is why she responded perfectly.

Because he knew she would do this, Kruud gave up one hand.

Dragon scales covered the hand not holding the spear, only to be completely burned away by the lightning strike.

He pulls back his blackened hand and grabs the spear shaft again. It’s still possible.

Bang!

He swings down his spear to scrape the ground.

He mixes aura into the pooled water and flings it at his opponent as if scattering it.

As if it were only natural, a wall springs up from the ground to block it.

He had been watching. He had definitely been watching. Anne had been watching Kruud.

His efforts, his achievements, his growth.

“Watch closely, Old Lady Anne.”

Kruud had already reached the realm of masters. It would be difficult to get any stronger than this. Even if it were possible, it would only be tiny steps forward.

Yes, like when he first picked up a spear in his youth, his skills would no longer improve exponentially.

But he had to do it.

Because Kruud had to protect Rubia. Because that was his duty and his wish.

Bang!

He thrusts his spear while stomping the ground with all his might. Nothing had changed from before.

Anne already knew how to counter all of Kruud’s techniques.

Swoosh!

But Kruud’s attacks didn’t end with just one. The next technique immediately flowed like water.

As if dancing.

Like a dragon coiled in water, Kruud’s spear spews endless techniques.

His aura depletes at an absurd rate. There is no hesitation.

If he doesn’t show techniques never seen before, if he doesn’t show an even stronger side than his former self…

Anne cannot stop.

“This technique, you created it.”

He had gone to the sea once. It was a place Anne had taken him.

For an orphan like him to travel so far was nearly miraculous.

Kruud remembers that journey, the sight of the vast sea.

More water than even Rubia where rain pours every day reflected the rarely seen sunlight and sparkled.

He had seen whales.

That too was something Anne had shown him. She showed him that such massive beings existed in the world, expanding his world.

Thud.

The spear that had been moving brilliantly to block Anne’s magic comes to a stop.

In that moment the spear stopped, even the falling raindrops seemed to freeze.

He had seen the sea. He had seen whales. He had seen the vast world.

From that sight, Kruud found the resolve to fight against the world.

This was Kruud’s grand fantasy conceived purely from imagination – to hunt the massive beasts of the sea.

Shriiiiiek-

Along with the ringing in his ears, the magical barrage that had been pouring down like a storm stops. Kruud bites his lip while frozen in his stance with spear extended.

“How about that, impressive?”

“Ahahahaha! Yes! It’s impressive!”

Anne laughed.

Even while coughing up blood and dying, she laughed brightly at Kruud’s technique that had far exceeded her expectations.

“Old Lady Anne, I was raised by you.”

“Yes, my judgment wasn’t wrong. You’ve grown magnificently!”

“As someone who has surpassed your expectations, I’m telling you. What you tried to do was wrong, and I stopped it.”

“Yes, if that’s the result, then this must be the right picture.”

Kruud sat down in front of Anne who was struggling on her knees.

If asked whether he was sad, of course he was.

He hadn’t realized it. Despite spending so much time together, he hadn’t known about Anne’s fanatic side.

How unreliable was he.

The one she had poured money, time and manpower into raising had been so empty-headed.

“But I’ve maintained face. The things Old Lady Anne bestowed created this result. I’m glad I could stop it. I’ve repaid your kindness by stopping you before you could commit something terrible.”

“Puhahahaha! What clever words from an ungrateful brat who put a hole in his sponsor’s belly!”

Despite her words, Anne laughed as if genuinely delighted.

Anne had said she raised a person, not a slave.

Then she must have been able to accept this kind of result.

Rather, the fact that he stopped her like this might have fulfilled Anne’s expectations.

“Don’t get taken advantage of out there.”

“You just saved me from being taken advantage of anymore, so don’t worry.”

“Yes, that’s how it should be.”

Because Anne wasn’t good, she wished for more such people.

Because she worked toward such a world.

So this result was just a different conclusion to those efforts.

She was wrong and Kruud was right.

“You’ve grown admirably.”

She could do anything for her mentor’s orders.

Her teacher would understand. That this result too must be one of the ideal scenes she hoped for.

Therefore, she had no regrets. Anne could die with a smile.

“Old Lady Anne, you’re insane.”

Kruud sighed alone watching Anne like that.

But in the end, he too could smile like Anne.

“But you’re still my mentor. Thank you for everything until now, Old Lady Anne.”

For Kruud, she was teacher, parent, and partner.

Though she was a bit crazy and made wrong judgments, all those relationships couldn’t disappear at once.

“The sun has risen.”

Kruud looked up at the sky.

There stretched a firmament never before seen in Rubia.

“The sun has risen on this city too.”

That firmament was beautiful.

At least Anne died looking at such a sky instead of gloomy storm clouds.

“Ah, really.”

But unfortunately.

Unlike usual, there was nothing to shield Kruud’s eyes.

*     *      *

Though Lost might not have meant to underestimate Belial, Belial was more persistent than he had thought.

He doesn’t miss possibilities. Even if his tracking was shaken off once, that persistence couldn’t be stopped.

“Hah……”

Belial finally uncovered Lost’s movements. He examined all possibilities. He excluded coincidence from the start.

He meticulously examined everything under the assumption that all was inevitable.

This is the result.

He personally put in the legwork and headed even to the dangerous territory of the <Corruptor>.

With the results obtained that way, he narrowed down the hypotheses to one and derived an answer.

It was correct.

The opponent was in Rubia.

That was a truth revealed exquisitely when only the final confirmation remained after reaching the correct answer through footwork.

“Damn apostle of the gods. You dare set foot on this land again!”

The city of Rubia where rain falls 365 days a year.

The sky has spread over that city. How could he deny that miracle?

That is a miracle of the gods. It is divinity itself dwelling in human flesh.

Those called apostles of the gods had interfered with Belial at every turn.

A prime example was the angel Hecate. She was a bothersome existence both in life and death.

Besides her, numerous apostles had ruined Belial’s plans.

That’s why he had come this far. He had been holding his breath, hiding in shadows to craft perfect plans that could win even if their interference reached him.

Yet at this timing, he couldn’t help but be angry at the appearance of an apostle who seemed to know everything.

“Hah!”

Belial let out a hollow laugh.

Though rage filled him to his head, he could soon calm himself.

Though this one had irritated him more than any apostle he’d met before, he fortunately caught the opportunity early.

He can handle it easily now. Since it seems they haven’t been awakened as an apostle for long, there would be no problem if he moved personally.

Yes, this is rather an opportunity.

An opportunity to remove the most fatal variable that could interfere with his plans.

“Come out.”

Belial spoke coldly while making shadows ripple.

Someone was watching him.

Him, of all people. Setting aside doing such a thing, there weren’t many who could do it in the first place.

“It’s been a while.”

“……”

Belial drew in his breath seeing the one who appeared belatedly.

Though there weren’t many who could track him, the one who appeared now was far too unexpected.

“Belial.”

“Revenna….. How could you……”

One of only two remaining kin in this world.

The ‘Demon of Sorrow’ Revenna.

A woman with a scholarly appearance.

Her black hair and eyes appeared as if they had melted the night itself.

“Why are you here? This shouldn’t be. Didn’t you say you would just breathe without doing anything? Why? Have you changed your mind now?”

Belial spewed cold anger in a measured voice.

She is kin. One of the few beings he could rely on in this desolate world. Despite that, Belial couldn’t like either of the two besides himself.

“Wasn’t that what you agreed to? That you would stay quietly in a remote place. That you would just breathe until death with nothing else!”

“Belial, do you still hate people?”

“How could I not?”

The Malices too are gods.

They are merely beings born not from righteous emotions or faith, but from negative emotions and madness.

Is that not also human nature?

Was it not humans themselves who created them?

Yet how could they only take the gods’ side and call them devils?

Malice were classified as evil gods and in the end came to be seen as beings lower than their original status as devils.

Because they lost the war.

Belial couldn’t accept it. He tries to overturn the result of that war.

That’s why he hates humans and tries to destroy this world.

Yes, that’s why…

“Why should we disappear for their selfish circumstances? I cannot accept it. Shouldn’t those filthy ones who created us yet treat us as evil be the ones to disappear?”

“That’s because people are weak. Please understand them. They only fear because they are weak. We don’t have to disappear.”

“Revenna, as I’ve said many times, I cannot think like you. My foundation is different from yours. How could I love them? Didn’t you say you respected this about me?”

That’s why she wouldn’t interfere with what Belial does. Revenna, and one other Malice, accepted defeat. They decided to conform.

That’s why they said they would quietly make their place in a corner where human eyes couldn’t reach.

They don’t support Belial who tries to grasp another opportunity.

That was fine. They could do that.

But if that’s the case, shouldn’t they at least not interfere with him?

If they respect but cannot follow, they should at least stay still.

“Step back, Revenna. You have no right to be here. You and I cannot understand each other in the end.”

“No, Belial. Just this once, please step back.”

“Did you not understand my meaning? I didn’t speak so difficultly? I said get lost. If you don’t want to wage war with me at last!”

“……”

Revenna squeezed her eyes shut.

Belial’s anger was like the sorrow and lamentation he poured out.

That grief is precisely why Revenna can’t help but respect him.

“I said I wanted to live among people. And you said you would understand my intent.”

“Indeed.”

“After hearing that method, you mocked me by creating half-demons.”

“It was a good method. But how is that mockery? This is compromise. As you said, you live with humans who I would have originally killed entirely.”

For the sake of leaving even a little of the humans he meant to uproot completely.

It was also Belial’s consideration in his own way.

“I didn’t think of it that way. Belial, what you did was just killing people in a different way. Since you took away their will.”

“……”

“If you have even a bit, even a trace of regret remaining, please step back.”

Revenna bowed her head.

Seeing that appearance, even Belial couldn’t unconditionally condemn her.

Yes, a trace of regret.

It’s not entirely absent. Hadn’t he taken Revenna’s words as she spoke of her dreams and implemented that premise in a different way to make it his long-term piece?

Though he hadn’t meant to mock, it’s true that he used Revenna’s dream.

“Why go so far?”

“A child who might as well be my own is there. So please.”

“……”

Belial fiddled with the handle of the cane he was leaning on as he pondered.

Is this truly the right thing?

He was willing to do anything for his plans. But what was the reason he tried to accomplish those plans?

It was revenge and salvation.

It was a pilgrimage for his kin who vanished so meaninglessly.

The conclusion came.

“Only this once, I’ll turn a blind eye just this time. But if he catches my eye again….. Then I won’t overlook it even at your request.”

If he refused this request, all his future actions would be meaningless.

Belial blankly stared for a moment at the being spreading sky while driving away storm clouds, then turned away.

The shadows were deepening.

“Phew……”

Revenna let out a sigh of relief watching Belial’s form disappear with the shadows.

Thank goodness. He let it pass.

While thinking that, Revenna gazed at the brightening sky in the distance, at the boy’s form beneath it.

“You’re doing well.”

The boy she had raised.

Splendidly, so splendidly he overcame the trials that came to him.

How could she not be proud?

That righteous being who practices the life she taught.

Revenna’s black eyes take on a red tinge under the bright light.

She is Malice.

A being who accepted evil and fell yet still loves humans.

Through that evil, through that love she raised a child.

Yes, that child is…

“My……”

Incomparably beloved.

“Lost.”

She savored the name she shouldn’t know as her current self, as if tasting it.

Though they say the firmament stretches far away, for some reason thick fog that obscured even an inch ahead surrounded her.

That fog lying so thick that not even an inch ahead could be seen, strangely…

Seemed to show ‘dreams’.