novelraw Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118: Fire and Water (8)
It was Elaine.
It was the sword of Grand Duke Elaine, who was dying with me in our past life.
That Grand Duke would easily cut down Origins that others couldn't even touch, as if slicing a radish.
I slapped my own cheek.
At that, Ellen's eyes widened.
Right, it was Ellen.
The one before my eyes was not Grand Duke Elaine.
…Looking back, it was far too weak to be called Grand Duke Elaine's sword.
It was merely similar.
I don't know how it happened, but… it seemed Ellen had awakened to her Innate Strength. And so, she had taken a step closer to the Elaine of our past life.
I was pleased by that.
So for a long while, I smiled without a word.
“You’re laughing right now?”
The sullen Ellen rebuked me.
“You're smiling too.”
Ellen tilted her head.
Only then did I realize that she couldn't hear.
That was the most minor of her injuries.
Ellen was in a mess. Her entire body was tattered. Her left hand, in particular, was a pulp. If she had been an ordinary knight, it wouldn't have been strange for her to have died.
“Are you okay?”
I roughly wiped the blood from my face with my hand and asked with my mouth shape.
“I’ll heal if I rest. What about you?”
“I’ll heal if I use the orb.”
Even empty words couldn't describe my condition as good.
It was much better than with Psina, but a serious injury was a serious injury.
The muscles throughout my body were slightly melted, and my insides were in an even worse state. My internal organs seemed completely cooked, and my blood vessels were in tatters.
It was the aftereffect of forcibly realizing a 5th Rank's magic.
If the culprit had been an Origin other than the Sun, I would have already died.
Because an Origin is inherently conscious of its vessel.
When I forcibly realized a 5th Rank's magic, the Sun, conscious of its vessel, did not exceed its limits.
Of course, that's a story for when the vessel is satisfactory, but anyway.
The heat that still lingered was still tormenting me.
That heat, ironically, protected Ellen, who had exhausted all her aura, from the chill of the Boundary.
“It’s quiet.”
It's loud.
Avery Aquins, whose manifested river had been cut, was collapsed over in the corner, screaming in a rage.
“Thanks to you.”
I didn't bother to tell her.
Ellen had already accomplished much. The rest was my share.
“Can I sleep for a bit?”
“…….”
“I won’t die.”
“I know. You just sounded like someone about to die.”
I relaxed my stern expression and smiled.
I was just playing along for a moment.
It was a serious injury for a normal person, but for Ellen, it was a light one. She would be mostly healed after a night's sleep.
“Rest well.”
Ellen lay down on the ground as if she had been waiting.
As soon as she closed her eyes, her breathing became regular. The problem was not her wounds, but the exhaustion from having used up all her aura.
In other words, if she had only had aura left, Ellen could have fought more.
‘A monster is a monster, then and now.’
At that fact, I let out a dry laugh.
Whatever her age, Elaine was Elaine. The fragments of her past life were always shining. And today, they had become a little clearer.
“How dare, how dare you……!”
Avery Aquins, who had been panting and screaming, glared at me and Ellen with bloodshot eyes.
“Shut up. She's sleeping.”
The distance was not that far.
I could kill him right now. And, I had to.
But I sat down by Ellen's head.
I looked at Avery Aquins, and with one hand, I fiddled with the orb in my pocket.
‘It wasn’t the Origin that was cut.’
I found a slightly disappointing point.
It wasn't the Origin that was cut, but rather the magic of manifestation.
As proof, the vessel named Avery Aquins was still functioning.
A mage who loses their Origin loses their sanity.
Because the true self is dead, and only the vessel remains.
It meant that although Ellen had awakened to her Innate Strength, she had not yet become a Sword Master.
‘Well. Realizing one's essence is a different matter.’
Looking back, her aura was not yet dark enough to be called pitch black.
“You fake.”
Avery Aquins managed to spit out, pretending to be fine.
“You have a lot of energy.”
Of course, unlike his voice, his insides must be a mess.
Much worse than mine. The backlash from having his manifestation destroyed was bound to be fatal. Magic, the more powerful it is, the more it is accompanied by risk.
“Serzila. You joined hands with Serzila, you fake.”
Avery Aquins blamed Ellen for his defeat.
He was right.
I was more surprised that he knew of Serzila's aura.
‘He’s not calling it an insect.’
That bastard had treated aura as if it were an insect, but he called Serzila, Serzila.
It meant that the name of that wall was common knowledge even in the Otherworld.
‘Different from my past life.’
The Avery Aquins of my past life had called Elaine an insect.
A bug who had lost the North due to incompetence.
‘Why? Ah. It must be because the North hasn't fallen yet.’
Serzila had not yet fallen.
And it never will. That was what this regression was for.
“Kill me.”
“Hmm.”
Devouring a heart is also good for injuries.
Because my injury is an aftereffect.
It was the same principle as the recovery from Psina.
If my depleted mana was replenished, the Sun would radiate vitality again.
I touched my face.
A lot of blood came away on my hand. My whole body was similarly covered in blood. I didn't bother to wipe it.
“Not yet.”
I won, but I can't move anymore.
But in reality, I can move.
I had to be in that state.
The chill from the secretly held orb slowly flowed out, quietly cooling my body.
“I'll let you live if you do as you're told.”
“What makes you think I'll trust that.”
“Is there anything left to trust?”
“…….”
Avery Aquins bit his lip.
He maintained his silence like that.
It was an affirmation, I quickly realized.
It seemed the Avery Aquins of this time also cherished his life.
“Is the Tower Master of the Deep Sea a 6th Rank?”
“That is so.”
“And?”
“……? The King is the only 6th Rank.”
As I thought. I made my eyes gleam.
‘In my past life, there were two 6th Ranks belonging to the Tower of the Deep Sea. Now there is one.’
It was in the same context as the Avery Aquins before me being a new Star.
There is a mage who was a 6th Rank in my past life, but has not yet reached the 6th Rank.
Regression is indeed an opportunity.
“I know of one whose Origin is a glacier.”
“……?”
Avery Aquins furrowed his brow.
It was the expression of someone hearing it for the first time.
‘He doesn't know?’
Avery Aquins is a newcomer, but a Star is a Star.
There shouldn't be any information he doesn't know in the Tower of the Deep Sea.
‘So he's not here now.’
A glacier.
It meant that the mage who would reach the 6th Rank was not in the Tower of the Deep Sea.
If he's not in the Otherworld, he must be on the continent.
‘Did he seek asylum?’
I let out a dry laugh.
The continent, by persecuting mages, had produced a real demon.
“Ugh.”
I suddenly vomited blood.
Seeing that, Avery's expression became bizarre.
He didn't seem to be having other thoughts.
That bastard's condition was more serious than mine.
“My apologies, the backlash is severe.”
I said, my hands trembling.
“You weren't a 5th Rank.”
“Still 4th Rank.”
“……So a king is a king, even if a fake.”
Avery forgot his own plight and marveled.
It was an admiration that was unavoidable for a mage.
It was similar to how I had once marveled at Cassion's manifestation.
No, it must be even greater than that. Because Rank is similar to truth.
The admiration was short. What was revealed soon after was self-reproach. If only I hadn't been careless. Such thoughts seemed to be tormenting Avery's mind.
It was a valid self-reproach.
If that bastard had been a little more cautious, he might have taken one of them with him. Ellen and I were still at that level.
Of course, that was a story for when I didn't have the orb.
“It was a close call. I don't know about that person, but I almost died.”
I said, pointing at Ellen, while secretly fiddling with the orb a little more.
The slowly flowing chill was quietly erasing the aftereffects.
“I know that fire is rare in the Otherworld too.”
It's not just the King that the Red Tower lacks.
They had few mages as well.
“Why is that? There's no Church in the Otherworld.”
The reason fire is rare on the continent is because the Church particularly hunts down fire.
‘But why in the Otherworld?’
It was a question I had had since I learned about the Red Tower.
“You know nothing, like a continental bumpkin.”
Avery snorted.
“I can't let you live if you're so uncooperative.”
“…….”
It was just a verbal promise, but Avery was in a position where he had no choice but to believe it.
The level of our injuries was different.
Even if time passed here, the one who could move first was me. And the sleeping Ellen.
For Avery, there was no way to survive on his own.
“It is rare because it is Paradise.”
Avery corrected my words.
Not that it was rare in the Otherworld too, but that it was rare because it was the Otherworld.
“What do you mean?”
“There is no sun in Paradise.”
“The King of the Red Tower?”
I naturally assumed he was talking about the King of the Red Tower.
Because the woman with the Sun, pointed to by the Moon's prophecy, was not yet here.
“Both.”
“……?”
“There is no sun in the sky of Paradise either.”
That is why fire is born rarely in the Otherworld.
* * *
The world distinguishes between the continent and the Otherworld, but in fact, they are the same landmass.
Doesn't the sun rise even in parts of that bizarre Boundary?
And yet, there is no sun in the Otherworld.
“Does that make sense?”
I laughed in disbelief.
Avery looked silently at my chest. The heart. He was pointing to the Origin.
It meant that the Otherworld was compensating for the absence of the sun with magic.
I recalled the Watchtower of Fire.
An unbelievably high watchtower, unseen on the continent. In Paradise, there were Mages’ Towers higher than that.
Were they really just high?
The technological prowess of the Otherworld overwhelms that of the continent. It is the result of the vagueness of magic.
“Everything has an Origin.”
He was not talking about what dwelled in the heart.
Avery was talking about something more fundamental.
“Water is born beneath the deep sea.”
Other Origins would be born beneath other towers.
Avery was speaking from the perspective of the Otherworld.
Strictly speaking, the continent would be similar.
“What remains in Paradise are only the embers once left by the King of the Red Tower. That is why fire is rare in Paradise.”
Therefore, the fire of the Otherworld is rarer than that of the continent.
“The absence of the sun in the sky is not a major issue then.”
“It has always been that way.”
The Otherworld has already finished adapting to their environment.
Only the Red Tower and the Moon Tower desire the sun.
“Then why do you covet the continent? It seems you are already living well.”
The Otherworld called the conquest of the continent their long-cherished dream.
“Does one need a reason to seek the homeland of their ancestors.”
The Otherworld is a land of exile.
Long ago, those who were once members of the continent were pushed to the very end of the harsh North.
The continent built a clumsy wall to prevent them from crossing over. That was the first Serzila.
“Well, it’s not for me to say.”
Everyone was justified in their own way.
I did not simply deny the long-cherished dream of the Otherworld. It was not for any complex reason.
It was because it was none of my business.
Why the Otherworld was driven out long ago, whatever the Otherworld and the Church blabbered on about, who was right and who was wrong, it was all trivial to me.
What was important to me was Elaine.
And the North that she loved.
“My last question…… oh.”
Fireball flew over from a distance.
Ppiiiik! The creature let out a long cry.
“Ugh.”
I vomited blood while looking at that Fireball.
It was dead blood. But in the eyes of someone who doesn't know about the orb, it would look like a serious injury.
“Speak.”
Avery urged me as I vomited blood. His eyes were full of vitality. It was the hope that he could survive.
Fire was overlaid on that hope.
A suddenly generated fire engulfed Avery's head.
Its shape was like a bonfire.
Avery was lying on the ground, his head ablaze.
In that fire, Avery opened his mouth.
His vocal cords were melted, so no scream came out.
“Ask me.”
Someone said, but Avery, whose insides of his ears were melted, could not hear. He was glaring at me. What he felt was betrayal.
Clap! The sound of clapping was heard. It seemed to be an incantation. The fire grew fiercer. Avery Aquins died like that.
In the delusion that the fire that killed him was my fire.
Fireball, perched on my shoulder, rubbed its face against my cheek. I paid the creature no attention.
“Are you alright? You seem to be badly injured.”
Stepping on the back of the dead Avery, Aroshu was walking over.
“I am badly injured. Are you alright?”
“I am safe! It is thanks to the Star's protection.”
Aroshu approached slowly.
“As expected of a Star. You dealt with a fake Star, even though you are still a 4th Rank!”
“Thanks to my wife.”
“When it becomes known in the Red Tower, everyone will be astonished. And they will be thrilled!”
The narrow eyes seemed to be smiling as always.
I smiled back.
“How is your condition?”
“I feel like I'm about to lose consciousness.”
“Oh no!”
Aroshu exclaimed hastily.
However, the distance decreased slowly.
“So what was it you were trying to ask?”
“Ah. Ah. Can you hear me? It's hard to speak.”
Just one more step.
I smiled without showing it. It was then.
“By the way, you really were the Sun.”
“You believe me now?”
“Yes!”
The narrow eyes opened. The small pupils that were revealed moved up and down ceaselessly. They repeatedly scanned my blood-covered body.
“By any chance, your gender?”
“I'm a woman.”
“And your wife?”
“Actually, she was my husband.”
“Haha.”
Only like water on the outside, but fire on the inside.
At the blatant nonsense, Aroshu unconsciously took a step forward. He spoke like that.
“Your bullshit is severe.”
Aroshu's palms came together.
Before they could touch, I drew the sword I had kept as a decoration until now. The Serzila family heirloom sword, Patern, cut horizontally across Aroshu's both hands.
Eight fingers and a part of a thumb were scattered into the air.
At that moment, I was already standing in front of Aroshu.
“A mage shouldn't give up distance so easily.”
Patern, which had smoothly continued its trajectory, slit Aroshu's throat.