novelraw Chapter 697: Refrain
Chapter 697: Refrain
Fisher took a deep breath and arrived at the very bottom of the Crevice. In front of the continuously closing Crevice, the rift emitting a dense aura of death also appeared before his eyes. Just below, the entrance leading to the Authority of Death had completely swallowed Elizabeth. Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and also headed downward.
Watching Fisher disappear from his spot, Raphaela pursed her lips in worry, while Lord Tao couldn't bear to look.
She covered her face, suddenly unsure of what to say. With no other choice, she looked toward the several Chaos-kin who had suddenly fallen silent in the sky above.
She just felt that these Chaos-kin seemed a bit too at ease.
Weren't they literally fighting to the death just earlier? Now their kin had been kidnapped by that traveling doctor, and just because they were given a spell, they suddenly quieted down?
This didn't seem like the style of these Chaos-kin...
Moreover, Lord Tao had heard of that traveling doctor, Gou Wen. He certainly possessed skill, but that was in medicine. In terms of combat, Lord Tao had never heard of such a figure being able to control the Chaos-kin of the entire Sea of Souls. We're talking about dozens of Chaos-kin...
Thinking of this, Lord Tao couldn't help but ask,
"Was the method below also told to you by that Whale-kin? How did a trip to the Spirit World let him understand so much..."
Pisces did not reply. She merely looked downwards calmly and with profound meaning. Like the other Demigod Chaos-kin beside her, she appeared completely unafraid of the contamination within the Spirit World."Who knows..."
Lord Tao clicked her tongue but didn't dwell on it. Although she knew Fisher going down to save Elizabeth was truly a bit unworthy, right now, as she watched Fisher's figure vanish entirely, that worry for Valentina's sake still welled up in her heart.
Consequently, she could only look downwards calmly and wait for a result.
Meanwhile, below. After the two prosthetic eyes slid onto the ground, seeing Jasmine's dazed appearance, Valentina had no choice but to step forward and take charge of the situation proactively.
"The ritual... starting immediately!!"
After saying all this, Valentina then turned her head to look at the still-dazed Jasmine. She patted her shoulder. This touch caused Jasmine to widen her eyes and turn her head to look at Valentina.
"Jasmine, you..."
"I... I just..."
"Elizabeth has already admitted defeat. She is willing to pay with her prosthetic eye to atone for her past sins against you. You have already..."
"No... no..."
Looking at the prosthetic eye rolling on the ground, Jasmine realized after the fact and covered her face. That urgent urgency of her closest kin about to depart, that reckoning of past hatreds and grudges had all burned like a fire just now. Yet at this moment, as that prosthetic eye tumbled to the ground, the flame seemed to have lost its accelerant and flickered unsteadily.
Two streams of tears fell from Jasmine's eyes. Looking at the rift of death appearing beneath Elizabeth, watching her slowly sink into it without any resistance, she finally realized what had happened.
"Pandora's Prosthetic Eye... She used the prosthetic eye on me..."
"What?"
Thinking of this, Jasmine didn't say another word. Instead, she hurriedly ran towards Elizabeth, reaching out her hand towards her in an attempt to grab her sleeve,
"Elizabeth!!"
Yet the rift of death below had already torn completely open. The threads pulled by the aura of death dragged Elizabeth continuously downwards, causing Jasmine's pupils to shrink slightly.
And behind her, watching helplessly as Jasmine also intended to rush towards that rift of death, Valentina was quick to act. She once again unfurled her wings, flew over, grabbed her, and restrained her tightly.
"Priest Jasmine, what exactly happened?! Calm down first!"
"Her... her prosthetic eye can alter my desires... Just now, handing over the prosthetic eye, paying with her life... it was all her doing... that was what she wanted to do... She wanted to die herself... So when she saw the Nari people step forward, she... so... so..."
"..."
Valentina, supporting Jasmine mid-air, looked downward in disbelief. However, Elizabeth below had already been completely swallowed by the rift of death.
Yet not a single person dared to venture deep within. Even though sympathy had already taken root in Valentina's heart at this moment, she had no reason to do anything more.
Whether due to their respective stances, no one wanted to save her; or due to their ranks, no one could save her...
But right at this moment, the space above the rift of death suddenly shattered open. It turned out the entrance to the Crevice had been opened. The heavily wounded Fisher instantly broke free from Dagon's Authority and fiercely charged towards that rift of death.
"Fis—"
Valentina's pupils shrank, and she raised her hand in shock. Yet in a flash of lightning, Fisher had already charged inside resolutely and vanished without a trace.
Upon entering the rift leading to the Authority of Death before him, a kaleidoscope of filthy auras instantly enveloped Fisher. It felt as though his face was covered in grease; even his nasal cavity and ears felt completely stuffed.
"Ugh..."
Fisher tried to open his mouth to call out for Elizabeth, but the moment he opened his mouth, he only felt it stuffed to the point of nausea.
Before his eyes, it was pitch black. Yet by his ear, the sound of a conversation echoed like reverberations.
"Elizabeth, my Nineteenth-Tier phantom still remains. If we subdue them, there's still a chance to turn things around..."
Although Fisher was hearing this voice for the first time, he recognized it almost subconsciously. This was the voice of Pandora's Prosthetic Eye. Because although the tone and inflection were somewhat different, the timbre was truly identical to the Pandora he had met ten thousand years ago.
This is...
The voice of Pandora's Prosthetic Eye speaking with Elizabeth?!
"..."
Elizabeth didn't reply. Instead, Pandora's Prosthetic Eye repeatedly continued speaking,
"What? A tiny setback makes you like this? You're scared?"
"Their target is Fisher..."
Elizabeth's voice suddenly rang out. It was filled with exhaustion and despair, as if resonating from deep within her heart, piercing through Fisher's mind.
"The Outer Gods might truly be here for the gods, but also for... Fisher..."
"Just now, Heon almost took him away... In front of him, Even the Hela He worried about, the gods He came to purge, He surprisingly didn't care about..."
Pandora's tone quieted down, while Elizabeth's voice grew increasingly trembling, increasingly terrified. It was the fear of losing Fisher.
"Even if we continue, so what? Now the Chaos-kin have entered the world simply for revenge. Even relying on them cannot kill Dagon anymore. Am I supposedly going to destroy this world? I only... wanted an order to my liking..."
"I only... wanted to return to the past with Fisher... That is all..."
"But if their target is him, even if I succeed, I will only be making a wedding dress for them. They will still snatch him away from my side, won't they?"
Pandora spoke no further. And the pitch blackness before Fisher's eyes also lit up.
Far away from him, at what looked like the end of the horizon amidst the darkness ahead, Elizabeth's fragile back appeared in his vision.
"Elizabeth!"
She kept her head lowered. Her disheveled blonde hair also hung down silently. Gurgling fresh blood flowed from her cheeks.
"I am already tired..."
"No matter how I contend against fate, I cannot win... I've tried many times, many times over... Regardless, it will snatch Fisher from my side..."
"I'm truly so tired... Don't want to continue anymore... I've already lost... continually losing to fate..."
"He definitely hates me... hates me for disturbing the tranquility he and those women have now..."
"Then let them be. Letting him stay safely within this world, not falling into the hands of the Outer Gods is also fine..."
Fisher sprinted wildly towards that direction. However, the distance between him and Elizabeth on the horizon remained constant. No matter how much he chased, that distance hadn't changed in the slightest.
Pandora's voice resounded once again, carrying unwillingness in its tone.
"Is this what you want? Are you so easily satisfied? Losing the whole game like this is the outcome you desire? Are you reconciled to this?"
"..."
Elizabeth spoke no further. She merely stood up sluggishly in the darkness of the horizon and unhesitatingly walked towards an even darker place.
Her back caused Fisher's pupils to shrink. He hastily opened his mouth, wanting to call out to her. However, the voice that rang out when he opened his mouth was not his own, but Pandora's.
"You are truly beyond saving!"
"As long as there is a new order, having countless 'Fishers' who can give you the same experience will do, won't it?"
"You are just stubborn. Even if he's no longer human and has turned into a monster, he's still so important in your heart; you are just lowly, even when he hates you to the bone, wishing he could cut you into a thousand pieces, you still care about his safety; you are just stupid. Even when he was so cowardly back then, abandoning you because of a little slander from other women, you can still forgive him!"
"Come back to me, Elizabeth! Come back to me!"
"Do you think doing this in the end will make you clean? Do you think doing this will make those women understand you? You are wildly imaginative. Fisher won't care about anything. He will only feel you died well, rejoicing that he finally got rid of a nuisance like you!"
"You can only get everything by winning. Isn't that what you've always believed?"
The hand reaching out was not Fisher's. The five fingers he extended seemed to transform into Pandora's petrification power within this twisted space. Wherever he walked, it turned to stone; wherever he looked, it turned to stone.
He chased after Elizabeth with his gaze, causing her body to tremble and begin painfully turning to stone.
Hearing Elizabeth's whimpers, he hastily withdrew his gaze. The "crackling" sound of her struggling free from the petrification and continuing forward echoed from her back in the distance.
Pandora's words made Elizabeth's body tremble slightly. But in the end, she still continued walking forward.
"I've already lost... and it doesn't matter anymore... If he feels that way, then let him feel that way..."
Fisher lifted his head, eyes completely red. He refused to open his mouth again, because even opening his mouth wouldn't allow him to produce a single sound. However, Pandora's voice was deafening. This was because it wasn't a real conversation she had with Pandora after plummeting here. Pandora's Prosthetic Eyes had already been removed.
"You'd better think this through! I was born from within the Authority of Death! Without me, you cannot bear that aura of death; you will die!"
"...Exactly what I want."
"Stupid! Do you not know what kind of pain that is?! It is not your time to die yet. The aura of the Authority of Death will make you experience that pain in every place in the past where you could have died, until you are completely stained by death and utterly swallowed by Him!"
"...Good."
"Elizabeth!!"
Taking advantage of Pandora's unwilling shriek, Fisher found the right timing. He didn't dare lift his head to look forward, worried he would petrify her even more severely. In the next moment, Fisher stomped hard on the ground, his entire person transforming into a bolt of lightning rushing towards Elizabeth's direction.
It was also at this time that the dense aura of death all around finally discovered this old friend who had escaped once. Countless pitch-black palms swept toward his direction as well.
Fisher dodged the descending palms with difficulty. Subconsciously, his mind prepared to repeat the operation he used on Dagon's Authority.
Dagon was unconscious, allowing him to easily manipulate a portion of the Authority. Hela was the same. If he copied it...
But this idea only lasted for a second before Fisher had to abandon it.
First, the Authority of Death was different from Dagon's Authority in the Crevice. His Authority resided in reality. The loss of consciousness was precisely so the Authority could operate in reality without interfering with it. If Fisher acted recklessly and triggered a disaster, not only would he fail to rescue her, but everything outside would also be ruined.
Second, unlike Dagon, Hela's Authority was shared with Heon. If he accidentally encountered the old enemy from outside here, it wouldn't be fun at all.
There was no other way. He could only brace himself and force his way in.
When the light of the Authority of Death shone brightly ahead, the concept of death belonging to Elizabeth also began to generate. All her past time started to brighten, making the aura of death exceptionally thick.
Fisher gritted his teeth and sprinted forward desperately. The aura of death that had once chased him from behind was also constantly intensifying, dragging at his body, equally intent on pulling him into the quagmire of death.
"Squelch!"
His body was already covered in wounds. Under the interference of the chaotic aura of death, blood splattered everywhere, leaving a long trail of blood in the darkness behind him.
All around, Dexter, Godolin IX, and Lensis wrapped around him like ghoulish revenants, much like corpses.
"Royal Father, Elizabeth is a princess, thus she bears the responsibility to share the burdens and solve the troubles of the Godolin family... Blake is on good terms with Royal Father, but eventually, Royal Father will also grow old. Blake has no heirs either. Why not select a good husband from the young board members of the Pioneering Company..."
"Pay attention to your deportment early on. You are the eldest princess, the face of the royal family; you must be elegant... Being so stubborn every day, what are you trying to compete for against your elder brother in your studies? You don't know how to exercise restraint, you don't know how to control yourself..."
"In any case, as a woman, you won't get the throne... Even if me, Lensis, is inferior to Dexter, inferior to you, I can still compete with him..."
That fear from the past when Elizabeth's fate was not in her own hands, that doubt burdened by "false family ties", birthed the aura of death, gradually materializing a terrifying imagery before his eyes.
Fisher raised his eyes and saw it. Under the illumination of the Authority of Death before him, Elizabeth placed a dagger in her bedroom after learning of her Royal Father's arrangements for her.
That was the blade Elizabeth intended to use for suicide. Perhaps in such a sick political environment, a stubborn and serious soul like Elizabeth suffered the most. Perhaps from that moment on, she had envisioned using that dagger to end her ironic life.
Now, using that dagger to end her life might not be bad either?
The Elizabeth at the end of the horizon ahead stopped moving. Red-eyed, Fisher watched the young Elizabeth in her teenage years from the past push past Fisher, who was blocking her way from behind, holding a dagger, and charging towards the back of the Elizabeth ahead.
That young Elizabeth, her eyes brimming with unwilling, hot tears, raised the dagger. So much incomprehension during her young and frivolous years, so much powerlessness, all transformed into the courage for release.
"Elizabeth!"
Fisher twisted off the heads of Lensis and Godolin IX behind him until they exploded. He hurriedly rushed towards the little Elizabeth, pulling her forcefully into his embrace and controlling the blade in her hand.
And in his embrace, the little Elizabeth, her eyes filled with tears and unwillingness, watching her own back ahead, continued to swing the dagger powerlessly,
"It's all fake... fake... Wuwuwu... I have no family... They are all fake..."
"I know... I know, Elizabeth..."
Fisher lowered his head, holding the small Elizabeth in his arms. However, the little Elizabeth seemed to transform into that dagger. Just hugging her made Fisher's body feel as painful as being pierced by the dagger repeatedly.
But he couldn't bear to hurt the aggrieved little girl crying in his arms, the one who could only shed tears of sorrow secretly under the covers back then. Yet he couldn't let her approach the distant Elizabeth anymore either, so he had to let her vent in his embrace,
"Wuwu... Wuwu..."
Finally, the crying of the little Elizabeth in his arms subsided bit by bit. Leaning in Fisher's embrace, her tears had long flowed down her cheeks onto Fisher's chest, soaking the wounds on his body.
After a long, long time, the little Elizabeth in his arms finally put down the dagger in her hand. She extended her small hand, pointing ahead.
Fisher raised his eyes to look. He felt that the Elizabeth at the end of the horizon ahead seemed a bit closer.
But at this moment, countless pairs of eyes suddenly opened densely in the darkness around them. The eyes varied in size, yet they all seemed to belong to the same girl.
The sky-filling eyes, like stars, moons, and suns, simultaneously curled slightly, leaking teasing and mockery. The contemptuous echo of a girl also rang out at the same time,
"Your Highness doesn't really think you can grow old together with Senior Fisher, do you?"
Those gazes watched Fisher from everywhere, as if trying to see through his everything.
"What does this matter have to do with you? I have already made a private lifelong commitment to him. No matter who it is, no one can change this fact..."
"Oh? Is that so... But what if I said, I also like Senior Fisher, and want to be together with him?"
In his embrace, the little Elizabeth grew afraid. She fiercely grabbed Fisher's sleeve and looked at him with an imploring and pitiful gaze.
"Don't... don't go... Fisher... I only have you..."
Fisher panted, holding the small Elizabeth tightly in his arms. Standing up, he covered the little Elizabeth's eyes and faced those densely packed, teasing gazes alone.
"Don't look, Elizabeth."
"Mhm..."
The little Elizabeth obediently buried her head in Fisher's chest. As if finding a safe harbor, she lay motionless with peace of mind.
But the more at ease the Elizabeth in his arms felt, the more Fisher's heart ached...
Because back then, he wasn't by her side to provide her with this harbor.
Fisher gritted his teeth. Holding her, he continued chasing the back of the Elizabeth on the horizon. All around, those teasing eyes all followed closely. They approached Fisher, blocking his vision, pressing against his body, staring at the trembling Elizabeth in his arms like ghouls, making her body shake entirely.
"My, my, if the people of the Golden Palace found out about this, I wonder what would happen?"
"The eldest princess they place high hopes on, has surprisingly made a private lifelong commitment behind their backs with a poor boy who has no background whatsoever..."
"Actually, you yourself know that it's very difficult for the two of you to achieve a good outcome. You are merely deceiving yourself... How much longer can you deceive yourself, Your Highness?"
"You hide all this from him and carry it yourself. How long can you carry it? How much longer can your beautiful romance last?"
"Be realistic, Your Majesty. I am also helping you, giving you an out..."
Those eyes spoke one after another, exploding by Fisher's ears like flies. However, no matter how Fisher waved his hands, he couldn't disperse them. Instead, it made their voices louder and louder.
In his arms, the trembling Elizabeth suddenly spoke in a soft voice,
"Please... please don't tell them..."
Fisher blanked slightly, looking down at the little Elizabeth curled up into a ball in his arms.
He opened his mouth, his eyes also trembling uncontrollably.
Back then, Elizabeth's answer was this very sentence, and nothing else.
"I'm begging you... I cannot lose him... He is the only one I have..."
Fisher lifted his head, trembling, and once again accelerated with all his might. However, those eyes behind him were still in relentless pursuit,
"Oh, I didn't expect the esteemed eldest princess to also have a day where she begs me?"
"This feeling... is truly amazing..."
"Ah, fine then. If you beg me some more... perhaps I'll show great mercy..."
Fisher could bear it no longer. He swung his hand fiercely, wanting to tear apart these eyes beside him. And this time, he surprisingly touched a physical entity.
His immense power directly caused large swaths of eyes to burst open, producing countless splatters of blood. They wailed and retreated. Suddenly, from that condescending teasing, it changed into pitiful, aggrieved voices. Those words... were the ones she said to Fisher at the birthday banquet back then.
"Ah, I'm sorry... Senior Fisher, it's all my fault... I shouldn't have liked you, making Her Highness... Ah, I'm sorry... Wuwu... I was wrong, I shouldn't have disturbed the affairs between you and Her Highness..."
The Elizabeth in his arms was already trembling like a sieve. After those eyes vanished into thin air, what appeared before him was a black-haired young Nari gentleman.
That gentleman was so young. He turned his head to look at Fisher, his eyes full of astonishment and a readily perceptible touch of disgust.
"Wuwu... It's not like that... Fisher... Listen to my explanation..."
It wasn't until facing that gaze did the little Elizabeth in his arms become so terrified that she hurriedly struggled to escape from Fisher's embrace, fleeing heedlessly.
"Elizabeth!"
No matter what Fisher did, he couldn't catch her. He could only turn back to look at the young Nari gentleman before him who revealed that kind of gaze.
That gentleman was none other than Fisher Benavides himself.
"Elizabeth..."
Fisher panted, slowly standing up and looking at the young and arrogant version of himself in his early twenties.
His eyes carried alienation and fear. Fisher panted, walking towards him silently like a wild beast.
But as Fisher approached, the young Fisher Benavides surprisingly fell silent and retreated...
He was dodging, he was running away, he was scared. He thought he had misjudged Elizabeth all along. He merely felt it was troublesome and wanted to irresponsibly escape the quagmire that was Elizabeth.
Why?
Because when interacting with Elizabeth, she always hid the burdens she carried, making the young Fisher feel that being with a princess was no different from a normal romance. Conversely, she shone brighter due to her identity as the eldest princess.
He simply felt lucky, not knowing that everything behind this had a price.
Yes, Elizabeth liked a poor boy like him, but why did he think her affection was costless, just mutual consent?
He was simply young, he was simply cowardly, unaware of the filth behind it and the pressure she bore. He was simply young and frivolous, feeling smug...
But now, Fisher regretted it.
"You fucking... stop right there for me!!"
Watching his younger self silently retreat again, Fisher could endure it no longer, erupting with the power of the Mythical Rank.
How could the young Fisher Benavides, who was still just a human, outrun him? He was easily grabbed by the ferocious-looking Fisher and fiercely slammed onto the ground, producing a muffled thud.
The young and frivolous Fisher Benavides beneath him, who dared to insult the principal in public back then, still had eyes full of defiance. Fisher raised his hand and landed a heavy punch squarely on his young, handsome face.
"Bang!"
"What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!"
"What am I doing..."
"Bang!"
Fisher cast down a fierce glare, landing another punch on his other uninjured cheek.
He beat him until his face was covered in blood. But the Fisher Benavides beneath him still looked at him indignantly.
"Even if you beat me to death, what use is it?"
"Do you know what you were thinking back then?"
"You were just weak, you just ran away! How many times did she explain it to you back then, and you shut your doors to her completely... until her heart was broken! When you graduated in sorrow, you still avoided seeing her! Did you think punching me twice now would make this have nothing to do with you?"
"When the war with Schwari broke out, before she led the army out in a time of crisis, she even sent you a letter explaining this matter... And you? Did you read it? Did you reply? You revised a letter wishing her a safe return dozens of times but couldn't even send it out! You..."
On his body, blood oozed from Fisher's wounds all over. He panted, yet raised his fist once more, aiming at the Fisher Benavides beneath him.
But right then, a small, warm body suddenly hugged him from behind, stopping his iron fist from falling.
"Stop hitting... stop hitting him..."
"..."
It was the little Elizabeth from behind. She sobbed, tightly hugging the Fisher before her, shaking her head unceasingly.
"Don't hit him anymore... I don't blame him... I've already forgiven him... Don't hit him, okay? I will be heartbroken..."
"..."
The fist Fisher raised trembled unceasingly in mid-air and ultimately could not fall. Instead, it landed fiercely on his own face, casting his expression into the gloom of a shadow.
"Bang!"
"Squelch!"
The little Elizabeth behind him still hugged him tightly, then firmly grabbed his hand, not letting him move anymore.
She was unwilling to see any version of Fisher get hurt.
"She's right ahead... Fisher, this is the final chance..."
From behind, the little Elizabeth pointed forward. Before the blooming Authority of Death, the light on the horizon had already swallowed Elizabeth's back within it.
Covered in wounds, Fisher stood up. And the little Elizabeth behind him immediately ran over with concern to the side of the young Fisher Benavides, who had taken two punches to the ground, checking if he was alright.
Fisher himself dragged his heavy body, panting, and marched silently toward the direction of the Authority of Death.
The light of death ahead swallowed him. The first two instances of Elizabeth's motives for seeking death had already tormented him to the point of exhaustion, yet he still dragged his heavy steps forward.
Passing through that expanse of light, what surged into Fisher's nose was an extremely thick smell of gunpowder smoke and blood.
He seemed to be within a camp.
In front of a tent directly ahead of him, countless corpses wearing Nari military uniforms were piled up. It was clearly a tent within the Nari army, yet the scene was entirely the tragic aftermath of a battle between their own troops. Obviously, a mutiny had occurred.
But unfortunately, it probably wasn't as simple as a mere mutiny.
Because beside the main tent in front of him, there were also the corpses of countless soldiers who defended the tent to the death, letting no one close. Even in death, they tightly gripped the military flag of Elizabeth's army corps in front of the tent.
"Ugh..."
From within the tent, faint groans of pain could be heard. Fisher hastily raised his eyes, stepping over the pervasive gunpowder smoke and heaps of corpses, walking towards the tent.
"Wuwu..."
The groans born of pain quickened Fisher's pace bit by bit. He walked towards the tent with difficulty, lifting the curtain covering the entrance to reveal the scene within.
He saw that, owing to the desperate defense of brave loyalists outside, not a single one of her enemies had managed to enter the tent.
There was only a single makeshift bed.
Fisher raised his eyes to look, but couldn't stop his pupils from shrinking drastically.
"Ugh..."
On the bed, droplets of fresh blood trickled down from the bedding. Because the army was preoccupied with internal strife, no medical personnel had yet treated her. The blood on the ground had even dried up.
And on the bed, covered in injuries, either scarlet or charred black, Elizabeth lay there in a wretched state. Her face was already mutilated beyond recognition from the explosion, and even the dazzling blonde hair she usually wore was fused with her bloody wounds, impossible to separate.
Her eyes had only received a rudimentary bandaging, and the bandages were already soaked through with grime and blood. It was as if her entire self was lying dying in a messy pool of blood, having truly reached a dead end.
Yet even so, her hand, equally covered in injuries, still struggled to raise from the bed. Even if she couldn't see anything, even if her whole body was in excruciating pain...
She groaned and still raised her hands.
From that parched throat, the voice like a lark was no more, replaced only by a sound like a saw cutting a thick tree.
Her lips continuously trembled. From within the painful groans, scared, terrified, and despairing, she spoke.
"Fi..."
"Fisher... wuwu..."
"Where... are... you... I'm so scared..."
"Save... save me..."
Above the tent, a golden eyeball had unknowingly fallen into this cramped space, descending as if answering her call.
Fisher, his entire body covered in injuries, looked at the wretched, dying Elizabeth before him. Despite the many times the anguish had echoed in his mind, despite the numerous times he had repented in his thoughts, it wasn't until this very moment, when he actually saw the heavily scarred Elizabeth struggling to cling to life on the bed, that he felt a heart-wrenching pain, believing it was all his doing.
In the past, he had always blamed Pandora's Prosthetic Eye, feeling that her current state was entirely due to its bewitchment or influence...
But only at this moment did he realize that it was the prosthetic eye that saved her. Without the prosthetic eye, it remained unknown whether she could have survived that trial...
"Eliz...abeth..."
Fisher trembled. Finally, teardrops flowed uncontrollably from his eyes, sliding down his cheeks.
After this, when she returned to Nari wearing the prosthetic eye, Fisher must have read the world-ending prophecy documented in the Demi-Human Completion Handbook, and because of her, because of the beauty of this world, made a grand vow.
He said he wanted to save everyone; he wanted to save this world.
What a grand wish that was!
What a magnificent adventure it would be!
It's just that...
It's just that...
Before that, he alone failed to save Elizabeth.
"Fi..."
Trembling, she reached her hand upwards into the darkness. Within the boundless darkness and terror, she extended her hand, calling her beloved's name countless times in her heart and aloud.
But aside from darkness, no one answered her.
"No one will save you, Elizabeth..."
"Because you lost... But I can save you. I will give you the capital for a comeback."
"I am Pandora's Prosthetic Eye. I will assist you with everything in my power. I want you to make your dreams come true for me to see."
In the darkness, the voice of Pandora's Prosthetic Eye echoed in her mind. But Elizabeth remained dazed, calling out weakly through her agony.
"Fi... Fisher..."
"Save... save me..."
"Where are you..."
Did she really believe in winning and losing from beginning to end?
The prosthetic eye dropped bit by bit, heading towards the hand Elizabeth stretched out, about to land in her palm.
"Smack!"
But this time, just before that, a warm hand suddenly, trembling, tightly grasped her heavily scarred palm.
Elizabeth opened her mouth. Even covered in injuries, even if her eyes could no longer see anything, she unavoidably struggled to turn towards the origin of that warm, large hand.
Right before her eyes, Fisher knelt on one knee, similarly covered in scars and bathed in blood.
He lowered his head, pressing his forehead firmly against the palm of Elizabeth's hand that he had tightly clasped.
Trembling, his tears flowing ever faster, he caught her before Pandora's Prosthetic Eye landed...
Fisher kept his head lowered, clutching Elizabeth's hand tightly. Gripping her icy palm, he continuously transferred his own warmth to her.
Then, finally... he finally said that single sentence he should have said over a decade ago.
Trembling, he said to Elizabeth,
"I am here, Elizabeth."
(Volume V: Fisher's World-Ending Prophecy)