Chapter 88

Gash–  

Barahan slowly withdrew the sword that pierced the leopard’s neck.

He wasn’t aiming for Lapyan in the first place.

His attack was meant to defeat the beast who was glaring at him alarmingly. Barahan knew the beast would rush forward completely off-guard if Lapyan’s life was in danger. 

However strong the beast was, he was nothing but a foolish creature who only knew how to throw himself in front of Lapyan to protect her.

Warmblood spurted out when Barahan pulled out the sword. Blood splattered all over Lapyan’s ghostly pale face.

Lapyan’s mind drifted into frantic chaos. The situation hadn’t fully sunk in.

Barahan, you are my brother and friend. A family and an ally who stayed by my side for a long time. How could you do something like this?

She reeled away devastated before slowly collapsing.

“No way, no way, Barahan. No way….”

She was at her most vulnerable state now. Lapyan grievously clung to Barahan’s arm, resenting her powerless state.

“No, Barahan, please….!”

Only then did reality strike her when a large beast body fell on top of her feet and she saw the cruel glint in Barahan’s eyes; the reality was utterly vile to her.

Undeterred by her scream, Barahan lifted his sword once again. The sword with divine power was able to pierce through the black leopard’s hard skin without trouble.

Watching him swinging his weapon, Lapyan cried out to him.

“Stop, Barahan. Please, I’ll give you everything you want…”

After pulling out the sword stuck in the black leopard’s chest, Barahan turned his head. Watching her desperate plea for a while, he then raised his blood-soaked hand and grabbed her neck.

A suffocated groan escaped Lapyan.

“Lapyan. Is this what you wanted?”

His murderous intent was put in his grip. Through his scornful remarks, it was clear that he didn’t want to hear any reply. He leaned toward the haggard Lapyan and uttered with a distorted face. 

“I respected you, Lapyan. I loved you so much.”

He sneered at her, dejectedly. 

He had no idea that she would abandon the honor of a God.

Hatred was raging in his eyes.

He had no idea that she’d abandon him for a mere beast.

A mixture of love, jealousy, and hatred drove him into pure madness.

He took out a dagger and thrust it into her unhesitatingly. 

Thud.

Lapyan collapsed without letting out a scream.

Still holding the dagger planted on her chest, Barahan whispered in her ear.

“You should have chosen me, Lapyan.”

Pushing the dagger even deeper, a stream of crimson blood flowed from the gash. He continued making insidious remarks, all the while taking out the dagger that was plunged deep into her flesh.

“If you had, we could’ve done a lot of things together. Maybe giving birth to our descendants and happily-”

But his revolting remarks stopped there. Because the black beast pounced on him and bit his nape.

“Argh!”

Barahan’s painful scream echoed through the forest.

Along with a roaring growl, Barahan and the beast rolled on the ground.  

Thud!

Hard fragments of the tree they crashed into fell to the ground and formed a dust cloud.

Barahan stumbled to attack the leopard who bit him. There was no escape from his sharp fangs. If Barahan was a human, he would’ve already been dead.

“You damned beast! Uaaagh!”

It was the first time he felt physical pain in his entire life. Barahan howled as he rolled on the ground. 

I’m sure that leopard couldn’t move because of a fatal wound, but where did his strength come from?

He swung his arm to attack back and stabbed the leopard in the exact place as earlier. As Barahan dug deeper into the wound, the beast should have collapsed due to the pain at least, yet the leopard did not even groan. 

After all, he never misses a prey he caught once.

The leopard’s fangs fiercely dug into Barahan’s neck this time.

“Arghh!”

Barahan flailed his arms wildly with a frantic scream. Blood splattered everywhere each time he moved.

The injured leopard endured the torturous pain. However, when Lapyan’s sword sunk through his heart, the pain eventually made him lose his strength.

Barahan did not miss such an opportunity and evaded the attack.

The leopard tried to rush after him, but stumbled and collapsed.

His head was spinning as he lost too much blood. At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to protect Lapyan, let alone kill Barahan.

Holding back the pain, the leopard quickly put Lapyan into his mouth and fled.

He instinctively knew that his end would come soon. Since he couldn’t guess how much strength Barahan had left, moving Lapyan to a safe place was his priority.

He could feel her life force slowly fading away. However, the black leopard had no intention to stop.

Lapyan, you’re a Goddess, aren’t you? You must survive! Because you’re a Goddess. You said you’d give up everything for my sake, and you wanted to live together with me.

It’s all my fault. If only you hadn’t met me.

He sprinted through the pitch-black night. He didn’t even care if Barahan was chasing them down. He just wanted to take her farther and farther away from that god. He ran like crazy, as long as his legs could carry him.

***

Sometime later, at the crack of dawn. 

Lapyan was barely able to open her eyes. Getting up, surrounded by darkness, she barely recognized blurry shapes in front of her.

She was laying on top of cold ground, in the forest that sheltered her. Thin rays of moonlight were shining through the branches and leaves. And a leopard was looking down at her.

The leopard, who was running wildly and nervously around right until now, stopped. Because her body was shining through the dark night. Realizing the meaning of such appearance, the leopard lost all strength in his legs.

「No way, please no…」

Lapyan looked up at him with an empty expression. As the leopard’s tears fell down, a warm watery liquid also rolled down her face. 

She was losing her strength and her life force gradually waned. Specks of light similar to grainy sands surrounded her body.

「Lapyan. Don’t close your eyes, okay….? Please…..」

Instead of answering, she pressed the leopard’s wound with her palm. Blood gushed out through her fingers. But the Leopard did not care about his wound at all and held her as if she was his dearest treasure.

She couldn’t even perform simple healing as she was now out of power. She felt regretful about that, more than the fact that her existence was soon coming to an end. 

You got hurt because of me. You cried because of me. Because I trusted Barahan and it’s my fault you ended up like this.

‘I’m sorry.’

She whispered with much difficulty and secretly passed her last remaining divine power to the leopard. She desperately forced her power in the beast’s body.

‘I can’t make it, but you can still survive.’

The black leopard did not even notice the few drops of power flowing inside him. He was too distressed by the fear of losing her.

「You said you’d always be by my side. You said you’d always protect me.」

A shrill voice escaped the leopard as if piercing through the complete darkness. It was a painful plea, full of agony.

Lapyan raised her bloodstained hand again and stroked the leopard’s head.

“We can meet again. So don’t cry. Be a good boy, alright?”

She whispered to comfort the leopard and slowly closed her eyes.

She said that to try to ease him, but she herself couldn’t know for sure. 

Will we be able to meet again after death? What actually lies beyond death?

I couldn’t even say I love you.

She wanted to pet her leopard forever, but she was completely useless after sharing her last bit of power.

Plop.

Her hand fell helplessly. Through her fading consciousness, the mournful cry of a leopard seemed to echo endlessly.

The Goddess had ceased to exist.

***

Barahan flicked the harp in a good mood. He was enjoying life without a single hardship.

After ‘the Goddess ceased to exist’, he managed to restore his power. It was only after enduring so much that he finally became the strongest being on earth.

He could no longer feel Lapyan’s vestiges. Seeing that the string leading to divine power was cut off, she probably ran out of life force. As he would have expected, she died with the black beast.

Lapyan. I loved her. I respected her more than anyone else. 

That’s why her death was quite heartbreaking and painful for him.

However, Barahan soon erased those emotions from his heart.

Now there was not an ounce of sympathy left for the person who trampled on his feelings.

She paid the price for her sins. The price she must pay by foolishly not choosing him.

Divine power flowed along with the soft melody. When he opened the head of the huge harp, a hidden secret space was revealed. And a shining sword was hidden inside the ‘column’ of the harp.

Lapyan’s. The last divinity she left behind. With this, Barahan would be able to rule over all beings for eternity.

Humans started to worship him as the God who succeeded the First Goddess. He was called the savior of humanity.

Not to mention the leopard. Even if Lapyan shared her divinity with the leopard tribe, nothing in this world could match Barahan’s divine power.

Rather, he could locate them due to their faint divinity. Barahan led a satisfactory life by subduing the leopards and ruling over humans.

Around the time when frost flowers melted, when the harsh winter finally passed, and spring was approaching, a beautiful harp melody rang through the forest full of budding sprouts.

Slipping past the melody, a beast quietly made a move.

The gaze that could melt the darkness was calm, just as the water was before a storm. He held his breath in cold wrath. 

Taking one step at a time, the beast entered Barahan’s space like a moving silent shadow. Before Barahan could notice, the beast bit the back of his neck at once. He bored his sharp fangs into Barahan’s flesh until the god lost his breath.

Was it because of Lapyan’s remaining divine power she gave him? The beast was able to face off against Barahan, sending the god to demise easily. 

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Fresh blood splattered all over the white marble floor.

Barahan couldn’t even prevent the sudden attack. With a gaping mouth and eyes-wide-open in shock, no sound could escape him due to the pain that bored through his neck. Only a trailed-off groan left his lips when Barahan’s last remaining light was finally extinguished. 

“Ugh…”

It was such an easy and pathetic death that overshadowed the glory he was so proud of.