CH 97

The Mist was trying to create another illusion. Marianne looked at me, a little worried, but I smiled nonetheless.

“I’m okay.”

Marianne hesitantly reached out to me and intertwined her hand with mine. Her small, soft hand wrapped around mine. Restarting my system took over half of her mana, making her understandably tired.

“Let me take care of it.”

I awaken the Holy Sword. I imbued Null with my silver aura. The Mist moved around restlessly, unable to take a form. It didn’t have enough mana remaining. Converting life force into mana can’t be done easily, even for world-ending Disasters.

“Looks like all of your battery packs are empty.”

I let out a deep breath and heightened my senses. Monsters from my nightmares crawled before my eyes. My system was overflowing with mana, leaking from my mouth.

“This is nothing.”

I frowned and stepped forward, pulling Marianne behind me out of habit, but when I saw her expression, I awkwardly stepped back to where she was. She looked up at me, surprised and delighted. I smiled sheepishly.

“Shall we do this together?”

Marianne nodded eagerly, moving along beside me, matching my steps.

“Clear out the smaller ones first, please.”

“Of course.”

The awakened Holy Spear swept away all the phantoms it touched. I glanced at Marianne, who stirred the battlefield with a destructive force equal to mine, then set my sights on my target.

“Now it’s time to fight fair and square.”

I ran forward, letting my aura extend from Null, and swung it at the tidal wave of phantoms. Like Marianne, they would dissipate as soon as the aura reached them.

Suddenly the scene before me changed. It was back in Evernode.

“Protect everyone? You look at these people and think that?!”

The voice sounded like the wind when you open a car window at high speeds. It was the harsh voice of the Mist, as it showed me the dying and falling soldiers and knights of Evernode. I closed my eyes, letting the memories of those faces pass me by.

“There are so many you have failed to protect. So many who believed your rhetoric and moved forward, only to be turned into meat shields.”

“Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

I stepped toward the soldier whose neck had been bitten by a white wolf. I looked at his face and smiled. 730 deaths in the Giant battle. I then looked at the soldier lying next to him.

“For giving me the chance to see their faces again.”

I closed their eyes. They will forever remain in my heart. I know they wouldn’t want me to be crying at their deaths. That’s just the Evernode way.

“You have the audacity to say such things, Hero-!”

False hate and resentment. I rose to my feet and stared ahead. Evernode’s soldiers took on the form of wraiths and tried to grab my ankles.

“Why couldn’t you protect us….”

“Why did we have to die there….”

I held still and let them grab my ankles. If they wanted me to listen, I would give them my attention. If they wanted to blame me, I would’ve taken it all.

“But they are not them.”

I said in a low voice. I stared at the bodies of the fallen, torn by the beasts and frozen by the wind. I gritted my teeth and stared off into the distance.

“How dare you use these people?”

I took a step forward. Beside me, Marianne gripped her holy spear with a determined expression. I lifted my Holy Sword overhead. These lies I was being shown only fueled my anger.

I drew on my mana even more. Enough so that the winds of my magic would tear through this space, blowing all those blizzards away.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t even laugh anymore. If I want to remember them, if I want to vent my regrets, I’m not going to break down here. I will run to the memorial up north and pour out my tears.”

I thought of the hundreds of names inscribed there. Evernode, and the sacrifices of those who died there, will never be a pacifier for the Mists.

“Why…why! You had so many regrets when you fought the Kraken…”

I let out a small laugh. ‘You could never understand.’

“Just keep trying. Maybe one of them will work.”

Trees snapped and fell, and the bodies of the soldiers disappeared with the swirling snow. I lifted my head, feeling the terrifying presence again. The Giant stood there. I was getting nostalgic looking at it again.

“This is how it ends, huh?”

I muttered, kicking the ground and running. Marianne, breathing in sync with me, flew past me. The Holy Spear tore through space with murderous force.

“Legs.”

I said simply, and Marianne nodded in understanding. I soared into the sky as I had before, facing the Giant. It was a foe. Perhaps the strongest I’d ever fought.

Even so, it was only one of many that had fallen to me.

The Giant swung its fist at me, then stopped as if interrupted by something. I twisted in midair, slicing off its left arm. Its head snapped back to me. I smirked and began to chop away.

There was no emotion in my attacks, just continuous and efficient. I cut with the sole intention of dismembering the giant’s torso. I sliced off the other arm, its shoulder, and its waist. Marianne had done an excellent job attacking the legs, causing it to stagger and fall forward.

“…Minus point for the lack of realism.”

I expressed such a sentiment, standing on the Giant’s throat. As soon as the blade of the Holy Sword dug into it, the illusion began to collapse completely. There was nothing left except for a blindingly white mist.

“You’re persistent.”

Marianne let out an exasperated exclamation. I nodded, inwardly agreeing with her. Maybe it was because it was a Disaster that exploited human memories and minds, but it had much in common with human nature.

“I suppose we’ll just have to continue.”

I said, twirling my sword around. Once the Mist runs out of mana, it will no longer be able to maintain this space. I raised my mana to absorb the area around me as well.

“I’ll help.”

Marianne raised her Holy Spear. Well, the result was already set in stone.

Marianne stabbed the spear into the ground. I smirked and looked at the crack at her feet, knowing that when she offered to help, she didn’t mean to give me more mana. As our mana intertwined, the room shook as if it would collapse.

“…You were amazing.”

Marianne blinked at my unconscious praise, then nodded. I stared at the collapsing fog, thinking I should compliment her more often.

“It’s starting to change shape.”

Marianne muttered nervously. The fog swirled, coalesced, and dispersed. It was as if it were trying to make a last stand. It clumped together like a dust cloud and tried to form a shape…it was humanoid.

“So… that’s what happened to you.”

The human-shaped fog said. It was trying to draw out all of its magic. I sharpened my senses even more to stay alert. A cornered rat will bite the cat.

“It seemed so odd…”

With a chuckle, the mist began to take on the appearance of someone. I watched the Mist’s shifting form with a frown. ‘Should I wait for the transformation? It’s not like I’m a villain from a magical girl show.’ I took my sword to slash at the fog before it could finish.

“You really are a rude person.”

The Mist said, its tone relaxed again as it raised its arm to block my attack. I frowned and looked at it. It wasn’t because she’d blocked my attack. It was because the voice was so familiar.

“I haven’t finished changing yet.”

Mist mocked me, its voice filled with laughter. I stiffened as I gazed at the finished form. The Mist had changed into Elroy’s form. Marianne stared at it with a puzzled expression.

“Do you recognize who this is?”

The face began to change ever so slightly. From Elroy to someone else, I froze as I watched the transformation.

“Isn’t this a familiar, ■■■?”

I couldn’t read the shape of the Mist’s mouth or hear it speak. But at the end of it, there was a man who looked like Elroy, but in a different way. He was in his mid to late twenties. A typical Korean face. But of course, I recognized it.

It’s me

I looked him in the eye like I was looking into a mirror and froze.

“I had a hard time figuring out this secret, you know. I had to use most of my magic to break through that security. Funny how I have to struggle with a mere human….”

I chuckled and moved closer to me. I could only hope desperately that Marianne didn’t see it, but her gaze was already on it. The fog must have noticed her gaze, too, because I opened my mouth in a creepy smile.

“Now, take a good look, human. This is….”

That’s when someone stabbed the Mist in the neck. I looked up in surprise and saw the person who had done it. The Mist’s laughter turned to horror as it tried to look in the same direction as me.

“You…you.”

“That’s enough of your bullshit, remnant of an evil god.”

Hair shimmering like silver. Eyes as red as blood. And a wreath on its head. It was the Holy Sword I had seen in a vision before.

“I was going to watch until the end, but I’m afraid I can’t let this go on.”

For some reason, her expression was one of deep sorrow. The Holy Sword spoke, apologizing to me gently.

“I am sorry, Elroy. There is no need to forgive me.”

I stammered, and the Holy Sword shook its head with a bitter smile. My head hurt like it was going to crack. I squirmed in place and stared into those red eyes.

“Do you remember the words I spoke to you before you entered the Mist?”

“…That I am me, no matter what?”

“Yes. Remember that.”

The confusion in my head from the Holy Sword’s words cleared up instantly. Seeing that my expression had calmed down, she glared at the fog that had turned into me with a sharp gaze like a well-honed sword.

“…What the hell are you…You aren’t human….”

“Shut that mouth of yours, for even if I hadn’t stabbed you, it wouldn’t have been long before your life was over.”

The Mist stared at the Holy Sword in horror. She didn’t give Mist more time to talk but simply cut through it. I watched as the fog began to fade away, losing its power, and then I watched as the Holy Sword faded away with it.

(Well done, Elroy. Your companion is sleeping over there; make sure you take care of her.)

Her words, as always, echoed in my head. I snapped out of it and turned toward Marianne, who lay behind me.

“Marianne.”

I called out to her, and she slowly lifted her head and looked around. We were now sitting side by side in the streets of the Holy Land.

“We…made it?”

I nodded. The fog had lifted entirely. It seemed to have disappeared altogether.

Marianne and I sat there for a while, watching the snowfall. Marianne squeezed my hand, and I returned the favor, feeling its warmth. I turned my head and smiled.

“Don’t go.”

I nodded. Whatever I’d just seen, I wouldn’t let it shake my mind now that Marianne had reassured me.

“Okay.”

“Stay with me.”

I nodded.

It was a dawn I hadn’t seen for a long time.