Chapter 66: Trade (4)

Chapter 66: Trade (4)

***

...Where is this place?

A dark space where nothing could be seen enveloped her.

Ah. I see.

Have I been defeated?

Was it too much after all?

Virdel reflected on her situation.

The battle for dominance in the Imagery that followed the moment she touched the Sacred Flame.

But the result was as could be seen.

Haah.

Then is this hell?

Well, if this is hell, maybe hell isn't so bad.

A space filled with pitch-black darkness.

Her mind, floating in that space, was empty and void.

Is this the end?

Thinking that way, she felt a sense of lightness.

If there was one last lingering regret, it would be not being able to meet 'him' in person?

I really wanted to see him, though.

A life spent caged and as a scapegoat.

A hellish life that was longer than the days she had lived normally.

In a life that was like a pit, the community was practically her only world.

However.

Reality was cruel, and the virtual could not become reality.

Her world was essentially false.

No matter what she accomplished in the virtual world, it had no connection to reality.

It was in the midst of this that she met him.

A great being who pulled the community into reality.

A being who made her realize that her world was not false, but real.

Karlstein Babylon.

Should I have listened to his advice after all?

He had said there was no need to respond to the promise.

Because of my desire to meet him proudly, it ended up like this.

Even if he were to call me a 'useless woman' right now, I would have nothing to say.

I really was useless, after all.

....

So this is how it ends.

Am I satisfied with this?

....

A space where terrible memories of the past prick her entire body like needles, and all sorts of thoughts swirl around.

A space where it felt as if her unconscious had risen to the surface, swelling like a balloon and ransacking her mind.

As she was gradually forgetting herself and slowly sinking into the abyss as if falling into a dream...

[Zzzt... zzt... Backup... System... Switching.]

A mechanical voice.

[ER... ROR]

[ERR... OR]

[...Forced Awakening... zzzt... Process... Allocation...]

Ha. Haha.

I wonder why I feel like laughing?

It was as if she could hear his voice.

-Lifelong Bluadge.

What have you done to be resting?

Did you think you could run away without my permission?

What are you doing not opening your eyes right now?

Although the mechanical voice coming from the suit was clearly not his, somehow it sounded like his voice.

Right. My life was not my own.

-First of all, do not ever get hit around by anyone. That’s the first condition.

...I got beaten. Am I disqualified?

Although his words were truly selfish and tyrannical.

Those words that became a guidepost for her, who had lost all her siblings, parents, and clan, and had no reason to live.

Perhaps they were words spoken after seeing through her lack of attachment to life?

There was no need to burn with hatred towards humans.

That one sentence was enough to become her driving force in life.

In a colorless, ashen world, he was the existence that moved her, whose wick had burned out.

Beep-

[Emergency Recovery System Activating]

This must be the minimal safeguard he mentioned.

Since I've decided to do it anyway...

More cleanly.

More purely.

More perfectly.

Whoosh-

She began to adjust even the position of bones and muscles.

Crack- Crack-

"This is why mortals are..."

The twisted and awkward positions of bones and organs found their proper places, and the body began to transform into one optimized for handling Sacred Blood.

If someone from Murim had seen this, they would have been astonished, calling it Overhaul Rebirth.

Crack- Crack-

"Ah... I can't forget about that either."

She began to search for the coordinates of the battlefield using the remaining power of the 《Fruit》.

"Now, as long as I just open this and fix it in place... Fufufu."

Everything was going smoothly.

As the saying goes, it was 'a blessing in disguise'; the crisis on the battlefield was nothing, and everything was going smoothly.

If I recover my strength like this and get my hands on the treasure island-like spoils?

Fufufu.

I wouldn’t envy even those haughty 《Branches》.

Just as she thought that.

"Hm? It's still remaining? That can't be?"

She frowned as she sensed the remnants of the girl sleeping in the unconscious of the Imagery.

"As if this mere-"

Before she could finish her words, she could feel herself being torn apart from the soul level.

[Kyaaaaaaak!!]

***

"Haa. Haa."

What on earth happened?

I don’t know what’s going on.

My head is throbbing, and my stomach is churning.

Stagger-

And what is this?

The current body doesn't feel like my own.

Awkwardness.

A sense of discomfort.

The problem was that it felt incredibly comfortable, though.

Stagger-

Still, it seems I need time to adapt.

"Ha, haha..."

Lifelong...

It seems it's still valid.

She painfully began to access the community and leave a message for him.

***

"What's the situation?"

[Unstable wavelengths are still being observed.]

"Hmm..."

Karlstein sank into contemplation, pressing his fingers to his temples.

"Since it's near the Barrier, we can't easily dismiss it."

[That is right.]

Hmm.

Unstable Astral Wavelengths observed near the Barrier.

What on earth happened? This has never happened before.

Considering the importance of the Barrier, it was not something that could be easily overlooked.

"But it's not like we have a clear method either."

[We have taken all the measures we can from our side, but...]

"The Barrier is a place where no amount of attention is ever enough."

[Or should we use this opportunity to...]

"..."

Are you still talking about that?

Karlstein could understand what Aria was trying to say.

War.

She meant to advance beyond the Barrier while subjugating the Kaiju.

[We've made plenty of preparations so far, have we not?]

"That's... true."

The Galactic Empire was by no means weak.

They had already completed preparations for the great war against those /genesisforsaken