Ch.193Salvation – 2

Eight pairs of eyes, or rather four pairs of gazes, focused on me as I finished speaking. Each was a different color, with not a single similarity between them.

Serena’s blue eyes, Christine’s yellow eyes, Charlotte’s blood-red eyes, and finally Olivia’s pitch-black eyes. All those gazes were fixed solely on me.

It wasn’t difficult to read the meaning behind their stares. There was almost no trace of the sticky affection or explosive jealousy they had shown until now.

The emotion that filled most of their eyes was shock. It felt strangely unfamiliar to receive such looks—devoid of blind love, faith, or jealousy—for the first time.

How did I even get here? How could I draw blue mana? How could I handle divine power? How did I use dimensional cutting?

And, how on earth was I burning black mana?

They must be filled with questions and suspicions. Even Charlotte couldn’t hide her astonishment, which gave me an idea of how shocked they must have been upon seeing me.

‘That’s understandable. They’ve been with me for so long.’

Excluding Serena, who was only 24 years old, Charlotte and Christine had lived for quite a long time with absolute faith in me.

The time Charlotte had spent with me now exceeded 130 years and was approaching 140, while Christine had served only me for nearly 80 years.

Throughout that immense span of time, I had been a perfect ordinary person unable to use even a speck of mana. I just happened to have extraordinarily powerful regenerative abilities.

And now here I was, not only drawing blue mana equal to Charlotte’s capacity but also using Serena’s swordsmanship, manifesting the same divine power as Christine, and even handling black mana.

It would be abnormal not to be surprised.

“How… how…?”

Olivia, like Serena, Charlotte, and Christine, couldn’t hide her shock. However, the nature of Olivia’s astonishment was subtly different from the others.

While the other three were shocked by the fact that I could display such abilities at all, Olivia’s shock stemmed from my action of breaking the time fixation.

Of course, Olivia had unwavering confidence in her abilities. She must have believed there was no way I could ever break the fixed time.

“You’re asking how I did it?”

I raised my sword. A greatsword identical to the one embedded in Charlotte’s abdomen gleamed pitch-black in my hand as I pointed it at Olivia.

It was a weight I hadn’t felt in an excruciatingly long time, one I had hoped never to feel again. But in the end, that small wish was mercilessly trampled, its sprout broken.

This was the sword I had thrust into Olivia’s heart when I fought her before. The fact that I was using this sword again in any capacity meant that Olivia had returned as well.

“If you’re curious, I don’t mind telling you.”

I wrapped mana around the sword. I had more than enough theory. No, not just enough—I had an abundance. I was the incompetent human whose only ability had been to cram knowledge into my head.

In other words, flipped around, it meant that now I could apply that theory to practice. I could deploy all the vast knowledge in my mind into actual combat.

My knowledge was no longer just theoretical.

As I used physical enhancement, time began to flow sluggishly. Like Serena, and like Charlotte. This was a state that could only be reached by pushing physical enhancement to its limits.

Even in this situation, Olivia’s movements remained clear and unslowed. Considering her abilities, this level of enhancement barely evened the playing field.

“It’s not like I need to keep it secret anyway.”

Olivia’s wrist, which had been severed by dimensional cutting, floated back to the cut surface. I hadn’t expected to inflict any real damage from the beginning.

Olivia, like my past self, was fixed in time, so of course she would recover. After all, I myself had been dismembered by dimensional cutting and returned perfectly intact.

The only reason her recovery was delayed was because she was shocked by my appearance.

“Instead, come and find out yourself.”

I gripped the sword handle with both hands. The blue light surrounding the blade gradually intensified. Hearing my words, Olivia’s blank expression quickly transformed into one of ecstasy.

“Yes, I will! Master! I’ll come to you!”

Olivia charged at me with an elated voice. The sound followed a beat later. The distance between us closed in an instant.

If I had been my former self, I would never have been able to react. I wouldn’t have even thought about countering, just resigned myself to taking all the attacks with my body, wondering when it would end.

But now it was different. I could clearly see Olivia rushing toward me, every single movement of her ecstatic expression.

‘…So this is what it feels like.’

As I swung the greatsword, I shuddered slightly with emotion.

In the past, I had felt dragged by the sword, using it more like a blunt weapon by exploiting its weight rather than focusing on cutting. Now it felt lighter than a toothpick.

This was all new to me—using mana in combat, experiencing the sensation of my body becoming much lighter and faster, everything.

I gripped the handle firmly. My eyes met Olivia’s as she charged straight at me. The corners of her eyes curved like crescent moons, and the edges of her lips turned upward. A chilling smile spread across her face.

In her hand was a greatsword identical in appearance to mine.

I glanced at Charlotte. The greatsword that had pierced her abdomen had vanished. Charlotte was stemming the bleeding with both hands, which were enveloped in a soft green light.

The greatsword that had been embedded in Olivia’s heart was also gone, so the one in her hand must be the original—my real sword that my past self had used to push Olivia into the dimensional rift.

“Master and I are bound by fate! I will never, ever let you go! Isn’t that right, Master? You think so too, don’t you? You also believe we’re tied by an unbreakable red thread, don’t you? Right? We’ll never be separated, will we?”

“Fate?”

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at that absurd word.

Was this really fate? To be trapped in time for a period unimaginable to ordinary humans, struggling desperately, only to end up in this kind of battle—was that truly fate?

“If that’s what it is, I’d like to meet whoever created it.”

CLANG! The two greatswords collided. Olivia didn’t use magic, nor did I. It was a pure contest of strength against strength.

“Ah, Master! I can see it! I can see it! Your soul! And my soul! I can feel it! I can feel it! You love me, don’t you? Right?! You love me, so you’ve kept my soul inside you, haven’t you?!”

Olivia’s voice grew progressively higher. The two clashing greatswords slowly tilted toward me. The distance between Olivia and me decreased accordingly.

Whether we had just been in a life-or-death battle moments ago made no difference. A body fixed in time would never change.

“You’re making a serious misunderstanding, Olivia.”

I put strength into my arms. My retreating body came to an abrupt halt.

“You already know that it’s not just your soul that dwells within me, don’t you?”

“……”

Olivia closed her mouth. I had dragged out an uncomfortable truth that she had either deliberately avoided confirming or had been unable to confirm, and thrust it before her eyes.

But the silence didn’t last long. Olivia immediately looked at me with a broad smile, once again filling her gaze with sticky affection and love.

“Of course! Because you’ve given me an opportunity, Master. You’ve given me the chance to tear apart the souls of those insects who try to separate us with my own hands! So naturally, you had no choice! You want me to tear their souls apart in front of them, don’t you? Right? I know everything—your heart, your purpose, your intentions—I know it all! Because we love each other! That’s what this is, isn’t it?”

It seems I still couldn’t get through to her. I gave a bitter smile as I looked at Olivia, who showed nothing but the heaviest kind of love rather than anger.

Even the brief silence that had followed my words was likely because she was too choked with emotion at the fact that I had spoken to her.

Olivia had always been like this.

Even when I had thrust a greatsword into her heart and thrown her beyond dimensions, she had whispered that she loved me as her body turned black and melted away.

With a promise that when she returned, she would erase everything except the two of us.

“If that’s what you truly believe, Olivia.”

I infused divine power into the greatsword. Blue mana mixed with white flames, burning brilliantly.

“Then I’ll prove to you that you’re wrong.”