Ch.108Meeting in the Future

# The Imprinted Beast

The saying goes that baby animals imprint on the first creature they see after birth, recognizing it as their mother.

In a world where seeing the blue sky had become a luxury.

In a hellish existence where people were so hungry they boiled corpses for soup, where human settlements were nowhere to be found, I was like one of those baby animals.

A red-haired woman had been with me for as long as I could remember.

She was the leader of rebels, commanding heroes who had long since died according to history books.

Later, I learned that I had been “raised” by her while pretending to be her adopted child.

However, there was too much history between us to call it simple livestock raising, especially on the day when the “witch” with pale skin, the Empire’s second princess, came to rule our underground city.

I saw it clearly.

And I could hear it.

“Come here…”

“Teacher…”

“My dreams, my honor, and my hopes… even my power. I’ll give it all to you.”

“……!”

“So, please, don’t become like me…”

In the underground city with a hole in the ceiling.

Standing in the rain, already certain of her death, she was simply reflecting on her past life while comparing me to her former self.

“If only… I had met you… a little earlier…”

“……”

“I’m definitely… going to… hell… aren’t I?”

The person who had raised me since my earliest memories.

She was the very definition of “evil.”

Had the world not fallen apart this way, she might have been recorded in human history as a villain rather than a hero.

But whenever Lee Jin-ah would be asked such questions, she would answer:

“I think your father and I had our roles reversed.”

“Reversed?”

“Yes. In a normal world, I would have remained crazy. But when the world went mad, I had no choice but to become sane.”

So I fought.

And I did my best to save her.

Because the future I wanted was quite different from this.

From this point on, Han Jaewon began to realize something.

That in some ways, it might have been better for Lee Jin-ah to die.

But even so, there were others who truly deserved death.

“Is he really Sophia’s son…?”

“Yes.”

“But if that’s true, how could we not have sensed his energy all this time?!”

“You wouldn’t have. Three years ago from the future timeline, I finally awakened this ability on the day you attacked the human settlement.”

“!!”

If I had been able to transform into a monster from the beginning.

Would my future have been different?

At least according to the pale-skinned witch, the Second Princess of the Empire—the only nation allowed to exist on the surface, founded by Han Shinwoo—who now looked up to me as if I were a prince.

I probably could have lived happily, eating well and treating humans like insects.

But that’s all in the past now.

“On the day Lee Jin-ah died, I finally transformed into a monster after receiving her spirit and power.”

“Jin-ah…! It seems you were deceived by that liar.”

“Watch your words. She’s the only family I grew up with.”

“No! We are your family! Prince.”

“I’m no prince.”

Han Jaewon took a fighting stance, indicating that further talk was unnecessary.

Seeing that conversation had become meaningless, Lia—whose head wound had likely healed by now—also prepared to fight.

“His Majesty would be overjoyed to hear that the prince is alive.”

“Then tell that person you like so much to just remove me from your family tree.”

“…Since you won’t come willingly, I’ll have to use force to take you back.”

After her sister died, her brother had been seeking useful wombs to create strong successors.

She wanted to let her brother Shinwoo feel the warmth of family again, even if just for a moment.

“Then I’ll proceed.”

“Come.”

With the intention of dragging Jaewon to the Emperor’s palace, Lia—

Swoosh!

With that warning, she immediately rushed toward Jaewon.

Clang!

In the blink of an eye, her reddened claws were aiming for his face.

Blocking them easily with the back of his sword, Jaewon then took the next slashing attack with his bare body while—

“Huff…”

“…!”

She forcefully entered his guard and swung her holy sword in a large diagonal arc, trying to cut her opponent in half.

However, in the brief pause as she gathered strength, Lia had already leaped behind him.

“A body that can’t be cut by my claws. Impressive, Prince.”

Though not her main technique, those claws had once diced A-rank Hunters into cube-like pieces.

Yet here he was, deliberately taking hits while swinging his sword.

‘It’s like seeing my brother from the old days.’

She seemed to momentarily sink into memories of happier times, but this wasn’t the moment for that.

“Huff…!”

“…!”

This time it was Lia gathering her strength.

Reacting to this, Jaewon immediately turned to defend with his holy sword, but at that moment—

“Kyokushin Karate…”

“Tch!”

“Basic straight punch.”

Bang!

Lia’s fist met Arondight’s blade with a spark-producing friction sound, violently throwing both of them backward.

“Kuhak?!”

“Ugh…!”

“Jaewon! Lia!”

Sophia wore a dumbfounded expression as she watched these precious people fighting each other almost to the death.

Both were thrown sideways, each crashing through several buildings in the Kitsune family territory, and when they reappeared—

“You have a fine sword…”

“Monster woman, you countered and you’re still alive?”

Blood-red fluid dripped from Jaewon’s monstrous mouth, while Lia’s right hand, which had met the holy sword with her fist, was now severed up to the elbow.

“I wasn’t this rough even when having sex with my brother. Looks like I’m really pushing myself for once.”

Muttering to herself, Lia quickly reattached her split right arm.

Meanwhile, Han Jaewon spat out the blood pooled in his mouth like phlegm, preparing to start again.

“Let’s go again.”

“As you wish.”

“KRAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

“?!”

“What’s that…?”

But at that moment.

The final roar of a massive monster echoed beside them.

Simultaneously, Lia and Han Jaewon witnessed Gojillia swelling up and then bursting like a firework.

“Amaterasu, now!”

“I. Know.”

At the same time, they noticed an enormous seedling growing within the Kitsune territory, rapidly expanding until its blue leaves covered all of Osaka.

“World Tree preparation complete!”

“Great! Now even if Gojillia bursts, the poison gas inside will be neutralized quickly!”

“……”

“……”

The “present” battle was already ending.

Unaware of this, the two were merely continuing their fight about the “future.”

“I see. Gojillia… I remember now.”

“Lia?”

“Yes, that’s right. We all came to Japan together to defeat that monster back then.”

Unable to help recalling old memories, Lia could no longer maintain her fighting stance and instead wore an expression of sorrowful longing.

“Sister, I want to travel with you and brother again.”

“Lia…”

“But I guess that’s impossible now since all those tourist spots have burned down and disappeared.”

Lia couldn’t control her sadness as tears flowed down her face.

She just missed those times so much, and knowing her current situation was too painful, she could only continue crying.

In the past, there were many people who would come running when she was sad like this.

At least now, she wasn’t sure anymore.

She was just too sad and sorrowful to even think about whether anyone would worry about her.

But at that moment.

With a sudden embrace—

“…Sister?”

“Don’t cry. You’re all grown up, why are you still such a crybaby?”

Surely we’re enemies right now.

Regardless, her sister pulled her into an embrace to comfort her, just like in the old days.

“Sister… you shouldn’t do this. If you get this close, I might kidnap you…”

“Mother! That’s right! Get away from Lia immediately!”

“I know. I understand why Jaewon is worried about me. But you know…”

No matter what evil deeds she might commit in the future, to Sophia, Lia was just Lia.

Despite becoming a monster that needed to be hunted down, she could only see her as the little sister who had become like family.

No matter how she had grown up or how twisted she had become, in this hateful world, she was one of the few beings Sophia could be close with.

She couldn’t just stand by and watch such a child cry.

Pat, pat.

“Sister, stop it…”

“I’ll stop when Lia stops crying.”

“We’re enemies right now… if you do this, the resolve I finally mustered will weaken…”

Unable to bear it any longer, Lia backed away from the sister who had treated her so kindly.

To be comforted by the person she was trying to kidnap.

In this state, she felt too sorry to do anything more.

And that was indeed the case.

“…It seems my time is up.”

“Lia, your body is glowing…”

“Don’t be surprised. The current me is only temporarily back in the past thanks to the Ring of the Future.”

A white light began to envelop Lia’s entire body.

Han Jaewon quickly took a battōjutsu stance, aiming for her neck, but—

“Lia…”

“Mother…”

Seeing his mother’s sorrowful expression as she watched her little sister who would change like this in the future, he couldn’t help but loosen his grip on the sword.

And just as she was about to disappear, Lia’s warning came:

“Sister, I’m backing down this time, but not next time.”

“Are you saying you’ll come to the past again?”

“Yes. But the soldiers coming to get you next time won’t be me.”

“Then who?”

“The children of our imperial palace. The princes and princesses who carry brother’s blood will soon come to this past to take you to the future.”

“…!”

“The imperial family is coming personally?”

Upon hearing this terrible news, Han Jaewon immediately released his monster form and was now grinding his teeth, while—

“Yes, Prince. By the way, our second target is you, Prince.”

“…!”

“Don’t worry. Once you stay in the imperial palace, you’ll soon forget the brainwashing you received from humans.”

With those final words—

“Lia!”

“Then, I’ll see you in the ‘future,’ Sister.”

Lia’s matured body was completely enveloped in light and disappeared. A moment later, in the place where she had stood—

“…I’ve failed at raising my children.”

“Lia?”

“Sister, I think I’ve failed at parenting.”

“???”

The current Lia, who had briefly been sent to the future in exchange with her mature self.

Whatever had happened to her, she was decorated like someone in a cat costume, wearing a thoroughly disgruntled expression.