Ch.1253Tough Lives Break When Chewed Well

The sky and earth indistinguishable, not a single ray of light, not even the faintest sound of wind in this empty darkness.

‘Where… am I? What happened to me…?’

A woman opened her eyes in that place.

‘…Ah, yes. I remember now. Fighting that girl, I suffered a fatal wound and could no longer suppress the divine power of death.’

The Empress of Blood, who had lost her life to the divine power of death that awakened as her imperfect vessel shattered, and whose soul was about to vanish soon.

Surprisingly, her consciousness, which should have disappeared long ago, still existed in this strange space.

How was this possible? Even Garmerlic, who understood the divine power of death better than anyone in the mortal world, had been certain of her demise.

Was there some extraordinary method he couldn’t have anticipated? A way to avoid the soul’s annihilation that had been determined the moment death’s divinity awakened?

‘That means… my true self has already… reached its end. What a bitter, tragic conclusion.’

Of course, no such method existed.

Erzsebet had met an irreversible death, and her soul, unable to go where it should, had vanished. So completely that even Bellona herself could not resurrect her.

Then what exactly was the identity of this woman who remained here now, recognizing herself as Erzsebet?

‘…Yet “I” am still here. Even if I’m merely residual thought, an echo of my former life, a mere remnant without even a spiritual form.’

The answer was simple.

A residual consciousness with self-awareness but far too insufficient to be called a soul.

Not Erzsebet herself, but a crude replica mimicking her living form, merely the remnants of memories and consciousness that had dwelled in her blood. That was her true identity.

And this residual consciousness was the final desperate gamble that Erzsebet had attempted with nothing to lose as Bellona’s power awakened and death approached.

‘If I’ve awakened like this… it means my final gamble succeeded. Then this place must be… inside that girl’s unconscious.’

Erzsebet—no, Erzsebet’s residual consciousness—finally realized where she had awakened.

She was dwelling within Haschal’s unconscious. Like a parasite feeding on blood within an enemy’s veins.

‘Mental infiltration through blood. I had my doubts… but fortune favored me in the end. How ironic, yet fortunate.’

For a vampire, blood is life itself. So naturally, she believed her residual consciousness would dwell within it—a gamble she had taken.

Most of Erzsebet’s blood had been consumed as a sacrifice to manifest the left arm of death, but at that time, she still had a small amount that hadn’t been offered.

The spray of blood from Haschal’s blade, the crimson that covered Haschal’s body and seeped into her wounds.

Erzsebet had wagered her fate on the prediction that this blood would remain as residual consciousness even after her death and awaken in Haschal’s inner world.

No, rather than a prediction, she had hoped for this as she passed into eternal rest, and by some divine fortune, that wish had been perfectly fulfilled.

Now only one task remained.

‘I must burrow deeper, to the core of the inner world, to dominate and consume the defenseless soul. If I succeed… I can steal this body and resurrect myself.’

Infiltrate Haschal’s inner world through blood, then consume her mind and soul somewhere within to steal her body.

That was Erzsebet’s final desperate measure, conceived just before death—the only way to survive even after awakening the divine power of death.

Of course, since she herself was already dead and only her remnants remained, whether success could truly be called “survival” was debatable… but at least Erzsebet—no, her residual consciousness—believed so.

No, she wanted to believe so.

Though reduced to residual consciousness, essentially no different from a crude copy rather than the original, she still believed she was alive.

Because that was Erzsebet’s most fundamental desire and wish.

‘I am immortal. I will be immortal. Forever.’

She would survive eternally. Somehow, in whatever form, she would survive until the end, even if she became something that could no longer be called “I.”

Erzsebet desired immortality. Though she had long forgotten why she craved it so, she still begged to survive forever.

Therefore, even realizing she was merely residual consciousness, she still struggled desperately to survive.

She burrowed deeper into Haschal’s unconscious where nothing existed but herself, seeking to dominate the soul that would exist in the most intimate place.

And then.

– WHOOSH!

As if someone had commanded light to exist, the pitch-black darkness suddenly lifted, revealing a new landscape before her eyes.

– GROOOOOWL…

It was a world.

A plain burning with crimson flames under a dim dawn sky. Ruins where a dark red river flowed between towering gray mountains.

Everything in sight was burning, crumbling, or bleeding—truly a scene like a fragment of apocalypse.

“This is that girl’s inner world…? Impossible. No, this is, this is…!”

Erzsebet’s residual consciousness stared blankly at the scene, then suddenly realized in the next moment.

This place was not Haschal’s soul dwelling deep within that she had tried to invade, but an entirely different space.

In fact, even if she hadn’t realized it, she would have known in the next moment anyway.

【 G̶̡͎̗̐̾̓͗̍́̒͑͠R̷̨̥̪̲̩̊͆̅̌͝RR̷͖̦̰͔͈̰̞҇́̌͛̓́͜RŖ̶̙͍̠͇̈́̿̏̄͑̎̐̅͝RR̵̨̭̪͗̔̏̈́̕̚̚….̴̡̭͙͍̞͍̍̑͞ 】

Because the master of this world had revealed itself before her.

– CLANK!

A monster with broken chains wrapped around it like a mane, bound by cracked chains, vomiting blood like a river.

A transcendent being in the form of a wolf, so enormous it seemed it could swallow the sky.

“This… this is, could it be…”

Erzsebet immediately recognized what, or who, it was. Though she had never faced it directly, she knew it well from knowledge.

The demigod warrior who had been second only to the emperor in the ancient Xanten Empire at its height before its sudden downfall, the strongest warrior of the east.

“Vanirgand…”

The culprit behind Xanten’s destruction, a beast and evil god transformed into a monstrous form after being captured by the slaughterer once called Baltyr and baptized with malicious magic.

The Blood Star. The Sky Devourer.

Vanirgand of hatred and predation.

【 How dare you set foot here, you lowly leech. 】

It was roaring before her eyes.

Something that not only a residual consciousness but even Erzsebet herself—no, even if she had awakened Bellona’s left arm—could not oppose. An ancient evil god that only Bellona herself descending directly could barely defeat.

It was an inevitable end. An absolute death that scattered like illusions any glimmer of hope, will to resist, or desire to survive in any form.

“…Ha, kuh, ahahaha… Fortune favored me? My gamble succeeded…? What a groundless, terrible delusion.”

Erzsebet’s residual consciousness laughed emptily and muttered feebly in the shadow of jaws large enough to devour everything under heaven.

“Reality is so merciless… so miserable.”

Her resistance didn’t last ten seconds.

======[ Haschal ]======

My creative idea of stabbing Durandal into my arm to suppress the divine power of death was thwarted by Naga the healer’s strong opposition.

Just as I was about to plunge the blade into my arm, she arrived and was horrified by the sight. After hearing my explanation, she looked at me like I was insane, though she didn’t say it outright.

“…If you keep a sword embedded in your arm, the regenerative magic will be consumed there, slowing recovery elsewhere. Delicate organs like the eyes might miss their window for complete healing.”

Then she gave a very long explanation—no, sermon—about just how insane my idea was, listing examples one by one of those who had perished by relying too much on healing magic and neglecting their bodies.

“Additionally, considering secondary issues like bleeding, sensory necrosis, infection…”

“…I understand. I’ll keep it in mind.”

What could I do when she put it that way? I had to follow the medical expert’s advice.

To be honest, even I thought it was a somewhat crude method.