Ch.138First Battle – 2

“—It’s not your fault.

My consciousness flickers.

—So please don’t blame yourself.

My head hurts as if it’s about to split open.

—I only ask that you remember me.

I can’t tell if this pain stems from physical or mental suffering. I don’t have the presence of mind to distinguish between the two.

I can only vaguely guess that it must be pain from mental shock, since if my super-regeneration ability were working, there would be no physical pain.

Perhaps because I’ve been vomiting black blood for so long, I still feel like blood clots are rising in my throat.

Reflexively, I cover my mouth as nausea wells up. But nothing comes out of my throat.

My vision is blurry. Is my body still intact? I think dying right here might not be so bad. My mind refuses to think any further.

I run my hands over my face. Two eyes, one nose, two ears, one mouth. Everything is still attached.

A bitter smile forms on my lips. Even after being pushed to this point, it seems I’m still not allowed to die. My super-regeneration ability apparently has no intention of letting me go.

I force my eyes open, fighting against eyelids that keep trying to close. As long as I’m alive and well, my body shouldn’t have any problems.

All I need is my will. The will not to lose consciousness. The will to finish what I started with my own hands.

I open my eyes.

The first thing I see is a blue sky.

“…Huh?”

A confused sound escapes my lips.

The last vague memory in my mind was Charlotte taking me to some special room in the palace, and there was certainly no sky visible in that room.

Something feels wrong. Come to think of it, it’s unclear why the black blood I was vomiting suddenly stopped. Only Olivia could lift Olivia’s curse.

Unless the purpose of the curse had been fulfilled.

The purpose of Olivia’s curse was to make me come to her. And it was a curse that would never be lifted until I reached Olivia’s side and embraced her.

Which means…

I quickly tried to get up. Or rather, I attempted to. The clanking sound of iron chains rang out, and my neck was pulled taut backward. The recoil sent me sprawling back onto the floor.

“What the—?”

I looked down. When I touched my neck with my hand, I felt the cold touch of metal. A sensation that was extremely familiar, yet one I never wanted to feel again.

I was on a magic circle emitting a pitch-black light. I never thought I’d see this sight with my own eyes again. I gritted my teeth to suppress the rising nausea.

Black mana. Black magic. Olivia.

This wasn’t a dream.

Truly, truly, Olivia was alive.

Olivia, whom I had stabbed in the heart with my own hands, whose slowly fading heartbeat I had confirmed with my own hands, whose final breath as a dying human I had witnessed with my own hands, had not actually died.

As I realized this anew, my vision spun. I forcibly calmed my quickening breath. Yes, it’s still okay. It’s not too late. There might still be a chance to reverse this.

Because Serena, Charlotte, and Christine were here. Those three might somehow be able to do it. They might be able to kill Olivia again.

But what if they fail?

Just thinking about such a future made me feel suffocated. If those three failed, and lost their lives in the process, I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen next.

In a world completely devoured by black mana, I would have to live for eternity with Olivia, just the two of us.

“Are you awake, Master?”

I flinched. The feeling of hearing a voice I thought I’d never hear again was extremely difficult to describe.

How many years had it been since I last heard Olivia’s voice? It was a distant past, so far away that even the memory was becoming hazy.

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t show weakness here. At least not in front of Olivia. The more vulnerable I appeared, the more emboldened she would become.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself so my inner feelings wouldn’t show. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Even the simple act of saying her name required a great deal of time. My lips must have moved and closed dozens of times.

The words kept circling inside my mouth without being spoken. Olivia waited patiently without rushing me.

Though I didn’t meet Olivia’s gaze, I knew her eyes would be full of expectation. As they always had been.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Biting my lip, I finally uttered a word I hadn’t spoken in what felt like centuries.

“…Olivia.”

“Yes. It’s me, Master. Your disciple Olivia. You did remember me, didn’t you? Right? I’m so incredibly happy. I’ve waited so long to hear my name called in your voice again, I can’t even tell you how long. You wanted to call me again too, didn’t you? Right? Isn’t that right? You took so long because you were overcome with emotion at saying a name you haven’t spoken in so long? It’s okay. I understand, Master. I would have hesitated for a long time too, overwhelmed with joy, if the day came when I could call your name again. We’re alike even in such small details? We truly are destined to be together. That’s our fate. Ah, to hear my name from your lips again. My heart feels like it might burst with joy. Master, could you call me just once more? Please? Please?”

Her voice spewed emotions like a machine gun, filled with nothing but pure joy bordering on madness. Not wanting to see such a sight, I kept my eyes downcast as much as possible.

“How is this possible?”

“What do you mean?”

“You died. I killed you with my own hands…! I confirmed your heart had stopped, that you weren’t breathing! So why, how are you alive?”

My emotions ran too high, and I inadvertently raised my head.

Our gazes met. A pair of pitch-black eyes meeting another pair of pitch-black eyes. Pitch-black hair and pitch-black hair. Features that mirrored each other.

Those pitch-black eyes contained only love directed at me. No other emotion could be found in them.

The voice full of love answered my question that had poured out all my emotions.

“Why, that’s obvious.”

Olivia smiled sweetly.

“Because I love you, Master. How could mere death separate my love for you?”

With that answer, delicate fingers reached out toward me. But those fingers couldn’t reach me. A loud, resonant voice shook the magic circle, preventing it.

“Take your hands off my lord!”

A dull explosive sound rang out, and the magic circle enveloped in pitch-black light vibrated greatly. Olivia’s face contorted into a frown.

“Ah, really. How annoying.”

Olivia turned her head, emanating killing intent. My gaze naturally followed the direction of her stare. At the end of that line of sight was Serena.

Serena, bleeding from her head.

Her ponytail, the color of molten gold that had never been sullied by any enemy, was now a mess of soot and red liquid.

Blood flowed from a long horizontal gash on her forehead, nearly covering the left side of her face. Her clothes were covered in dust, and the same color of liquid that flowed from her forehead was splattered in various places.

Her exposed arms and legs were covered in small wounds. For some reason, the Wind Shear in her hand trembled, and the mana surrounding her body flickered precariously, as if it might disappear at any moment.

“Serena?”

“My lord! Are you alright?!”

Despite being covered in wounds herself, Serena was worried about me first. I was always too fine for my own good, yet Serena always worried about me first.

“Why is my master your lord? Are you going to keep talking nonsense? If you keep this up, I won’t kill you.”

As Olivia waved her arm, dozens of pitch-black thorns descended upon Serena. Serena’s breathing became rapidly labored as she cut down the thorns with her Wind Shear.

It was because of the black mana. Her life force was being drained in real time by the black mana that created those thorns.

It was fortunate that she didn’t die instantly upon contact with the black mana. Judging from this fact, it seemed that Olivia’s power hadn’t fully returned yet.

I need to stop Olivia.

With that thought, I tried to get up, but the iron chain around my neck caused me to fall face-first onto the magic circle again. Olivia gently stroked my head.

“No, Master. You need to stay right here. I can’t let you wander around as you please. You understand, don’t you?”

“Understand what? Stop talking nonsense and release me. Right now.”

“Oh my, Master.”

Once again, Olivia smiled sweetly.

“Why would I do that?”

“My lord, I’ll save you right now!”

In that brief moment, Serena had already reached the front of the magic circle where I was trapped. Her Wind Shear was swung, using the mana surrounding its blade as power.

Olivia, who had been smiling at me just a moment ago, had already turned around and was blocking the swinging Wind Shear with one hand, expressing her irritation at Serena.

I couldn’t follow their fight with my eyes. I was dumbfounded.

“Why don’t you just die quietly instead of constantly interfering? Do you really think you can defeat me? Really?”

Only then could I confirm Olivia’s outward appearance. She looked exactly like the Olivia in my memory.

A black shirt made of ordinary cloth, a mini-skirt that clung tightly, revealing the contours of her hips. Stockings covering her legs below, and feet also wrapped in stockings.

And a greatsword that forcibly drew the eye, piercing diagonally through her heart. Seeing that sight made me feel like past memories were being forcibly shoved into my brain.

Serena growled at Olivia.

“Shut your mouth!”

“Who are you to tell me what to do?”

Olivia, while grasping the blade of the Wind Shear with her bare hand and engaging in a power struggle with Serena, concentrated black mana in her other hand to form a blade and swung it instantly.

An afterimage remained along the trajectory where the pitch-black blade had passed. That afterimage was all I could see.

Unlike me, Serena seemed to have somehow read the trajectory of the attack, but with her Wind Shear trapped in Olivia’s hand, she had no way to counter.

How many times Olivia swung her blade in that brief moment was beyond my comprehension.

But what was certain, judging from the wounds left on Serena, was that she had delivered at least ten attacks in that short moment.

Blood splattered as a deep cut appeared on Serena’s arm. Her thigh was slashed, and the boot on her calf was torn. Her side was cut open, and wounds appeared on her face as well.

Perhaps because her life force was being drained from being attacked by black mana, Serena’s body swayed slightly. Despite Olivia not seeming to be using her full strength, Serena was noticeably being overpowered.

Serena gritted her teeth as if trying to endure the pain. However, she couldn’t straighten her increasingly twisted Wind Shear.

If this truly was the Olivia of old, if she had regained almost all of her power from her prime, even Serena wouldn’t be able to defeat her.

Olivia swung her arm widely. Serena’s body twisted sharply, flew a considerable distance, and crashed to the ground. An enormous amount of black thorns poured down on her.

“Since you desire death, I shall grant it.”

Suddenly, a subdued voice was heard from the sky. It was Charlotte’s voice.

I looked up. The entire sky was burning crimson. The heat could be felt even from here. Olivia seemed to sense it too, muttering something in a chilling voice as she looked up at the sky.

Purgatory.

And it was a Purgatory of unprecedented size.

The fact that this magic had been activated meant that Charlotte was also confronting Olivia. I tried to locate Charlotte, but the heat made it difficult to keep my eyes open.

“Looks like she’s willing to kill her own citizens too.”

Olivia’s words snapped me back to attention. Come to think of it, where am I? I quickly surveyed my surroundings. Below the magic circle that held me captive, I could see the familiar shape of the royal palace.

More than half of the palace had collapsed.

The presence of that castle meant that this was the capital of the kingdom. I had thought those three had followed Olivia after she kidnapped me while I was under the curse, but that wasn’t the case.

Charlotte intended to bring down Purgatory on her own palace.

Just by existing, just by appearing in the sky, the ground below was set ablaze. Buildings not only melted but evaporated, and humans were denied their very existence.

Even the black blood that had permeated parts of the capital evaporated as it was swept up in the Purgatory. The ground bubbled and began to evaporate like the buildings on it.

Hell had descended upon the earth.

Everything in the world was devoured by the flames. The type and hardness of materials meant nothing. Whether wood, stone, or metal, all were equally mortal before Purgatory.

Yet Olivia showed no particular reaction as she watched Purgatory descend toward the ground. Rather, she approached me, pointed at the flames with her finger, and spoke in an excited voice.

“Master, look at that. Don’t you think it’s such a pointless act? This won’t have any effect on me. They’re desperately trying to defeat me. Oh, how can they be so stupid?”

Olivia giggled. Then, she snapped her fingers.

Where hell had been falling, pitch-black darkness opened its maw wide. It was a perfect darkness without a hint of light.

The Purgatory that was about to descend upon the earth was sucked into that dark maw, and that was the end of it.

With the burning light gone, Charlotte’s figure appeared in the sky, glaring at Olivia and me. Though not as bad as Serena, she too was in a mess.

Her silver hair, which normally absorbed moonlight perfectly, was completely disheveled, and her uniform was covered in dust with dark red stains in various places. One of her gloves had disappeared somewhere, exposing her bare hand.

‘Wait, what about Christine?’

The magic Charlotte just used, Purgatory, had enough power to burn the entire capital of the kingdom. If Christine had been nearby, her mana nullification would have activated.

Yet Charlotte used magic, which means…

An ominous thought crossed my mind. I immediately shook my head vigorously to erase that thought. No, that couldn’t be. Surely not.

And as if to prove my reassurance, an explosion of holy power erupted from beyond the horizon.”