Ch.147Season 2 – Even If I Die, I Don’t Die

“The Lightree is proof of being recognized by His Majesty.”

He was a versatile imperial prince who had fought all kinds of monsters to earn the Han family name.

But despite having faced countless enemies until now, this was the first time he’d encountered someone like this.

“What… is this person?”

It wasn’t that they possessed any particular strength.

It was a typical “thief” fighting style that relied on speed and exploiting openings.

In other words, they didn’t possess any extraordinary power.

Moreover, their only weapon was a dagger separated for prolonged combat.

They seemed to have four guns inside their coat, but even these weren’t particularly threatening compared to spears or conventional swords.

Yet somehow, this was the result they were facing.

“Elite troops! How many elite troops are left?!”

“They’ve all fallen!”

“That human… is certainly villainous enough to be recorded in textbooks.”

“Haha! That’s right, I’m a villain. You think it’s easy being treated like a monster while living as a human? Kids.”

Under the moonlit night sky.

Currently, fewer than ten people were facing Katarina.

The Empire’s fourth child, Cria.

The ninth child, Cartina.

And the tenth child, Lightree, who had inherited the Han surname but couldn’t even catch one human.

The few imperial soldiers who were still standing were nearly exhausted.

In contrast, Katarina, without a single scratch, merely shrugged her shoulders.

“Why… why aren’t our attacks working?!”

At that moment, Cartina, Lia’s second daughter, was shouting and demanding answers.

“How is it possible that we’re all getting destroyed while you remain unharmed?! What kind of trick are you using?!”

“My, my, a trick? This should be called skill. Little one, if you keep raging like that, you’ll ruin your skin.”

“Shut up! I’m half-monster, so my skin doesn’t get damaged by stress like humans!”

“R-Really?! That’s so enviable…!”

“Sigh, Cartina…”

“Why are you chatting with the enemy…”

As if asking if this was the time for an argument.

Cria and Lightree sighed from both sides.

However, they soon changed to a solemn atmosphere as if the air had suddenly shifted, and nodded to each other without words.

“?! W-Wait, are you both going to do it here? But if you do, the monsters around might wake up!”

“…? Do what?”

“But if we continue like this, we’ll never settle this.”

“I agree. Even if it’s a bit risky, we need to ‘kaijufy’ here.”

“!!”

Kaijufication.

Right, come to think of it, these people were all Han Shinwoo’s children.

So it wouldn’t be strange if they suddenly transformed into pitch-black monsters.

‘Of course, according to my research, they can’t achieve perfect kaijufication like Shinwoo…’

Nevertheless, kaijufication was kaijufication.

Katarina had already experienced the strength of these children through exactly 64 regressions.

They were already at the National Authority-Level, and now they would become even stronger?

‘Does this mean I’ll have to die at least 100 more times…?’

It was truly one mountain after another.

But well, she had to do it anyway.

“KRAAAAAAAA-!!”

“GRRRRRRRRRR-!!”

“URAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Crash!

Three pitch-black lightning bolts surged into the sky.

Then the three imperial family members appeared, surrounded by black skin.

Just how much stronger had they become?

For now, Katarina planned to focus entirely on defense to gauge their power, considering this life already forfeit.

But.

“Here I come.”

“…?!”

The next moment.

Bang!

With one blink, Lightree’s kick flew right in front of her face.

She barely dodged by tilting her head, but one of Katarina’s eyes was blinded on the spot.

However, before she could feel the pain, Lia’s two princesses leaped at her from both sides.

“Ice…”

“Snow!”

One side unleashed an avalanche raging like a storm, while the other approached with absolute zero temperature that seemed to freeze everything in the world.

And so, with her body instantly frozen and broken…

“It’s over.”

Crash!

Katarina’s crystallized body fell to the ground.

‘Wow… this is too strong.’

It starts again from the moment she jumps from the half-collapsed high-rise building.

Looking down at the intact imperial soldiers who had just come to find Leon, Katarina sighed deeply as she recalled the future she had just experienced.

She had already died over 200 times at this part alone.

Approaching 300 regressions.

Despite knowing all of her opponents’ attack patterns, she couldn’t win, and she was clearly feeling her limitations.

That’s why she didn’t want to use this technique, which was somewhat “excessive.”

But she didn’t have any other options left.

‘I can’t stay trapped in this timeframe forever.’

“KRAAAAAAAA-!!”

“GRRRRRRRRRR-!!”

“URAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

The three imperial princes and princesses instantly kaijufied and rushed toward her again.

Looking at them, Katarina sighed and said:

“Ah, screw it… ‘Interference’ begin!”

With those words.

Her body, instantly turned to ice, shattered.

Just like the moment before regression.

“That was an unexpectedly easy fight.”

“Hehe! Of course. We have three imperial family members here! How could we not catch a mere human? Right, step-brother?”

“Hmm…”

Cartina was celebrating victory while looking down at the shattered Katarina.

Cria also looked relieved.

But Lightree, feeling uneasy about how easily it had ended, couldn’t say anything…

At that moment!

Stab!

“Kuhak?!”

“What happened?”

“Hey! Step-brother!”

Starting with the most dangerous one.

With that thought, a sharp dagger blade suddenly protruded from the front of Lightree’s abdomen as he noticed something was off.

“Stay still. I deliberately avoided your vital points.”

“Y-You…?!”

“Ka-Katarina?!”

“How…? Your corpse is clearly right here!”

Lightree painfully clicked his tongue.

Cartina’s eyes widened at the sight, and Cria covered her mouth with both hands in shock.

Regardless, Katarina grinned as if to say “from now on.”

“You guys! If you surrender now, I can at least spare your lives. So quietly undo your kaijufication and…”

Bang!

“Huh?! Hey, hey! Step-brother.”

“Not even worth listening to. And my kaijufied body won’t die from this.”

“Of course it wouldn’t~”

“!?”

“What is this…”

“You, are you immortal?”

An enemy’s pointless persuasion lowers allies’ morale.

Aware of this fact, Lightree forcibly turned and blew up the head of Katarina who was behind him, even at the cost of aggravating his wound.

As a result, he coughed up blood, but he thought it was definitely the right choice.

But this time, Katarina appeared behind Princess Cria, holding a dagger to her neck that could cause serious trouble if she moved even slightly.

“No, damn it! Where do you keep coming from?!”

Seeing her sister suddenly taken hostage, Cartina could only shout in frustration.

“Kugh…!”

“Uh, uhh?! Hey, step-brother, are you okay?”

Then Lightree fell to one knee as his earlier wound reopened.

Could this be an illusion?

Thinking she might be under some kind of hallucinatory attack, Cartina slapped both her cheeks, trying to escape this nonsensical fantasy.

But this scene wasn’t fantasy—it was reality.

There was Katarina’s corpse, frozen and shattered into pieces.

There was Katarina’s corpse with her head blown off, only her body remaining.

And despite these “Katarinas” being dead, there was Katarina alive and well, holding Cria hostage.

“What the hell did you do?!”

Cartina was starting to sweat as she couldn’t understand the enemy’s ability.

To think that she, a descendant of Han Shinwoo, would feel this way.

‘Am I actually afraid of a mere human?’

She didn’t want to accept the current situation.

However, contrary to Cartina’s thoughts, her feet were involuntarily taking slow steps backward.

Then Cartina bumped into someone behind her.

“Step-brother?”

She naturally thought it was her step-brother Lightree, who should have recovered and gotten up again.

But it wasn’t.

What was behind her was Katarina.

And the one currently holding her sister Cria’s lifeline was also Katarina…?

“Katarina is…”

“Two people?”

“What is this…?”

In the same space, at the same time, there were two identical individuals.

Katarina waving at Katarina as if congratulating her.

Seeing these Katarinas, Han Shinwoo’s three children were simply dumbfounded by the incomprehensible situation.

And looking at them.

“Shall I explain?”

“Wh-What?!”

A third Katarina suddenly appeared above Lightree.

“Was your ability multiplication all along…?”

“No way~ If that were my ability, I would have been defeated long ago. Don’t you think?”

“Then… what is this?”

“Well… if I had to explain, I’ve ‘borrowed in advance.'”

“Borrowed…”

“In advance?”

Borrowing in advance.

Using something now that should be used later.

That’s typically what the phrase meant.

But for Katarina, “borrowing in advance” had other meanings as well.

For example, like now.

“My ability is to interfere with parallel universes… like ‘regression,’ where I save a point in one universe and do it again. But I have another ability that can handle parallel universes.”

It was a technique that required some strain, but it could be called Katarina’s ultimate move.

Instead of regressing to an almost identical universe every time she died as usual, she brought herself from the universe she would regress to.

In other words, it was “dimensional travel” that brought Katarina from infinite universes to the current single universe.

“Dimensional travel…?”

“Then are you saying that the Katarina we killed and the Katarina standing in front of us now are all real?”

“Of course! I have no fakes. I’ve always been real.”

And so, Katarinas began to emerge one by one from the darkness.

Meanwhile, looking at Han Shinwoo’s children whose kaijufication was wearing off after using all their power, she quietly proposed:

“Well then, shall we stop here and go meet Leon? Of course, in a non-violent, peaceful state~”