Ch.153Into the Memory. (1)

The half-exhausted Serial Murderer slumped to the ground. Around him lay the scattered fragments of torn souls. Even the giant reaper that Aurelia had summoned was ripped to shreds.

‘A high-class familiar…’

Rockpa clicked his tongue. He had expected someone traveling with Olivia to be strong, but not to this extent.

“You don’t seem… injured.”

Rockpa looked surprised. The wounds where the specters had bitten were regenerating in real time. It wasn’t similar to holy magic. This was… closer to demonic regeneration.

But that didn’t make him a demon. Rockpa’s master despised demons, and Rockpa felt the same way. So he could state with certainty.

‘Has he embodied demonic energy as aura?’

Demonic in nature, but not a demon.

“Where’s Olivia?”

“Ah, she’s inside the hut.”

The Serial Murderer tried to stand up immediately but collapsed back down. His left ankle was completely twisted in the opposite direction.

“Um, hey. Could you fix this for me?”

“…Yes.”

Rockpa grabbed the Serial Murderer’s ankle and twisted the joint in the opposite direction of the break. With a cracking sound, the Serial Murderer let out an exclamation of delight. No matter how tough a warrior might be, when bones are forcibly reset, they might scream in pain, but they don’t exclaim in delight.

In other words, the Serial Murderer was more fascinated by the sight of his bone being reset than by the pain. Rockpa’s expression contorted uncharacteristically.

“…Are you really human?”

“Ahah. For now, at least?”

As the Serial Murderer tried to enter the hut, he bumped his head against empty air. Rockpa, noticing the strange energy surrounding the hut, said:

“This is… a barrier.”

It seemed she had created a barrier in that short time.

“I can’t see anything.”

The Serial Murderer grumbled as he stood on tiptoe trying to look through the window. He wanted to just break through the barrier, but if he did that, he might die by Olivia’s hand before seeing the “end,” just like in his previous life.

He didn’t want to die like that this time.

“What is she doing that requires such tight security?”

“Judging by the fact that the sorcery isn’t spreading anymore, she’s probably treating someone.”

“Treatment?”

The idea of Olivia treating someone else was strange. At least the Olivia that the Serial Murderer knew was a person associated with destruction.

‘Maybe it would be okay to tear it just a little?’

The Serial Murderer concentrated his aura sharply at his fingertips, then gently slashed at the barrier. A small gap appeared. It was barely large enough to insert a finger, but sufficient to observe the inside of the hut.

Ignoring whatever Rockpa was saying beside him, the Serial Murderer put his eye to the gap and observed the interior.

Olivia was sitting with her back turned. In front of her lay a woman with purple hair.

She looked familiar.

‘I saw her in my dream…’

The Serial Murderer’s interest quickly faded. His gaze returned to Olivia. She wasn’t moving, like someone asleep. She was just sitting there, motionless.

As ignorant as the Serial Murderer might be, he at least knew that simply sitting and watching a patient wasn’t “treatment.”

‘What on earth is she doing…’

At that moment, Olivia turned her head. The Serial Murderer flinched and backed away after meeting her cold blue eyes.

“Ack!”

“What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, the Serial Murderer kept his mouth shut. That expression he had just seen. It was just like…

– Kill them all.

That day when she decided to annihilate everyone.

It resembled Olivia from that very moment.

*****

Olivia slowly lifted her eyelids. This sensation of consciousness being briefly disconnected and then reconnected.

She had entered the clue. First, Olivia checked the remaining time.

[Imperial Year 997]

– Time remaining: 82 hours 49 minutes

Just as with Esthie, this was the result of gathering all the remaining limited time and using it at once.

Only then did Olivia look around. A familiar landscape. It was the swamp she had just seen in “reality.”

However, she didn’t feel the fierce energy from before.

It was peaceful and quiet.

The swamp in its natural state.

Olivia walked along the trail of footprints, recalling her memories. Somehow, she felt like she knew where Aurelia’s hut was.

Walking directly would certainly be different from seeing it through a screen.

But she remembered. Keep walking, and when you reach the giant rubber tree, turn right. The footprints were no longer visible due to the thick grass, but Olivia was certain this was the way.

At the end of the thicket was a dark swamp. Huge alligators revealed their yellow eyes from between the mud.

Splash. But she ignored them and kept walking. After all, this was all an illusion.

Shhhhh…

As soon as Olivia took a step, the swamp transformed back into thicket. Olivia found herself smiling involuntarily. She could almost understand what Aurelia was feeling when she created such illusions.

Was she trying to give her a hard time?

Olivia continued walking. Aurelia’s nasty pranks continued. A giant spider suddenly dropping from the sky, or a ghost grabbing her feet.

‘…Still the same.’

Aurelia had always been honest about her pleasures. Even as a witch, she practically lived in brothels, and that didn’t change after killing the Demon God.

For someone like that to be stuck in this swamp, how irritating it must be.

So she could tolerate this level of venting.

The reason she called it venting was simple. What happened to Aurelia in “reality” was because she herself had forced Aurelia to inherit memories of her past life.

[The present affects the past.]

Olivia didn’t want to delve into such complex laws of timelines.

You can go from the present to the past. You can change the past, and that in turn affects the present.

That was enough.

Olivia stopped walking. A familiar hut appeared before her eyes. The thick smell of alcohol carried by the wind. Olivia chuckled as she climbed the stairs.

“It’s open, come in.”

The door opened by itself. Aurelia was sitting in a shabby wooden chair. A freshly opened bottle of liquor emitted the distinctive smell of strong alcohol.

“Why are you here? Without notice.”

“I have something to tell you.”

Hesitating, Aurelia paused while pouring a drink and turned to look at Olivia. Then, as if realizing something, she nodded. Aurelia didn’t mince words. She finished pouring the drink, downed it in one go, and let out an exclamation.

After composing herself, Aurelia spoke. Her face wore an uncharacteristically serene smile.

“Yes, have you finally found a way?”

“…What way?”

“…Huh?”

Aurelia’s brow furrowed. She blinked for a while, then downed her drink in one go. Aurelia barely maintained her composure as she opened her mouth.

“The method to eliminate the remnants of the Demon God. Didn’t you come to tell me you figured it out…?”

“…”

The silence was answer enough.

Aurelia.

She had waited for this day for such a long time. The reason she had inherited memories of her past life all this time was all for this day.

‘The remnants of the Demon God.’

Olivia defeats the Demon God. And the remnants of the Demon God are engraved on Olivia’s soul. And then the Serial Murderer kills such an Olivia-.

To witness the moment when that terrible cycle is broken.

But Olivia’s face now was clearly not the face of someone who had found a way to eliminate the remnants of the Demon God.

‘…Damn it.’

Do I have to continue this madness?

800 times. She had counted exactly up to 800. But after that, she gave up counting. Just inheriting the memories was enough to make her feel like her mind was breaking, and the boundary between past and present began to blur.

Honestly, Aurelia was at her limit now.

‘F*ck. F*ck. F*ck…’

Yet she didn’t complain because there was someone in front of her who had “lived” through even longer ages directly.

But now…

Her head was spinning. She needed stronger alcohol. Aurelia jumped up from her seat and pulled out the poison liquor she had hidden under the bed. It wasn’t just called poison liquor; it was truly poisonous alcohol.

“Aurelia.”

“…What.”

“Can I say what I came to say now?”

“…Do whatever you want.”

Aurelia turned her head with a sulky face. She was sure Olivia would ask her to repeat this madness again. And being the kind and diligent person she was, she wouldn’t be able to refuse, and would regret it again.

“You’re going to say the same thing-“

“You can stop now.”

“…What?”

“Inheriting memories, I said you can stop now.”

Aurelia froze. Crash! The bottle shattered with a loud noise. But neither of them looked at it.

“That’s what I came to tell you.”

“…Hey.”

Aurelia’s brow furrowed deeply.

“Who do you think you’re pitying right now?”

She wanted to give up. It was painful and difficult. She wanted to stop.

But.

She didn’t want to hear this kind of talk either.