Ch.162Unconventional (4)

Irene’s sword sliced through the empty air.

Damon, who had been there just a moment ago, had vanished without a trace.

This was a first for her.

Her sword failing to kill something.

‘As expected of my brother.’

Irene smiled as she looked up at the sky.

Ruide was floating in the air, holding Damon’s body.

That wasn’t simply using magic. If he had used teleportation or telekinesis, he couldn’t have avoided her sword.

Irene was certain.

‘You stopped time.’

“Rui?”

“…”

“Come down. Bring that traitor with you.”

Ruide bit his lip.

“I won’t listen to you anymore, sister.”

“Oh my.”

Irene tilted her head.

“Is this rebellion? Seems a bit early for that.”

“…At least I’m going to hear him out.”

‘I haven’t felt Miho’s presence for a while now.’

He’d been too distracted to notice until now.

Ruide realized that Miho’s presence, which he’d always vaguely felt, was gone.

This was evidence that Damon wasn’t lying.

“Hear him out? You’d listen to him over your sister, the one who killed everyone?”

But Irene and Damon’s stories contradicted each other.

One of them was lying.

“Stop this. Now truly, there will only be the two of us left in this world.”

And that lie… was most likely Irene’s.

Ruide could finally understand.

“I won’t say it twice. I’m going to hear what Damon has to say. Then I’ll make my judgment.”

Ruide looked at Damon in his arms.

He was already unconscious, at his limit. He might die soon. Ruide had cast a healing spell as a temporary measure.

“I see.”

Irene sheathed her sword.

Then, she smiled brightly.

“May I ask you one thing?”

“…Speak.”

“What if all of this—”

Irene placed her index finger against her lips.

“What if your sister did all of this—”

Irene’s smile deepened.

“What choice would you make, Rui?”

“…!”

Ruide’s eyes trembled slightly.

He couldn’t answer. He didn’t know himself.

Ruide waved his hand in the air. His body tilted and disappeared at high speed.

Irene had no intention of chasing him. So she didn’t follow. Because she knew he would come to her regardless of what decision he made.

But there was just one thing.

One “choice” she wanted Ruide to make.

“Hurry, go back to the past.”

She stretched her arm into the empty air.

Space opened up, creating a purple subspace.

A subspace connected to the same coordinates as Ruide.

The Windsor treasury.

From there, Irene took out one item.

“So that I—”

Thump, thump—

A blue heart beat rhythmically.

It was the Dragon Heart.

“Can follow you.”

The three Holy Relics.

And the Dragon Heart.

The essence of magic that could resurrect even the dead.

But that description was incorrect.

It wasn’t that it could use magic to resurrect the dead, but that it could use ANY “magic” whatsoever.

It was essentially an omnipotent wish-granter.

Irene crushed the Dragon Heart.

Blue light rippled.

It seemed almost as if it was waiting.

“If you can feel the flow of time, take the three Holy Relics as offerings and send me to the same place as Ruide.”

As soon as she spoke those words, the light vanished.

Irene quietly smiled.

**

In a dilapidated hut.

Damon took shallow breaths.

“If you don’t believe me… resurrect your fox’s corpse. Then you’ll know everything.”

Even with Ruide’s healing magic, he couldn’t fully restore Damon.

He would die.

Soon.

But not yet.

“There’s one thing I want to ask.”

“What… is it? Speak quickly. I don’t have much time left.”

“Why did you pretend to use your power on Amelia back then? If it weren’t for that, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

“It’s the opposite. I hoped… it would turn out this way…”

Ruide no longer had the energy to be angry.

“Why?”

He could only stare at the dying Damon.

“Because I thought if everything fell apart like this, you would surely turn back time.”

“…I won’t do it.”

Damon grabbed Ruide by the collar.

There was no strength in his grip.

But his eyes were intense.

“You must.”

“…”

“You have to undo all of this. Hersy died for this. Amelia died for this. Now… no one is left. Can you live alone in this world? With that monster.”

It was clear who the monster referred to.

Irene Windsor.

His only remaining blood relative.

“Answer me. If you don’t answer, I cannot die.”

“…You’ll die anyway if I leave you alone.”

“No, I’ll survive until the end.”

“…”

Damon released his grip.

And smiled weakly.

“From the first time I saw you at the Academy, I thought: what a pitiful guy.”

“You lost to me.”

“Because despite your immense power, your mental strength couldn’t keep up. It was like a child having god-like abilities. The proof is that you lost to Karon. To someone far weaker than you.”

Ruide gave a bitter smile.

“You’re right. I don’t deserve this power.”

“So you know.”

Hot breath escaped from Damon’s lips.

Unable to continue, he looked up at the ceiling, breathing heavily.

“Aren’t you… frustrated…?”

“…”

“As a man, you should resent not being able to properly utilize your own power.”

“I’m still a kid, so it’s okay.”

Ruide made a small joke, but it didn’t improve his mood at all.

But Damon laughed.

“I’ll give you credit for not being serious even in moments like this.”

“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“Is that so? I meant it as one.”

For a moment, Damon fell silent.

Ruide stared at him intently.

He could see it. Damon’s remaining life force.

It was burning quickly, but there was still a little left.

Damon opened his eyes again.

“I don’t know the timing. I don’t know where in the past you should return to. Ella said you would surely know.”

“Ella?”

“Yes.”

Damon’s voice was clear.

From a voice that seemed on the verge of death, vitality overflowed.

Ruide knew this was the final flare of a dying flame.

“And she made one more request.”

Damon rose to his feet.

Even pushing away Ruide’s arm that tried to help him.

And looking down at Ruide, he said:

“Before going back to the past, kill Irene Windsor.”

“…!”

“She said we don’t know what variables might arise otherwise. I agree with killing Irene Windsor. She is dangerous.”

Confusion filled Ruide’s eyes.

Now standing completely alone, Damon put his hand in his pocket.

He left the hut and walked through the snow field. Ruide followed silently behind.

“Ruide.”

At some point, Damon’s steps slowed.

Finally, he stopped.

He looked up at the sky.

“I believe in you.”

His head dropped.

But that was all.

His body didn’t move.

Ruide walked forward with dead eyes.

And slowly turned around.

Damon was dead, his head bowed.

“Goodbye.”

Ruide slowly reached out his hand.

Damon’s body froze.

“You came?”

On a precarious cliff edge in the snowy mountains.

Irene sat swinging her legs.

She glanced at Ruide as if surprised he’d arrived so quickly.

“What about Damon?”

“He’s dead.”

“Then truly, it’s just the two of us now.”

“Sister.”

Ruide approached slowly, his face as calm as usual.

“May I ask why you started the war?”

“Well… our Windsor Duchy…”

“No lies. I want to hear the truth.”

Irene’s expression turned serious for a moment.

Then she returned to her usual smiling face.

“I was bored.”

“I see.”

Ruide was suddenly standing behind Irene.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Irene asked with a smile.

“Your sister.”

Ruide nodded.

“Yes.”

At that moment—

Kaaang—!

Irene’s sword flew at him with an unbelievable trajectory.

But it didn’t reach Ruide.

Irene’s arm trembled slightly.

“My sword cuts through magic well. How strange. How did you do that?”

“I stopped space-time. Just for your limbs.”

“Impressive.”

Crack—!

Winter’s cold pierced through Irene.

Irene fell helplessly off the cliff.

“…I’m sorry.”

Tears fell from Ruide’s eyes.

“There’s no need to be sorry.”

“!”

Ruide hurriedly turned around. Irene, who should have fallen off the cliff, was standing there.

The wound in her abdomen was still there. As was the blood at the corner of her mouth.

“Rather, I should thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve seen so many wonderful sights…”

Kwaaang—!

Half of Irene’s body disappeared, hit by a laser.

But.

“How pitiful.”

Irene was suddenly stroking Ruide’s head.

“Calm down a little. I don’t know what Damon told you, but why not listen to your sister’s side too?”

Ruide bowed his head.

At the same time, Winter aimed at Irene.

“My, when did my brother become so handsome?”

“You really are strong, sister.”

Ruide had now removed his magical restrictions.

Yet Irene had blocked his sincere attacks twice.

He didn’t know how she’d done it.

“Rui.”

Irene spoke with sincerity.

“Wouldn’t just the two of us be enough?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve already decided. Mother, Amelia, Hersy, and… Damon too.”

Magical power leaked from Ruide’s body, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“I don’t want to live in a place where no one is left.”

Irene smiled brightly.

“A disobedient brother needs some punishment.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ruide stretched out his hand.

“Impossible.”

Ruide imagined the worst magic he could conceive.

Forcibly fusing electrons and protons that make up atoms to greatly compress the atom.

Ruide repeated this process almost infinitely.

Crack—

The sound of space breaking was heard.

Space was distorted by a mass this world couldn’t handle.

The result of the magic was a single small sphere.

But the mass contained within was nearly infinite.

Faaah—

Gamma rays erupted from the sphere.

Just being near it, let alone touching it, was unbearable for humans.

“Beautiful…”

Irene reached out toward the light, entranced.

At that moment, Ruide clenched his fist.

“Kilonova—”

Explosion.

No, this couldn’t be called an explosion.

The world simply turned white.

And then, the world collapsed.

This sequence of events happened in a single moment.

All Ruide could see now was pitch-black darkness.

It was a dark and frightening space that could be mistaken for the afterlife.

Neither Irene nor the snow-white fields of the North remained.

“Haa, ha.”

Ruide hadn’t escaped unharmed either.

His entire body was screaming at its limit.

But there was something he had to do.

“The 5th Magic.”

Ruide activated the 5th Magic, consuming all his remaining magical power.

Ella’s theory was simply about abandoning this timeline and exchanging souls with another Ruide in a different world.

Executing it had never been difficult.

But he couldn’t do it.

The people Ruide loved were in this world.

Not people from another timeline.

However, he found the answer in Damon’s words.

Ruide wouldn’t change the world’s time.

Only his own “memories” would go back.

“Regression.”

As Ruide chanted the 5th Magic’s incantation—

All his memories quickly flashed through his mind.

He had to choose from among them.

There was only one right answer.

—What are you all doing? Everyone go back to observing your assigned areas.

—Do as you please. That’s already your staff.

—…Was the Ovillion family at odds with the Windsor family?

—But I absolutely can’t trust a lazy guy like you. Start with a magic demonstration.

The branching point where everything began.

That beginning.

“Did you hear? They say there’s a fairy living in Dellin’s Lake.”

Ruide opened his eyes.

At Dellin’s Lake.