Ch.18260. The Race Between Me and Fate.

My left eye burns.

What fills the void that shouldn’t exist is pain. Loss. Doubt. Distrust.

Perhaps I’ve been deceived.

‘What am I supposed to see? What am I supposed to do?’

Heba desperately clung to her fading consciousness as she repeated these thoughts.

Somehow her body had been thrown somewhere.

Forcing herself back to awareness from the impact, everything remained confusing.

The world that once seemed so certain now feels fragile, as if split in half.

As if half the world had simply disappeared.

It hurt so much that with even the slightest weakness of heart, she felt she might break into sobs and screams.

Still, she struggled desperately to steady herself and raise her upper body.

Then doubt crept in again.

For what purpose? Why am I…?

“Ah…”

He… is fighting.

In the hazy scene before her, he was fighting precariously.

But only for a moment.

His sword, gripped tightly in his hand, was shattered by that woman.

Though he retreated, he remained resolute. Without hesitation or wavering, he stared directly at his opponent.

She charged at him, and he allowed all her attacks, completely defenseless.

His body was instantly mutilated.

But then something unexpected happened.

Everything that had been touching or connected to his body disappeared, rendered useless.

Freed, in that precise moment when the red and dark girl’s abilities and harmony were neutralized,

the fragments of his broken sword flew like arrows toward her face.

They struck their target dramatically.

But in an instant, the girl’s armor extended to protect her neck.

His blade, aimed at her throat, was deflected uselessly.

Blood from his body now soaked the ground beneath him.

For reasons unknown, Heba struggled to stand.

Reflexively, she gripped the small dagger, the knife she always carried, in her right hand.

Toward the girl who had mounted him and was strangling him with her heavy hands,

Heba kicked off the ground and charged with all her might.

Crack!

Just before Heba’s knife could reach her, black stems shot up from the ground, piercing through Heba’s body like paper.

Because of this, she could no longer approach.

“……”

She knew.

This was neither a meaningful struggle nor resistance, it was nothing at all.

But her body would not die.

Grabbing the crimson stem with her hand, she pulled it, forcing her body forward.

Blinding pain flashed before her eyes.

But she didn’t stop.

Once again, she confronted the rising question.

Why was she going this far?

Why?

Was it necessary?

She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know.

-ومā?

The girl who had been strangling him looked up, staring at her.

Was it a question or doubt?

Across her expression filled with madness, a streak of suspicion passed.

Despite being stabbed and pierced all over, her body in tatters, she struggled forward until she reached the girl’s eyes.

“……”

For some reason, the red and dark girl just looked at her grimly.

Slowly, she reached out her hand.

As her hand, her fingertips, were about to touch the girl’s body,

Once again, her body was pierced.

This time from behind, by something like a thick pillar… making it difficult to move.

What had seemed just within reach a moment ago was all an illusion.

Suddenly, what should have been within fingertip’s reach became unreachable even with her arm fully extended.

Was it all an illusion?

“Ah…”

She couldn’t reach.

She would never reach.

With her one remaining eye, she inadvertently looked down at him.

His once golden pupils, now extinguished and locked away, were completely still.

“……”

Was he dead?

Was I unable to save him?

Do I even have the ability to help him?

In my childhood, when he suddenly appeared as a dark figure, I thought he was a god.

Then a divine messenger. Or something close to it.

And then one day, he scolded me, awakening me.

In a way, I thought it was a revelation.

Though I’ve seen much since then, I still don’t know him.

I never did.

The first time I properly encountered him was when he sat atop a divine statue, sweeping his gaze across the city.

For some reason, I was moved at that moment.

Our meeting was truly brief.

A couple more times after that.

But that was it.

Even until this moment, I somewhat expected him to appear before me again.

But not like this.

Somehow, when I saw my future confronting the war god, when I glimpsed a future where I contended with him as an equal,

I… doubted and doubted again whether that future was mistaken.

But today, that future I saw then has been realized.

But… that was all.

What I glimpsed afterward was the world burning black.

Believing that to be my fate and destiny, I’ve endured until now.

His appearance today… perhaps it was to see me off at my end.

Or not.

Was it not?

The world burned.

But because of that ominous girl before my eyes, everything turned to foam.

“……”

The world subsides. It settles.

Darkness descends.

Neither cold nor warm.

Everything is simply… empty and meaningless.

‘The promise…’

The contract…

As the world was about to be cut off with her closing eyelids, her final words either repeated or whispered,

she happened to glance to one side, and there it was.

A girl standing like gold.

From a distance, she looked down at her with an expression that seemed both indifferent and sympathetic,

a look that was somehow unreadable.

That was.

It clearly resembled a being I had seen before.

…No, that’s not right.

It’s a mistake.

I haven’t seen her before.

Right now.

The future I’m about to see.

Or the distant past.

[“That’s it. Legarn. Now you too will see especially well what you want to see, just as I have seen.”]

The words of the old chief deity who took my eye came vividly to mind.

‘Ah…’

At some point, someone was looking down at her intently.

He seemed like nothing, yet was truly extraordinary and special.

…As if he were the world itself, he contained an absurd presence.

[“That’s not too much to grant.”]

I was rightfully led by his hand.

And as time passed and passed,

a woman with golden mane and six luscious tails swaying gently was looking down at me.

[“Good. This is… yes. Let’s call it the Legacy of the Demon King. Hmm? Ah. Yes, yes. If we spread word that this is being offered… even the riffraff will set out on expeditions, blinded by greed. What? Will it be alright? I can’t claim it anyway. The Demon King was special. Yes. That’s right. Each of these is proof of qualification to face destiny, granted to those who possess the vessel of the Demon King. So here… yes. Let’s have them take everything except this one.”]

She traced the crimson branch, pointing to it, emphasizing that only this was the exception, cautioning and declaring it.

And then.

Reaching out her hand toward me, she whispered softly.

[“Be at ease. You will reach your desired destination. But keep your eyes wide open. Having no feet doesn’t mean you won’t take the wrong path. Continue to agonize, wounded flame.”]

The gold departs.

And as time passed and passed,

I found myself placed somewhere dark.

Many people came to me with appeals. With yearnings and wishes.

They demanded me.

More precisely, power.

They asked for power.

Wisdom with expectation.

Wishes with hope.

…Desires, that is.

Everything is fleeting. Empty and meaningless, full of wretched things.

The nobility I had seen, the sublimity, was nowhere to be found.

I yearn for something. I’m searching. I hope and hope again. There was something I seemed to have forgotten yet couldn’t forget.

After a long time passed,

a child arrived before me.

[“I am a sinner.”]

A young girl with red hair and handsome features.

The girl with impressive blue eyes confessed her innermost thoughts to me without omission.

[“I was supposed to have died, they say. My father told me of such a prophecy.”]

The girl introduced herself as being of noble blood from an exceptionally large country.

Yet she needed power.

Not simple power, but absolute power.

[“There is someone who risked death in my place. He is my most precious friend, and more than that. And both I and the world he sought to protect are important to me. Not a single thing is neglected.”]

However.

Those are the girl’s circumstances.

They have nothing to do with me.

They should have had nothing to do with me.

[“Kariel Brendiar.”]

Upon hearing that name, something I had forgotten began to pour forth like a waterfall, one by one.

Not many, not long, but.

Without a physical body, it was impossible to recall or associate specifically, but.

Somehow, I came to accept it.

I…

As if entranced, I presented my requirements to the girl.

Child. What I want is not something else.

I want the emotion you feel.

That emotion of loving him.

That very emotion of longing when you think of him.

Offer that to me.

And if your heart doesn’t cool, you will possess me forever and command me.

But on the day that heart fades and the embers die out, you will die, and I will take your place.

Kariel, was it?

Can you be confident that your yearning heart will not change until the moment of your death?

[“……”]

The girl asked with concern.

[“I love him. So you’re saying you’ll take away that emotion?”]

Yes.

That’s all that matters.

[“Then how will I love him? And what will become of me when that emotion is gone?”]

Still, the memory will remain.

The trace of your heart that cherished him above all else will remain.

I won’t take that away.

Based on that, always love and long for him.

But you will never be able to show that emotion.

Because knowing it is my privilege alone.

[“…Then can you truly, truly give me such power?”]

The stronger your feelings for him,

the stronger you will become than anyone in the world.

[“……”]

The young girl pondered.

Not just for a day, but for several days, standing and sitting in that place.

[“Very well. I accept your demand.”]

The girl made her decision.

[“Even if the emotion disappears, my heart will not change.”]

Indeed it wouldn’t.

[“I like him more than anyone else. This isn’t because I received protection or favor. I purely wish for his future to be smooth. Though I wish for him to return my love, I won’t make that my purpose. I’ll just hang onto it as hope.”]

Is that so?

Then good. Since you’ve also made up your mind, I have something to show you.

[“Something to show me?”]

I originally could glimpse the future.

I’m not sure now.

But I have seen things.

You should be qualified too.

Come closer.

At this request, the girl approached without hesitation.

[“I will show you part of the future of him that I have seen.”]

And now.

[“And the path we must walk. But you will only remember a tiny fraction of what you’ve seen this time.”]

And.

Only when the girl approached did I realize.

That now, I have no form.

Until she lifted me up with both hands as if embracing me.

I had been constantly wondering who I was and what kind of being I was.

[“Fire, before that, may I ask your name?”]

My name? Name?

It’s faint.

But it does come to mind.

Le, Le…

No. Not now.

Now, yes.

Heba. Hebatein.

Call me that.

After answering thus, I showed her part of Kariel’s future that I had seen.

Not just one.

Many.

The girl saw many futures, not of herself but of the many journeys Kariel would walk.

But if there is one most clear truth among them,

[“I see.”]

He may not end up with you.

That might be a better future for him.

It will be difficult and painful for both you and him, hard to endure… but somehow he will endure.

Now you know everything.

Though you’ll soon forget, do you still want me?

It’s not too late. If you give me up, you can gladly confess your love to him and show your feelings and heart.

……

[“Heba, I am not seeking love that expects return. So… there is no problem. If it means his well-being and that of the world he constitutes.”]

We know.

What lies ahead.

Only we know.

[“Though it’s a prophecy already passed… they said in a world without me, he would be one who burns the world. But in the world you showed me, he is completely the opposite. Like his name, he practices dedication and sacrifice. I’m proud of him. Though also saddened…”]

He truly is.

[“He is more ideal than I had ever imagined. Still, we don’t know how he becomes that way, do we?”]

To envision an ideal means embracing unimaginable pain.

He will truly embrace much pain.

[“………..”]

You will forget most of what you’ve experienced here.

And you will have to make choices to turn away from him.

Without awareness.

Sometimes with awareness.

But not knowing the full situation like now.

There will be things beyond your control.

Because for you, they will already be reality, past events long gone.

[“Then, did I do wrong? Should I not have come here but stayed by his side?”]

That too.

That wouldn’t have been bad either.

But if that had happened.

He would have died, cursed by fate.

For he was suffering from a very serious curse.

So do you wish for his future to vanish forever for the sake of that momentary comfort?

[“…Of course not.”]

The girl sighed briefly.

And then.

[“Huff. Alright. I’ve prepared my heart. But would you promise me just one thing?”]

Tell me.

[“If I somehow reach the point where I give up thinking about and longing for him as you said, I want you to take my place.”]

……

[“Somehow I feel like I know.”]

You… know his future that I don’t know…

……

……….

A crow cries out.

The sound snaps her back to consciousness.

Her whole body ached and her consciousness threatened to collapse again.

Suddenly, she saw black feathers falling like welcome rain from a dry sky.

‘That’s right.’

Here and now, this is clearly reality for me.

But what I’ve been seeing must be from a distant future.

One I cannot know from my current self.

And one of the most important turning points in that future is…

Right now.

From the sky, a massive flame pours down.

Burning the black feathers, a white flame like the intense white light of the sun burns the world one by one.

Even the blue sky is dyed white.

The sky becomes white.

And from the center, as one crow pierces through the air, two human figures follow, falling, shooting down toward us.

It was.

Like a brilliant comet drawing a white line across a black-stained sky on some night,

that light, that flame and fire shot down toward us.

…Until the moment it enveloped us, embracing the world, the entire region.

Without sound, without impact, without anything.

Everything returned to nothingness, to emptiness.