Ch.207Revelation (End)

“What’s so complicated! No, mister! If you’ve been sleeping in the castle for so long, you must have seen everything that happened! Even without eyes, ears, or a body, you still have a soul!”

She knew she was being unreasonable. But Maria had noticed that this man, despite his rough exterior, was actually quite shy.

Of course, it was difficult to tell whether this was truly the White Blood guardian spirit or if she was just talking to an illusion she’d created out of desperation.

But Maria decided to postpone that judgment as well. Everything she had seen and heard since beginning this journey contradicted her common sense. After seeing so many bizarre things, a talking shadow actually seemed rather normal by comparison.

So Maria pushed even harder with her unreasonable demands. It was a tactic that worked well on elderly inquisitors regardless of gender. When a child young enough to be their granddaughter openly nagged them, they would often give in out of fondness.

“That’s how Atli was broken.”

The entity spoke.

“He received it before he even asked. When the vessel hadn’t grown but tried to contain something too large, both the contents and the vessel shattered. We lost Atli. But we cannot lose Liliana the same way.”

“She suffered so much and was in so much pain—doesn’t she deserve to be happy just once? Is even a single stroke of luck too much to ask?”

“We cannot rashly give what hasn’t been asked for. Were you happy? Receiving what you didn’t want?”

Maria looked down at her hands. Her left hand blazed with holy fire. But in her right hand was something she hadn’t seen before.

The fire of witches and wizards, the fire of darkness and shadow—black fire.

‘The bloodline of the Inquisitor and the witch.’

The thorn embedded in her chest squirmed.

A half-baked Inquisitor. A half-rate witch. She couldn’t speak of who her parents were, nor could she tell who she herself was.

“Then what am I supposed to do? I didn’t even want to receive it!”

“If you don’t know what you should do, neither does anyone else.”

Maria was certain. There was definitely something strange in the White Blood Castle. It must be the “ancestor” spirit they so revered, or something similar. The spirit of the soul. Essence. Whatever it might be called.

But it was her power that had drawn it before her eyes. The spirit wasn’t talking about Liliana. It was talking about her own shadow.

“What you truly want to pull out of the mire is yourself.”

Maria’s own words and thoughts echoed back to her. With such great power and wisdom, why couldn’t she save herself?

‘Because I didn’t know.’

The black fire rising from her right hand grew larger. Now it engulfed Maria’s right arm. It wasn’t hot. Rather, it felt damp. Like her father’s sweat-soaked back. Like her mother’s embrace after a long journey.

Maria realized.

‘Because I didn’t even know I was sinking.’

* * * * *

With each step Atli took up the stairs, Lily became more agitated. Her armor rattled and clanked audibly.

Out of pride, and not wanting to reveal that she was trembling, Lily gripped her halberd. But she felt something else too. On her shoulder. Kain was gently pressing her shoulder.

“Liliana.”

“Yes.”

“…It’s very heavy, isn’t it?”

Lily was about to shake her head. Kain was literally just pressing on her shoulder enough to be noticeable, not hanging on her to the point of discomfort. But soon, she understood what Kain meant. He wasn’t talking about her shoulder.

“Yes.”

It was heavy. The halberd she was holding. The armor she was wearing. Her very self, standing in this wretched castle.

“Come away with me. Let’s put it all down.”

Lily didn’t know what to say. Kain gently took her arm.

“We’ll eat delicious food. Do lots of fun things. Live happily. We’ll eat pastries fried in oil and dipped in honey. We’ll roll around all night, and in the morning too. Let’s not get out of bed, and just live like that.”

“…Can you support me?” Lily whimpered. “I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“What’s there to worry about? We’ll do it together.”

“I’m too stupid… I can’t do housework or farming.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure…” Kain looked at the wall Lily had smashed and the halberd she was gripping tightly. “Not a drop of blood will touch your hands.”

“What is that… What kind of thing to say…”

She wondered when people had last used such an expression. Lily was dumbfounded, but she couldn’t stop smiling. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks, but it was okay. She was wearing a helmet after all.

“So let’s shake it all off and go.”

“What?”

“Shake off everything inside and go. We won’t see them again anyway. Will we?”

“No.”

“Then shake it off.”

The fierce eagle raised its head again.

* * * * *

Maria shook her right arm. Fortunately, handling the holy light and the black fire wasn’t very different. But the way they were used was clearly distinct.

Light illuminates, reveals, and burns, but darkness conceals, hides, and cools. That’s why no tree in the world can live seeing only light, nor can it live trapped in eternal darkness.

And Maria was an Inquisitor. To determine what was heretical, she needed to know what heresy was. Forbidden knowledge. Heretical symbols. Evil rituals. More precisely, she recalled one by one the things that light had declared evil and wrong.

Maria hesitantly knelt down. In fact, since no one was paying attention to her, there was no need to be careful.

Even if someone had seen her, no one would have known she was imitating the movements of the Life Tree priests.

She flicked her left hand to create a ball of light. It was small and insignificant, like a seed. Maria wedged it between the stone slabs of the White Blood floor.

Then she covered it with the darkness from her right hand. After digging the earth and planting the seed, it needed to be covered with soil. That was the order, the rule, the natural way.

Tendrils of light sprouted up. They quickly grew, twisting, distorting, and swelling on their own. Eventually, they transformed into different people.

People. People. They were people. Young ones, old ones. Men. Women. Boys and girls. All carried weapons. All wore armor. All of them were White Blood. The souls of those buried in this land, those who had been beside the living.

They all looked at the large man. Because he was the chieftain. But the chieftain only fiddled with his horn.

He stared at his distant descendant. Waiting for a signal.

* * * * *

Atli finally reached the stairs. He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath and trying to calm his trembling legs.

She had lived in fear of such a man her entire life.

For some unknown reason, indignation welled up inside Liliana.

“That wasn’t what I wanted either.”

Her body trembled inside the armor. It was so difficult to resist the weight of the words she had heard all her life, the thoughts that had crushed her existence.

But she didn’t cower as she had before. The brilliant sun warmed her back. Moreover, Kain was by her side. So, even while stumbling over her words, she finally spoke what she had been accumulating her entire life.

“It wasn’t a duel I wanted, nor was it the outcome I desired. I didn’t want to lose, but I never intended to hurt you so badly, brother.

I just wanted it all to end, that’s all I wished for. I had no desire to impress father, who never approved of me, or to please you, my brother who mocked me all my life.

I just thought this one time would end it all. I never intended to ruin your life. Just sustaining my own life was overwhelming enough! And it wasn’t because of strangers or the grueling training, but because of my own family!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Atli growled. But Lily protested fiercely.

“You said I ruined your life? No. That’s not true. It’s you who’s driving your life into hatred! How long will you keep this up? Not content with tormenting my life, now you’re destroying your own, and even trying to ruin the White Blood Knights?”

“Say one more word and you’re dead! You should be begging for forgiveness!”

Lily stomped her foot. The sound echoed throughout the area.

“Please, stop blaming others and grow up! I’m going to live the way I want to!”

“Graaaaaaah!”

Atli coughed up blood. Yet his eyes still gleamed with madness. Like a deranged dog, he climbed the stairs on all fours. Lily aimed her halberd. Everyone there instinctively knew that one of them had to die for this to end.

It was obvious whose head would roll on the floor. Astrid lowered her head, unable to watch. She knew it would be an indelible pain for Lily as well.

Atli climbed all the stairs. He had long since abandoned the name of the greatest knight. What stood there was a beast that had lost its reason. Lily would no longer hold back either.

Kain gritted his teeth and tried to pull Lily back. Or perhaps throw his staff to trip Atli. Not for his sake, but for Lily’s. He didn’t want to see her hurt again by something she didn’t want.

But in the next moment, he looked back. He threw down his staff and grabbed Lily’s helmet. Gripping the eagle wings, he pulled upward and the helmet came off.

Without a second thought, Kain threw the helmet toward Atli. Before the surprised Lily could turn around, he covered her ears with his palms.

* * * * *

“You’ve decided.”

The chieftain stood up. He put the horn to his lips. And blew with all his might. His followers, watching the chieftain, also took out their horns and blew them in unison.

The ground shook. Maria couldn’t understand. Why was the ground shaking when they were just blowing horns? The vibration was strong enough to be felt even while kneeling on the floor.

Instinctively, she looked toward the mountain. The mountain had grown larger. Like someone who had been sitting down and suddenly stood up. Because they could no longer contain their anger. Because they could no longer just watch.

“Uh… huh?”

A wave rose.

It was absurd. A wave from a mountain? Maria stared at the sight as if entranced. But it wasn’t a wave. It was snow. From the very top of that high place, it flowed down.

The mountain.

Is flowing down.

The world collapses. No, the castle is rising. A deafening roar is heard. Too intense for ears to process, it screams through the entire body. The echo doesn’t just reverberate—it tears through intestines, strikes the back, and punches the stomach.

Yet as if you still haven’t heard, as if you still haven’t realized, the mountain howls. It shakes the earth and throws the sky.

The clattering sounds can’t even be heard. “The ancestors are angry! The ancestors are angry! The mountain is bleeding! White blood is flowing!” The panicked knights’ cries are ignored.

Paintings fall from the castle walls. Carefully stacked supplies topple over. Knights clustered on the stone stairs flee downward in panic. A wise choice.

Because the mountain has raised its hand.

Pure white ice and snow. Things that had been accumulating for who knows how long rise high into the sky. Like a giant striking an anthill, it strikes Valhalla. Once, twice, three times. If Kain hadn’t pulled her away, Maria might have been buried in snow.

“The, the sky, the sky… the sky is breaking, flowing… the sky hits the mountain and flows like an egg, like an egg…”

Someone was heard sobbing. But Maria didn’t even look there. Her eyes saw something completely different.

White Blood warriors coming over the mountain. Those who knew no fear, who had circled behind what seemed to be the Empire’s eternal fortress. Like that day long ago when the Empire’s flag fell to the ground, White Blood warriors were climbing over the mountain.

They became snow and wind and ice to rebuke their descendants. The chieftain stood firmly, looking at Maria.

Eventually, he passed by Kain and Lily. Approaching Atli, he slapped his cheek. The disrespectful descendant who had been spouting nonsense collapsed. He was still breathing, but whether his soul remained was questionable.

‘Thank you.’

Maria was sincerely grateful. The fires in both her hands had long been extinguished. The chieftain nodded stoically and then disappeared.

Lily and Kain were still standing firmly. Kain staggered painfully. His back was a mess of ice and snow, but his ears still hurt and his head seemed to be ringing.

Clang.

Lily dropped her halberd. With her left arm supporting Kain, she extended her right hand to Maria. Maria smiled and took her hand.

Someone trudged up. It was Grand Executor Astrid. A slight spasm crossed her lips. Lily gave her a fierce look, but Kain bowed his head.

“Thank you. Thanks to your tip, I was able to arrive in time.”

Lily recalled Astrid whispering something in Boehm’s ear. It seemed to mean summoning Kain. Or perhaps telling someone somewhere something. Either way, Astrid probably didn’t know Boehm’s true identity.

“Execution squad!”

The execution squad members looked relatively intact. They were suffering too, but they had enough endurance not to show it.

“The ancestors have shown their anger, so Knight Commander Atli will be confined. It’s questionable whether he’ll even wake up. We must promptly select a new knight commander…”

But Astrid bit her lip. Instead, she quietly asked Lily.

“Are you planning to leave?”

“Yes.”

“Then I have no choice but to stop you.”

“Do as you wish,” Lily replied coldly. “Call the execution squad.”

But Astrid stepped aside. Lily walked down the stairs with Maria. Astrid faced Kain with tired eyes.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“I am the sinner here.”

“You had no choice. I know how much you’ve suffered.”

“Ha.” Astrid turned her head. Only after blinking a couple of times did she look at Kain again. Her eyes were red.

“I cannot abandon the Brynhildr name. I believe you understand that. That’s the nasty thing about family. It should be the most steadfast house in the world, but sometimes it clings more tenaciously than a thousand-year-old demon.”

“The same goes for the White Blood name, I suppose.”

Astrid walked up the stairs. She picked up the halberd Lily had thrown away, lifting it as easily as if it were a broom.

“Once I’ve reorganized the White Blood, I’ll go to Secundus. You know the pretext well. But I trust that even though that child has become a deserter knight, she won’t be treated badly. Will you ensure that?”

“Yes. I promised to keep her hands free of blood.”

Astrid shook her head.

“My goodness. I thought only your swordsmanship was a mess.”

* * * * *

Lily removed her armor. She packed her belongings from her room. It wasn’t much different from when she had returned.

“I still have it.”

The small medicine pouch remained intact. The half-remaining Asas herb pills and the identically-shaped salt lump. They looked so similar that without tasting them, it would be difficult to tell them apart.

On the way out of the castle, Maria paused briefly. It was a room with portraits of past chieftains.

‘Conqueror of Valhalla, Mountain Crosser, Master of the Horn, Great Liar Günther.’

It was that large man. Maria shook her head and hurried her steps.

They reunited with Boehm and Bom in a secluded spot. They embraced each other tightly. Lily cried for a long time, and the twin brothers hugged their youngest sibling and encouraged her.

The triple gates did not stop Kain’s party. They were equally distracted. Only after a while did Kain thank Maria.

“…Maria. I really… don’t know how to thank you.”

“How did you do it?” Lily raised her voice too. “I had no idea you could cause such a massive avalanche.”

“No. That’s…” Maria trailed off. “That wasn’t something I did because I wanted to…”

Kain tilted his head. Maria wasn’t an arrogant person, but she wasn’t one for unnecessary modesty either. This response was quite unfamiliar.

“Well, you must have been terribly surprised too. It was my first time seeing an avalanche as well. My ears still hurt. My head feels like it’s ringing.”

“Huh? Oh, yes. Yes. That’s right.”

“You must be in shock,” Lily seemed genuinely concerned. Maria awkwardly smiled and asked back.

“Um, what about you? Are you okay? You were even wearing a helmet.”

“Ah, you didn’t see. Kairos removed my helmet. He covered my ears too…”

“I thought it would be extremely loud.”

Mixing in some playful teasing, Maria laughed and chatted with them for a long time. Yet occasionally, she looked down at her right hand.

“When you received an unwanted gift, were you happy?”

She wasn’t. But it couldn’t be a misfortune that would bind her for life either. What one receives is certainly important. However, it doesn’t brand a person’s life or determine their fate.

Just as the ancient White Blood crossed the mountain they thought impossible. Just as Lily decided her own life by standing up to the humiliation that had pressed down on her entire life. Throughout their lives, they overcame what they had thought impossible.

‘I…’

Maria flicked her right hand. Black fire flared up. With just a light closing of her hand, the fire went out.

What she had hidden, what she had wanted to lock away forever, had finally emerged.

In the Order, they called this revelation. Unveiling, emerging from darkness…

Revelation doesn’t always fall from heaven. Some things are buried so deeply within oneself that to find them, one must shake off the mud inside.

‘A life spent searching without knowing what you seek.’

Maria recited the verse from scripture and fell into deep silence.