Chapter 209

Ｒｅａｄ ｏｎ​ Ｋａｔ​Ｒ​ｅａｄ​ｉｎｇＣａｆｅ​

So, I’m a descendant of the God of War.

Even if it’s a bloodline… it’s been 150 years.

A distant ancestor. How many generations would I have to go back to reach the God of War?

Even if I were to call it a blood relationship now, it wouldn’t feel real. 

Anyone would feel the same if a long-lost ancestor suddenly appeared to an orphan who couldn’t even remember their parents’ faces. 

I thought the only family I had connected by blood was Yui.

And now, that ancestor is the God of War.

No one else but the commander of the Celestial Corps.

A living legend. The God of War. The strongest of humanity.

After hearing the truth, I looked at the God of War again, and there were indeed similarities between us. 

The black hair, the blue eyes. 

The fact that he was a descendant of a living legend made Eugene’s head spin. It wasn’t just him, either. Alice was also a descendant of the God of War. Just like him.

‘Even if we share the same ancestor, so much time has passed that we’re practically distant relatives…’

In reality, we’re almost like strangers.

But still, there’s some blood connection.

If you go back far enough, we share a common ancestor.

“The world is full of surprises…”

A classmate who looks like my dead younger sister is in the same class.

And now, it turns out we’re distant relatives sharing the same ancestor.

It’s so unlikely, so contrived, that I want to call it out as nonsense.

Eugene scratched his bangs as he stared at the hospital bed.

Lately, he hadn’t cut his hair, and it had grown long enough to obstruct his vision.

Through the swaying strands of hair, he could see the sleeping faces of the girls.

“It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s blood or whatever.”

In the end, what I have to do doesn’t change.

Protect Lucia. Protect Alice. Protect everyone.

Become a hero who won’t bring shame to the flame I inherited from Yui.

‘To do that, first of all…’

I need to get used to my new supernatural abilities.

I still haven’t fully grasped the secrets of my power.

What are the conditions for borrowing abilities?

How many can I borrow at once?

What types of abilities can I borrow?

Are there any side effects or aftereffects?

I need to figure all of that out, one by one.

Only then can I move on to the next step.

“…That goal that once seemed so far away is now just a few steps ahead.”

A god-tier supernatural.

I used to wonder if I’d ever reach that level.

But now, it feels like I’m just a little bit away.

In terms of skill, I’m nowhere near a god-tier supernatural, but if I use some tricks, it’s not impossible.

“But I’m still a first-year, right?”

The first semester hasn’t even ended, let alone the school year.

After going through so many incidents, it feels like a lot of time has passed.

In reality, only a few months have gone by since I entered the academy.

In those few months, I’ve grown so much.

Would Yui, watching over me from above, be proud?

◆

“Ahaha, they’re completely wrecked.”

Astaroth shrugged her shoulders and burst into laughter.

She held her forehead with her left hand and waved her empty right sleeve as if to show it off.

The red fox mask was split in half, revealing her shimmering eyes.

“So, what are you going to do?”

In a dark room illuminated only by a few candles.

Astaroth, sitting on an old round table, spoke with a sly smile.

“The family that Belial took as his subordinates has been completely wiped out, and Belial himself is in a state where he can’t recover.”

On the other side of the table was a blue rakshasa masked man shrouded in shadow.

The owner of this room, the master of the round table, and the leader of the devils.

The noble prince, Agares, silently stared at the girl with the red fox mask.

“Murmur’s core has been shattered, and she won’t be able to move for a while.”

The God of War’s strike pierced the soul of the devil god.

The anchor that keeps the devil god in a human body.

The core that holds the soul has been shattered into pieces.

Murmur wouldn’t die from this, but it’s not something she can just shrug off.

For a while, she’ll have to rest in a place with pure energy to recover her body and soul.

“This is going to cause a huge setback to our ‘plan’, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Ah, by the way, don’t blame me~”

Astaroth stretched out her fluttering sleeve.

With a mischievous smile, she whispered in a teasing voice.

“I worked hard too, you know~? I even lost an arm. Cut off by lightning. It hurt so much~”

“…You let your guard down, Astaroth.”

“Well, I guess so?”

I was just playing around, and then I got hit hard.

That narrow-eyed guy, he handled the power of the demonic beast more skillfully than I thought.

For a human to use our power, that’s cheating, isn’t it?

‘Not that I can say much.’

I can use supernatural abilities too.

Belial also used Lucia’s powers.

Ahaha, poor Belial.

He finally got a good body, and now he’s in such a state.

His shattered soul is even more broken, and he can’t even leave his body.

“…It’s not a problem.”

After a brief silence, Agares spoke in a low voice.

Leaning his chin on the round table, he looked at Astaroth from behind the blue rakshasa mask.

“We can just delay the plan for a while. Belial fulfilled his role faithfully. The plan is already on track, so even if Belial is absent, it won’t cause any major issues.”

“Heh, no wonder you gave up on Belial so easily. Isn’t this what they call ‘throwing away the plow after the work is done’? Now that he’s no longer needed, it’s like, ‘Live or die, whatever~?’”

“…”

“Okay, okay. Don’t glare at me like that. It’s scary~”

Despite her words, her tone didn’t sound scared at all.

With a voice mixed with laughter, she exaggeratedly shrunk her body.

Astaroth tilted her blue eyes as if urging him to continue.

“Murmur will be able to return as soon as her core is reconstructed. So there’s no need to worry.”

“In short, you’re saying we should lay low for a while, right?”

“…”

“Well, isn’t that right? The Chosen One has awakened, albeit incompletely.”

Eugene.

The hero chosen by the Four Seasons.

The one who caused them to repeat regression.

They couldn’t handle the Chosen One, so they repeated failure and defeat.

“Unless we find and remove the needle of causality, we can’t stop the chosen one’s awakening.”

It’s the causality fixed by the Four Seasons.

The process may differ, but the result remains unchanged.

That’s why, in every cycle, the Chosen One awakened.

And the devil gods tasted bitter defeat each time, turning back time.

“But even if we find the needle of causality, I doubt we can actually destroy it.”

Out of the countless cycles, did they really never find the needle of causality? Astaroth doesn’t think so. 

There must have been cycles where they discovered the needle before the Chosen One awakened. Yet, they still lost. Because they couldn’t pull out the fixed causality.

“So, we need to be careful not to provoke the chosen one and accelerate their awakening.”

The more the Chosen One gets entangled with the devil gods, the faster their awakening is triggered.

Because the fixed causality works to overcome the impending crisis.

In fact, after getting involved with Belial and Murmur, Eugene grew at an astonishing rate.

“There’s not much time left, right? The time when the distorted timeline returns to normal.”

The moment when Agares can break free from his restraints and intervene in the world is approaching. 

Even if only briefly, he was able to manifest in the world because the restraints had loosened. 

Soon, Agares will emerge from this dark, dim room, and that’s when the plan will be set into motion.

“Let’s stay quiet until then. I won’t cause any trouble either.”

“…”

No answer came.

But no answer was needed.

Sometimes, silence itself is an answer.

Astaroth giggled and pushed herself off the round table.

She waved her hand lightly and walked toward the door of the dark room.

The candlelight flickered. Astaroth’s shadow also swayed.

As she opened the rusty door, the hinges creaked loudly.

Click.

With the sound of her heels, Astaroth began walking down the lightless corridor.

Agares silently watched Astaroth’s retreating figure.

Once again, the old hinges creaked, and the large door closed.

The gaze disappeared. Agares had silently agreed and turned his gaze away from her. At that, Astaroth let out a small laugh.

‘Success.’

I avoided Agares’ suspicion.

It was worth losing an arm on purpose.

I didn’t plan to lose an arm, but oh well, it’s all good.

‘This delays the execution of the plan.’

Murmur is temporarily out of commission.

Belial is definitely out of commission.

The Chosen One has awakened incompletely.

It’s a better outcome than I expected.

A much more favorable conclusion than I predicted.

‘The needle of causality can no longer function properly.’

Belial’s shattered soul will weaken the needle of causality.

From the beginning, I planned to offer Lucia to Belial.

The fixed causality has weakened, and the Chosen One will no longer be protected by causality.

The only regret is that the silver ring was destroyed too quickly.

Its main purpose was to mix Belial’s soul fragments with Lucia’s soul, but it had other functions and purposes too.

‘Analyzing and deciphering the needle of causality.’

It could also track locations.

It would have been better if it stayed inside Lucia’s body.

Well, it’s no use regretting something that’s already broken.

‘If I ask Regina to gift another silver ring… Hmm, no. Big brother has awakened too, and if I do something like that again, it’ll be discovered.’

The Chosen One would definitely notice the devil god’s power imbued in the ring.

Then Regina, who gave the ring, might be suspected and put in danger.

That’s no good. Yeah, no good. I’d be really depressed if Regina were taken away by humans.

‘…One more step.’

I’m moving toward my goal.

Different from Agares’.

To complete my own ‘plan’.

◆

In dreams, the flow of time is ambiguous.

How many seconds have passed?

How many minutes?

How many hours have flown by?

It felt like my internal clock had malfunctioned, throwing off my rhythm.

How long had I been wandering in Lucille’s memories?

How much time had passed in the outside world?

As someone trapped in a dream, I had no way of knowing.

It might have only been a few dozen minutes.

Or it could have been hours, days, or even months.

Whether I wanted to or not, I had no choice but to follow Lucille’s memories.

What could I do if they were being shown to me against my will?

And yet, most of the memories shown were filled with noise.

I could see and hear them, but only a handful of memories were clear enough to fully comprehend.

Occasionally, I used the clearer memories as clues to make guesses. But it was fruitless. I tentatively concluded that Yoo-seong was the commander of the Celestial Corps, but Lucille’s true identity remained a mystery.

The fact that she worked alongside the commander.

And considering the commander had lived an incredibly long time.

Could Lucille be an ancestor of Lucia who lived long before the ‘original’ story?

It was a plausible theory.

If they were related by blood, it would explain why Lucia and Lucille looked so strikingly similar.

But then, how am I, as Lucia, able to read Lucille’s memories?

I don’t know.

I have no idea.

“Huh…?”

Just as my questions kept piling up.

A change occurred that shifted the situation.

“I think… I can leave now…?”

Until now, I couldn’t escape the dream.

There was no way to do so, and I couldn’t even attempt to wake up.

It felt like invisible chains were tightly binding my limbs, and a lock had sealed the exit.

You can’t leave, it said.

You must stay here, it insisted.

It kept me trapped in the dream.

But suddenly, the situation changed.

A key to unlock the chains and the lock was placed in my hand.

If I wanted to, I could break free from all restraints and open the door.

I could escape from Lucille’s memories, which had been slowly eroding my mind.

“What’s happening to me in reality?”

I’d know as soon as I woke up from the dream.

But even though I could wake up now, I hesitated.

Lucille’s memories unfolded before me like a panorama.

Most were obscured by noise, but occasionally, clear memories surfaced.

“If I wake up now…”

I’ll miss the chance to figure out who Lucille is.

After making me so curious, I wouldn’t get the answer.

That’s so frustrating and unsatisfying.

There is a way to remove the noise and uncover Lucille’s identity.

The reason the noise obscures the memories is that I’ve been resisting.

Lucille’s heart, her love, has been gradually dyeing my mind in a pink hue.

It’s making my heart flutter like a love-struck girl for no reason.

Because I’ve been resisting the emotional erosion, the memories aren’t clear.

So, if I stop resisting.

If I let myself flow with the memories.

Then I could read all of Lucille’s memories.

I could resolve my questions and uncover Lucille’s true identity.

The problem is, what if I get completely consumed by Lucille in the process?

Even now, while resisting the emotions, they’re slowly seeping in like a drizzle soaking my clothes.

But if I actively accept the memories, in the worst case, my sense of self could be overwritten by Lucille.

I would no longer be myself.

My identity, my will, my humanity—all trampled into ruin.

That’s kind of… no, wait. That’s bad. Very bad.

That’s why I’ve been resisting with all my might until now…

“But now, I can wake up from the dream whenever I want.”

Doesn’t that change things a bit?

If I read Lucille’s memories and things get dangerous, I can just escape, right?

“Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.”

I’m really curious about the relationship between Lucia and Lucille.

I reached out toward the girl in the flowing scenes.

The moment I thought my hand touched Lucille’s chest.

A bright light filled my vision.

And I immediately regretted it.

I reflected on making such a hasty decision without enough thought.

The rushing memories and emotions were like a violent tidal wave.

Before I could even process anything.

I was swallowed by the memories.

The light faded, and my vision darkened.

The noise disappeared.

Lucille’s memories became my memories.

And I sank endlessly into the origin of all memories.

 

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Eugene and Alice are distant relatives.

They are both descendants of a hero, so they are related by blood, but they are almost like strangers.

So in the original, they were not related!!!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
While the author is doing his job (poorly) explaining about the blood relation, let’s appreciate how Astaroth is being stupid again!