Ch.309Chapter 309: The Beginning That Signals the End

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Shizuka… Shizuka has left my side.

Though she came from a different timeline than the Shizu who had been with me since my regression.

Because she was someone who shared the most important timeline with me—someone who had lived through two distinct lives that I clearly remember.

In some ways, you were even more precious than this timeline’s Shizu, making it possible for me to exist as I am now.

For reasons I don’t understand, you vanished like a mirage.

Even after seeing me—someone who deserved at least a word of resentment for the life I made you live.

You simply said you were happy to meet me again…

I don’t… I don’t understand.

Happiness? Leaving behind words about being happy to see me again—me, who only treated you cruelly under the beautiful pretext of doing it for your sake.

It made me so sad. It was heartbreaking that you felt happiness from seeing someone like me who gave you nothing but pain.

I… never wanted you to be happy seeing someone like me.

Even in the moment you disappeared, turning into less than a handful of ashes, wishing only for your happiness.

I prayed you would find happiness in a new life unrelated to me.

In the end, it was unbearably sad to realize that even after I disappeared from that world, I remained the most necessary existence for your happiness.

Ah… I want to collapse. I want to sit down right there forever, ignoring anyone who tries to make me stand.

I want to cry. I want to shed tears several times more than all the tears I’ve shed until now, right there, for you who left again after only saying you were happy to have met someone like me.

Though shedding these tears won’t bring you back to me.

At the very least, I wanted you to know that my desire to make you happy contained no lies.

But before I could express such grief, I had to complete what needed to be done.

I had to force myself to stand against my body and will that wanted to collapse.

Because the massive malice that wouldn’t even allow me time for pure mourning had begun to move again.

That malice was now smiling at me with a grin reminiscent of a bottomless swamp, finding something inexplicably enjoyable.

Though the smile, without a trace of a frown, seemed bright and radiant—completely out of place in this dark obsidian-dominated space.

It only gave me the impression of a disgusting smile of malice, incomparable to the smile Shizuka wore while trying to comfort me while suppressing her own sadness.

Truly, I feel only an indescribable revulsion.

Perhaps it’s a smile that collects all the twisted mentality that rejoices in others’ pain and despair.

I should be used to it by now, having faced it countless times not only before my regression but also in numerous timelines that remain only as memories in my head.

But if nothing else, I was so angry at that figure mocking this scene.

“Enjoying the view? Why don’t you fix your expression while you’re staring?”

My first movement in the newly recovered flow of time was to lash out at Desire, who was displaying her twisted pleasure directed at me.

Even I was surprised by how fierce my own words sounded.

“It’s quite regrettable that one divine essence I needed to consume has disappeared.”

My fierce rebuke had little effect on Desire, who treated it like a lullaby while expressing only regret and bittersweet feelings.

For me, it was an unbearably painful void left by the departure of someone precious.

But for that damned demon god, it was merely disappointment about losing a key that could have elevated her existence, vanishing like a mirage.

And within that disappointment, the pleasure she derived from my suffering was even greater.

“Thanks to that, I got to enjoy a melodrama after such a long time.”

She merely uttered impressions that mocked me without restraint.

I was on the verge of letting out a bitter laugh mixed with anger rather than fear at the reality of having to face a demon god who mocked me right after losing a precious person who could have eased my sorrow.

But as time passed, my will to no longer show weakness to the very person who caused my tears grew sharper, telling me what I needed to do.

So I complied with that will.

*Grind*

I steeled my resolve by grinding my teeth.

*Grip*

I firmly grasped the dragon sword I had resheathed.

“Yes, that’s fortunate.”

I opened with a scathing retort to Desire’s taunting response.

“You won’t be seeing anything pleasant from now on, so at least you got to enjoy one last good show.”

I revealed my will to finish her with an emotional expression that was hardly veiled by metaphor.

Countless repeated timelines and identical failures.

It was a declaration that embodied my courage and reason for living—a will that remained unbent despite those failures.

Though it was somewhat of an abrupt declaration.

By forcing myself to heighten my emotions with such bravado, I could alleviate the sorrow I felt when thinking of Shizuka who had left.

And when Desire, who suddenly heard this declaration to eliminate her,

Would either display anger that overturned the strangely established atmosphere or cold mockery, revealing her twisted inner nature—which would help me suppress my melancholy.

None of the anticipated reactions from Desire in my mind were pleasant.

But it would certainly be better than being mocked for suppressing the sorrow of losing someone precious, so I was prepared to endure and accept whatever came.

But as if the only absolute law in this twisted demon realm—that expectations lead to betrayal—was about to overturn my predictions once again,

Desire’s expression, which had been displaying bottomless mockery, softened considerably.

“Now as before, I can’t help but praise your bravado in expressing unattainable intentions and your will to actually achieve them.”

Since I truly couldn’t have imagined she would offer praise that could only be described as even-toned,

“…”

I could only furrow my brow slightly and glare at Desire.

Thanks to my pain and sense of loss over losing someone precious being converted into anger toward Desire, those feelings had been considerably alleviated.

But anxiety still soaked my heart because the demon god I now had to face with no way to retreat remained an unfathomable existence even to my discernment, which had observed her for many years.

[That woman is being unusually serious for once.]

Even Fafnir, who seemed to know Desire better than I did, indicated that her current response was uncommon, which made me all the more anxious.

A sense of crisis swept over me—that if I failed, I might once again meet an end as a handful of ashes.

But I steadied my heart with a somewhat false self-suggestion that this was not my first experience, merely repeating something I had experienced many times before.

*Thump*

With the power of accelerated blood flow preparing for the coming battle rather than sorrow, giving my body and mind vigor and exhilaration,

I prepared for the coming battle.

Before my regression, I was merely a villain who supported a precious person’s most shining moment in this place.

Now it seemed it was my turn to take on what that precious person should have done.

Though even I found it difficult to predict what the outcome would be,

I didn’t think I would escape from here unscathed, regardless of how it concluded.

I could only hope to end everything before the currently precious person, who was desperately rushing toward this place, arrived.

If I won, that would be fortunate.

But even if I were defeated and faced the conclusion of disappearing as a handful of ashes once again,

At the very least, I didn’t want to show you that kind of disappearance before your eyes.

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The pitch-black sword in his hand was imbued with a sharpness ready to pour out upon her at any moment.

And the aura emanating from the eyes of the one holding that sword had an overwhelming presence that outshone even the sharpness pouring from the blade.

And that wasn’t all.

“Fafnir!!”

The man before her, who had momentarily removed and then donned again the armor created from the body of his once strongest competitor who had sought to obtain divine essence and ascend to a higher place, was truly…

‘A reincarnation of the war god…’

Such was the exclamation that naturally escaped Desire’s lips, as there were many elements about him that caught her attention.

But even without any of the aforementioned elements, the heat in Desire’s gaze toward the man, Karl Ranos, would not have diminished.

Even if any minor element constituting his current self were missing,

It was clear that he would struggle to even oppose her, who had handicaps in fully exerting her power having just awakened from sleep.

It wasn’t without reason that her gaze contained such heat, simply because the man before her was a key and prey she greatly coveted.

‘It’s finally beginning…’

As Desire muttered these strange words to herself, a mysterious insight that seemed to penetrate not Karl’s exterior but his interior entered her gaze as he calmly prepared to charge at her.

Beyond frivolity, simplicity, and even the ferocity hidden beneath those two masks,

What had that gaze, manifesting the experience and wisdom naturally accumulated upon ascending to this great position by her own power, detected that made her look at Karl with such enthusiasm?

The answer to this question didn’t take long to emerge.

‘You are actually preparing to stand on equal footing with me…’

As Desire’s inner monologue about Karl continued, an invisible aura that only she could observe grew stronger in his body without his knowledge.

*Grin*

And seeing this, Desire’s lips pleasantly contorted.

It was understandable.

Due to the ripple effects she couldn’t have predicted, though half-intended,

The signal that her plan, which seemed to have ended in vain thanks to Lillian Shizu—whom she had brought to this land with her silver tongue—suddenly leaving this land, was back on track.

*Thump*

Because it was growing in size in rhythm with Karl’s heartbeat, audible even from quite a distance.

This was transcendence.

A mortal being, far from immortality from birth and bound to follow the predetermined cycle of life,

A great power that would bestow immortality upon him through the embodiment of enlightenment gained through countless efforts and austerities.

Alternatively expressed as divinity (神性), it was a phenomenon.

Unlike her, who had reached transcendence after devouring the souls and bodies of countless kindred,

It was a miracle arranged for a man who had never willfully killed anyone under his own will and had walked without bending his will to stop her despite numerous failures.

Furthermore, as it was also the key to fulfilling Desire’s true wish to reign as an incomparably lofty being, the sign of transcendence was manifesting.

‘Finally…’

It’s no wonder that Desire, watching this, couldn’t contain her surging joy and inwardly rejoiced madly.

She was certain. Even though she had just awakened from sleep and

Had great difficulty controlling the power she had accumulated,

She could easily handle a novice who hadn’t even noticed his own awakening of divine essence.

And after toying with her prey and taking its essence without leaving anything behind,

She quickly outlined a beautiful blueprint for declaring this land as her divine domain and establishing an immortal kingdom that even those seated in high places couldn’t touch.

This must be the supreme happiness where everything around exists for oneself and happens according to one’s will.

Watching Karl gradually awakening the divine essence dwelling in his body into a form convenient for her to devour, Desire licked her lips and waited for the moment he would charge at her.

With rock-solid confidence that everything would end the moment he took his first step and swung his sword at her.

*Slash*!!

“…Huh?”

She certainly thought so until she felt the bitter metallic taste of the dragon sword that Karl had swung, creating a severe laceration on her chest after penetrating her guard before she could even perceive it.