Episode 149

As I slowly opened my eyes, the place I saw was a familiar one.

It was the place I had seen inside the barrier of dimensions I had accidentally entered on the day I went to Mount Deiosa to find the fruit.

The sky here was still as blue as if it had been painted with watercolor.

Through the thick trees basking in the dazzling sunlight, the greenery shone brilliantly.

It was a place so dreamy it felt like wandering inside a dream.

It felt like I had stepped into a painting, and yet the breeze brushing past me felt so real, it had to be reality.

I looked around amidst the bushes full of unknown blooming flowers.

“Why am I here…?”

Surely, I had been falling through the air after slicing through the core of the rift.

I had lost consciousness, and… when I opened my eyes, I was here.

“Sierra.”

As I was tracing back my memories, a voice gently called my name.

Startled, I turned around and gradually widened my eyes.

Standing there was a radiant person with sun-like golden hair.

“Tias…?”

I recognized her at once.

The moment I met those amethyst-like, transparent, and beautiful eyes, I forgot even to breathe.

It wasn’t because of her unreal beauty.

It was because it felt like looking into a mirror.

I had thought we had a similar atmosphere before, but were we always this alike?

Had I come to resemble her, or had she come to resemble me? I didn’t know.

But we looked like we were once one, facing each other like mirrors.

“Why… do we look so much alike?”

“Because, of course… I am you, and you are me. We are one, Sierra.”

She spoke with a somehow wistful expression.

Of course, I knew I was her reincarnation.

I understood with my mind what she said about us being one.

Even so, the reason it didn’t fully reach my heart was because I had none of her memories.

“Would you like to find your long-forgotten memories?”

As if she had noticed my feelings, Tias asked me, gazing at me.

“…”

At those words, I hesitated briefly, then nodded.

Truthfully, it didn’t matter if I didn’t know.

Even so, the reason I nodded was because Tias was slowly fading away.

I could tell. This place was connected to the “core of the rift,” and from the moment I cut the core, it had been slowly disappearing.

Tias too.

She was merely a lingering remnant of time within the barrier of dimensions.

Still, seeing her fade before my eyes, I wanted to remember her before she vanished.

To remember the existence of Tias Disel, and to recall the past me that I had lost.

Tias stepped closer to me, held my hands warmly, and closed her eyes.

At the same time, familiar yet strange memories flowed into my mind.

One by one, the submerged memories floated to the surface.

They were the memories of Tias Disel.

And the memories of the me I had lost.

The memories flooding into my head were overwhelmingly vast, and they confused me.

Tias patted me as if to say she understood.

A warm sensation settled on my shoulders.

“I know, not all of them are good memories. I spent most of my life on battlefields. It was desolate, brutal. When I was betrayed by my closest friend, it felt like the world was collapsing.”

Even so, the Tias within those memories was a person who shone brightly like a flower blooming in a barren battlefield.

In any despair or hardship, there was never a time she didn’t shine.

Tias smiled as if trying hard and faced me.

“But you know… amidst that ruin, I met someone with an incredibly warm heart. Every memory with that person was precious, and every moment was happy.”

The person Tias spoke of, I could immediately tell who it was.

Daimond.
The emperor who carried her final wish heavily and pressed forward without looking back.

“I made a wish before I closed my eyes. That someday, I would be able to see Daimond again. Even if it was just a fleeting encounter like the wind, I wanted to breathe the same air.”

Tias spoke with tears welling in her eyes but a clear, bright smile on her face.

“And truly, just like destiny, I met him, Sierra. That person.”

“…….”

Before I knew it, my eyes felt hot.

I could faintly understand.

Since I had recalled all of Tias’s memories, there was no way I couldn’t know.

There was someone whose kind voice, gentle touch, and bright smile were so much alike.

“Ludwig.”

The moment I spoke his name, a ticklish feeling stirred inside me.

“Yes, Ludwig. In the end, he persistently found you again, to fulfill the promise made back then.”

Tias smiled through the tears she barely held back.

At her words, I recalled Daimond’s final words as he held her dying form in his arms.

[This will not be our end. I will create the world you dreamed of, so please, never leave my side.]

Remembering that tearful voice, a tear fell down my cheek.

My chest ached.

Why had that person always given me such overwhelming love?

Even now, after crossing an immeasurable span of time to reunite.

“You are different from me. You didn’t make him cry.”

Tias said, smiling brightly with reddened eyes.

“Now, you can write your own story, Sierra, without being swayed by anything.”

Before I realized, a faint smile had drawn itself on my lips.

I nodded and hugged her tightly as she slowly faded away.

“Your memories will always remain inside me. I’ll cherish them and remember you. You’ve done so well, Tias.”

At my words, Tias finally burst into tears.

It took a little time for her to stop crying and collect her emotions.

I stayed by her side until then.

Soon, Tias laughed with a tearful voice and whispered into my ear.

“Now, go. To the one who is desperately waiting for you.”

I immediately knew who she meant.

Ludwig, it felt like he was desperately calling my name even now.

Tias turned me around and spoke kindly.

“Thank you, for finding me. Goodbye, Sierra.”

And then, I felt her lightly push my back.

At that moment, I opened my eyes back in reality.

As soon as I slowly opened my eyes, Ludwig’s voice rang out.

“Sierra!”

Without even giving me a chance to say anything, he pulled me into his arms.

Flustered as I was by the warm embrace, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m fine, Ludwig.”

Just as he had promised, Ludwig had returned to my side.

He endured and endured, refusing to be consumed by the berserk power, and in the end, he came back to me.

Just like he always had — he never once left me alone.

Before I knew it, tears welled up again.

But this time, they were tears of relief.

Smiling faintly, I embraced Ludwig in return and said,

“Everything will be okay now, surely.”

And so, we stayed like that for a long time, feeling each other’s warmth.

For as long as it took to feel that we were truly together.

* * *

The story of the Great Demon War that unfolded in the South spread beyond the Empire and across the world within just a few days.

It became the headline of the Imperial Gazette day after day, and through it, truths that had long been hidden finally came to light.

First, it was revealed that Hertz, the founding emperor of the Terium Imperial Family, had in fact been the King of Demons.

And that Crown Prince Lucion was none other than Hertz reincarnated.

The Terium Imperial Family, which caused internal strife at the brink of annihilation, naturally drew the fury of the Empire’s people.

The Emperor, having been critically wounded during the rebellion, was no longer capable of ruling, and though Prince Theodore remained as the legitimate successor, the Imperial citizens who had already lost faith in the royal family chose to crown a new emperor.

There was no longer any reason for the shattered Terium Imperial Family to continue existing.

The situation after the great chaos that carved a mark into the Empire’s history was pure turmoil.

The throne remained vacant amidst countless conflicting opinions, and the South, reduced to ruins, was still overrun with demons that had not returned to the demon realm.

Without even the chance to savor the peace that had finally arrived, months were spent in endless recovery efforts.

People, for a time, endured division and conflict born from the war, but when it came to speaking of the new emperor, they were of one mind.

Ludwig Karsian.

A man who, just a few years ago, bore the stigma of being the descendant of a wicked dragon.

Now, he was the hero who had slain Hertz and saved the Empire.

Though in line for succession only after Theodore, it was perhaps inevitable that Ludwig, who had performed deeds far more remarkable, would be favored.

And about half a year after the Great War,

Prince Theodore officially apologized for inciting internal strife at the brink of war and declared the end of the Terium Imperial Family.

He chose to follow the flow of the people’s will.

A new era had begun.