133.

The last thing I remembered before losing consciousness was Norma’s face.

…Did I push his hand away? No, I don’t think I did. My memory was hazy, but I was certain I’d managed to confess my love to him amidst the chaos.

Yet his expression wasn’t one of someone who had just heard those words. Instead, he looked like a man who had lost everything—despair and betrayal etched across his face. The memory made my mouth go dry.

‘My poor innocent starlight must have been utterly shocked.’

I recalled his gentle voice pleading with me to avoid danger, and a dry gulp slipped down my throat without thinking.

“I need to get out of here. Now.”

That realization came like a thunderclap, and suddenly, I became aware that my senses had returned. My body moved freely again. So why was I still here? Something wasn’t adding up.

“You said putting the pieces back together happens in an instant. Why can’t I wake up yet?”

“Because in here, time flows as you perceive it, not as it actually passes.”

Nothing came easily. Still, the fact that the goddess was answering my questions without resistance was a rare mercy. I pressed on.

“So I’m still in the process of being pieced back together?”

“Not quite. You were… halfway there.”

The goddess’s lips curled into a feral smile. Seeing Ophelia’s face wear such a sinister expression still made my skin crawl.

“…Are you kidding me?”

As always, her answers were cryptic and frustrating. She seemed to relish my irritation as she continued.

“Your body—though it looks intact—was completely shattered, on the verge of disintegrating. Your soul was barely hanging by a thread. If Norma Diazi hadn’t arrived in time, even that last fragment would’ve vanished forever. Now that would’ve been a tragedy.”

“….”

“Perfect timing on his part, really. If he’d been a moment later, we’d be doing this whole thing over again.”

The goddess turned her gaze to Antoinette, her tone disturbingly approving. The little cub whimpered and burrowed deeper into my arms. I held her tightly as the goddess gestured toward me.

“The issue isn’t your soul; it’s that shattered *body* of yours.”

The moment she mentioned my body, the truth hit me like a blow. I realized why I hadn’t been fully pieced back together.

“Your body—it was already dead, wasn’t it?”

I’d died before. My stomach had been pierced, and Ophelia’s divine power was the only thing keeping my body alive. Without that power, I was nothing more than a long-dead corpse.

“So unless Ophelia restores her divine power to me… I won’t be able to wake up?”

“A rather romantic notion, isn’t it?”

Romantic, my foot. I scowled at the absurdity.

At the same time, I felt a quiet reassurance. If it was Ophelia, I believed she would come to me the moment her power returned. While I couldn’t wake up on my own, the idea that I might never wake wasn’t a thought I seriously entertained.

“You should know,” the goddess interjected, her smile razor-sharp, “I wasn’t joking when I said your husband is at his limit. Without Ophelia’s divine power, your body has reverted to the state it was in after your first death. Right now, it likely has a gaping hole in the middle, just like before.”

Her words sent an icy chill through me. Norma was with a body no different from a mangled corpse? The thought made my stomach turn.

“They might even believe you’re truly gone. What if your husband thinks you’re dead and decides to join you? What then?”

“You have a talent for saying the most vile things. Norma wouldn’t—he’s not that foolish—”

“Ever heard the tale of star-crossed lovers who plan a secret meeting? The boy thinks the girl has died and ends his own life, only for her to discover his body moments later. A classic tragedy.”

“What kind of idiot story is that?”

“Anyone would think the same if they saw your body now—no matter how much divine power they tried pouring in.”

“He’s a wise man.”

“Diazi’s weakness is love. I made sure of it.”

The goddess excelled at sowing doubt.

Involuntarily, an image of Norma flashed in my mind—his warm smile, the way his eyes crinkled when he told me he’d follow me anywhere. The thought that her callous words might actually come true made my vision spin.

She was right. I didn’t have time to sit around like this.

* * *

Norma pushed his horse relentlessly, pouring divine power into it to ensure it wouldn’t collapse from exhaustion. He was on the brink of collapse himself but couldn’t afford to stop.

The roads and villages of the McFoy estate were eerily silent as he rode through, the stillness amplifying his dread. The closer he came to the main estate, the more he felt an ominous energy that was entirely unnatural. It was clear something terrible was happening.

Norma’s journey to Baghdad had been to find a way to eliminate Nyx, but it seemed that choice had been a grave mistake. He couldn’t pinpoint where everything had gone wrong, only that it had all unraveled into chaos.

Finally reaching the estate, finding Aisa wasn’t difficult. Her voice called out to him from somewhere ahead.

For a fleeting moment, he didn’t know whether to weep or rejoice. Should he feel relief for finding her? Or despair that she had stayed behind in this silent, lifeless stronghold?

Instinctively, he looked up in the direction of her voice. There, piercing the blue sky, was a black streak of unknown origin.

Norma’s heart plummeted. The dark tendrils were the same as the ones he had seen in Tantaros.

He leaped from his horse and rushed up the stairs leading to the battlements, his mind racing with horrific possibilities. When he finally reached the top and saw her, the sight was almost too much to believe.

Aisa was falling backward, teetering on the edge of the battlement. Around her swirled a dark ash-like substance, climbing her body like a living curse—the same one that had once consumed him.

There was no time to think. Norma lunged forward, stretching his hand toward her just as she started to slip.

The words he had once said weren’t a joke: if he could be with her, it didn’t matter where they went. No exaggeration, no empty sentiment.

Finally, her eyes met his. She reached for him, and for a brief moment, despite the despair of the situation, Norma felt a flicker of relief. No matter what came next, they would face it together. That was enough for him.

But he had forgotten—Aisa McFoy always defied expectations.

Just as that faint relief settled in, Aisa’s expression shifted. She pulled back her hand, tucking it behind her as if shielding him from her touch. Then, to his astonishment, her lips moved to form words: ‘I love you.’

Norma couldn’t make sense of it. All he knew was that Aisa was preparing to leave him, and this time, it felt permanent.

‘Why… Why—?

How could she say she loved him and then abandon him? To a Diazi, such a contradiction was unthinkable. He couldn’t understand.

No one had taught him to sacrifice himself for another; the Diazi creed was clear: “We live and die together.” They had promised each other, hadnt they? Promised to face everything side by side.

Norma felt a deep, unprecedented betrayal. Even the isolation and fear he’d endured during his long sleep couldn’t compare to the terror of losing her now.

Then her eyes closed, and an uncontrollable surge of white light exploded from Norma’s fingertips, triggered by his overwhelming panic. Before that light could act, however, Antoinette had already leapt from his arm, landing safely in Aisa’s grasp.

Norma reached her just in time, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his embrace. The three of them tumbled across the uneven stones of the battlement, rolling to a halt.

For a moment, brilliant white light engulfed them, radiating wildly from Norma in his unstable state. But the strain of using so much divine power to reach McFoy had taken its toll. The light soon dimmed.

Norma blinked slowly, struggling to sit up, and turned his attention to Aisa in his arms. She lay limp, her small frame eerily still. Antoinette, curled on her chest, was equally motionless.

It looked so much like the time she had fallen asleep on the grass, her breathing soft and quiet. But no matter how closely he listened now, there was no sound.

“Aisa…”

His voice shook uncontrollably, but no answer came.

At some point, Glen appeared beside him, shouting something urgent. Norma didn’t hear a word. His focus was solely on Aisa.

Her body began to emit a faint, radiant light—golden streaks escaping from her skin. The brilliance grew, forcing Norma to shield his eyes as the light seemed to pierce the heavens.

It was Ophelia’s divine power, returning to its source.

The force was overwhelming, forming a massive golden pillar that shot into the sky. The sheer intensity of it made Norma feel as though he was losing her all over again. He cradled her closer, but the light was unstoppable, spilling from her body and painting the heavens in gold.

As he lowered his gaze, he caught sight of Glen kneeling on the ground, his head bowed, and a handful of holy knights encircling Nyx in the distance. The dark entity was laughing maniacally, throwing its arms up in triumph.

But the celebration was short-lived.

The golden light descended in torrents, like rain. As it touched the earth, Nyx faltered. The curse’s power dissipated, severing the unnatural connection between Nyx’s stolen neck and Billynant’s body.

The severed head rolled across the stones, and the bloodied body collapsed forward. Nyx, stripped of its strength, was powerless. After all its horrors, the creature was undone with disarming ease.

Norma barely registered Nyx’s downfall. He glanced back at Aisa, only to notice something even more terrifying.

Her small frame, cradled in his arms, bore a gaping hole in her abdomen—perfectly aligned with the wound that had once claimed her life.

“No…”

Norma gathered what little divine power he had left, channeling it into her. But no matter how much he gave, her body rejected it. His strength spilled uselessly onto the ground.

“Aisa. Why…?”

She wasn’t like him. When he’d been cursed, he’d fallen into a long slumber. But Aisa wasn’t asleep. She felt… gone.

The more he tried to understand, the more uncertain he became. Tears welled up and fell from his eyes, one after another, as he clung to her limp body.

“Aisa…”

He tightened his arms around her, pulling her close, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Even so, it felt as if she were slipping away, like sand through his fingers.

“Aisa… where are you?”

He whispered hoarsely, his voice breaking. But the only answer was silence.