<Episode 69>
***
The moment she entered Duke Kandel’s residence, it was as if someone was laughing at her.
Her entire body felt as if the horrifyingly cold scales of a snake were slowly moving across it.
Arkane was blatantly revealing his energy.
Whoosh-
Judith ground her teeth in hatred and was so furious that her eyes were bloodshot, and she ran toward the main building, which was slowly being engulfed in darkness.
Bang-!
‘You must not look back!’
She saw the tragedy of hundreds of lives being crushed into no form and consumed by darkness.
Standing in front of a statue depicting a disgusting being that she never wanted to see again even in her dreams……
She also saw the image of the child she loved the most, not anyone else.
[If you want to die peacefully………There is something you should never forget in your future life.]
Her hair turned white as she was consumed by anger that made rational thinking impossible.
[This incident has left serious damage on your soul, never again.]
Thunder-
[You must not carelessly use the same level of power that you have been using until now.]
Faced with the reality of terrible betrayal.
The advice given by a being who only remembered the ages-old history of the universe melted away without form
Judith, who was driven to the point where she cried out because her soul could not withstand the summoning circle that had reached its completion, stood alone in front of the statue of the evil being……
‘Great aunt…..?’
She looked down into the eyes of the innocent child who had no idea what his grandfather and parents were planning to do to him.
Judith ignored the pain, tightly clenching her jawbone that felt it would break and stared ahead, holding on to Meinhardt’s hand with all her might and leading him to her side as if to protect him.
‘What are you trying to do to this child!’
She screamed, anger seething in her soul.
The Kandel family members surrounding the crowd were all caught up in fear and only looked at each other, unable to move forward hastily.
‘Yes, you ****!’1He swore here🙂
The person who broke the silence and shouted was the only one in this family who could stand against Judith Sephemia Kandel.
‘Judith Sephemia Kandel, what are you doing!’
It was her half-brother, Jordi.
‘If you’re interfering with the family’s important affairs, you can’t get out of here!’
It’s an important affair…….
Judith was simply disillusioned by the actions of her half-brother, who called such extremely greedy and ugly acts as important affairs, and burst out in exasperated laughter.
‘It looks like old age has finally come to you, brother.’
Then she stopped laughing and quietly muttered.
Judith’s half-brother, whom she loved when she was young, thinking that he was the only blood relative she could rely on, after countless years passed, he threw off the mask that thinly concealed his underlying feelings, distorted his wrinkled face in an ugly way, and cried out.
‘Get out of the way, it’s all for the family!’
‘Okay? It’s for the family……so you tried to offer a nine-year-old child as a living sacrifice to the Spirit King of Darkness?’
Judith smiled slowly and said.
She wonder what might have happened if she missed it.
Like the little brother she couldn’t protect that day and left helplessly.
She held the child’s hand more tightly than necessary out of fear.
As a result, a small moan was heard.
The moment I once again painfully confirmed the existence of the small and weak life, an unquenchable anger began to lick my soul, clinging to me and burning as if it would never be extinguished again.
‘And what are all those bone fragments? Explain it to me, brother.’
She wanted to believe in them more than anything else.
She didn’t want to experience the pain of loss ever again.
At the same time, as a hero who protected the world, Judith muttered blankly as she took in the sight of the white bones left behind by the hundreds of lives that her blood relatives had cruelly killed to satisfy their vain greed.
‘Are you saying that you are making people who have nothing to do with us the victims of this terrible ritual… and that you are doing this for the sake of your family?’
‘How dare you……’
Judith’s voice was soft, but it did not suit the current situation and she was muttering in a rather creepy voice.
Soon, her red and bloodshot eyes widened, and although she was disappointed again and again, she shouted in a voice that made her blood boil towards the old man she considered her brother.
‘Have you forgotten why I, your blood relative, earned the name hero?’
Her trembling hands were clenched so tightly that it seemed as if she might break it.
‘I fought against the descendants of Arkane who were rushing to tear my skin, grind my bones, and plunge my soul into the abyss of mud!…… How on earth did I endure it!’
The heart of the person who let out a scream that was a mixture of indescribable sadness and burning anger was cut to pieces by a dagger, to the point where there was no part left intact.
‘Shouldn’t you have been afraid for me? Due to endless threats, my heart become tattered and my body continues to be chipped away. However I endured…Because I’m the only one.’
Immediately after witnessing the death of someone she couldn’t bear lose before her eyes.
Her childhood was filled with extreme loneliness.
They were the culprits who killed her mother and younger brother, and at the same time, her family members who share blood with her.
They only worshipped and obsessed over the part of the Spirit King that she had.
She couldn’t receive a single piece of sincere concern from anyone.
And when she was being consumed by suffering, she was able to regain some happiness from a boy who came to her like a ray of light.
However, fate gave the boy and her a mission too cruel to bear.
She was able to wield great power to her heart’s content, as if she was almost immortal, transcending her mortal fate, but still, the fear of death, the cruel end of innocent people in her sight……
She couldn’t just ignore it.
‘If I gave up, it was clear that this world will eventually enter the path of destruction, and yes… you, my blood relatives, would not face death intact either! That’s why I endured that hellish time and protected this empire and the world!’
Caught up in the countless sorrows and agony, she would turn away from even her comrades who were worried about her and curl up alone, sobbing silently.
Why was fate so cruel to her?
She endlessly asked these questions and hoped it would all end.
Still, even if she wanted to give up everything.
Those who come to her mind were the people who are clearly alive despite the approaching disaster.
How foolish….
Although they were heartless and ugly, her family was still related to her by blood.
It was you…2She is saying it was them she thought about at her lowest.
‘Isn’t that your son? Taking this child’s life completely in order to obtain a more perfect hero…… By sacrificing even more innocent lives, you summoned Arkane and no one else…… How dare you make such a foolish and harmful decision?’
However, the attachment that she could not let go of only returned as a painful betrayal.
Her blood and tears mixed together and horrifyingly red teardrops rolled down from Judith’s eyes.
A strong, hateful madness hung over her face as she shed bloody tears on that day.
‘And yet, are you really human?’
There were beings not even worthy of love.
‘I can no longer allow you disgusting people who have given up on being human to set foot on this earth and live.’
She was arrogant and showed off on the outside, but she couldn’t ignore their foolish nature.
Yet she couldn’t cut them off, and tolerated their bad habits and again and again until this moment.
So now all the mistakes shall be corrected.
[Judith………? Stop, stop. What on earth are you planning to do?…… ! Judith!]As Judith finally abandoned herself completely.
She ignored even the spirit king’s voice ringing in her mind.
She exploded as if releasing a power that was too great for a mere mortal to possess, which was leaking from the cracks of the soul that had already cracked into pieces because it could not hold on.
Thunder-!
Dazzling flashes of light erupt from all directions.
Even the frenzy of the golden lightning and the burning pain throughout her body were seen as signs that she was washing away all her mistakes and regaining her freedom.
Judith quietly closed her eyes, looking into the empty space annihilated by light.
***
The family that committed that unforgivable crime paid the price by being reduced to a mere heap of ashes.
The once splendid and extravagant mansion was transformed into ruins as if thousands of years had passed.
Judith opened her eyes blankly and soon realized.
The price of ignoring the advice given by the Spirit King of Wisdom was now being paid.
‘Ugh…….’
A small cry was heard from nearby.
Meinhardt was sobbing.
Judith whispered to the sobbing child, holding onto the body that seemed ready to crumble at any moment.
‘……Don’t cry.’
‘But…….’
He was a child who did not usually show his emotions to the point of concern.
But at this moment, he was truly sad for her.
Judith, who was looking down at the child, had a faint smile on her face that seemed ready to break at any moment.
She was truly glad.
Unlike that childhood day when she couldn’t do any thing and watched her younger brother as he died helplessly…… She didn’t lose him.
But she was going to die soon, and she couldn’t protect him anymore.
What is the last thing I can tell you?
‘……like me.’
After a short thought, Judith slowly opened her mouth.
She never wanted him to meet the same vain end as her.
He must live happily without feeling loneliness or pain, surrounded by people who truly love and care for him.
‘Don’t be caught up in petty thoughts and live your life. Be free and don’t sacrifice yourself for anything else.’
You… shouldn’t live a life like me.
Never.
In her clouded mind, Judith turned to the small, weak child who was her only regret.
In a painful life.
‘What remains for you after sacrifice……… In the end is nothing.’
After reciting the truth that she painfully realized, she slowly closed her lowering eyelids.
Between the black eyelids, all the light of life was lost and the darkened eyes disappeared.
Thus, the most intense light that drove away the darkness…
She was born into the world as a being loved by Astrape, the Spirit King of Electricity, and after countless hardships, she ended her life as a sacrifice for her beloved child.
The first great spiritist, Judith Sephemia Kandel, died.
***
TL:
That was really intense and needed some tissues.༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
This chapter and the future chapters will take 10 moondusts to be unlocked as it seems setting a too low price could cause problems to the site, so I set one within the normal range. Thank you for your support as always and enjoy 💕
