<Episode 188>
The Death of Rue.
The unexpected obstacle brought back the question I’d put on the back burner until now.
Why did I come to Astrsosa 160 years ago?
This dilemma occasionally bothered me like a thorn stuck in my fingertips.
What exactly was Dian’s legacy for?
To peer into his soul? Or to connect with the past through that soul?
Was I brought here to save Dian? Or perhaps to save Rue? The end of these lingering questions always led to one conclusion.
I had to return home.
I had to go back to Rue, my friends, and the reality where life awaited me.
But why was I back in this desert?
“Dian.”
My voice spread through the dry sandstorms.
“What on earth do you want from me?”
A white thread shot out from my heart. The thread, as it spiraled, soon formed a massive sphere. It was my soul.
I could feel it.
Dian’s soul, residing within me, was trying to show me something.
Strange fragments of memories flooded my mind.
‘…This is…’
A bright light engulfed me.
When I regained consciousness, I was no longer standing in the desert.
A black castle, shrouded in darkness.
The first sensation I noticed inside was the repulsive smell of blood piercing my nose.
A tingling sensation swept through the skin of my entire body, and then soon evaporated. This energy, unlike anything I had experienced when facing a mere heart crystal, intensified the excitement and fervor that lay deep within my instincts.
Kiiiiiiii!
I locked eyes with the wielder of the overwhelming power that covered the entirety of Queen Island. With sweat-soaked hands, I tightened my grip on the sword and cried out..
“Mephisto!”
The Magic War that engulfed the whole continent in terror.
That’s right. I was standing here to put an end to that war!
I advanced with my sword to complete my final mission. However, despite my vengeful screams, the war of words between us was poor.
The Demon I finally faced after ten years of wandering was a stuffed old man.
Mephisto was already dying.
His thin hair, sparse black with mostly white, were connected to his head like hoses, and his toes and fingertips were blackened and rotten.
And above all, there was a gaping hole where his heart should have been.
Inside the hole, in the midst of thin vessels resembling spiderwebs, a white pearl could be seen. All the energy from the mechanical devices supporting Mephisto was concentrated in that pearl.
‘I must destroy that.’
Even I, who was unaware of the existence of a heart crystal at the time, could clearly see that fact.
Kiiiiiiii!
With each spurt of the devils’ black blood, a vivid resonance reverberated in my mind.
-Kill them.
Tearing through the pouring enemies, slashing and cutting, I suddenly remembered a forgotten fact.
-Cut them down.
This memory was one I had lost.
A memory of my death, lost four years ago.
Until now, the information I could recall about this moment was extremely limited. Mephisto’s and my soul clashed. That I died in the process.
Finally, after cutting down all the devils, I faced Mephisto. But this sight, this encounter, left no trace in my memory.
“…Huh.”
But not anymore.
The demon, who had been breathing weirdly like a newborn baby pinned to the wall, lifted his head. A harsh voice that evoked discomfort in the listener echoed in my ears.
“Young one.”
Emotion seemed to bloom for the first time in the eyes that had been casually staring at me as I stepped on the corpses of devils.
“I was once… a slave.”
That emotion was loneliness.
“The ship I was born on was a slave ship. My father was a slave rowing the oars of that ship, and my mother was a prostitute who met his gaze. From the moment I was born, I was treated as an object, not a person, and I learned to obey my master.”
Could even a vicious great wizard who had ravaged humanity become nothing more than a weak human in the face of death? It wasn’t surprising.
“My life completely turned upside down when I was twelve years old when I stabbed my master’s heart twelve times…”
The rest couldn’t be continued.
Tuk. The head that had been cleanly severed rolled on the floor. I wiped the blood off my sword and forcefully struck the fallen head with my foot with all my might.
“To think you could babble on for five more words.”
Regret filled me, I should’ve killed him as soon as he opened his mouth.
“Haah.”
I let out a long sigh and turned my gaze to the headless corpse.
The pearl that occupied the space where the heart should have been.
The moment I grabbed that eerie pearl and tore it out of Mephisto’s body.
Kwaaaang!
As Mephisto’s body exploded, a powerful storm swept through.
The collision between a part of his soul, which couldn’t be absorbed into the heart crystal, and my own soul happened in a flash.
* * *
Then, I died.
A warm mist began to fill the gaps of my broken soul. It was Dian’s soul.
* * *
Eventually, I was resurrected from the ashes.
It was a revival that took a whopping four years.
* * *
When I opened my eyes,
I found myself standing in the desert once again.
“My true self is only complete when I know, accept, and discard myself.”
I casually turned around at the sudden voice. I could see the walls that had fallen earlier.
“The fourth wall.”
Now, it had become grains of sand, but the traces were still there.
‘The initiative in life begins with knowing oneself.’
The first wall shattered in the Midwinterre.
‘I cannot throw my sword away. If I can’t discard it, then I just have to accept it and endure. I’m confident I can. The resonance of this sword is my own.’
The second wall shattered beneath the waterfall.
‘Stay healthy and take care of the rest.’
‘Someone called out my name like a scream. I carried that call on my back and ventured into the darkness. Towards a path I would never come back from.’
The third wall shattered when I personally headed towards Mephisto’s castle.
And then.
‘I died.’
The lost memories of the four years revealed to me by Dian’s soul, which was asleep within me.
Death.
My death… shattered the final fourth wall.
.
.
.
The cracked soul seemed to surge with strength.
.
.
.
I transcended all the walls of mortality.
.
.
.
“…Sh.”
.
.
.
“Ash.”
.
.
.
Finally!
I didn’t see any walls blocking my way anymore.
Beyond the crumbling sand, I could see brilliant fixed stars in the sky. There was no longer day or night in the sky. The vast universe stretched endlessly, silently gazing down at me.
The road in front of me was incredibly long.
Beyond the dry desert hills, there were swamps shrouded in black mist, lands of boiling lava beyond the bubbling swamps, forests where beasts leaped beyond the hardened basaltic plateau, and snow-white mountains rising above the clouds beyond the sleeping meadow of the World Tree.
‘Ah.’
I suddenly realized.
This path was one I had to walk.
The moment I took the first step, there was no worry or concern within me. My body, soul, and consciousness formed a perfect unity as I gazed at the distant universe.
“Stop, Ash.”
A firm voice demanded of me.
Instinctively, I turned around. A young man with blue hair stood there, gripping my wrist. There was only one person who could visit my desert without my permission like this.
Rue’s power.
He pulled me towards him.
“Don’t go to that world. I won’t allow it.”
“Why?”
I couldn’t possibly understand his choice.
“You know it. This is my chance to become complete. Now, I can be free from all the destinies that bind me.”
“Who decides that?”
His sly smile was chilling. It was a blatant sneer.
He stepped closer and cupped my face with both hands. As if saying hello to a long reunion, he stared into my eyes for a while before giving an incredibly loving look.
“Don’t be mistaken, Ash. How can you be complete without me?”
A gentle breath soothed me, as if comforting a naive child.
“It’s easier to give up. You don’t have the qualifications to walk that path.”
“I determine what qualifications I have.”
“What a great answer. You were well-qualified to be a slave master.”
“You can’t stop me.”
Haha. With a dry laugh, Rue pulled my face closer.
“You can’t be the one saying such foolish things… Who was the one that made me stick to this earth like a fallen star?”
“…”
“It was you. Because of you, I became a half-star, stuck in the ground. Are you going to deny it?”
“…”
“But anyways, Ash. Your original face is much prettier.”
At the end of that mirage-like whisper, his lips devoured my breath.
AAA
Actually I always felt like there was more to the final showdown since nothing much was said about it but it makes sense now since Daisy didn’t remember much about it either
Also,
Mephisto: I have a really tragic backstor-
Daisy: doooon’t care
And wow I
the concept of time is really a paradox
To be honest, I expected more intensity from this chapter 😀 Daisy finally met Rue again, but nothing really happens. Is this even the real Rue or some kind of mirage to lead her astray? Rue, our little fallen star, I don’t feel your 150-year-old love, eh.
Thank you for the chapter!
It is rather confusing chronology but strangely fitting. Something like Neon Genesis Evangelion but you can actually follow the plot on first watch. Now only saving Natasha is left.
I’m afraid that Memphisto is some kind of part of Rue, haaaaaaa
He’s not 😭😭😭 the mephisto allegations never seem to let go of Rue for some reason lmaoo
La mayoria de los escritores de novelas: “debes escuchar atentamente la tragica historia de los malvados antes de matarlos y luego perdonarlos y ayudarlos a sanar”
Nuestra autora: “Ash, no has escuchado suficiente? Mátalo luego!!” 🤣