### Chapter: 308
It was only a few hours later that Kraush finally managed to pull himself together.
‘Aria.’
Even the divine messengers were desperately fighting for their lives.
But he ended up using more power than he had anticipated.
So he just made sure to keep an eye on Aria from a distance and then fainted, nearly losing consciousness.
Thanks to that, he had no clue about her current situation.
“This is no time to be dawdling.”
This place was just one of the timelines created by Aura.
To move towards the true center of the Demonic Bastion, he had to break free from here.
And for that, he had to try everything possible.
‘I have no idea why Aura is showing me this, but…’
There was no denying there had to be some connection to Aria since he had encountered her.
With that thought, Kraush started to pick himself up and run.
His legs were wobbling, but he didn’t care one bit.
On his way forward, he noticed flames erupting in various places.
Mostly in residential areas.
There were no people around.
Only the Curse Erosion creatures flitting about.
The place was clean, even devoid of corpses.
It was a mystery whether the people who had been here survived or were all gobbled up by the Erosion creatures.
Since he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he couldn’t tell.
However, one thing was certain.
This place was a world that could become the future at any moment.
Kraush’s world was also marching ahead, full of potential disasters.
If anything went wrong, it could easily end up like this.
‘What an unexpected opportunity for reflection.’
After reincarnating, Kraush had relaxed somewhat.
The human heart is truly wicked.
Living in a world that wasn’t too bad without witnessing destruction, one tends to think they’ve done enough.
Even though he hadn’t managed to save anyone yet.
“Thanks a lot.”
Kraush swallowed a bitter laugh and pushed the limits of his accelerating pace.
As if the world was telling him it was not the time to rest.
And Kraush had no intention of slowing down either.
He didn’t know how to stop until he had saved this godforsaken world.
The flames around him began to intensify.
But despite that, all he could see on his path were the corpses of the Erosion creatures.
It was as if a storm had swept through.
The Erosion creatures lay slaughtered, rolling on the ground.
Looking at those remains, Kraush kept moving forward.
And not long after, he arrived at the entrance of the crumbled Empire.
The Empire was shrouded in ash, with the flames extinguished.
Once glorious splendor turned to mere illusion.
The Ephania Empire had not a single ember left.
Kraush passed through the ashes.
It felt as if the Ephania Empire had truly perished.
The royal palace had burned down to nothing in the late evening.
Kraush briefly thought of Sigrid but quickly shook it off.
Sigrid he remembered was not here.
Kraush’s steps began to slow down gradually.
He sensed a presence nearby.
His gaze landed on a specific spot.
There sat a figure with dusty blonde hair, covered in ash.
She seemed drained of all energy.
Barely managing to exhale, she gasped for breath.
“Aria.”
Kraush called her name.
As if on cue, Aria opened her eyes slightly.
Crimson blood dripped from her abdomen.
She had been pierced.
As she faced Kraush, a faint smile emerged on her face.
“You’re late.”
Indeed, he was late.
He had made it just in time after gathering himself, and yet she was in this state.
Kraush rushed to her side and sat down.
He rummaged through his pockets, pulling out a healing potion.
Used for rapid treatment.
It wouldn’t restore her entirely, but it was good for emergency care.
“It’s no use. I can’t recover from this.”
“Cut the drama.”
“It’s not drama; I used the Holy Sword.”
Kraush bit his lip slightly.
As she said, Aria had used the awakened Holy Sword.
The Holy Sword originally had the power to restore its user’s body.
But aside from that, apart from its symbolic nature, it didn’t hold much special effect.
However, the Holy Sword possessed a single secret skill that people were unaware of.
Awakening.
The true form of the Holy Sword, the Awakening, required special conditions.
It needed to absorb divine power, divine particles.
To achieve that, Aria had visited the Sanctuary to absorb the divine mist.
Yet even with that, it was insufficient to fully awaken the sword.
So, what Aria had used was her own divine power.
Like other Spirit Kings, Aria had reached demi-god status.
The Holy Sword that devoured her divine power successfully awakened.
But the cost was her current state.
Aria’s flesh had completely lost its vitality.
After becoming a demi-god, her life source was replaced with divine power.
And now, pushing all that divine power into the Holy Sword…
While it gained astounding destructive power, her life turned into a flickering candle in the wind.
“But don’t worry. I took down the Conqueror’s White Knight.”
She managed to catch her breath and comforted Kraush.
With the awakened Holy Sword, Aria had slain the Conqueror’s White Knight.
If others heard, they would sing her praises as a hero.
But Kraush knew better.
He knew the Conqueror’s White Knight was just the beginning.
The next three Knights would far surpass the Conqueror’s White Knight.
And there was no one left in this world who could stop them.
Aria’s breaths became increasingly labored.
Even using the potion, there was no way to recover since her body had lost its vitality.
Fear wasn’t in her eyes, though.
In her mind, she would just reincarnate after this.
To her, death felt too far off.
There was no one left in this world who would mourn her departure.
While Aria was shocked and withdrawn, many others had already left this world fighting to protect it.
No, even if they were all still alive,
the only one who could genuinely shed tears for her was the Aria she had betrayed herself.
They didn’t exist in any world anymore.
Even if Aria reincarnated, the Kraush who had once been her lover no longer existed.
‘Ah.’
Aria let out a brief sigh within herself.
Now she desperately wanted to see him again.
But she was leaving for a world where even his tracks had vanished.
‘Everything was different.’
Aria had always thought she would return to the past.
If she were to go back and build connections, it would be the same as before.
But only on this day did she come to realize.
Even if she returned to the past, she was not the same person as she once was, and thus they couldn’t forge the same bonds.
Therefore, she believed she should have poured everything to protect at least one world.
With a light-hearted approach to reincarnation, she realized how foolish she had been, and tears slowly streamed down Aria’s face.
Why hadn’t she realized this sooner?
And why hadn’t she fought desperately to protect the world he was in?
Filled with regrets, Aria was overwhelmed by despair.
“You did well.”
At that moment, a voice reached her ears.
Tears-wet, Aria turned her hazy gaze upward.
There stood someone silently watching her.
He introduced himself as Kradd.
Perhaps because of her tears, she couldn’t see his face clearly.
But somehow, it felt like the face of the one she longed to see the most.
Kraush Balheim.
The lover she had loved, cherished, and ultimately betrayed, killing him with her own hands.
“K-Kraush.”
Aria struggled to call his name in her fading voice.
“I-I.”
With almost all her strength drained, she managed to raise her hand.
By now, Kraush had grasped her hand.
Feeling warmth from the touch, Aria managed a faint smile.
“I’m sorry.”
With her unspoken apology stuck in her throat, Aria’s final strength waned.
Her arm dropped down.
Her head, once raised, lost the strength to stay up and fell forward.
An eerie silence enveloped the place.
Buried in the ash, she lay unmoving.
Kraush, still holding her hand, sat down beside her.
In the endless cycles of reincarnation, Aria had always suffered from profound loneliness.
No matter how much she reincarnated and met familiar faces, they were still not the ones Aria truly loved and cherished.
Seeing their deaths repeatedly, Aria couldn’t bring herself to offer them her true feelings anymore.
In the past, she had no idea about that fact.
But now, Kraush understood her feelings a little.
“In the next reincarnation, don’t be lonely.”
At the very least, he wanted her journey ahead to be free from loneliness.
Kraush held onto Aria’s hand quietly as he waited.
The sky dimmed slowly.
Although the destroyed world had clouds drifting overhead, stars twinkled brightly.
Even with the vast number of shining stars, this world’s light was fading.
Kraush gazed up at the serene night sky.
If one day, after receiving the gift of immortality from the Crimson Garden, everyone were to leave…
Would he also be looking up at the same sky?
It was uncertain.
For that was a future even Kraush hadn’t dared to step into yet.
Kraush didn’t consider that future to be overwhelmingly sad.
Because at that time, it wouldn’t be something lost; it would purely be something he sent on.
Kraush released Aria’s hand and got up from the spot.
He loosened his cloak and draped it over her, then slowly walked away.
The Conqueror’s White Knight had fallen.
Aria had also died facing him.
Yet, the world created by Aura continued on, unending.
Kraush stood towering at the center of the former Empire.
From afar, dark clouds rolled in.
It was a sign that new destruction was approaching this world once more.
“I won’t let my world end up like this.”
Kraush muttered to himself as he raised both hands over his chest.
Then, he slowly gathered them together.
“I will not let this wretched world, struggling towards destruction, fall apart. I will protect it.”
As Kraush’s hands began to pulsate, the world around him started to bend and draw closer.
Kraush began to swallow this world created by Aura.
“So…”
Kraush declared to the Aura swirling around him.
“World, lend me your strength.”
Not relying on the uncertainty of reincarnation,
but asking for the strength to genuinely protect the world.
Kraush smiled gently at this thought.
“Of course, even if you don’t help, I’ll just steal it anyway.”
At that moment, the Black Hood activated in Kraush’s palm.
[ Target: ‘World’s Rift’ ]
What he would take was Aura.
He was about to show what a thief’s spirit really meant.
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