### Chapter 355
Activation of the Black Hood on Ardelju
Kraush had targeted something unknown that was sealing Ardelju’s mind with the Black Hood.
‘Can the Black Hood really take something I’m not even aware of?’
Who knows?
But there was no reason not to try.
Suddenly, Kraush’s hand transformed into a glowing white.
After a brief moment, he felt a surge of power flowing into his grasp.
‘It’s working.’
Upon realizing this, Kraush pulled his hand back, holding the Black Hood.
The mysterious force that enveloped Ardelju was passing directly to Kraush.
It was now threatening to swallow Kraush’s mind whole.
‘Not on my watch.’
But this alone wasn’t enough to consume Kraush’s mind.
The ignited Ignis swiftly incinerated the unknown force in an instant.
Kraush took a deep breath and slowly turned to look at Ardelju.
“…Did it work?”
Merzia, who had been silently watching from behind, cautiously asked.
Kraush remained uncertain.
He wasn’t sure if Ardelju’s mind was still intact.
After a brief wait,
“Cough, cough.”
A cough erupted from Ardelju’s mouth.
Seeing this, Merzia hurried over to her side.
Slowly, light began to return to Ardelju’s previously dull eyes.
“Ardelju? Are you back with us?”
“Uh, where… where am I?”
Ardelju stammered, trembling as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen.
Kraush exchanged glances with Merzia.
It seemed they needed to wait until she calmed down.
While Merzia tended to Ardelju, Kraush stepped back and waited.
His mind was racing with confusion.
“…Crimson Garden.”
When Kraush quietly whispered, he heard the caw of crows outside.
He spoke in a barely audible voice, just enough for Merzia to hear.
“Do you know anything about ancient magic?”
[I do. I’ve seen quite a bit of it.]
As expected, Crimson Garden had knowledge of ancient magic.
Mages had existed since ancient times.
They sought the pinnacle of magic, birthing countless ancient spells in their quest.
Among those ancient magics, some were extraordinarily dangerous, intertwining with the essence of living beings and the very notion of life itself.
“In the past, I once explored ruins searching for ancient relics.”
Kraush had encountered ancient magic traps meant to slay intruders in those ruins.
“And I came across the runes of ancient magic inscribed there.”
[Those are Akasha runes. A magical circle created from the fusion of all languages to overcome the limits of cognitive thought.]
“Yeah, I felt the same power embodied in the Black Hood as I was trying to extract it.”
If Kraush hadn’t explored the ruins, he might not have even recalled the essence of that ancient magic circle.
He felt Crimson Garden grimacing in response.
[Akasha runes should only exist now within trace remnants of ancient ruins, right?]
Essentially, this ancient magic was thought to be lost to time.
However, why was some ancient magic inscribed on Ardelju’s body?
Kraush and Crimson Garden were caught in the same contemplation.
“Kraush Balheim.”
At that moment, Merzia called out to Kraush.
He decided to save their discussion for later and walked over to her.
As Kraush approached Merzia, he saw Ardelju calming down a bit.
“Hello, Ardelju.”
Kraush greeted first.
Ardelju turned to him and reciprocated the greeting.
“Uh, yeah, hello.”
Her response still felt a bit hesitant.
Seeing her reaction, Kraush aligned his gaze with hers, sitting down before continuing.
“You’ve only just regained consciousness. Do you know what year and month it is?”
Those who had been unconscious for a long time often lose their sense of time.
So, it was best to restore that sense of time first as a means to awaken her fully.
“…Today? It feels like quite a while since I’ve lost consciousness. Isn’t it around June of the 6th year of Rahera?”
The sixth year of Rahera was sixteen years ago.
Kraush and Merzia exchanged looks.
Ardelju believed she had only fainted for about a month at most.
This revelation could cause significant confusion when confronted with the present time.
‘We shouldn’t rush to inform her.’
Unspoken agreement passed between Merzia and Kraush.
“Then do you have any memories from before you collapsed?”
“Well, um, it’s a bit weird to say, but…”
Ardelju looked down at her abdomen with unease.
“Recently, I hadn’t had any relations with a man. Suddenly, my belly started to swell. All in just one day.”
One day to become swollen?
That was clearly not a normal situation.
Ardelju was utterly startled by her suddenly swollen belly.
Having lived as an herbalist for a long time, she must have recognized that it was anything but normal.
“I tried to make some herbal medicine, but labor pains hit me immediately.”
Ultimately, she collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.
And the moment of childbirth had begun.
Recalling the agony from that time made her tremble, curling up.
Childbirth beginning when she hadn’t even had relations with a man?
Of course, that would entail an enormous amount of fear.
In the midst of suffering and terror, the moment she gave birth to the child,
She felt her mind slipping away into oblivion.
“It was terrifying. It felt like everything inside me was being taken away by the child. I felt as if all my insides were being expelled.”
Merzia hastily covered her with a blanket, seeing Ardelju trembling violently and shedding tears.
“But the child was even more unbelievable.”
She vividly recalled the nightmare of that day.
“The newborn didn’t cry. It just crawled.”
A newborn crawling?
That was undeniably impossible.
“And then it suckled for a while.”
As if trying to drain the last nutrients left from its mother.
Watching the child suck desperately, Ardelju’s mental state began to fade away.
“And… I also remember hearing footsteps.”
She couldn’t tell who the footsteps belonged to.
All she knew was that it was the voice of an adult woman.
“Could that voice belong to Cindy?”
Merzia hastily asked, mentioning her sister’s name.
But Ardelju shook her head.
“No, I remember Cindy’s voice. It was definitely a voice I had never heard before.”
Upon hearing Ardelju’s negation, Kraush fell into deep thought.
‘The child born that day was definitely Abella.’
At that moment, whoever had come by must have known Abella was about to be born.
Kraush’s expression gradually darkened.
‘Abella.’
What on earth are you?
‘The one who used Akasha runes to cast ancient magic on Ardelju must surely be the woman who appeared later.’
If that’s the case, then that woman was also a mage.
‘Wait a moment.’
In that moment, Kraush focused on three elements.
The woman, the mage, and the one who knew Abella was going to be born.
Kraush’s eyes began to widen in realization.
‘Hell Fairy?’
The Red Witch Abella had planted within Ixion her notion of the World Erosion.
‘Was the Hell Fairy the mastermind behind Abella’s birth?’
No, that can’t be.
The Hell Fairy had already vanished from the scene somewhere in Kraush’s past life.
If she were the mastermind behind all this, there would be no reason for her to remain hidden until the point of destruction.
‘The Hell Fairy is clearly following Abella. Her master is undoubtedly Abella.’
At the last moment of Aria returning,
Who was the one that had survived by his side?
‘Abella.’
Kraush stood up from his spot.
Merzia, while caring for Ardelju, cast a perplexed look at him, but Kraush merely turned and walked out slowly.
His mind was unraveling.
‘The Hell Fairy was already active in Ixion by the time Abella was born.’
The incident in Lagrain was a prime example from the year shortly after Abella was born.
Back then, the Hell Fairy and the Luminary had jointly instigated the tragedy of Lagrain.
‘I thought the Hell Fairy’s actions then had nothing to do with Abella.’
That incident was merely the Hell Fairy parachuting in for Ixion.
Kraush believed it was disconnected from Abella.
Yet perhaps from that point, the Hell Fairy had already acted upon Abella’s command.
‘The Hell Fairy must have erased any traces of herself from Ixion.’
Kraush assumed this was because the dealings between Ixion and the royal family had turned south, and the Emperor Daphilon Junon had used skills to wipe clean all traces.
But was it solely the royal family’s intention behind this?
‘In an effort to erase all connections to the Hell Fairy.’
Abella may have intentionally slipped her influence between Ixion and the royal family.
What could be the reason behind Abella needing to do such a thing?
‘Aria.’
Because of Aria’s presence.
‘What significance did Aria hold for Abella who had the ability to reincarnate?’
Abella had an obsession with Aria.
Was there truly only pure love behind that?
‘The witch that brings destruction.’
That’s how Aria referred to Abella.
Words often spoken by those who had reached the end of magic.
‘As brilliant as a genius might be, they can never surpass the limits of time.’
The reason was simple.
Even a mage expending their entire lifespan won’t have enough time to grasp all magical knowledge in existence.
Thus, mages share the bittersweet desire of holding all magic yet falling short.
This was a common trait among all mages.
Right before the reincarnation, Abella was merely in her twenties.
No matter how talented she was, was it possible for her to reach the level of magic that could lead to the world’s destruction in such a short time?
At the point where even the Grand Sorceress had not yet reached?
[That’s impossible.]
This was the definitive conclusion from Crimson Garden, who is both a mage and an immortal.
[Magic is a discipline built upon timeless knowledge.]
Simply having talent isn’t enough to accomplish everything.
“Kraush.”
Quietly, Kraush whispered that name.
“…Is there a possibility of an ancient magic that allows one to switch bodies shortly before the end of their lifespan, and what’s its success rate?”
[I’ve never encountered such magic.]
Crimson Garden denied having seen anything like that.
[However, there have been royal dragons who attempted something similar irrespective of magic.]
The White Dragon King.
The one who attempted to selfishly plant his egg in his own descendants for immortality.
His power still flowed through Kraush.
[In theory.]
And Abella might be…
[There is no such thing as impossible in magic.]
From ancient times, she could be a mage reincarnating over the centuries of accumulated magical knowledge.
The Hell Fairy had been the World Erosion’s servant from far back, carrying her along the journey.
All the scattered puzzle pieces had finally fallen into place.
And at this moment, Kraush understood.
Who was the one causing destruction so that Aria would be forced to make contact?
Who brought forth the method of transmitting the memories of reincarnation?
Who possessed all magical knowledge and returned to the past?
‘Abella’s obsession with Aria is not out of love.’
This was the time magic that she herself could not complete.
However, there was one who could solve this time magic puzzle.
‘Aria.’
To a mage, the constraints of time were inevitable.
With reincarnation, one would lose all power and must rebuild from scratch.
A skill capable of resolving everything in one go.
Reincarnation.
There was no guarantee that the current Aria would accompany Abella in her reincarnation.
Abella deemed Aria to be a bundle of hatred.
But if it was through the deity of the World Erosion, then things could be different.
All it would take is a little adjustment to turn him into a puppet.
‘If I create a puppet and connect Aria’s personality to it through reincarnation, then Abella’s tool for resurrection can be born.’
Crunch!
Kraush gritted his teeth.
“Abella.”
The degree of madness that she had reached surpassed sanity.
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