As dawn broke over a seemingly endless night, the rain that had been pouring down until just moments ago transformed into shards of glass, reflecting light and driving away the shadows that cloaked the Imperial Palace.
“No.. no.. this can’t be happening. It can’t be!!”
Crackle, crackle!
The Magic Hat, disappearing from existence with the Power of Pure Thought, cried out in agony.
The noise escalated, and now even its voice was cutting out mid-sentence.
Yet, despite the situation, the Magic Hat was desperately trying to kill me and Pina Grancia.
“You’re just a rookie who just became a Demon God!!”
Whether it tossed out trump cards or daggers to inflict wounds, nothing landed. Even shadowy hands passed through aimlessly.
No matter how much it flailed, it couldn’t stop its own destruction.
Just like everything the Magic Hat did until now, it was destined to happen in the original World Line.
It was caught in its favorite tricks.
“You can’t completely destroy me!! This is just buying time!!”
The Magic Hat spat out its words with rage aimed at me.
Since I had just become a Demon God, it thought I couldn’t completely wipe it out from the World Line.
“I know. But I can still save Pina.”
“…What did you say?”
I had guessed that much from the start.
The Magic Hat knew about the Nameless Saintess and the Hero of Affection but knew nothing about Pina Grancia, its true identity.
It likely failed to recognize this part because of its incomplete destruction.
If it had become a Demon God capable of manipulating Time, it could have just come back to the past and killed her.
“The reason it couldn’t do that is obvious.”
The past had been erased like an important part was rubbed out with an eraser.
At the center of that whirlpool was me, who had transformed into a Demon God.
The feeling of life leaking from my body.
Blood was running from my mouth, leaving a bitter taste.
“Is your life not worth anything…?!”
“Yeah, at this point, it’s a cheap price to pay.”
Like it said, if I kept using my powers like this, I would end up dead.
“Cancel the power right now. My Lord. Please..!”
Realizing that words wouldn’t reach it, the Magic Hat transformed into a woman to try to manipulate me.
It began to scream as it realized it had no other options left.
“You’ll be completely unaware of Pina Grancia..!!”
Now, it was even fabricating words while changing into Pina’s face.
Just like an innocent child who didn’t realize what wrong it had done.
“I just wanted to change my fate for someone I love, just like you!!”
It continued to plead, leaving out the fact that it had killed someone.
“I did nothing but love you!!”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have killed anyone.”
I gripped the sword’s handle tightly and took a deep breath before replying.
Sacrificing innocent people for someone you love is just selfish.
“Ah, haha! Then if I don’t kill anyone, you’ll accept me as a lover!”
“Shut up, you creepy bastard.”
Seeing its face light up with joy as it blushed made chills run down my spine, and I cursed at it.
Did it still not realize what it had done wrong?
“I love this side of you sooo much!! My Lord!! I want to break you!! I want to make you mine!!”
I could willingly sacrifice my life for Pina, but the Magic Hat was the type to do anything for its own desires.
“I love you, I love you, I love you..!!”
It was still wooing me even as it was being erased from existence in that very moment.
There’s a limit to creepy behavior.
“I’ll come back again!! I love you—!!”
“This isn’t love.”
Slash!
I swung my sword down toward the head of the Magic Hat, which was letting out its final cries.
The silver flash pierced the sky, cutting through the dark clouds.
“Your ugly lies are nothing but that.”
Then, the Demon God became formless and completely vanished.
As the sun rose, the villain’s misdeeds came to an end.
*
My body was growing colder, and my vision was fading into darkness.
The lifeline I had been holding onto with the Dragon Heart seemed to have reached its limit.
‘What if I had used my powers a little earlier?’
My body had been close to death for a while now.
Regret surged too late. I realized far too late the long contradictions involving Pina and the Magic Hat.
It was like the endless cycle of the Ouroboros eating its own tail.
This miracle was possible only because I had returned to the past and met her.
My insides, pierced by tentacles, were spilling out.
Blood flowed from my glass armor, and the girl of the Inrang Tribe with black hair screamed at me not to die.
“No.. no.. Brother..!!”
“Pina..”
Even if Pina cast Healing Magic, it was far too insufficient to mend the already gaping hole in my abdomen.
“No.. please..”
The tips of her hair were turning white.
It really was supposed to be my time to die in the original World Line.
‘If only I had a little more time.’
Maybe I could have revived the servants close to Pina.
Just like I had turned Queen Bellin Grancia into a card and brought her back to life.
What a disappointment.
If things went on like this, Pina would become a girl who had lost her emotions.
To think that even traveling back in time wouldn’t change fate.
This really wasn’t the Grand Route, was it?
“Brother, you can still live. You can still… live..!”
Blood-soaked and desperate, Pina kept repeating the same words.
Now, the only person still clinging to life around her was me.
“Pina.. you don’t have to worry about me..”
“Don’t say that.. please..!”
As I wiped the tears from Pina’s eyes, I spoke.
With the Power of Pure Thought, my existence would vanish here.
Pina would forget that she ever met me as a child, and only remember that the Magic Hat had attacked this place…
Wait, where was the most important Queen Bellin’s card?
I spotted something strange in my increasingly narrowed vision.
‘The Queen of Hearts is gone.’
Had her relentless pursuit been a mere distraction?
The spot where the trump card should have been was occupied by a magic hat in its place.
So that’s why everything was tangled.
I finally understood why the Magic Hat had possessed Bellin Grancia’s card.
As my body started fading along with the growing noise, even the glass armor I wore began to crack and shatter.
“Ah, aah.. no.. my blood.. it won’t stop.. why won’t it heal..”
Pina screamed as she looked at my horrifying appearance.
It seemed bad for her, being just a child, to witness this scene.
“Pina, I’ll be fine..”
“What do you mean you’re ‘fine’?! Don’t die!! Don’t die!!”
As I caressed her cheek, I continued speaking.
I hoped this would bring her some peace.
Even if she were to forget me.
“You won’t remember me..”
Looking back, it was a simple sequence of events.
I went back to save her, used the Power of Pure Thought to perish along with the Magic Hat.
Afterward, she developed trauma and lost her emotions, her hair turning white.
‘With the death of Schartines, the position of the Saintess was left vacant.’
She was kidnapped by the Magic Hat while attending the Academy and lost everything.
Ironically, by the arrangement of the God of Light, she had become the Nameless Saintess.
“No.. that can’t be..”
“……”
Pina began to sob in my arms as she cooled down.
Even covered in blood, she showed no signs of leaving my side.
She would soon completely forget me.
In just a few minutes, I would vanish as if I had never existed here.
Like someone who had gambled everything for this moment.
“I will never forget you, Su-hyun Oppa.”
A wave of light began to rise from Pina’s body.
She was resisting the Power of Pure Thought.
With my broken glass armor no longer protecting me, it seemed normal for her to have forgotten me by now.
How could she still remember?
Whooosh—.
I heard the sound of the Mind Sword I had created resonating with her.
‘Hero of Affection..!’
Just earlier, the Magic Hat had said I could forge a Holy Sword in a human body.
So Pina hadn’t just stumbled upon my sword; she had become a Hero of Affection through her own choices.
“Even if all my memories vanish.. the memories you gave me…”
It was tied to her feelings of trying not to forget me, which was stitched with the affection of love.
“They will remain as warm glass shards in my heart.”
A miracle was unfolding at this moment.
The dazzling glass armor, a masterpiece she’d worn since childhood.
The fake Mind Sword had become the Holy Sword of Affection because.
It was the price for the childhood Pina had fought so hard not to forget.
“Pina, inside.. the pocket..”
I decided to indulge her a bit for her sake.
An action I had never taken in 24 failures.
“This is.. a ring?”
I revealed the ring I had kept hidden until now to her.
A precious metal shaped like a silver wolf forming a circle.
I had heard that to twist fate, you had to embed the wolves representing day and night.
I still couldn’t solve that problem, but if I didn’t give it now, I felt I would lose the chance forever.
As Pina found the ring in my arms, her eyes shook.
“……”
She nodded silently and slipped the ring onto her finger and my left ring finger.
Even if everything was erased due to the powers.
So that our fates wouldn’t be cut off.
So that this ring would serve as a marker, and we wouldn’t forget each other.
“We will meet again someday.. Su-hyun Oppa..”
“Really.. do you think that will happen..?”
Pina placed her hand over mine as we both prayed skyward.
My body began to fracture like glass and fade away.
*
The current Pina Grancia felt a strange sense of déjà vu as she looked in the mirror.
“When did I start wearing this..?”
Something shiny on her left hand.
Somehow, a ring was now on her ring finger.
The ring on her left hand was proof of the vow.
‘I don’t remember receiving something like this..?’
But she couldn’t remember when or from whom she had received it.
A sense of losing something precious lingered deep in her heart.
It was something incredibly important and warm.
As she gazed at the ring, tears began to flow from Pina’s eyes.
What had she lost?
A wave of loss washed over her, and she cried uncontrollably.
‘Surely it must have been someone important to me… why?’
