Chapter: 215
It’s burning.
It’s ablaze.
Not too far from home.
The familiar street I’ve passed by countless times is engulfed in flames.
The trees lining the streets.
The regular restaurant I often visited for meals.
All have burned down, leaving only blackened soot in their place.
It truly was a heartbreaking sight, but what felt most heartbreaking and horrific to Yoon Si-woo was.
Aah─!!!
In the middle of the burning street, a girl is howling, her red eyes shining like the flames.
Without needing to ask, he knew.
That was just a girl resembling Scarlet.
She was definitely not the girl he knew.
But why?
He felt a strong urge to scream along with her and weep loudly.
Yet it seemed the tears that were supposed to flow out from the heat of the flames had dried up.
The thick, black smoke filling the sky seemed to suffocate him.
Not a single sob escaped his lips; only weak gasps managed to slip out, as if something heavy weighed on his chest.
“Ah… Hic…”
After watching the girl crying out in pain for a moment, Yoon Si-woo realized what was tormenting him so deeply.
What he felt now was the weight of promises made with the girl in the past.
If I ever cease to be myself, then I promised her to kill myself.
He had desperately denied it all this time, but the time to fulfill that promise had come.
At this moment, it was pressing down on him heavier than ever.
“Ahh…”
His hands trembled.
Yoon Si-woo lowered his gaze to his shaking hands.
The crimson flames engulfing the streets dyeing his hands in a sinister glow.
The image of his hands soaked in blood revived memories he wished to erase from his mind.
‘You pierce here. If you pierce here, it will stop.’
He had pierced something deep with his own hand.
With it, someone’s heartbeat had slowly faded away.
A warm, red sensation, like that of the girl, had flowed down his hands, and that chilling feeling remained vividly fresh in his memory.
As those sensations surged through him, he shook his hands vigorously in shock.
But no matter how much he tried to shake his hands, the sinister glow staining them wouldn’t disappear.
The same feeling that pierced her heart during their duel wouldn’t be erased either.
Thus, he clasped his trembling hands tightly, feeling as if the blood-stained hands were whispering to him.
These hands that once comforted the crying girl to stop her tears.
Were now the same hands that needed to plunge a sword into her heart, just like that day.
But he couldn’t accept it and shook his head vigorously.
“Damn…! What the hell is that!”
“Why is a student who was just fine suddenly like this…”
At that moment, he heard the voices of the people around him.
They were shouting, staring at the girl amidst the flames.
Their voices were filled with confusion, chaos, and fear.
“I don’t know much, but be careful! Just a moment ago, another student almost burned to death! At the very least, she’s not on our side!”
Lastly, the enemies.
Faced with their fierce presence, Yoon Si-woo wanted to protest.
But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with any words to persuade them.
Because there, the girl pouring out that sinister flame, full of resentment and hatred, was clearly.
“She’s a witch…! A witch has appeared!”
As they said, she looked nothing but a witch.
Amidst the unbearable reality that he couldn’t accept, he noticed other heroes approaching, hesitant to even step close to the flames.
“Ah, Captain Yoon Si-woo…!”
“Did you come to help us!”
Meeting the eyes of those who recognized him, Yoon Si-woo felt an overwhelming urge to shut his eyes tight.
In their gaze, alternating between him and the girl,
“Hero, please kill the witch.”
He saw the familiar light he had seen countless times.
All of them were looking at him, their eyes filled with the same plea.
Everyone wished for him to kill her.
“Be the hero for everyone, not just one person.”
With that thought ringing in his head, he found his feet moving forward on their own.
Toward the direction of the girl engulfed in flames.
Pushed along by countless gazes.
One step, one step.
“Aah…!”
At that moment, a voice filled with despair called from behind, making him turn around to see Silvia, staring at him with unspeakable eyes.
Knowing the promise he made with Scarlet, she desperately shook her head, trying to stop him.
“Ah, no! You can’t really be thinking that…?”
Yoon Si-woo quietly looked at Silvia, pleading with his eyes not to do it.
Among all the people here, she was the only one who genuinely didn’t want him to kill the girl.
No, she wasn’t the only one.
He had no intention of killing the girl even in the slightest.
However, countless others longed for the witch’s demise.
“…I’m sorry.”
With a mere word of apology, he turned his back on Silvia.
“…! No… Nooooooo…!!!!!”
Ignoring Silvia’s screams filled with despair, he took slow steps forward, urged on by the stares.
Into the blaze engulfing the white armor.
To keep his promise.
To kill the witch.
“Ugh…!”
The moment he stepped into the flames, the first thought that crossed his mind was, ‘It’s hot.’
That may seem trivial, but it was pretty shocking.
The armor he wore, manifested from the Holy Sword’s protective powers, was supposed to be far better than the usual protective barrier from the sword.
The fact that he could feel this level of heat even after that great power meant that the fire raging around him was just remarkably intense.
[…Si-woo, be careful. The fire itself is infused with miasma. If you touch it even by mistake, you won’t leave a single bone behind.]
Even without Lucy’s warning, he could feel it.
The danger of these flames.
They felt like flames born to burn everything in existence.
Aah─!!!
He caught sight of the witch crying out from afar, her flames roaring.
As she spewed flames that burned everything, tears of blood flowed down her face.
From that sight alone, he could feel the resentment and hatred she carried in this world.
He also felt that this existence could never coexist with this world.
…When we meet next, I told her to wield her sword instead of talking.
Though she seemed normal the last time they talked, she was clearly in no state to converse now.
The witch looked like she was solely focused on burning everything around her.
“…Damn it.”
It was so hard to accept the fact that a girl who hated causing anyone pain had become such an existence, but he turned that feeling into anger and gripped his sword tightly.
“Fine, as you wished, I’ll end this.”
He would uphold his promise with Scarlet.
With that thought in his heart, he took a step forward.
Aah─!!!
“Khagh…!”
The flames roared even fiercer so as if to say they wouldn’t allow him to get any closer.
The fire started burning far hotter than before.
The air he breathed turned scorched, and he felt pain as if his skin might burn.
[Si-woo…!]
“I’m… fine…!”
Despite Lucy’s worried voice calling out, he focused his hazy mind on the witch.
This is the witch of wrath.
Unlike the fake he had defeated before, the true witch’s power was formidable.
Standing before a creature that had driven Astra, once thriving, to the brink of destruction, he realized her strength was no lie.
[It’s impossible to approach any closer! Si-woo, you’ll be hard to see in this fire, so use my power! I’ve already let you use it to the limit today, but a little won’t hurt! Cut her down in one strike!]
Biting his lip at Lucy’s command, he understood he had already borrowed her power quite a bit today to defeat the demonic beasts.
Though it was dangerous to use for long, it seemed like the only way to bring down that witch.
He vowed to finish it in one blow.
Just then, as he prepared to unleash Lucy’s power,
“…”
Admiring the witch spewing fire to burn him, Yoon Si-woo felt a sense of discomfort and halted.
[Si-woo…?]
Lucy’s voice called him, sounding surprised, but something far more important than that caught his attention.
“…Why?”
He blurted out his question toward the witch, who was emitting flames.
This heat he felt beyond his armor, this level of power.
With strength this formidable.
She couldn’t have only burned a street; she could incinerate an area completely.
Aah─!!!
Even now, filled with resentment and hatred for the world,
“…Why don’t you try to burn more?”
Though he posed that question, naturally, there was no answer.
But he could find the answer within himself.
“…Ah, I see.”
With a hollow expression, he chuckled despairingly and put away the holy sword.
[…Si-woo?! What are you doing? Why are you putting away the sword!]
As he heard Lucy exclaim in confusion, his heart was already set on a different course.
He was trying to kill the witch because he thought Scarlet was dead and had completely vanished.
So he believed there was no more hope.
But,
“Are you still there?”
He saw hope in the witch’s behavior of choosing not to burn people even though she could.
No, to be precise, he wanted to believe there was hope.
And that was reason enough for him to change his action.
Then Lucy tried to scold him, raising her voice.
[Si-woo, do you really believe that girl is still alive? That’s just your wishful thinking! Hurry and pull me out—]
‘Even if it’s just wishful thinking, it doesn’t matter.’
Whether it’s 1%, 0.1%, or even smaller, if there’s any possibility that she still resists within that witch who is willing to burn people.
If there’s even a slight chance of being able to bring her back.
Then, he would stake everything on that possibility.
Internally, he replied to Lucy.
[…What on earth do you intend to do?]
Having sensed he would not change his plan, Lucy sighed and asked.
To that question, he quietly drew the Sword of Truth from the air.
A white dagger made of a unicorn’s horn.
While it had no combat use, this dagger had one, particular ability apart from its usual abilities.
“Open the holy sword.”
With that utterance, the white dagger slowly changed form.
The once white sword glimmered translucent, glowing like stained glass.
This was the true form of the Holy Sword of Truth.
In this state, it wouldn’t be able to inflict any damage to a physical body.
But if it were to stab, it could transmit his voice to the target, regardless of distance, for a certain time.
This would be his first time using it, and he wasn’t sure if it would work in this case, but if he could reach out to Scarlet, who might still be resisting…
Perhaps she could regain her consciousness.
[…Even if her consciousness is still there, that’s not a power to bring her back; it’s just a means to convey your voice. Besides, to use that power, you have to get through those flames; are you willing to risk your life for something that meaningless?]
Yet, hearing what could hardly be called a plan, Lucy murmured in disbelief and then asked him with a cold voice.
[…Si-woo, do you remember that we had a contract?]
Of course, he remembered.
A contract to become stronger than anyone else.
For a witch, a contract was absolute.
If he died here, the contract would never be fulfilled.
“So, are you going to stop me?”
But he, in turn, questioned Lucy.
He knew she wouldn’t stop him.
Because Lucy was always.
[…This stubborn master of mine. How cruel. You know I wouldn’t stop you if you truly wanted to do this, yet you still ask me.]
Since she’d always been infinitely weak against him.
Feeling a bit guilty from her somewhat resentful words, he smiled wryly, and she spoke, as if she had already given up.
[…Alright. The girl is your driving force to become strong, so do as you wish. You’ve always been foolish for staking your life over a girl.]
“Don’t worry; I won’t die.”
Though he couldn’t be entirely sure, when he said it to reassure her, Lucy muttered as if done.
[There’s no need for any pathetic excuses now. Besides, this time, I won’t let you die no matter what.]
Her tone seemed oddly petulant, but he chuckled after that exchange of thoughts and again gripped his sword.
In front of him, the witch was still roaring with all her might.
The heat radiating from those flames was still unbearable.
Although the heat was the same, now that his purpose had changed, somehow it felt bearable.
He was definitely, just as Lucy said, a stubborn person.
As he raised his sword, aiming at the witch, he said to her.
“Don’t be mad that I broke my promise. You were the one who broke it first, Scarlet.”
The first to break the promise of never pushing ourselves too hard was you.
“I’ll break my promise of killing you.”
“I’ll definitely take you back.”
Yoon Si-woo declared that and,
He took off running toward the witch.
Her crimson eyes filled with resentment were staring right at him.
Aah─!!
A warmth surged through him far more than he had felt before.
“Aaaagh…!!!”
The searing pain erupted from all over his body.
The blisters on his burned skin burst, and a scream escaped him involuntarily.
But, it was only bearable pain; he wouldn’t stop moving.
Because he’d laugh through this level of pain rather than forever lose her.
But it was only then that he realized that pain was the least of his concerns.
“Kh-ack?!!”
With a resounding thud, his body swayed.
A ringing in his ears accompanied a throbbing headache.
The organs in his ears exposed to the heat had probably broken down.
Was the fire growing stronger as he got closer?
But at that moment,
“Just this much!!”
The unyielding holy sword revived his body to its original state in an instant.
The powerful ability came at the cost of his lifespan.
Lucy had warned him not to use it recklessly, but he used it without hesitation in order to keep running.
However, that only bought him barely a second.
“Ugh…!”
Before he could fully recover from being healed, darkness clouded his eyesight again, along with the fading equilibrium in his body.
He quickly restored his senses, the nerves in his eyes and balance malfunctioning again.
And quickly—
With a thud, once again, his senses dulled faster than before.
[Si-woo…!]
Hearing Lucy’s exclamation filled with horror at seeing him overuse his power, he quickly realized.
Using this ability so carelessly was foolish.
“Ugh…!”
After taking a step forward, he healed himself.
In an instant, as his sight returned, he checked that his path hadn’t gone astray and—
Thud, everything faded to darkness again, and he did not regenerate.
Even if his balance and sight were gone, he understood his legs would continue straight toward the witch.
If he didn’t get used to this state, he wouldn’t reach her before his lifespan ran out.
So he wouldn’t regenerate—
Only when he felt he couldn’t take a step further.
“Ugh!”
With every step forward, the heat of the flames increased, and the rate at which his body deteriorated quickened.
But, with this method, he managed to increase the distance between breaths just a bit more.
“Ugh…!”
Of course, even so, the time he won was only a fraction of a second.
In those few seconds, he didn’t even know how many times he went through the cycle of dying and regenerating.
As he continued that desperate sprint, countless negative thoughts began swirling in his mind.
“Ugh, aah!!”
Why was he suffering this pain?
Was there any meaning in enduring this suffering?
It was nearly a miracle for her to return, so believing in such miracles and doing this felt wrong.
Each time those doubts arose,
His steps hesitated.
But,
“I believe in you more than anyone else in this world.”
“Ugh, argh!”
With that one thought that suddenly surged up,
He overcame all those hesitations and moved forward once again.
What he believed in wasn’t miracles; it was something far more profound.
Just as she believed in him more than anyone else.
So too, did he believe in her more than anyone else in this world.
He believed in her strength, her kindness.
He believed she hadn’t been defeated by some mere witch.
With that belief,
He was able to take another step forward.
“Ah…!”
During this, his blood was boiling.
His breath blazed.
Even when his body crumbled to ash.
“Aaaah…!”
He would regenerate.
He would regenerate.
And regenerate again.
In the process, he could feel the lifespan he could offer diminishing to the bottom.
“Then in exchange, take my soul,
My sanity,
Everything I have.”
Oh God, if you exist,
Please let me reach where she is.
Praying earnestly and desperately.
He took one step.
One step.
Another step.
“Uu, Aaaaaaaaah!!!!”
Then,
When he could no longer discern whether he was screaming or not,
At last,
His steps,
The tip of his sword,
Reaches her.
“…I’ll use my wish right now.”
The words he had longed to say.
“Come back, Scarlet.”
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