“C, huff… grrk…”
Duk- crack-
I broke, twisted, and pulled out each spear that pierced my body and was lodged into the ground.
When I pulled out all twenty-seven spears, kwa-jik- a new spear pierced my body.
“Huff… cough… ha…”
Step- step-
Amidst the fading sensations, I heard footsteps approaching.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh? I saved you from almost dying while passing by, and why are you getting angry?”
“What a useless concern.”
“Hmmm- how can it be useless? Let’s not be cold to each other.”
Eventually, a new spear extended from where the footsteps stopped, kwa-jik- piercing my shoulder.
“By the way, what’s up with you? Why are you so tough? Who are you? Were you also an experiment? Or did you pull a little divine power from that shaman you were with?”
“Shut… up.”
Kwa-duk- With my trembling arm, I broke the remaining spears and steadied my posture.
Puhwahaak-
“Ugh… kr-hh…”
“If it’s not true, just deny it. What do you mean by ‘shut up’ to an adult?”
“Enough, ‘Lana.’”
“Hmm…”
Chal-pak- chal-pak-
Slim fingers that didn’t match the thick spear lifted my chin.
Bright red hair and even darker blood-colored eyes. A thorny vine tattoo that climbed from my neck to my cheek.
“So, you’re Aaron’s disciple? Your name is… Hermila?”
The third master, Lana, with the power of a master.
“If you don’t open your eyes beautifully, I’ll pluck one out.”
Swik- Lana’s thumb moved over my right eye.
“Answer.”
“Grk… ptoo. Get… away.”
The blood I had gathered spat out, flowing down Lana’s tattoo.
A deep smile blossomed on her face in response.
“Kya-hahaha! You’re incredibly audacious.”
The finger covering my right eye tightened. Then, tup-
“This is the last. Remove your hand and go do what you need to do.”
“Wow… if a cold-blooded person like you cares this much, it must be precious, right? Maybe because I’m your only disciple?”
Sururuk- Lana’s hand fell from my face.
“Seriously… I want to kill you so badly. But I don’t want to fight Aaron, so I can’t help it.”
Lana smiled sweetly at Aaron.
Kwa-jik-
“Ggh… khuhh…”
A short dagger was plunged into my eye.
Again.
A future I couldn’t avoid.
An inevitable future that was laid out before me.
“If we meet again and your eyes aren’t wide open like now, I’ll pluck out your left eye too.”
I heard the fading footsteps.
I heard the approaching footsteps.
My eyelids felt heavy.
My consciousness was fading.
The sensations in my limbs were dimming.
I bit my tongue and smashed my lips to wake myself up. Using the last bit of magical power left in my body, I pulled out the shattered spear.
Chal-pak- With all the spears that were supporting my body pulled out, my battered body collapsed to the ground.
“Grrk… ptoo…”
“It’s done now. You can stop too.”
With my powerless arm left behind, I lifted my prosthetic to grab the hilt of the dagger lodged in my eye.
I channeled the remaining magic into the dagger’s blade.
“Huff… huff… huff-!”
I pulled the hilt with all my might.
Crack- Clang- The dagger trembled and made a sound.
I didn’t have enough strength. The pain was even greater because it wasn’t pulled out in one go.
I didn’t stop. I didn’t let go.
Continuously.
Continuously.
Continuously.
Until the dagger.
Pierced through my eyeball.
Come out.
Shaking the hilt.
That-
“Kugh…!”
With a clang-, the dagger was pulled out by Aaron and fell beside my head.
Slowly, I rolled my eyes to look at his face.
A subtly distorted expression.
The same expression that my past master had every time I got hurt.
I chewed on my teeth as I looked in the direction Lana had walked.
Where Rubia was sleeping.
I rummaged through the space connected to Mistilteinn and took out a potion.
“Don’t move.”
I ignored that and shattered the potion bottle, pouring its contents into my mouth.
At best, it could keep me alive.
The right eye, speared and punctured by the dagger, was still oozing blood and wasn’t healing.
Slowly turning the magic inside me, I replaced my bones and twisted my body up. Blood poured out of the gaping wound.
Skin around the opened wound flipped inside out, revealing yellowish bones.
Even so, I moved in the direction Lana had gone.
“Hermila. That’s enough.”
Ziiing- Ziiing- I used the broken spears as crutches.
Using the scent of blood emanating from Lana as my guide.
Slowly moving forward.
Thump-
“Ggh…”
Aaron’s leg broke the spear and slammed my body into the ground.
I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t stop.
Scratching the ground with my creaking prosthetic.
Supporting my body with my shattered chin.
I kept crawling.
Kwa-jik- Kak-kak-
The scattered blades on the floor impaled me.
Piercing my arms and stabbing my legs.
And.
“It’s already over. Hermila.”
A future is drawn.
Only one future.
A future stained with our defeat.
I had to change it.
I had to break it.
I had to resist.
Turning my body to look at the sky.
I contemplated the remaining lifespan, gnawed away by ruin.
All that I could offer as a price.
My battered body.
My shattered soul.
All the achievements I had made until now.
The skill that had touched the very foundation of the world.
That was enough.
I reached out to the sky I could never touch.
I drew up the essence within me.
I recalled the wish etched in my soul.
I denied the unfolded future.
I affirmed the past that had passed.
Closing my eyes.
I mumbled the vow I made in front of my deceased comrades’ graves.
*I am the one who strikes at the foundation of the world.
I am the one who will touch the sky.
I am the one who will pull down the sun.
I am the one who dares to challenge the gods.
I am.*
Offering everything to perform—
Reverse Heaven.
*
Thump-
“Are you asking me to at least hold your hand?”
Warmth was layered over my cold hands.
“After getting all messed up, what pose are you striking? It looks pathetic.”
Sar-uk- A warm wind settled on my body.
“See, I told you. Even if I lose while using magic, I can still maintain my dignity. It’s not too late even now. Would you like to learn magic?”
I opened my eyes.
“If you want, this genius Ser will teach you personally.”
In front of me stood Ser, with blood-stained cream-colored hair, flaunting an arrogant smile.
“Have you developed a desire to learn?”
As her touch wrapped around me, a tickling light enveloped my body.
The holes filled.
Broken bones fused.
Lost flesh regenerated.
The insufficient blood was replenished.
The magical power in the air was gathered to invigorate my body.
Ser’s hands lifted me up.
“Where’s your other eye gone? No matter how much of a Mistilteinn you are, you can’t produce artificial eyes. Hmm… if everything is over, this genius Ser could try making an artificial eye.”
“Rubia, I have to… grrk, ptoo… go to Rubia. Another master is from that side—”
“It’s fine. Yuria and Delia have gone, so they will hold them off sufficiently.”
“…Did you knock down the master and help those two…?”
As I slowly caught my breath, I looked at Ser with my now clear right eye.
“Isn’t it only right to do that to be called a genius?”
Only then did I notice her condition.
Messy hair.
Robe with no intact spots.
Her blood-soaked body.
So deep that the wounds were still open.
Her breathing was ragged.
“Still, it seems you’re not in good shape either, Ser.”
tuk- Tossing aside the broken staff and shattered bow from the space, Ser chuckled.
“I think it’s quite decent considering I killed those three masters.”
“That, is true…”
I shifted my gaze from the fallen masters’ weapons to Aaron.
“Why are you watching without killing?”
Aaron looked at Ser without answering.
“Did you also kill Helen and Kiara… and Urman?”
“I did. Would it have been better to just bring their heads?”
“Did you annihilate their souls and roots as well?”
“I shattered the cycle of reincarnation and crushed their souls. So that they can never be born in this world again, neatly.”
As I nodded to Ser’s words, Aaron’s gaze returned to me.
“Hermila. Did you see a future where this branch existed?”
“…No, I didn’t.”
Aaron’s gaze turned to the sky.
“The best and the worst. Coexistence rather than autocracy. The determined future and the broken future. Yes… the end is inevitably approaching.”
Then he looked back down at me.
“Do you have no thoughts of stopping even now?”
“No.”
Aaron’s body erupted with the aura.
The calm aura that had quietly risen until now began to rampage wildly.
“Hermila. For what purpose do you wish to perform Reverse Heaven? Why don’t you give up?”
“A reason… well…”
The reason I’ve walked this path until now.
I had long since stopped trying to find such a reason.
Simply.
Because my deceased comrades wanted it.
Because the comrades who will live on want it.
“I want to. Because I must do it. I cannot give up because I bear their deaths.”
“You’re different from me.”
A smile like the old times returned to Aaron’s face.
At that moment.
The sky shattered.
A black sun rose.
The sound of death covered everything.
The thick scent of blood intensified.
A shadow disaster loomed over the battlefield.
The roar of the bravest among us resounded.
“I hope you carry that determination until the end.”
Aaron’s hand waved through the air.
At that moment.
The bodies of all the experiment bodies stood on the ground twisted. Blood surged between their twisted skins. The surging blood mingled and stained the sky.
“As the apostle of Lilith and the first master, Aaron Gilard proclaims in the name of Lilith.”
And so.
In the dark sky.
The reverse omen stained with blood bloomed.
“Collect the deaths of this world.”
The blood that soaked the land surged.
A scream that resonated in the sky seeped in.
Despair that lingered on the battlefield awakened.
“The primordial demon, Brunhilde.”
