〈 Chapter 294 〉 Chapter 288 – Farewell.
*
The Cardinal’s plan to kill the Pope was completely thwarted.
On top of that, instead of killing him, we actually saved his life.
I even performed a neutering surgery myself.
We dealt with the bastard who had been tormenting us all this time.
At the same time, the Cardinal finally took a step toward his dream of becoming a princess.
Isn’t that a wonderful thing as well?
Everything was a good deed.
[……From where?］
‘The great shaman Park Jin-sung said, “If it’s happiness, isn’t it a good deed?”‘
[Is that so?…Is it?］
Letting out a sigh of relief, I dragged my trembling legs and retrieved my severed right arm.
It was a piece of a corpse that barely resembled an arm.
I wasn’t sure if I could reattach it, so it seemed better to throw it away.
But saying to just toss it out made me too sentimental.
After all, it was my second ex-girlfriend.
The first one was my left hand.
[Classify it as regular trash.］
‘F*cking bitch.’
Maybe realizing my worries, Caressy clung to me and spoke optimistically.
“Don’t worry. With this, you can recover.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Except for human baldness, we can fix just about anything.”
I smiled slightly at those words and opened my mouth.
“Why can’t you fix human baldness, though? You seem to fix beastmen’s baldness.”
“……I’m not sure. They said it doesn’t work if you don’t have beastman blood.”
According to Caressy, baldness in pure humans cannot be cured.
I didn’t know the exact reason, though.
Just to be sure, I looked up at the sky and voiced my question.
“Can’t the Lord fix baldness?”
As soon as I said that, the wind suddenly blew, rearranging the stones scattered on the ground.
It formed a single letter.
「I only fix beastmen.」
‘So the Lord is a racist, huh?’
[Maybe ask if he flunked out of art school.］
It felt like the Lord would only classify people as beastmen and non-beastmen.
It seemed like he might send all non-beastmen to the gas chamber.
But considering I’m a f*cking bastard at heart, maybe I’d be granted honorary beastman status.
Anyway, since the job was done, I wanted to leave the chapel.
“So, shall we go now?”
“Got it.”
But there was one problem.
“When the hell is that going to be cleaned up?”
“……We’re f*cked.”
The only exit of the chapel was blocked.
The debris pouring down from the ceiling had completely sealed the chapel’s door.
Including the windows or any other possible escape routes.
“Are we waiting for someone else to come?”
“No, it’s better to get out quickly.”
It wasn’t a good option to just wait for someone else to help.
[Wouldn’t it be better to just stay?］
‘Look at how the chapel is shaking. If it collapses, we’re all dead.’
The divine power that was protecting the chapel had completely vanished.
Although I had requested Hyeji not to hit the chapel.
Given that the surroundings kept shaking and rumbling, it seemed much safer to get out of there.
Anyway, I was about to move to clear the debris quickly, but
thud.
“Ah, f*ck.”
Suddenly, my vision shook, and the world flipped upside down.
With considerable blood loss and extreme fatigue, all my strength left my body.
No matter how hard I tried to squirm, I couldn’t move even a little bit.
I definitely overextended myself.
Honestly, I hadn’t accumulated this much damage before.
Seeing me like this, Caressy echoed my previous words.
“Did you leave?”
“No, you f*cking bitch.”
[No matter how much of a bastard you are, know your time and place.］
‘Bastard, seriously.’
While Caressy carefully began to lift me up,
I offered a short word of thanks.
“Thanks.”
“No, I should be grateful to you.”
In that state, Caressy headed toward the chapel door.
“I’ll set you down over there, and then I’ll clean it up.”
“Sorry. Please do me a favor.”
Caressy’s steps were much slower and more cautious than usual.
She must have been trying to minimize the shock to me.
However, a slight wobble caused blood to surge up.
It seemed my insides were seriously messed up.
As I momentarily coughed up blood,
Caressy looked worried as she moved me.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine after a quick trip to the hospital.”
“……What kind of place is a hospital to you? A respawn area?”
[Still, good job. Finally thinking about going to the hospital.］
‘Yeah, but I still need my arm attached.’
I began to think about what to do next.
First, I would reunite with Hyeji.
It’s not like Hyeji could lose, but I was still worried that she hadn’t come yet.
Then, I would join up with Ayeon, and finally, go to Elcia.
“Once we get out of here, let’s head to Hyeji first.”
“Let’s do that. Anyway, I’m sorry. You’ve gone through a lot.”
“Buy me a drink later.”
“…….You really seem like a guy who’s constantly drunk.”
That was the simple plan I laid out.
beep!…..beep!…..beep!…..
“Hey, Caressy? Did you set an alarm?”
“I didn’t, why?”
Right then, it felt like that plan was starting to crack.
An unexpected mechanical sound began to ring out.
beep!….beep!….beep!….
It sounded like an ominous warning signal.
And unfortunately, that warning was spot on.
“Where…are we going?….”
“Whoa, that tough bastard is really something.”
The Cardinal, who we thought was unconscious, had somehow regained consciousness and was glaring at us.
While letting out the warning sound we just heard from his body.
Soon, the Cardinal burst into laughter at us.
“Hehe… originally… I wanted to check this before using it… but now it doesn’t matter…”
“……What the f*ck.”
The Cardinal’s laugh seemed far more ominous than earlier in the fight.
Damn it, that ominous feeling was gradually becoming reality.
“In the worst-case scenario… I had a self-destruct mechanism… left.”
“Where the hell did the coherence go?”
[Edward… Brother…］
‘That’s bullsht coherence, fcking bitch.’
[I guess I spaced on the formatting.］
‘You better behave when you meet the Elric brothers later.’
Then a thought struck me like lightning.
The Cardinal, with his body already a cyborg.
He had a daunting weapon of nanomachines, but it seemed he was also prepared with a self-destruct device in case of defeat.
To be honest, I thought the coherence was shot when the nanomachines appeared.
But ending this way in the end was beyond ridiculous.
“I don’t know what will happen to me now!!!”
The Cardinal’s eyes were bloodshot as he shouted wildly.
With the warning tone speeding up.
beep!…beep!…beep!….
Seeing the Cardinal go wild like that, it was obvious his power would also be immense.
It was surely enough to wipe out me and Caressy here.
“I’m going to clear this quickly!”
As if that was a signal, Caressy set me down and quickly began to clear the debris.
But the warning sound only grew faster than her speed in clearing it.
Moreover, the more debris she cleared,
beep! beep! beep!
“F*CKING BASTARD!!!”
More debris piled up, filling the gaps.
Now it was just as difficult to find any other exit.
The junk stacked in the windows or other paths was at least as much as, if not more than, what was blocking the chapel door.
In the end, I made a resolve to use my last resort.
“Caressy. I’ll make a path. You need to go that way.”
“……Don’t lie.”
I could indeed solve the current situation by using this.
“It’s not a lie. It’ll actually work.”
“……”
But.
[Will you be alright?］
‘At least I have to save Caressy.’
If I used this in my current condition, there was a high chance I wouldn’t wake up again.
No, I correct myself.
I’d definitely die.
But it was better for me to die than both of us.
I had suffered at the hands of all those sh*tty bastards all my life.
I couldn’t just let myself die meaninglessly after everything was resolved.
[I respect your choice.］
‘……Thank you.’
However, before I could act, Caressy made her move first.
In an instant, she tightened her grip around my neck.
thwack!
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been anything, but with my state being as bad as it was, my vision went dark in an instant.
In my fading sight, Caressy smiled at me sorrowfully.
“I’m sorry. Just sleep for a moment.”
Soon, Caressy took on a sorrowful yet determined expression.
It seemed like her face was trying to reassure me,
But to me, it only looked too unsettling.
“Hey… what are you… going to do…”
beepbeepbeepbeepbeep!
The now continuous warning tone amplified my unease.
Then, Caressy began to envelop my whole body with golden divine power.
As if it was to protect only me.
As my body was wrapped in the golden divine power, Caressy smiled through tears.
“This is goodbye.”
“Stop… seriously I’m… getting mad…”
I struggled to keep my fading consciousness awake as I tried to speak to Caressy.
But suddenly, Caressy gently grabbed my head.
Then I felt a soft touch against my forehead.
smooch.
“Hey… what…”
Caressy pressed her lips against my forehead.
At that moment, I was left speechless, and my eyes widened in disbelief at Caressy.
She shed a tear and smiled brightly.
“This is a final gift.”
In an instant, the warning sounds that had been ringing continuously turned into a single warning bell.
beep!!!!
Amidst the darkening vision, a tremendous light began to fill the space.
As a deafening explosion sound erupted, Caressy’s small voice echoed clearly in my ears.
“I liked you.”
With that, I lost consciousness.
*
I couldn’t tell how long it had been; an unfathomably long time passed.
[Awaken, my dear!］
‘……Am I… alive?’
[For now, it seems so.］
My consciousness began to slowly resurface.
Whether due to the aftermath of the explosion, the ringing in my ears persisted, and my head felt hazy, as if I could fall asleep any moment.
However, the pain in my body assured me that I was indeed alive.
At that moment, one thought crossed my mind.
“Caressy!”
She had been next to me just before I lost consciousness.
But she was nowhere to be seen now.
Not even a trace remained.
“Where are you!”
I couldn’t move yet, but I turned my gaze around, looking everywhere.
Still, I couldn’t find any trace of Caressy.
“Come out, quickly!”
All that was visible was the scene of the chapel’s interior, devastated even further by the explosion.
The windows and pathways were littered with debris, leaving no trace of the chapel’s entrance.
And only remnants of the Cardinal’s existence remained.
“Don’t mess with me!”
The Cardinal, the source of the explosion, was gone without a trace.
Only the blackened ash remained, burned to a crisp.
But that wasn’t the important part.
Caressy had expended all her divine power to protect me in the end.
Since she wasn’t visible now…
“Answer me!!!”
I yelled out with great difficulty, but all that returned was the echo of my own voice.
“Please tell me it’s a joke…”
Today, Caressy died.
Or maybe it was yesterday.
“Please…”
I didn’t know for sure.
*
