-Whiiiiirrrr……!!
As the gateway activated, magic surged out like a tidal wave. The hellish magic painted a mirage of colorful light, distorting everything around it as it spewed forth. Fernandez slowly steadied his breath and stared straight ahead.
Then, a choking sound came from behind him. No way. Fernandez twisted his face and turned around.
“Your Excellency……”
“What a fool……”
There stood Kirhas, gasping for breath, and Abel, supporting her. The horse they had ridden, tainted by the hellish magic, lay far away, coughing up bl**d.
Abel was pale, trying to catch her breath, while Kirhas had bloodshot eyes, bl**d trickling from her lips. Fernandez quickly approached her.
“I, I……”
“Shh. Quiet.”
He grabbed her wrist and slowly infused her with magic. The contamination of hellish magic is deadly to the living, potentially leaving permanent scars on both the soul and the body.
The soul is still fine. Her spirit had already been strengthened by Kadán’s blessing. But the physical damage was getting worse. As Fernandez examined her body, his face twisted in horror, and he glared at her.
“Why did you come here…… Abel. Did I give you too heavy a mission?”
“Fernandez. I couldn’t leave you alone.”
“You should have!”
Fernandez shouted in anger. Abel, facing his rage for the first time, flinched and looked flustered. Looking into her eyes, Fernandez slowly calmed his breathing. Erik’s madness was consuming his soul, making it hard to control his emotions.
“Your Excellency, it’s not her fault. I, I wanted to be by your side.”
“You…… You had a better future.”
“Future. Future…… Your Excellency, I am not the ‘Kirhas’ you think of.”
Kirhas pushed Abel’s support away and slowly straightened her back. Despite her sickly appearance, a resolute will shone in her eyes.
“I am not a mirror reflecting your regrets, Fernandez Sernerd. Did you ruin and twist my future? No way. You saved me.”
“Kirhas……”
“Look at me. The woman you knew from the distant future and I are already different beings, and I neither want nor can become her. The shield of the Great Wilderness, the great chieftain, the queen of the alliance! I don’t need such packaging.”
-Rumble.
As the gateway opened, the presence of demons grew more intense. Kirhas, with bloodshot eyes, stared straight at Fernandez and slowly drew her sword.
“It’s fine to walk the path you’ve paved. It’s also fine to choose the path that brings me closer to you. If I am merely a pawn in your plan, so be it. It still means you need me. But, but…… Since you’ve become the compass of my life, don’t leave me alone.”
If this path leads to certain d*ath, I will gladly be your companion. Even if I’m used as a puppet, as long as I can be by your side. Kirhas said this as she adjusted her grip on the sword hilt.
Fernandez looked at Kirhas, then at Abel. Abel smiled softly, her face pale.
“I’m greedier than this child…… but not so different. Don’t go alone. As she said, we are not shadows reflecting your regrets.”
“……I wanted you to live a better life.”
“Better than this?”
At her words, Fernandez couldn’t help but laugh. Kirhas and Abel also smiled, seeing his laughter. Fernandez nodded and gripped his shield.
“I’ll take the lead. Don’t fall behind.”
Without waiting for a response, Fernandez leaped through the gateway. Kirhas and Abel followed.
This wasn’t his first time crossing dimensions. Fernandez didn’t remember, but the day he first fell into this world, he had already torn through the walls between the horizontal world and the main world.
But this was the first time he had crossed while maintaining full consciousness. Fernandez frowned at the familiar sensation of his body and soul being slammed into the ground. It was a brutal descent.
-Thud.
He felt the ground approaching at a terrifying speed, but in reality, he landed gently. The sensation of speed might have just been a spiritual effect of dimensional travel. He slowly looked around, breathing cautiously.
-The flora is familiar, and there’s no issue with breathing.
‘This is the Domain of the Gods, after all. Asgard. It’s unlikely that the afterlife for humans would be hostile to them.’
The natural environment wasn’t much different from the North. Except for the scale. The sky was impossibly high, the trees incomparably large, and the spiritual energy swirling in this world was dense enough to crush mortals.
Magic, spirit, and corruption—all of it swirled together.
‘It’s a more normal environment than I thought.’
-Calmly thinking, Sadarkelisa’s active involvement hasn’t been that long. Considering the history of the Northern Temple of the Gods, it’s unlikely that the entire dimension would be corrupted so quickly.
‘But if there are still intact gods in the Northern Temple of the Gods…… why would they allow Baldur to go mad like this?’
Fernandez stroked his chin, lost in thought. It’s strange. Baldur was consumed by madness, Loft fled, and Freya had to seal herself due to the terrible corruption that should have spread throughout the Northern Temple of the Gods.
Yet, this forest was too peaceful. The vast nature surrounded him, but the level of corruption felt throughout the Northern Temple’s domain wasn’t severe.
“Is everyone alright?”
Fernandez turned to the two who had landed behind him. Both Kirhas and Abel seemed to have passed through the gateway safely.
“Better than I expected.”
“Yes, breathing is much easier.”
After passing through a gateway spewing hellish magic, a perfectly fine world lay before them? Fernandez frowned as he looked at the bushes. Loft was spinning above the shrubs, looking down at them.
“Loft. What’s going on here?”
“Bifröst is a gateway not just to Asgard but to multiple worlds. That brat could only create a gateway to Sadarkelisa’s domain.”
If he had made a deal with Sadarkelisa, she wouldn’t have given him more power than just opening a gateway. Fernandez slowly touched the soil beneath his feet. No traces of corruption.
A cool winter breeze shook the branches. A faint, acrid smell lingered in the air, not from the forest but more like the air from a fire scene.
“Asgard still has uncorrupted……”
