A fierce blizzard colored the world in monochrome.
The swirling snow filled the view with gray. Objects, each with their own hues, were painted over with pure white snow.
In that black-and-white world, the golden pupils of the man felt like will-o’-the-wisps.
His black hair and white skin created a harmonious balance. His face bore a look of extreme fatigue, but those blazing eyes held a strange power of attraction.
At first glance, it was a figure that hid countless stories.
He seemed to be in his mid to late twenties.
In terms of appearance, he didn’t show many differences. Only his distinctive atmosphere made him look quite aged.
The man asked with an emotionless, slightly tired voice.
“Are you satisfied now? The result of your stubbornness is this, isn’t it?”
“……No.”
It was a peculiar sensation.
The moment I faced the man, a complex whirlpool of emotions stirred inside me.
Ambition and defeat.
Sympathy and compassion.
And then, anger and stubbornness.
I exhaled that unprecedented whirlpool as a breath.
Before long, snow had piled up heavily on my head and shoulders. Every time I twisted my neck and exhaled, it would fall off with a crunch.
The conversation continued amidst the blizzard.
“I’m not dead yet.”
“It’s just ‘not yet’.”
At my stubborn words, the man merely scoffed.
Even that cold scorn held a hint of mockery.
“If it goes on like this, you’ll die… no, it wouldn’t be strange if you died right now.”
“Is that why you showed up?”
As I asked, the golden eyes that had been facing forward flicked towards me.
No matter how many times I looked, I couldn’t discern the inner thoughts behind those eyes.
Rather than panting, I gritted my teeth and asked.
“…Are you mocking me, going up on stage to resolve this as you always do?”
“Unfortunately, it’s impossible.”
The man said that and returned his gaze silently to the front.
The towering figure, reaching several dozen meters, flaunted its overwhelming presence.
Even the fierce blizzard could not hide that huge shadow.
After staring at the monster for a while, he exhaled a cloud of white breath.
The world, where time had stopped, remained cold.
“Thanks to someone calling me at their own will… of course, even if they hadn’t, getting rid of the retinue of the evil god was out of the question. I’ve exceeded the bounds of what I can intervene in.”
That was already what I expected.
I had never intended to rely on his assistance in the first place.
Hadn’t he kindly notified me that it was “impossible” since the last time I was called?
I wasn’t that heartless of a person either.
However, I was in the midst of paying the price for disregarding his advice. It felt uneasy to see his face at this moment.
Still, I had not yet failed.
To prove that I hadn’t faltered, I took a deep breath.
“Then why did you appear? You haven’t shown yourself all this time… but now?”
“There was someone fervently peeking into the memories of others.”
A puff of white breath dispersed like smoke.
He spoke without even giving me a glance.
“…Be careful. I can’t predict what might happen. Stealing future techniques isn’t omnipotent. There’ll definitely be a price to pay.”
Now it was my turn to be silent.
I had vaguely sensed it before.
Every time my skills grew abnormally fast, and each time I skillfully used techniques I had never learned.
My mind and body were drifting further from my control.
On some days, I had recklessly wielded a blade in passion.
On other days, I recited information I didn’t even know.
Before long, things I could no longer handle were piling up one by one.
Even the steadfast wall standing before me was one of them.
The retinue of the evil god stood here like destiny.
To turn my hometown and the countless inhabitants remaining here into ashes.
Moreover, to steal the man’s memories, the conscious and unconscious had to intertwine.
For that, my body had long since become a wreck.
I had no idea how much effort it would take to heal again.
My silence lengthened, and the man accepted it as a silent agreement.
“…Run away now.”
He spoke as if proclaiming an established fact.
Looking back at his life, it was understandable.
In most battles, he was not allowed to retreat. Even if it were allowed, it was merely a process of enduring shame and disgrace.
He had a mission.
Despite knowing it was a painful choice, he urged me again.
“As I’ve said multiple times, you can’t defeat that monster with your own power… I’m sure I’ve taken measures to minimize the damage, so you just need to give up on the territory.”
“There are still remaining inhabitants.”
At my boiling retort, the man let out a deep sigh.
His eyes turned towards me again.
Still, there was not even a hint of emotion in his gaze.
“It’s already too late. Dozens of them are likely dead.”
“…There are still many remaining.”
“And soon, they’ll die too.”
It was a statement from a man with a heart that had worn out.
There was no sympathy or compassion for the extinguishing lives.
He continued as if he were calculating.
“It’s a sad story, but not all lives are equal. A single life can sometimes hold more value than hundreds of lives… for instance, yours.”
I simply stared at him in silence.
In the man’s expression as he said that, for the first time, I caught a glimpse of a vague emotion.
It indicated that it was genuine.
He once again firmly asked me.
As if hitting the definition with a hammer.
“If you die, who will save the world?”
A throbbing pain surged in my chest, like a rock struck by a hammer.
I recalled the man’s memories that had played back several times.
‘Save the world.’
Now I began to understand him a little.
He had to give up many things to keep that promise.
Although the detailed circumstances remained unclear.
Every moment of that heartfelt farewell was muddied with blurry noise.
The only scene I could fully see was the memory of the burning forest.
But even through that one nightmare, I could sense it enough.
He did not want to give up, yet he had to.
It was the wisdom of life earned through repeated falls and collisions.
Things need to be abandoned; otherwise, one would only end up regretting someday.
Before I knew it, I was beginning to embody the man’s way of thinking.
It was a foolish move.
“Our time together is short. It may seem like time has stopped, but that’s merely the landscape within your unconscious. If you forcibly move…”
Yes, it was a foolish move, but.
I pulled all my strength to rise.
As I tried to stand up, I collapsed.
Slipping, buried in a pile of corpses, the taste of unpleasant blood rose on my tongue from the puddle.
My muscles screamed.
Not just my muscles.
My whole body was crying out.
A body pushed to its limits was pleading for rest. Groans that I couldn’t bear erupted from my clenched teeth.
I somehow leaned on my sword and got up.
Like a newborn fawn, my legs trembled.
Was my abdomen torn? A faint smell of blood arose from my throat. The blood and water seeped into my eyelids, blurring my vision.
Panting breaths met the cold air, creating white waves.
Throughout the entire process, the man watched silently.
I heard his sigh the moment I got up.
“…You foolish child.”
His voice now contained a faint note of irritation.
“I told you, if you die, who will save the world…”
“…Then who will save them?”
At my sudden retort, the man fell silent.
His strange gaze turned towards me.
My reflection faintly appeared in the blood puddle.
Blood-soaked, with snow piled over my clothes, I was not a pleasant sight.
Yet my eyes still burned brightly.
“Then who will save them?”
The battlefield was filled with burnt corpses. No, there would be even more beyond the battlefield.
And there were likely still people crying out for help.
He had to know that, yet the man still did not answer.
He merely stared at me in silence.
I chuckled lightly and finally took a step forward.
Simply taking a step was immensely taxing.
My knees almost buckled as I stumbled once again.
Seeing my pitiful state, the man asked.
“…Why go to such lengths?”
“A great knight does not tell lies.”
It was an answer I spat out without looking back.
And with another step, I stumbled and once again slammed my knees to the ground.
A chilling pain surged through my bones.
There was no strength left in my legs.
So I had to strengthen my grip on the sword and rise once more.
“…I promised Ned.”
At my answer, the man was silent for a while.
It was only after some time had passed that he let out a laugh, as if amazed.
He continued to question me.
“All because of childhood bravado?”
“…And what about you? What have you saved?”
To that, I threw a provocative retort back at him.
At that one remark, the man’s aura instantly turned cold.
I had expected it.
So I raised my voice even more.
“After throwing away one thing after another, what’s left? Has the world become peaceful now?”
“…Foolish child.”
I sensed the man slowly beginning to rise.
However, I no longer had the strength to look back.
I merely took another step forward.
“You will regret it, you can’t grasp everything… even if you pass a few times with luck, the day will come when you undoubtedly lose something precious.”
Once more, another step.
“Will you still have the confidence to not falter then? Regretting, crying, begging will not bring anything back… Are you ready for that?”
It was a prophecy-like warning.
A truth the man had confirmed through the storms of many years.
Perhaps, a day would come when I could not escape that fate.
Honestly, I had no confidence in that.
Yet I took another step.
The footprints stained blood were left in the slushy snow.
“You’re still just a foolish child. You don’t even know the ties and resolutions, the secrets of the Sword Circle, the blood-letter characters…!”
“I will.”
I responded in a weary voice.
My eyes flickered towards the man, who still did not fully resemble him.
“If it must be done.”
The man once again glared at me without saying anything.
Just as I turned my gaze forward and prepared to take another step.
Finally, the man’s previously unmoving demeanor shifted.
He strode over and grabbed my shoulder.
His terrifying grip nearly made me scream.
When I turned back in surprise, there were blazing golden flames.
“Fine…”
Fueled by hatred, resentment, and the weight of regret and despair.
“I will show you if you desire it so deeply.”
A brilliance so intense it whitewashed my vision surged forth.
It crashed through the dam of my mind, unleashing countless memories.
“…Watch closely. This is only once.”
Thus, my world began to sink.
At the moment the man was about to rise unsteadily.
The battlefield was showered with thunder and raging winds.
A total assault on the Corpse Giant commenced.
