Chapter 105: When the Flower of Sin Blooms (End)
Buzz—
Emerald light burst forth from the shrinking pupil of that giant eye. In an instant, my head started ringing, and a kaleidoscope of sounds and images appeared before me like the vivid memories of a person on the brink of d*ath.
“Eye of Wisdom…”
In the damp and dark stone chamber, a dozen Black Robes stood silently, surrounding the girl sleeping on the stone slab. Above them floated a giant eye, its emerald pupil radiating a sinister glow.
Within that light, I saw the girl’s face.
That’s me…
“While we can alter and reconstruct memories… the risks are unpredictable, you know? The human mind is a complex and fascinating thing… don’t you think so, my little Margaret?”
Images flickered, revealing two conspicuous golden figures stepping out from the crowd.
“In a few days, this place will turn into an Abyss, right?”
A tall and lean youth with a sharp, lazy face topped with messy hair—like a bird’s nest—turned to the water blue-haired woman beside him, who looked worried. “There’s not much time left. I think you guys should quit overthinking it. Just like before, simply and brutally erase her memories. At least that way, there won’t be any issues… Alrighty then, it’s a deal!”
The images warped and flashed, and the man’s face suddenly loomed large before me.
“You truly are my little slice of happiness…”
He said, “I can barely contain my anticipation for the day we reunite… Miss Peilo of Shanter Castle.”
That was Angel’s face.
Headache…
Zzzz—
“Great Deity… heh.”
In a vast, pitch-black space, ancient, thick stone columns stood vaguely, while in the dark distance, golden light blazed, and complicated symbols intertwined with the booming sound of countless chains. Dense Dead Smoke flowed out from the center of the light, accompanied by terrible breathing sounds.
“Your existence has become the ultimate, loathsome ideal of immortality for us humans… Isn’t that ironic?”
The golden-haired man named Angel stood far away, gazing at the scene in the dark with a smirk of derision. “Our ancestors imprisoned you, the great one, in this lightless prison using the power of your own kind.”
“Before, we humans were just weak and powerless crawling insects in your eyes. Our ancestors revered you as gods to ensure the continuity of civilization… but times have changed. Gidales, you overlooked this fact. You don’t realize we possess the most powerful weapon in this world… we call it ‘ambition.'”
“After hundreds of years, this dispute is nearing its end… I’m grateful to see it concluded in my generation. I promise, we will soon win… win the final victory in this war of gods and men. And you, the power of Gidales… will thereafter be forever used by us humans…”
“…This is evolution, determined by the law of natural selection. You are not gods; you are merely a bunch of savage, backward beings… Accept this outcome…”
“Stop struggling… it’s making everyone suffer… Rather than suffer and wail, engulfed by despair and madness, wouldn’t it be better to d*e peacefully?”
“The future world… naturally… should be controlled by smarter humans…”
Headache…
Zzzz—
“Come on…”
The scene in my mind shifted again. Crowned Angel lifted the girl from the stone slab, and the divine eye floated high in the darkness, its vertical pupil rotating multiple times until countless emerald lights flickered to life around them. The lights began to flow into the girl’s flawless forehead as she slept.
“You must utterly crush their will and slash down this last sword to annihilate the gods for me, for humanity… As for your name… Hmm, let’s call it Abyss of the White Night… White Night… White Night… the last moment before dawn, the first beam of light that scatters the darkness…”
Headache, headache, headache—
Empty and fragmented words seemed to resonate directly in my head. The pain was suffocating, and in my daze, my eyes briefly glowed red.
“Hey, are you alright…?”
I vaguely heard the Sword Demon Miss’s concerned voice, but I didn’t have the luxury to pay her any mind. I concentrated, channeling all the chaotic power into my wide-open eyes.
Oblivion—
“Yah!”
In a sharp cry of anger, the flickering images before me and the overlapping whispers in my mind shattered like glass in an instant!
I knew this was the final defense of the Eye of Wisdom…
It was out of power, the vile crystal already cracked, unable to withstand the full force of my Oblivion technique. It feared me because it was fully aware that my arrival was not a good omen for it.
But…
I couldn’t let that thing continue its tyranny.
“Stay right there!”
Moon Step…
The moment my consciousness sharpened, I hurriedly yelled at the Sword Demon and dashed forward like a cannonball, knowing full well this might be my only chance. The rush of wind screamed in my ears as I blinked and found myself atop the flower birthed from Abyss Mud, poised before the Tumor. With a light tap of my toes, I gracefully leapt up—
Captain Gray…
I called out softly in my heart.
Buzz!
In an instant, accompanied by a slight tremor of divine nature, a white lighted branch flickered into view from my chest. The white light soon turned crimson. Mid-air, I quickly reached into my chest, drawing out a massive, sinister, swirling scythe that seemed alive with countless bloody threads. Clutching its long handle with my right hand, I swung it down towards the bizarre eye gripping the girl’s body, which was staring me down in a tremble!
Clang——!!!
A ring of the blade sounded.
As if splitting space itself in two, that strike created a fiery, scarlet line; no grand wave of light, no overwhelming force—just a seemingly soft cut—but it split the eye cleanly in half in an instant. The scarlet line flickered from appearance to disappearance, followed by the eye’s trembling abruptly stopping, then whoosh—it burst into flames.
Clang——!
I swiftly struck again, severing the disgusting red flesh connecting the eye to the girl’s shoulder before the infernal fire reached her.
Easier than I’d imagined…
The eye, dubbed the Eye of Wisdom, quickly vanished into the consuming flames, its ashes scattered by the wind. I flipped mid-air, stepping onto a half-open giant petal, retracting the scorching scythe into my chest, while the white branch’s glow slowly faded.
“Hah… hah…”
In my line of sight, Tilya was still softly singing a tune.
“A new day… hasn’t woken up yet… a new day…”
She seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that I had just cleaved her eye, showing no sign of pain or even itchiness. Her half-lidded gaze was dazed and unconcerned about what transpired around her. Only when I stood atop the petal did she finally notice me, her singing pausing momentarily as she gazed at me and then broke into a smile.
“Hey… a new day, have you woken up yet…?”
That smile turned slightly grotesque as the black splotches on her face spread.
Yet the look in her eyes was the purest, cleanest gaze.
“…Let me give you two choices.”
I swallowed slightly, my voice raspy and unpleasant, even to myself.
“First, if you want to live, perhaps only I can save you… well, maybe. Honestly, I haven’t figured out how yet, but bringing you away from here shouldn’t be too hard. You could stay in the Land of Dragons for a bit. As long as you survive, once I sort out your situation, maybe I can find a way to save you… but maybe I can’t. I have no idea. I just think it’s worth a shot.”
The girl seemed a bit dazed.
I wasn’t sure if she could fully comprehend my words in her current state, but I had to say this. Then, depending on her reaction—
“I choose the second.”
Suddenly, after a brief moment of shock, the girl smiled again.
That smile felt just like her song.
“The second choice is… to d*e…” she said.
!?
This time, it was my turn to be stunned.
Is she not crazy?!
How…
“Tilya, you—”
“I’m not Tilya.”
The girl’s words hit me like a bolt of lightning, freezing me in place, my limbs suddenly ice-cold.
“Do you know her? The original owner of this body… her name is Tilya? Well, I’m not her.”
What…
What is she talking about…
“I seem to have… had a long dream.”
Her gaze was gentle as she looked at me, like a kindly elder watching a young one. Though her speech was slow, it was articulate.
“In the dream… I lived a long, long, peaceful life… that was such a good dream, but then I suddenly woke up. Upon waking, I found myself in this monster’s body… My head is filled with many memories that don’t belong to me… those memories are fragmented and nonsensical… they make me feel miserable, head-splitting, and only by singing do I feel a bit better… I don’t even know the songs I’m singing, but this song, I remember it most completely.”
“……”
I was utterly astonished, not knowing what to say.
“You’re the one here to save me, right? Oh, you’re here to save this girl… this girl has long since died. And I don’t want to keep living like this, turning into a monster… I can feel this body can’t last much longer. I have no idea what I’ll turn into afterward, but to me, this should be a dream, an absurd and dull nightmare… Now, the dream must end.”
She said this, slowly closing her eyes.
“Come, let me wake up… unknown child.”
“…Who are you?”
After a long pause, I finally managed to ask this question.
“I’m just a…”
Her eyes opened again, as if thinking: “Just an ordinary person who could never afford to buy a house in the big city, a mediocre old man.”
