Episode 582. To Shine (4)

Creepy.

Suddenly, he wakes up to a chill on his cheek.

“Brother, what are you thinking about?”

There was a small, cold, pure white hand.

He thought it was a surprise.

A hand that touched both of his cheeks.

The boy looked at him in disbelief.

His lips opened.

“Are you Magnolia?”

“Who else could be in these rugged mountains besides me?”

Then, from behind his back to in front of his eyes.

A face as bright as a magnolia revealing itself.

It was indeed Magnolia.

His one and only sister, Magnolia.

A tear rolled down the boy’s cheek.

“Oh, big brother, are you okay?”

Magnolia was overwhelmed by the tears of her brother, whom she had never seen before.

The boy regained his composure.

He wiped the tears from his cheeks and said.

“It’s nothing. I must have had a dream.”

“Really? You had a nightmare?”

“Well.”

A nightmare.

The boy frowned for a moment.

It seemed like a really long and vivid dream, but somehow he couldn’t remember the details.

He couldn’t remember the details.

But one thing was clear.

“No, I guess it wasn’t just a nightmare.”

Especially at the end…

He was about to continue his dream story.

Magnolia narrowed her eyes and said.

“Hmm, you’re not being yourself today, are you? Be honest with me, you’re afraid that I might receive an oracle in the future and leave you!”

“!”

An oracle, the boy’s face stiffened at the word.

But it wasn’t Magnolia.

Magnolia trudged through the snow.

“The elders of the village, my sisters, everyone wants to get the oracle! No matter how much I don’t want to be separated from Magnolia, the oracle is the oracle. What’s more, it’s an honor that I’m not even worthy of?”

Grip

The boy clenched his fists involuntarily.

For some reason, an afterimage was gradually becoming clearer.

As if from a long dream he’d had a while ago.

Just as he was looking at the current landscape.

In the dream, I was clearly …….

“Is that so? Well then, that’s a good thing.”

I said the exact same words as now.

I already knew.

The true meaning of the oracle.

It was nothing more than a fancy wrapping for a sacrifice.

The Great Yokai of the Valley of Blood, the Cruel God Killer Eight-headed Viper. To avoid his wrath, to worship him as a god, to bring offerings for him. Yes, even knowing that.

“I’m still young, so my chances of getting the oracle aren’t high ……, but don’t you know, big brother, if I get it, I’ll have luxuries I’ll never experience in my life!”

The boy couldn’t stop Magnolia, who seemed so excited.

A thick feeling of helplessness washed over him.

As he looked at the way of her waist, he became even more miserable.

‘For me.’

Magnolia is powerless to protect herself.

In the Eastern Continent, in this demon-infested land, strength is everything.

Without it, everything will be taken from him.

The boy gritted his teeth.

‘If only I had time.’

If I could have been taught a little earlier.

“I would not have sent you away, Magnolia.”

The boy’s heart sank.

“… No, nothing has happened yet.”

No doubt, the effects of a vivid dream.

At this moment, when neither the oracle nor anything else had been decided, Magnolia was laughing and playing in the snow. It seemed to overlap with Magnolia, who had received the oracle in the dream and was climbing into the flower carriage.

Rustle.

That wasn’t the only thing that felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

“!”

As mentioned, it was in the mountains.

It was the middle of winter, and even the mountain beasts were hibernating.

But the strange figure in the bushes was getting closer and closer.

The boy bit his lip hard.

“Magnolia, be quiet.”

Gradually, the memory became clearer.

The details of the dream become clearer.

Yes, that was definitely the figure emerging from the bushes.

“What are these?”

“Oh, my brother, a toad talks!”

It was a toad.

A toad that can’t get around alive in the dead of winter.

Worse, it spoke in human tongues.

It was a yokai in the form of a toad.

‘ ….. I know this too.’

The boy looked at the toad with his mouth twitching.

“What’s the matter, little boy, aren’t you afraid of me?”

“I’m not scared. I’m fascinated.”

“Haha, you’re bolder than you look, little one.”

He also knew what Magnolia would get into if she talked to the toad-skinned youkai. Yes, she would be given an oracle at an unprecedented age.

Still, the boy couldn’t bring himself to draw the sword at his waist.

‘ ……I am weak.”

What would happen to Magnolia if we couldn’t defeat it?

I just hope for the best.

What if Magnolia, who knows nothing, resents me?

“You’re so talkative, I wouldn’t be bored with you.”

“Really? I hear that a lot!”

“All right, kid. I’ll give you a reward. Say your name.”

“My name……?”

I blurt out.

Magnolia looks at me.

She asks for permission.

No.

I must cover Magnolia’s mouth.

I must slay the abomination, the Toad Youkai.

But, why, why.

‘…..Move.’

Is my body not listening to me?

I wonder if she took my silence as an affirmation.

Magnolia smiles and turns to face the toad.

She opens her mouth, not a hint of doubt in her eyes.

“Everyone just calls me Magnolia.”

“Just Magnolia, that’s a lame name. What village do you live in?”

“There, in the village below.”

“Oh my, the village down the road. Your timing is right.”

“What time?”

ppadeudeug.

‘This guy will play with his mouth, and Magnolia will receive the oracle.’

My teeth grinded with rising anger.

But my body remained unmoved.

As if nothing could change.

As if you were helpless and there was nothing you could do.

Helplessness seemed to weigh heavier and heavier on the hand gripping the sword at his waist.

It was then.

A flash.

The clouds that obscured the sky lifted.

Sunlight broke through the snow.

It was the brilliant light he had seen in his dreams.

“!”

It was a marvelous thing.

The moment he saw the light.

It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his body.

Yes, as the saying goes.

Morale seemed to be boiling over. As if to prove that it was not an illusion, the boy stepped forward from his belt. The sword he had drawn from his belt was also glowing brightly.

The blinding light was the only thing that broke the sweet dream.

A melting snowfield, a battlefield emerging from beneath it.

“I’m sorry, Magnolia.”

The boy returns as a warrior at sunrise.

A distant past.

He tells his only sister, Magnolia, the words he never got to tell her.

“Foolishly, I thought it was your happiness.”

[Delusional Addiction].

The status abnormality that was being activated on the Sunrise Warrior is canceled.

At the same time, Magnolia.

He sees his sister’s face, devoured by the Great Yokai of the Valley of Blood, the Cruel God Killer Eight-headed Viper and no longer recognizable as she was when she was alive. He sees the head of a snake, trying to deceive him, just as it did in the past.

“Happiness? What a ridiculous thing to say. In your land, I have never been hungry. It was because you, out of fear, offered me food on your own! An oracle? I have never once called myself a god. There is no reason to do so. But you rationalized your ugliness and sacrificed innocent people to me.”

That was correct.

The Sunrise Warrior did not deny it.

He was weak, and he was still weak.

‘Magnolia, I could not save you.’

But now it is done.

‘Isn’t that so, Sunrise?’

He had seen the light, and he had seen the sword aura. And now, Sunrise, the last of my mistakes, I have heard your voice. Sunrise Warrior dared to decide.

“I am sorry for leaving you alone for so many years, Magnolia.”

“……?”

“But as it is late, I will follow you diligently.”

Swoosh.

Sunrise Warrior has decided.

This is not a resolution.

dong-gwieojin-ida. (tl/n: die intend for someone’s dead.)

It is a desperate determination.

Only one of the eight heads had fallen.

‘How many heads can I cut off?’

I didn’t know, but I was sure of one thing.

When all the heads fell off.

The fact that I won’t be able to survive.

Drawing sword.

Sunrise.

Like the rising sun, illuminating all things for a moment.

The overwhelming pace of the strikes accumulates damage to the Great Yokai of the Valley of Blood, the Cruel God Killer Eight-headed Viper’s hide.

But one thing cannot be overlooked.

Sword Aura eats away at lifespan.

Although it is truly fleeting.

The Sunrise Warrior can overwhelm the Great Yokai of the Valley of Blood, the Cruel God Killer Eight-headed Viper.

He was able to overwhelm the gods because he transformed his own life into fiery sword aura.

“Brother ……? ”

Even the Lightning Child could sense something strange.

Still, he couldn’t say anything.

Because it was a noble decision that he could not dare to interfere with.

Harkon clenched his fist as well.

“Is this your final destination, warrior?”

It was a reverence and a mourning for the Sunrise Warrior, a fellow warrior. So was Yessica, and so was every Lionheart Knight who could witness the sword aura.

It was unstoppable.

It was a sublime display.

It was the moment everyone thought.

“Get used to the current sensation.”

What does “get used to the current sensation” mean ……?

A sentence without context flowed from the mouth of Hoyeol, the commander-in-chief.

It was a fleeting moment.

Hoyeol’s eyes blink as they close and then open.

It felt heavy, as if it was carrying a long period of time.

“You can’t change the past.”

A common sense that no one can deny.

“Breaking that prejudice.”

While denying that common sense.

“Because that is the first step to the top floor of the Spacetime Social Hall.”

Another voice was heard.

“Brother?”

The voice of the real Magnolia, not the delusion.

See, didn’t I tell you?

[You have succeeded in the Highest Spacetime Quest, ‘The Regrets of a Transcendent’].

I told you, if you’re going to exploit anything, you have to see it, hear it, and not let anything slip through your fingers. I did. I’ve been checking out the highest spacetime quests on the top floor every chance I get.

And then.

‘I’m so glad I learned spatial magic, man.’

The conditions for entering the [Space-Time Social Hall] were also perfectly met by using spatial magic to separate the battlefield from the place where I was standing. Of course, I didn’t even have to put down that damn baton for a moment……!

‘After that, it was easy.’

If I wasn’t afraid of that snake, why would I be afraid of a toad?

Flesh and blood of the Sunrise Warrior.

This means that there was a notable success in saving Magnolia.

‘By the way.’

The status abnormality, [Delusional Poisoning].

Because I was the one who acquired the command of the Sunrise Warrior.

I was able to experience the effects of Delusion Poisoning indirectly.

‘It was similar, wasn’t it?’

Similar to the highest-level spacetime quest.

It was definitely similar to falling into the past time and space.

That’s what I felt uncomfortable about.

‘Sunrise Warrior’s mental power must not be normal either…….’

Let’s see, with the realization of the sword aura.

You must be one of the few transcendents who can enter the upper levels now.

But even such Sunrise Warrior was not free from the past.

‘Hey, Grandfell. I guess this is it.’

We’re a little special, aren’t we?

The highest level of spacetime quest we’ve ever succeeded in?

The highest difficulty and highest reward quests from the beginning of Ulrich were definitely on the easy side.

But I can understand if the concept is different from the beginning.

If the idea that the past can’t be changed is the beginning of the highest level of the Spacetime Quest, then this difficulty measure makes sense.

‘I’ve practiced the concept first with the Understanding of Darkness.’

And the conclusion?

“The past cannot be changed. Breaking that prejudice is the first step to reaching the top level of the Spacetime Social Hall.”

You’re telling me you’re not bluffing this time.

“…What, what are you talking about?”

The Great Yokai of the Valley of Blood, the Cruel God Killer Eight-headed Viper was puzzled by Magnolia’s unexpected return. For a moment, the change must have seemed magical, unaware that I had, in a moment of reflection, disrupted time and space.

I roughly looked at the situation.

‘I think this is enough.’

Everyone has experienced enough, including the Lionheart Knights.

If that’s the case, this one too.

We’ll need to use our full power to finish the job.

‘More than anything else.’

I looked out at the reunion of Sunrise Warrior siblings.

‘I don’t want to interrupt that.’

As I watched, I suddenly remembered Grandfell’s sister.

I’d never seen her face.

Or, more precisely, the hair that Grandfell’s sister had left behind.

‘Pride, that asshole…….’

Just thinking about it made my blood boil.

As I stood there looking at the landscape, I wondered. I wondered if I could change the past with the [Understanding of Darkness] or the [Highest Spacetime Quest].

Suddenly, Grandfell muttered.

“The past is meaningless to me.”

He sounded so serious.

I didn’t mind.

Are you saying something you don’t really mean again?

In response to my question, Grandfell said.

“Everything truly is.”

Somehow, lonely.

Grandfell.