Chapter 644. What the Darkness Desires (5) #PART 2
I get the situation now.
‘It’s back to normal.’
She must have lost most of the World Tree’s blessing, just like I did.
Hiel had returned to the form of a low-ranking spirit, a nymph. The luxurious, cumbersome clothes that resembled someone else were no longer in sight.
However, what’s important now is not the appearance.
“My lord…?”
Hiel was crying.
The tears rolling down her cheeks felt endless, as if she had lost something.
Tears kept flowing from Hiel’s empty eyes.
Hiel herself seemed confused, not understanding why.
“Why am I crying? Is it because I’m happy to be reunited with my lord? Or is it tears of regret? I’m sorry, my lord. I don’t even know what I’m saying… I feel like I’ve forgotten something very important…”
Honestly, I don’t know either.
‘Grandfell.’
I found traces of Harkon. No, the demon who had possessed Harkon at the place illuminated by your Evil Eye. I followed the scent of that demon and tracked it here.
[Hidden Piece: Entering the ‘World Tree’s Secret Garden’.]
I reached the place where the World Tree’s seed was first sprouted.
The World Tree that had grown into a massive tree in the time I wasn’t looking.
And the infinitely deep darkness that swallowed that World Tree.
Slowly.
I swallowed my words, gazing at the suitable mana of Grandfell.
‘What is it that you want from me…?’
What is it that drove me here?
I swallowed my emotions.
I extended my hand toward Hiel.
Hiel carefully climbed onto my palm.
“You don’t need to try to remember, Hiel.”
I searched the magical traces emanating from Hiel.
More specifically, I recognized the traces of a high-level black magic, 『The Magic Circle of Forgetfulness Filled with Regret.』 If it had been any other type of magic, I might have mistaken it.
‘Who the hell is messing with this?’
But.
‘Black magic can’t be learned outside the Magic Tower.’
Matisse Dean Karl, who systematized black magic scattered across the Arcana continent through the Black Magic School. The knowledge of black magic he left behind could only be acquired in the Magic Tower’s Emerald Hall.
In simpler terms, only I, Matisse, Marcelo, and you, Grandfell, could invoke 『The Magic Circle of Forgetfulness Filled with Regret.』
[Contract Spirit, ‘Hiel Crysiad Four-Season Leaf’ is returning to the Spirit World.]
What happened here?
Why did Hiel’s memory get erased by invoking black magic?
Before that.
Grandfell.
What was it that you were doing? Watching as Skal and Frostnax teetered on the brink of death, as Harkon was manipulated by demons, and as Hiel cried?
…grit.
I gritted my teeth and stared at the Evil Eye floating in the sky.
After all, we were the ones who occupied the seat of the Ten Thrones.
Just like the Ten Thrones did, you too must be watching me through the Evil Eye.
I spoke toward Grandfell’s Evil Eye.
“Tell me, what do you think of me? Don’t I look great? Watching me flail around in all directions without you, huh? Do you feel validated now that I can’t do anything without you, and are you boosting your self-esteem?”
…Damn, even I find myself ridiculous for saying this.
I knew it well.
Grandfell is not the kind of person who would look down on others with a sense of pride.
But I desperately continued.
“Right. You, who know everything, must have watched me act like an idiot pretending to be you, huh? How was it? Did you think I tried my best? You see this? Do you know how many times I’ve used terrible bleach to get this hair color?”
I wonder why I’m shouting like this. Even I can’t figure it out.
“You know, those damned people you think are so terrible… No, those damn ‘sisters’ of yours have started noticing something. I heard they’ve been acting strangely rude. I’m so shaken by it. I’m afraid I might collapse from the shock of embarrassment before I can even try anything.”
It’s ridiculous.
“…Are you even listening?”
Maybe I just wanted to confirm something.
Because I know you, Grandfell, better than anyone.
Following your designs, I unknowingly came to realize something.
I may be desperately denying your ‘purpose.’
Even so, I asked directly toward the Evil Eye.
“…So?”
The hunter’s senses of a demon hunter.
“Where is Harkon?”
Even Tempest, the guardian spirit of Akshan, could no longer track the scent of the demon that had possessed Harkon. The meaning behind this was simple.
“Why were you just watching?”
The life signs from Harkon had disappeared.
If Harkon had breathed with his body, I could have tracked that breath. If he moved to another place, I could have found his steps.
However, as I mentioned, neither Tempest nor I could feel anything about the demon possessing Harkon in this place. The reason must lie with you, Grandfell.
“Didn’t you have to do this to Harkon…?”
[The Evil Eye: The Source of All Evil]
As the system that doesn’t lie said.
The Evil Eye I’m facing as a demon hunter is on a different level from any demon I’ve faced before. The gap is so vast that even my [Natural Enemy Relationship], which never falters before demons, is not triggered.
I felt it once again.
That’s the true form of ‘Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo,’ who broke free from the shackles of my, Lee Hoyeol’s, fate.
Such a Grandfell was watching me.
He was asking something from me.
Not by forcing me.
He was trying to achieve his goal through those around me.
And so.
I could no longer turn away.
Skal and Frostnax.
Harkon.
Hiel.
At this point, where everyone was hurt,
I could no longer deny the memories of that day.
The day
when Grandfell left me.
I remembered the wish he had made to me that day.
-“Me.”
I faced the truth that I had wanted to avoid until the end.
-“Kill me.”
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