Chapter 1231 – #288_Fable(5)
#1225
1.
The sincere clash of two witches, making the power of existing witches seem like ‘nothing.’
This created a large-scale randomization of space that had never been observed before.
Within the randomized space, all sorts of unpredictable and bizarre phenomena occur, even beyond what witches can anticipate.
The laws that define the world are all tangled, magic forgets its principles, common sense is twisted, and even phenomena overlap.
For an ordinary witch, merely being swept up in this magical realm is enough to endanger their life. The scenery is diverse and awe-inspiring.
The ‘pure white light’ that Erelim summoned was split like it had passed through a prism, dividing into various forms of magic and floating in the air.
Each was the pinnacle of the unique self-magic that different witches had pursued.
The ‘red line’ that Siwoo shot out was also split like bamboo, disintegrating into circles and floating.
It was also the original form of Siwoo’s self-magic, including waves, distortions, and elements.
The clash of magic, containing the essence of the two, was intertwined and flickered in space, like two trees growing together.
Siwoo, who was sprawled in the middle of that other world, slowly opened his eyes.
“Ugh.”
His head throbbed.
Something lukewarm was flowing down his forehead, and he was startled, but thankfully it was just blood.
His condition was so bad before he passed out that he was worried his brain fluid might be gushing out.
“Damn… I almost screwed up…”
It was dangerous.
It wasn’t Erelim’s attack that was dangerous.
It was the power that humans could not dare to obtain.
Perhaps because he had moved towards it, his mind had gone haywire from the middle.
If the accident hadn’t stopped midway, he would have been swallowed by the inner demon that had awakened within him.
He would have thrown off the shackles, shouted “Humans must be eradicated!” and been swallowed by the chaos, unable to even recall the faces and names of his lovers and Malika.
At the time, it had felt so natural.
He had felt that to transcend, one had to be freer than anyone else, and to be freer than anyone else, one had to break free from the shackles.
To put it simply, he had taken the wrong path.
It was as if he had suffered a qi deviation while learning some demonic art, losing his mind in a flow that he could not resist on his own.
He had reached the 25th level for a fleeting moment, but if that had happened, victory would have been meaningless.
Perhaps he would have become something like a ‘Witch King’ as one of the two prophecies foretold.
That was all Siwoo could guess at this point.
Rather, losing consciousness for a moment due to her attack had been a blessing in disguise.
“Thanks for saving me, Duchess Erelim.”
Anyway, though unintentionally, Erelim’s attack had derailed the runaway train that was heading towards the cliff.
Also unintentionally, Siwoo had read Erelim through the ‘Memory Palace.’
In the fleeting moment of unconsciousness, through her ‘light,’ he had glimpsed the leaked, tangled memories, regrets, and delusions.
Not all memories were thoroughly dissected.
Since the origin of the light that Erelim wielded was ‘hope,’ he had only glimpsed the memories related to Erelim’s resentment.
Still, it was enough to grasp the whole situation.
The ‘system’ that determines the limits of witches.
This was originally a restriction that arose when the Witch of Creation fled to a timeline where witches did not exist.
Keter, who had given up everything and was only seeking a new path.
Erelim, who had obediently followed without knowing the truth. The sense of betrayal she had felt when she belatedly realized the truth.
The war between Gehenna and Hexennacht to establish a new order.
As the queen of the abandoned, to prove that the deaths of the witches who had left were not in vain, she seeks to open a new path through Malika by bypassing the system.
“I didn’t mean to see it. I just happened to find out.”
Erelim scattered the remnants of her delusions and felt the traces left within.
It was like someone opening a diary that she carefully managed, she could immediately sense it.
“Couldn’t you have said something like this before we started fighting?”
Shin Siwoo, who was trying to have a conversation, was not the same as the one who had been possessed by madness a moment ago.
The moment his clear and transparent eyes, filled with even a hint of pity, scanned her, Erelim was seized by a reflexive sense of rejection, almost like disgust.
Pity? It was a truly shallow sentiment.
He didn’t know.
What it was like to be abandoned by someone you had believed in and blindly followed like a mother your whole life.
How terrible it was to realize that the ideal you had tried to achieve through devotion and sacrifice was actually just an illusion.
What kind of tragedy it was that the result of the noble legacy passed down through generations was a pointless endeavor with a predetermined end.
Shin Siwoo, who had not even lived out the lifespan of a mortal, who was still thoroughly human, could not understand.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes.”
Her voice, lowered with hostility, growled.
Anyway, the war had returned to Gehenna’s victory.
He knew Erelim’s purpose, motive, and true intentions.
Until now, Erelim was clearly an enemy to be killed.
Because in the first place, she was a war criminal who had sided with the public, claiming that humans were dangerous, and had triggered the war into an all-out battle, and because he had received intelligence that she was targeting Malika.
To end the war and protect his family, it was inevitable that Erelim had to be eliminated.
But now, Siwoo no longer harbored that much hostility.
In terms of the purity of her intentions, he even wanted to express a modicum of respect for the weight of the karma she had carried.
It was amazing that she was maintaining her sanity.
Blanche Erelim’s life was marked not by magic or transcendence, but by the intense purpose of ‘for the sake of witches.’
The brilliant light she wielded was also a noble light that she had cultivated because she had single-handedly cared for the neglected mausoleum.
Siwoo, who showed no mercy to the cruel public, did not see his opponent as a madman.
She was someone he could have a conversation with.
Then, although it was quite late, wouldn’t it be good to have a conversation?
“You know this is wrong, don’t you?”
Erelim had an easier option.
She didn’t need to bother with a war. She could have just revealed the truth of the world and designated Malika as the key.
If she had done that, she would have easily obtained Malika with the protection of many witches.
Perhaps he might have seen the bizarre scene of Hexennacht and Gehenna uniting to track down Siwoo’s family.
But she didn’t.
Why?
She herself said it was a test of qualification, but Siwoo could sense the rationalization within it.
Why would she come at him talking about ‘qualification’?
Why was the element of ‘sin’ mentioned in her fantasy?
Deep down, she was also pricked by her conscience.
She knew that she was doing something wrong.
“Is it right to kidnap someone else’s child who can’t even walk yet and use them for research purposes?”
After hesitating for a moment, Erelim opened her mouth.
Her will was firm, but she seemed skeptical about whether this conversation was meaningful.
“…I’m trying to choose a path for everyone, not just for one person.”
“Oh dear…. So you had such circumstances. Should I say, ‘Here’s my daughter, please use her as much as you like’? I’ve never seen anyone who says they’ll sacrifice the few for the many who is in their right mind. How is your behavior any different from the humans you hate so much?”
Siwoo pointed out that the evil deeds that are always carried out in the name of justice tend to have plausible justifications.
But Erelim was not shaken by this much.
From the start, she had resolved to get her hands dirty, and this was the path to achieving her long-cherished wish, which she had been pursuing for nearly a thousand years.
“I’m not asking for anyone’s understanding.”
But the contradictions in Erelim’s actions were not limited to that.
“I wasn’t going to say this, but if you act like you’re carrying all the world’s tragedies on your own and vow to take it all on, do you feel like you’re some kind of tragic heroine?”
“……”
“You’re great? You recorded the last moments of the witches? I’ll admit it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been through a lot with Gehenna, but I even feel it’s noble.”
“……”
“But did those witches ask you for anything when they were leaving? To carry their burden? To say, ‘My life was sacrificed for magic, and I passed on the cruel fate of suicide promised to apprentice witches. So my life was marked by tragedy. So please carry this sad and fleeting life and record it.’ Did you even hear such a request?”
“……”
Even though he had said something that could be perceived as provocative due to his frustration and annoyance, Erelim showed no change in expression.
Was she making that stoic face again, thinking something like, ‘I deserve to hear this much abuse’?
“And yet, you’re so damn arrogant. Let’s say the system has restricted passage beyond the 25th level. But why are you so sure that no one but you or me can break through it? You say you value other witches so much, but can’t you trust them? Who knew that Count Gremory or Duke Cagliostro would succeed?”
“Keter couldn’t do it either.”
In fact, there were more than enough contradictions in Erelim’s actions, but this was the most incomprehensible part.
“See? Every time you speak, it’s Keter, Keter, Keter. You say Keter was wrong, but you’re targeting Malika, who is Keter’s legacy, because deep down, you think you can’t do it alone, right?
You can’t trust anyone else, so you have to do it yourself. And yet, you can’t do it alone, so you have to use the legacy Keter left behind. What is this? It’s a mess.”
“……”
Erelim’s silence was not because she had been moved by Siwoo’s persuasion and had lost her words.
She was not a fool.
If she wanted to, she could have made countless counterarguments.
She could have defended herself from a perspective that Siwoo had not seen.
The reason she didn’t was because she knew that the two of them could not understand each other.
Even the same picture looks different depending on the angle.
Moreover, the difference in perspective caused by having such different life trajectories, times, and values was not something that could be narrowed down through conversation.
In the end, witches and humans were just others to each other.
“Let’s end the conversation here.”
Slightly Professor Amelia mode….
Looking at Erelim, who cut off the conversation without any emotion, Siwoo’s head ached.
From experience, that type was not easy.
Honestly, if you just looked at her fate, you had to admit it was tragic.
Erelim, who had believed in and followed Keter more than anyone else, had killed even her comrades and vowed to create a world for witches.
After learning the truth of the world, he couldn’t say that her cold rampage was completely incomprehensible.
If it weren’t for her past grudges and targeting Malika, he might have even felt sorry for her.
Loneliness was a sad thing for anyone.
“Alright.”
Erelim, who was trapped in her loneliness.
There were only two ways she would be convinced.
Kill her.
Or hand over Malika.
The former was not easy and would leave a terrible aftertaste, and the latter was something he could never allow.
That was why Siwoo chose a third path.
“System. I’ll try to break through it. You can watch from there while looking for Keter.”
He raised his magic power.
Golden particles created a staircase that rose to the sky in front of Siwoo.
As always.
To resist fate and find a new answer.
Bloom.
