Chapter 94: 89 – [Despair] (2)

As soon as the flames entered my head, the scenery around me changed. No longer was I in that weird dark space. Instead, I was now—

"H- Huh...? Isn't this... my home?"

—Lying inside my old bed.

I looked around my room confusedly, trying to take in as much information about the surroundings as possible.

That one moldy spot on the wall was there, and so was the old drawer that I kept all my books in.

I then glanced at the calendar on top of the drawer.

[November 2^nd, year 781 of the Imperial calendar]

Startled by the date I had just seen, I jumped out of the bed and hurriedly looked for the clock.

"6 P.M...?" I muttered as I finally found where the clock was. "Isn't this...!"

Having just recalled what would happen this day, I hurriedly rushed downstairs and into the kitchen, expecting to find the piece of paper that mom left behind. However, what I ended up seeing was far, far more worse.

"Wh- What...?" I stared at the scene before me in disbelief.

There she was, my mom, sitting on a chair, with a knife lodged firmly in her throat.

I immediately dashed toward her and checked for her breathing.

'Good, she's still alive!'

Heaving a brief sigh of relief, I quickly ran towards the cabinet to try and find the high-grade recovery potion she always kept for emergencies. Even after all these years, I could somehow still remember where it was.

"Come on! Where is it?"

I knocked all the tableware and spices onto the floor, ignoring the pain caused by fragments of the broken dishes embedding themselves in my foot.

"YES! HERE IT IS!" I exclaimed as I hurriedly grabbed the familiar red-colored potion.

I ran back to mom, uncorked the potion, removed the knife from her throat, and smeared the content of the potion all over her wounds. Seeing that her bleeding had immediately stopped, I heaved a sigh of relief and fell to the floor butt-first with a thud.

"Haaaah... I made it in time..."

With the first-aid now complete, I just needed to take her to the town's healer and she'll be fin—

|"Oh? She's still alive?"|

Startled, I quickly turned toward the hallway, only to see a priest donning white clothes muttering with an amused smile on his face.

Normally, I'd have jumped back in surprise and ask who he was. However, I knew full-well who this man was. 

"Priest Randall?"

Priest Randall - the only priest working at a church of Light in my hometown. Through all of my interactions with him, I could tell that he was a kind-hearted and gentle man. And that remained true, even until now, as priest Randall wasn't really himself right now.

Staring at his brightly shinning golden eyes, which looked like that of Arthur's when he was affected by the lightbulb's bullshit divine power, I tried to shout.

'LUMARIA! ARE YOU BEHIND THIS?'

'Huh?'

I was surprised to see that I... couldn't shout my thoughts out loud. However, I quickly calmed down.

'It doesn't matter anyways. Randall's attacking mother, and I have to kill him!'

Thus, I quickly grabbed a sharp piece of broken plate nearby and rushed toward Randall. 

Or, that was what was supposed to happen.

'H- Huh? I can't move...?'

I summoned all of my willpower to force my body to move, but my efforts were futile. I couldn't do anything but to helplessly watch my body do things I didn't want to do at all.

"P- Priest Randall!" my body exclaimed. "Please save mom! H- Her wound's stabilized for now but it won't stay that way for long!"

At my body's pleas though, Randal— no, Lumaria merely frowned. |"Shut up, will you? If it wasn't for the rules set by The Creator, the great me wouldn't have had to do elaborate and underhanded plans like this and instead kill you right here and now"|

"Priest Randall, what are you talking abou—"

Before my body could finish its sentence, Lumaria, who was controlling Randall's body, rushed forward and grabbed the knife on the floor that was still stained with mom's blood.

She then immediately turned Randall's body toward mom and stabbed the knife into her neck again, and again, and again...

'STOP!' I tried to scream. 'NO! MOVE! MOVE YOU SHITHEAD!'

But I still wasn't in control of my body. Thus, I could only watch this horrible scene unfold from inside my body, which was frozen stiff in confusion and fear.

After a full minute, mom's throat had became an unrecognizable mess of flesh, blood, bone shards, and broken knife fragments.

Lumaria then dug her hand deeper inside of mom's mangled neck and pulled out a sharp bone shard. She then pointed it toward Randall's own throat and smirked at my body.

|"See you soon, the worst villain. Hopefully you'll have become a rotting corpse by that time"|

She then thrusted.

Spurt—!

My body, which was frozen stiff until now, stared at mom's and the now-dead priest's body blankly. Despite having no emotions present on his face right now, I could tell that his sanity was slowly dropping.

And so was mine.

'Wh- What's all this?'

"Wh- What's all this?"

'I- Is this Prostor's doing?'

"I- Is this one of Raun's sick prank?"

'M- Mom... she can't really be dead, r- right...?'

"M- Mom... she can't really be dead, r- right...?"

'Hehahaha! Prostor! You got me! Now cease this illusion!'

"Hehahaha! Raun! You got me! Now cease this prank!"

'P- Please tell me this isn't real! I- I'm sorry for disrespecting you earlier in the Hall, o- okay?'

"P- Please tell me this isn't real! I- I'm sorry for trying to cockblock you and Amelia earlier in school, o- okay?"

'PLEAS—"

|Ah, the blasphemous bastard finally apologized to me. How refreshing|

As the all-too-familiar voice rang out, the scenery around me changed to that of the dark void again.

Looking around in confusion for a few seconds, I soon made my inner voice as full of rage as it could get.

'PROSTOR! YOU! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?'

|Do what?| Prostor feigned ignorance.

'You know what I mean! What's even the point of this illusion?'

|This is not an illusion|

'Huh?'

I could hear him chuckling. |Let's just say that it's the memories of... another you|

'Another... me...?'

|Yes. The other you of the previous regression|

'...?'

Seemingly aware of the confused face I was mentally making right now, Prostor sighed.

|Look, it's going to take all day to tell you everything so I'll make it short. Basically, Eleanor's 4th Iteration went to shit because of you. So I decided to alter your Fate once and for all in exchange for some of your innate talents in the 5th Iteration|

'...!'

|But the lightbulb caught wind of my plan, and thus commenced the scene you had to sit through|

'S- So... is my mom dea—'

|No|, Prostor immediately shot my sentence down. |Well... technically yes. But time regressed once more, and now your mom is alive. I just teleported her somewhere so that she can be safe|

'...!'

|So this is basically the 6th Iteration. Eleanor just doesn't know it and that's why she still thinks that this is the 5th one|

Hearing all Prostor's had to say, I sighed in relief. However, my relief soon turned into annoyance as I heard his next words.

|Aren't you forgetting to thank a certain someone for saving your mom?|

'...', I stayed silent, deliberately ignoring his words.

Seeing that I wasn't going to say anything, Prostor clicked his tongue in annoyance.

|Tch, fine. I'll have to finish my work here anyways, whether you want to talk or not|

He then cleared his throat to prepare for his next words.

'Do Gods' throats even function?'

|What kind of freak do you think Gods are? We're also living beings, just much more powerful than you mere ants and made of Holy mana instead of normal Mana|, Prostor scowled.

'Oh right, I forgot he can read my mind for a second there'

Prostor ignored my latest thoughts and spoke.

|Anyways, here's a recap. Viscount Nightshade became your guardian like normal, and everything stayed the same until your first encounter with the Goblins|

'...'

|Instead of losing pathetically to the first group you met, you defeated 8 big groups of Goblin before getting captured. So even when Krista saved your ass, your personality still became even more insufferable and arrogant than it is now...|

Prostor then recounted everything this 'other me' had done up until my encounter with [Despair].

'So we're basically the same', I thought after hearing Prostor's whole recount. 'Except for the fact that he's even more of an asshole and killed much more than me?'

|Pretty much|

'I mean, I'm glad that you saved mom and all but why did you even bother waiting for this regression and save her if there is not much difference between me and him?'

|You'll see soon enough...|

Hearing his vague words, I sighed. 'Why did I even bother to ask you... so what happens now?'

|You will experience the memories related to everything I had just told you|

'...Then why did you tell me all of this in the first place?'

|It's for you to mentally prepare yourself|

'Prepare...?'

|Yes. I wouldn't want you of all people to go insane, at least not now. Anyways, you need to experience certain triggers to unlock the next parts of the previous you's memories, so good luck in the future|

And with those words, Prostor went silent.

'Hey Prostor, are you there?'

But there was no response.

Just as I was about to curse him for leaving me alone in this dark place, the scenery around me changed again. 

This time, I was lying on a fluffy bed, staring at the ceiling of the Nightshade mansion.

"Haaaah...", I sighed, having taken control of my own body again. 

I then looked at my own hands, only to see them being small, just like that of my 10-year-old self.

"So I'm still in the memories, huh?"

Closing my eyes, I sighed.

"This is going to take a while..."

***

Araceli stared blankly at the door of her room.

-"AHHHH HELP!"

-"WHERE'S REINFORCEMENT?"

-"REQUEST HELP FROM THE CITY GUARDS, NOW!"

Hearing the desperate screams of the knights and the servants, she could only sigh as she picked her shovel and crossbow up.

"If I knock them out, then Aryl won't bother to kill them, right?"

And with those words, she left her room and rushed toward where the commotion were all at.

Upon arriving at the center of the commotion, however, she didn't she Aryl. Instead, she saw a blue-skinned troll smashing his way into a basement.

'What...? Can Aryl control monsters?'

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Araceli quickly shouted. "Troll! Are you with Aryl?"

Hearing this, the troll turned around and stared at Araceli for a few seconds. After a while, its eyes lit up as if it had just remembered something.

"Kurrghhh... Half-mask phoenix?" It spoke.

'This voice... isn't this...'

"Zakadon?"

"Kurghhh... that's right"

"Y- You're a troll all along?"

"Kurghhh... no. It's just illusion magic"

Araceli nodded and approached Zakadon. "So, have you managed to find your lover?" 

"Kurghh.... no. She's captured by house Neviltis"

He then pointed toward the basement right in front of them. "That's where they keep her"

Without waiting for Araceli to say anything, Zakadon clenched his fist and punched the wall of the basement, making a big hole. 

Though startled by his sudden actions, Araceli still hurriedly followed behind him to enter the basement.
...

Since the corridors of the basement was tight and narrow, all Araceli could see in front of her was Zakadon's back.

Just as she was about to ask him to punch another hole in the wall to make more space for her, however, Zakadon suddenly shouted.

"YOU! WHERE'S MY EILEEN?"

"A- A troll!? Why is a troll here?" A scared and very confused voice rang out from the person that Zakadon was facing.

Ignoring his words, Zakadon rushed forward and grabbed the man by his neck.

With Zakadon now out of the way, Araceli could finally see what was in front of her.

She saw a circular room, with tables full of colorful vials and cages full of dark Elves in them.

The dark Elves' physical state was... less than ideal. Some lost their arms, some had their legs amputated, and some was still alive despite having lost half of their body.

Such a sight was extremely nauseating for Araceli.

Zakadon, however, he was unfazed by such things. Still grabbing the man, who was donning a white lab coat, he moved toward the cages and inspected everyone in it carefully.

After double checking everything, Zakadon turned back toward the man whose face was pale and pants were wet. "Kurghhh... where's Eileen!?"

"E- Eileen? I- I don't know such nam—"

Before the man could finish his sentence, Zakadon tightened his grip. "WHERE'S EILEEN?"

"I- I don't know! I- I have hundreds of test subjects so it's impossible for me to remember all their names!"

Hearing this, Zakadon sighed in frustration and crushed the man's neck.

Lightly kicking the now-dead man on the ground, Zakadon was about to turn around and leave with Araceli when suddenly, a voice called out to him.

"Sir Troll..."

Zakadon turned toward the owner of the voice - an old-looking dark Elf in the cage. "Kurghhh... what?"

"Are you looking for Eileen, the dark Elf who has a scar on her right eye?"

Zakadon widened his eyes in surprise and nodded his head fervently. "Yes!"

"Unfortunately, you wasted your time coming here. She has escaped this hellish place a week ago"

"Kurghhh... do you know where she went?" 

"She told us that she was going to the necromancer valley to seek refuge" 

Hearing this, Zakadon heaved a sigh of relief.

"She's still alive...", he muttered.

He then ripped out the bars of the cage the dark Elf was in. "Kurghh... that researcher on the ground has the keys for the other cages. Do whatever you want with it"

Turning toward Araceli, who was staring at the researcher's corpse with a blank look on her face, Zakadon shouted. "Kurghhh... Phoenix! My work is done here. We will now go help Aryl like the true warriors we are!"

Araceli was woken up from her trance by Zakadon's loud shout. 

"Y- Yes! Coming!"
...

Since Aryl was here to hunt Apel down, Araceli reasoned that she would most likely be in his room.

And she was right. Aryl was in Apel's room. However, something was strange.

"Huh?" Araceli let out a sound of confusion as she stared at the scene in Apel's room.

There she was, Aryl, lying on the floor with her face bloodied. 

A squirrel was touching her bloodied face, while Apel was crouching right beside the squirrel and patting its head.

Hearing Araceli's voice, Ape slowly stood up with sigh.

"Haaah... Araceli, I'm hurt, you know? Such a good woman like you betraying my trust"

He then extended his hand toward the squirrel, who jumped on it and climbed onto his shoulder.

As soon as it did so, something strange happened. Currents of Lightning and Time Mana suddenly revolved around Apel, before getting sucked inside his body.

"So this is her magic?" Apel muttered while looking at the molten-red electricity that were crackling around his arm. He then looked at the squirrel on his shoulder in annoyance. "Is this it? I swear I saw her use some kinds of destructive Space magic earlier! Can't you copy it?"

The squirrel shook its head.

Apel frowned at this sight. "Aren't you supposed to be the Void lord of jealousy?"

"Chiwk... Chiwekkk!" the squirrel let out sounds that only Apel could understand.

Apel nodded his head in understanding upon hearing this. "I see, it's a Battle art. What a shame, you're not strong enough to copy it"

His gaze then soften as he patted the squirrel's head. "Well, good job though. Killing these two now is going to be a walk in the park thanks to you"

And with those words, Apel directed his gaze back to Araceli and Zakadon. He then spoke with a cold voice. "I'll eliminate the bigger threat first"

<[Lightning spear]>

A spear of Lighting was shot toward Zakadon, who raised his axe up to block it.

"ZAKADON NO! DODGE IT!", Araceli screamed.

But alas, it was too late. The spear of Lighting broke Zakadon's axe and lodged itself firmly into his left shoulder.

Bzzzzzt—!

It then discharged all of its electricity currents into his body, paralyzing him and knocking him unconscious.

Satisfied with the power of the magic, Apel crouched down and took Aryl's sword out of her violently trembling hands. He then pointed it toward Araceli.

"Araceli, if you give up now and be my wife, I will overlook your betrayal and pardon you"

Araceli fell into thoughts for a few seconds before slowly speaking up again. "Will they be spared?" 

Apel briefly glanced at Zakadon and Aryl before shaking his head.

"The troll? No. Since there's no recorded troll with intelligence like this one, I'll make him my test subject. So really, he's better off dead"

"..."

His lips then curved up in a lecherous grin as he said his next words. "The Halfling? Maybe. But she'll be my sex slave if she survives"

"I see", Araceli muttered as her eyes turned cold. She then tightened her grip on her shovel. "Then I absolutely can't lose now"

"What a shame...", Apel sighed. "...well, at least I have someone to test my strength out on"

<[Splice]>

Instantly, Apel disappeared from his spot and reappeared to the right of Araceli.

'He's slower than Aryl', Araceli thought as she watched Apel bringing the sword down onto her shoulder.

Since she was untouchable, Araceli's plan was to let the barrier block the attack for her, and she would counterattack with a—

Spurt—!

"H- Huh?" Araceli stared at her shoulder dumbfoundedly.

She could feel searing pain coursing through her entire body as her gaze rested on the sword, which had torn the flesh of her shoulder apart.

It took a her few seconds before she finally began processing what had just happened. And when she did, she widened her eyes in shock.

"H- How!?"

Apel stared at her shocked face in confusion. "What do you mean 'how'? You didn't even move when I swung my sword. Well, it doesn't matter anyways. You can still give me a child even if you're crippled"

As he was about to put more strength on the sword to cut her entire arm off, Araceli hurriedly chanted.

<[Flame pillar]>

Flames danced underneath Apel's feet before bursting into a large pillar of flames.

"AHHHHHHH!" Apel screamed in agony as he let go of his grip on the sword.

Araceli retreated back a few steps, took out a Recovery potion and smeared the contents on her shoulder wound.

It was then that the flames subsided, revealing a severely burnt Apel.

Not wasting this chance, Araceli dashed forward with her shovel in her hand, swinging at the burnt Void lord.

Apel, despite being in constant pain, still managed to keep his calm. Glaring at Araceli hatefully, he used his Skill.

[SS - Clutches of despair]

Swirls of Void tentacles shot toward Araceli at great speed.

Sensing that she could not dodge the move, Araceli gritted her teeth and braced for impact. However—

"Huh? I'm fine...?"

—She was completely unscathed, much to both her and Apel's shock.

Not waiting for the Void lord to recover from his surprise, Araceli hurriedly rushed toward him and swung her shovel hard.

BAM—!

"Kurrghhh!" Apel let out groans of pain as he was sent flying back a couple of meters.

Quickly getting up from the ground and spitting out a broken tooth, Apel stared at Araceli in disbelief. "Y- You...! How did you resist [SS - Clutches of despair]!?"

"I should be the one asking that!" Araceli frowned. "How did you bypass [SS - Absolute distance]?"

"Distance?" Apel widened his eyes in surprise. Before long, he regained his calm as he stared at Araceli with an amused smile. "I see... so that's why your Mana seemed so familiar"

"What are you talking about?"

Ignoring Araceli's words, Apel slowly reached into his Space pouch and took out an ominous-looking scroll. "Oh [Distance], it seems that our fight has to end here. I wouldn't want to kill my own kind after all"

"What is this, some sort of tactics to weaken my mind?" Araceli snickered. "Nice try. But you can't deceive me with your words"

Apel shook his head before giving her a wide grin. "You will see soon, dearest 58th sister. I await you inside this city. Come when you're ready"

As soon as he finished his sentence, Apel ripped the scroll apart.

Instantly, a pillar of pure Void mana enveloped him. After a few seconds, the pillar slowly shrank, and Araceli couldn't see or feel Apel's presence anymore.

After double-checking that he was really gone, she quickly ran toward the Orc and smeared some potions on his shoulder wound. She then rushed to Aryl, deactivated [SS - Absolute distance], and slapped her cheeks to try and wake Aryl up from her trance.

"Come on Aryl! Wake up already! The Void fiend's gone!"

However, no matter how hard she tried, Aryl wouldn't wake up.

After a few minutes of uselessly slapping Aryl, she could feel a thick hand on her shoulder. 

Startled, she quickly turned around, only to be met with the sight of the Orc towering over her and shaking his head. "Kurghhh... it's no use..."

"Th- Then...!" Araceli was on the verge of tears. "W- Will she stay like this for the rest of her life?"

The Orc shook his head again. "Kurghhh... no. She will return to normal once she's far enough from that guy"

"...How can you be so sure?"

"Kurghhh... that guy... he used the same move on me when he took my Eileen..."

"I see...", Araceli nodded. "...I'm sorry for your loss"

"Kurgh... don't be. Eileen's still alive. She escaped by her own and ran to necromancer valley"

He then punched the wall of the hallway they were in, making a hole that was connected to the outside. "Kurghhh... we should get out of this city if we want Aryl to return to normal"

Araceli nodded her head at Zakadon's words and reached into Aryl's pocket to take out her brooch.

She then carried Aryl on her back and quickly got out of Kerudark city.

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