Episode 251
Two warriors, a father and daughter, the Red Witch and the Crystal Princess, and finally, the God of Death and the Chronicler of Blood, were locked in a fierce confrontation.
In the midst of this, the daughter’s sword struck down upon the most noble knight in the world, the father she had always admired.
Thud!
The blade scattered petals, a flower of blood blooming in its wake.
A death flower, rooted in flesh, blood, and bone, blossomed in an instant.
Blood flowed along the man’s body like a river of crimson.
“……!”
The flower was vibrant with color, its petals shining cruelly beautiful against the dark winter night.
It was a clash that could hardly be called a battle. No, it wasn’t even a fight. It was merely a misaligned existence finding its rightful place.
The winter night’s scenery began to fade.
What enveloped the scene was the world of Charlotte Orhart, painted in black and red petals.
“What a breathtaking sight.”
Buried in the swirling petals, her father, the divine sword wielder Vadel, murmured calmly.
As if he had finally found a place to rest.
“The Lancaster Rose and the Saxon Black.”
“Those are the colors that paint your world.”
Charlotte nodded silently.
“But it was your sword that taught me the shape of this world.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Charlotte didn’t respond to her father’s words. But now she understood why he was here and what he desired.
“When I fell to the ‘hero’s’ sword that day, I thought it was my stained hatred for the empire that held me.”
It wasn’t. What bound the man to the end was a simple, understandable fatherly love.
“I just wanted to face you and talk, even if it had to be like this.”
“…Then there was no need to cross swords.”
After a pause, Charlotte finally murmured, her voice trembling, and Vadel shook his head.
“Your sword spoke more than a thousand words ever could.”
“But still…!”
“From the beginning, I was never meant to be here. Your sword corrected that truth, and for that, I am grateful.”
The blooming and withering of a flower happens in a moment. The flower rooted in flesh, blood, and bone was no different.
“Rest now, Father.”
Suppressing her sobs, Charlotte forced a smile. Their conversation was brief.
Only the cold hatred towards the hero who had felled her father gripped Charlotte’s heart.
The raging fire and blood froze in place.
“……!”
The bat wings sprouting from Lady Scarlet’s back were also caught in the freezing air, turning to ice.
Crash!
The Red Witch, her wings torn, plummeted to the ground with a scream that pierced the ears.
Blood splattered across the frozen wasteland of crystal. It wasn’t the blood magic of the Blood Elf clan.
It was literal bleeding.
─ That child, Ray Eurys, was the same. Foolish creatures.
A voice echoed simultaneously.
It wasn’t Sepia’s voice. It was the voice of the grimoire nestled in her heart… the voice of the Book of Absolute Zero.
‘Winter’ was there.
─ Do you think the embers flowing in the veins of insects can melt the ice mountains?
“Ah, ah…!”
The harbinger of the apocalypse, heralding the end of the world.
Before it, the witch, who had previously shown such composure, was now pale with fear.
─ Every day, without fail, buzzing in my ears. It’s unbearable.
Winter, as if tired, extended an arm, and a chill swept through. No, it was something that couldn’t even be called cold or ice.
“……!”
There was an absolute void that allowed no resistance.
A true end, the conclusion of all things.
“Why is it… so cold?”
Those were her last words.
Facing the end of the world, there was no simple fear or pain. At least not for Lady Scarlet. She didn’t even have the luxury to feel emotions or pain.
But for Sepia, the owner of the grimoire, it was different.
In agony that felt like her heart would burst, Sepia bit her lip. This was not her will.
“Why, how…!”
Losing control of the power within the grimoire, causing it to run wild. For a mage, it was not an uncommon accident.
The fact that the subject of this accident contained the winter of the universe was another matter.
─ You seem to be in great pain, child.
Winter laughed, seemingly amused by Sepia’s plight.
─ But don’t worry. I’m sick of the foolishness of you mortals.
A white silhouette, vaguely human, continued to speak.
─ I only need to borrow your body for a short while. Freezing a single star is no big deal.
By now, the world of fire and blood that Lady Scarlet had unleashed had vanished without a trace.
Once again, a world had disappeared.
─ The fools of this star endlessly repeat the same mistakes, buzzing like mosquitoes in my ears. I’ve given them countless chances. How long will it take for them to realize their struggles are meaningless?
Winter grumbled, tired, but Sepia found it hard to even part her lips.
─ The truth that this world will end in ice. And the reality that no one can stop it.
Winter spoke as if it didn’t matter at all.
The world was steadily shrinking.
Father and daughter, witch and princess.
And ‘history and death’ were clashing. But at some point, it was no longer a clash.
It was a scene of awe befitting the pinnacle of magic.
“Isn’t it ironic?”
The Blood Duke spoke, inscribing the grimoire, the Book of Blood, onto his flesh.
“Blood and death.”
The wheel of history turns only through blood. And every time blood flows, death blooms there.
What the Blood Duke wielded was the wheel of history turning through blood, and in response, the Black Duke unfurled the shroud of death.
As raven feathers scattered, the God of Death finally revealed himself there.
Yet, the two mages could never truly harm each other.
“To think the end of our pursuits would converge into one.”
“…….”
The Black Duke, Allen, remained silent. But he knew.
No matter how much he regretted and repented for his past sins, nothing would change. It wasn’t just about the Black-Red Order.
In the past, Allen of Saxon was no different from the old lords of Saxon.
A monster who justified any means for the truth.
Thus, the Black Duke and the Blood Duke turned the wheel of history with blood and death for their pursuits.
“We are more alike than anyone else. Like brothers,”
The Blood Duke continued, seemingly amused.
“Nothing in this world can separate blood and death.”
By now, the world he was unfolding was no longer even a barrier for battle.
Screams echoed. The cries of innocent victims caught in the wheel of history turning through blood.
The laboratory of the Black-Red Order.
The man was there.
As the one standing at the pinnacle of the Black Tower, a man who could never be free from the empire’s darkness.
Every time the blood of innocent subjects was extracted, death descended there.
Every time new blood was injected into subjects on the brink of death from excessive bleeding, death was postponed.
Where there was blood, there was death. And the man, like a king of the underworld, governed death there.
As the second-in-command of the Black-Red Order.
“It’s not too late.”
The Blood Duke said.
“If you join us, persuading the Shadow Lord wouldn’t be impossible.”
But as soon as his son Dale’s name was mentioned, the man’s expression cleared of any hesitation.
As if waking from a dream.
“I don’t believe anything can atone for that day’s sins.”
“What sins? We had a noble purpose.”
In an unforeseeable future, this world will end in ice. The empire’s cause was established to prevent that truth and end.
“A world that can only be preserved in such a way is better off perishing.”
The Black Duke replied coldly, as if his previous hesitation and turmoil had been a lie.
And at that moment.
“Scarlet…?”
The Blood Duke’s expression also froze. The smile vanished from his lips.
The world that had been raging around them was collapsing, one piece at a time.
The hero’s sword broke.
As the nanomachines gathered to repair the broken blade, the Shadow Lord’s darkness swept in faster.
The swirling darkness engulfed the area, beginning to seize the nanomachines under Sistina’s control.
Overlaying the ancient darkness of Shub, the Mother of Old Darkness, onto each machine particle akin to a quantum.
“It’s over.”
The Shadow Lord, Dale, declared, finally bringing their battle to an end.
“Damn it.”
The otherworldly hero muttered a low curse.
“I knew it would come to this.”
If there was one thing that set Dale apart, it was that he never struck from behind like a treacherous knight.
The Peacemaker in Dale’s hand had pierced through the hero’s chest.
The hero fell to his knees, blood flowing just as it had before.
As he looked down at the dying hero, consumed by obsession and madness, Dale quietly turned his head away.
It was then that a blue hologram appeared behind the hero.
─ It’s not over yet…!
The goddess of mercy and compassion, Sistina, began to speak. Or at least, she tried to.
─ No, it’s over.
Crack.
Sistina’s hologram, which should have been intangible, froze in place.
─ According to the forecast, this world is set to freeze over today, ushering in an eternal ice age.
‘Winter’ was there.
A true god, one that no false deity could ever imitate, a god who held no love for humanity.
But it wasn’t Winter itself that shocked Dale.
‘Winter’ had manifested in this world through an avatar, and that avatar was right there.
Sepia, who had dared to touch the forbidden magic of the old empire to save her brother, had etched the grimoire of absolute zero into her heart.
─ How can there be so many fools on this tiny speck of a planet?
Winter laughed, as if it were someone else’s problem, leaving Sepia behind.
─ Mother, it’s time to bring down the curtain on the stage you created.
After laughing, Winter spoke.
The primordial darkness and the chill of the end. The beginning and the end of this world.
The power of the Shadow Lord was merely the power of an emissary, granted by that ultimate being.
And now, those beings of beginning and end had finally revealed themselves.
Winter and the Mother of Ancient Darkness.
─ Shub.
Yet, Dale remained unfazed.
“I’m still keeping my promise.”
─ Yes!
Shub had no mercy or compassion like Sistina. But Dale still believed.
He believed that she loved humanity more than anyone else in this world.