Episode 138
“If you entrust everything to me completely, it’s possible. Swear to me now that you will give yourself over entirely in this moment.”
Olivia bit her lip hard.
This was a magical pact.
A temporary vow, yes—but it meant her very life would be held in the grasp of that demon.
Still, Olivia nodded firmly.
Even she couldn’t fully understand her own choice.
“I swear to entrust everything to you.”
The pact sealed her will.
Her mental barriers swung wide open toward Chris, leaving her mind defenseless as dark magic unfurled.
A four-star illusion dark magic.
The Swamp of Memories.
Her mind sank into the black magic that trapped her in the past.
Darkness swallowed her vision, and she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness.
Then, a hand gripped hers tightly.
Warm and steady, as if to say, “Don’t worry.”
The hand she had longed for.
“…Oppa?”
The Swamp of Memories trapped its victim in visions of the past they missed most.
For Olivia, that was naturally the time when Chris was still alive.
Within the illusion, she met Chris again.
“Oppa…?”
Her eyes trembled.
There he was—Chris.
She immediately realized it was an illusion.
But it felt far too real to dismiss as mere fantasy.
It was as if the past had been perfectly recreated.
As if she were truly facing Chris himself.
Yes, it was an illusion that seemed to truly exist.
There was a reason for this.
Chris had twisted the dark magic to become the ‘Chris’ within the vision.
In other words, the Chris Olivia faced was both an illusion and the real Chris.
Chris spoke as if he had traveled back in time.
“Long time no see.”
And the moment she heard that familiar voice—
Olivia’s emotional dam broke all at once.
“This is just an illusion.”
She pressed her hand to her chest.
She told herself not to give her heart to a dream she’d wake from, only to feel emptier.
But—
“…Is it really just an illusion?”
Confusion clouded her face.
It wasn’t a matter of how detailed or not the illusion was.
Her instincts told her—
It wasn’t fake.
It felt as if Chris had truly come back to life.
“This can’t be real.”
The feeling of being with Chris was so genuine that her frozen heart began to thaw, and she shook her head urgently.
“Why… why did you appear?”
There was no need to ask.
The demon wanted her to awaken the power of the Soul Bond.
It was probably trying to push her to awaken that power by taking Chris’s form.
But ‘Chris’ gave an unexpected answer.
“You should rest a bit.”
“…Huh?”
“You’ve been struggling lately.”
Olivia almost broke down again.
“Take a break.”
She remembered the words she’d heard when she first met Chris.
Even knowing it was an illusion, she couldn’t refuse his offer.
“Can I really… rest?”
“Of course.”
Chris nodded, smiling like before.
“As much as you want.”
Time passed.
Nothing special happened.
It was as if she had returned to the past, spending peaceful moments with Chris.
The strangest thing was, even though it was an illusion—
Olivia felt warmth spreading through her chest.
As if she were truly with Chris.
“I don’t want to wake up.”
She closed her eyes gently.
“…Can I just stay like this?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Thankfully, ‘Chris’ didn’t rush her.
He simply stayed quietly, soothing her.
Endlessly.
How long had it been?
Days? Weeks? Years?
She didn’t know.
Time in dreams was always tangled.
It could feel like a lifetime, yet in hindsight, only a moment.
Her time with Chris in the dream was just like that.
Eventually—
“Hehe, I guess it’s time to stop.”
Olivia’s voice was wet with tears.
“We can’t stay like this forever.”
Though she didn’t want to wake up, the illusion had to end.
“But… I’m glad.”
She didn’t know how it was possible.
But the time spent in the illusion felt like she had truly been with Chris, and her frozen heart felt warm.
“I’ll miss you even more now.”
Then, ‘Chris’ said something unexpected.
“I’ll always be with you.”
“!!”
Her eyes wavered.
“…That’s a lie.”
“It’s not. Want to see?”
A leaf appeared in Chris’s hand.
Then, a whistle began.
“!!”
Her eyes trembled.
How could he make that sound?
It was exactly the same whistle Chris used to play at the tower.
Too real to be just a memory.
The warm sound seemed to caress her heart, and Olivia could no longer dismiss the vision as just an illusion.
It couldn’t be—but she wanted to believe it was Chris.
“…That’s cheating.”
She wiped her eyes hard.
“I’ll be with you, so keep believing in me and stay strong.”
Olivia fell silent.
“Are you really going to stay with me?”
“Yeah, I promise. I’m busy, so I can’t always be there, but I’ll come see you sometimes.”
She chuckled softly.
Chris’s voice seeped gently into her heart.
The deep scar inside her felt like it was warming just a little.
“Olivia, remember what you always told me?”
“Uh… yeah.”
She nodded, still dazed.
As a child, she had always told Chris she would become a great Law King.
Though being a saint was hard, her dream was to be a Law King who protected the people.
After falling into despair, that dream had faded into a distant memory.
“I don’t think you have to be a great Law King. Whatever life you choose, I’ll support you.”
“……”
“But I hope your dream doesn’t break because of me. That’s not what I want.”
Olivia was silent for a long moment.
Then, she smiled softly.
“You’re always the same, Oppa.”
Before, whenever she wavered, Chris had held her steady.
Without him, she wouldn’t have stood tall as a saint.
“I have to go now.”
Light radiated from behind her.
“I’ll make you proud, Oppa.”
And with that, the vision ended.
“!!”
Olivia snapped awake.
Before her stood the detestable demon.
It didn’t seem much time had passed.
“…What did you do to me?”
“As you saw. I made you revisit your past wounds. To help you awaken your power. Fortunately, it seems to have worked.”
Olivia bit her lip.
She hadn’t been able to awaken her power because of despair.
More precisely, a festering wound in her soul blocked it.
The demon must have seen that and shown her the vision.
‘…But how could it create such a vision?’
In truth, Olivia didn’t know much about illusion dark magic.
But she could tell the vision the demon showed her was different from ordinary illusions.
It wasn’t just vivid—it felt like she was really with Chris.
Especially when she heard the whistle at the end, she unconsciously believed it was truly Chris.
Anyway, that was a problem for later.
“Will you be able to do it?”
The demon asked about awakening her power.
Olivia hesitated briefly, then nodded.
“I’ll try.”
In truth—
Her wounds were still there.
Of course.
One dream wouldn’t heal them.
But—
Whether the Chris in the vision was real or not, one thing was certain.
‘Oppa wouldn’t want me to stay like this.’
What Chris wanted was for her to stand tall as a Law King.
Olivia clenched the gift Chris had given her in her hand.
As if holding the invisible hand of her brother.
At that moment, her soul took a step forward.
A brilliant light burst forth from her body.
The radiant glow shone with even more noble majesty.
‘It’s still not enough.’
Olivia sensed it.
What was missing was her own will.
She steeled her resolve.
She engraved in her heart the will to protect her people as a Law King—a will she had long forgotten since Chris’s death.
‘I can do this!’
The moment she embraced that strong will, her power blossomed.
A brilliant light!
Soul Bond.
The sacred light spread from her body, illuminating the souls on the altar.
[Ahhh!]
The souls wept.
Exorcism was not just about comforting souls.
It was a process of healing their wounds and purifying them completely.
The holy power drove away the evil dark magic that had held the souls captive.
“This… this can’t be!!”
Duke Vintz’s face turned pale.
As the offerings were freed, his own power began to falter.
“What are you doing?! Are you just going to stand there and watch?!”
The duke shouted urgently at the doll standing behind him.
The doll shrugged helplessly.
[This is unexpected. I never imagined inducing the awakening of power.]
The doll smiled wryly.
[But what if I try this?]
Snap.
The doll snapped its fingers—and then, something strange happened.
Whoosh.
From beneath the altar, a thick, dark flame erupted.
An utterly malevolent energy.
[You’ve summoned the flames of Gehenna. It only serves to amplify the effects of black magic.]
Sure enough, the souls that had just been freed were once again trapped in the inferno, their agonized screams piercing the air.
The doll smiled, as if watching some fascinating spectacle.
[So, what will you do now? With your newly awakened Soul Authority, you won’t be able to save souls caught in the flames of Gehenna.]
Olivia gritted her teeth.
A brilliant light radiated from her body, growing even more intense.
But—
Whoosh!
The flames of Gehenna surged back with even greater ferocity.
A power that overwhelmed her own.
‘Those flames of Gehenna are a six-star-grade cursed black magic of the highest order. There’s no way to win like this.’
She had to come up with a plan.
After a moment’s hesitation, Chris reached out his hand.
“Take my hand.”
“…What? Wha—?”
“I’ll help you control your power. Hurry!”
Olivia was taken aback.
The power of the Constellation was hers alone. The idea of someone else assisting was absurd.
But—
Clack.
She grasped Chris’s hand.
“…Can you really help me?”
“Yes. But you have to trust me. Don’t resist my energy.”
A faint current of energy flowed from their joined hands.
Magic energy.
“!!”
Olivia nearly pulled away in surprise but held back.
Chris’s magic seeped into her veins, astonishingly without clashing with her own energy.
Anyone watching would have rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
‘Magic energy and light energy usually react like a neutralization reaction. By carefully manipulating the opposing energy’s response using the controlling nature of dark magic, you can temporarily suppress that reaction.’
In other words—
Only someone like Chris could pull off something this insane.
Then, something unbelievable happened.
Chris’s magic spread through Olivia’s veins, subtly interacting with her energy.
Suddenly—
Fwoooosh!
The sacred energy that had been flowing steadily shifted its pattern, and something incredible occurred.
“?!”
The power of Olivia’s manifesting Soul Authority began to amplify.
‘H-How?’
Olivia’s eyes widened in shock.
Chris thought to himself.
‘The power of the Holy Blood is ultimately a technique. How effectively you use it changes its strength.’
Olivia was the only one awakened to the Holy Blood.
She’d never received formal training to refine her power, so there were bound to be technical shortcomings.
Of course, Chris had never wielded the Holy Blood himself.
But—
‘I’ve helped Olivia control her sacred energy many times before.’
Not only that—
During the Age of Destruction, he’d seen the Celestials use the power of the Constellation countless times.
Using that knowledge, he devised a way to enhance her power.
Again, only Chris could pull off such madness.
Fwoooosh!
The strengthened, exalted power suppressed the flames of Gehenna.
The souls began to be freed once more, and as Duke Vintz staggered, weakened by the loss of power—
[Ahahaha!! Insane! To imitate the Celestials’ method and strengthen the Constellation’s power! Are you really human?! Fascinating! Ahaha!]
The doll burst into a grotesque laugh.
[I won’t go down without a fight. Descend, despair and evil!]
The flames of Gehenna roared even fiercer.
As if pushing back against the power Chris had enhanced.
Olivia’s face turned pale.
Chris prepared for his next move.