Chapter 308
Episode 94: Fragments of the Past – Sarah (1)
Jin’s eyes widened.
“What is this…?”
In the footage shown by the orb, Murakan was saying things that the Murakan Jin knew would never come out of his mouth.
Silence hung heavy in the air.
Sarah’s eyes trembled as she glared at Murakan. Soon, a fierce, deadly gleam settled in her gaze, while Murakan’s face remained expressionless.
“You want to give up the Lord…? Yeah, I’ve heard rumors you’ve been saying that. The Execution Division’s magic swordsmen told me. Padler said something similar too.”
“Pfft!”
Sarah spat out a dark globule of blood, then continued.
“I thought it was some kind of misunderstanding. They don’t know you as well as I do, or maybe they’re just so exhausted from this endless war that they’re talking nonsense…”
She stepped forward and grabbed Murakan by the collar.
“But now I hear it with my own ears. You’re saying we should kill the Lord? Are you serious? You’re supposed to be the Lord’s guardian dragon!”
“Sarah.”
“Answer me, Murakan.”
“…Look around you.”
At his words, Sarah turned her head.
Everywhere she looked, there were corpses. The aftermath of a brutal battle just moments ago. Severed limbs and bodies bore the marks of the black sword symbolizing Runcandel and the dragon emblem of Jiple.
More than half of the dead mages had fallen to Temar. Without him and our reinforcements, the battle would have surely gone badly. This fight would have ended in Jiple’s victory.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I arrived on the battlefield before you did. Unlike you, I saw Temar fight. The ones he killed weren’t just Jiple’s mages.”
“Are you saying the Lord killed our knights…?”
Murakan nodded slowly.
Sarah’s grip on his collar loosened. She looked around again, carefully examining the wounds and severed limbs of the fallen.
Soon, she realized that some—no, most—of their own warriors had been cut down by Temar’s sword. The wounds left unmistakable traces.
“Sarah, he’s losing his mind. Temar… he’s no longer the person we knew.”
After a long silence, Murakan spoke.
“No, the Lord isn’t mad…”
“Don’t turn away. You already know the truth.”
“Rubbish.”
“How long do you think you can keep deceiving yourself? You don’t want to face the truth, do you? Neither did I. But you saw it yourself in the last battle—Temar cutting down our own. He almost killed Padler before snapping out of it.”
“The Lord is human. That day, he just lost his mind for a moment after days of relentless fighting.”
“Are you going to keep denying it even after seeing our dead knights?”
Sarah shook her head.
“There must have been a reason the Lord killed them. Murakan! What are you saying? What if we stop trusting the Lord?”
“I know better than anyone how hard it is to accept. But we have to see the truth. For his sake, too.”
“The truth is—”
Sarah shouted, her voice trembling with anguish.
“The truth is, the Lord is still the person we know. Murakan, there must be a reason Temar killed them.”
“Sarah.”
“They were surely puppets controlled by Jiple’s magic. You know how they manipulate the human mind. We have to trust the Lord.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Maybe… maybe he was a spy. Surely a spy. That’s why Temar killed him himself…”
Smack!
Murakan struck Sarah’s cheek.
Her dazed eyes stared blankly into space.
“Don’t dishonor the dead knights. They died fighting for Runcandel, for Temar, for you and the others. To stop the world from falling under Jiple’s will. You, a Knight of the Ten, how can you insult them?”
Tears welled in Sarah’s eyes.
They streamed down her face uncontrollably. She regretted what she had said, but the words were already out.
With a heavy sigh, Sarah collapsed to the ground, clutching the bodies of their fallen comrades. She seemed utterly lost, unable to make sense of the turmoil inside her.
Murakan watched her for a long moment, then quietly embraced her.
“What could have driven the Lord to this? You… you know, don’t you? What’s driving him mad? Tell me.”
Crackle—!
The gray orb flickered and distorted. The image blurred and sharpened repeatedly.
They couldn’t see the two clearly anymore, and the sound began to fade.
“Not again…”
It was something they had experienced once before, at the first tomb.
It wasn’t unexpected. The space was damaged, so the recording device was bound to malfunction.
They had no choice but to wait quietly until the orb stabilized.
“The spirit orb from the first tomb, the recording devices placed there… none of it feels intact.”
Watching the recordings was like fiddling with a broken wind-up watch.
It showed events from a thousand years ago clearly, but always faltered at crucial moments.
“According to the records, Murakan judged Temar had gone mad and tried to kill him. Maybe that’s why Sir Sildray disliked Murakan.”
They really needed to meet Misha soon. She might know something about these recording devices.
Snap!
The gray orb’s image cleared again.
But, like at the first tomb, the perspective had shifted.
Murakan and Sarah were no longer standing on a battlefield littered with Runcandel and Jiple corpses. Instead, they were in a desolate landscape crawling with monsters.
The Black Sea.
They recognized it immediately. There was no other land in this world so dark and barren.
But something was strange.
“A tower… in the Black Sea?”
Though it was definitely the Black Sea, far off in the distance stood a solitary tower—something neither Murakan, Sarah, nor Jin had ever seen there before.
So the tower really exists… and the Lord is inside.
A man spoke. Murakan and Sarah called him Padler.
The three stood silently, gazing at the distant tower. Black smoke constantly billowed from its peak—it was spiritual energy.
It didn’t feel auspicious. The energy rising from the tower seemed to carry a malevolent aura.
Sigh…
Padler let out a deep breath.
“Murakan, is there truly no other way?”
When Murakan didn’t answer, Padler continued.
“To be honest, I’m not confident. Temar has weakened. I could handle him alone. I only called you because…”
“Because you don’t know if this is the right thing to do. Killing the Lord with our own hands… isn’t that too cruel? For him, and for us.”
“Don’t hesitate now, Padler. Do you think I want to kill him? No words can express how painful this is. I suffer too.”
Murakan’s eyes burned with fury as he looked at Padler.
“In over two thousand years, there’s never been a day worse than today. Can you imagine what it’s like to have to kill your own contractor as a guardian dragon? Unlike you humans, I can’t even end my own life to escape this pain. Honestly, after I kill him, I want to die too.”
He clenched his teeth and fell silent.
The ground beneath them trembled. The dark energy pouring from the tower pressed down on the land.
Not a single monster was in sight. Like animals instinctively hiding from disaster, all the monsters had fled somewhere.
“Murakan. Remember this.”
Sarah spoke, but Murakan didn’t turn to her.
“If you were in the same situation, the Lord—no, my brother—would never have given up on you.”
“I know.”
“You pretend to care for my brother, but you and your followers will always choose what benefits you most. Damn it, we have no choice but to follow that choice.”
Sarah started walking.
The other two followed. Their footsteps left marks on the dark soil of the Black Sea.
The closer they got to the tower, the darker the landscape became. The spiritual energy from the tower was more poisonous than anything in the Black Sea.
By the time they reached the entrance, all three had to unleash their full power to maintain protective barriers. Murakan transformed into his true form, releasing his spiritual energy.
Inside was a vast cavern. A spiral staircase wound up the center. The group ascended in silence.
At last, they reached the top.
There, standing in the center, was Temar.
His body was covered in black spots, as if stricken by plague. He didn’t move even when he saw them.
“Brother.”
Temar said nothing.
“We… I have come, brother. Why are you here alone in this desolate place?”
Sarah held onto a fragile hope as Temar remained unresponsive.
Perhaps the brother she loved so dearly wasn’t truly mad. Perhaps there was still a chance to turn everything back.
“Sarah…”
She opened her eyes wide and nodded.
“Yes, it’s me. Sarah. Do you recognize me? Hm?”
[Come… closer… It’s… cold…]
Just as Sarah smiled brightly and stepped toward Temar, Murakan grabbed her shoulder.
“Don’t get any closer.”
“Let go.”
“If you give him any space, he’ll attack.”
“Let me go.”
“Damn it, Sarah. Please, listen to me. Can’t you see the swirling spiritual energy around Temar? Don’t you notice the blades forming like knives ready to strike? They’re set to stab you, Sarah.”
Paddler squeezed his eyes shut.
From the moment he first saw Temar, he had sensed the dark spiritual energy he was wielding.
And so he had no choice but to accept the truth.
The lord had gone mad.
The Temar Paddler knew was the kind of man who wouldn’t even retaliate if his only sibling stabbed him in the back.
But now, he was trying to deceive Sarah and kill her.
Shing!
Paddler drew his sword. The blade, stained with electric energy, slid from its sheath, illuminating the surroundings.
“I am Paddler Runcandel, one of the Ten Knights. I have been honored with the name Runcandel by the lord himself. From this moment on, I swear to atone—even in death—for attacking my lord.”
At that, a twisted smile spread across Temar’s lips.