Episode 355:
A solid ice castle that doesn’t even let in a single ray of sunlight. In this world where neither the movement of life nor the flow of time has stopped, Lewis was a harsh tyrant.
He accumulated tremendous energy by collecting the negative emotions of people who were in pain like taxes.
And the fact that even Aden doesn’t know that emotions that are no different from that fuel lie dormant in the basement of Ruin Castle.
‘He’s a wise and brave man for his age, but this was a battle against you from the beginning.’
But even so, Lewis was obsessed with a strange sense of deja vu, ‘I don’t want to kill that guy.’
‘The reason, of course… must be because of the bowl. It bothers me that I dare to absorb the spirit…’
Lewis, who narrowed his eyes, looked at Shin Yoo-seong. Even though we met for the first time today, it was somehow a familiar face thanks to the assimilation of Adela’s body.
“Can I ask you something?”
“what?”
Looking at Shin Yoo-seong, who was nervous with speculation all over his body, Louis asked slowly, savoring the moment.
“Why did you appear next to this woman? …Why did you comfort me? Was it just a coincidence for no reason?”
Lewis is a witch who has transcended humans through hatred. It was a question I wouldn’t have asked if I hadn’t felt any emotion. But now she was ‘something’ born between Louis and Adela.
“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. It’s just a whimsical entertainment.”
This feeling that even you can’t understand is human whim. It was proof that Louis, who had absorbed Adela, had become a human instead of a witch.
Shin Yoo-seong saw Louis like that.
With very calm eyes, he met his gaze for a long time before opening his mouth.
“Answer my question first. Where is the real Adela?”
Lewis made an ice crystal ball instead of answering Shin Yoo-seong’s question. What was reflected in the clear ice was the young Adela.
“You mean you’re still just curious about that?”
Little Adela was left alone but did not cry. With a teddy bear next to her, hugging her knees, she was just waiting for someone.
“Adela is….”
Yooseong Shin looked up at Louis with contempt. Luis’s eyes met each other like the moment he saw Adela for the first time. He was smiling leisurely, but instead of being happy, he looked emotionless and empty.
“You don’t know. Comforting someone… It’s something that has no reason or purpose in the first place.”
“…No reason or purpose? okay. Right.”
After hearing the answer, Louis closed his eyes and once again savored Shin Yoo-seong and Adela’s experience. The memories of the two of them, which were nothing more than a peaceful daily life, were like wine with a sweet flavor to Louise.
Truly, the world was unfair.
“The vessel is trapped in an illusion created by me. Before long, you will lose yourself and your existence will be erased.”
Why, even if they were in the same danger, Adela sent a savior named Shin Yoo-seong, but only eternal hell came to Louise.
In the life of Lewis, who was a human being, humanity was only an object to be hated, but did he share such a happy experience with Adela?
“Then then…”
But this injustice was over. Lewis intended to destroy this unfair world with his own hands.
“I am Adela.”
Lewis closed his eyes and thought. Shin Yoo-seong is a human being who is the complete opposite of the garbage he has been through. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to start anew in a white world that had been cleaned of cockroaches.
Yeah, I didn’t have to kill him.
Now that he has become a human, it didn’t seem too bad to erase Yoosung’s memory and build new memories and new encounters in a world where only the two of them are left.
Lewis’ unfairly lost life is a new layer of experience stained with hatred.
‘Rescue all the trash… and create a new humanity… that meets my standards.’
When Lewis stretched out his pure white hand, several strands of ice crystals continued like transparent threads.
“Since your body has changed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try a new technique.”
[Opera of Snow]
When Louis smiled, a blue wave made of mana rippled. The waves froze in an instant as if water had touched a cold steel plate, turning into hail.
This is the precursor to Adela’s strongest skill, the Opera of the Eye.
Shaak!
But just as the hail was about to dissipate, Lewis clenched his fists.
“Of course, what I use is very different. Reading your memories, I heard you can use Mana Resonance?”
Kwak!
The Opera of Snow is Adela’s barrier that covers the surroundings with a blizzard. However, Lewis compressed the boundary into a circular sphere.
“…Now look. Even the same mana has different forms and properties. The application of witches is like this.”
The Snow Opera was originally a huge barrier that should have left over the entire Ruin Castle, but its power condensed to the limit until it became a small dot in front of Louis’ index finger.
A very shabby pale blue dot.
Lewis’ attack seemed to have shrunk mana the size of the earth to the size of a ping-pong ball.
‘Is that a way to block Mana Resonance?’
What are the advantages of shrinking it down to such a small form? However, no matter how he rolled his brain, it was difficult for even Shin Yoo-seong to guess the reason for Lewis’ attack.
This is the difference between the experiences of witches and humans who have lived hundreds of thousands of years.
“I want to see you frozen. But don’t worry. When you open your eyes again, you’ll forget all the painful memories.”
Lewis pressed his index finger and thumb together to crush the blue dot.
The cold air exploded like a grenade in the opera of eyes condensed to the limit in the form of dots.
Pew!
The blue explosion that started from Lewis’ hand froze everything it touched and spread throughout Ruin Castle.
“ah-!”
Lorelai, who touched the waves, let out a sigh. The moment Lorelai sensed the explosion, more than half of her arms were already frozen.
“This is…”
Shin Yoo-seong is also embarrassed by Luis’ method. Until now, Shin Yoo-seong had many countermeasures against mana-using skills.
There was a way to counterattack from a distance using the Changryong Ascension Wave, and there was also a way to resonate the wavelength to nullify the activation of the technique itself.
However, there was no destruction method in the technique Lewis used. Lewis condensed Shin Yuseong to the limit so that he could not read the wavelength of mana.
Mana is like that.
Although the movement of a huge storm can be predicted, the movement of a storm in a small ball cannot be read.
The time allowed for Shin Yoo-seong is only the moment when Lewis broke the dot and a cold explosion was formed.
Shin Yoo-seong showed transcendental concentration and read the wavelength of the ice explosion. I even heard the illusion that time slowed down, accelerating my senses to several times the usual. but nonetheless.
‘late.’
Destroying technology with Mana Resonance means understanding and reinterpreting information. However, the enormous amount of information contained in Lewis’ [Opera of the Eyes] was like a huge book.
No matter how much you accelerate your senses, can you understand such a vast amount of information in an instant?
Through Adela’s memory, Louis read Shin Yuseong’s weakness. The mana resonance that seemed invincible was easily destroyed.
Bounce-!
Shin Yooseong’s fingertips were frozen, but he couldn’t give up. Who else could save Adela if not herself? Having worked hard, Adela became a child again and endured the endless winter lonely.
‘It’s about accelerating your thoughts to read more wavelengths faster!’
Shin Yuseong further accelerated the accident. The speed that humans can process has been surpassed a long time ago. What I feel right now is the dizzying sensation of the electric wire connected to my brain being snapped with sparks.
Perhaps it was for this moment that he sharpened his strength and was chosen by the king of swords. What does it mean to simply be strong? However, if it meant saving a precious person, there was no greater meaning than that.
‘More and faster!’
The ice that had spread from his fingertips now covered them, but Shin Yooseong kept repeating the word ‘quickly’ in his head.
Hurry up, let’s read this mana quickly, let’s transform it, and save Adela like that.
However, the chill that flowed through Louis’ body was too terrifying. This wasn’t just cold, it was a sense of despair.
‘Has Adela been through this cold… alone at the age of 5?
Shin Yoo-seong’s breathing quickened. In the blurred vision, Adela’s figure was clear.
Chin-
The appearance of Adela, sweating all over her body from nightmares in the same stale room as always.
[It must have been you…]
But Shin Yoo-seong couldn’t guess as he watched Adela come to her senses calmly. How many times did Adela repeat this nightmare?
[…I hate to admit it. I’m afraid.]
From the age of 5 to now, in fear that can hardly be calm, in loneliness to see someone precious again, how many times have I had to kill myself?
[But I don’t want to stop either. Now… I want to get rid of that memory. That way…]
How did he get the courage to do so?
That’s why Shin Yoo-seong knew from the beginning that it was an impossible calculation, but he didn’t give up. It was Adela who faced my past with unbelievable courage.
‘Just a little more…’
But that was over.
Shin Yuseong’s mind was clouded.
My brain, which was accelerating my thoughts, felt at ease for an instant, and was freed from the burning pain. The body that lost the accident was left with nothing but the terrible feeling of being engulfed in the cold.
The moment when the mind, dulled by the cold, slowly sinks into the depths of the sea from which it cannot return.
“Give up…don’t-!”
Lorelai shouted.
Lorelai struggled to wake Shin Yoo-seong while half of her body was frozen.
“Rescuing the princess… in any hardship is the prince’s… role.”
Although the target was Adela, not herself, Lorelai cheered Shin Yoo-seong.
“You must be…”
Lorelai became a cold ice statue without being able to finish her words. Although she did not become Shin Yoo-seong’s princess, Lorelei did not doubt that Shin Yoo-seong was a prince who would save everyone like in a fairy tale.
‘I am-!’
Shin Yooseong, who came to his senses, reached out his hand again. When I awakened my senses again in my clear mind, the surroundings were not ice castles, but the land of gold I had seen before.
clock tower.
crumbling land.
Built on top of it is the temple of Chronoa, the goddess of time.
[Breaking the rules again for the sake of humans… I thought foolishness was only for humans, but it seems the same goes for goddesses.]
Cronoa, revealing her form next to Shin Yuseong, muttered softly.
[You keep repeating the same mistake no matter how much time is given.]
Is it for the poor Lorelai, his contractor? Or was he moved by Shin Yoo-seong’s tenacity? Although I don’t know why.
[This is really the only time.]
The goddess of time broke the contract and shook the pendulum. It’s just a moment, but it completely stops time.
