◈ 463. [Side Story] Everything Black (3)
Inside the open door was packed with black thorns.
The whole interior of the palace looked like this. Looking inside, Damian shook his head.
“I can’t go in like this… .”
“Let’s see.”
I reached inside. OK.
Sussuk… … .
The thorns that touched my hand all at once pulled back and made a path.
Is it because I am also the guardian of the empire? It seems that he opened the way because he sensed his qualifications.
Slowly, as I entered, the thorns that had made their way out of my way closed up behind me again, entwining themselves with each other.
“… I guess I’ll have to go alone from here.”
I nodded my head to my colleagues who looked at me with nervous faces.
“Guard the entrance carefully.”
After solving the situation, I have to get out of here. My colleagues will have to wait here for my return.
Wow-!
It was then. Belatedly, Fernandez’s troops began to arrive from all sides.
“I will wait for the return of the prince.”
Damian shouted as he drew his horse gun and aimed it at the enemies.
“Have a safe trip!”
Quylan and Verdandi also raised their respective weapons, and the kraken roared terrifyingly, extending its tentacles and swinging them at the foe.
bang! Kwakwawang!
In terms of numbers, our side was overwhelmingly inferior, but in combat power, on the contrary, it was overwhelmingly superior. It was seen that he smashed the crowd of enemies without difficulty.
It will hold out well until I return.
Believing so, I headed inside the imperial palace.
softly. rumbling.
The thorn trees that completely covered the inside of the palace moved away, making snake-like noises.
Although it was covered with thorns, I had been there before, so I had a rough idea of the structure.
I walked down a long hallway.
without stopping towards the destination.
how long did it take Soon it started showing up.
The door to the throne room was slightly open.
***
Sitting on the throne in the throne room, Fernandez quietly closed his eyes.
Thorn Tree – Fernandez had already sensed Ash’s existence because he had been assimilated with Everblack.
Feeling the presence of his brother getting closer, Fernandez smiled.
He was suddenly thinking.
The records of the long past that he and Ash had fought together.
***
■■Before rounds.
It was in the year he turned ten that the letters appeared on Fernandez’s body.
The first sentence is engraved in the middle of the chest. The content was like this.
– The world is repeating destruction.
second sentence after that.
– I dedicate my life to tell the next me.
A message sent from the destroyed self in the past round to the self in the next round.
and the third sentence.
– Ash returns. Cooperate.
The transmission of the sentence was cut off there.
Ten-year-old Fernandez stood in front of the bathroom mirror, lost in thought. And I judged that the contents of this sentence were true.
Not only was the handwriting his own… … Carving such bizarre information on my skin beyond time and space would have been something I couldn’t have done if it weren’t for myself.
“To cooperate with Ash… .”
Looking in the mirror, Fernandez frowned.
“… The little boy is only six years old.”
Besides, Lark liked to play with Ash often, but Fernandez was somehow shy and awkward with Ash.
There was clearly a psychological line of resistance that was difficult to get close to between the siblings.
Even more so for Fernandez, who is quick to observe the surroundings, not a mindless muscular brain like Lark.
What can I do though? He couldn’t ignore the advice he had given him in the previous episode.
After changing his clothes and coming out of the bathroom, Fernandez called his older brother.
“Brother Lark!”
Lark, who was doing push-ups in the hallway, turned his head at his brother’s call.
“huh? Why are you Fernandez? Have you finally thought of training with your brother? good! Shall we start jumping in the gymnasium together?”
“My brother does that to his heart’s content… Okay, let’s go play with Ash.”
Lark, whose eyes were round, laughed and straightened up immediately afterward.
“It will be so soon! Are you finally ready to get acquainted with Ash?”
“No, it’s not like that… .”
“To be ashamed. You should be friends with your brothers. Get ready to go out! I’ll call a carriage.”
Thus, the two brothers went out to their half-brother’s detached palace.
The gazes of her mother and family members pricked her in the back of the head, but what should she do? Fernandez was more concerned about the content of the message than that.
‘What exactly does it mean for Ash to be a regressor?’
So, Ash’s villa came to play.
Amidst the hospitality of the people of the villa, Fernandez stood in front of Ash, hesitant. It was still very awkward.
“Ash, do you know what regression is?”
“huh?”
Fernandez flirted with the idea of regression, but Ash only tilted his head with a genuinely disapproving expression.
“What is it?”
“So maybe if the world repeats itself, you remember the past… .”
“I don’t know difficult words, hyung… .”
Ash, who whined with a fierce face, soon turned bright and took Fernandez’s hand and led him.
“That’s it, let’s play! My secret base is over here!”
“No, more than that, the world… Whew.”
In the attic Ash guided them to, the three brothers rolled around and played together.
On the day of reconnaissance, Fernandez made a conclusion.
‘… He doesn’t know anything?’
Ash was a cute younger brother, but that was all. It was cooperation and sleep, and it didn’t help anything.
‘There’s no word to cooperate right away… … For now, let’s prepare for the future by myself.’
Still, starting from this day, the three brothers met frequently and became friends.
One day after so many years.
Ash’s mother, Empress Dustia, committed suicide.
Fernandez, who attended the funeral, noticed something strange. Ash’s mood had changed.
Her usual friendly face was the same, but Fernandez could tell because they had been friends for years.
Ash’s eyes suddenly deepened as if he had lived for decades.
Most of all, Ash didn’t cry that much.
As if he had experienced his mother’s death several times.
The day Dustia was buried and the funeral was completely over.
Ash, holding an umbrella in the rain, was wearing a black mourning dress and looked down at his mother’s grave.
Fernandez, who slowly approached him, asked at once.
“I know. Ash, are you regressing?”
“… ?!”
Frightened, Ash turned to Fernandez.
“How did you do that… ?”
“Now look.”
Fernandez untied the front of his clothes to reveal the letters engraved on his chest.
“This is the message I sent to myself in the previous episode. They told me to cooperate with you because you are a regressor.”
“… !”
“Now explain. What does it mean that the world repeats its destruction? What does it mean for you to be a regressor?”
Ash looked at Fernandez with puzzled eyes and slowly explained.
A world that repeats itself, chosen as a player, a world that will perish at any cost… … .
It was an absurd story, but Fernandez listened with his head raised in silence. and said
“I will cooperate with you, Ash.”
“… !”
“I don’t have full memories of past episodes like you, but I will still be able to assist you in future episodes. Let’s fight together.”
“brother… .”
Ash rubbed his red eyes roughly with the back of his hand and asked in a trembling voice.
“Are you really going to fight alongside me?”
“of course.”
Fernandez smiled.
“I am your brother. Are you going to let your brother fight a lonely battle alone?”
Fernandez didn’t know.
How comforting those words were to Ash.
To Ash, who continued to fight alone in a world that repeated itself. What a great relief it was to have a reliable companion.
“Let’s save the world together.”
“… huh!”
The brothers held each other’s hands and shook hands firmly.
There was a clear hope on the faces of the two boys.
And dozens of rounds were repeated.
Still, the brothers couldn’t prevent the destruction of the world.
***
Boom!
Ash’s hand grabbed Fernandez’s collar and pushed him back.
This is in front of Dustia’s grave.
It was Dustia’s funeral, which came back again in a new episode that started again. However, there was a distinct difference from the last episode.
slot.
Dustia originally thought that Ash would commit suicide when he was in his late teens, but now Ash is in his mid-teens.
Snow was pouring instead of rainwater at the funeral site. Ash growled, blowing white breath with anger in the pouring snow.
“Did it have to be this way?”
“… .”
“Answer me brother! Did it have to be this way!”
“I just thought it would be better for you to return as soon as possible.”
Fernandez looked at Ash with a calm gaze.
“okay. So I killed your mother.”
Dustia in this episode was assassinated.
Right by the hands of Fernandez.
And at that moment, Ash returned. What Fernandez was aiming for was the return of Ash.
“Admit it, Ash. Your mother must die, at which point you will return.”
“… .”
“And if you return as soon as possible, we can prepare for this episode together.”
Ash closed his eyes tightly.
Fernandez was right. In order to proceed more efficiently, Dustia had to die as soon as possible and Ash’s return had to be advanced.
But still… … .
It was extremely painful to bury a mother who had been brutally assassinated.
“I accepted this fucking player position… !”
Ash chewed and spat out blood.
“I mean to protect the people I love… !”
Standing in front of Ash, Fernandez replied calmly.
“Me too, Ash. But if there is a life to be cut off the road, it should be cut without hesitation.”
“… .”
“What we have to save is the world. It’s a bigger cause. You can’t forget that.”
“… Yes, he was such a person.”
A sneer formed on Ash’s lips.
“I pretend to be warmer than anyone else, but the truth is… A cold-hearted person more than anyone else.”
“Say what you like.”
Fernandez proclaimed, lightly removing Ash’s hand from his collar.
“In the next episode, I will kill your mother and bring you back as soon as I am ready.”
“… .”
“To prevent destruction, we will optimize the attack route. This is a necessary process, Ash.”
Towards his younger brother, who bowed his head, Fernandez continued.
“Look big and wide, little brother. What we’re trying to protect isn’t your mother who dies anyway. Everyone in this world.”
“I know! I know… … .”
Ash gritted his teeth and tore at his chest with his hands.
“This… it hurts so much… … .”
Fernandez was dumbfounded.
Ash, while this guy regressed dozens, maybe hundreds of times more.
Why are you still in pain over your mother’s death?
He seemed to be more distressed by the deaths of people than himself, who had only inherited records.
***
Rounds were repeated.
Fernandez quickly optimized the progress of the round based on past records.
He killed the people who should have been killed and saved the people who should have been saved. He built organizations, raised funds, and raised troops.
Step by step, the attack progressed slowly but steadily.
and at the same time.
Ash became more and more impoverished and desolate.
The strong alliance between the two brothers… … It was slowly cracking.
