October 24, New Calendar 1453.
Dawn broke.
The cloak of night dispersed in the air, its last speck of deep blue starlight melting into the morning breeze.
The oppressive pressure brought by the Monarch's Sword vanished into nothingness.
Genuine morning sunlight poured down through the center of the forcibly parted clouds.
Amidst the ruins, the surviving civilians lay prostrate on the broken bricks and tiles, their foreheads pressed against the ground mixed with blood and mud.
They raised their heads, looking up at the white figure descending from mid-air.
Everything that had just transpired far exceeded the cognitive limits of these civilians' entire lives. Confronted with a terrifying, majestic power that could erase a thousand years of heritage with a casual gesture, and that shockingly beautiful figure, their brains stopped functioning, and their bodies could only instinctively prostrate themselves in submission.
Not a single person dared to make a sound, and not a single person dared to straighten their back.
Sophie landed lightly on a collapsed stone pillar.
Reaching into her robes, she pulled out the slightly damaged human skin mask and expertly pressed it onto her face.
The moment the mask adhered to her skin, the superior vampire pressure that made all creation tremble was completely retracted.
Her peerless countenance, capable of reflecting the deepest fears and desires of any observer, was once again hidden beneath the skin of a girl who was pretty, but only ordinarily so.
She patted the dust from her skirt, turned her head, and looked forward with a grin.
Kaila was half-kneeling on the scorched ground a dozen paces away.
The Holy Light Longsword that had supported her with its sacred light-pressure was now plunged into the dirt beside her, the luster on its blade extremely dim.
Without a doubt, it was that figure, that posture.
The person depicted in the prophecy.
She stared blankly, her gaze locked onto Sophie's face, which had just been covered by the mask.
Kaila had seen the face behind that mask beside the inn's bed, in the embrace of the deep night, and through the mist of the hot spring.
At that moment, the white-haired girl who would nuzzle into her arms, act spoiled, and use all sorts of absurd logic to make her stay perfectly overlapped with a terrifying name that existed only in ancient scriptures and prophecies of disaster.
The clues had been there all along.
The extremely evil moral alignment.
The merciless ordering around of the Witches.
The Puppet Witch's stubborn cry of "Elder Brother."
The New Moon Witch's overly familiar "My Saintess."
Knowing the locations of the Witches, knowing Hiso's location, and swearing that she could lead her to find them.
And the source of all suffering, of all disaster.
The ultimate architect behind the collapse of the Red Moon Empire.
“Sophie...”
Kaila's chapped lips parted slightly.
Maintaining her half-kneeling posture, she stared at Sophie with a complex gaze mixed with disbelief and a strange sense of relief.
“So you are... Hiso?”
“The evil of this world foretold in the prophecy.”
“That's why you said back then that you could take me to find Hiso...”
Sophie had just approached, and hearing Kaila's words, she was somewhat surprised.
“Eh! I'm actually that famous?!”
That certainly saved her a lot of explaining.
She squatted in front of Kaila, trying to help her up while saying proudly, “That's right! I am that legendary person! The evil of this world, the disaster of the end—that's all me!”
“The creator of the various Witches, the catastrophe that ended the old era. The master of the dark night, the architect behind every single Witch—it's all my masterpiece.”
Sophie slowly supported Kaila.
“So, Miss Hero.”
Sophie extended a slender finger and lightly tapped her own collarbone.
“Haven't you always wanted to eradicate disaster and end the curse of this world?”
“Stop running around the world looking for those boring Witches. They're just scraps.”
Sophie bent down, her smile turning wild and unbridled.
“Just subjugate me. I am the source of all evil, after all. As long as you take me down, your mission will be complete. You should be a Hero who belongs only to me, dedicated solely to subjugating me, right?”
She emphasized the word "subjugate" heavily.
She wasn't lying, and Sophie believed Kaila could tell.
Exposing her identity to Miss Hero was a dangerous move, but it was far better than watching Miss Hero throw her life away fighting a Witch.
If she hadn't arrived in time, or if she hadn't obtained Little Dino's help, she wouldn't have wanted to see either Miaoyue or Kaila get hurt.
So.
Let the king permit, let the king endure, let the king shoulder everything.
Witches or whatever...
Just forget about them. It didn't matter.
It would be enough if she became a Hero for her alone.
Sophie supported Kaila's body with her shoulder, turning her face with eager anticipation to look at her.
“Can you still stand, Miss Hero?”
However...
Kaila did not answer.
Her head hung low, her short blonde hair matted to the sides of her cheeks with sweat and grime, blocking the last speck of light in her eyes.
The exertion of maintaining the solar barrier to protect the city's civilians all night, coupled with the heavy injuries sustained from directly resisting the Witch's Law earlier, had pushed her willpower to its absolute limit.
Even with Sophie half-supporting her body, Kaila still swayed and collapsed to the side.
Sophie quickly pulled Kaila up.
Chains made of pure golden light wrapped around Kaila's wrists, ankles, waist, and fragile neck.
The chains sank into her flesh.
The expression on Kaila's face instantly froze. The subtle ripples of exhaustion, pain, and shock slowly hardened into absolute apathy.
The detailed expressions that belonged uniquely to Kaila were being stripped away piece by piece.
She was gradually turning into a literal statue.
The identity consumption had reached its limit.
“Kaila!”
Sophie's face paled in horror, her previous smugness and bravado instantly shattering to pieces.
She reached out with both hands, grasping Kaila's shoulders, trying to pull the body being dragged backward by the golden light into her embrace.
What she touched was freezing cold.
Kaila's body temperature was dropping at an unnatural rate.
Sophie panicked.
Looking at the golden chains biting into Kaila's flesh, she tried to tear them away with her fingers, only for her hands to pass straight through the golden light, unable to grasp anything.
“Don't die on me! Hang in there!”
Sophie shook Kaila's shoulders violently.
“You still have your Hero quests to complete! Aren't you going to eliminate all the Witches? You still need to bring freedom to that girl named Sylvia! You still have your mission!”
“Subjugate me! Correct me! You still have things you need to do in this world!”
Flustered and desperate, Sophie tried to use words to stimulate Kaila's will to live.
She attempted to drag Kaila back to reality using responsibility and goals.
But it was in vain.
"Mission," "responsibility," "Hero quests."
The moment these words left Sophie's mouth and struck Kaila's eardrums, the golden chains that had only been tightening erupted with an even more blinding light.
More chains surged from the void, crawling up Kaila's spine and locking all the way to the back of her head.
Kaila's pupils dilated, losing focus.
An invisible force slowly pulled her, dragging her toward somewhere in the void.
The shackles of her identity continued to deepen.
“Wait, I absolutely won't allow this. I won't accept this kind of ending.”
Sophie's eyes widened. She frantically scanned her status panel and inventory.
Was there any other way?
Was there any other way to save her?
Her gaze paused on her skill list.
Without hesitation, Sophie reached for the seven bond tokens.
Directly use the token to summon Little Shi to resolve this...
No, she might as well just call all seven Witches over for an emergency consultation.
Whatever happened next didn't matter.
Sophie would never allow Miss Hero to disappear before her eyes like this.
...
The wilderness ten miles outside Silvervein City.
Servant A... or rather, Sylvia, was sprinting across the muddy meadow.
She was drenched in sweat, the cold air rushing into her lungs leaving a metallic taste of rust in the back of her throat, but she didn't dare to stop.
Just a moment ago, she had seen that blue greatsword splitting the heavens and earth from afar above Silvervein City.
The phenomenon across the entire sky made her pause in her tracks.
She didn't recognize the sword.
But that didn't stop her from recognizing that it was a level of power that could crush her like an insect with a casual flick.
Damn it... it's still so far.
Can Little Kai hang on until I get there?
A terrible premonition enveloped her heart.
“No matter what.”
Without a second thought, she pulled out the scroll Hill had given her and tore it open.
“Holy Incantation: Reality Weaving.”
“No matter what, please let Little Kai live.”
For a moment after the scroll was torn, nothing happened.
“Is this even working?!” Sylvia stamped her foot and continued running toward Silvervein City.
...
Just as Sophie was about to activate the token.
Right at that moment, the frozen Kaila moved.
Her limp right hand rose without warning, and a sword forged of pure light materialized in her grasp.
Sophie's movements froze.
Sophie's eyes lit up.
Being able to move meant there was still a chance her consciousness could be awakened.
“I knew you—”
Before she could finish.
The sword of light struck.
Without a shred of hesitation.
Clean, swift, and utterly cold.
Amidst the sharp shriek of the blade tearing through the air, the golden holy light gathered into a tangible storm, slashing straight toward Sophie's neck with unstoppable momentum.
Kaila's eyes were open.
But in those eyes, which had always been a little dull and clumsy with words, there was now nothing left.
There was no anger, no sadness, no exhaustion, and certainly none of the complexity and relief from recognizing Sophie's identity.
There were only two burning, pure spheres of golden radiance.
So fast.
Sophie watched helplessly as the longsword drew closer and closer.
【Seeking Defeat (Reversed) Lv.Max passively triggered!】
A mere 0.01 seconds before the blade could touch her carotid artery, her ankle twisted at a bizarre angle.
Her entire body tilted backward like a weightless sheet of paper.
The Holy Light Longsword grazed the tip of her nose.
It was merely the wind of the blade.
A few strands of Sophie's snow-white hair were sliced off, and a thin, bloody gash instantly burst open on her fair skin.
Blown back by the shockwave, she used the momentum to roll backward repeatedly, crashing heavily against a scorched, broken wall.
Before the dull ache of her back slamming into the stone could even register in her brain, Kaila was already upon her.
No starting stance, no pause to breathe.
Another slash.
Sophie propped up her Oil-paper Umbrella, meeting the edge of the blade.
The ribs of the umbrella clashed with the holy light.
There was no explosion.
Sophie felt only an unstoppable, monstrous force travel down the umbrella's frame and slam into her arm, her arm bones groaning under the unbearable burden.
She was violently hurled back over a dozen meters, her feet plowing two deep trenches into the ground.
Unable to maintain her grip, the umbrella was knocked from her hand and sent flying.
What is going on?
Sophie stabilized her stance, rubbing her fractured wrist as she gasped for breath.
She watched Kaila, who was slowly approaching once again.
Unlike before...
This time...
Miss Hero showed absolutely no mercy.
Every strike was intended to grind her to dust.
Is she currently... in a state where the Hero Class has completely taken over her vessel?
What a disgusting curse.
Sophie grit her teeth.
In the next instant, a golden javelin pierced straight through Sophie's chest.
Blood Essence +1.
Resurrecting, Sophie executed a quick roll to get away from the spot, looking at the relentless Kaila with deep frustration.
“Kaila! It's me!”
Sophie shouted sharply, attempting to use a loud voice to call back whatever tiny shred of consciousness might still remain within that vessel.
It was useless.
The blonde nun raised her sword once more, its tip pointing straight at Sophie's heart.
Should she try to awaken Kaila's memories again?
But that wouldn't change the state of being consumed by the Class.
Having obtained some of Kaila's memories, Sophie also knew some information regarding the "Class curse" from the Silent Sanctuary.
The more one's identity was recognized, the stronger the shackles would become.
And if she wanted to help Kaila...
The only way was to find someone who did not recognize Kaila.
Someone who did not recognize her as the Hero.
But where could she find such a person?
Miss Hero was the person who most perfectly fit the definition of a hero in her heart.
Little Dino might treat Kaila as Miss Knight, but knights and heroes had a lot of overlap to begin with.
Bring some vampires over? But Kaila's holy light was the natural enemy of undead creatures.
And the civilians here had been saved by Kaila's own hands.
Just how...
How on earth was she supposed to do this?
Sophie's heart sank like a stone.
Crash—thud!
Accompanied by the muffled sounds of snapping bushes and rolling dirt, a figure came tumbling all the way down the steep slope nearby like a pathetic wild boar, crashing heavily into the ruins—landing, by some miracle, right between Sophie and Kaila.
“Ow... Wait, stop! Stop!!” a voice cracked with rage bellowed from the muddy water.
The figure scrambled up dizzily, brandishing a broken mop covered in black mud.
Pain had his legs shaking uncontrollably, but he gripped the wooden handle of the mop with all his might, firmly blocking the path of the sword-wielding nun.
Kaila's blade ground to a halt mid-air.
Sophie was stunned.
Because she recognized this man.
Damian.
The middle-aged man who ran the only inn in Silvervein City.
Ever since arriving in Silvervein City, she and Miss Hero had been staying at his inn, which had led to quite a few comical misunderstandings along the way.
But why was he here?
He certainly hadn't been among the crowd of fanatically prostrating people earlier.
Sophie felt a wave of bewilderment.
What she didn't know was that at the very beginning of the disaster tonight, the first thing Kaila had done was silently lift the entire inn and place it down in the wilderness dozens of miles away.
Thus, Damian naturally had no idea what was actually happening in Silvervein City.
Until a few hours ago, he had been sitting peacefully behind his counter.
But when he sensed something was wrong and pushed open the inn's front doors, only to find his shop standing inexplicably in the middle of a barren wilderness while Silvervein City burned in the distance, he realized a major disaster had struck.
To make matters worse, his wife wasn't in the city tonight due to some other business.
No one knew just how much resolve this ordinary, magicless man had summoned when looking up at the terrifying sky shrouded in dark clouds and horrifying magical power.
Gritting his teeth, he had sprinted all the way back toward the purgatory of Silvervein City with nothing but a mop in hand.
Had the dark clouds overhead dispersed, he would have undoubtedly been engulfed by the moonlight and turned into moon dust.
Fortunately, the dark clouds had consistently blocked the moonlight.
The night was too dark, and he had misstepped, tumbling straight down the slope into the core of this battlefield where gods and Witches clashed.
Damian spat out the mud in his mouth and raised his head in confusion.
Then, he saw a familiar scene—the white-haired girl who had been staying at his inn was collapsed in the ruins, while that frostily cold, wicked nun was holding a sword, about to abuse her once again.
Come to think of it, the surrounding scenery looked incredibly bizarre.
But Damian, his head spinning, couldn't care less about that right now.
“You crazy woman! Trying to bully her again, are you?!”
Damian didn't even have time to brush the mud off his clothes as he panted, raising the broken mop high.
He stood right there, shielding Sophie behind him.
“You wicked nun! Do you believe I'll call the patrol to deal with you?!”
This wasn't the first or second time.
This poor white-haired girl and that blue-haired girl had constantly been toyed with by this evil blonde nun.
He had suffered from a lack of evidence to report her.
But now, she had even drawn her sword.
What was she trying to do? Commit murder?!
“I'm not afraid of you!” Damian threatened.
Sophie was somewhat dazed.
She looked at Damian's broad back, then at Kaila, who was holding her sword.
Kaila's attack halted.
【The Hero must not harm the innocent】
Naturally, in Damian's eyes, the wicked nun had hesitated because he had struck a nerve.
This hesitation gave him immense courage.
“What are you trying to do to this child in broad daylight?!”
Damian pushed the mop slightly further forward.
“From the very beginning, you treated them like toys! You forced her and that blue-haired girl to sleep in a wooden coffin, abused them, beat them, and subjected them to inhuman torture! This isn't the first or second time, what more do you want?!”
The surrounding civilians who were prostrating saw the situation clearly, and some covered their mouths in terror.
A brave blacksmith limped forward a couple of steps, urgently calling out to Damian in a lowered voice.
“Damian, are you insane?! That's the Moon Goddess's friend! That's the Lord Hero who just protected us! Get out of the way!”
Although they didn't understand why the Goddess and the Hero were fighting, they didn't dare to interfere.
Had Damian gone mad?
How did he dare to step in?
Only then did Damian realize there were people around.
But he couldn't care less about them right now. Although he was somewhat afraid of the sword in Kaila's hand, the thought of the pitiful white-haired girl behind him filled him with endless courage.
“What do you mean, Hero?!”
“You have no idea what kind of demon she really is!”
Damian turned back, continuing to glare at Kaila.
“I saw it with my own eyes! You left this child's bed covered in blood! And the miserable state of that blue-haired child when she cried!”
“A Hero? I didn't see what just happened, but without a doubt, she is nothing more than a demon wearing the skin of a Hero! Do not be fooled by her!”
Kaila remained completely silent.
Having lost her ability to speak, she looked as if she were admitting to the accusations.
Low murmurs broke out among the crowd.
Of course they were grateful to the Hero for saving their lives.
However, they indeed knew next to nothing about her.
But they had known Damian for a long time.
When an honest innkeeper risked being hacked to death to stand before this white-haired girl with such tearful accusations, human instinct still caused a small seed of doubt to waver in their minds.
If it wasn't true, why didn't the Hero deny it?
“To others, you might be a Hero.”
Damian took a deep breath, slamming his mop heavily onto the ground.
“But as far as I'm concerned, you're no good person!”
This was his final verdict.
There was not a trace of doubt, nor was it mixed with any fake acting.
It was a firm conclusion based on the facts he had witnessed with his own eyes.
A bizarre silence fell over the area.
Sophie's mouth hung open in a daze.
She wanted to cheer for Damian.
The curse of Destinos was a curse of identity.
The more one's actions conformed to their identity, the stronger their power grew, and the more their sense of self would be consumed. The recognition of the people around them acted as the noose tightening the chains.
What about the reverse?
The more unrecognized one was...
Would the absolute justice and mandatory obligations belonging to the "Hero" bound to her soul recede due to the collapse of its logical foundation?
She looked at Kaila.
The vessel, which had been forcibly guided by the sacred Law to maintain an offensive posture, began to tremble violently.
The pure gold chains wrapped around Kaila's neck and wrists dimmed significantly because of Damian's resounding words: “But as far as I'm concerned, you're no good person!”
Someone was truly denying the fact that she was the Hero.
Someone truly believed from the bottom of their heart that she wasn't a Hero.
Someone truly thought she was just a wicked person who bullied the weak.
The golden light on the chains extinguished inch by inch, like blood being drained from the inside out.
Losing the support of the chains, Kaila's thoroughly exhausted body could no longer maintain its standing posture, and she collapsed to the ground once more.
The Holy Light Longsword dissolved into fine golden particles and dispersed into the air.
Her knees buckled, and her entire body fell straight forward.
“Sorry, coming through!”
Sophie darted past Damian, diving straight toward the falling Kaila.
She caught the vessel firmly in her arms before it could slam onto the scorched earth.
Miss Hero's body was incredibly light.
It was as if her flesh had withered away, leaving behind only a skeleton.
The chains were still wrapped around Kaila's body. Though dim, they showed no signs of breaking.
They were still trying to drag this girl into the bottomless abyss called "mission."
Even though the civilian's misunderstanding had loosened the chains for a brief moment, Kaila's own obsession with finding freedom for Sylvia was still acting as an internal accomplice to the curse.
As long as she was still the Hero.
As long as she still bore that destined Class.
This consumption would never stop.
Sophie knelt on the ground.
She could hear the Hero in her arms drawing faint, almost imperceptible human breaths.
But before Sophie could feel relieved, a series of shouts erupted from the surrounding crowd.
“You're talking nonsense! Damian, you don't know anything at all!”
A man, his face flushed red, pointed at Kaila. “She was the one who blocked the tide of rats emerging from the ground! She saved all of us! She is the true Hero!!”
“That's right! She is Lord Hero!”
“Long live Lord Hero!”
It was like throwing a ladle of cold water into boiling oil.
The golden chains, which had dimmed due to Damian's accusations, instantly erupted with a momentum ten times more terrifying than before upon hearing the gratitude and recognition of the civilians.
Rip—
The chains wrapped around Kaila's neck tightened once more, cutting into her flesh.
There was no time.
There was no time to explain, and no time to shut these people up.
Sophie didn't waste another moment thinking.
Looking at the blonde nun in her arms, whose breathing was so faint she could barely feel it.
She didn't try to awaken her with words again.
Some things couldn't be called back just by shouting.
She took a deep breath.
Although she didn't know why, destiny seemed to favor her at this moment.
In that case, she would leverage this favor of destiny once more to find a way to save Miss Hero.
She splayed the five fingers of her right hand, her fingertips glowing with a sickening, greyish light of disaster and death.
【Life Theft】.
The skill she had obtained from that scrub boss whose name she had already forgotten.
Sophie wanted to do it right now!
Take Miss Hero's identity!
Take this cursed destiny!
Along with all the pain!
All of it!
Steal it away!
Without hesitation, she clawed her fingertips toward Kaila.
...
However...
A slightly trembling hand gently covered Sophie's wrist.
A familiar, warm sensation.
Sophie's movements ground to a halt mid-air.
She stared blankly down.
Kaila, cradled in her arms, had opened her eyes at some point.
There was not a trace of the madness of being consumed by the curse in those eyes.
They were the clear, rose-colored eyes of the Hero that Sophie was incredibly familiar with.
Her chapped lips quivered.
“Sophie...”
Kaila whispered softly.
Joy washed over Sophie's face.
“Miss Hero! Don't move, I'll save you right now—”
Before she could finish.
The hand that had been gently resting on Sophie's wrist, filled with deep attachment, suddenly exerted force and dragged her downward.
At the same time, Kaila pressed the fingers of her right hand together like a blade, a blinding flash of holy light condensing into an extremely sharp edge at her fingertips.
Reflected in those clear eyes was Sophie's bewildered face.
This was not driven by the curse.
The fingers, gathered with light, sliced across Sophie's neck.
Not even the sound of cutting through flesh could be heard as a razor-thin red line abruptly surfaced on Sophie's fair neck.
“【Judgment】,” Kaila whispered softly.
Sophie: “Eh?”
Rate on N.U.
