Chapter 105

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Episode 23 - Goodbye [2]

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"H-how... how did you end up like this... Kyle?"

This time, Kyle’s response did not come immediately.

His body began to tremble as his face started to crack apart.

What little mana he had left began to move in a violent reaction.

His body started convulsing, and the surrounding mana turned chaotic, as if something was about to happen.

But Luminus did not even notice it. Her emotions, thoughts, and entire being were focused solely on hearing his answer.

She wanted to know how he had ended up like this, in such a state.

He had disappeared ten years ago, and now that she finally had him before her...

It was obvious that he had already died at some point. The Kyle standing before her was nothing more than a moving corpse.

As if he were being controlled from some distant place no one knew about.

Kyle’s mouth opened as his entire body began cracking even more.

Charlotte and Adel were fully aware of the mana surrounding them.

’His body is about to explode.’

That thought crossed their minds, and they quickly began moving away.

They were not worried about Luminus. She possessed the Divine Body; even if she were torn apart, she would regenerate within seconds.

"They wanted... to descend... they wanted to descend an unknown entity... a being stronger than a... than a 10-Star... they wanted to bring it... from the abyss..."

His words froze for a moment before continuing.

"They prepared... a vessel... me... for that entity... for ten years... I died... seven years ago... since then... they have experimented on me... to prepare me... as a vessel... then they brought me here..."

Luminus did not know how to react to that. She could not fully understand the meaning behind Kyle’s words.

To begin with, he was difficult to understand. His sentences were broken, lacking context, and nearly incomprehensible.

But she managed to grasp a few important things.

Something related to an entity from the abyss attempting to descend.

She did not know what to think about it, but she did not care either.

At that moment, there was only one thing Luminus wanted to know.

"Who is responsible for everything they did to you? Who created these plans?"

Kyle opened his mouth, but the surrounding mana instantly became even more chaotic.

Suddenly, strange patterns tracing red and black circles appeared all over his body.

His body began swelling like a balloon on the verge of exploding.

Luminus noticed it. She knew Kyle was already dead.

But even so, she needed to know who was responsible for everything they had done to him.

She would seek revenge no matter the cost.

She was not far from the 10-Star realm, and in fact, she felt a strange pulse of power rising from deep within her body.

Golden patterns also began appearing across her skin as the Pocket Gate started trembling.

The sky began to split open, revealing absolute darkness where a gigantic portal covered the entire heavens.

The Pocket Gate began collapsing.

Then, two strange energies started entering Luminus’s body.

Both the heavens and the earth began to tremble. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The birth of a 10-Star Awakened was underway.

Meanwhile, Kyle’s body continued swelling. His cracked lips parted as he spoke.

"Angel Marionetists... leader... Church of the Black Dawn ... he is... the culprit..."

Luminus heard those words, and countless emotions surged within her, completely blinding her, but...

Kyle’s voice reached her ears once more.

"Goodbye... wife..."

A smile appeared on Kyle’s face.

Luminus’s eyes widened for an instant as tears streamed down her cheeks.

But those tears vanished in the very next second.

Kyle’s body exploded.

The entire region of the Winter Cemetery disappeared.

***

Charlotte and Adel had moved far enough away, fully aware of the imminent explosion that was about to occur, and it didn’t take long for them to feel it.

A massive explosion unleashed a shockwave; the pine trees, the snow, and any nearby monsters or demons were blown away for dozens of kilometers.

The explosion left behind an enormous crater, perhaps more than five hundred kilometers in diameter.

Adel did not waste any time. He grabbed Charlotte and pulled her close to him.

The very next second, he entered the Dark Plane, avoiding the explosion that had occurred outside of it.

Shortly afterward, they returned to the outside world, and everything around them had turned into blackened land.

All the snow, the pine trees, and everything else except the ground beneath their feet had disappeared.

Both of them stood inside the crater, far from the center.

’Shit... this explosion is equivalent to a full-power attack from a 9-Star.’

Sweat formed on Adel and Charlotte’s foreheads as they realized how close they had come to dying.

But in the very next second, their Mana Sense detected something.

Both focused their attention on the center of the colossal crater, as though a thirty-kilometer meteorite had struck that spot.

’The Ascension... it’s advancing toward 10 Stars...’

Adel felt the energies of heaven and earth beginning to move toward a single point.

When someone advances toward 10 Stars, the energies of Yin and Yang, also known as the energies of heaven and earth, enter the body of the person reaching the transcendental rank.

They completely reconstruct that person’s physiology, body, mind, and soul.

It meant leaving humanity behind and advancing toward a being considered "perfect," so to speak.

The sky was forcibly torn open, allowing the blue heavens and sunlight to cover the Mountains of the End.

The phenomenon literally changed the entire vast region, enveloping every corner of the Mountains of the End.

The blue sky manifested while the earth trembled, mana swirled violently, and the energies of heaven and earth intensified more and more.

Not long afterward, everything slowly began to calm down.

The portal covering the world’s sky closed once again, hiding the blue heavens and sunlight once more.

The earth stopped shaking, and the energies of heaven and earth came to a halt.

Mana slowly stabilized as the duo focused their attention on the center of the crater.

’She really... reached 10 Stars...’

That thought crossed Charlotte’s mind.

For Charlotte, witnessing something like this was unimaginable, an experience she would never forget and a lesson for the day she herself aspired to reach 10 Stars.

Seeing it left Charlotte speechless.

Things had happened that completely defied logic.

It was as though the entire world around Luminus had casually moved with a single gesture just to grant power to an insignificant being.

"Let’s go."

Adel spoke. Charlotte snapped out of her thoughts, and both of them soon approached Luminus.

Most of Luminus’s clothes had disappeared.

Fortunately, it was only the "normal" clothing; the rest was a type of armor shaped like a suit, designed for combat and capable of enduring any environmental climate.

When they arrived, Charlotte and Adel noticed Luminus’s condition.

Adel looked at her emotions. They were far too unstable, and at any moment, Luminus would lose her sanity.

’Her emotions are consuming her.’

Remaining in that state right after ascending to 10 Stars was extremely dangerous.

If her emotions completely consumed her, Luminus would become an irrational being, devoid of sanity or consciousness, moving only to unleash chaos with every step she took.

’This is bad... this is probably the objective required to clear the Chapter.’

They had to bring Luminus back.

But Adel had no idea what to do next.

Perhaps using his Trait, the same one he used against villains, would have some effect on emotions.

But he dismissed the idea. He still had not tested its effects on something like this.

He feared that instead of helping, it would only make things worse.

’Am I really not going to be able to clear the Chapter?’

His thoughts raced as he tried to find a solution, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could not find one.

The current situation was far too complicated.

He had no information about anything like this. In his memories, there was nothing related to a situation like the current one.

How was he supposed to bring back someone who was being consumed by her own emotions?

Adel observed the emotions tied to vengeance, madness, loss, despair, hatred, anger, fury, and an endless number of negative feelings.

’Shit... I don’t know what to do. How am I supposed to act now...?’

While he was lost in his thoughts, Charlotte ran toward Luminus.

She pulled Luminus into a tight embrace as she shouted into her ear:

"Master, wake up already. You said being consumed by emotions was dangerous. You told me to be careful, but look at yourself now."

Charlotte tightened her arms around Luminus’s body even more, ignoring the monstrous pressure escaping from her.

"Where is the person who taught me how to stand firm...? Where is the woman who told me that even if the world collapses, one must continue thinking clearly?"

Luminus did not respond.

Her golden eyes remained empty, fixed on some nonexistent point within the crater.

The mana around her continued to distort.

Charlotte trembled slightly, but she kept speaking.

"I understand that it hurts... I understand that you want to destroy everything... but if you continue like this, then Kyle’s death will mean nothing."

Luminus’s pupils moved ever so slightly.

Adel noticed the small change immediately.

Charlotte noticed it as well and clenched her teeth before continuing.

"He called you his wife in the end..."

Luminus’s breathing stopped for a second.

Charlotte and Adel had heard Kyle’s final words before the explosion.

"His last thought was of you. Even after everything he suffered... even after becoming that thing... he still thought about you."

The freezing wind swept across the gigantic crater once more.

Charlotte lowered her head for a moment before speaking again, this time in a much softer voice.

"So please... don’t turn his farewell into another tragedy."

Luminus’s body began to tremble.

The violent mana surrounding her became even more unstable for a few seconds, causing the ground to collapse again in several areas.

Adel remained ready to intervene at any moment.

But then he heard something.

A faint sound.

Like someone trying to hold back their crying.

Charlotte slowly raised her gaze.

Tears began to fall from Luminus’s eyes.

Her breathing became unstable while her lips trembled slightly.

"I..."

Her voice came out broken.

"I... couldn’t save him..."

Charlotte felt pain in her chest when she heard those words.

"It wasn’t your fault..."

"Yes, it was!"

The explosion in her voice caused the entire area to tremble once again.

Luminus clenched her fists tightly as tears continued falling without stopping.

"I could have found him sooner... I could have saved him before they turned him into...!"

Her voice began to crack again.

"Ten years... ten years..."

Charlotte did not respond immediately.

She simply embraced Luminus even more tightly once again.

"Then live."

Luminus slowly opened her eyes.

Charlotte looked directly at her while tears also streamed down Charlotte’s own face.

"Live and destroy those responsible."

"Live and bring down that Church."

"Live and make sure Kyle is never forgotten."

Luminus’s breathing slowly began to stabilize.

The chaotic mana around her also gradually started to calm down.

Adel silently watched everything while letting out a small sigh of relief.

’It worked...’

Charlotte slowly rested her forehead against Luminus’s shoulder.

"So please... come back to yourself, Master."

Silence covered the enormous crater for several seconds.

Finally, Luminus closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, the madness and uncontrollable rage had partially disappeared.

They were still there.

But now they were restrained.

And controlled.

Her gaze slowly regained its clarity.

"...Charlotte."

Luminus’s voice sounded like her usual self again, although much weaker.

Charlotte let out a small smile through her tears.

"Welcome back."