What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 301

#301

Miroa (4)

-Thud!

“Aaaagh!”

It hurt. It hurt so much.

It was as hot as a fire in my chest and as painful as being hit with a hammer.

I staggered back, shocked and horrified.

The world suddenly seemed to move in slow motion, like everything was five times slower.

My eyes felt like they were rolling back in my head.

I saw the blade embedded deep in my chest and my shirt turning red.

This time, it was real.

“Ah, ah······.”

-Swoosh!

“Heok!”

The man yanked the knife out of my body. The sound was cruel and sickening.

A stream of bright red blood arced through the air. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.

It didn’t seem real that this was happening to me.

The madness gleaming in his eyes was terrifying.

“Heok, heuk―”

Painful. Scary. Painful, painful······.

-Whoosh!

He swung his knife again and again. Even as blood poured from my chest, I instinctively raised my arm.

-Clang!

The Growth dagger deflected the blow. I knew I was lucky. I immediately turned and ran.

I couldn’t breathe well, and tears streamed down, blurring my vision.

The floor was stained dark red with blood; I didn’t know whose.

It all happened so fast that I didn’t have time to figure out what was going on.

It was even scarier that he didn’t say anything. Fear overwhelmed the pain.

I limped forward, staring straight ahead.

I can’t use Ether here, so I can’t open a Sanctuary or Holy Ground.

Only one thought came to mind clearly.

I have to protect Dduk-ssim.

“Heok, haa, ugh······.”

I frantically clutched my left breast.

The Gaga bag [a bag with various tools and supplies] around my waist and both hands were already covered in blood.

But if I just buy some time, I can live. At least this child will be safe since it’s a Divine Object.

Soon the Crown Prince and Elysee will come.

“Come here······. Come here!”

The man behind me called out. I felt goosebumps all over my body and gagged in terror.

I clutched my bleeding chest and ran.

Suddenly, the guardian spirit’s voice echoed in my head.

-A rat has entered the maze.

“Heok, heok.”

And I realized the ‘rat’ meant that person. A chilling premonition made me gasp.

How, how could such a human get here―

“Don’t you want to be free? Don’t you want to throw off this kind of yoke?”

The cracking, metallic voice was terrifying.

The maze was unlikely to open again.

The guardian spirit’s test was over, and what they were guarding was the temple and the Divine Object, not the humans who came and went here.

I ran without stopping.

In the middle of the empty shrine, there was still one thing that could help me.

“Ugh, heut······.”

‘The Holy Grail of Wishes’.

-Thud!

I grabbed the Holy Grail stand and turned around abruptly.

If I confront him with this in the middle, I can buy some time―

“It’s all over.”

“Heoeuk.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The unidentified killer was standing in front of me, facing the Holy Grail.

The path he had run through was all blood, blood, blood.

It was a sight that tragically painted the golden, resplendent space.

There was a genuinely happy smile on his pale cheeks. I knew it instinctively.

This is not someone you can deal with rationally. Words don’t work with that person.

“Ugh.”

I felt a surge of blood rising from inside.

“You want to end it all too.”

“Heok. Cough! What, heuk······.”

It was an expression of bestowing grace. It was a kind and benevolent gaze.

It must be just as painful and agonizing for him, but the man didn’t show it at all.

It was hard to see him as a patient with a hole in his stomach.

He raised his blood-soaked hand and pulled up the robe hood.

I reflexively grabbed the Growth dagger and rummaged through the Gaga bag with my other arm to take out a dagger.

At that moment,

“Heok, cough!”

-Rustle!

My bleeding lips parted blankly.

The man under the robe was transparently disappearing right in front of me.

A shockwave of anxiety ran from head to toe.

No way, it can’t be. It can’t be. No, no, no······.

“I’ll make it so.”

That was the last whisper. He was no longer visible, not even a strand of hair.

I gasped and floundered. I swung the Growth dagger around and slashed with the dagger.

There was almost nothing I could do with a badly injured body that couldn’t open a circle [a magical barrier or portal].

Besides, the opponent was an invisible man, except to thrash around like crazy―

-Thud!

“Aaaaaagh!”

I collapsed onto the Holy Grail. Red blood gushed from my mouth. My back, my back······.

“Heok, eok. Ahheuk······. Why, why······.”

Tremors and convulsions shook my whole body at the same time. Pain and shock came after that.

It hurt and scared like being hit with an iron club. Blood and bodily fluids pooled on the round Holy Grail floor.

The man behind me stroked my cheek. I felt nauseous.

I wanted to see Hyung [older brother]. I wanted to see Eunseo, Mom.

“Because you must have had a hard time too.”

I wanted to go back to my family.

“Being scorned, pointed at, and treated like a drudge because you’re a bastard······. There couldn’t have been any real happiness. I know it well.”

“Eueuheuk, heuk, kehheok······.”

“I know it well. Because I had a similar life.”

It was a tone of genuine pity. My legs gave way.

I barely leaned my body, which felt like it was about to collapse, against the Holy Grail.

‘Clang!’ The dagger finally fell from my hand.

The man who came closer took off his hood.

As I trembled and turned my head, I saw an excessively beautiful face through the gaps in my collapsing eyelids.

Blood-soaked lavender hair······.

“My poor son.”

It was an angelic voice. My eyes widened for a moment.

The moment he pulled the sword out of me―

“Heuaaaaagh!”

-Paaaaaaa······!

A strong golden ray of light burst out from the Holy Grail.

‘Keueut!’ For some reason, the man’s body bounced away.

At the same time, a force that seemed to be tens or hundreds of times the force of gravity pulled me in.

I couldn’t even resist and slammed my head into the vessel.

I felt like my eyeballs were falling out and all my insides were about to spill out.

“Aagh, aaaaaagh······!”

No, it wasn’t just that. It was as painful as if my soul and body were being separated.

It felt like something that shouldn’t be separated was being forcibly torn apart.

I’m going to die if this goes on. That conviction consumed my brain and gnawed at my heart.

The sensation of the whole world pushing me away was vivid.

I felt like I was going blind from the almost white-hot radiance.

In the end, I didn’t even have the strength to scream. Saaaaaaa······!

“Save me, please······.”

I muttered, spitting out blood.

The faces of Christel and Crown Prince Cedric flashed before my eyes like a revolving lantern.

I closed my eyes, desperately holding Dduk-ssim. That was the only movement I was allowed.

-Woo woong―!

-Kwaaaaaaa······!

Then a huge radiance swallowed my body.

*

-Rumble······

-Crackle!

The maze, having finished its test, hurriedly opened its doors.

Cedric stood still, unable to move a step.

A suffocating silence pressed down on him.

The Ether turbulence that had been tormenting even him was underground, having swept through like a disaster.

Surely the teacher outside the maze and Christel Langbuillet would have sensed it too.

But now ‘nothing’ could be felt on the other side.

It couldn’t be. It shouldn’t be.

“······.”

He was afraid. This was not a matter of admitting it or not.

It was just the pathetic bewilderment of someone placed before an overwhelming fate.

The man tried to move his frozen head somehow.

But the countless vessel training he had done in the meantime was of no use now.

A strong smell of blood lingered at the tip of his nose. Unease and ominousness swirled around him like a mist.

Silence.

-Step, step, step······

Cedric gripped the sword belt tightly and advanced.

Soon the warm golden light of the shrine greeted him. And······.

-Step

It was a sea of blood.

The orange eyes widened. Beeeee― An unpleasant ringing sounded in his ears.

“······.”

The noble gaze quickly grasped the situation.

On the blood-soaked floor, a single strand of red-soaked vine was lying around.

It was the power of the Divine Tree that the prince had said he would bring in.

Seeing it made him breathe strangely fast. Cedric tried to stay calm.

There was currently one presence here.

The man moved his reluctant steps to confirm him.

A disgusting sound came from the congealing pool of blood.

A memory from the past floated up like a buoy and clung to him.

His jaw tightened involuntarily.

-Tak

“······.”

Then he stopped. For a moment, he stopped breathing.

Cedric rushed to his priest, who was lying on the floor.

He picked up the limp body and hurriedly checked his condition. Everything he touched was cold.

It felt like a lie. It was only a few tens of minutes ago that he grabbed his collar and talked about the future.

“Wake up.”

“······.”

He commanded in a boiling voice. There was no answer.

The pale cheeks, the powerless blonde hair, and the white hands were all soaked in blood.

The lips were covered in blood.

The long eyelashes were tightly closed as if they would never rise again.

Bleeding continued from the deep wounds on his chest and back.

He belatedly realized that his hands were trembling.

He took off his gloves, fumbling like a fool. Then he touched the prince’s neck.

There was no pulse.

“······Nonsense.”

The words ‘don’t play’ were stuck in his throat. His ears became muffled and his vision narrowed.

He felt like he was drowning in water. He trembled pathetically for a long time.

There was not even a strand of pure Ether in this room.

He knew what it meant, but it was hard to admit.

This time, he put his fingers on the priest’s nose.

There was no breath.

“Ha······.”

A gasp burst out. Cedric’s pupils dilated.

His breathing was offbeat and his heartbeat began to race irregularly.

Over the face of the prince with his eyes closed, the last image of his father was overlapping.

A body lying on the floor.

The black hair that was stained with blood and turned dark red, and the eyes that were kind to the end.

‘See you next time, Seidy. Huh? Don’t cry.’

‘I didn’t mean to hurt you like this······. My good son, ugh.’

He slowly lowered his back. This was not something he could do at will.

As the blood in his whole body cooled, his eyes became hot.

It was exactly the same scene as that day.

‘I’ll see you on the other side.’

He had clearly said that.

“Keut.”

Cedric gritted his teeth to control the vessel that was fluctuating with regret and anger.

His heart felt like it was boiling and bursting. He wanted to tear it apart.

If it was only going to give him this kind of pain, it would have been better to separate it from his body.

It was a hellish reality. He didn’t want to accept it. He couldn’t accept it.

It was then.

“Hahahaha······.”

He flinched. The Crown Prince raised his head.

Not far away, a man was sitting down.

The presence had been clear all along, but it was the first time he had seen his face.

Despite the unfamiliar face, there was a strangely familiar atmosphere. The old robe was soaked in blood.

The man’s sharp brown eyes stared at Cedric.

He also seemed to be seriously injured. There was a wound in his stomach, and a bloody dagger in his hand―

-Beeeep!

Again, a ringing in his ears like a sign.

Cedric counted the clock hands slowly turning in his head.

The man in front of him was moving his lips.

The voice was faint, as if ringing from a very distant place. Tick, tock, tick.

“I have freed that pitiful thing. You should be grateful.”

“······.”

“He’s sleeping well. How comfortable must he be.”

Tock, tock, tock.

“Ah, I feel refreshed······!”

He said with a dreamy expression.

The corners of his eyes were beautifully curved, and his blood-splattered face was full of satisfaction.

The Crown Prince’s breathing stopped. His vision turned red.

-BEEEEEEEEEP!

-Kwaaaang!

It was a sword strike close to an explosion.

“Aaaaaagh! Keuhaaaagh!”

Berner’s tearing scream echoed through the room.

Beyond the flash of light, a fountain of blood gushed out.

The shrine was now a scene of carnage reminiscent of a battlefield.

It was a purgatory where the already dead, the angel of death, and those facing death resided.

The jet-black Hyegeom [Cedric’s sword] drew an invisible line of death in the air. Swish, swish―!

-Kwaaaa!

“Euaaaagh! Stop! Stop it!”

The Queen Consort’s one arm and leg flew helplessly into the air.

But the swordsman had no life left to hear and understand his words.

Perhaps not even warmth.

-Sreung!

At that moment,

“Father! No······! Aaaagh!”

Elysee’s scream plunged down sharply. Cedric charged without stopping.

*

Flash!

“Dduk-ssim!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs and sat up in bed.

The blanket flipped over, and the bed made a ‘squeak’ sound.

It was a sound effect that didn’t match the terrible situation just before. My eyes widened involuntarily.

No, wait a minute······.

I frantically groped my body first. There was no blood, let alone a scratch.

I was soaked in cold sweat, and my tense arms and legs were numb, but I was fine.

But that wasn’t the problem.

Unbelievably, something far more terrible than a knife being stuck in my body was happening.

My heart sank. This, this is―

“······It’s my pajamas.”

It was the clothes I wore in ‘my house’ a year ago. Ordinary 21st-century clothes.

“What is this?”

-Knock knock knock knock!

I flinched! I quickly looked up at the familiar knock. And I was horrified.

I couldn’t not recognize it.

That was my door.

Not the Juliette Palace, but a small room in one of the apartments we lived in. The door attached to it.

“······.”

I quickly looked around. Now that I see it, it wasn’t just my pajamas and door.

Wallpaper, bookcase, desk, chair, bag, clothes rack······.

“Laptop, cell phone.”

I muttered like a crazy person.

The existence of the phone lying quietly on the desk was eerily awkward.

I felt a terrible sense of incongruity in all of this background.

Why are those things here? Why is my room here?

······Why am I here?

-Knock knock knock knock!

“Little Oppa [term used by younger women to address older brothers or male friends]! Are you still sleeping? Aren’t you going to work?”

A shocking voice was heard from outside the door.

I made the most dumbfounded expression I had ever made in my life.