My Lord Who Is Being Prudent! [EN]: Chapter 318

318. Beginning and End (1)

A soundless silence descended.

Silence is inherently without sound, but this silence was different.

The fierce battle fought over Ruben.

The Royal Knights of the Imperial Family, the knights of the North led by Oslie, the soldiers of the Western Empire, and the citizens of the Holy Empire.

The priests of the Dawn Sect and the warriors of the Holy Empire, numbering up to a million.

A force that could easily be called millions.

In this place where all those forces were gathered, a soundless silence reigned.

As if sound had been carved away.

As if the very concept of sound had been excised and eliminated.

Not a single sound could be heard.

And no one uttered a sound.

In that soundless silence.

The achromatic [without color] sky, covered in pure white.

There, white cracks like spiderwebs were etched.

The cracks gradually increased in size, eventually covering the entire sky.

The finely drawn cracks looked as if they would shatter and collapse like a broken window with a single touch.

And then, a wave burst forth!

The sound of the sky breaking echoed, and the outline of the world crumbled.

The entire landscape flickered like a mirage.

And as it did, the blurred colors regained their true hues.

The rampant forest turned into a vibrant green, full of life.

The achromatic sky returned to its original blue.

The black and white landscape regained its original colors.

The natural appearance of all things as they were meant to be.

The blurred and collapsing forms of all things regained their original shapes.

And in that restored space-time.

People’s gazes turned to one place simultaneously.

As if by agreement, millions of gazes focused solely on one spot.

The battlefield where the actual God and the six heroes opposing him had fought so fiercely.

There, no one was standing.

Yes, no one.

No one was standing.

Not only the six heroes who opposed the God.

But also the God who opposed the six heroes.

Without exception, everyone had fallen.

Therefore, what that indicated was one thing.

“The, the God… !”

The defeat of God.

The reigning God had finally fallen at the hands of the heroes.

“Ah… !”

“Ah… !”

Only then could exclamations and astonishment finally take form as sound.

The exclamations bursting forth from millions of people filled the air.

And so, what all of this meant was one thing.

It’s over…

The God who had been leading the world to destruction had fallen.

People’s gazes turned one by one towards the sky.

The sky they looked up at was bluer than ever before.

It really… was over.

The God had fallen.

The God they thought they could never defeat had fallen.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!

A fervent roar erupted, covering the entire sky.

“We did it…! We did it…!”

“We’re alive!!!”

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!

Hopes and joys filled people’s faces.

All the positive emotions that existed in the world bloomed.

In the face of that bursting, fervent roar.

In the face of the fall of the actual God.

“Ah… .”

“G, God… .”

The warriors of the Holy Empire knelt down one by one.

At the same time, a clatter.

They dropped their weapons and lost their will to fight.

With that, the beliefs that had been stained with madness began to shatter.

The shattered, blind faith soon returned to reason.

“W, what have I done…?”

“Ah… .”

The returning reason awakened the warriors of the Holy Empire one by one.

Seeing the sight of those Holy Empire warriors, Ruben and everyone else shouted.

“Really… really…!”

It was really over.

This long fight had finally come to an end.

We survived to the end.

We won this fight.

Does the vocabulary and concept to express this feeling even exist?

Perhaps it does not exist.

A sense of elation filling the chest.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!!

The tremendous roar of victory continued to spread, covering the entire sky.

#

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!!

A tremendous roar of victory that seemed to pierce the sky.

“Ugh… .”

Aria faintly stirred in her consciousness at the sound of that great roar.

Still in a hazy state of mind.

Her consciousness was like swimming in water, but her awareness was clear.

Didn’t… I die?

Aria mustered all her strength to lift her eyelids.

She struggled to move her limp body even a little.

And at the end of that effort.

“… Ugh!”

Aria could feel an unbearable pain.

At the same time, as if all the blood in her body was circulating, all her senses began to be felt clearly.

“Aaaargh…!!”

Accordingly, the intensity of the pain also began to be felt vividly.

With that terrible pain, Aria could recall the memories from before.

All the moments she had faced Kai.

The things she had done to help Cyan by reciting the divine words.

As a result, Kai grabbed her chin.

Until the last moment when she couldn’t resist that force and her chin itself was crushed and broken.

Thus, a tearing pain surged from every part of her body.

There was not a single place that was intact.

Among them, the place with the most severe pain was, of course, her chin.

More precisely, the lower part of her face.

“Kkeueugh!”

Aria gasped for breath and lay down.

She couldn’t move her body because of the raging pain.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!

The sound of the roar covering the sky echoed in Aria’s ears.

How much time had passed like that?

“Haa… haa…!”

Aria was able to move her body a little as the pain subsided to some extent.

Aria slowly raised her hand and stroked the lower part of her face.

Fortunately, was it thanks to the blessing of the World Tree, Instiz?

Or was it thanks to the power of divinity inherent in Aria?

Perhaps it was both.

The bones of her lower jaw had disappeared.

But they were slowly recovering and were somewhat pieced together.

It wasn’t perfectly aligned.

There were parts that were misaligned and stuck together.

But it wasn’t a big problem.

Aria’s divine power was enough to restore it to its original state.

But right now… it was impossible.

“Haa…! Haa…!”

Because her divine power wouldn’t come out at all.

Like a pot that had run out of water, her divine power wasn’t being emitted.

Until then, she might look quite ugly, but well…

“Just being alive is… Aheuk!”

As she spoke, her jaw joint opened and a terrible pain surged.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!

The sound of the roar continued to be heard.

Aria slowly, very slowly, raised her body.

And calmly looked around.

The traces of the brutal battle against God.

In the shattered battlefield, people were collapsed everywhere.

The first person she saw was a blonde man, Conrad.

Conrad was sprawled on the floor, unmoving.

Conrad’s abdomen was gaping open.

Between the open abdomen.

The insides were all torn out.

It didn’t seem like he was alive at all.

“Am I… am I alive… Keoheok!”

But Conrad was alive.

Perhaps he had regained consciousness at the sound of the roar that had erupted with Aria.

Conrad was gasping for breath and slowly opening his faint eyes.

Was this also thanks to the blessing of the World Tree, Instiz?

Or was it thanks to some power that Aria didn’t know about?

“W, what the heck… .”

Fortunately, Conrad didn’t die.

Like Aria, he was slowly recovering his body.

Aria slowly turned her gaze to check the condition of the others.

And they were all in a terrible state.

The dark elf, Sera, had her tongue pulled out, and bright red blood was gushing out of her mouth.

Her pointed ears had been torn off haphazardly.

The dwarf, Semir, had all his muscles ruptured and broken.

The dragonkin, Karis, had the horns that had grown on his forehead pulled out, and his skull was shattered along with them.

It didn’t seem like any of them were alive.

“A, it hurts… .”

“Kkulreok…!”

“A, are we… alive…?”

But all of them were alive.

Very weakly, but that power was also slowly recovering.

It could only be described as a miracle.

And a miracle is called a miracle because it is something that cannot be achieved.

There were also those who faced the harshness of reality.

Those who showed no movement.

Lea, limp and without any sense of thought.

Kendrick, with his left arm torn off and his dark blue eyes extinguished.

And.

“Keoheok…!”

The sight of Cyan collapsing while coughing up blood.

Cyan scattered red blood and collapsed.

He fell powerlessly to the floor.

That was nothing compared to the others.

Internal organs torn out, muscles completely torn.

Tongues pulled out, skulls shattered.

Compared to those, simply coughing up blood and collapsing was nothing.

But Aria, who was watching that sight, didn’t think so.

No, it didn’t feel that way.

Cyan’s body, trembling on the floor.

Cyan, whose body was constantly convulsing like a person having a seizure.

It looked like that time… it looked like that time.

The sight she had seen in the kingdom of the beastmen.

Cyan, who had sacrificed his own existence as a sacrifice at that time.

Right at that moment when the vessel of his soul was collapsing.

Poohwaah!!

Cyan’s current state looked so much the same.

“C, Cyan…!”

Aria shouted and rushed towards Cyan.

But as expected, her body wouldn’t listen.

With agonizing pain, 철푸덕 [onomatopoeia for a thud].

Aria slammed her body ungracefully onto the floor.

She tried desperately to raise her body, but she couldn’t muster any strength.

Nevertheless, Aria didn’t give up.

She scratched the floor with her fingernails, 벅벅 [onomatopoeia for scratching], and crawled towards Cyan.

The fingernails that scratched the floor 깨지고 [broke] and 부서졌다 [shattered].

The broken fingernails 들리며 [revealing] their 속살 [inner flesh].

An indescribable pain was felt through that.

But Aria didn’t stop.

If she stopped like this… if she fainted 맥없이 [powerlessly] like this.

She might never… never be able to see him again.

If she didn’t do anything.

If she didn’t go and do something.

It felt like she would have to let Cyan go like this.

Like the Arnice a thousand years ago.

Like the Arnice who couldn’t hold on to Kyle as he left.

“No… no… .”

Aria muttered like a madwoman and 기었다 [crawled] on the floor.

기고 [crawled], 기고 [crawled], 또 기었다 [crawled again].

Every time Aria 기어갈 [crawled], a trail of blood 늘어졌다 [stretched] 길게 [longly] like a trace.

When she barely reached Cyan.

“Ah… .”

Aria could only despair in the end.

The sight of Cyan that she saw before her eyes now.

The sight of Cyan pouring blood from every hole in his body.

It was the same as that time… it was the same as that time.

No, it was even more serious than that time.

The internal 기혈 [qi and blood] was 진탕하고 [turbulent].

The 들끓는 [boiling] mana was 퍼져 [spread] throughout his body and 끓어오르고 [bubbling up] in his 혈관 [blood vessels].

Every time that happened, Cyan’s body 떨려왔다 [trembled], 파르르 [onomatopoeia for trembling].

Beyond 떨리는 [trembling], 파르르 [onomatopoeia for trembling], his body 파닥거렸다 [flailed] like a 활어 [live fish] that had come out of the 물 [water].

Poohwaah!!

Blood 솟구쳐올랐다 [gushed up] from Cyan’s 들썩거리는 [heaving] body.

The 거뭇하게 [darkly] dead blood 끓어올랐다 [bubbled up] like a 화산 [volcano] from Cyan’s 입가 [mouth].

Blood is 뿌려진다 [splattered] on Aria’s face.

Her 백금발 [platinum blonde hair], already 젖은 [wet] with blood, was 물들었다 [stained] with blood again.

“Ah… ah… .”

Thoughts don’t flow normally due to the 진한 [intense] shock.

Aria 본능적으로 [instinctively] 끌어올렸다 [drew up] her 신성력 [divine power].

But… it doesn’t 터져나오지 [burst out].

The 새하얀 [pure white] light of 신성 [divinity] doesn’t 터져나오질 [burst out] at all.

How… how can I do something, anything.

“A, no… no… .”

There was nothing Aria could do.

Nevertheless, Aria didn’t give up.

She 터트렸다 [burst] the light of 신성 [divinity], 긁어내며 [scraping] the 바닥 [floor] to the 바닥 [floor].

But soon she had to stop that 무의미한 [meaningless] 발악 [struggle].

Because… 더 이상의 [no more] movement wasn’t 느껴지지 [felt] from Cyan.

Aria’s body 굳어버렸다 [stiffened] like a 석상 [stone statue].

Slowly, she 내려 바라본 [looked down at] Cyan’s 모습 [figure].

From that 모습 [figure]… 더 이상 [no longer] the signal of 생명 [life] wasn’t 느껴지지 [felt].

Only the 증거 [evidence] that 확실시하는 [confirming] the 죽음 [death] of 존재 [existence] was 보일 [visible].

Only the 증거 [evidence] that 보이는 [visible] 생명 [life] had 맞이했음을 [met] 죽음 [death] was 보일 [visible].

Cyan’s 심장 [heart].

Wasn’t 뛰지 [beating] 더 이상 [anymore].

“Ah, ah… .”

The words 맴도는 [lingering] in her 목구멍 [throat] 흘러나온다 [flow out] 공허하게 [hollowly].

투욱 [plop] below Aria’s 볼 [cheek].

무언가가 [something] 맑고 투명한 [clear and transparent], 흘러내렸다 [flowed down].

아무런 [no], 아무런 [no] 생각이 [thoughts]… 떠오르지 않는다 [come to mind].

어렵게 [with difficulty], 어렵게 [with difficulty] 쟁취한 [won] 승리 [victory].

The 평화 [peace] 되찾은 [regained] 그로써 [thereby].

신(神)은 [God] 죽었으나 [died].

영웅 [hero] 또한 [also] 맞이했다 [met] 죽음을 [death].

그 [that] 안에 [inside] 시안이 [Cyan] 없었다 [was not].

이 [this] 평화 [peace] 속에서 [within] 시안은 [Cyan] 존재할 [exist] 수 [can] 없었다 [not].

And 이 [this] 세계는 [world] 시안이 [Cyan] 없는 [without].

거짓말처럼 [like a lie].

그냥 [just] 원래 [originally] 그러했던 [was] 것처럼 [as if].

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!!

아무렇지 [unmoved] 않게 [not] 흘러가고 [flowing] 있었다 [was].

Aria’s 고개가 [head], 힘없이 [powerlessly] 아래로 [downward] 떨어진다 [falls].

The 모습 [figure] 보이는 [visible] 아래로 [below] of 시안은 [Cyan] 참 [truly]… 잠잠했다 [was silent].

그냥 [just]… 그냥 [just] 잠을 [sleep] 자는 [sleeping] 것만 [only] 같았다 [seemed].

해서 [so] 당장이라도 [immediately] 벌떡 [suddenly], 일어날 [get up] 것만 [only] 같았다 [seemed].

And 얼마 [how much]? 라고 [as] 얄밉게 [annoyingly] 빈정거릴 [sneer] 것만 [only] 같았다 [seemed].

머리라도 [even the head] 한 [one] 대 [hit] 쥐어박아버리고 [punch] 싶게 [want] 끔 [to].

그렇게 [like that]… 그렇게 [like that] 해줬으면 [would do].

정말로 [really]… 정말로 [really] 좋을 [good] 것만 [only] 같았다 [seemed].

But Cyan’s 심장은 [heart] 뛰질 [beat] 않고 [not] 있었다 [was].

한 [once] 번 [time] 멈춘 [stopped] 심장은 [heart] 더 [more] 이상 [than] 뛸 [beat] 수도 [can] 없었다 [not].

“흐흑… .”

The 쏟아지는 [pouring] 눈물이 [tears], 참을 [bear] 수 [can] 없게 [not] 흘러내렸다 [flowed down].

The 몽글몽글한 [round] 눈물 [tear] 방울이 [drops] 숙인 [bowed] 고개로 [head] 아래로 [downward] 쉼없이 [ceaselessly] 떨어졌다 [fell].

It 흘러내렸다 [flowed down] 떨어져 [falling] 위로 [upward] 얼굴 [face] 시안의 [Cyan’s].

Aria 울음을 [crying] 삼키고자 [to swallow] 고개를 [head] 들어보였다 [raised].

그렇게 [like that] 올려다 [looked up] 본 [seen] 하늘 [sky].

역시나 [as expected] 거짓말처럼 [like a lie].

원래 [originally] 그러했던 [was] 것처럼 [as if].

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!

이 [this] 세상의 [world’s] 하늘은 [sky], 너무도 [so] 푸른색을 [blue color] 띠고 [taking on] 있었다 [was].

#

“It’s okay, Cyan. Everything will be alright.”

Cyan’s mother, Cecil, said to Cyan.

A warm smile was on her face.

Cyan looked at that smile and thought.

Ah, I’m dead.

Cyan’s mother died when he was young.

Cyan often had dreams of such a mother.

But the day he defeated Roswell and Nathan.

After that day in Amsberg, Cyan vowed never to seek this dream again.

Since then, Cyan had not been able to see Cecil.

Nevertheless, there is only one reason why Cecil has appeared now.

This is the world after death.

Cyan had finally met death, and as a result, he was able to meet his mother.

“Our Cyan. You’ve become so much more handsome in the time I haven’t seen you?”

As expected, it wasn’t a line that was repeated in the dream.

It’s different from the scene I saw in the dream.

“Your face is so much worse, too.”

Cecil’s hand wrapped around Cyan’s cheek.

Cyan smiled for no reason at the warmth felt from Cecil’s hand.

I didn’t know if the afterlife really existed.

Cyan smiled and stroked Cecil’s hand that was wrapping around his cheek.

Cecil looked at such Cyan and 배시시 [smiling brightly], smiled.

“I said I wouldn’t come again… but I’m satisfied that I can see you for the last time.”

And she said something that I couldn’t understand.

Cecil 빼보였다 [pulled away] her hand that was 감싸던 [wrapping] Cyan’s 볼 [cheek].

It was Cecil with a 아쉬면서도 섭섭한 [regretful and sad] expression.

Cecil 바라보는 [looking at] Cyan was 가득 [filled] 들어차있었다 [was] with 자랑스러움 [pride].

“Thank you, Cyan. Thank you so much for letting me live as Cyan’s mother… .”

With those words, Cecil’s body 서서히 [slowly] 흐릿해져갔다 [became blurred].

At the same time, the 주변의 [surrounding] 배경들 [backgrounds] also 서서히 [slowly] 흐릿해져갔다 [became blurred].

Before Cyan could do anything, Cecil and the surrounding space 사라져갔다 [disappeared].

And all that was left was 새하얀 [pure white] 백광 [white light].

The world of 무(無) [nothingness] with nothing.

In the space where Cecil had 사라진 [disappeared], only 새하얀 [pure white] 백광 [white light] existed.

“What is this…?”

Cyan couldn’t understand the 현상 [phenomenon] before his eyes at all.

At that time, when he was 멍하니 훑어보던 [blankly scanning] 주변 [surroundings].

“You came faster than I thought?”

Some 목소리 [voice] was heard from one side.

At the same time, 쩌어억─! [onomatopoeia for tearing]

One side of the space that was 가득했던 [filled] with 백광 [white light] 갈라지며 [splitting] and a 사내 [man] 튀어나왔다 [popped out].

A 사내 [man] with 짙은 [dark] 흑발 [black hair].

An 어벙한 [dazed] 분위기 [atmosphere] like one screw was 빠진 [missing] somewhere.

“Long time no see?”

The 사내 [man] 씨익 [smirking], 웃음을 [smile] 지어보였다 [showed].