Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike – #635
#635
Interstellar Molecule (2)
-Thwack!
And the scythe was pulled out.
Something that wasn’t ink thoroughly soaked even my opposite cheek.
“Uh…”
I looked up at my husband with a blank face. The pungent smell of ink vibrated from all directions.
I couldn’t immediately understand what was happening.
My brain stopped, and I lost my voice. My thoughts scattered like frightened mist.
Black tears streamed from the man’s eyes.
His gaze momentarily groped the air, searched as if looking for something, and then fell on me, like a doll with a severed string.
“Ugh…”
-Crack!
“Ah, ah…”
A deep crack appeared on his porcelain-white face.
I was shocked as if my whole body had been hit, seeing him split in half from his white forehead to his long neck.
I trembled and reached out to him. My husband also pointed at me with trembling fingertips.
But the light was already gone from his eyes.
A part of his long fingers shattered like fragments of glass. Crinkle, crinkle…
His lips moved for the last time.
“Valerie, my…”
-Crash!
And with a noise that pierced my heart, Nicola Pompili shattered into pieces.
It was because the person holding the scythe struck his torso with the handle.
The moment a fragment containing his eyes touched the sole of my shoe, I jumped up as if in a fit.
I took a huge breath, as if my lungs would hurt, and hurriedly wrapped the birdcage with my whole body.
I felt as if my breath was raging like a blade, scratching my throat.
My churning stomach felt like it would vomit at any moment.
Clang, clang! The phoenix trapped in the cage flapped its wings greatly, trying to embrace me.
Holding the bars as if to break them with one hand, I quickly grabbed the scepter with the other and aimed it. Whoosh!
“Get away! You can’t lay a finger on my brother!”
My locked voice cracked unpleasantly.
I didn’t want to tremble, but my shoulders reflexively shook.
The person with the scythe was just staring at me. Our eyes met.
“Ugh, huh, huh…”
In an instant, my body seemed to freeze. The person was an old woman I had seen somewhere.
“We meet again, precious one.”
“You. You…”
‘Bozena’.
The three sisters who protect the world’s causality.
【Jung-ye, calm down. Stay still.】
“No. No.”
【She won’t hurt you anyway. Neither will I.】
“No, that’s not the problem, not…”
I stammered like a fool and straightened my collapsing posture.
I almost fell on my butt several times, but I gritted my teeth and put strength into my trembling legs.
Meanwhile, the old woman slowly raised her scythe and took off her robe hood.
At the same time, she was gradually getting younger.
The roundly bent waist straightened, and the white hair began to take on color.
The wrinkles on her face disappeared, and her sunken eyes became sharper.
It was the same figure I had seen on the northern coast of the Divine Kingdom.
I shouted at her like a madman.
“What the hell did you do!”
Anger soared to the top of my head, and a sour taste kept rising in my mouth, which was retching.
The fragments of my husband scattered on the floor were gradually turning into powder and flying somewhere.
I bit my lip until it bled to avoid seeing it.
Both eyes were boiling like a furnace.
“What did my husband do wrong! What great sin did a dead person commit that you hurt people like this, who are you!”
“It seems that you are mistaken about something, precious one. This is not a space where any scraps can freely come and go. We must maintain order.”
Bozena’s cheeks were also covered with black water, but unlike me, she was always calm.
Did she just say ‘scraps’?
-Whirly!
I immediately shouldered the scepter and took a standing shooting stance.
The staff glowed according to my will and quickly shortened in length.
The sharp crescent moon [the scepter’s blade] aimed straight at Bozena’s Adam’s apple.
My vision was blurry and my legs were shaking pathetically, but I should be able to fire one shot like this for sure.
Since the opponent also had a weapon, I had to go strong.
“Explain properly, properly until I understand, or I’ll shoot. I’ll make a hole in the floor or ceiling, so you better be prepared.”
【Jung-ye.】
“My scepter is made of the roots of the World Tree… My ether comes from the Holy Grail of Wishes. And I am the ‘noble bloodline’ that you directly mentioned. I heard rumors that I inherited the will of the Lord.”
“…”
“You know better than me what that will do here. Don’t you?”
When I glared at her fiercely with my eyes wide open, Bozena finally tilted her head.
Then she slowly moved her lips.
“…This place is not simply the underworld where the dead come. Rather, it is a higher-dimensional world.”
“Make it understandable. Speak.”
I gritted my teeth and snapped. My breathing was not stable at all.
She lowered her eyelids for a moment.
“‘The Pure White Interstellar’ is a place where fragments of the past touched by the Lord’s gaze gather.”
“Analyze it word by word.”
“…As I said. There are countless people who have died on the continent, but only a very few have received the Lord’s attention. How many people, like Romero Liester, are constantly mentioned and influence the current world line?”
“…”
I thought I knew roughly what it meant.
In short, it meant that all the past characters that the original author used over and over again, or their setting fragments, flowed into this place and were managed separately.
The traces of the priest rolling around at my feet had disappeared like a mirage in the meantime.
His last appearance came to mind, and my uvula trembled and goosebumps rose.
I didn’t let go of my posture and continued to threaten.
“Does that give you a legitimate reason to harm Nicola? Without even listening to the person’s circumstances or arguments! Is this a reason to insult the deceased like this! Do you think so?”
“Yes.”
“…”
The words got stuck at the end of my throat. I stood there staring at her with wide eyes.
Bozena explained with a calm expression.
“Our sisters have concluded that Nicola Pompili’s soul was disrupting the order of the world. He is a person not even mentioned in the original story. Perhaps even if he existed, he would have been just a passing name.”
“…”
“We cannot allow such a person to stay here with personal greed. The Interstellar is a sacred place, and we are beings who protect the framework of the world.”
“…Then…”
My voice became as small as a candle in the wind.
It was because my throat kept blocking, even though I didn’t want it to.
“Did you send my husband to the Lord’s embrace [afterlife]?”
“…”
“Did you send my husband to the Lord’s embrace? All the people on the continent believe in that faith! When they die, they return to the Lord’s embrace and rest comfortably while receiving her care…!”
“We are not gods of death.”
“Ha…”
It felt like one side of my chest was collapsing. I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again.
The sisters had clearly completely destroyed Nicola, making it impossible for him to exist anywhere again.
He could no longer reunite with Valerie, the late Emperor, nor could he dream of eternal rest.
I lost my words for a long time and just opened and closed my mouth.
The phoenix in the cage looked up at me and carefully fluttered its wings. It was a gesture of pity.
“I have a question too. How did you know that Cedric Liester had awakened his second divine art?”
“…Is that important now?”
“Yes. It is important. There was very little clue about it, and we have a duty to secure all the inevitability between the lines.”
“Too bad. I have no obligation to answer you.”
I spat out and lowered the trembling staff.
Whether she looked at me or not, I busily turned around and examined the birdcage hanging in the air.
Since there was no door, I couldn’t figure out where and how they put the bird in.
While the phoenix was tidying up its long tail, I firmly grabbed the bars and shook them hard. Clatter!
【Take it easy, take it easy. Brother is weak right now.】
“…What. This is smearing black too.”
I frowned, looking at the unidentified substance that had blackened my palm after releasing the birdcage.
As expected, it smelled like strong ink.
But for this kind of thing, I already had an easy answer.
Hadn’t I once solved a problem in Mangkrans by reverse-engineering the ‘Lord’s Sword’?
I, who am not a creature of God, am not affected by this kind of thing.
“Brother, step back for a moment. This will break all at once, so don’t be surprised.”
【Oops…】
The phoenix hurriedly flapped its wings.
I grabbed the scepter without hesitation, even while breathing still trembling. And then—
-Kwaagaang!
【Heo-eok!】
I swung the crescent moon at once and smashed the birdcage.
The surprised phoenix soared upwards and quickly landed on my shoulder.
After carefully checking that my brother was not hurt—although my brother would not have been hurt from the beginning—I put the flowing Gaga bag [a magical bag] back on and wiped my sweaty palms.
I hadn’t cried or run, but I kept running out of breath.
I aimed the scepter at Bozena once more.
“Did you trap my brother here too? Why?”
“You have not yet answered my question.”
“…”
I didn’t like her calm tone and confident attitude at all.
This time, I suddenly raised the scepter and aimed it at the ceiling.
I wouldn’t threaten people or animals even if a knife was held to my throat, but I could threaten space any number of times.
Rather than being manipulated by these sisters in the future, I would rather put myself on the gambling table.
Above all, I don’t want to forgive them.
“Are you going to answer now? Or should I make a hole here?”
【You’re really crazy…】
“…Because the phoenix was trying to do something reckless, we had no choice but to control it with our authority.”
“You better elaborate. I can’t see anything right now.”
I deliberately raised my arm even higher and snapped.
Jung Hyun-seo covered his eyes with one wing.
Then Bozena frowned as if she was about to—it was the first change in expression I had witnessed—and after a long time, she opened her mouth again.
“…Creating world lines is originally the Lord’s authority.”
“You cannot imitate the supreme power.”
“No matter how sacred the phoenix is, no matter how sacred the blood you are born with… There is no exception.”
“Such an attempt will only end in tragedy.”
Tang! She tapped the floor once with her scythe and solemnly concluded.
As a result, the pure white feet began to vibrate faintly.
I frowned, not fully understanding the meaning of the words.
My brother also had a similar reaction.
It was at that moment.
-Ssssss…
The yellow warning lights I had seen in the illusion a few hours ago began to paint the floor in a big way.
I staggered, feeling like I was being swallowed by something.
Soon, a huge window unfolded.