It burns.
It ignites.
My body is continuously engulfed in flas.
Aaaaah─!
The pain of being burned alive is so horrific that screams escape my lips endlessly.
When did it start?
When did I begin to cry out in agony instead of speaking?
– That witch did it! It’s because of her that our children are dead!
– Evangeline commanded the demonic beasts to kill the children!
– We treated you so well, so why?!
Even if I desperately shouted that I wasn’t like that to the people pointing fingers at as a witch, no one paid any attention to my words.
– It’s revenge! Burn the wicked witch to death!
– I will return the pain the children suffered, and then so!
– Witch hunt! It’s a witch hunt!
Even when I pleaded for my innocence to those lighting the stake that bound with cries for vengeance, no one believed .
– Burn her!
– Burn her!
– Burn her to the ground!
Or was it when the flas scorching my body, the stares of the villagers causing pain, made realize that no one would ever reach out to save ?
The truth is, it didn’t really matter when it was.
If there was no one to listen to what I had to say, then—
If every word I spoke held no aning—
Then all I needed to unleash from my mouth was a scream.
Aaaah─!
The unending tornt brought forth unending screams.
With all the screams I let out, it felt as if the entire world could drown in them.
But a sound persisted, one that couldn’t be erased, filling my head.
Burn!
Burn it!
The cries of those shouting for the witch, for vengeance.
Every ti that word echoed back in my mind, the fla ignited once more from my loathing and anger.
With every flare, pain surged.
With every wave of pain, anger against the world that tornted rose.
With every surge of anger, flas reignited.
And in that endless chain, the voice in my head grew louder.
What was once a voice belonging to the people began to wail in my voice.
Sohow, my body began to move in accordance with that voice’s commands.
Burn.
When the voice cried to burn, I burned.
Burn it all.
When the voice scread to burn it all, I burned it all.
Please, please, let live.
To those begging to stop, saying they did wrong.
To the entirety of the forest they lived in.
Ah, if only one person had listened when I said those words, I could have stopped.
But because no one did, I had made it so that from their mouths only screams would erge instead of words.
I returned to everyone the burning pain I felt, the solitude of having no one listen to .
All that remained in the end was nothing but regret.
Yet despite having burned like that, the flas that didn’t extinguish continued to scream at .
Burn!
Burn it all!
The people who made like this.
The world that has tornted so completely.
This hatred that burns , the resentnts, the sorrow, the curses, the rage.
So that the entirety of this world may feel the sa.
Everything, everything, burn it all!
Aaaaaah─!!
As I scread, thick emotions flowed like red tears down my face.
Through the reddened sight, I saw the things I hadn’t managed to burn.
A voice echoed again.
The voice wished for to burn everything I could see.
So just as I was stepping forward to follow that voice, unexpectedly—
I felt sothing grip my ankle.
When I looked down,
“…No.”
There stood a girl.
With her flaming pain crawling on the floor, a girl with red hair clutched my ankle with her hand.
“…You can’t.”
The girl shaking her head continuously spoke softly.
Her voice was so faint that it seed she might lose consciousness at any mont.
The strength holding my ankle was weak enough to shake off if I truly wanted to.
I should have pushed her hand away and set fire to everything before my eyes, following the voice in my head.
…But why couldn’t I shake off that hand?
Why did I feel like her words, that I shouldn’t, were right?
As I stared blankly at the girl, who appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness with her flickering red eyes, she murmured to .
“You promised. That you would protect the people.”
…What was she talking about?
My na is Evangeline.
To soone bearing that cursed na, people were sothing to be burned.
Yet why would I protect them?
That was an impossible story.
The mont I heard her ntion a promise,
I found myself in extre turmoil.
Why? I asked myself.
I, Evangeline, never made such a promise.
I made a vow only to burn this world that bound with curses.
Why does that question about a promise shatter like this?
As I struggled with those thoughts, I inadvertently caught sight of my left arm.
My arm, engulfed in flas.
There was a strange sense of discomfort from the sight of that left arm.
It felt like sothing that should’ve been there was missing.
Caught between that discomfort and the voice shouting to burn inside , I glanced down.
I saw the girl with red hair, now motionless as if she had lost consciousness.
However, the mont I looked at the hand still gripping my ankle, I realized what I had been feeling uneasy about.
My left arm was also made of tal, just like the girl’s.
That left arm bore my na engraved upon it.
And the na inscribed upon it wasn’t Evangeline.
Everything…
That’s right.
I am—no, I was.
Scarlet Evande.
“Huuh…?!”
The mont I realized this, my separated consciousness was hurled back.
Gasping for breath, I looked where I had been thrown, and the girl engulfed in flas gazed back at with eyes streaming with blood.
[…I thought we had completely rged, but is there still a self-awareness left?]
With her words, I was assured I had just recently separated from the unity we shared.
Because we had been one until just a mont ago, her identity was already ingrained in my mind.
The vengeful witch, Evangeline.
What I had desperately tried to avoid had co to pass.
I had lost my self to not be consud alongside the demonic beasts, and yet here we were.
Trembling with horror at the chilling realization that the worst possible scenario had played out before , I glared at her.
Then, Evangeline, who had briefly been looking my way, suddenly lost interest as if bored, turned away, and muttered.
[…Well, it’s fine. Since it turned out like this, I can no longer be hindered.]
Having mumbled that, she shook off the hand gripping her ankle, likely that of the original Scarlet Evande, and attempted to walk away.
Still sharing consciousness, I knew better than anyone what she intended to do. I urgently shouted.
“…! Stop!!!”
[……]
But even with my cry, she didn’t even pretend to listen.
If I left her to her own devices, it was obvious she would start to set fire to the entire city, and driven by the thought that I needed to stop her, I squeezed out words to divert her attention.
“Stop it!! You don’t want to burn them either, do you?!”
Yes.
Having united as one, I learned.
I learned that Evangeline regretted her actions of burning the people.
But,
[…So?]
Knowing this made her retort painfully piercing.
[You know now, don’t you? My will doesn’t matter. If this curse that dwells within desires it, I cannot resist it. Just as you did before, neither can I.]
“Ugh…..”
Having experienced it directly, I couldn’t argue against her claim.
The fact that my body moved according to the voice urging to burn was not sothing I could resist.
However, I also couldn’t leave her to burn everything. Therefore, it beca clear what I needed to do.
Just as the girl, Scarlet, had once done, I needed to hold onto Evangeline’s ankle.
So as my thoughts ca to fruition, I jumped into the flas engulfing her.
“─Gah, haah?!”
I scread as my whole body was subjected to agonizing pain.
It felt strange.
The burning pain of the flas, since I had experienced it multiple tis, I thought I would manage to endure it sohow.
But it wasn’t like that. This was a pain beyond what I could endure.
Why, why?
[How foolish. Right now, you’re just left with consciousness and are no different from a regular human. A human without resistance against flas can’t endure them. Moreover, if you burn like that in your current state, you will completely disappear, so if you want to at least keep your consciousness, it’s best to stop.]
I looked at my body burning away from her words.
How long had it been since I leaped into the fire; I had already charred and crumbled like charcoal.
As parts of crumbled and scattered, that sight filled with deep terror.
Am I disappearing? Just like this?
In that fear, my legs staggered involuntarily as I prepared to leap out of the flas.
But then—soone’s voice echoed from sowhere.
– This is nothing!!
I heard Yoon Si-woo’s voice.
What? Where on earth?
Caught off guard by that suddenly heard voice amidst the flas, Evangeline muttered with a smirk.
[…So the effects of our rged consciousness lingered. By the way, your friend is quite the fool. He was advised to swing his sword when we et next.]
With her words, an image abruptly flashed in my mind.
The image was of Yoon Si-woo rushing toward .
I could tell he wasn’t coming to kill , now a witch.
What I felt from Yoon Si-woo was not malice but a will to save .
“Ah…”
– Gah, aah!!
As Evangeline waved her hand, flas surged toward the approaching Yoon Si-woo.
But even being engulfed in those burning flas, his approach did not wane.
With every ti my body flared, Yoon Si-woo was regenerating endlessly.
“Don’t…!”
His desperate run was so intense it took my breath away just to watch.
Tears spilled from my eyes as I realized the price of that regeneration.
But Yoon Si-woo was undeterred, approaching while regenerating.
“Stop…! Enough…!”
How much of his lifespan was being shed in this mont?
He was burning his lifespan running toward , trying to save just .
Why? Why go so far for soone like ?
I wished fervently that he would stop with the reckless behavior.
“Enough!!!!”
Yet even as I shouted, my voice didn’t reach him. I threw my all into charging toward Evangeline, trying to at least do sothing about the flas engulfing him.
Running toward Evangeline just as Yoon Si-woo was rushing toward .
“Aah…!”
“Ah…!”
Our screams overlapped.
My body, lacking the ability to regenerate like Yoon Si-woo, was being consud by the flas and disappearing.
Yet I couldn’t stop like this.
Because Yoon Si-woo was screaming over there.
So, I must do sothing for Yoon Si-woo.
“Ugh, Aaaaaahhh…!!!”
With every ounce of strength, I scread.
I took a step forward.
But—
Unlike Yoon Si-woo, who managed to reach , I couldn’t touch Evangeline.
My legs had long turned to ashes and crumbled to dust.
Not just my legs.
My arms, my torso, my head.
Even my consciousness was turning to ashes and scattering away.
In the blurred vision, I saw Yoon Si-woo, a wreck, bringing a blade to my heart.
I saw Evangeline reaching out to burn him.
In the end, because of , Yoon Si-woo was going to die.
Ah, that much—
That much was—
In my final mont filled with regret and reluctance.
Returning to—
Scarlet.
In that instant, faintly, Yoon Si-woo’s voice resonated.
“─Can you endure this…!!”
With a whoosh, flas ignited from the ashes.
[What…?!]
From the flas that soared, my extinguished consciousness returned.
The body that had turned to ashes was regenerated from the flas.
Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes.
Once again, flas soared.
[What is happening…!]
Evangeline’s voice revealed her inability to conceal her panic.
What had happened?
I didn’t know clearly.
Perhaps because of the effects of rging with her, or the power of witch I had been living as until now.
Did remnants of that power linger within ?
I too didn’t understand how this was happening.
But that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that I could step forward once more.
I extended my leg and dashed toward Evangeline.
[Ugh…?]
As I rushed to stop the flas that would incinerate Yoon Si-woo, I grasped Evangeline’s outstretched hand.
[No matter what’s happening, do you think you can stop these flas by doing this?]
She looked startled at my sudden revival, then yelled at as if to say there was no way this would work.
Like defending her words, the flas that had engulfed her spread to as well.
And just like when I had once rged with her, the voice began to whine in my head.
Burn, burn it all.
Return the hatred, the resentnt, the sorrow, the curse you felt back to the world.
Those horrific and deep-seated emotions began to encroach upon , threatening to consu .
“Do you think I care about that!!”
But a single emotion that had already filled my heart pushed those feelings all away.
It was an emotion I knew all too well.
Rage.
“Don’t lay a hand on Yoon Si-woo, my precious person!!”
The pure anger I felt at the thought of her trying to harm my precious person surged up like never before.
And that rage—
[A…?]
Ignited the red flas within .
A small but intensely hot crimson fla.
That small crimson fla began to consu Evangeline’s flas that had aid to swallow .
[The flas…!]
Flas scread as they flailed.
However, just as those flas struggled in futility, the crimson fla slowly absorbed them until ultimately, they were completely engulfed.
[To suppress flas, one needs stronger flas…]
Now, the flas that were once burning Evangeline were extinguished.
Only my flas remained, rising fiercely.
[Aah, I see. I could only grieve and rage for myself. Yet you can do so for others as well.]
Evangeline, mystified by the scene, murmured.
[So, it’s only natural your anger is stronger than mine.]
Thus, Evangeline, the witch finally liberated from the cursed flas that had bound her for countless years, spoke with an expression of relief.
After enjoying her newfound freedom for a while, her face changed to one of gratitude as she turned to and opened her mouth.
[Though I’ll thank you for freeing , I must tell you this.]
She looked at with a worried expression.
[Living as a being different from others must be harder than you imagine.]
She seed to ask if I would be okay, and I nodded as I replied.
“Still, I have to go. There’s soone waiting for .”
I promised, after all. That I would grant a wish.
At my answer, Evangeline chuckled and murmured.
[…I see. If it’s you, then I’m sure you will overco it.]
Beyond the hazy consciousness, I could hear her voice.
Now, Scarlet Evande.
Now, you are rage.
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