Awakening the Great Chapter 113

Chapter 113: The Great Coward

Midra was born in the frozen wasteland. Growing in the permafrost, drinking in the darkness, one eye held an icy blue chill, while the other harbored a deep crimson shadow.

And a bitter cold, by its very nature, was never a force that breaks or destroys.

Thud.

It blows endlessly, felling every living thing in its path. Frost settled over hair, skin, and every part of the body. Barakh and Royce, regardless of their level of ability, collapsed helplessly.

Above them, a shadow fell.

The Abyss of Ice and Snow.

It was Midra's most powerful authority—an absolute rule that dominated space itself.

Airien's eyes closed. The freezing wind that made it impossible to breathe, the sll of blood, the corpses, even the pain—all of it vanished in an instant. Within the illusion, the blue mountain ranges of Viale appeared.

"Airien."

"……Father?"

Luen Silius smiled.

"Minebris has returned. It's all over now."

Just as she was about to question it, soone stroked the elven woman's hair. It was her mother—who had long since returned to nature's embrace.

"……!"

It was too sweet and too peaceful to deny as a lie.

At that mont, a blazing red fla rose beyond the mountain range. Smoke billowed and swelled following the wind.

"Co ho, child. There is no longer a place for us to stay."

Her parents' touch grew more and more distant. She wept like a child. In reality, the elven woman's breathing grew ever fainter.

Gregor gazed at a neat house built of white bricks. A familiar hillside—the place where he had grown up as a child—and his mother stood there.

"Greg, why have you only co back now? Your mother has been growing old and ill, fearing she might not wake each day." "……Ah, Mother."

"With the money you sent, I've had the house rebuilt too. There's nothing lacking now. Please, never leave again."

When the aged woman extended her wrinkled hand, he could not bring himself to pull away from its warmth.

There was, however, one man who recognized it as an illusion.

"I am a dwarf. How dare you—how dare you defile this body……"

Dwarf Basim's shoulders trembled. To break free from Midra's wicked grasp, he desperately pushed away the pains and joys of the past.

His lovable boar of a wife, the small forge he'd set up in one corner of their ho, the first masterwork sword he'd properly completed amidst molten tal—all of it he shook his head and cast aside.

But when a child's form appeared before his eyes, his movent ca to a sudden halt.

"……Brock."

With that stout little fra, the child ca trotting over and buried himself in his arms. He knew, for certain, that this was a lie. He had accepted his child's death. And yet he could not shake it away. Would pulling draw him to pieces? Would pushing knock him over?—Even his fingertips trembled finely, unable to exert any force.

Yes. He could never have overco it. He could never have accepted it. He had rely buried it deep within one corner of his heart. A father stood utterly still before his young child.

It was a contradictory happiness.

And within that paradoxical warmth, the cold of reality slowly tightened its grip around his heart. The Mountain Rabbits were slowly racing toward their end.

* * *

Not a single person drew a proper breath. Even Barakh, the fierce champion of Kalahim, and Prince Adrian had been seized by the abyss and could not move.

So had embraced their families within the illusion; others quietly grew cold as they reunited with departed comrades.

[This is the end that awaits those who call themselves heroes.]

A mocking voice rang through the air.

Only Calix and Royce were shaking their heads, defending their minds. But even they were not free from the despair that gnawed at their flesh.

With a single sweep of Midra's hand, most of their companions would disappear without even being able to resist.

Crack.

Then, a small sound stirred at the center of the battlefield. A woman in priestly vestnts barely managed to move one arm.

Ella—the battle priest who had crossed countless battlefields alongside the Mountain Rabbits. She did not give up, even to the very last. She scraped and clawed across the frozen ground, and at last extended her fingers.

Wringing out her final reserves of divine power, she pointed toward the man closest to her. Ella's eyes glimred faintly. Toward his heart, she pressed in a desperate call.

"It's so wonderful to have everyone gathered in one place."

"Yes, Mother."

"Brother, it's past ti you found a partner. It's been far too long."

Marik sat around the dining table with his family. His aging mother, his grown siblings, his young nieces and nephews. A gentle warmth spread through the small, humble farmhouse.

The abyss wrapped around him with sweet whispers.

It had granted his wish—to spend just one more ordinary evening. And in that mont, Ella's will reached him. The light was quickly swallowed by the darkness, but a crack ford at the boundary between illusion and reality.

Click.

The door flew open abruptly, and through it, the battlefield ca into view. Midra drew closer to reclaim its spoils. Calix struggled to raise his sword, but his movents ca in broken, halting bursts. He had not yet broken free from the lingering effects of the cold.

Marik shoved back his chair and rose to his feet. He moved instinctively toward the door to help. And then the voices of his family circled around his ears.

"Are you going to leave again?"

"Brother, how long are you going to keep wandering like this?"

"It's alright now, big brother. You're allowed to rest."

His head turned from side to side. His mind grew tangled. He wanted to have both—his family and the Mountain Rabbits—but he could not.

'Where…… Do I stand?'

At the end of it all, he ca face to face with the ultimate question. A warm past and a cold present brushed against him at once. Then, all at once, soone's voice rang out quietly.

'People change. You have, too.'

'I haven't forgotten. The person who stood against Imran Akran. I never will.'

'Choose. Whether to rise above it, or to fall again.'

It was a strange thing.

His once-still heart began to surge. As though the ti had co—as though it had been waiting—it sent out a fierce wave. Calix had been right. He had believed there was no turning back, and yet once more, he stood face to face with a mont of choice.

Marik shut his eyes tight and lifted his head.

He was not deliberating. He was accepting. The truth was, he already knew the answer. He simply needed the courage to put it into practice.

Fortunately, he had taken a first step before. He had faced a Master in order to save a young Mountain Rabbit. That prior resolution had also co from pressing forward through fear—and now was no different.

And so, taking the second step proved less difficult than he had expected.

"You idiot! Brother's such a fool! A coward putting on such a fine front!"

"Big brother, resisting will only bring you suffering worse than death. You're the one who made us this way."

As though they had never once comforted him, a torrent of accusations rained down. They scread and pointed their fingers—was he going to abandon them again?

Marik swallowed his tears. But they did not co from guilt. The mont he decided to rise, the reproachful words beca, instead, pleas born of worry.

'Now, at last—I understand the reason I must live on.'

Even in fear, he would not flee. He would plant his conviction and move forward.

Crack.

The illusion shattered. Returning to reality, he felt the cold that had bored deep into his body. Even rising from where he stood brought extre pain in its wake.

[You who refused aid—is this worth it, mortal?]

It was.

To save his companions, he would willingly lay himself down in the darkness.

Marik, with one final resolve, rose on his own. He snatched up the sword lying on the ground and charged straight at Midra in an instant.

With each step that closed the distance, the pain grew worse. A cold that blocked even the beating of his heart. With every step, his knee joints ground and creaked, and his muscles tore apart, unable to bear the strain.

Even so—he pressed forward, and forward again.

To fill the thin gap between the monster and Calix.

For one fleeting mont, the eyes of two Mountain Rabbits t. Calix moved instinctively to stop Marik, but he gave only a brief nod.

'If I can buy even a mont of ti—'

That was enough.

At last, Midra's shadow fell beneath his feet. Marik threw himself forward without hesitation. His heartbeat slowed, and all sensation left his fingertips.

Soon, a faint fla rose along the blade.

Crackle, crackle.

Falling Fire did not even reach the enemy's body—it crumbled away to nothing. From the tip of the blade outward—bang—the blade itself burst apart entirely. At the sa mont, his cheek seared as though it had touched fire. A vicious cold was eating into his flesh.

But there was one single thing.

Near the hilt—a trace so faint, just one small fragnt of fla—refused to die out until the very end.

"Midraaaaaa!!"

And so.

The man accepts his past mistakes, holds them close, and in doing so—claims today.

This was a foolish, shabby, and insignificant charge—

And a great leap forward.

It was Marik.

* * *

Calix watched as fla rose between the ice crystals. A blinding flash drove itself toward the monster's chest.

It likely did not aim for Midra's core—yet for one brief instant, the color of the ice armor returned to blue. The abyss had been shaken.

[You worthless insect!!]

For the first ti, the opponent's brow twitched. In that gap, Calix's body broke free from the 'Rule'. But imdiately after, a sharp hand swept like lightning.

Crash!!

He watched every detail of the Vice-captain's body being flung into the air. The final fla died away without glory, and a few drops of blood sprayed out before freezing in an instant. Then, limply, he was hurled away, thrown to one corner of the battlefield.

A heavy thud, and then no movent at all.

Only a heave of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Yet Marik was smiling, even as he lost consciousness. It was not the expression of one who had thrown away his life—but of one who had been set free.

[A mortal refusing rest! Utterly foolish!]

Midra vented fury. Spewing curses, he moved toward the one who had scratched his domain.

But even that—could not compare to the shock Calix had received.

His heart went cold. The core that had been ceaselessly pouring out mana shrank all at once. His reason flinched, seized with fear, and took a step back. Anger and despair, the likes of which he had never known, and a crushing disappointnt in himself—all of it raged within him.

'I should have stepped in sooner…… I should have done sothing.'

It was only thanks to the Vice-captain's charge—which had disregarded his own life—that Calix had barely managed to survive.

'This is my mistake. I—made a mistake.'

He should have never fought at all. He should have simply abandoned Star Haven—yet he had charged in recklessly. Though he knew better, every manner of dark thought ca flooding in.

Yet in the end, he did not let them out. He could not dare. Because the Mountain Rabbits were in danger, because a man nad Marik had risked his life for him—he would not scatter filth upon that.

"……Midra."

The last torch left behind by one man drove Calix beyond the edge of reality.

His blood began to boil.

Thud.

His heart pounded as though it might burst. Both eyes blazed with fierce light. Sothing within him began to break.

[Mortals…… do you truly refuse to accept the end?]

The monster halted its steps and mocked him with contempt.

He bowed his head and silently conceded. He accepted that his strength was insufficient—that even drawing out all the mana in his core, this was not an opponent he could defeat.

And so he would surpass his innate limitations, the constraints of his flesh, the common sense of humanity. Not content with what was his—he would even covet what belonged to others.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz.

He pulled back the mana he had been pouring outward. The pressure field no longer pushed back against the dark mana. Instead, it reversed—and began to draw it in.

'Not enough.'

As Calix recalled his mana, the cold surged back in to fill the empty space. Midra's authority. And he absorbed even that.

'A little more.'

He grabbed at it roughly, devoured it greedily, and repeated the process again and again. At so point, the ice fragnts around him began to disappear.

'……More.'

And still it was not enough.

[Warning! Neural Accelerator overload detected.]

[Warning! Core oversaturation state.]

[Warning! Safe capacity exceeded.]

He did not so much as spare an ear for the Neural Accelerator's warnings. His body was already on the verge of being torn apart. Blood vessels and skin all over began to swell and bulge.

Mana oversaturation was severe enough in itself—but the greater problem was that divinity and darkness were mixing together within him. The opposing forces, like oil and water, could not blend and continued to collide endlessly.

In an instant, his complexion changed dozens of tis over. The signs of physical collapse. But Calix did not stop for even a mont.

If this was to be his end, he had to burn everything to finish this fight.

[You—what are you doing right now……]

And the mont he reached that point—sowhere between rage and courage—

Pfwoom—

Divinity and darkness broke through their boundary and fused together.

As though they had never been divided and at war, a flickering grey revealed its alien presence. A chilling radiance that belonged to neither light nor darkness.

In that instant, the monster's body stiffened and froze.

The shadow was erased, and the dominion began to unravel. A strange terror never felt before, an inexplicable confusion, shook the entire space to its core.