"W-WAAAH—!"
Lillian shot back, falling onto her rear as she jolted from the unexpected spook.
Placing a hand over her chest, Lillian’s breath and heart rate beca rapid as she stared at the face of a now-sat-up Viesta, whose complexion wasn’t as cold or pale compared to her deceased state.
The Rabbit couldn’t believe her eyes as she t the living gaze of her friend, who summoned a cowboy hat and wore it, adjusting it slowly.
Viesta raised an open hand and waved.
"Howdy partner, ehm... T-this is a bit awkward now, isn’t it—?"
"VIESTA!"
Lillian lunged at her with open arms, screaming her na as she embraced the woman tightly with wobbly eyes—glad that her plan truly did work out as planned.
Viesta chuckled at the unexpected physical contact but accepted it nonetheless. She then looked towards the two corpses beside her and watched as they slowly sat up as well, giving Lillian a fright just like she did.
And just like a rabbit in a thunderstorm, Lillian jolted back, causing laughter to erupt from the three used-to-be-dead individuals.
Nearlo—who was on the verge of doubting his magic teacher, Vulcrum— bursted out into laughter at Lillian’s reaction to their resurrection.
After Viesta’s laughter died down, she slowly brought her gaze down to her palms, sensing her vitality and the beating of her heart return ever so steadily; it was truly magical.
"This is crazy... So this is what it’s like to be brought back to life...? Why do I feel so cold?" Viesta asked, expecting no response.
Nearlo ca up from the side and explained, "If your body is feeling cold, then it ans that your body has lost all of its previous warmth. Judging by how cold this hall is, I wouldn’t doubt that—yar’ll get warr eventually."
"I see..."
Raising her gaze from her hand and away from Nearlo, Viesta settled her stare back on Lillian to find her—
"So an..."
—Pouting at her.
Lillian, who wasn’t appreciative that she almost had a heart attack three tis in the span of under a minute, pouted at the three: Viesta, Emilio, and Jon.
After Viesta had explained that when they were listening in from Purgatory, they planned to play a prank on her, her explanation caused Lillian to pout even harder.
Soon enough, Lillian’s pout disappeared as a warm smile stretched across her once pouty lips; she felt her heart finally calm down.
However, a bit of her was still sceptical, so...
"W-woah, another hug?" Viesta asked, not expecting another hug from Lillian.
The Rabbit smiled, nodding as she could feel the subtle sensation of Viesta’s heart beating through her chest.
"Just making sure..."
Lillian then went on to do the sa thing to Emilio and Jon, albeit not on the level of a hug; just a tap or a hand on their shoulder.
They weren’t that close for such physical contact.
After a hearty, brief mont of chatter, they finally got back up to their feet and made their way over to the Exit Portal.
"Don’t take too long in here, Lillian." Viesta chuckled as she walked into the portal—alive.
Lillian nodded, watching as Emilio, Viesta, and Jon made their way into the oval-shaped green swirl before looking back at Nearlo, who was in a daze.
The petite man gazed silently at his captain, who remained frozen in ti. An indescribable feeling appeared in his chest as he didn’t expect to et the person that he had been aning to et after so long...
Although Captain Righthook wouldn’t be able to hear or acknowledge what he was about to do, he still felt it was appropriate.
Nearlo took a deep 90-degree bow and began to speak his parting words in a different way than usual:
"Thank you, captain, for all that you’ve done for . Thank you for taking into your crew and training . Unlike back then, when you found in the stomach of that beast, I’ve beco much stronger.
"If I didn’t have a ti limit for what I have to say, I would have told you all of the great stories and tales I made and ca across in my ti out at sea."
Nearlo smiled as he rose from his bow.
"But I can tell you one thing with my ti remaining, which would be that I had never once been led astray because of my gut, the sa one you told to believe in."
After saying that and even giving a captain a brief hug, Nearlo confidently strolled over Exit Portal and looked back at Lillian.
He smirked, adopting an all-too-familiar manner of speaking:
"Yar look like yar have so business left in this world. I shall go on ahead, I better see yar there, crewmate."
Lillian nodded and watched as he disappeared into the portal.
After giving a good look around, Lillian breathed in a shaky sigh as she walked towards the Drowned King’s corpse, gazing down at it with a complex emotion.
Crouching down, Lillian picked up the tal nail that was dropped beside the corpse before picking up another object of great interest.
A harpoon with a shaft of blackwood that was covered with uneven streaks of white glowing veins, a single needle-like tal head for piercing, and faintly emitted a subtle condensation...
[Item Na: Acus Maris]
[Item Type: Weapon]
This was the Drowned King’s Harpoon.
Storing it within her spatial ring, Lillian unsummoned the Jungle Lord back into her Mana Realm after praising him for his efforts. Then, with one last look back, she walked through the Exit Portal.
With a flash of light, Lillian appeared under a blue and cloudy sky; her back resting against the flat surface of a seemingly infinite sea.
She continued to gaze at the sky before slowly sitting up at the Jester’s expected voice.
{The Gods shall decide on your boon.}
{They have now spun the wheel to decide your boon.}
{Your current chances are 21% Elent, 79% Trait.}
Tick! Tick! Tick!
Lillian continued to remain seated as her ears twitched at the resounding ticking that was closely reminiscent of a simple clock.
Then, deciding to walk around a bit, Lillian stood up with a large and relieved smile on her face.
She was finally going to escape from this place.
Tick! Tick...! Tick...!
The boss fight with the Drowned King was a hellish one, sothing she was glad to be over.
Tick... Tick... Tick...
And not only that, but she was glad that everything went as smoothly as she planned.
’Sure, they was a few hiccups here and there, but still...’
Coming to a stop, Lillian stared up at the clouds again, watching as they glided through the air in a serene and calming manner.
Then, she watched as the clouds abruptly broke apart into smaller pieces. Following that scene, her entire Mana Realm beca flooded with a magical light, which soon faded.
{The Gods have decided on your boon after careful consideration of your exploits.}
Slowly widening her eyes and adjusting to the light, Lillian listened closely and pieced together this dialogue with her mories.
Wasn’t this dialogue for a Trait?
While she was a bit disappointed...
’It’s probably for the best, maybe I might get so passive ability.’
After that conclusion, Lillian stared up at the sky, waiting for the pillar of light to take her away and return her back to Earth.
"Everything went well, at least..." Lillian smiled before taking a glance down at her necklace.
"But I should really take into account the unexpected more like what happened with Captain Righthook... Who knows when I might be t with anothe—..."
Right as she was about to finish her sentence—
Thump...!
—Lillian collapsed onto her knees, her eyes shaking as she suddenly doubled over.
Clutching both sides of her head tightly, Lillian cried out in terrible pain:
"A-AAARGHH...!"
With the feeling akin to her brain being scraped against the inside of her skull with a rusty tal spoon, Lillian’s face contorted and wrinkled rapidly in pain and confusion.
What the hell was going on?!
Lillian’s brain throbbed wildly as her vision swirled uncontrollably.
"W-what’s happening to m—EEUUGH...!"
Feeling sothing rise up from her stomach all the way up her throat, Lillian threw up, tasting her stomach acid that subtly burnt a thin layer on her tongue.
Lillian couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on, she hadn’t ever experienced this sensation before, and neither did she know what could be the cause of it.
{Participant Lillian Ker Arius’s Flaw [...] is taking effect.}
Why was she throwing up all of a sudden? Why was she suddenly doubled in an extre amount of pain?
Lillian, who felt her ears were ringing and watched as her vision blurred, managed to catch a single word from what the Jester said.
Flaw? What Flaw?!
Lillian clutched her head even tighter as the pain suddenly spiked up in intensity the mont she thought of the word Flaw.
{Participant Lillian Ker Arius is currently undergoing mory ... Due to an influx of ...}
With the ringing in her ears, Lillian had completely lost the ability to hear whatever the Jester could’ve told her about her situation.
’Shit!’
But even without being able to hear what the Jester said, Lillian was able to conclude one thing. She could feel sothing that made her Lillian separate itself from her, and at a wicked speed.
As Lillian continued to suffer under the ambush of her migraine, a dense fog subtly appeared around her, shrouding her and everything that was beneath the clouds.
While it did that, Lillian was slowly able to grasp the sight of three dark reflections in the water, blurry due to her vision.
Two of them were completely humanoid with varying height differences, while the third would be more accurately described as a wisp of smoke that gradually gained mass.
{Preparing to restore what has been damaged—Error! Intervention had appeared during the process; only partial recovery was permitted.}
Crying out again, Lillian’s voice soon beca hoarse as the light in her eyes then disappeared—her gaze going blank as she felt the pain slowly subside and so of what she lost returned back to her.
Then, without any warning, a pillar of light struck Lillian, swallowing her before pulling her high into the air. And as this was happening, the Jester’s booming voice erupted again:
{Rise, Lillian Ker Arius—the Pathetic Rabbit of Fated Truths—and claim your boon... For this Chapter in your life has reached its end.}
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