A fierce blizzard painted the world in monochro.
The swirling snowflakes filled the view with shades of grey. Objects, each with their unique hues, were now overlaid with pure white snow.
In that black-and-white world, the man's golden pupils seed like will-o'-wisps.
His black hair and pale skin ford a striking contrast. Despite his extrely tired appearance, his burning eyes had a strange and captivating allure.
At a glance, he appeared to be a person hiding countless stories.
He seed to be in his mid-to-late twenties.
There wasn’t much difference between us, appearance wise.It was just his unique aura that made him seem much older.
In a voice that was devoid of emotion but also sowhat weary, he asked,
"Are you satisfied now? Is this what you get for stubbornly having your own way?"
"...No."
It was a peculiar feeling.
The mont I faced him, a whirlwind of complex emotions surged within .
A desire to compete and a sense of defeat.
Pity and compassion.
And then anger and stubbornness.
I exhaled that unprecedented vortex in a breath.
Before long, snow piled up on my head and shoulders. So much that it would fall off in clumps whenever I turned my head or exhaled.
Amidst the blizzard, the conversation continued.
"I'm not dead yet."
“It's just ‘not yet,’ literally.”
At my stubborn words, the man only let out a scoff.
Even his cold sneer barely concealed his disdain.
"If you keep going like this, you'll die... No, even if you died right now, it wouldn’t be strange."
"Is that why you showed up?"
At my question, the golden eyes that had been looking straight ahead glanced at .
No matter how many tis I looked, I couldn't discern his true intentions behind those eyes.
Instead of panting, I clenched my teeth and asked,
"...To mock , and then like always, step onto the stage and miraculously solve everything?"
"Unfortunately, that's impossible."
With those words, the man silently directed his gaze forward again.
The colossal figure, towering several tres high, exuded an overwhelming presence.
Even the fierce blizzard couldn't conceal its enormous shadow.
After staring at the monster for a long ti, he exhaled a puff of white breath.
The world where ti had seemingly stopped remained cold.
"Thanks to soone summoning on a whim... Of course, even if that hadn't happened, dealing with the Underling of the Evil God is out of the question. It's beyond what I can interfere with."
This was sothing I had already anticipated.
I hadn't expected his help from the start.
After being summoned last ti, hadn't he kindly inford it was 'impossible'?
I wasn't an entirely unreasonable person either.
However, I was in the midst of paying the price for ignoring his advice. Seeing his face at this particular mont made feel uncomfortable.
Even so, I hadn't failed yet.
To prove that I hadn't given up, I took a deep breath.
“Then why did you show up? You haven’t shown your face even once until now… So why now?”
"Because there's soone fervently prying into other people's mories."
Huuu, he exhaled a white breath that dispersed like smoke.
He spoke without even sparing a glance.
"...You never know what could happen, kiddo. Stealing techniques from the future isn't a cure-all. It always cos with a price."
Now it was my turn to be silent.
I vaguely sensed it.
Every ti my skills grew at an abnormal rate, every ti I skillfully used techniques I had never learned, I felt it.
My body and mind were gradually slipping out of my control.
So days, I would find myself wielding a blade in a fit of passion.
Other days, I would recite information I had never known.
Bit by bit, I beca burdened with things I couldn't handle.
Isn't even the formidable wall standing before now proof of that?
The Underling of the Evil God stood there as if by fate.
To turn my hotown and its many remaining residents into ashes.
Furthermore, in order to peek into the man's mories, my conscious and unconscious needed to rge.
Because of this, my body had long been in shambles.
I had no idea how much effort it would take to heal again.
My silence grew longer, and the man took it as a tacit agreent.
"...Even if it’s now, run away."
He said it as if stating an obvious fact.
Looking back at his life, it made sense.
In most battles, retreat was not an option for him. Even if it was, it was rely a process of enduring sha and disgrace.
Because he had a mission.
Knowing it was a painful choice, he still urged again.
"As I've repeatedly said, you can't defeat that monster with your strength alone... I've already taken asures to minimise the damage, so all you have to do now is to abandon the territory."
"There are still residents left in the territory."
At my heated rebuttal, the man sighed deeply.
His eyes turned to again.
They still showed not the slightest trace of emotion.
"It's already too late. Dozens must have died by now."
"...There are still many people left."
"And soon, they too will die."
It was the words of a man with a worn and battered heart.
He didn't show any trace of pity or compassion for the lives that would be lost.
He continued speaking in a chanical manner.
"It’s a sad truth, but not all lives are equal. Sotis, a single life holds more value than hundreds... For example, yours."
I just silently stared at him.
For the first ti, a faint hint of emotion could be seen on his face as he spoke.
It ant he was sincere.
He asked again, this ti with more emphasis.
Like a hamr striking a chisel.
"Who will save the world if you die?"
A throbbing pain surged in my chest, like a rock struck by a chisel.
I recalled the man’s mories that had replayed countless tis.
Save the world.
Only now did I begin to understand him a little.
To keep that promise, he had to abandon many things.
The details were still unclear.
Each poignant farewell was marred by faint static.
The only scene I could fully grasp was the mory of the burning forest.
But just that one nightmare was enough to understand.
The man didn't want to abandon anything, yet he had to.
It was the wisdom of life gained from falling and stumbling over and over again.
That one must let go of what needs to be let go, otherwise there would only be regret soday.
Before I knew it, I internalised his way of thinking.
It's a foolish thing to do.
"The ti we have together is short. Although ti seems to have stopped, this is just a landscape within your unconsciousness. If you force yourself to move, then...'
Yes, it's a foolish act, but still.
I mustered all my strength to lift my body.
As I tried to rise, I collapsed.
I slipped, got buried under the pile of corpses and fell into a pool of blood, tasting an unpleasant fishy taste on my tongue.
My muscles scread.
It wasn't just my muscles.
My entire body was wailing.
Pushed to its limits, my body begged for rest. Groans I could no longer suppress burst forth through clenched teeth.
Sohow, I managed to prop myself up using my sword.
My legs trembled like those of a newborn fawn's.
As if my lungs had been torn, a faint sll of blood rose from my trachea. Blood seeped into my eyelids, blurring my vision.
My ragged breaths mingled with the freezing air, forming white puffs of mist.
The man watched the entire ordeal in silence.
It was only after I managed to stand that I heard him sigh.
"...Kiddo."
His voice now carried a hint of annoyance.
"Didn't I just tell you, if you die, who will save the world..."
"...Then what about them?"
At my sudden retort, the man fell silent.
His peculiar gaze turned towards .
In the pool of blood, I could faintly see my reflection.
Covered in blood, with snow piling up on my clothes, it was an unpleasant sight.
Yet, my eyes were still blazing.
"Then who will save them?"
The battlefield was strewn with nurous charred corpses. No, there were probably even more beyond the battlefield.
And surely there were still people crying out for help.
The man surely knew this, yet he remained silent.
He just stared at .
I let out a brief sneer and finally took a step forward.
Even taking a single step was incredibly difficult.
I almost collapsed again as my knees buckled.
Seeing my pathetic state, the man asked,
"...Why go to such lengths?"
"Because a great knight never lies."
It was a response I gave without even looking back.
Then, taking another step, I stumbled and fell to my knees on the ground.
A sharp pain shot up through my bones.
I no longer had any strength left in my legs.
So I gripped my sword tighter and forced myself to stand again.
"...I made that promise to Ned."
The man didn't respond to my answer for a while.
It was only after so ti had passed that he burst out laughing with a snort, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
The man's questioning continued.
"All because of a childhood boast?"
"...And what have you saved?"
I retorted provocatively.
With that single remark, his deanour imdiately turned cold.
It was what I had expected.
So I raised my voice even more.
"By abandoning one thing after another, what exactly do you have left? Did the world beco peaceful after all that?"
"...Kiddo."
I could feel the man slowly starting to rise.
But now, I didn’t even have the strength to turn and look behind .
I just took another step forward.
"You’ll regret it, you can’t hold onto everything... Even if you get lucky a few tis, there will co a day when you will lose sothing precious."
Once again, I took another step.
"Are you confident you won't give in even then? Even if you regret, cry, and beg, it will never co back... I'm asking if you have the resolve for that."
It was a warning akin to a prophecy.
It was the truth the man had confird through the trials of many years.
Perhaps a day would co when I couldn't escape that fate.
Honestly, I wasn't confident.
But I took another step.
Blood-red footprints stained the snowy ground.
"You're still just a novice. You hadn’t yet grasped the concepts of Shackle and Liberation, the core teaching of the Sword Circle, nor the secrets of the Dragonblood Script…"
"Then I have to."
I replied in a weary voice.
As I glanced back at the man, my eyes hadn't yet fully mirrored his.
"...If that's what it takes."
He glared at again without saying anything.
When I turned to face forward and tried to take another step.
At that mont, the man who had not moved at all showed a change in attitude.
He strode over and grabbed my shoulder.
His grip was so fierce that I nearly scread.
When I looked back in surprise, his golden eyes were ablaze.
"Fine..."
Fueled with hatred, resentnt, regret and despair.
"If you want it that much, I'll show you."
A blinding light surged, turning my vision white.
Countless mories broke through the dam of my mind and flooded in.
"...Watch closely. This is your only chance."
And so, my world began to drown.
**
As the man staggered to his feet.
Lightning and fierce winds were raging across the battlefield.
An all out attack on the Corpse Giant had comnced.
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