Chapter 178: Gap (3)
“……”
Lian silently looked down at Lancia, who had collapsed at his feet.
It was a scene that felt strangely unreal.
He knew better than anyone else that this moment—this situation—was not real.
‘……Yeah.’
He understood, in his mind, that this wasn’t reality.
That same sudden, alien sensation he’d felt not long ago in the underground canal.
A dazed fog, as if wandering through a dream—an unpleasant feeling, like he was pushing through a nightmare.
Hadn’t he already witnessed his own death within that, as well as Professor Shagas’s death?
……And yet, there was nothing he could do about the sensation of his heart being tightly constricted.
Because the scene before him was far too vivid.
Lancia Jintia.
What lay crumpled beneath his feet was unmistakably her corpse.
Her face had already hardened in a pale stillness, as if it had long lost all vitality.
The jewel-like sparkle in her eyes, so bright when they first met, had completely faded.
“……”
Lian cautiously knelt and began to check her condition.
Even though he knew this wasn’t reality… no, because he knew it wasn’t, he had to do this all the more.
Just like in the underground canal, this illusion too must be a future that could still be stopped.
It had to be.
‘How horrible.’
In a word, Lancia’s state was wrecked.
Describing it as simply tragic or horrific wasn’t enough.
Just from the wounds scattered across her body, he could tell how fiercely she had resisted, how desperately she had fought.
But Lian’s expression only grew colder at the sight.
‘……This means it wasn’t a surprise attack or a single blow.’
Which meant that she, too, had brought out all her strength and fought with everything she had.
And that her opponent had enough power to reduce Lancia to this pitiful state.
“……”
Without a word, Lian began to examine the wounds on her body again.
And before long, he found several troubling signs.
‘This is…….’
The first thing he noticed were the blistered burn marks spread across her body.
They weren’t simple burns.
It looked as though flames with a will of their own had violently caressed her skin.
It was a mark left behind by a powerful force that had dug deeply into her body.
And……
‘Spirit.’
It was a spirit.
More than anything else, a dense spiritual energy still lingered.
Not the vague trace of a lower spirit—but a powerful and concentrated presence that only a high-ranking spirit could have left.
There weren’t many people capable of commanding a spirit of this level.
Someone of that caliber…
For a moment, a certain face flashed through Lian’s mind, but he shut his eyes, quietly forcing the thought away.
“……”
He silently shifted his gaze elsewhere.
This time, he saw an arm crushed to the point of being unrecognizable.
It looked as though it had been smashed by a massive hammer, or collided head-on with a being of overwhelming strength—bones and flesh grotesquely twisted.
Even so, her hand had not released its grip on the sword. She held it tightly to the end.
And Lian knew these were the kinds of wounds that appeared when two beings with immense power clashed at full force.
Strength on par with that of an ogre.
Among the people Lian knew, there were only about two who possessed such might.
Lancia Jintia.
And Allen Amiel.
“……Huu.”
His head throbbed.
Trying to calm himself, Lian took a deep breath and looked at Lancia’s other arm.
Her opposite arm had been severed cleanly from below the elbow.
And the severed edge was bizarrely smooth and sharp.
It looked like it had been sliced not by a sword—but by something else, something razor-sharp.
The wound was eerily identical to the one left on the Tentacle Mass’s body, which had been struck by Lian’s space-rending blow in the underground canal.
“……”
Only then did Lian have no choice but to admit it.
The one who killed Lancia.
The ones who had reduced her to this state were none other than himself and his companions.
There were countless traces here that proved it.
“……Yuran was here too, huh.”
Upon finding traces of a curse, Lian let out a hollow laugh and murmured.
And when he even discovered a faint scar that seemed to be from a clash of divine power, he stopped examining her condition altogether.
“……”
At last, Lian turned his head.
His gaze fell upon Lancia’s chest.
More precisely, on the bizarre spear deeply embedded just above her heart.
Metal?
No—what in the world was it made of?
Was it even right to call it a spear in the first place?
It was a grotesque thing, shaped as if tough, wiry strands of steel had been twisted together.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’
It was clearly no ordinary weapon.
Who could have used such a weapon—and for what purpose?
Pushing the questions from his mind, Lian slowly rose to his feet.
There was nothing more he could learn.
“……”
Lian lifted his head and looked around.
Amid the burning ruins of buildings, countless corpses were scattered.
Armored soldiers, what looked like ordinary citizens.
Visitors of other races who seemed to be tourists.
And here and there, he saw the forms of demons as well.
Humans, other races, and demons all tangled together—fighting, fleeing, dying side by side.
The problem was that they didn’t seem to have fought each other, but rather died together while resisting something.
Just what had happened here?
It was while Lian was lost in confused thoughts.
Swish.
A strange sound came from somewhere.
Very faint, yet clearly the sound of something moving.
A noise that was hard to describe, but grating on the nerves.
Lian furrowed his brows and looked around to find the source.
Something was definitely nearby, that much was certain—but he couldn’t identify what it was.
The moment he turned his head toward the direction of the sound, trying to check more closely…
“Ah.”
Silence.
All sound vanished in an instant.
The crackling of flames, the faint screams he had heard, even the strange noise from just before.
Perfect stillness settled in, with not a single sound to be heard.
‘This is…’
Lian quickly realized that the reason for the silence was none other than his own death.
And then—
“…Lian?”
Tap.
A light touch on his shoulder finally brought Lian back to his senses.
“…Are you alright?”
When he turned his head, Cecilia was standing right next to him, looking at him with worried eyes.
“Ah.”
Lian stared blankly at her for a moment before suddenly realizing where he was.
The burning, ruined street was gone.
In its place, a lavishly decorated avenue filled with crowds stretched before his eyes.
“You were zoning out for a moment. Are you feeling unwell?”
Cecilia asked again.
Her voice was filled with sincere concern and care.
“…No. I’m fine.”
Lian answered awkwardly, giving a vague smile.
“It’s just that the sight is so overwhelming—I must’ve lost myself for a second.”
And indeed, just as Lian said, the sight before them was truly a spectacle.
A massive plaza connecting one grand avenue to another was packed with people, leaving no room to move.
All their gazes were fixed on the solemn procession making its way down the boulevard cutting through the center of the plaza.
The knights at the front of the procession were clad head to toe in pure white armor, and the horses they rode were all dazzling white stallions.
The silver armor glinting in the sunlight and the impeccably aligned formation made it hard not to admire the sight.
The Departure Festival.
It was the ceremonial opening of the event.
“Wow… this is incredible.”
Allen, standing beside Lian, murmured in a quiet voice.
Even as he let out awed exclamations, his eyes burned intensely as he watched the procession.
“Are you saying that’s not even all of it?”
“Yeah, today’s just the ceremony. So think of it like a prelude. The one a few days from now will be on a whole different scale.”
Lian added, as if quoting someone else.
“…Or so Second Brother said.”
At his explanation, Allen shook his head.
“That’s insane.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Allen looked around again, seemingly amazed once more.
Every time the procession passed, the crowd filling the plaza cheered and scattered flower petals in the air.
“It’s practically a festival commemorating the founding of the Empire, and in many ways, it’s an expression of the Empire’s identity itself.”
Murmuring that, Lian glanced subtly around.
‘…There really are a lot of them.’
The plaza wasn’t just full of festival-goers.
Imperial Knights in uniform were stationed throughout, maintaining tight security, and here and there were people who appeared to be from the Holy Sun Church.
There were also individuals dressed like ordinary citizens, scattered among the crowd.
‘Maybe the security was tightened because of the underground canal incident a few days ago.’
It made sense if he thought about it objectively.
It had been a massive incident, and the culprits were none other than Cultists of the Evil God.
Both the Empire and the Holy Sun Church had good reason to react the way they had.
But for some reason…
Even so, Lian couldn’t shake the feeling that something was excessive.
As if there were another reason…
“Tsk.”
Trying to shake off the complicated thoughts, Lian turned his gaze back toward the procession.
He focused on the disciplined march of the knights and the citizens’ enthusiastic cheers.
He tried to immerse himself, if only briefly, in the grandeur and solemnity of the atmosphere.
Ding.
Just then, a clear and pure sound of a bell rang out from somewhere.
It was faint and soft, yet it struck Lian’s ears with eerie clarity.
‘That sound…’
Ding, ding.
As if to draw his attention, the sound of the bell continued distinctly, even amidst the noise of the crowd.
“……”
Lian instinctively tried to find the direction from which the sound came.
He didn’t know why, but he was seized by a primal urge to confirm its source.
Just as he was about to move—
Tap.
A soft yet firm hand lightly gripped his shoulder.
Lian reflexively turned his head to see who it was.
“Hmm. Isn’t this a welcome face.”
“Yuran?”
Behind him stood Yuran, who had approached quietly at some point, smiling gently.