Chapter 250: Recalling (2)
The sudden appearance of the Group of Dragons further worsened the already chaotic situation in the Capital.
It was as though oil had been poured onto a blazing fire.
The enormous shadows that covered the sky were, by their mere existence, more than enough to instill a primal fear in the people below.
As if to prove it, cries of grief and despair echoed from all directions.
Yet Cecilia, Yuran, and the others had no time to so much as lift their eyes toward the sky amid the pandemonium.
“Damn it, there’s no end to them!”
Professor Shagas spat out a curse as he swung his sword.
Each time his blade struck, the mire-like creatures burst apart helplessly. But it was no more than a feeble resistance—like throwing a single pebble into a towering wave.
They crawled out without cease, without rest, as if the very earth itself had rotted and begun to writhe.
A handful against the many.
For those forced into such a position, a battle of attrition was nothing short of unreasonable—and overwhelmingly disadvantageous.
Even so, everyone present endured with all their strength.
Because this was something they had to do.
How much time had passed?
How many enemies had they felled?
Was the sky itself rewarding their efforts?
At some point, the flow of battle began to tilt—ever so slightly—in their favor.
“……Left!”
“I know!”
At Cecilia’s shout, Yuran reacted immediately.
Though it was their first time properly fighting in tandem, the two of them moved as if they had shared the Battlefield for years, achieving a flawless harmony.
When Cecilia sent forth the spirits to halt the enemies’ advance and bind their feet, Yuran did not miss the opening—she darted in and snapped the necks of the most threatening revenants.
Whenever blizzards and surging flames froze and burned the mire-like creatures, Yuran’s claws and tail pierced through those creeping toward Cecilia with unerring precision.
Every time their touch landed, the enemies lost their strength as if it were a lie and collapsed.
And that was not true only for the mire-like creatures.
“Kuoooh!”
The Ancient Dragon Airos, his chest pierced through, roared as he faced the two of them at once.
At first, they seemed to be pushed back. But Cecilia and Yuran tenaciously endured his onslaught, continuing the fight.
“Now!”
At Yuran’s cry, Cecilia made a gesture.
Chains of ice and flame shot forth at her command, tightly binding Airos’ body.
A minute opening—so small it could be described as a speck of dust.
They did not miss that fleeting gap.
Their attacks struck him simultaneously.
A massive spear of ice pierced through Airos’ hollow heart. Immediately after, Yuran’s claws lashed out, seizing and smashing the iron needle that floated within it.
Kkadeudeuk!
With a sharp, shattering sound, the iron needle broke into pieces.
At once, Airos’ massive body began to collapse like a sandcastle.
“Hup!”
Allen was engaged in a fierce battle as well.
He fought a desperate duel against the one who had once been his brother—Kyren.
“Khk……!”
Even as he coughed up blood, Allen’s eyes shone clearer and colder than ever before.
Amid the storm of loss, rage, and grief swirling within him, the voices echoing from the depths of his being had paradoxically grown infinitely quiet.
‘……Yes.’
That sensation.
The very sensation he had felt back then.
Within it, Allen moved without pause, as though dancing.
As if in a trance, his sword strikes shed all unnecessary motion, containing only the utmost practicality meant solely to cut down his opponent.
Now.
Here, in this place.
“…….”
Slash.
Without hesitation, his decisive blow severed Kyren’s arm.
Without the slightest agitation, Allen stepped into his brother’s guard before the severed limb could regenerate.
“……!!!”
Kyren’s sword shot out in resistance, piercing through Allen’s shoulder.
But Allen did not stop.
No—almost as if he had been waiting for it, he drove his own sword deep into Kyren’s chest.
Kwaddeuk!
A dull sound rang out, as though the blade were biting down and crushing an iron needle.
“…….”
Soon, Kyren’s body began to collapse limply.
“……Older Brother.”
Supporting his falling brother’s body in silence, Allen gently closed his eyes.
“Rest in peace.”
With that brief farewell, Allen gripped his sword once more and hurled himself toward the enemy, as though rest were not permitted to him.
It was not only the three of them.
The others, too, began pressing forward from their respective positions, felling the iron-needle-embedded revenants one by one.
Clearly, the situation seemed to be improving little by little.
Yet strangely, an unshakable unease lingered on everyone’s faces.
“……Something’s off.”
It was Yeriel who finally spoke.
At his words, Professor Shagas silently nodded in agreement.
“Their movements have noticeably slowed.”
After saying that, he immediately shook his head.
“No, rather than their movements…….”
“Their connection has been disrupted.”
Professor Deiare swung her halberd, crushing numerous mire-like creatures in a single sweep as she answered.
She seemed to have somewhat regained her usual composure, having shaken off much of her shock and confusion.
“……Something must have happened over there. It would not be unreasonable to assume that the one who used this sorcery is gathering all the energy they had spread out into one place.”
“That means…….”
Yeriel let out a low breath, almost like a sigh.
“……We must hurry.”
Cecilia muttered quietly.
Deiare nodded.
“Yes, that is correct.”
As she spoke, her gaze—her Far-Seeing Eye, passed down from her Mentor—was fixed on a place unknown.
“…….”
Yuran had been silently staring down at the ground.
As the Guide of the Sky, her sharpened senses clearly told her that the energy of the scattered iron needles was all flowing toward a single point……
Down beneath the very earth on which they stood.
“Let’s hurry.”
She did not know who had spoken first, but everyone nodded silently and began moving again.
‘……Lian.’
Cecilia softly whispered Lian’s name, praying earnestly that nothing had happened to him.
Berenistella clutched her abdomen as though suppressing pain and glared in one direction.
“…….”
There, Talia Poas was reaching out toward her.
Though the area around her heart was hollow—crushed by Berenistella’s own hand—she was still moving as if nothing were wrong.
“……I was foolish.”
Berenistella muttered.
“To assume that, even if she wasn’t human, she would move like one.”
No matter what, she was nothing more than a puppet. Unless her entire body was shattered into powder, she would continue to move.
Even thinking that, Berenistella felt genuine chills crawl down her spine.
“…….”
To let her guard down in front of an opponent—
For her, that was something unthinkable.
And yet, to lower her vigilance before Arpentia and the Wolpen Knights? That made even less sense.
‘I knew it wasn’t an ordinary object, but…….’
To think that it could move on its own even after its core had been destroyed.
She could only mutter in true shock at the sight of magic itself being fundamentally overturned.
“……Even if only partially, did you truly revive her?”
To bring back someone who had already died.
Even as she said it, Berenistella repeated herself as though she could not believe it.
“……That shouldn’t be possible.”
If such a thing were truly possible……
She trailed off in her muttering before shaking her head.
No—what had passed was already gone.
What mattered was the reality before her now, and seizing the opportunity that would never come again.
‘Then…….’
Berenistella began calmly analyzing the situation.
To revive a person required three things:
The body, the soul, and the mind.
The body could be set aside.
Even half-breeds lacking in ability could obtain a body without difficulty, and someone of Arpentia’s caliber could easily prepare a body from one’s Prime.
In fact, had she not already restored Talia’s body—which had turned to powder upon Ascension—and even Siren’s body, which had been swallowed whole by a Dragon?
But the mind and the soul.
Those were the problem.
Even she, who had been called one of the Eight Demon Lords, had abandoned the resurrection of the dead because of those two elements.
Summoning one was manageable, but……
The moment she summoned the other, the connection collapsed.
She knew this all too well, having attempted it countless times.
“Ah.”
Then suddenly, as if realizing something, she nodded unconsciously.
“The Room of Memories.”
Yes—that was precisely why it had been created……
“……You really are quite clever.”
A sharp, cold voice rang out.
It was not Berenistella’s.
Nor Arpentia’s.
Nor Valen Zeisho’s.
“…Talia.”
Talia.
Yes—Talia Poas’ voice.
Once, it had been a voice she hated so much she wished to wash her ears clean of it.
But now, strangely, it stirred something akin to longing.
Berenistella let out an involuntary, hollow laugh.
“…….”
A glance revealed that Arpentia had collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
Noticing her gaze, Talia spoke.
“I put our adorable youngest to sleep. ……I don’t want her hearing what comes next.”
At that, Berenistella sneered mockingly.
“The woman who claimed she would Ascend after letting go of everything.”
The former Eight Demon Lord spoke to her former Archrival.
“It seems you’re still clinging to regrets. Seeing you latched so pathetically onto a body like that.”
“I won’t deny it.”
Talia shrugged.
“There’s one thing we all left unfinished.”
“Unfinished?”
“You don’t need to know. ……Or perhaps, you may be involved as well.”
Berenistella was just about to demand an explanation—
Bang!
The door burst open violently.
The Man without a Head.
In a thoroughly disheveled state, he frantically looked around.
“A, ahh……!!!”
Then, spotting Arpentia collapsed unconscious, he let out an incomprehensible scream and rushed toward her.
Neither Talia nor Berenistella paid him any attention.
They could not afford to waste focus on something like that.
However—
Step.
A moment later, another set of footsteps echoed.
“……This is.”
The one who had arrived was none other than Lian Gwendil.
“…….”
“……!”
Talia stared at Lian.
Berenistella’s eyes trembled for a brief instant at the sight of him.
But she quickly turned her head away as though she did not recognize him.
She had no choice.
“…….”
Seeing her reaction, Lian let out a small sigh.
“It has been a while.”
Then he murmured quietly,
“……Mentor.”
At his words, Berenistella’s eyes trembled violently—shaking as if struck by overwhelming shock.