Leaving behind the parallel world Ruvlian with a face filled with joy, whether the Dimension Travel magic circle I cast had succeeded or not, what entered my eyes was once again Ruvlian looking like he had fallen into and come out of a pool of blood.
I was shocked three times in succession. Once at that appearance, once at the sight of tall buildings all destroyed and the surroundings filled with crumbled concrete, and once at the helicopter that was clearly filming in real-time. My head cooled down icily as if washed with cold water.
“…Are you two insane?”
I spoke while staring at Ruvlian and the parallel world Ruvlian, who had temporarily stopped fighting at my appearance. Unlike the behavior in the erased timeline filled with herbal scent I had just seen, the parallel world Ruvlian, who was leisurely despite bleeding, smiled round and round and moved his hand. Screams rang out, and in an instant the helicopter crashed. Bang! Fierce wind centered on where the helicopter crashed scratched at me.
This crazy bastard knew I was bothered by that filming helicopter and made it crash with magic. Only the words ‘crazy bastard’ came out. It was cruel.
As I was standing there, Ruvlian approached me and opened his mouth as if making an excuse.
“Sihyeon, you don’t like it when civilians get hurt, right? Blocking people coming with magic and doing it while being mindful… My mana gradually ran out so I had no choice.”
“I originally don’t care about anyone except honey.”
Behind Ruvlian’s voice, who was feeling down while just reading my mood without a speck of guilt, a leisurely voice followed. The parallel world Ruvlian covered in blood stared at me intently.
I healed Ruvlian with Divine Power and deployed a large-scale magic circle, making everyone in this area fall asleep losing their current memories. Then I voiced the doubt I had wanted to ask directly.
“This, the world I lived in isn’t my world, right? It’s the parallel world’s, I mean, the world of Baek Sihyeon who became the Demon King, right?”
“What?”
I could see Ruvlian become flustered at my words. Since it was talk with no context, he wouldn’t understand.
In contrast, the parallel world Ruvlian who had designed this inside story curved his eyes like a snake slowly tightening its prey’s neck. The languid and tired eyes I had seen just before were gone. Only madness remained, glistening. It was eerie.
“Honey, you’re already certain, so do you need an answer?”
“…”
“I really thought it was a fantasy back then… To think things got twisted like this.”
Placing his hand on his chin, Ruvlian tilted his head and looked at me with an interested gaze. Then he soon glared at Ruvlian whose wounds were all healed, took out a potion from subspace and drank it. The rippling color was blue. It seemed to be a healing potion.
‘God.’
I called for God inwardly, but there was no response. Even though I had stopped the two’s fight, it seemed I had to set aside for now how to resolve this mess and the innocent people who had already been caught up in it and suffered damage.
I gripped the form of a longsword made with compressed Divine Power. Ruvlian also properly held his staff again. The moment the parallel world Ruvlian created a sword with mana seeing us in ready positions. The battle that had stopped briefly resumed.
Dozens of attack magic circles floated in the air. The defensive magic circles that couldn’t withstand the attacks flying from the magic circles burning with red light quickly broke. Attacks like bullets that couldn’t be blocked rushed in. While avoiding them, when I teleported behind the parallel world Ruvlian and thrust my sword, the sword made of mana and the sword made of Divine Power clashed.
“Honey, your expression is all stiff. Are you that nervous fighting me?”
Leisurely speech that didn’t match the sharp noise. The parallel world Ruvlian had no tension at all even while crossing swords with me.
“Look at this. You’re not even answering.”
“Shut. Up.”
Briefly retorting to the provoking parallel world Ruvlian, I gripped strongly while adding more Divine Power to the sword. Soon the two opposing forces that had clashed fiercely couldn’t withstand it and burst, scattering smoke with a loud sound.
I was pushed back by the aftermath of that explosion. Since the sword I was holding had burst, my palm was deeply gouged with a wound and fresh blood flowed. The parallel world Ruvlian who quickly made a sword again used magic to block my path while simultaneously fiercely swinging his sword toward Ruvlian. The solid staff wrapped in mana and the mana sword collided without an inch of retreat. Sharp noise dug in as if tearing my ears.
The moment I also tried to teleport to attack the parallel world Ruvlian, fierce mana strongly strangled my ankle enough to dig into my skin and pulled me back. As if to prevent movement.
I gritted my teeth and held back a groan. I cut off the string of mana wrapping around my ankle and healed the ruptured ankle with Divine Power. I listened within the smoke that rose with a bursting sound when attack magic and defensive magic clashed again.
Somehow similar footsteps could be heard. Though he seemed to have imitated Ruvlian’s gait to confuse me, it was subtly different. Having found the parallel world Ruvlian, I swung down the sword made with Divine Power diagonally.
“Is this also the power of love…”
As if saying he had definitely imitated it the same way. The power of love. Though it wasn’t that, I kept my mouth shut to words I would have normally retorted ‘no’ to, with a mind to be annoying. He laughed as if guessing my inner thoughts and resumed attacking fluidly like flowing water without sharp noise. I re-gripped the sword a bit harder. Stabbing, slashing, swinging. I used magic while applying those basic things.
Honestly, even while attacking like this, I wasn’t confident I could inflict a fatal wound. As revealed now, I’m not a person of this world. Then normally my power should become stronger, but strangely it doesn’t strengthen. Unlike me, the two Ruvlians who had their mana remarkably strengthen and overflow currently have similar amounts of mana. I could tell without examining closely. Up to there, there might be a chance of winning.
However, the parallel world Ruvlian probably reversed time countless times. It meant he had subjugated countless times. The ability to read the flow of battle, senses, quick judgment. Things that could only be obtained through direct experience overflowed in him.
And…
“Honey, this spot is open again.”
He even knows all my combat habits. Thrown far away by his gesture, before my body hit the ground, I deployed teleportation and thrust my sword at the parallel world Ruvlian again. Knowing that he had no intention of killing me, that he couldn’t kill me, it was right for me to attack from the front rather than Ruvlian. Since the reason he kept Ruvlian alive seemed to be only because of me, I didn’t know when he might turn sour and backstab him.
To stop his movement even for a moment, I drew out mana like thick thread and quickly poured it out. However, he made his mana sharper and cut all the mana drawn out like thread in an instant. There was no gap to dig into.
With Ruvlian attacking from front and back in a pincer attack, he either avoided magic with teleportation. When trying to break the teleportation magic circle, he either neutralized the sword made with Divine Power using mana then blocked the staff with his mana sword while avoiding the spot. He was absurdly strong to the point of doubting if he was the same person.
It was a fight of whose stamina and mana wore out first. The offensive and defensive battle continued without pause. In the lengthening battle, Divine Power was gradually showing bottom. If only my strength had increased, Divine Power wouldn’t be showing bottom like this. Setting aside the meaningless hypothesis, I also checked my remaining mana. Since the other side used mana, thanks to doing most attacks with Divine Power, I had mana to some extent. The biggest problem was my body that was different from when I was the Hero, when it was trained. I was running out of breath and my breathing wouldn’t calm down.
Fortunately, the parallel world Ruvlian had also used up all his potions. Though small, wounds increased one, two at a time. But I couldn’t kill him with just this much. Such a thought suddenly occurred.
If an opportunity came, could I kill him?
Thrown far away again, I spread mana like a net to prevent collision with the ground. Then I caught my breath very briefly. Then I agonized whether I could use that opportunity if a chance to kill vaguely came.
The ‘sacrifice’ Alli spoke of soon refers to ‘parallel world Baek Sihyeon.’ The true owner of this place, of the world I had known as my unique world until now, the person who replaced me who had the ‘fate of death.’ The reason for being replaced and dying was because that parallel world Ruvlian tried to save me.
Of course, it’s a memory I don’t have. It’s time from before it was reversed. So I don’t know why I died in place to save the parallel world Ruvlian before reversing time. Our relationship is the same.
The emotions I currently have toward the parallel world Ruvlian have all turned cold. They were painted in ice-cold colors without a single warm color. Yet since I’m also human, I momentarily hesitated and came to have such thoughts.
Could I kill the one who reversed time again and again abandoning everything to save just me, the one who eventually went mad trying to save me? Could I plunge a sword into that heart?
That said, if I didn’t kill him, this situation would just continue. Someone had to die for it to end. I steeled my resolve not to hesitate if an opportunity came. Then I completely shook off idle thoughts and re-gripped the sword made with condensed mana. I had to save Divine Power to use only for healing now.
I joined the offensive and defensive battle where someone had to die for it to end again. Me, Ruvlian, and the parallel world Ruvlian all gradually had increasing wounds. Because of the continuously forming wounds, there was no sign of the bleeding stopping.
The two Ruvlians didn’t deploy large quantities of magic circles, perhaps their remaining mana was gradually running out. Now except for using swords, it was no different from close combat. I firmly grasped my mind that was becoming hazy from the long battle. My whole body was covered in blood and sweat. The moment I evenly exhaled breath and swung the mana sword, plunge. It was deeply embedded.
My sword, near the parallel world Ruvlian’s heart.
