〈 Episode 337 〉 Given Time (6)
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Four years ago, the old site of the Selef Kingdom.
There, Kyle Torben faced the devil.
While crossing the black field, the sky suddenly darkened. At first she thought there was a dark cloud over her, but that illusion didn’t last long. Something fell from the darkened sky.
Thump, thud.
It was a raindrop.
Black raindrops fell. The raindrops that fell and fell wet the remains of the collapsed kingdom and flowed through the furrows created by the cracks in the ground. It flowed and flowed, forming a single river.
Shoot!
The rain continued to pour.
This is not the body of a warrior who would feel cold just because it got a little rain. It is the body of a warrior that remains intact even in a driving snowstorm. However, it rained that day and Kyle shivered from the cold.
A chill that seeps into my bones.
Feeling instinctive fear, Kyle took a step back. The same goes for Sara and Remia. However, they could not even take the second step. It was no longer possible to run away.
Squeak, squeak. Geek.
The sound of something being twisted rang out.
The twisting grew massive, followed by an echoing tearing noise. It was a strange tone that sounded like someone screaming or scratching something with their fingernails.
Squeak■■. ■■■■Geek.
And it appeared.
■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.
A grasp from the water flowing on the ground, a grip again from the black water covering the sky, and a grip rising into the sky formed one shape. It all happened in an instant.
A being that appeared in a split second.
The moment Kyle encountered that presence, everyone standing there instinctively realized. That is the owner of ten thousand horses. It is said to be an entity standing at the opposite point of a star.
therefore.
【■■■■, ■■■■■■.】
It’s called the Demon King.
Googoo googung!
Waves of black sediment rush in.
Every time the hand was lowered, the ground shook and water flew out. Kyle held the holy sword in front of the black wave that swallowed everything it touched. He grabbed the holy sword to try something, but…
“···ah?”
The Holy Sword does not answer.
A holy sword without starlight is merely a famous sword with a sharp edge. It’s not just the Holy Sword that has lost its light. The starlight that surrounded my body and the voice of the star that gave me advice all disappeared.
Elements that make up the existence of a warrior.
That’s everything to Kyle.
The star left Kyle’s side.
In that place, Kyle was reduced to a mere human being. The warrior who fell into human form lost his specialness. He also lost his courage. I lost all pride and self-esteem. Kyle, who was alone at that moment, was terrified.
Just, tap, tap.
Kyle’s upper and lower teeth clashed like crazy.
My mind is shaking in fear. The warrior who symbolized victory is not there. The ones there are just cowards who can’t do anything without stars.
Kyle ran away awkwardly.
He dropped the holy sword, turned his back, and ran away screaming. I was freed from the uglier running storm than ever before.
I ran and ran.
While running like that, Kyle looked back for the first time at the sight of a flash of light coming from behind him. There was Raniel moving forward in place of Sarah and Remia, who had fainted.
“I offer it.”
Raniel’s voice echoed.
“Half my lifespan.”
Kyle heard that voice clearly.
Against the overflowing shadow, I clearly saw the overflowing starlight. Because he heard and saw, Kyle realized.
‘I ran away though.’
As for Raniel.
‘That guy.’
A wise man always trying to find an answer.
‘Still, still without running away…’
I was trying to find the answer there again.
Rather than retreating from the face of a monster that evokes mythical fear, he is taking a step forward. Unlike yourself who turns around and runs away, move forward.
Light flooded.
A shadow was cast at Kyle’s feet in the flooding light. At that moment, Kyle doesn’t even feel her misery. She felt no jealousy, no admiration, no envy. What she felt there was emptiness and despondency.
Charrrrrrrrrrr!
A huge chain filled with stars rose up.
Soaring chains bind the spheres. The devil’s movements were blocked. Raniel succeeded in tying the god-like being to the spot.
“is it.”
Kyle burst out laughing.
There was a sound of something snapping inside. Kyle let out a dry laugh and lowered her head.
* * *
That’s how they ran away from the devil.
Immediately after escaping from the Demon King, Raniel collapsed as a result of losing his life. He lost God and Sarah was broken. Remia, terrified, clawed her skin. And Kyle came out of the barracks alone.
midnight.
The stars shone on Kyle.
Under the stars, Kyle looked blankly at his palm. The hand that swung the sword again and again. He recalled the past when he was swayed by the belief that one day he could become an irreplaceable special being like Raniel.
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The past reaches the present.
Although he trained repeatedly, Kyle ran away at the most critical moment. With an ugly appearance.
“······.”
Kyle looked at his feet.
Although he was standing on dry ground, to Kyle’s eyes, the ground looked like a soggy swamp. The blood of countless people who believed in him and sacrificed their lives created the swamp.
I thought I was walking on a swamp.
Before you know it, you are sinking beneath the swamp.
Responsibility weighed heavily on Kyle’s shoulders. At that moment, the accumulated doubts engulfed Kyle.
Demon King (？王）.
Can you cut down what you saw? Is it something that can be cut in the first place?
Is this possible for me?
Is this possible after practicing for decades?
Even if I train for decades, will I be able to recreate the sword strike I saw in my dream? No, is that actually a state in the first place?
In fact, wasn’t it all just my delusion?
Everything is a dream, and in the end, wasn’t I just dreaming of a state I couldn’t reach?
Many questions consume Kyle.
It was a time when the endless questions were about to completely engulf Kyle. A dry coughing sound was heard from inside the barracks. This was followed by the sound of blood pouring out.
···Impossible.
Physical injuries can be treated, but this is far from it. The soul itself…
The cries of priests.
Raniel is dying, vomiting blood.
Too much power at once.
What you can’t have.
Probably, it will be difficult to get through tonight.
The power of stars was…
Kyle closed his eyes.
The sound gradually became distant. The sound of the priests’ busy footsteps, the sound of Ran El coughing up blood, the sound of Sara reciting her prayers in fear, and the sound of Remia scratching her skin…
It all felt like it was happening very far away. Feeling disconnected from reality, Kyle closed her eyes and thought.
The place I ran away to.
A battlefield where you just throw away your duty and run away.
There, Raniel took over the work that Kyle himself should have done. Because Ran El risked his life, he and everyone else were able to survive. It’s like he owes Raniel a debt he can’t repay.
‘This guy…’
This guy was a perfect being.
‘A perfect being that cannot be reached.’
I can never become like Raniel.
That’s what Kyle thinks.
“···under.”
Kyle is no longer jealous of Raniel.
I wasn’t even jealous.
I don’t even think I want to be like Raniel.
I no longer yearned for it or envied it.
I just thought of Raniel as a perfect being.
It is a form of worship and is close to an idol. And now, with his idol rushing to his death… Kyle made a choice.
Kyle opened his closed eyes.
“······.”
Kyle looked up at the sky with empty eyes. Stars were shining in the sky. Looking at her star, Kyle traced her hazy memories.
“It’s a contract, get paid.”
Memories sleeping deep in the unconscious.
In forgotten and erased memories, someone asked the star for a deal. The star answered that request. Kyle opened her mouth, tracing those blurry memories.
“···I am.”
2.
“I am not worthy of the name warrior.”
Kyle said.
In front of the sleeping Rania and the floating Libra, Kyle smiled bitterly and continued talking.
“I am not a warrior or anything. “You can’t become a warrior who resists until the very end and doesn’t give up, ultimately achieving great feats.”
Heroes of fairy tales.
“I’m just a kid who received too much power.”
I longed for it, but I couldn’t do it myself.
“Humans can’t do anything without stars. “I just received too much power and thought it was something I had achieved, so I just wielded it… a brat.”
That’s what happens when you look at your own path.
Kyle continued speaking as if he were confessing to God.
“This power is too much for me.”
Kyle said the same words as the day he signed the contract.
“This power should go to someone more worthy. “Not to a coward like me… but to a hero who has always risked his life and built everything with his own strength.”
Star, who heard Kyle’s wish that day, responded as follows. In order for your wish to be granted, you will have to pay a reasonable price.
【The number of souls that can receive blessings is limited.】
A criminal cannot accept blessings.
Only those who have been chosen by the stars from birth can accept the starlight. So, it is impossible to hand over the starlight to the person you wish.
But Kyle knew how.
Kyle knows the contract that the great sage made in the past. There was a way to transform an ordinary human soul into a soul that could ‘receive the stars’.
‘test.’
Going through trials.
Paying the price of disrupting the world’s rules as an ordeal… and gaining the right to twist providence. Kyle recalled the ordeal he faced that day.
【Defeat death.】
One is to defeat the sword of death.
Resisting the death that will come someday.
‘And the second one…’
【Achieve the feat you have neglected.】
Achieving a feat that one had neglected, in a place from which one fled. In other words, opposing the devil. That was the ordeal given to Kyle.
Kyle longed for a means to overcome that ordeal. There was a lot of trial and error. He gave up his emotions and tried to recreate a hero’s strike by borrowing the power of the stars.
After much trial and error, Kyle arrived here.
“…The person who should gain this power is.”
The person who should be a warrior.
“It’s not me, it’s you, Raniel.”
Kyle muttered and laughed.
Kyle posted his starlight on the floating scale. She put all the starlight she had collected over the years, leaving only a handful, on the scale. This is different from the original plan.
Originally, Kyle had planned to recreate the hero’s strike by borrowing the power of the stars. However, Kyle knows that he no longer needs this power.
‘That blow…’
Because it is not something that can be recreated by borrowing the power of stars.
It is something that must be achieved solely through one’s own strength.
The balance has tipped.
A star dwelled in the body of Raniel, who was approaching death. Although she cannot fully accept it yet, Raniel begins to move away from her death.
“······.”
Kyle felt the strength leaving his body.
Now all that is left is a handful of starlight.
There is only enough starlight left to hold the holy sword.
‘···It’s light.’
Kyle felt light.
In lightness, Kyle tipped the scales. To complete the last remaining contract.
“I will go through an ordeal.”
Kyle said.
The star answered Kyle’s wish.
The seed sleeping in Raniel’s heart began to beat loudly, and the entire area began to shake. It’s kind of like bait. Bait to attract the devil.
Tick, tick.
The sound of the second hand moving was heard in Kyle’s ears.
Subconsciously, Kyle realized how much time I had left.
“···Three days.”
Three days later, the devil will appear.
The time given to you is three days. Kyle exhaled slowly and sat down in a corner of the church. Sarah didn’t say anything to Kyle.
Just say a prayer.
With the sound of prayer echoing inside the church, Kyle unwrapped the holy sword and placed it on the floor. Kyle caught his breath as he looked at his holy sword on the floor.
A human, not a warrior.
Just a human.
Kyle Torben, now human, prepares to face his final ordeal. As her long-awaited moment approaches, Kyle stops laughing.
“···With this.”
Kyle muttered.
“I can finally repay my debt.”
Shoot!
The rain poured down.
Kyle closed his eyes while listening to the sound of pouring rain.
To sharpen myself more than ever.
3.
Step by step.
Someone walks through the pouring rain.
Her appearance is blurry.
As she walked, the grass was not crushed by stepping on it. The wind blowing through her passes through her. It exists there, but she does not exist.
It is a being that is out of this era.
He is a god(?) who should not come down to this earth.
God walked and walked and arrived at a dilapidated church. The woman who had become the last being, the god of a destroyed world, stood in front of the church door and took a breath. She had a bitter smile on her lips.
Raniel comes from 13 years in the future.
A woman, no longer called Raniel van Trias, but Raniel van Dragonic, knocked on the door of the church.
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fantasy,
