00085 <-- Episode 85 Karen Inasius (2) -->
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“Lilstein and Safaran said you would never come back… … .”
Karen shook her head slowly.
“I didn’t believe it.”
A refreshing voice echoes through the quiet temple courtyard where the children have disappeared.
“Because you were a miracle boy. You, who had broken everything that was considered impossible, wouldn’t you kneel this time?”
Shihan just looked at her without saying anything.
“… … .”
He had been overcome with intense emotions when he reunited with Zexenguard. But now that he had met Karen, he felt bewilderment rather than anger.
An unexpected place, a look that seemed to have been waiting from the beginning, an expression that was incredibly calm.
The psychological initiative has been completely taken away.
Karen suddenly turned her gaze. She stared at Zenon and Alita, who were standing tensely next to Shihan.
“Those kids are your new colleagues? It looks like they know your identity.”
Shihan barely managed to open his mouth.
“… … What is this, Karen?”
And he continued asking questions while looking around the old temple.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Karen shrugged and laughed.
“There are many things we need to resolve between us… … .
She was smiling, but her eyes weren’t smiling at all.
“I guess it’s a bit awkward to do it here, right?
Her eyes are eerily cold. She is completely different from the past that Shihan remembers.
Karen pointed to a small forest next to the temple.
“Let’s move.”
And before the time limit could even be met, he flew away.
He leaped dozens of meters in one breath and ran towards the forest. His movements were superhuman and completely out of sync with his plain attire.
“Ugh!”
In a panic, Shihan immediately flew away. Then he chased after Karen, who was ahead at an incredible speed.
Zenon and Alita realized the situation too late.
“oh!”
“Time limit!”
I ran after them in a panic, but Shihan and Karen were already out of sight. They were both so fast that they had disappeared into the bushes in the blink of an eye.
However, through the senses, they were able to figure out the positions of the two ahead. Zenon and Alita also started running towards their full potential, trying not to fall behind.
***
Karen, who had been running through the forest for a while, stopped in a small clearing between the large trees.
“Is it okay to make a fuss here?”
Seongsihando immediately appeared in the empty lot.
Even though they were moving so quickly, neither of them had any trouble breathing or anything. This level of movement was not even comparable to a walk.
Karen asked, staring at the time limit.
“How long are you going to keep that face?”
Sung Si-han is currently disguising his appearance. Without saying a word, he untied the toilet. The face of a neat young Korean man was revealed.
Karen let out a small exclamation.
“Oh my, you’ve grown into a great man, Sihan.”
Shihan asked, glaring at her.
“You managed to figure it out. Did you notice anything?”
“I knew you were coming. Besides, our temple usually doesn’t have any guests.”
There was a pause in the conversation. Silence hung between them.
The deadline raised an unexpected question.
“… …Who is the woman sitting on the throne?”
Karen looked surprised. She seemed to have never expected such a question to be asked.
She asked back with a big smile.
“Remember Cydia?”
“Cydia?”
For a moment, Shihan searched for memories.
“Ah, that… … .”
I remembered. The black-haired apprentice Priny, one of Karen’s maids.
I don’t know her very well because we weren’t close, but I think she was about three or four years younger than Karen…
“That’s the kid. He used divine magic to change his face to look like mine.”
Surely, Cydia would be more than enough to act as Karen’s double. She was Karen’s attendant and adjutant. She was always watching Karen’s every move, so with a little practice, she could disguise herself perfectly.
“But did the Moon Divinity also have plastic surgery abilities?”
“I referenced the toilet you made. And originally, Cydia looked a bit like me, didn’t she?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
I remember being amazed at how similar they looked to each other as sisters, even though they were both orphans and not related by blood.
Suddenly, Shihan stuck out his tongue.
“If it’s Cydia, she must be in her thirties by this year. She manages to maintain the appearance of someone in her early twenties.”
“Because I have to maintain my appearance. I’m already really worried about not wearing makeup as I get older.”
Alita’s reasoning was correct. The fake Karen’s insistence on looking like she was in her early twenties was simply because the real Karen hadn’t aged at all in the past ten years.
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“Aren’t you only making things difficult for Cydia?”
“I didn’t think so either. But I haven’t aged at all in the past few years. I think it might be a side effect of my ability.”
“Ha! That’s a really positive side effect.”
He blurts out lines that would make women all over the world tremble with such a calmness. Sung Si-han looked at Karen with a bitter expression on his face.
That young and beautiful woman, who was no different from his memories.
“You really haven’t changed, Karen. You’re just like you were ten years ago.”
He continued speaking as if spitting out words while glaring at her.
“… … You’ve really changed so much.”
Sure, Karen’s appearance was the same as before, but that was it.
The expression and atmosphere are completely different. The gentle face that had been a great comfort to Shihan is nowhere to be found. Only an icy smile is left over from her memories.
Karen asked with a sneer.
“What? Is that all you can say since you came back to Terranor?”
“Haha… … Is that so… … .”
Shihan smiled weakly.
There was a reason I brought up such a useless topic. It was because it would have been difficult to even have a conversation if I didn’t open up the conversation in this way.
After a while, Shihan opened his mouth.
“… …Why did you betray me?”
If it was because she wanted to become a king like Zexengard, then it would be easy to understand. But Karen was not enjoying the power of a queen right now.
Did you betray him in this rural area, just to take care of orphans as a country girl?
“Why on earth!”
Shihan raised his voice. Karen’s smile deepened.
“Yes, since you came back for revenge, it’s only natural that you’d want to know why you were betrayed. But… … .”
Her deep smile turns into a sneer. A brilliant light of divine power rises behind her.
“… …Does the reason matter?”
The surprised Sung Si-han raised his voice. Swinging both arms, Karen let out a scream full of life.
“One of us is going to die here anyway!”
A blood-red chain shot out from between the sleeves of her swinging clothes. It was not a real material, but a chain of divine power realized by the power of Kron Lizate.
“Chains of the Red Moon!”
Two red chains swayed like snakes as they cut through the air.
***
Intense heat heats the air. Karen’s chains, imbued with the aura of flame, fly to the left and right of Seongshihan.
The timer quickly stepped back to avoid the attack. The two chains collided in midair, causing an explosion.
Kwaaaaang!
Seong Si-han felt depressed as he felt the heat spreading out.
‘So this is Karen’s true intention after all…?’
It’s not a fatal attack. It’s just a light blow that’s like a greeting to someone at the time limit level.
But what was contained within was an unmistakable murderous intent.
Even though he had expected it, now that this situation had actually occurred, a corner of his heart began to ache. Realizing his own feelings, he cursed at himself.
‘What did you expect, you idiot? You think Karen is different now?’
Even Zexenguard and I had a close friendship more than ten years ago. There’s no way Karen wouldn’t have changed!
He calmed his wavering heart and pulled out the claymore on his back. He swung the large sword lightly with one hand, displaying his fighting spirit.
“The King’s Record!”
Karen’s follow-up attack came immediately.
“Chains of the White Moon!”
Unlike before, it was a chain imbued with an eerie coldness. The chain of divine power that Karen had implemented possessed incredible attack power in itself, and at the same time, it could also implement various attributes.
Two pure white chains rush straight towards the retreating time limit. The cold is so intense that a blizzard is brewing around the chains.
Shihan raised his Claymore long swung towards the front.
“The King’s Chronicles, Torrent!”
A whirlwind of speculation arose, enveloping the flying white chains. The chains’ trajectories became chaotic and tangled in the air.
In the gap, Shihan kicked the ground. He rushed forward quickly like a shot arrow, rapidly closing the distance with his opponent.
“Ta-at!”
A blow from the Claymore aimed for Karen’s shoulder. For a moment, her eyes narrowed.
“… … Trying to close the distance?”
Karen dodged the blow by sliding her body around. It was a quick movement that left an afterimage.
At the same time, he lowers his body and attempts a sleep kick while sliding to the left of the time limit. A sharp kick flies in, targeting both of Shihan’s ankles.
Crossing his feet, Shihan moved sideways to avoid the attack, causing his posture to collapse for a moment.
Karen didn’t miss that opportunity.
Kick your knees and launch yourself into the air, instantly taking control of your opponent’s head.
“Haaap!”
Spinning her body like a windmill, she kicked repeatedly. The hem of her old skirt tore and flapped, and a terrible attack poured out through the gap.
From the middle kick, a high kick, a roundhouse kick, and a knee kick are combined and poured out. Even if you avoid the first attack, the next attack follows immediately, and the next one.
‘As expected, it’s fast!’
Sweating profusely, Shihan continued to dodge Karen’s kicks. Then, he waited for the moment when she ran out of breath to launch a counterattack.
“The King’s Record, Nang-ah!”
The downward and upward strikes came almost simultaneously, howling like the teeth of a wolf trying to tear Karen out of the air.
But it didn’t work. Karen was already moving on to the next move.
After dodging the slash by doing a somersault in the air, he rolls his feet as soon as he lands and lunges forward. He extends his fist through his waist with the same momentum as when he stomped the ground.
“Ta-at!”
A straight line like a flash of lightning was shot at Shihan’s head. Shihan hurriedly clenched his right arm and got into a defensive stance.
In fact, Karen’s fists are not at all scary. On the outside, they are delicate and smooth hands that don’t look like they’ve ever been wet with water.
But the number of imperial soldiers who died by those hands easily reaches four digits.
Karen’s regime struck. The air tore open with a loud noise. The timer groaned as it was pushed back several meters.
“Ugh!”
Before I knew it, a thin stream of blood was flowing from the corner of my mouth. Even though I had defended myself properly, the impact had penetrated and torn the inside of my mouth. The force was terrifying.
Karen didn’t chase the retreating time. She simply stood low with her feet wide apart, and aimed with her right fist.
She sneered as she took a stance.
“Closing the distance won’t make a difference, Shihan. Close combat is my specialty, isn’t it?”
It was a familiar posture to Seong Si-han as well.
Karen Inasius’ specialty is the basic form of Lizaterin, an unarmed fighting technique passed down from generation to generation in the Temple of the Moon.
Shihan muttered, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Your skills are still the same, Karen. Or have they improved?”
***
Karen looked down at her right hand with indifferent eyes. Her cynicism grew deeper.
“You’ve gotten better at moving, haven’t you?”
The defense of Shihan, who had just blocked Karen’s attack, was excellent. As soon as he realized that he could not avoid it, he immediately changed his stance and with exquisite body movements and maneuvering, he was able to dissipate most of the destructive power.
“If it were you in the past, you wouldn’t have been able to stop it so stylishly.”
If it had been Sung Si-han from ten years ago, he would have definitely allowed the blow. However, since his speculation was so crazy high at the time, it wouldn’t have done much damage even if he had been hit.
“I guess you didn’t slacken off even after returning home?”
Karen calmly murmured and waved her arms lightly. With a squeak, the Black Moon’s chains came loose.
Shihan sighed as he raised his sword and aimed it.
“ha…….”
And then, to calm his wavering speculation, he asked the question again.
“Why did you betray me?”
“Why are you wondering something so obvious?”
Karen snorted with a look of disbelief.
“I gained control of a country by betraying you. I became the queen of a country. What other reason do you need when the outcome is so clear?”
“so…….”
Shihan’s voice became sharp.
“… … The price for taking control of a country is a life in a rural area like this, taking care of children?”
“This is just a vacation. I enjoy everything as a queen, and I also enjoy my hobbies in between. When you only eat delicacies from the mountains and the sea, sometimes you want to eat the rough street food, right? What’s wrong with that?”
A cruel voice, like a wedge being driven in, pierces Shihan’s ears.
“Or were you hoping there was a more dramatic reason for your betrayal?”
Seong Si-han’s face hardened.
Maybe Karen is right.
You may not actually need a grand reason or justification to betray someone. Just greed may be enough.
Suddenly he realized.
“Come to think of it, you’ve been using informal language all along, Karen.”
Since Austen is not my native language, I didn’t realize it at first. But once I realized it, I could tell for sure.
After their reunion, Karen never once spoke to Shihan. This was a complete change from her previous attitude of using honorifics to everyone, regardless of gender or age.
Karen narrowed her eyes.
“Is there something strange about the way I speak?”
“No, there’s nothing strange.”
Shihan shook his head.
“Because you weren’t always respectful to others.”
Even though she was used to being respectful because she had lived in a temple since childhood, there were times when she was treated poorly.
When the opponent is your enemy.
Karen never showed any reverence when dealing with the Rusclan Empire.
“I see.”
The implications of that fact are clear. Shihan’s expression became gloomy as he adjusted his grip on the claymore.
“I am definitely your enemy now, Karen.”
Karen raised both her fists. As she held them out, the black chains on the floor began to writhe like snakes.
She laughed bitterly as she spread a chain barrier around herself.
“I hope it’s not too late to talk about our past friendship and be naive about it.”
“No way?”
I was momentarily shaken by the unexpected situation, but I’ve come to my senses now.
“I just feel relieved.”
He was betrayed. No matter what the reason or the circumstances, this is an unchanging truth.
So I came back for revenge, to tie up the past.
‘Then just do it!’
The claymore in his hand began to emit a brilliant blue light. It was the light of destruction that cut down all things, the fighting light.
“Karen Inasius!”
Aiming at the blade of light, Shihan burst out in life force.
“I will make you pay the price for your betrayal!”
