“With what method?”
-The Brushel System—with its enormous mana, you plan to revert tens of thousands, or even perhaps, hundreds of years to the time before Clowon collapsed. The reason why you are here is to find one of the means to accomplish this, which is the Tree of water…
“Anything else?”
-T-That is all.
The princess straightened her back. “Good performance, but does it only have recent memories? I suppose reading unconscious memories is still too much of a reach.” She looked down at me with cold eyes. Then, she asked, “Why are you shaking so much?”
—T-That…is…
“As expected, you can also read other things.”
I looked up towards the princess. Her face was still void of any emotions, and at that moment, I could completely understand what others meant when they said that she was part of the System.
“Yes, I plan to kill you,” she said. It was a ruthless death sentence. Even if I was something created by an experiment, and I only had memories full of pain, I wanted to live.
—Ah, p-please…let me live…
“Clowon has to revive.” As if that was its defined destiny, the princess said this matter-of-factly.
“I can’t let any indefinite variables live,” the princess said and disappeared into the darkness. I wondered if she had shown mercy to me, but then I soon noticed the myriad of monsters standing behind the monster.
“Kill it.” With her simple words, my death was decided. The monsters approached me, and my life seemed to have come to an end.
* * *
—Huh?
I opened my eyes. Although memories of my body being ripped apart to shreds by monsters were still vibrant in my mind, I was alive. I looked around. The broken glass case was restored to its original state and filled with fluid just like before. It was then that I knew by instinct.
‘I regressed!’
I didn’t know the reason, but it seemed like I had gone back in time. I wondered if I was back in the time of Clowon like the princess had said. However, when I looked around, that didn’t seem to be the case. The lights in the room were turned off, and the room simply looked like a facility that had been abandoned for a long time.
‘I don’t know the reason, but…’
I broke the glass, and the fluid inside it spilled out. I stepped outside the glass case and for the first time in my life, I stepped forward of my own free will.
‘I won’t die in vain like last time!’ I swore to protect myself.
* * *
—How is it? Isn’t it entertaining?
While clutching her head, Lyla stared down at Finel.
—I’m sure it’s a new experience looking at a past you don’t know, especially from another person’s point of view. I hope you thank me for the unique experience.
“…This is…your past?”
—Yeah. The daughter of the Golden Emperor of Clowon—the Eternal Princess of the Empire—the Imperial Guardian Goddess, that’s all you. How is it? What is it like to realize your identity as someone who could be said to have grown up in the noblest way in the world?
Lyla didn’t respond. She was still organizing the memory that Finel had sent her.
“Did I try to restore Clowon?”
—It seems like you loved your motherland too much, Princess.
Finel mocked Lyla, then scowled as she turned around. Somebody was pounding her corpse underneath the lake.
‘Kraken?’
Why was the Kraken attacking her?
‘Did I harm it too much?’ However, it didn’t matter. Finel used the tree’s mana and gave a command to the Kraken. Soon, its attacks stopped.
‘What happened to the mission? Did it succeed?’
If Zich had killed the Kraken, it wouldn’t be returning.
‘No, there’s a possibility that he could’ve escaped.’
Nevertheless, Finel was sure Zich wouldn’t be in a state to fight, and the thought of Zich’s possible departure filled her with joy. The opponent she had feared the most was likely to have either died or escaped, the princess was in her grasp, and the rest of the princess’ party was incomparably weaker than the other two. Finel was sure of her victory. Now, the only thing left for her to do was accomplish her goal.
“Did I really used to be a Demon Lord?” Lyla asked.
—I guess that’s what outsiders called you. I mean, anyone could’ve seen how merciless and cold you were. You killed and broke everything that even slightly got in the way of Clowon’s restoration.
It was just like how Lyla had killed her.
—Well, who cares about that? That’s none of my concern. So, Princess, I showed you your past that you were so curious about. I want to receive my payment for it now.
“Payment?”
—Yes.
Finel smiled brightly.
—No need to be afraid though. It’s really nothing actually. All you have to do is give me your body.
“Give you my body?” Lyla was taken aback.
—Why? You are not going to refuse, are you? I’m sure not. You wouldn’t.
Finel’s gentle voice turned rougher.
—My life was like hell every day because of you. Even when Clowon fell, I died under your hands. Why can’t you just give me your body after completely ruining my life!
She screamed the last few words. Driven by madness, Finel pounded the barrier. Her other hands that had been scratching the barrier were balled into fists and followed her. Although these movements didn’t inflict much damage to the tough barrier, Finel’s appearance, voice, and the meat clumps blanketing the surroundings were enough to invoke great fear.
—Do you! Do you realize how happy I was to see your current state!
When Finel first found Lyla at Shootuol, she was terrified. She thought Lyla had come to kill her again. Even though she prepared to protect herself, the feelings she felt upon death were too traumatic. Thus, she desperately and carefully observed Lyla with an inkling of hope to find her opponent’s weakness; while she did this, Finel noticed something strange about Lyla. The Lyla she knew was such a cold person that she seemed to be made from metal. Yet, this Lyla wasn’t cold at all; instead, she laughed, got angry, and had fun like any ordinary person. Furthermore, she even had human companions. Could the princess who only dreamed of Clowon’s restoration travel with her companions like that?
Still, Lyla was still the princess, and Finel thought she had to kill Lyla before she killed her. Her assassination attempt at the lodging failed with Zich’s intervention, and even after she gathered many monsters to crush her in the waters, even that plan failed. But it wasn’t like these efforts were completely fruitless. Finel realized that Lyla was no longer the princess who only thought of Clowon’s restoration. She guessed that Lyla’s memories must have reset, which meant that she was basically another person. With this assurance, Finel changed her plans to kill Lyla and secure her body.
Drip! In that instant, the skin on Finel’s arm flowed down. Lyla couldn’t help but fixate her gaze onto it.
—It’s gruesome to see, right?
Finel grabbed the skin dripping down and rubbed it with her hands. The skin returned to its original state, but it didn’t seem to have solved the underlying problem.
—Since you saw my memory, you must also know why my body became like this.
The first thing Finel did to live was eating her sisters who were still alive. One by one, she fused her unconscious but clearly alive sisters to her body. As she combined with more and more of her sisters, her power grew stronger, but her body became just as unstable. However, Finel persistently and thoroughly ate her sisters.
Even if her body collapsed, she thought that it was more important to block Lyla’s attack. However, when she realized that Lyla was no longer the princess she used to be, her judgment was ill-advised.
—It doesn’t matter anymore. Since I was born from you, your body would be perfect for me to transfer to.
Lyla shouted, “Don’t make me laugh!”
Finel just snorted.
—Do you want to live? I understand; even if your consciousness was only awakened recently, I’m sure you have a desire to live. It was the same for me.
Yet, this was the extent of Finel’s understanding.
—But are you worth living?
“What?”
—Aren’t I right? In the past, you told me that you were called a Demon Lord, right? Then, think about it—how many people did you massacre to be labeled with such a title?
Lyla couldn’t remember. She didn’t remember being called a Demon Lord, but she remembered what Demon Lords were like. A prime example of a Demon Lord was Zich Moore. Considering the number of people that Zich Moore killed, Lyla as Clowon’s Princess probably also killed a horrific number of people.
–Our dear goddess who protects Clowon, you should have died when Clowon fell. Ah, no there’s something better.
Finel made an extremely twisted smile and continued talking.
–You should have just never been born. You should give me your body and make your worthless life even a little bit more useful.
Finel returned the exact words that the researchers had mercilessly hurled at her towards the Empire’s princess. Lyla tightly bit her lips, but she didn’t withdraw her barriers.
–Fine, I guess you want to resist till the very end, but it doesn’t matter.
Finel put her hand on the barrier again.
–I just gave you my memory, right? So give me your memories this time.
“Ack!” Lyla tightly clutched her head. Memories began gushing out from her head.
–Hmmm, I guess the world looks like this now.
Finel nodded as she extracted Lyla’s memories. She had only observed the surroundings near Shootuol and had been unable to gain precise information of what the world was like outside of Shootuol.
–Ahahaha! Princess, you had quite a fun adventure.
It was an adventure full of happiness, sadness, and enjoyment. Lyla seemed to have traveled constantly, met new companions and many different people, and faced all sorts of incidents.
‘All while I was shivering in fear and fusing my body with the body of my sisters!’ Finel’s hatred grew one level deeper. ‘Well, it’s fine now. This will be my new life now.’
Finel took out all the memories that were easy to take from Lyla; most of them were memories of recent travels. However, Finel also knew that a vast amount of information was hidden deep inside Lyla’s brain; they were probably accumulated memories of when Lyla used to be part of the System. Finel shuffled through the memories without hesitation.
“Aghh!” Lyla clutched her head. She dropped her staff and fell down on her knees. The mana she was letting out was cut off, and the barrier disappeared.
Finel smirked. Flesh meat clumps moved towards Lyla on the ground like water flowing in a river.
* * *
Swoosh!
The liquid monsters had noticed him and immediately rushed towards him. Zich pushed his head back in like a turtle, and he hurriedly shoved his body inside the Kraken’s injury and threw a potion to heal the Kraken’s outside flesh.
‘What should I do?’ Zich fell into deep thought for a bit. ‘Well, first, that meat clump is definitely stronger than me.’
When Zich fought the meat clump last time, he had gained the upper hand for a short period of time, but it would probably be much harder for him to approach the creature now.
‘But I can’t just leave.’
He didn’t know what happened to Lyla, Hans, Snoc, or Elena. In the first place, Zich didn’t even think about a plan in which he ran away and left them. Zich looked up. From past the Kraken’s sticky muscles, the meat clump was probably covering up the whole lake.
‘After I rescue them, we should quickly escape.’ Zich strengthened his grip on Windur. ‘The plan is to improvise. It’ll be fine. I’ve done this many times.’
During his days as Zich Moore, he had improvised hundreds of times and had been successful.
‘Before that, I should kill this guy.’
Zich wandered around while rupturing the Kraken’s insides; the Kraken struggled in pain, but Zich thoroughly ignored its movements.
‘I found it!’ A grayish-white brain appeared in front of Zich, but Zich didn’t kill the Kraken right away. He destroyed the surrounding flesh and continued to give more pain to the Kraken.
Buuuaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The Kraken moved frantically, and Zich controlled its movements. The Kraken sank, and then moved towards the meat clump at an extremely fast rate. Of course, as long as it was getting mind-controlled, it probably wouldn’t collide with the meat clump, but that was enough for Zich.
Flash! Zich grinded the Kraken’s brain. In an instant, the Kraken stopped breathing. However, the Kraken’s body continued to rise due to inertia. The Kraken’s corpse rose to a level where it was almost about to collide with the meat clump’s wall. At that exact moment, Zich placed his magic box on the Kraken’s body. Its corpse instantly swept into the magic box, and a large empty space appeared in the ocean. A huge amount of water was still present in his surroundings, but there was now an empty space where the Kraken used to be, and only Zich existed in this space. The liquid monsters near him wriggled while looking at Zich, but since there was no water in the space he was in, they were unable to attack Zich.
However, that was only for a moment. The ocean water quickly moved to eat up the space that appeared inside it. The liquid monsters also filled up the space, but Zich’s body continued to rise from the inertia. He saw the ocean water moving further away from him and the meat clump’s wall from a distance. Zich swung Windur, which was filled with an enormous amount of mana.
Crassssssssh!
The ocean water bounced off and the meat clump exploded.