Chapter 188

    188: Devilization

    When I was half-unconscious,

    I was seized by an eerie sensation, a faint moonlight gently settling on my forehead. In the thick darkness, the form of a young child floating above the bed emerged.

    A child with beautiful white hair,

    Eyes dyed mysteriously lavender under the transparent moonlight.

    The child, with gem-like eyes tightly shut, was suffering from a fever.

    That child is me.

    Nox von Reinhaver.

    The youngest of the prestigious Reinhaver family, an eternal outcast who was always despised. Although I had seen him countless times through the game screen, today felt different.

    And that’s because.

    This memory... wasn’t the one I have

    At that moment, I realized this was Nox’s past never once appeared in the game, during my time as Yoochan.

    In other words, this was a piece of memory, a fragment.

    Precisely, something I had forgotten.

    As if my fight with Garen momentarily froze, my surroundings turned black and white, blinking across my retinas.

    Could this, too, be a part of the system’s power?

    This sudden recall of memories as I crossed swords with Garen and grew earnest in my sword handling, even all these situations?

    I’m not sure.

    But I wanted to focus on this vision a little longer. This fleeting dream, rising like a mirage, seemed like a bridge connecting me and Yoochan.

    For a brief, ephemeral moment in front of my enemy, I closed my eyes.

    And I sensed it.

    ‘Emptiness.’

    The deep sense of emptiness that always filled and tormented my heart. Even as I clearly approached death after being diagnosed as terminally-ill, the source of the thirst that I, who had given up on everything, continued to feel, exists in this place, and my heart pounds violently at this realization.

    It’s paradoxical.

    I, the one who had gained power by gambling with death, to feel so vividly alive through a fragment of the past

    Even about myself who cannot help but feel this much joy as I shared swords with my blood relative.

    I find it somewhat amusing. No, in truth, it is immensely enjoyable.

    The act of clashing swords, striking down my opponent, and deploying every ounce of skill I possessed.

    The process of showing everything I held, reading the enemy’s moves, and clashing with them in fierce combat.

    I couldn’t help but love it.

    Perhaps that’s why I’ve been cast in the role of Nox von Reinhaver.

    Next, the scene shifts lightly.

    Time flows. Someone with a black veil over their face, and Rona gently strokes my thin cheek, and soon disappears.

    Again. Again

    The scene rewinds slightly, time flowing onward, and I sense my body has grown slightly larger.

    Though my body remains immobile, I see a slightly older version of myself.

    I hold a sword, but upon seeing my eldest brother, Garen,

    and my other mother Priscilla, I immediately lower it.

    I was weak.

    It wasn’t that I couldn’t hold the sword, but I was overly conscious of others’ gazes.

    It wasn’t that I lacked talent.

    I executed a series of fluid, beautiful movements, imagining an invisible sword in the air, striking downward and then performing a seamless horizontal slash. But no one watched me.

    It’s just extremely natural

    As long as Priscilla and Garen were present, and as long as I was the youngest child who had lost my mother, no one in the Reinhaver family would turn their gaze to me.

    Rather, It was fortunate I didn’t die here. I wanted to live.

    I knew more than anyone that my body was falling apart, that’s why I wanted to live all the more.

    And so,

    I realized that acting foolishly was the only way I could survive.

    I spilled the food the maid brought. I never left my room. And I resented my father, the head of this house.

    For failing to protect my mother, and now, you even abandoning me?

    Was Theo von Reinhaver unwilling to grant me even the family name of Reinhaver?

    That was when.

    When I really began to fall apart.

    And when my memories of this world were severed, along with a mysterious light .

    —————————————

    Gasp!

    I surfaced as though I had plunged deep into the water. My rough breathing echoed as the blinding white faded from my vision. Among the memories flashing past like a panorama, one piece fell into place.

    A hidden trait shrouded in mystery, which only emerged late in the first part of the game, had now awakened.

    Devilization.

    Though less complete than Garen’s, it was in a state easier to control and had already begun manifesting within me. If I were to be precise, it would rank just below a Grand Duke, among the weaker ones, to be exact. Still, this was an undeniable fact.

    Garen smirks as he responds to my words.

    “Can you overcome what you fear?”

    “If necessary.”

    “Ridiculous.”

    Garen lets out a sly smirk and, in an instant, leaps forward with incredible speed.

    The distance between us closes rapidly, and the ground shatters in all directions, scattering debris high into the air.

    Garen and my swords clashed almost simultaneously.

    Chaeng-aeng—!

    The moment our blades meet, I deflect his strike diagonally.

    Garen’s wrist rides up the length of my blade, aiming for my neck. However, I counter his attack by using the tentacles of my devilization form to block him immediately.

    My eyes, before turning to evil eyes (yeogan), lock onto him, overwhelming him with an oppressive aura.

    For a moment, just before he stumbles backward.

    Pa-at!

    This time, I leap forward, and our blades clash again in a single exchange.

    Chaeng—!

    The formidable destructive power of the sword, [Black Blade Flash], hits the enemy squarely. Following the his tearing scream, I unleash [Black Blade Chain of Flashes].

    I begin returning to him everything he has done to me, in the exact same order.

    Because I know this is something I must do to truly move forward.

    Simply defeating the enemy is not enough.

    At that moment, for some reason,

    Was from the game, a line from Theo von Reinhaver suddenly comes to mind.

    The person I must kill. The wall I must overcome.

    One day, he said this

    [‘The ‘Supreme Black Sword’ doesn’t merely destroy and dismantle the opponent before you. With overwhelming power, it cuts down everything they possess, even their will to rise again. That is exactly——]

    In that instant, blood vessels burst in both my eyes, and droplets fall to the floor.

    With Theo’s final words echoing in my mind, a chaotic status window appears:

    [The supreme (霸道) sword pursued by the Reinhaver family.]

    [Life span decreases by 40 days!]

    [Due to the effects of ‘Devilization’ the player’s stats temporarily skyrocket!]

    [‘Limit Break’ is activated!]

    “Die, Garen.”

    [Black Blade Falling Petals]

    With those final words, the consciousness that had been sustaining me is severed as well.

    A single black flower that had suddenly bloomed begins to burn like a flame, consuming the enemy along with it.

    Even now, my blade continues forward.

    Relentlessly, like a mayfly repeating its arduous wing flutters over and over in its fleeting lifetime.

    “This... can’t be...!”

    My sword ultimately reaches Garen’s neck, cutting him down at last.

    [You have defeated ‘Garen von Reinhaver’!]

    [Player’s life span...]

    [...]

    A series of messages continues.

    Among them, I distinctly remember only the final one:

    [...Error! The main storyline is severely damaged!]

    [Current damage rate: 45%]

    [The conclusion of Part 1 is approaching.]

    [Move forward... for a .... new ending.]