The mist by the sea finally cleared.
The sun gradually rose from the ocean, and today's sunrise was as magnificent as if it had been stained with blood. Celia, bathed in such light and shadow, wore an exceptionally eerie smile.
The ocean breeze ruffled her silver-white hair, and those unsettling blood-red eyes watched Ansu as he lay on the ground. She slowly approached him.
"Are you afraid? Are you terrified?"
Celia walked up to Ansu and playfully stroked his slightly trembling cheek. "This is all your own doing."
"So, I really want to know... what on earth did that wretched woman say to you to make you team up with those idiots from the Church to deal with me?"
Celia stared intently at the silent Ansu, her smile gradually fading.
"Speak. Let's see if you can please me this time like you used to."
"If you speak well, perhaps I can give you a more comfortable way to die."
The oppressive magical aura originally surrounding her began to dissipate, and Ansu's numb, stiff limbs finally moved slightly.
"Well?"
Ansu raised his head and slowly looked at Celia, who was waiting for his explanation.
Since death was already the inevitable conclusion, why bother struggling?
"I'm not saying a damn thing!"
The air fell silent for a moment.
A look of surprise flickered in Celia's eyes.
"Enough! I've had enough of this shit!"
Ansu clenched his fists, pushed himself off the ground with difficulty, and struggled to look Celia in the eye.
He vented his frustrations freely within the simulation.
"You crazy witch! Did a donkey kick you in the head? I've already gone this far, and you're still not satisfied?"
"Are you feeling pretty proud of yourself? Thinking a little ant like me is completely under your control? Ha! Let me tell you, it was all fake from the start! I was lying to you!"
Ansu laughed maniacally, while Celia's smile gradually froze.
"There was never any such thing as never betraying you! I was faking it, all of it!"
"And you, you arrogant crazy witch, actually thought it was real? Don't make me laugh! You even tried to hypnotize me every chance you got! What kind of idiot gets played like a fiddle by me?"
"What? What did you... say?" Facing this version of Ansu, Celia's expression became increasingly bewildered.
Ansu, instead, pressed forward step by step.
"The game ends here! I've had enough of you, you moody, narcissistic, arrogant crazy woman! If you want to kill me, then do it already! I don't have time to waste with you here!"
Celia stared at Ansu in disbelief.
Even the experts from the Church hadn't made her lose her composure like this, yet Ansu's few words sent her stumbling back in confusion.
"Lies?"
"Those words... were all lies?"
Celia's eyes widened as she kept muttering to herself, "How is that possible? How can that be... That was clearly magic I'm specialized in, how did you avoid..."
"You still don't understand? Or are you just unwilling to face reality?" Ansu sneered, picked up a dagger from beside a corpse, gripped it tight, and lunged at her.
Magical power condensed instantly, and after a terrifying explosion, the air felt as if it were being torn apart.
Celia's magic was something ordinary people couldn't possibly withstand, but at this moment, Ansu stood before her completely unscathed, not a single hair on his head harmed.
"Do you see?" Ansu's smile carried a hint of mockery as he tightened his grip on the dagger and lunged at Celia again.
After the 【Magic Immunity】 effect ended, Ansu was sent flying to the side by Celia's next magical blast.
Ansu immediately spat out blood, feeling as if his internal organs were about to tear apart. He clutched his chest and struggled to prop up his body.
"It was actually real..."
"How can such a thing exist?"
Celia couldn't understand at all how Ansu had blocked her magic.
Even she, hailed as having the greatest magical talent, couldn't figure out what had happened with that first spell. It had completely exceeded the scope of her understanding.
"Can't figure it out? That's... right!" Ansu kept coughing up blood. He couldn't even speak a full sentence at this point, yet he was still mocking her.
"Don't think you're the only chosen one... I'm the Chosen One! The Chosen One destined to take you down!"
Celia stared blankly at the crazed Ansu. The sheer amount of information was difficult for her to process all at once.
But she didn't seem to care about any Chosen One.
She only smiled with a sense of loss and self-deprecation, as if laughing at her past self who had acted like a clown during this time...
"So that's how it is..."
"It was always fake. You only played along and said the things I loved to hear just to survive..."
Her smile grew increasingly bitter. "I'm so ridiculous. I actually thought..."
I thought there was really someone who accepted me, understood me... even admired me from the bottom of their heart.
Ever since she met him that day, seeing this boy who was also toyed with by fate, who was so pathetic and looked so much like her past self...
Celia, who usually never paid much attention to anyone, had actually felt a few sparks of curiosity.
When he was guided by her to say that phrase 'I will never betray you,' she had actually felt a slight bit of anticipation for the future...
That day in the library was a rare day of happiness in her boring life.
She had never been that happy before.
Having struggled in a dangerous environment since she was a child, never going a day without studying magic just to survive, she felt for the first time that the sunlight was so bright, and having someone by her side constantly nagging was so comforting...
Celia had thought she truly possessed something; she thought she finally had something of her own.
Unfortunately, it was all fake.
"Of course you're ridiculous!" Ansu's limbs had no strength left, but he still gripped the dagger with difficulty, trying to provoke her again.
"Come on! Witch! Either I kill you, or you kill me!"
"Enough!!" Celia's face was emotional and distorted as she swiped Ansu's dagger away. "Are you trying to provoke me? You think I'll kill you? Give you a quick death?"
"No! I'm going to keep you alive and make your life a living hell!"
"I'll make you realize the consequences of betraying me!"
A surge of mana slowly lifted Freya's head from the ground. Celia glanced at the head, her mouth curling into a grim, sinister grin.
"Don't you trust her? Don't you like her? Then I'll let the two of you stay together every single day. I'll let you look at her to your heart's content!"
As a magic circle lit up, black, foul mana began to spread once more.
Ansu saw that the head in the center of the circle actually began to wriggle slowly.
Then, writhing buds of flesh and tentacles continuously grew from the severed neck of the head, and... it eerily crawled toward him.
"What... what do you mean by this..."
Because Ansu was already severely injured, everything before his eyes was becoming blurry, and the pollution brought by the forbidden magic made even the blood he spat out turn black.
"It means..." Celia giggled like a demon, "I'm going to use that forbidden life magic I mentioned to you to completely remodel your bodies..."
"I'm going to stitch your head and the Holy Maiden's head onto a single body, so you two will be seeing each other constantly. That way, you can be together every day! Well, are you happy?"
Ansu watched Celia silently, feeling that she had truly gone mad.
A Master of Extreme Modifications...
She's really got some talent.
"Then you can take your time researching. I'm leaving..."
Celia frowned. "Leaving? Where do you think you're going?"
Ansu spat out another large mouthful of foul blood, this time even mixed with fragments of internal organs.
His consciousness was growing increasingly blurry, and he was on the verge of fainting.
"No! You can't die!" Celia stepped forward and propped up Ansu's head, smiling with cruel coldness. "I haven't punished you yet, how can you die?"
However, Ansu could no longer speak. His world was gradually sinking into a blur.
"You're not allowed to die! I will never let you die so easily! As long as you have a single breath left, I can..."
You can what? Save me and then remodel me?
Ansu kept sneering in his heart.
I'm done playing with you.
Rate on N.U.
