Chapter 78
A heavy gust of wind struck Teia square in the chest.
As he was flung backward, blood trickled from his mouth with a painful gasp. Blood from a torn wound on his head streamed into his right eye, dyeing the white completely red.
Even then, Teia did not let go of his sword, using it to keep his collapsing body upright. His hand gripping the hilt trembled violently.
“In this life, and in the last… everything would’ve been fine if you hadn’t appeared. Your very existence is nothing but a curse to her.”
“Hah… haha… ha. That’s funny. Hoo…”
Teia curled his lip into a mocking smirk.
Furious at the derision on Teia’s face, Hecate sent another blade of sharp wind slicing through him. A large gash opened across Teia’s thigh, and he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
“I should’ve never let you live. I should’ve been the one to get rid of you when you washed up on the shore.”
Hecate muttered ominously, as if tracing some memory from the distant past that Teia couldn’t understand. The regret he had chewed on for thousands of years was steeped in endless layers of resentment.
Consumed by old rage, Hecate couldn’t hear the small, frantic sounds nearby. Every sense he had was swallowed by fury, focused solely on Teia.
Teia scowled, his expression twitching with irritation.
“You can’t take anything from me anymore!”
Hecate’s whites turned pitch-black. Black tears streamed down from his eyes. The despair that had corrupted his body burst forth like a torrent, aimed squarely at Teia.
Clang!
A metallic sound scraped across the floor. Thick, writhing black tendrils shot toward Teia like spears, aiming straight for his heart.
But Teia made no effort to dodge. Instead, he stared directly at Hecate with an inexplicable smile.
“No!”
At that moment, Lilith threw herself at Teia, shielding him with her body.
Crashing against the cage, she broke free and dashed toward him faster than Hecate’s despair could reach him. She transformed into her human form mid-leap and wrapped herself around Teia.
The black spear halted just as it grazed her snowy white back. Eeeee! The sharply-pointed tendril quivered midair, screaming like a blade being sharpened.
“If you want to kill us, go ahead and try.”
Teia wrapped his arms around Lilith’s waist, her arms clutching his neck. Though he was practically leaning all his weight on her, the arms at her waist held her tightly, dragging her close.
“If this girl’s willing to die with me, I have nothing to regret.”
Even with her back turned to Hecate, Lilith never looked away. She buried her face in Teia’s chest, holding him as if she’d never let go.
“If we die in this life, then we’ll just meet again in the next. No matter how many times we’re reborn, I’ll always meet him first. And he’ll always choose me.”
“……”
“I never took anything from you.”
“Why… why are you…?!”
“Because my rabbit never once belonged to you.”
As Teia’s body collapsed, Lilith, still clinging to him, fell to the floor with him.
He sat up, settling her in his lap, resting his head on her shoulder. Then he let out a soft, mad little laugh.
“Teia, hic, sob…”
“Why do I feel so damn good right now?”
Even while completely exposed before the one trying to kill him, unable to defend himself, he couldn’t stop laughing.
He liked how Lilith’s slender arms wrapped tightly around his neck—almost tight enough to choke. That blind devotion, clinging to him regardless of Hecate, set his whole body alight.
“Why not me? Why am I never enough? Why do you always leave me alone? I’ve always… always loved you…”
Hecate’s eyes turned completely black, as if gouged out and filled with void. The faint remnants of memory that clung to him were swept away by despair and warped love.
All that remained in him was hatred with nowhere left to go.
Exploding from his body, the black tendrils surged outward. They slithered across the floor like shadows, up the walls, drowning the room in suffocating darkness that threatened to swallow the two whole.
Despite trembling, Lilith didn’t loosen her grip around Teia. His gentle voice whispered beside her ear, soothing her.
Still, the tears wouldn’t stop. As hot droplets soaked his shoulder, Teia gently patted her narrow waist.
“It’s all right. Your every beginning, your every end—we’ll always be together.”
His tender words wrapped around her like warmth.
“Die, all of you!!”
Hecate’s scream exploded from the darkness. Lilith shut her eyes tight.
BOOM!
A thunderous roar rang out.
They were caught in the violent wind, hurled across the room as if swept up in a storm. With a sickening thud, Teia crashed into the wall and fell to the ground.
Through the splitting headache, a small voice reached her. A voice she hadn’t heard in a very, very long time.
<All I ever wanted… was for you to be happy.>
Lilith opened her eyes. From the broken ceiling, strands of red twilight shone into the room. She slowly turned her head as if under a spell.
At the center of the explosion, the black tendrils had reversed piercing straight through Hecate’s heart.
Dozens of spikes had ravaged his chest, leaving a gaping hole where his heart should have been.
Black blood dribbled from his lips.
Step… step…
Wobbling unsteadily, Hecate staggered toward the two of them. Lilith, as if to protect the unconscious Teia, stood in front of him.
Approaching her, Hecate slowly raised his lips into a faint smile.
<How… could I ever… kill you…>
Violet veins surfaced across Hecate’s face, which had turned corpse-like and deathly pale. Starting from the crown of his head, fine cracks began to spread slowly.
Like an old porcelain doll breaking apart piece by piece—tok, tok—his body began to fall apart in fragments.
Only after all his resentment and hatred had crumbled did a single sliver of his primordial, pure soul finally awaken.
Hecate’s hand moved slowly. Even his fingertips were already crumbling into dust.
His trembling hand cautiously reached for Lilith’s cheek.
<At last… I’ve touched you.>
Only by abandoning all desire was he finally able to truly reach her.
The song of the spirits could be heard. The spirits who had once abandoned him and left the island were now returning.
Between the shattered remnants of the corrupted spirit’s body scattered in the wind, they began to faintly reveal themselves.
Through his increasingly transparent form, the warm twilight light cast a reddish glow across Lilith’s face.
Tears fell. Emotions with no name melted into those tears.
The warmth that had touched her cheek for the briefest moment drifted away on the breeze, vanishing somewhere far off.
But the tears didn’t stop. They continued to fall, endlessly.
The sunset pouring in through the broken wall was too bright. So bright, it made her chest ache.
“Don’t cry.”
A warmth far greater than the sunlight wrapped around Lilith’s body.
Teia, seeing Lilith crying blankly, pulled her back into his arms.
Soaked in blood and torn all over, he removed his tattered cloak and covered her with it.
Even as his mind grew hazy, Teia enveloped her completely in the garment, thick with her scent.
It was a desperate, consuming desire—not to surrender even the smallest part of her to a strand of sunset light or a passing breeze.
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