A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 123

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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123.

The Magi reappeared, and a Gate opened not long after, didn’t it?
A day? Twelve hours?
What I knew for certain was that the moment the Military issued an emergency summons early that morning, I went to that location with Yu Ji-han, and less than an hour later, the Gate manifested.
Recalling the moments before my possession, I told Ethan again.
“A Gate will open within a day. It might happen even faster than that….”
“Nonsense.”
He cut off my words without hesitation.
“There has never been a single instance of a Gate reopening at a location where one has already manifested.”
“Believe it or not—that’s your choice. We can all sit here sucking our thumbs until the Gate opens and die together. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
At my sarcastic response, he fixed me with a cold stare.
“Can you prove it? How can you be so certain?”
“I can’t. I saw it in a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yes. Before coming here, I saw this scene in a dream. The Magi reappearing, the Gate opening, people dying in droves.”
It was a crude excuse, but I had no other way to answer.
I certainly couldn’t tell him the truth—that I’d experienced this phenomenon directly before my possession.
“….”
Ethan turned his gaze from me toward the sea of Magi, lost in thought.
He seemed to be deliberating whether to believe me or not.
“Kalen.”
After a moment, he issued a command to Kalen, who had been standing speechless.
“Return to Duke’s Castle, pack only the essentials, and take Edith Blake to the Capital.”
“Brother.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“That’s….”
“If what you say is true, there’s no need for you to be here.”
“But I’m The Purifier. Why wouldn’t I be needed? If I leave like this, what will people say about me?”
“Purification can be done after the Gate closes. It won’t be too late.”
“At least I should stay and help with the evacuation of the Territory’s people!”
“No one will believe you anyway.”
Ethan responded in a measured tone.
“I can barely believe it myself. Do you really think people will heed an evacuation order in the middle of the night? Those who are desperate to catch a single murderer?”
“But….”
“Enough.”
As if there was nothing more to reconsider, he turned his back to me and swiftly mounted his horse.
Then he extended his hand toward me.
“Your hand.”
I stared at that outstretched hand, my mind churning.
Ethan’s words were so perfectly reasoned that I couldn’t easily refute them.
Even if I remained here, there was nothing I could accomplish immediately.
Moreover, Acarna was quite a vast territory.
Not just the servants within the castle, but the commoners living in the villages as well.
It was realistically impossible to summon and persuade so many people in such a short span of time.
‘But still… is it right to leave like this?’
Was it morally defensible?
Whether it would damage my reputation as The Purifier remained unclear.
“Didn’t you say we don’t have time for this? The Gate will open in less than a day.”
Ethan pressed me as I hesitated.
Standing here and continuing to agonize over it wouldn’t yield any brilliant solution.
So I had no choice but to grasp his hand.
Whoosh—
Ethan pulled me onto his lap with the same effortless ease as before.
The way his arms wrapped around me felt somehow tighter, more secure than moments ago.
Was it just my imagination?
“Hyah!”
We retraced our path swiftly.
It was when the fortress-like silhouette of the Duke’s Castle came into view in the distance.
“Whoa, whoa!”
Ethan, who had been silent until now, suddenly reined in his horse.
“Why is there smoke coming from the castle…?”
At his murmur, I lifted my head from beneath my cloak, and indeed I could see smoke rising from various points across the Duke’s Castle.
And beneath the castle walls, a brilliant crimson light flickered like a monster’s tongue.
“The castle is on fire!”
Kalen cried out urgently and began to gallop ahead.
Ethan followed, snapping the reins.
Our horse burst through the castle gate in an instant.
And the scene that unfolded was nothing short of a hellscape.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Fire! Fire!”
“Someone help us!”
Flames erupted across the castle while people scattered in panic.
Between them, three or four fiery tornadoes tore through indiscriminately.
Whiiiiiing—!
A terrifying gust of wind swept past, and scorching heat seared my skin.
It felt like the nightmare of Equinox Island was repeating itself.
No—it was far worse.
At least back then, the tornado wasn’t engulfed in flames.
“Kalen!”
Just then, someone burst forth and blocked our path.
“Father!”
It was Walter.
His appearance was utterly ruined.
His clothes and hair were half-charred, and his body was covered in wounds as if slashed by something sharp.
Kalen leaped from his horse and rushed toward him in a single bound.
“W-what in the world is happening?”
“Father, save me! Use your ability right now, this instant!”
“What’s going on, I’m asking!”
“There’s no time to explain! If you don’t raise a barrier immediately, your daughter will…!”
“Are you going to interfere again?”
At that moment, an unpleasant metallic screech cut through the father and son’s conversation.
Everyone’s gaze, which had been fixed on Walter, shifted forward.
Between the raging inferno of swirling flames and a colossal fire demon dancing in undulating waves, a diminutive silhouette slowly emerged.
Upon seeing that figure’s face, I trembled involuntarily.
‘An Erosion Entity…?’
Hair sparse and patchy, and a body half-rotted and decomposing.
Black blood pouring endlessly from the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Walter’s condition seemed almost mild by comparison.
Only by the length of the remaining hair cascading to the waist could one barely discern the gender—her appearance was nothing short of grotesque.
“A… Ayla?”
Kalen called out the woman’s name hesitantly, as if unable to believe it.
‘That’s… Ayla?’
I alternated my gaze between the two, lost in confusion.
Convinced that she was indeed his sister, Kalen spoke in a trembling voice.
“Sister. W-why does your face….”
“Don’t interfere and simply leave while I’m being merciful, Kalen Harris.”
Despite bearing all the hallmarks of an Erosion Entity, Ayla spoke with surprising clarity, like an ordinary person.
“W-what on earth….”
Kalen trembled as if unsure what to say, and barely managed to ask.
“What is all this? Is this what you’ve become? How do you still have your ability….”
“Why? Did you think having an ability was a privilege only you possessed?”
With those words, Ayla let out a sharp laugh.
“You should be grateful you awakened thanks to Father! Is this how you repay his kindness—with enmity? And you call yourself my son!”
At that moment, Walter, who had been hiding behind Kalen, pointed an accusatory finger at her and bellowed.
Simultaneously, as if cold water had been poured over her, the smile vanished from Ayla’s lips.
Soon her face contorted like a yaksha’s.
“Please….”
“….”
“Just shut up and die, would you.”
Whiiiiish―!
As the muttered words escaped my lips, a violent gust of wind suddenly swept through from nowhere.
“Aaaahhh!”
At the same moment Walter screamed, I felt something ominous approaching.
Before it could reach us, Kalen barely managed to throw up a barrier.
Boom, crash―!
As if struck by an invisible blade, the circular barrier’s form warped grotesquely.
Though unseen, it seemed Ayla was attacking with a blade of wind.
“Stop it, Ayla!”
“I told you not to interfere! Do you know what I’ve become because of you!”
At Kalen’s cry, Ayla screamed back with raw desperation.
With black tears of blood streaming from both eyes, she looked no different from a vengeful spirit.
“You awakened early and left for the Capital, so you know nothing! The murderer isn’t me―it’s the trash who stuck with Father!”
“That’s enough.”
Ethan, who had been silently observing the situation all along, suddenly leaped down from his horse.
Moving ahead of Kalen, he spoke like an emotionless machine.
“I’ve found the culprit. You’re under arrest immediately.”
“….”
“Serial murder and arson. You’re caught red-handed, so there’s nothing more to say, is there, Ayla Harris.”
“Ah, yes. Ethan Douglas, you were here too.”
Ayla, reciting Ethan’s former surname, let out a hollow laugh.
Then she pointed at Walter with her finger and spoke.
“…Because you became the Duke’s adopted son instead of Kalen, that man went absolutely mad.”
“….”
“He locked me away for days, beating me, tormenting me, asking why I didn’t awaken as early as you….”
“….”
“Why couldn’t you become S-rank like him, Kalen?”
Ayla’s gaze, which had been fixed on Ethan, turned back to Kalen once more.
Her expression twisted with sorrow as she looked at her twin brother.
“…Sister.”
“Do you know what Father did to me when your failure cost him his chance at the Capital?”
“….”
“He said he’d make me an Awakener and take me as that man’s concubine―on the day the Gate tore open!”
“….”
“He pushed me into the Magi―!”
She revealed the hidden truth with desperate fury.
Kalen turned to face his father, his complexion drained of all color.
“No, no! It’s all lies! There’s no way I would do such a thing!”
Walter shook his head in denial.
Yet his eyes clearly trembled, saturated with panic.
Meanwhile, Ayla wiped away black tears with the back of her hand, rotting flesh exposing bone beneath.
“Sob, sob. Thank you all. Thanks to you, I’ve finally obtained this power?”
“….”
“I’m finally dead… rotted away like this… grotesque and hideous… huh, huh….”
Then, upon noticing her own decaying hand, her breathing grew increasingly ragged.
It was a terrible sign.
As if to confirm this, Ayla lunged forward with a horrific scream.
“Kyaaaaaaah! I’ll kill you all! I’ll kill you all! Die! Die! Die!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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