Don’t Look for the Resurrected Villainess - Chapter 249
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 249
The primordial world was the Creator’s playground.
Due to the brilliant God of Morning, the world was full of vitality, and the toys woven into the threads of fate gave thanks for their birth, praised the Creator, and willingly participated in their role-play.
In the flow of tedious time, the toys were arranged and lived according to the Creator’s will, never daring to be granted anything more.
The beginning and end of toys was decided solely by their master, so none dared to think of escaping.
When the merciful Goddess of the Night, who pitied this, breathed mercy into her warm breath, one toy that had outlived its usefulness stood completely alone.
「To live because one wishes to live, to die because one wishes to die—this is my will.」
When death is taken away, life continues, so the first ‘power of death’ manifested as life.
The toy that opened its eyes in bewilderment called itself the Avatar of the Goddess, one who had received a share of the power of death.
The Avatar boldly declared:
「Birth was the Creator’s will, but death is the will of life.」
Enraged by this, the God of Morning planted skeins imbued with his power among the toys, and the threads of fate bound everyone even more thickly and tenaciously.
The Avatar of the Goddess sighed and declared:
「We will not live for someone else’s glory.」
When the Avatar broke the Creator’s skein, countless threads of fate fluttered in the air, and that scene was said to resemble the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings that had just shed its cocoon.
Thus the powers of the gods scattered upon the earth, marking the beginning of a struggle that would continue for eons.
* * *
Crossing the bridge connected to the outside of the main tower, an open cliff appeared.
The river winding below the cliff was blue.
I stood there blankly looking down at it, then raised my head. The sky, dizzyingly high, was relatively clear though the sun had tilted slightly.
“To think there’s such a cliff behind the castle.”
Jeon let out an exclamation before the vast natural scenery. To his eyes, it probably looked only beautiful and magnificent.
But I imagined overlaying this landscape with black rain that wouldn’t fall or red skies.
This was exactly the place I had seen when I dreamed before. The cliff where the Captain had thrown herself after her final confrontation with Samuel.
“But what exactly are we doing here?”
No matter how much he looked around, there was nothing but an empty cliff. After looking around for a while, Jeon finally turned to me and Samuel with a face that said he couldn’t understand.
I had nothing particular to say to him. Because I also didn’t know what we should do.
“Even though we’ve come this far, nothing particular comes to mind.”
Muttering as if to myself, I glanced back. At some point, Samuel had been staring at me intently.
He had a very complicated expression. Was it because we had reached the place where he had parted with the Captain of the past?
“Do you have something to say to me, Samuel Bent?”
“…I will tell you about the final power.”
Samuel, who had taken a deep breath, drew his sword from his waist in one swift motion. Before I could react to his sudden action, Jeon blocked my path and immediately took a defensive stance.
“What are you doing?”
Samuel frowned at Jeon’s sharp reaction. Even so, he didn’t put his sword back.
“Before that, I would like to ask you something.”
“What?”
“About the rest you desire.”
I couldn’t quite understand what he was trying to ask.
We were facing the final power, so why was he discussing my rest now?
“Are you asking if I want to die?”
Was he saying he would kill me right now if I wanted to die?
I carefully speculated while staring at the sword Samuel had drawn.
Considering the attitude Samuel had shown me so far, it was a completely unconvincing speculation.
Rather, hadn’t he wanted to prevent my death all along?
“Your resurrection was forced. It wouldn’t be strange if you still desired death.”
I didn’t have the luxury of pondering long over this question whose intent I couldn’t understand.
After thinking briefly, I answered honestly.
“…Sorry to disappoint your expectations, but I don’t desire death.”
Jeon reacted to my answer before Samuel did.
Jeon unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, then belatedly noticed my gaze and quietly looked away.
Seeing that he couldn’t hide his flushed complexion, I thought it would really be a big problem if I died after all the rest was over.
“I see.”
I had been momentarily distracted by Jeon, but that answer brought me back to attention.
Why was that? Samuel’s face was quite dark.
“Why didn’t you tell me that in the past?”
Samuel glanced down at the sword in his hand and let out a bitter smile.
“If you had wanted to live, I would have…”
The blade of the sword Samuel gripped began to shine pure white.
“I would have gladly offered even my soul.”
* * *
Unable to resist alone, she gathered knights.
The first knight chosen by the Avatar was a Puppet of Birth. He was a faithful servant of the Creator who lived as the threads of fate led him, a devout sword.
The reason for choosing him was quite simple. It was a spirited choice to declare war on the Creator.
「How fleeting are the shackles called threads of fate!」
She had gained the strongest knight first, but actually hadn’t wanted him to stay by her side.
She had originally planned to send the knights she gathered throughout the world to fulfill their respective roles.
However, her strongest knight insisted on staying by her side.
The Avatar, who had originally intended to refuse this, soon changed her mind.
No matter how much she wielded the Goddess’s power, it wasn’t easy to face the swarming Followers of Birth alone.
The first knight, who had been a Puppet of Birth, knew well how to deal with enemies and was also skilled at it.
「No one will be able to force the direction my sword points. I will protect you.」
The first knight’s sword was wielded only for the Avatar.
So the Avatar always felt at ease when he drew his sword. She knew better than anyone that his sword would never harm her.
* * *
“So now, are you going to vent your past frustrations?”
Instead of answering my light question, the sword’s light gradually grew stronger. It was Samuel’s divine power that I had seen several times before.
Befitting a man with the most powerful divine power in the Temple, the energy was tremendous just from infusing it into his sword.
Jeon immediately deployed a protective barrier and quietly grabbed my hand, pulling me toward him.
“I’ll warp us if necessary.”
Without taking his eyes off Samuel, Jeon whispered to me. Blinking as I listened to him, I likewise whispered back.
“Jeon, would you lose?”
“Absolutely not!”
He jumped and denied it, then looked at me resentfully with a hurt expression.
“How could you think I would lose…! I’m the next Mage Tower Lord!”
It was a title that didn’t resonate with me at all even hearing it again.
However, regardless of my recognition, the fact that he was the Mage Tower Master’s disciple was true, so I decided to apologize for rashly judging his skills.
“No, I just wondered since you were preparing to run away first.”
“What if Anelli gets caught up in the fight? If you fall from a cliff like this, we won’t even be able to collect your bones.”
It was certainly a disadvantageous situation for fighting in various ways. Jeon and I had our backs to the cliff, while Samuel had his back to the castle.
Still, wouldn’t having a river below rather than rock walls increase the chances of survival somewhat?
“There’s a river below the cliff.”
“River or sea, don’t you know that if you fall wrong, you’ll break your neck? It’s instant death.”
For me, whose neck had already been cut and reattached once, it wasn’t particularly frightening.
But there was no need to give the already anxious Jeon more things to worry about, so I decided to nod quietly.
“Right, I understand. But I won’t fall.”
“Of course! I won’t let you fall!”
Jeon made an unprompted vow that he would embrace me if I fell and absorb the impact instead.
That sight was cuter than expected and I wanted to watch a bit more, but I decided to gradually reveal the truth.
“You won’t have to fight Samuel Bent.”
I gently patted Jeon’s back and turned my gaze to Samuel.
Samuel’s sword was now glowing so white that the blade was completely invisible.
However, that sword didn’t feel threatening to me at all. I instinctively felt that it wasn’t a sword meant to harm me.
“Isn’t that right, Samuel Bent?”
Even if that sword were to drink the blood of the entire world, it would never drink mine.
* * *
Originally a toy that had outlived its usefulness, the proxy’s life was extended by the Goddess’s power.
This meant that if all power disappeared from this world according to the Goddess’s will, leaving only natural providence, the proxy’s life would naturally end as well.
Her soul was made entirely of the power of death, something that had never truly existed in the first place.
While saving the Twelve Knights of the Round Table and traveling throughout the world, she thought. These thoughts, will, actions, emotions she was having now…
Were they truly her own?
Or did they belong to the Goddess who had descended by borrowing her body?
Could the proxy, a fragment of the Goddess, be said to be identical to the Goddess? If so, could she say that she ‘existed’?
Could she truly say that she had escaped from her position as God’s plaything?
“O Goddess, have mercy on this endless tedium!”
“Please grant mercy, the end of glory!”
What they praised—was it the freedom gained through death, or was it the Goddess of death herself?
As her doubts multiplied, the proxy instinctively realized the danger. She sensed that the deeper she pondered, the more she would sink into a quagmire.
She didn’t want to think. She wanted to focus only on not thinking and simply carrying out her given duties.
“Thanks to you once again, new souls have been saved. Their lives will now be free from the threads of fate.”
However, that might have already become an impossible task.
Facing the First Knight who looked at her with trusting eyes, the proxy realized.
“Someday when all duties are finished… I want to travel this world. Ordinarily, without worrying about anything.”
That at some point, she had begun to dream of a life of her own.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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