My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 55

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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 55

 

Red eyes had somehow reached my feet. The shoes that had become worn from all the running looked truly pitiful. Yet Azel’s eyes gazed at them with tenderness.

 

Those were the eyes that had once shaken me so terribly.

 

“Poor savior. That one is truly an enviable existence.”

 

With those words, Ragnear closed his eyes. His peaceful eyes that accepted death so readily were calm, and that made me even more afraid.

 

But at that moment, another problem arose.

 

Wooooooong-!

 

Tsk! Tzzt! Tididik!

 

It was the familiar prelude to an explosion.

 

However, this time it wasn’t because of Azel.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“The magi will soon explode.”

 

Ragnear’s explanation followed Bellode’s muttered words as he barely managed to raise his body.

 

“The formation is already broken and can’t contain the magi, and with explosions happening multiple times, it can’t be intact.”

 

In the end, it meant the magi would explode because of Azel.

 

“Master, the sound is rapidly approaching. There’s no time.”

 

Linoa Marigold also seemed to share the same thought as she tried to dissuade Azel.

 

Meanwhile, Azel surveyed the group as if contemplating, and only after his gaze landed on me did he seem to make a decision.

 

“Come here.”

 

Soon a large, straight hand was extended before me.

 

“Let’s go back.”

 

If I took that hand, I could leave this place. Normally I would have grasped his hand without hesitation, but now I found it difficult to readily extend my hand.

 

‘Then what about the people remaining on this land?’

 

Chase and the Duke, Camela. And the countless knights and servants of this manor?

 

While Ragnear and Yulia might deserve their fate, the people of the North were innocent.

 

‘Azel said from the beginning that the explosion’s range would be considerable. The entire North would be in danger.’

 

I had already witnessed the end of magi-tainted lands several times in the game.

 

Nothing remains where magi has swept through. Not a blade of grass, not a handful of sand remains in that place, which people mark off and abandon.

 

‘Because that was the best option.’

 

But in this current situation, that wasn’t the best option. It could never be the best option.

 

‘Because if we just leave like this…’

 

“Everything will become your fault.”

 

Because it would all become Azel’s fault.

 

However, even at my trembling voice, Azel’s eyes remained simply calm.

 

“It always has been.”

 

“…!”

 

“Adding one more infamy here won’t change anything.”

 

He was right. But…

 

“If you’re connected to magi, not just the Empire but everyone on this land will turn you into an enemy.”

 

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing will be a threat to me.”

 

“It matters to me! I can’t let that happen!”

 

Of course Azel would be fine even if he turned the entire world into his enemy.

 

But.

 

“Having more enemies means incidents like earlier will repeat themselves!”

 

Therefore, just letting this incident pass would be no different from attaching fuses all around a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

 

‘No, setting all that aside. I just don’t like it!’

 

“Why should everything become your fault?”

 

“Elpis.”

 

“The bad ones are those people, and you were just unluckily caught up in it-!”

 

Finally, a tear rolled down my cheek.

 

“Why should it all become your fault?”

 

Suddenly Azel’s eyes widened.

 

Azel just stared blankly at my tears, unable to continue speaking.

 

“It’s unfair, something like that.”

 

“…You,”

 

“There’s no time! We must leave this place now!”

 

His lips moved belatedly, but Linoa Marigold’s voice cut him off.

 

‘Is there really no way?’

 

As I bit my lips in frustration.

 

[What the hell is all this commotion…?]

 

At the familiar voice that suddenly brushed my eardrums, I unconsciously turned my head and was startled.

 

‘Huh?’

 

[What on earth is… huh?]

 

A familiar face was looking at me with a somewhat stupid expression.

 

‘Gaspata?’

 

Blink.

 

Instead of answering, I watched Gaspata reach toward the magi surging from all directions and quickly turned my mind.

 

“We have to go now! Come here, Elpis!”

 

Indeed, no matter how shitty the world might be,

 

“No, Azel.”

 

There was always a way out.

 

“I can’t leave like this.”

 

“What?”

 

So now all I had to do was trust that way out and cause trouble.

 

Therefore, I looked at him and smiled.

 

“I really don’t want you to be hated.”

 

As confidently as possible, now that I had something to rely on.

 

Kwaaaaaaaang-!

 

Finally, with a fierce explosion, black energy overturned the world.

 

And as if to counter it, white light that seemed to illuminate the world burst forth from Gaspata who had approached my side.

 

*

 

The first thing Bellode perceived was a handful of light.

 

At first it was faint. The light rippled quietly like a handful of breath, then soon stretched out brilliantly as if to swallow everything.

 

That sight was like a fragment of slow time, like the lingering echo of an ancient prayer.

 

“Ah.”

 

But this time, no words came out. In the blindingly brilliant radiance, there was only one thing Bellode saw.

 

‘Beautiful.’

 

Pure white light tore the black magi apart. With a single gesture, forms crumbled and turned to ash without even a chance to struggle.

 

In those eyes was a pure white lake that even the sky couldn’t reach, and divinity was contained in the fingertips. In that place without a breath of wind, long hair fluttered.

 

And Bellode knew the only word that could describe this scene.

 

‘Miracle.’

 

This was truly a real miracle.

 

“Lord God, Achrasia.”

 

Then the voice of someone who must have felt the same sentiment struck Bellode’s ears.

 

“Linoa.”

 

The woman who had once been a comrade was crying with both cheeks soaked wet.

 

“Bring down Your holy divinity upon this land to show Your great will, and have mercy upon this plague-stricken earth to grant salvation. In this servant’s name, I shall fulfill my calling.”

 

A trembling voice recited the familiar prayer. Even though she dared to invoke God’s name, I couldn’t blame her in this moment.

 

Because he too felt the same reverence that grazed his knees and pooled in his heart.

 

‘Lord God, Achrasia.’

 

Suddenly, Bellode’s blue eyes turned toward the other side. Yulia sat there with her mouth agape, like someone who had lost her soul.

 

It wasn’t just Yulia.

 

Ragnear and everyone else in this place couldn’t easily find words at the unbelievable miracle.

 

And the protagonist of all those gazes simply watched the fading light with a calm expression.

 

Faaaash-!

 

When all the light finally disappeared, her lips parted.

 

“Ah.”

 

At the death rattle-like sigh that escaped through her lips, Bellode finally acknowledged the miracle before his eyes.

 

What remained where the light had disappeared was a clear sky.

 

*

 

“I almost-”

 

I almost died.

 

[I almost died.]

 

As the words I had stopped saying came from nearby, I turned my head toward where the sound came from.

 

[Crazy. Crazy! What is all this chaos! These crazy humans! There are other things to do, how were they siphoning off that much magical energy!]

 

There lay Gaspata, collapsed gracefully like a tragic heroine.

 

[You-! What is this! What on earth have you been doing!]

 

Just then, Gaspata, sensing my gaze, vented his indignation at me, but I didn’t have the strength to answer.

 

Thud.

 

“Elpis!”

 

“Lady Elpis!”

 

When I came to my senses, I had already collapsed to the floor.

 

“Are you alright, Miss! Lean on me. Quickly.”

 

My whole body was trembling from the tension that had finally released.

 

“I’m, I’m fine. It’s just that the tension has been released.”

 

Linoa Marigold pulled me into her arms as if supporting me, and I quietly looked at Azel from within her embrace.

 

‘I really aged ten years.’

 

Azel, who couldn’t approach and could only stare blankly, had a face that looked like he might cry just like back then.

 

However, the first to burst into tears wasn’t Azel but Linoa Marigold.

 

“Miss! That power earlier-! That scene was truly-!”

 

Linoa Marigold’s tone was unusual, as if she couldn’t calm her overwhelmed heart.

 

In that situation, I had pretended that what Gaspata did was something I had done, so it was natural for Linoa Marigold to react this way. I smiled softly at her.

 

“Calm down, Linoa Marigold. My head is ringing.”

 

Anyway, now that it had come to this, as long as I didn’t get caught, that would be enough.

 

‘That Holy Maiden thing. I’ll give it a try, what the hell.’

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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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