My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 77

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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 77

Turn back time?

[My blessing has limits. Humans cannot turn back the time of those who are already dead.]

Gaspata clearly said it couldn’t be done, didn’t he?

[It’s possible. Turning back the time of the dead is merely forbidden, not impossible.]

Confusion settles in my mind.

I can save Azel. If that’s the case, it didn’t matter who the voice in my head was.

Azel’s regression had ended, and this was his last chance. If there was a way, I had to try it no matter what.

But.

‘Is it okay to break a taboo?’

[You will have to pay a price.]

What kind of price?

[You will give your remaining time to him.]

So I’ll die instead of Azel.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. But despite my tightly closed eyes, light had already begun to rise around me.

[Aren’t you hesitating?]

I know this sacrifice doesn’t suit someone selfish like me. But it’s not like I was bewitched by a voice of unknown good or evil either. I just didn’t have time to hesitate.

‘If I had more time, I might regret this. But right now, I just want to protect this person.’

Only that fact moved me.

I wanted to truly save this person who had already rescued me so many times, at least once.

“You-“

Sensing something, I could hear that thing’s voice too. Fortunately, there was no interference.

“What are you trying to do?”

Soon, an indescribably clear white light began flowing from me and settling into Azel.

I could feel Gaspata’s blessing stored within my body explosively surging as if burning my inherent life force.

‘Beautiful.’

Damn it, but that sight was beautiful.

The red blood that had soaked the earth returned to its original place as if defying time, and the torn skin and ripped clothes regained their original form.

The miracle I had occasionally heard about through people’s words was unfolding before my very eyes.

“Ugh! This can’t be!”

Along with that, something strange happened.

The thing that had been quietly watching what I was doing was now oxidizing into black smoke.

‘Why is that one?’

Perhaps panicked, it struggled desperately to shake off the clinging light, but that was all. Its body, crumbling along with the light, was slowly but quickly disappearing.

“Akrasia!”

When it shouted with bloodshot eyes, I could hear a familiar name.

The chief deity, Akrasia.

I thought that perhaps the identity of the voice I heard might be that being.

“You dare interfere with me again!”

Around that time, Azel’s eyelids trembled.

“Wake up.”

Yeah, chief deity or whatever, what does any of that have to do with me.

“Wake up, Azel. Hurry.”

Honestly, I wasn’t interested in their affairs. Because the trembling tips of his eyelashes were heartbreaking, I just wished for Azel to open his eyes quickly.

“…My hand.”

When I reached out to caress the cheek of the one who seemed about to wake up at any moment, I realized. My fingertips were blurry and I kept losing strength in my body.

‘I’m disappearing.’

It wasn’t simply losing strength like when I overused my blessing. Just as the voice had told me, it seemed I was really about to die.

“…Hurry up and wake up. I need to hear at least a final goodbye. If I disappear alone like this without saying anything, you’ll misunderstand again.”

As if hearing my earnest whisper, Azel’s eyelids trembled once more.

Knowing how beautiful the eyes beneath these eyelids would be, tears kept flowing.

“Open your eyes, Azel.”

Then finally, he opened his eyes.

*

The first thing Azel perceived was a water droplet that fell on his lips.

‘…Rain?’

The water droplet was too warm to be rain and tasted slightly salty.

‘Is this a dream?’

The next thing he perceived was light.

The dazzling white light that he had come to hate because of Elpis. He hated the light that gnawed at her life and turned back time.

Despite warning her countless times not to use it, she rarely listened, so it seemed the same thing had happened again.

But why?

‘Why did she use her power again?’

His slowly connecting consciousness finally recalled the situation just before.

He remembered the moment when he arbitrarily picked up the sword and thrust it into his chest. Naturally, all the causality fell into place.

This light had turned back his time.

“-Elpis!”

It was right then that someone embraced his body as he woke up in shock.

“Are you awake?”

The voice that had become thoroughly affectionate was familiar. The hand stroking his back after abandoning formal speech was unusually tender, making him suddenly afraid.

“What happened. Did you turn back my time?”

“Calm down. It’ll be okay now. It’s all over.”

“All over? Come to think of it, what about that thing.”

“That thing disappeared. In the end, it couldn’t do anything to you and ran away far off.”

“Ran away.”

That didn’t seem likely.

The confusion was brief. Then, she brought up something unbelievable.

“More importantly, I have something to tell you. Please listen.”

Something to tell me?

“The regression is over.”

“…Suddenly saying the regression is over. What do you mean by that.”

That couldn’t be. The three items Elpis had mentioned were all destroyed by his own hands.

Without the necessary materials, stopping the regression couldn’t be possible. So what he just heard was impossible.

But Elpis continued speaking.

“I lied. Your regression was already completely over when we first met.”

“…What?”

“The time period of one month was never necessary from the beginning. The regression is over, and you won’t go back anymore.”

He couldn’t understand it at all.

“Wait, Elpis. What do you mean by that.”

This is too sudden. Yes, this was too sudden.

What’s important now isn’t the regression. Escaping safely from that strange thing comes first. Now wasn’t the time for the two of them to be having this conversation.

“That can wait until later-“

“There is no later.”

“What do you mean there’s no later?”

“Only now. The only moment I can convey my true feelings to you is right now.”

Suddenly my gaze falls beyond Elpis’s shoulder. The light that had filled our surroundings was evaporating like a handful of dust. An inexplicable anxiety crept over me.

“The day we first met. The reason I didn’t tell you first that my regression had ended was because I thought you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Do it later. I don’t want to hear it now.”

“The three items were just an excuse. Not for regression, but merely my selfish desire to remain in your memory. I wanted you to remember me even after I left.”

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear any more.”

At that moment, Elpis released her embrace. The two eyes that met mine were as gentle as her voice, but her pale cheeks were soaked with tears.

The anxiety deepened.

“Why are you crying.”

“I’m selfish, and such an incredible liar that I won’t tell you the whole truth even in this moment.”

“Elpis?”

“So just remember this.”

“What’s wrong with you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

My unconsciously extended hand tried to grab Elpis. But something was strange. There was nothing touching my hand.

When I lowered my head, only then did it come into view. Light was slowly scattering from her feet upward.

However, along with that light, Elpis’s body had also grown faint.

“What’s happening to this.”

The scattered light rose into the air defying gravity, and finally disappeared there as if oxidizing.

Every moment felt ominous, as if visualizing the dissolution of a soul.

“I have been watching over you for a very long time. That was entirely my choice, so don’t feel sorry just because you didn’t know about it.”

“Why is this happening!”

“There are no moments among them that you need to remember.”

Like tens of thousands of galaxies rising from earth to sky, white light swirled. It was a signal that she was disappearing.

I belatedly embraced her as if to catch the disappearing Elpis, but it was useless. Elpis’s form was already blurred.

“I’ll take all the painful memories with me, so you live for tomorrow.”

“…!”

“Don’t be bound by the past anymore, don’t worry about having your life stolen. Don’t be swayed by such voices.”

Her final voice brushed past my ear like wind. Unlike her blurred form, only Elpis’s smile remained clear.

“I loved you. If I could, I would have wanted to stay by your side too.”

“Elpis?”

Finally, the last light disappeared.

Nothing remained where the light had oxidized.

…Elpis?

There was no answer in return either. Only warmth like an afterimage remained in his arms.

She was no longer here, in This Place.

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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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