My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 266

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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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“Get lost!”

He swung his sword, tearing through the figures blocking my path. Those who were cut down threw themselves at us again without even feeling pain, looking just like a horde of zombies.

Azazel followed behind, endlessly cutting down people with his sword. The severed people melted into mush, split into two, then multiplied into three.

“There’s no end!”

Azazel shouted while breathing roughly.

“Evangeline. You know how to ride a horse, right?”

Without time to reply, I hurriedly mounted the horse and extended my hand.

“Azazel, grab on.”

The moment I said those words, I realized that Azazel didn’t have an arm to grab with.

“Your arm…”

“It’s holy water.”

It wasn’t just his arm. Azazel’s body, his remaining arm and shoulder, and his exposed skin were corroded in red and purple patches. His flesh was rotting, with wounds that looked burned throughout.

“Evangeline, did you forget? I’m a demon. Hurry and go.”

Why? I don’t understand. What obligation does Azazel have to make such a sacrifice for me? The Azazel I knew wasn’t the type to do something so reckless.

After freezing for a moment, I grabbed his neck and forcibly pulled him up onto the horse.

Azazel, who had been silent for a while, opened his mouth.

“I saw Saraka at the Imperial Palace.”

So that was why he had been distracted.

“She kept calling out your name, which was a bit creepy, but aside from that, she looked like an ordinary maid. No scars on her face either.”

I heard a small laugh.

“You said this place is your dream.”

“It’s not a dream, it’s Rahel tempting me with situations I might desire.”

“Ah. We’re busy, so let’s just move on. It’s similar anyway.”

Azazel shook his head.

I understand why this damn bastard helped me. In this world designed for my comfort, there existed a Saraka who lived peacefully, not as Bishop Marik’s substitute.

“I’m done for if I touch holy water. I don’t know how I got in here, but swimming out is impossible.”

Does Azazel want to remain here, even if it means melting away, even as just a trace?

He was calm, as if he had already accepted his fate.

“Well… probably our God attached me to you to make atonement or something.”

Was that why Azazel was here instead of Pudding and Jelly?

Honestly speaking, it’s his own doing. If this snake bastard hadn’t harmed Gabriel in the first place, none of this would have happened.

I had no intention of pitying him.

However…

Annoyingly, it was true that he had aspects similar to me.

Azazel closed his eyes and opened his mouth one last time.

“Evangeline. Saraka hates fire.”

This was the same thing he said in Bishop Marik’s reception room, before his memories were corrected. …What an idiot, not even knowing he said the same thing twice.

Soon Azazel’s body completely burned away and melted into nothing.

In the end, I withdrew the hand I had extended into empty air and spurred the horse on alone. Halfway through, even the horse melted away and I ran on foot. My shoes got in the way of running, so I threw them away. I kept running barefoot.

“I’ve arrived.”

I finally arrived. I caught my breath and looked ahead.

“What is this…?”

It was a scene where black-and-white and color were forcibly stitched together. I saw a city frozen as if someone had stopped time while it was collapsing. Half of the magnificent and sacred temple was cut away, while the other half showed the shabby appearance of a slum. At the boundary of that heterogeneous space, only one scene was endlessly repeating like a broken projector.

I couldn’t continue speaking.

A young boy was carrying a corpse on his back. Even compared to other boys, he had an exceptionally shabby and gaunt appearance. The boy in tattered clothes with a desperate face took heavy steps. And he repeatedly asked passing pedestrians for help. Asking them to help. Like that, continuously. Continuously.

Gabriel was endlessly repeating some memory from the past.

“…Gabriel.”

My steps toward him felt heavy.

…What emotions had Gabriel endured with as he stood under the Knight Order’s flag planted in the collapsed slum?

I took a step forward.

One step.

One step.

And finally reaching him, I extended my hand.

Swallowing the surging emotions, imitating the most gentle face I could manage.

“Do you need help?”

I spoke the words that young Gabriel would have needed most.

Blue eyes looked up at me. Those eyes held no fear or wariness. Only deep fatigue and an inexplicable emptiness had settled there. Gabriel’s severely swollen lips opened.

“You are…”

“A demon who came to help you.”

“A demon?”

The child seemed confused that the word “demon” didn’t match with “helping,” and mumbled with his mouth.

“That’s right. If you take my hand, your life might head toward an even deeper mire.”

I smiled brightly.

It wasn’t a lie. My desire to save Gabriel might be my own selfishness. Even asking for consent from a child who knows nothing is close to self-satisfaction.

But I deeply hope. Please, take my hand yourself. I was waiting for the child’s answer, but what was actually placed in my hand was a handkerchief.

“It’s clean cloth.”

The child, who had been making excuses as if embarrassed, looked into my eyes.

“Um… please don’t cry.”

I didn’t even know I was crying. Once I realized it, tears streamed down my face. The child panicked and tried to comfort me.

“…When I grow up later, I’ll help you.”

The moment Gabriel took my hand, the sky completely scattered and shattered. Massive waves rushed in, but I held young Gabriel tightly so I wouldn’t lose him. He scattered with the light in my arms. In the end, what remained with me was a small ‘glimmer.’

***

‘…!’

I opened my eyes with a start and looked around.

‘Where’s Gabriel?’

When I sat up, the ground swayed. It wasn’t ground. More precisely, I was on a small ferry.

“You’ve awakened.”

A ferryman with his face covered by a robe was rowing.

“Le…”

“Shh.”

Lea raised her index finger to her lips. It meant not to call her name.

“This is Lake Rahel.”

I turned my head to survey the surroundings. The lake, which perfectly reflected the stars in the sky, was very dark. Rather than a lake, it felt like I had fallen right into the night sky.

“All dead things have sunk here.”

Looking into the lake, I could see countless orbs that had sunk down. The lake side was sparkling, and the sky was reflecting the lake. It was a surreal sight in many ways.

So I was inside there just moments ago.

“Was the dream Rahel showed you comfortable?”

I didn’t make the mistake of looking back. I just carefully unfolded what I had been clutching in my hand. I wrapped the orb carefully, worried it might break. This was… Gabriel’s soul.

Lea said while rowing.

“Originally, all souls belong to Rahel, so there is no one for whom holy water has no effect.”

The reason holy water cannot heal the body is because restoring the soul, which is more worn than the body, takes priority. Lea’s explanation was the complete opposite of what I had known.

“So I am one who does not exist in this place.”

When Lea reached out to skim the water’s surface, her fingertips cracked and instantly melted away.

All the water in the lake was holy water. The things Lea created rejected holy water. Because they resembled their creator. Lea also corroded at the mere touch of holy water.

“You are the only exception.”

Because I am a soul Lea brought from outside the world.

“Azazel is…”

“He fulfilled his given purpose by guiding you to the right path.”

The aftertaste is unpleasant. The fact that I can’t shout that he died well makes him a bastard until the very end.

“So. Did you meet that child?”

“Yes.”

What Lea was referring to here wasn’t Gabriel, but Amaranth… that is, my mother.

And that was the price Lea had demanded from me.

Lea said as her price that she wanted to see Amaranth even just once more. Amaranth belonged to Rahel, but she bore too many traces of Lea, so she had to remain locked away for a long time in the very depths of Lake Rahel. So Lea couldn’t see Amaranth for a very long time, perhaps forever.

That’s why she would have demanded such a price from me.

“Good. Then I’ll take my payment.”

When Lea placed her finger on my forehead, something surged up from within me in reverse. Lea preciously received what I spat out like vomit. What I had coughed up was a red gem that resembled Amaranth’s eyes.

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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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