SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 117

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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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Episode 117: The Black Wedding (3)
—Fallen one, desolate goddess of the withered land….
Geumsamae prayed with desperate longing.
—Grant me… grant me new blessing, I beseech you!
When cornered, humans shrink. Their mind, the breadth of their thought narrows at terrifying speed. It is why humans can flee, why they cling to anyone. Geumsamae was no exception.
—In exchange… yes, in exchange I shall offer my very existence! No, I shall lay waste to this world exactly as you desire! Ruins! Destruction! Chaos! Isn’t that what Mutia cherishes?! I’m good at it! I can do that!
Thud. I took a step forward.
—Hic.
Geumsamae heard my footstep and grew more frantic. She stumbled backward. As she retreated, she lifted her gaze toward the crimson sunset as though salvation might descend at any moment.
—I’m good at it, I swear it, Mutia! At least this one thing I do so well—destroying things—!
But there was no answer.
—This is.
Her prayer spoiled swiftly into resentment.
—This is a breach of contract!
I stepped closer still.
—You said you’d grant me the power to forge my own destiny! So why—why is there this insane madwoman dwelling in my body! Give it back! Return my body!
“Ah, I’m afraid your wording is incorrect.”
The Heresy Inquisitor spoke with bright cheerfulness.
“If perhaps you’re referring to me, I do apologize, but my biological sex is male. So your statement is inaccurate! I should be called a madman, not a madwoman. Hmm. For healthier language habits, I would suggest correcting it to something like ‘a person who has lost their reason.’ After all, healthy language harbors a healthy mind, Miss Evanail!”
—Damn you!
Sylvia Evanail—formerly the Young Lady of House Geumsamae—let out a curse.
—It’s wrong! Yes, it’s all wrong! This is a breach of contract… I was meant to become Empress. To rise to a station grander than Rabiel Ivancia’s. That’s how it was supposed to happen! That’s my destiny. The destiny I created! So it’s a breach… I…
Another step forward.
—Eek!
Only then did Sylvia Evanail tear her gaze from the sky. I had drawn near enough that she could no longer ignore my presence.
—Monster!
Sylvia Evanail swung her hammer. Clang! The iron hammer crashed against the Holy Sword. She brought it down in wild, frantic blows, and I slipped past each strike with measured steps. With every miss, her desperation mounted.
A desperate mind shatters easily.
—Ah.
I seized the moment when she raised the hammer high. I slashed at her wrist.
—Aaaaaagh!
Naturally, there was no wound. No blood, no crimson proof of pain—yet Sylvia Evanail shrieked as though being torn asunder.
She dropped the hammer. Thud! The iron head struck the ground with a heavy, dull sound.
—Ah… uh… uhhh…….
I met Sylvia Evanail’s eyes. Dust rose where the hammer fell, settling on both our knees.
“Choose.”
—Ch… choose…?
“You’ve already lost your place in this world. Even if you fled now, you’re no longer the Young Lady of House Geumsamae. You’re nothing but an apostle of the Constellation.”
—…….
“I’m offering you a chance.”
Sylvia Evanail stared at me, clutching her wrist.
“If you wish to remain as a servant of the Constellation, then by all means go. Run. I’ll let you. But if you still have ties to this world, if you want to stay and do something more—renounce the blessing of the Constellation you’ve bound yourself to.”
—Why would you….
“And die by my blade.”
I pointed my sword at her.
“You saw the battle. Those who fall to my hand, I can summon them forth again. With all their memories intact, everything they were. Sylvia Evanail. If you surrender of your own will, I’ll summon you back to this world—to live again as the Young Lady of House Geumsamae.”
—…….
“Of course, life won’t be exactly as it was. Any hostile action toward Rabiel Ivancia—my beloved—is forbidden. Beyond that, it’s yours to decide. Marry the Crown Prince or don’t. Live as you see fit.”
—Why….
“Because a life ought to be livable. Even a second time.”
The sunset now wove purple through its crimson. In the Empire, the wedding proceeds from the moment twilight falls until it fades. I estimated roughly thirty minutes remained.
—How can I trust you? What if you make me into a summon and then use me like a slave? I couldn’t resist or refuse anything.
“Think about it.”
I regarded Sylvia Evanail.
“Why do you think ‘you’ and ‘your butler’ were chosen as vessels for possession?”
—What?
“You gave everything to the Constellation. Your wishes, your memories, your body—all of it passed into its hands. Which is why your place in this world became emptiness.”
An emptiness anyone could fill, anyone could take.
It was how the Bookworm Librarian was able to possess me and the Heresy Inquisitor.
“Your place was hollowed out. You can understand that much.”
But.
“Have you ever wondered why your Butler became a void?”
—…….
Sylvia Evanail’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know all the details myself. But I’ve inhabited the Butler once. I was completely immersed in his life. What I realized then was that this man was utterly devoted to you, Sylvia Evanail.”
Based on that observation, I formed a hypothesis.
“I’m certain that even if you’d become Empress of the Empire, you would never have been happy.”
—What……?
“You said it yourself. You didn’t want to become Empress because you loved the Crown Prince—you wanted it to prove you were better than Rabiel Ivancia. But would your life have gone anywhere becoming Empress on those terms?”
I shook my head.
“You’re quite capable. But not more capable than Rabiel Ivancia. You lack the power and dignity that came to her through her family’s lineage. You don’t have her ability to manipulate and control crowds. Even if you’d become Empress, people would have spent your entire reign comparing you to Rabiel Ivancia and diminishing you.”
—…….
“Your entire life.”
Consider this.
Suppose there was one Butler.
That Butler would have watched his mistress suffer throughout her life.
“The Butler I know is the kind of man who would gladly sacrifice everything to save you.”
The Butler would have thought to himself.
[If only Miss Geumsamae had never become Empress, she would have been happy.]
“That’s what I believe.”
—The Butler… my Butler, he regressed?
“No.”
The Butler is not a Returner.
“You made a wish for yourself. But the Butler didn’t. The Butler made a wish for you. He didn’t want his own life restored—he only wanted you to go back.”
—What are you talking about……?
“Do you remember your Butler’s name?”
—What?
Sylvia Evanail’s brow furrowed.
—Of course I do. My Butler’s name is…….
But.
—…Huh?
Sylvia Evanail could not speak the name. Her brow furrowed deeper. After a moment, the furrow dissolved. Sylvia Evanail stared into the empty air in confusion.
—Wait, that can’t be. Huh? …Huh? What…?
I watched Sylvia Evanail calmly.
That’s right.
In this world, the Butler has never been called by name even once.
Sylvia Evanail never called the Butler by name either. Despite being her only attendant and childhood companion, she only ever called him “Butler.” Even in moments alone in her room where formality was unnecessary.
『Butler.』
Rabiel Ivancia has never called the Butler by name either. She holds all the information of the Empire in her grasp, and thus could not possibly be ignorant of the Baron’s daughter’s closest aide—and yet.
『Butler.』
The one I came to possess.
The Baron’s daughter’s servant had his name erased from this world.
Because he gave absolutely everything to the Constellation.
Even I.
Even when I was completely immersed in the Butler, I do not know his name.
I could not remember it, could not recall it.
—…….
Sylvia Evanail’s expression crumbled.
—Then, what does that mean……?
Like a tower built firmly crumbles from its peak downward.
—The Butler… he’s been erased entirely?
“Yes.”
Perhaps.
This world has regressed three times.
First, Sylvia Evanail wished for regression to a Constellation.
The Constellation that granted her wish was the Reaper of Ruins.
This Constellation, who oversees destruction and recreation, granted Sylvia Evanail another chance at life.
Sylvia Evanail surpassed Rabiel Ivancia and became Empress.
Then the “Butler” wished for regression to another Constellation.
The Constellation that granted his wish remains… unknown.
The Butler gave everything he had for Geumsamae, and as a result, this world returned to the past. To the time before Geumsamae, the Baron’s daughter, was to marry the Crown Prince. To a past where nothing had yet been decided.
And finally, Rabiel Ivancia triggered the Regression.
The Constellation who granted the wish was a fragment of the Goddess of Protection.
As a result of this Regression, the world became trapped in an endless cycle of ten days.
And now we have arrived at this moment.
“We will never know the Butler’s name. Never.”
……
“We cannot know with what heart the Butler watched over your life. With what thoughts he sacrificed everything of himself and prayed for Regression. We cannot know. Because he has vanished.”
And yet.
“The Butler must have wished for you to live a different life.”
Therefore.
“I want to grant the Butler’s wish.”
……
“Sylvia Evanail. In a place you do not know, someone whose name you will never learn sacrificed everything for you alone. Someone who loved you more than anyone, who wanted to be with you more than anything—that person gave up all they had.”
That was the way an unnamed Butler loved.
“Live again.”
It is not yet too late.
“Live again, as that person hoped you would.”
Sylvia Evanail said nothing.
Her hands trembled. Her mouth fell open. Her throat convulsed. A life was shaking there, seized by spasms. A cursed existence. And yet—how cruel is the fact, the knowledge that someone wished for you to live? That such a person existed?
……
Sylvia Evanail slowly lowered her head. She had no strength left to meet anyone’s gaze.
Slowly, light began to leak from her entire body.
The Constellation’s blessing was being undone.
“So be it.”
I raised my sword high.
I released the Compassion Sword and summoned forth the Righteous Sword once more.
A crimson sunset burned.
My sword’s shadow stretched long across the ground.
The shadow swung the blade.
[The Apostle of the Ox That Harvests Ruins vanishes.]
The sun had set.
All the Apostles of the Otherworld had been subjugated.
The beings that threatened this world have disappeared.
[Stage Cleared.]
A voice announcing it rang out.
Perhaps only the Heresy Inquisitor and I could hear this voice in this place.
[Today.]
[Floor 25 has been cleared.]
It was the voice of the Tower.
[Announcing once more to all.]
[Today, Floor 25 has been cleared.]
[Measuring clearing contributors.]
[Measurement complete.]
[Announcing the 3 clearers.]
People began to open their eyes, stirring. Demons, worshippers, guests. One by one, those who had been caught in the Apostle’s song and drawn into dreams awoke.
“Ugh……”
“What on earth is happening……?”
Characters floated above those people.
+
[Clearing Contribution Ranking]
1st Place. Four Kings
2nd Place. Heresy Inquisitor
3rd Place. None
+
“……”
I gazed at those characters in silence.
Two people had been deployed to this Stage.
The Hunter sent by the Bookworm Librarian was the Heresy Inquisitor and me—that was all.
Yet the Tower had recorded three clearers.
‘Nothing.’
The third Conqueror, one who should not exist, had left no name.
I gazed up at the empty air for a long moment.
“Mm.”
Rabiel Ivancia came to my side and took my hand. We leaned against each other’s shoulders. Then she slowly surveyed the gathered guests.
“He is my husband and the consort of the House of Ivancia.”
The guests, as if just waking from a dream, stared blankly at Rabiel and me.
“Is there anyone who objects to this marriage?”
No one spoke.
There were surely those who harbored resentment. There were surely those who would have objected. But all of it had become ancient history.
The mere appearance of an Otherworld entity was a world-shaking event. And the guests had even witnessed me driving that Otherworld entity back.
By holding their silence, the guests consented to Rabiel’s words.
“So be it.”
The very one who had orchestrated today as a wedding day, aiming for precisely this moment.
Rabiel, my bride, nodded deeply.
“I declare that this marriage between myself and this man has been solemnized.”
S-Rank Hunter: Only the Dead Live On (Serial Publication)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ JayplusMedia Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 1st)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Shin Noah 2019
※ This work is published by JayplusMedia Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violations of this are subject to criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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