NOVEL NEXT Chapter 338: Saint
She bit her lips tightly until she tasted blood.
She was doing all her best not to feel the creeping dread, the fear pulsing through her body like a venomous poison.
The title she received was not just a cool thing. It was not something Noah gave to her and it was over. No, she was feeling the effect of the title.
And oh… what a desolating feeling.
She felt like everything had abandoned her. Her family, her friends, a part of her power… her master, Ruin.
She was alone. Alone in front of a being who looked like he would eat her at any given moment.
Fear started to bloom inside her heart. But she didn't let it show.
She didn't let any feelings surface anymore. She was cold. She was apathetic. She was lifeless.
She stared intently at Noah's white eyes and spoke.
"What do you want?" she asked evenly.
"What else? The Ruin you talked about when we first met. But before all of that…" Noah paused, then pointed at his two siblings.
"…heal their wounds." It was not a request.
It was an order.
And the woman, even though she was chained and abandoned by everything, had not reached her current level of power because of some mercy of the universe.
She worked hard for it. She bled for it.
She returned Noah's gaze without flinching. "My liberty," she said.
Noah paused. It took him almost a second to realize this woman was trying to bargain with him.
He almost laughed. But he was not in that type of mood. He didn't like to see his siblings in this state.
"I don't think you understood clearly your situation. You are at a disadvantage here. You have no choice but to do what I want," Noah intoned.
"Disadvantage?" she scoffed coldly.
"There is no power like Ruin in this universe. And nothing can win against Ruin except Ruin. No, it's possible. But you would have to be much more than a simple Law Creator rank to do so."
"And besides, 'darling,' once there is a trace of Ruin inside your body, it will continue to expand until all of your body is… ruined."
She shifted her head toward Aurelia and Asaemon, whose faces were becoming more and more pale. Black veins started to slither through their pale skin.
Realization dawned upon them.
The woman smiled.
"And once it reaches a certain stage, even I would not be able to save them. And Ruin kills even soul, so reincarnation would be a feeble dream."
She looked back at Noah. She shuddered subtly at the coldness he was emitting, but she didn't back down. She finished her words.
"If I were you, I would not waste time."
Silence fell.
It was an uneasy one. Even the cat on Noah's shoulder twisted its body nervously.
It was just born. It didn't want to die so soon.
"You are threatening me?" Noah asked.
"I am simply giving you choices to make. You can ignore what I said and try to torture me, and I will make sure to resist until your siblings reach the point of no return."
"Or you can accept my terms. You set me free, I save them." She then gave him a small, crooked smile.
"You happy. I happy. We happy."
Noah didn't know if this woman was mocking him or not, but he couldn't discard the truth in her words.
But still,
"I would be a fool to set you free after your attempt to murder me," he said.
"It was business. I will tell you what I know about Ruin before disappearing too. You'll never see me again."
Noah shook his head. "I don't like loose ends."
"It doesn't matter what you like."
"But oh, it does. It does."
He slowly stood up from his crouching position, took a couple of steps back.
"You said I cannot save them?" Noah asked, then smiled.
"Let me show you."
He didn't want to do what he was about to do, because the price he would pay would be too much.
He was not strong enough to save them without losing something in the process. And that something he was about to lose made him truly feel indignant.
But he didn't want to let his siblings suffer. Especially if all of this was because of him.
The woman wouldn't talk. She was stubborn, he could see that. He could have made her talk, but before that happened, things might worsen.
As if waiting for this, both Aurelia and Asaemon staggered down as they felt excruciating pain.
Asaemon's left hand continued to disappear, sweat dripping from his head.
Aurelia clutched her chest, unable to do anything.
Noah panicked. He immediately ran to them, inquiring if they were feeling good or not.
It was a dumb question, he knew it. They clearly looked like their lives would end at any moment.
Noah gritted his teeth. Simple wounds like this shouldn't be so hurtful and life-threatening to beings like Aurelia and Asaemon.
So how?
What he didn't know was that this power came from outside his universe. And the origin of this power was someone even realities feared.
The Red Woman was weak. The weakest Ruin could send without alerting the others and the Records by masking her. If she had been strong enough, the siblings would have been dead just by inhaling the air with her in their presence.
That's how Ruinous they were.
Without wasting more time, Noah acted.
He used his causality.
"I can heal them because I am the greatest healer."
Failed.
"I can heal them because of some luck during the process."
Failed, once again.
Noah paused for a brief moment, his mind running through countless thoughts in search of a way out.
But there was no other way out other than the one he currently dreaded to use.
After all, it was supposed to be his hidden card.
"Accept the deal. That's—!"
"Shut your goddamn mouth, bitch." Noah snapped.
He glared at her with eyes that could kill.
"Just wait till I finish saving them and I swear you will regret making me lose this life." His voice was filled with wrath.
The Red Woman trembled.
A mistake, once again.
Instead of trying to prove that she was not some meager being, she might have had a better chance if she had acted tame to curry favor with Noah.
She had been abandoned after all. She had no one.
Wasn't this the time to build something with someone who could make her abandoned?
But no, she decided to bargain her freedom. It would have worked on anyone else, honestly. But Noah was Noah.
He had cheats.
Even though these cheats would not help him save his siblings without a cost, they would still save them.
And the cost was easy to bear. Just difficult to swallow.
Noah parted his lips again,
"I can save them because I have already been killed by the same power, thus I know all its intricacies," he whispered.
Time froze for a brief moment. Then—
{You have lost your title: The One Protected by The Records.}
The threads of causality changed. New information poured into his mind as he understood how to save his siblings, and even how Ruin worked.
But at the cost of losing the one protection the Records had granted him.
He almost cursed in irritation but then, as if unable to see their favorite in distress…
{You sacrificed your life to save your siblings.}
{The Records are proud of you, Noah.}
{You have received a title: Embrace of Records (3 times).}
Noah was stunned for a while before his mouth split into a smile.
"Ah… is that the famous: goodness is always rewarded by goodness?"
He chuckled.
"I might change my vocation to be a Saint then."
"Saint of Mercy."
Sounds cool.
He chuckled and went to save his dying siblings.
—End of Chapter 338—