NOVEL NEXT Chapter 664
There was a calamity by that name.
‘Varschok.’
Translating this into our language means Erosion, signifying the phenomenon where safe zones where demon beasts do not naturally occur are gradually diminishing.
The scholar who originally named this disaster could never have imagined.
That the phenomenon of erosion would, centuries later, obliterate the surrounding area like a nuclear bomb invented in the future.
It happened when I was five years old.
Two years prior, at a time when my distrust of humans had reached its peak after almost meeting a gruesome end on a cross.
Our royal family was engaged in deer hunting around Shor-mong and received the warmest hospitality from Marquis Shor-mong.
Life in the medieval era wasn’t so different from the present in terms of worries.
Issues like the treatment of street beggars, the shortage of tax revenue, and the fact that my eldest daughter was neglecting her diet despite being of marriageable age.
“Esha, do you want to try shooting a bow?”
I shouldn’t have taken the bow that Hiasen offered me back then.
But this is the Republic of Korea we’re talking about.
Descendants of Jumong, a nation that achieved an undefeated myth of 15 consecutive Olympic archery victories.
So with pride swelling, I pulled at the bowstring with my five-year-old body.
Pik!
A golden-furred deer that was running ahead of us fell sideways, its head pierced through.
In that moment…
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-kung!
A massive tremor arose from across the mountain.
The wind halted suddenly, and a disturbingly bright light shot up from beyond the horizon.
The intense dome of light, as if tearing the sky apart, swept over the land in an instant, engulfing everything around.
The shockwave that shook the ground.
It was not an explosion; it was a calamity.
As the light began to fade, the air remained hot, and the entire land could be heard crackling as if burning.
At the center of the explosion, the heart of Shor-mong was left with nothing.
Along with that, Marquis Shor-mong’s worries had also vanished completely.
Beggar, taxes, fat daughter.
Fifty-five thousand citizens evaporated or were covered in dust and ash right there.
“We must execute that demon.”
The atmosphere turned deadly serious, to the point where even a lowly clergyman from the kingdom had the audacity to speak of punishing the royal family.
I remember the chilling atmosphere directed at me quite vividly.
*
Humanity was now at a crossroads for survival.
If dispersed, demon beasts would come; if gathered, erosion would strike.
After Shor-mong was erased from the map.
Erosion was immediately declared a national disaster of the Kaizen Empire.
In truth, it could be said that the response came far too late.
Other countries had already been suffering from erosion for five years by that point.
Regardless, the Emperor summoned the scholars from the Magic Tower to get to the bottom of the situation.
“It is believed that erosion is the decisive weapon of the demon race.”
This was the best conclusion drawn based on limited information.
The point that the population density of demon beasts significantly increases before erosion occurs.
And the fact that demon beasts do not attack demons was used as evidence to implicate the Demon King.
“Erosion has also been reported on the Eastern Continent.”
“Wait, does that mean you’re the only one who knows this?”
While engaging in fierce disputes with the demons…
A hypothesis arose that the demons might not be the culprits.
“There are a few of my comrades who know, but…”
“Would you happen to know their names? I’d like to commend their efforts.”
However, this hypothesis was discarded alongside a mysterious collective suicide of the scholars.
And another perspective emerged.
Some viewed erosion as a type of contagious disease similar to the plague.
This was due to ‘The Erosion of Laziness,’ which resulted in the highest death toll.
Laziness does not explode like greed or arrogance; rather, it causes widespread petrification.
Ultimately, the contagious disease theory was also discarded later on.
I often regretted that it would have been better to misunderstand erosion as a contagious disease.
Then, I wouldn’t have had to kill Niobe.
*
Rebirth.
I can’t quite remember what piece of art inspired me in my first life.
But I knew that with reincarnation came certain special perks.
Like nanobots or status screens.
If complete memory is considered a perk of reincarnation, there’s nothing more to say about it.
I simply thought I had it because of my mixed demon blood.
Then one day, I awakened a special ability of my own.
It was truly something extraordinary, capable of being called superpower, even with the mana concentration being extremely high based on the standards of my past life’s Earth.
“Esha, what in the world are you trying to show us by calling us to this rugged back mountain?”
“I was so nervous sneaking out with my brother!”
In this unfamiliar world, Hiasen and Niobe were my only support and joy in life.
When you become close, you inevitably start sharing secrets.
I began to divulge a secret that I should never have disclosed to them.
“I can summon pets from the shadows.”
“Pets?”
“Yeah, but you must never tell anyone.”
I placed my hand on Niobe’s shadow and released my Aura Heart, stirring intense emotions.
Most of that intense emotion was close to jealousy.
Jealousy that Hiasen only cared for his blood relative, Niobe.
Jealousy that Niobe only cared for her blood relative, Hiasen.
Thanks to the royal family, who constantly insulted me as a ‘filthy illegitimate child,’ my already dwindling self-esteem was more than enough to harbor such jealousy.
“It’s a rabbit.”
“Wow, it’s a rabbit?”
A fist-sized, eyeless rabbit jumped onto my hand.
Chomp, chomp!
The lifespan of summoned beasts typically doesn’t go beyond 10 to 15 minutes.
The two young siblings erupted into bright smiles.
After that day, I secretly continued my training as a summoner, wanting to see their amazed faces repeatedly.
At some point…
My false jealousy began to transform into something genuine.
The incident occurred during Niobe’s tenth birthday party.
In a distant future, it would be the daughter of Marquis Muzio, who would snatch the hero Klaus from me.
Her family had secretly spread the fact that my birth mother, Tenebraia, was a demon.
The rumor spread in an instant, ruining my debut presentation in the most flamboyant way.
The butler, Varus, who was conscious of the rumor, confined me to my bedroom for three days, during which time Niobe received countless gifts from around the world.
“Esha, you must have been so bored, right? I got so many amazing gifts!”
“They sent me a Turlok from the Southern Continent, and its nose is unbelievably long! It drinks water with its nose and plucks leaves with it! You should have come to see it, Esha!”
“Hiasen even received a marriage proposal today! Gyaah! I wonder what kind of prince I will marry in the future? I hope he’s cool and down-to-earth like Esha!”
It became a kind of stubbornness.
A stubbornness to show something far more impressive than the gifts they received.
That night, on the back mountain.
What I summoned from Niobe’s shadow was a cobra measuring several meters in length.
“Oh, no… I wasn’t trying to summon something like this…”
It was then I realized.
The creatures I conjured were not mere summoned beasts; they were real demon beasts.
Niobe, bitten by the cobra demon, now had a huge hole in her arm, bleeding profusely.
At that time, Hiasen and I could only hold off the demon until it imploded.
Holding off a giant demon at the age of 12 and 10 was almost miraculous…
Yet, Niobe was already on the verge of death as the neurotoxin spread throughout her body.
“Niobe! No! Stay awake, Niobe!”
“Esha, you took the antidote course, didn’t you? Don’t you know any magic or something?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know! That damn bastard always taught me half-heartedly!”
The makeshift antidote magic I devised by squeezing all the knowledge I had failed.
The next day, Niobe, who was celebrated by everyone, lay in a black coffin.
“…”
“That child really had the blood of demons…”
“Good heavens, did she die with resentment?”
“Did you hear the rumors? There’s a prophecy from the kingdom…”
In a stifling atmosphere, I collapsed, clutching my neck.
“Are you okay, Esha?”
Hiasen supported me.
“I was the essence of that erosion…”
A voice offering to share power echoed from the recesses of my unconsciousness.
Along with an urge to kill Hiasen.
Sure enough, erosion was not on my side.
I resolved to kill the erosion.
*
When I was working at the Magic Tower, I once heard Master Maria say this.
“It was sheer luck that you could detach the erosion of jealousy at the age of 13.”
In other words, it meant it was unintentional.
Erosion ensnares humans near death as hosts to extend a wide-area barrier.
In other words, when I was three years old, I was destined to die.
Originally, the soul of an infant would be impaled on a cross and evaporated, allowing Schadenfreude to inherit her temperament and memories.
And a ticking time bomb would roam the imperial palace, secretly fooling everyone.
Yet somehow, within the infant’s body, the first persona from my past life remained.
“Personality suppression technique? Are you crazy? If a person is split into two, they originally die.”
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde didn’t die…”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing at all.”
After three years of seeking an answer.
I went to find the Blue Dragon, Tsurevis Oshtan, who was Master Maria’s mentor.
It was thanks to the Blue Dragon that I formed a bond with Master Maria after dropping out of the Academy.
He was creating a human blueprint using the Akashic Records to make the most perfect homunculus.
In exchange for providing my genetic blueprint, I requested the creation of a ‘doll’ that resembles me.
First, he would contain an untainted persona unsullied by erosion into the doll.
Then, he would kill the ‘original being’ Schadenfreude to extract the Aura Heart.
Finally, he would pass on pure memories and temperament to the new body, thus completing it.
The old dragon, adept at manipulating 7 Circle Persona Physis, accomplished this challenging task perfectly.
“Are there any side effects? I’m curious about what it feels like to have a persona extracted.”
“Other than occasionally feeling like my body doesn’t belong to me, it’s the same as always.”
“That could indeed be the case. Anyway, be genuinely grateful that you survived because of your multiple personalities.”
“Do you believe I have a personality from my past life?”
“I think it sounds like a madness to say that, but sure.”
*
In the past, I might have mentioned that erosion creates overlapping dimensions.
That means I’ve been living in a fantasy for 13 years.
Since erosion hadn’t occurred, there wasn’t a significant difference between reality and what I perceived.
However, a peaceful imperial family was something that couldn’t have existed in the first place.
I’ve heard that princes Jade and Feiran were often bent on killing me and Hiasen.
This culminated in Marquis Bastion’s swordsmanship class.
I achieved victory together with Hiasen by creating the unique magic Adela.
“Back then, Jade and Feiran teased us a lot as a joke, didn’t they?”
“A joke? What are you talking about? Those bastards conspired with Marquis Bastion to genuinely try to kill us that day. Didn’t you feel the intent to kill?”
“………”
I didn’t feel it.
To my recollection, they never had that kind of look in their eyes.
Yet according to Hiasen, they attempted to poison me multiple times afterwards, and I only escaped each time by sheer luck.
“Where was Marquis Bastion’s lair? My beloved brother Hiasen.”
I grabbed Hiasen’s chin and turned his face towards me.
He had eyes that were far too frail for someone destined to become Emperor.
*
“Isn’t this enough for you? I’m not really sure what the true nature of erosion is. Just don’t try to understand it, just accept it.”
As I elaborated for so long, the bathwater had gone cold.
I was closing the blinds and preparing for a shower when—
Thump, thump—
Cheon Saetbyeol knocked on the glass wall.
“What happened to Marquis Bastion? You didn’t kill him, did you…?”
“Yeah, I killed him.”
“What about Prince Jade and Feiran?”
“I killed both.”
“What about the Emperor? The Demon King? The Hero Party?”
“I killed them all. No, wait, the Hero Party, you killed them, Luri.”
Luri simply nodded silently.
Her eyes showed no sign of agitation whatsoever.
I gave a bitter smile and lowered the blinds.
“It was always a world like this.”