〈 Episode 339 〉 Given time (8)
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The Goddess of Ash looked back on her life.
From the beginning, her fate was not so strange. There were times when she had fun. There was a time when she spent her daily life with loved ones. There were times when she could go to sleep without worrying about tomorrow.
It was there, but it’s gone.
Goddess of Ash.
Raniel van Dragonic.
She recalled the past.
Based on this time zone, it would be the future, but from Raniel’s perspective, it is the past. The 13 years of hell he had to endure. Raniel can never forget the day that hell began.
This place 13 years ago.
The day Kyle fulfilled his contract.
Unlike Raniel in the current time zone, he was awake that day. He wasn’t asleep and he faced Kyle.
“Raniel.”
Kyle came to me while I was trembling in fear of death. Holding out his hand, he smiled at Raniel, saying he had come to pay his debt. Raniel was fooled by that smile. He followed Kyle outside the mansion.
…If you think about it, it was full of suspicious things.
There would be no way.
There would be no basis whatsoever.
It must have been that way, but at that time, I blindly trusted Kyle’s words. I was so terrified of the approaching death that I couldn’t throw away his hand.
Just in case, I thought.
If it were this guy, wouldn’t he be able to do something?
Maybe there really is an answer?
Raniel followed Kyle, thinking things she would not have done under normal circumstances… and she had to pay dearly for that illusion.
“Why are you coming here?”
“Kyle, hey. Kyle.”
“Speak up, Kyle. Why do you come here? This is the place where the devil appeared. Why are you coming here? what? church···?”
The old site of the Selef Kingdom.
“hey.”
The altar of the church.
Myself lying there.
A scale summoned by Kyle.
“you.”
and.
“What are you doing now?”
Starlight begins to dwell in one’s body.
At that moment, Raniel realized everything. He realized both how to save himself and what Kyle was planning to do from now on.
“You now. Wait, stop. Stop.”
Regardless of the success or failure of the plan, everything down to what will happen to Kyle when this is all over. Raniel screamed because he realized everything.
“Are you crazy?”
“Stop it right now. I told him to stop. “You crazy bastard, do you think this is possible?”
It was a ridiculous plan.
Raniel screamed at Kyle because he couldn’t let this plan go. He raised his voice.
“you die. “I’m going to die.”
“Who said you wanted something like this? I do not need. Who told you to pay off your debt? “f*ck it all.”
“There is no need for this. “There’s no need!”
With no strength left to move his body, Raniel could only scream while glaring at Kyle. But no matter how loud he raised his voice, Kyle’s decision did not change.
“Kyle.”
Time passed.
“Kyle, you crazy bastard, please…”
The three days passed slowly.
Excruciatingly slow.
As time passed slowly, Raniel screamed to stop Kyle. he screamed. He stretched out his arms, barely able to move them, and tried to run away from the altar.
“don’t do it.”
But it failed.
“Don’t do it, you crazy bastard.”
Kyle just closed his eyes and meditated.
To no avail, Raniel tried to persuade Sarah, but Sarah just turned away from him. Time continued to pass and Raniel became broken.
“There is no need to save my life like this.”
“Isn’t it suitable for a hero? Am I going to be a hero? don’t Just let him die. Just, you just have to do it. Why to me…”
why.
“Why are you doing this?”
I asked questions and asked questions again.
Kyle simply answered the question like this:
“I’m just paying off my debt.”
That one word drove Raniel crazy.
Time continued to pass, and as the last day was about to pass, Raniel reluctantly did anything. She put her finger, which contained the mana she could barely squeeze out, into her mouth.
Smite.
I fired it with the intention of blowing through my head, but I failed to aim and ended up with a hole in my neck. Even that was only restored thanks to Sarah’s blessing. Raniel, who had failed to commit suicide, grabbed Kyle’s wrist.
“Let me die.”
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“There’s no need, so just let me die.”
I pleaded with Kyle.
I’d rather kill you. There was no need for this, so I prayed that they would just let me die. I begged him to erase all of my plans in exchange for my life.
「······.」
Kyle didn’t say anything anymore.
From the moment he saw Raniel attempting suicide, Kyle’s eyes began to waver. He no longer stayed inside the church.
He meditated outside in the pouring rain.
And, finally, that day has arrived.
The sky turned black and rain began to pour down. That day, Sarah and Kyle left Raniel alone at the church. Raniel looked beyond the open door with empty eyes.
Overflowing shade.
A single prosecutor stands in front of him.
Raniel looked back with empty eyes and witnessed Kyle’s end. There that day, Kyle succeeded but also failed. Why wasn’t he completely successful?
‘···iced coffee.’
Raniel knew the answer.
The last of the last. At the last moment, the tip of Kyle’s sword wavered. It wasn’t a physical problem. It was a psychological problem. Because someone had shaken Kyle’s spirit and left him with regret, the tip of his sword wavered at the last moment.
‘It’s because of me.’
Kyle failed because of himself.
If he wasn’t going to be able to stop it anyway, he should have kept his mouth shut, but Kyle was shaken because he resisted until the very end.
‘I turned Kyle into ■■.’
It started from there.
From there, everything went wrong.
Raniel, who was broken, began to fall. He fell and fell again. The swamp created by those who shed their blood for her sank Raniel.
Lost and lost again.
There were so many things I missed.
They moved to seek revenge.
Killed, burned, massacred.
There was nothing left.
Even as I was moving forward, I continued to lose.
When I looked back, there was no one left. Raniel fell to the floor. No one extended their hand towards the fallen Ran El. Those who would reach out to him have already left Raniel’s side or died.
Still, I walked.
I lived because I couldn’t die.
I walked to somehow repay the sacrifice.
“you.”
I lived for 13 years.
“What do you know about me?”
I tried to survive, I tried to struggle.
“What do you know about me? “Do you know what I’ve been doing for the past 13 years?”
The world was still hell.
“Master was murdered. Aplia burned down and disappeared. The students were driven to the battlefield without even graduating, and all the inexperienced children died. “There were children who survived, but half of them were renegades.”
I killed it with my own hands.
Everything, with my own hands.
“The children I raised, the children I taught to take responsibility for the next generation, are all dead. I even killed one of them with my own hands. It was a disaster. “I had to kill that boy who resented me.”
Because that was the role of a warrior.
“I, I…”
Raniel raised his hand.
There was nothing on her trembling fingertips, but she saw blood there.
“The country is destroyed, it’s full of refugees, and when you approach them to protect them… they run away screaming. At some point, I was no longer a warrior. “I was called a madman.”
Still, Raniel stood up and walked.
Even when no one looked at him, even when people cursed at him and threw stones at him, Raniel walked.
“It was hell.”
I have to take responsibility.
Because that responsibility is so heavy.
Still, I can’t run away.
“It was hell, but I survived because I couldn’t die.”
I had nightmares every night, so I walked around beating myself up, unable to fall asleep.
“I walked and walked like that…”
Raniel looked at Kyle.
“I remembered what you said.”
The broken human laughed.
“You thought I was a god. I heard it from Destel who was about to die. I heard you thought I was a god. It’s an idol. “He believed in me.”
That was your wish.
You wanted me to be like that.
“That’s why I became a god.”
The price had already been paid long ago.
Raniel has become empty because he has lost so many things, lost and sacrificed so many things. The empty human already had the qualifications to become a god.
“In a world that was ashes, I became a god. I thought I could achieve anything if I became a god… but no? “In fact, there are more restrictions.”
In the end, there was no answer.
Everything that was said to be the best or the ideal was just a fiction. The humans who had become gods spent another long time in silence, with no one answering in a world that had been reduced to ashes.
And turned back time.
She gave everything she had and returned to prevent a future like this from coming to an end.
“however.”
Raniel said as he sat down.
“And yet, you look at me…”
Raniel looked up at Kyle.
Kyle was still holding on to his arm. Raniel questioned Kyle, who refused to let him go.
“Are you telling me to stand up?”
Kyle still didn’t let go of Raniel’s arm.
In the past, just like Raniel did to him.
Never let her get away with it.
“okay.”
Kyle spoke again.
“Stand up, Raniel.”
2.
Raniel did not want a comfortable life or a happy future. Because she knew it was impossible. Still, if there is something you wish for…
“What I wanted was not something grand like that.”
Raniel lowered his head and muttered.
“A life where you can achieve something or die leaving something behind. That was enough. I could have been satisfied with that. I don’t even want brilliant achievements like Galahal’s. “If only my death meant something…”
I thought that was enough.
Raniel walked and walked, hoping for such a death.
“But what am I now?”
Kyle remained silent because it didn’t seem like a question he was asking for an answer. Raniel continued speaking.
“I didn’t achieve anything.”
“······.”
“I’m just alive. A life lived without being able to die. Why are you trying to save me who is promised such a future? Is there a need for that?”
Kyle took a deep breath.
Kyle sympathizes with Raniel in front of him. Although she may not be able to fully empathize with the hell she went through, she understands Ran El’s situation, which had no choice but to end up like this.
Even though I understand…
I can’t sit down next to you.
We cannot fall together. Because someone has to stand up, look forward, and walk. Even Kyle knows that now.
‘···This is how you felt.’
Someone has to take on this role.
Kyle smiled bitterly and opened his mouth, even though he was not happy about having to say something like this.
“That’s your story.”
Raniel’s shoulders trembled.
She slowly raised her head and looked up at Kyle.
“what?”
“I said it was your story, not Raniel’s. “You are not Raniel.”
Raniel’s expression wavered.
Looking at that expression that looked like it was about to collapse at any moment, Kyle let out a short breath.
“…If it were me in the past, I would have said that.”
Kyle laughed bitterly.
Kyle, with a slightly expressionless expression, bent his knees and looked at her from the same level as Raniel.
“How could I do that?”
This is not the tone of a warrior.
He rose to a high position, gained a position, and began to speak in Kyle’s original speaking style, not the speaking style that Kyle had practiced.
“I know. That you are not that perfect. That you are just a human being like me. “Now I know.”
Kyle let go of Raniel’s wrist.
“I’m going to fall. It will shake. I’ll sit down. Just like I did, you might be like that someday. But that’s right, Raniel.”
Kyle laughed.
“I know that you are the kind of person who stands up.”
It was always like that.
“You’re that kind of guy, aren’t you?”
At one time, Kyle was jealous of Raniel, envied him, and sometimes even worshiped him. Kyle, who was so crooked, did a lot of things he couldn’t do to Raniel.
Those countless atrocities will never be forgiven.
That’s why Kyle stood here.
Even if he is not forgiven, even if Raniel resents him… in order to repay at least a little of the debt he owed to this damn guy.
“No, Kyle, I…”
“Why not?”
Kyle chuckled.
“When you got to that point, didn’t you return to the past to try to resolve this situation? “I believe in you.”
therefore.
“Try to believe in the past you who is here now. Still, he must be a guy you can communicate with. “If we talk carefully, we might find a different answer.”
Raniel bit his lip.
She lowered her head.
Kyle smiled bitterly and let out a short breath.
“Raniel.”
There’s still something I want to say to her.
Raniel slowly looked up at Kyle. Kyle looked at her and opened her mouth.
“You may fall. Of course I will fall. “You too are human, so how can you run without stopping?”
Kyle said.
“If you’re still tired, get some rest. It’s okay to sit down and rest. It might be okay to turn your eyes to something else and take a breather. “Sometimes that’s okay.”
Kyle spoke to future Raniel through his own words what he wanted to hear from past Raniel. Of course, he wasn’t in a situation where he could say something like that at the time, and Kyle knew that well.
Because his rest meant the death of countless others. Because he collapsed and couldn’t rest.
Even though he knew that, Kyle let go of everything and sat down. She felt the emptiness of everything and collapsed like Raniel in front of me. As if to represent himself, the past Raniel entered more battlefields. He took on his duties on behalf of Kyle.
I believe that one day I will wake up.
He did his duty to the best of his ability.
‘Then, this time…’
It’s time to pay that debt.
Kyle tapped Raniel on the shoulder and stood up. He took a step in front of her, as if passing her by.
“Rest. “You can stand up slowly.”
Before we knew it, the given time was over.
The rain pouring down outside became heavier.
Kyle took a step forward, and Sarah, who had been listening to the conversation the whole time, came next to Kyle. Future Raniel looked at the two people in vain.
“Kyle, wait…”
Kyle stopped in front of the church door.
Kyle looked back as he opened the tightly closed door.
“······.”
Kyle turned his head slightly and tried to ask something, but closed his mouth with a bitter smile. It’s as if she feels she has no conscience for asking that.
‘···ah.’
I don’t know about Kyle.
Raniel from the future knows that expression.
Because at the last moment, this was the expression Kyle made as he looked at himself as he opened the door of the church. At that time, he couldn’t say anything. How much he regretted the past.
Kuuk.
Raniel bit his lip.
I expected it to happen like this, but it ended up like this. Raniel knows he can’t hold on to Kyle when he’s already made his decision.
Because I know.
Because I didn’t want to make the same mistake I did back then.
Raniel raised his lowered head.
“···really.”
She laughed while crying.
“Seriously, you damn bastard.”
“···The last words I leave behind are quite harsh.”
“Shut up, you idiot. “Because of you, I… I had to suffer so much.”
Raniel raised his middle finger toward Kyle.
“You f*cking bastard.”
She said, choking back tears.
“I was going to ask you if you still consider me a friend, right? “I kept trying to ask you that.”
“···How did you know?”
“Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking? Really, you f*cking bastard. “Is that the last thing you ask?”
Kyle chuckled.
“So, what is the answer?”
“꼭 말로 해야 아냐, 개새끼야?”
Raniel answered in a trembling voice.
“Who else would stay friends with an asshole like me, other than an asshole like you?”
“I know your personality is shit.”
“Really until the end…”
Kyle, who was looking at Raniel’s messed up face, soon turned his head with a smile. He started walking again, looking ahead.
Then he opened his mouth and spoke.
A line that I thought I would have to say someday.
“Hey, Raniel.”
“what.”
“Eat well and live well without me.”
“Eat well and live well without me.”
“You damn bastard.”
“You damn bastard.”
Kyle smiled and walked away.
The time given for the human Kyle Torben is over.
Now, it was time to become a warrior.
In place of the warriors from the future who failed to fulfill their responsibilities, Kyle Torben will become a warrior here today.
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fantasy,
