KFBRV Ch 138
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
Even though the silver bullet pierced her head, she felt no pain at all. Nevertheless, she felt her body turn corpse-like. Her eyes wouldn't blink, and her heart stopped beating.
However, her senses and consciousness remained.
They said it was a silver bullet that doesn't kill even when hit, so this was what it meant.
Therefore, she could capture it in her eyes. Their horrified expressions.
Zion, shedding tears blankly, Viktor falling into despair with a pale face, and Johan and Karl struggling as if they had lost their reason.
Her body tilted backward over the railing and soon plummeted into the sea.
The gravity pulling her endlessly down the sheer cliff made her dizzy. Tearing screams that pierced her ears echoed.
Her hair and dress fluttered in the fierce sea breeze. In her falling vision, she saw a woman climbing up along the ridge of the mountain. It was Charlotte, having just arrived at the villa.
Her lovely face was full of shock.
It seems I successfully smacked the back of her head.
At that moment, the sound of a status window popping up, ding—, rang in her ears.
[♡ Quest Success ♡]
[You successfully awakened Karl within the 10-minute time limit by causing emotional disturbance♥]
[Karl receives a 'Strong Shock'.]
[Reward: Restoration of the 'Affection' function of the Status Window]
[The reward is automatically accepted.]
[Congratulations! The Status Window for 'The Only Savior' has been completed!]
What?
Before she could even read the notification floating before her eyes, her body sank beneath the seawater with a splash.
[This is the optimal moment to use the Invisible Dagger.]
[Would you like to use the Invisible Dagger?
YES/NO]
[The owner of the status window is in a state unable to judge. The status window arbitrarily selects YES.]
[The Invisible Dagger successfully separates the 'Necklace' and the 'Status Window.']
[The status window is separated from the 'Necklace made by the First Transcendent' and is perfectly bound to 'Odette'.]
[You can now use the status window without the necklace.]
Deep underwater. The bubbles created by the body falling into the sea and the fast current obstructed her vision.
[Congratulations! Odette, you have now become the perfect owner of the status window!]
Yet the text of the status window was clearly visible.
Is the status window bound to me?
She wanted to focus more on the status window, but her consciousness gradually blurred. It was due to the effect of the silver bullet, which makes one lose consciousness for several hours instead of appearing as a corpse.
Feeling herself being sucked into the fast current, she lost consciousness just like that.
Bang!
Simultaneously with the gunshot, the bullet passed through Odette's head.
At the same time, the intelligence glittering in her teal eyes vanished, and all vitality completely drained from her fragile body.
Swaying precariously like a marionette with cut strings, her body plummeted backward over the railing.
[Johan] "Odette!!"
Despite struggling so much in terrible frustration, the Transcendents' legs would not move.
Amidst the sound of fierce waves, the sound of Odette sinking into the seawater was heard.
A beast-like scream from an unknown person filled the room. Perhaps it was Karl's own.
The legs that wouldn't move despite desperate effort soon moved with frustrating ease.
While all the other Transcendents rushed madly toward the sea, Karl alone couldn't. Because his entire body was strangely hot. To the point where standing was difficult, let alone moving.
He slumped to his knees. On the floor, slick with blood flowing from his ankles.
Why on earth...
At first, it was curiosity. Something that gave him a reason to look back on a life he had never once looked back on.
How wary she was of him even while trying to win his favor. While pretending to be more loyal, more obedient, and catering to her, he came to observe her.
[Odette] "Karl. Don't follow me, just cover me from a distance."
She was a human, exactly the opposite of him. Unlike him, who was indifferent to everything, she was fierce in everything.
Her forcibly enduring appearance seemed pathetic, then funny, and at some point, he became curious.
What on earth was that woman living so hard for? Why struggle so much over something so trivial?
[Odette] "If by chance you find a critical patient, never mind covering me, save that person first. If you lack money, come find me."
But following her gaze, he found reasons to cling to even trivial things. Those insignificant things seemed worth striving for.
With the newfound realization, color returned to his black-and-white world like paint spreading. At those moments, he felt as if meaning was dwelling in his life as well.
No, actually, it might have been like that since he first saw her in the Imperial Palace garden when they were young.
A little girl sitting buried in lace under the deep blue sky. Placing a bird of the same color as herself on her finger, she carefully whistled.
Blue sky, yellow dress, yellow bird.
Why did color exist only in that memory, unlike his other memories?
Why did he look back at that girl?
Why did a subtle ripple occur in his heart at that moment?
He felt he finally knew the name of that ripple.
I listened well. I did as you ordered! I never disobeyed any of your commands.
I considered you my Master so diligently.
He ground his teeth.
You can't leave me like this. I can't lose you this way.
But all he, feverish, could do was pant on the floor.
It was that moment. The already hot body suddenly became burningly hot in an instant. Simultaneously, a grotesquely large amount of blood poured from his ankles.
The flowing blood drew a circle. As if a sacrifice named Karl was placed in the middle of a magic circle.
I am willing to offer anything. I must bring her back.
Then, as if responding to that will, the blood crystallized and hardened.
The thick stream of blood, bearing a gloomy, persistent, and unpleasant color, divided into six strands, transforming into six dark red iron rings.
Then the rings, centered on Karl, began to tilt. Like an armillary sphere.
Karl stood up. Written on the rings were the ancient words of Fenrir related to time.
He instinctively realized that he had awakened the ability of time manipulation. And how to use that ability to stop and reverse flowing time.
[Karl] "『Reverse.』"
He commanded thus in the ancient language of Fenrir. At his command, the rings surrounding him emitted a dark red light and slowly expanded.
The rings, expanding to a certain radius with Karl as the axis, enveloped the entire villa and right below the cliff. The space within the rings turned black and white, and time stopped.
Then the points where the rings interlocked began to rotate slowly in the opposite direction.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
With the twisted sound of a second hand that might come from a broken clock, the time placed within the radius of the rings reversed. Time exactly equal to the remaining lifespan Karl had burned.
No matter if Karl was an S-class, reversing the time of the entire world was impossible.
But such a restriction didn't matter to him, because Odette only needed to come back. Reversing the time down to below the cliff was enough.
Please.
He didn't regret his lifespan at all. Because death was better than endless emptiness without her.
However, even though he reversed time to the maximum, nothing changed significantly. Because all he returned to was just a few seconds ago, right after he had just awakened.
He used his ability once again.
[Karl] "Reverse."
Once again.
[Karl] "Reverse."
Repeating it over and over.
[Karl] "Reverse. Please reverse!"
But repeating it several times, dozens of times, hundreds of times was useless.
[Karl] "Damn it. Why isn't it working!"
Then he realized that he could never reverse time to before he awakened, even if he tried thousands of times.
Because the manifestation of his ability was a hair's breadth later than her death.
[Karl] "Again, just one more time..."
But he didn't give up and continued to use his lifespan.
Over and over, time and time again.
Hoping only that his Master would return to him again.
The dreamy sound of water bubbles—the distant cry of a whale.
How much time had passed?
Underwater, Odette opened her eyes.
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