KFBRV Ch 37

The massive Calamity was already retching, spitting out the lifeless bodies it had devoured. It was a gruesome sign that the void had sated its hunger, having drained every drop of life force from its victims.

[Karl] "No... No!"

He lunged at the monster. He gripped the tip of its shimmering tongue as it vomited another mangled husk.

While it usually took fifty trained soldiers to wound such a beast, Karl was the leader of the Fenrir. His strength was not human.

With brute, terrifying force, he ripped the entity apart. The Calamity let out a dying gasp before dissolving into a cloud of black ash that settled over the wasteland.

[Karl] "Lara! Theodore!"

He frantically searched the pile of bodies, his hands shaking as he tossed aside the remains of strangers. Deep down, he already knew the truth. There was no way the children could have survived.

He had lost his home to a Calamity once before; he knew that even a small void could erase everything within miles. If a Calamity had appeared inside the containment zone, the children were trapped.

[Karl] "Please, answer me! Someone!"

He worked like a man possessed, refusing to accept the horrific silence. He was the only living soul left in the ruins. He searched every inch of the debris, but he found no trace of his kin. A hollow, freezing despair began to swallow him.

Why? He wondered.

He lived only for the Fenrir. His heart, his body, and his very soul were tools meant for their protection. That was his purpose; that was how he had been raised. Without his people, his existence had no meaning.

He looked around the containment zone with bloodshot eyes. It was a vision of hell. He was the last of his kind—no home, no family, and nowhere left to go.

A jagged, hysterical laugh escaped his lips.

He decided then that there was no reason to live in a world where his people were gone. He felt a violent urge to destroy himself, far more than he had ever wanted to destroy the monsters.

What kind of leader am I?

Ten years ago, he had failed to protect his kingdom. The only reason he had allowed himself to keep breathing was to care for the young survivors. They were his duty.

Hot, crimson tears—the "blood tears" of his lineage—tracked down his face. He forced himself to stand, feeling as though he were walking through an endless, suffocating fog.

The remnants of the Calamity slipped through his fingers like sand. These voids were called "Calamities" because they brought nothing but ruin.

Then perhaps I am the true Calamity.

I destroy everything I am meant to protect. I leave only ruins in my wake.

He stared up at the clear blue sky, his mind fracturing. He reached out and tore a jagged iron bar from the containment fence with his bare hands. He gripped the metal, ready to plunge it through his own throat.

Your only value is to eliminate the enemies of the Fenrir.

The voice echoed in his head, a final command. He realized he had one duty left. He had to drag the person who wanted these children dead down to hell with him.

He ground his teeth so hard the sound seemed to echo from a great distance.

Just as his world was about to collapse into total darkness, a voice reached out to him.

[Theodore] "Karl? Is that you?"

He froze. Was it a hallucination? Had he finally lost his mind?

He lifted his head, his gaze hollow and wandering.

[Karl] "..."

He saw them. Luca was holding a stick of cotton candy; Theodore gripped a handful of gold chocolate coins. And there was a woman, cradling a sleeping Lara in her arms.

[Karl] "You... you’re alive...?"

His voice was a raspy, metallic croak. He tried to run toward them, unable to tell if this was reality or a dream, but his legs gave out. He collapsed into the dirt, his strength spent.

The woman handed Lara to Theodore and walked toward him with slow, deliberate grace. Karl recognized her immediately.

Odette.

She was a vision of haunting beauty. He remembered her from a distant memory—sitting on a palace bench, laughing as a bird perched on her finger.

Despite her reputation as the empire’s most vicious villainess, the way she walked toward him, bathed in the afternoon light, made her look like a radiant saint.

[Odette] "Your people are safe."

She knelt before him and reached out. With her bare hand, she gently wiped the blood-red tears from his face. Her voice was soft and melodic, like a flute in the springtime.

[Odette] "No one died, Karl."

He stared at her, dazed. She smiled warmly and cupped his cheeks with both hands.

[Odette] "So, you don't need to cry anymore."

Karl, who had just been pulled from the very edge of the abyss, let out a long, shuddering breath of relief.

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Odette felt a chill down her spine as she touched his face. Even though Karl had not yet fully "awakened" as a Transcendent, the pressure he radiated was overwhelming. It was the aura of a predator.

She remembered the flash of his axe from her previous life—the cold steel that had ended her existence. She forced herself to remain calm.

I have to keep him steady.

Moments ago, she had tried to check his status, but a notification had blocked her.

['Karl' is in a state of 'Despair.' Loathing Check is currently unavailable.]

[Usage count will not be deducted. (Remaining: 2)]

The message was strange, something she had never seen in the original game, but she knew she had to lower his hatred toward her while she had the chance.

[Odette] "Karl."

She whispered his name as tenderly as possible. To her, he was the most important piece on the chessboard.

[Odette] "You’re covered in sweat and dust. You must have run so hard to get here."

His red eyes were still wide, filled with a lingering, manic intensity.

At least one rule of the game gave her hope: if a male lead’s loathing reached 100, it could never be lowered. Since the system hadn't warned her of that yet, it meant his hatred for her was still under the limit.

She thought about Karl’s personality in the game. What words would pull a man like him out of the dark?

In the original story, he had said: "It wasn't Odette who ruined my people; it was me. I should never have been born."

She leaned forward and pulled him into a light embrace, stroking his back.

[Odette] "The children are fine. Nothing is broken. You don't have to despair, because nothing bad happened because of you."

[Karl] "..."

[Odette] "You didn't ruin anything, Karl."

The tremors racking his body slowly subsided. The light of reason began to return to his eyes, slow but steady.

Good. It’s working.

In the game, Karl was obsessively devoted to his clan. He was a man driven by a pathological sense of responsibility, often willing to throw his life away just to recover the bodies of fallen Fenrir. Now, she had become the savior who had preserved the very future of his people.

[Karl's Despair status is fading.]

The notification she had been waiting for appeared.

As his sanity returned, his muscles tensed. He seemed to realize, all at once, that he was being held by the daughter of his enemy. Odette expected him to shove her away, but he remained strangely still.

She felt a spark of hope. Their relationship was already fundamentally different from her previous life.

I can use him for my revenge. As long as I can monitor his loathing...

But her smile vanished as a new window flickered into view.

[Loathing: Unable to verify (Conditions not met)]

[The Necklace is 'Incomplete.' You cannot check 'Karl’s' Loathing score.]

She stared at the text, her heart sinking. It was an error message that had never existed in the game.

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