KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 75

It was unfamiliar. It was strange. It was dangerous. Her heart now hammered at a terrifying speed.

[Karl] "I hoped you would recognize me, yet you have not called my name even once."

His voice sounded gentle and low, yet it carried an eerie, grand resonance. The vibrations seemed to strike her soul rather than her ears.

Her teeth chattered as her entire body began to tremble. Her heart raced faster and faster, threatening to burst. Strength left her limbs, and she felt on the verge of fainting—just as any human would when facing a god.

[Karl] "I have lived through eternity, looking only at you."

The voice of a supreme being. How could a holy sound that shook the soul be so thick with wickedness?

Eternity.

The word was hard to grasp, but Odette had no luxury to dwell on it. It took everything she had just to grit her teeth and cling to her fading consciousness in the presence of the being before her.

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The warning signs had existed since the dungeon. Signs that something sealed within Karl's body—or perhaps his soul—was about to break free.

There were the long, vivid dreams that connected like a single story. There were the fragments of Odette's past life that surfaced every time he turned back time to catch her. Each time these signs appeared, he felt the shell of a tightly sealed egg cracking bit by bit.

That shell finally shattered the moment Karl reached this sea. More precisely, the moment this sphere encased his physical form. With a sharp cracking sound, the egg broke, and something suppressed surged out through the gaps like a black tide.

Released from its shackles, the dark water filled Karl endlessly. As it poured out, he finally realized: the thing sealed so tightly was his own memories. Everything he had dismissed as a dream or an illusion was, in fact, the truth of his past.

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The long rainy season had ended, but a drizzle continued to fall. The forest path was thick with mud, and the soil crumbled easily. At such a high elevation, one should follow the main road to avoid slipping, but Odette seemed to lack that luxury. She chose only narrow, slippery paths, walking with frantic steps. She looked back repeatedly, checking to see if anyone followed her.

The sight was almost laughable. What use was looking back a hundred times? Karl already looked down on her from far above the ridge she was heading toward. At this rate, Odette would eventually meet him at the mountain peak, where no escape remained.

[Karl] "The Transcendents of the Empire... their incompetence knows no bounds."

Karl let out a short laugh. In the end, he was the one who found the fake Purifier again.

Six months had passed. In all that time, no Transcendent other than Karl had managed to track Odette down properly. By now, Karl had no choice but to realize: out of the four of them, he was the only one hunting her.

In the early stages of the chase, Odette had used clever tactics to outsmart them. However, a human pushed to the limit of physical and mental exhaustion can't create fresh strategies forever.

Despite this, Johan and Zion searched only in hopeless areas from a certain point onward. Even Viktor, who appeared to be hunting her sincerely, kept missing her by the narrowest of margins. It was one thing if they couldn't find her, but did it make sense for S-class Transcendents to lose her after discovery? It was clearly a game to them.

It is not a bad situation. I need Charlotte's favor.

Karl had to make Charlotte, the only Purifier, trust him. He needed to eliminate Charlotte to destroy the entire Empire and avenge the lost Fenrir children.

He watched Odette climb the mountainside with hurried steps. As her worn-out robe fluttered in the wind and rain, he whispered.

[Karl] "Stop."

As he spoke, the howling wind fell silent. A bird mid-flight froze in the air like a preserved specimen. The leaves fluttering in the breeze and the falling raindrops hung motionless. Even the circular ripples a thin drizzle made on the puddles stopped as static concentric circles.

Odette's head, caught in the middle of a frantic turn, froze with a slight tilt to the left. The stopped forest scenery looked like a masterpiece painting. Karl strode into that picturesque world.

His gaze stopped on Odette's face. Her shoulder-length hair hung limp from the rain. Dark shadows pooled under her tired eyes. Her lips were pale and cracked, and her cheekbones protruded from long hunger. He stared at the stone-still Odette.

[Karl] "......"

With her pupils failing to register him, she looked like an actual statue. Karl watched her for a long time, as if admiring a piece of art.

Nothing is the same as back then.

He remembered the warm breeze in the Imperial garden. He remembered a girl with a bird on her finger, whistling while buried in lace. How many times had he recalled that image?

He told himself he was captivated only because the colors surrounding her were so brilliant. He thought it remained in his mind only because everything was flashy enough to catch the eye.

Then why now? Not a trace of that brilliance remained. Despite her miserable appearance, color and life seemed to seep into the surrounding landscape.

A strange trembling surged in his chest—much like the moment he, a resident of the tundra, saw spring for the first time.

Don't think. Just take her head.

A headache throbbed, urging him on. His mission was to protect the Fenrir. He had to be willing to give his life for the vanished clan.

Six months have already passed.

Charlotte would soon find it strange that Odette remained uncaught. To ensure she believed his loyalty, he had to bring her Odette's head with his own hands. He had to leave no room for her to doubt his love.

Odette was the one who asked to lock the Fenrir clan in the containment zone. The moment he met her in the garden of the Count's villa, he swore to kill her with his own hands. He had no reason to hesitate.

[Karl] "......"

He pulled out his axe. Any further hesitation was madness. He had to end this now.

How many times had he stopped time for such a trivial matter? How was he any different from Viktor?

[Karl] "Dammit."

He held the time of the entire mountain still. Using his ability over such a wide area consumed massive amounts of energy. No matter how great his stamina, he could maintain it for only a few minutes. Unless he intended to repeat this waste of power forever, then today...

Determination filled his red eyes. As he prepared to swing the massive, heavy axe, something caught his eye. It was Odette's foot.

Because she had run on mountain paths for so long, the backs of her heels were raw from the friction of her shoes. Blood pooled on her scraped ankles, unable to flow in the frozen time.

His hand stopped. The raised blade of the axe froze in mid-air. He, too, became part of the picturesque scenery in the silent forest.

[Karl] "......"

His eyes clouded. Her ankle was the one scraped, but strangely, his own insides felt torn. He could imagine exactly what kind of thorny paths she had walked with those thin ankles.

 A stinging sensation in his heart spread through the arm holding the axe. After staring at her foot for a long time, Karl finally lowered his weapon.

Not today. It didn't have to be right now. He could take her life at any time; it wouldn't be too late after her feet healed.

Making an excuse that no one else could hear, Karl strode out of the frozen world.

By the time he was out of Odette's sight, the raindrops began to fall again. In the time that started to flow once more, Odette finished turning her head. No one chased her.

To her eyes, nothing had changed. As she hurriedly climbed the muddy path, the blood that had been pooling on her ankles finally trickled down.

Karl repeated such foolishness for a year, then two. Only then did he finally admit the truth: he could never kill Odette.

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