KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 76

It took a single damn bounty hunter to make Karl realize the truth.

The bastards, lured by the price on Odette's head, lunged at her while she slept against a tree.

[Hunter] "Gah... Ack! Kah-urk!"

[Karl] "Shut up."

He twisted and snapped their necks one by one, ensuring Odette didn't wake.

Once the last man collapsed into a heap of cold meat, sweat poured down Karl's neck.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!

The Emperor's order from a few days ago caused this mess. He had tripled the bounty on Odette's head. With a sum large enough to tempt even the most elite hunters, more people than ever began to hunt her down.

Karl had left her side for less than an hour. He only stepped away to clear a nearby Calamity. Yet, in that tiny window, those low-life thugs nearly put a knife to a sleeping Odette.

Am I too late?

Karl pressed his palm beneath the woman's nose. Regular, steady breaths met his skin. Odette simply slept deeply from the weight of a grueling day. She was unharmed.

Thank God. Thank God...

Only after confirming her safety did he notice his own palm. It was soaked in cold sweat and shaking violently.

Thank God? Did I just think it's a relief she isn't hurt?

A hollow laugh escaped him.

I plan to kill this woman one day, and yet here I am?

His vision had gone black at the mere thought of her being injured. He stood there, trembling like a pathetic coward. His words and actions were a complete contradiction.

A fake Purifier. A criminal who deceived humanity. The villainess responsible for the extinction of the Fenrir—the only thing that ever gave his life meaning. The target he had sworn to kill while weeping tears of blood.

He had a thousand reasons to kill her and not one reason to let her live. And yet...

[Karl] "Dammit..."

He regretted it. He should have slit that slender neck the very first day he caught her. He should never have asked questions. He shouldn't have wondered why he hesitated at the sight of her, or why his revenge failed every single time. He shouldn't have cared why his heart surged whenever he looked at her.

While he hesitated, searching for answers to those trivial questions, Karl had come to know Odette. He saw who she really was. He saw what she liked. He stripped away the labels of 'Fake Purifier' and 'Greatest Villainess' and saw how a normal human woman could be so...

She seemed to live on spite, yet her cheeks turned bright red with confusion whenever someone showed her kindness.

This was a woman who would grab a gang leader by the throat for a piece of hard bread, yet couldn't bring herself to eat bread given out of pity. She would carry that bread for days with a hungry stomach, doing nothing but smiling at it.

The wallets she managed to steal with her clumsy pickpocketing always ended up with the beggar children. Even though those brats mocked her for being mute, Odette struggled to give them whatever she could the moment an opportunity for kindness appeared.

What about a few days ago, when the warning bells rang for a Calamity? She ran while clutching a child with a broken leg. She did it with her thin body, running at a painfully slow pace.

She mimicked evil, yet she couldn't make a single wicked choice. A foolish, stubborn woman. A frustrating, rigid soul.

Finally, Karl realized the truth. A woman like her could never have committed those crimes against the Fenrir children. It was the certainty of a guardian who had protected those three children out of duty for a long time.

No, that certainty is just an excuse.

Even if she had committed every evil act, it didn't matter. Karl would have had no choice but to forgive her. Just as he did when seeing her foolishness, her stubbornness, and her rigid ways, he would have ended up feeling an aching affection for whatever flaws she possessed.

Aimless rage and a thirst for revenge left Karl in a state of confusion.

Sinking into hollow self-loathing, he looked down helplessly at Odette's face, bathed in the moonlight. He had been conquered completely—and pathetically. Now, he had no choice but to be dragged along by her like a prisoner.

[Karl] "I can't kill you, and I can't let you die. What on earth should I do with you...?"

His voice choked up. At this rate, Odette would die soon.

The Emperor's sudden bounty increase proved he had begun to doubt the Transcendents. The Emperor's pride likely suffered after Transcendents failed to catch her for two years despite his personal order. The price on her head would only climb higher.

The Emperor had even excluded Zion and issued secret orders to the other Transcendents to hunt her down separately. Thanks to Zion's information network, the news reached Karl immediately, but the move to single out Zion was a clear warning sign.

Charlotte was also applying pressure. The Great Cathedral and the Nobles’ Council, both enamored with her, were now aggressively questioning the S-class Transcendents.

More than anything, Odette was too worn out to last much longer. For two years, she had wandered without a proper home, eating spoiled food. Johan had helped by disguising people to assist her at critical moments, but without that, she would have fallen ill and died long ago.

Her stamina had reached its limit. Continuing this life would lead her straight to the grave.

Karl stared at her face for a long time before finally dropping to one knee. He set a 'Return Coordinate' upon her body. A dark red light faintly wrapped around her silhouette before vanishing.

A Return Coordinate. From now on, even if Odette died, her body would return to this exact moment.

If she died without a coordinate, or if she died too far in the future after one was set, even Karl couldn't fully revive her. He could only pour endless power into her to keep her barely clinging to life.

But if he set a coordinate and she died in the near future, the story changed. With a coordinate, a full revival was possible.

Karl planned to make Odette die officially and then revive her using this coordinate. He wanted to free her completely from everyone trying to punish her. But for this plan to work, she had to die by his hand. It had to be certain and gruesome enough to leave no room for doubt.

[Karl] "......"

He could easily imagine it. Odette collapsed in a pool of blood as her life ended. Her body was losing the vitality and color that always surrounded her. Two years ago, he had prayed for this sight every day. Now, the mere thought made it hard to breathe.

[Karl] "...Just endure it for a moment. I will bring you back and give you perfect freedom. There will be no mistakes."

He made his promise to the sleeping woman. Once he finished his plan, Odette would likely never forgive him. She might hate and fear him for the rest of her life. But it didn't matter. Being despised by her was far better than her dying alone and leaving this world forever.

Perhaps I knew it would come to this.

Karl flashed a bitter smile. Over the past year, whenever he stumbled upon a corpse, he had experimented with reviving it. He had boasted about killing her soon, but perhaps he already knew back then. He knew he would use such a disgusting method just to bring her back.

He engraved the coordinates upon her body once more. Again. And again. And again. There could be no mistakes. He had to ensure her revival regardless of any variable.

As long as he lived, Odette would never face eternal death.

---

Even if the S-class Transcendents had grown dull toward supernatural powers lately, they couldn't miss the mountain of coordinates set upon Odette's tiny body. They also knew Karl had been experimenting with turning back time on every corpse he found.

Johan, Zion, and Viktor—all three guessed Karl's plan. Yet, none of them spoke a word about it. Thus, the S-class Transcendents, who had maintained a clumsy chase until now, gathered in one place. They met in the Erwin Desert for a play, with the Emperor's watchers as their audience.

[Viktor] "You are quite clever. You are the only one who has managed to run from us for this long."

Viktor grabbed Odette by the collar of her rags. He hoisted her into the air so the watchers could see her clearly, even from a distance.

[Zion] "Why don't you just kill her and get it over with? I need to get back soon because Lote is waiting."

Zion chimed in with a cynical voice.

[Zion] "I need time to wash up, too. I can't meet her with my body tainted by something so disgusting."

Like a man who had hunted Odette with everything he had, Zion spat out sharp insults that perfectly matched his personality.

Johan, wearing his eyepatch, simply watched Odette with his one eye and didn't stop the situation.

They had never coordinated their words or set a separate plan, but their teamwork was flawless.

[Viktor] "Goodbye, darling."

Viktor signaled Karl with a glance. It was his turn to step forward.

Karl followed the sequence he had rehearsed in his head hundreds of times. Slit her throat. Immediately stop time for both her severed head and body. Let the Emperor's men confirm the corpse. Pretend to dispose of the body. Karl would then use the coordinates to turn back time. Odette would revive.

He had chosen an axe because it was his primary weapon; the watchers would find nothing strange about it. He wanted to leave no spark of doubt.

[Karl] "......"

This had to happen without a mistake. Only Karl, who had experimented hundreds of times and practiced thousands of times in his mind, could do this. In one stroke. It had to be in one stroke.

Among those he had revived, those who took a long time to die often lost their minds from the shock after coming back.

Karl gripped the axe tightly.

The massive blade flashed sharply, followed by a wet, slicing sound.

Odette collapsed to the ground. All the life and color surrounding her vanished.

Karl clenched his fist until blood drew from his palm. He had practiced and imagined this dozens of times...

His breathing grew ragged. Even with the certainty that he would bring her back, staying sane was difficult. This was a woman whose scraped ankle had pained him. Nausea surged in his throat, but Karl barely held on.

I must stop time immediately—

That was when a chilling sensation pierced through him. The sky above the desert turned pitch black in an instant. Something like a flash of light shot through his mind. A fire-like heat consumed him, traveling down his spine. He felt his soul scream.

At the same time—Slink.

A pain like falling into a pit of despair struck his throat. It felt as if his own neck had been severed. Karl reflexively grabbed his throat, but it remained intact.

JUDGMENT.

A voice like thunder echoed in his mind.

Karl realized then. The sensation of being cut... what had been severed wasn't his neck, but his hope.

The terrifying Divine Punishment—the one a Transcendent who kills a Purifier must receive—had fallen upon him.

---

To support the original author and publisher, please consider rating the official release on Kakaopage.