KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 78

Endless aeons drove him mad. During that exhaustive time, Karl became a being close to a god, yet he remained a mere beast of a god. He failed to break the Divine Punishment. He failed to revive Odette even on the day the world ended. Aeons overflowed with self-hatred and disgust.

I am sorry I ruined everything. Please, open your eyes. I was entirely wrong. I shouldn't have hated you from the beginning.

No, I shouldn't have loved you. I shouldn't have planned anything for you.

Mother was right. I am a disaster. My existence is a curse and ruin. I ruined you because I loved you.

Please, if you could just return alive, I would do anything. I would do absolutely anything.'

Time suffocated Karl until the day the world ended, when he finally met the god. The god sneered at him as he begged for mercy.

[God] "I know Rosaline stole Odette's purification power, causing her unjust death. But does that give me a reason to intervene? I loved Odette and Rosaline equally. No, I loved Rosaline more, as she was my troubled child."

[God] "I have no reason to save Odette's soul. She has vanished completely. She will not reincarnate in any world."

[God] "Why the long face? Do you think a god holds a duty to love the righteous more?"

The god declared he would neither save nor revive Odette's soul. He commanded Karl to stop wishing for her.

[God] "Hearing the same wish for that long time bores me. I shudder just looking at that urn. You are the first insolent sinner to trap a god in a punishment of boredom."

The god treated Odette like a joke. He held zero intention of reviving her. Thus, Karl killed the god and drenched himself in divine blood.

Karl, forced into godhood, stared at Odette's urn. Without needing coordinates, he could revive her right on the spot.

But will she be happy if I resurrect her here? In this terrible apocalypse where I am the only one left......

To Karl, she meant happiness. But to Odette? Would she welcome a world with only him?

Imagining the disappointment or resentment filling her blue-green eyes filled him with shame. He feared Odette would regret reviving the moment she faced him. If that happened...... he would desire death.

Moreover, he simply wanted her to smile. Karl had replayed her image tens of thousands of times over eternity, yet he couldn't recall a single face where she smiled out of sheer happiness. He had never witnessed it.

Now that he had become a god, he wanted to see it. He wanted to see her face filled with pure joy, free from anxiety or worry.

So he turned back time, using her as the axis of regression. He did this knowing he would return to the beginning of time without his divine powers or memories if he used someone else as the axis. He did this knowing he must remain trapped in that empty beginning until the day of his original birth arrived again.

Before making Odette the axis of regression, Karl forged a locket necklace in his hand.

He would possess no memories after returning to the beginning, preventing him from helping Odette. Karl shattered his own soul and locked a fragment inside the necklace. It was a soul fragment strong enough to endure the return to the beginning.

Send her back to a point where she can change the future with her own hands. To the point she wanted to return to the most.'

Thus, the beginning returned. The starting point of the universe held nothing but Karl. He knew the horror of an aeon. Yet, he rejoiced the moment he went back.

He didn't know it then. He didn't know he would still mean nothing to Odette. He didn't know she would abandon him in the end.

---

And so, the present arrived. Karl gripped his sanity and stared at Odette with a complex heart as she struggled to face him.

Did I believe a fleeting moment would be enough? Did I hold certainty that it would satisfy me?

One aeon, and another vague wait from the beginning of time. He assumed this brief moment with her would compensate for everything. It was an arrogant judgment.

Right now, he went mad with the desire to mean something to this woman. Jealousy over the mourning she offered to the other Transcendents pushed him to the brink of desiring death.

Feigning a lack of greed, he claimed this small crumb would satisfy him? He loathed his past self for holding such confidence.

[Karl] "......"

His reflection in Odette's eyes captivated him entirely.

He had to admit the truth. He had killed the god with his own hands, but that bastard had pierced through Karl's core perfectly.

[God] "A beast destined for ruin dares to speak of love. You, devoid of divine grace, can't grasp such a noble emotion. You possess only greed and filthy lust."

Those words held the absolute truth.

Once, he prayed only for her smile. And now...... the Karl from before the turning back time, arranged for these forgotten memories to surface at this exact moment.

Before the regression, he had confirmed a brutal fact. Odette could never find happiness as long as Transcendents existed in the world. Thus, his soul fragment ensured the three Transcendents died after outliving their usefulness.

Now that Karl regained his memories, he only needed to die. He would do it right after sending Odette out of this place safely. He gladly desired death if his demise brought Odette a smile.

The faults, the oaths, the promises. Karl had made them all on his own. Every action belonged to his choices alone. Therefore, he held no right to demand anything from Odette.

Yet, he expected to witness her smile at the end of this one-sided choice. He expected her to rejoice. He expected to remain as a sliver of meaning to her.

He harbored no resentment toward Odette. She had never offered him any oath or promise. She merely swept along in Karl's wake.

No matter the agony of his endless waiting, she owed him no affection. She held no duty to rejoice over the things he prepared for her happiness.

But...... still......

[Karl] "I didn't ask for anything grand."

He just wanted her to rejoice. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to acknowledge his efforts for that goal. He wanted her to refrain from abandoning him so coldly.

On the day of his birth, a prophecy declared Karl would become ruin incarnate. He had spent his entire life ignoring such a prophecy.

Now, however, that fact brought him agonizing shame. He despised being a repulsive existence. He despised being a cub born without divine grace, no different from a beast. He loathed being an entity everyone shunned.

Because of his cursed birth, he believed Odette could never love him. She abandoned him every time. Even the gifts he crafted with his utmost care held no meaning for her.

Shame consumed him. Misery choked his breath. His heart plunged into a bottomless abyss.

---

Odette faced Karl inside the time-frozen sea.

Karl is an actual god......?

The First Transcendent. The one who became a god. The status window. All three entities were Karl.

Despite witnessing his divine power, she struggled to accept the truth entirely.

Now, the floating puzzles in her mind clicked into place. When Karl's black sphere shattered, the fragments revealed a scene of him killing a being that resembled a 'god.'

"I know it because I carried him in my womb. His very existence is a curse. He will destroy our clan. Yes, just like the prophecy! He will become a living curse, ruin itself."

These words came from his mother in Karl's memories. These were the moments he resembled a demon. If Karl appeared that way because he was an evil god destined to slay the creator, his eerie and bizarre features made perfect sense.

The Fenrir clan lacks faith, and people believe divine grace abandoned them.

Is it because of Karl? Because destiny marked him as an evil god from the start?

Did fate dictate his murder of the god as an inevitable truth?

Endless questions bit each other's tails in her mind. But the most critical question stood above the rest.

So...... what does he plan to do to me? What does he want from me......?

Odette vividly remembered what Karl did to her in the dungeon. That same man now stood before her as an omnipotent being. Furthermore, he stripped away his disguise and revealed his true nature.

I don't know what he intends to do to me this time.

She refused to sit idly as a victim. Odette reflexively tensed her entire body, bracing herself against a wild beast.

At that moment.

[Karl] "You only needed to look at me once. That would have been enough......"

Pitch-black tears streamed from his eyes.

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