KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 81

Rosaline's relaxed expression gradually heated up as irritation took hold.

How does she avoid them every single time?

She held hundreds of monsters, while the other side possessed only three. The gap in power was massive, and Odette was a mere novice holding the leashes for the first time. With such a difference, the battle should have ended by now.

How can the power balance feel so equal? I am pouring my abilities into this without restraint.

Every attack Rosaline felt certain would finish it narrowly missed. Despite exhausting her mental and physical strength, she produced nothing but empty swings, and her frustration mounted.

While the hundreds of monsters were born to fight forever, the physical and mental endurance of their master, Rosaline, had limits. Her mental state was the true problem. After hours of her full-power attacks ending in vain, a sense of defeat began to rise within her.

[Rosaline] "Slipping away... just like a little rat!"

Exhausted and gasping for air, she poured out her abilities once more, squeezing out the last of her strength.

The monsters attacked Odette like hunters closing in on prey. Yet, once again, Odette's monsters struck them back in perfect unison, shielding her.

Success felt so close, yet it failed at the very last second. Rosaline's eyes turned bloodshot at the staggering sight of only three monsters defending against the strikes of hundreds.

She glared at Karl.

Is that filthy Fenrir bastard constantly rewinding time to cover for her?

It was suspicious that only Karl remained out of the combat. However, he showed no signs of using his powers to support Odette. He simply watched her. Furthermore, even if he had some trick to turn back time, it shouldn't affect Rosaline's S-rank monsters.

As Rosaline agonized over why she was struggling, she noticed the scenery around her had changed. While mindlessly chasing Odette, she had drawn close to the World Tree.

Standing lightly upon a thick branch of the tree, Odette looked down at her.

[Odette] "I always wondered. Why must you be the protagonist, Songyi? Why did it have to be you?"

[Rosaline] "What?"

A hollow laugh escaped Rosaline's lips at the sound of such a relaxed voice amidst this chaos.

[Odette] "Your certainty felt impressive. Your desire to be the lead every time made you look so confident. I thought you believed in your own worth."

Odette's eyes glowed red, as if she were looking straight through Rosaline.

[Odette] "But you are actually a hollow person, aren't you?"

There was no mockery in her tone. Her plain voice resonated deeply, pointing out an unchanging fact. It sounded like the voice of the World Tree that Rosaline had heard in her dreams long ago.

[Odette] "This was the only reason you had to be the protagonist. Without the gaze of others, you would have to see yourself through your own eyes. Your life is hell."

She spoke as if she could see into the depths of Rosaline's subconscious.

[Rosaline] "What nonsense are you talking? Acting like you know me is making my skin crawl."

She sneered, but every one of Odette's words stuck in her mind with strange intensity.

[Odette] "Scraping together purification powers through curses and murder... it's pathetic. Like a beggar."

Rosaline's mocking smirk vanished instantly. That was the exact thought she’d had while gathering those powers—from Hanna and the other Purifiers.

She had used curses to steal from them, telling herself she was superior, but the thought always lingered in a corner of her mind. The thought that her greed came from a deep lack. The thought that she was a beggar of the heart, anxious whenever she didn't feel superior.

[Odette] "You lived your whole life scraping things together like a beggar, and this is all you’ve become?"

[Rosaline] "......"

[Odette] "This was the cause of everything. No matter how much you struggle, you are just Han Songyi."

Odette didn't use an insulting tone. Her monotonous, calm voice merely delivered objective facts. It felt like she was reciting the very emotions that surged in Rosaline whenever she felt small and wretched.

[Rosaline] "Muttering to yourself like you’re actually someone special... what are you even saying?"

She snorted loudly to save face, but the more she chewed on Odette's words, the more her worthless ego felt like a popping bubble.

After a moment of silence, an uncontrollable rage took over….

[Rosaline] "Charge. Right now."

She whispered gloomily and swung the leashes like a whip, ordering every monster to attack Odette simultaneously without leaving a single gap.

Her beasts obeyed, surging toward Odette in a massive wave.

Hundreds of monsters rushed forward like a disgusting, pitch-black tide. Yet Odette watched Rosaline without flinching.

---

[The Status Window takes the form of a weapon worthy of the 'Reaper of Time.']

Following the notification, black light gathered in Odette's right hand, shaping itself. It grew larger until it became a sharp weapon resembling a giant scythe.

Odette focused on the monsters rushing toward her. More specifically, she focused on the leashes, binding them.

Even if hundreds gathered, they were still the monsters of a dead god. Odette's power belonged to a newly crowned god, and the beasts of a god could never surpass the power of a god.

The leashes connecting Rosaline to the monsters looked like tendons made of golden light. The moment they pulled tight, Odette swung the scythe hard across them. The leashes to Rosaline's monsters snapped and fell away.

She didn't cut every leash at once, but dozens of freed monsters broke rank and stopped in the deep sea.

Despite being monsters, they looked stunned. They were creatures used like livestock to carry out terrible disasters. They couldn't seem to believe that the bonds which had tormented them for so long were suddenly gone.

Odette raised the black scythe again, encouraging the frozen monsters.

[Odette] "What are you doing? Don't you want revenge? You are free now."

But another voice woke the divine monsters more sharply.

[Rosaline] "Why are you stopping? Attack Odette! You idiots!"

As if Rosaline's voice was a trigger, the monsters glared at her. Odette swung her scythe again through the remaining attackers and spoke.

[Odette] "Are you angry? You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't kill her. Killing her is my job."

The monsters finally understood.

[Odette] "The one who gets there first gets to play with her longer."

Instantly, the monsters charged at Rosaline.

It was the most fitting end: being torn apart by her own hunting dogs.

No one held their leashes anymore, so they had no reason to obey Rosaline, but they seemed to feel a sense of gratitude toward the one who freed them.

[Rosaline] "Agh! Stop! Attack that woman! You stupid bastards!"

They only played with her, seemingly careful not to kill her just as Odette had requested.

Rosaline's red blood spread through the water like a haze. Her screams intensified as teeth sank deep into her legs. When she flailed her arms, they bit her limbs; when she tried to cover herself, they pecked at the flesh near her heart.

[Rosaline] "AAAAAAAH!"

From the shocking pain, she dropped the fruit with Malea's face.

[Odette] "Could you bring that to me?"

Before Odette could even finish the command, Johan's monster quickly snatched the fruit containing Malea's life force.

Usually, a Purifier's power only works on Transcendents.

But the current Odette held the power of a god. If she willed it into the domain of purification, she could purify anything.

She gripped the fruit and let the purification flow.

As I thought.

The fruit glowed, and Malea's features on the surface vanished first. Once the waves of light filled the fruit, it shone gold and disappeared. In its place, a massive hole appeared. It looked like a black hole, but instead of sucking things in, it spat out Malea's body.

The Status Window immediately created a sphere to protect Malea from the deep sea. Though covered in wounds, she was alive. Odette breathed a sigh of relief.

[Odette] "Thank goodness......"

However, because of the life force Rosaline had swallowed, Malea looked ten years older. It was a heavy loss, but surviving was a miracle.

[Rosaline] "AAAAH! No! Stop! Don't do this! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Rosaline continued to scream.

The Kraken, which could easily have stopped her breathing, instead lent her its gills so she could breathe deeply and clearly, as if enjoying her cries.

I suppose they spent a very long time in humiliation.

How bitter it must have been for the noble monsters of a god to be deceived by a fake Purifier and treated like cattle.

For thousands of years, they were creatures meant to guard the oceans, mountains, and lands. To be bound to a destiny of spreading curses must have been agonizing.

So, they toyed with Rosaline like a dog toying with a rabbit. There was no mercy in their movements, only payback for the years she had toyed with them.

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