The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 125



Engraved Memories of the Soul

――――――!

A goddess’s lightning, swallowing even the sound, swept over everything.

Inside the storm of blue, fiery charges.

Vineisha, weak against lightning, cried out, unintentionally, and slumped to the floor.

We didn’t suffer any damage from the storm of charges.

Well, that’s because the one in the sky took all of it for us.

[This is insane.]

Barkavaran’s mouth hung open, seeing the absurd thing I’d done.

He still doesn’t know much about me yet.

*Whoosh!*

That instant, a massive hand of bone burst through the smoke of the sky.

A bone hand of immense size, bigger than the Jerion Academy building itself.

*Crack-crack-crack!*

Simultaneously, an eyeball embedded in the bone hand slowly snapped open.

A chill!

Locking eyes, goosebumps erupted all over my body.

It was just a hand.

Yet, the presence emanating from just that hand was absurdly colossal.

A being like a disaster, one that no human could possibly oppose.

A Twisted One.

Along with the Evil One, it was a stark reminder of just how dangerous the Twisted Ones of the Flipside were.

But even that was just a fragment of a Twisted One.

Its true form is so overwhelming that even the Flipside could not fully contain it.

But just as the Evil One is unable to escape the Demon Palace, the Twisted One too is bound to the Flipside.

Their only way out is to create a medium that connects them to reality.

For the Evil One, it was Iris; for the Twisted One, it was Mushika and Grantoni.

From the widened eye, a razor-sharp fury was palpable.

Lightning had suddenly crashed down in its own courtyard.

Naturally, it would want to seize and kill the one who’d dropped the lightning.

So, I raised the Lightning Caller toward the sky.

“You’ve come?”

Light began to coalesce anew in the Lightning Caller held in my hand.

“Then take one more, why don’t ya.”

It wouldn’t be fair to give just one.

From noble mtl dot com

Come again, Lightning Caller.

Hearing my call, the Goddess’s lightning, piercing the sky, struck down once more.

Enveloped in the storm of lightning, the Twisted One’s bone arm burned a brilliant white.

The Twisted One, further enraged, unleashed its fury.

It took two direct hits from the Lightning Caller and was still unharmed.

Truly a monster, no other word for it.

[Knew it from when you asked for the lightning caller, but you are really out of your mind!]

“If it can be used without harm, then why not use it?”

[I told you what would happen if you used it 108 times last time.]

“Still got a ways to go.”

Gotta use it to the end, as long as I can.

*Thwack!*

Right then, Sharin arrived before me, dragging Grantoni along.

Thanks to the Demon Zone and the defensive magic, she looked like she hadn’t suffered much harm.

Instead, Grantoni was in a strange state.

The place where his eyes should be bursting with light felt lifeless and dim.

“Hanon, this.”

Sharin frowned.

She’d also noticed his unusual state.

“Vinesha.”

I hurriedly called Vinesha.

Vinesha, weakened by lightning, shuddered as she examined Grantoni.

Then, her eyes narrowed slightly.

Vinesha was a soul mage and a spirit realm magician.

She was a unique figure who had mastered both paths simultaneously.

That’s why the Jerion Academy thought her unique skills could help students develop, and brought her on as an associate professor.

In the spirit realm, Vinesha was a specialist.

“My lord, the soul that’s supposed to be in here…it’s gone?”

Her saying the soul was gone.

Where had Grantoni’s soul gone?

It was naturally decided from the start.

‘To find Mushika from the Demon Zone, I have to enter the Demon Zone’s spiritual world.’

To find my first love, he had willingly entered a dangerous place.

Vinesha, after examining Grantoni, stared at him with a blank expression.

Her face showed that something bothered her.

“Let’s get out of here, right now.”

There was no time to worry about that right now.

The Abomination, having shrugged off the lightning, started to move its hands to chase us.

If we got caught by it directly, anyone would lose their life.

That much we absolutely had to avoid.

“Sharin!”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

Sharin, the moment I called out, began to unfold her magic.

In that instant, our bodies lifted into the air, accelerating.

“It’s slower than usual.”

Sharin expressed her displeasure.

“It’s because the standards for magic are different in the Reverse World!”

Magic is an act of deceiving the world.

Sharin, who had primarily used magic in the real world, not the Reverse World, couldn’t bring out her usual power.

That was why I had brought Vinesha.

Vinesha’s magic could be used even in the Reverse World.

‘It’s coming.’

Kuguguguguguuung!

In that instant, from between the trees of the forest.

The souls that had been concealing their bodies started to rise.

From the trees, the presences of souls lifted themselves.

Tagrrrrrrr-

With an eerie sound coming from somewhere, the eyes of the souls found us.

Souls who had lost their will by the Abomination and were just empty shells.

They appeared, blocking our path.

They lunged at us in forms like dark, viscous liquid.

I had no intention of getting caught here.

“Vinesha.”

“Ah!”

Vinesha, who had been staring blankly at Grantony, snapped back to her senses and moved her hands.

Then, in that moment, the demon that had been lurking behind her swung its arm.

The demon’s arm lashed out, like a praying mantis’ foreleg.

The spirits blocking the path were torn to shreds, scattering into fragments.

Meanwhile, the monstrous being was closing in on us faster.

Without hesitation, I activated the Thunder Caller once more.

KWA-Gaaa-Gaaa-Gaaa-GaaaNG!

The monstrous being’s arm, hit again by the Thunder Caller, trembled violently.

“Is it okay to use that so much?”

Sharin asked, worry in her voice, and I clutched the ring.

“It’s a matter of life and death, so I have to use it. But I think I’m reaching the limit.”

The Thunder Caller wasn’t something I could summon endlessly.

Based on my experiences so far, five times a day was the maximum.

That left me with two more.

“So, we need to create as much distance as we can in this gap.”

“I’ll speed up. I’m getting more used to it.”

Was she already adapting to the otherworld?

Truly, a talent that appears only once in a thousand years was something special.

“Eve.”

I called for Eve urgently.

Eve, still holding my hand tightly, had her eyes closed.

“We need a lighthouse to bring Grantony back.”

The path a soul takes in the spirit realm is like a vast ocean.

And on the vast ocean, a ship can’t find its way without the light of a lighthouse.

Originally, this role was Lukas’s job.

His burning spirit of determination was enough to act as a lighthouse for Grantony.

Lukas wasn’t here.

That’s why I called Eve.

“Okay.”

Eve, somehow regaining her senses from the terror, drew her sword.

Then, a fierce blue flame erupted along her blade.

A fierce flame, surely, was burning even in Grantoni’s soul.

But more crucial than that is his own heart’s return.

‘Grantoni.’

He’s Grantoni who entered the otherworld risking even his life.

There’s no way he’d come meekly back without achieving his purpose.

There’s only one way to bring Grantoni back.

That is for him to meet his first love, Mushika, and realize for himself that he cannot save her.

‘In the original scenario, the monster briefly opens a gap in his focus, blinded by the flames of fighting spirit.’

And through that gap, Grantoni meets Mushika.

Grantoni will surely struggle to bring Mushika back.

But despite his efforts, he fails to take her.

Rather, Mushika persuades Grantoni.

She tells Grantoni it’s alright, and to forget her now.

In the end, Grantoni, unable to deny Mushika’s request, follows her words.

And he returns to his body, following the flames of fighting spirit.

Thus, Grantoni leaves the otherworld.

And he faces a lonely end, longing for Mushika for the rest of his life.

‘The only one who can persuade Grantoni is Mushika.’

And to meet Mushika, the flames of fighting spirit are needed.

This was a problem even Eve’s unyielding blue flame couldn’t solve.

We cannot escape the otherworld until Grantoni returns.

If we did that, Grantoni’s connection between body and soul would sever and it would be over.

So we can only hope that Grantoni avoids the monster and returns safely.

‘If we were going to wait like that.’

We wouldn’t have even come in the first place.

“Vinesha.”

I called out the card I brought to save Grantoni.

Then, Vinesha, who had been gazing at Grantoni, turned towards me.

Vinesha’s two pupils were clearly shaken, unlike before.

It was the emotional turmoil that had begun after seeing Grantoni.

It was clear, Vanesha’s memories were shattered by Goejon, a price for being played.

But that was just the brain’s memories.

The soul’s memories were another story entirely.

Memories are etched onto the soul.

This was proven by one of the six previous reincarnators,

Saint Acrede Saint Narea.

The memories within Vanesha’s brain were indeed, completely destroyed by Goejon.

However, the memories within her soul were not.

She simply pushed the horrific memories of that day deep into her soul, choosing to ignore them.

Those memories were definitely there, lingering within Vanesha’s soul.

In reality, Vanesha did not remember Grantoni at all.

So she cast him aside indifferently when he came seeking her.

But the Reverse World is different.

It is a world where the power of the soul’s essence is strongest.

‘Until now, Lukas has never brought Vanesha into the Reverse World.’

Vanesha’s role is solely to help Lukas enter the Reverse World.

She had no reason to follow him into the Reverse World.

To Lukas, Vanesha was a criminal.

To Vanesha, Lukas was an obstacle, someone interfering with her work.

My situation was very different from Lukas’.

I built a relationship with her to get the Blindfold and Pendant of the Barrier.

Vanesha came into the Reverse World herself to help me.

And now.

Finally, the memories engraved in her soul began to awaken at the sight of Grantoni.

“You have a lost memory. And that memory might be terrible.”

A terrible memory of killing her junior and teacher with her own hands.

I am trying to revive those memories within Vanesha.

I couldn’t guarantee whether those memories would be beneficial for Vanesha.

For her, the memories of that day would be the most painful.

But to save Grantoni, Vanesha’s memories were necessary.

Vinesha offered the Musika directly to Gwejon.

And Gwejon intervened in reality through Vinesha.

This meant Vinesha and the Musika were connected, unbeknownst to them.

Vinesha could summon the Musika.

And the Musika could summon Grantoni.

For this to work, Vinesha had to recall the events of that day.

Only then could she trace back, like then, and resurrect the Musika.

What the outcome of this will be, I don’t know.

This world is new to me as well.

But that’s how it always is.

Life is always something new, something unknown.

It’s okay to make mistakes.

If I mess up, I’ll just patch it up.

That’s why I’m here, right now, in this place.

“Dear Husband.”

Just then, Vinesha called out to me again.

Her vacant look was gone, replaced by a soft smile.

“It’s alright. I don’t know what experience I’ve had, but if you’re here, I can move forward.”

Vinesha knows she has a gap in her memories.

But she held back, not knowing what would happen if she opened that gap.

However, because I was here, she said she would face those memories.

Barely a week.

I still couldn’t grasp how deeply I had settled into her heart.

But she trusted me.

I resolved to live up to that trust.

“Open the pendant.”

Vinesha opened the pendant around her neck.

Inside, there was a single photograph.

Vinesha saw herself in the picture, together with three other figures.

And at that moment, Vinesha’s eyes began to widen, slowly, for the first time.

The response was unlike anything before.

Fragments of memory, sparked by the pendant, surged within her soul.

“Ah.”

A gasp, heavy with emotion, escaped Vinesha’s lips.

[Hey, look at that.]

Then, Barkavaran’s voice cut through.

I lifted my head in haste, and my mouth fell open.

The sky.

The sky was collapsing.

That madman, Guezon, had shattered the sky of the otherworld.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-gak!

Gazing at the sky falling like a torrential waterfall, I instinctively pulled Grantoni close.

“Everyone, prepare!”

With that cry, we were swallowed by the collapsing sky and vanished.