Chapter 137
I was just a child, still holding onto my mom’s hand even as the scorching smoke enveloped me and choked my breath.
Despite the unbearable heat and flames flickering right in front of my eyes, all I could see was my mom.
Through the debris, I barely caught a glimpse of my mother’s face, twisted in pain.
Yet, her gaze held an unexpected determination, as if she had already prepared herself for what was to come.
“Mom! Just a little longer, I’ll save you… please…!”
I desperately pushed aside bricks and wooden shards with my disheveled fingers to pull her out, but the debris wouldn’t budge. My fingertips cracked and blood oozed out, yet I didn’t stop.
It was painfully obvious. The heavy debris was pinning her lower body down, leaving her trapped with no chance of escape.
“Star… I think it’ll take me a while to get out… it’s dangerous here, you should go first…”
“No! Mom! I’m going with you!”
I glared defiantly, shaking my head.
The black smoke stung my eyes, and it felt like my body would melt away in the searing flames, but I stood my ground.
“Star, there’s no more time… I can’t protect you here…
So… will you promise me something?”
“No! Just get out and say it!… Ugh… I’ll listen once I’m out, please… just…”
But my mother’s gaze was steadfast.
She held my hand tightly and spoke.
“It’s a bit of a cruel story, but… tough times are coming ahead.
You’ll feel like dying, wanting to give up everything, time and again…”
What is she talking about?
“Ugh… Mom…?”
“You might meet many people… and end up disappointed and distrustful…”
“What are you talking about…? I don’t understand… just get out quickly…”
“But remember this… you should help others. If you do that…
one day, good people will gather around you…”
At that moment, a loud rumbling came from above, and I heard the sound of something crashing down.
The debris hanging from the ceiling was about to fall on us.
“…Neta”
In an instant, my body was shoved away. Reflexively, I tumbled backward,
and my mother’s face vanished beneath the debris. Like this…
Is this really how we say goodbye…? I don’t want this… I don’t want it!
*
In the center of a swirling storm of blue energy, the two faced off against each other.
Stella’s spear was buried deep into Nova’s shoulder, ready to break through at any moment.
Though they struggled to hold onto each other’s arms, the situation was perilously tense.
“Ugh… Pull yourself together, Stella!”
“Mom… don’t go!… no….” “Ugh… this is driving me insane!”
As Stella was unresponsive, Nova made the quick decision to incapacitate her as soon as possible and prevent her from going berserk.
With that thought, he concentrated his magic at the tip of his foot and swept the ground, crashing his foot into her ankle. Stella’s upper body lurched, and an opening appeared.
“Now!”
Thud!
In that moment of staggering, he seized her collar and pulled her close, lifting her up.
But just as he was about to throw her down to knock her out, Nova’s expression froze in horror.
It felt like there was nothing at all behind him, where he should have sensed presence.
“Where did she go…?!”
Suddenly, through the darkening vision, Stella, poised and ready, reappeared in view.
As she bent over to tackle him, she leapt off his back.
“I… will protect you… so…”
“What the hell…?”
Crash!
With a might that hammered into his shoulder like a nail, she crashed down with ferocity.
In that moment, Nova grimaced in pain as though his shoulder were about to tear away.
She moved with a small frame yet possessed a strength that defied all laws of physics.
Despite being enhanced by magic, that power completely challenged reason.
At that moment, Nova’s Insight Eye caught a slight change within her.
The blue energy swirling from her body had suddenly begun to diminish.
Her blue pupils were clouding over, losing their brilliance.
If that energy wasn’t magic or mana…
“Are you… using your life force?”
*
Crying, I dug into the ground with my small hands, searching for my mom hidden beneath the debris.
While desperately pushing away dirt and shards in despair, a sudden sharpness pierced my throat.
Having been exposed to smoke for so long, I collapsed, losing strength.
‘If only… I could just die together with her…’
If I died here, I wouldn’t have to endure any more terrible pain. Maybe I could see my mom again.
At that moment, a boy, similar in age to me, broke through the window and approached my fallen form.
“What are you doing! Come on, hurry out!”
As he tried to drag my limp body outside,
I struggled and cried out in a choked voice.
“But… mom is still in there!”
However, the boy ignored my pleas and began to pull me away from the debris.
Despite my best efforts, he resolutely dragged me outside.
Firefighters were fiercely battling the blaze with thick streams of water.
But even they couldn’t find my mom amidst the completely collapsed ruins.
I knelt in front of the fallen house, my fingertips still feeling her warmth.
There was nowhere to pour out that feeling.
In a moment I couldn’t overcome the surging despair within me,
I found myself clutching the boy’s clothing.
I needed to unleash my pent-up frustration and resentment.
“Why… why just save me!”
“…”
“My mom… she was right there…! Why only me…?”
Tears streamed as I voiced my accusations.
Despite struggling against him, I couldn’t let go of his clothing.
“Why not… just let me… let me die with her… why only me…?”
With my strength faded, I collapsed to the ground.
My small body trembled, and I broke down in tears.
“Mom… mom… please… I don’t want to be alone… mom…”
“It’s okay.”
In that instant, a warm hand quietly wrapped around my body.
The pounding of my heart and the roar in my ears suddenly abated.
“You’re not alone, I’m here.”
“Ugh… who…?”
Even while crying, I momentarily raised my head from that warm embrace.
The boy had black hair slightly tousled at his forehead,
looking at me with deep eyes.
His gaze was gentle yet resolute, filled with warmth.
He softly stroked my head and spoke.
“I’ll stay by your side,”
“It’s okay to cry now because I’m here, you can lean on me.”
For some reason… his words, spoken for the very first time, brought me such comfort…
That warmth in his embrace felt strangely like the warmth I always felt from my mom.
“…what’s your name…?”
“Me?… my name is….”
*
“Please… please… Stella…”
Nova was panting heavily, holding onto the rampaging Stella.
Though she had been wreaking havoc with overwhelming destructive power, her fury was undeniably waning.
The blue energy pouring out from her was diminishing.
As the pendant around her neck began to glow, the energy flowed back into her body.
‘Is it preventing the energy from leaking out? Thank goodness, whatever the case.’
Even so, Nova was wearing thin as he struggled to completely restrain her.
He clung to her tightly to avoid injury, but he soon found his limits.
“…God… Wu?”
“What?”
At the sudden mention of an old name, a look of surprise flashed across his face.
When he focused on the source of the voice, Stella was staring directly at him, murmuring.
As light returned to her once-clouded pupils, the raging energy began to subside.
“This place… I was definitely fighting…”
The moment she looked around, having finally regained her senses, Nova let out a relieved sigh.
“What’s the matter… don’t scare me like that…”
Thud!
The moment he relaxed his grip, Stella collapsed forward, falling into him.
Perhaps he was also exhausted, as he couldn’t hold her up and fell backward.
“Ugh… my whole body hurts…”
‘Did she really use her innate vital energies? I can’t move at all…’
“Is this really okay…? Please don’t just die on me like this.”
“This voice… is that the Unknown… you won? Against that guy?”
“Yeah… ugh… my whole body is screaming in pain…”
“Was it because of me?”
Stella’s expression darkened as she examined his wounds. Compared to injuries sustained from Arhan, they looked too familiar to be ordinary.
“Don’t sweat it, but this is all thanks to you, regardless of how great it was.”
As they scanned the area, dozens of Akandis’ organization members lay sprawled on the ground.
Most were horrifically torn apart or had collapsed, seemingly lifeless.
“Truly the continent’s greatest genius mage, an incredible display of (physical) power.”
“Are you mocking me right now?”
Upon seeing them share smiles and exchanges, Selena let out a sigh of relief.
They, who had risked their lives to protect her daughter, were like lifelong benefactors to her.
“I’ll have to ask him for compensation at the very least.”
In that moment, their gazes focused on a single spot.
At the end of their sights stood the man who had fallen to Stella,
Lao Chen, the King of Power’s disciple.
“…you’re still alive?”
Stella shot him a fierce glare as she rose to her feet.
Nova also guarded him warily, readying his firearm from within his cloak.
However, both were merely shells of threats, battered and worn out.
Lao Chen sighed, pulling his breath, and then raised his hands.
“Phew… truly frightening killing intent… I surrender.”
““What?””
Both froze in shock at his unexpected declaration.
Regardless, Lao Chen continued on with his words.
“From the start, I had no intention of engaging in a bloodbath with you two…
And hey, you really managed to defeat that monster, huh? I genuinely mean it.”
“What are you babbling about right now…”
Just as Stella was about to charge at him, Nova shook his head vigorously.
“There’s no killing intent. This guy is being sincere.”
“Alright, I’ll truly surrender. After all, if I flee like this, my mentor is going to kill me anyway.”
Stella was caught up in confusion, struggling to grasp the situation.
She felt as though she might collapse immediately due to the side effects of the innate vital energy.
At that moment, a sound of something small clicking emerged from somewhere.
“Don’t joke with me… Though I trusted you… Now you want to betray me?”
One of the fallen organization members, with trembling hands, was pointing his gun at Stella.
“That monster of a girl… it’s all your fault…” “…it’s dangerous!”
Bang!
*
*
[Get a doctor to the hospital right now!]
[Damn it… what have you done…!]
“…shut up…”
To the noisy din around her, Siel slowly opened her eyes.
Having been plunged into a deep sleep from sedatives, she found herself unexpectedly outside.
She was puzzled as to why she had been outside, where she should have been playing chess,
but she rose from her seat and looked around.
The beautifully decorated garden had turned into a wreck, and the front door was shattered.
And ominously, an array of grim-looking men lay scattered on the ground.
“Wait… Stella and Unknown oppa?”
In addition, several people working in the Duke’s Manor were gathered in one spot.
“What are they all doing over there?”
Siel felt an uneasy sense from deep within her heart.
Stella, who had always been expressionless, was now crying out in agony.
“No…! Please… why..!?”
What Siel pushed through the crowd to see was the person closest to her heart,
Selena, the Duchess, laying there with a gunshot wound in her abdomen, having slipped into eternal rest.
“Mother…?”
