Fired Characters from an Idle Game

53. 5★ Karne, Mother of Ill Omens – (4)

The Charred Saintess Selene caught her breath, lowering the Wedge Sword of Upward Flames.

The wedge sword was messily coated with flesh and blood, and all around, the forces of thousands, tens of thousands of ill omens lay piled as ash.

In only a few minutes, Selene had butchered all of Karne’s cohorts that had rushed toward her.

But it wasn’t a victory.

Rather, Selene was wracked with a profound sense of defeat.

“…Hngh.”

She had ruined everything.

Karne, the Mother of Ill Omens, had toyed with Selene and abducted her lord.

It was entirely Selene’s fault.

In the end, she had failed to protect her lord.

“….”

Selene’s posture crumbled.

Collapsing limply to the ground, Selene gripped the sword hilt tightly.

“…Stupid fool….”

Selene clawed at her hair, flagellating herself.

Had she not vowed to protect her lord, even if it meant sacrificing her own life, the next time they met?

But what was this? Her vow rendered meaningless; her own mistake putting her lord’s safety at risk. The moment Selene grasped this fact, she could no longer remain sane.

“…That, harlot.”

The blade’s point turned toward Karne.

Selene saw the swarming horde of ill omens in the distance.

Without her lord, there was no meaning to the world. No reason for Selene to live.

Then she would simply burn it all.

She’d done it before, so it wouldn’t be difficult. Selene drew forth the fire dwelling within her entire being.

[5★ Charred Saintess Selene is casting the skill 「Falling Embers落火」.]

The Saintly Mark blazed white.

*Losing Bloom.* The most destructive of Saint Selene’s unique skills, forged in blackened flames. A final gambit – immolating her own body to incinerate the world.

But Selene’s fire wouldn’t consume all.

“Suicide’s your call, but the timing’s a tad awkward, wouldn’t you say?”

The unexpected words spun Selene around. A woman with cropped, deep blue hair stood there.

“Mirien.”

Mirien, the Storm of the Northern Sea, fixed her with a look of utter disdain.

“…What in heaven’s name is going on?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, I know the Actor’s been kidnapped. What I *don’t* understand is why you’re here, meddling.”

“What meaning does the world hold, absent our Lord? How can you remain so composed?”

“…Haah.”

Mirien sighed, then gestured. A mere ripple of mana sent Selene’s brandished wedge-sword of karmic fire flying away. An impossibility under normal circumstances.

“You’ve lost your composure. Get a grip, you blockhead.”

Despite Mirien’s words, Selene’s eyes burned cold.

Mirien managed a wry smile at the sight.

*‘Is that how I looked in Actor’s eyes?’*

Back when Mirien encountered Actor in the Tower, she must have seemed much the same as Selene did now.

Seeing it firsthand was… pathetically humbling. Selene’s judgment now made perfect sense.

But Mirien had no time to chide Selene.

“To put it bluntly: Actor is alive.”

The flames around Selene flickered, then died.

“Our Lord…”

“Yes. In the first place, if Carne truly intended to kill our Lord, why bother with an elaborate kidnapping?”

Mirien’s left eye was already tracking Actor’s presence, though He was nowhere to be seen.

“That Carne can mask her presence so completely, even my magic can’t find her. But Actor currently occupies a human vessel. Tracing Him within the Nest will be tricky, but not impossible.”

“…Where? Where is He! If our Lord lives, is He safe?”

Selene grasped Mirien’s cloak, pleading.

“Hey, hey, what’s gotten into you! It’s ripping!”

Mirien hurriedly adjusted her attire, then spoke.

“Don’t fret. Actor lives. Though I can’t vouch for his well-being. Anyway, enough with the sniveling and pull yourself together. Fix that bird’s nest on your head. Imagine how pathetic Actor would think you look.”

“… Ugh.”

The very name ‘Actor’ jolted Selene back to herself. She re-secured the wedge-dagger Mirien had flung her way, and straightened her slipping clothes.

Selene cleared her throat and met Mirien’s gaze.

“Ashamed of your little tantrum, I presume?”

“Shut your trap and lead the way, Spell-slinger.”

“That Spell-slinger remark, I’ll have you know…”

Mirien cut herself off, shaking her head.

“No, never mind. If you’re resorting to nonsense, you must be alright.”

Mirien gave a wry smile, and Selene subtly turned her face away.

*

[5★ Omen Mother, Karne, is fixated on Ruler ‘Actor’.]

Omen Mother Karne narrowed her eyes, fixed on Actor.

The word he’d spat out moments before still echoed in her mind.

He had said, quite clearly:

—Mother.

It was a title the taciturn Ruler of the Rift, Actor, had never once used for her.

Karne’s black wings trembled, almost imperceptibly.

At first, there was shock. But the emotion that followed was a raging fire.

How dare he, now, claim the right to address her so?

“…Actor, are you trying to mock your mother with foolish wordplay?”

Karne’s tone remained sweet, but the barely veiled fury was unmistakable. Betrayed twice over, a third time would not be tolerated. The forsaken goddess glared at the one-time dominion with icy eyes.

Yet, despite facing that baleful gaze, not a flicker of discomposure crossed Actor’s face.

“No, I am sincere. I have never once abandoned you, Mother.”

With no time to reprimand the sudden shift to honorifics, Actor continued, his expression resolute.

“Please, hear my story, Mother. I can explain everything.”

“…Actor.”

“You can at least grant me a hearing, can’t you? I trust you, Mother.”

“Enough with that ‘Mother’ nonsense…”

Actor cut her off mid-sentence.

“I know my mother is still kind, and that she cares for me. Before she extinguished the world, she took the trouble to put me in a safe place, didn’t she?”

The words hit their mark.

It was, of course, because Karne couldn’t bear to see Actor buried and devoured by the omen’s forces that she kidnapped him.

“In conclusion, I want to be with you again, Mother.”

“It’s too late, child.”

“It’s not too late yet.”

“Even if you call me Mother again, nothing will change. …This mother has been abandoned twice, and the omen’s curse will consume everyone.”

Karne had already given up on everything.

Gathering her followers and covering the world with black feathers was nothing more than a struggle.

Actor seemed to know this fact well.

“Mother, I intend to become an Absolute.”

“…I had somewhat anticipated that.”

“To that end, the very first thing I did was abandon my immortal flesh. As you can see, I am speaking to you now as a human.”

“…You willingly became mortal, then.”

“Yes.”

Actor gave a bitter smile.

A divine being, demoted to mortality.

Karne, once called the Mother of All Things and a Goddess, could understand the hardship.

“But I don’t believe it was a futile endeavor. This way, Mother can touch me, and I can touch you, can’t I?”

As if hypnotized by his words, Karne’s hand slowly reached out and touched Actor’s face.

A soft sensation.

Naturally, Karne’s reasoning led her to a single conclusion.

“Actor, could it be that you abandoned all of us…”

“Yes. The path to becoming an Absolute is destined to be lonely. Because I would inevitably bring unhappiness to everyone someday, I decided to leave them all.”

Actor explained clearly and concisely.

There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his voice.

“So I never intended to abandon you, Mother. The reason I didn’t explain it to you beforehand…was because as your child, I couldn’t bear to see your sad face.”

“…”

Karne was silent.

But within her mind, she continued to chew over a single word.

‘Mother…’

How long had it been since she’d been addressed thus?

Many children had followed Karne before. The lives born from her hand each worshipped, revered, and swore fealty. They called her mother, every one of them, except for a single soul.

The very man standing before her.

And now he, of all people, called her mother.

“….”

At first, she was bewildered.

After all this time, for what reason?

He knew so well the thoroughness with which that word had shattered her.

Was this another attempt to deceive her?

Karne’s black wings shuddered. Wings that had once sheltered countless children, now a cursed omen bearing only death.

Even so, somewhere deep within Karne’s breast, a throb resonated.

Faintly, very faintly.

If Actor were truly sincere.

No, had he ever spoken a falsehood before?

A fissure formed amidst the hollow of her heart.

“…This mother.”

Karne opened her trembling lips.

“I am not the mother who bore you… yet even so… I thought of you as a true son.”

“Doesn’t that hold true even now?”

“…Yes. I cannot deny that.”

“Indeed. I, too, think of Karne as my mother.”

Actor called her ‘mother’ again.

And the slender possibility that this time, those words might not be a lie—

Disturbed her heart with a cruelty that stung.

A moment of silence passed.

Lost in the nostalgia of the past, Karne was pulled back by Actor’s words.

“I relinquished everything with the resolve to become an Absolute. And now, I seek to reclaim it all. That is the sole reason I have come to find you, Mother, even here.”

“Actor.”

“Yes. As you might anticipate, those who accompany me can never truly find happiness.”

“…Even so.”

“Yes. Even so, I need a mother.”

“…”

“Once more, will you become my mother?”

Carne offered a bitter smile.

From the lips of the one who had abandoned her in the past.

From the lips of the child who had betrayed her most cruelly, those words spilled forth, and her heart ached.

This must be a deception, she had to think so.

She had to believe it.

Otherwise, she would falter.

However.

“You are infuriating. If you say it like that, how can I possibly refuse?”

Merely the single word, mother.

That single utterance.

Became a blade that could deny her, or affirm her, tearing into her heart.

Truly, she could not conceal her true nature.

She placed a hand over her chest. She even had the illusion that the source of corrupted life dwelling within her was once again touched by light.

Actor pressed, driving the wedge deeper.

“Mother, will you stand with me?”

“…As best I can.”

Carne’s black wings quietly folded.

As if it had never been, the shroud that had surrounded them vanished.

*

[Progress has been updated.]

[5★ Omen Mother Carne pledges loyalty to you.]

[Congratulations. Ruler ‘Actor,’ you have cleared the dungeon “Nest of Omens.”]

[Reward: 2000Exp / 5★ Omen Mother Carne]

“…It actually worked.”