NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32
Chapter 32: I’m Seriously Going Crazy!!!
Bershia couldn’t understand this causality.
Why was the person she tried to save collapsing?
Why was there a smile on their face?
Why was their body collapsing and pressing down on her?
Her mind didn’t function wisely enough to comprehend such things.
She merely repeated her questions.
Why?
Why now of all times?
Amidst this, Bershia’s thoughts converged into one point.
Only one being could cause such a dreadful event in her life.
It was the one who could take everything from her to protect her dearly cherished doll, a presence that dwelled in the sky above.
“Ah…”
Hatred boiled her head.
It felt like her eyes were burning away.
Her breath became too rapid, leaving her starved for oxygen.
Meanwhile, she felt warm, damp blood soaking her entire body.
That emotion sparked the reason for the divine power.
Kiiiiiing―!
The halo rotated.
Only Bershia couldn’t perceive him.
Despite the scene resembling the end of the world, all of Bershia’s nerves were focused solely on Asher.
It was a state akin to rampage.
Bershia trembled as she hugged Asher tighter.
She spoke with great effort, but her voice cracked and sounded metallic.
“Don’t, please…”
She couldn’t accept the fact that Asher’s breath was fading away.
She didn’t want to believe that a hole had pierced through his chest…
“Get up, please…”
What she performed was a healing prayer.
But the phenomenon was beyond providence.
It was not regeneration but retrogression.
A miracle impossible to explain by any other term.
There was no logic or calculation behind it.
It was akin to a child throwing a tantrum.
Bershia commanded the world that favored her.
To somehow save Asher Trevion.
Kwarururung―!
The backlash was borne by the sky, the earth, the atmosphere, and the flora.
And Bershia bore it.
“Cough…!”
She vomited blood.
Veins burst in her sclera, spilling tears of blood.
Despite that, Bershia did not stop.
She restored his heart, lungs, liver, and stomach.
She restored the bones, muscles, and flesh that covered those organs.
She filled the hole within Asher.
Yet he still did not open his eyes.
Rational thought was impossible.
Bershia silently wailed while holding Asher, who remained closed-eyed.
It felt like it was all her fault.
What if she hadn’t sacrificed anything?
If the deity who wouldn’t let her be destroyed had saved him another way?
The assumptions kept spiraling without end.
Standing at the end of such extremely emotional logic was guilt.
It was all wrong from the beginning.
Feeling affection for him, getting closer to him, being influenced by his reasoning should never have happened.
She should have chosen rationality over some grand cause.
If she had done that, this wouldn’t have happened.
What should she do from now on?
If he vanished, would things return to how they were before?
It was a strange predicament.
Despite having lived her whole life like this, her time with Asher was only a little over a month.
Bershia felt fear at the thought of returning to a world without him.
She was certain those moments would be even more terrible than before.
Her vision went dark.
It felt as if she were flailing in the depths of the ocean.
She was drowning.
She didn’t want that.
‘Please…’
Wake up.
Wake up and smile idiotically again.
Get angry when I tease you, then act carefree as if you were never made fun of.
Conveying her thoughts internally, she continued her healing efforts.
However, it was a completely meaningless action.
Piiih―
The healing of his physical body had already finished.
No matter how much divine power she poured into him, his body wouldn’t improve any further.
Then why wasn’t he waking up?
Bershia couldn’t understand.
It was natural that she had lost the reason to comprehend it.
Her insides felt constricted.
If she didn’t somehow release this pressure, something would burst forth from within her.
What caught Bershia’s eye was something else.
[Uwaaa, what a waste―]
It was Bourbon, crushed and laughing hysterically.
No, it was something wearing that skin.
A girl’s voice.
What it released was a nauseatingly sinister smell.
Ah, that was the thing that pierced Asher’s heart.
That thing shot its tentacles, which she had blocked with her own body.
Recollecting that fact brought a wave of self-loathing and hatred.
She didn’t care what it was or what its purpose was.
There was no need to know.
She wanted to kill it.
That single reason was enough for Bershia to move the world.
Drip―
Blood flowed from her nose.
At that moment,
Kwarududududuk!
The sky fell and crushed it.
* * *
Saturn sensed the anomaly just as he punched Bourbon’s face.
He realized that it was something wearing Bourbon’s skin, and right after recognizing that it was the ‘Artificial Witch’ that had not been discovered in the depths, he wrapped himself entirely in white phosphorus.
However, he could do no more than that.
“Ugh…!”
Kwarududududuk―!
Bershia’s divine power erupted.
It glowed a hauntingly ominous red, dyeing the world.
The concentration of divinity embedded in that light, its overwhelming mass robbed Saturn of his freedom.
It wasn’t just him.
Surely, what Bershia emitted was a healing prayer.
Yet, it was limited to Asher, siphoning the life from all things present in the space.
Only then did Saturn fully grasp the weight of the words that described Bershia.
For the first time in his life, he felt the emotion of fear.
‘…Favor of the world.’
It was not just a simple feeling of reverence.
It meant exactly what it denoted.
Bershia was an extraordinary being capable of forcing this horrific injustice upon the entire world simply because she was emotionally moved.
That truth finally resonated within him.
The title of a first-class knight endowed with a divine decree and the feat of inheriting a dragon’s power held no meaning.
Before her, everything was equally nothing but mere creations.
However.
If he did nothing, an irreversible catastrophe would occur.
That was the reason Saturn clenched his teeth and moved.
He ran, shaking off the sensation of his entire body being crushed.
He embraced Rubena, who was gasping for air from a distance.
In that state, he dashed toward the center of the missing persons.
This was the only distraction he could muster in such a situation.
“Wooaaahhhh!!!”
He shouted as he unleashed his divinity.
His white phosphorus began to envelop the space where the missing persons and Rubena were.
It was a delightful coincidence.
Just as the veil of white phosphorus was completed, the space began to compress, pressing down on the ground.
Kwarududududuk!!!
Saturn’s body swelled.
Veins protruded on his forehead.
In that moment,
Puhak!
Muscles tore apart.
His sclera turned red as a nosebleed burst forth and blood streamed from his clamped jaws.
D-d-d-d—
His body began to tremble.
“Aaaah!!!”
Rubena screamed.
With a face as pale as a sheet, she clutched Saturn’s collar.
Desperately, she inscribed healing prayers onto his body, but they collapsed faster than they could heal.
Saturn felt his mind whitening.
In the midst of such a crisis, there was something terrifyingly relieving; it was the scene unfolding outside the veil of white phosphorus.
The ground was sinking.
The Artificial Witch was being ground to the point of losing its form.
Not to mention the underground they had just escaped from.
Since the ground had collapsed, even if something had survived, they would all be buried alive.
A chill ran down his spine.
If he hadn’t made a quick judgment to protect them…
The missing persons, Rubena, and himself would have all ended up like that Artificial Witch.
Of course, it was too early to feel relieved.
Who could stop that?
How could this be halted?
It felt distant.
Endlessly distant, leaving him with a sense of despair.
How long did he need to bear this weight?
Amidst thoughts he found hard to erase, he braced through until a certain moment.
Piiing―!
Suddenly, the pressure vanished.
He soon realized the reason.
“Bershia!!!”
At Rubena’s shout, Saturn’s gaze turned toward Bershia.
Her body was leaning to the side.
The red halo floating above her had vanished.
She had fainted.
In an instant, his breath became easier.
However, her body was collapsing, unable to hold up any longer.
Saturn dropped to one knee.
His shoulders slumped in exhaustion, and he let out a hollow laugh.
His gaze remained fixated on Bershia.
To faint from a lack of self-control.
To have a power that could only pause at such a consequence.
‘This is absurdly dangerous.’
Saturn had studied quite a bit about doctrine and history, yet he had never heard of such power.
His expression warped.
He realized it was blasphemous.
He knew it, but still, he couldn’t help but wonder.
‘Oh divine creator…’
Why have you bestowed such power upon that little girl’s body?
What on earth is your intention in doing that?
What are you planning?
However, he soon lost even the energy to harbor such doubts.
Thud!
Saturn felt as if his head was spinning as he fell to the side.
Though his eyes were opened, what remained beneath his eyelids were nothing but the sclera turning red.
“W-what?! Hey! What are you doing fainting too!!! I’m seriously going crazy!!!”
Rubena was tearing at her hair.