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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Thump! Thwack!
People exploded.
However, instead of crimson, vibrant blood, it was the remnants of shadows that splattered and stained the ground.
Even if they fell, they quickly rose again. But they couldn’t make a significant impact.
- Yes! Go!
“Yes, Goddess!”
The Priestess smiled brightly and charged forward.
She heard it.
She could hear it.
The Goddess of Time’s innocent cheers echoed in her ears!
The fact that the Goddess, who had even joined forces with the Goddess of Death to continuously revive her, needed her so much… It filled her with an exhilarating excitement.
With every swing of her bone sword, she grew stronger.
She could no longer stop time, but the Goddess was still with her.
That alone was enough to keep her going, to endure the humiliation of her broken, imperfect self.
“Kuh! Hehehe!”
– You can do it! You can stop the apocalypse!
Her relentless attacks crashed against Rin’s forces, still too small and disorganized to be called a true army. They crumbled before her might.
And then there was Kurika.
His movements were awkward, but his destructive power rivaled, if not surpassed, that of the Priestess of Time. He tore through the undying army, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
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Rin felt a wave of fear and helplessness wash over her.
Diana, Sen, and Ares were trapped behind a barrier of darkness, unable to join the fight.
‘If they interfere, they’ll be killed in an instant.’
No matter how strong they had become, they were no match for those two monsters.
Could they even escape?
A chilling sense of dread filled her.
She wanted to believe Daniel would come to their rescue, but she knew it was a selfish hope.
Rin steeled herself, pushing aside her fear.
The Madame, wielding her special hidden weapons – butterflies – stepped forward. She was Rin’s strongest soldier.
Rin had sent the Chokugen Faction’s second-in-command to protect her.
At first, she seemed to be holding her own.
The butterfly-shaped weapons were something neither the Priestess of Time nor Kurika had seen before.
But it was a fleeting advantage, a magician’s trick, a bluff.
Rin watched in despair as the Madame was torn to shreds.
She clenched her fists.
A deeper darkness stirred within her, and a whispering voice echoed in her mind.
- Are you tired?
It was a voice filled with warmth and understanding, a comforting presence that offered solace in her darkest hour.
Rin wanted to surrender to its gentle embrace.
– I can help you.
The voice seemed to emanate from the mark on her chest. It was as if an invisible hand was reaching out to her.
She wanted to reach back, to grasp that hand, to escape the overwhelming terror that threatened to consume her.
– Trust me.
The Priestess of Time and Kurika, two formidable enemies, were closing in. The Priestess, her voice filled with a crazed fervor as she called upon her goddess, was growing stronger with each passing moment.
“……”
Rin could vividly imagine their attacks, the sword piercing her heart, the sharp claws tearing her flesh.
– Let’s save your friends, let’s save the villagers.
“……”
– Let’s kill them.
Immense power was within her grasp. She couldn’t fully comprehend it, but she felt a surge of confidence, a certainty that she could defeat even those monsters.
Was this faith?
Rin lowered her head and replied to the tempting voice,
“Leave me alone.”
……
“I know you’re the Goddess of Death who gave me this mark.”
With every word she spoke, her mind grew clearer. A newfound resolve, not from the mark, but from her own heart, filled her body with strength.
“I know that if I accept your power, I can save my friends and the villagers right now.”
Rin began gathering her own mana, the mana she had cultivated through her own talent and effort, not the power offered by the goddess.
“But… I made a promise.”
The boy’s face flashed in her mind.
Even though they hadn’t been apart for long, she missed her childhood friend desperately.
She wanted to run to him.
She wanted to be held in his arms.
She wanted to smile in his embrace, even if he looked at her with that exasperated, yet gentle smile.
“To resist… until the very end.”
She wouldn’t be controlled by this accursed power.
She wouldn’t lose control and become a monster.
She wouldn’t become the apocalypse.
She had made a promise.
“I’ll use the power you forced upon me, but I won’t be your puppet.”
A blue sphere of mana formed in Rin’s outstretched palm. The darkness swirled around it, trying to engulf it, but…
The mana refused to be corrupted. It became a shield to protect her, a blade to strike down her enemies.
And with a single wish, Rin smiled and sent it flying.
“I miss you, Daniel.”
The sphere of mana shot past the undead soldiers, heading straight for the Priestess of Time.
“Kuh! Hehehe!”
The Priestess smiled condescendingly, raising her bone sword to block the attack.
If it weren’t for the Madame’s butterflies, now regenerated and clinging to the sword with all their might…
“……!”
The magic struck the Priestess head-on.
Her robe was torn apart, revealing black blood, the color of death, gushing from her wounds.
The Priestess was taken aback by the unexpected power of the attack, but she endured.
The upper half of her body was mangled, her skin ripped open, oozing a viscous, black blood that was barely recognizable as a liquid, but…
Her eyes still burned with a mad intensity.
– Go, kill her.
“Yes, Goddess!”
– She had to kill.
The Goddess of Time desired it.
That was her only motivation, her only purpose. Despite her injuries, the Priestess continued to advance.
She looked like a zombie, abandoned after a necromancer’s failed experiment.
Rin shouted desperately,
“That voice you hear! It’s not your goddess! It’s not the Goddess of Time!”
She knew, because they shared the same mark.
“She’s just mimicking the Goddess of Time! Wake up and see reality!”
“Shut up! How dare you doubt the Goddess’s voice!”
– Kill her.
“Yes! Goddess!”
– Kill her.
“Kurikaaaa! Take out the sealing dagger and follow me! We’re going to kill the apocalypse!”
– Kill her.
“Goddessss! This wretched, filthy wretch! I am grateful to serve your will!”
– Kill her.
“Yes! Yessss!”
– Die.
“Yes! Godde…! Goddess?”
The Priestess’s movements stopped abruptly.
Her eyes widened in shock, her gaze lifting towards the sky, but…
The Goddess’s command, like a worm burrowing into her brain, continued to echo in her mind.
– Die.
“W-wait…”
– Die.
“No, what is…”
– Die.
“Ugh! Aghh! Stop…”
– Die.
“Stop! Stop! Stop! What do you mean?!”
The Priestess of Time fell to her knees, her head bowed, as the mark on her forehead glowed.
The mark she had carved onto Kurika also pulsed with light.
‘This is dangerous.’
Rin knew this situation was dire.
Kurika, with his remarkable regenerative abilities, had been healing his wounds even as he fought. He was about to break free from the Priestess’s control, but the power of the mark intensified.
“Aaaah!”
The Priestess screamed, her voice shattering like glass.
“Raaaaargh!”
Kurika roared, his voice shaking the entire village.
They were about to attack Rin again, and just as she gathered her mana…
‘……Huh?’
She tried to speak, but no sound came out.
It seemed the Priestess and Kurika were experiencing the same phenomenon. They looked confused, their bodies frozen.
In this strange, inexplicable situation, it was the Priestess who first understood what was happening.
She had to know.
Because it was her technique.
The unique power she had been granted by the Goddess of Time.
‘Time… has stopped!’
But why now?
She couldn’t use it.
The Goddess of Time had taken this power away from her.
– I won’t give you a mark. My mark is very special! But I never said you couldn’t use my power.
A cheerful, lively voice filled her mind.
A charming voice that brought a smile to her lips.
The Priestess felt a deep sense of dissonance.
This… wasn’t the voice of the Goddess of Time she had been hearing until now. The voice itself was the same, but somehow… it made the commands she had been following seem like a ‘lie’.
The same voice, yet something fundamentally different.
“Come to think of it, the Priestess was able to use your power without your mark.”
- But don’t misunderstand! Don’t think I’m some generous goddess who gives her power away to anyone! And I didn’t give in to your persuasion, either!
“I know, you’ve said that five times already.”
– Think of it as mercy. Ah! What a merciful goddess I am!
If time hadn’t stopped, the Priestess’s eyes would have widened in shock. She would have screamed until her lungs burst, until she coughed up her own organs.
Why are you using that power?
Why are you with my Goddess?
– But you’re handling my power quite well, considering you just received it.
“I had practice. Thanks to a certain bitch who forced her memories into my head.”
But she couldn’t speak.
She couldn’t move a muscle.
Trapped in this miraculous, frozen time…
All she could do was watch as Daniel McLean approached.
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[we backkk]
