‘What a waste.’
That was the only thought that filled Yoo Seodam’s mind.
Yoo Seodam, who was leaning on a half-destroyed pillar, placed his hand on his abdomen. The first-grade ether suit, which was advertised as something that could make its wearer feel comfortable even while being trampled by an elephant, was shattered, blood was also pouring out from his abdomen.
[The special skill ‘Death Rejection’ of the item <Death of Dawn> is activated.]
[Lifespan decreases rapidly.]
Thankfully, the inner armor that Yoo Seodam obtained the other day quickly wrapped around his body and rapidly healed his wounds. Even though ‘Death Rejection’ consumed his lifespan, he thought it was way better than dying.
“Professor, please stay still!”
He managed to keep his life thanks to Aracelli, who came as soon as the fight broke out. Due to the recent image-enhancing event, she had told Yoo Seodam that there was only 1% mana left inside her body. Thus, Yoo Seodam had clearly told her to not get involved in the fight. However, she still came to his rescue even when there was a risk that she could be swept up in the battle.
“If you don’t have mana, you’re nothing but a civilian, just what are you thinking by coming here …”
“I come here to feed Professor with potion!”
Yoo Seodam laughed wryly when he saw Aracelli hurriedly putting a potion towards his mouth. He was completely drained. He couldn’t even muster any energy to lift his finger. He thought if it’s not for Aracelli he would have died here.
As Yoo Seodam slowly turned his head, he could see the aftermath of the fight that started at the third temple. The scale of the fight had become so massive, it even spread towards the streets of the Capital City of the Empire.
The Emperor, the Tower Master, the Swordmaster and the Pope never stopped fighting. Each of them coveted the saintess and desired to be her only one. Just like what they thought originally.
The love fight between superhumans, which started because of a single woman, eventually caused the city to be destroyed… However, the end of the fight seems to have come.
<Seodam. The probability of the four male-lead is slowly fading.>
‘Did they die?’
<I’m not sure about that. But it’s unlikely. However, because they’ve been fighting not for the sake of the ‘protagonist’ even though their powers are reserved for the sake of the ‘protagonist’, there’s high possibility that they will lose their power.>
‘Even though they won’t die, it doesn’t matter…’
Four of them aren’t the protagonist, however, they are a factor that should be eliminated in order to kill the real protagonist. And what’s happening now is a situation where Yoo Seodam could get rid of the probability without having to kill them.
It was a perfect development.
The image of Saintess Bianca had fallen to the gutter and the four male-lead had also fallen. Thus, the Saintess wouldn’t have any probability left to protect her. She can’t do anything but run away if she doesn’t want a bullet to lodge in her forehead.
Yoo Seodam really wanted to send Aracelli to kill Saintess Bianca, but, with only 1% Mana left on her body, he thought that she must be struggling just to sustain her life.
Because unlike himself, he knew that every time Aracelli moved to a new dimension, she expended a lot of mana to adapt to the new dimension as well as to understand the language.
Moreover, Yoo Seodam really felt grateful towards Aracelli who helped him throughout this mission. And he wanted to give her something as a repayment.
Step!
“Yoo Seodam! Here….you are.”
“Oh, Princess…”
Princess Sahar stopped and stared at Yoo Seodam. Unlike her usual appearances, she was a mess. Her clothes were drenched, her ordinary shoes were torn apart because it couldn’t withstand her strong steps.
The usual beautiful, elegant, sharp, and dangerous Princess Sahar couldn’t be seen. She carefully approached Yoo Seodam with her trembling steps, falling to her knees.
“For you to be like this… Just, what happened?”
Princess Sahar could see a very big wound on Yoo Seodam’s abdomen.
It was a wound inflicted by Sodier. He, who was extremely agitated because of Yoo Seodam action, bombarded Yoo Seodam with attacks filled with his aura. In the end, one of his attacks successfully penetrated Yoo Seodam’s abdomen.
No matter how skillful Yoo Seodam is, in the end he is still an A Rank. He lacks strength to match a S rank in frontal fight even after using everything in his arsenal. Also, the degree of wound that Yoo Seodam suffered could be considered as a cute one taking into account that he had directly received it from someone with S rank power.
Looking at Yoo Seodam’s condition, Princess Sahar couldn’t help but blame herself. She was the one who told the Emperor about the relationship between Yoo Seodam and Bianca. She was also the one who used the situation to her favor by deliberately spreading rumors throughout the Empire. However, she had never thought that things would escalate to this degree.
“What can I do now? You’ve fought until you become like this…….”
Princess Sahar bit her lips tightly. She didn’t know about his purpose, goal, or anything else about Yoo Seodam. The only thing that she knew was the fact that he appeared out of the blue at some point, and he’s been doing anything for her sake.
He was the one who dragged her back from the depth of the abyss and helped her to once again gain recognition from the continent’s people and the Emperor. He was also the one who helped her to be able to offer her prayer towards Goddess Kader again as a believer.
Princess Sahar was really, really, really grateful towards Yoo Seodam. With all the things he had done and returned to her, he was sure that she could live happily.
“…..Princess, Saintess Bianca must be killed.”
Yoo Seodam said as he coughed a mouthful of blood.
Looking at his condition Princess Sahar clenched her fist tightly to the point where blood trickled from her hand. In the end, he was doing all this for the sake of killing the Saintess.
“Didn’t you tell me that you fought a lot when growing up?”
Princess Sahar’s expression softened, she soon regained her composure as she heard Yoo Seodam’s joke. It was the thing he always does when he wants to reassure her.
“…From now on, what can I do for you?” Princess Sahar realized it wasn’t the time to lose her mind in rage. She was aware that Yoo Seodam wasn’t someone who would do something without a plan. and this time too, she felt that Yoo Seodam already had a plan in his mind even though he couldn’t finish it.
Yoo Seodam rolled his eyes. If he could, he wanted to ask Princess Sahar to run straight towards the Saintess and kill her. However,
Ah ♪
Ah ♪♬~
He could hear a holy hymn echoed throughout the city signaling that it was too late.
Even in the midst of heavy rain, the dark clouds split apart, and a small beam of light fell toward the church in the distance. It seems that Saintess Bianca had begun to pray to Goddess Kader.
Yoo Seodam was sure now that they were late. If so, there was only one way left for them to kill Saintess Bianca.
“Please do something… But not for my sake.”
“…..What are you talking about?”
“Do it for yourself Princess, please pray one more time.”
“That’s…..!”
“Pray and ask Goddess Kader to turn back the time.”
Princess Sahar’s eyes shake wildly.
“Impossible. I mean, I was stripped from my position as ‘Child of Goddess’”
“No.”
“Besides, I don’t have 99 priestesses who believe and follow me. My faith is very poor compared to them.”
Yoo Seodam reached out and grabbed Princess Sahar’s trembling hand. Then he opened his eyes wide and looked straight towards Princess Sahar’s purple eyes.
“You can do it.”
It wasn’t an unfounded belief. It was the result of Yoo Seodam’s thinking based on the information he acquired.
From the beginning, Yoo Seodam always moved while avoiding the route that could lead to Saintess Bianca regressing at her death because of the ‘probability’.
However, with the current situation where the four male-lead had run wild, and all citizens of the empire no longer trusted the Saintess, it was no longer possible for Bianca to regress due to the Probability.
Moreover, since she was not a Saintess in the first place, but an ‘extra concept protagonist of romance fantasy,’ the correction she received was in the form of ‘Charm’ not ‘Holy Power’
(T/N: Extra concept is written in hangul.)
Even though Yoo Seodam was 100% sure that Bianca would pray together with 99 most devoted priestesses, he was convinced that their faith would still fall short from Princess Sahar, who had already succeeded in regressing once.
“Princess, go, say your prayer to the Goddess.”
After saying so, Yoo Seodam put his hand on the floor helplessly. Looking at that Princess Sahar clenched her fist and raised her head.
Princess Sahar felt that she didn’t have the qualification to meet the Goddess anymore. She thought that all of her faith was gone as she was stripped from her place as a ‘Child of Goddess’. But she decided it was not the time to dwell on that. She would meet the Goddess with a thick face and ask her a favor shamelessly.
Princess Sahar, who rose from her seat, walked toward the center of the half-collapsed Third Temple.
She was aware that compared to Saintess Bianca and her 99 priestesses in the church, her situation was so shabby. Her appearance was unsightly, the temple was also destroyed in half, and even the remaining statue had its wings smashed.
Even so, there’s one thing that she felt she had better than Saintess Bianca on the church,
Swoooshh!
Unlike the church, thanks to the earlier fight, the sky was visible in the Third Temple. Compared to those who pray in the church, Princess Sahar thought that, maybe, her prayer would reach the goddess faster.
In the middle of the rain which directly hit her body, Princess Sahar laughed at the absurdness of her own thought before looking up towards the sky. She didn’t even put her hands together or kneel, she just looked at the sky blankly.
And then she said.
“Goddess. I am here.”
* * *
Meanwhile in the church, pillars of light descended on the church.
Bianca and her 500 priestesses could feel divine power seeped on their body while basking in the light.
‘Right. This is it.’
She never knew that it would be successful. No, to be exact, she was never thinking about it in the first place. However, she was always confident she could do it because she was a ‘Saintess’, the closest human to the Goddess.
Slowly, Bianca felt as if her body was getting sucked somewhere. Reality distorted, and another, higher level world unfolded in front of her.
In this mysterious purple world, Bianca could see a silver-colored woman ‘silhouette’ standing quietly in the middle of a cogwheels of a clock interlocking with each other.
Bianca was sure it was ‘Goddess Kader’. The Goddess who oversaw time and seasons, the same divine being who sent Princess Sahar the evil woman in the [Original] back to the past.
“Goddess! It’s me, Saintess Bianca! Goddess, please listen to me!”
Bianca smiled brightly. She is only one step away from starting anew. Thinking so, Bianca called for Goddess Kader, but she somehow felt uncomfortable.
‘Uh, it seems like someone….’
At that moment, the Goddess turned her head away from Bianca and looked somewhere else.
Hwaaaak~!
“……AH?”
Bianca was thrown down to reality.
“What just happened?”
“What….”
“Did the divine light disappear?”
Bianca hurriedly looked behind her. The mystical purple world surrounded by cogwheels and Goddess Kader had disappeared. She found herself back in the Church. But this time there were no pillars of light that shone upon it.
“This.. how is this possible……?”
When Bianca was still taken aback and tried to understand what just happened, a priest kicked the door of the church open and cried.
“Sain…Saintess-nim! Over there, another pillar of divine light is pouring down!”
“What?”
Bianca ran out of the church in a hurry. And indeed, the priest wasn’t lying. In the distance, she could see the same brilliant pillar of light that moments ago shined upon them.
“That location is……”
Bianca stuttered, color began to leave her face. There was no way she couldn’t remember that location.
‘The third temple?’
* * *
Princess Sahar, who threw her body into the hazy purple world, felt the time around her slowing down.
Her Goddess had listened to her prayer. She came towards Princess Sahar while leaving Bianca behind.
However, to her own surprise, Princess Sahar didn’t feel happy at all like one year ago when she regressed for the first time. Rather, she felt sad when she noticed the Goddess was looking at her.
One year ago, Princess Sahar felt pleased with the idea that she could take revenge on those who had abandoned her, the thought that she could recover everything that had been lost, and that her ruined life could once again be fixed and can unfold properly.
At that time, she was happy because there was nothing to lose even if she returned to the past.
But. Her situation was different now.
‘If I turn back the time, what will happen to Yoo Seodam?’
Such doubts kept digging into her chest. Although her time with him was a short one, she was filled with the most cherished and happiest memories of her two lives. She couldn’t help but hesitate unlike her first time.
Even though she knew that if she returns to the past now, she could do anything she wants to, for example, becoming an empress and killing Saintess Bianca who had hindered her. She was not sure what’s good in that when all the most precious things for her had to disappear or cease to exist.
Hwaak!
Warm light suddenly wrapped around Princess Sahar’s body. She could feel that Goddess Kader, who was still wrapped in a silver-colored hue, was looking at her.
-Do you want to return to the past?
“Yes…. However, I don’t want to throw away my memories with him either.”
-You’re too greedy. You can’t have everything you want.
Princess Sahar was certainly aware of that. Because she never had what she wanted even once.
However, the first and last thing she wanted suddenly appeared.
She thought that, wouldn’t it be okay for her to be greedy for grabbing both of them?
-…You don’t seem to have any intention of backing down. I used to be like that too.
Goddess Kader, slowly turned her head towards the man Princess Sahar mentioned.
He was hugging a girl with a black hair in his arms, it seemed like the girl was someone from another dimension and couldn’t stand the twisted time flow in this world.
The mas was truly a unique existence. Even in the midst of the ever changing passage of time, he wasn’t being swept away by it. On top of it, Kader could see a mysterious and graceful gold-colored ‘something’ behind the man.
-I envy you, I wouldn’t have to regress for thousands of times if I had someone to rely on like you…
Goddess Kader was aware that Yoo Seodam wouldn’t be affected by the time even if she sent Princess Sahar back to the past. However, Goddess Kader herself does not know why it was possible. In the end, without telling Princess Sahar, she decided to use that point to give her a very pleasant trial.
-I have a way to keep his memory intact.
“Is that true?”
-I will keep Yoo Seodam and that girl right at this time and return the time to a year ago. And when another year passes, he will wake up here again without losing his memories.
“Then!!!”
-However, there are conditions.
At the word of conditions, Princess Sahar’s expression hardened. But Kader did not stop. Kader suggested it because she wanted to see how Princess Sahar would look after realizing the meaning of relationships.
-You will not return alone. That child, Bianca, will also return with you.
“…….!”
-Both of you will know the exact same future. Both of you must fight with your own strength without receiving any ‘blessing of the world’. How about it, isn’t it interesting? Can you really do it alone without the help of Yoo Seodam? Sooner or later he will leave anyway, but will you take this risk to leave a short memory about you with him?
Princess Sahar’s heart trembled wildly.
It was such a ridiculous offer. If it were her usual self, Princess Sahar would have refused and returned to the past alone.
Because like the Goddess said, Yoo Seodam would return to his own ‘world’ sooner or later. And when that time comes, she would be the one who was left alone in this place.
‘But….’
Wouldn’t he be able to remember and reminisce about the time when he was with her even when he was in another world?
“Yes. I’ll do it.”
The corner of Goddess Kader’s lips slightly rose. She really liked the fact that Princess Sahar accepted her ridiculous offer because she didn’t want him to lose his memories.
-Good. I will send both you and Bianca back to the past. I don’t know if you’ll survive even after a year pass, or if you will be able to meet Yoo Seodam again…
Kader laughed slowly as she looked at Princess Sahar who was staring at herself with her bright and clear purple eyes.
-Unlike me, you will probably succeed.
And then, the time starts to move backwards for both Princess Sahar and Saintes Bianca.
* * *
[Detecting changes in the world line.]
“Ugh…!”
Yoo Seodam groaned as he opened his eyes. Then he slowly put Aracelli, who had passed out on his arms because she was unable to withstand the passage of time, on the floor and raised his head. He felt something has changed.
It was the same feeling he felt back when he fought the ‘infinite regressor’ protagonist. Moreover, unlike the shabby half-destroyed third temple where he passed out earlier. He found himself in a luxurious, shiny, gold-plated room.
‘Where is this place…’
Yoo Seodam supported his wounded body with his hand and stood up. He walked slowly along the red carpet spread out on the floor. After reaching the end of the red carpet, he could see a huge silver-colored door with a dragon sculpture engraved on it.
And suddenly, with creaking sounds, the door opens up followed by a woman walking in.
“Princess…Sahar?”
She still had beautiful silver hair and purple eyes that resembled amethyst. But, unlike her previous, devastated self, her gait was full of confidence, and her eyes were also filled with dignity. Yoo Seodam felt like he was looking at a completely different person for a moment.
Sahar looked towards Yoo Seodam and smiled brightly. After that, she points at the golden crown that sat on the top of her head.
“I’m not a Princess anymore, but an Empress.”
“Pardon me?”
“I caught the Emperor and killed him. It was a pretty successful coup.”
“No, what is it….”
“Saintess was buried together with the Pope. It leaves a pretty bitter aftertaste though….”
(P/N: not for me, it leaves quite a sweet aftertaste)
“Wait. Please speak slowly.”
Sahar stopped and laughed out loud when she realized that she had made a mistake.
“Sorry. I speak too fast, don’t I?”
Sahar smiled playfully. Somehow, her smile resembles the vicious expression that Yoo Seodam often had.
“In the meantime, a lot has happened without you.”
A lot of things happened, and Sahar had overcome them all.
“So…. Let’s talk slowly.”
Because now, Sahar could spend some time with him again.