Vol 7 Chapter 39

"Two different minds that have taken root within me at some point have grown too large for me to properly control either direction anymore. The distinction of values that was once clear to me no longer exists. Even the gods wouldn't know what might happen if this continues. That's why I want to divide myself in two."

"Though I felt something was strange, I never thought you were insane."

Ilumine muttered with a slightly trembling voice.

"No matter how you change, you're still my friend. I won't hate you. Why do you have to go this far? That's no reason to divide yourself in two."

"...Kind Daughter of the Forest. My friend."

Superior, who had been silent, placed his hand on Ilumine's cheek. For the first time, a proper emotion of sadness seeped into his eyes like water.

"If I were a complete being rather than human, perhaps this wouldn't have happened. But now it's impossible."

Superior's eyes wandered to somewhere distant as he stroked Ilumine's cheek.

"Long ago, when I stood alone before the demon god. I used a certain magic by offering my life and soul. With that magic's power, I succeeded in twisting all of time and space to connect with the thread of my existence. Though I sealed the demon god that way, in exchange, I became the single foreign object caught between the cogwheels of this world that had been turning stably interlocked."

"..."

"The essence of magic is imagination. And imagination means desire."

"No..."

Ilumine whispered in a trembling voice as if sensing something.

"It was fine until I spent years alone leaving traces of dead friends here and there throughout the world. I thought I was managing somehow. But then one day, I realized it. That this world had become strange somehow."

"Ah..."

"At the moment I used magic to seal the demon god, I had two thoughts. That brief moment's tiny will manifested along with the magic, and as time passed it grew like a snowball until by the time I came to my senses, everything had changed irreversibly."

Superior slowly withdrew his hand from Ilumine's cheek.

"Now within me, only those two thoughts from then have grown large and coexist. One is a being that can remain as your friend, but the other is a destructive being that desires nothing. And I can no longer tell which one I truly wanted."

Superior let out a hollow laugh.

"Because of me, connected to the world's axis, the world has already changed and continues to change. The last remaining rationality from the past says this cannot continue. Though I tried to find some way to break through, I couldn't find anything even after searching all records from the beginning of time to the present in this world."

Ilumine seemed too shocked to even answer. Superior continued speaking as if understanding all of that.

"So this is the last method I thought of. To be honest, this too is just a stopgap measure... but at least the two different wills won't mix and drive me completely insane."

"Then... when you said you would divide yourself in two, it was to separate those two minds?"

"Yes."

Looking at Ilumine's trembling eyes, Superior returned to his initial expressionless face and spoke his final words.

"Even if I split in two, nothing can be done about how the world has already changed. Lumi, I'll confess now - that's why when you asked me how to sustain this forest, I deliberately taught you a method that would trap you and all elves here. Unless you abandon the forest, you won't be able to leave this place. I thought that enabling you to protect your race amid the world's changes was the last gift I could give as your friend."

The words that sounded unreal like lies echoed through the black space. Ilumine shook her head in disbelief, then pressed her forehead while breathing roughly.

"This can't... be. It's not true? Tell me it's not. Please."

"I'm sorry, but it is true."

Moisture finally welled up in Ilumine's eyes as she looked at Superior, unable to calm her emotions for a long while.

"You said I might hate you enough to want to kill you when I heard all these reasons."

"..."

Superior's expressionless face looked even more like an eerie doll in the darkness.

"That was truly such a self-centered thing to say."

"...I'm sorry."

"Such words aren't necessary."

After Superior muttered a low apology, Ilumine, who had finally shed tears, showed an expression as cold as Superior's once she had calmed down.

"Since my past self said I would help you, I will continue to hear what you want. But from the moment you divide yourself, know that your existence will be dead to me, and nothing that separates from you afterward can become my dear friend."

"...Right."

"Then tell me the rest of your plan."

Ilumine no longer showed any sign of trying to stop Superior. Though she was biting her lip, her cold clear blue eyes briefly showed the same light as the current Ilumine.

"From now on, I will continue to..."

However, they couldn't hear the rest of Superior's words as he began answering without hesitation. As the sound gradually faded, Superior and Ilumine's figures disappeared, buried in darkness.

Kapros clenched his fist to not forget even one of the shocking words from the memory just now.

When his vision brightened again after a moment, Ilumine was sitting in the vast cave he entered to meet her, facing someone.

"Siravi Ren. My heart is uneasy about burdening you, young one, with this heavy duty."

"The name of a wandering soul exists for times like this. I fear nothing, so please don't worry, Lady Ilumine."

The elf with deep green hair and sharp eyes was Siravi Ren, whom Kapros had met before. Ilumine couldn't unfurrow her brow even at Siravi Ren's words.

"When you go to the forest entrance, the human apothecary we arranged will be your guide. Never forget to cover your face and ears, and return safely after completing your mission."

"Yes."

"These are the two items you will take."

Ilumine took out a wooden staff and a mysterious orb with a soft red glow from within her clothes. Though the orb was unfamiliar, the wooden staff was exactly the complete form of the Superior staff that Kapros already knew well.

Seeing it now fully formed whereas in the previous memory it had been just a staff without the pictorial characters engraved, a certain realization flashed through his mind.

'This is the situation after Superior divided in two.'

After watching Siravi Ren carefully receive the staff and orb and put them in a pouch, Ilumine closed her eyes with unfocused gaze, then opened them and returned to a resolute expression as if nothing had happened.

"Place the staff at the site of Bistale Castle as discussed. Then after dispelling the magic hanging over the northern Kizar mountain range, place the orb anywhere and return as quickly as possible."

"Understood."

"Trust no human. Even the guide. Any killing is permitted if you seem to be in danger."

"I will do so."

Tension dripped from Ilumine's heavy voice. Siravi Ren bowed politely to Ilumine before standing up.

"Then until we meet again, may you be at peace, El Rama Anan Du."

"El Rama Anan Du Mio."

Watching Siravi Ren's retreating figure, Ilumine sat alone in the vast cave exactly as Kapros knew her, lowering her eyes intently.

"...Now it begins."

As her gaze sank hazily with those muttered words, everything went dark again before his eyes.