Chapter 376: Everything That Caused Her Such Pain

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From dusk until late into the night, the tremors shaking the ground never stopped for a single moment.

Hiding in the basement, Ansu listened to the thunderous rumbles echoing overhead, his heart pounding in sync with the vibrations.

After an agonizingly long wait, the relentless roaring that had lasted all night suddenly ceased.

A dead silence abruptly fell outside. Only the heavy stench of burnt ash and filthy mana remained, slowly seeping through the cracks in the stone walls.

Even from the depths of the basement, the sheer devastation left behind by this cataclysmic magic battle was painfully clear.

Is it over...?

Ansu focused his senses on the activity above. The academy ground was eerily quiet, without even the faintest whisper of wind.

Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from the depths of the corridor.

They were accompanied by the rhythmic dripping of blood splashing onto the stone floor.

Step by step, they drew closer and closer...

Ansu raised his hand to cast Illumination, the pale white halo carving out a small pocket of light.

The cluttered basement remained dim and cramped, save for a trail of dark red blood spreading across the stone slabs, leading straight to his feet.

Where is she...?

“Looking for me?”

A hoarse voice suddenly rasped from behind him, making the hairs on Ansu's neck stand on end.

He slowly turned around, only to find Celia's pale, blood-stained face practically pressed against his own.

“Holy crap!” Ansu's eyes widened. What kind of horror movie jumpscare was this?!

“Why so scared?” Celia curled her lips into a grin, more blood dripping down her chin. “Are you really that afraid of me? Do you have a guilty conscience?”

“I have nothing to feel guilty about.” Ansu shook his head, forcing himself to stay calm. “What about... the people from the magic academy?”

“Some are dead, some are crippled.” Celia's gaze locked onto his face, as if trying to carve his image into her very bones. “The rest are hiding, preparing to strike back.”

“Oh.” Ansu let out a dry laugh, quickly glancing at the time.

It was already early morning.

They were almost at the critical threshold of his plan.

“What are you looking at?” Celia's eyes flickered as she let out a sinister laugh.

In the next instant, her pitch-black hand, covered in hideous patterns, slowly wrapped around his throat.

“Finally... I've finally caught you! Ansu, I hate you... I hate you so much...”

Madness swirled in her blood-red eyes, along with a deeply painful, almost self-destructive agony.

“My heart hurts so much, Ansu... Why did you do this? Every single time, you lie to me, betray me, and use me...”

Her voice trembled as the synchronized memories churned violently in her mind.

“And that's not all... That's not all...”

“Why did you have to mock me too? Am I really that ridiculous to you? Why did you demean me like that? Why did you curse at me? Do I not love you enough?”

The harsh, biting words from different timelines echoed in her mind over and over again:

‘You crazy witch! Is there something wrong with your head?’

‘Hahaha! Let me tell you, it was all fake from the very beginning! I was lying to you the whole time!’

‘What kind of idiot would let themselves be played like a fool by me?’

‘Goodbye... and I hope I never see you again!’

As these cruel words repeated in her ears, Celia shed tears of blood, the sorrow and despair in her eyes thick and inescapable.

“Why did you sneer at me like that...? I did it to save you! I broke into the Church to save you...!”

She remembered the mocking smirk on Ansu's face when he uttered those words.

‘There was never any such thing as eternal loyalty! Not a single day went by where I didn't want to escape from you!’

‘Don't you find those promises laughable yourself?’

She wept and laughed all at once, her entire body shaking uncontrollably.

“Why was even... this sentence a lie?”

“You were clearly so sincere back then, you cared about me so much. You clearly said, ‘Miss Witch, you are not alone,’ and ‘You still have me.’ You promised you would stay by my side forever...”

She laughed until the tears ran down her face.

The memories of timeline after timeline gradually pieced themselves together into a coherent outline—it was Ansu's ability, the countless divergent paths he had walked in the "future."

Not a single one had a happy ending.

If he hadn't brought her to find the Filthy Heart this time, she probably would have remained in the dark forever...

Ansu, why do you always betray my love? Do you really hate me that much?

You have been using me all along, employing my strength to achieve your goals. From the academy crisis... all the way until now. Resources, money, strength, power... you obtained everything, and you even held my heart in your hands.

But after all this time, how much of it was genuine? How much of your feelings were real?

Perhaps there was some...

Because Celia still remembered their two shared memories in the underground ruins of the ancient demons. Those life-and-death moments, his care, and his tenderness could not have been entirely faked.

Yet the moment this thought surfaced, it was utterly crushed by a deeper wave of hatred.

He must have treated me well out of mockery, like a high-and-mighty act of charity...

“Since you look so pitiful, and since you've done so much for me... I suppose I'll open my heart just a fraction and treat you a little better.”

He was pitying me.

I hate him! I hate him so much!

She could not endure this!

All that exploitation, all those lies, perfectly aligned with the question that had been causing her endless anxiety day and night.

‘If I hadn't threatened you back then, if I hadn't forced you to stay by my side... would you still have fallen in love with me?’

The answer was already glaringly obvious.

No.

Suddenly—

Ansu felt a suffocating pressure violently erupt. Black Flame surged uncontrollably from her body, engulfing the entire basement in the blink of an eye, wrapping even Celia herself in the roaring fire.

Only a single thought remained in Celia's mind.

Destroy! Destroy!

Destroy... everything that caused her such pain!!

Ansu forced himself to take a deep breath.

He finally spoke to answer her.

“There aren't so many reasons.”

He stared directly into her blood-red eyes, his voice clear and sincere. “Simply because I love you, I wanted to save you. It's really that simple.”

Celia's movements abruptly froze, a fleeting moment of hesitation flashing across her eyes.

“Are you trying to trick me with those words again?” The next instant, she was shrouded in coldness once more. “You do this every time... but this time, I won't believe you!”

The all-destroying Black Flame flared up violently once more. A searing heat rushed over him, and Ansu could even smell his clothes starting to singe.

Let it all be destroyed.

Celia closed her eyes in agony. At this point, whether it was love or hate, everything needed to end.

Let this eternal silence burn away all the pain...

“The story is over...”

“It's over.”

“The story isn't over yet!” Ansu roared with great difficulty, his voice hoarse and strained. “If you want to kill me, at least give me a chance to say one last thing before I die!”

Celia did not open her eyes, but the surging Black Flame stopped pressing forward.

Ansu seized the opportunity and spoke rapidly, “I only synchronized half of my memories to you. Aren't you curious about the other half?”

“Even if you want to die and drag me down with you, you should at least die with a clear mind! Don't you want to know why I did all of this?”

Celia snapped her eyes open.

But she wasn't looking at Ansu. Her fierce, blood-red eyes suddenly whipped toward the south.

Because at that exact moment, a colossal amount of mana was gathering to the south—the mages of the City of a Thousand Stars actually dared to launch a counterattack.

What made Ansu's heart sink, however, was...

A familiar, cold, and indescribable power was seeping through space, spreading outward.

It was accompanied by a faint, elusive sense of being watched.

The God of Clamor and Filth?

...

Deepest beneath the academy, in the forbidden archives.

On a massive platform resembling a circular altar, a blood-drenched Angelu was gathering all the remaining magic professors. The arm that had been twisted and broken last time had not yet fully healed, and now he was limping on a crippled leg, yet he stood tall, leaning on his staff.

A deep, mystical magic glow flickered. A giant magic circle unfurled across the ground, its complex, twisted patterns wrapping around a bizarre, eye-like design at its center.

The ancient orrery slowly rotated above the center of the magic circle, emitting a creaking, eerie sound.

“O Great God of Magic, sleeping divine will, your pious dependents call upon you here...”

Angelu's hoarse voice, along with those of the other mages, echoed throughout the archives with an ancient, obscure rhythm.

“When the stars align, the abyss opens, and chaos and clamor awaken from the eternal darkness—O Great Will, Shadow of the World, please descend and take dominion over all!”

Forbidden power steadily gathered within the magic circle, filling the entire space with filth, chaos, and endless whispers.

Angelu's body began to mutate. His skin turned into a pitch-black gelatinous substance, and several slimy tentacles sprouted from his back as he gradually warped into a horrifying monster.

The surrounding magic professors shrieked one after another. The severe backlash twisted their physical forms, making them look less and less human, until they no longer resembled any known creature in the world.

No one knew how much time had passed.

In midair, a massive pupil resembling a black hole slowly manifested. It seemed to descend into this world, yet at the same time, it felt detached, existing outside of dimensions.

“It is not enough... It is not enough!”

“Everyone!” the completely mutated Angelu roared, urging them on. “This is a matter of life and death for the academy! No matter the cost, we must awaken our Lord! Even if He only descends for a brief moment, we must implore Him to hand down divine punishment!”

Everyone had reached their absolute limits, their bodies trembling like sieves, yet they still poured their mana into the magic circle with all their might.

“We are the divine dependents...”

“We are the divine dependents, praying for our Lord's descent...”

...

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