Chapter 334

The first thought that came to me as I went flying through the air was that Minerva really did have a natural-born gift for combat and for fighting, and the second thought was that I'd gone and taught her all those different martial arts for nothing.

I don't actually think I have a talent for fighting, mind you.

That stands to reason — I'd lived a life completely removed from any of that.

But the authority I'd gotten after killing Margo let me inherit and use, exactly as they were, the experiences of all the other versions of me who had lived their own separate lives and each honed their own power to its absolute limit.

They had drilled in every discipline you could name — sword, spear, bow, dagger, magic, every kind of martial art and hand-to-hand fighting.

Inheriting all of that experience, completely intact.

That alone had given me the strength to face countless powerhouses head-on and win.

And the real monster — the one who'd absorbed every bit of that in barely ten days, and on top of that taken it even further — was standing right there in front of me.

"What are you doing!"

Her hand shot out at me like a spear, and I twisted my body back to dodge it by a hair.

I swung the sword at her over and over, but she dodged or deflected every strike by a fingernail's width and was the one closing in on me instead.

It was a blessing she was empty-handed; the thought of what would have happened if she'd had a glaive or some other weapon in her grip was enough to leave me dizzy.

[Didn't this Minerva tell you? That the me right after the seal broke was nothing close to her full self.]

"Ugh, that. But still…!"

Still falling back, I shot a sidelong look at the sword in my hand.

I hadn't been able to retrieve my other weapons from our original time, so the only thing usable I had with me was this one sword.

It wasn't until I was actually fighting Minerva that I realized something was wrong with it.

[Juno's lingering will isn't just clinging to it — it's seeped right in.]

Sbeungali clicked his beak as he spoke up.

[It's blunting the sword's edge and slowing the arm of whoever's holding it… meaning yours. Heavy, sluggish. I'd been wondering — even granting Minerva's the one you're up against, it didn't add up that you were getting this badly outclassed.]

He let out a brief hmm as he looked the sword over, then muttered:

[Juno's power is, even among the Seven Calamities, fairly awkward to deal with and fairly useful at the same time. It was the one ruling over barriers and curses, after all. If you could rein in and master the lingering will lodged in that sword, it would turn into a decent piece of work…]

Sbeungali's casual tone made something flare up inside me before I could help it.

"Hup!"

I scattered branches of the World Tree at Minerva as she rushed in like she had no intention of letting me go.

She kept her guard up against them as she came at me, then abruptly broke off and opened the distance, which earned me a moment to catch my breath.

"You're not going to use that sword anymore?"

Minerva broke into a grin as she watched me sheathe it.

The tail slipped out from under her dress was swishing back and forth.

The same tail that, only a moment ago, had hooked my ankle and slammed me into the ground with everything it had.

"Figured I'd be better off fighting in a way I'm used to."

Along with drawing out branches of the World Tree, I started drawing up Henir's Shadow as well.

Minerva watched the sight with frank interest.

I showed her the places I'd just been knocked around, like a complaint laid out for her to see.

"Look — going around trying to feel each other out got me nothing but losses."

That made Minerva burst out into a bright peal of laughter.

She moved through several quick steps, almost as if she were dancing, and murmured through her laugh:

"Then this Minerva ought to do the same."

With those words, her form started to shift.

She was returning to her original shape — a dragon.

"…"

By rights, putting on King of Thorns and fighting it out from there would have been the sensible choice.

And yet, for some reason —

The skill 'Dragonification' is being activated.

Dragon blood is beginning to surge out of your heart…

You feel your body changing.

You will soon become a dragon.

You have used King of Thorns.

The thorns will soon become you.

By the time I came back to myself, I too had become a dragon.

"You really don't need to worry that much."

Han Su-yeong said it as she stroked the head of Rauné, who had latched onto the crystal orb.

Rauné — looking ready to push right through the orb if it could — turned that signature deadpan expression on Han Su-yeong.

She had no idea why, but the look felt like it was scolding her — how can you possibly say not to worry — and Han Su-yeong gave an awkward smile, almost like she was making excuses.

"Come on, you really think they'd actually kill each other? It's just a friendly bout, basically. You know how people say tigers might look like they're trying to tear each other apart from the outside, but to the tigers themselves they're just playing? Those two are the same kind of thing."

"…"

Rauné still looked a little doubtful at her words, but it had clearly relaxed compared to a moment ago.

Han Su-yeong gave Rauné's head another pat and started moving the things she'd been holding.

"Hah."

She let out a short sigh.

No one knew better than she did just how completely wrong the thing she'd said a second ago had been.

Those two weren't shouting threats or hurling curses at each other — they were laughing and chatting like it was all in fun, and meanwhile they were fighting with everything they had to genuinely take each other's lives, on a level you wouldn't see again.

Even though it had been barely under a month, she'd lived alongside the pair of them long enough to read it clearly.

Minerva wasn't the sort whose character would let her take a duel for a joke, and Yu Ji-hyeok wasn't the kind of person who'd mock or belittle that kind of opponent.

Above all, the two of them had said that since they'd given each other their firm word, the promise had to be kept, no matter what.

It was the kind of thing a mage like her — not a warrior — probably wouldn't understand if she sat with it for a hundred years, but that wasn't the same as wanting to step in and stop the two of them or get in their way.

All she could do was hope it would all wrap up without incident.

If she sat there watching them fight the way Rauné was, her head would only get more tangled up, so she made herself turn her attention to something else.

That she ended up finding a small dagger in her coat in the middle of it could, in a way, be called inevitable.

"Hmm…"

Han Su-yeong carefully set the dagger down on the table.

It was the dagger Nam Hyun-hwa had handed her.

"…"

Venus and Juno had each been sealed just shy of dying.

Which meant once they got back to their original time, the two of them would have to break those seals and kill them while they were still half-dead.

She knew perfectly well that going by everything she'd seen of Yu Ji-hyeok up to now, he'd handle those two with room to spare — and yet some uneasy premonition was driving her to prep for just-in-case scenarios like this one.

"A spell to dispel evil, and a spell of sealing…"

When she looked closely, the flat of the dagger's blade had two spells etched into it — one for destroying wicked energies, the other for sealing them away.

For an instant a wave of longing for Nam Hyun-hwa rose up in her, and Han Su-yeong shook her head before reaching for the items she'd set aside.

A crystal carrying the lingering thoughts of versions of herself from other worlds.

And the buckler Yu Ji-hyeok had handed her, made from a piece of him.

"Sorry, just need a minute…"

With that, she took up a fine chisel and started scraping at the surfaces of the crystal and the buckler.

By any normal standard, scratching them shouldn't even have been possible — the tool should have broken first — but as if those things meant to bow to their owner's will, their surfaces gave way bit by bit, shaving off into a fine powder.

"Thank you."

She murmured the words and gave the crystal and the buckler a careful stroke.

Then she gathered up the powders and started carefully tipping them into the grooves engraved in the dagger.

It was the simplest, most direct way of channeling magical power into a tool.

Of course, depending on how the medium and the materials suited each other, the results from this method could vary wildly, but it never crossed her mind that what she had here would pair badly.

How could it — these were things carrying her own power, that of her teacher Nam Hyun-hwa, and Yu Ji-hyeok's all together.

There was no way that combination would be a bad fit.

She'd been quietly working on the dagger like that for some time when —

"Color me surprised. I had thought you'd be biting your nails the whole time, watching every moment of it."

The voice made her flinch, and she lifted her head.

In front of her was Minerva… no, the doll Minerva had taken such a liking to.

Now that she thought about it, in the middle of all that flooding chaos, she'd grabbed this thing on instinct and somehow brought it along.

"…Ner?"

"Yes — it's me."

The roly-poly little dragon doll said it and squirmed in place.

Han Su-yeong stopped what she was doing and scooped the doll up at once.

"Is it okay for you to be out here like this?"

"Why wouldn't it be? The past me has her hands full at the moment, fighting him."

Minerva said it and tilted her chin toward where Rauné was.

Going by the glimpses still flickering through the orb, it looked like the fight wasn't over yet.

"Even so, still…"

"There's nothing to worry about."

Minerva, having caught on right away to what else was on Han Su-yeong's mind, gave her answer.

"The past me can't beat the him of right now. And it isn't a matter of raw power, either… mm."

She thought it over for a moment, then nodded and stated it with certainty.

"At least where it stands right now, even if he were in a weakened state, she absolutely could not win."

"Why?"

"That, Su-yeong — I'd think you'd know far better than this Minerva."

Han Su-yeong closed her mouth at that.

Minerva broke into laughter at the sight, as if she found it endearing, then squirmed her body again.

"To be honest, this Minerva came out here because I wanted to have a serious word with you."

"With me?"

"Yes. With you."

Minerva let out a small sigh.

"And because I'd rather he not catch on to this conversation if at all possible, I came out now. This is the only chance I'll have to slip past his notice naturally."

"…"

"I think you've already worked out, to some extent, what I'm here to talk about — am I right?"

Han Su-yeong gave a small nod.

Minerva quietly let out another sigh and went on.

"Ahriman. That thing has shaken you up no small amount."

"Ner, I —"

"Su-yeong. This Minerva is bound by the natural order too, so there's only so much I can say to you. But this much, at least, I can tell you."

Minerva spoke in a firm, steady voice, as if telling her not to waver at any cost.

"In the end, he, and this Minerva, and even Ahriman, will all be bound by this thing called the natural order. But you're different. You… you are the only one who can step free of it. Don't, under any circumstances, forget this. That's the very reason even Ahriman is at its wit's end where you're concerned."

"Ner…"

"Yes — at last it comes back to me. The reason I was so wary of you in the past. This was exactly what it was."

While she murmured it, Minerva gave a small shudder.

Then she spoke again, sounding a little caught off guard.

"My — to think it would be settled this soon. I'd been certain it would take at least another half a day."

She spared a sidelong glance at Rauné, who had started leaping up and down on the spot in excitement, then turned her eyes back to Han Su-yeong.

"Sorry to have only just arrived, but I'd better head back before he catches on."

"Ah, right."

"And this one thing — don't ever forget it, Su-yeong."

Minerva pressed it on her right up to the end, like a charge laid on her.

"Even if it means resigning yourself to the natural order, you must, under no circumstances, give in to Ahriman's request."

[…Mm.]

Minerva, who had been out cold for a brief stretch, opened her eyes with a low groan.

She was lying face-down on the ground, and once she came around, she could see that someone was half-lying against her body, leaning into her.

Anyone laying so much as a hand on her would normally have set her into a rage, and yet, strange as it was, right now she wasn't the least bit angry.

"You up?"

[…Yes.]

Minerva quietly nodded.

Then she asked, her voice still soft:

[I take it I've lost.]

"Yeah, I won."

[I see…]

If anything, Minerva sounded relieved as she murmured it, and let out a long breath.

After blinking several times, she spoke to Yu Ji-hyeok, who was leaning back against her.

[…You there, may I ask just one thing?]

"What is it?"

[Do you really have to go back?]

He closed his mouth at her question.

A moment later, he nodded.

"I do."

[Wouldn't it be all right not to go?]

Minerva murmured it carefully, her tail giving a soft, hesitant sway.

Carefully, so it wouldn't strike any kind of blow to him as he lay there covered in wounds.

[I've heard a human's life doesn't quite reach a hundred years. But I've also heard that those who consume a dragon's heart can live as we do — past a thousand. You've eaten a dragon's heart yourself once, haven't you? Then you'd know better than anyone.]

Minerva went on quietly.

[This Minerva is also a dragon. And I have a body so stubborn that even with my head torn off I can come back. If you wished for it, this Minerva could give you a piece of her heart, easily enough…]

"Minerva."

He spoke her name softly.

But she carried on as if she hadn't heard.

[If you wanted, I could even catch you another. A flame dragon, a frost dragon… yes — if you wanted, even that obnoxious creature dancing attendance on Milited, the one I can't stand the sight of, anything.]

"Minerva."

[Three hundred years, wasn't it? Could you not just stay and wait it out together with this Minerva instead of going back? If you gain a thousand years of lifespan and only have to wait three hundred, that isn't such a bad bargain…]

"I'm sorry."

The tail that had been swaying in spite of itself, lifted along by a faint hope, came to an abrupt stop at his apology.

[…No. This Minerva spoke out of turn.]

Minerva quietly added —

[It must be because I took a knock to the head earlier while we were fighting.]

With that last line, she closed her mouth.

He, too, said nothing.

The two of them stayed there in silence, leaning against each other for support, until the sun set and night came down.

And in that quiet, the fifteen-day promise finally drew to its close.