Chapter 165: Noir

Cindy suddenly noticed ripples forming in the water, slowly drawing closer to her. Just as they were about to reach her, a figure emerged from the darkness.

She was a beautiful woman with curled black horns, goat-like ears, long white hair, and crimson eyes. She wore an elegant black dress that seemed to blend into the darkness around her.

The woman stopped a short distance from Cindy and calmly spoke.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Noir, though I am now better known as the Seed of Darkness."

Cindy narrowed her eyes and replied sarcastically, "Thanks to you, I’ve remembered something I really wish I hadn’t."

Noir simply smiled. With a small gesture of her hand, a chair appeared behind her. She gracefully sat down, crossing her legs as if they were having a casual conversation.

Seeing another chair appear behind her, Cindy sat down as well.

"As for that, I apologize," Noir said calmly. "But I wasn’t trying to pry into your memories. Your own consciousness was the one that asked for those memories to be revealed."

Cindy’s expression darkened. She placed a hand over her heart and slowly clenched it into a fist.

"What do you mean by that? And why are you here? Don’t you want to take over my body?"

"No."

Noir shook her head.

"I’m merely borrowing some of the mana within your body to force myself to awaken once again."

Cindy stared at her, confusion flickering across her face.

"What do you mean by that? Do you want my body to bear a child?"

Noir let out a soft, elegant laugh.

"No, nothing that wild. Like I said, I forcefully borrowed your mana to absorb all the ambient energy around us. My soul, which was sealed inside the orb, began to react and formed a new body. There were some... errors, because I did it by force. But I can only be grateful it still succeeded."

Cindy’s brow furrowed.

"You wanted to be reborn...? Do you want to destroy the world?"

Noir tilted her head, a faint, almost wistful smile crossing her lips.

"I’d like to, actually. But it seems that won’t be possible. Because I am now a different entity from the one that just awakened."

Cindy’s silver eyes widened.

"You mean... you were split in two?"

"Correct." Noir lifted her hand, studying it as though it belonged to someone else. "And I can feel my consciousness fading. Perhaps this is a fitting karma for me."

She watched her fingers begin to dissolve, the edges of her form blurring like ink in water.

"So don’t think of that newly awakened creature as Noir, or as the Seed of Darkness. Think of it as a new entity entirely." Her red eyes met Cindy’s, and for the first time, they were soft. "I want you to guide it toward a path of peace and happiness, something different from the life I lived. That is my wish before I disappear from this world."

Cindy let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"Hey, wait a minute. You suddenly dump a responsibility on me and then just leave? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Noir let out a soft, elegant sigh.

"Yes, I thought about that too. A request without a reward would be too heavy a burden for you. So I prepared something."

Cindy’s cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment.

"It’s not like I’m asking for a reward or anything. But you suddenly want me to take care of someone who used to be a destroyer... What if it becomes like you again?"

Noir’s red eyes softened at that.

"Don’t worry about that. I was born into a terrible environment. I made too many mistakes, created too many enemies, and was hunted by races all across the world." She paused, her fading hand resting gently on her lap. "But I believe that if you teach it about life and peace, it will become something different."

Cindy was quiet for a moment.

"...Alright. As long as it doesn’t become a destroyer again, I’ll teach it about peace. Though I’m not even sure I know what peace really looks like."

Noir smiled.

"Just do what you always do with your jellyfish friend. I’m sure the new me will understand what life truly means."

She leaned back in her chair, her form growing fainter by the second.

"As for the reward I mentioned, I stored it on top of the Great Tartarus. It will help you break through to the Fifth Circle that has been holding you back."

Cindy’s eyes widened.

"Great Tartarus? Isn’t that a mythical creature? Does it actually exist?"

Noir nodded slowly, her fading form flickering like a candle in the wind.

"It does exist. It moves from place to place, wandering the open ocean, so only a few have ever seen it. But I’ve infused my mana into the newly awakened body. You can follow that trail to find it."

Cindy hesitated, her silver eyes narrowing.

"But wait... you’re not lying to me, are you? You’re not going to suddenly make me break some kind of seal, are you?"

Noir was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke, her voice calm and measured.

"Cindy Maxwell. A girl from an orphanage, blessed with magical talent, granted a scholarship to the academy. You became known for your genius. But that made you arrogant. Prideful. Especially with Luna’s influence, teaching you to step on others to climb higher."

Cindy’s breath caught.

"And when you were at your lowest, you tried to possess the jellyfish that had helped you. You betrayed him." Noir’s red eyes met hers, unwavering. "With a past like that, of course you would be suspicious of me."

Cindy lowered her head, her small hands gripping her thighs.

"Yeah... that’s who I was. A selfish person who only thought about herself."

Then she lifted her head and faced Noir directly.

"But now it’s different. I want to change. I want to be more useful to Gray, not because of the contract that binds us, but because I want to. For myself."

Noir clapped her hands together, a warm, genuine smile crossing her fading face.

"Wonderful. I feel the same way. When I was recovering, I thought a lot about everything I’d lost. About what I’d missed." Her red eyes grew distant. "I can’t go back to a cleaner path. But because of this chance, I want it to enjoy this world without seeing the cruelty I committed."

Cindy finally understood. Noir was like her but different. She was honest about everything because she didn’t want to repeat her own mistakes. She didn’t want the new entity to become what she had been.

Noir’s voice softened.

"When you two came here, I noticed. I thought you were someone looking for me, so I watched. But it turned out to be just a curious jellyfish, drawn to something he didn’t understand."

Cindy rose from her chair and walked toward Noir. She reached out and took her fading hand.

"Alright. I promise. I’ll make sure it experiences a life so full of color that it will cling to every moment, until it begs for more time, until it refuses to die before it has truly lived."