CH 145

Episode 145: Last-Ditch Effort (IV)

“Ugh, damn it!!!”

Thousands, tens of thousands of rays of light erupted from her and pierced the demonic beasts.

Eiiiiekkkk!

As soon as they touched the light, the beasts that were trying to devour people crumbled and disappeared into dust.

Gerard staggered and tried to block the light with both hands, but still felt pain tearing through his body.

The pure light covered the whole world, as if it was cleaning up the impurities of the earth.

Woo-oo-oo-woo-woo!

The Acra that touched the light vibrated violently and staggered in the sky.

And after a while…

People who were blind to the light slowly opened their eyes.

The dangerous beasts that were attacking them had disappeared without a trace.

With a look of disbelief, someone shouted.

“…The beasts disappeared. Wow!!!!”

Along with him, several people cheered and rejoiced; it was a miracle for them who were almost eaten by the beasts.

The people who rushed at Annette and Sislin like zombies who didn’t feel any pain groaned and collapsed when they came to their senses.

It was clear that the Acra’s power had weakened.

“Annette, are you okay?”

Amidst the chaos and dust, Sislin cut through everyone and approached Annette.

Annette slowly opened her eyes, and there stood a man shining like a piece of sunlight in her eyes.

“It’s okay, Sisl.”

“…….”

“I’m better now than ever.”

She could feel the power of Exordium pounding deeply both in her chest and in her fingertips.

‘This is ‘flowering’.’

She was feeling with her whole body the noble, dangerous power that Sordi and Um had explained and emphasized repeatedly.

It was truly different from the power of light and fire that had been used in small ways before.

[Glutinous rice! Hahahaha, it finally bloomed!]

[You did a great job, sweetheart.]

‘No, Sordi. Um.’

‘The real work starts now.’

Although damaged, the Acra was still in the sky, and fortunately, those who lost their senses returned to their original state…

Bang!

Just then, a giant blade slashed and jabbed in the direction of Sislin and Annette, but they managed to quickly dodge sideways.

“Gerard’s troops are targeting me, Annette. It’s more dangerous for you to stick around.”

“Watch out, Sisl!”

Annette exclaimed loudly.

‘Gerard’s combat troops are still attacking.’

Although the power of mind control had weakened and they were no longer attacking without their intelligence like zombies, their attacks with their original strength were still fierce.

Gerard brought together all the cruel mercenaries from all over the world, just as he did when he formed the chasing team. It was still a great force.

Then, an unwelcome voice was heard.

“Hahahahaha! Congratulations, you have finally experienced flowering. Did you know that no one has been waiting for you to bloom as much as me?”

Gerard couldn’t hide his joy. Yes, he was rather happy!

‘Finally, the power I will receive has been completed!’

He would receive even the slightest imperfect power, so he wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen if his plans went wrong.

Gerard was still convinced.

That he could perfect his power with Annette’s amplification ability.

Even though he saw that she had become strong enough to threaten the Acra.

Because…

‘You’re going to make the same choices as you did in the past, you foolish girl.’

Annette responded coldly.

“I don’t want to receive your congratulations. The congratulations of the soon-to-be damned human.”

“I’m going to be damned ?”

With a burst of laughter, Gerard raised his hands as if genuinely delighted.

“Well. I’m convinced that I’m destined to sit in a ‘noble seat’?”

In line with Gerard’s beckoning, as if the air was peeling off a layer, a space was revealed, and the silhouette of a man appeared there.

He looked very tired and weak…

“Heinri!”

In shock, Annette called Heinrich.

Heinrich hung in the air with his arms tied tightly.

Gerard was thrilled by Annette’s bewildered expression, and he grabbed Heinrich’s hair, shaking his head roughly.

“Sister…”

Heinrich barely opened his eyes, and found Annette.

His dry, cracked lips moved helplessly.

“Sorry. Really…”

“Heinri!!!”

Below, Annette was covering her mouth with both hands, bearing a contemplative face.

‘Oh, what a great scene.’

Gerard couldn’t contain his joy at the scene of their reunion, his mouth tore open with  laughter. He looked creepy, like a snake.

Heinrich was such a powerful wizard, so it was not easy to capture him, but unfortunately, he was very weak due to the incident at the last banquet.

It was thanks to that that he was able to catch him like this.

“Oh, you must be very worried. Annette, isn’t this the child you’ve been particularly fond of for a long time-“

That special heart.

The heart of loving and caring for someone.

That useless affection was clearly weak. Seeing how she weakened like this simply because he captured the boy.

“In the past, you made a lot of sacrifices to save this guy.”

“…You despicable man!!!”

“If you complete the power of Exordium, you can handle amplification freely, right?”

Heuk, Annette’s eyes shook. Gerard gladly grabbed the victory, holding out his hand.

“Come over to me and put an amplification on me.”

His goal was still to turn back time, get rid of Sislin, and start from scratch.

To become the crown prince of this empire, wielding an unbreakable strong power, and finally… Sit on the throne to rule El Dorado.

It was time for such a normal trajectory.

It was time to get what he deserved.

“Sister! Don’t mind me. Just kill this bastard…”

Paaaaak!

Heinrich choked up and spilled blood upon Gerard’s powerful slap.

Annette’s face turned pale.

Seeing the tormented Heinrich, she cried out as if she couldn’t stand it.

“Gerard, I’ll give you the amplification! Release Heinrich, please.”

‘Finally, I got the answer I wanted.’

The corners of Gerard’s lips went up like it was going to rip his mouth apart.

“That’s right. Come here.”

‘Again, foolishly, you repeat the same mistakes as in the past.’

‘You were like that in the past too.’

When he offered to adopt Heinrich, Annette overturned his will and graciously announced that she would like to be adopted instead.

She was a kind person even when she was a kid. She would do anything for someone precious.

Such a foolish woman.

Gerard had no doubts that she would still make the same choice today.

‘You can’t let go of this little love and you’re going to ruin everything, Annette.’

“Come and hand over that power to me!”

Gerard brought her in front of him.

Into the black sky without a single light, next to the Acra.

Annette’s hair and the hem of her outfit fluttered in the wind.

“Sister… In the end… because of me… Sorry.”

At Heinrich’s whispers, Annette reached out to Gerard. It’s like giving amplification right away.

That’s when… tuk!

Gerard grabbed her wrist and said,

“Wait.”

“……!”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? You bitch, you’re going to ‘recover’ it afterwards, right?”

“…….”

“Listen well. In case the power of the amplification is not given to me, I’ve put a curse on this—”

Gerard pulled Heinrich’s hair back roughly.

“See.”

A red line ran across his white neck like a thin choker.

“This is a pre-casted spell, so even if you ‘recover’ your power, it will be activated. As soon as it’s ‘recovered’, this guy’s neck and body will separate right in front of your eyes.”

Hah, the corners of Gerard’s lips rose.

Annette responded calmly.

“I wasn’t thinking of that. If I give you power, promise to let Heinrich go and stop this war.”

“I promise. It’s a deal.”

‘I’m sorry, little girl.’

‘I don’t keep promises well.’

“Sister, you can’t…”

Heinrich begged to the end, but Annette seemed to have made up her mind.

As Gerard slowly released Annette’s hand, her hand flashed brightly and touched Gerard’s chest.

Feeling the overflowing vitality in his chest, and Gerard’s heart raced.

Finally, the time has come.

The moment he had been longing for all his life.

He failed over and over and over again, but in the end he got here.

In this instant, he felt like he was going to lose his mind, mixed with ecstasy and thrill.

A starter slipped out of Annette’s mouth.

“Recéptus!”

Gerard’s chest heated as if it was about to burn, and he felt his whole body fill with light.

“Oh, you stupid girl…!”

‘You didn’t know this was the way to ruin the Sislin you loved so much.’

Gerard burst into laughter and quickly invoked the spell he had previously casted.

It was now time to go back to the past and defeat Sislin.

But just then, Gerard caught sight of Annette’s expression.

Her pale green eyes were clearly curved into a smile.

It also had a pretty evil glint.

“……!!!”

‘What is that?’

That sinister smile?

His chest grew cold.

Without even a second to ask questions, Gerard slipped back to the past.

Ame: *sips orange juice* get wrecked, gerard :> it rhymes! And jokes on you gerard, annette isn’t good at keeping promises either

Tassie: PLS I HOPE WE CAN SAVE HER MUM LIKE THIS