After the vampires disappeared, only a blood-soaked silence remained within the Cloud Waterfall.
It seemed that as the vampires left, they took not only lives and blood but also all the noise with them.
Those who could still move struggled to pull the wounded from among the corpses, but their movements were slow, almost as if their very vitality had been drained.
The Thunder Guardians wrestled with life and death.
“…Thunder Overseer…”
Of course, some losses were particrly difficult to process.
Thunder Overseer Elkid was dead—split apart.
Through the dried blood, her shriveled flesh was visible.
Rather than looking like a person who had died, she seemed more like a broken mechanism.
And unlike a broken machine, she wouldn’te back to life if repaired.
Shei, who had once been herrade in another time, gazed down at Elkid’s corpse with bitter eyes and murmured.
“Elkid was a Holy Sword Knight…?”
The Holy Sword Knights existed in many forms across the world.
Some didn’t even know they were knights—because it wasn’t a title they chose.
It was chosen by fate.
In one timeline, even Shei had been appointed as a Holy Sword Knight.
At first, she had truly believed it was her calling.
After all, her Regression ability was so mystical that it could only be exined as the power of a god.
Of course, after several regressions, she realized how alien it actually was.
Still, she found somefort in the Holy Sword Order, where various strong individuals gathered.
Maybe that was why she had felt some familiarity with Elkid.
Shei gazed at the dead Elkid with a faint bitterness.
Once upon a time, she might have felt grief over the death of arade.
But after so many regressions…
All she felt was a slight sense of regret.
She had seen it too many times—and in the end, she would reset anyway.
Unlike Peru, who hadpletely lost herself, Shei took a more pragmatic approach.
“Why did she awaken now of all times…?”
She had a rough guess.
She didn’t want to believe it, but…
Hughes—the man she had met by chance in prison—had turned out to be the King of Humans.
The King of Sin was simply one facet of the King of Humans.
The discarded waste left behind when humanity filtered out virtue from vice.
For some reason, a conceptual entity—the King of Sin—was destined to manifest in the future.
And that manifestation would probably happen… through the King of Humans.
That was the understanding Shei had.
It was why she had followed the Holy Crown Church’s mission to stop the King of Sin’s descent.
If the King of Humans had appeared, it was natural for the Holy Crown Church to react so violently.
After all, there was always the possibility that he was already the King of Sin.
“It’s not a lie, is it?
He really did revive Tyrkanzyaka’s heart.
Even Peru acknowledged it.”
If that was true, then what a disastrous turn of events.
The King of Humans had emerged, triggering a reaction.
And in the process, Tyrkanzyaka had been provoked.
To make matters worse, Hilde’s interference had driven even Shei apart from them.
She had nned to stand on the opposite side of the Holy Crown Church this cycle to mediate the conflict…
But now, she had strayed too far off course.
“So that means… Hughes is the previous King of Humans before the King of Sin.
Then his age must be… Ugh.
But wasn’t the King of Sin born the same way as the King of Beasts?”
Still…
Maybe this was an opportunity.
Knowing that Hughes was the King of Humans was an irreceable clue.
A slight deviation in her n was a small price to pay.
As always…
The Regressor reassured herself that even this obstacle would serve as nourishment for her next loop.
And indeed, it always had.
Feeling a sliver of hope, Shei suddenly wondered…
“…But then, why didn’t the Holy Crown Church foresee Elkid’s death?”
Tyrkanzyaka’s darkness interfered with foresight.
Still…
Even if they couldn’t see whaty beyond the darkness, they would have at least known it was there.
So why had they sent Elkid and Peru there in the first ce?
Unlike other questions, this one had no easy answer.
As Shei furrowed her brows, deep in thought—
A ck shadow crept up behind her.
Holding a spear tightly in both hands.
“Haaah!”
A spear infused with thunder lunged toward Shei’s unguarded back.
It was a deadly sneak attack, infused with Qi refinement—
…At least, it would have been—
For the Shei from eight regressions ago.
Sky Reversal.
A Qi technique that responded to experience, allowing her body to react to the future as if she had already lived it.
It was simr to battle foresight but functioned on an entirely different principle.
Shei twisted her body, extending an arm.
The spear and her arm intersected.
Reinforcing her limbs with Qi, Shei wrapped around the spear like a serpent and clenched.
The alchemically forged shaft snapped into three pieces.
Shei looked bored as she addressed the Thunder Guardian, who now stood helplessly in shock.
“…What the hell? Why are you suddenly attacking me?”
The difference in strength was ring.
The Thunder Guardian shook with helpless fury.
Despite being warriors who had trained their entire lives—
In the battle that had just unfolded…
They had beenpletely useless.
The only thing they could do now was scream their frustrations.
“You—You brought those monsters!
They killed the Thunder Overseer! They killed myrades!”
Shei had heard that kind of resentment countless times before.
She absently responded.
“If you mean the Elders, I didn’t bring them.”
“It’s the same thing!
If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened!”
The desperation in his voice was all too familiar.
People always needed someone to me.
Shei debated whether to ignore him or knock him out, but another Thunder Guardian intervened.
“Stop! He helped us!”
“Helped?! udia treated them as honored guests!
And they repaid that kindness with betrayal!”
Thunder Overseer Elkid had been a Holy Sword Knight.
But before that, she had been the Thunder Overseer.
For a leader to be universally praised was nearly impossible—
Yet Elkid had managed it.
To the point that her subordinates vowed revenge.
ming Shei for Elkid’s death was pointless, but in their grief, no reasoning would reach them.
People needed something to cling to.
Rather than waste energy convincing them, Shei simply sneered.
“…Well, sorry about that.
If I could bring Elkid back, I’m sure that would make you happy.
But since I can’t…”
At that moment—
A lightning sh tore through the sky.
And Elkid’s eyes snapped open.
Before anyone could even process what had happened—
Elkid jerked upright like a puppet on strings, creaking unnaturally.
Even as split flesh and dried blood cracked open—
She moved.
Even Shei, who had grown numb to death, took a startled step back.
But the moment she noticed the absence of life from Elkid—
Her gaze sharpened.@@novelbin@@
“…What the hell?
Necromancy?”
ck magic—life-bound sorcery that stands opposite to white magic, which relies on objects as mediums.
A living body forms a small, self-contained world, isted from external forces. Even if that world is purely physical, it holds profound meaning.
A ck magician copses this microcosm of life—and with the power released from that copse, they manifest unnatural miracles into reality.
Naturally, and brutally, the easiest resource for humans to exploit…
Is the human body itself.
Since ancient times, ck magic has required human corpses—or, more urately, bodies that were about to be corpses.
And because of its cruel nature, it has been met with contempt and persecution.
No one had to impose that perception—it was simply an inevitable truth.
Shei was no exception.
The idea of using human corpses disgusted her.
And the thought that her fallenrade’s body was being desecrated only made it worse.
“Did Kabi cast ck magic on her?! What a sick joke!”
“…No.”
The unexpected answer came from Peru.
She let out a deep breath and raised a hand.
From her fingertips, threads of mysterious energy drifted like clouds through the air.
As Peru moved her fingers, a spark of light flickered within those threads.
And then—
Hundreds of strands of lightning surged into Elkid’s wounds, drawn inward.
The lightning coursed through her veins, clear as day—
For a moment, it was as if the lightning itself became her soul.
For just an instant, a glimmer of light returned to Elkid’s eyes.
Now that she had found the culprit, Shei demanded,
“Golden Overseer? What the hell are you doing?”
“…Trying to fix the Thunder Overseer.”
Peru spoke as if she were repairing a machine.
Shei’s expression twisted.
“…Fix? Fix how?”
Peru could feel the power of alchemy and the thunder that remained within the Thunder Overseer’s body.
She had mastered alchemy, reaching the level of a Unique Sorcery.
Because of that, she had no difficulty epting the power of the Golden Mirror.
The Demon God Elixir was connected to Peru’s Unique Sorcery, making it something she couldprehend in her own way.
But the Demon God’s Lightning Tangle…
That power did not belong to Peru.
It had chosen her.
But Peru had almost no knowledge of how to control it.
She could only grasp fragments of understanding where lightning and alchemy ovepped.
If she wanted to master it, she would need someone like the Thunder Overseer—someone who was already fluent in that power.
Peru reached a conclusion.
If she could revive the Thunder Overseer using the Golden Mirror’s power, she could not only restore order to udia but also fully harness the power she had acquired.
That was why she had asked Tyrkanzyaka to leave.
If the vampires were still here, they would have interfered, preventing Elkid’s revival and throwing udia into further chaos.
She had to find some excuse to make them leave.
And with Hughes’ help, she had seeded.
He had subtly urged Tyrkanzyaka to leave thisnd.
This wasn’t some wild assumption.
Hughes had actively given Peru his power—
And more than that, he had created the perfect conditions for her to use it.
Most people wouldn’t notice.
But the one who received it would recognize the truth better than anyone.
She had no idea what the King of Humans was testing…
Or what he hoped she would do with this power.
But Peru had her own principles.
No matter the circumstances, no matter what was expected of her, she would only follow her own path.
To make the world more valuable.
“…The Thunder Overseer has been made anew.
Alchemy and thunder—
These forces now form her body and mind.
It’splex and difficult to exin…
But with the Demon God’s power, it might be possible to restore her.”
If the living held more value than the dead…
Then attempting to revive someone through alchemy was an endeavor worth pursuing.
She didn’t care how others looked at her.
She believed in her cause—and she acted on that belief.
And far away…
A saintess closed her eyes.
The present had once been the future.
And in the past…
The Saintess had seen this future.
She had hoped that the Thunder Overseer would not die.
Or at the very least…
That if she did, then everyone present would die as well, so that humanity’s dignity would never be tested.
But only a god could shape the future at will.
Unfortunately, the Saintess was not a god.
Foresight showed her what would happen—
But it did not allow her to change it at will.
The moment she attempted to interfere, the future she had seen would twist into something else entirely.
And so…
The Saintess could only grieve.