The fog over the seaside finally lifted.
The sun slowly rose over the sea. The morning glow was magnificent, as if dyed in blood, and Cecilia's smile looked especially eerie beneath its light.
The sea breeze tousled her silvery-white hair. Her unsettling blood-red eyes fixed on Ansu, who lay on the ground, as she slowly approached.
"Are you scared? Afraid?"
Cecilia stopped in front of Ansu and playfully stroked his trembling cheek. "You deserve this."
"So I really want to know... What did that bitch say to you that made you team up with those idiots from the Church to come after me?"
Cecilia stared at Ansu, who had remained silent the entire time. Her smile gradually faded.
"Go on. Let's see if you can still please me like you used to."
"Give me an answer I like, and maybe I'll give you an easier death."
The oppressive aura of Magic Power gradually dissipated, and Ansu's numb, rigid limbs finally twitched.
"Speak."
Ansu raised his head and slowly looked toward Cecilia, who was waiting for him to explain himself.
Since he was already doomed to die, there was no point struggling.
"I've got nothing to say!"
The air fell silent for a moment.
Cecilia's eyes widened in surprise.
"Enough! I'm fucking sick of this!"
Ansu clenched his fists and struggled to brace himself against the ground, trying to meet Cecilia's gaze.
He vented all his pent-up frustration in the simulation.
"You crazy Mad Witch! Did a donkey kick you in the head? I've already gone this far, and you're still not satisfied?"
"Are you feeling pretty pleased with yourself? Think you've got a little ant like me completely under your control? Ha! Let me tell you, it was all fake from the start! I lied to you!"
Ansu laughed wildly, while Cecilia's smile gradually froze.
"There was never any 'I'll never betray you'! I made it up. It was all an act!"
"And you, this arrogant Mad Witch, actually thought it was true? You're hilarious! You keep hypnotizing me all the time! What kind of idiot gets played around like that by me?"
"What? You... what did you say?" Faced with Ansu like this, Cecilia looked more and more stunned.
Ansu, on the other hand, pressed forward step by step.
"The game ends here! I'm sick of you, you moody, narcissistic, arrogant madwoman! If you want to kill me, then hurry up and do it! I don't have time to waste here with you!"
Cecilia stared at Ansu in disbelief.
Even the Church's most skilled fighters had never made her lose her composure like this, yet a few words from Ansu left her flustered and sent her stumbling backward.
"Lies?"
"Those things you said... were all lies?"
Cecilia's eyes widened as she muttered to herself over and over. "How is that possible? It can't be... That's the kind of Magic I'm good at. How did you get around it...?"
"Still don't understand? Or are you refusing to face reality?" Ansu sneered, picked up a dagger beside a corpse, gripped it tightly, and charged toward her.
Magic Power instantly gathered. After a terrifying boom, the very air seemed to tear apart.
Cecilia's Magic was something ordinary people simply couldn't withstand, yet Ansu now stood before her completely unharmed—not even a hair on his head had been touched.
"See that?" Ansu's smile held a hint of mockery. He tightened his grip on the dagger and charged at Cecilia again.
Once the effect of [Magic Immunity] wore off, Cecilia's Magic blasted Ansu to the side.
Ansu immediately spat blood. It felt as if his internal organs were about to tear apart. He clutched his chest and struggled to push himself upright.
"So it was real..."
"How could that be?"
Cecilia couldn't understand how Ansu had blocked her Magic.
Even she, who was hailed as having the greatest talent for Magic, couldn't make sense of what had happened to that first spell. It was beyond her comprehension.
"Can't figure it out...? Good! That means it's working!" Ansu coughed up blood nonstop. He could barely manage a complete sentence, yet he continued to taunt her.
"Don't think you're the only Chosen One... I'm a Chosen One too! The one destined to knock you on your ass!"
Cecilia stared blankly at Ansu, who seemed to have gone mad. The sheer amount of information was too much for her to process.
But she didn't seem to care about the Chosen One part.
She only smiled bitterly and sadly, as if laughing at herself for having acted like a clown all this time...
"I see..."
"It was all fake from the beginning. You only said what I wanted to hear and played along with me so you could survive..."
Her smile grew more bitter. "I'm so ridiculous. I thought..."
She'd thought someone might really accept her, understand her... and even sincerely admire her.
Ever since the day she'd met him—the boy who, like her, had been toyed with by fate, who was so miserable and so much like the person she'd once been...
Cecilia, who never paid much attention to anyone, had found herself growing a little curious about him.
When he'd been led by her to say, "I will never betray you," she'd actually begun to feel a little hopeful about the future...
That day in the library had been one of the few happy days in her otherwise dull life.
She'd never been that happy before.
She'd spent her whole life struggling in a dangerous environment, working tirelessly every day to master Magic just to survive. For the first time, she'd thought the sunlight was so bright, and having someone by her side, chattering on and on, felt so comforting...
Cecilia had thought she'd finally gained something real. For the first time, she'd had something of her own.
But it had all been fake.
"Of course you're ridiculous!" Ansu's limbs had no strength left, but he still struggled to grip the dagger and tried once again to provoke her.
"Come on, Witch! Either I kill you, or you kill me!"
"Enough!" Cecilia's face twisted with rage as she knocked the dagger out of Ansu's hand. "Are you trying to provoke me? You think I'll kill you? Give you a quick death?"
"No! I'm going to keep you alive, then make you wish you were dead!"
"I'll make sure you know what happens when you betray me!"
Magic Power lifted Freya's head slowly off the ground. Cecilia glanced at it, curled her lips, and let out a sinister, savage laugh.
"You trust her, don't you? You like her, don't you? Then I'll make sure you two are together every day, so you can look at her as much as you want!"
As a circle of Magic lit up, the black, tainted Magic Power began to spread once more.
Ansu saw the head in the center of the circle slowly twitch.
Then, squirming tendrils of flesh and tentacles began growing from its severed neck, and... it started crawling eerily toward him.
"What... what are you doing...?"
Ansu was already badly injured, and everything before his eyes was growing blurry. The Corruption caused by the forbidden Magic was even turning the blood he spat out black.
"Why, of course..." Cecilia giggled like a demon. "I'm going to use that forbidden Life Magic I told you about to remake your bodies from the ground up..."
"I'll sew your head and the Saintess's head onto a single body. You two will never be out of each other's sight, so you can stay together every day! How does that sound? Are you happy?"
Ansu silently looked at Cecilia. He really felt she'd gone completely insane.
What a makeover artist...
She really did know her stuff.
"Then take your time with that. I'm leaving..."
Cecilia frowned. "Where do you think you're going?"
Ansu spat up another mouthful of black blood, this time mixed with bits of his organs.
His consciousness grew increasingly hazy, and he was on the verge of passing out.
"No! You can't die!" Cecilia stepped forward, lifted Ansu's head, and gave him a cruel, mocking smile. "I haven't punished you yet. How can you die?"
But Ansu could no longer speak. His world was slowly fading into a blur.
"You're not allowed to die! I absolutely won't let you die that easily! As long as you still have a breath left, I can..."
What could you do? Bring me back to life, then give me a makeover?
Ansu kept sneering to himself.
I'm done playing with you!
Before you continue