Monia hated Johan.
He was the one responsible for making her life miserable.
Even if those emotions had been amplified by Shax, they were never a lie.
Then why—
Why couldn’t she bring herself to brush away Olga Hermod’s hand?
“…Ha.”
Was it because she still wanted to live, after all?
Even while looking so pitiful…was she still clinging to life?
Did she even have the right to dream a half-formed dream?
Monia couldn’t lift her head.
She felt pathetic and ashamed of her own foolishness and hesitation.
“It’s okay to feel ashamed. But I’m glad… that you still want to live.”
And yet, Olga Hermod welcomed that sight with warmth.
To acknowledge your mistakes and feel shame—
That was never an easy thing to do.
“You think she still has a chance? I’d say otherwise.”
But the demon bound by Olga Hermod’s magic called Shax sneered.
“Do you think this seal will last forever? That you can keep me locked away for good? No, it’s impossible. We’re already bound together. She can never escape me.”
Monia had already made a pact with the demon.
She had carved a scar into her soul and placed it on the scales.
It may have been her decision to place her soul on the scales,
But once it’s there, it can’t be taken down—
Not in any form until the contract ends.
“That remains to be seen.”
Even so, Olga Hermod calmly countered the demon’s claim.
“I don’t believe I can keep you sealed forever. But I can make sure you never find Miss Monia again for the rest of your existence.”
“Are you crazy?”
Demons distinguish and track people by the color of their soul.
Shax had found Monia by being drawn to the color of her soul tainted with despair.
He had already recognized her. He could find that soul anywhere.
Even if she ran to the ends of the world,
There would be no escaping the demon’s eyes watching from beyond it.
Unless… unless the soul itself changed.
“You know what that means, don’t you? Are you really thinking of tearing apart your own soul just to save that girl?”
“If that’s what it takes, then so be it. There’s not much of my life left anyway. If I can use the time I have left to do something good…then maybe that’s a blessing, not a loss.”
Olga Hermod was prepared to split her soul to create a veil that would hide Monia’s soul from Shax.
“You really think she’s worth that?”
“I don’t measure a person’s worth in that way.”
She was long past tired of that kind of thinking.
To Olga Hermod, it wasn’t about numbers; it was about people.
“You’ll never return to the cycle of reincarnation. You might even become something like me.”
“Perhaps. And that’s fine.”
If a soul is damaged, there are only two possible outcomes:
One. Shattering into pieces and vanishing beyond the bounds of the world.
The other. Becoming something akin to a demon.
Someone like Olga Hermod, who had already reached the realm of Archmage, would not be crushed under the weight of the world.
She could likely preserve her sanity.
But if that happened, there would be nothing separating her from a demon.
“Even so, I don’t believe all demons are as cunning as you. So even if I do end up becoming one… it doesn’t matter to me.”
“How naïve. Still chasing foolish dreams.”
“No.”
Olga Hermod replied firmly.
“I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
The day she was summoned by the Imperial Court,
On her way back, Olga encountered a girl.
A girl wearing a deep hood—
The moment she spotted Olga, she revealed herself and spoke:
– Don’t you want to run away?
Golden hair poured from beneath the shadow of her hood like a cascade of light.
The girl, whom Olga had instinctively found unsettling, had been genuinely worried for her.
It was Alice, the Emperor’s closest confidant. The Oracle.
Only then did Olga truly see her.
A nervous young girl, desperate to explain her identity and abilities—
Doing everything she could to save Olga’s life.
But in the end, Olga turned her kindness down.
She had never planned to run.
She knew that if she fled, others would bleed in her place.
No matter how powerful Oracle’s abilities were, she couldn’t protect them all.
“That’s why I’m sure of my decision. And no words will shake me.”
“You will come to regret this.”
“Even so, the result will not change.”
Thud!
Olga Hermod struck her staff down as she glared at the demon, Shax.
In that instant, the illusion that had encompassed the vast space turned into a prison that bound the demon, and Olga Hermod and Monia found themselves back in the real world outside.
“Now then…”
Olga Hermod raised her hand, intending first to comfort Monia, who was clinging to her and sobbing uncontrollably.
But at that moment, she caught sight of a figure beyond Monia, a scholar wearing a crimson goat mask.
The Chief Librarian of Lemegeton.
The Judge, Ostilis Liberatio.
At the sight of that terrifying figure, Olga Hermod pushed Monia behind her and leveled her staff.
– Archmage, why do you shield the seed of evil?
“A child who knows how to repent is not evil. On the contrary, isn’t it you who would drench and burn the world in blood, who is the true embodiment of evil?”
– That may be so. Before you stands the one who will devour all evil. I alone am the Judge who can condemn sin.
“Is that so?”
Olga Hermod let out a faint sigh. She could discern the Judge’s true nature.
Astonishingly, the so-called incarnation of evil revealed traces of someone she already knew.
“Where did you pick up that way of speaking, Lady Saintess?”
– …..
It was her first time meeting the Judge.
And so, she had never imagined—
Never suspected that the Saintess herself could be the Judge.
That behind that pure face was something so heinous.
Having inwardly dismissed Tillis as naïve, Olga Hermod had to admit she had gravely misjudged her.
“I suppose it’s impossible to fool an Archmage. Hmm, this is why I prefer not to appear in this form.”
Tillis removed the goat mask and beamed brightly.
From that innocent smile, Olga Hermod felt only a sense of dissonance.
Her essence had not changed at all.
Pure white, as if bleached of everything.
That was how Tillis appeared in Olga Hermod’s eyes.
If there was one thing she realized through this ordeal, it was that purity and whiteness did not always carry positive meaning.
“I truly am… so hopelessly immature, even at my age.”
Olga Hermod now recognized just how dangerous it had been to invite Tillis into the Cradle.
Somehow, every guest she had brought from outside had turned out to be a notorious criminal.
She had no choice but to question her own judgment.
Olga Hermod’s Original Magic
[Kaleidoscope – Synesthetic Expansion]
She once again unfurled her Kaleidoscope and pushed Monia away.
“Run. As far as you can. Make sure no one can catch you.”
There was no time.
Olga Hermod had yet to lay a protective veil over Monia’s soul.
“One day, a demon may come whispering its corrupt words to you again. Perhaps even the Judge will seek you out.”
At this moment, there was very little she could do for Monia.
All she could manage was to buy her a little more time.
And then…
“Even so, do not give up.”
“……”
“As long as you live, opportunities will come again and again. Believe that even if it’s not me, someone will surely appear to help you.”
Encouragement.
As the Kaleidoscope closed around her, Olga Hermod looked back.
Monia was running, sobbing all the while.
As Olga Hermod had said…don’t give up, give it everything you’ve got.
“Then from this point on, I shall speak not as the Tower Master, but as Count Olga Hermod, Mage of the Labyrinth acting under the Emperor’s command.”
Olga Hermod gripped her staff with a force entirely different from when she had faced Monia.
A vicious smile curled on her lips, and an uncontrollable murderous gleam flickered in her eyes.
A butcher who had spent most of her life on the battlefield had awakened.
“Criminal who disrupts the world. You are sentenced to immediate execution.”
“My, my.”
Tillis smiled brightly at Olga Hermod’s transformation.
“How amusing. I thought you were a good person, but to think you were suppressing such evil all this time. Truly impressive.”
It was the moment a single red dot appeared in the Kaleidoscope filled with light.
***
The Kaleidoscope shattered into pieces.
The illusion and spatial magic Olga Hermod so prided herself on were dismantled by the hands of the demon Tillis commanded.
The Judge was purely powerful, and the demons she controlled defiled the Kaleidoscope in myriad forms.
Even for Olga Hermod, it was nearly impossible to maintain the illusion against a demon ranked as high as 71st.
“Wow… That really wasn’t easy.”
And yet, Olga Hermod was no easy opponent.
Tillis clutched her bleeding forehead and clicked her tongue.
She had broken the illusion magic. She had forcefully disrupted the spatial magic.
She had struggled to shake off the myriad spells that tried to seize her wrists and ankles.
And just as she reached Olga Hermod and swung her sword—
“To think you were hiding a dagger like that… That was close.”
Olga Hermod swung her staff at Tillis, making it clear it was no mere ornament.
It was the raw physical strength of Olga Hermod, hidden behind the dignity of an Archmage.
Having spent more than half her life on the battlefield, she had faced countless situations where magic was useless.
To survive those moments, she had honed her physical combat skills.
And those skills were far greater than expected. Tillis had nearly lost her head when caught off guard.
The following attacks were no different.
Illusion magic and spatial magic repeatedly disoriented Tillis and grabbed at her wrists and ankles.
Striking in those moments, Olga Hermod’s staff aimed to shatter bones or crush her skull.
Tillis had to shake off and deflect each one as she fought back, and naturally, her movements grew unsteady.
“But the Kaleidoscope is broken.”
Even so, the outcome had not changed.
Olga Hermod could not defeat Tillis.
“You’re gasping so hard now, you can’t even speak anymore.”
Olga Hermod was slumped against a wall, panting for breath.
Her once-proud staff had long since broken, and her strength had been completely drained—
She could barely breathe, let alone move.
How long…
Olga Hermod wondered through a foggy haze.
How much time did I manage to buy?
She wasn’t afraid of death.
What truly frightened her was the thought that she might have failed.
With trembling hands, Olga Hermod reached into her robes and pulled out a mask.
– We’re all going to die. Karma always comes back around someday.
Olga Hermod recalled the words Charybdis once mumbled, lost in madness.
Just as he had prophesied. Karma always comes back around.
The karma Charybdis Salos had sown was inherited by Yuna.
And now, Olga Hermod had chosen to take that burden upon herself once more.
With this, Safe Clown dies.
Abraham’s command was the elimination of either the Judge or Safe Clown.
Then this would suffice.
In doing so, Olga Hermod would have fulfilled her orders.
Even the Emperor couldn’t find fault if she made her intentions this clear.
Olga Hermod smiled.
A smile of quiet satisfaction.
“Any last words?”
Seeing that smile, Tillis swept her blood-soaked hair back and smiled faintly in return.
As if the exhaustion from their brutal battle had already faded, she exhaled in steady breaths.
“Your… Majesty…”
Olga Hermod lifted her head and murmured weakly.
“Hmm? The Emperor, you mean? I didn’t realize your loyalty ran so deep. Go on, I’m listening. I’ll be sure to pass it along.”
“I… told you… so many times…”
In her fading vision, there was one thing she could still see clearly—
A vivid shade of red.
But the red Olga Hermod was seeing was not the color of blood scattered by the Judge.
It was a blazing flame, fierce enough to rival the sun in the sky.
“I told you… to travel with an escort…”
Boooooom!!
In that moment, a brilliant red sun came crashing down upon the earth.
“If I had the manpower to spare for that, I wouldn’t be in this damn situation, would I?”
The Sun of the Empire, Abraham Vicious von Miltonia, clicked his tongue at the sight of Olga Hermod still nagging, even on the brink of death.
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