1.
Calamity of the Blooming Blood.
Witch of Blooming – Flora
One of the survivors of the <Witch> lineage, who roam across the continent.
Among the <Witches>, who are each born with a unique specialty, she was born with a particularly special power.
That power was called <Memory>.
It was magic that dealt with human <memory>, said to be hundreds of times more difficult than emitting mana outward.
After her race was shattered due to the great witch hunts, she was left isolated and honed that power alone for the sake of revenge.
Later, she encountered the 1st Elder – the Calamity of Destruction that eclipses the sun – and joined <Eclipse>.
Through his bizarre power, her abilities were enhanced, reaching the ultimate state of a witch.
As a result, though it required her to offer up her life force, she reached the ultimate point of manipulating <Memory>.
If the target possessed intelligence, she could freely view their <memories>.
【4th Elder of <Eclipse> – <Calamity of the Blooming Blood (SS+)> activates her life-force-enhanced ultimate skill – <Germination (SSS-)>】
Just like now.
“…Rose, S-Sister…”
She could select the most painful memory as a seed, allowing the target to feel that moment exactly as it was.
Even those with strong mental fortitude,
Even those who had honed their bodies,
Even those who had refined both,
Before the Calamity of the Blooming Blood, they became mere humans facing overwhelming trauma.
Thus, even great mages who could drop stars,
Martial artists who could obliterate mountains,
Swordsmen who could cleave oceans—
All were overcome by her memory magic, reduced to tears before dying and vanishing.
So it was to be this time as well.
A survivor of the <Red> lineage, purged for being cursed like herself.
This monstrous woman, presumed to be a member of the <Black Wolf> Mercenary Corps.
“Ah, no… that’s… that was just a prophecy… just… a prophecy…”
Was no more than a fragile human before her.
Yet the <Witches> who were hunted.
And the <Red> lineage who were purged—
“Sister…!! No, don’t die…!!!”
“…”
Flora, momentarily hesitating due to a sense of kinship, soon steeled herself and drew her dagger.
“…Sorry. No hard feelings.”
As the jet-black blade slowly dug toward the weeping Ruby’s heart—
【<Dalan (SS+)> activates Skill No. 1 – <Banquet of Dragons (SSS-)>】
【<Water Dragon General – Azure Dragon (SS+)> has been selected.】
A massive water column surged up like a dragon, shielding Ruby while knocking Flora away.
Flora instantly made a judgment.
‘I’ll lose in close combat.’
It wasn’t her specialty, and besides—
‘Aura? Spirits? …It doesn’t feel like mana. What kind of power is this?’
The power used by the intruding opponent was one she was encountering for the first time in her life. Blending naturally into the nearby shadows, Flora activated her skill.
【4th Elder of <Eclipse> – <Calamity of the Blooming Blood (SS+)> activates her life-force-enhanced ultimate skill – <Germination (SSS-)>】
Crack.
She instantly discovered Dalan’s trauma.
‘…A woman? …Well, whatever.’
Germination had succeeded. If just a few minutes passed like this, the old man—like that woman from the <Red> lineage—would also become defenseless.
…Drip.
Flora wiped the blood trickling from her lips and quietly closed her eyes.
Her consciousness moved to her own mental world, where both traumas were being replayed.
‘Time is on my side anyway.’
The wait for victory began.
2.
Dalan the Wanderer.
Just after reaching the Ten – a realm permitted only to the Great Ten.
Dalan walked toward the center of the deep green forest, the domain of the cursed.
A region still covered in lush nature, untouched by humans.
He had thought it was more in harmony with nature than anywhere else he had stepped into—
“Are you lost?”
There, hidden away from the eyes of others, lived the <Red> lineage said to be cursed.
So, after a moment of slight disappointment, Dalan turned away without hesitation…
“…What did you do to Ruby?”
Dalan barely regained his senses.
Crack.
He snapped his left ring finger in an instant.
‘No pain, and the wound instantly healed.’
Dalan quickly realized he was in a mental world.
Mental world—
A space created uniquely by those who have transcended human limits.
If one was dragged into an opponent’s mental world, there were generally three ways to break free:
One, submit and die.
Two, kill them somehow.
And the final third.
To manifest a stronger mental world from within and tear it apart from the inside.
【<Dalan (SS+)> activates his Ultimate Skill – <Blue Fields (SSS)>!】
As the Blue Fields spread outward from Dalan and rapidly expanded—
He stepped toward the red-haired woman overlaid on Ruby and asked.
“Dalan. What is it that you truly loved?”
“…!!”
Dalan’s mental world was completed by drawing his sword to seal the power.
Even though now was the exact moment to do so—
“At the end of such a long journey, did you reach the ending you had wished for?”
“…”
Dalan couldn’t bring himself to draw the sword, hesitating out of fear of cutting down the woman.
‘I know.’
That the woman in front of him was a mere illusion, recreated by the enemy—not real.
But still.
‘…If she’s going to vanish with a single strike anyway, would it be so wrong to exchange just one word?’
Maybe it was the unfulfilled promise…
Or perhaps the feelings he had held for her…
A small lingering attachment bloomed within Dalan’s mind, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he answered softly.
“I am… still wandering.”
“And yet, you continue forward, don’t you?”
“…I—”
“Because that’s who you are. Isn’t that right, Dalan?”
Without time to ponder.
A follow-up question struck again.
Squeeze.
Dalan bit down on his lower lip and, after even less hesitation than before, answered.
“I continue forward, but I still don’t know what it’s for.”
At first, he simply loved freedom. Then, he loved the freedom he shared with her.
“But after losing you…”
…Wait a moment.
Dalan’s thoughts halted.
A crack formed in the sharp edge of his reason, and the memories sustained by that reason were absorbed into the seed that had been planted.
To become nourishment for something meant offering everything it held.
Dalan’s reason.
His memories.
His awareness of the situation—
All returned to a time before he lost Rose Red, and everything after that vanished.
【Warning.】
【The <Seed of Regret> embedded in <Dalan Esteban (S+)> absorbs his memories as nourishment.】
…Lost?
What was I just saying?
As Dalan stood in sudden confusion, mouth agape, hesitant—
Rose Red, also dumbfounded, asked as if unsure what he meant.
“You lost me? What do you mean by that?”
“…Now that you mention it.”
You are, as always.
Smiling right in front of me.
【Warning.】
【The <Seed of Regret> embedded in <Dalan (SS+)> blooms, feeding on sorrow.】
Dalan gave a slight smile and let go of his strength.
Shiiing—
Clack.
The sword, half-pulled, slid back into its sheath, and Dalan was no longer the Black Wolf’s Dalan, but Dalan the Monstrous Dragon, who had once wandered the world.
“Rose. This might be sudden, but… do you have time today? For some reason, it feels like we haven’t met in a long while, and I want to spend the whole day with you.”
“Even if I say I don’t, you’re going to take me anyway, aren’t you?”
“Oh dear, as expected of the great prophet of the Red lineage. Can’t fool you at all.”
“I wonder. Dalan, you’re transparent enough without prophecies.”
“Isn’t that what makes me likable?”
With a soft smile, Dalan reached gently toward Rose Red, who extended her hand toward him in turn.
“That’s right. You’re the only one who can make me smile. …So, where will you take me today?”
Two hands held tightly after four years.
“Rose. Anywhere you wish to go.”
It was so warm.
2.
The basement of Count Valentine’s estate.
A woman staggered down the stairs leading to a massive cavern.
“Cough… cough, cough!”
Dark red blood welled up and poured out.
“Damn it, those two… I thought they were regular members, but they’re elder level?!”
Red eyes glowed dimly through the black hair covering her face.
Click, click, click…
Barely reaching the cavern, the woman dragged someone out from the shadows and threw them into a prison cell.
Thud!
Even after crashing noisily to the floor—
“…Sister.”
“Anywhere you wish to go…”
The red-haired woman and the old man simply drifted through their dream, faint smiles on their faces.
Calamity of the Blooming Blood.
Among the <Witch> lineage, she was the strongest—
One who recreated forgotten traumas with such realism that the victims could never wake from the illusion unless they realized it themselves.
“…”
She became powerful through that ability,
But ironically, she was a woman who truly cursed her own power.
The woman shook her head to clear her thoughts, then looked at the two unconscious people and muttered:
“…Everything is for the world.”
So—
“There’s no need to feel guilt…”
Everything is according to His plan.
We move forward for the salvation of the world.
3.
Lactea Babylonia.
Vice-Captain of the <Black Wolf>, and a woman once called the next Empress of the Empire.
The members knew.
That as Vice-Captain of <Black Wolf>, unlike themselves, she was not bound by the <Restriction> of the Black Wolf—
Which was why she always maintained her <S+> rank.
“That woman’s barely hovering around S-rank!! Keep pushing, Asha!!”
The moment Selena’s briefing reached her ears, brilliant white light exploded from Asha’s Holy Sword.
KAANG!!!
The crimson longsword flying toward Gardner’s shield bent and was deflected, and thick bluish mana surged, engulfing Lactea.
“Now, Marin!!”
“…Annoying woman.”
Because this was a woman who could slice through magic itself, they chose to physically crush her with pure mana alone.
CRAAACK!
As her bones shattered and muscles twisted in primal agony, Lactea pulled out her left hand.
“…”
But not a single scream escaped her lips.
“Now, Vulcan!!! Pin her down!!!”
“UOOOOHHHH!!!! Marin, support!!!”
“…Supporting the Holy Sword comes first.”
“This is the end, Black Wolf.”
“…”
All she did was gaze upon the radiance with brilliant golden eyes and ponder.
‘…Is it okay if I kill them?’
Lactea Babylonia.
Vice-Captain of the <Black Wolf>, and a woman once hailed as the next Empress of the Empire.
The members knew.
That as Vice-Captain of <Black Wolf>, unlike themselves, she was not under the <Restriction>, and thus always retained her <S+> rank.
But she—
And her master, the Black Wolf—knew.
Lactea Babylonia.
Among all members, she was the very first to join the <Black Wolf>, and held a contract even stronger than the <Restriction>:
“…You once told me, didn’t you? That I should endure just three times, and after that, do whatever I want.”
A contract with the <Black Wolf> himself.
【Vice-Captain of <Black Wolf> – <Lactea Babylonia> releases the <Restriction> of <Black Wolf>.】
【<Lactea Babylonia (S+)>’s rank rises to <Lactea Babylonia (EX-)>.】
Platinum-white hair that now lay still and calm,
Crimson lips curling upward,
Golden eyes gleaming like a wolf’s.
Lactea Babylonia.
Vice-Captain of the <Black Wolf>—
“Three times are over, Captain.”
She was the woman closest to the Black Wolf himself.
