A miraculous power raged, and Evangeline stared blankly at it in awe.
The complicated details were neither something she wanted to know, nor something she cared enough to think about. Pondering it further would only give her a headache.
The important thing was that Kouna had smashed the dimensional pearl she held, causing a massive surge of power. It was nothing short of astonishing.
The sky-blue afterglow, wreathed in light, completely enveloped Darian in its radiance. It created the illusion that Darian’s very heartbeat was echoing out.
Her power resonated with Darian, and it felt like something new was blossoming within him as a result.
“Ugh.”
Her eyes filled with tears as she noticed his labored breathing gradually settle into a calm rhythm. As soon as Kouna collapsed, she hugged Darian tight. “Darian... Darian...”
Even if they were the same age, they were family. While siblings didn't always get along, for Evangeline at that moment, Darian felt exactly like a perfect little brother. The story might change once Darian grew up, but that was the case for the time being.
After checking on the peacefully sleeping Darian, Evangeline finally let out a sigh of relief, and slowly looked over at Kouna. “Kouna... thank you.”
Yet, Kouna said nothing. Perhaps she was too exhausted, or maybe she was too absorbed in her own thoughts.
“Hey. Kouna?” Evangeline repeated.
Letting out a bitter laugh, she responded, “I’m sorry... I don’t even have the strength to lift a finger right now.”
“Let me support you.”
Saying that, Evangeline lifted Kouna up and snorted. “Hmph. You’re too light! You gotta eat more...”
Embarrassed, she turned her face away. “S-stop...”
Since the lord’s manor had plenty of empty rooms, Kouna had her pick of many options.
As Evangeline walked down the hall, leaving Darian with Perserque and Aeria, Kouna spoke up to say,“Evangeline.”
“Yes?”
“Do you also not want me as your mother?”
Evangeline fell silent for a moment at the question. Then she smiled brightly. “Yes.”
Kouna gave a wry smile, as if she’d expected it. “I see...”
“Kouna, you still have plenty of time. Why are you so eager to marry a married man?” Evangeline didn't get it.
Kouna wasn't sure how to respond. “That’s...”
“Think about it carefully. I’m not that bright, so I don’t know all the details. But honestly, I think our relationship is better as sisters than it would be as mother and daughter.”
Kouna offered a bittersweet smile upon seeing Evangeline’s own innocent and bright smile.
“I wonder why...” Kouna began.
“Why what?”
“We've surely grown closer than we were before... so why does it feel like we're farther apart than ever?” she said in a self-mocking tone.
Evangeline let out a long hum as she thought it over. Then she answered, “Maybe that’s just our destiny.”
“Ahaha. That’s sad.”
* * *
After the fierce fight broke out in the isolated dimension, only three of the original sins remained.
Envy and Greed resisted fiercely, yet after they attacked everything indiscriminately and were even more reckless than Wrath, they were eventually overwhelmed by the barrage and annihilated.
That left Sloth, Lust, and Wrath, whose powers ranked among the strongest of the original sins.
Wrath flew into a berserk rage as its accumulated injuries finally pushed it over the edge, while Sloth, wearing an irritated expression, casually warped and deflected everything that came near it.
Lust, on the other hand, acted very passively. Even from the very beginning, its primary focus hadn’t been those two.
‘If I use up any more power here, I won’t be able to plan for the future. I’m stronger against women than men, anyway.’
Lust, who curled its tongue with a chilling smile, took a step back. It watched Wrath and the gigantic titan that it’d possessed lunge maniacally toward Sloth together. Then, finding an opening, it quickly began to escape.
“Idiots! Let them fight for a hundred days, or hopefully even a thousand days.”
The weak had already been weeded out, while only the strong remained.
“In the end, the one who survives is the strongest.”
Unlike the other potentials, it was extremely running and pragmatic.
“More importantly, how do I get out of here...”
The moment it said that, someone who shouldn't have been there appeared before it.
“Huh?!”
Its eyes abruptly widened as it stammered, “S-sister Willow!!”
The person it saw was none other than Willow. Her beautiful, fluttering clothes dizzied its eyes.
Lust desired her the most. By all accounts, she was someone it should never lay a hand on. Of course, it couldn't have cared less about something like that.
Upon discovering her arrival, Lust instantly erased its presence. Even if she was a goddess, Willow was still an unstable existence. If it approached and simply touched her, it’d have a chance. It’d gain enormous power if it just took hers.
It crept closer, forgetting to breathe, and as soon as it saw Willow yawn, it quickly rushed behind her.
Click.
“Huh?”
BANG!!!!!!
However, without even looking back, Willow had aimed the muzzle of an ornate pistol at its head. Its white barrel embroidered with gold thread fired repeatedly.
CRACK!!
She simply blew Lust away.
“Looks like you’ve got a lot of business with me,” she remarked before stumbling. “Ugh.”
Her eyes flashed as she slowly stood up. Lust also slowly got up with a contorted face. Even though it had only taken a single hit, it felt like it was on the verge of death.
“There’s something I’ve been really curious about.” Willow threw the pistol into the air, then pulled a long musket from her chest. A divine power incomparably mightier than before emanated from the musket that had appeared with a flash of light.
“You guys are potentials, created based on Darian’s future potentials, aren’t you?” she asked.
It answered, “Ugh. Sister, isn’t that a bit too aggressive?”
Willow calmly ignored his smirking comment, simply saying, “Answer.”
“Haaah. How would I even know?” It was different from Wrath or Sloth. “Well, if you’re curious, why don’t you check for yourself?”
Click!!
“AAARGH!!”
BANG!!!
Willow instantly closed the distance, stomped on Lust in the middle of its escape, and drove a musket bullet into its head.
“Ugh.”
Lust proved remarkably resilient, living up to its reputation as one of Darian's top potentials.
The real problem, however, lay elsewhere.
“Hehe. Being stomped on by my sister... feels better than I thought.”
Willow could hardly believe what she'd heard. “Y-you crazy bastard!”
THWACK!!!
Willow kicked it away, but its eyes were already filled with lustful desire. “What you’re wearing... isn’t your skirt hem too long?”
“Cut the shit. I don't like exposing my legs. Just answer me.”
“I’ll tell you once you subdue me,” it replied with a smirk.
Click.
“Ah. Wait...”
BANG!!!!
Willow instantly closed the distance and fired a shot into its head once more, the impact slamming it into a wall. Before it could recover, she drove a kick into its abdomen, burying it even deeper, then leveled her musket at it once again.
“You’re tougher than I thought.”
“Well, you see, nightly romance actually requires a lot of stamina...”
BOOM!! BANG!! BANG!!
The rocks, reinforced with divine power, kept it from emerging as Willow continued to bury bullets in its head.
It tried every way it could think of to break free, but her attacks were relentless.
“I have no intention of raising my little brother to be a son of a bitch who harbors lustful feelings for his sister. Therefore, you’re not a viable part of my brother.”
BANG!!
She loaded the musket with an unusually intense surge of emotion.
Lust was completely battered by the relentless barrage. Each time Willow fired, the suppressive force of the bullets prevented it from unleashing its true power.
“Wow... this is kinda hopeless.” Bleeding profusely, he nonetheless grinned, asking, “Aren’t you curious, Sister?”
“Answer.”
“We’re potentials. Not the future.” It forcefully exerted its strength and pulled both arms free from the rock it was stuck in. “The future we experienced is just one hypothetical outcome, and it can’t affect the current world in any way.”
Unlike the other original sins, Lust was somewhat murky and unique in its form.
“But when what the main body experiences aligns most closely with us, our influence over him grows even stronger, and we can grant him even greater power. Though, I don't really care what happens to the main body. As long as I have you, Sister, I'm in heaven.”
Chuckling, it disgustingly wiggled the fingers of its newly freed hand. “Sister, before I go...”
BANG!!
She interrupted its breath.
“Family doesn’t do that, you son of a bitch! Still, I suppose you’re not even my real brother.”
Willow thought she had to prevent Darian from ending up like the potential she faced at all costs.
Boom!!
Just then, a loud explosion echoed from not too far away.
Just as Willow had arrived, Davey was also already there.
If they didn't take out all the remaining original sins and Doomsday lickety split, there was no telling what kind of negative impacts it would have on Darian.
Willow quickly took to the air and flew toward Davey. As she did, what she saw was far beyond her expectations.
Two of the original sins, Sloth and Wrath, lay sprawled on the ground, battered and covered in blood. A giant lay near them, gravely wounded but still alive.
Willow had already taken care of Lust. Part of that was because she had weakened it with her authority, but it was also because she had unleashed a level of power that was almost impossible to comprehend.
Furthermore, Sloth and Wrath were generally stronger than Lust, just based on the power they exuded.
However, Davey had completely finished them off in just that short time.
There was no confusion over their identity or letting them escape, like what happened with Pride in the past.
The fact that delaying the resolution further would negatively affect Darian was enough to justify Davey getting rid of them.
“By the way... wasn’t the resistance pretty fierce?”
“It was.” Willow was surprised at how calm he was. She shook her head and waved her hand. “I’ve contained Doomsday somewhere in this dimension as well. But you have to keep in mind, unlike the original sins, Doomsday is truly dangerous.”
“I know.”
“You remember how Wrath alone affected Earth, right? Doomsday’s effect would be incomparably greater.”
Willow drew her hand across the air with a solemn face.
The space then gradually warped, revealing some world. It was the same as their current place, yet completely different. It was chaos itself, with no rules.
It had floating rocks in the sky; distorted terrain; and an air composition so messed up that even a highly resilient living being couldn’t endure it for more than a few moments. The most horrific aspect of the dimension was the surrounding dead trees.
It was as if it had already been encroached. The air and ground were cracked and torn in countless places, and from the resulting fissures, the black, rotting trunks of dead ancient trees jutted out, clinging to the earth and even the air as they pulsed ominously.
It was the same wood as the giant wolf that was in its space. “Isn’t that tree...?”
“They’re what I saw in Doomsday’s domain within Darian’s inner world. On the surface, they look like rotten wood, but...”
When Willow lightly gathered divine power and threw it, making contact, the tree consumed the divine power and squirmed, growing further.
“Anyway, it’s kinda gross.”
After her explanation, Davey sighed and approached the collapsed giant, casting a healing spell on it.
“Is that the giant you mentioned?” he asked her.
“Yeah.”
Afterward, he clenched one hand into a fist and struck the air behind him, causing the air to crack open centered around where his fist made contact.
At the same time, a red and a blue sword, sheathed, emerged from the gap and settled at his hip.
“You’re going, aren’t you?”
Davey gently smiled.
Whoosh!
At the same moment, his hand blade went flying toward Willow. She raised both hands to block his chop whilst smiling.
The attempt to strike the back of her neck and knock her out was nullified with a simple move.
Davey was surprised. “Oh?”
She gave a prideful harrumph and gloated, “You think I don't know my dad after all this time? No way.”
“Just go back obediently and let me handle this. It’s too dangerous.”
It was so dark, thick, and chilling that he instinctively felt danger.
The fact that so much power was leaking out through a shattered rift meant that, even by a conservative estimate, its destructive force rivaled that of a divine being.
Willow stood across from Davey and grinned playfully. “No way. Did you forget, Dad? If we’re talking ranks, I’m actually your superior.”
“You wanna get hit by your subordinate, then?”
“Hmph. This is outright insubordination! Do you know that or not? Back in my day, you couldn’t even imagine this sort of...”
Smack!!
Willow panted and glared at Davey, tears welling up in her eyes. “Ouch!! You actually hit me?! I’ve never even been hit by Mom!”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Davey shot back. “If your mother doesn’t hit you, then your father should step up. Also, did you somehow already forget how your mother spanked you?”
“Ohforget it!! Either kill me here or let me go with you!”
He didn't know how to respond to that.
She growled and said through gritted teeth, “I’m not a kid who needs my dad’s protection! Besides, I thought I’ve given you enough reasons to trust me by now. Why are you acting like this so suddenly?!”
Davey sighed. “Fine. I can’t protect you forever, after all. Alright, let’s go.”
It was at that very moment, as they were about to step through the rift.
Fwoosh!!
When Davey instinctively tried to push Willow away, she held onto his arm. If she had let her guard down even slightly, she would’ve been thrown out.
If that happened, he would’ve absolutely closed the rift in front of her.
“Hah! You don’t know how to give up, do you, Dad?”
“Wow. Okay, Ms. Smarty-Pants. I can’t believe you didn’t fall for that.”
“Hehehe. You think I’d fall for the same thing twice?”
She pushed his back with a cute smile.
Then it happened.
Willow frowned, wondering what he was up to again, when Davey suddenly stopped walking.
“Dad. Don’t tell me you’re...”
He spoke in a voice completely different from a moment ago, declaring, “Willow, you should go first.”
It was a voice devoid of any playfulness.
It was such an abrupt change in attitude that Willow could hardly believe it had come from the same man who, just moments before, had been trying to stop her from coming with him.
“Dad?”
Stomp. Stomp.
Footsteps echoed from beyond the chaotic rift.
However, they weren’t coming from Doomsday.
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