NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 115: The Pride of an Older Sister
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Sakura woke again under Su's guidance.
He told her that the Herrscher of Corruption had arrived. Following the leads provided by Kalpas and Vill-V, he had found this place.
Guided by the riddle Vill-V left behind, where in the Elysian Realm would be absolutely safe, Sakura's location was merely the first solution to the riddle. It was a triple-layered puzzle, with the remaining two answers being even more critical.
Su had managed to retrieve Sakura by transferring the corruption from her body onto himself. As a healer, he was uniquely qualified, but also because... only Sakura possessed the ability to entrap any existence, even if just for a fleeting moment.
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Time returned to the present. Mei sent a signal across the Elysian Realm, reaching every corner, including the one where Sakura was searching for her.
Sakura now understood the enemy and had no objections to Su's plan. Since it was something she could do, she would simply give it her all.
She looked at the enemy, familiar yet strange, standing not far away. The aura emanating from them was vastly different from Elysia's—far more aggressive, bringing disaster and terror.
It felt just like... the Herrscher from 50,000 years ago.
Mei and Sakura exchanged soft words about the current situation, paying no heed to the eavesdropping Herrscher of Corruption. Considering the Herrscher now controlled most of the Elysian Realm, avoiding her entirely was nearly impossible.
"When three girls are together, it's not polite to leave one out. And, Sakura, you're interrupting a date, you know?"
(TL: *giving her mid finger*)
The Herrscher of Corruption spoke with a playful smile.
Her tone was eerily familiar, yet the bluish-purple hair dragged them back to reality.
"As for the date... my apologies. But to me, Herrscher of Corruption, you are a special acquaintance as well," Sakura said coldly.
Her voice carried the weight of countless entanglements with this enemy, all connected to the one she most wanted to protect.
"Oh my, how straightforward you've become. Compared to that night, I must say I like you better now, Sakura," the Herrscher teased, showing no signs of preparing for battle.
She leisurely twirled a strand of hair around her finger, her relaxed demeanor reminiscent of casual greetings, or the calm confidence of someone holding all the cards.
"Please don't... use her tone to say such things," Sakura frowned, the words reminding her of that night's conversation.
She donned the Forget-Me-Not mask she'd reclaimed from Su, her right hand slowly resting on her sword hilt. A distinct aura, belonging solely to an assassin, began to emanate around her.
"...Sigh,"
The Herrscher sighed, glancing at the darkening sky. "Still as resolute as ever…"
Mei and Sakura's words stirred something within her. Why did they both place such unwavering faith in the real Elysia, faith so strong that no one could replace her?
As data, the Herrscher of Corruption didn't understand. Similar or even identical data was common. This realization, however, left her longing. She, too, wanted to be unique, to be recognized.
Unfortunately... trying to achieve that while using Elysia's identity seemed impossible.
(TL: boring Rover's words "you are nothing but a heartless machine/Data")
Sakura unsheathed her blade. In an instant, the edge was at the Herrscher's throat. Yet, the latter remained unperturbed, her expression relaxed.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider, Sakura? I really don't want to see you all exhaust yourselves to no avail."
She laughed lightly, her tone shifting mid-sentence. A dangerous aura seeped into her voice, and unsettling sounds echoed around them.
Monsters scattered throughout the Elysian Realm began converging.
This time, she would step onto the battlefield herself, bringing a little "surprise"—or perhaps despair, to them.
Against the faded monsters, Mei and Sakura's resistance was commendable. The creatures' large sizes made them conspicuous targets.
However, when the Herrscher of Corruption joined the fray using Elysia's abilities, the two quickly found themselves in dire straits.
Her current strength far surpassed that of any Flame-Chaser, even if they all faced her simultaneously. Defeat was inevitable.
Mei's attacks were effortlessly countered, while Sakura's strikes were evaded with disdain.
Even Sakura's supposedly instantaneous speed couldn't touch her.
The Herrscher decided to compete with Sakura in terms of speed. Initially cautious, she grew more confident as time passed. With more of Sakura's body succumbing to the corruption, her once-renowned speed faltered.
A smug smile crept across the Herrscher's lips.
Her words to Sakura carried a mocking edge now.
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"Hmph—this Herrscher didn't inherit any of that pink-haired woman's virtues, but she certainly mastered the skill of incessant chatter during battle," Kalpas snorted.
From the moment the battle with Mei and Sakura began, the Herrscher's annoying chatter hadn't stopped.
"Hey, Kalpas, how can you say she got that from me? I only offer commentary at the end of a fight," Elysia retorted, smoothing her bangs.
She glanced at Mobius, whose bashful avoidance of eye contact amused her.
Still... those vertical pupils of Mobius' always gave her a strange feeling.
"Elysia… you! Stay away from me," Mobius grumbled.
Faced with Elysia's close proximity, the usually haughty Mobius shrank back, trying to retreat.
"Commentary? There's a rumor at St. Freya Academy about the training room's difficulty mysteriously increasing," Luo Mo said, as if remembering something.
He vaguely recalled Theresa complaining about the issue, which had been dismissed after a review of the surveillance footage.
"What kind of rumor is that? I think... the difficulty was just fine!" Kiana declared stubbornly.
"So… is that why you kept coming home late for a while, Kiana? Even skipping meals—"
Mei couldn't help but grumble, but then, as if realizing something, immediately chose to shut her mouth.
She was the Herrscher of Thunder, not the Herrscher of Food!
This rumor needed to be clarified.
The "brilliant" performances in the game were already bad enough; at least no one seriously thought she had gone to World Serpent to help with poverty alleviation and provide high-quality meals.
"…So, what's the truth?" Bronya asked curiously.
"Oh, it's very simple. The phrase 'very easy' appeared too frequently. You know, Valkyries usually don't have the energy to evaluate experiments after training, and that button is… somewhat hidden," Luo Mo explained.
Thanks to Theresa's authority, though he didn't roam the campus much, nor was it appropriate for him to do so—he still knew about some of the peculiar happenings there.
For instance, the pink-and-blue twins appeared the most often, followed by complaints about a certain Herrscher's class curriculum. Recently, a new topic had emerged involving a charming and adorable pink-haired character.
Though, strictly speaking, it wasn't recent; it had already been solved when the Elysian Realm was broadcasted.
It was just that no one believed she truly held that identity.
"But the training was really simple, you know?~" Elysia said, feigning grievance, though her eyes betrayed her amusement. "Luo Mo, you know me—I never lie."
(TL: ugh... no Ellie. Not the forbidden line)
She leaned slightly toward Luo Mo as she spoke.
"…If you're finding it difficult, then there really is a problem with the training room," Luo Mo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Her habit of offering battle commentary afterward… wasn't exactly a good one.
"Mm-hmm?"
Elysia blinked innocently, then smiled mischievously. "Sakura's compliments make me happy too. Although, I'd already guessed she'd say that~"
She, of course, trusted her comrades. Wasn't there nothing more trustworthy than one's companions?
"Indeed, even in reality, I'd still say the same," Sakura said softly, nodding in agreement.
Among the Flame-Chasers, relationships varied, but Elysia maintained good, or even close—ties with everyone.
Even with the difficult-to-approach Kalpas and Kosma, she had managed to write the first chapter.
This bond was something all the Flame-Chasers naturally reciprocated.
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The earlier skirmishes were merely warm-ups, intended for both sides to familiarize themselves with each other's abilities. In a true life-and-death battle, what often decided the outcome was just a single strike.
At that moment, without any verbal communication, Mei and Sakura executed a coordinated attack.
Using illusions, they deceived the Herrscher of Corruption's perception. Sakura positioned herself behind the unsuspecting Herrscher and delivered a heavy slash.
The power of freezing space condensed at that instant, sealing the area.
But the seemingly inevitable strike… missed.
The Herrscher of Corruption escaped the attack's range at the last second. She patted her chest in relief, letting out a nervous smile.
From the very start, she had been guarding against Sakura's critical strike. Knowing her trump card, how could she let herself be swayed by emotions? As long as she paid attention to the moment space froze, escaping was not difficult.
Moreover, in that instant, she managed to seize Sakura's arm directly.
Unlike Mei, direct contact with her memory body meant certain death—if she chose to delete it.
Sure enough, a dark green hue briefly flared on Sakura's arm, catching Mei's worried gaze.
Yet Sakura showed only mild regret. She had ultimately been a step behind, but it didn't matter,.it was all within the plan's acceptable range.
"…Herrscher of Corruption, you may have forgotten something. Creating illusions and deceiving your senses isn't something my swordsmanship alone can achieve," Sakura said calmly.
"The only ones capable of such feats are the Eighth Divine Key… or spirit-sensing MANTIS."
She glanced at her arm indifferently, unbothered by the marks of erosion.
Her purpose here was singular, to seek death.
A gentle white light enveloped Mei, and in the next moment, through the Sumeru, she was transported out of the space, leaving only Sakura and the Herrscher of Corruption to face each other.
When the Herrscher deleted sufficiently powerful memory constructs, it forced her to expend significant energy, leaving her unable to stop the Sumeru from activating.
The plan was to extract Mei and stall the Herrscher.
This had been their goal all along.
In hindsight, every step of the plan proved indispensable. At this moment, Sakura acknowledged the importance of each phase in Su's strategy.
"Was it really necessary to put on such an act of trying to defeat me just to send her away?"
The Herrscher of Corruption no longer smiled. She lightly drew her bow and stood atop a crumbling wall, gazing down at Sakura with a murderous aura.
The companion she had been monitoring so closely had suddenly slipped from her grasp.
How could she not be enraged?
So preoccupied with Sakura's swordsmanship, so eager to eliminate the threat, she had inadvertently allowed an even greater threat to grow far away.
She had indeed misjudged their intentions.
"If I had made it too easy for you to touch me, you would have grown suspicious, wouldn't you?" Sakura replied calmly, maintaining her vigilance.
"But, Sakura, do you truly understand what you're doing?"
"Choosing to return here even though you could escape, fighting a bitter battle just to sacrifice yourself?"
The Herrscher now sought to persuade her opponent, more curious about Sakura's motives than ever.
Why did every Flame-Chaser throw themselves forward to their deaths, seemingly without reason for their existence?
Using their lives as bargaining chips…
She couldn't comprehend it. As someone whose sole purpose was survival, she could never understand. To her, wasn't life supposed to be everything?
At the very least, it shouldn't have been a meaningless sacrifice, right?
(TL: didn't she said that the Flame-Chasers was nothing but data. Why is she complaining now)
"It doesn't matter. I've already experienced this once before."
Sakura tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword and spoke softly, though there wasn't much fighting spirit in her eyes.
She had already played all her cards.
Without a doubt, this was her dead end.
"Come, Herrscher of Corruption. Use your hands and my death to prove that she was right."
Images of that night surfaced in her mind—the moment she witnessed the other's death. Her fate, and that of herself, seemed unchanged.
"Precisely because none of you have ever changed, I like you all so much."
She smiled, a faint smile, just before her death.
"…But before that, I have one request."
"Ugh… speak," the Herrscher of Corruption sighed, her gaze somewhat inscrutable.
Fear of death—had it finally caused her opponent to waver?
Though it was what she hoped the other would feel, if it really happened, she found she couldn't take any joy in it.
But the words that followed made her widen her eyes slightly, stunned as she looked at Sakura.
"If possible, please let me die in more pain."
She nearly thought she had misheard.
"Do everything you can to make me feel despair, regret, and utter helplessness.
"Only then will I truly understand how incompetent I once was.
"And only then can I understand how, in the end… I managed to preserve the pride of being an elder sister."
Sakura's request was entirely the opposite of what a normal person would ask for.
"…Sakura, have you never been able to let go?"
"Never. And I never will."
"Even so, you still stand here, blocking my path, unwilling to… continue living?" The Herrscher of Corruption looked at Sakura with a complicated expression. Perhaps she had never truly understood the Flame-Chasers.
But she had a vague idea of the answer.
It was in the slowly raised sharp blade and the gaze filled with a desire for death.
"Never. And I never will."
The unchanging answer, one that would never change.
The scene did not show the brokenness of this elder sister; instead, it shifted to the images of the thirteen Flame-Chasers. Sakura's panel… shattered.
Another Flame-Chaser had announced their death.
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[The knife you threw hit me like a boomerang, and now it's cutting me again.]
[It hurts! It hurts so much!]
[She wanted to feel the despair and helplessness her younger sister felt at the time of her death.]
[This time… did she make the right choice?]
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"Two 'Never, and I never will's… Sakura really… I'm crying. Waaaah—"
Elysia's eyes shimmered with faint tears. Sakura's final request had left her both shocked and heartbroken, causing waves of pain to well up in her chest.
What kind of person would make such a request?
To Sakura, perhaps the greatest punishment was that she had not received any punishment at all.
"Sakura… Herrscher of Corruption."
Kalpas clenched his fists tightly, the anger around him almost overflowing, yet there was nothing he could do.
"…Sister, don't be so stubborn. Back then, it was the thought of you that helped me get through everything."
"You, yourself, were such a strong source of support for me. But against corruption … I can't give you the same support."
Rin lowered her head, her eyes red and filled with tears as she spoke.
She bit her lip, unable to believe her sister had endured such pain in the Elysian Realm for fifty thousand years.
"…Is that so? Rin, I won't do that anymore," Sakura said softly.
But in those fifty thousand years, Rin must have endured unimaginable suffering too.