CHAPTER 114: | INCARNATION

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  'I-It was hopeless...'

  'His existence was the sole reason for me to inherit her legacy... n-now... he...'

  "He was gone..."

  'Master... what should I do now? I-I was completely smitten by his coldness... at his composure. Even at the face of death... he... he didn't despair but... faced it with calmness... like he himself wasn't afraid of it...'

  'I felt even more empty than before... Now with him gone, what should a powerless woman do but... die?'

  "Hey woman, be mine...!"

  I stood undisturbed by the voices ringing in my head.

  'Then I took a step and another, staggering with my every movement, a gait unlike the one who embodies nobility.

  Huff... huff...'

  My feet went cold when I took my twentieth step, and gradually my body stiffened until mist parted from my lips every time I took a breath.

  "Hey...! Woman...!"

  It was a voice that I was familiar with, but why was that arrogant man worried about me...?

  Whiiir...

  'It was dark below... I-I couldn't see anything in this dark abyss, but... this... this should be my last chance to... a-accompany him in the afterlife...'

  Words wouldn't be enough to describe the whirlwind of emotions she was feeling right at this moment.

  She glanced down the edge of the cliff with an emotionless face, then she hesitantly took a step while raising her head for the last time to see the endless, beautiful darkness of the abyss.

  "..."

  The world completely halted its activities as the two lovers had finally met after what felt like an eternity of waiting.

  Samantha was utterly shaken at the figure before her.

  With both eyes closed, it wasn't the ashes of her master, but it was the body of her beloved, drifting down the bottomless cliff.

  Her unfocused eyes snapped back into reality as their luster returned.

  She now gazed at the corpse of her beloved with a smile on her face.

  It was sheer tenderness, it was the first time such a soft, tender smile had graced her usually expressionless features.

  Then her smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the bitter coldness of winter itself as her hands, now clenched into a fist, trembled uncontrollably.

  Tears welled in her eyes, it was the tears that he would usually wipe away, accompanied by words that would comfort her when he was near.

  But now, with him gone, the only thing she could feel was the icy indifference of the Abyss giving her the cold shoulder.

  She clenched her teeth unwillingly, then took a step forward and leaped without a care.

  She reached her hands out to his, then embraced his cold body with a smile.

  The two of them, now embracing each other, slowly drifted down the bottomless cliff.

  Samantha was satisfied by her choices as she shouted with a profound sadness.

  "A-alister Von Fai... you... damned man!"

  Then she shouted yet again.

  "P-please! Wake up, you damned man! Just why... just why do you do what pleases you? Coming into my life and now going into the afterlife without me?! How selfish of you! But so be it! I, Samantha Eve Evangeline, shall follow you!"

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  Her shouts were filled with the sheer conviction to follow him to wherever he would go, be it in heaven, hell, or purgatory, since she, Samantha, his woman, would follow him to the very end of the abyssal darkness that blanketed the world.

  Samantha reached out for one of the revolvers strapped to her legs.

  Then she sighed, knowing that this was truly the end of her journey.

  Thud!

  Firing her revolver into the sky for one final time before pressing it against her head, Samantha smiled gently, then glanced at Ishtar who was gasping for breath for the last time.

  "This life is worthless without him by my side!"

  BOOM!

  In this darkness she felt peace, then comfort washed over her form.

  All the fatigue that had accumulated in her body was gone in an instant, it was as if she was now a spiritual construct.

  'Is this what he felt when he died? Then so be it! Since I can finally be with him in the afterlife...'

  Samantha smiled, then her hand clenched tight.

  It was a profound, confusing shock, her fingers had met the cold, familiar steel of her revolver, a physical impossibility since she was dead.

  Before she could process the discovery, her body went completely still, enveloped instead by the embrace of something warm.

  "Huh?!"

  'That's weird... w-why can I still feel my body? Is this truly the effects of death?! While I've heard some say that you will have a few seconds left to rewind all of the memories you had from birth to death when you die! But this is weird! Why can I still feel my body? Just what is happening?'

  It was weird that instead of feeling the cold embrace of death, what enveloped her instead was the rough embrace of the earth.

  It was warm yet gritty at the same time, creasing her body gently.

  It was an oddly familiar sensation, just like when he embraced her at the terrace when they'd first met.

  But how could he still embrace her when he was dead?

  It was an odd feeling that Samantha was experiencing.

  It was definitely his embrace, but it shouldn't be this rough, since his skin is as supple as a lady's.

  So how could this embrace be so coarse?

  Then there's only one explanation, either Tellus who mysteriously vanished after his death was comforting me, or it was someone else desiring my body, just like that arrogant man did.

  'How intriguingly disgusting... This feeling that I am sensing right now is the most repulsive feeling that I've ever felt in this lifetime. Then so be it! Since you are not him, then die!'

  BOOM!

  The sound of another gunshot echoed loudly in the perimeter.

  I smiled at her response, since Samantha was purely disgusted at my act, just enough to fire her revolver into me.

  But with her mana density and purity being too low to dent my earthen body, I ignored it.

  I then embraced her tighter as I smirked.

  "Huhuhu... it seems that my lovely lady has become quite spicy at the death of my vessel?"

  Huhuhu, how intriguing that I would see this lovely version of my wife showing her emotions so openly like an open book, unlike the life I had before with her, where she only wore a brick-like face until the end of our lives.

  The quiet and meek woman that I loved due to her silent nature had now become this fiery at the death of my vassal, who possesses the three authorities of the distorted emperor.

  It was worth it.

  When else will I ever see her show such a variety of intense emotions again if not now?

  It was fun watching her confused expression after hearing my words turn into that of shock, then into disbelief, before it settled into relief as she strapped her revolver and systematically embraced me in silence.

  "..."

  It was such a shame that I wouldn't be able to feel anything sensory for quite a while, since I've lost my physical form.

  Yes, it was such a shame that I wouldn't be able to enjoy this moment fully.

  The test that I had designed to confirm whether Solia would truly be someone worthy to serve me was a success itself.

  I thought that she would fail when she had turned her back the moment I died, but to my shock, Solia hesitated for a moment, and it was in that instant that I knew that she had passed.

  At first, I was quite curious watching her leave the scene, leaving Ishtar writhing in pain and Samantha despairing at the loss of her beloved.

  But then she had surprised me by hesitating for a while before she decided to return back to protect the honor of her mistress.

  I expected her to lose the moment she stepped in, but Solia had astonished me by pushing Lumicor back in terms of pure swordmanship while wounding him in that decisive moment.

  Truly, she was worthy of being my apostle.

  And now that she had passed my test with flying colors, it was now time to tell her my real goal and teach her the real deal, the knowledge I had delayed until I confirmed her loyalty.

  I sighed, then flicked my hand as the world heeded my decree.

  The ground shook violently as dust began to rise from the chasm, covering the entire abyss with sediment.

  Solia was the first to notice it, thanks to her perceptive nature as a swordswoman.

  Her mind raced for answers of who created this smokescreen.

  Then she smiled subtly, since no one but Tellus would be the only one capable of magic on this scale, except their master, but it shouldn't be possible since he was dead.

  Now, with Lumicor distracted looking at her mistress, and with Tellus raising a blinding smokescreen to buy her time to counterattack, Solia smiled as she channeled her mana into her swords that cackled with lightning.

  Before she took a step, her face blurred in an instant, turning into the visage of a lightning demon as she flashed in and out of reality like a streak of lightning, judging those who defy the heaven.

  Click...

  Solia heaved a breath as sweat trickled from her forehead down to her neck.

  In that single instant, she had vanished and reappeared behind Lumicor with her swords drawn for a mere millisecond before they were sheathed again, with her muttering coldly.

  "Storm Sword Art: Dual Storm Requiem."

  In her announcement, the world turned into a searing neon white, followed by thousands of blinding lines inscribed in the folds of reality, then into Lumicor as he gasped in shock.

  He looked at his palm as the lines inscribed in him exploded into a thunderous crackle that burned his flesh while it severed his bones in half.

  Lumicor turned his head behind his back, glancing at Solia whose eyes were half closed, then into Samantha who was embracing a golem.

  "T-this is impossible...!"