WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ A Gacha Addict's Life in Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 78: Fugitive, Flower (2)
──────
1.
I had been waiting desperately.
Unable to do anything.
For the final period to a story that had done nothing but linger.
My Death Constant.
Kisara Yagyu.
That fucking bitch who had brought me death every time we met, without exception.
In that sense, she was the person I had been waiting for most.
“You’re Cedric Montraven, right?”
But I couldn’t take my eyes off the suitcase Kisara was holding.
Because that was the suitcase Boksun had been inside.
My brain, worn raw by cheap stimulation, burned hot.
Steam seemed to fill my head.
Why did that fucking bitch have Boksun?
Hadn’t Li Cheng retrieved her?
This was Day 17.
Project Z had been stopped.
Back then, Kisara had said something like, “If it’s not Project Z, I have no business in a shithole like this.”
But she was here.
Why?
“Give me my Boksun, you fucking bitch!!!”
Black, sticky mana surged wildly.
Death Sentence.
Every cause of death I could use tangled together and floated in the air.
Die. Die. Die.
Tear that fucking bitch apart and get Boksun back.
That was all I could think about.
“Hmm?”
But then...
Crack!
A heavy impact shattered my ribs and drove into my solar plexus.
Before I could even tell what had hit me, I was sent flying through the air in a pathetic arc.
The flight did not last long.
“Ghk!”
I crashed through several tables, then slammed into the wall as pain shot through my crushed spine.
I spat out the blood that had burst inside my mouth and opened my eyes.
“I’m very, very, very disappointed.”
The gambling hall had become a complete mess.
Kisara stood there lazily, almost indifferently, the suitcase still in her hand.
“I had such high expectations for you.”
Kisara slowly placed a hand on her sword hilt.
“Excuse me, nameless lady swordswoman.”
“Hmm? Me?”
Liu Feng stepped forward with his fists clasped.
“I do not know what happened, but this is the place of business of Red Pole Li Cheng of the Gold Carp Family. I am his zuobi.”
Liu Feng! Was he actually trying to protect me?
“And I only met this friend today. I have nothing to do with him, so please let me go.”
Kisara tilted her head, then cleared a path.
“Go.”
“Thank you.”
Liu Feng hurried away without looking back.
So she was letting him go...?
Fuck. She had chased Cedric all the way to hell.
Why was she only so strict and cruel with me...?
A hollow laugh escaped me.
An endless despair settled in my chest.
My mind was not working as it normally did.
My body would not move the way I wanted after that one blow.
“Why... why do you... have the True Progenitor doll...?”
“You’ve been eyeing this since earlier, haven’t you? It’s an errand. An annoying one.”
Only then did I remember.
[ 3) Thirty days ago, Li Cheng removed the “doll” under false pretenses for an under-the-table deal with Aden. ]
Li Cheng had meant to trade with Aden.
Kisara was the courier.
She had come all the way to Necropolis to take the doll.
Then Boksun would be going to Aden.
“What... are you going to do with her...?”
“You don’t need to know that much, do you?”
I had never thought deeply about the world after death.
What happened to the iterations I regressed from?
Did they disappear and return with me?
Or...
What if they branched off like parallel worlds from the moment of my death...?
“...”
I had thrown this iteration away for nothing.
Because I was afraid to see a Boksun who did not know me.
Because I was scared of losing Boksun meaninglessly again, I had given up and run away.
But there was no paradise where I ran.
I had not abandoned an iteration.
I had abandoned Boksun, inside that suitcase.
No one else had given up on her.
I had.
My weakness and cowardice had thrown Boksun into hell once more.
“Kill me...”
I curled up.
“Kill me...”
I dropped to my knees and hunched over.
I waited for Kisara’s slash to strike my neck and end all of this.
Clack.
Kisara’s footsteps.
Her shadow fell over the back of my head.
Kisara’s slender fingers grasped my chin and lifted it.
Violet eyes, beautiful as violets, looked at me with interest.
Then suddenly...
“...What? Hmm, fine. You worked hard, so here’s a gift.”
Kisara muttered something utterly out of context into the air.
“Cedric, someone’s doting on you, huh?”
Kisara curled up the corner of her mouth, rose to her feet, and turned away.
“Keep living like that. Like you’re dead.”
Then she slowly walked away.
“What...?”
Why was she not killing me?
Until now, every time we met, she had killed me no matter how desperately I struggled.
She was my Death Constant.
So why now, of all times?
The sight of her walking away with Boksun made unbearable emotion burst out of me.
“Hey!!! You fucking bitch!!! Kill me!!! I said kill me!!! Give me Boksun! My Boksun...!”
Kisara put a hand on her sword hilt.
“Yes!!! Kill me like that...!”
Slice.
A sickening sound, like thick meat being cut, rang out as horrible pain spread through my mouth.
A lump of flesh dropped with a plop amid the blood pouring out like a waterfall.
My tongue.
“Kh... hurr...”
I covered my face and groaned.
Sticky blood mixed with saliva gurgled through the gaps between my fingers.
Kisara’s retreating back.
No.
I could not let her go.
This iteration could not be fixed like this.
I had to turn it back before Kisara went to kill Arbel.
I tried to use Death Sentence to blow my own head off.
“Urrrgh!!!”
Why? Why the fuck was it suddenly not working again?!
My mana would not move.
The sticky mana that had always obeyed my will remained stuck to my magic circuits without budging.
Then...
My eyes fell on a broken table and a sharply splintered piece of wood.
Just as I began crawling toward it...
“Cedric, are you all right?”
A familiar voice reached my ears.
I looked toward the voice.
Ceres stood there, her brows furrowed with concern.
“Honestly... why do you keep doing dangerous things?”
She rushed over.
When she saw the state I was in, she carefully pulled me into her arms without caring that blood stained her clothes.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Like soothing a frightened child, Ceres took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from my mouth.
“It’s all over now. You’re safe.”
Just as she had throughout this entire iteration.
Ceres’s kind, gentle voice, endlessly indulging me even when I showed my displeasure.
Her lips moved.
“Let’s go home, get you treated, and wash up with warm water.”
Her tone was warm and tender, as if she truly worried about me.
Completely unfitting for this situation.
“We’ll eat something delicious too. And we’ll play lots of the games you like, Cedric.”
And her strangely warped eyes, filled with affection and concern.
“Urr... uh...”
I had thought it was strange before.
Human Cedric in this iteration was truly irredeemable trash.
The worst possible route, one that even Big Brother Yiming had cut ties with, should never be repeated.
Yet Ceres had cherished and embraced me more than ever.
Now I understood.
The terrible lack, or twisted desire, bestowed upon a mage.
The flaw that sustained an inflated ego and allowed a mage to exist as a mage.
The Mandate of Heaven.
At last, I saw Ceres’s Mandate of Heaven in her eyes.
An innocent motherly love that wished to embrace what was broken.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep taking care of you from now on too.”
Ceres’s lips touched my forehead.
“Ugh... ah...”
Yagyu had already arrived in Necropolis.
She had found me first by luck, but next she would go after Arbel.
If Arbel died, the Premium Route would clear and reality would be set.
With Arbel dead.
With Boksun sold off to Aden.
With me left as an unworthy younger brother to Big Brother Yiming.
It could never be allowed.
But as long as Ceres’s Mandate of Heaven was directed at me, she would never allow my “suicide.”
Even if I stabbed my own neck with that piece of wood, Ceres’s magic could easily heal me.
What should I do?
How could I end this iteration and move on to the next one?
It had felt as though hot steam had filled my head throughout this entire iteration.
But at this moment...
As if someone had jabbed a syringe into my ear and injected liquid nitrogen.
A sharp clarity rapidly spread through my brain vessels.
My brain cells, numbed by cheap stimulation, screamed.
The thoughts I had kept stopped until now burst out like cola with Mentos dropped into it.
“What is it, Cedric? Does it hurt badly?”
Ceres looked puzzled at my sweat-soaked state.
“Do you want to sleep for a while?”
“No...”
I desperately shook my head.
Think.
Think.
Think, Cedric.
Then inspiration flashed through my mind.
“I... re...”
Blood streamed down from my mouth.
Fuck, this was driving me insane.
With half my tongue gone, I could only speak like some damn toddler.
Ceres leaned her ear toward my mouth, puzzled, and I struggled to enunciate each word.
“I’m... a... wegwessor...”
“What did you say?”
“I’m... a... wegwessor!”
======
::: Warning :::
* A penalty will be imposed if you reveal information about Death Game.
* Be mindful of your words and actions.
======
Yes, this was what I had been waiting for.
“I’m! A regressor!”
“What are you talking about?”
Ceres frowned.
Still not enough?
Then fuck it, one more time!
“I’m...!!! A regressor!!!”
The instant I shouted at the top of my lungs...
Time stopped.
Craaaack!
Space suddenly tore open like warped film, revealing a black void.
A darkness without end.
Beyond the curtain rippled hundreds, thousands of chains.
I knew this phenomenon.
When I had freed Ceres from her Commandment.
The chains that had tried to wrap themselves around her.
The punishment of the world.
The chains writhed like snakes and coiled around my body.
Crunch.
My entire body was crushed and burst apart.
My consciousness vanished as if someone had switched off the power.
======
『 EP99. Revealing Heaven’s Secrets 』
There are truths in this world that must not be spoken aloud.
<Iteration Results>
▶ Achievements Obtained: None
▶ Titles Obtained: None
▶ Challenge Points: +2 pt
※ The Death Penalty is waived under the Exemption Clause. ※
Exemption Clauses Remaining: 0.
- Choice: 2. Kill Arbel Montraven.
The Premium Route continues.
At the end of pride and foolishness, may you reach transcendence.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
