WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 503: The End, an End to Everything (3)

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The night was long. Far too long.

It was so long that one began to doubt whether morning would ever come, whether the sun would ever rise. Dawn seemed as though it would never arrive.

And yet, the Stars fought.

Even after sending Najin up into the sky, they swung their weapons with all their strength, smashing the statues to pieces. They struck at the towers lined across Ascension Land as if mining them with pickaxes. They did not know whether this could damage the Witch, but they felt they had to do something.

The Stars resisted.

Their Stars were buried in darkness, yet their bodies still stood with their feet planted on the ground. Their souls had not yet fallen to their knees.

"We have to do something, don't we?"

Someone said that and moved.

"We don't know when dawn will come, or when the night will end, but shouldn't we at least stay awake and endure?"

"Right. We've got to see the sun rise."

"We can't miss that sight."

They forced their weary bodies to move. They fought the Witch's remaining forces, then looked to the sky and made their wishes.

-May this long night finally end.

The Constellations were not the only ones praying. Countless people on the Continent prayed as well. Rather than looking at the Blight Star and crying out about the end, they looked at Dawning Star, shining beside it, and prayed.

-May dawn come.

They wished for it.

For the Star that heralded the end of night to rise.

For Dawning Star to shine.

2.

A long and arduous battle began.

A truly endless battle.

Najin had found a way to fight the Witch, but that did not guarantee victory. It only kept him from being swept away by the waves. He still had to cross a vast sea with no end in sight.

It was daunting. He could not even tell where the end lay.

All he could do was row. He did not know whether this enormous sea had an end, but if he did not row, he would only drift across it. If he rowed, though, it became a voyage. Najin chose to sail.

He swung his arm as though it would break.

His sword moved forward, slicing through the current. A single straight line was drawn, and the Witch's magic was severed. The spells that had rushed in like waves were cut apart, and a storm raged.

Whoosh.

A hand reached through the storm. Five dark red fingers, the Witch's hand.

She no longer only flung magic from afar. Scattering spells around her, she approached Najin and readily engaged him in close combat.

Her body was cut apart by the storm, but she regenerated faster than she was being severed and reached for Najin. Before her fingertips could touch him, she had to regrow her fingers twenty times. Still, the fingers that grew back for the twenty-first time touched Najin's body.

The moment they touched him, the sorcery was completed.

The spell that had thrown Najin back earlier activated vertically this time, rather than horizontally. Najin gritted his teeth under the crushing weight pressing down from above. His knees creaked, then broke, and he heard his muscles tearing.

Bloodshot filled his eyes. Even while being crushed beneath that immense weight, Najin's gaze followed the Witch's movements.

'Look. Think. Act.'

Najin shortened those three steps. The instant he saw, he thought. The instant he thought, he acted. What pinned his body down was magic in the end. Excalibur drew a line and cut through it.

'Keep moving.'

Najin spun in place. He thrust Excalibur like a spear, piercing the Witch's hand as it reached for him.

Crunch.

The Witch grabbed Excalibur, which had pierced through her hand, with her bare palm. She fused the blade and her hand together, regenerating them as one. Pulling it toward herself, she sharpened her other hand and tried to pierce Najin's head...

Her hand froze.

The Witch's hand, which had flowed like blood and darkness, froze solid. The moment it did, Najin twisted his blade. Horn Charge. A storm burst from the blade, shattering the Witch's hand as it surged forward.

'One step.'

Taking a step forward, Najin swung his sword. He did not miss the opening that had appeared for only an instant, cutting into the Witch's body again and again. He infused Sword Aura with the Terminus Star burning his body, adding heat and cutting power to it.

The stench of burning flesh filled the air.

He did not know whether it was his own flesh burning, or the Witch's. It was likely both. Najin gritted his teeth and swung his sword. He did not even know how many times he swung it in that brief instant.

He cut off her arms. Severed her legs. Split her from shoulder to waist. He drove his sword into her eyes and heart again and again, twisting it each time. He stabbed the blade into the back of her neck and slashed straight downward, then drew a line from the crown of her head to between her legs.

He cut, shattered, mutilated, and split her apart.

The Witch's body was torn apart again and again.

Yet she still smiled. Whenever her body was cut away, she scooped a handful of water from this vast sea of night and filled herself back up. No matter how much she scooped out, the sea would never run dry.

...Why?

Why had Arthur failed to defeat the Witch even after burning every one of her Stars? Why had she chosen to seal her despite being able to make her bleed?

The answer was here.

'There is no end in sight.'

There was no bottom. No matter how much he cut, he could not reach it. She had devoured too many lives over tens of thousands of years. Her vitality was horrifyingly tenacious.

The Witch knew that well.

She made full use of her immortality.

Even as she was torn apart, she approached Najin. She raised both arms. As they were cut off, she reattached them. With sticky blood fused together, she grabbed Najin's face. Holding his face, the Witch opened her eyes wide.

Sorcery, Gaze.

Her face split open, and thirteen eyes covered it. The moment Najin met those dark red eyes, his vision tangled. His eyeballs shook wildly, and his pupils dilated to their limit.

Dark red blood flowed in clots from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He gritted his teeth and tried to swing his sword, but his senses were confused. Najin kicked the Witch away.

Boom.

The Witch's upper body burst apart, only to heal in an instant. Najin's eyes shook violently, then began to melt with a wet splatter.

"Close your eyes."

Merlin's voice.

The next instant, an ice pillar drove into the Witch's temple. Her entire face froze, interrupting the sorcery. With his eyes shut, Najin widened the distance. He pointed Excalibur at his own eyes and cut across them.

He drained the dark red blood that filled them.

Panting, Najin blinked several times. Until his blurred vision recovered, he fought by relying on his senses. But he could not stop exhaustion from setting in.

Sizzle.

The flames clinging to his body gnawed at Najin's soul. They burned the light his Stars created like firewood. Najin was not the only one suffering. Merlin, too, bled from her eyes as she gritted her teeth and forced out spell after spell.

...Long and endless.

Najin caught his breath and steadied his stance. He stretched his senses to their limits, peered into countless futures, and made the optimal choice.

He piled up choice after choice toward the Best.

...Arduous and agonizing.

See. Judge. Act.

Najin squeezed out everything he knew, everything he had built up. He unleashed Horn Charge to create space, then remembered Siegfried's movements and slipped in like lightning. At times, he did not hesitate to fight barehanded.

Fists, kicks, repeated summons and recalls. He mixed sharp sword strikes into close combat.

It was technique that had truly reached Transcendence. Najin displayed movements and martial arts worthy of being called humanity's peak before the Witch. They made her bleed, but none of them were fatal.

In comparison...

Sorcery, Severing Flesh.

Not one of the Witch's attacks was anything less than lethal. Najin's body was ripped open lengthwise. As his organs threatened to spill from his slashed side, Merlin's magic froze the wound and his body together. Gritting his teeth, Najin grabbed the frozen wound with his hand.

He stitched it together, then cauterized it with the flames wrapped around his body.

He spat out clotted blood and moved again. Unlike the Witch, who healed her wounds in an instant, Najin recovered painfully slowly. The longer the battle continued, the more wounds accumulated across his body.

...The battle continued.

The long, arduous, agonizing battle continued. There was no end in sight. Najin kept moving toward that unseen end.

Whoosh.

His stomach split open, blood pouring out.

Slice, splatter.

Pieces of his body were cut away, and blood spilled out. His senses blurred. Blood ran from his ears because of the Witch's song. Even through that dull haze, Najin sharpened his blade. He swung again and again, cutting the Witch.

It was desperate.

'Don't look too far ahead.'

A battle as desperate as it could be.

'Instead of looking for an end that may never come, look at now. Think now. Move now. Next, then the next...'

Najin's thoughts raced faster than ever. Pushing himself to the limit, he opened his eyes wide. With death before him, his senses accepted more information than ever.

Far too much information for Najin's mind to process.

Merlin took on part of it.

If a Sword Master gained future sight based on transcendent physical ability and sharp senses, a Grand Mage gained calculating power beyond human limits. With that calculating power, Merlin determined the future from the information Najin received.

'Merlin.'

-Yeah. I saw it.

Looking at the same future, they moved. Blue beams embroidered the battlefield. They froze the Witch's body over and over, covered Najin's openings, and created space for him to step into.

Whirl, crunch.

Najin adjusted his grip on his sword and carved the Witch apart. Cut her. Do not let that hand touch him. The instant the Witch's body shone as the medium for a spell, Najin cut her body apart before it could be completed.

Whenever he missed even one spell, something on Najin's body broke badly or was cut off, forcing him to falter. Even if he cut through ten spells, leaving one meant a fatal wound.

'More. Just a little more.'

Have faith in yourself.

No, that alone was not enough.

To defeat the opponent before him, he needed what came next. Until now, Najin had not known what that next thing was. He only knew there was something there, hovering just beyond his grasp.

'Ah.'

But now, its outline began to form.

Thump.

Najin stomped down and exhaled. Regulating his breath, he took a step toward that flickering something.

'Something...'

As the fight continued, Najin felt something strange. The Blight Star's flames, which burned his body and Stars and gnawed away at his lifespan, began to feel warm rather than painful.

Paradoxically, the flames burning his body let him feel its outline.

What shape he had.

What kind of light his Stars gave off.

Feeling that, Najin took another step. It felt as though he might catch hold of something. Then, before Najin did, Merlin sensed the change.

"Ah."

Merlin saw it.

Najin's thirteenth Star, trying to rise. It was the Star whose outline Najin had once drawn, but could not complete because he had been unable to fill it in. Something was filling that Star from within.

Something neither Merlin nor Najin himself knew.

The moment Najin moved to discover what it was. The instant he tried to grasp it, the moment his hand was about to touch his thirteenth Star...

Crunch.

The Witch's palm touched Najin's heart.

"Too late."

One step. A gap of a single instant.

The Witch's five fingers shone briefly.

A sound like a drum tearing apart rang out. A shockwave erupted from the Witch's palm. The flesh around Najin's heart tore, his breastbone shattered, and the shockwave burst out through his back.

Thud.

Najin's body staggered. The focus vanished from his eyes. Merlin's eyes widened as she screamed and scattered magic at the Witch. The Witch's hand froze just as she tried to finish Najin. Seizing that opening, Merlin swung her arm and tore Najin's limp body away from the Witch.

Slash.

Najin slid across the ground and was thrown far away. But he could not rise.

-Najin, Najin!

Merlin's voice rang out, but Najin's body only convulsed faintly. Then the blood vessels that had constricted loosened, and blood began gushing madly from his wounds. The ground around Najin turned red.

"Cough, hack, urgh..."

Najin convulsed as he coughed up blood.

His vision blurred.

His consciousness gradually drifted away. Death approached.

'Something.'

Najin yearned for it.

'Anything at all...'

He yearned for something that would let this body move. Longing for life at death's threshold, Najin felt warmth within his fading senses.

Flames.

Only the flames burning his body remained, telling him he was not dead yet. Feeling those flames, Najin saw the Blight Star glittering before him.

'Ah.'

Slowly, Najin reached for the Blight Star.

The Terminus Star.

No one had understood the Blight Star. No one had accepted it as a story. A story that skipped over the middle and cried only for destruction could not stand as a story.

Everyone saw the Blight Star as something to be defeated.

But Najin...

Tap.

Najin's fingertip touched the Blight Star.

3.

Morgan found it astonishing.

She was astonished that Najin had mutilated her body to this extent, and that after taking so many wounds, he moved even faster. But that astonishment never became fear.

The Witch looked at Najin, who had been thrown far away.

This was the end.

No matter if he was Excalibur's owner, how could he move with his heart shattered? Paying respect to his desperation and resolve, the Witch walked toward Merlin.

It was time to finish matters with her kin.

"You..."

The Witch had just begun to speak.

Merlin, staring at her through tear-stained eyes, widened her gaze. Her eyes were not directed at the Witch. Seeing Merlin look behind her, Morgan narrowed her eyes.

Then she heard it.

Whoosh.

The sound of flames burning.

"..."

Morgan turned around.

Najin was rising again.

His heart should have burst. His entire body had been cut apart. His bones were broken and his muscles torn, yet he forced himself up. Each time he moved, breaking and tearing sounds came from his body.

Even Morgan could not laugh at that sight. It was almost chilling.

How could he possibly be moving?

Staggering, Najin stood.

He lifted his chin. As though he refused to bow his head, he held his chin high and raised one hand. In it, he held the burning Blight Star. Merlin's Blight Star, the flames that burned Najin's body.

Creak, crackle.

Najin gripped the Blight Star. His five fingers burned as they sank into it. Dark red starlight poured wildly from the Blight Star. The flames seemed as though they would burn Najin's body away, yet they never declared his terminus.

Because this belonged to Merlin in the end.

What the fairy Merlin, the former owner of the Blight Star, wanted was not a disastrous conclusion. It was not this tragedy either. This could never be the ending she wanted.

The Blight Star had been an ending she accepted only after giving up.

"Merlin."

Najin smiled.

He curled up the corner of his mouth in a teasing grin.

"This story isn't very fun. It's just painful. What is this? It hurts so much I can barely breathe."

Merlin swallowed her tears and smiled. You crazy bastard, she cursed inwardly, pressing a hand firmly against her chest. Her Star responded to Najin's.

"Let's put a period on it and go find a new adventure."

The Terminus Star was born from Merlin's mystique.

She had hated herself.

But now, she no longer had to hate herself. She did not have to give up. She did not have to accept the Lesser Evil because she believed this was the only ending she could have.

Because Najin was by her side.

Because he had shown her what came after a story that ended in tragedy. Because with Najin there, they could always continue into another story. Then the terminus of a journey no longer had to mean an eternal end...

A period.

After a period, a new sentence simply begins.

"Yeah!"

Merlin nodded forcefully.

Crunch.

Najin drove the Blight Star into his heart. The instant it settled in Najin's heart, it was no longer a Blight Star. Platinum starlight bleached the Blight Star away. Her Star returned to the moment when it had been purest.

Merlin's twelfth Star shone again.

The Terminus Star replaced Najin's heart.

"...What?"

For the first time since the battle began, the smile vanished from the Witch's face. She stared at Najin with her eyes wide open.

Something that should never have happened had occurred.

No one.

No one had ever accomplished this.

Ordinary Stars turning into Blight Stars, Blight Stars being born, even Blight Stars being defeated, all of those had happened before. But in tens of thousands of years of history, no one had ever bleached a Blight Star.

It was impossible from the start.

How could hatred powerful enough to bring down the world, a Star stained by that hatred, ever return to its original color?

It was impossible.

Something impossible.

Something that could not be explained, understood, or accepted.

When someone accomplishes such a thing, the world calls it a great feat.

And the one who accomplishes that feat engraves their Star in the sky.

Flash.

Najin's thirteenth Star was completed.

Author's Note

I put plenty into this one~

Footnotes:

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