WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 396: Episode 75: A Certain Emotion (3)

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For an instant, their eyes met.

「“You all remember how to deal with a Demon King.”」

They shared the same pain and had lived carrying the same wounds.

They had lost beloved companions before their very eyes.

「“Let's begin the final Scenario.”」

They had failed to save their companions time and time again. That was why they could never turn away from those dying before them.

The lives they had lived had made them that way.

"I'm ready."

"I'll be back."

Huiwon leaped lightly into Hyeongseong's palm, and Hyeongseong hurled her with all his strength.

Huiwon shot across the battlefield like a ray of light. The flames of [hellfire inferno] surged in a brilliant straight line, and Demon King Hagenti let out a groan.

Hagenti swiftly carved away his own hide to extinguish the flames, then spoke in a rough voice.

[So that's where you were hiding!]

Kicking up dirt with his hind legs, Hagenti charged through a cloud of dust.

Hyeongseong caught Hagenti's horns and held him back.

"Khraaaah! Huiwon-ssi! Hurry!"

With the opening Hyeongseong had created, Huiwon shook the fallen Kyle awake.

"Kyle! Wake up! Kyle!"

As if she had become Erich Stryker of the Kaizenix Archipelago again, Huiwon desperately called Kyle's name. She held a hand beneath his nose and, thankfully, found that he was still breathing.

「“The Scenario once again...”」

They had come this far because they believed her words, because they believed Kim Dokja Company.

They had followed her to find their own genre through their own strength.

She couldn't let them die here.

One of the approaching royal guards hoisted Kyle onto their back.

"I'll take him."

"Please."

"Leave it to me."

The knight nodded solemnly and immediately ran toward the rear.

Huiwon gripped her sword again to help Hyeongseong.

Then a chilling premonition ran through her entire body. It was a feeling she had experienced only a few times before.

When she lost Dokja in Dark Castle.

When she lost Dokja again in the 73rd Demon Realm. And...

"Huiwon-ssi, get down!"

Hyeongseong grabbed her and rolled. A flash grazed Huiwon's forearm. It was the first time she had learned such a terrible scream could come from her own mouth.

Barbatos's bullet.

Hyeongseong's face had turned deathly pale. Before she could even ask if he was all right, he spoke.

"Go. I'll buy you some time."

Hyeongseong caught Hagenti's charging horns with both hands, then bit down on the burning spear blade Ami had thrown from afar. Even as the heat melted his tongue and seared his eyes, Hyeongseong endured everything through sheer, unyielding will.

-Hurry!

It was Telepathy. The skill that had connected her and Hyeongseong during their time together in the Kaizenix Archipelago. Hyeongseong spoke through it.

-I can hold on! But I can't hold on while protecting you, Huiwon-ssi!

Then and now, Hyeongseong had always been someone who claimed he could do what he couldn't.

That was why Huiwon couldn't run.

She knocked aside the silver claws of Demon King Stolas as they flew toward her and clenched her teeth. The flames of [hellfire inferno] were weakening, and cracks were spreading across Hyeongseong's steel shell.

Zepar, the Demon King of Temptation and Barrenness, laughed.

[What tragic lovers. I do enjoy such tragedies.]

"Shut up."

[A few Constellations are moved to tears by the Incarnations' story.]

Huiwon desperately swung her sword. To prove that their lives weren't mere fodder for a story, she swung it again and again.

The fleeing Reincarnators were looking back at them.

Huiwon and Hyeongseong fought to save them.

[The influence of the nebula Kim Dokja Company is growing.]

[The foundations of the Great war of Angels and Demons are shaking.]

For the first time, the relaxed expressions on the Demon Kings' faces changed.

[It's a shame I won't get to enjoy this any longer.]

Another dark flash erupted.

A bullet ripped through space as it flew toward them. It was Barbatos's specialty, [Star-Destroying Bullet].

This time, she couldn't avoid it.

Just as Huiwon curled up to make herself as small a target as possible, someone covered her body. A dull impact rang out, followed by the sound of something bursting apart.

Crunch.

The bullets didn't stop at one.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Once, twice, three times. Something burst, broke, and shattered beneath the consecutive bullets.

[The fable Purest Camaraderie is shaken.]

Huiwon struggled as she hugged the body and rolled away. It had been torn to rags by the bullets. A bloodied face smiled at her. The figure tried to say something, then slowly closed his eyes.

[The fable Sword and Shield stops telling its story.]

"Hyeongseong-ssi?"

[The Constellation Master of Steel has suffered massive damage.]

"Hyeongseong-ssi. Wake up."

The bombardment stopped, as though it had only been an interlude of entertainment. Something snapped in her mind.

Huiwon shook Hyeongseong again.

"Hyeongseong-ssi."

Hyeongseong's eyes didn't open. His mouth couldn't say anything. No breath passed through his nose, and his ears couldn't hear anything.

"Wake up!"

She hadn't answered him yet.

"Wake up! I said wake up!"

Then the Demon Kings began moving again.

Huiwon carried Hyeongseong's large body on her back and ran. It was the fastest she had ever run. She ran until the muscles in her legs tore and her heart broke. The bombardment continued, and her wounds kept multiplying.

Still, she ran. She was running from all of it.

Kim Dokja, Kim Dokja could save him. Kim Dokja had saved Shin Yuseong and Yu Sangah. He would surely save Hyeongseong too.

Death was nothing here. Death couldn't separate anything.

Huiwon ran as she sobbed. All she could do was buy time, but if she held out for that time, she could change everything.

She ran and ran. How long had she been running?

Huiwon collapsed facedown into muddy water. Through her blurred vision, she saw the battlefield.

The earth reeked of the corpses of Reincarnators.

She had no strength left in her body. She couldn't feel Hyeongseong's heartbeat.

[Uriel's Incarnation. Where are you hiding?]

Huiwon held her breath amid the approaching Demon Kings. For better or worse, her Status had fallen so far that she was difficult to distinguish from the Reincarnators.

[If you won't come out, we'll have no choice but to kill everyone here.]

Demon King Ami smiled and waved a spear of fire.

There were still many Reincarnators around her. People Huiwon had to save. People she was supposed to save.

Huiwon squeezed her eyes shut.

'I'm sorry.'

This was as far as her paltry justice could go.

As she listened to the roar of the blazing heat, Huiwon knew what she would see when she opened her eyes.

Reincarnators burning in the flames, breaking apart, and bursting open. Faces that resented her. The expressions of people pointing at her as they fled.

Huiwon prayed. She prayed that even one more person would run farther away.

That they would hold out somewhere farther away until Dokja came.

"I'm here!"

Then someone spoke.

"I'm Jeong Huiwon, Uriel's Incarnation!"

Huiwon opened her eyes. The person standing there was someone she knew.

It was Kyle, the knight she had saved moments ago. She could also see the knight who had been running while carrying Kyle.

"No, I'm Jeong Huiwon!"

"No! It's me! Kill me!"

[Have you all gone insane?]

The Reincarnators weren't running away.

They were the people who had followed her from the Kaizenix Archipelago. The people she had saved through local battles stood at her side and shouted.

"I'm Jeong Huiwon!"

"I'm Lee Hyeongseong!"

The Reincarnators who had risen were calling out her name and Hyeongseong's name, even though they knew exactly what would happen if they did.

"I'm Jeong Huiwon!"

"We-"

All of them were facing their deaths. They cried out the names of those who had guided them into this world.

"We are Kim Dokja Company!"

As though that alone was the justice they protected, or the last story left to them.

"Uwaaaaah!"

Kyle, who had shouted Huiwon's name, charged at the Demon King. Reincarnators who had been running in the opposite direction were turning back too.

Some cried. Some raged and screamed.

[The influence of Kim Dokja Company in this Scenario is growing even stronger!]

The flustered Demon Kings released their Status.

[You insane bastards-]

The Reincarnators were being torn apart before her eyes.

They couldn't withstand even a casual strike from a Demon King. Yet their cries didn't stop. Some shouted Huiwon's name, some Hyeongseong's, and others Kim Dokja Company. They charged toward death.

Huiwon trembled amid that hellish battlefield.

Why did they have to die?

She looked down at the fallen Hyeongseong, then up at the dark sky of the Star Stream. Countless stars looked down at her. There were so many stars in that sky, yet not one came to save them.

Huiwon rose to her feet.

"I..."

Then she ran toward the Demon Kings.

"I'm Jeong Huiwon."

[There you are.]

Flying claws raked across her back.

[Activation of Exclusive Skill Hour of Judgement has been requested!]

Just once. Anyone was fine. If someone would lend me strength just once.

[Most Constellations of the absolute good alignment have opposed the skill activation.]

[The skill activation has been cancelled.]

Why couldn't I judge the ones I wished to judge so desperately?

What is good, and what is evil?

"How is that 'absolute good'?"

Why do you get to decide that however you please?

Why do I have to follow it?

Barbatos's bullet flew toward her from afar.

Inside Huiwon, emotions worn down to nothing were burning as kindling.

[All your fables react to your misfortune.]

The burnt emotions pointed toward a single feeling.

[All your fables react to your will.]

Revenge.

[The Star Stream looks upon your fables.]

「I want to judge them.」

[A new fable begins to sprout within you!]

The next moment, an intense light burst from Huiwon's entire body.

The tremendous explosion of light twisted the path of [Star-Destroying Bullet], and the nearby Demon Kings all stepped back at once.

Huiwon heard a message.

[The Attribute of Incarnation Jeong Huiwon is about to evolve.]

[You have encountered the trigger for Attribute evolution!]

Once, the One Who Crouched had become the Judge of Evil to judge evil.

Then what would a judge betrayed by good become?

[You have acquired a Legendary-grade Attribute.]

A radiant white aura burst from her sword. The vitality of fables boiled throughout her body.

A ring of chaos appeared in Huiwon's eyes as she looked at the Demon Kings.

[You have become the Judge of Destruction.]

Footnotes:

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