The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 81



Only Krnovel

Episode 81

It was an eyeball moving around in the palm of my hand.

“Should I eat it?”

“It will be delicious.”

“I don’t feel like it.”

Quillvian bit his fingertip and drew blood. He put his blood on the bloody contract floating in the air.

The blood that formed the contract turned into two needles and stabbed Quillian and Cheryl in the chest.

“The covenant has been made. If you break it, Nak will go berserk and kill you, so make sure to keep it.”

After nodding, I put Cheryl’s eyeball in my mouth. I felt reluctant to chew it, so I swallowed it.

There was no immediate change like when I ate the essence of magic.

“That spell is one I cast on you before.”

“What was that you put in my eye?”

“Yeah, that one.”

Suddenly, my stomach churned. It felt like my insides were being torn apart.

He looked at Cheryl with a frown.

“It’s a recipe I made. Of course, it’s quite painful to digest.”

“I wish you had told me that in advance… … Ugh.”

I endured it with my forehead pressed against the table.

The body in this world was vulnerable to pain. But it wasn’t so much that it couldn’t endure it.

The veins that spread across his neck and head throbbed. Quilbian took a deep breath. The pain in his body was familiar. Familiar things are easy to bear.

“Your face has ripened deliciously.”

Cheryl laughed out loud.

“Still, you’re amazing. You’re holding on with that body.”

I wiped my forehead as I listened to Cheryl. Sweat was dripping down my face. The pain that had been dominating my body was slowly fading away.

“But can you take what you gain here into reality? It’s a separate world.”

“The law is absorbed into the imaginary world. So it will continue. The same goes for the covenant.”

After wiping my mouth with my hand, I looked into the spell that had taken hold on one side of my brain.

A curse that uses Nak to remove the target’s vision.

Quillbian moved his Nak. A small black sphere appeared between his thumb and index finger. It was the prototype of the curse.

“You took it out right away. I thought it would take a while.”

“I guess I have talent, just like you said.”

“If you put that on someone you hate, the curse will be complete. Of course, the effects will vary depending on the caster’s skill. Your curse… … is only for a few days of blindness?”

“It’s useless.”

He threw the original curse at Cheryl.

The black orb that struck Cheryl’s eyeball disappeared with a hissing sound like a drop of water hitting a hot iron.

“You see? The magic and sorcery you used don’t work on me.”

“I didn’t throw it hoping for a great result. I just threw it because I didn’t want to see it.”

Cheryl shrugged.

“How about that? Do you feel the way I do?”

“So-so. I also found out that it’s quite difficult to use Nak alone.”

“It’s a method I worked hard to create. Keep studying it.”

“There must be salt in the law too?”

Cheryl laughed.

“All magic has a mind. Nak is the mind.”

“Every time you use the word ‘heart,’ I feel sick.”

“Why?”

“You’ll come to know. You, who I thought were completely different from me, incomprehensible monsters, are no different from us.”

“Is this hate towards one’s own race?”

“It’s a struggle to survive. But, do you believe in fate?”

“Fate? Oh, what a thrilling word. Fate is, you know, proof that you are loved by God. God has opened his arms to embrace you so that you won’t go astray or face danger, and the name of that embrace is fate. That’s why fate doesn’t exist for us. How can we believe in something that doesn’t exist?”

“So you’re trying so hard to get into the arms of God?”

“You wonder. We were born into nothing. You, on the other hand, opened your eyes with everything. It’s not fair. I want to be loved. I want to dance on the powerful current of destiny.”

Cheryl raised her hand.

I could tell right away what she was going to do. Quilbian reached out and grabbed Cheryl’s wrist.

The hand that held it began to rot.

An excruciating pain struck my brain. My vision blurred for a moment, but I didn’t let go of the hand that was holding me.

“Why do you keep doing that? This place means nothing to you. It’s a world where you’ll be abandoned when you wake up.”

“But it will continue. This is not a fantasy. This is a real world where there are fucking bosses, friends who don’t pay back money, and ex-lovers.”

“No. The moment you leave, all that will be left here will be a wretched Quilbian. An apprentice Quilbian. A useless Quilbian.”

“Even though he’s useless, he’s a guy who has to live here.”

“What if I kill you?”

“What about the covenant?”

“It doesn’t matter because it’s about a promise. The promise was that the magic I gave you wouldn’t harm you. There’s no problem with killing you myself.”

“It’s like a dog.”

“Of course I don’t intend to kill you. But I don’t care what kind of shell you’ll be left with after you leave.”

Quilbian looked back.

People’s skin had turned black.

He withered and shriveled up without even being able to scream.

There were no survivors.

“Do you hate humans that much?”

“That kid over there kept staring at me. It was annoying. He looked at me like I was some kind of garbage, but I couldn’t ignore that.”

“If I leave, you will disappear soon too, right?”

Quillvian prepared to go back. He couldn’t let an uncontrollable monster loose here.

“It doesn’t disappear right away. You left behind a shell last time, right? I asked him about this and that. But he really doesn’t remember anything. He was just an ordinary groom. So I killed him and ate his heart, but your scent still lingered. After confirming that, I also twisted my own neck.”

Cheryl licked her tongue.

“It’s you and yet it’s not you. It’s really funny.”

“If you pick up something weird and eat it, you’ll get sick. So stop eating it.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you, so hold off on leaving for a bit. If you leave now, I’ll kill all the bugs outside?”

“Please fix this. It hurts so bad.”

Quilbian looked at his arm, which had turned black and withered.

When Cheryl tapped his arm, the darkened arm quickly regained its healthy glow. It also gained weight.

“Is this also the law?”

“This is sorcery.”

“What is the difference between sorcery and witchcraft?”

“The law requires a system. You know what I mean since you’ve learned it. Make a seal, move the Nak, induce the phenomenon, and materialize it.”

“I guess you guys also need a stage called determination.”

“Of course. You have to shape it with your fingers like you do. Isn’t that strange? Even those who have abandoned their human form still have their fingers. The seal can be simplified, but it can’t be skipped entirely.”

“Compared to that, the law is… … .”

Quillvin tried again to create the curse that Cheryl had given him.

“If you just wish for it, it will appear.”

“Yes. It is a wish. So the only way to convey the law is to take it from me and hand it over. It cannot be documented like sorcery.”

Cheryl stood up from her seat.

“Should I go out? The air here is too stuffy. I smell like rotten shit.”

It was Cheryl, looking at the body in the corner, covering her nose with a handkerchief.

“If that’s the case, then don’t kill me.”

“I told you earlier. He was looking at me in a bad way.”

Cheryl left the store. Quilbian took one last look at the dead people before closing the door and leaving.

“I’m sorry.”

A feeling of guilt reared its head for a moment. But the moment I closed the door and turned around, any remaining emotion disappeared as if washed away.

I wondered for a moment if I was really human, but then I gave up. It’s not like dead people come back.

“Look over there.”

There was a train coming into the station, belching steam, where Cheryl was pointing with her finger.

As time goes by, it will probably be the last train.

“This is a fun place. I want to come back again.”

“If you think like that, stop killing people.”

“I’ll try.”

I walked down the street with Cheryl.

The road was dark. The only light was the streetlights scattered here and there.

“The humans living here will eventually be able to fly in the sky. They’ve created many strange things.”

“Steam is a fascinating thing. A world where anything can be moved using processed mana fuel.”

Similar yet different.

A strange world.

aperture.

“How many worlds like this are there?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve been to many places.”

“It was a different place each time. No, there were a few overlaps, but there were still countless numbers.”

“Then who created the humans living here? If they were born from God’s indifference like us, they should have been thrown into the trash can, but these people look happy.”

It was Cheryl speaking while looking at the building across the street. Beyond the window, a man and a woman were facing each other, enveloped in soft light.

Every time I opened my mouth, a smile appeared, as if something fun had happened.

Quillvien immediately stood in front of Cheryl.

“I guess you should go now.”

“why?”

“Because you won’t listen to me. Let’s stop here for today. We both got what we needed, so let’s part ways peacefully.”

“Well, peacefully. That sounds good.”

“Good,” Cheryl said, her eyes widening as she repeated the same words.

Fucking bitch.

Quillbian took the knife he had brought from the restaurant out of his back pocket. Cheryl didn’t back down as she saw the knife coming towards her throat, but raised both hands and shouted.

“Let’s all die together!”

The streetlights evaporated in an instant.

Phew!

He stabbed Cheryl in the neck with a knife, but it didn’t work.

Black rain fell from the sky.

The vigilantes patrolling the night streets came running, blowing their whistles. Quilbian quickly cut off Cheryl’s head.

The knife cut through the flesh and shattered the cervical vertebrae. Cheryl’s neck snapped at a right angle. With her head and shoulders completely touching, Cheryl smiled broadly.

“Do these guys have a destiny?”

Half her neck was cut off, but her voice was intact. Even here, Cheryl was a monster.

Thud thud.

The rain soaked Quilbian’s body.

The vigilantes who approached next threw themselves at Quilbian and subdued him.

I looked up at Cheryl, who was standing upright on the floor. One of the vigilantes spoke stammeringly.

“Oh, Miss. Are you okay?”

What question do you ask a woman who is smiling with her neck bent in a strange direction?

Quillbian shouted to the three vigilantes.

“Run away, quickly.”

“Shut up! You crazy bastard. Are you swinging a knife in the street?”

“I know I was crazy, but I didn’t do it because I wanted to. But I think it’s too late.”

“I told you to be quiet!”

The vigilante who had been shouting while bending his arms trembled. The vigilante who had been restraining Quilbian’s body fell sideways.

Other people weren’t much different.

He trembled and buried his head in the black rain-covered floor.

Screams came from all directions.

Quillvin brushed back his wet hair and looked straight at Cheryl.

“Are you relieved?”

“Just a little bit. The kids here don’t know their destiny or God. They don’t know what a great blessing they have. It’s frustrating. We’ve been living in such misery.”

“You’re taking your anger out on the wrong people.”

He stood up and grabbed Cheryl’s neck with both hands.

“Quilbian, no, Quill. See you again. I’ll be waiting.”

He grabbed her neck, which was smiling wickedly, and tore it away from her body. Even though her neck was completely cut off, Cheryl’s body still held its balance.

The black rain that had been falling from the sky stopped.

Quillvien threw his head on the floor and leaned against the wall.

Screams and cries can be heard from all over.

An uncontrollable disaster.

“It seems like this is something that has to end with everyone being killed.”

He raised his hand and patted her shoulder.

“You have a hard time.”

He moved to an alley far from the scene of the incident and sat down.

Apprentice Quilbian.

I don’t know what kind of life the Quilbians who remain here will lead, but it won’t be very pleasant.

“Cheer up. You’re better than me, though.”

Quilbian took a deep breath, held it deep in his lungs, and held it.

Until my mind becomes dizzy.

(Continued in next episode)