#159

The woman, looking at the sword with utter disbelief, her eyes filled with madness. With a blood-red smile, she approached Cullen and laughed.

“It’s you, it’s definitely you. Whatever it is, it’s clear you’re connected to that sword.”

Instead of answering, Cullen straightened his sword and held it out towards her. The woman stopped.

“Stop this madness, Iris Jenix.”

As he spoke the name he had guessed, she cackled.

“So you’re the Larkan hiding. I can tell by your face. You look just like her. I see her, the foolish woman who boasted she would save the Dragon.”

Cullen’s eyes widened. No way.

“Yes, do you understand now? If your mother hadn’t needlessly pitied the Dragon and stirred up the palace, she would have been spared like Sigmund. She hastened her own death by daring to touch what I had to kill. I thought I had killed them all then, though. My brother handled things poorly. I didn’t know there was surviving blood.”

Iris muttered to herself, then became enraged. It was clear she had lost her mind.

“You ruined everything. If you had left only this woman, everything would have been much easier… I killed Dikrit too, leaving only one…”

Cullen stood frozen, listening to her words. Slowly, slowly, Kiyen’s words from the past flashed through his mind. The words that his mother had pitied him and tried to save him. The words Iris had spoken in his memory mixed with her babbling.

Iris Jenix had just, with her own mouth, said she killed his mother.

“Brother too… you killed him?”

Kihelene reacted first. Her eyes widened, and with a face filled with desperation, unlike moments before, she shouted.

“You killed such a young brother!”

With all her anger and energy, Kihelene lunged at Iris before there was time to stop her. Raising her dagger, her eyes gleamed. Iris dodged Kihelene lightly, cackling. Kihelene, barely regaining her balance, swung her dagger at her again, snarling.

“Do you know what you’ve done? To Silfi, to my brother, to all of us! Why…! Why…!”

Kihelene’s dagger held her rage, but her skill couldn’t inflict a single wound on Iris. As Cullen watched Kihelene stumble as if being toyed with, he began to move slowly. His heavy steps fell. The perpetrator he had sought his entire life was right in front of him.

The one who annihilated his family, killed his comrades, and tried to eliminate even the comrades he had remade.

A being who deserved to die.

“Let’s stop playing. Thanks to you binding the Dragon to that palace, killing you now isn’t that difficult.”

Iris kicked Kihelene with her foot, as if the game was over. Roughly pushed away, she fell to the ground. Before Kihelene, who immediately lifted her head, could charge again, Cullen blocked her path. Then, with sunken eyes, he looked at Iris.

In the face of immense rage, Cullen’s eyes became even colder. Looking at the horrific being before him, he calmly extended his sword.

He had thought for a long time. How to kill his enemy when he met them. In his time consumed by revenge and resentment, he imagined dismembering his unknown opponent every single day. He thought of taking everything he possessed, and he imagined torturing him in ways that were unspeakable.

But now, all he wanted was death.

He had to kill her and end everything. The one who was once a victim committed unforgivable madness, using her suffering as an excuse. That horrific justification would never disappear.

“You are more terrible than Velemyr Larkan. You are nothing but a hateful and disgusting being. What you are doing is not revenge, but venting. You crossed the line a long, long time ago.”

At the mention of Velemyr’s name, Iris’s eyes widened. With mad eyes, she lunged, snarling.

“Shut up! Don’t compare me to that filthy name!”

Throwing her dagger, Iris simultaneously gathered a red energy in her hand. Cullen struck the dagger rushing towards him with his sword, ‘CLANG!’. The Artifact hadn’t displayed any power yet, but it was functioning excellently as a weapon.

As he easily deflected the dagger, Iris let out a monstrous cry and sent the gathered red heat towards him. It wasn’t as hot as Kiyen’s, but it was magic he couldn’t block.

Cullen dodged the magic and swung his sword. Surprisingly, the sword bounced back the energy Iris had sent, as if it were an object. Her eyes widened.

“At least Velemyr Larkan cherished his own blood. But what about you? Did you say you even use your children as tools? He seems more human by comparison.”

As he unhesitatingly praised Velemyr Larkan, Iris completely lost her reason.

“Shut up, shut up! I am the victim!”

She began to use her power indiscriminately. Cullen waited for her strength to wane, deflecting all the rushing attacks with his sword. It was an incomprehensible power, but this seemed to be the nature of the Artifact.

Iris began to self-destruct. With every surge of power, her face visibly aged. The markings seemed to creep up to her eyes. Panting, she stepped back and turned her gaze as if to target Kihelene, but seeing Cullen block her path, she chuckled.

“Damn sword…”

She rained curses upon the goddess, then met Cullen’s eyes. In his upward-looking green eyes, Silfir and Yurisis were faintly reflected.

“Yes, are you going to mock me until the end, Goddess? Fine. Then I will…”

Iris straightened her body. Then she pointed at Cullen’s eyes.

“Your eyes. They resemble Kashyella’s. I’ve seen countless violet eyes, but hers were the first I wanted. They were so brilliant.”

Her mind, which had been coldly composed, reacted to those words. Cullen blinked. Something snapped within him.

“Take them if you want them. They are your mother’s eyeballs, so there’s no reason I can’t return them now.”

Iris whispered as if bestowing a favor. Kihelene gasped.

But for now, he had no time to spare for her. All Cullen could see was Iris.

How could a person do such a thing?

The horrific being, who had annihilated her own humanity, spoke.

“They were taken while she was alive, so they’re still fresh.”

She had gouged out his mother’s eyes.

“What do you say? Do you want them? If so, give me that sword.”

The moment he heard the last words, Cullen decided to lose his mind. His grip on the sword tightened. Gripping the hilt with the force of crushing bone, he charged at Iris. He gritted his teeth.

He could see nothing but that hateful face. He had to kill her.

That was the least he could do for his mother. Cullen kicked off the ground with all his might. The massive sword shone with a brilliant violet light under the moonlight.

Iris did not dodge. As if waiting for him to kill her, she looked straight at Cullen, smiling.

“Cullen, no!”

Kihelene cried out from behind. Cullen’s sword aimed precisely for her neck. As if not to repeat the mistake he made losing Arne earlier, he intended to end her life in an instant.

“If you kill her like that, everyone left in the palace…!”

Before Kihelene’s words finished, the sword had already left Cullen’s hand. Late, Lasano’s words flashed through Cullen’s mind.

He had said if someone else killed her, everything would be lost.

Cullen realized in that moment that he had fallen into her trap. Iris smiled faintly, as if pleased, and Cullen’s sword was aimed at Iris’s neck…

‘CLANG!’

Just before her head was about to fly off, the sword was deflected. With a powerful blow, Cullen was pushed backward. Quickly regaining his balance, he sheathed the Artifact and raised his gaze.

There stood Yurisis, a bright red bandage wrapped around his left arm. His pale face and silver hair looked white under the moonlight.

“Only I can kill Mother. If it’s not suicide, the Golden Seal will activate.”

Yurisis spoke with a haggard complexion. Seeing him appear at precisely the right moment, Kihelene rose from her spot. Gladness and sorrow colored her face. But there was no time for reunion.

“What are you doing, Yurisis! How dare you stop me!”

Iris’s face contorted as she saw him suddenly block her path. Her eyes glowed red. Kihelene screamed.

“Stop it, he’s your son! Stop it, Silfi!”

Despite her cry, Iris did not stop. Yurisis’s face contorted. It was a bizarre sight. He looked as if he didn’t want to go, yet he positioned himself as if he would step aside for her. Seeing that, Lasano’s words flashed through his mind. Was this what he meant by Yurisis being under the Golden Seal?

“Take Kihelene and flee. I will handle this.”

“What are you talking about! Yurisis, you are my son!”

Iris snarled, widening her eyes further. But Yurisis bit his lip and held firm. Blood flowed down his lips.

“I regret everything I have done. That I didn’t die sooner, and the pain that you, Kihelene, and countless others have endured…”

Yurisis said this, then raised the sword that had blocked Cullen’s attack. This time, Yurisis’s eyes began to glow red. His right hand moved slowly.

“I am sorry.”

As his sincere apology echoed, Yurisis raised the arm holding the sword. He brought the trembling tip of the sword to his own abdomen.

“No!”

Iris shrieked. Though they didn’t know the exact spell that bound them, Yurisis seemed to have the upper hand now.

Cullen glanced at Kihelene with a start. He knew it was logical to leave her be, yet he couldn’t help but check on her.

But Kihelene didn’t move. Her fists clenched, she stood there, shedding silent tears. Her bare feet dug into the earth. She was enduring, trying desperately not to run forward.

“No, no, no! I can’t die like this. I have to take everyone…!”

Yurisis looked at Kihelene. Cullen watched them as they looked at each other. The rage that had burned through his entire body gradually subsided, replaced by an endless emptiness and sorrow.

“It’s time to stop. It’s best if we go to hell together.”

Iris struggled to hold on, but perhaps because she had exerted too much strength against Cullen earlier, she couldn’t stop him. Yurisis’s sword slowly began to pierce his own abdomen. A splash of red spread across his blue clothes. Kihelene trembled, swallowing her sobs. Her entire body shook.

Yurisis looked at Kihelene, his eyebrows arching. He parted his lips.

“I love you. And I am sorry, Helen.”

Kihelene’s lips parted. Even as she cried uncontrollably, the corners of her mouth twitched. Seeing her, Yurisis smiled.

“It is I who have wronged you. Please, do not blame yourself for too long.”

With those words, Yurisis drove the sword completely into his abdomen. At the same time, Iris’s body collapsed. The same spot as Yurisis turned red, and Iris fell, spitting blood. Her eyes, filled with resentment, froze as she stared directly at Cullen.

Only after she fell did Yurisis crumble. With the sword still in his own abdomen, he sank to his knees.

Kihelene rushed to him as he bowed his head powerlessly. Barefoot, she ran to him and tenderly embraced his neck. Her slender shoulders trembled.

“Silfi, no, Yuri…”

A whisper echoed.

“Don’t be sorry.”

A white hand stroked Yurisis’s hair. She slowly lowered her head and pressed her lips to his cheek.

“I will always love you. So… let’s meet again. Later…”

Yurisis’s head drooped onto Kihelene’s neck. The blood that flowed down his body soaked Kihelene. Cullen could not stop her. He did not want to disturb lovers saying their farewells.

Instead, he turned his head to look at Iris. Staring at the old woman who had died with her eyes wide open, Cullen raised his weary hand.

A sense of emptiness washed over him. The enemy was dead. Returning to the starting point of his journey, Cullen witnessed the death of the one who killed his mother in the place where she was born.

Yet, he did not feel good. He had imagined that the end of his revenge would bring release, but nothing had changed. Even if he finished his revenge, those he had lost would not return. The situation, which he thought would change dramatically, was merely hollow.

He was tired. Faced with the tragedy of loss, Cullen thought he no longer wanted to see death. Now, he just wanted to forget all the pain and…

He wanted to be at peace.