At the same time as Nainiae put the ring on her ring finger, a terrifying pillar of fire erupted from the floor where the blood-stained man was standing and attacked him.
“Kugh, kuughh! Khuugghh!”
The man, who had been engulfed in the pillar of fire and charred, hurriedly ran out of there and rushed straight to Nainiae.
“Kakkkk!”
There’s a chirping sound, and the man’s skin, which hadn’t been cut even by Ian’s sword, began to emit smoke as if it were burning firewood.
“The more you hold on, the harder it will be.”
Nainiae advised the blood-stained man that it would be easier for him to just give up. Then, she flicked her fingers from time to time.
BANG!
BANG!
Each time the blood-stained man took one step closer to Nainiae, a huge pillar of fire rose from the floor he stepped on.
“Keek! Keekk!”
The man was screaming while being hit directly by the pillar of fire several times. He staggered with smoke as if his mouth were a chimney, and then rushed at Nainiae again.
“Garden tiger moth…”
[T/N: Garden tiger moth is mainly used for a person who falls into temptation and pays a high price. Other than that, it is also used as a metaphor for those who walk into ruin on their own feet or score suicide goals.]
Nainiae murmured pitifully as she looked at the blood-stained man rushing at her and moved behind the man’s back using teleportation.
“Kekk?”
Nainiae, who he thought had almost caught, disappeared in an instant and appeared from behind. The panicked, blood-stained man rushed back to her again.
“Puppet…”
It’s almost impossible to catch Nainiae, who was murmuring softly, with his hands.
“Tool…”
If he managed to catch up with Nainiae, who was dodging by teleporting, the man’s hand would be blocked by an invisible, transparent barrier, and he could no longer move forward.
“Kekk! Kakk!”
Next, if Nainiae counterattacked with magic inside the barrier… The man could only dodge the magic she shot in a hurry.
BANG!
BANG!
Not only flame-based magic but also ice-based magic that slowed movement. She even used invisible wind-based magic or telekinesis-based magic.
“…kekk!”
A storm of icicles pouring around, wind hammer swaying with a terrifying roar, the ground wriggling and creating concrete thorns, transparent hands holding down his shoulders… Because of that, the man, who had to receive a few more magics, couldn’t stand it any longer and eventually knelt down.
“Now, live as a person.”
To put an end to the man who was on his knees, Nainiae raised her right hand and created a gigantic spear.
“Mister, please kill me.”
The voices of the children from Riley’s previous life memories, who told him to kill them, could be heard in Nainiae’s ears… tears were forming around her eyes and she didn’t even realize it herself.
Don’t hesitate, Nainiae.
There’s no one else who can make this man comfortable but you…
Although Nainiae thought so, she couldn’t easily throw the spear she had made in front of him.
“…”
Thinking about how Riley felt when he wielded his sword at the children in the past… She, who shed tears without realizing it, was hesitating.
“I’m sorry. Except this way…”
“Wait, please wait!”
Nainiae had to stop herself from throwing the fire spear because Priesia standing in front of her all of a sudden.
“…Ms. Priesia?”
Priesia, who hastily stopped Nainiae by dropping the beret she was wearing on her head, carefully opened her mouth.
“Nainiae, first of all… calm down.”
Priesia, who looked at the wall of fire that hadn’t yet been extinguished, told Nainiae to calm down first. As she talked, Nainiae let out a short sigh.
“…I’m sorry.”
Realizing that she was about to make a decision on her own without hearing Ian and Priesia’s opinions by moving arbitrarily, Nainiae used different magic to extinguish the fire spear.
“Kekk!”
At Nainiae’s gesture, shackles of light appeared on the blood-stained man’s neck and wrists who had been kneeling, tying him up.
“My emotions got me.”
“Why were you so enraged? It’s not like you.”
Ian, who was standing still as Nainiae advised so that he could avoid the pouring magic, approached her and asked her when the atmosphere had calmed down quite a bit.
“This man seems to have been subjected to the same kind of ‘brainwashing’ as the ‘some children’ that Young Master had dealt with before.”
Looking at the man’s horn on his forehead, sharp fangs and nails, Nainiae added that it seemed certain, but Ian and Priesia tilted their heads as if they were not sure.
“Brainwash?”
“Should I call it brainwashing or an experiment… I don’t know for sure, but this man wouldn’t be the one who would have done this in the first place.”
“Then…”
Priesia muttered and Nainiae replied with a nod.
“Helena, it must be something she did.”
Looking back at the man who had done something he shouldn’t have done, Nainiae reached out toward his head and continued.
“The appearance and atmosphere of this man… was similar to what Young Master experienced, so I think I acted emotionally without realizing it.”
Nainiae reached out to find out about the man’s memories while recounting briefly what Riley had been through in his previous life.
“Something like that… happened, huh?”
“Disgusting, I also can understand why Young Master was angry.”
Angry that it was only the tip of the iceberg, Ian slammed his fist against a nearby wall in anger.
“That’s why this time she has to pay for her sins.”
With information about Helena from Lee Han-seong, a man in a suit who spoke to them in front of the memorial in the afternoon… Nainiae knew she was now enjoying living in clover.
“…undoubtedly.”
After doing such terrible things, not only was she living in the cheers of the people, but the fact that she’s still doing these terrible things… Nainiae’s fist clenched tightly.
“Tch.”
Nainiae clicked her tongue all of a sudden and put her other hand behind the blood-stained man’s head.
“I can’t. I can’t read him.”
Nainiae replied that she couldn’t read his memories, perhaps because of his unstable mind. She turned to Ian and Priesia to ask for their opinions.
“What should we do?”
Priesia, who was pensive for a while at Nainiae’s question, cautiously spoke out.
“Umm, Nainiae… that person named Helena… are you sure she’s a saintess?”
Nainiae nodded at Priesia’s question and looked at her as if asking why.
“Certainly, using power like divine power to heal or bless people… is she someone who uses that kind of power?”
When Priesia asked one after another, Nainiae recalled Helena’s image in Riley’s memories and answered with a feeling of ‘probably’.
“She’s certainly used powers like healing or blessings that add vitality to the body. Because Young Master had actually been healed by her.”
Nainiae’s expression darkened slightly as she recalled Riley, who was forced to fight thanks to her healing power, unable to rest even if he wanted to.
“By the way, why do you ask such a question?”
“In my case, after praying to Goddess Irenetsa, I healed people with the divine power I received from her… ”
Priesia held out her right hand, made light on her hand, and talked about how she used divine power. Then, she asked what she didn’t understand.
“There’s a god here too, right?”
“Yes?”
“Since the world we live in is different, of course, the people are also different and the gods we worship are different too… But somehow, I feel that there is no such god here at all. How did she get called ‘Saintess’ then?”
“…?”
At Priesia’s words, a question mark appeared on Nainiae’s face.
“…that can’t be, I’m sure there is.”
When she entered Riley’s dream, Nainiae clearly remembered the goddess of this place she met there.
The light, black butterfly.
Recalling the woman’s appearance who had the same appearance as her and the conversations she had with her, Nainiae shook her head and looked at Priesia.
“No, you don’t have to pay too much attention to it. Maybe it’s just my feeling… but because the gods they worship are different, I might not feel it.”
The woman named Helena seemed to be healing and blessing people with something other than ‘divine power’ that was talked about in the world over there… Priesia was guessing that way.
“But…”
Priesia, who walked towards the man in restraint, extended her right hand like Nainiae and started to use divine power.
“I think it’s clear that the divine power that that woman uses is like an uneasy power.”
When Priesia’s hand filled with divine power and lit up, the man’s black horn which was in close contact with it… started to evaporate slowly.
“The horn… disappeared?
“Ms. Priesia, what is this?”
When Ian and Nainiae were bewildered, looking at themselves as if wondering what had happened, Priesia, who used her divine power on the man, replied as she glanced at the two of them.
“I’m trying to purify it. In my own way.”
Whether her purification was effective or not, as the man’s horn disappeared, his sharp nails and fangs also began to be purified.
He’s returning?
Recalling the children from Riley’s previous life never returned, no matter what he tried, Nainiae realized that the man’s bloodthirstiness gradually decreased.
He’s returning.
* * *
“…they’re not coming.”
“…seems like they’re not coming.”
Riley muttered while standing in front of the memorial, waiting for the other parts to appear there, and then Sera muttered too.
“Did Andal say that?”
“Yes, Mr. Andal was said to say that.”
Andal said that there was a trap set up by Nainiae near the memorial and that she would return to the memorial if the trap was triggered… That’s the situation that Iril delivered to Riley and Sera.
“Khuu… Um, um, grandmother… Give me more of that…”
Sera, who was sitting on a bench near the memorial, sighed deeply as she looked down at Iril, who was lying on her lap as a pillow.
“She had such a hard time, so it’s a little bit hard to wake her up.”
“Considering Nainiae’s personality, the fact that the trap has triggered and they haven’t appeared yet means that something has happened.”
Riley stood up, deciding that he couldn’t wait any longer.
“You wait here. I’m going to look around for a second.”
On the large screen on the building across the street, the appearance of Iril standing on the memorial and giving a speech was being broadcast on the news just a while ago.
“It seems like we’re scattered by three.”
“How do you know that?”
Sera tilted Iril’s head to the other side, worried that people passing by might recognize her, who was lying on her lap.
“I, you, and Nara were scattered in threes… Iril, Andal, and Abyss are also scattered in threes… Then the rest…”
When Riley blurred the end of his words, Sera tilted her head and muttered the names of the other three instead.
“Nainiae, Mr. Ian, and Ms. Priesia… Are you saying they’re together?”
Riley replied with a nod.
“It’s very likely. I’m sure of it just now.”
The fact that the other three, whose whereabouts hadn’t yet been found, weren’t even showing their noses, showed that Nainiae cared so much about their whereabouts.
“I don’t know about Ian, but Priesia is someone who would have been on the news at least once if she was alone. Because she can’t be hiding all this time by herself.”
“Well… it’s because she looks so beautiful.”
“There’s that too. And if she had encountered someone grunting on the street, she would have treated him without looking back and forth. Then she would have been right on the news. A person with the ability to ‘heal’ has appeared after the saintess… they would have said that.”
When Riley, who was watching the news that continued on the large screen, was about to take a step to patrol the surroundings…
[Breaking news. There have been a number of murders in the central region. Those in the guided area, please beware of the women wearing the above description clothing. Anyone who finds them should call the police or the capability office as soon as possible…]
The large screen changed, showing Iril and Sera.
[…the criminal has been found to be a maniac who eats people and enjoys human flesh, so we recommend you to avoid them as soon as you meet them unless you are capable. I repeat. Anyone who finds them should call the police or the capability office as soon as possible…]
Riley, who was watching the screen, suddenly furrowed one of his eyebrows. Sera tilted her head, looking at Riley as if wondering why.
“…Sera.”
“Yes, Young Master?”
“Do you perhaps… like something like human flesh?”
“…yes?”
Sera instantly made a face that said ‘what kind of nonsense is that?’.
