A fierce snowstorm painted the world in monochrome.
The swirling snow filled the view with shades of gray. Every object, previously tinged with its own color, was now cloaked in pure white.
In that black-and-white world, the man's golden pupils appeared like ghostly flames.
His black hair and pale skin formed a striking contrast. Although his face showed intense exhaustion, his burning gaze held a strange magnetism.
He looked like someone hiding countless stories.
Perhaps in his late twenties.
Judging by his appearance alone, he didn't seem much older. But his unique aura made him look considerably aged.
With a voice so devoid of emotion that it almost seemed hollow, he asked,
"Are you satisfied now? This is the outcome of your stubbornness?"
"…No."
It was a strange feeling.
The moment I looked at him, a whirlpool of complex emotions surged within me.
A mixture of competitiveness and inferiority.
Sympathy and pity.
And anger and stubbornness.
I exhaled these unprecedented feelings into the cold air.
Snow had piled up on my head and shoulders by now. Each time I tilted my head or exhaled, it cascaded off in a light powder.
Our conversation continued amidst the snowstorm.
"I'm not dead yet."
"It's literally just 'not yet.'"
To my stubborn words, the man only scoffed.
Even his icy sneer lacked true mockery.
"If you keep going like this, you'll die… or rather, it wouldn't be strange if you dropped dead right now."
"So, is that why you showed up?"
At my question, his golden eyes glanced toward me.
No matter how many times I looked into them, I couldn't discern his intentions.
I gritted my teeth, struggling to speak.
"…Here to mock me, and, as always, step onto the stage with a grand 'tada' to solve everything?"
"Unfortunately, that's impossible."
He said this and then turned his gaze back to the front.
The massive creature, towering dozens of meters high, exuded an overwhelming presence.
Even the fierce snowstorm couldn't hide its enormous shadow.
After a long moment of staring at the monster, he exhaled a white breath.
The world, frozen in time, remained cold.
"Thanks to someone summoning me here without permission… Of course, even without that, eliminating the servants of the evil god is beyond me. It's out of my reach."
I had already anticipated that.
From the beginning, I hadn't expected his assistance.
Since the last time he was summoned, he had kindly informed me that it was "impossible."
I wasn't a person without conscience, after all.
It was just unfortunate that I was paying the price for ignoring his advice. Seeing his face at this particular moment made me feel uneasy.
Still, I hadn't failed yet.
To prove I wasn't broken, I took as deep a breath as I could.
"Then why did you show up? You never appeared all this time… so why now?"
"There was someone eagerly peering into my memories."
He let out a white breath that dispersed like smoke.
Without even sparing me a glance, he said,
"…You have no idea what could happen, kid. Stealing techniques from the future is not all-powerful. There's always a price to pay."
Now it was my turn to stay silent.
I had vaguely sensed it.
Every time my skills improved abnormally fast, and every time I used techniques I had never learned, I felt it.
My mind and body were slipping further from my control.
One day, I had found myself wielding a weapon in a fit of passion.
On another day, I recited knowledge I'd never known.
Things beyond my grasp had started accumulating, one by one.
Even the formidable wall standing before me now was no exception.
The servants of the evil god were here, like fate itself, to turn my homeland and the lands of many people here to ashes.
Furthermore, to steal the man's memories, both my conscious and unconscious minds had to merge.
To achieve this, my body had been in ruins for a long time.
I couldn't even guess how much effort it would take to recover fully.
My prolonged silence seemed to be taken as silent agreement by the man.
"…Run away now."
He said this as though stating an undeniable fact.
Looking back on his life, it made sense.
For him, retreat had rarely been an option in most battles. Even when it was, he had to endure shame and disgrace.
He had a mission.
Knowing that it was a painful choice, he advised me again.
"As I've said many times, you cannot defeat that creature with your current strength… I've taken measures to minimize the damage, so all you have to do is abandon the territory."
"There are still people left here."
At my defiant response, the man let out a deep sigh.
Once again, his eyes turned to me.
They were as devoid of emotion as ever.
"It's too late. Dozens are probably dead by now."
"…But many still remain."
"And soon, they too will die."
It was the voice of a man with a worn-out heart.
There was no hint of sympathy or pity for the lives that would be lost.
He continued speaking, calculating like a machine.
"As sad as it may be, not all lives are equal. Sometimes, one life is worth more than hundreds… For example, yours."
I simply stared at him in silence.
For the first time, there was a faint trace of emotion on his face as he spoke.
It meant he was utterly sincere.
The man emphasized his question to me.
It struck me like a hammer blow.
"If you die, who will save the world?"
A dull pain throbbed in my chest, as if struck by a chisel.
I recalled the memories of the man, replayed countless times.
"Save the world."
Now, I finally understood him a little.
To keep that promise, he had been forced to abandon many things.
The exact details were still unclear.
The memories of those heartbreaking farewells were obscured by static.
The only scene I'd fully seen was the memory of the burning forest.
But that one nightmare was enough to understand.
He hadn't wanted to abandon anything, but he had to.
It was a wisdom he'd gained from stumbling and clashing countless times.
You must let go of some things, or you'll regret it one day.
Before I knew it, I had internalized his way of thinking.
It was a foolish act.
"Our time together is brief. It looks like time has stopped, but this is the scenery within your unconscious. If you force yourself to move…"
Yes, it was foolish, but—
I gathered all my strength and tried to stand.
I rose, then stumbled.
I slipped, buried in the pile of corpses, tasting the foul metallic tang of blood on my tongue.
My muscles screamed.
It wasn't just my muscles.
My entire body was in agony.
My body, at its limits, was begging for rest. Involuntary groans slipped out between my clenched teeth.
Somehow, I propped myself up with my sword and forced myself to stand.
My legs wobbled like a newborn fawn's.
I could taste blood in my throat, as if my lungs had torn. Blood seeped into my eyelids, blurring my vision.
My ragged breaths turned white in the cold wind.
The man watched this entire ordeal silently.
The sound of his sigh reached me as soon as I stood.
"…Kid."
His voice now had a trace of irritation.
"I told you, if you die, who will save the—"
"…Then who will save them?"
The question slipped out of my mouth, unplanned, silencing him.
A strange look crossed his eyes.
In the pool of blood, my reflection was faintly visible.
Covered in blood, my clothes weighed down with snow, I looked far from decent.
But my gaze was still fiercely burning.
"Then who will save them?"
The battlefield was strewn with charred corpses. There would be more beyond this place.
And there were still people crying out for help.
He had to know this, yet he remained silent.
He only watched me in silence.
With a weak laugh, I took a single step forward.
Just that single step felt like a monumental task.
I almost collapsed again, my knees nearly giving way.
Seeing my pitiful state, the man asked,
"…Why go so far?"
"Because a true knight doesn't break his promises."
I said this without looking back.
And with another step, I staggered, falling onto my knees.
A sharp pain traveled up my bones.
There was no strength left in my legs.
So, gripping my sword, I forced myself up once more.
"…I promised Ned."
The man didn't respond for a while.
After a moment, he let out a scoffing laugh, as if in disbelief.
He asked again.
"All for a childhood boast?"
"…And what did you save?"
I shot back, provoking him.
With that one question, the man's demeanor turned icy.
That was expected.
So I raised my voice even more.
"What did you have left after abandoning everything? Was the world at peace after all that?"
"…Kid."
I could sense the man slowly rising to his feet.
But by then, I didn't even have the strength to turn around.
I took yet another step forward.
"You'll regret this. You can't hold onto everything… Even if you're lucky a few times, eventually, you'll lose something precious."
One more step forward.
"When that time comes, will you still stand firm? Even if you regret it, cry, and beg, it'll never come back… Are you prepared for that?"
It was
a warning, almost prophetic.
A truth the man had confirmed through the trials of countless years.
There might come a day when that fate couldn't be avoided.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was ready.
But I took another step.
My blood-stained footprints marked the snowy ground.
"You're still just a kid. You don't know anything about consequences, repercussions, or the ultimate secrets of the Sword Circle and Dragon's Blood script…"
"I must."
I replied with a weary voice.
I glanced at him briefly, but my gaze hadn't fully grown to match his.
"…If that's what it takes."
He stared at me in silence.
As I turned to face forward and prepared to take another step—
At last, his unchanging demeanor shifted.
He strode toward me and gripped my shoulder.
His grip was so powerful I almost cried out in pain.
I turned around in shock, and there, blazing with golden flames.
"Fine…"
Fueled by hatred, resentment, regret, and despair.
"If you want it that badly, I'll show you."
A brilliant light engulfed my vision, so intense it turned everything white.
The dam broke in my mind, and countless memories flooded in.
"…Take a good look. This is the only time you'll see it."
And so, my world began to drown.
---
The man staggered as he rose to his feet.
Thunder and storm winds poured down on the battlefield.
A full-scale attack was launched against the corpse giant.
---