Chapter 58
Originally, if one’s emotions weren’t stable like this, it was right not to pick up the sword.
That’s why Daphne had intended to keep Lloyd by her side and practice swordsmanship.
But Daphne, unable to overcome Heros’s provocation and the pressure to improve her skills, picked up the sword. She regulated her breathing and raised the sword high into the sky.
Whoosh!
Galaxy Sword 1st Form, Comet Wave Slash.
Daphne entrusted her body to her memory, recalling the flow of the sword form that Heros had shown and that Vertio had taught her.
Whoosh! Every time the sword cut through the air, afterimages appeared and disappeared. It was like a comet falling in the night sky, fast, with a burning tail that seemed to spread because it couldn’t keep up with the speed. Daphne gritted her teeth and unfolded the sword form.
-Celus-nim was created to receive their negative outcome values.
Shio’s words kept stirring in her mind.
‘I am.’
Whoosh! Daphne’s sword cut through the air once more.
‘I am a great dragon.’
Whoosh!
‘I am a great dragon created to do great things.’
Whoosh!
‘Clearly, that was the case…….’
Daphne’s tightly bitten lips burst, and a trickle of blood flowed down.
The ‘truth of the world’ that Shio had shown flashed before her eyes and disappeared. The scene of three dragons giggling while creating Celus.
At the same time, the people she couldn’t save came to mind. People who hid their bodies in fear of the ‘calamity.’ People who threw away their lives just because of her existence.
She recalled her life that was always hated, always persecuted, always lonely.
“Ah, aaaah!”
The veins in the whites of her eyes burst, turning both eyes blood red. It looked like she was shedding tears of blood.
For a long time, I was always alone.
Therefore, I was lonely.
It was hard because no one understood me.
But nevertheless, I endured.
Because I was a great dragon bearing a great mission.
But in the end, I, this existence,
-Celus-nim was created to receive their negative outcome values.
Was just a garbage dump handling the cleanup for the true dragons.
“Heuk, heuk…….”
Daphne dropped the sword downward and collapsed on the spot. Following that, the afterimages chasing the sword form faintly appeared and disappeared.
“I…….”
Should I accept and acknowledge it like this?
Should I live according to the purpose of existence that they created for me?
“…….No.”
Daphne ground her molars with a grinding sound and forced herself to stand up. She unfolded the sword form once again.
“I am!”
The sword form was much faster and more precise than before.
“A great dragon!”
Whoosh!
“No one can deny me!”
Following the shout, a comet-like light bloomed from the tip of the sword.
“I am!”
Sword aura.
The true starting point of the sword that blooms only when one realizes the true power within oneself and can control it.
“I will definitely take revenge on those bastards!”
-You must connect the sword trajectories while drawing each one’s universe in your mind.
Daphne could now understand those words.
My universe doesn’t need to be defined.
“And I will live my true life!”
Because the universe is created just by me stepping forward for my own life.
“Aaaah!”
Daphne leaped once more with sword aura enveloping the entire sword.
“Go, Gongnyeonim!”
Leaving behind Lloyd’s shout, who had returned at some point.
***
“This is……. what.”
Lloyd doubted whether what he had seen was truly reality.
However, seeing the collapsed Daphne and the devastated training ground around her, he acknowledged that this was reality.
“Gongnyeonim!”
Lloyd quickly approached Daphne. As soon as he got close, he felt a tingling energy. It was because of Daphne, who had been emitting mana and swinging the sword until just now.
“It was sword aura……. right.”
He let out a hollow laugh and lifted Daphne into his arms. If his eyes weren’t mistaken, what Daphne had emitted was sword aura.
The sword aura that he had barely managed to produce after deciding to become a swordsman and putting all his effort into it for over 10 years.
But how on earth?
How did this young child come to know the meaning of the sword and accept it?
‘That’s not what’s important right now.’
Lloyd immediately recognized that Daphne had caused a mana rampage and was exhausted.
If left like this, aftereffects would surely occur.
Quick treatment was the priority.
He began running toward the annex while holding Daphne.
***
Daphne dreamed.
It was a dream of being trapped in a place like a void space where nothing entered her vision, nothing was felt, and nothing touched.
That space was Daphne’s inner self.
An unknown realm that she could reach only now, after manifesting sword aura and understanding her true self.
That space showed Daphne’s, Celus’s past times. It unfolded the long years scene by scene.
From distant past events that she could barely remember now, to today’s events.
In the fragmented times, what she harbored was always the same.
Constant loneliness.
Lonely, lonely, then meeting Vertio and forgetting the loneliness for a very brief moment, then sending Vertio away and being lonely again, lonely times.
Those long times of loneliness where no one could understand me, no one accepted me.
Now that she knew that all that loneliness didn’t originate from me, but was created under someone’s intention.
What kind of heart should I harbor? With what mindset should I live from now on?
Unable to answer that question, Daphne woke from the dream.
“Ugh……. Ah.”
Daphne slowly raised her body while pressing her stiff forehead firmly.
“My whole body hurts like it’s going to die.”
She remembered up to manifesting sword aura and swinging the sword wildly after that, but after that, her memory was cut off as if with scissors. She guessed she had fainted right there.
“How much time has passed?”
Didn’t she agree to take a test from Heros? If she had been collapsed for a long time, the test would be over the water.
“Tteing. This has become annoying.”
To check the situation first, Daphne extended her foot out of the bed. At that moment, something touched her foot. Daphne tilted her head and looked down.
“…….A drawing?”
Daphne furrowed her brows and picked up the fallen drawing.
The drawing showed a red-haired child and a blonde-haired child holding hands amicably while holding swords in their other hands, clearly Arius and Daphne.
Daphne read the short letter written below the drawing.
Wait a bit! I’ll show sword aura soon too! Don’t go out first!
-Arius
ps. Get well soon!
“This kid needs to learn letters again first.”
She grumbled, but a smile hung on Daphne’s lips. It was a smile she herself hadn’t noticed.
What came into Daphne’s view next was a small medicine bottle placed on the side table. The brilliant golden liquid emanated Vipeera’s energy. Daphne grasped the bottle.
Don’t get hurt
-Sister
“…….”
Daphne’s expression became subtle. Somehow, it felt like emotions were welling up.
Daphne pressed her slightly hot nose bridge with her hand and then walked toward the center of the room. On the sofa, there was a small gift box, and on top of it, a letter.
The word that you collapsed has spread even here. Stop getting hurt so much and don’t worry people? Where did the spirit you showed before go? Snap out of it and take care of your body. This is just something I picked up. It’s absolutely not something I prepared for you, so don’t misunderstand!
“Anyone can see this is from Lache.”
Daphne’s face, having confirmed even Lache’s letter, was completely distorted. Now even her eyes felt hot. Daphne lifted her head, and as soon as she did, she saw the white lion’s lantern that was burning.
Judging by the strong feeling of Heros’s energy, he must have lit it and left it.
Daphne bowed her head deeply and squeezed her eyes shut.
The profound loneliness she felt in the dream was still there. That’s why she thought it wouldn’t change in the future, but opening her eyes like this and facing reality…….
“I thought I couldn’t even have friends until now.”
A tear drop fell from her slightly opened eyes.
“At some point, a family has formed.”
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By Anna 💓
