Chapter 115

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Episode 26 - Epilogue of Fallen Maiden[1]

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She had been close to Isabella, so close that, with a single thought, she would have appeared before her.

But not even she noticed when the Puppeteer Angel had appeared.

She could not react in time. No... even if she had reacted in time, Isabella was always going to die.

’I should have been by her side... why did I stay sitting inside the cabin? Why did I do something so stupid?’

Luminus felt pathetic.

She had the power to save a child, yet she did not know how to use it.

She had the ability to stay by Isabella’s side, yet she did not do it.

She knew the Puppeteer Angel would come to kill Isabella and, even so, she left Isabella outside.

’I’m pathetic...’

She could not protect her family.

She could not protect Kyle.

And she could not protect her second disciple.

A girl who had been used as a test subject in a laboratory of the Church of the Black Dawn.

Perhaps Isabella’s fate had always been to die.

Luminus let herself fall to the ground.

Her hair rested against the cold floor as she looked up at the blue sky.

As a child, she had dreamed of seeing that sky, but now she felt empty.

She wanted to see a blue sky alongside other people.

With Kyle, with Isabella, or with her family.

But she could not.

Because she herself had the chance to keep those people by her side, yet she lost them because of her own stupidity.

"Master..."

A voice reached her ears.

Luminus opened her eyes in surprise, but soon returned to her previous expression.

Charlotte approached Luminus together with Adel.

Charlotte looked at Luminus’s chest and vaguely understood something.

Then she lay down beside her.

Luminus did not even know why that girl was doing that. She did not know her, much less who she was.

But then, a memory crossed her mind.

It was the memory of her first disciple.

She had not seen her since that time in the Mountains of the End.

Then another memory struck her mind.

’Fifteen years ago, a couple appeared before me out of nowhere. They helped me with my purpose. Then, four years ago, another couple appeared again and helped me... and now...’

Now she understood something.

’So... I have already died... I was also chosen by a Memory Gate.’

A bitter smile appeared on her face, but then she remembered the person lying beside her.

"You are... my first disciple, right?"

"..."

Charlotte was surprised. She wanted to deny it instantly, but then she looked at the progress bar of the Final Chapter.

Then she nodded.

"Yes... it seems you already realized it, right?"

"That this is a Memory Gate and that you are Invaders... yes, I just realized it."

A few drops of blood flowed from her nose as she spoke. Luminus looked at Charlotte and then at the sky.

’I suppose that, in the end, I saw the sky with someone.’

Then she looked at Adel, and a bitter smile crossed her face.

She looked at Adel’s cheeks and realized that Adel had been crying.

"I’m sorry... I couldn’t do anything."

Adel "looked" at her, walked toward her, and then lay down on the ground beside her.

And, as if "looking" at the sky, Adel said:

"I know. I reconstructed the scene, and I know that Isabella would have died either way."

Luminus nodded weakly as sadness flooded her mind.

"Thank you for not being angry at me... Throughout my entire life, the people around me died because of me and because of my own stupid actions."

Adel said nothing.

Charlotte said nothing either.

And Luminus stopped speaking.

She would take responsibility for the lives she lost and for those she could have kept safe.

She would not allow herself to drown in those losses. She would keep moving forward until the very end and carry all the responsibility.

’I don’t deserve to be forgiven... even so, I’m sorry.’

Time flew by.

The progress had reached 100%, and Charlotte’s and Adel’s bodies began to disappear.

Meanwhile, without realizing it, Luminus was left completely alone.

She looked at the blue sky while, in her mind, she held herself responsible for everything she could not do.

Knowing that she could have done it.

A smile formed on her face.

’Ten years of life... I suppose I deserve a death filled with pain, right?’

Perhaps, to others, it was not her fault.

But Luminus knew she could have saved the people she loved the most and still failed to do so.

Rather, she had been pathetically powerless.

"Goodbye, master."

Luminus turned her head toward where Charlotte had spoken.

She understood that Charlotte and Adel were already leaving.

Luminus smiled bitterly.

"Goodbye... disciple... and goodbye..."

She looked at Adel one last time. To her, both of them were still there.

But she knew they would no longer remain.

Charlotte’s and Adel’s bodies disappeared.

Luminus looked back at the sky.

’Goodbye, everyone...’

***

〖You have successfully saved the villagers of the Valley of Happiness〗

〖Luminus Arcantel Valentina’s story progress: 100%〗

〖You have cleared the Final Chapter of the Fallen Maiden〗

〖Luminus Arcantel Valentina’s Story: Epilogue〗

〖Do you wish to enter the Fallen Maiden’s Epilogue?〗

〖Yes/No〗

The notifications appeared in my mind while the memories of what had just happened still lingered within it.

I could not forget it and... I did not want to forget it either.

Even if I knew it was all fake.

Even if I knew I could see her again.

I shook my head, pulling myself out of my thoughts. Then I turned my attention to the system.

I thought of the word "yes," and the notifications changed.

〖The player’s consciousness will be sent to the Epilogue〗

Slowly, my consciousness began to fade away.

My senses went numb once again.

And the white lines in my vision disappeared.

Then, in the very next second, I appeared in a different place from where I had been lying before.

This time, I was floating in the air.

I was not physically inside the world; I was like a ghost as I "looked" around the surroundings, slightly confused.

’So this is what the epilogue is like.’

A third-person view.

Similar to how I had entered the Memory Gate Fragment of the Lady of the Beasts.

Shortly afterward, Charlotte appeared floating beside me. She looked around while her expression remained slightly sad.

Then she looked at me and smiled bitterly.

"So you entered the Epilogue too."

I gave a slight nod.

"Yes, I’d like to see how this story ends."

"Yes, I also want to see the ending of this story."

Soon after, both of us began floating through the surroundings, and it did not take long for us to find Luminus.

The place we were in was a forest.

Luminus was sitting with her back against a tree while a man sat beside her.

’Kyle...’

It seems the epilogue begins its narrative in the past.

***

Charlotte and I moved close enough to the duo.

Luminus and Kyle were sitting side by side, looking up at the black sky.

At this point, Luminus was only a 1-Star Awakened.

I didn’t know how long she had known Kyle, but judging by her emotions, it seemed they had known each other for a very long time.

Luminus shrugged as she said:

"It really worked. Even though he hasn’t gone back to being the way he used to be, it seems like he’s regretting his actions."

Kyle, slightly surprised, turned toward her and said:

"Wow, honestly, I thought you wouldn’t manage to change anything."

Luminus sighed.

"Well, I confronted him while screaming at the top of my lungs. I didn’t care if everyone in the house stared at us, but I did what I had to do. Besides, I was already tired, you know?"

"Well, I’m glad things worked out. At least you gave your father a chance, right?"

Luminus puffed out her cheeks as she leaned back against the tree.

Meanwhile, Charlotte and I had no idea what they were talking about.

’Some kind of family problem with her father, I guess.’

In any case, Luminus seemed to have gone through something that left her, in her own words, exhausted.

"Mhm, honestly, I can’t help but say it... look at that adorable face, ha, ha, ha..."

Kyle poked Luminus’s cheek with his finger.

Her reaction was quite a spectacle.

"Ugh! You seriously have to be joking... stop messing with me, got it...?"

She grabbed Kyle by the shoulders and shook him several times. Luminus gritted her teeth as her embarrassment suddenly spiked.

Kyle simply burst out laughing, as if he were already used to scenes like that.

In any case, Luminus kept scolding him, telling him to stop teasing her every chance he got.

"Alright, alright... I promise... pfft... I-I won’t tease you anymore."

Honestly, even I didn’t understand their weird jokes.

Luminus glared daggers at Kyle while, out of nowhere, a knife appeared...

"...?!"

"....?!"

Kyle flinched and raised both hands while sweat formed on his forehead.

"Easy, alright? Just put the knife down, okay? You don’t look adorable at all when you pull that thing out."

Charlotte and I were left speechless by what we were witnessing at that moment.

The teenage Luminus standing before us...

Was very, very different from the Luminus of the Prologue, Chapter One, and the Final Chapter.

"Mhm, that’s more like it."

"Ha, ha..."

Luminus’s threats continued for several minutes. Then, slowly, they changed the subject and started talking about each other’s daily lives.

The leaves swayed above the tree canopy beneath which the couple sat.

At some point, it felt as though hours had passed, but that wasn’t the case.

The couple stopped talking and silently looked up at the black sky.

"Let’s look at the blue sky together someday, Kyle."

"Mhm, how about a promise? I swear on my life that we’ll see the blue sky together."

Both of them smiled as Luminus rested her head on Kyle’s shoulder, and Kyle rested his head against Luminus’s.

Slowly, the two of them fell asleep.

And the very next second, the scene changed.