It happened in an instant.

The moment Silvia staggered, the barrier that had been protecting us from the rain disappeared.

It was as if she had lost the strength to evade the attack, wrapping her body around the child she held.

Above them, the demonic tentacles unleashed a torrential downpour.

And I ended up taking the remaining attacks that couldn’t be deflected in time.

It was a series of events that unfolded in a flash.

Gulp. Blood surged up from my throat and flowed out of my mouth.

Perhaps startled by the sight of my blood, the child behind Silvia locked eyes with me and looked like they were about to cry.

As a droplet of blood dripped from my mouth onto the child’s face, they couldn’t hold back their tears and began to sob.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” I silently apologized, wiping the child’s tear-stained, blood-soaked face with my hands.

Silvia’s expression reflected in the shimmering eyes filled with tears.

She, too, was on the verge of tears, frightened like the child.

“It’s okay… I’m fine.”

I said this with a smile to reassure them both.

Of course, I wasn’t truly fine.

The demonic beast’s attack was far more painful than I had anticipated.

Besides that…

Like the teachers and others who had melted away before my eyes,

I would rather bear this horrifying pain than lose someone right in front of me,

I would much prefer suffering myself.

“The weather’s getting bad… It’s raining here… We should go inside… Understand?”

The rain continued to pour down relentlessly.

If we just stayed here, it was obvious we would face another attack, so I hurriedly pushed Silvia and the child inside the storm drain.

I saw the child crying uncontrollably, relieved to be in the arms of what looked like their parents.

Muttering a sigh of relief at that sight, I quietly took in the image of Silvia heading down into the storm drain.

As she had said before, she must have wished deeply for me to be truly fine, to join her in seeking refuge down there.

But it seemed I wouldn’t be able to fulfill her wish.

I caught a glimpse of Silvia trying to turn towards me.

A few words hovered on the tip of my tongue.

But no matter what I said, it felt like I would only hurt her, so I bit my tongue and quickly closed the manhole cover before she could look back.

Inside the closed manhole, I thought I could hear Silvia’s voice calling for me.

… I’m sorry for being selfish until the end, Silvia.

Take care.

Wearing a bitter smile, I left an unheard final farewell in her direction and rapidly moved toward the rain.

…

“It hurts…”

It’s agonizing.

It’s tormenting.

An excruciating pain that started from my back enveloped my body.

If only a large, sharp stake was embedded in my body, it wouldn’t have been this severe.

The tentacles that had been lodged in my back just moments ago brought me a level of pain that could not compare to mere stakes.

It melts away, melting away.

I could feel the magic leaking into me as the tentacle lodged in my back dissolved, actively trying to deconstruct me.

If I were just an ordinary person, I would have melted away into a dark liquid like I had witnessed many times before.

“Ugh… Aah!”

But I was no ordinary person.

As flames erupted from where the demonic beast had attacked me,

The magic, which had been trying to break me down, ignited, and the wounds on my back began slowly healing.

Though I should have been pleased to have survived an attack that could have killed me, I couldn’t feel any joy.

What had ignited those flames from my back was not my doing.

That was the reason I tried to distance myself from Silvia as quickly as possible—

It hurts

It’s agonizing

I’m suffering.

“Shut up and be quiet for a moment…!”

At the same time the voice echoed in my head, my consciousness started to fade.

I struck my head with all my strength to silence the terrifying sensation, but the voice wouldn’t quiet down.

“Ugh… Hah…”

Since I was struck by the attack from the demonic beast, my symptoms have gradually worsened.

Was it because of the cursed magic that the tentacle had injected into me? The voice wouldn’t stop.

I felt the chains I had desperately been holding onto—the ones binding me to the witch—snap away.

Flames erupted from my body as the scorching heat met the rain, hissing loudly.

My body trembled.

If I lost my senses, even for a moment, I felt like I would lose my identity and unconsciously incinerate everything around me.

Right now, even now.

The voice in my head kept echoing, urging me to burn the world that made me suffer.

Painburnsorrowhateburnsanguishburnrevenge burn it to asheskillme abolish the world that wounded me!

With a scream, I cried out in resistance to the suffocating voice.

What was the reason I had asked Yoon Si-woo to kill me?

I wanted to live strongly.

I want to remain as Scarlet Evande, protecting people until the very end.

That is what I believed would bring me happiness.

So why would I hand myself over to you?

The voice of the witch echoed continuously, urging me to burn everything.

But there’s only one thing you’re supposed to burn.

With flames streaming from my body,

I dragged my uncooperative figure forward.

Toward the direction where the mastermind behind the relentless rain awaited.

If I’m destined to explode anyway,

I’ll choose where to burst.