I’m Not a Regressor - Chapter 263

Chapter 263: Snowy Fields (3)

Rumble!

Isabella and Kasia’s duel shook the earth again.

“Damn!” Ohjin chewed his lips with a nervous look on his face. He wanted to get to Isabella’s side somehow, but his body was going against his will and approaching the portion of the shadow wall Isabella had been attacking.

In terms of distance, it was about 200 meters away. Since the shadow dome was so big, it allowed him to escape the shockwaves of the disastrous battle.

“Ugh, ah.” When he tried to force himself to turn away, blood poured out again from his right arm, where the potion had previously halted the bleeding. After a moment of being distracted by pain, Ohjin arrived where Isabella had indicated.

A small gap carved into the shadow wall caught his eye. It was only big enough for a head to fit through, but if he used a little more strength, he could make it big enough for one person.

Kzzzzt—!

A blue flame burned around the knife in his hand. When he pushed the knife into the small gap and sawed back and forth, he saw the gap gradually widening.

“Keugh!”

Crack—

He gritted his teeth and tried to rebel against the command, but his body acted like a puppet and continued to move against his will. ‘Stop.’ Maybe it was because Kasia was focused on the battle, but the seemingly invincible shadow dome was falling apart faster than he expected it to.

Ohjin nervously looked down at the knife in his hand. Even at that moment, the lightning-wrapped knife was steadily opening a gap through which he could escape.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Isabella’s screams reached his ears.

When he turned around and looked at her, he saw her lying on the ground. Two fist-sized holes were visible in her side. Blood poured from the wounds, and even some of her intestines were visible.

“Isabella!” He tried calling out to her, but it didn’t work. He pushed his upper body into the gap due to the ‘command.’ “Damn!” As he exited the shadow dome, the refreshing night air caressed his cheeks. It was like he was a hatchling breaking through an egg.

“Stop!” He tried to cry out to get his body to stop, but it steadily followed Isabella’s order and fled as far as possible from the shadow dome. “Stop it, fuck!” His surroundings passed by quickly. Eventually, he chewed his lips and focused on the left side of his chest.

‘If it’s the Black Heaven…’ It crossed his mind that maybe he could go against her orders with it. “Keuk!”

Kuuurrrrrruuuukkk—!

A black cloud began to trickle out from the left side of his chest. As the Black Heaven’s energy spread through his body, he felt himself gradually slowing down from his high-speed run.

That was all. ‘My body doesn’t move properly.’ He could resist the command, but he couldn’t completely ignore it. ‘The only way to bring out more of the Black Heaven…’ Ohjin’s expression stiffened. There was still a way out. “But…” He swallowed his complaints and gave the left side of his chest a teary-eyed look.

‘If I open the door…’ He would forget again. Those joyful, sad, painful, precious memories…

The footprints of his life…

“I don’t want to.” He trembled, curled up like a baby, and let out cries of despair. It was scary. Unbearably so. No matter what, he didn’t think Kasia would kill her own sister. Right. That was a good point. Even if she was not in her right mind, there was no way she could kill her only blood relative.

‘She stopped the attack earlier, too.’ He remembered Kasia struggling and clutching her head. Her consciousness had not disappeared completely, even in the state of being controlled by the Heavenly Demon.

Beyond the dark clouds, stars twinkled in the sky. It would be fine. It wouldn’t be a problem. Even if he ran away…

Nothing would happen. “Ha…” Ohjin scoffed and covered his face with his remaining hand as he burst into giggles. “Fucking damn it.” What a joke. How ugly. He was afraid to forget, so he wanted to leave Isabella and run away?

-I don’t want to lose either.

He knew it was selfish and shameless. Like a greedy child who wanted to eat all the candy in his full hands even though his teeth were all rotten.

-Right now… just knowing how you feel is enough.

He remembered a woman who’d laughed, saying that she was okay with such childishness—a woman who smiled brightly as if she were happy.

“I’ll have to go.” It was alright if he forgot. It didn’t matter if it was erased. Like Vega said that day… Closing your eyes didn’t mean the world would disappear.

Ohjin turned to the shadow dome. With his hand on the left side of his chest, he recited the spell.

“Haa, haa!” Isabella panted as she tried to stop her guts from pouring out of her side.

Kasia stood before her, staring down with cold, empty eyes like all of her emotions were gone. The black jewel embedded in her forehead was encroaching on her consciousness like a seed rooted in the ground.

“Sister…” Isabella looked up at Kasia, chewing her lips.

The cold eyes turned to her. “What’s wrong?” Kasia answered in a dim voice as if she had just woken up.

Tears formed in Isabella’s eyes. Her sister’s freezing-cold voice felt strange, it was as if she were someone else. “Wake up, wake up… sister.”

“What do you mean, ‘wake up’?” Kasia, with a slight smile, stepped on Isabella’s injured side.

“Argh!” A scream of pain echoed out.

“I’m fine right now, right?” Kasia flicked her long tongue and spread her arms wide. The hem of her black dress fluttered around her as she turned in a dance-like motion. “Ah, dear Bella. My sweet little sister.” She spoke in a sing-song voice. “Do you know how much I hated you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Haha. You didn’t know” Kasia burst into laughter and squatted down while reaching for Isabella’s cheeks. “Every time I saw you smile, I thought… ‘Why me?’”

It was like all of the blessings had skipped her and been passed on to Isabella, who displayed extraordinary talent from a young age. She easily digested the tight curriculum for gifted students and was praised as a genius that appeared once in a hundred years in the music and art sectors.

What about exercise? There was a time when she won an international fencing competition after practicing simply for the sake of it. A genius… It felt like the word existed only for Isabella.

“I thought over and over again, over and over again, over and over again…” Kasia murmured. If Isabella was the shining sun, she was the shadow in the light. The brighter Isabella shone, the darker her shadow grew. Whenever Isabella’s innocent, bright smile turned to her, Kasia felt the ugly emotions in her heart were being pulled out.

“Something like you… I wish you hadn’t been born.” It sounded like Kasia could collapse at any moment.

“…” Isabella gave her sister a sad look. She didn’t know that. No, it would be better to say she hadn’t even cared. She had excitedly laughed and talked in front of Kasia, who was terminally ill and couldn’t even stand on her feet. She thought it was okay, that there was no problem, and that things would be fine since she was a sweet sister.

“I’m sorry, sister.” Isabella felt a sharp, knife-like pain in her chest. Her insensitivity during her youthful happiness… How much despair had it caused Kasia? Being young was an excuse—she was neither young nor silly enough to not understand people’s feelings.

“You don’t have to apologize.” Kasia smiled and slowly raised her staff. “My wish has already come true.” All that time ago, during that blizzard in the snowy field, an existence had given her a star from the night sky while the cold was killing her. The presence had approached her at her weakest point.

After that, she no longer felt the pain or loneliness of her past life as long as she did what he said and followed his will.

“I’m not going to be abandoned anymore.” Her empty emerald eyes bored into Isabella. Kasia raised her staff high and prepared to swing it down in a finishing blow. It was the end. She could finally escape from the shadows cast by the sun.

Yes…

If only Isabella disappeared…

“…”

Once again, Kasia’s arm stopped for a moment. In terms of time, it was less than a second of hesitation, but it was enough to change fate.

An explosion shook the shadow dome and tore it apart before black clouds poured in.

“What…?!” Kasia backpedaled with a look of bewilderment on her face.

Ohjin walked out of the storm of black clouds.

“Ohjin…?” Isabella’s eyes widened when she saw how Ohjin’s body was almost entirely formed of clouds. The dark clouds wrapped around Isabella like a fog.

“Oh! Th-this is…”

“Stay still,” Ohjin said as the clouds pulled her over to him. He frowned as he looked down at the wound on Isabella’s side. “Do you have any potions left?”

“I… I have one.”

“I’ll be using it.” Ohjin took a potion out of her handbag and poured it into the wound.

Perhaps her senses returned as the pain subsided. Isabella stared at Ohjin in incomprehension and asked, “Oh, how were you able to come back here? These clouds…” She was sure she gave him an “order” and made him run away.

“I’ll explain it later,” he said. Since she had seen him use Heaven Unfolding, he would have to explain anyway. “First, let’s finish this.”

He slowly turned to Kasia, his eyes burning with blue fire.