Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

The body and the soul were broken beyond repair, so it seemed meaningless to distinguish them.

It was clear now that I could see so much more.

Kadan was already at his limit.

It was just he didn’t even know that sooner or later his soul would be completely consumed, and he wouldn’t even know who he was.

It was only natural as he had been living by appropriating the bodies and lives of others. Even if God disappears, cause and effect will still exist.

I kept breathing slowly. When I moved even slightly, a thin halo of light formed and disappeared, leaving a trace.

The light didn’t feel as troublesome as before. At least I was able to control it while there was something like a chick crying, asking for food inside me.

…… Will Aedis be alright? What if Aedis is also in serious condition when I see him with these eyes?

I wanted to see Aedis right away. As I was about to put my idea into practice, Gilbert’s eyes met mine.

Gilbert was looking at me like he saw a monster.

I tilted my head. As I moved to approach Gilbert an enchanting haze of light rose from under my feet.

Under the sky full of stars, the pure white snowfield turned golden.

The ecstatic scenery stretched out to the horizon, and I felt as if I had come to heaven.

Gilbert took a step back, apparently intent on avoiding me.

“What’s the matter?”

I sincerely couldn’t understand, so I asked.

“You were trying to protect me just now.”

However, Kadan had sensed the danger and acted faster than Gilbert responded.

Kadan tried to run away like in the quarry, so I reached out my hand.

“Yes, that won’t do.”

I was just trying to hold on to him. However, it seemed that my force was excessive, and Kadan was driven into the snow covered ground by the pressure of an invisible giant’s hand.

“I can’t control my strength well…….”

I turned my eyes away from the sudden deep hole and returned to Gilbert. There was fear in his eyes.

Aedis would never look at me like that.

I missed Aedis. I wanted to meet Aedis.

Hey, but why am I away from Aedis?

I want to be with Aedis?

I could do anything, so why didn’t I do what I wanted right away?

I vaguely felt that the flow of my thought was strangely reckless, but I couldn’t stop it.

I missed Aedis, I missed him, so I had to see him.

I had the ability to make an idea come true.

So, if anyone got in the way…….

s

At the sudden conclusion, I made a very hard ice wall.

And I hit my head hard.

Bang!

Had I been in a normal state, the bones in my skull would have shattered.

But at that moment it was just a little tingling.

“…… Whoo.”

Now I was back to my senses.

I made the cracked ice wall disappear the way I hit it.

This was only a temporary and expedient resolution.

Did I also gain the light’s way of thinking while gaining control over it? Once I started wishing for something, I must hold it in my hand to be able to deal with it.

……. Was it always this impulsive?

The light gathered in my hand looked abominable. After accepting the light, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t have it even though I had the power to have it.

I have to deal with Kadan first while I’m still in my right mind. And I have to shake off the light.

I closed my eyes to try to calm myself, but I felt slightly dizzy.

Overcoming the dizziness, I lifted my eyelids again to see Aedis bleeding from his mouth.

* * *

It was right after Maevia made the ice wall disappear.

For Gilbert, this situation was hard to understand.

She was as beautiful as the goddess of spring who came to color in the winter. Her face shimmered like pearls in the starlight. She seemed cruel enough that she could take his life lightly with one of her fingers, perhaps because she never had seemed like the same human being as him.

And Gilbert noticed.

“You…… Did you turn me back into a human?”

Golden rippling eyes slid toward Gilbert.

“I’m a bit weird.”

“…….”

Had she ever put her words so plainly?

It was the first, and probably the last. Still, Gilbert could not be genuinely happy.

Maevia didn’t seem to have the energy to remember who Gilbert was and what she had been doing.

“Are you…… okay?”

Maevia staggered for a moment. She had smashed her head into the ice wall quite forcefully.

Gilbert suppressed his fear and raised his hand to support her, but then he felt like a child.

“I have to get rid of it…….”

It was a very small murmur.

“Who was it?”

As if her memories were getting confused, Maevia furrowed her fine brow.

“Maevia.”

s

It was a half-terrified call. A strong sense of incongruity paralyzed Gilbert’s thinking. She blinked.

“Was it you…….”

Tilting her head, she raised a finger.

Even her seemingly insignificant action prompted Gilbert’s thought that it was already too late.

Then Kadan, who had barely risen from the ground, spoke.

“… … Wow, are you really crazy, Sister-in-law?”

“…….”

“What have you done to me?”

“…… nothing?”

Her voice was muddled, as if drunk from a dream.

“What did you do? The castle is noisy.”

Maevia’s long eyelashes fluttered. She slowly clenched her fists as Kadan grumbled that she was unable to use his movement magic.

Kadan let out a twisted grin as he felt an overwhelming, intangible force grip and squeeze his entire body like a giant’s hand.

“Are, you, trying to, kill me?”

“Um…… no. No killing.”

“…….”

“I think I used to believe that I shouldn’t kill anyone carelessly.”

“…….”

“But why not?”

Maevia questioned herself and repeated the thoughts she had before she embraced the light.

“Oh dear. Sister-in-law is out of her mind.”

Kadan said with a face that was truly sorry.

“But shouldn’t you give me something?”

Kadan noticed that the pressure on him had lessened slightly. Maevia focused on Kadan’s story as if possessed.

“What did I decide to give you?”

“You decided to give me that power that Sister-in-law can’t handle at all.”

“Can you handle it better than me?”

“If given the opportunity, of course.”

Gilbert’s face hardened just from her staring at Kadan.

“Don’t listen! That person tried to kill you.”

Then Maevia pressed her red lips together as if she had heard a funny joke. She didn’t even look back at Gilbert when she asked Kadan.

“You want this power? But that body will be too much for you.”

“Are you worried about me? No. Keep your promise, Sister-in-law.”

Maevia nodded her head willingly.

“Yes, I will.”

s

“Maevia!”

Unable to control himself any longer, Gilbert grabbed her arm. She stared blankly down at her arm caught in his grip.

“You’d better not use magic that costs blood, Gilbert.”

“…….”

It was careless advice. But Gilbert was convinced that Maevia would not harm him. Rather, he wanted to shed tears and beg for forgiveness.

But he had no right to show his feelings in front of her. He brought it all upon himself. He made a mistake, and it was too late.

Nothing glorious would ever happen to him, such as getting her forgiveness or, at least, his death at her order. Maevia’s eyes narrowed as if she could clearly see into Gilbert’s head full of lingering regrets.

“It’s pathetic but you tried to protect me. What’s wrong with you?”

“…….”

With the cold criticism, Gilbert quietly released his grip on her arm. Even he thought she didn’t need his protection.

“Listen to my words. If you don’t want to be like that rag.”

“It’s too much.”

“That rag,” Kadan grumbled.

Kadan thought Maevia was not using the power that she had received to its greatest potential. It was not a power she deserved.

Maevia asked in a sweet voice as she brushed her pink hair tickling her forehead.

“Kadan, don’t you know what you look like in my eyes?”

“I remember you praising me for being like an angel, Sister-in-law.”

Kadan smiled at her.

“I’ll give you what you want, so check it out, too.”

She smiled.

For a few seconds, it felt as if nothing had changed.

However, joy began to spread across Kadan’s face.

“Finally…… !”

Gilbert looked at Maevia nervously.

“Maevia, I can’t understand what you’re thinking…….”

Gilbert stopped talking.

Before the joy dissipated, Kadan’s face slowly collapsed.