CHAPTER 113
Morbid’s shattered mask tumbled into the shadow.
Like his mask, Morbid’s body split in two and began to melt into the shadow.
But Aranseol’s true power didn't end there.
Bzzzzzzzzzt!
The residual electric current in the shadow wrapped around Morbid, electrocuting him.
Unable to even scream, Morbid’s shadow form was broken, and he tumbled to the ground.
“K-Guaaaaaaahk!”
He seemed to have a low pain tolerance, as he writhed and rolled on the ground.
Morbid must have kept his body in a constant state of shadow just in case.
In truth, Aranseol’s sword had only managed to cut his mask.
It likely wouldn't have been able to inflict direct damage on him.
But an elemental attack was different.
Mana allows one to cut what a sword cannot.
An elemental awakening is a form where an element is added to that mana.
It not only allows one to cut with a sword on a secondary level but also imbues the attack with the element itself.
In effect, Aranseol’s sword had become lightning.
Morbid wasn't cut by a sword; he was pierced by lightning.
As such, he writhed in unbearable agony.
In response, the space made of shadow began to tremble and collapse.
“Aranseol!”
I shouted her name, holding Horizon in my arms.
If we stayed here any longer, we would die along with the collapsing shadow.
Aranseol knew that well.
She kicked off the shadow and snatched Morbid, who was rolling on the ground.
Morbid was half-shadow.
To finish him off, she had to drag him out of the shadow.
She ran quickly towards us, avoiding the crumbling shadow.
I bestowed various Holy Magic buffs on Aranseol and activated Sacred Weapon.
The form I created was a golden rope.
Since the shadow Aranseol could step on was diminishing, I threw the rope with all my might.
“Catch!”
Aranseol snatched the golden rope out of the air.
The moment I saw that, I once again infused my entire body with Holy Magic.
Grind!
I heard the sound of my muscles swelling and bones twisting, but it didn't matter.
My Holy Magic would heal it perfectly anyway.
With the immense strength that came at the cost of breaking, I took a deep breath.
And then, I hurled Aranseol towards the surface with all my might.
Fwoooosh!
Aranseol’s body shot through the passage and out to the surface in an instant.
In her hand, Morbid was dragged along with her.
Aranseol finally broke through to the surface and reached the sky above.
With this, Aranseol was safe.
We would be able to extract information from Morbid, too.
Now, it was time for us to escape.
I immediately turned to Horizon.
“Horizon! Morbid is gone, so you have control over this shadow now, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As expected of Horizon.
I knew I could count on you.
“Good, let’s get out of here quickly!”
With this, the Black Dawn bastards were finished.
“Why?”
But the next voice I heard came from Horizon.
A look of confusion crossed my face.
Why?
Why would she say 'why'?
For a moment, I couldn't understand and turned to look at Horizon.
Horizon was looking up at me, smiling.
A white mask covered her face, so I couldn't see it properly.
But the eyes beyond the mask met mine.
They were pupils that glowed with a faint red light.
Shudder!
A chill ran down my spine.
I felt as if I had encountered something I should never have faced.
Just as I failed to comprehend why I was getting such a feeling from Horizon.
A sound echoed in my ears.
Slice—
It was the sound of something being cut off.

My gaze shifted.
Bright red blood sprayed into the surroundings, scattering in all directions.
The source of the sound.
It was my own arms and legs.
My severed limbs fell downward.
For a brief moment, my expression went blank.
I couldn't understand why my arms and legs had been cut off.
But my instincts were faster.
My Holy Magic moved to prepare for the agony that would follow.
Crunch!
But before it could, a hand dug into my empty right shoulder.
“……!”

Even I couldn't endure this agony.
The pain shot through me, and my head snapped back. I almost lost consciousness for a moment.
At the same time, something flowed into me through that arm.
Something that entered through the fingernails that had pierced my veins.
My vision flashed for an instant.
A drug? Poison?
I didn't know what it was, but I recognized that it was dangerous to me.
I have to stop it.
Even through the pain, I have to protect myself.

There was only one thing I needed to protect.
I would return from death anyway. It didn't matter if all my other organs were damaged.
But there was one thing.
I had to protect my brain.
Even amidst the agony, my Holy Magic surged.
My Holy Magic enveloped my brain faster than the injected liquid could travel through my veins.
A barrier made of Holy Magic formed repeatedly around my brain, blocking the liquid from spreading.
Doing this would cut off various things to my brain and eventually cause it to break down, but it didn't matter.
It was more dangerous for my brain to be contaminated by that liquid right now.
“Wow.”
A sound of admiration echoed in my ear.
I barely held onto my consciousness, which was threatening to slip away from the pain, and forced my eyes open.
The woman in front of me.
Horizon was smiling brightly with a look of admiration.
And she was the one who had just cut off my limbs and injected me with a drug.
A betrayal?
Horizon?
'No, that's impossible.'
My eyes flashed.
This wasn't a betrayal.
This woman was not Horizon.
She pulled the arm she had embedded in my shoulder out.
“To defend your brain in that instant. Amazing. Harua, you might be the person with the strongest willpower I have ever seen.”
Instead, she reached out with her other hand and held me lovingly.
It was as if she were handling a treasure.
“...Who… are… you?”
“Who am I? Harua-ssi, it’s me, Horizon.”
A smile filled with mischief and teasing.
Not a shred of sincerity could be felt in that smile.
“Cut the crap.”
I bit my lip so hard that it bled.
My head was spinning, likely from the lack of oxygen supplied to my brain due to the Holy Magic blocking everything off, but I endured.
I had no sensation below my torso.
It seemed the injected drug was meant to seize control of my body.
Even in that state, I struggled to hold onto my mind.
I was someone who had endured countless pains.
If I were to lose consciousness over something like this, I would have gone mad long ago.
“Speak straight. Who the fuck are you?!”
I shouted at her, the curse tearing its way up my throat.
At some point, the shadow hole we had come through had been sealed.
This woman could control shadows, just like an Amyeong.
Then is she an Amyeong planted by Morbid?
But the feeling was somehow different.
This woman felt like a fundamentally different kind of being.
At my question, she remained silent for a moment.
Then, she slowly tapped her white chin with her finger.
“I thought you would know.”
She wore an expression that suggested it was inconvenient that I didn't recognize her.
Her red eyes shimmered.
Accordingly, her black hair, much darker than Horizon's, began to flutter.
Her form began to grow, changing from Horizon’s small frame.
Long, white limbs.
A black dress that wrapped around those limbs billowed.
The moment I saw that form, my eyes slowly widened.
A chilling, dizzying sensation that boiled up from the pit of my stomach pierced my entire body.
The malice and murderous intent flowing from her bound me, instantly changing the atmosphere of the surrounding space.
A darkness deeper than the shadow itself.
It was a horrifying sensation of that darkness reaching out to me, trying to drag me down.
I had seen this woman before.
To be precise, I hadn't seen her, but I had seen someone who took on her appearance.
The No-Named killer.
This was the person she had tried to imitate until the very end.
“...Asheria Eve.”
I uttered her name.
The Sin of Wrath.
Asheria Eve.
An individual whom even the Sword Lord Soun was wary of.
It was her.
The real Sin of Wrath had appeared before me.
And she had done so disguised as Horizon.
“I’m so glad you remember my name.”
She smiled brightly.
But that smile held a darkness deeper than death itself.
The Sin of Wrath was considered the most dangerous individual.
The moment I faced her, my life was over.
No, it would be a blessing if my life was all that ended.
The reason she had hidden by my side as Horizon was for one thing only.
She was after my Resurrection magic.
If Resurrection magic fell into the hands of the Black Dawn, it would be the end.
She and I both knew that fact all too well.
But right now, none of that mattered.
That wasn't what I wanted to ask.
“Since when?”
I gritted my teeth.

“...Since when have you been impersonating Horizon?”
Horizon.
Right now, her life or death was the most important thing to me.
This woman had perfectly acted as Horizon in front of us.
That meant she knew from the beginning how Horizon would act towards us.
She had been impersonating Horizon for a long time.
At this point, Horizon's survival was in question.
“Hmm, when was it?”
She put on a thoughtful expression for a moment, pressing her long finger to her chin.
At some point, the white mask had melted away, revealing her face.
At first glance, it was a beautiful face.
But every expression that crossed it felt like a lie, making it look only grotesque.
“I don’t know. I don’t have a very good memory.”
“Don’t play dumb!”
When I shouted, she covered her ears as if it hurt.
At some point, my body had started floating in the air.
“I don’t like loud noises. You can speak softly. I can hear everything.”
“If you can hear me, then fucking answer. Since when?”
I was able to trust Horizon because she was someone who would help others without regard for her own life.
But at some point, she had been replaced.
What happened to the real Horizon?
Looking at the woman before me, I couldn't be sure if she was alive.
The time in the spider cave.
Horizon was brought back to life through Resurrection magic.
At that time, Horizon was real.
That meant she hadn't been impersonating Horizon from the very beginning.
“Your transformation into Horizon wasn't done with an Ability.”
I had experience with the No-Named killer who transformed using an Ability.
I could tell whether it was an Ability or not.
“A moment ago, you woke up earlier than the revival time of the Resurrection magic.”
The Resurrection magic I used on Horizon after she was eaten by the Sin of Gluttony, Ganibal.
She had woken up slightly earlier than usual for the amount of magic that went into her.
It was a subtlety that only I, the user, could feel.
She had only been pretending to be dead.
She had pretended to be revived by the Resurrection magic.
That meant if she had truly been resurrected, she would have returned to her true form as Asheria Eve.
Unlike the No-Named killer's Ability, her disguise didn't change her very being.
Back in the spider cave, Horizon had definitely been resurrected.
At that point, I knew she was real.
“The point when my Resurrection magic could be doubted.”
My gaze fell upon Asheria Eve's disgusting face.
“The time the Red Flame Lord told the Sin of Envy to kidnap the Sword Lord’s disciple.”
My eyes burned fiercely.
It was a deep-seated rage directed at her.
“It was then, wasn’t it?”
It wasn't a question of 'was it then'.
It had to be 'then'.
This was both my wish and my plea.
Because Horizon’s life was on the line.

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)
When could it have been?

Author's Note (from the end of the previous chapter):
When could it have been?