CHAPTER 15
The Great Sinner of Sloth. Cosmic Jac.
The man with a flower for a head sat alone in the fairy forest.
There was only one reason he was here.
To kill Ririran, with whom he was bound by ill fate.
Ririran, the master of space magic.
The story of how she and Cosmic Jac became entangled was a very old one.
He hummed a tune as he recalled the distant past.
The memory of that day, in the midst of war, when he made people's heads bloom like flowers, rose vividly.
Right after the Day of Red Blood, when No-Nameds carried out a mass slaughter of This-worlders.
The This-worlders, their fury towards Transferees exploding, hunted down the first-generation No-Nameds in large numbers.
Because of this, a great war broke out between the Transferees and the This-worlders.
Far too many people died in that war.
Hatred was on the verge of destroying the world.
Unable to watch any longer, an Alliance of Transferees and This-worlders was formed, and the war came to an end.
Cosmic Jac was a participant in that war.
In fact, he was originally a member of the Alliance that had cried out for peace.
But that was all in the past.
Cosmic Jac, who once worked for the Alliance, was reduced to a war criminal and became a Great Sinner who had slaughtered countless people.
He had met Ririran in the Alliance as well.
She, too, had participated in the war as a member of the Alliance.
“Hm-hm, hmm.”
Cosmic Jac, who had been humming while reminiscing, abruptly stopped.
“Looks like she’s here.”
Instead, he cocked his head and stared at a certain spot.
It was still dawn.
In a place where the moonlight was shattered by a tangle of tree branches…
A single, tiny fairy appeared.
She revealed the white tips of her fingers from within her long sleeves.
“Cosmic.”
As she called his name, Cosmic Jac let out a slow laugh.
“Well, who do we have here. If it isn’t Ririran, the one who blew my head off.”
He laughed cheerfully, as if genuinely pleased to see her.
But contrary to his laughter, Ririran showed a look of displeasure.
“If your head was blown off, you should have died gracefully. Why have you come all the way here to cause a ruckus?”
“After falling to the depths of hell, I just couldn’t bring myself to die.”
Cosmic Jac was all smiles from beginning to end.
“Is that head the work of Pride?”
“It suits me, doesn’t it? I specifically chose a red flower that goes well with me.”
This was Cosmic Jac, who made heat-rashes bloom on the heads of those he touched, causing them to explode.
His twisted sense of humor was more than enough to make Ririran frown.
The Great Sinner of Pride.
It was the work of the one who had managed to revive Cosmic Jac after his head had been blown clean off.
I should have completely destroyed his body back then.
That bastard Pride must have taken measures long ago to ensure Cosmic Jac wouldn’t die.
“You haven’t changed a bit, even as the times have passed.”
“Don’t be such a boomer, talking about something from 60 years ago.”
“By a Transferee’s standards, 60 years is more than enough time to have died of old age.”
“Isn’t it ridiculous to constrain people like us with lifespans? Both you and me.”
“You disgusting fiend. Do you enjoy begging for your life from Pride so much?”
“Of course. Especially compared to our former Alliance leader, who is about ready to die of old age.”
Ririran’s eyebrow twitched.
Seeing this, Cosmic Jac’s flower trembled as he laughed brightly.
“Ririran, you haven’t changed either. Still carrying a torch for that old man.”
“Shut your mouth.”
At Ririran’s fury, the forest trembled like an aspen leaf.
But even as he took the full force of her anger, Cosmic Jac still looked delighted.
He seemed to be having the time of his life provoking Ririran.
“Should you really be getting so angry?”
Cosmic Jac opened his coat.
The moment he did, a pure white orb, wrapped in tree roots, could be seen embedded near his heart.
Ririran’s expression became even more murderous.
The Essence of Breath Neck.
It was the nourishment required for the next generation of fairies born in Breath Neck to be born.
A new generation of fairies is born every three hundred years.
For this, they gather every three hundred years, and fairy couples breathe their life force into the Essence.
Thus, the child is born, using the Essence of the fairies as nourishment.
It was a long-held secret of the fairies, but Cosmic Jac knew of it.
That is why he had kidnapped one fairy, then captured the fairy’s parents and wife-to-be, and blackmailed them into bringing him the Essence of Breath Neck.
“Don’t worry. I took care of the disgusting traitor.”

Cosmic Jac waved his hand excitedly.
The fairy who had brought him the Essence of Breath Neck had shed tears of grief, begging him to save his wife and parents.
Cosmic Jac had sighed at his tearful display.
How could one value an individual's life over the lives of the entire fairy race?
Unable to bear the disgust, he had no choice but to blow his head up too.
He had already blown up the lover and parents beforehand, so they must have had a miraculous reunion.
“...Are you a man sculpted from pure evil?”
Ririran could not hide her disgust for Cosmic Jac.
She couldn’t believe the day she had once trusted him as a comrade.
Cosmic Jac remained silent.
Then, he casually tapped the Essence of Breath Neck with his finger.
That alone made Ririran’s body flinch.
“You and I both know that in war, justice and evil are defined by what people say about them.”
“Where is the justice in anything you do?!”
“In my head.”
His head was just a flower.
“Ririran, I just want to save this world. It’s like tearing down a poorly built castle wall and building it up from scratch.”
Cosmic Jac kept tapping the Essence, as if to provoke Ririran.
It looked as if the slightest misstep would cause his hand to make the Essence explode.
“Let’s stop with the useless talk. You want something from me, and I want something from you.”
His patience had reached its limit.
Even the lazy Cosmic Jac wanted to get this over with now.
“Let’s both get what we want.”
“Tear that Essence from your disgusting body right now.”
Cosmic Jac obediently tore the Essence of the fairies from his body.
Then, he slowly extended his arm to the side.
An indication that he was ready to toss it at any moment.
“Now it’s your turn.”
Ririran took a deep breath and slowly moved her wings.
With that, the distance between Ririran and Cosmic Jac began to close.
If Ririran came within one meter of Cosmic Jac, she would not be able to escape.
Cosmic Jac knew this fact clearly.
A silent space.
Ririran slowly closed the distance with Cosmic Jac.
Ririran’s shadow, spreading from the seeping moonlight, slowly began to cover Cosmic Jac’s.
Finally, just before their shadows touched…
Ririran stopped in her tracks.
Her eyes met Cosmic Jac’s.
Cosmic Jac understood the meaning.
He tossed the Essence of Breath Neck he was holding into the air.
When the Essence, which had soared into the air, was more than a meter away from Cosmic Jac…
Ririran finally stepped forward.
GRAB!
It happened in an instant.
Cosmic Jac blew up the ground beneath him and, with an incredible leap, snatched Ririran.
Ririran was caught helplessly in his grasp.
However, the Essence of Breath Neck was already gone.
It was Ririran’s space magic.
She had given up on teleporting herself and had moved the Essence instead.
“Hahahat, Ririran, have you really given up?”
Cosmic Jac laughed cheerfully.
Ririran was his lifelong wish.
Now that he finally had her in his grasp, he couldn’t be happier.
Ririran remained quietly silent.
The moment she was caught in Cosmic Jac’s hand, her life was over.
She knew that fact all too well.
Therefore…
“Cosmic.”
Ririran slowly lifted her head.
The moment he saw Ririran’s eyes, Cosmic Jac’s flower began to tremble.
CRACK!
At that moment, the sound of something shattering echoed from the other side of the forest.
The Sealing Stones that Cosmic Jac had placed.
That was the sound of them breaking.
Blood gushed from Ririran’s nose and eyes.
It was the price for unleashing space magic with an output exceeding what the Sealing Stones could suppress.
It was a crazy act that could have burned out her brain.
In reality, cracks began to form not only in her brain but also in the Seed of Space she had bloomed.
Chill-
Feeling a chill from Ririran, Cosmic Jac squeezed his hand even tighter.
Ririran’s frail arms and body were crushed, and the sound of breaking bones echoed.
“Don’t tell me you think you can escape now that you’re in my grasp?”
If that was her thought, it was an incredibly foolish one, he told her.
“No.”
But Ririran had no intention of escaping.
“You’re coming with me.”
Space began to move.
It was on an unprecedented scale.

She figured out what crazy stunt Ririran was trying to pull.
Ririran intended to teleport away with him.
Cosmic Jac immediately activated his Ability.
In response, Ririran’s entire body swelled as heat rashes bloomed across her skin.
Yet, even in that state, Ririran smiled brightly.
“Where do you think you’re going, trying to live all by yourself, you little cheat.”
Cosmic Jac’s Ability was ‘Calculated Explosion,’ which could detonate anything. He primarily targeted mana circuits. Since mana circuits spread throughout the body, the moment he touched any part of a person, his Ability would travel along the circuit and instantly explode their brain.
However, Ririran’s mana circuits were currently expanded more than ever due to excessive mana consumption. The grotesquely swollen circuits created a delay in the Ability’s path to her brain.
And that brief delay was enough.
Flash—
A brilliant light swallowed their surroundings.
Simultaneously, the distorted space itself swept them away.
It all happened in an instant.
The spatial transfer was so violent that even Cosmic Jac’s vision swam. He was dragged along forcibly, unable to resist in the slightest.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
At the same time, Cosmic Jac felt a sensation as if his own body were being warped. He felt his entire body being crushed and compressed.
Soon, his vision returned through the flower.
A pitch-black space.
Bubbles frothed up past the flower.
Cosmic Jac finally realized where he was.
The deep sea.
This was the bottom of the ocean, thousands of meters below the surface.
His breath caught in his throat.
Pain flooded his lungs as if nails were being driven into them. The water pressure was compressing his body.
In his hand, he saw Ririran, who had already reached her limit and gone limp.
A faint, pale smile hung on her lips.
“Let’s die together, Cosmic.”

Rage boiled within Cosmic Jac.
He couldn’t contain the seething fury he felt for the woman who had ultimately chosen to take him with her.
“Ririra—!”
As he screamed, he blew Ririran to pieces.
Her exploded body scattered, torn to shreds.
Cosmic Jac could only fall endlessly into the deep sea alongside her remains.
At least he wasn't alone, so it wouldn't have been a lonely death.

And at that same moment.
“Time to get to work.”
Back in Aerield, the village of the fairies, I rolled up my sleeves.
It was time to make two corpses into one.

Author’s Note:
All illustrations are uploaded to the ‘Muhwa Kkotran’ social media account.
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