CHAPTER 24
After breaking through Shadow Moon’s spell with Sohan, Aranseol immediately contacted Soun, then headed back toward the Star Cluster Association building.
“Aranseol, we could wait until Lord Soun has cleaned things up before we go…”
“No. I’m sure Harua has done something reckless.”
Soun wasn’t the type to look after such things.
He would undoubtedly prioritize annihilating the enemy.
Aranseol had seen what kind of person Harua was.
He was a man with no brakes.
Once he made a decision, he acted without hesitation, throwing his own safety to the wind.
Watching him, she sometimes felt as if he were a man with multiple lives.
He always had a strange confidence that he would never die.
Aranseol had her own suspicions that Harua possessed a special Ability. She hadn’t pressed the issue because Harua himself clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
But even if he had such an Ability, he wasn’t invincible.
He was a person who screamed when he was in pain, just like anyone else.
Aranseol felt a strange sense of unease.
A sense of dread that Harua had definitely done something.
As she ran down the corridor, she saw disciples rushing out from the direction of the hall.
She also saw a man collapsed near the shattered entrance.
Shadow Moon.
He was one of the members of Black Dawn.
His upper and lower body had been cleanly severed.
She knew whose swordsmanship it was the moment she saw it.
Soun.
With Soun having dealt with Black Dawn, the disciples were evacuating in a hurry.
There was no reason to linger here.
“Aranseol, it looks like Master has already gone after the rest of them.”
Sohan said, sensing that Soun’s presence was gone.
“You two.”
Just then, a large disciple called out to them.
He was a man covered in tattoos.
“Pendar.”
He was the disciple of the Arnet Guildmaster, who specialized in covert operations and information brokering.
“You knew Rapiel’s disciple, right?”
“Harua?”
Aranseol asked in surprise, and he looked towards the door with a grim expression.
“I owe him my life. I will repay him, even if I have to tell my Guildmaster.”
Owed him his life? What did that mean?
Aranseol felt her anxiety skyrocket.
Pendar bowed his head and left.
All the disciples were now out of the hall.
For some reason, Aranseol felt like she couldn’t breathe properly.
Was she in a deep relationship with Harua?
Not really.
She had only known him for a few weeks at most.
In fact, she had spent more of that time at odds with him than not.
But Aranseol felt an unparalleled comfort with Harua.
He was the first person she had ever been able to reveal her true feelings to.
To Aranseol, Harua was that kind of unique person.
A short acquaintance, but one who had left a powerful impression.
Aranseol stepped into the hall.
The hall was still filled with lingering flames and the scars of battle.
She could clearly feel how fiercely the disciples had fought against Black Dawn.
And among the scars, one stood out the most.
It was the mark left by a beam of fire that had melted even a stone pillar.
In front of it lay two corpses.
One still had a recognizable form.
Babiyen Asteria.
A woman Aranseol knew.
And the other was melted beyond recognition.
Most of its body had dissolved, not even bones remaining, more than half of it turned to ash.
Aranseol staggered forward and slowly sank to her knees before it.
Sohan’s lips parted.
“Don’t tell me.”

Aranseol didn’t answer.
She could only stare at Harua, utterly devastated.
She remembered Harua’s face as he sent her away at the very end.
Harua, smiling at her.
He smiled with a strange frequency.
He was a bizarre man who would smile first, no matter the situation.
And she shouldn’t have let him go like that.
At the very least, she should have sent Sohan outside and returned herself.
What was all that about not wanting to save people?
What was all that about only looking out for himself?
Pendar said Harua had saved his life.
And it wasn’t just him.
Surely, many of the disciples here owed their lives to him in the same way.
The one who had stopped Black Dawn and bought time was Harua, and Harua alone.
“You… idiot.”
Aranseol bowed her head, a cry of anguish escaping her lips. Sohan stood beside her for a moment, then let out a sigh and turned away.

“I’ll go get a mage.”
With the body turned to ash like that, it wouldn’t be easy to move.
It would be better to call a mage to preserve the remains.
And he felt it was best to give Aranseol some time alone. Aranseol didn’t respond to Sohan’s words, simply remaining seated where she was.
Time passed.
Outside, the commotion began to draw more people.
Aranseol just sat there, silently staring at Harua’s remains.
Just then, a wind blew from somewhere.
The hall was enclosed by walls on all sides.
There was nowhere for a wind to come from.
Aranseol soon realized where the wind was blowing from.
Harua’s corpse.
The wind was coming from there.
Aranseol’s eyes slowly began to widen.
The ashes followed the wind, beginning to form something.
It was the body of a person.
And it was someone Aranseol knew well.
Black hair, pale skin.
A somewhat sullen expression, and even the dark circles under his eyes.
Harua was being born anew upon the ashes.
Aranseol watched the scene with wide, unblinking eyes.
It was only natural, given how unbelievable the sight was.
Soon, Harua’s eyelids lifted.
After blinking once or twice to clear his vision, his eyes met Aranseol’s.
“Hm.”
Harua made a troubled sound and scratched the back of his neck.
“Good morning.”
Aranseol immediately rushed towards him.

Right after my resurrection, there was Aranseol, right in front of me.
The first thought that came to mind was, ‘I’m screwed.’
Perhaps this was a foreseeable outcome from the moment I provoked the Red Flame Lord.
But at the time, I couldn’t think of any other way.
It was a situation where I had to do anything to buy time.
And I went out in a blaze of glory.
I can still feel the intense heat that melted my body.
If there was a silver lining, it was that the Red Flame Lord, perhaps conscious of my Ability, had cranked up the firepower.
Thanks to that, everything burned away before I could even feel the pain.
“Aranseol, I’m going to die again if you keep this up.”
Right now, I was being embraced by Aranseol. So tightly that my neck bones were being crushed.
It was a stark reminder of just how strong she was.
The Oegak Tribe’s physical abilities were said to be on a different level from humans, and that was no exaggeration.
“……Is that all you have to say right now?”
Aranseol asked, holding me.
Since I could only see the top of her head, I couldn’t tell what kind of expression she was making.
“Are you disappointed?”
Aranseol must have figured out what kind of Ability I have from what she just saw.
I’m an immortal who cannot die.
As long as I have Resurrection magic, I can come back to life again and again.
In contrast, Aranseol had been treating me like some kind of saint who didn’t value his own life.
I had just acted without hesitation because I knew I wouldn’t die.
Then, Aranseol, still in my arms, shook her head.
“Harua, do you not feel pain?”
I do.
I feel every single bit of it, vividly.
Death is long.
Before the brain completely shuts down, it stretches out the perception of time, trying to survive even a little longer.
It’s the brain’s desperate struggle, screaming at the body to do something, anything.
And all that time is pain that I have to endure.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?”
Aranseol’s body trembled.
The tremor was transmitted fully to me.
“It hurts you just the same, Harua.”
“Still…”
“Even if you don’t die, you still feel the pain. It’s not normal to throw your body away like that.”

Is that so? I guess you could think of it that way.
People are startled by even the smallest amount of pain and hesitate to act rashly.
It’s human nature to flinch at the thought of a paper cut.
But why is it?
I just didn’t want to stand by and do nothing.
Maybe my brain broke on the first day I came back to life.
I think I just hate a meaningless death.
Because I’ve died like that myself.
I hate seeing it happen again with my own eyes.
I hate that this shitty world runs on absurdity.
“It’s more comforting for me to fight back than to live with the absurdity.”
It’s not like I want to die.
This time, too, there was no other way.
No matter how much Holy Magic I learned, it wasn’t enough to overcome the situations I faced.
Even as a Holy Mage, my combat abilities were still lacking.
The only thing someone like me could do against a Lord or Black Dawn was to trust in my resurrection and stir up trouble.
Aranseol looked at me with a face that said she had much more to say.
But she didn't say anything more.
Just as I had respected her wishes, she was respecting mine.

“Still, please take care of your body.”
What a kind soul.
Aranseol may be a racist, but her personality was so kind it was almost foolish.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now, can you get me something to wear? I’m so embarrassed in this state, I think I might just die again.”
“Ah.”
My clothes had burned away along with everything else.
I didn’t want to be naked anymore.
While Aranseol hurried off to find some clothes…
I sat down and looked at the other corpse next to me.
It belonged to Babiyen.
The girl who had shouted against the injustice of her master.
Did she know she would die like that?
At the very least, people live their lives without imagining that they will die.
“I’m still not happy about you insulting Shishiroka.”
Still, I decided to let it slide since she died.
I placed my hand on the charred corpse.
Soon, Resurrection magic was bestowed upon it, and the body began to heal.
“Hiek, Hih!”
A moment later, Babiyen was resurrected, stark naked.
She had been burned black just like me.
There was no way her clothes would have survived.
“Wh-where is this?”
Babiyen looked around, her expression bewildered.
Her face showed the confusion of memory.
Soon, our eyes met.
Her eyes slowly widened as she saw me in my naked state, and then her jaw dropped as she looked down at herself.
“Wh-wh-wh-what did you do to this girl?!”
Give me a fucking break.
Feeling like my eyes had been violated, I didn’t even glance her way and just got up.
It was annoying that Babiyen’s eyes drifted downwards, but I decided to be confident.
“Don’t you ever insult Shishiroka again.”
Babiyen could only stare blankly, unable to reply.
When I went outside, I saw Aranseol running towards me in the distance.
The clothes she was carrying seemed to be a staff uniform.
After putting them on, I felt a pang of regret for losing my original clothes.
They were a gift from Rapiel, after all.
It also reminded me that there was a Black Dawn collaborator in the Grace Magic Tower.
“Aranseol, how many of the disciples know I died?”
“The general atmosphere was that everyone knew.”
Well, I did make quite a scene.
No one would see me walking around perfectly fine and think I had been resurrected with magic.
They would probably just assume I had some trick up my sleeve.
Still, I felt it would be better not to run into them.
I should probably get out of here soon.
“So, how many survived?”
I asked one last question, and Aranseol let out a small sigh.
“Besides you and Babiyen, everyone else was safe.”
“Serves those Black Dawn morons right.”
And that damn whore of fire who thinks money is everything.
It felt good to screw her over.
Aranseol gave me a look that said she couldn’t believe me, but it was the most satisfying thing that had happened to me recently.