CHAPTER 75
At my remark, Ignarion’s smile didn't falter.
"Still got that viper's tongue, I see."
No matter how much I got on her nerves, it wasn't worth more than the value I held.
A fitting reaction for the very symbol of greed.
The Great Sinner of Greed.
At some point, that was what the world had started calling her.
She had managed to snag the title of Great Sinner on top of being a Lord.
"I'm here to get Aranseol and Babiyen back."
I have no intention of talking to you.
As I made my intentions clear, Ignarion shrugged her shoulders.
Then, she snapped her fingers.
Behind a curtain at the back of the room.
The curtain opened, revealing two people.
Two people, trapped inside a transparent prison.
As they were hostages, they didn't appear to be harmed.
Their hands and feet weren't even bound.
It was her way of showing that she had bestowed her own brand of mercy.
I snorted in disbelief.
"Harua."
"...You're here."
After hearing Aranseol's and Babiyen's voices, I looked back at Ignarion.
"So, what do you want from me?"
"It's been a while. What's the rush?"
"I don't think we're on those kinds of terms."
I didn't know what kind of delusion she was having, but I had no intention of playing along.
As I showed my blatant annoyance, she let out a short laugh.
"I think you already know what I want."
Ignarion rose from the sofa.
"After all, you only have one thing to offer, don't you?"
She was treating me like a personal resurrection machine.
But she wasn't wrong.
I was still just a guy with nothing but resurrection magic.
"This is the state I'm in."
Ignarion exposed her chest.
It was a grievous wound, even at a glance.
On the floor were bandages she must have used over and over.
"I've barely managed to stop the bleeding, but it's getting too hard now."
Ignarion smiled faintly.
"I'd like you to heal me."
"My resurrection magic only works on the dead."
A murderous intent flared in my eyes.
"Do you really think I'd bring you back after you died?"
"You'll have to."
Ignarion raised her hand.
"Just in case, I hope you don't think those girls are actually here right now."
Just then, the images of Aranseol and Babiyen vanished.
So it was some kind of hologram magic.
"They're with a good friend of mine."
My eyebrow twitched.
I had a good idea who this "friend" of hers was.
"The Lord of Nox?"
"You've found out quite a bit. Yes, that's correct. My friend also despises the Sword Lord. I can't say what she might do to your girlfriend."
This wasn't just a threat.
She was serious.
"You, of all people, know how many ways there are to torture someone without killing them, don't you?"
A Holy Mage.
They were beings who could infinitely heal people and torment them to the brink of death.
Ignarion knew this fact all too well.
"I've always hated Holy Mages and the Holy Knights. You people always pretend to be benevolent, but you're the kind of bastards who can push a person to the edge of death at any moment, aren't you?"
Ignarion was deliberately trying to provoke me.
She was trying to chip away at my psyche to seize the upper hand.
"And seeing you pretend to be good is just so hard to watch."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
But to me, it was all just a pathetic act.
"Every human lives their life pretending to be good. That's called morality, social norms. The ones who don't follow them are just uncivilized misfits who can't adapt to society."
An uncivilized this-worlder was lecturing me on morality and goodness?
Her words went in one ear and out the other.
Besides, among all the uncivilized people of this world, Ignarion was the most beast-like of them all.
There was no way the sanctimonious words of a woman who knew nothing but her own greed would ever reach my ears.
A pig's squeal would be prettier than this.
Her whining was just that pathetic.
"And let me correct a misunderstanding you seem to have. I'm a Transferee, and the ones you took are uncivilized this-worlders. And the thing I hate most in this world is its people."
"You don't really think saying the hostages have no value will work at this point."
"No, I'm just telling you the reality of the situation."
Really, it was nothing new.
Which is why I decided to tell Ignarion one valuable truth.
"Just how vicious a human with resurrection magic can be."
I gave her a chilling smile.

Ignarion, not immediately grasping the meaning of my words, raised an eyebrow.
And then, a piece of news reached her.
For the first time, Ignarion's face froze.
Then, her head creaked as it turned toward me.
I had already walked over and calmly sat down on the sofa in front of her.
I then crossed my right leg over my left knee and clasped my hands over my stomach.
There wasn't a hint of anxiety in my actions.
It was an attitude of having done something perfectly natural, nothing more, nothing less.
"......You."
Ignarion's lips quivered as she forced them into a smile.
"You really are a madman."
"I've gotten by. And those girls are the same as me."
The news that had reached Ignarion could only be one thing.
The suicides of Aranseol and Babiyen.
Both of them had entrusted their fingers to me beforehand.
From that moment on, we had already decided how to act if they were taken hostage.
There was only one thing I wanted.
For Ignarion to summon me personally, using them as bait.
And the moment that goal was achieved, there was no longer any reason for them to stay alive.
"What do they believe in to choose suicide so readily? It shouldn't be possible to trust someone that much."
"It is possible."

We were all people who had put our lives on the line.
And not just for ourselves, but for others.
The kind of person Ignarion could never understand.
And that was precisely why Ignarion would never have thought of this plan.
"For you, it's impossible."
Ignarion glared at me with wide eyes.
This was the face I had been hoping to see from the very beginning.
"Ha."
Flames soon began to flicker around us.
Before I knew it, the entire room was engulfed in fire.
"Fine, great. The hostages were worthless. I get it."
The moment Aranseol and Babiyen died, the hostages were gone.
"But my little viper, you came here all alone so bravely. Do you have some kind of plan?"
She needed my resurrection magic.
But that didn't mean she had to leave my mind intact.
"Did you know? A person's mind usually breaks after being burned about twenty times."
So, it was possible for her to shatter my mind and call a mentalist to turn me into a resurrection slave.
The only reason she hadn't was the risk that a mentalist might not be able to activate the resurrection magic.
It wasn't impossible.
"Since you have resurrection magic, I think you'll set a new record."
The moment the hostages lost their value, my sanity became worthless too.
She must have planned to do this from the start if things went south.
"Yeah, how did you know? You're right, Whore of Flame, I brought a very good plan with me."
But none of that mattered from the beginning.
Within my clasped hands.
The resurrection magic was already activating.
"I learned something recently. If you pump a massive amount of Divine Power into resurrection magic, its activation speed increases."
In my hand was someone's finger.
A master who had trusted her disciple and entrusted her life to me.
Of course, she and I had made a firm deal that I would save her life.
That was a safety measure, a bond of trust we both needed.
"And when you jam that much power into it, you can't even cancel it midway."
Blood trickled from my nose.
It was the result of pouring in a massive amount of Divine Power.
The moment she heard that, the Red Flame Lord snapped her fingers.
Sensing that something was amiss, she decided to kill me at least once.
Flames engulfed my vision.
The high-temperature flames, which I had experienced once before, burned my skin and melted my muscles.
However, because I was in the middle of pouring out Divine Power, the speed at which the flames melted me was slow.
It was the result of my regenerative ability clashing with the fire.
Besides, once you're this badly burned, the nerves burn away too, so there's no pain.
My eyes had long since melted, and I couldn't see a thing.
But there was one thing.
I could clearly feel the resurrection magic imbued in the finger clutched in my hand.
Now, this is the worst gift I've prepared for you.
Starting from the finger, the Sword Lord would be resurrected.
Even though my eyes and ears were gone, I thought I could hear Ignarion's scream.
That was how terrifying a presence the Sword Lord was, even to her.
Red Flame Lord, Ignarion.
This is my revenge for that day, you whore.

Whatever the Sword Lord, Soun, held became a legendary sword.
Ignarion had heard this many times and knew she couldn't let him get his hands on anything.

So, the instant Soun was resurrected from Harua's hand, she incinerated everything around them.
Her judgment was sound.
The revived Soun had nothing to wield as a weapon, and Harua finally burned away and melted completely.
Most importantly, Soun was slow to regain his senses.
His absurdly monstrous body was only slightly singed by the flames, suffering minor burns but not melting.
Taking advantage of the gap before he came to his senses, Ignarion made her decision.
An immense amount of magic gathered in her palm.
She condensed all the magic she had absorbed from melting the Heart of Nature and the Apostle.
A spell containing the ultimate firepower of super-high temperatures was completed in her hand.
Because she had consumed so much magic, her lifespan was drastically cut short, and her wound tore open even wider.
But in that moment, all she could think about was killing Soun.
Her target was his heart.
The moment the intense heat condensed in her palm in a single instant, she finally flicked her finger.

The ultimate blast of firepower, one that devoured even sound itself, flew toward Soun's heart.
Just as the flames were about to pierce his heart.
Finally, Soun's eyelids opened.
Ignarion was certain of her victory.
Soun would die with his heart pierced, and when Harua revived, she would deliver the despairing news.
And then, she would be brought back from the dead.
The moment a smile of joy crossed her lips.
She saw it.
A flash of light erupting from Soun's hand, soaring rapidly.
A sword, drawn from pure magic.
It was a sword of such perfect form that even Ignarion, who was overflowing with innate magical power, was stunned.
Soun was a genius who could turn anything he held into a legendary sword.
And such a genius had reached a state where he himself could become a sword.
A master beyond masters.
A monster befitting that title.
That was the Sword Lord.
Slice!
A sound like a flame being cut could be heard.
Today was the first time Ignarion knew that flames could make a sound when cut.
And for Ignarion, it was the last sound she would ever hear.
Because Soun had cut down Ignarion along with the flame.
"You... monster...?"
Ignarion's body split in two and slid apart.
Her face, which had endlessly pursued greed, filled with a final sigh and a rage directed at someone.
But it was impossible for her to vent that rage.
Because nothing was left for her but a death of absolute nothingness.
The former Red Flame Lord.
The Great Sinner of Greed.
Ignarion.
This was her first death.