He realized that because of the damn bounty hunter.
The bastards who were looking for Odette's bounty rushed at her as she slept against a tree.
"Whoops, Boom! Uh-huh!"
"Shut up."
To keep Odette from breaking, Karl twisted the hunters' necks one after another. The last one lay dead to the ground, and a cold sweat dripped down Karl's neck.
'Damn, damn. Damn.'
A few days ago, the Emperor's order was upset. He tripled the bounty on Odette.
When Odette's wanted order was given for an amount of money that even professional bounty hunters could be tempted by, more people began to target her than ever before.
He has been away for less than an hour. He was just away for a while to deal with the disaster that occurred around him. Odette, who had fallen asleep in the gap, was almost stabbed by those bastards.
'Am I really late?'
Karl hurriedly pressed his palm under the woman's nose.
Fortunately, he could feel regular breathing. Odette is just sleeping soundly after a hard day. None of them were injured.
'Thank goodness, really good luck...'
After checking on her well-being, Karl found his palms trembling badly, damp with cold sweat
'Thankful? Did I think I was lucky that she wasn't hurt right now?'
A hollow laugh leaked out.
'Are you going to kill that woman someday?'
He was afraid that the woman would be hurt. He was trembling in such a pathetic way.
In his own eyes, his words and actions were contradictory in themselves.
Fake purifier. A criminal who deceived humanity. The evil woman was responsible for Fenril's annihilation, which was the only meaning to him. The opponent who shed tears of blood and vowed to take revenge.
There were many reasons to kill and no reason to live. But, yet...
"..."
Karl regretted it. The first time he caught Odette, he should have cut her delicate throat.
He shouldn't have had any doubts. Why did he stop when he saw this woman? Why does he fail every time he takes revenge? Why does his heart sink when he sees this woman?
While he hesitated, trying to find the answer to that question, Karl got to know Odette.
What kind of person is she? What does she like? How much of a she's just an ordinary human being, stripped of all the shells of a purifier or a rare evil woman.
Even though she seemed to be living under the influence of evil, Odette's cheeks turned bright red as she felt helpless when she received the favor. A woman who willingly grabbed the beggar's neck to eat a piece of hard bread, but couldn't eat the red bread with kind words. A woman who carries bread for several days with a hungry stomach and laughs at the bash.
The wallet that Odette managed to steal with her pickpocket skills always belonged to the beggars. On the subject of being ridiculed for having her tongue cut off by those wishes, Odette was busy doing anything for the children whenever she had the opportunity to do them a favor.
What about when the bells rang out a few days ago? Didn't she run around with a child with a broken leg? With that skinny body, with that slow burst of leaping.
We may imitate evil, but in the end, we cannot make any truly evil choices. Stupid and stupid human beings. A frustrating and naive human being.
Eventually, Karl noticed. There is no way that such a woman would have done such a thing to Fenril's children. It was like a guardian's conviction that he had kept his three Fenril children for a long time out of a sense of duty.
'...No, that confidence is just an excuse.'
...Even if she had really done all these evil deeds, it didn't matter.
No matter what she had done, Karl would have had no choice but to forgive Odette.
Just like he did when he saw her stupidity and stupidity. Just like when he saw the frustration and naivety. Karl must have felt sorry for her in the end, no matter what her shortcomings were.
Anger and vengeance confused Karl.
Feeling empty and self-deprecating, he looked down helplessly at Odette. Her face is illuminated by the moonlight.
He was captured with a pitiful perfection. Now he had no choice but to be dragged around by her like a prisoner.
"I can't kill you, I can't let you die. What should I do with you..."
Karl's throat choked up as he said that.
At this rate, Odette will die soon.
The Emperor's sudden increase in bounty is proof that he has begun to be suspicious of the Transcendents. The Emperor himself issued a wanted order, and the fact that he hadn't caught her for two years must have hurt his pride, and the bounty would continue to be higher in the future.
Didn't the Emperor exclude Shion and secretly order the other transcendents to pursue Odette separately? Thanks to Shion's intelligence network, it reached his ears as soon as it was lowered, but it was a clear red flag that he began to pick up and filter.
Charlotte was also putting pressure on him. The cathedral and the aristocracy, which had a crush on her, were investigating S-class transcendents in earnest.
Among other things... Odette was too worn out to last long.
She wandered around without a proper place to live for two years, and she couldn't even cover up spoiled food and put it in her mouth. It's a pity that John helped people by disguising them at crucial moments, otherwise he would have fallen til long ago.
Odette's stamina had reached her limit. If she continued to live like this, he was sure that she would be close to death.
Karl stared at Odette's face for a long time, and finally knelt down in front of Odette. He then set the 'coordinates of regression' on her body.
The dark red light gently wrapped around Odette's silhouette and then disappeared.
The coordinates of the regression.
Odette's body can return to this point in time even if she dies in the future.
If she dies without coordinates, or if she dies at a time far away from the coordinates, even if the coordinates are engraved. Even Karl couldn't bring her back to life completely. She was endlessly able to survive on him.
However, if she died shortly, it would be a different story. With the coordinates, he can bring her back to life.
Karl made Odette officially dead, and then planned to bring her back to life with the coordinates he had created.
So that Odette can be completely free from all who try to condemn her.
However, for this plan to be completed, this woman would inevitably die at the hands of Karl. Surely and desperately so that others could not suspect it.
"..."
Karl could easily imagine. Odette collapsed and bled at the end of her life. The vitality and color that always surrounded her disappeared in an instant.
Two years ago, hr was longing for it every day. Now, just imagining it made Karl gasp.
"...Please bear with me for a while. I'll bring you back to life and give you complete freedom. There will be no mistakes."
Karl made a promise in front of Odette, who was asleep.
If Karl finishes everything according to his plan, Odette won't forgive him. She may hate and fear him for the rest of her life.
But it didn't matter. It was much more acceptable to be despised by her than to die alone and leave this world forever.
'Maybe I expected it to be like this.'
Karl smiled bitterly. For the past year, Karl has repeatedly experimented with bringing corpses back to life whenever he accidentally finds them.
He had been so proud that he could kill Odette soon, but he might have already known at that time.
He thought that he would use such obscene methods to revive Odette.
Karl carved the coordinates over Odette's body once more. Again. Again. Again. He can't make mistakes.
So that if there is any variable or mistake, it can be revised. As long as Karl lives, Odette will never die.
***
Even though they were S-class transcendents whose abilities had become unusually desensitized these days, there was no way they couldn't help but notice that they had set so many coordinates on Odette's small body.
Moreover, they knew that Karl was experimenting with going back in time every time he found a corpse.
So John, Shion, and Victor. All three of them had guessed Karl's plan.
Nevertheless, no one spoke about the plan.
Thus, all the S-Class Transcendents who had been clumsily pursuing until now gathered together. For a play on the Erwin Desert with the Emperor's watchers in the audience.
"He's pretty smart. He's probably the only one who got away with us like this."
Victor grabbed Odette, who was wearing rags, by the neck. Odette was lifted into the air. So that they can see her from a distance.
"Why don't you kill it quickly and finish it off? Lotte is waiting for you, so you have to go back quickly."
Shion helped in a cynical voice.
"I need time to wash up and go home. You can't meet Charlotte with such a disgusting thing, can you?"
Like someone who had been chasing Odette with all his might, Shion uttered a verbal abuse that suited his temper very neatly.
John, who wore an eye patch, only looked at Odette with one eye and did not dissuade from the situation.
They had never spoken to each other or made a separate plan, but it was a great match.
"Goodbye, baby."
Victor winked at Karl. It was a signal that it was his turn to step up.
Karl repeated the sequence over and over again hundreds of times.
Cut Odette's throat. Immediately after the cut, the time of her separation from her neck and body is stopped.
The Emperor's people around here have identified Odette's body. Pretending to dispose of the corpse, Karl goes back in time with coordinates. Odette is revived.
That's why he chose an axe. It was Karl's main weapon that the watchers wouldn't find strange.
In order not to leave any spark of doubt.
"..."
It must be done without mistakes. Karl, who had experimented hundreds of times, practiced thousands of times, could do it.
Whack.
Surely at once.
Among those who have been revived, those who have had a long time to die have often been sobered by the shock after being revived.
Karl gripped his axe hard.
Soon, the great axe shone sharply and screeched.
Odette fell to the ground. All the vitality and color that surrounded her were gone.
Karl clenched his fists until blood flowed.
He's sure he's imagined and practiced dozens of times...
His breathing became ragged. Even if he was sure that he would bring her back to life, it was difficult for him to hold on to his sanity.
She was a woman who was afraid of breaking her ankle. Clay rose from his throat, but Karl managed to hold on.
'Stop the time immediately...'
It was then that a chilling feeling passed through him.
The sky above the desert suddenly darkened. Something like a flash of light penetrated his mind. A ball of fire ran down his spine and consumed him. Karl felt his soul scream.
At the same time. It is squeaky. He felt a pain in his throat as if he were falling into the abyss of despair.
It feels as if his throat has been cut. Karl reflexively squeezed his neck, but it was not cut off.
Judgment.
A voice like thunder rang in my mind.
Karl realized.
A feeling that he had just cut. It was not his own neck that was cut off, but his hope.
God's punishment. He knew that the terrible divine punishment that the transcendent who killed the purifier would surely receive.
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