Chapter 76 - Epilogue; Present

Meanwhile, a flash of light crossed the sky of Western civilization. Too fast for people to notice.

Ikki was flying through the night sky toward his home. His expression was completely flat and indifferent. Despite the urge to scream, the urge to cry, and to drown in pain, he used all his will to hold it in.

As soon as he entered New York's sky, he felt raindrops falling on his body.

He stopped in the sky, floating higher and higher.

What was he expecting, after all?

He already knew this would be his end, but why did he still hope it would be different? Truly, he wasn't destined for love, not in his past life and not in this one, but his optimism wanted to believe it was still possible.

In this life, everything was different. He wanted to live fully to make up for the tragic life he had and tried to be optimistic in everything he did, but in the end, he was wrong...

With a long sigh, he descended and floated toward his home. Noticing something strange...

His forehead furrowed as he felt that his mother wasn't home. Had she gone out or something?

He used his senses to cover a long distance searching for his mother but found nothing!

Landing at the entrance of the building, he took the elevator to the top floor.

It seemed like only a minute at most, but he felt that something was wrong. Something had happened...

He quickly arrived at his door and used the [Item Creation] spell to create a key. His hand trembled slightly as he noticed that the door wasn't locked. His heart began to pound in his chest.

Opening the door, Ikki took a deep breath and entered. His mother must have left a note behind, right? He stepped inside...

With every step, a discord was born in his heart.

With each step, he felt his body tremble slightly, and even sweat accumulated on his forehead.

It was so strange...

His steps stopped when a large box was on the table. With a note on top of it...

He should have been happy or relieved to see that his mother had left something behind to explain her sudden disappearance, but he couldn't feel any of that. It felt as if the world around him had disappeared.

As if on autopilot, he slowly walked toward the large box with a note.

Reaching in front of it, he took the note and, swallowing hard, read each line.

Hello, Ikki. It's been a while, hasn't it? Your existence was unexpected to my lord, so we decided to give you a gift.

Signed: Luke Castellan

After finishing the reading, the only thing he heard was his heartbeat.

Badum.

Badum.

Badum.

At that moment, he tried to smell something, hear something, or even use magic, but it seemed like there was an ancient magic blocking everything from passing through. This futile effort caused shards of panic to rise in his broken heart.

All that was left was a visual confirmation.

Carefully, he stretched out his hands and slowly opened the large box.

The contents came into view.

Silence.

Total silence.

The moment he saw the contents of the box, the world collapsed. All the meaning of life vanished, and all his willpower drained away. Ikki staggered backward and hit his back against the wall, sliding down it with a shocked and heartbroken expression.

The box was pulled down, falling sideways and revealing the reason for his expression.

From inside, a head rolled out.

It was the head...

The head...

The head of his mother?

His dear mother?

Ikki took a while to comprehend this fact. He didn't want to believe it. This had to be a dream! Yes... he must still be asleep, right?

His deep blue eyes looked at that traumatizing scene. The expression in them became quite empty, and veins spread over them. His body trembled slightly as he murmured: "This is a dream... It's just a dream... Why am I having such a nightmare...?"

It had to be a dream, right?

He desperately tried to cling to that idea, but when the smell of blood hit his nose and he saw the blood dripping from his mother's decapitated head, he knew it wasn't a dream...

"Why... did this happen?"

He grabbed his head painfully. It was as if a huge hole suddenly opened in his heart. This unbearable feeling made his eyes turn bloodshot, and tears began to fall.

"Why?!"

"WHY?!"

He suddenly raised his head and roared in anger.

A roar that also contained heart-wrenching pain echoed throughout New York City, and the rain intensified.

"Ah, ah, ah..."

His howls contained despair and endless pain as they spread into the distance.

Countless people looked in the direction where the howls came from. Their eyes turned completely red as they felt the pain in those howls, and a wave of bitterness made their eyes become moist.

A woman appeared with a ghost on the streets of Manhattan, her appearance shrouded in mist. Hearing all those screams, she raised her hand and stopped the people, who were taken by curiosity, from approaching the apartment. Using the mist around her to manipulate their memories.

Even a Goddess, upon feeling the heart-shattering pain and helplessness in the howls, involuntarily had tears form at the corners of her eyes.

But back to the origin of the screams.

It wasn't clear how long these howls lasted before they finally began to gradually weaken, as if the owner of the howls had exhausted all of his energy.

Ikki placed his hand on the wall behind him as he looked at his dear dead mother before his eyes. The person he considered most important was dead...

He crawled closer to his mother's head and looked into her open blue eyes, which held an expression of fear.

His hoarse voice began to echo throughout the apartment.

"No, no, no, no..."

"Tell me it's not real..."

"Please, I beg you! Tell me this isn't real..."

What was the point of having such great power if he couldn't protect the person who was most important to him?

Ikki, I love you, and I always will.

Ikki, I will never be disappointed in you. No matter what happens, you will always be in my heart. No matter what happens, I will always love you, you will always be my pride and joy, in my heart, you will always be the most excellent and remarkable person. Only when you are happy, will I be happy!

The memories with his mother flashed in his mind.

The tears kept flowing down his face. He cried silently.

This was real, right? He would never see the sweet and gentle woman who always loved him and cared for him despite everything again.

Could he live without her?..

Wouldn't it be better to just die once and for all?

Wait...

After a long time, he finally slowly lifted his head, as a clear and bright light once again returned to his sapphire blue eyes. He stood up abruptly as unwavering determination arose.

He would find a way to bring his mother back! This time, he wasn't as powerless as he was in his past life!

With that in mind, despite the deep fear he felt, the emotions that tore his heart apart, he stood up and disappeared with the wind.