Seria’s Pov
***
I took a deep breath.
I couldn’t help but do so.
Because numerous constellations cascaded down from the center of the sky and painted an extraordinary scene in the sky.
<….. What are these? Are they the offerings to me from Berg?>
<Is it an offering? It’s a wedding gift. The aide says it’s a mermaid’s spring. This is….>
The voices raked through my head with intense pain.
Lesche, in his constellation gold armor, was offering me two jewels. One was the blue diamond and the other was the mermaid’s spring.
I could see my own bewildered face. I was wearing Stern's formal attire, but I did not look good. I was bandaged up to just below my chin, and my wrists and ankles, which were exposed, were also bandaged.
At that moment I realized it was a scene that I did not remember.
<This is Seria Stern’s first life.>
"……!"
The constellations scattered like shattered glass. Instead, sparkling letters filled my vision.
<But Berg and Seria Stern died quickly. Unable to withstand the mighty power of the stars, Stern departed to a distant arid world, bleeding.>
<At last Stern's guardian star realized. That it was such terrible violence to extinguish all the star power in one human being…>
My brow wrinkled naturally. Surely I was reading the letters, but it was as if Tuban was mumbling to himself in contrition.
<Stern's guardian poured the blood of the moon to stop time in the world.>
I remembered the scene where the emaciated Tuban grabbed the sacred tree. The tree, which had been so huge that it seemed to pierce the sky, gradually became smaller and smaller until it finally sprouted into a new tree.
<The world began again right after the death of the Moon.>
<The guardian star reduced to a power of few star that a single Stern could bear and purified more than half of the demons that had exterminated mankind.>
<And that is when Seria Stern returned to this world.>
<Stern no longer had to carry the world alone. But Seria was the only Stern who had fully inherited the blood of the moon.>
<Eventually, Stern, depicted in the celestial bodies, is not alone.>
<This is Seria Stern’s second life.>
"……."
The shooting star drew a long tail. Another new scene was painted.
That vicious Seria I had read about in the "book" was smiling like a viper. Without blinking, Seria poured wine over the young nobleman's head. There was not a scratch on Seria’s body, she was not dressed in Stern's formal attire, but in a fancy dress. She was not even bandaged.
I wondered how she became such a wicked woman as soon as she came back to life. The question that had been filling my head earlier exploded.
“Wait, wait, wait! Wait, Tuban!”
I barely resisted the urge to scream. I could hear the dizzying sound of the ground breaking outside.
"Doesn't a distant dry time mean my life when I was a graduate student? Why isn't that my second life?”
As soon as I asked, the constellations swam powerfully through the night sky like fishes. Soon the constellations scattered like firecrackers spreading out and literally fell into the air.
At the same time, the book fell into my hands.
It was the very same book that ‘Seria’ was reading the day I first met Tuban.
A breeze blew from somewhere and opened the book. The ink, shining like constellations, etched the words on the paper.
<In the first timeline you prayed, cursing for your own life.>
“What?"
<You cried and begged me to let you go to a place where you had no family and no power.>
“…… what?"
Eventually, I couldn't help but ask aloud. The constellations floating on the celestial bodies made and showed Seria crying alone between the corpses and the demons. Seeing bandages all over her body, she looked like Seria in the first life earlier.
"……."
It was so cruel that I bit my lip.
<The only thing that hasn't changed during so much time is Liegel.>
<The ‘replacement’ that Liegel has created dozens, hundreds, thousands of times have failed to keep the moon alive.>
<In despair, Liegel hatched two plans. One was to put the substitute on the real Stern's seat. The other is to get full possession of Seria Stern.>
"Isn't that really crazy?"
I gritted my teeth. The replacement was obviously Lina.
<While Stern's guardian star lost his power and could not protect his place, Liegel gained massive power by eating all the stars and took the guardian position. And Seria Stern has long since lost her memory of her first life.>
The constellations moved and painted Lina with a circlet of Berg on her forehead. It was the same bright and lively image I knew as the original.
<Liegel put the replacement (Lina) in Stern's place through magi. Isolated, Stern was killed legally, and eventually, everything fell into Liegel’s hands.>
At the same time, Liegel’s image, seen with Lesche, was painted in the sky.
<Stern, who was awakened just before being sacrificed, turned back time herself.>
Liegel was in despair in front of my dead body, which was badly bruised all over.
I was able to realize that it was right after I had awakened and turned back time.
<Stern sealed her own memories into a story in a book and turned back time. Without her, I didn’t have enough power to turn back time.>
<This is the present and Seria Stern's third life.>
My face was contorted mercilessly.
The words "not enough power" made me reflexively think of the previous "Seria". She was born with a weak cleansing power.
"Ha…"
I let out a sound, but I didn’t know whether it was a laugh or a sigh.
“I give up….."
After all, that crazy monster killed the moon and caused death? He manipulated people with magi to isolate Seria and even acquire her corpse?
“So, what was Lina made of?”
The words were inscribed in the book right after my question.
“Do you know this too?”
<You’ll find out soon. You must have guessed.>
“Guess?”
I thought Tuban had no idea. I actually was a little shocked. I pulled myself together. I still had questions I wanted to ask.
“So, Tuban, why do you have Lesche’s face?”
While Tuban was fighting hard with Liegel outside the translucent wall, Tuban looked back at me. He was smiling faintly.
Then an answer came back.
"……."
The answer was somewhat heartbreaking.
Soon, a strong wind came from somewhere. The book flew into the sky. The book scattered like shards of glass from the air and returned to its constellation.
At the same time, the night sky subsided and before I knew it, I was in that narrow cocoon I was in earlier. I looked out through the crack and wrinkled my brow.
The demons had entered. I naturally lost my breath at the sight of those terrible, inhuman-looking demons.
"…… what should I do now?"
The letters were inscribed on the cocoon just in front of my field of vision.
<Since you’re aware, use as much of your sacred power as you can.>
I squeezed the circlet tightly and let go.
Three, two, one.
At the moment I counted to three in my mind, Tuban’s hair that had been hiding me disappeared completely.
All the eyes of the demons who had been wandering around chewing away at the roots of the sacred tree focused on me. Liegel’s gaze did the same.
I raised my hands.
Pow!
I hit their faces with my fists as hard as I could, and there was a dull sound like flying. The sacred power that I had released exploded completely, hitting the wide space furiously. At the same time, the figure of Tuban changed into the face of a blurry dragon.
Tuban’s sharp teeth ravaged Liegel and the demons all at once, and the underground shook violently.
***
Boom!
Behind Lesche, the bodies of the demons were lined up in rows. With a single sword strike, the demons collapsed into a rampage, rumbling the soil of the ground. Berg's knights were following behind. Like a murderer trying to chew up the demons, Lesche never once looked back.
A strange phenomenon occurred: the more one moved toward the center of the sacred tree, both the magi and sacred power became denser at the same time. The number of demons also increased geometrically.
It was certain that there were already two Sterns in the garden of the sacred tree. Nevertheless, Myote Stern rushed out because the life and death of the Sterns could not be guaranteed in the battle.
The fact that no blood had yet been found was a thin line that maintained Lesche’s reason.
Myote Stern took her eyes off Grand Duke Berg, who disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was that man of the highest rank who seemed the most distraught, but the actual general atmosphere was not so different from the mood he radiated.
“Half of you follow Sir Abigail Orrien. The other half follow me and His Highness!”
“Yes, Commander!"
Abigail Orrien. Myote knew her well. She was a knight on death row. But Myote didn't expect her to be so strong, and she didn’t know Abigail was so serious about Seria Stern. Likewise, Abigail also disappeared not long after.
Near Myote, Berg's chief aide, clad in constellation gold armor, was looking at a map with his chiefs of staff.
"If you look at the map provided by the temple, you will see that we are now in seven directions, excluding the direction of His Highness…."
Unlike his cool voice, the Chief Aide's complexion was a sight to behold.
It went from pale to bright red, to blue, and back every other three minutes. His eyes were also teary like he was about to die.
Myote Stern was fed up and could only wonder.
In the past, Seria Stern was used to standing alone with a cold expression.
“I hope she is still alive.”
Myote Stern mumbled briefly.
If Seria Stern dies, Myote has to assume the duty of protecting the frozen lake. But, it was unlikely that Berg would welcome another Stern.
Rather, If Seria Stern was found dead…..…..Berg’s master (Lesche) would choose self-destruction. (*If Seria dies, Lesche would die with her.)
***
*Okay, so, in the beginning, the first life, Seria was promised to marry Lesche but couldn’t, because both of them die quickly from being unable to withstand the star’s strong power.
*Second life was the one Seria was a wicked woman who bullied everyone and Lina and got killed by Kalis. Which was what she read in the book. And the book was her actual second life.
*Third life is what is going on now.
