Book 2: Chapter 447
Sedi’s a.s.saults gradually lost a reason. Lukas was well aware that this behaviour was simply venting anger.
Paak, pak, puk.
She mainly used her hands and feet. The only thing Lukas could do to defend himself was to twist his body as much as possible to avoid blows to his vital points, but the order was a bit mixed this time.
A sharp kick stabbed into Lukas’ solar plexus.
“Kuk…”
Lukas’ eye widened as he let out a gasp.
On the other hand, Sedi’s mouth stretched into a bright smile.
“Mm. The feeling in my hand* just now was good. No, I kicked you just now so I guess I should say the feeling in my foot instead.” (*: Feeling in the hand/taste of the hand is just an expression to emphasise the touch or feel of something or the effort that went into it)
Something seemed to be wrong with her expression. Sedi chuckled as Lukas coughed a few times before he looked up at her with a blank expression.
Sedi stopped laughing.
“Is there something you want to say… urk.”
Sedi staggered, clutching her head.
The dizziness. It was becoming more frequent. She was probably more aware of that fact than Lukas was.
“…are you okay?”
Without realising it, Lukas mumbled those words. Sedi, who was wiping away blood, shook.
“…what?”
Their eyes met.
But Lukas didn’t repeat himself. Instead, he simply looked into her eyes.
There was no trace of Sedi’s unique red colour in those black eyes.
“Did you just show worry for me?”
“Right.”
“Ha, hahaha. Is that something the current you can do?”
Sedi’s lips twisted into a sneer, but she was unable to stop the cold sweat that flowed,
“With your whole body wrapped in chains. Who should worry about whom?”
“What does my miserable state have to do with worrying about you?”
“What?”
“Even if I was on my last breath, and you were in your healthiest state, I would worry about you.”
Sedi paused.
“…is that your answer?”
“Right. That’s my answer.”
Lukas smiled faintly.
“The answer for this relationship that I found.”
Paak.
He received a kick to the face. The inner flesh of his cheek ripped.
A stream of blood flowed, but Lukas didn’t groan or flinch.
He only looked at Sedi with his still att.i.tude and expression.
It was Sedi who became more anxious at this reaction.
“Cough, cough.”
Sedi coughed up a mouthful of black blood. But, unlike before, she didn’t leave. Instead, she simply stared at Lukas with evil eyes.
“Late, late, late! It’s way too late! I don’t want that anymore! At least, now I…!”
Pak, pak.
Lukas’ entire body creaked.
Sedi became excited like a predator before its prey. The violence made her lose control. Because of this, Lukas’ body was completely destroyed.
“Huff, huff…”
Sedi panted heavily. It was only then that she realised what she’d done. She licked her lips several times as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she always closed her mouth again.
Then, she finally managed to squeeze out a voice.
“…there is only one role I want Father to play. You know the theme.”
“…”
“Just continue to be an outlet for my emotions like this. Forever and ever.”
With those words, Sedi left the dungeon with unsteady steps.
Lukas simply smiled tiredly.
* * *
How did he transform void into mana?
Lukas had completely captured that scene in his mind. He had focused not only on the phenomenon itself but on even the smallest details.
Mana and void.
Firstly, it could be said that he understood these two types of energy to an extent. Of course, Lukas saying that he understood them to an extent meant that there was less than 0.1% that he didn’t understand.
If he had to give an opinion from a position that fully interpreted the basics, it was structurally impossible to convert void to mana. This was something that went beyond common sense or stereotypes.
‘Even if it was possible, there is no point in simply transforming void into mana.’
It wasn’t that Lukas didn’t want to hold on to mana. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to let it go. Because he could feel the deep limit of the energy itself. Mana could not keep up not only with the Twelve Void Lords, but the other powerful beings who ruled over this world.
That was why he gave it up and turned to void, and as a result, he was able to become stronger.
If he were to use mana again because he could no longer use void, it wouldn’t be progress, it would be a regression.
Nevertheless, there was a reason why Lukas had felt happy.
The Beginning Wizard.
That Wizard, who was clearly stronger than Lukas, had shown him a phenomenon of changing void into mana. There had to be a clear intention behind this act.
It wasn’t simply transforming void to mana.
Something… There had to be something else.
Lukas didn’t stop trying to find a clue.
Then, he suddenly had a question. It was a thought that he’d had before.
‘How did the mana stay in the atmosphere?’
Void, which was prevalent in the atmosphere, tolerated the existence of mana. That was absolutely impossible.
He considered hundreds of possibilities at the same time. Then, he gradually removed the ones that weren’t even close one after the other. In this case, the method of elimination was the most effective method.
When the possibilities had been narrowed to ten, Lukas noticed one possibility that bothered him more than the others.
‘…if it wasn’t changed.’
If the void wasn’t changed to mana but was simply imitating it… It was a ridiculous hypothesis, but the speculations to support it bloomed one by one.
The void hadn’t transformed into mana. It had simply imitated the colour, characteristics and movements of mana. And after some thought, he acknowledged that it wasn’t impossible.
The applicative ability of void far surpa.s.sed one’s imagination. It was possible for it to imitate not only the molecular structure but also the inherent properties of any form of energy.
…He understood that.
Of course, it would take some practice to apply and use it, but that wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that to carry out this experiment, he would need to be able to use void.
His mind cooled in an instant. It felt like he’d started climbing a mountain without hesitation and had arrived at a sheer cliff face.
…Using void.
Was impossible for the current Lukas.
* * *
‘…ten pieces.’
He’d collected ten pieces of jerky.
He had reached his target quant.i.ty.
‘I can’t delay it for too long.’
As the quant.i.ty of jerky increased, it would become more difficult to hide. He could barely hide ten, but as the number increased, the chances of being caught would increase exponentially.
However… it was still not enough.
If he were to eat all of this jerky, he could break free of the chains and escape the dungeon, but it was not enough to help him face Sedi head on.
‘…void.’
A sigh escaped his lips.
Lukas had tried over and over again to control that power to no avail.
He never heard the voices that had completely disappeared again. The Lukases didn’t respond to his attempts at conversation.
‘…it can’t be helped.’
Since that was the case, he had no choice but to make a risky gamble.
Just as Lukas was about to eat the jerky.
“Ah. Are you going to eat it now?”
He was shocked after hearing a sudden voice.
Lukas turned his head to look to the side.
No one should’ve been in that place, but he’d clearly heard a voice from there.
“Sedi.”
When he called out to the owner of the voice, smoke rose from the wall of the prison. Shaaaa, Sedi appeared from the black smoke.
“It’s as I expected. Father wouldn’t have given up, wouldn’t have quietly let yourself be imprisoned. I was certain you were planning to escape.”
“…”
“To be honest, I thought you’d show a more innovative method, but I guess you were too restricted.”
From the way she spoke, she knew from the beginning that Lukas would try to escape.
Nevertheless.
“…are you saying you deliberately left me alone?”
“Mhm.”
“Why didn’t you just stop me from the start?”
“This moment is good. This is the moment when you’d feel the most frustrated after feeling a glimmer of hope and expectation from carrying out your plan.”
“…”
“Then you would have a better perception of reality. Of course, the best moment to break your mind would be just before you tried to escape… Then, the mental damage at that time would completely ruin your mind. Moreover.”
Sedi smiled brightly.
“I never underestimated Father. Nevertheless, I had a foreboding feeling that it would be troublesome if you were to eat the jerky and get your limbs back… Now. Then.”
Paak!
Something wrapped around his neck and he felt his head fly up.
It was a surprisingly flexible thorn. Sedi used this thorn as a whip and slammed Lukas’ head into the wall.
Just as he tried to turn his head away, he felt pressure on the back of his head. Sedi was stepping on Lukas’ head with her dirty feet.
“This place was pretty bright, wasn’t it? It was quiet, comfortable, and environmental factors that gave you the s.p.a.ce to think. So it’s no surprise that came up with a crazy idea like escaping.”
“K-, uk.”
“Even if this is my territory, I can’t stay with you 24hrs a day, so I thought it would be a good idea to push Father a bit more so that you wouldn’t think about anything other than me. If the meeting will be held soon, I might have to leave for a while. So. Before that.”
Kkok.
The pressure on his head increased. Jujuk, juk. The wall began to crack.
Lukas’ face was half buried in the wall.
“Apologise.”
“Apolo-, gise?”
“Right. Tell me you’re sorry. Sincerely.”
Sedi’s smile widened.
“I like Father so much and I want Father to be with me forever. But Father tried to run away from me. That really shocked me. My heart aches. I feel like I will collapse at any moment.”
“…”
“So say it. ‘I’m sorry’, if Father keeps avoiding it, this broken relationship can never be repaired.”
—Broken relationship.
Lukas felt like he’d been struck in the head with a hammer.
“Shouldn’t the one in the wrong apologise so that the relationship can be fixed? That’s one of the principles I learned.”
…That was right. She hadn’t said anything wrong.
So, Lukas apologised.
“-ry.”
Sedi’s smile became s.a.d.i.s.tic.
“What was that?”
“Sorry. I’m so sorry…”
“Be a bit more straightforward.”
“It was my mistake. I… was in the wrong. So please, forgive me.”
Lukas apologised. Sedi could see clear liquid streaming down his cheeks.
Right. He was crying. He was really crying. It was something she’d never seen before.
The way her father looked when he cried. It made a tingle course through her entire body.
He looked so adorable when he cried.
Every time she saw an image of her father that she’d never seen before, it filled her mind with an incredible sense of satisfaction.
She wanted to see*. She wanted to see more. She wanted to know every detail. She wanted to dig it all up. But she couldn’t. She had to save it. She could, but she wouldn’t.
It wasn’t fun to take everything at once.
“Hah…”
Sedi let out a deep sigh, like a drug addict getting her fix.
“Right. That’s it, Father.”
There were no falsehoods in his apology.
Lukas now really believed he’d done wrong.
“Then from now-”
“Don’t be mistaken.”
A cold voice.
That voice immediately wiped away Sedi’s smile.
“I’m not apologising to you.”
“…what was that?”
Anger appeared on Sedi’s face.
“Father and I are the only ones here.”
“Right.”
“So if it’s not to me, then to who?”
“[Lukas]”
As he responded, Lukas wiped his tears away.
Seeing this, Sedi couldn’t help but be confused for a moment.
“Uh…?”
The hand.
Lukas’ severed hand had regenerated.
When. How.
Clang!
The chains around Lukas’ body fell with a loud sound.
“I apologised to ‘Lukas’. For pretending to not hear, for pretending to not notice, for letting go of my responsibilities, for breaking my promise, and for focusing on my own comfort for so long.”
“What are you talking about…?”
“You were right. In order to fix a broken relationship, the one in the wrong should apologise first. That’s the start. Only then would it be possible to talk. And thankfully, they accepted my apology.”
“Why?”
“Because they…”
He could hear them.
[It’s okay.]
He could hear their soft voices.
[Sometimes you make wrong choices and end up regretting it.]
He heard the voices of the Lukases.
[Sometimes you end up showing a pathetic side that you don’t want others to see.]
The voices continued.
[When that happens, we will blame you.]
[We’ll be disappointed and angry.]
[We might even hate you.]
However.
[We’ll still understand.]
[Everyone will understand.]
[No matter what, we will never deny you.]
[Because we are all…]
As his thoughts and the voices aligned, Lukas smiled.
Indeed, after a long time, he was able to show a refreshing smile because of their voices.
“-are Lukas.”
Fwoosh!
Blue light erupted from Lukas’ body.
(TL: I won’t lie, I was almost disappointed for a second.)