Chapter 201: Two Stars to Seven Stars (8)
Soon, everything disappeared, including the light so intense that it blinded its viewers’ eyes and the intangible air current that accompanied it. And after the light and wind settled down, silence descended upon the area. There a woman stood. She glittered like the Milky Way and shone like the pa.s.sing clouds in a bright sky. She looked sacred and clean like there wasn’t a speck of impurity inside her. And beyond her closed eyes, one could feel a sense of holiness and solemnity.
Chi-Woo unconsciously fixed his posture and kneeled on one knee. That was how holy and n.o.ble she appeared. It was as if he was facing an angel who had come down to earth under G.o.d’s orders to save the world. The woman slowly opened her eyes.
“Oh…” Zepar exclaimed. “Oh…Evelyn… Oh, oh…” Yes, this was it. This n.o.ble and holy figure was the original Evelyn he had known. Zepar had lived until now to corrupt such a being as her.
“Come on…come on…” Even though he knew it would not do anything now, Zepar reached out to her like he was possessed. Evelyn began to slowly descend from the air.
“Yes…like that…” Zepar smiled. He stretched out his arms in great effort to reach her, but his hands never did. She wasn’t an angel he could taint with his filthy greed; instead, she was a divine being who would lay down her punishment on him. As soon as her holy energy touched him, darkness melted.
“Fu…heh….” There was a hysterical laugh. The further Evelyn descended, the more Zepar’s laughter died down. The last remnants of his being disappeared. The existence named Zepar was thoroughly erased from this universe, and like that, Evelyn landed gingerly on the ground.
She stared at the spot where the darkness used to be for a while before looking up and letting out a sigh. The current of light around her got quickly sucked into her body. She turned and walked up to Chi-Woo. Chi-Woo was staring at her in a daze, but he got to his feet when she approached. Evelyn stopped in front of him, and the two looked at each other.
She stretched out both hands to him and gently wrapped Chi-Woo’s hand in hers. Then she brought his hand to her left chest. Chi-Woo hesitated, but his eyes widened upon feeling a beat.
Thump!
He felt the faint, rhythmic jolts from his palms.
Thump, thump, thump, thump…
Furthermore, she was no longer stiff and cold like a corpse. Her hands were soft and warm, and her cheeks were rosy with color…just like a living person. It was then Chi-Woo felt an emotion he couldn’t put into words.
“…How is it?” Evelyn whispered. Chi-Woo finally regained his senses and looked up. Did she even need to ask him? He was happy. So happy that he could cry and so filled with joy he didn’t know what to say. His lips quivered as he opened his mouth.
“Lady Witch…”
“Come on, I told you.” Evelyn narrowed her eyes jokingly. “I’m no longer a witch.” Then she smiled brightly, more brightly than ever before.
“I’m a human. A human!”
* * *
They had managed to extinguish the great demon, Zepar, and save Evelyn. Their expedition was successfully completed once again, but Chi-Woo had many questions. For instance, he wondered how Evelyn was kidnapped in the first place, how she came to be resurrected as a human, and what her s.h.i.+ning appearance at the end was. Nevertheless, Chi-Woo decided to put off his questions for later. He got clothes for Evelyn from Steam Bun and focused on cleaning up. Because of the strenuous battle they had all undergone, everyone was in a terrible state, including Chi-Woo.
After all the tension of battle went away, Chi-Woo collapsed, and he found it difficult to even lift a finger. He had already used up the medicine Shadia gave him and all the divine water he had. There was no way they could return to the capital city in this condition. Even if they forced themselves back, two or three of them would die on their way. As Chi-Woo worried about this matter, Evelyn stepped forward.
She placed both her hands on Chi-Woo’s body and closed her eyes. As she focused, faint light shot out of her hands. Chi-Woo watched in surprise while light seeped into him and eased the pain that wreaked havoc throughout his body. Warmth filled him up like water, and he felt his exorcism mana recover, albeit only a little. Beyond being able to move without straining himself, he felt as if he could use exorcism mana again now.
“No.” But Evelyn advised him against it. “There is a very thin line between awakening and going berserk. Your physical condition is okay considering you had just forcefully awakened your powers, and it was good you stopped before crossing a line. But it still doesn’t change the fact that you went too far.” She tapped the top of Chi-Woo’s head lightly.
“I’ve boosted the strength of your blood, but you will have to rest for at least two weeks. Don’t do anything and just eat and sleep well. Then your potential won’t be lost.”
“Two weeks? Isn’t that too much?”
“The estimation already takes the healing abilities in your blood into consideration. If you were a normal person, you would have to rest for at least a couple months,” Evelyn explained, and Chi-Woo looked impressed with Evelyn’s expertise.
“How do you know so well?” he asked.
“Idiot. What do you take a witch for? I can tell just by the look of your condition.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a witch anymore.”
Evelyn stopped. Her lips slightly twitched. “I-It’s not like the knowledge I gained while I was a witch would disappear. That’s what I was talking about, idiot.” Her cheeks reddened as she hit Chi-Woo’s chest with her fists.
“You said you were a saintess…right?” Chi-Woo asked after her barrage of harmless punches.
“Yes, that is what I was told.”
“You didn’t know?”
“What would a girl from a rural village know? I couldn’t have imagined that my powers were…” Evelyn raised her glowing hands and looked a bit bittersweet. She hadn’t known the truth behind this power during her time alive, nor did it have anything to do with her after her death. Only after thousands of years did the power finally return to her.
“But how were you able to use that power? The majority of the G.o.ds on Liber are…”
“Did you feed it?” Evelyn asked. Noting Chi-Woo’s confusion, she continued, “I mean the seed. Did you give it your blood or any part of your body?”
“Yes, I did…and nothing happened.”
Seeing Chi-Woo tilt his head, she smiled slightly. Who knew the gift she gave him at that time would have uses like this? Was Chi-Woo even aware that the Spirit’s seed had already recognized him as its master? And what it meant that a seed that had absorbed a G.o.d was now taking root inside her heart?
“Well, it’s a hundred times better than Zepar,” Evelyn murmured.
“Sorry?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Evelyn smirked and turned around. There were still many injured. As expected of a saintess, she fully healed Jin-Cheon, who was dying with holes all over him, and Apoline, who had lost consciousness. Since the two were injured more externally than internally, her treatment seemed to work even better on them. It was then Ru Amuh came in holding Nangnang and the young man. She healed the two and restored Ru Amuh’s arm back to normal.
“Could you perhaps also look at these people too?” When they brought Abis and Noel over, however, Evelyn looked startled. Evelyn poured more holy power into Noel than she did to any other person and sighed while wiping her sweat.
“How is it?” Chi-Woo asked in a worried tone.
“I managed to barely keep her life on hold.” That was even scarier. Evelyn continued, “Her case is similar to yours. She forcefully accepted a power that pushed her beyond her limits.”
“But compared to her, I’m fine.”
“Hm…how should I explain this?” After thinking for a bit, Evelyn drew a horizontal line on the floor. Then she drew a vertical line on the left side of it.
“If you stopped at this point,” she said and drew a new line perpendicular to the vertical line, “This woman pushed herself to this level. It was truly fortunate that you barely managed to stop yourself before crossing the line, but you also have to consider that you two are fundamentally different.”
“How so?”
“Unlike you, she’s purely human.”
Chi-Woo flinched at her words.
“It’s a completely different matter for a demi-G.o.d to awaken their original power and for a normal human to accept a G.o.d’s power.” In other words, it couldn’t be helped that Noel’s condition was much more severe than his.
“Then…”
“I’ve managed to stabilize her…but her insides are a complete mess. Her life force is still oozing out of her. No matter how much holy power I pour into her, it’s meaningless.”
Chi-Woo hung his head after hearing Evelyn’s explanation.
“I’m sorry, Teacher. If only I could’ve been more helpful…” Ru Amuh said apologetically. Chi-Woo shook his head. It wasn’t Ru Amuh’s fault.
‘It’s my fault.’ If he had stayed put in the cave like his brother had told him to, Noel wouldn’t have become like this. His concern curdled into a heavy sense of guilt.
“Don’t worry too much,” Evelyn said and placed her hand on Chi-Woo’s back.
“She’s still alive. As long as she is breathing, we can help her recover.”
“…Is that really true?”
“Of course. I mean, you saved me.” Evelyn smiled. “Furthermore, I still haven’t developed my powers fully. If I serve a proper G.o.d and develop more as a saintess, there could be a way.” Evelyn’s voice was firm, and Chi-Woo managed to cheer up.
‘Yes,’ he thought. He couldn’t waste another second and needed to return Noel to normal as fast as possible; to do that, they must get out of this place first.
“I saw a large hole where they were lying p.r.o.ne. It seems the demon we fought escaped through it,” Ru Amuh said, telling them all of a way to get out of this place. Chi-Woo helped move their still unconscious companions there. Then the two each tied a companion on their backs tightly with a rope and climbed up by sticking their fingers into the wall with energy. Chi-Woo was able to do this pretty easily thanks to Ru Amuh creating areas for Chi-Woo to hold onto first.
“This reminds me of the hiding place we fell into when we first came to this world,” Chi-Woo said.
“I was just thinking about the same thing, Teacher.”
Chi-Woo and Ru Amuh exchanged words while going up and down multiple times to carry their companions. After Chi-Woo brought Evelyn out of the hole last, and they collected their breaths while staring at the sky, their companions began to regain consciousness one by one.
“Huh…what? Why am I still alive?” Jin-Cheon appeared confused and looked at Evelyn. “Who is this person…?”
“Let me introduce myself.” Evelyn started and came up with a story that she was Liber’s native, that she used to be a follower of the Babylon church until the Demon Empire captured her and almost used her for experiments. It seemed she didn’t want to reveal to them that she was the Abyss’ witch. Although Chi-Woo didn’t know the exact reason, he played along, and Ru Amuh let it slide without saying much.
“Ah…so that’s why…” Jin-Cheon nodded and stared at her in a daze. With a small smile, Evelyn quietly hid behind Chi-Woo’s back, which prompted Jin-Cheon to cough and turn away, looking a bit embarra.s.sed for some reason. It was then Jin-Cheon’s brother spoke up carefully.
“If you are a priest, could you also cure this person?” He pointed at Abis. She was still lying unconscious on the ground.
“Unfortunately, I can’t do it at my current level.” Evelyn shook her head. “The problem with her is neither internal nor external. It’s not even a wound on her soul. There’s no way to cure a person without a neok outside of making it return by itself.”
The young man bit his lower lip hearing this disappointing news. A soft ‘Kuh’ escaped his mouth, and his eyes welled up with tears. It was the same for Jin-Cheon. He had guessed that it would be impossible after hearing what Zepar had said, but he still looked bitter.
“Well, we at least managed to get revenge…huh, what are you doing?” Jin-Cheon said when he saw Chi-Woo clip Abis’ hair and fingernails before placing them into an organic bowl.
“I’m giving it a try just in case.” Chi-Woo wrapped the bowl in cloth. “I’m trying to create a path for the neok to return.”
“A path? But that guy said…”
“He said most of the neoks were used as ingredients, but not all of them. There could be some left, and if hers is still intact, we have to tell the neok to come this way…” Chi-Woo dropped the bowl into the hole they climbed out of. The string soon became taut. Everyone looked at Chi-Woo anxiously. Unlike the body and soul, neok wasn’t attracted to the other parts of a human. It didn’t come back naturally like a person’s soul. But it still followed divine providence. There was a fundamental law that governed nature, and like how water flowed downwards and the moon rose when the sun set, neok also had a place where it should be. If Abis’ neok hadn’t been used, it could still come back.
It was then the taut string shook vertically three times.
“Uh, uh!” Noticing it, Jin-Cheon shouted. Chi-Woo didn’t miss the opportunity and immediately pulled the thread. He placed the bowl that was still wrapped in cloth over Abis’ body and carefully unwrapped it. Then he quietly waited.
“What happened?” Jin-Cheon asked impatiently. Chi-Woo didn’t answer.
The lack of anything happening dampened Jin-Cheon’s expectations a little, and the hopeful look on the young man’s face dimmed. It was then—
“…Aric…?” a very hoa.r.s.e voice called out. It was a woman’s voice that didn’t belong to Apoline or Evelyn. Jin-Cheon and the young man whirled around at the same time. They couldn’t believe it; Abis was looking at the two of them with her eyes half-opened.
“Are you…really Aric?” The young man’s name, which no one had ever asked for, was finally revealed.
“Abis…!” The young man—no, Aric immediately rushed to her. He pulled Abis into his arms and screamed, “Abis! You really are Abis! Abis!”
“Yes…it’s me… I…was so…scared…”
“It’s all right now! Everything is alright…!”
“I had a dream… I was with a bunch of…people…? Who I never saw before… There were so many of them… It was so frightening… There was someone who called me many times…but I barely managed to escape…and hid in a corner…” Her mind was still a bit frazzled after waking up, but her neok had surely returned to her. While seeing Aric celebrate in joy, Chi-Woo felt someone’s hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you, Teacher.” When Chi-Woo turned around, Jin-Cheon was looking at him with teary eyes.
Chi-Woo smiled awkwardly at him and asked, “Didn’t you say you were going to call me bro, not ‘teacher’?”
“I did, but…” Jin-Cheon wiped his nose, glancing at Ru Amuh before looking back at Chi-Woo. Then he gave Chi-Woo a wide, toothy grin.
“I’m going to call you teacher from now on.”