TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 2
The world is unfair and utterly messed up.
That was what Kraush always thought.
He realized it around the age of eight.
On the day he picked up a sword, following his older brothers and sisters.
Kraush realized that the world had abandoned him.
Because wielding the sword made him feel utterly pathetic.
Honestly, expecting an eight-year-old to swing a sword properly was absurd to begin with.
But in the family Kraush belonged to, such average expectations didn’t apply.
The strongest family in the Starlon Kingdom.
Balheim.
Everyone born into the direct line of Balheim was a genius, a prodigy.
Except for one person—the disgrace of Balheim, the youngest, Kraush.
Even so, he struggled and somehow clawed his way into the Skyborne Generation.
But in the end, his final chapter was betrayal by those he thought were his comrades.
A body that could only harbor curses.
What a pitiful life it had been.
That’s what Kraush thought.
Until he opened his eyes today.
Flash!
Kraush saw the blurry ceiling through his opened eyes.
Cold sweat drenched his entire body.
At the same time, he saw his outstretched hand.
The hand that had reached out toward Arthur, struggling until the very end.
As Kraush stared blankly at that hand, he gradually began to regain his senses.
Bzzz—
The sound of cicadas whispered into his ears from beyond the window.
The streaming sunlight indicated it was currently a summer afternoon.
The unique heat of summer caused beads of sweat to form on his forehead.
The world that had been on the brink of destruction was a bitterly cold winter, making this season the complete opposite.
His gaze shifted back to his hand.
“Huh?”
Because the hand he saw appeared completely intact.
Kraush’s thoughts froze.
And with that, he realized something else.
The eye that had been blind was now seeing clearly.
That wasn’t all.
His entire body felt strangely light, unlike before.
Drip—
A bead of sweat slowly slid down from his forehead to his cheek.
Looking around, he noticed the room was familiar.
Because it was the room he had stayed in during his time at the Balheim Family.
What on earth was going on?
The answer was simple.
‘No way.’
The Black Hood he had used with a faint hope of stealing even Arthur’s regression.
The skill he had activated in desperation at the very end.
‘I stole Arthur’s regression.’
The moment he realized that, chills ran down his spine.
At the same time, Kraush looked down at his hand.
He had suspected it, but he hadn’t truly believed he could steal even a skill.
Kraush clenched his hand tightly.
A thrill of success surged through his entire body, knowing his final gamble had worked.
‘To be honest, I could’ve tested it earlier.’
A power capable of stealing even curses.
It might have been natural that it could also steal skills.
But Kraush had deliberately avoided testing it.
Even if he stole a skill, he wasn’t confident he could master something someone else had honed their entire life.
By the time he considered the possibility of stealing skills, his body had already been ruined by curses.
Moreover, his Black Hood had a clear drawback.
‘The difficulty of stealing depends on the target’s valuation.’
Even a pebble picked up on the street could be someone’s most treasured possession.
In such cases, even a mere pebble would be difficult to steal with the Black Hood.
‘The Lock that appears when using the Black Hood is the condition.’
The conditions for unlocking the Lock varied widely when the Black Hood was activated.
Only by fulfilling those conditions could the Lock be opened, granting access to what lay inside.
That was the nature of the Black Hood.
‘So stealing abilities is even harder.’
Of course, one’s abilities are the most precious thing to anyone.
As a result, the conditions’ difficulty was often too high to make theft feasible.
‘But what about this time?’
When Kraush stole Arthur’s regression, he hadn’t seen a Lock.
Simply activating the Black Hood had been enough to steal Arthur’s regression.
How had that been possible?
‘Could it be?’
A thought flashed through Kraush’s mind.
Kraush had sensed something faintly from Arthur.
A feeling that he was exhausted, merely going through the motions.
From Kraush’s perspective, Arthur had already repeated regression multiple times.
Regression was undoubtedly an extraordinary power.
But repeating it over and over would break any ordinary mind.
Especially in a world hurtling toward destruction.
‘That’s probably why Arthur chose Memory Inheritance after three years.’
Perhaps he simply wanted to have someone by his side, even if he regressed again.
The problem was that Kraush hadn’t even been considered that someone.
‘In any case, Arthur’s heart had already wanted to erase the power of regression.’
As a result, stealing regression had been so easy that not even a Lock had appeared.
‘To Arthur, regression was…’
It might have been a curse.
A curse he desperately wanted to escape.
“Wait a second.”
Suddenly, another thought crossed Kraush’s mind.
He had stolen Arthur’s regression and returned to the past.
Then what had happened to the Arthur he knew?
‘The Black Hood doesn’t leave what it steals behind.’
If it did, it wouldn’t be called stealing in the first place.
He had stolen regression from Arthur, so it was certain Arthur no longer had it.
Did that mean the Arthur he knew was left behind in the previous round, in the midst of a world crumbling toward destruction?
Under the meteor shower of World Erosion?
“Ha, haha.”
A hollow laugh began to escape from Kraush’s lips.
“Serves you right, Arthur.”
“Who would have thought that the regression you despised so much would betray you in the end?”
Kraush stood up, sneering at Arthur.
He felt no particular sympathy for someone who had treated him as nothing more than a tool.
In fact, shouldn’t he be receiving gratitude instead?
After all, he had taken away the regression Arthur loathed so much.
‘So, what year is it now?’
However, Kraush also had the same problem as Arthur.
That was none other than knowing the destruction of this world.
The destruction that even the Skyborne Generation couldn’t prevent.
If he couldn’t stop it, he would die as well.
“Damn.”
Kraush cursed as he rose from the bed.
He could feel his moderately muscular body.
Despite his lack of talent, he had swung a sword every day, desperate to survive.
Compared to his siblings, it was pathetic, but he had at least built up some minimal muscle.
But this wasn’t enough.
Kraush’s eyes turned toward the full-length mirror reflecting his figure.
He looked to be in his early teens.
He was shorter than he remembered, and his bright blue eyes shone vividly.
‘Can I stop it?’
Someone like him, who had been treated as nothing more than a tool to absorb curses.
Could he really prevent the world’s destruction?
As that doubt crept into his mind, Kraush clenched his fists tightly.
‘Don’t talk nonsense.’
It wasn’t a matter of whether he could stop it; he had to stop it.
If the world ended, he would die just the same.
There was no other choice.
With that resolve, Kraush kicked open the door and stepped out.
The desolate corridor, which he hadn’t seen in a long time, came into view.
This was the Green Pine Mansion in Balheim, where he had spent his childhood.
Though it was called the Green Pine Mansion, it was more like a place where the most insignificant members of the Balheim Direct Line were exiled.
The mansion was so small that it operated with just one butler and three maids.
‘The fact that I’m here means…’
It meant the proofing ceremony he had undergone at around the age of ten was over.
“Young Master? Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
At that moment, a voice called out to him as he stepped outside.
The butler, with his striking white beard, was named Aliod.
He was the butler assigned to accompany him to the Green Pine Mansion.
Seeing that face, Kraush’s eyes widened for a moment.
‘I see. So this is when Aliod was still alive.’
After all, Aliod was the only one in Balheim who had ever cared for him.
For the first time in a long while, Kraush called his name.
“Aliod.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Hearing his name, Aliod bowed his head, and Kraush smiled in return.
“When do you plan to use the poison my Third Brother gave you to kill the disgrace of the family—me?”
Aliod’s face stiffened noticeably.
Kraush continued to smile as he watched him.
The butler of the Green Pine Mansion, Aliod.
At around the age of fourteen, he had laced Kraush’s stew with poison given by the Third Brother, marking the first betrayal Kraush had ever experienced.
He was the very culprit.
* * *
Aliod’s mind was filled with confusion.
Kraush Balheim, standing before him, was a direct descendant of the Balheim Family, assigned to him since birth.
The only kingdom that could rival the world’s strongest power, the Ephania Empire, was the Starlon Kingdom.
And the sole reason the Starlon Kingdom could stand against the Empire was the Balheim Family.
Every direct descendant born into the family possessed innate martial prowess.
Because of this, even the Empire couldn’t recklessly challenge Starlon.
But Kraush Balheim was different.
Typically, by the age of ten, countless gods would have already marked a direct descendant of Balheim, offering terms for a contract.
For gods, the more exceptional their contractor, the higher their own status would rise, so the direct descendants of the Balheim Family were always a priority for them.
However, Kraush Balheim was an exception.
During the proofing ceremony passed down in the Balheim Family—
The ceremony at the age of ten meant to showcase how exceptional one was within the family—Kraush had failed to form a contract with any god.
Even his innate martial prowess was abysmal.
In the end, he was deemed the disgrace of Balheim and banished to the Green Pine Mansion.
For his butler, Aliod, it was a nerve-wracking situation.
The direct descendant he was bound to serve for life was so incompetent that his own future was effectively sealed.
“Y-Young Master, what are you talking about?”
Aliod stammered, looking at Kraush with a flustered expression.
Until just yesterday, Kraush had been wallowing in self-pity, behaving like a reckless fool.
He never imagined Kraush would catch on to the proposal made just a few days ago.
But that wasn’t all.
‘Has something changed?’
Normally, Kraush’s eyes lacked any will to live, completely devoid of energy.
That fact had made Aliod give up on him even more, but today, something was different.
There was an unusually intense determination in his eyes.
As if he had become a completely different person overnight.
‘What on earth…’
What had happened last night?
As far as Aliod could recall, the only thing Kraush had done was swing his sword until exhaustion and then fall asleep.
While Aliod was lost in confusion,
Kraush slowly ran his hand through his forehead.
Perhaps because there was no curse, his hair felt remarkably smooth.
Despite being the disgrace of the family, he was still a noble representing Starlon, and thus had been well cared for.
Though it wouldn’t be long before his hair became as brittle as his spirit.
‘He’s flustered.’
Judging by Aliod’s face, this time, things might turn out differently.