Chaper 251
Bang. Bang. Bang.
There was a sound of someone banging on the door from outside.
Adela, desperately trying to save Han Siha, no doubt, but her strength alone wasn’t enough to break through the solid barrier.
A barrier that completely cut off magic.
Even from the start, this battle had always been in Abaddon’s favor, and now Han Siha was left in a state where he couldn’t even put up a resistance.
If possible, Abaddon intended to crush him even more brutally.
So that he’d lose the will to resist altogether.
No matter how much he denied it, humans were always honest in the face of pain.
Abaddon knew how to break Han Siha and was sure he could crush his spirit.
As he imagined this with satisfaction and stepped through the barrier, he was met by a chilling gaze.
“You’re late. Got caught up in an interesting encounter?”
Han Siha of Castica.
Even bound, with his limbs restrained, he still had the audacity in his eyes.
Abaddon hated the look in Han Siha’s eyes.
Born noble, raised noble.
While Abaddon had grown up crawling through the mud, Han Siha had been nurtured on the best of everything, untainted by fear.
Han Siha didn’t have the skill to beat Abaddon, but he clung to the arrogant belief that his sheer will alone would be enough to win, a belief that Abaddon found utterly repulsive.
That kind of false hope had never served him well.
So, Abaddon was determined to show Han Siha a cold, hard reality.
“You’ve still got enough fight in you, it seems.”
“….”
“Adela was looking for you like crazy out there. Pity she has to see you like this, all pathetic and bound.”
It was a taunt meant to provoke Han Siha.
And just as Abaddon expected, it worked.
Han Siha, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke, his voice colder than Abaddon remembered.
“It’s a shame. If anything, you’re the one showing such a pathetic display. I doubt you made this barrier transparent just to flaunt your own weakness.”
“What… what?”
A fierce stare that seemed to pierce through him.
‘Was he always like this…?’
Abaddon felt a strange chill creep into his heart, but he tried to dismiss it.
There was no way he could be feeling fear from a mere kid.
It had to be a bluff.
With a sneer, Abaddon scoffed.
“You should never have provoked me. You could have at least died peacefully, but now your insolent mouth will only bring you a quicker death.”
“Tied up and powerless, and you’re still acting all high and mighty.”
Abaddon planned to show him hell instead of killing him outright until he got what he wanted—the Cube.
But just as he stepped closer, the chair rattled.
“Tied up?”
Han Siha’s gaze turned murderous as he got to his feet.
“Who’s tied up?”
Abaddon’s eyes widened in shock.
Han Siha was waving his freed hands right before his eyes.
“…!”
That was impossible.
No kid could break those restraints with sheer strength.
Something was wrong.
Abaddon instinctively reached for his staff.
He should be running for his life, yet the boy was smiling calmly, looking completely out of place, so different from when he was first captured.
Abaddon’s limbs trembled uncontrollably as he stared at the boy’s eerie confidence.
Trying to hide his fear, Abaddon’s voice was stiff as he threatened Han Siha.
“Even if you’re free, you can’t use magic. Stop this nonsense before I slaughter your friends outside.”
“Ah… can you even do that?”
“What?”
Han Siha tilted his head, grinning slyly.
“You said this barrier blocks magic, right? I’m not even your equal, so why are you so scared?”
“….”
“Or was your barrier never perfect to begin with?”
At that moment, Han Siha reached out toward the barrier.
Crash—BOOM—
The barrier shattered into countless pieces, exploding around them.
BANG—
The fragments of the barrier scattered with a deafening roar, and Abaddon, clutching his head from the ear-splitting sound, froze in place.
“What… what the hell?”
Even breaking free from the ropes was beyond belief.
But shattering the barrier?
That was incomprehensible.
He had spent a hundred days creating this barrier.
There was no way a mere child could destroy it.
“How… how did you…?”
This fight should have been Abaddon’s victory.
The boy’s youth and courage were laughably insufficient against him.
He lacked the experience that Abaddon had gained from decades of studying magic.
Han Siha was never supposed to be able to break this barrier.
It was designed to be unbreakable by any mage in existence.
So why…?
Why could Han Siha, of all people, tear through it like a sheet of paper?
“Y-you… this little bastard!”
Crunch—
Han Siha stepped on the shattered fragments with a cold stare.
His gaze was unwavering as he watched Abaddon.
It was unacceptable.
He couldn’t grasp where this unfathomable gap in power had come from.
“You… How dare someone like you…?”
Abaddon looked up at Han Siha.
It was then that Abaddon realized what was happening.
In Han Siha’s hand was a red Cube.
Abaddon spoke in a trembling voice.
“The Sun and Moon Cube…?”
That thing should have been in the heart of the machine, so why was it in his hands?
No, it should still be connected to the machine.
Realizing the implications, Abaddon’s face went pale.
“You messed with time…?”
“What… what?”
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to kill you.”
One step at a time.
Han Siha grinned as he advanced toward Abaddon.
His voice was cold, as if he had traded souls with a demon.
“I’ve waited four hundred years… so you better make it worth my while.”
Abaddon tried to back away, but it was already too late.
* * *
“You’re late. Got caught up in an interesting encounter?”
In Abaddon’s words, Han Siha recalled a long-ago memory.
Himself, powerless, tied to a chair.
The barrier is meticulously crafted to cut off his magic.
A moment of utter helplessness, but now he was grateful to have returned to that moment.
Before everything had gone wrong.
To a time when his people were still alive.
And now.
Han Siha stood, looking down at Abaddon, who was on his knees, trembling before him.
Han Siha summoned a cursed sword, condensed from demonic energy, from his subspace.
A sword that inflicted the worst imaginable pain upon even a mere graze.
“Ugh… Aaaaaargh!”
He slashed Abaddon multiple times with the blade, far more powerful than Abaddon’s own weapon.
Abaddon’s face contorted, his body writhing in agony as he continuously spat blood.
“Gah… Cough.”
It was the first time Han Siha looked down on him.
So this wretch had emotions after all, desperately flailing at the moment of his death.
Han Siha’s eyes were dry and indifferent as he watched Abaddon’s grotesque struggle.
“I spent four hundred years thinking of ways to tear you apart.”
“Ugh… Urrgh…”
“I wanted you to die wallowing in every conceivable pain.”
There was a time when he felt that way.
But over the span of four hundred years, even those vengeful thoughts had dulled.
Does he still hate him?
No, not really.
It was more of a vague disgust now.
Han Siha’s voice was cold as he spoke.
“Your death is far too peaceful compared to the crimes you’ve committed.”
No matter what, Abaddon could never repay the innocent blood he had spilled.
So Han Siha made up his mind.
This man wasn’t worth wasting any more time on.
Holding the cursed sword tightly, Han Siha spoke.
“You’ve got quite a few grandiose titles.”
He looked down at Abaddon with an icy gaze and whispered his name.
The Final Boss.
The Scourge of the Empire.
The Leader of the Dark Sorcerers.
“But you’re not worth any of those titles.”
“You’re just a pathetic, cowardly bastard.”
So—
“Just die.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he swung the sword, cleaving Abaddon in half.
Slash—
With a thud, Abaddon’s head hit the ground, severed and lifeless.
Even in his final moments, his eyes, filled with greed and lust, stared blankly at nothing.
An empty, pitiful death.
After all that struggling, his end had come so swiftly.
“….”
Han Siha quietly watched Abaddon’s pathetic demise before sheathing his sword.
* * *
‘Please, be alive.’
‘I don’t care if the world ends. I just need you.’
‘I don’t need the Cube. I’d give anything for you.’
Adela had exhausted herself praying to the gods, unable to break the barrier on her own.
A fight that was destined to be lost.
She had been willing to give everything, begging for Han Siha’s life to be spared.
But then—
The barrier Abaddon had constructed was shattered in an instant, and Han Siha, wielding overwhelming power, toyed with Abaddon.
Finally—
Thud—
He struck Abaddon down in one blow.
“W-What…?”
Even seeing it with her own eyes, Adela could hardly believe it.
She stared in shock, muttering to herself.
“This… This can’t be real….”
It shouldn’t be possible.
It defied all logic.
Adela pinched her cheek, thinking it must be a dream.
It hurt.
“It’s not a dream… This… This isn’t a dream?”
Overwhelmed by relief, her mind went blank.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
She tried to smile through the tears as Han Siha, having set down the cursed sword, began walking toward her.
Step, step.
“Han Siha….”
Seeing the exhaustion in his eyes, fresh tears welled up.
Adela’s voice trembled as she asked.
“What… What happened? What did you do?”
Why was he holding the Cube?
What had he been through to look so worn down?
There were too many things she couldn’t understand at that moment.
Adela bit down hard on her lower lip.
“Are you okay? Are you… okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Then that’s all that matters… That’s all that matters….”
Who cares if it doesn’t make sense? You’re alive.
That’s all that matters.
She had so many questions, but she couldn’t ask them all right now.
Adela nodded, wiping away her tears.
“I’ll ask you everything later. Don’t you dare hide anything from me then. You… you’re acting really strange today.”
“….”
“I don’t mean you’re strange. It’s just… something feels different today, so don’t get upset. But… why aren’t you saying anything?”
And then—
Han Siha, with sorrowful eyes, finally spoke.
“Adela.”
“Yeah…?”
Han Siha, as if remembering her name, suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
“…!”
Adela’s eyes widened in surprise.
“W-Wait….”
So close she could hear his breath.
Adela looked up at Han Siha, who was smiling radiantly.
It had only been a few days since they’d been apart.
Those few days had felt like hell, but it hadn’t been that long.
So why did he have such a strange expression on his face?
Adela didn’t understand.
She just stood there, frozen.
To Adela, Han Siha smiled and whispered.
“It’s been a long time. I’ve missed you.”