―This is a curse. To confine Amanesser.

―This will soon disappear. Then Amanesser will escape from here, and after that, nothing can stop it.

Sion recalled that man’s words as he bent his knees. Then he placed his hand on the ground, black and smooth like the surface of charcoal.

A faint pulse could be felt from the ground. It was the heartbeat of Amanesser, hidden by this curse.

Feeling Amanesser’s pulsation, Sion recalled the previous battle.

Three weeks ago, Sion had tried to bring down Amanesser and finish it. But unidentified forms that sprang up from this black ground blocked Sion’s path. And in the meantime, Amanesser had disappeared somewhere again.

‘Will I be able to end it next time?’

Sion thought fleetingly, looking at the ground black as if ink had been spilled.

That man said this was Noche’s curse to confine the mad dragon in the east.

However, after fighting Amanesser for the past few years, Sion had reached a new conclusion.

‘It’s not just confining, but protecting.’

Every time Sion tried to tear Amanesser’s reverse scale, he was hindered by the ground. In the meantime, he lost the dragon, and this has been repeating for years now.

Sion felt frustrated by this stalemate.

If he could kill Amanesser before the curse spread on this land disappears, more than half of the problem he had taken on alone would be solved.

But Amanesser wouldn’t die easily, and the predetermined future was drawing closer.

It was when Sion was quietly swallowing bitter water.

The sound of strong wind was heard. Following the sound, he raised his head and saw the watchers and daughters of Tardes coming this way.

It’s rare for them to enter the boundary and look for Sion. So Sion sensed that there must be quite an urgent matter at the hall.

“Your Excellency, the astrologers of Dan have foreseen a typhoon.”

As expected, it was an urgent report. However, it wasn’t bad news.

Sion immediately mounted his partner. Then in one breath, he crossed the mountain range and landed on Amanesser’s altar on the roof of the hall, where the astrologers cast their divinations.

Amanesser’s altar was a solemn space open to the sky, like a temple.

So it looked as if one should offer a sacrifice, but in the center, instead of an altar, there was an intricate structure resembling a weather vane and compass.

The golden-tinged object moved slowly, interlocking in place, and the astrologers in black robes were racking their brains while observing the movement of the structure.

Its name is the Spindle of Lines. It was made with a piece of Amanesser to read the flow of the atmosphere.

“Your Excellency, a typhoon is coming.”

An astrologer who had been observing the movement of the spindle came to Sion and reported.

“The direction is northeast, it will reach firing range right after dawn tomorrow. It’s a wind that can bring rain.”

The astrologer’s voice was cautious yet excited as he said this. It was due to the expectation of seeing precious rain.

The astrologers of Dan are those who have inherited Amanesser’s role.

They divine the weather by observing the spindle made from a piece of Amanesser. And they foresee typhoons and tsunamis approaching this precarious floating continent.

However, their role is only to foresee, breaking it is the job of Earl Laurel. For this reason, Amanesser’s altar belonged to the Tardes Hall.

Although all the astrologers of the altar are wise and prudent, Sion felt a bit strange whenever he saw them.

It was because it reminded him of that man’s bad taste, who had approached young Ibi wearing those astrologer’s clothes to hide his face.

.

.

.

“Such things shouldn’t be rampaging in the world where Ibi lives.”

When the man spoke in a gentle voice, Sion received it with a distant feeling.

The fact that this guy was crazy.

Then his resentment and anger towards the man melted away. Such things are only possible towards someone you have some expectations for. A madman was naturally an exception.

So now Sion became seriously afraid instead of angry.

“…Why do you go that far?”

“What?”

“Why do you go that far for that person?”

“I told you. Everything.”

Looking at the man speaking calmly, no, proudly, Sion unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

‘What on earth is this?’

Love? Affection? Devotion?

No, these common words don’t suit. What that man possessed was something far more bizarre and gloomy than that.

Sion, who was appalled by the man’s true nature, suddenly felt this situation cruel.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been mauled by the dragon and was still bleeding profusely. In the meantime, he suddenly came to his senses and realized that he was a miserable sacrifice.

This alone was shocking enough, but the madman before his eyes was driving Sion into an even tighter corner.

If it were a complete stranger, Sion would have long ago classified him as an incomprehensible being and moved on. But he was Sion Laurel, and so that man’s condition became the most serious problem for Sion.

Sion did not see this man, pretending to be fine with a smile, as normal at all.

He was tyrannical and twisted, and didn’t bother to hide it. Moreover, he blindly worshipped that woman called Ibi without feeling an ounce of shame.

A fanatic who wouldn’t allow even the word ‘mere’ for that woman.

A mad follower who foretells the end of the world just for that woman’s convenience.

So Sion became truly scared. He felt more than aversion, he felt disgust at the fact that he would soon become such a person.

“…Are you everything to that person too?”

Sion asked, trying to find an excuse to defend himself.

The man’s eyes narrowed.

The man just smiled desolately, and at that sight, Sion felt his breath catch once again.

“Don’t tell me you’re doing this alone?”

“Judge that for yourself.”

When Sion pressed, the man changed the subject. Then he added this.

“I’ll disappear soon. Because I’ve been discovered.”

“What?”

Leaving the surprised Sion behind, the man looked up at the sky.

The man had deceived providence to exist in this time period. And to avoid being discovered, he had been hiding his face and name.

But having revealed himself under that ruthless sky, he will be adjusted by merciless providence. He will be erased and disappear from this world through due process.

“So I came to pass on my memories to you.”

The man reached out his hand to Sion, who was still rolling on the ground. As if requesting a handshake.

But Sion didn’t take that hand.

“You have nothing to lose. You’re just knowing in advance what you’ll experience anyway. It’s entirely up to you whether to use it or not.”

The man added as Sion was wary. Still, Sion couldn’t readily accept it.

Passing on memories?

Memories are experiences. And experiences are the foundation that constitutes a human.

So Sion didn’t want to receive it. He didn’t want to inherit the basis of that man’s bizarre emotions and emulate that appearance.

As Sion refused to take his hand, the man calmly said.

“You’ll need it now that you have to fight Amanesser with a clear mind. My memories of killing that dragon.”

At those words, Sion suddenly recalled. The form of Amanesser in his hazy memory. That existence that choked him just by recalling it.

As the man said, now Sion had to face it with his own will. But that was something a human couldn’t do in their right mind.

“Come on, we really don’t have time now.”

The man reached out his hand again. Conflicted by that lukewarm urging, Sion finally grasped the man’s hand.

At that moment, the man pulled Sion’s body up in one breath.

He raised the boy with his strong arm and whispered quietly in his ear.

“Go to Ibi right away tomorrow. Meet her and let her know who I am. And reassure her. Because I, couldn’t tell her anything.”

The man said in a low voice.

Sion reflexively tried to back away from the too-close distance. But the man held Sion more firmly and entreated.

“Don’t send someone else, go yourself. Don’t let Tienda notice Ibi’s existence. Especially prevent them from approaching from the tower.”

Sion couldn’t properly understand these words. But the man, believing that Sion would soon know everything, continued speaking without context.

“Now it can’t be reversed or started again. It’s the last chance. So, this time, protect her until the very end.”

With his chin resting on Sion’s shoulder, hiding his face like that, the man’s voice was desperate. And earnest.

So Sion, unable to bear it anymore, pushed the man away.

“I don’t know about that.”

Then he desperately drew a line.

“I’ll repay the debt, but don’t expect more than that. I’m not you, and that woman has nothing to do with me, don’t pass it on to me.”

Sion couldn’t stand the sight of the man pleading.

When did he smile like a mask, when did he nonchalantly step on him, and now suddenly begging, Sion could hardly bear the man’s precariousness and servility.

Sion didn’t want to admit that he was such a weak, crumbling human.

So when he pushed the man away, a large hand came back. And the moment he realized it, his throat was being choked.

“Kuk!”

As the man grabbed his neck, Sion struggled in shock. But the already exhausted boy couldn’t shake off the man’s grip.

The man whispered while holding Sion’s neck.

“I don’t want to pass it on either.”

“Let go of this…!”

“Do you know how I feel? I’d rather kill you. I want to kill you, forcibly create an empty space, and meet again. Even now, I want to do it right away, but…”

“Ugh!”

In the meantime, Sion barely shook off the hand. Then he raised his head in anger, and froze again.

“…Because I’ve already failed.”

The man groaning like that was crying. Really, unfittingly, he was quietly shedding tears with a face that had lost everything.

Sion finally realized then.

That this man was jealous of him.

Unlike him who now has to disappear, me who still has a chance, who can meet that someone again, he terribly envies and hates me.

Realizing this, Sion wanted to cry too.

To think he was jealous of himself, to have gone mad to this extent, leaving not even a bottom.

That man was the most tyrannical, twisted, and base being among everything Sion knew.

Disgusting and detestable, but he couldn’t turn away or hate him.

He too was Sion Laurel.

.

.

.

There’s a saying in the northern part of Bis: ‘When you see an incompetent person, first look for similarities with yourself.’

In other words, when you meet an unworthy human, reflect on whether you might have such flaws yourself.

For Sion, that man was exactly the counterpart fitting that northern saying.

Five years ago, at that time, Sion vowed. That he would never become like you.

So Sion fulfills his duty even today.

Although it’s unbearably tedious, although he wants to throw it away right now, while cursing all sorts of things, he clings to his role and duty.

Because he doesn’t want to become like that person. Because he wants to prove that he is different from that person.

That was also the reason why he spent the night at the edge of the continent where there was nothing.

Dawn was breaking.

It was time to shatter the typhoon.