I’m Not a Regressor - Chapter 264

Chapter 264: Snowy Fields (4)

“Why are you...?” Kasia gave Ohjin, who’d transformed into a black cloud, a confused look. “N-no... there’s no way. Y-you’re a fake... yeah. There’s no way you’re the real Heavenly Demon.”

Kasia shook and took a step back, her eyes wide in shock as she reached up and put her hands on either side of her head. The light from the black jewel embedded in her forehead shook. “...I have to kill him.”

Crack—

She bared her teeth as she raised her staff. Shadows spread as she slammed her staff into the ground and created something reminiscent of a black lake. Larger snakes crept out of it. If the snakes that had risen from the shadows so far were the size of rattlesnakes, the new ones were the size of anacondas.

It would not be strange if such snakes were able to swallow a person whole. The snakes flicked their tongues and surrounded Ohjin.

“Shadow snakes...” The bells on Kasia’s staff rang, and she pointed the weapon at Ohjin. “Swallow that liar.”

Shhhk, shhhk—!

The shadowy snakes shot forward like bullets. Ohjin bowed low, stuck out his right arm—which had regenerated during Heaven Unfolding—and turned it into a dark cloud. The serpents’ wide-open mouths latched onto his forearm, and their fangs dug deep into him.

“Keuk?!” He had thought that, since neither physical nor magical attacks worked on the clouds of the Black Heaven, the snakes’ fangs wouldn’t harm him, but he was wrong.

‘Their attacks work?’ Even though the fangs dug into the parts of his arm that were clouds, he still felt a dizzying pain spreading. Turning to look down at the fangs piercing his arm, he saw that the clouds of the Black Heaven had dispersed like ink.

“As expected, you are a fake.” Kasia smiled brightly. Seeing that her attack had worked, she seemed more certain as she swung her staff.

Ring, ring—

Following the clear sound of bells, snakes leaped at Ohjin.

“Ohjin!” Isabella cried out.

“It’s fine.” Ohjin lightly waved at Isabella as she tried to approach and observed the snakes’ movements. ‘Heavenly Unfolding doesn’t work.’ Usually, when he used Heaven Unfolding, all the senses of his ‘enemy’ disappeared, one by one. Maybe it was because the snakes were mere summons, but it didn’t work on them in the same way.

‘Then...’ He turned to Kasia and shot a dark cloud toward her.

“Oh, are you aiming at me?” Kasia smiled as if she had been expecting it.

Crack—!

A shadowy snake bit Ohjin’s arm again, and its fangs penetrated an area of his form that hadn’t transformed yet. A dizzying shot up his arm, but he could not afford to scream.

Kzzzzt—!

Black lightning burned the attacking snake’s body, and Ohjin leaped away from the rest of the snakes before they could surround him. Thankfully, one of the other features of Heaven Unfolding still worked, and he disappeared like a mist before quickly reappearing in front of Kasia.

"Ugh!" Had her senses started to disappear? Kasia frowned and faltered.

Ohjin reached out and gripped her neck.

Krruuuk—!

A dark cloud stretched out from his palm and began to devour her magic; the enormous mana absorbed through the Black Heaven spread throughout his body. No, it wasn't exactly mana.

Ti-ring—!

[Some of ‘Kasia Colagrande’s’ memories have been inherited.]

Memories passed through his head like a panorama. ‘This...?’ It had been a while since he obtained memories from someone other than Shinhyuk. He briefly stopped moving and focused on the memory flowing through his head.

In the memory, he saw a snowy garden and the image of a slender girl, crouched in a blizzard, shivering pitifully. A figure enshrouded in black clouds appeared in front of the girl.

'He's... the Heavenly Demon.' Ohjin examined the faint silhouette amidst the black clouds—all that he could confirm was that it was the silhouette of a person. The clouds were simply too thick for him to identify the person within.

“What a poor child.” The Heavenly Demon continued, stroking Kasia's bowed head. “To your family, the world, and your own fate...” Stars twinkled in the dark clouds. “I'll give you the Serpent.” Finally, the starlight from the dark clouds flowed into Kasia's body.

"Let... go...!" Kasia, who was being held by the throat, fiercely glared at Ohjin, hitting him with her staff and causing snakes to rise and wrap around him.

The snakes constricted, crushing him in their hold. "Keuk! Kuheuk!" He hurriedly turned himself into a dark cloud and escaped the snakes’ grasp.

Shaaaaa—!

The Heavenly Demon had stimulated that trauma and turned her into a puppet. For her, being ‘thrown away’ was a horror far worse than death. That being the case, there was only one thing he had to do...

"I will not abandon you," he said.

“What?" Kasia asked.

"I won’t abandon you." He slowly stroked her cheek as if touching a priceless treasure. "You are more precious than anyone else."

"I... am?"

"Yes."

Kasia's eyes shook. For her, who has been treated as ‘expendable’ for as long as she could remember, the word ‘precious’ felt too strange. "No... no." There was no way she could be precious. If that were the case, then she wouldn’t have been left alone in that snowy field. “I... don't deserve to be told that I'm precious."

"It's not you who decides."

"B-but I..." Memories flooded her mind, terrible nightmares.

-But it's still a relief.

She recalled that late night when her mother’s voice crept past an open door. Those words mixed with relief had turned her struggles to live into nothing. “N-no one... needed me.”

"I need you," Ohjin argued.

"Everyone... everyone left me alone!"

"I didn’t leave."

"For me... there's nothing."

"I am here." Ohjin gave her an unshakeable stare.

A moment passed...

Craa-aack—!

The black gem in her forehead cracked, and her empty eyes began to sparkle again with a beautiful emerald color. "Ah..." She let out a short exclamation and gave Ohjin a pale smile. "You're not... the Heavenly Demon." Kasia shook her head and looked sad. "The Heavenly Demon is not this kind."

“...” Had excessive kindness become poison instead? It was inevitable for Ohjin—he wasn't the real Heavenly Demon, he was just a con artist who acted like him. He couldn't be completely like the Heavenly Demon.

The true art behind being a con artist was making someone want to be tricked rather than directly tricking them. "Yes, as you say, I am not the Heavenly Demon." Ohjin nodded.

Kasia murmured, "As expected." Tears filled her eyes.

"Not yet, at least," Ohjin admitted.

"What does that mean?"

"What is the Heavenly Demon to you?"

In that endless stretch of snow, the only one who approached her had been the being who plucked the stars from the night sky for her. "He's my everything."

"Who's trying to manipulate you?" Ohjin pointed to the cracked gem lodged in her forehead. "The one who threatens to abandon you if you don't obey orders is your everything?"

“...”

The Heavenly Demon had made one mistake—what Kasia needed was not a constellation from the night sky. What the girl who was abandoned in the snowy field wanted was the warmth of a person who could melt the cold snow.

"Kasia." He wiped away the tears from her eyes. "I swear to you, no matter what, that I will not abandon you." He whispered, "I will never let you go through those cold, painful, lonely memories again. You are more important than anything else in the world."

He knew what the girl abandoned in the snowy field wanted to hear the most and whispered the words she’d been longing to hear for her entire life. Even if the whisper was just a sweet lie from a con man...

"I'll be your Heavenly Demon."

She couldn’t help but fall for it.