185 – single-minded
Serena came out of her thoughts.
My body was very comfortable. I could no longer hear the pain from my limbs that had been crushed just before, or the screams from my overworked muscles.
‘I… … Is it dead?’
I thought so at first, but immediately changed my mind. yes, he might be dead Serena didn’t just come up with that idea and see it, but there was another reason why she thought that way.
The excruciating pain that spread throughout his body just a moment ago had disappeared as if it had been washed away, and he was left abandoned in an unknown place.
Generally speaking, it was more reasonable to say that they died and fell into the afterlife.
However, the reason Serena changed her mind was the warmth and comfort that covered her entire body. It was clear that this was a feeling he would never have felt had he died.
That warmth and comfort that was transmitted when you were facing your master next to him. If he died and fell into hell, there was no way he would feel the same sensation as he did back then.
The last thing she remembered was Olivia swinging a greatsword at herself right before she severed her finger, after which she lost consciousness while listening to the small pulsation of her soul.
That was the last Serena remembered. I had no idea where I was, what I was doing, or why I was here. All I could see was a pure white landscape.
So Serena walked blindly. As soon as my feet touched, as my legs moved, I walked blindly. The direction didn’t matter. There was no destination. was only walking.
No matter how much I walked, the background did not change at all. Only the same scenery was repeated all over. A pure white and a pure white place. It was a space where ordinary people would lose their minds and go crazy.
It was white for Serena, though it wasn’t the ideal impression.
‘… … .’
No matter how much she moved her legs, a run-down house came into Serena’s eyes.
It was embarrassing to even call it a house, a hut made of sloppy weaving of old boards.
Serena’s eyes were filled with memories as she stared at the building. Serena knew this house. I had to know, I had to remember. I never forgot or forgot.
This was Serena’s only resting place, a place where she could put down everything she was carrying on her back and rest, because it was the house where Serena and her mother lived together.
I recklessly stepped out. Serena didn’t know why she was doing this. For some reason, I felt strongly that I had to go there. And besides that building, there was nowhere else to go.
The closer we got to the house, the more it was revealed that even the word “horrible” would not be enough. When it rained, the water flowed down through the ceiling, or the hole through which the wind leaked in between the wooden boards.
It was a time that could not be called good even with empty words, but it was still a memory I spent with my mother. Serena bit her lip and walked towards the door.
I pushed forward with my hands as relaxed as possible, fearing that I might break the bundle of boards made by clumsily weaving discarded wooden boards together. With creaks and sounds, I could see the interior of the house through the open planks.
As soon as she entered the building, the nasty smell and all sorts of nasty smells stimulated Serena’s nose. All of them were smells that I shouldn’t have at home, but I was used to it for a long time, so I just put up with it.
The first thing that entered the blue wall was a girl sitting in a daze on a worn-out bed.
A lot of messy hair and tangled skin, cute bracken-like hands and skinny limbs. Clothes frayed and no longer seem to have a place to lean with a needle.
“you…….”
That girl was Serena from the past. Serena in the days when she couldn’t see any hope, so she was in a hurry to endure each day, and when she opened her eyes, she prayed that her mother would be alive.
Serena looked up, wondering whether she heard footsteps coming into the house or for some other reason. The two pairs of blue eyes stared at each other.
It was clear blue eyes that were in extreme contrast with the body that was twisted in the dirty surroundings.
“How did you get here?”
It was a question that was full of emotions, which was tactless and with no manners, but Serena did not answer. When I heard that voice, I was speechless.
“I won’t answer you, right? Then I don’t have anything to say. In the first place, this is a place you shouldn’t even come. So just go back.”
At first, I was going to go back with those words. Because I didn’t want to bother Serena from the past. However, I had a strong feeling that something wasn’t going to happen.
So Serena decided to insist.
“……Why?”
“What?”
Serena’s expression, which was beckoning to go back as if it was really annoying, was dazed for a moment at Serena’s question why she had to do that, and then immediately became stern.
“Didn’t you hear? This is a place you’re not supposed to come to? Go back quickly!”
“You haven’t answered the question of why you’re here yet. And, there’s no reason for me to go back.”
“profit……!”
Serena’s face turned bright red and her body trembled, then jumped off the bed and ran to Serena making a do-do-doo noise and punched her.
“Go! Go! This is a place you shouldn’t be!”
It seemed like he was punching with force in his own way, but it didn’t hurt Serena at all. It was natural. Serena at this time was very weak because she had been subjected to all sorts of abuse.
There was no way that the Serena of those days would hurt, no matter how hard she hit the current Serena, who was close to the peak of the kingdom.
“Hehehehehehehehehe…”
The punching continued for a long time, but in the end, the one who had been hitting the man, gasping for breath, went back to the bed and lay down on it casually.
Serena followed Serena and sat down on the bed. The bed was hard, and the thin duvet that hadn’t been washed for a long time smelled disgusting.
“You uh… hehe, go back… why, you… won’t listen…!”
“I told you. You haven’t explained why I came here yet, and there’s no reason to go back.”
“Ah really!”
Serena’s annoyance slammed Serena’s arm. Then, after braving himself for a while, he glared at Serena with sullen eyes, as if he had calmed down a bit.
“……Really, if I tell you why, will you go?”
“If I’m convinced.”
“Yeah, okay. Got it! Just tell me, tell me!”
Serena’s mouth protruded and mumbled, then opened her mouth casually as if to spit it out.
“This is where your lingering feelings are gathered.”
“……Are you lingering?”
Serena narrowed her eyes. Serena nodded.
“Yes. Regret.”
“What are you lingering for?”
“For everything that has happened in your life.”
“…”
Even after hearing that, Serena didn’t understand at all. Serena, who checked the question-filled face, sighed.
“If you don’t understand, just leave. There’s no need to try to understand, and there’s no reason to. There’s nothing good about staying here for long. All you’ll get is a lot of strange negative effects.”
“…it can’t be.”
“Why again this time?! You really want me to hold onto you and explain?! I can’t do that!”
“I have to save my lord.”
At those words, Serena, who was whimpering with her fern-like hands and tried to get Serena up from the bed, stopped moving.
“No, what the hell does that have to do with saving that person and you holding out that you won’t get out of here?”
“……I don’t know. It just felt like it should be like this.”
Serena answered honestly. Hearing that, Serena got frustrated and grumbled, “What kind of answer is that?”
“My lord is suffering because of my ugliness. If I had been a little better, if I had worked a little harder, he wouldn’t have done that. If I had been stronger, he wouldn’t have done that. I, I…”
When she heard a mutter of self-loathing with her head bowed down, Serena, who saw it, let out another deep sigh, which she didn’t know how many times.
“Hey, hey!”
Wow, Serena slapped Serena on the cheek. It didn’t hurt, but Serena lifted her head in surprise at the hot motion and sound.
Right in front of my eyes was Serena’s face as a child, with an expression of absurdity.
“I’m only going to say this once, so listen up, you idiot. I’m not here to listen to you wrathful self-hatred. I kept saying, the longer you stay here, the worse it gets. I’m left with you. ?Do you think it would be better for people to fall into lingering regrets?Isn’t it?You couldn’t come here in the first place.You shouldn’t have come. , really.”
It was like listening to a sermon from a kid younger than herself, but Serena quietly lowered her eyes and kept her mouth shut. Because there was nothing wrong with that statement.
“So, if you’re going to be in a daze here, just get out.”
Serena’s finger pointed at the battered door. Serena bowed her head and handed her an apology.
“sorry…….”
“It’s enough to know. Ugh, Hou-dae is fine, but why is he still like that on the inside?”
“I…….”
“Oh, wait. If you’re going to do something like that again, lord, just be quiet. I know enough about your lord.”
“You know?!”
Serena groaned and jumped up. Then Serena flinched as if she was startled, then frowned as if it was embarrassing.
“Ai-san, be surprised. Your voice gets louder. Hey, you. Do you think that lingering feelings are only negative?”
“…?”
“Confessions that couldn’t be said, love that had to be hidden, love that couldn’t be fulfilled. Well, these are all regrets. No matter how positive emotions are, if they don’t come true, they will all remain regrets. I was created from those regrets. . Because all of those things remain inside me.”
“…”
“Do you love your lord?”
At Serena’s stone fastball, Serena cautiously blushed. Seeing that, Serena said, “You’re a very girl, you’re a girl.” He clicked his tongue.
“I have one question for you. Why are you fighting?”
“Because, that’s for the sake of the lord…”
“Not that, you duntan.”
Serena fed chestnuts to Serena’s head. It didn’t hurt. Rather, the one who hit me was holding my hand and grumbling about how hard my head was.
“Do you think you asked to hear the answer I gave you without thinking? Wake up. You still have room to become stronger. How you realize that is up to you.”
“…”
“Looking at how some of your lingering feelings disappeared a while ago, I think you’ve become quite strong. But, isn’t that enough? Because it’s not enough, because there’s still room for you to become stronger, you put your face in a place like this. Isn’t it?”
shut up It was. Even though Serena reached the point where she could cut things that couldn’t be cut, cutting away human actions and concepts, in the end, she failed to defeat that bitch.
I had to become stronger. I had to develop my strength to the point where I could kill that bitch. That’s how you get your master back. That was Serena’s wish and hope.
“So, I have to answer this question all the more.”
Serena poked Serena’s forehead with her index finger. As soon as he did, his consciousness flickered, and the world he had been living in began to crumble.
There was no time to panic. My consciousness sank to the bottom of my heart, and my eyes closed. Before Serena’s eyes completely closed, Serena asked one last question.
“What is ‘Serena Elizabeth’ fighting for?”
The soul that was immersed in the bottom of consciousness has fully bloomed.
Serena opened her eyes.
Serena, Serena Elizabeth, tightly gripped the wind shear that was on the verge of falling to the floor due to its loosened grip.
As consciousness awakened to reality, the recoil came. My right arm, which was horribly broken, ached like crazy, and my right heel, which had been cut off, throbbed.
The pain didn’t matter.
I closed my eyes again. Then, he recalled the question he had asked in his mind. What is Serena Elizabeth fighting for?
Of course, it was for the master. That determination and commitment will never change. That has never changed, and it is an absolute truth that will never change.
However, that was the reason Serena fought as the ‘lord’s loyal knight’. It was different from the answer I was looking for. It wasn’t such a simple question that his own lingering questions were asking.
That was the question of what the hell Serena Elizabeth was fighting for. The purpose that Serena Elizabeth pursues as a woman before being a knight of her lord.
Serena thought. why you fought Why do you crave power so much? The reason why you have to become stronger. all those things.
The answer was already decided.
For love.
For the one and only love that a woman named Serena Elizabeth desires, longs for, yearns for, and longs for. It was the only reason he fought.
I picked up the wind shear and took a stance. An action in which the legs are spread shoulder-width apart, the hands are stretched out in a straight line, gathered in front of the ship, and the sword is aimed at an angle.
The most basic, most basic posture. A posture in which the pivotal foot is stepped forward, the sword is raised above the head, and then struck down vertically.
In that posture, Serena put affection.
The affection that wants to continue to see you even if you are watching, wants to make whatever you want come true, and wants to give everything you can.
It contained love.
The shy flower-like love that I had to reveal only slightly because I had to give my allegiance, which I couldn’t bear to convey directly.
contained happiness.
Even just looking at them from the side puts a smile on their lips, and when their eyes meet, the happiness welling up in their hearts is uncontrollable.
Thank you.
Thank you for guiding me, for saving me from that hell, for making me feel all these emotions.
And, it contained love.
A huge love with confidence that will not be pushed back compared to anyone else in the world.
It brought those feelings together. recalled in my mind. I thought of all the causalities that exist, the spaces connected to those causalities, and all the things that form the basis of the world.
For now, it wasn’t a matter of being able to cut them or not. It was a question of how to cut. The rugged things that were one dimension beyond concepts were no longer fictitious.
He raised his arms above his head.
There was no technique or skill in the movement made now. Just raising your arms, holding your posture, taking a step forward, and striking it vertically, an action so simple and clear.
“Serena Ryu.”
Until now, there was no school named serenade. It was because Serena wasn’t particularly obsessed with the creation of swordsmanship, and there was no reason to create her own school.
But this was a technology that no one else in the world had devised, could not conceive of, and could not use. So, it had to be the school created by Serena.
“Oui(澳義).”
A strange school with only one caster and only one skill.
The name of the first and last technique was whispered quietly between Serena’s lips.
“Single-mindedness.”
The wind shear moved.