Academy’s Genius Swordmaster

281. Savior (7)

#281

“…Abel?”

Cain unknowingly spat out. The boy in front of him looked so much alike that he could believe he was a twin. The sniffling boy grabbed his collar and asked.

“brother. I’m cold.”

“What the hell is this… not. Now wait a minute…!”

Cain hurriedly took off his coat and put it on the boy. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t turn away from the child who was thrown into this cold. The boy in the overcoat flapped his surplus sleeve and said.

“The clothes are so big…sniffly. And it’s still cold.”

“That’s right. Be patient. I’ll warm you up right away.”

Strangely, I didn’t feel the cold even after taking off my coat. Cain took the boy’s hand and settled in the ruins, where the walls and roof remained to act as windbreaks.

He built a campfire using scrap materials and whale oil. The boy sitting across from Cain with the bonfire in the middle laughed.

“Hey, it’s warm. Thanks bro.”

“It’s nothing, but well…but let’s ask one thing.”

“huh?”

“…Who are you?”

Cain asked. It was too big a problem to overcome. The boy, who had put his hands together and blew, tilted his head.

“Why are you asking such a thing all of a sudden?”

“Just answer me. Do you…do you know what my name is?”

“It’s really strange today bro. It’s Cain.”

“……!”

Cain’s eyes widened. He hadn’t told the boy his name yet. It was getting more and more difficult to figure out what was what.

“Then what is your name?”

“Abel. brother. Are you really okay?”

“How…then what about mom? What’s your father’s name?!”

Cain got up from his seat excitedly. The terrified boy shrugged. He answered Cain’s ensuing questions in a trembling voice and didn’t say anything wrong. Cain, who slowly backed away, muttered to himself.

“This… this is nonsense.”

“I’m so scared hyung… I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“no. Something is wrong with this…!”

My head was dizzy. The intense pain was gone, but a new sensation was engulfing her body. It felt like something other than blood was flowing through my veins. Cain, who had been washing his face dry several times, spurred on the ruins and ran out.

“no!”

“brother! Where?!”

The boy cried out, but Cain did not answer. The bright starlight was still pouring overhead. He started running toward the pit he had fallen into.

‘After I fell into that puddle.’

Cain’s thoughts were spinning hundreds of times faster than usual. He came to the conclusion that all the mysterious things that happened to him happened after he fell into the giant’s blood. Even the thought of wanting to go back right before drowning.

The pit was still gaping in the center of town. Cain stopped in front of him. Even though I ran for a long time with all my strength, I couldn’t breathe.

‘I want to go there once again.’

Thinking so, Cain closed his eyes. It was the same procedure as when returning to the village. Soon the wind died down. He opened his eyes three seconds later and sighed.

“…oh my god.”

Cain was in the puddle he had fallen into. The giant was still stuck in the ice wall. The blue blood was still bubbling and steaming like hot spring water.

‘What I wanted came true.’

It seemed like he knew something. Cain hoped to return to the village again. This time, he didn’t close his eyes. Then, the surrounding landscape twisted as if it were crumbling, and a ruined village unfolded before my eyes.

When he imagined the puddle again, he returned to his original position. I wished I had a fishing rod, and this time the same fishing rod I had drawn in my head appeared out of the air. Having concluded, Cain clenched his fists tightly.

“With this ability. Mom and Dad too…!”

I couldn’t believe it when I did it. What was hoped for came true. The boy claiming to be Abel must have been the embodiment of his wish to see his younger brother.

There was no need to hesitate any longer. Taking a deep breath, Cain pictured the restored village and his parents warmly welcoming him. It was the moment when he opened his closed eyes.

“also…!”

He was standing in the middle of a perfectly intact town. Tears streamed down Cain’s cheeks, overflowing with emotion. The large pit disappeared completely, and friendly streets and buildings took its place.

“mom! dad!”

The strange kid who claimed to be his younger brother had long been erased from his mind. Cain ran home without even thinking to wipe away his tears. My father would tease me that a grown man sucks, but that didn’t matter anyway.

From today on, I will never lie. Whenever I think of unfamiliar words like I love you or I like you, I will do it right away. bang! Cain arrived at the front door and opened the door. His eyes widened.

“…uh?”

There was no one inside the building. Dad’s harpoon, mother’s rocking chair, and even the firewood burning in the fireplace were still intact, but the parents were nowhere to be seen.

“There’s no way this could happen…?”

Noticing how quiet the surroundings were, Cain stepped out of the house. Not only passers-by, but also the sled dogs and reindeer that brought life to the village were nowhere to be seen.

I checked the houses one by one, but none were occupied. Suddenly, an ominous thought passed through Cain’s mind.

‘Could it be that the dead can’t be revived?’

Breathing became rough and a cold sweat broke out. It couldn’t be. It shouldn’t have happened. What he casually said about going fishing shouldn’t be the last conversation he had with his family.

‘okay. It’s not enough blood.’

Cain, who was breathing heavily, snapped his fingers. He immediately used his wish to return to the pool. He knelt down and murmured softly.

“Wait. Because I will save you.”

Cain scooped up the giant’s blood with both hands. The liquid dripping from the inside of his palm was shining in a color not found on the ground. As soon as I took a sip, a burning pain hit my esophagus.

“Oooh…!”

It was different from when I was drinking unconsciously and unknowingly. But I couldn’t stop. He scooped up the blood with his hand and drank it, but then he shut his mouth and began to gulp.

Every time the giant’s blood trickled down his throat, his senses grew sharper. After drinking until he couldn’t drink any more, Cain closed his eyes and prayed.

please return it

****

“…Looks like it didn’t work out after all.”

said Ronan. It was because the savior who was talking in the middle of the story suddenly shut up. Behind his eyes resembling the sunset, the scenery of the day when everything started and ended was being reproduced.

The house is empty no matter how many times you pray. The indescribable taste of blue blood. In the end, a boy screams while sitting at the entrance of a village where no one can be saved and only the buildings remain intact. The savior nodded.

“okay. No matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work. To bring the dead back to life.”

“Damn it. Then what is that Abel guy? He was dead, but he appeared alive.”

“I don’t know. I’ve lived for an immeasurable number of years, but only Abel survived with this ability.”

The savior twitched his lips. He eventually accepted Abel as his own brother.

In fact, he knew that he was just a suspicious boy who called himself his younger brother, but he had no time to argue with Cain, who had lost everything.

“Since then, I have traveled all over the world with Abel. Until that day when I was stabbed in the back on a cliff. Now that I think about it, we’ve been together for a really long time.”

“It sounds boring. Come to think of it, father, he drank the blood of a giant. Even so, how did a guy named Abel live so long?”

“I do not know. Abel is not old or sick like me. At some point, he suddenly started using the power of a giant. As if it were an alter ego born from my body.”

The savior explained that he did not know Abel’s identity. People who reached the pinnacle of technology in the past developed a biological cloning technology called ‘clone’, but they said that they could not reproduce the original object to this extent. Ronan shrugged his eyebrows.

“Couldn’t he secretly drink the blood of a giant too?”

“no. Abel doesn’t know. No one knows except you and me. I was young at the time, but I knew at least that this power was dangerous.”

said the savior. He said that everyone, including Abel and Elsia, did not know about this place. He hid it deep inside the original body, but he said he was able to keep it a secret because he hoped that this place would not be discovered.

No matter how many times I heard it, it was a fraudulent ability. Suddenly wondering, Ronan asked a question.

“But why did you help people through such hardships when you have such ridiculous abilities? Wouldn’t it be over if we prayed for peace without having to create a religious order?”

“Even if this seems omnipotent, it is not necessarily so. There are clear limits, you can’t kill or revive creatures, and if you overuse it, you’ll get sick and fall into a long sleep. At least for decades of sleep.”

The savior smiled bitterly. He told an anecdote about how he once used his powers to preserve a country that was supposed to perish, and then fell asleep for nearly a hundred years. I added that when I woke up, the country was destroyed.

“her.”

Ronan chuckled. Certainly, as powerful as it was, the side effects were serious. The savior who got off Ronan’s back continued.

“And that’s the power Erill inherited from me.”

“yes?”

“The power to make your wishes come true. It’s one of the most powerful abilities I’ve gotten from drinking blood. Even Abel, who can copy most of what I do, could not copy this power.”

The savior’s voice became serious. Ronan’s eyes widened. Suddenly, the memory of the mental world that I saw at the time of Haeju in the past flashed through my mind. The savior had put a far greater amount of curses on Iril than on himself.

“There must have been a reason you cursed your sister.”

“okay. It was to keep Abel from finding out, but it was also to prevent him from using the desired power unknowingly and wasting his lifespan. However, even if you try to suppress it by casting twenty curses, it will gradually affect those around you.”

The savior groaned. He asserted that it was thanks to her ability that Ronan and Irill did not suffer any change while growing up.

The kind-hearted Iril prayed for people’s goodness, peace, and happiness for his younger brother, and it came true. Until Ronan bumps into Nebula Klage in earnest and gets caught up in his fate.

“If so, the dog kidnapped his sister …!”

“okay. You noticed my daughter’s strength. I’m sure he will use it to achieve his own disgusting goals.”

The savior’s voice lowered. Ronan almost grabbed the hilt of the sword because of the killing spree that spewed out in an instant. From the stiff forehead, there was no trace of remnant until now.

“A foolish younger brother always wraps his words around evolution and opening new horizons. But to explain the truth simply…”

The savior dragged his horse. The identity of ‘The Descent of the Star’, which had been heard countless times while messing with Nebula Clazie, was about to be revealed. Finally he spoke.

“They’re trying to kill everyone living on this planet and have them absorbed by the giants. A soul in a body.”