I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 227

* * *

Bang! Dana immediately fired her gun. One man’s head bursts open. The man beside him, startled, turned toward her. But by then, Dana had already fired again. Bang!

 

Ah, damn. She had aimed for his head, but the bullet struck his back, making him collapse. It must have been a fatal blow because he fell and didn’t get up. Dana let out a breath of relief. Either way, both of them were down.

 

What the, that was easy. Thank goodness. Her shooting skills weren’t as rusty as she’d feared. I hesitated for nothing. If she had known it would be this easy, she wouldn’t have wasted time worrying and would have just acted right away.

 

Lowering her gun, Dana hurried toward the barn to save the boy. It was at that moment.

 

“…!”

 

A sharp, intense pain pierced her shoulder. Hot, sharp, and cold all at once.

 

“What are you?” Behind her, a man who had stabbed her shoulder with a knife muttered. “Aha, look who it is. The famous Dana.”

 

“Ugh—”

 

“If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have coated the blade with poison.”

 

There was another kidnapper? Dana tried to raise her gun, but another hand lunged in from the side and snatched it away.

 

“What a scary woman.”

 

There wasn’t just one more.

 

“She killed two of them in an instant. See, this is why you can’t trust a woman just by her face.”

 

Three men approached, surrounding her. The knife pulled from her shoulder sent a fresh wave of pain through her vision. Damn it. It hurts.

 

“What should we do? That’s a lethal poison. She’ll be dead soon, right?”

 

And as the poison began to spread, strength drained completely from her legs.

 

“This works out. She saw our faces, after all.”

 

“Yeah. If the church leader hears about this, it’ll get annoying.”

 

“Let’s just kill her.”

 

Their voices buzzed in her ears like a swarm of bees.

 

“But it’d be a waste to kill her just like this.”

 

“Drag her into the barn first.”

 

“Let’s draw her blood at least. And then…”

 

She felt dizzy. Her vision twisted, and her stomach churned.

 

Ah. When she came to, Dana was lying inside the barn, right in front of the boy tied to the post. She couldn’t see the boy’s expression. Maybe she should have just ignored it. With just a single gun, what kind of meddling was I thinking, trying to save him…?

 

Dana didn’t remember what happened next or how much time had passed. She knew she was being tortured. But the poison was so strong that her mind was clouded. Maybe it was for the best.

 

“Dana!”

 

She was blinking repeatedly when she saw that man’s face.

 

“No, Dana, stay with me!”

 

Rodrigo? She saw Rodrigo, desperately looking at her through blurred vision.

 

“Yes, you’re finally awake!”

 

What the? When did he get here? Why is he crying like that?

 

Rodrigo was crying, his face a mess, tears streaming down his cheeks. But what was he doing right now?

 

“What are you standing around for?! Take Dana and treat her, now!” Rodrigo shouted orders to the paladins, his hands trembling as he held onto Dana. “Save her! Do whatever it takes to save Dana!”

 

Only then did Dana notice that his trembling hands were soaked in blood. And that the kidnappers were sprawled around as corpses.

 

Thank goodness. He must’ve come after hearing the gunshots. At least the boy wasn’t kidnapped.

 

As she was lifted onto a paladin’s back, Dana looked over and saw the freed boy’s face. She flinched. The boy’s gaze was strange. Was he crying? No. Was he worried? No. Was he grateful? Not that either. Then what was that look? It was bizarre, like an endless green black hole… Scary. Even at a moment like this, it sent chills down her spine.

 

Hey, why are you looking at the person who tried to save you like that?

 

The moment she blinked, darkness swallowed her.

 

* * *

Rodrigo couldn’t understand. Why, why? Why did Dana go this far? He vented his rage at his grandson.

 

“Dana sacrificed herself to save a worthless brat like you! You, of all people!”

 

“Indeed.”

 

His anger boiled over. That brat didn’t even consider it an honor!

 

“It was a pointless thing to do,” Viego spoke expressionlessly. “I wouldn’t have minded dying.”

 

“…”

 

“So why did she intervene and get hurt for nothing?”

 

“Exactly. I agree with you, you little brat!”

 

Rodrigo’s insides boiled. Suppressing the urge to kill his grandson, he looked down at Dana’s face as she lay in a coffin filled with holy water. A face he knew far too well, eyes closed. What if she never opens her eyes again? The fear overwhelmed him, tears spilling down his cheeks.

 

Just then, a priest approached. “Church Leader, you must depart for the Ice Lake now for the ritual in two days.”

 

“I… can’t go now.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

Nothing was more important than Dana. Until she opened her eyes, he couldn’t go anywhere.

 

“You all go ahead first.”

 

“What about you, Church Leader…?”

 

Rodrigo sighed. “Bring out the mirror.”

 

“The mirror?”

 

“Yes. The ancient relic that leads to the Ice Lake. Get it ready. When Dana wakes, then I’ll open the mirror’s door and go.”

 

If Dana were reflected in that mirror, the door to the Ice Lake would open. In other words, he was declaring that he wouldn’t go anywhere until Dana was revived.

 

“Please.” Rodrigo clasped Dana’s hand, pressing kiss after kiss to the back of it. “My goddess, please don’t leave me like this…”

 

* * *

Dana regained consciousness two days later, on June 5th.

 

“She’s still not awake.”

 

“This is serious.”

 

However, it wasn’t her body that had awakened. Dana regained consciousness in her soul form.

 

Wow, I almost died. Floating in the air, Dana looked down at Danawin’s body. Her body was teetering on the brink of death, so it had rejected her soul. She tried to go back in, but Danawin’s body still didn’t have enough life force to accept her soul. That’s why she kept getting bounced out. The other bodies submerged in tanks were the same. None were ready to accept a soul yet.

 

Should she just wait like this? But it’s June 5th. The date Yustio had mentioned. There was no time wasted. If only I had a body, I could go to the Ice Lake right now.

 

In a corner of the lab stood a tall mirror. It was the ancient relic Rodrigo had brought out.

 

…But why is that body out?

 

One of Dana’s bodies lay on a surgical table, outside of the tank. But it was a girl. About five or six years old. The body of young Dana was lying on the table. Could it be finished and taken out already?

 

Well, let’s give it a try.

 

No one was in the lab. Even Rodrigo, who had stayed by Dana’s side, had just stepped out.

 

Dana slipped into the girl’s body. Ah, it works! Thankfully, the body didn’t reject her soul and accepted it. It’s done!

 

And then, when she opened her eyes—

 

“Waaah.”

 

Gasp! Dana clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the cry from bursting out. Her eyes darted around. Oh no, why do I suddenly want to cry?

 

Hicc, hicc. Dana choked back the sobs. But that wasn’t all. She was hungry. Hungry! She wanted strawberry candy! No, get a grip! Was it because she was in a girl’s body? Her mind was becoming childlike too.

 

Dana barely clung to her rationality. Then she hopped off the table and stood before the mirror. Wow. I really am a girl. A little girl with snow-white hair falling to her shoulders, sky-blue eyes brimming with tears, cheeks soft like kneaded dough. I’m ridiculously cute…

 

The moment she touched the mirror, flash! Bright light poured out from the mirror, revealing a completely different scene. It really is the passage to the Ice Lake.

 

Beyond the mirror, she saw the frozen blue Ice Lake. Beside it stood a statue of the ancestor. Windsor’s ancestor, who had become a sealing stone. The ancestor covered his face with both hands. It looked like he was crying, or hiding his face. And the ritual had already begun.

 

“O great ancestor of Windsor! Having completed over two hundred years of guardianship, please return to the mortal world!”

 

Around the ancestor, priests were performing the ritual to unseal the stone.

 

“Throw Carl Windsor into the lake!”

 

At the signal, a priest stood up and tossed a black mummy into the lake.

 

Dana watched anxiously from beyond the mirror. They said they would purify him in that lake, then turn him into a sealing stone. They’d probably keep him submerged for a long time to prevent resistance, until he lost consciousness almost to the point of drowning.

 

It’s okay. Carl will come back up.

 

However…

 

He’s not coming up! What if the future really changes and he dies because of me?!

 

Dana, unable to stand it, grabbed a scalpel from the table and jumped through the mirror. I have to save him! As a reward, she wanted a strawberry candy—no! Focus!

 

Dana ran as fast as she could, driven only by the thought that she couldn’t let Carl die like that. Fortunately, the priests were busy chanting the unsealing spell and didn’t notice her. Little Dana ran into the Ice Lake to save Carl.

 

Ah, right! I can’t swim! But she was good at sinking! Dana sank down toward the black mummy, flailing her limbs to catch up. She used the scalpel to cut the cloth wrapped around his face. The black bandages unraveled, revealing green eyes. He was smiling.

 

Eek, scary! He’s smiling while drowning! Terrified, choking on water, on the verge of tears, Dana flailed her small limbs desperately and kept cutting the bandages.

 

It was the next moment. The boy’s hand, freed from the bandages, seized her cheek.

 

Yes! His hands are finally free! Now let’s swim up. However…

 

Squish, squish.

 

What the?

 

Squish, squish, squish.

 

What is he doing…?

 

Blub, bubbles escaped Dana’s mouth.