The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 29

The guardian spirit felt as if he was about to lose his reason.

Could this feeling be explained by the single word “anger”?

Though the neck had already returned to its original state, the man holding the one who had clearly died once was trembling at his fingertips as he glared at Deceiver. Unlike his pitifully trembling hands, his eyes were fierce—as if about to tear his opponent apart at any moment.

“[How dare you…]”

This child should not be treated like this. This child should not suffer like this. No matter how immortal, this was not a child who should be wasting his life meaninglessly like this.

This was a child who deserved to be held countless times over with endless apologies and pity—and yet this.

A voice seething with killing intent rumbled low from within his throat. His demonic green eyes blazed chillingly.

Deceiver, his irises contracted with rage, darkening part of the whites as he tracked the movements of the insignificant soul, twitched his brow.

“…How dare you?”

To me, of all people—”how dare you”?

He’d already been irritated. In the bathroom, he’d avoided the attack because he was focused on his enraged father, but even if he hadn’t dodged, that insignificant being couldn’t have scratched him.

That thing—dared to do that to me?

Before the emotions surging with overstepped bounds could settle, his still-hot anger shifted direction toward the guardian spirit.

Eventually, the whites of his eyes completely blackened, and within them crimson light flared up. A growling voice burst forth.

“For a mere specter who barely escaped punishment by sacrificing his younger brother…!”

“[…!]”

The demigod’s unleashed status bore down on the guardian spirit.

Whether it was because of what had just been said, or because of the demigod’s status, the guardian spirit, pale with shock, collapsed helplessly.

Yet even in that state, Raven refused to let go—and seeing him kneeling on one knee, determined to endure somehow, Deceiver let out a sharp, hollow laugh and took a step closer.

The pressure intensified.

“You should be grateful for your situation. If you weren’t keeping Father’s soul from escaping, you would have been destroyed by my hand long ago.”

“[…]”

Deceiver knew why a fragment-soul owner who had lost their fragment-soul could still walk around alive. That was why he’d shown mercy.

The very fact that a mere specter was attached to his father’s body was abhorrent—but if it wasn’t even playing that much of a role, he would have torn it out long ago.

“No, wait. Now that there’s a contract with death, perhaps tearing it out wouldn’t kill him either.”

His chilling gaze turned to the red jewel hanging around Raven’s neck.

With that choker, maybe even if he tore out the attached soul, he wouldn’t die. Thinking that, he closed the distance another step.

The guardian spirit’s physical form began to collapse, unable to maintain its shape. Yet Deceiver, gazing silently at those clear green eyes glaring at him without wavering, let out a sharp laugh and reached out his hand.

“Shall we test it out?”

“[…]”

He had to avoid it. Whether by dodging or deflecting, he had to keep that hand from touching him—but…

Pressed down to the limit, barely holding on, the guardian spirit could only glare at the approaching hand.

A black shadow fell over the guardian spirit’s head. The distance shrank, and just before the finger touched the insolent soul’s eye, a low voice rang out.

“Stop.”

“…I wasn’t serious.”

The crimson light faded. Deceiver obediently withdrew his hand.

“How could I possibly experiment with something involving Father’s life?”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

“You hurt my feelings by not trusting me.”

Raven didn’t bother answering and rose to his feet.

As he rotated his broken neck to check it, Deceiver’s voice, having regained his composure, continued. The black shadow that had completely covered the whites of his eyes had gathered back into his pupils, hiding the crimson light.

“More to the point, wouldn’t it be better for the guardian spirit to go back? I understand there’s a significant difference in karma between the guardian spirit intervening on its own volition and intervening in response to a summons.”

There was no way the guardian spirit would heed those words.

How could he leave, with the bastard who had just broken his charge’s neck right before his eyes? He merely glared at the opponent with fierce, upturned eyes—but Raven tapped his arm lightly.

Reading the meaning in that gesture, the guardian spirit looked down at the child in his arms. His cloudy gray eyes, bearing a resolute air, groped toward where his face would be.

“[…]”

The guardian spirit could not win against the child.

So, gritting his teeth, he obediently withdrew without adding another word—and at the same time, Raven began spitting up blood again. The cleanup he’d done in the bathroom was rendered meaningless in an instant.

“Are you all right?”

“If you disappeared from before my eyes.”

“You’re too harsh on your youngest disciple.”

“Do you think being the youngest is some kind of official title?”

That position could change at any time.

His low voice rumbled with displeasure, growling out the words. But more than that, the content of the words grated on him, so Deceiver revealed his crooked feelings openly and smirked.

“As if, Master. You won’t take on another disciple after me.”

Because of me.

I had a great influence on you. He was confident of that.

“…Nonsense.”

The unmistakable confidence was displeasing. Raven, having roughly wiped away the blood, scowled fiercely.

But only for a moment—a cold smile rose on his face. His cynical voice followed.

“You said you’d grant anything I wanted, didn’t you? That’s impossible.”

“…”

“I want you to die.”

The only regret was that he still hadn’t found a way to kill him.

The human from whom he might get advice was nowhere to be seen, and the proper demigod was in Esperanza—where he’d been forbidden to approach.

No, perhaps it was because of that demigod that he’d been forbidden from approaching Esperanza.

“And didn’t I tell you? You’re not my disciple anymore.”

“…Well.”

Just because he denied it didn’t mean what had already been learned would disappear—so he thought the position of master remained unchanged…

Sensing that pushing further would cause another incident, Deceiver stepped back.

“I’ll hear your answer to my proposal later.”

“My attitude didn’t exactly seem positive… If I have to spell it out for you, I refuse—”

“Ah, but there is one thing I’d like to say.”

Cutting Raven off, Deceiver smiled brightly at him.

“It was sincere—that I want you to live a long life.”

“…Right, sure.”

“…”

“What a useless thing to say.”

Whether sincere or not, whichever it was, nothing would change. What did that have to do with him anyway? Even if he wanted to live, the world was full of bastards who wouldn’t leave him alone.

And they were all formidable ones at that.

“Death, the world, and…”

One step, then another.

Raven approached Deceiver with a dry face, reciting certain existences. When the distance, which hadn’t been far to begin with, had completely closed—

“You.”

Thump.

A pale finger jabbed at the other’s chest.

“With this much, you understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

“…”

The black eyes looking down at Raven twisted. Along with it, his furrowed brow seemed rather pleasing—Raven’s eyes, holding demonic green, narrowed. He grinned and thrust his face right up to the other’s.

Between his slender eyes, his demonic-tainted eyes glowed clearly.

“You’re the one who’ll drag me into the abyss when I start wanting to live. Isn’t that right?”

That was a gaze directed at the ‘error-ridden demigod’ Deceiver.

∞ ∞ ∞

In the realm of the dead, only after confirming that Deceiver had vanished did the guardian spirit finally lower the head he’d been holding up.

Between the fingers covering his face, his coarse green eyes flickered with exhaustion, trembling as if about to shatter. Powerlessness consumed his soul and choked his breath.

Yes, powerless.

He’d failed to protect the child from death, and from the demigod.

What kind of guardian spirit couldn’t even protect one child? So powerless, so utterly powerless, that the thought crossed his mind—wouldn’t it be better to just be destroyed? Despite being a soul already dead, the guardian spirit could not breathe easily.

“Are you resentful?”

Death, having approached at some point, asked.

“Or do you hold a grudge?”

“…”

“You gained freedom through that bastard, and at the same time, you were deprived of it. Do you resent him?”

The guardian spirit silently glared at Death, who had trespassed into his domain.

Then, suddenly realizing his own helplessness—that even with the other right before him, he could do nothing—he closed his eyes. Resignation settled over his slowly lowering lids.

Of course, if he wanted to resist, he could. Yes, if he lashed out, he could probably wound those damned transcendents. But doing so would send the ensuing backlash and all karma to the child.

Because all sins and karma incurred by the guardian spirit go to that child.

“Don’t speak to me. Withdraw your attention from me.”

This was not how it should be, and this was not how it should be.

The guardian spirit quietly lowered his gaze. Death’s question lingered in his mind.

The question of whether he resented the child.

‘As if.’

This is a shackle I’ve put on myself because I love the child too much. If I were to resent anyone, I should resent myself.

It’s simply regrettable that because this irrational structure—brought about by the child—combined with my own love, I’ve chained myself to a death trap, and at the very moment my charge needs me, I cannot help.

In a relationship built of guilt, the guardian spirit was not granted the right to resent the child.

Instead, he keenly felt the need for action. If things continued like this, it would be problematic.

‘But how?’

Whatever I try, the cost is borne by the child.

Moreover, this situation is the result of the child risking a great price and bargaining to obtain it for my sake. I cannot act recklessly.

“…”

The intensity of suffocation grew stronger.

The guardian spirit covered his own neck with a hand whose veins stood out blue. The rough stitch marks pressed clearly into his palm.

He needed a method.

“…Withdraw my attention, you say?”

Death, who had been watching the guardian spirit’s every move without a single lapse, suddenly spoke.

Seeing those green eyes that, despite being exhausted to the limit, held on without breaking, sparked a sense of alarm. Sensing something ominous, he shook his head firmly.

“I can’t do that. I know you’re planning something.”

“…”

“You already have a track record.”

He approached, releasing his energy intensely as if pressing down.

Unlike the surface, this space was inhabited only by those already dead who had no reason to fear death. The influence would be weaker, but since the other also acted as an agent of the world, it would still be overwhelming.

Nevertheless, the guardian spirit raised his head without wavering and faced Death. A cold voice fell over him.

“Your track record of hiding a sinner’s soul for a thousand years.”

“…”

“I was dumbfounded. How could a mere dead person do such a thing?”

That soul was originally supposed to reincarnate the moment it left its body in death. The weight of its sins was so great that the world remembered its existence, and even Death remembered its name.

And that soul had been stolen.

Not from the line of heated iron plates where sinners stood to receive their twisted fates before reincarnation, but to the resting place of those who had lived decently. He’d hidden it in his own domain for nearly a thousand years.

“Just what trick did you use?”

This was an act that defied the very order of the world. Having committed such a deed, whether the guardian spirit or ‘Raven,’ the soul that received that karma should have been destroyed immediately. Just what trick had he used to completely evade that karma?

“…”

“…Right, you wouldn’t answer.”

I didn’t expect one anyway.

‘It would be nice to know, but it’s not something I absolutely need to find out…’

No need to waste energy. Death let out a light sigh.

If he’d continued to evade karma by abusing that unknown method, it would be one thing—but he’d never evaporated karma even once since then. Perhaps it was a method he could never use again, or at least a means he couldn’t use repeatedly.

Rather than digging it out, I’ll just keep watching, and if he pulls something like this again, I’ll confirm what method he used and take measures then.

So instead of probing relentlessly, he issued a warning.

“You’d better not think about any funny business.”

The guardian spirit looked as though he wasn’t even listening.