Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock Chapter 285 - It's Snowing (5)

 

“Again! Again…!”

 

Veronia trembled with rage as he screamed.

 

Ever since being struck by the Sword of Light, his regeneration had slowed, and even his ability to manipulate darkness had become sluggish.

 

“I told you to listen to me, you damn things!”

 

But no matter how much he shouted, the surrounding darkness remained unresponsive.

 

It knew that revealing itself would mean obeying his command, so instead, it turned its back and shut its ears.

 

‘It’s because of him! It’s all because of that vessel!’

 

The parts of his body that had come into contact with that violet darkness no longer healed. Instead, they throbbed with relentless agony.

 

The accumulating pain from countless injuries made it feel as if his entire body was melting away.

 

Veronia tried to retreat, but he couldn’t.

 

The absolute obedience clumsily imposed upon him by the vessel still had not been broken.

 

‘Then…’

 

Veronia shifted his gaze.

 

If the vessel was too difficult to deal with, he could simply devour someone else—either their mind or their body.

 

His eyes fell on Carson, whose sword was engulfed in a blue aura. But Veronia was willing to sacrifice his flesh for the opportunity.

 

Swish.

 

With a smooth motion, Carson sliced through the darkness Veronia had swung at him.

 

‘You will now become my prey.’

 

Amused by the anger directed at him, Veronia chuckled inwardly.

 

It was all just a diversion—the real target was Carson’s shadow.

 

Chuckle.

 

At that moment, Lucion’s laughter echoed through the air.

 

The darkness Veronia controlled suddenly froze, as if obeying someone else’s command.

 

Surprise flickered across Veronia’s face for only a moment before pain overwhelmed him.

 

“Ugh!”

 

His leg—

 

Crunch!

 

Sharp teeth sank into his flesh as Ratta, now in its true form, bit down viciously.

 

As Ratta pulled away, a deep, unmistakable bite mark was left behind.

 

The power of the Guardian—the divine beast of darkness—had branded him. A mark that would never fade.

 

—Ratta is the surprise box!

 

It truly was a surprise.

 

“From now on… no matter what you do, that leg will never be usable again.”

 

Lucion chuckled.

 

“You damn divine beast! Damn it! I should have killed you back then!”

 

Veronia roared and thrust a spear of darkness at Ratta.

 

Bang!

 

The spear struck the ground in vain as Ratta leaped at him once more, pinning him down with her own darkness.

 

—Ratta is strong!

 

Roar!

 

Ratta howled.

 

Hearing the sound, Lucion chuckled again.

 

Heint, however, looked on in shock.

 

“You’re… laughing right now?”

 

[Exactly. Lord Lucion really is… really…]

 

Bethel swallowed her words, even as it felt like all the blood in her body had run cold.

 

“It’s okay now.”

 

Lucion reached out his hand to Hume.

 

Hume’s face contorted.

 

“…Even though you used Sunbeam, you’re still in bad shape.”

 

“I know.”

 

Supported by Hume, Lucion stood up.

 

“It’s time for me to finish this.”

 

He approached Veronia, who was now burning in Ratta’s darkness.

 

“Bethel.”

 

[I’m listening.]

 

Lucion gripped his sword and spoke.

 

“The source of his regeneration is his heart.”

 

[So if we stab it, his regeneration will end? But… doesn’t that usually mean death?]

 

“He’s a monster.”

 

Even the King of Darkness could move without a heart.

 

How much worse would Veronia be, when he was pure corruption?

 

Lucion gripped the sword with both hands alongside Bethel.

 

The blood he had spilled on the ground vanished, serving as a medium. A darkness even denser than the violet darkness Ratta had conjured to pin Veronia surged up along the blade.

 

Lucion took a deep breath.

 

Then, he drove the sword into Veronia’s heart.

 

Stab!

 

“Aaaaagh!”

 

Veronia thrashed violently.

 

With each wave of pain wracking his body, Lucion’s darkness silently consumed his heart, burning it away.

 

“Strange, isn’t it?” 

 

Lucion asked, echoing Veronia’s earlier words.

 

“That pure white sword…it feels different, doesn’t it? Strange, right?”

 

Sizzle.

 

The sound of something burning echoed.

 

“You probably guessed it already, but yes—I purified the Sea of Death.”

 

Lucion’s mask took on a shade of yellow.

 

“Are you in despair?”

 

He chuckled lightly, raising the sword above his head.

 

“I hope you fall deeper into it. Much, much deeper.”

 

But then Heint grabbed Lucion’s sword.

 

“Wait, Hamel. Let me do it.”

 

He, too, could end Veronia with the sword he held.

 

In fact, it would be more certain because this sword was special.

 

“Now die.”

 

Without hesitation, Heint swung his sword at Veronia’s neck. But just as he was about to land the final blow, his eyes widened in shock.

 

Veronia’s eyeballs had turned pitch black.

 

‘What the hell?’

 

Lucion was startled as Veronia’s darkness surged exponentially.

 

From Veronia’s body, corruption erupted violently as he lunged forward, seizing Heint by the throat.

 

“Guh… Ack!”

 

Gritting his teeth, Heint quickly swung his holy sword, severing Veronia’s wrist before retreating.

 

“You… stabbed him in the heart, right?”

 

Heint reacted in disbelief.

 

Without hesitation, Lucion expanded his darkness like a shield while wrapping Hume in multiple layers of it.

 

[Why is this happening, Russell? We definitely stabbed his heart. At the very least, his regeneration has stopped, hasn’t it?]

 

Even though Veronia’s body was now wrapped in corruption like a second skin, his wounds weren’t healing.

 

“…It’s a rampage.”

 

Russell murmured blankly before his expression twisted with alarm.

 

Veronia had finally lost all reason. It was like a dam barely holding back water had collapsed—the flood was inevitable.

 

Corruption was already overtaking Veronia, black veins rising across his face.

 

“No. For a rampage… the scale is too vast. His darkness is expanding wildly.”

 

Lucion swallowed dryly.

 

“This… this feels like…”

 

As if the power of that bastard that had once covered the entire world was now awakening.

 

“We need to get out of here,” Russell urged Lucion.

 

Facing corruption in such a confined space would be disastrous.

 

“Right. We need to get out first.”

 

Lucion waited briefly for Ratta, who was running toward him.

 

“Hehehe.”

 

A chill ran down his spine at Veronia’s eerie laughter.

 

Everyone, including Lucion, instinctively held their breath, as if crushed by an overwhelming force.

 

A tattered, ragged cloak formed on Veronia’s back as if conjured from the darkness.

 

Like a stiffened corpse, Veronia rose and raised his finger, pointing—at Ratta.

 

In that fleeting moment, only Lucion moved.

 

The sharpened corruption that Veronia was about to unleash toward the smiling Ratta—

 

‘No.’

 

For a brief instant, the image of Ratta covered in blood, dying, flashed before Lucion’s eyes.

 

‘No.’

 

“Good. Listen well. If you make the darkness as thin as a thread, its speed will become as fast as light. Can you see it?”

 

With Russell’s voice echoing in his mind, Lucion thinned the darkness and then detonated it in an instant.

 

Crackle!

 

A surge of violet energy burst forward like lightning, colliding with the incoming corruption aimed at Ratta.

 

Sizzle!

 

The sound of the corruption melting away brought Lucion a deep sense of relief.

 

‘It’s over now…’

 

No.

 

A sharp chill raced down his spine as another lance of corruption closed in.

 

‘He wasn’t aiming for Ratta…’

 

Before Bethel could swing her sword, Lucion’s own darkness moved instinctively—

 

But then—

 

Agonizing pain erupted in his chest.

 

Thud!

 

His vision briefly blurred as Bethel’s scream echoed around him.

 

‘It was me.’

 

Looking down, he saw the corruption writhing as it burned in his own darkness.

 

A pain like thousands of needles piercing his veins surged through his body.

 

“Ugh…!”

 

Blood gushed from his wound as his body collapsed under the unbearable pain. He trembled violently, unable to stop the uncontrollable shaking.

 

“Heh. I did it. I killed him. I killed the vessel! That damn vessel is finally gone!”

 

The black veins on Veronia’s face darkened further, and his laughter grew louder.

 

“I knew you would protect your divine beast if I attacked it. You did it before, didn’t you? I’m glad I remembered. Now…now there’s nothing stopping me. I just need to bring my dear children back to life.”

 

Veronia clasped his hands together, smiling sweetly as if flustered with joy.

 

“Ah… I’m so happy now.”

 

Lucion couldn’t hear what Veronia or anyone else was saying.

 

As the tightness in his chest faded, his vision cleared, and the world rapidly filled with sorrow.

 

‘No. This can’t happen. I can’t let sorrow consume me.’

 

[‘Pull yourself together, Lord Lucion!’]

 

The only voice that reached him was Bethel’s desperate cry.

 

‘That’s right. I need to get a hold of myself. I need to focus on that bastard…’

 

His vision changed in an instant.

 

The sky felt closer.

 

Before blood could spew from his mouth again, he turned his head and saw Ratta.

 

His heart ached at the sight of her crying so bitterly.

 

He never meant to make Ratta cry.

 

―Uh-huh-huh! Lucion! You can’t die!

 

Along with the excruciating pain, a violent shudder swept through his body once more.

 

“Please, please…”

 

Heint’s voice wavered as he pressed down lightly on Lucion, trying to keep him still.

 

“Young Master. Young Master, please… don’t lose consciousness! Please, please!”

 

Hume, sobbing uncontrollably, held Lucion’s trembling hand and desperately used Sunbeam to heal him.

 

‘Ah.’

 

Lucion twitched his fingers.

 

Veronia’s darkness continued to expand, unstoppable.

 

At this rate, it would break through the Spatial Separation Magic and be exposed to the world.

 

He could feel Russell’s darkness beneath him, straining to contain the corruption.

 

Right now, Russell was the only thing keeping Veronia from breaking free.

 

‘No. I have to stop it. Teacher is already struggling. That corruption… I have to stop it myself.’

 

As Lucion tried to move, he felt countless hands holding him back.

 

[‘Stay still… Please, just stay still.’]

 

Bethel pleaded repeatedly.

 

Even with Sunbeam, the wound was too deep.

 

Plop.

 

When a cold sensation touched his face, Lucion gasped in surprise.

 

“Lucion.”

 

Carson’s distorted face came into view.

 

How cruel.

 

Only now did the red string grow taut.

 

“…Brother… Cough!”

 

Lucion tried to speak but ended up coughing up more blood.

 

He couldn’t go on. He simply looked at Carson, who gripped his hand tightly, panting as he struggled to breathe.

 

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

 

Carson apologized again.

 

As always.

 

But today, his face was filled with such sorrow that it looked as though it could shatter at any moment.

 

“If by any chance you can pass on my words, tell Teacher I’m sorry… and tell my brother… Thank you. I’d really like that.”

 

The voice of his past self echoed in his mind—the self that had bitterly accepted his fate.

 

Even the ending he once thought was merely a scene from a novel resurfaced in his thoughts.

 

The moment when Lucion, the mid-boss of the Hand of the Void, had died.

 

《 “I’m sorry. …I’m so sorry, Lucion. I was too late. I came far too late.”

 

Carson held Lucion in his arms, apologizing over and over again. 》

 

Wasn’t this moment the same?

 

His brother kept apologizing to him.

 

《 “Brother…”

 

Lucion whispered weakly, coughing up blood.

 

“Yes, Lucion. I’m listening. I’m here, so… tell me.”

 

Carson tried to hold back his tears, but they kept falling onto Lucion’s face.

 

“I… missed you.”

 

Lucion smiled—a soft, unchanging, pure smile, like the one he had as a child.

 

“I missed you… so much.”

 

“I felt the same. I missed you so much, too.”

 

“…Brother. Please remember. Remember me. And my teacher… Russell… Russell too. I remembered. I kept trying to remember… I didn’t want to forget…”

 

Lucion’s eyes lost their light in an instant.

 

A single tear slipped down Lucion’s cheek, unnoticed.

 

For Carson, time seemed to freeze.

 

Carson’s breathing, which had been slow, suddenly became ragged, and his chest heaved.

 

The hands holding Lucion trembled as if struck by an electric shock.

 

“Lu… Lucion.”

 

Carson’s face contorted deeply.

 

Then, before his eyes, Lucion’s body began to dissolve—turning to dust, carried away by the wind.

 

“Ugh… Ahhhhhh!”

 

Carson screamed in despair, unable to bear the loss.

 

Why was this the only way to stop Lucion?

 

Why couldn’t he have chosen any other option?

 

He had run away from Lucion.

 

Burdened by guilt, he hadn’t been able to reach out and hold his brother’s hand.

 

Carson curled up, trying to shield Lucion’s fading form with his body.

 

“It didn’t matter that you were a warlock… You were still my brother. My brother, Lucion. I should have told you that… I should have asked you—”

 

He had run away.

 

“…Did you sleep well?”

 

Because facing the truth—that Lucion had suffered because of him—had been unbearable.

 

“How are you feeling today?”

 

Every time he looked at Lucion, his mistakes haunted him.

 

“Today… sob… Today, I should have invited you to eat with me. I should have said those words. But I never did…”

 

Why had he only ever turned away?

 

If he had just spoken those words, maybe… just maybe… this wouldn’t have happened.

 

“…Lucion.”

 

Carson sobbed as he watched Lucion crumble into dust before his eyes.

 

He could do nothing as he witnessed the fallen warlock’s final moments.

 

Even if he tried to hold on, Lucion would still slip away.

 

“Lucion…”》

 

Wasn’t Carson filled with regret and loss, just like in the previous world?

 

But this time, it had to be different.

 

“…Bro…ther.”

 

With weak, trembling fingers, Lucion reached out and grasped Carson’s hand.

 

“Yes, Lucion.”

 

Carson’s voice wavered.

 

Crunch.

 

The red thread was severed.

 

Now Carson would not kill him.

 

Fwoosh.

 

Hume’s right eye suddenly flared up.

 

[Broson!]

 

Bethel shouted in anger.

 

Why had he only arrived now?

 

Roll.

 

With the sound of a black orb rolling, the darkness whispered softly.

 

Even that small sound was filled with tears.

 

“Summon the darkness, please.”

 

Veronia’s darkness, in the form of a snake, lunged toward Broson.

 

But it was blocked by the violet darkness that emerged from Lucion’s trembling fingers.

 

Ratta growled and bit down on Veronia’s darkness.

 

Crunch!

 

He wouldn’t die today.

 

So this time was different.

 

“I… won’t die. …Absolutely not. So… don’t… have any strange… thoughts.”

 

Lucion forced a weak smile, so Carson wouldn’t fall into despair.

 

“Of course. Of course… I mustn’t.”

 

Carson forced a smile as well.

 

While attacking the unfamiliar warlock beyond the frontier, he was suddenly overcome with a strange feeling.

 

At first, he dismissed it as nothing until he met that warlock—Hamel.

 

Then he finally understood.

 

It was guilt.

 

Because Hamel reminded him too much of Lucion.

 

“…I have so much to make up for.”

 

No, it couldn’t be.

 

He had denied it over and over.

 

But in the end, he realized the truth.

 

Hamel was Lucion.

 

The Lucion he had broken—he had stabbed him again with his own hands.

 

A suffocating weight of regret crashed down on him.

 

He felt as if he wanted to die from the unbearable guilt.

 

But then—

 

“I’m done running away. So, Brother… isn’t it time you stopped too?”

 

If Lucion hadn’t said those words—

 

If he hadn’t spoken them at that very moment—

 

Carson might never have faced him.

 

Might never have asked about the kidnapping.

 

Might have chosen to run away… yet again.

 

But he hadn’t.

 

He had stayed.

 

He had sworn to wait.

 

To wait until Lucion was ready to speak.

 

To stand by his side.

 

To support him.

 

“And I have so much to say to you.”

 

Carson smiled once more.

 

“…Yes.”

 

With a weak response, the sound of Lucion’s heartbeat, transmitted through his hand, grew steadily stronger.