"No way. He's really dead?"
Anata shook her head, repeating the words in disbelief. It was not easy to believe that Jenas was dead.
How had we survived for a thousand years, and then he died so easily? How could that make sense? Jenas was a mage who would have left me an excuse to survive even in the worst of times.
Anata felt an emptiness in her chest, as if it were hollow.
Her final goal was to get her descendant and her test subjects to escape, and there was no such thing as Jenas' death. She couldn't believe he was dead.
'Am I really okay?'
Anata asked herself.
But no answer came.
She was prepared for the millennium's plan to fall apart as she tried to get the last of her test subjects to escape. But she hadn't thought about the death of her brother, who had been with her for a thousand years.
No, this is futile. Futile.
She knew she didn't deserve it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that her own existence had been denied by his death.
"Where is Jenas' body?" Anata asked again, her voice weak.
Arthdal, covered in blood, answered for Margaret. "What difference does knowing that make? Why? To get revenge?"
Anata froze at Arthdal's words.
"Revenge......? Is this an emotion that can be defined by that one word?"
She replied with a hollow look on her face, then burst out laughing. It was a hollow laugh, like an empty tin can.
After laughing like a madman for a while, she slowly rose from her seat.
"Take me to where Jenas is. If this door is a trap, there's another way to open it."
"Another way?"
Margaret gave Anata an uneasy glance, but Anata was adamant. "Take me to Jenas, and I'll explain it to you. Jenas may have fooled me once, but not twice. I'm the one who set up the system on this island."
Yuanna narrowed her eyes as if she couldn't understand Anata's words. "I appreciate that you're all trying to get me off the island, but I can't delay everyone's escape because of me. I've already made up my mind, so please don't worry about me and find the best way to escape."
Diego, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, spoke up, his face filled with displeasure at Yuanna's words. "I can't leave you here, and if you want to stay, I'll go with you."
His stern and decisive tone made Yuanna look puzzled, and Anata, who had been listening to their conversation, burst out laughing.
"I'm not going all the way back to save the Saintess, so don't get into that mood."
Despite Anata's words, Yuanna and Diego's serious faces didn't lighten.
"Alright, then, let's go."
No sooner had Margaret spoken than the tip of Enoch's sword was menacingly at the nape of Anata's neck.
"Don't pull any stunts."
"It's not like you have any other choice, anyway," Anata replied, and Margaret meekly led her to where Jenas was.
Anata followed Margaret and glanced at Kayden, who was being carried by Diego.
The earring in Kayden's ear tinkled and sparkled.
Everyone else seemed too preoccupied to notice.
Anata looked away quietly. She pretended not to notice that Kayden's earring had sparkled for a moment.
***
In deep darkness.
Jenas opened his eyes in an abyss where he couldn't see a thing.
He knows where this is. Inside Kayden's body.
Mages could carve out a space within a body to house a soul, and here it is.
A fragment of his soul remained within Kayden's body, albeit a very small one.
He had shredded his soul like a grain of sand and taken over Kayden's body. It's hard to completely erase a grain of sand, after all. It's a somewhat expected development.
'I don't have much strength left, which is a good thing......'
Jenas recalled his last memory. At the end of it was Margaret.
Platinum blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes like jewels. A mysterious face.
'Damn, I still haven't gotten over it.'
The memory haunted him, annoyingly.
Perhaps because she was the one who had ruined his experiment, he couldn't stop thinking about her.
"You awake?"
A familiar voice assaulted his ears. Jenas sat up slowly in the darkness.
At the edge of his vision was Kayden, arms crossed, glaring at him from a crouching position. Kayden pointed to the earring in his right ear and spoke to him.
"This earring was still working even after you were dead, I thought something was wrong."
Jenas listened to him, his expression blank. Kayden stood still, studying his expression.
He continued, "It's a pretty fine shred, too. I've never heard of a soul being able to be broken down into such tiny pieces before in my life......"
"Of course you haven't. There has never been a wizard who could surpass me, and that thing you killed out there a little while ago was part of a soul fragment I split," Jenas replied, his voice arrogant.
He was an asshole, but it was true that he was a great archmage, one for the history books, and Kayden had nothing to say in retort.
Kayden stared at Jenas in silence, then said, "You like Margaret."
"......what?"
Jenas asked in disbelief, a look that made Kayden laugh out loud.
"You're completely unaware of this, aren't you?"
At the sudden mockery, Jenas twisted his lips and forced a smile. This young descendant of his was really cheeky.
"She's annoyingly interesting, but to say I like her is ridiculous," he retorted in a nervous tone.
Kayden clicked his tongue and shook his head, then rebuked him with exaggerated words.
"Alas, you can't. She's mine anyway, so it doesn't matter, and I can't believe a horrible creature like you likes her."
......Margaret's yours?
Unable to resist Kayden's words, Jenas said, "Margaret's not an object, and do you treat your crush like one, my descendant? She'd be offended to hear that."
"Tsk. Isn't it you, my ancestor, who should be offended? You're the one who gave up a thousand-year plan to save Margaret, aren't you?"
"Do I seem to have given up on my plan even though I succeeded in leaving my soul here now? You have a very narrow view, my descendant."
Kayden fell silent.
Jenas suddenly remembered that Margaret was probably with Anata by now.
......I wonder if Margaret is okay.
Up until now, he had lived a life where he didn't care if someone died or not. Whether it was the life of a test subject or the life of a fellow wizard, it was all just fodder for his plans.
But why am I worried about Margaret?
Jenas ran his hand through his hair in annoyance, then realized that Kayden was watching him and quickly controlled his expression.
"Hey, my descendant. You can't kill me, and I don't intend to leave this body so easily. I will find a way and take over your body completely one day."
If not now, then when I regain my stamina.
Jenas was sure of it. Besides, he still had the pendant.
"You're not here of your own accord, are you? I don't think it was your intention to enter an unconscious state."
Kayden's face crumpled at his sarcasm. He'd hit the nail on the head.
Jenas was inwardly relieved. The earring that controlled Kayden was still functional. As long as his soul was alive and connected to the earring, it would continue to work until Kayden died.
However, I could sense that my soul was currently very weak. I'm a disembodied soul, so I don't think I have a heart or anything.
He took a deep breath and looked at Kayden once more, smiling naturally.
"You want to wake up, but you can't, and how can you have a body all to yourself when I'm here, unless you share it with me."
Kayden replied, "Are you asking me to play a game of patience? No matter how many soul grains you have left, I'm pretty sure they're few and far between given your current stamina."
Kayden opened his hands and drew a magic formula. A magic circle gradually formed beneath his feet with a pure white light.
He glared at Jenas with fierce eyes and said, "I may not be able to destroy all of the fragments of your soul spread throughout my body, but every time I kill one, your strength will continue to decrease."
He was right. However, Jenas had no intention of meekly taking his attacks.
Kayden added, "I'll smash any number of them before you can even get up. Either that, or I'll eat you and absorb you completely as part of my body."
"Hmm. I suppose we'll be one and the same then, since I'm your ancestor and you're my descendant, so we'll have the same blood, which isn't a bad ending either. But do we really need to fight like this, in here, which can't be good for your body?"
"You think I'm going to let you live with no strings attached? I'm going to incapacitate you so I can do some contract magic, asshole."
A huge whirlwind was created from the magic circle at Kayden's feet. It soon became a fierce, churning mass that quickly engulfed Jenas.
But it didn't affect him. Jenas' body shattered into fine sand, blowing toward Kayden like wind. His form reassembled before Kayden's eyes and slammed a fist into his face.
"Don't even think about using magic."
Jenas pressed down on Kayden's arm, preventing him from creating a magic formula, and created a magic circle down Kayden's leg.
"Damn it......! Get off me!"
"I told you, my descendant, there is no wizard in the world who can surpass me."
Jenas whispered in Kayden's ear. And just like that, he was about to bind Kayden.
Suddenly, lightning struck from nowhere.
It pierced through Kayden's body and into the realm where they were fighting. A sharp bolt of lightning struck Jenas.
Somehow, the bolts of lightning didn't affect Kayden's soul, only Jenas'.
"What the......!"
The mysterious lightning bolt struck him in the stomach as he struggled against Kayden with his weakened soul. Jenas eventually collapsed in pain.
Kayden grinned in disbelief at the sight.
Something must be going on out there.
This lightning, I think I've seen it before.
"I don't know what's going on, but it's good. You're a slave to me from now on. You may be a great wizard, but this is how you end up."
Kayden stomped his foot. A magic circle formed beneath his feet and beneath Jenas, who collapsed and cried out in pain.
If it's impossible to obliterate his soul, which is shattered like a grain of sand anyway, then I'll just have to chain it within me to keep it from taking over my body.
Kayden looked exaggeratedly solemn and whispered to Jenas, "The contract begins now. I will make you suffer forever."