DBOFS 86

Chapter 86

My heart was pounding wildly at how smoothly everything was going.

Compared to the struggle of planning to find the Heju Stone, this trick using the “Time Stone” was progressing far too easily.

Perhaps that was why, instead of feeling relief or joy at having somehow saved Adrian, I felt a stronger sense of unease.

Above all, what unsettled me was that the “Time Stone” described in Si Cheon Gui looked somewhat different from the one I had seen in person.

“It was supposed to be dark on the outside, but if you look inside just a little, it would flash a bright crimson.”

Like a living, beating heart.

But the “Time Stone” I saw was overwhelmingly dark, and the red color was barely visible if you searched hard enough.

For a moment, I even wondered if it was just a regular rock.

“…It can’t be fake.”

Camillo had vouched for it, and if it were fake, the magic circle wouldn’t have reacted this way.

“Then why…?”

Why did it look so worn, as if it had been overused to the point of exhaustion?

“…It’s ready!”

Camillo’s voice broke my train of thought, and I saw the time within the magic circle surrounding the stone begin to reverse.

The ruby, once red and translucent, gradually took on a soft, kitten-like shape—finally transforming into a human form.

Long, deep pink hair fell around a face that was both pale and beautifully androgynous. Violet eyes, tinged with a hint of blue, slowly opened, and lips that gazed at me began to move.

“Jae.”

As the light of the magic circle dimmed all at once and I saw Adrian slowly rise from his position, the reality hit me.

“…Adrian!”

My god, it was really him.

Adrian had truly escaped from that damn stone!

Overwhelmed by the fact that I had finally saved the protagonist of this world—or perhaps drained from expending so much blood and magical energy—I just stared at him blankly.

“You.”

Adrian stepped closer and gently cupped my face in his delicate hands.

‘Ah, I was supposed to call him “oppa.”’

I blinked, wondering if he would comment on that, when his next words made me freeze.

“Are you insane? If you absorbed Harris Godwin’s power, you should have run! Why are you still here, wasting time?”

…What?

I couldn’t believe the reprimand I had just heard. What did you just say?

‘Could it be that Adrian even knows about my Absorption Technique?’

The secret I hadn’t even told Harris.

My blood ran cold. Just as I froze from the shocking words,

“Adrian…?”

Camillo’s voice interjected. Only then did Adrian’s violet eyes leave me.

“Camillo.”

“You… it really was you, Adrian!”

I finally exhaled, relieved to see that Adrian’s attention was no longer on me.

“So it was you, Camillo. You were the one helping Jade.”

“Yes? Y-yes.”

Unlike the surprised and shocked Camillo, Adrian remained calm. He didn’t seem at all curious about how Camillo ended up here or joined me.

No, beyond that, there was no sign of joy at being freed from that detestable magic.

“Adrian, how have you… been surviving all this time…?”

“But even if you were here, you couldn’t have gotten the Heju Stone yet. So how did you get me out of that stone?”

Instead, Adrian coldly cut to the point.

“Uh… that’s…”

Camillo, still dazed, quickly answered.

“Jade suggested using the limited power of the ‘Time Stone’ to send Adrian back to the time before the magic trapped him…”

“…The Time Stone?”

“Yes, here.”

Camillo handed the already-used Time Stone to Adrian, who regarded the secret of regression in his hand with a peculiar expression.

‘Interesting.’

I tensed at Adrian’s reaction. How would he respond to the S-class item that essentially allowed Si Cheon Gui to exist, the source that enabled him to succeed as a revenge spirit—the Time Stone?

“This thing.”

“…!”

Adrian smiled coldly and gripped the Time Stone as if to crush it.

Crack-

The dark stone held in his pianist-like fingers crumbled into dust in an instant.

“W-wait!”

I widened my eyes in disbelief. Protagonist, can you really destroy a regression item like that? No, more importantly, could the stone be broken that easily?!

Whether I was shocked or not, Adrian confirmed the destruction with a shake of his hand.

The S-class item once called the “Time Stone” scattered into dust and blew away into the void.

As if signaling the complete disappearance of Si Cheon Gui, which had only left traces…

‘My original work—!’

I slumped down in despair.

There had been a reason I had saved Adrian.

‘Harris.’

The strongest guide—I had hoped he would guide the fallen Harris.

Adrian, who despised ability users, would not have saved him willingly. I had intended to negotiate using two cards.

First, that I saved him.

But with Adrian mentioning my secret, the Absorption Technique, that card was lost. Before I could even talk about the reward for saving him, he could threaten to reveal my secret, ending everything.

‘The second card was supposed to be the Time Stone…!’

Hahaha, but before I could even do that, my protagonist turned it to dust. No matter how unnecessary it was, isn’t that a little much?

‘What do I do now?’

I had lost both crucial cards.

I had to save Harris somehow. I had to wake my sleeping prince, to have him guide me…!

“…Why.”

But the words that came out of my mouth were not what I intended.

“Why did you throw me to the rampaging Harris?”

I wanted to know. Everything was so confusing.

‘Is Adrian really Jade’s older brother?’

Looking at our similar appearances, it seemed so. And the way he had acted during his prison escape seemed truly familial… yet something didn’t make sense.

‘Then why did he mercilessly throw me into death?’

I survived in the end.

But if Harris had been even slightly more violent, or if the opponent had been another cruel ability user, I might have been swept away and killed by the rampaging power.

No matter that siblings are programmed from birth to fight each other, this seemed extreme.

“…What?”

Adrian’s pupils dilated, and his expression twisted. I briefly thought I had shaken him, but…

“You’ve lost your memory again.”

His words struck the back of my head.

‘What?’

Lost my memory, again?

A simple sentence of three words, but I understood none of it.

‘What does that even mean—!’

I asked to confirm if we were really siblings, and another bomb dropped?!

As I screamed internally, Adrian’s expression darkened.

Through his wavering violet eyes, I realized something.

Amazingly, until now, Adrian had looked at me with a fairly affectionate gaze.

And now, with his affection withdrawn, his eyes were so dry I could barely meet them.

‘Because he thinks I’ve lost my memory?’

Since I’m no longer the sister Adrian remembers?

“…Don’t look at me like that, Jade.”

With a short sigh, Adrian covered my eyelids with his hand.

Only when his dry palm touched me did I realize my eyelashes were trembling.

Ah, I had genuinely been scared.

‘And Adrian doesn’t want me to see him while I look so frightened.’

Even if I was his memory-lost sibling, some fragment of affection might still remain…

“…Save Harris.”

I clung to that fact desperately, unable to be certain of anything, and begged Adrian.

“H-Harris won’t wake. He needs guidance, and I tried, but I just… can’t…”

Panic spilling out incoherently, Adrian crouched to meet my gaze.

“…You don’t know what to do.”

Perhaps because of that small gesture, I began to tremble with tears.

I was truly scared. I didn’t know how anything was going, didn’t know what I should do. And…

“That’s obvious, Jade.”

Adrian’s hand wiped away my tears, so tenderly.

“You’re not a guide—you’re a fairy.”

Those beautiful violet eyes confirmed, as if checking me,

“How could someone like you save a mere human ability user?”

…If you use them, maybe.

Adrian had been a subject of the Mage Tower, and “Jade” was an imperfect fairy born from Mage Tower experiments.

“For some reason, when you were young, you imprinted me as your protector.”

Imprint.

In ancient races, it is a birth-given ritual, mainly for marking a protector, ward, or companion.

“Perhaps they needed a magical power close to the source from birth.”

And that applied to Jade as well.

Unfortunately, the ancient race capable of giving that power—the original protector—had long been extinct.

“But luckily, even in this age, there was someone born with such power.”

“…Harris.”

I murmured absentmindedly. The master of the ancient beast ‘Void.’ Who else could there be but Harris?

“So that’s why you threw me to the rampaging Harris…?”

So I could absorb the ancient power that the imprinted one could not give?

Adrian nodded.

“Because you can absorb others’ magical power.”

Absorption Technique.

Adrian had known my secret. No, beyond knowing, he had even exploited it.

‘For me?’

“So, Jade,”

Adrian said, looking at the still-unconscious Harris,

“You need to escape from him as quickly as possible.”