TMLOP 96

Chapter 96

 Even if I Must Trade My Death for Your Life

“…So you’re saying you’re going to give up on Ben like this?”

Senelia froze for a moment, staring at Lucalina.
Unknowingly, she spoke with a tone full of resentment.

“How can you do that…!”

To Senelia, Lucalina had always been Benelucia’s destiny itself.
She never could have imagined hearing the words ‘I’ll give up on him’ from Lucalina’s mouth.

Even though she knew she had no right to resent her, Senelia clung desperately.

“There has to be a way to bring Ben back, somehow…!”

“If there were such a way…!”

Lucalina snapped, cutting Senelia off as she shouted, her voice breaking.

“If there had been a way, I wouldn’t have had to kill Ben in the first place!”

Senelia’s eyes widened in shock.
Lucalina also realized what she’d just said—and her face went deathly pale.

Senelia’s voice trembled.
“What… what do you mean by that?”

Lucalina bit down hard on her lower lip.
That was a memory she never wanted to recall again.

“Sir Elihan, there’s no time…!”

But when Senelia pressed her again to explain, Lucalina finally opened her mouth.

“Before I returned in time… Ben and Cliffd had their final confrontation. And… both of them lost control.”

Lucalina shut her eyes tightly, then opened them again.

“The war killed countless people. The land was soaked in blood, and corrupted mana filled the ground—monsters began to appear everywhere.”

Even now, recalling that day made her shudder.

“Ben and Cliffd were tainted by the monsters’ mana during their rampage…”

Lucalina’s face turned ashen.
Clearly, she was forcing herself to remember something unbearable.

“Just like those monsters, they began to kill each other—and destroy everything around them.”

It was said that a person’s essence changes depending on the nature of their mana.
The scholar who first presented that theory claimed that each person’s aura and magic manifested in unique colors and energy.

That was true enough—and Benelucia and Cliffd, whose mana had been corrupted, had turned into monsters themselves.

There was no greater calamity than two Sword Masters slaughtering life like beasts.

“So when the two of them finally exhausted themselves fighting each other… I killed them both.”

There was no known way to bring back someone whose very essence had been changed.
So Lucalina had to strike them down herself.

Even if she loved Benelucia, even if Cliffd had once been her friend… she couldn’t let everyone else die.

That was who Lucalina was.
Even in the original story Senelia had read, Lucalina was the protagonist who returned in time because she couldn’t bear the guilt of that war.

“I had no choice…! Only I could save the others… I had to make that decision!”

Lucalina clutched her forehead and screamed.
Her voice was thick with pain.

Even though Benelucia and Cliffd had nearly drained their aura fighting each other, they were still Sword Masters.
No one could match their swordsmanship.

In the end, the only ones capable of stopping them were either a 9th-circle mage or another Sword Master.

But the only 9th-circle mage—the Imperial Archmage—and the Tower Master had both vanished.

So in the end… the only one who could end those rampaging men was Lucalina herself.

“…So go back now. Run. I’ll stop Ben.”

After a long silence, Lucalina lifted her head and said firmly.
She gripped her rapier tightly.

But in that moment, Senelia blocked her path.

“…What if I have one last way?”

“If such a way existed, I wouldn’t have—”

“There is!”

This time, Senelia interrupted her.

“In the future I know, there was a way.”

Lucalina’s eyes widened.

“You… you’ve also returned in time?”

It seemed Lucalina didn’t fully understand the nature of Cloracane’s Thorn.

Understandably so—knowledge of the Thorn of Cloracane was exclusive to the Heliosa imperial family.

In fact, many of those who possessed a Thorn lived their entire lives without ever realizing there were others like them.

“No, not that. But I do have a way.”

Senelia hadn’t entered the barrier of the hunting ground recklessly.
She came in with a plan—a way to save Benelucia.

She wasn’t someone who would throw her life away without a countermeasure.

“Benelucia just has to awaken.”

At those words, Lucalina’s face immediately hardened.
She rejected the idea on the spot.

“That’s impossible in this situation.”

“Awakening” was a realm that only those who had reached the 9th circle or attained Sword Mastery could achieve.

Awakened ones wielded colorless, transparent aura or magic—pure energy that could merge with nature itself.

If Benelucia awakened, his tainted aura could be purified.

But such enlightenment was nearly impossible.
Sometimes, not even one awakened person appeared in a whole generation.

“I know the way.”

“If you approach Benelucia now, Lady Dafnen, you’ll die before you even reach him.”

Near Benelucia’s location lay the corpse of a monster’s mother.
It must have died during his rampage—but its death had drawn hordes of enraged monsters to the area.

Even if Lucalina could hold off those creatures, she couldn’t simultaneously defend Senelia from Benelucia’s blind sword strikes.

If they tried it recklessly, Senelia would almost certainly die.

But Senelia’s eyes were resolute.

“I’ll use teleportation magic to reach him in an instant.”

“You said teleportation only works once, didn’t you?”

Senelia fell silent.
Lucalina’s expression hardened further.

Senelia was clearly about to push herself past her limits.

“If you overextend like that, your mana will overload—you could die! Even if you save Ben, what’s the point then?”

Lucalina already knew that Senelia had once collapsed trying to save both her and Benelucia.

Teleportation would cause an even worse overload this time.
She might not just faint—she could die.

“You only became Cliffd’s spy because you wanted to live. So why—”

“For me… it does matter.”

Senelia cut her off sharply.

“If Ben doesn’t live… then my life is death anyway.”

Her gaze locked squarely with Lucalina’s.

Right now, Senelia was perfectly calm—utterly rational.

From the moment she stepped into the hunting ground’s barrier, she had already decided.

Even if Benelucia died, Cliffd would never release her.

A dog that obeyed, feared him, and even possessed the rare gift of sorcery—
A ruler like Cliffd would never let such a tool go.

Without Benelucia, her leash would remain forever.

She had lived that way for eight years—and it felt like dying every day.

If the Emperor hadn’t threatened her parents and her homeland, she might have ended her life long ago.

She couldn’t keep living like that.
It was no different from living dead.

But if she died and Benelucia lived…
He would never forget her—for the rest of his life.

Even if Lucalina existed beside him.

That way, Senelia could protect her mother and her territory even in death.
Benelucia would never let harm come to what she loved.

So for Senelia, the best choice she could make now—
was to risk her life to save his.

Their eyes met—Lucalina’s and Senelia’s.

And Lucalina realized then… that Senelia truly meant it.
She was willing to trade her death for Benelucia’s life.

Lucalina’s grip slackened.

The moment she let go, Senelia began her spell.

《To Ben.》

It was the same incantation as before—but this time, Senelia was alone.

In an instant, she appeared right before Benelucia—so close their noses almost touched.

She wrapped her arms around him.

Benelucia’s frenzied body froze for a moment, as if instinctively recognizing her.

Then Senelia coughed up blood.

Her head spun; her chest burned as if on fire.
Blood-streaked coughs wracked her body.

She had told Lucalina that she might live or die…
But in truth, forcibly awakening another person required staking one’s own life.

Still, she didn’t stop.

She pressed her hand against Benelucia’s chest—
Right over his heart, where his aura core pulsed.