The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 328

It had always been like that.

Even when his vision was blurred, the color of blood was always clear.

“Cough…”

…The spilled blood made his entire body feel warm. A feeling of drowsiness similar to when one rested in a bathtub began to settle on his mind.

But after a while, he began to feel cold as though wind was blowing on his wet clothes.

His body was getting colder.

He couldn’t help but feel like this was dangerous.

Compared to the internal and external wounds that he’d suffered while being tossed around by the shockwave, this was much more serious.

He forcibly moved his numb hand to touch his stomach.

“…”

A fatal injury.

An injury so serious that he would likely die.

He could feel the blood dripping from his abdomen. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t too large. If the hole had been even a tad bigger, his intestines would have spilled out.

“Kuh…”

This wasn’t good.

It wasn’t just his vision anymore, his consciousness was also beginning to blur.

In the first place, he was so messed up that it was a surprise he hadn’t directly fainted, and he was probably only able to hold on until now because of his exceptional mental strength.

Although it was possible because he had complete control over his body, he was quickly approaching his limit.

His body was beginning to collapse before his mind could be broken.

This meant that he could feel the shadow of death slowly drawing closer.

“…why did you move your sword?”

Nix’s voice still trembled like a raging flame, but it sounded like she had regained some stability.

She had returned to her human form and was looking down at Lukas.

He forced himself to raise his head and look at her. The emotions in her burning eyes were so mixed that they were indiscernible.

“Answer me. Why didn’t you attack me?”

It was just an ordinary sword without any special properties, but at that moment, Nix’s body had been in a very dangerous state.

Even an ordinary steel sword would probably have been able to deal severe damage to her.

…Did this man not know this?

Or did he think that such a desperate attack wouldn’t work?

‘No.’

The denial to those questions appeared in her mind in an instant.

Lukas’ expression had never been one of a desperate human.

Throb-

She felt pain once again. Except this time, it was her heart, not her head.

She felt stifled.

She felt so stifled that she wanted to pound her fist against her chest.

Why?

“Kuk.”

Nix frowned with a cold expression.

Why did she feel so frustrated? Was it because she hadn’t killed this man yet? Would that change anything?

No. It wouldn’t change anything.

The pain in her chest wouldn’t go away. And her headaches wouldn’t disappear.

Nix’s years of experience were able to tell her this.

She’d already come too far.

‘…I’m tired.’

For some reason, today was just as tiring as the day she’d lost her family. She wanted to just get some rest.

But before that, there was still something she had to do.

Tap tap.

Nix walked towards Lukas.

Fwoosh-

Sparks of flame danced on her fingertips.

Then, she heard a faint voice that seemed to pierce through her thoughts.

Huff, huff…

Lukas was breathing heavily.

Now, he could barely even feel the pain.

“…humans.”

Cough.

Before he could finish his sentence, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. It was so hard to utter even the few words he wanted it to. He wanted to just close his eyes at that moment and fall asleep.

But he couldn’t do that.

Because he knew what it would mean to close his eyes and fall asleep now.

He couldn’t do that yet. There were still things he wanted to say.

Not for himself, but for her.

“…I heard you hate them.”

“So?”

“I heard they hunted all of your people.”

“That’s right. So what?”

“…”

Did she really not know? Or was she just pretending to not know?

It didn’t matter which one it was.

“So… why are you using a human form?”

“…”

The voice that had been speaking to him coldly, stopped.

He wanted to look at Nix’s face, but he couldn’t. This was due to a combination of the smoky surroundings and his blurred vision.

Nevertheless, beneath the sound of the fire burning in the background, he was able to hear a sharp intake of breath.

“If you hate them more than anything else in existence, then why are you still using their form?”

“…”

“Nix.”

Once again.

He called out the name he’d given her himself.

This time, there was a faint smile on Lukas’ lips.

“It must have been really hard, right?”

“…!”

Bang!

Flames erupted from Nix’s body once again. He knew that the reason for this phenomenon was the strong reaction inside her.

“What… are you talking about?”

“I shouldn’t have left you alone. I should have taught you more. Not only about the good side of humans, but also the evil side as well.”

“…shut up.”

Lukas couldn’t help but pity for Nix.

The reason why she was subconsciously clinging to her human form.

Despite being so badly hurt by humans, she still couldn’t give up the love for them in the corner of her heart.

He knew this because he was the same.

“Not all humans are like that. No matter how much anger blurred your vision, you must have had at least that level of discernment.”

It would have been better if she had completely lost her mind to anger.

At least that way, she wouldn’t have to suffer because of her complicated emotions.

“Be quiet…”

This crazy human.

This man’s voice, tone, and expression. Everything about him pissed her off.

That’s why she just had to make sure he couldn’t say anything more.

But…

‘Why am I still letting him talk?’

…The more she listened to his voice, the more her heart ached.

Nix held her head with a face that looked like she was about to cry. No, she was about to cry.

But why?

‘What the hell is this?’

It had never been like this when she killed other humans.

But when she looked at this man, her heart ached.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart. It made her sad, desperate, and teary.

She hated it.

Nix didn’t want to feel pain anymore.

So she’d burn it. That was the best solution she could think of.

She’d burn everything that made her suffer, that hurt her.

So that, when everything became black ashes, she would be numb to this pain once again.

Fwoosh-

Fire covered Nix’s body. Compared to the flames she’d shown so far, it was like the difference between a bonfire and a candle, but Lukas didn’t have the power to stop it.

“I’m sorry.”

With a soft mutter, Lukas closed his eyes.

Tap tap.

The approaching footsteps sounded slow. But this wasn’t because Nix was walking slowly.

“—”

It was because Lukas’ consciousness was on the verge of death.

Nevertheless, there was no reason for her to move quickly. Even if he was given time to think, it wasn’t like he’d be able to come up with some kind of plan. There was no way for Lukas to stop Nix now.

No matter what he said, there was no way for him to persuade the current Nix. The only thing that could stop her now was force, not a few words.

But the current Lukas had no power.

So there was only one possible ending for him.

Death.

….

….

But Lukas couldn’t help but feel strange as he had this thought.

I…

Was Lukas Trowman really trying to accept death?

‘Am I really?’

He reflected quietly.

Looking back, he’d had several opportunities to escape without directly fighting Nix.

It was the same since he first met her again. When he realised that she was not in a normal condition, he should have fled far away without hesitation.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he chose to confront her face to face, and afterward, he restrained her movements with Blizzard and tried to talk to her.

‘She might remember me.’

He threw himself forward with this baseless hope.

And now, he was trying to accept death.

‘Was this really a situation where I had no choice but to die?’