[Do you accept?]

Those words rang in my ears and were also plastered in my eyes.

This was no time to get suspicious.

‘Will I be able to rip those bastards apart?’

As if to answer my questions, something flaming appeared. It took the shape of a burning planet.

[Yes, you will. But at a pric—]

‘I don’t fucking care. Give me strength, right now!’

Suddenly a pair of eyes and a mouth appeared on the planet’s surface. It wasn’t realistic or anything, more like scribbles made by a two-year-old.

Four badly-drawn limbs soon protruded out of it, giving it a kind of cute feel.

However, pain soon ripped through me, making me forget about everything that was currently going on. By the time I came to my senses, I was trapped inside my own head.

“Thanks for the body, Bride of Violence.”

My mouth moved, but I could tell that it wasn’t me who said it.

‘You… Did you take over my body?’

“Oh? You’re surprisingly sharp for someone who’d just lost their body.”

‘Lost?’

“Yes. That’s the price. Hah, who would’ve known you so easily accepted it?”

I realized something. The world was now gray. It was almost as if…time itself stopped.

But the Burning World didn’t care about it. Using my mouth, it muttered, “Status.”

“Hmmm…that’s a bit distressing. Let’s change some of that around, shall we?”

It grabbed my Skills tab and broke it into pieces…and reassembled them again.

[A LARGE AMOUNT OF CAUSALITY DETECTED. CHANGING TO THE USER’S DESIRED RESULT.]

“Yes, yes, just show me already. Illusion play is unbefitting of a Bride of Violence.”

[{NS} Garden of Illusion → {NS} Fox Fire]

“And [Seven Dawns]? It’s supposed to be a Blessing, not a Curse.”

[Acquired: Blessing of the Outer Sun God {Tier 1}]

“Now we’re talking.” It grinned.

‘Hey, give me my body back, now!’

“Oops,” the Burning World giggled. “I forgot you’re still here. Since you were so cooperative, I’ll let you watch me pilot your body instead of obliterating your consciousness.”

As soon as it finished that sentence, I could feel something trapping me. Something…fleshy. ‘What… What are you going to do?’

“Isn’t it obvious?” It grinned. “Violence.”

‘C-Can you at least get Mom to a Healer?’

“Mom? This weakling?” It glanced at Mom in disgust.

So…it wasn’t going to try and save Mom.

I…was angry.

More than anything, I was angry at myself for not being able to save Mom. But for all it’s worth, Mom’s death reminded me of something.

My original goal was to reach the top of the Tower.

To bring Ihwa back.

My goal remained unchanged. The only difference was that I was going to revive Mom, too. And being stuck here wouldn’t help.

So, I reached my hand out and tore the flesh that was keeping me apart.

‘This prison…to hold…ME?’

Light flooded my vision, and I was now…transparent? I could still see my body, but it was as if I was a soul outside of my body.

But it didn’t matter now. Somehow, I could feel that I could touch the smug little Planet floating right beside my body—and I did.

“W-What!? How!”

I merely chuckled. I didn’t know how, either. But what was important was that I could crush it to pieces.

And I did.

Piece by piece, the Planet crumbled.

“N-No! H-How!? I’m a Star! I form the great Virgo! Stop!”

“Too late now,” I leaned in closer to it and whispered. “You’re going to Hell…just like Herald will.”

Crunch—!

I was back in my body. It felt…oddly refreshing. Time resumed, and I could feel that I was much stronger than before.

“What happened to your eyes!?” Bruce shouted.

‘My eyes?’

I manifested a clear Ice shard in my hand and viewed my reflection. Yep, still me. The only difference was that instead of gray, my eyes were red. And replaced my normal pupils were ones that looked and flickered like flames.

Strangely, whenever I tried to manifest my Frost, my pupils would turn diamond-shaped with a crystalline texture to them.

‘Trivial things,’ I shrugged it off and crushed the Ice shard to pieces.

My power was now 6-star, but I could feel it draining quickly. Probably, the Burning World was giving me power. Now that it was dead, the power was being taken away, fast.

So, without wasting any more time, I muttered,

“[Sword Field of the Starry Tundra]”

The power that Swordsmaster could only use once they reached 6-star—Sword Field. Everyone has a different Sword Field, but mine covered the ground in a thick layer of snow and turned the sky dark and starry. It also manifested a crown of Ice atop my head.

But something about this was unfamiliar. It was easy to escape my Sword Field in my past life, but this time, there was a wall of a million tiny wisp-like blue flames that spiraled around the Field.

Stolen story; please report.

I couldn’t help but let out a grin. Whatever the Burning World was, it helped fix one of the biggest weaknesses of my Sword Field. Judging by the fact that two assassins had already been burned to crisps while trying to escape, the wall of Fox Fire was very effective.

I waved my hand lightly. A beautiful throne of Ice appeared behind me. It’d be a waste not to sit on it and cross my legs arrogantly like the Sovereign that I was—a Sovereign that ruled over her own Field.

I snapped my fingers. Sharp Ice protruded out of the ground and impaled the assassins. Thin strands of white Light from the Stars above riddled their corpses with even more holes.

Torn limbs, dismembered guts, the sight was gory. Yet, I was satisfied. This was retribution for daring to hurt those I loved.

Now, the only ones left were the 5-star assassin and the little shithead himself. I deliberately left him for last.

“Young Master, run!” The assassin shouted as he took a step forward. “I’ll hold her back. Please tell the Patriarch the take care of my family!”

“Are you stupid!? Didn’t you see your men burning into charcoal!? How am I supposed to escape?”

But the assassin entertained the shithead no further and began attacking me.

“Futile.” I laughed. Then, Ice bit into his feet, locking him in his place. I left my throne and walked slowly toward the assassin; each step filled with arrogance and pride.

‘The Field will be gone soon. I’d better be quick.’

Lifting the assassin’s chin up, I grinned. “Any last words?”

“W-Who are you?”

I was taken aback by his question. He didn’t ask for forgiveness or even think about his family that he mentioned before? How uninteresting. But…he still got me thinking.

Who was I?

Nira’s question once again popped into my head.

Swordsmaster Nova? Maybe. But I wasn’t strong enough to claim that out loud.

Nova Leinfall? I…was too far gone to be called that.

But this time, the answer was strangely as clear as it could ever be.

“I’m Esther. Not Nova, not even a Swordsmaster. No one but a pathetic vixen that can’t even save her Mom.”

With a swift wipe of my hand, his head went rolling on the ground. Just in time, my Field ended.

‘Right, the shithead is still here.’

I turned toward his direction, only to see him running away from me…in a straight line. To be fair, the streets were narrow and straight, but still…

‘If he wants to die so bad, then so be it.’

Closing one eye, I pointed a finger at him. Controlling Flame Mana was second nature to me now, probably because of the Burning World. It swirled around my fingertip and compressed into a flat ball of blue.

“[Flame Cannon]”

The ball decompressed, shooting at the shithead with a shape that I could only describe as a thick spiraling pillar of fire. It engulfed the shithead, returning him to ashes.

My strength had dropped to 3-star now, but all my enemies were dead, so it didn’t matter as much. I made my way toward Mom and hugged her tight.

“Mom…don’t worry, I’ll save you. Just wait for me, okay?”

I spent even more time hugging her. I didn’t want to separate from her this early. Her body was still warm, her face was still smiling. A little bit of comfort was all I needed before. Still, my eyes couldn’t help but water up. I failed. Miserably. And Mom had to pay the price, not me. It should’ve been me. It should’ve—

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I weakly lifted my head up and saw…Herald looking at me with a darkened face.

Before the corpse of one of his Wives, and his daughter, who was grieving, what would a man like him say?

“You’re under arrest.”

Ah, of course.

“The one who should be arrested is you,” I answered weakly, not really having the energy to shoot back. I was too weak right now. All I need was time to get stronger and then, his blood will b—

“It’s you who killed her. You who made your own sister motherless. Remember that.”

My eyes shook. W-What? Clearly, he was the one who made all of this happen, r-right?

And then it hit me. I was the one who stabbed Mom. The shithead was after me, so I was the one who put her in danger in the first place.

But…this man is equally guilty. What was I thinking, biding my time until I get stronger? Fuck that!

“She died, like the useless trash that she was.”

I chuckled as soon as I heard his words. He’d just torn the last shred of rationality left inside me. Gently placing Mom’s body to the side, I manifested Aura Claws and pounced at him like the mad beast that I was. Uncontrollable rage washed over me and—

*

*

*

*

*

Herald flicked his wrist and looked at the ground down below him where two tools lie—one more useful than the other.

Yet, her usefulness was shattered in the span of under an hour.

Herald could vividly remember the moment. She awakened to Frost and was dragged out of the Castle as per his own orders.

He touched his cheek. There lies a minor scratch that the tool managed to inflict on him before he knocked her out. He felt an emotion he hadn’t felt for a long time.

Regret.

Regret that he didn’t treat her better.

Truthfully, he made all of his other tools enamored with him so that he could control them better. The only reason why he was so abusive toward the tool here was that he simply wanted to experiment on how far fear would take him.

Now, this tool was going to try and kill him every chance she got. What a waste of talent.

The arrogant tool with his assassins died, and the most talented tool would try to kill him every chance she got. Now, he only had his other tool, Ihwa.

“Milord.” A Butler appeared by Herald’s side. “I’ve checked the bodies. They’re…both alive.”

“Even Hayan?”

“Yes, Milord.”

This was…unexpected. She’d experienced wounds that would kill even a 4-star, and yet, here she was, stubborn as always.

Still, she was useless now. After two times giving birth to useless things, she was no more than trash to him.

‘But perhaps trash still has its use…’

“Treat Hayan’s wounds and lock her up. Make sure nobody else knows that she’s alive.”

“And the child, Milord?”

“Patch her up.” He replied without any hesitation. “And make sure that she gets the death penalty, or at the very least, exiled. I don’t want to keep a dog that would bite its owner by my side.”

“If I may ask, Milord, why don’t you just kill her?”

“Those who don’t know what happened won’t be able to complain. Those who do will see her as an example. They will not dare mess with me anymore.”

“But…what if she returns stronger?”

“She won’t,” Herald, said with a sharp voice. “Even if she did, I still have Hayan to use as leverage.”

The Butler nodded and disappeared into the shadow, taking both Hayan and the tool with him.

.

.

.

.

.

I don’t know how many days it has been…

…Locked up in this cell, not being able to even attend my Mom’s own funeral.

My eyes were swollen from crying. I could hardly see anything anymore. At least, I could see the vague figures of the guards who led me to some kind of courtroom.

“The trial of Nova Leinfall—the main suspect in the case of Hayan Leinfall’s murder, starts.”

Why bother…Herald was going to rig it anyways.

I glanced to my right. People were there, probably on my side. I realized that some of them were from the villages that I’d saved, Commoners from the Duchy’s Capital that suffered under the Red Skulls, and the slaves that I’d freed. The more notable ones were Father Richter and Ihwa.

I looked at the judge again. Clearly, he was about to give me the death sentence, but the pressure from the public made him change his verdict last second.

“Exile, with her titles and name stripped!”

Days passed in a blur. I was back in my cell, sometimes, I was not. No one could come to visit me, not even Ihwa.

I only came to my sense when I was loaded onto a carriage and a child with white hair and red eyes sat on my lap.

“Nee-chan…”

“Nowa?”

Why was she here?

As if to answer my question, a voice rang out from beside me.

“She’s here to accompany you. At least sound a little grateful.”

It was Edward.

“...You’re…here?”

“Well, Violette and I don’t have many choices. It’s either serve House Leinfall or follow you.”

“And you chose me?”

“Not me. Violette did.”

I nodded and glanced to my side. Violette was there, dozing off. There was drool running down her mouth and I wanted to wipe it off. However, I was too weak to do so.

Patting Nowa’s head, I weakly asked,

“Where’s Ria and Hannah?”

“They can’t leave.”

“I see…”

It’d make sense that Herald didn’t want the Genius Alchemist to escape his grasp.

With a sigh, Edward finally plopped down beside me.

“Look, I know that it’s a lot, but you need to be strong. If not for me and Violette, then for Nowa.”

Edward’s words sunk deep into me.

I…killed my own mother. I…made my sister motherless. So, the least I could do was protect her until she grew up strong and healthy.

Giving Nowa a hug, I cried again into her shoulder.

‘This pathetic sister of yours will protect you. I’ll shower you with the love that Mom would’ve, I promise.’