Requiem of Subdued Souls

Chapter 54: Peach Blossom Girl (10)

The powers of both sides intertwined around the dice.

In other words, Dohwa wanted it to stop.

But she couldn’t shake off the other energy that was making the dice turn.

‘It is an opportunity I worked hard to get, and I will not waste it.’

Seol Young slowly raised his spiritual power. The Wind Spirit Curse began to get stronger.

Round and round.

The speed at which the dice turned increased gradually.

The Wind Spirit Curse continued to move. And because the energies of both sides were fiercely clashing, the space that the energies occupied expanded.

A whirlwind moved around the dice.

This was enough.

‘… answer the call.’

Seol Young summoned the Wind God.

There was overwhelming pressure from the huge being’s entrance. After that, the huge face of the Wind God appeared.

A rough wind tore through the space, and his head felt like it would explode from this.

The Wind God embraced all the wind spirits and took their place.

The dice was swept away by this mighty wind, but it still continued to rotate.

[Ah!]

There was a sharp scream in the wind.

Even with all this happening, Dohwa didn’t want to let go of the dice, and it eventually got blown away by the wind.

A shape appeared in the wind, which was wildly spinning.

“Is that her body?”

Zaha raised the aura on his sword to clearly look at it. The shape was a woman’s body.

“You have to catch that!”

Seol Young hurriedly began to cast talismans.

The blue text flew up and turned into a rope. The soul that was within the whirlwind was tied down at once.

He did it!

Dohwa was bound, and she couldn’t move.

Seol Young sent a light beam towards her vague form, and….

“Down.”

Dohwa’s soul, which was full of intense anger, pain, and hatred, was spreading warm energy. It was the terrible memory of her death.

A memory she didn’t want to let go of—the thought of dying each second.

And now was finally the time to let it go.

Seol Young sincerely hoped she would move on.

‘I really hope you forget this…’

A dazzling light shone from the rope and poured into Dohwa’s body, embracing all the painful memories that were inside of her.

At that moment….

“Wait…”

What was Zaha trying to do?

The next moment……

[ACKKKK!]

With a shriek, her soul’s two hands came out of the whirlwind.

… did it just do that? Seol Young was surprised.

Before he knew it, the Dead Slayer sword was emitting a strong aura to press her down.

“No wonder I felt strange.”

Zaha said.

But he didn’t expect this at all.

There was no hostility in Seol Young’s rope of light. All it wanted was to soothe her pain and let her finally rest in peace.

Dohwa should have known that.

And yet she rejected it?

Anyone would want to be relieved of the pain and feel comfortable. But with Dohwa, it felt different.

She didn’t want to be comfortable. All she wanted was revenge.

Early on, she swore to kill all three young men who were the living descendants of her enemies, and she didn’t want to compromise. However, an obstacle with powerful spiritual energy appeared and stopped her from doing anything.

She was suppressed and trapped within the whirlwind of the Wind God, and was unable to move. As if frost were stuck in her heart, she couldn’t fulfill her will.

Her body trembled as if she were screaming something, and the next moment….

Puak!

There was a sound of something piercing a body.

Dohwa’s body twisted a little, and she jumped straight into Zaha’s Dead Slayer sword.

Rather than forget everything and be at peace, she chose to perish with the grudge.

The spirit qi of the sword burned as her body was pierced, and she was engulfed in flames.

“Miss Dohwa!”

Seol Young was shocked and reached for her. And the moment his hand touched hers, all the terrible things that had taken refuge in her heart were felt by him.

But he couldn’t let her go.

[Ahhhhh!]

Dohwa, who was losing her spirit form to the sword, screamed in flames as she was exorcised.

The pain of being burned by flames with a spiritual body was not something one could understand.

[Ack!]

Zaha frowned at this. His hand holding the sword didn’t even move.

He couldn’t even pull out the sword. If he moves it, it would only cause her more pain. And maybe that was why he just held onto it despite not wanting to.

‘I need to relieve her pain quickly.’

Seol Young cast a spell while holding Dohwa’s body.

A soft blue light covered her body, and the screaming stopped as she sighed.

[Ah…]

Like the sun shining through leaves, small memories that she had long forgotten shone on her.

A girl as pretty as a peach blossom was singing while plucking some flowers.

[Dohwa! Dohwa!]

Her friends came running from afar.

The girl touched the scarf around her neck, which was about to be blown away by the wind. And with a bright smile, she said,

[Now…]

She spoke with the clearest voice.

[… spring has come.]

Dohwa’s body drooped. She collapsed as if the flames had embraced her. Finally, her face was visible, and she was no longer screaming.

A single tear fell from her blank eyes.

Finally, everything burned down.

“…”

Seol Young was at a loss for words.

Dohwa’s soul had been exorcised by the shaman in the past, and yet she managed to appear again. And this time, Seol Young tried to send her back with his own hands.

But she turned out to be wrong this time too.

Seol Young extended his hand into the air and looked at it.

He could no longer feel Dohwa’s spiritual energy. The glimmer of her old memories that he was looking at was now fading.

The evil spirit that killed people by throwing a dice had vanished, and the lives of the three men who almost died were saved.

“… this is how it ends.”

Seol Young mumbled.

Whatever happened, once they left, there was no coming back.

He turned around, but Zaha didn’t move. He was just staring at the point where Dohwa had disappeared.

And Seol Young looked at him. It was hard to know what he was thinking,

Still, he held onto the sword without moving until Dohwa perished, so the pain she was experiencing wouldn’t increase. And as he was lost in thought, Seol Young said to him,

“Are you not going to leave?”

“…”

“This isn’t the actual pavilion, but a space that Miss Dohwa created. Now that she has disappeared, this will also disappear, so we need to get out quickly.”

“…”

Zaha didn’t look, nor did he answer.

“It isn’t over.”

“…?”

Seol Young was confused.

It wasn’t over?

… ah, right.

And it struck his mind.

Miss Dohwa was a powerful evil spirit. They did their best to naturally confront her, and they asked a question they should have thought about earlier.

‘Come to think of it… Miss Dohwa wasn’t that evil spirit?’

The terrifying spirit that had a shadow. The woman with a hairpin and talismans stuck to her face.

She wasn’t Miss Dohwa.

He saw her face before she vanished, but her appearance was so different. And there was no Mandala of Darkness, which devoured everything.

The two were different beings.

Then who was that evil spirit?

Seol Young turned to Zaha, and he was still staring at the spot where she had vanished.

Spiritual energy gathered in his eyes, and a golden light was shining. A dark aura rose from behind him.

This was not a usual sight.

Seol Young began to feel nervous. He prepared to use the mask in his sleeve anytime as he looked at Zaha.

“Why are you acting strange? Actually, there isn’t anything to point out. I know your secret. And what does it have to do with the spirits that constantly appear in front of me? Do not think of making excuses. If you can show me that technique you…”

It was then….

“Move!”

Zaha pushed Seol Young.

And it was so unexpected that his eyes went wide.

Something exploded from the ground—it was darkness, and it exploded and crushed everything, tearing everything apart, and then it began to cover everything so wildly.

“What is that?”

Seol Young stepped back with a hand on his sword.

At that moment, without any sign or sound, it appeared.

The shape was shaking.

It was like an illusion. The figure was like a phantom.

But it was real too.

Through its long hair, its face, which was covered in talismans, could be seen little by little.

Her!

Seol Young was frozen.

He couldn’t feel anything from her, but he could tell.

Something huge was about to happen. And he tried to walk out of this space, so he turned.

“What is that?”

“As I thought…”

Zaha mumbled.

“It means I failed.”

His shimmering gold eyes subsided.

The aura of darkness that rose as a haze had changed. Black flames rose around him like literal flames.

‘… Failed?’

While Seol Young thought about those words….

Zaha attacked the figure of that evil spirit at once.