Chapter 102: I Love You, Arthur. Goodbye.
Maintain the ritual.
It was such an easy thing to read, yet so difficult to understand once a person decided to delve deeper into its meaning.
What ritual? How long do they have to maintain it? Where is the true goal in the objective?
Over the days, they slowly discovered small things that cost the lives of the guild members.
On the first day, three more members died. One of them tried to leave the chamber after seeing Beca’s head blown away, yet the instant he got closer to the entrance, his head suffered the same result.
Two members who followed the first man suffered the same fate as they tried to re-enter the chamber. However, they suddenly made a sharp turn for no apparent reason, and they died.
The next day, someone accidentally tripped on the floor. His fragile candle broke apart, and he screamed, saying, "Someone whispered into my ear!" before his head exploded.
Because of those two incidents, the remaining members immediately discovered that the candle was an important factor in surviving the ritual. It was not the right decision for Ronald to destroy his on the first day, and it became clear that they needed to take good care of their candles, unlike the other man who had accidentally tripped and broken his.
In the next two days, a woman who had grown tired of holding the candle remembered that it could not be allowed to break, so she placed it on the ground to rest because her hand was hurting. However, she suddenly screamed, and three seconds later, her head was blown off.
She had followed the script, yet she still died.
The next day, two more members died after the light from their candles suddenly disappeared. They hadn’t even moved an inch when the woman from the previous day put her candle down, afraid that their heads would be blown away.
They didn’t trip, break the candle accidentally, leave the chamber, or release it from their hands.
The light from the wick simply disappeared as if someone had blown it.
Now, their bodies lay lifelessly on the ground.
It’s been three days since this happened, and the last deaths that Happy Guild suffered. Now, there are four members left.
Aldrich, who lost Beca on the first day. Ronald, who blamed himself for Beca’s death since he had destroyed one of the candles. And then, there were Arthur and Ivana, who tried to keep their candles lit for as long as possible while intending to protect them so that it won’t fall.
These four sat in the middle of the platform, holding their candles carefully. They didn’t speak, afraid that even the air from their lips might cause the flames of their candles to disappear.
Arthur, who was on the verge of losing consciousness because he hadn’t been able to eat or drink for the last three days, was thinking.
’How long are we going to keep doing this?’
As the days continued to pass, hope seemed to fade away. There was no clear goal, members were dying due to unknown or accidental reasons, ultimately blowing their heads off, and no end in sight.
What was even this Runic Gate all about?
Eventually, the quiet atmosphere in this platform was broken when Aldrich, who seemed out of himself after the death of Beca, called out to Ronald.
"Sir Smiling Knight... It’s your fault. All of this started because of you."
Ronald’s complexion wasn’t good either. His face was full of guilt as the image of him cutting down the single candle kept resurfacing in his mind.
Looking at that face made Aldrich even more infuriated, to the point that he started lashing out, the bags under his eyes apparent from his exhausted gaze.
It seemed the things he wanted to say from his mind suddenly burst due to the anger he was feeling inside of him.
"This is all your fault! Beca aside, what about Nina, who put the candle down? She was right beside you! And she stripped just when she was about to walk on you!? What kind of shit is that?! What about Benny and Kyle? They were sitting beside you, and the light on their candles was suddenly gone!"
Ronald looked over Aldrich and replied while biting his lips.
"I didn’t do anything to Nina, Benny, and Kyle. What are you talking about, Aldrich?"
"Huh?! Are you really denying being accountable for their deaths?!" Aldrich paused, his tone rising, "Wow, so does that mean you actually destroyed a candle so that Beca would die on the first day! You did, you did it, you fucking bastard!"
"Hey..."
Arthur couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows while watching the two of them talk to each other. Aldrich was blaming Ronald for the deaths of some members, trying to create an explanation that was far from what had actually happened.
It didn’t make sense to put the blame on Ronald when he didn’t even know what was happening.
"My father didn’t do anything, Aldrich. What are you talking about?"
Ivana interjected between the two of them while keeping the candle slightly away from her mouth. She tried to give a reason, but Aldrich took it one step further.
"Aha! I see! This is a father-daughter scheme to entrap all of us! Is this it? Is this really what you two had in mind?! Killing your loyal members just for... whatever this place is?!"
Aldrich looked towards Arthur.
"Sir Arthur! These two are playing with you! We’ve been trapped!"
Arthur immediately tried to de-escalate the situation when Ronald continued to remain passive about the way Aldrich talked to him. What he was doing was not helping the situation at all.
"Aldrich, you need to calm down and think. You’re not making any sense. Let’s try to think this through together—"
Yet instead of listening to Arthur, Aldrich shook his head strongly and stood up from his seat, making the others wary of his actions. He kept shaking his head and started touching his hair with his one hand.
"Sir Arthur! You don’t understand me! These father and daughter are the cause of it all! It keeps telling me and giving me evidence!"
Arthur slowly stood up from his seat carefully. Ronald and Ivana did the same while trying to activate their Ruiner powers as they held the candles in their grasp. Just like the Decren Family, Aldrich also began activating his Ruiner ability.
Small ashes started to erupt from Aldrich’s body, and he looked at the three of them with a crazed expression.
"No...no... Even you, too, Sir Arthur? Well, I guess because it’s your wife that did this. I see..."
Aldrich glared at Ronald and Ivana.
"I will get out of here, and I will do it by killing two of you!"
Black ashes began spreading across the platform, released from Aldrich as they covered the area where they had been standing moments earlier.
It all happened so fast for Arthur, who was merely looking around for Ivana in the ashes, that he only managed to understand the situation after a whole minute had passed.
The ashes finally vanished, revealing the scene before him. Three figures remained within his sight.
Ronald found himself in Aldrich’s embrace as their candles fell to the floor. Ronald’s sword was plunged into Aldrich’s chest, while Aldrich had driven a knife into Ronald’s chest. However, there was one more person affected after the two clashed.
Ivana ’seemed’ to have tried to stop the two of them from fighting, but Aldrich had already struck her in the abdomen by accident. The only thing Ivana could do was watch them after she tried to get closer, only to be hurt in the process.
Even so, her face showed just how exhausted she truly was. The deaths of her members had clearly affected her more than Arthur realized. She had tried to appear strong, but he had failed to see the pain she was carrying.
Aldrich, who realized what he had just done while looking towards Ivana, screamed.
"Ahhhhhhh! No! What’s happening to me?! Ma’am Ivana, Sir Ronald?!"
Aldrich began to tear up while feeling the pain in his chest, and slowly looked towards Arthur.
"Sir Arthur, I’m sorry. I—"
Aldrich’s head blew off.
Ronald started speaking next, his eyes still looking at the headless body in front with an exhausted expression.
"It’s because of me this happened... It’s me who’s at fault."
Arthur slowly directed his gaze towards Ronald.
Ronald let out a sad smile.
"Arthur, take care of yourself, okay?"
Ronald’s head was blown away as he tried to look at his daughter one last time. Yet, he failed to even do that.
Ivana, who witnessed both her father and Aldrich’s head being blown away, directed her gaze towards Arthur. Her already exhausted expression had become more apparent.
"Ivana—"
"Stop right there, Arthur."
Ivana raised her hand to stop Arthur, who had started walking toward her. Yet, with every step he took, she stepped back.
"I’m going to die, so save yourself. My candle is already broken."
"W-we don’t know about that, Ivana! Can you just please stop moving so that we can heal your injuries?"
Ivana didn’t stop, even though she was already bleeding too much, and blood continued to drip from the corner of her lips.
It made Arthur shout at her for the first time.
"Stop moving!"
Ivana eventually stopped before a smile appeared on her face.
"That’s a first."
"Ivana, this is no time to joke around. Look, nothing’s happening to you! Baby, please. Can you just come here and—"
Before Arthur could even retort and explain to Ivana everything as simply as possible. However, Ivana immediately interjected.
"You don’t understand."
Ivana looked at Arthur, the corner of her eye started tearing up. However, she continued to appear strong for him.
"This place is messing with our minds, Arthur."
"Just what are you talking about—?!"
Ivana didn’t let Arthur continue speaking as she immediately cut him off once more, explaining in full detail why she tried to ’stop’ the fight between Ronald and Aldrich.
However, that didn’t seem to be the case.
She wasn’t stopping the fight between them.
"I heard your voice when Aldrich released his black ashes. You were asking for help."
Arthur didn’t know what Ivana was talking about when all he did was stay in his place for a whole minute.
Ivana explained.
"I wasn’t trying to stop my father and Aldrich from fighting. I was trying to come to your voice when the fight ensued between them. Then, I was struck by Aldrich’s knife."
More blood continued to spill from her mouth.
Then, she reminded one last time.
"Arthur. Don’t let this place get to you."
A soft, sad smile escaped her lips.
"I love you, Arthur. Goodbye."
As if waiting for her to finish, and only after she had done so, Ivana’s head was blown off, and Arthur could do nothing but watch it all happen.