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{3rd Pov}
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Theresia stood still, a faint smile forming on her face as blood remained smeared across her skin.
Her gaze moved across the room, taking in the bodies scattered around her.
The Witch Cultists lay motionless, their lives ended without hesitation, their blood pooling across the floor.
In the end, even with only one hand, without her Divine Protection, and without relying on the muscle memory or the 'Sword Icon' she once possessed, she had still won.
Every single Witch Cultist in the base had been killed by her blade, and none of them had been able to stop her.
The fight was over.
Now that nothing was left to threaten her, she could finally feel it.
The weakness.
It settled into her body gradually, becoming more noticeable now that she was no longer moving.
Her current state was unstable.
She was neither fully a corpse soldier nor fully alive.
Regaining her memories had changed something within her, leaving her somewhere in between.
That gave her certain advantages, but it also came with clear disadvantages that she could not ignore.
"This isn't enough… my strength isn't enough," she muttered under her breath, her voice low and steady despite the exhaustion beginning to set in.
She understood it clearly.
This level of power would not be enough for what lay ahead.
In her previous timeline, she had only obtained the 'Sword Icon' two years later, during that battle.
The memory surfaced clearly in her mind—the fight against Reinhard van Astrea, where she had been pushed to the absolute brink of death.
It was only in that moment, when she was about to lose everything, that she had first awakened the true power of the Sword Icon.
That battle had made one thing undeniable.
Only by facing that monster had she truly understood just how strong he was.
She had killed him once, only for him to return.
Then she had killed him again.
Each time, he came back stronger than before, as if the previous death had meant nothing.
Not only that, but he seemed completely immune to whatever had killed him earlier, as though the very cause of his death had been erased as a possibility.
It was unnatural, beyond anything she could properly explain.
It was as if he was not a mortal being at all, but something closer to a divine existence that simply refused to stay dead.
That was the kind of opponent Reinhard van Astrea had been.
And yet, even in that situation—
He stepped in.
Natsuki Subaru moved between her and Reinhard without hesitation, placing himself directly in front of her.
He shielded her with his own body, even though he knew, better than anyone, that he could not stop what was coming.
He was just a normal human.
He had no Divine Protections.
The authorities he possessed were extremely weak and unreliable.
His physical strength was below average, nowhere near enough to contend with monsters like them.
Even his gate—the very source of his mana—was already damaged beyond proper use.
And still, he stood there.
He did not move or run from there.
At the same time, the Dragon Sword Reid was already in motion, cutting through the air as it moved toward them with unstoppable force.
The moment she sensed it, she understood.
It was hopeless.
Even without her memories at that time, even in that incomplete state, fragments of knowledge still remained within her.
Instinct alone was enough for her to recognize the truth.
That weapon, Dragon Sword Reid was absolute.
It was at that exact moment that the Icon Shard manifested.
A force appeared between them and the incoming attack, forming a barrier that intercepted the strike from Reinhard van Astrea.
The impact did not reach them.
The power that should have cut them down was stopped completely.
But that manifestation had not occurred because of her alone.
It had responded to both of them.
That realization had remained with her ever since.
'What is your reason for fighting?'
Those words resurfaced in her mind, clear and unchanging.
They had stayed with her since her previous life, back when she had still been Theresia van Astrea, and even after she had been reduced to a corpse soldier, stripped of everything else, that question had never truly left her.
Then, without hesitation, an answer formed.
The image of Natsuki Subaru appeared in her mind.
'To protect the one I love.'
That was the only answer she needed.
And that was when it began.
Od Laguna responded.
For the first time, its presence was not felt as a distant, controlling force or as a system that imposed Divine Protections.
Instead, it manifested in a completely different way.
It began to sing.
The voice of Od Laguna spread throughout the world, not as a command or an authority, but as a song.
It was not something forced upon others—it simply existed, resonating across everything.
And that song carried meaning.
It reflected the bond between her and Subaru.
It acknowledged it.
With that response, the Sword Icon awakened.
In that moment, she was no longer just a corpse soldier.
She was elevated beyond that state, becoming something closer to a living Saint.
The power she had gained was new, unrefined, and unstable, but it was way beyond anything that existed before in this Od Laguna, even beyond Authorities themselves.
Even without full control over it, she reached out.
She called upon the 'Concept of Sword' itself.
And it answered.
With that power, she acted with a single purpose—to protect the only thing that mattered to her.
She had cut through the Dragon Sword Reid, reducing it to mere fragments.
The strongest legendary sword in existence had been shattered.
The sight alone had stunned everyone present.
No one moved, no one reacted immediately, as if their minds could not process what had just happened.
hat single moment of shock had given her the opportunity she needed.
She took it without hesitation.
Grabbing Natsuki Subaru, she escaped from the battlefield, putting distance between them and Reinhard van Astrea before anyone could recover enough to pursue them properly.
But something else had happened at that same time.
Something far more personal.
As she fled, her memories returned.
She remembered her life as Theresia van Astrea, the person she had been before she was reduced to nothing more than a corpse soldier.
The identity she had lost was restored completely, along with everything that came with it.
And even in that moment, she made a choice.
She chose to save Subaru.
After they escaped, she told Subaru the truth about her memories, explaining everything she had regained, everything she had remembered.
Even as she spoke, part of her could not fully explain why she had made that decision after regaining her memories.
But the part of the answer was still there.
Subaru had accepted her.
Even when she had been nothing more than a corpse.
Even when she had become something closer to a monster than a person.
Even when she did not fully understand what love meant, or how to respond to it properly.
He had still cared for her.
He had still loved her the same.
Maybe that is why she saved him even after regaining her memories, however that didn't mean she needed to stay with him.
Subaru had been hesitant.
He did not accept everything immediately, nor did he act as if the situation was simple.
Instead, he questioned it.
A part of him wondered whether he should let her go—whether it would be better for her to return to her family, to the life she had before, and to the man she had once loved.
That hesitation made things between them complicated.
If a woman who loved someone else could come to love another man, and even choose him over the person she had spent her entire life with, then what did that say about those feelings?
Were they genuine, or were they something temporary, something unstable?
It was not an easy question, and Subaru could not ignore it.
At that time, she herself did not have an answer either.
She did not know whether what she was doing was right or wrong.
All she knew was simple—she loved Natsuki Subaru.
That was the only thing that felt certain.
That was the only thing that mattered to her when she had been a corpse soldier, when everything else had been stripped away from her.
But things were no longer that simple.
Her memories had returned.
Everything had come back—her past, her life, the people she had once loved.
She remembered Wilhelm van Astrea.
She remembered that she had a son.
She even had a grandson.
Those connections were real.
Her feelings for Wilhelm, and her family were real as well.
And now she stood between two different selves.
As a corpse soldier, she had come to love Subaru.
But as Theresia van Astrea, she had loved Wilhelm.
So which one was she supposed to choose?
She did not know.
She truly did not know.
Part of her told her to forget everything that had happened, to leave Subaru behind, and to return to her husband's side—to reunite with her family, to go back to the life that had once been hers.
While the other half of her told her something completely different.
It told her that she could not betray Natsuki Subaru.
Because, in her mind, all he truly had was her.
At the same time, Subaru had come to his own conclusion.
He had started to believe that his existence itself had become a chain that was holding her back.
He misunderstood her hesitation, convincing himself that she stayed with him not because she truly loved him, but because she felt obligated, because she did not want to abandon him.
To him, the idea that she could genuinely choose him over Wilhelm van Astrea felt impossible.
After all, she had loved Wilhelm.
And during the time they spent together after her memories returned, Subaru had noticed it.
The small signs, the subtle expressions, the moments where her past still influenced her—he had seen enough to convince himself that her feelings for Wilhelm had never truly disappeared.
That belief slowly shaped his decision.
At some point in the future, Subaru chose to sacrifice himself.
His goal was clear—he wanted her to return to her family, to reunite with the life she had lost, even if it meant removing himself from that path completely.
But he did not do it in a simple or honest way as he knew that wasn't going to work as Theresia refused to leave him and in the end for the World he was already a villain so he decided to make that a truth.
He painted himself as a villain.
He constructed a narrative where he had only ever used Theresia van Astrea as a corpse soldier for his own goals, manipulating her without care.
And now that she had regained her memories, she had become a liability—something he needed to dispose of.
He planned everything carefully.
Every action, every word, every step was calculated to make it believable.
He even went as far as staging events that made it appear as if he had completely lost control, acting like a madman who intended to destroy an entire city without reason.
It was all an act.
A role he forced himself to play.
And that decision changed everything.
Because when Wilhelm van Astrea finally stood before him, ready to deliver the final blow—
She acted first.
...
"Why…?"
Wilhelm van Astrea's aged voice reached her ears, unsteady and filled with disbelief.
His gaze was fixed downward, locked onto the blade that had pierced straight through his chest.
The sword had gone cleanly through him, its tip visible from his back, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Before him, lying on the ground, was Natsuki Subaru.
He was barely conscious, on the verge of death, his body battered and broken from the beating he had just endured.
His eyes were wide, filled with shock as he stared at the scene unfolding in front of him.
Neither of them could process it.
Neither of them could believe what they were seeing.
Their attention remained fixed on the same thing—the sword that had passed through Wilhelm's chest.
"A-Are you crazy?!" Subaru shouted, his voice strained and uneven.
Blood poured from his mouth as he struggled to breathe, each word forced out with visible effort.
His voice came out hoarse, breaking under the pressure as he tried to speak louder.
Several of his teeth were missing, knocked out during the brutal beating he had taken from Wilhelm earlier, making his speech even more difficult.
"You attacked him?! Your lover?!" he continued, his voice rising despite the pain, as if he could not accept what had just happened.
"M-My…" she started, but her words faltered for a brief moment.
There was hesitation.
A pause that lasted just long enough to show that she understood exactly what she was about to say.
Then she looked directly at Subaru.
Her gaze did not waver.
"You are the one I love," she said.
Her voice was clear.
The words were simple, but their impact was immediate.
Both of them froze.
Wilhelm could not believe it.
Subaru could not believe it.
"Are you mad?!!!" Subaru shouted again, his voice breaking as he forced the words out.
"HOW CAN YOU LOVE ME?! I JUST USED YOU! I JUST FUCKING USED YOU!"
He coughed violently, more blood spilling from his mouth as his body struggled to keep up with the strain.
His breathing became even more unstable, but he did not stop.
"Because you were a convenient tool!" he continued, his voice filled with desperation, almost frantic.
"That's all you ever were to me!" he shouted, as if he was determined to prove it, as if he was trying to force her to accept that version of him.
As if he needed to be the villain and he turned around on the ground, refusing to meet her eyes.
She could not stop the tears from falling.
They streamed down her cheeks one after another, her vision blurring slightly as she looked at him.
"That is a lie…" she said, her voice unsteady but firm at the same time.
"You never viewed me as a tool, Señor… You always loved me."
There was certainty in her words.
She did not hesitate.
Without waiting any longer, she pulled her sword out from Wilhelm van Astrea's back.
The blade slid free with a sickening sound, tearing through what remained of his strength. The moment it left his body, he lost the support that had been keeping him upright.
He dropped to his knees.
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His body trembled, struggling to remain conscious as blood continued to pour from the wound in his chest.
"W-Why…? Why, Theresia…?" Wilhelm asked, his voice weak but filled with emotion.
His eyes remained locked onto her, filled with disbelief, betrayal, and something deeper that he could not hide.
She did not answer immediately.
Instead, she began to move.
Step by step, she walked past him, heading toward Natsuki Subaru's broken figure lying on the ground who was trying as if to crawl away, unable to meet their eyes.
As she passed, her eyes met Wilhelm's one last time.
"Wilhelm van Astrea… I loved you," she said.
Her voice did not waver.
"I won't deny that."
There was no attempt to hide it, no attempt to soften the truth.
"But my heart tells me who I love now."
For a brief moment, Wilhelm's expression changed.
The disbelief twisted into anger.
Into something closer to hatred.
"WHY?!" he shouted again, forcing the word out despite the damage to his body.
"You—You…!" His voice faltered as he struggled to continue, blood spilling from his mouth with every attempt to speak.
His heart had already been pierced.
By all logic, he should have already been dead.
And yet, he was still alive.
Barely held together by sheer determination and the kind of superhuman strength that very few in Od Laguna possessed.
He watched in stunned silence as Theresia van Astrea slowly knelt down beside Natsuki Subaru.
Her movements were deliberate, unhurried, as if everything else around her had lost meaning.
She reached out with her remaining hand and gently lifted his head, cradling it with a level of care that stood in complete contrast to the violence that had just taken place.
For a brief moment, she simply held him like that.
Then, without hesitation—
She pressed her lips against his.
The action was sudden, direct, leaving no room for doubt.
Subaru's eyes widened in shock, his entire body tensing at the unexpected contact.
Tears began to fall from his eyes as the moment stretched, his mind unable to process what was happening.
Even so, he responded.
Weakly, barely able to form words, he muttered against her lips, his voice trembling and broken.
"Why…? Why choose me…?"
His question carried everything—confusion, pain, disbelief.
She understood all of it.
She knew what she had done would not be considered right by any moral standard.
She knew that her actions could be seen as betrayal—betrayal of her past, of her family, of the very reasons she had once fought for.
She did not deny any of that.
But even so, there was one thing she was certain of.
She slowly pulled back, breaking the kiss as her expression softened, her gaze fixed entirely on him.
"Because you are my Señor," she said quietly.
There was no hesitation in her voice.
Then—
"I love it when you call me señorita—"
The sound spread.
"I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya—"
It was no longer faint.
"But every touch is ooh-la-la-la—"
"It's true, la-la-la—"
"Ooh, I should be running—"
"Ooh, you keep me coming for ya—"
The world itself began to sing.
The sound filled the surroundings, not as noise, but as something that simply existed, something that could not be ignored.
It carried through the air, embedding itself into the moment, making it impossible to separate the scene from the song.
For Wilhelm van Astrea, it became the last thing he experienced.
He watched.
Unable to move or stop it.
As the two of them remained there together, their figures fixed in place, the image burning itself into his vision.
And as his strength finally gave out, as his life faded completely—
That was the scene that remained with him in his final moments.
Meanwhile, the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall.
They were steady and deliberate, each step clear against the silence that had settled over the area.
Then, a man with blazing red hair and striking blue eyes came into view, stopping a short distance away from her.
It was Reinhard van Astrea.
His gaze immediately took in the scene before him.
The body of his grandfather lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes lifeless.
Not far from him, his grandmother—Theresia van Astrea—was kneeling, holding Subaru close, cradling him with care, her lips still close to his as if nothing else in the world mattered.
And the one she held—
That boy.
That monster.
For a brief moment, something in him cracked.
His heart felt like it was breaking, the weight of what he was seeing pressing down on him all at once.
But outwardly, nothing showed.
His expression remained blank, empty, as if he felt nothing at all.
His Divine Protections made sure of that.
They suppressed his emotions, preventing them from surfacing, because if they did—if even a fraction of what he felt was allowed to come through—he would break apart right then and there.
Theresia, meanwhile, did not panic.
She slowly adjusted her hold on Natsuki Subaru, supporting him more securely before channeling Yang Magic into his body.
The energy flowed into him, reinforcing his injured state, stabilizing him, and gradually restoring his strength.
Even as she did that, she already knew who had arrived.
Subaru, on the other hand, had been in no condition to notice.
His senses had been in complete disarray due to the beating he had taken earlier.
It was only after the Yang Magic began to take effect, strengthening his body and clearing his mind, that his awareness returned.
His eyes widened as he finally noticed the figure standing before them.
"R-Reinhard…?" he said, his voice filled with disbelief.
Reinhard did not respond to him.
He did not even look at him.
Instead, his attention remained fixed entirely on Theresia.
"Would you not even turn back… Grandmother?" he asked, his voice controlled, but carrying a weight that was impossible to ignore.
Theresia turned her head and looked back at him.
There was no guilt or regret on her ever-youthful face.
Her expression remained calm, unchanged by his presence.
That alone made his hands slowly clench into fists, he dug his nails deep enough to draw blood from his palm.
"I love Subaru… Reinhardt, please let us go. I don't want to kill you as well," she said, her voice carrying a slight pleading tone, though her stance and gaze remained unwavering.
Reinhard van Astrea looked at her without any visible emotion.
His eyes were steady, cold, and focused entirely on her, as if he had already made up his mind long before this moment.
"I know, Grandma…" he said calmly.
"I cannot defeat you. But even if I have to use my last breath, I will deliver justice."
There was no hesitation in his voice.
No sign of doubt.
Only resolve.
Then, suddenly—
A faint buzzing sound began to spread through the air, subtle at first but unmistakable.
It lingered in the surroundings, growing just enough to be noticed, yet not enough to be understood.
"Mm—"
"I remember years ago—"
The song began playing, growing louder with each syllable running parallel and in contrast to 'Senorita' played for Subaru and Theresia by the Od Laguna.
"Someone told me I should take—"
"Caution when it comes to love, I did—"
"And you were strong, and I was not—"
"My illusion, my mistake—"
"I was careless, I forgot, I did—"
It was at that exact moment that another Sword Icon Shard manifested within the world.
The presence was undeniable, distinct from anything else, carrying with it the same conceptual weight that defined all Icons.
And this time, its wielder was Reinhard van Astrea.
The moment it settled, everything began to move toward an inevitable direction.
That single event would later be known as the beginning—
Of the 'Sword Icon War.'
To be continued...
(A/N: Cuckhelium is peak, fr, fr! Do you know what else is peak? Giving me powerstones!)