The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 84
The homunculus she created can never become Aseph Vilkanos himself.
Just like if Aseph Vilkanos dies here, and she were to create an identical human through alchemy, it could never become Aseph Vilkanos.
Just as there would never be another human exactly like him for her.
That’s right. A person was a unique existence. Nothing can replace them, and nothing is exactly the same.
Human transmutation was the greatest jest on a person’s life.
Someone said that reviving a person should never be done because a human’s body and soul are special. Yet, Bea couldn’t understand that. If human life was so precious, slavery shouldn’t exist. She should have never been abandoned in the desert.
But that wasn’t it.
The issue was more fundamental.
Even during her days as a slave, when she became an alchemist, when she casually attempted human transmutation… She never understood what she could finally grasp now.
Human transmutation was taboo because it violates a person’s soul, their relationships, their uniqueness.
And she realized one more thing.
She will never meet another person like Aseph Vilkanos.
A prickling sensation, like being pricked by a needle, throbbed in a corner of her heart. Even if her emotions were dull, it seemed like she understood this to be sadness.
If he dies.
If he dies here.
I…
“…Master.”
Bea turned her head sharply towards the tug on her shirt.
It was the pale-faced homunculus. He pulled out a large magic stone from his embrace and showed it to Bea.
“This… May I use it?”
It seemed Aseph Vilkanos wanted to entrust the homunculus to her, along with the magic stone.
Yes. Originally… Bea was researching this. To add a property to release the excessive magic accumulated in the homunculus.
Bea took the magic stone.
Her mind started working faster than when she was commanded by her master. Despite days without proper meals and weakened from medication, her mind was clear, focused on one calculation. It was something she had already done once for her master. There was no reason she couldn’t calculate quickly again.
“Yes.”
The calculation was complete.
Bea was about to write down the formula on the ground but stopped her hand.
Then, she looked straight into the eyes of the homunculus, who was blindly looking at her.
Aseph Vilkanos said you’re similar to me.
Bea passed the magic stone and whispered the formula she just completed into the homunculus’s ear.
Boom!
But before she could finish speaking, Aseph Vilkanos’s massive beastly form crashed beside them.
“Grrrr…”
Aseph scraped the ground trying to get up, then collapsed again.
Bea, without confirming the formula was complete, crawled to him. Myron Devesis’s voice could be heard from behind.
“It’s really entertaining. To have such a perfect revenge match against Vilkanos…”
The sound of leisurely footsteps was heard. From his voice filled with laughter, it seemed he found this situation very amusing.
“Now, like your father did before, I’ll tear you to death…”
But soon, he stopped talking as if puzzled.
“…What?”
Bea too had to turn her head to look.
He stood still, looking bewildered. A magic circle, as large as a human body, blocked his way.
And a little distance away, Homun stood with one arm raised in the correct posture.
“Aha…”
Myron Devesis seemed to grasp the situation soon after.
“…Did you also turn that little Vilkanos brat into a mage? But it’s useless.”
Even if someone would become a mage later in life, they could only perform basic-level magic. Moreover, they must understand the principles of magic to create formulas, and have those formulas memorized perfectly in their mind.
Vilkanos, being beasts with no intellect to speak of, far from magic or alchemy. Such a young one couldn’t possibly know about that.
This was how Myron Devesis thought.
However, when he confidently took another step forward—
Whizz.
Another magic circle appeared in front of him.
“What is this…”
One. Two. Three. Four…
As the child gestured, more magic circles appeared.
Counting became meaningless as the air was densely filled with aggressive magic circles, all targeting one place.
Myron Devesis’s lips twitched in the very center of those targeting circles. The confidence he regained gradually faded away.
Impossible.
Absolutely not feasible.
Unless all those magic and alchemy formulas existed in the child’s mind.
But what was visible led to only one conclusion.
“What kind of… monster is this…”
Myron Devesis’s voice, filled with horror, didn’t reach Homun.
The child simply looked down at him indifferently.
Wearing the same expressionless face Bea always had.
“Master, may I kill that thing?”
Bea, lying atop the fallen Aseph, gasping for breath, couldn’t respond.
“Master?”
Despite the dire situation, Bea couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh. The homunculus needed to release the excessively accumulated magic within its body to be healthy. So, it had to use the most powerful magic to deplete all the stale magic within.
Asking for permission while already knowing the answer was so typical of Aseph Vilkanos.
“…I am not your master. Do as you please.”
“Yes, understood. Mm.”
Bea, nestled in the arms of the fallen Aseph Vilkanos, closed her eyes. Burying her face in the silver fur, she felt nothing.
Except for the familiar scent emanating from his embrace.
Despite the huge explosion, vibration, and terrible screams felt behind her, Bea nestled into the warm fur. Her body had reached its limit. She felt her consciousness blurring.
Before losing consciousness, she seemed to hear a faint voice.
“…Then what should I call you?”
Bea moved her lips but couldn’t respond as she was losing consciousness.
Soon, Homun sighed as if realizing something.
And uttered one word.
“Mother.”
