World's Last Hope-Chapter 72: Truly Safe

Olivia took a deep breath as she massaged her eyebrows. "Even if this is going to be harder than I thought, that doesn’t mean I will give up," she muttered as she awaited the next memory.

It didn’t take long, as she felt light hit her eyes, and she slowly opened them.

"Dear, do you remember what we spoke about?"

Olivia froze for a second as she looked at the woman that was talking to her.

It was her mother. It had been so long since she had seen her, she feared she might forget what she looked like.

’She... I really look like her,’ Olivia mused, still gazing at her mother.

"Hey, don’t daydream!" her mother spoke as she poked her on the forehead.

"What were we talking about again?" Olivia asked, this time she wasn’t startled by how young her voice sounded.

"I will be going into an expedition to conquer a cathedral, so some time will pass until we meet again."

’Ah, this was the last time I saw my mother...’ Olivia remembered as she tried to fight off tears.

"Can’t you... not go?" she asked, shifting her gaze to her mother’s.

The woman placed her hand on Olivia’s head before she spoke.

"This is a great honor, you know? It’s not every day that a master gets chosen to go on an expedition with a Grandmaster in their team."

While it was the truth, Olivia knew what would happen later, the expedition would be overwhelmed, and everybody would die, with the exception of the Grandmaster, who just barely managed to escape.

’So, I guess I have to kill my mother now... no, the thing that acts like my mother.’

Olivia stretched out her hands, mimicking the motion of a hug, and placed both of her palms on her mother’s cheeks.

The next second, she drove her thumbs into the woman’s eyes, killing her instantly.

She was back in the dark void.

"Second... let’s see how many it will take."

*****

"Fifteen."

It was a weird feeling, killing imitations of everybody you love and care about.

"Twenty-five."

Even if Olivia knew these were just copies, it still hurt.

"Thirty-seven."

Because at the moment, there wasn’t anything indicating this was a copy—it just felt like the real thing.

The smell of blood lingered in the air as the bodies fell lifelessly to the ground, one by one.

"Sixty-three."

The way their eyes narrowed in shock, shifting their gazes to Olivia’s eyes moments before passing away.

"One hundred thirty-one."

But as time went on, the feelings of guilt, shame, and regret became less intense.

"Two hundred."

After so long, Olivia wasn’t really feeling anything in particular anymore. Probably the only way to describe it was to say she felt hollow—or maybe not completely hollow yet.

"Four hundred eleven."

Maybe that was why there were so few Grandmasters around. Maybe that was why all of them looked weird—almost uncanny.

Most must have failed to resist the corruption, and the few that did were scarred for the rest of their lives.

Had there ever been a normal-looking Grandmaster? Olivia wondered.

There was only one she could remember—it was her friend Aria.

Aria had told her that she thought at some point in time she would have lost her mind entirely while battling against the corruption.

Yet she hadn’t... and the only reason for that was Eric.

Eric... where was he?

Had he failed to enter the corruption?

Or maybe there was something that was needed for the two of them to meet?

Olivia didn’t know, nor did she have the time to care for such matters.

If help didn’t come, then she would simply deal with the problem on her own.

*****

Glancing around the dark void, Olivia let out a sigh.

The place around her seemed to have brightened a little, but it was a long way from becoming bright like a star. It seemed that she had much more to go.

"Is that the thousandth time?" she asked herself. This was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment.

The only proof that she was progressing, counting down the memories she had gone through brought her some comfort. Even if it was a little, it was still more than enough for her.

"Isn’t it going to run out of memories eventually?" she muttered in frustration.

But then she felt light hitting her closed eyes, and even if she didn’t want to, she opened them, steeling her resolve for the thousandth memory.

Her eyes were wide and unfocused. She was clearly tired, her mind hadn’t rested for months, if not longer.

But she forced herself to observe her surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was that she was sitting on the ground, next to a colossal tree that seemed to have been almost cut.

’Isn’t that...?’ she shifted her gaze forward.

There, sitting on the ground, was the silhouette of a man who seemed to illuminate the surroundings around him.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed as they regained part of their energy.

Her mouth opened slightly in awe as her mind raced.

After taking a few shallow breaths, she spoke, "Eric? Is that you?"

The silhouette suddenly moved a little as he replied, "Olivia? We finally meet!"

Standing up slowly, she approached him, putting her hand forward.

Placing it on his head, confirming that she wasn’t imagining things, she couldn’t help but shed a few tears.

"I... am not alone anymore?"

Eric hesitated for a moment before he spoke, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am..." she replied, still in a daze.

"It’s just that you fell on your knees."

Olivia’s eyes widened for a moment. It seemed that after feeling safe for just a moment, her legs had given out, and she collapsed in exhaustion.

As a result, her face was just a few centimeters from Eric’s face—or, more accurately, his silhouette.

Even though looking at him from so close was like staring at the sun, she didn’t avert her gaze, because at that moment, it felt like she was looking at hope itself.

"You can take a moment to rest. You deserve it," Eric said as he put his arms around her and hugged her, intending to give her some time to recover.

Feeling safe after being in danger for so long, she couldn’t stop her tears from falling down her face.

There were so many emotions—relief that everything, every memory, was behind her now. Relief that she wouldn’t go insane from staying alone for so long. And one more...

Despite being in the embrace of a man, she didn’t tremble in the slightest, because at that moment, she felt truly safe.