The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-63

Pitter… Patter…

Water dripped in this dark space, one droplet at a time.

“Am I… dead?”

Karen, the ashen knight, scratched her head. She didn’t understand the current situation.

She had already experienced death once before. The death she faced back then was complete darkness. She wasn’t in some space with her memories, like she was right now.

“Then does this mean… that I’m not dead right now?”

The image of Karuna, her brother, begging for her while grabbing her still lingered in her memory.

“Do I… still have regrets left?”

And then…

Crackle… Crackle…

The dark area lit up for a second. And as it did, someone’s vision revealed itself to Karen.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

Badump… Badump…

Their heart was pounding.

She was watching the world through someone else’s eyes.

It was vibrant and three-dimensional, like she was there herself. Judging by how the scenery was moving up and down, it seemed like the person was riding a horse.

“Is this… someone’s memory?”

Karen was confident that it was someone’s memory.

“I have to go… She’s waiting for me.”

Rumble Rumble Rumble…

A deep voice.

Karen instantly knew who this voice belonged to.

“Karuna! It’s Karuna’s!”

She was glad to hear the voice, but she was also saddened by it.

And as she also saw what Karuna saw, she was in complete shock, like she had just gone from heaven to hell.

Spurt… Spurt…

Karuna was looking at his abdomen.

Blood.

Karuna must have gotten on his saddle without properly stopping the bleeding beforehand. Every time the horse galloped, blood would drip down.

“Karuna!”

Karen urgently shouted his name, but her voice didn’t reach him.

“Haah… Haah… Karen… told me… that she would… be waiting for me… I promised… her… that I would… go back… I…”

Thud.

Karuna’s vision went black.

Crash!

It was clearly the sound of him falling off his horse. Karen could feel Karuna falling through the air.

Fwoooooosh…

Splash… Splash…

“D-Did he fall off?”

Karen was caught off guard, like she was the one who fell off the cliff herself.

And after that, there were no more changes.

The only thing Karen could feel was the current sweeping her off somewhere.

Karen could sense that these memories were her brother’s, Karuna’s, memories.

“So you really were coming back.”

“I was.”

“......”

Karuna revealed himself from the dark space from behind Karen.

Karuna, who had taken his helmet off, looked similar to Karen but with sharper features.

“...What happened? Who…”

“I don’t know. I was ambushed while I was heading to the capital.”

“I didn’t even know that and…”

“Karen.”

Karuna looked confidently at Karen.

“That isn’t important anymore.”

“Not important? Why not?”

“Because we’re in a new era.”

“But…”

“Montra doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone we knew in Montra is dead.”

“......”

“It’s the same for our deaths too. Regardless of what happened, it’s no longer important. If we want to live in this new time…”

“New time? Don’t make me laugh! How could you say that?!”

Grit…

The space temporarily became unstable from her rage.

“Jin… Jin would have died too then… to those usurpers…”

“It’s unfortunate, but everyone dies.”

Karuna calmly tried to comfort her.

“The same goes for me, and you, and Jin.”

“...I don’t know. What are you even trying to say?”

“Let’s go together. Let’s go together into this new world.”

“For what?”

“Anything.”

“Is there something that you want in this new world, Karuna?”

“Well, I don’t know yet.”

“Then why are you trying so hard to go together?”

“I’m not doing this to convince you to go into the new world.”

Karuna took a step towards Karen.

“It’s because I want to do it together.”

“...Karuna.”

“When I saw the world outside of the Empire, I realized that the Empire was extremely small. Not everything existed inside our fence.”

“I… I…”

“The world is vast, Karen. It’s filled with mysterious things that we don’t understand.”

Karen was slowly leaning toward accepting Karuna’s proposition. But there was one last hurdle before she could fully accept it.

“I lost everything. I lost you, I lost Jin, and I lost the Empire. What will I burn for now? They’ve all turned to ash…”

Karuna gave the same answer that he gave before.

“Anything.”

“...You’re such an asshole.”

“It’s been a long time since I heard that. Still, maybe it might be a good first step to think about why you need to be on fire in the first place.”

“Why I need to be on fire…”

The knight, who had burned herself down to ash, closed her eyes at her brother’s words.

“Let’s go together, Karen. Let’s go together to the sea.”

And then she opened her eyes to her brother’s words. Her eyes slowly turned red. It, once again, had reason.

Crackle…

She gave her response to Karuna while looking at the crumbling space.

“Alright, take me with you.”

The moment Karuna was swallowed up by the black lightning, he had a hunch.

‘Is Karuna going to change as well?’

Seol started this with the intention of not losing Karuna, but the situation had turned for the worse.

‘If something bad happens to Karuna because of this…’

The chance of something like that happening was low but Seol couldn’t help but worry. But what could he do?

‘I can only wait.’

Pour…

Seol waited in the pouring rain for quite a while.

And he waited even longer in the rain, in silence, for Karen and Karuna.

- This is so sad 😭

- It’s like a dog waiting for their owner to come back home 😭

- I mean everyone in this stream is waiting just like him too though LOL

- Only real fans stick during times like this!

- Donate more if you’re a real fan.

- Shush. I will not listen to your materialistic nonsense!

“Cough… Cough…”

A sharp cough naturally came out of Seol.

It was inevitable, though, as he had been standing in the rain for so long.

Seol didn’t really have a way to avoid the rain, and walking a fair distance to just hide from the rain during this entire situation was a bit laughable, so this was the result of his decisions.

Split…

In the end, it seemed like Seol’s patience was going to pay off. The black lightning was starting to split.

‘Is it… a success?’

Crackle!

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

The black space, which had been veiled in lightning, finally revealed itself.

Glow…

What appeared from inside the space was a woman who radiated an alluring black energy.

She wore clothes made of shadows, the shadows even acting as a veil to cover the tip of her nose to her chin.

And even so, her eyes were red like the sun.

[You have successfully summoned Twin Knights: Karen’s shadow.]

[Passing on the skills.]

[Karen’s shadow has successfully copied Montra Swordsmanship.]

[Shadow Summon is low ranked.]

[Gallotta’s Tongue’s Bonus Effect activates.]

[You supplement it with your high wisdom stat.]

[In exchange for sealing Ignite, Flame Grasp, and Advanced Martial Arts, a skill has been fully passed on.]

[Karen’s shadow has successfully copied Fire Flower.]

[Shadow Summon is low ranked.]

[Gallotta’s Tongue’s Bonus Effect activates.]

[You supplement it with your high wisdom stat.]

[In exchange for sealing Final Comeback, Burn Resistance, and Pride, a skill has been fully passed on.]

[Karen’s shadow has successfully copied Red Lotus Slash.]

[Shadow Summon is low ranked.]

[Gallotta’s Tongue’s Bonus Effect activates.]

[You supplement it with your high wisdom stat.]

[In exchange for sealing Chivalry, Shred, and Matchless Warrior, a skill has been fully passed on.]

[Karen’s shadow has failed to copy Mind Control Resistance.]

[Shadow Summon is low ranked.]

[Gallotta’s Tongue’s Bonus Effect activates.]

[You supplement it with your high wisdom stat.]

[Mind Control Resistance has been warped into Haze and passed on.]

[Your summon maintains only 50% of its original strength.]

There were so many messages.

But before Seol could even read them all, he saw new ones.

[Twin Knights’ Connected Soul activates.]

[The two summons’ ranks are improved to Legendary.]

[Twin Knights’ Equilibrium activates.]

[The two summons’ stats are summed together and divided equally.]

[Twin Knights: Karuna has 42 days 16 hours 38 minutes and 26 seconds left until everything has fully passed on.]

‘What the hell is this?’

Seol was dumbfounded by the messages that he couldn’t understand.

He understood what ‘passed on’ meant, but the other messages were all things that he didn’t expect.

‘Connected Soul?’

It was Karen’s unique skill.

And it also seemed to be Karuna’s unique skill before the issues happened to him.

Simply put, this skill improved the ranks of the two summons from Heroic to Legendary. Even this would have been enough to shock Seol, but the two following messages after that shook Seol to his core.

‘Their stats are added together, then divided?’

This meant that as long as they were in balance, one would never be extremely stronger or weaker than the other.

The last message only served to excite Seol more.

“Karuna is having skills passed onto him too…”

[‘Excuse Me’ has donated 300 Madness!]

[I’m sure there’s a reason behind all this!]

- Snowman! I give you permission to marry me! Snowman! I give you permission to marry me!

- Snowman! I give you my shoulder! Snowman! I give you my shoulder!

- This is crazy LOL The butterfly effect from a single jelly.

- Every single viewer who chewed him out for doing weird things when he was cooking better come out now!

- Wasn’t me.

- Wasn’t me either.

- Maybe there is no such thing as a bad viewer?

- Maybe we just all share a single brain cell?

- Maybe Schrodinger raised a dog instead of a cat?

[‘Are you trying to buy a new car?’ has donated 300 Madness!]

[As thanks for your purchase, we will also give you a brand new car of the same model that you bought.]

- This store’s just doing whatever they want.

- They’re crossing the line…

- Huh? A new car, not just some engine oil? Are they out of their minds?

- Why is Karen so pretty…? As expected from a Legendary!

- She really does look super sick… I guess Legendaries are really different, huh?

- Why is Karuna sealed for 42 days though? LMFAOOO

- ???: Alright class, this is a time capsule. We’re going to open this later when we grow old, okay?

- Karuna: L-Let me out, you psychos…

- You gotta accept a penalty like that if you’re getting Karen LOLLLL

Seol groaned after reading through all of the messages.

If he just ignored everything and looked at the raw numbers, it was clear that it was a huge gain for him.

‘But why do I feel so uneasy…?’

Seol then looked at Karen’s status.

[[Twin Knights: Karen]

Title: N/A

Rank: Legendary

Race: Shadow

Level: 9

HP: 1460/1460

MP: 840/840

Unallocated Stats: 0

Strength 102(+36) Dexterity 81(+28) Constitution 108(+38)

Intelligence 65(+23) Wisdom 62(+22) Spirit 76(+27)

Talents: Disguise 2, Interrogate 2]

The stats were overwhelming.

Even though they were simply 50% of her original base stats, her most important stats, Strength and Constitution, were both over 100.

‘Then that means her stats were over 200 originally.’

Seol was thankful for the fact that she didn’t kill Karuna and Jamad.

Her stats were monstrous themselves, but the additional stats she gained through Seol’s skills and item effects were also considerably high.

‘If her stats are this high without any items… how strong would she be with proper equipment?’

It was almost like Karen was trying to show that the difference in stats had to be this high for a summon to have a Legendary rank.

- Behave yourself!

- If you piss her off, it’s straight to a coup d'état!

- Did you think her red eyes were for decoration?

Even though her stats were phenomenal, Seol was a bit sad about the skills she was able to pass on.

‘The majority of her skills are sealed, but… I guess I couldn’t do much about it because of the difference in levels?’

Even if she had a lot of skills, they were useless if she couldn’t use them.

Seol was just thankful that Gallotta’s Tongue at least helped pass on some of the skills properly.

'Thankfully, the majority of the important skills were passed on. Not to mention the unique skills were passed on too.’

Since Karen was passed on two unique skills along with a few basic skills that could be used as her main skills, this was probably already the best-case scenario.

The rewards he gained for the days he painstakingly spent making jelly were all worth it now.

- Huh? But she didn’t do that yet, right?

- Do what?

- Don’t summons normally greet their masters when they first become their summons or something like that?

- Yeah, they did do that. Why isn’t she doing it?

Seol knew that she didn’t do it as well.

And because of that, he approached Karen.

“Karen.”

“I still haven’t accepted you yet.”

“...What?”

“I’m saying that I still need to think about why I need to serve you.”

It was something that Seol didn’t expect at all.

Karen, unlike the other summons that Seol had collected so far, was a formidable enemy.

‘Is this because she’s Legendary rank?’

Seol hoped for that to be the reason why she was acting like this.

“Kuku… How fun.”

Jamad laughed in the Shadow Space after seeing Seol get flustered. Karen then looked at the Shadow Space before speaking.

“Well, I look forward to working with you. This goes to the troll and the young king.”

“I’m not a king—”

“I’m just saying that, don’t take it so seriously.”

“...Fuu.”

Seol grabbed his forehead.

- A legendary rank summon! She’s shockingly a tomboy as well.

- Snowman requested for a return but didn’t get one.

- Endure the weight of the crown…

- It’s way too fucking heavy… LOL

- I think my neck’s going to break…

And now, just as Seol was thinking that he could finally get some rest after all of those dangerous situations…

“Huh? What’s this?”

In the few seconds that Seol was looking away, Karen somehow already managed to be bending over to open something.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that what she was trying to open were the rewards that Seol had accumulated throughout the various Adventures.

“No! You shouldn’t just touch tha—”

Click.

[You open the Dead Man’s Chest, the best possible reward.]