Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 640: Butterfly Of Thousand Dreams [2]

Every moment she hesitated was another moment the corruption continued spreading through Isaac’s body.

If she wanted to save him, she had to act decisively.

To her relief, the hidden dungeon really existed.

The trial inside it lasted an entire week and pushed her to her limits. Although the dungeon was no different from a carefully designed death trap, Celia was still an Apex-ranked species.

As a Crown Devil, she possessed enough strength to overcome every obstacle after a grueling struggle. When she finally reached the end, she found exactly what Isaac had described.

A Corruption Purification Potion.

A smile spread across her exhausted face as she carefully picked it up.

"With this... Isaac should finally..."

Before she could finish speaking, a violent coughing fit interrupted her.

"Cough... cough..."

She instinctively covered her mouth with one hand. When she pulled it away, small blotches of blood stained her palm.

Celia stared at them.

Since the day Isaac had resurrected, she had also been exposed to the corrupted mana released after the Red Rain.

Unlike Isaac, she had never come into direct contact with the Red Rain itself, so the corruption progressed much more slowly. Even so, it had never truly stopped spreading.

She clenched her hand until the blood disappeared from sight.

None of that mattered right now.

Carefully storing the purification potion, she immediately flew back toward the cave. The return journey took another week, and she barely stopped to rest the entire time.

Every hour she lost felt like another step closer to losing Isaac forever. She finally reached the cave.

Isaac was still alive. If his current state could be alive.

"Isaac!"

Celia rushed to his side and immediately supported his frail body.

She fed him several healing potions she had gathered along the way, but just as before, he coughed everything back out.

His body been fed too many potions over the past months by Celia, leaving him almost completely resistant to their effects.

"You are okay," Isaac smiled, feeling her touch. He could no longer see, but he could feel her warmth.

"Y-Yes. I found it. Look, I found the potion. You’ll be okay now," Celia answered hurriedly.

With trembling hands, she uncorked the bottle and carefully brought it toward his lips.

Isaac didn’t open his mouth.

Celia froze. After several long seconds, she slowly lowered the bottle.

"I-Isaac... Why aren’t you drinking it?" she whispered.

"The corruption has already fused with my body... and my soul. It’s gone too far now. That potion won’t save me anymore. You should drink it instead," he said, with trembling lips and a laborious breath.

Celia’s body stiffened. She hadn’t told him. She had hidden every cough and every trace of blood whenever she could.

Isaac chuckled after feeling her hands stiffen as she held him.

"Did you really think I wouldn’t notice. I’ve known your habits for a long time. I could tell you were hiding something," he said gently.

Celia bit her lips and spoke, "I... I’ll find another Purification Potion. You can take this one. I’ll just go back and look for another."

Isaac slowly shook his head. Celia insisted, begged, cried to him to take the potion. But Isaac still refused.

"You know it won’t work. Please don’t waste it on me," Isaac said quietly.

"I don’t care whether it works or not. You’ll drink it anyway. If one potion isn’t enough, then I’ll find another one after this," Celia replied through trembling lips.

Isaac only smiled weakly.

Seeing that smile filled Celia with frustration. It was the same gentle smile he always wore whenever he had already made up his mind.

Indignation slowly appeared in her eyes as she realized words would never change his decision.

"If you won’t drink it yourself..." she whispered, tightening her grip on the bottle. "Then I’ll make you."

She uncorked the potion.

Just as she was about to force it into his mouth, an overwhelming pressure suddenly spread throughout the cave. Mana poured out from Isaac’s body like a heavy blanket, filling every corner of the cavern and pinning Celia where she stood.

The bottle remained frozen in her trembling hand as she stared at him in disbelief.

Isaac was still coughing blood. His body was too weak to move properly, and even speaking for more than a few sentences exhausted him.

Yet the mana pouring out of him was unimaginably powerful, carrying a pressure so overwhelming that even Celia couldn’t resist it.

Her eyes were filled with shock. Since when could Isaac control mana? More importantly...

Since when had he become strong enough to completely suppress her?

Isaac didn’t answer the questions written across her face. Instead, he gently manipulated the surrounding mana, lifting the purification potion from her hand without touching it. Before Celia could struggle free, the same mana forced her lips apart.

She immediately understood what he intended to do.

"No..."

Her voice barely escaped. The potion floated toward her mouth.

"No!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she glared at Isaac, desperately begging him to stop. Unfortunately, Isaac could no longer see her expression. His vision had already faded completely.

Even so, he spoke gently, as if trying to comfort her while forcing the potion into her mouth, as if he knew the anger and desperation she felt.

"I was planning to leave the cave after you left and die somewhere else. But then I realized... you wouldn’t drink the purification potion even if I disappeared," he said between uneven breaths.

He smiled. But his smile was full of pain.

"You would choose to die with me. That’s why I stayed. I wanted to convince you to live. Unfortunately, my body was already failing. I... I wasn’t sure I’d survive long enough for you to come back. So I became desperate. Desperate to stay alive until you returned. Maybe it was because I refused to die before making you drink the potion... or maybe it was because I was afraid of losing you."

His hollow laughter echoed softly inside the cave.

"I awakened."

Those two words carried no joy.

If only he had awakened at the awakening ceremony, if only he had awakened when he first entered the wilderness, then perhaps, with his power he could’ve stopped that Catastrophe.

However, now it was too late.

"I’m sorry, Celia. Please, liv—"

As soon as he exhausted all the mana he had prepared and Celia could move, her lips found his. She forced the purification potion down his throat.

Although he had poured it in her mouth, she hadn’t drunk it. Isaac was shocked by her actions. He instinctively struggled, but his weakened body had no strength left to resist. By the time Celia finally pulled away, every last drop of the potion had already gone down his throat.

She wiped the corner of her lips before looking at his stunned expression.

"Hehe."

A faint smile appeared on her face despite the tears still clinging to her eyes.

"You’re a hundred years too early if you think you can trick me."

Without waiting for his response, she quietly fell against him and closed her eyes. Wrapped in his arms, she quickly drifted to sleep as though the exhaustion of the past weeks had finally caught up to her.

When Celia woke again, it was already night.

She found Isaac sitting beside a small campfire near the entrance of the cave. He was carefully stirring a pot over the flames, moving much more steadily than before. The sight filled her heart with relief.

He had survived.

Isaac noticed her approaching and smiled.

"You finally woke up."

Isaac didn’t scold her. He just sat with her, and cooked food for both of them.

For the first time, Celia didn’t call his cooking bad. She smiled and ate it happily. She even asked for more. Then, the two sat side by side, watching the crackling fire.

They spoke about their past, about their happy times, about the time they almost got caught by Vale, about the time they first met.

Celia kept a calm, bright smile throughout the night. It was as if she had returned to the past, when she was an idol, full of hope.

And, as if she had finally done what she wanted to, and there was no longer any need to work hard, her body started to fail.

The corruption rapidly took over her body. Yet, Celia and Isaac didn’t mention it. They just spoke, holding each other’s hand.

As the morning sun peaked, and Celia could feel herself losing consciousness, she closed her eyes and leaned against Isaac’s shoulder.

There was a lot she wanted to do. There was a lot she wanted to say.

But her time had ended.

She was happy. At least she had saved Isaac.

A faint pain suddenly prickled her heart.

A voice spoke in her mind.

Was she really happy?

Was she okay with dying like this?

At the moment of death, Celia found the answer quite easily.

Yes, she was happy, but she was also sad.

She was sad that she couldn’t spend more time with Isaac, that she couldn’t meet her brother again, that she couldn’t bring a smile to more people.

She had so, so many dreams. She was sad because she could no longer fulfill them.

She was also afraid.

She... she didn’t want to die. She was afraid of death.

Maybe that was why she was being selfish at that moment. Despite knowing she would become a monster, despite knowing Isaac would be forced to kill her, she stayed with him.

During her last moments, she wanted to be happy. She didn’t want to be afraid.

So, she stayed with Isaac and closed her eyes.

’I’m sorry Isaac.’

For making you kill me.

’And thank you.’

For coming in my life.

The sun slowly rose over the wilderness. As its light reached the cave, the corruption finally consumed Celia completely, transforming her into a beautiful butterfly that radiated an overwhelming aura.

The pressure surrounding her was no weaker than that of the Catastrophes themselves.

Isaac slowly stood up, his body still trembling from the corruption eating away at him. He knew what he was supposed to do. He knew the being before him was no longer the girl he loved, but a monster.

Yet he couldn’t do it.

His hands refused to move, and the sword he had picked up never left his side. He simply stood there, staring at the butterfly with eyes full of grief. No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, he couldn’t bring himself to kill her.

Perhaps it was fate.

Perhaps it was mercy.

Or perhaps it was nothing more than coincidence.

The butterfly quietly looked at Isaac for several long moments. Then, without showing the slightest hostility, it gently spread its wings and flew into the distant sky, leaving Isaac alone beside the cave.

Only after she disappeared from sight did he finally collapse to his knees and cry.

...

Catherine finally managed to breathe again.

Her mind was in complete turmoil, and tears had already begun running down her face before she realized it. At some point during the trial, she had started feeling Isaac’s and Celia’s thoughts and emotions as though they were her own.

The grief they carried still lingered inside her heart.

Was this really just a trial?

She suddenly remembered something about Celia.

Celia had dreamed of the Crimson Sky Wyrm destroying the city and killing everyone, and in that dream, Isaac had been her manager. That dream was why Isaac and others could prepare for Crimson Sky Wyrm on time.

But her dream... it was exactly what Catherine had witnessed here.

Before she could think any further, a translucent screen appeared before her eyes.

[Conqueror Trial will now begin.]

[Quest: Help Isaac Hargraves kill the Catastrophe, Butterfly of Thousand Dreams, formerly known as Celia Rae.]

The world around Catherine distorted. For the first time since arriving here, she felt solid ground beneath her feet.

Her figure slowly materialized, and she finally gained the ability to interact with this world.