Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 471: Don't Let Its Will Pierce Through Your Desires
"Mm. Judging by that look on your face, I think I already know the answer."
After once again effortlessly evading an attack from the girl who had clearly been completely triggered by a single name, Steven took a deep breath and steadied himself.
This was, after all, still only a possible future. More precisely, it was merely a short-lived, fragile world constructed by Hypergryph. Even if he truly wanted to change something, there was no way he could do so here, there simply wasn't enough time.
"Whoever you are… you should never have spoken that name…"
Talulah's bloodshot eyes looked as though tears of blood might spill out at any moment. The cold indifference she once wore had been utterly consumed by hatred. The space around her warped under the intense heat radiating from her body, as if even the air itself were on the verge of melting.
And yet, even after pushing her physical limits to the extreme, she still couldn't so much as brush the corner of this man's clothing.
As for the scorching temperatures she commanded—Steven didn't even bother to react to them.
The longsword in her hand had long since been seized by the Minecrafter and tossed aside, yet Talulah showed no sign of stopping. It was as though she would never rest until she forced the man in front of her into silence.
Steven, meanwhile, watched the girl who had clearly fallen into impotent rage with a cold gaze.
If she had allowed Black Snake's will to take control and attack him using schemes and underhanded methods, she might actually have had a chance to catch him off guard. But in her current state—her reason drowned by fury—posing any real threat to him was simply impossible.
Once more, Steven reached out and caught her incoming fist.
In an instant, the Talulah who had been raging just moments ago was brought to a halt.
In truth, even if she wanted to continue, there was no way she could. Both of her hands were now locked tightly in Steven's grip, like iron shackles. No matter how desperately she struggled, his hold didn't waver in the slightest.
Having lost her rationality, and unable to attack with her hands, Talulah instinctively lifted her leg and kicked straight toward the space between Steven's legs.
Unfortunately for her, Steven had already anticipated that move.
With a swift turn of his body—without loosening his grip on her hands in the slightest—he slipped behind her, neatly dodging the kick.
"Maybe this is how it should be," Steven said calmly. "Hold on to your anger—but don't lose yourself. Only then can I be sure I'm talking to you, Talulah… and not that snake."
Steven felt no anger toward her attacks. In this state, she was nothing like the little fire dragon he remembered. And truth be told, he had no idea what had happened to Alina in her world.
Holding her at bay with one hand, Steven applied a bit of force and pushed her into a strangely shaped wooden boat that had appeared out of nowhere.
Only then did he move to stand in front of her, meeting the gaze of the girl who looked as though she wanted to kill him with her eyes alone.
Talulah was shocked to discover that the moment she was forced into the small boat—one that looked more like a wooden coffin than anything else—she completely lost control over her body.
Forget attacking the boy in front of her again. She couldn't even lift a finger.
The only thing she could still move was her head.
Yet even after hearing the boy's words, she showed no intention of giving up. The instant he leaned closer, she opened her mouth without hesitation and bit down hard on his shoulder.
The sensation of teeth sinking into skin made Steven let out a small sigh. He simply shook his head, then raised a hand of his own and gently placed it atop the girl's head—still thrashing like a furious little beast, as though she wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.
With slow, careful motions, he began to smooth down her disheveled silver hair, strand by strand.
His movements were gentler than he himself had expected.
Like someone calming a feral cat, Steven allowed her meaningless struggle to continue while he stroked her hair, he then casually spoke a single sentence that made Talulah freeze instantly.
"If Alina saw you like this now… she'd probably just feel heartbroken. Look at your hair, it's a mess."
At the thought of that girl—kind and gentle to everyone, like a flawless white moonlight—Steven couldn't help but sigh.
Alina was, in many ways, Talulah's final line.
As long as she was still there, even if Talulah the idealist suffered crushing blows, she could always recover with Alina's support.
Alina was the lighthouse on Talulah's road of ideals—a tower that forever pointed her forward. As long as it stood, Talulah's path would never truly twist.
But if that lighthouse were to collapse due to some cruel accident…
Then Talulah's faith and ideals might very well crumble along with it.
"How dare you bring her up!" Talulah cried.
Having long since lost the strength to attack, she weakly lifted her face. Blood tears streamed from her eyes as she wailed at Steven through sobs.
She wanted—so desperately—to feel her dearest friend's concern again. She longed for Alina to help her tidy her hair one more time.
But it was impossible.
She had lost Alina forever.
There was no going back.
"No," Steven said softly. "I already told you—I'm a friend from your past, one you never had the chance to meet. If I know you, how could I not know Alina?"
Looking at the girl who was slowly sinking into despair, Steven sighed with quiet regret. After a moment of thought, as if something had occurred to him, he raised a finger and pointed to the clothes he was wearing—garments that had been personally woven by Alina herself.
"I saw her just before I went to sleep today," he said. "She even kissed me."
As if showing off, Steven tugged at his clothes a little, then smugly pointed to his own face.
Alina didn't have the habit of wearing lipstick—but since he hadn't washed his face yet, there really should still be a faint trace of her left behind.
The Talulah who had just moments ago resembled a rampaging beast finally quieted down after hearing Steven's words.
She carefully examined the strangely styled clothes he was wearing. After a closer look, she confirmed that the stitching technique was exactly the same as that of the Elafia girl she remembered so vividly. Only then did she look back up at Steven's face, disbelief written plainly across her features.
The faint aura lingering there was unmistakable—
It belonged to the one girl she could never forget in this lifetime.
Talulah's silver-gray pupils contracted sharply.
At this moment, she no longer had the mental capacity to question why traces of her own aura were also lingering on the other side of this mysterious boy face. No matter how much she prided herself on her intelligence, what was happening before her eyes was simply too difficult to accept.
Could this boy truly come from the past?
"Don't look at me like that," Steven said, shaking his head. "I know you don't trust me. Just like how I can't believe that the steadfast, courageous little fire dragon I knew would end up like this… in such an indescribable state."
Talulah's current condition clearly wasn't the result of Alina's accident alone. But one thing was certain, this version of Talulah was one that even Steven couldn't bring himself to feel any fondness for.
If not for the fact that she was still, at her core, Talulah… then by Steven's own temperament, the moment he gained the ability to interfere with this world, she—and all of Reunion in this dream—would have already been flushed straight into the sewers.
"Disappointed?" Talulah let out a small laugh. "I merely walked toward an inevitable ending. The path I chose was already destined from the very beginning. No matter how much I struggled, the only thing I could ever change was myself, not others."
Her voice carried a deep, suffocating weariness.
"The choices one person can make are always limited. Perhaps all I can do… is shatter everything. And hope that those who desire rebirth might be granted a different beginning."
Steven could hear the self-abandonment in her words. Talulah herself laughed—but the helplessness and despair woven into that laughter were heavy enough to crush the heart.
And as she spoke, Steven clearly sensed it:
Talulah's original personality was slowly dissipating, her gaze once again shifting toward the cold, venomous indifference of the Black Snake.
"Don't let that thing's will pierce through your desires," Steven said firmly. "If you still want to know more about the Talulah and Alina I know, then I suggest you put away that despair you've already surrendered to."
He raised his hand and lightly flicked Talulah on the forehead, forcibly interrupting both her words and her transformation. It was the only way he could stabilize her consciousness—by offering her something she still cared about.
As for Black Snake?
Steven had nothing to say to it.
If it truly surfaced again, then all he could do would be to grant it another release.
"Y-you…" Talulah hesitated. "You really… came from the past?"
She forced herself to hold on to her current clarity. Her eyes regained a faint glimmer of light as she looked at Steven—like a believer praying before the last remaining spark of hope.
"Then… is Alina… still doing well?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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