Chapter 290 - Her Choice

"Welcome back, my love…"

Ryuu inched closer to Alencica whose body still floated and waited patiently while she finished transforming. As soon as she did, the light vanished, and the energy dispersed. She was going to fall back on the bed, but the loving husband's arm was ready to catch her and guide her back on the bedroll.

The Koutaishidenka laid her gently and arranged the blanket on her again, his eyes never leaving her sleeping face. Afterwards, he reached out to brush away the wayward tendrils of hair from her face. Then he took her hand in his and just stayed like that.

"Are you going to wake up now?" he asked, although he was not expecting an answer.

Several sets of footsteps echoed along the corridor and soon, the screen door opened, revealing Gin, followed by Yayoi, Fuji, and the others in the Fuuma. Ryuu was not surprised, however, as Alencica's energy was a mixture of both light and dark. They must have mistaken it for an enemy – well, except for Gin.

Among the people who came, only Kazehaya Gin didn't show any worry. But it's because he's very familiar with his niece's own energy. He helped his brother raise her after all.

"She's back?" Gin asked as he walked into the room without waiting for permission.

The other servants didn't follow of course, as it's not correct for them to do so. Gin signaled for them that everything's fine and Yayoi ushered everyone away after. The Wind God then plopped on the floor next to Ryuu as he also scrutinized his sleeping niece.

"Yes," the Koutaishidenka answered without looking. The entire time there was a commotion at the door, his gaze never left Ara's face. "Her memories are probably intact now, like us."

Gin sighed as he nodded. "It must be."

The silence stretched for a while as they both continued to watch her. But then Ryuu sighed and spoke.

"I'm afraid," the Koutaishidenka confessed and Gin looked worried. "Before, I was scared to lose her to death and to the curse. But now, I fear I lost her love. I made her suffer a lot all these years…"

Gin placed a hand on Ryuu's shoulder. "Ryuu – no, Kresnik, you didn't know. It's not entirely your fault. Don't be disheartened. The last thing we need is for you to give up."

"I'm not giving up," Ryuu said stubbornly, making Gin smile.

"I know," the Wind God answered. "Even if she wakes up hating you, I know you wouldn't give up."

Appeased with words, Ryuu gave out another sigh, but a smile already softened his face. "What do we do from now on?" he asked as he turned to look at Gin's face this time. "What we've been doing for the past centuries was incorrect, right? In reality, we haven't really stopped the curse. So tell me, how do we do it?"

"It's not up to us," Gin answered matter-of-factly and he told him the same thing he did Yayoi. "Ara needs to go back to Ged where Czernobog's sealed. She needs to finish the Black God so he couldn't control her anymore."

But for that to happen, Ara needed to be willing. It was a very dangerous task after all. Also, none of them could accompany her as Perun couldn't remove the seal, or all of the minions would go out and wreak havoc even before the Immortal War. The difference was the dark elementals that would come out would be a lot stronger than the usual.

The seal Perun placed acted like a strainer. All monsters and beings with deity-level powers couldn't come out even when the seal weakened. It's why the Black God was only able to send his lower-level minions out, and demigods living in Ged dealt with them every fifty years.

However, as it wouldn't let strong ones out, the seal also wouldn't let anyone as strong as deities in. Ara or Alencica who's only a demigod could pass through the seal with little to no problems as they could do something to temporary seal her energy to be slightly weaker, and unseal her powers as soon as she got inside. It's impossible with them to do the same as even with the seal, their energy still wouldn't be lower.

"Then she can take her time to think about it," Ryuu said as he turned his attention back to his wife.

The previous Immortal War just concluded, and Alinea, Ara's other part was a heroine of that battle. It meant that it would take another fifty years in Ged – five hundred years on Earth before the next one. He wouldn't push his wife to decide immediately.

"My brother must be the Alistair she talked about before," Gin then announced, making Ryuu whip his head to the side to look at him again.

"Alinea's brother is Perun?"

Gin shrugged. "Well, he looks like me, so it must be him."

Gin had a point, so it Ryuu didn't say anything to refute it. But something about that bothered him. "If so, then why did Alinea die?"

The Perun they knew would move heaven and earth to save his beloved child or keep her away from harm. But Gin already knew the answer to it, now that he had a chance to think about it.

"It's because it's almost time for the Immortal War. He didn't announce his presence to anyone," Gin answered. "Alencica's soul was already broken at that time. If he announced his presence and actively helped Ara there, then the dark part of her soul would have found her and fused with her."

Ryuu frowned. "You mean…"

"Yeah. The dark part would have been a very volatile evil entity around that time as Czernobog's probably controlling her. But since she's a broken soul, she couldn't do much."

The Immortal War started with the Black God's best weapon unprepared. The rest of Alencica was kept separated from the other part and the war concluded with them still divided. They realized that it was such a close call again.

If Alistair was Perun and he showed his powers, the dark one would have found her easily and fused together with her, and there was nothing they could do about it if Czernobog controlled her during the Immortal War.

"My brother and I first thought that Ara should kill the dark one to stop the curse. But the truth was, it should be Czernobog she should kill to stop it."

"But if she goes to see the Black God, wouldn't it still be the same? He could control her," Ryuu said worriedly, but Gin shook his head.   

"It's why it's all up to her. Before we didn't know what was going on. But now we do," Gin sighed. "Each one of us has this dark side within us. The point is, should we let it control us or not? For Ara, that's entirely the case. Now that she's aware, would she fight that evil within her so she could free herself or not? It's her choice."