CHAPTER 09………………………….
“Ellexena….”
That name slipped from Panake’s mouth.
That single utterance was no different from declaring defeat in this battle. At last, he had acknowledged that she truly was Ellexena.
So it’s done now.
Ellexena’s lips curled upward.
“Panake.”
She called his name.
Panake’s massive body trembled violently.
“You are the most shameless creature I have ever seen!”
‘Huh?’
In an instant, her vision shifted.
Ellexena crashed to the ground, coughing violently. Panake had hurled her beneath a tree.
Her still-fragile body took a heavy impact. Blood trickled from her mouth.
Panake descended immediately. His bird-like, hook-shaped claw pressed hard against her chest.
“Did you not say you wanted to die?”
His crimson eyes blazed ominously. Ellexena could not hide her shock. Her memories of that moment before death were hazy—she had not wanted to remember them.
“That—”
“Do not make excuses!!”
His claws dug into her flesh. Blood seeped from her weakened body.
Damn… if this goes wrong, it’ll pierce my lungs.
Suppressing a groan, Ellexena grabbed Panake’s leg. Not to pull it off—if she did it wrong, she might tear her own skin. The best she could do was prevent the claw from sinking deeper.
This body is too weak!
Her arms trembled as they held his leg. If he attacked with the other leg now, she would be helpless. Of course, Panake likely wouldn’t go that far—but she couldn’t be certain.
“So dying is easy for you, isn’t it? If you want to die, you die. If you want to live, you crawl back from the underworld. How convenient!”
When his claw could not sink further, it twisted as if trying to crush her chest instead. Coughing, Ellexena spat blood.
Panake was even angrier than before. Seeing the real Ellexena, not an impostor, seemed to have made him even more furious.
“You have no shame at all!!”
He poured out his rage.
Ellexena could not even interject.
“You died like that, and now you call me?! Why did you come back? To make me more miserable?”
Miserable.
At that word, Ellexena’s strength faltered.
It did not suit Panake—the proud daughter of the two great gods, the monstrous bird.
Her grip loosened, and his claw sank deeper.
“Ugh!”
Startled, Panake quickly withdrew his foot, realizing what he had done.
Ellexena pressed her hand over the bleeding wound. Warm blood ran through her fingers.
She had forgotten this sensation for far too long.
“I never set foot in the underworld for over a thousand years.”
“…What?”
Panake’s face twisted in shock.
As the daughter of the God of Death, he understood the boundary between life and death better than anyone. He knew how bleak and empty that place was.
Ellexena had never wanted to tell him this. Her pride made it difficult. But after hearing his words—miserable—she could not stay silent.
“I spent all that time alone, trapped between life and death, endlessly replaying the past. A thousand years is far too long. In all that time, I learned only one thing—that doing nothing is worse than doing anything.”
When she died, she truly became unable to act. Countless times she relived the past, and what remained was regret.
Ellexena slowly closed her eyes.
She had never once thought about the feelings of those left behind—neither before death nor after it. No, she had not wanted to think about it. Only now did she truly feel its meaning.
“But I was still wrong. I promised to spend my life with you… and I left you behind.”
In that endless solitude, what she had replayed was not her final moments, but everything before them.
Even when she recalled her trial, there was little she remembered clearly—only despair at the inevitable tragedy and helplessness before fate.
And even then, she had not thought of Panake.
“Even if you kill me, I will accept it.”
It was only natural for Panake to be furious.
Ellexena had wanted to live. Or rather, it was not so much wanting to live as it was the feeling that if she could not die properly, then living was better than nothing. That was why she had taken on this body—why she had decided to carry out the revenge Cardia had asked of her.
I am human. I will not live as long as you. But I promise you—I will stay with you for as long as my life allows.
Since she had broken that promise, she would accept the consequences.
Ellexena closed her eyes and waited for judgment.
A claw? Poisoned fangs? What would it be?
Whatever it was, she believed Panake had the right.
But—
“Why….”
What reached her was not execution.
“Why do you keep speaking of death in front of me?”
Panake’s voice trembled.
“Your death dried up my tears, and only cold blood remains in my heart. Is that still not enough for you?”
Then he cried.
Thick tears fell, splashing onto her wounds.
“Panake…”
Ellexena’s voice shook just as much.
What should I do?
Her vision swayed.
And in that dizziness, she suddenly remembered their first meeting.
The arrogant, powerful monster bird and the spirited young hero had fought without end—jumping from reef to reef, then onto swaying ships.
Ellexena, barely holding her footing on a reef, leapt onto a ship to avoid Panake’s claws. Panake followed instantly.
He dove down and tore into her shoulder before she could even stabilize.
“Ahhh!”
She screamed as his fangs sank in, burning pain flooding her body.
Later, Panake told her that the venom used then was the most painful he possessed—capable of burning through the body until death.
“You won’t last long.”
Panake chuckled, breathing heavily.
Her senses were fading under the poison. Her entire body felt as if it were being scorched.
Fighting was impossible—enduring was all she could do.
“Maybe… I won’t die alone.”
Despite the pain, Ellexena smiled.
They fought from reef to reef, then onto ships again.
The ship drifted northward—toward the whirlpool zone.
“You’re exhausted… even you can’t keep flying like that anymore.”
Panake’s breathing grew rough.
Neither of them noticed when his wings could no longer summon storms.
The whirlpool swallowed gods’ daughters and young heroes alike.
Am I going to die like this?
But they did not.
At the last moment, they grabbed a low-hanging pomegranate branch.
Ellexena held Panake with one arm and clung to the branch with the other, enduring unbearable pain until the whirlpool calmed.
Panake struggled.
“Let go.”
But Ellexena, gasping, pleaded:
“Move me… to those trees.”
Panake did not refuse.
Later, when they finally rested, Ellexena laughed through pain.
“I’m pious… I prayed before the journey. Guess it worked.”
“Not what I asked.”
“You were asking why I lived?”
Ellexena smiled.
“I told you. I won’t die alone. So if I live, you don’t die either.”
That was when she first fell for him.
Panake muttered, “You’re insane.”
And leaned his head on her shoulder.
Tears fell—healing tears.
“Haha… thanks!”
That was the first time Panake ever gave tears to a human.
And now, once again, he cried.
For her.
Tears so precious they should never be spent on her.
“…Why do I… even….”
Ellexena realized something—briefly, she had thought of Panake not as a friend, but as something distant.
And that realization struck her like a blow.
They were companions.
The only ones who had ever truly belonged to each other.
“Panake. I will never die alone again. If you live, I will live too. I promise.”
At those words, Panake could not answer.
He only cried.
Ellexena reached out, wiping his tears away.
And Panake leaned into her hand, quietly pressing his cheek against it.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I won’t even think of death again.”
She stayed like that, wiping his tears until they finally stopped.
