Chapter 153: A World-Famous Painting

Chapter 153: A World-Famous Painting

In the manga, Agni finally faces Yuda.

Instead of continuing his earlier, almost crazed, attack, Agni pauses.

Yuda, making no attempt to resist, seems to be waiting for Agni to kill her.

"I want to kill you..."

But seeing Yuda, who looks almost exactly like Luna, Agni softly repeats, "Kill you..."

Yet, he does not strike.

Even though Yuda is clearly waiting for him to end her life.

Finally, clinging to a last hope, Agni asks, "Are you really... really not Luna...?"

Could she really not be Luna?

But... she looks so much like Luna, exactly alike.

How could there be two people in the world who are so similar?

Even her closed eyes resemble Luna's so much!

But Yuda firmly replies, "Yes."

She opens her eyes and looks at Agni, "I am really not Luna."

However, seeing that face so much like Luna's peaceful sleeping face, Agni still refuses to give up.

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

"I'm not lying."

"You're... lying to me, right?"

"Lying to me."

Agni insists.

But at that moment, Yuda says resolutely, "I am not Luna."

It's then that Agni, filled with anger, finally throws a punch!

His fist slams into Yuda's Luna-like face, causing her to spit blood.

But Agni doesn't strike out of hatred for Yuda—it's because Yuda said she wasn't Luna!

What he wants is for Yuda to say she is Luna!

Even if it's a lie... even if it's a lie, that would be fine!

Agni continues to strike Yuda's face, now stained with blood, with his flame-covered fists.

"Miracle!"

But inside, he keeps praying.

"Please, let a miracle happen!"

"When Yuda dies, let her turn back into Luna!"

"Let Luna be reborn, healthy and whole, and speak to me."

In Agni's nearly pitiful and anguished prayer, an illusion appears before him.

He sees Luna's smiling face once more.

She seems to wake up from the tree trunk as if she were sleeping, ignoring the terrifying flames on Agni's body, and embraces him affectionately.

"Thank you, brother, for calling me!"

"I finally came back."

"For a while, her blessed power had taken over my body. Thank you so much, brother."

In Agni's hallucination, where he can't distinguish reality from illusion, he smiles with immense joy.

"Agni... has gone mad."

Chen Wenrui, watching this scene, suddenly recalls the final moments of Maine in *Edgerunners*.

People who have fallen into madness experience such illusions, don't they?

They can't tell whether what they see is real or imaginary, so to others, they seem insane.

Isn't Agni the same way now?

"Perhaps Agni has long since lost his mind."

Chen Wenrui takes a deep breath. "Yes, after enduring eight years of burning pain, how could he not?"

"It's just... I'm about to lose my mind too..."

He grits his teeth. "How could such a story not drive someone mad?"

It's because Agni has gone mad that those of us who see things from his perspective feel like we're going mad too.

[Translator: sauron]

Chen Wenrui becomes more convinced that Lin Qingshan is mentally disturbed.

Otherwise, how could he be so familiar with symptoms of mental illness?

Even if he isn't mentally ill, he must have spent time in a psychiatric hospital!

In the manga, Agni's suffering and illusions continue.

He truly believes it's real and is happy because of it.

"And then Luna smiles at me..."

"If it could really be like this, I wouldn't mind burning for my entire life."

"So... let a miracle happen!"

"Please, let a miracle happen!"

"Please, let a miracle happen!"

...

"Miracle!"

At that moment, Agni suddenly finds a photo...

A photo of his younger self and Luna?

He looks at his younger self's happy smile in the photo and gives a bitter smile...

Is he really the same Agni as the one in the picture now?

Then... he slowly raises his flaming fist!

"How much of the real me is even left?!"

With a punch filled with self-doubt and pain, he strikes down!

In the end, the massive World Tree erupts in flames and explodes under Agni's attack.

The Ice Witch watches it all unfold but is powerless to stop it.

But in the next scene, two figures... appear clean and unharmed on the shore.

It's... Agni and Yuda.

But now, Agni's flames have been extinguished, and his right arm is severed and hasn't regrown.

He's the first to wake up and sees Yuda still unconscious.

But then, something unexpected happens: as he's about to attack Yuda again, she wakes up.

Moreover, she has lost most of her memory, and her language skills have regressed to the level of a child.

In this situation, Agni starts calling Yuda "Luna" and begins acting like "Luna's" older brother.

They walk through the icy and snowy landscape until they finally find a building.

Agni watches as Yuda happily runs ahead.

At that moment, Yuda finds some clothes and puts them on.

Then she turns around and smiles at Agni, saying, "Clothes!"

Seeing this, Agni can't help but cover his face and cry.

"So cute..."

Isn't this the scene he had imagined?

His sister Luna wakes up and smiles at him happily.

So this must be real, right... it's not fake...

Yes... this is Luna, not Yuda...

But no matter how hard Agni tries to deceive himself, he still knows it's not true.

So he cries.

"Why are you crying..."

Yuda, who has lost her memory, turns back and asks.

"It feels like I'm dreaming..."

Agni suppresses his emotions and says, "I can't tell anymore... I really can't tell..."

"My mind, already so broken, just can't figure it out..."

"No matter how hard I try..."

Finally, he looks at "Luna" before him and calls out, "... Luna."

"I'm here."

Yuda responds with a smile and unwavering determination.

At this moment, Agni looks at Yuda and finally reveals a twisted smile.

Seeing this smile, all the manga readers feel a twist in their hearts too...

Is this... a smile?

It's too twisted... too painful!

A smile that should be filled with happiness is instead full of suffering—so... abstract.

(End of the Chapter)