Chapter 26: Halo

I had clearly succeeded in stringing the bow of Mother’s Forest.

I remember twisting my whole body to draw the bowstring.

Then I fell on my backside.

I met some strange people.

And I fell again.

When I came to my senses, the bow in my hand had its string broken.

“…”

I was left staring blankly at an object that could no longer be called a bow.

I never expected it to turn out like this.

It would have made more sense if I couldn’t draw it at all.

I never anticipated that the string would break, rendering the bow completely ruined.

Now, what should I do?

As I was filled with worry, I felt the surroundings grow chaotic.

“Wh-what is this?!”

The elder screamed, and the elves around me reacted in various ways.

“I told you not to do it! Letting a fallen kin hold a sacred object has angered the World Tree, and this is the punishment!”

Someone shouted that the fallen kin should be severely punished immediately.

“Mother! Oh, Mother! Please, do not leave us!”

Some knelt, pounding the ground and wailing, begging for forgiveness.

“This is a sign! A sign that a miserable future awaits us elves!”

“World Tree! Mother Forest! Please, punish this insolent child severely! And do not spare us for our weakness in failing to stop them!”

Wait a minute.

I can tolerate everything else, but this?

I can’t let that slide.

What do you mean you were too weak to stop me properly?

You, who used spirit magic with such sincerity?

And you next to them, who drained the surrounding mana when casting spells?

You claim you held back?

You, who were ready to go all out against a young kin like me?

Now you’re pulling the “I was actually being merciful”

Card?

What a joke!

This is why we’re called “Ganfs.”

Even fellow elves feel disgusted by this!

“What are you talking about?! What I saw earlier was no illusion! All of you elders went all out against Tyreal!!”

As expected, my childhood friend Seril reacted fiercely.

Meanwhile, those kanfs stubbornly insisted, “We were holding back as elders!”

I genuinely wanted to ask where they had sold their conscience.

“Tyreal!”

The elder approached me with confident strides.

Just moments ago, they were panicking because a spirit had been unsummoned.

But now, seeing the bow of Mother’s Forest ruined by my hand, they seemed to think this was their chance.

“See! Mother Forest has judged you unworthy! That’s why the string broke—to prevent you from defiling the bow further!”

“Are you saying the string couldn’t withstand my strength?”

“This brat! Elves must remain true to themselves! Our great forest clan has no reason or need to meddle in the affairs of the outside world! Why should our noble elves care about such filthy places?”

The ganfs around shouted in agreement, “Right! Right!!”

“Elves must remain true to themselves!”

“Banish that corrupted wretch to the human world!”

Listening to this, I felt something boiling inside me.

Even though my magic and spirit arts, which were once so great, had been shattered.

They were using the broken bow as proof of my corruption.

But was the bow truly broken because it was touched by a corrupted hand?

Or did it break under a force that neither magic nor spirit arts could withstand?

The bow seemed to mirror the future of our elves, and it filled me with unease.

A bow no one could wield.

A race no other could reach.

Yet, in the end, it would succumb to a new world, a new power.

Not just by bowing its head, but by being broken—destined to be shattered.

“Banish! Banish!!”

“Judge! Judge the corrupted one!”

Even a young kin like me is striving for the change of our elven race.

Yet these grown adults are acting like children, competing to see who can shout the loudest.

Something snapped inside me.

The small flame I had been holding onto burst into a blaze.

“You, who hide in the forest, denying that our clan is falling behind—how dare you spout such nonsense now?!”

My mind emptied of anger, and my mouth began to spill out whatever it wanted.

My chest burned.

Even as my body trembled from exhaustion, I felt an overwhelming surge of strength.

“Who dares to judge me?! I am an elf!”

I thought I had used all my strength drawing the bowstring, but I was wrong.

As I vented my anger, I felt even more power surging through me.

And in that moment, I knew exactly what to say to shut them up.

“We have a duty. As the forest clan, to pass on this noble name to our descendants. But if these so-called traditions bind all elves—”

If you all are determined to remain kanfs, refusing to change and instead being swayed by others until you’re ruined—

“Then I will no longer remain an elf.”

Those buried in the past, unable to see the future, cannot call themselves the forest clan.

If they still consider themselves elves, then I will renounce being an elf.

As an outsider, not a kin, I will tear apart and correct those twisted souls.

If Mother Forest truly gave me this bow, what was the reason?

It was because I had devoted myself to magic and spirit arts.

At least, I believe so.

She must have wanted me to find a new path, but I couldn’t let go of those two things.

This is the result.

In the end, I succeeded where my kin, who couldn’t even string the bow, failed.

Though the string broke in the process, I still managed to draw it.

Whether they accept me or not, that fact remains unchanged.

But Mother Forest, you were wrong.

We elves are not moving forward.

This bow was not enough.

You should have stripped us of our magic and spirit blessings from the start.

Those who consider themselves great inevitably fall behind and destroy themselves.

“Tyreal! Tyreal!!”

I glanced back and saw Seril calling out to me anxiously.

The only one who believed in me.

My childhood friend, who was a bit difficult but still dear to me.

I felt sorry for her.

Things had gone completely awry.

I couldn’t face her.

“Sorry, Seril. I…”

“No, you fool! Look behind you!”

Behind me?

I turned at Seril’s shout.

There, where the ruined bow of Mother’s Forest should have been…

“Huh?”

A radiant light, indescribable, burst forth from the bow.

It spread like mist, slowly at first, then quickly approached me.

“…!”

I instinctively flinched and stepped back.

It wasn’t just the light that startled me.

I felt something strange within it.

It’s hard to describe, but if I had to put it into words…

‘It feels like a living being.’

I know it sounds absurd.

How can light be alive?

But my elven instincts kept screaming at me.

That thing is a living being.

That warm presence, that clear will.

All of it.

What is it?

Is it truly alive?

No, no.

Setting that aside.

Why is it coming closer to me?

[Child.]

The voice didn’t come from my ears but from within my mind.

[Guidance and teaching are the best ways. But sometimes, a rougher method is necessary.]

[We hoped our children would understand the truth. But you taught them by shattering their world.]

The light rippled and then poured into the necklace around my neck.

I frantically touched my neck, trying to understand what was happening.

The light had forced its way into the necklace I was wearing.

[To those lost in the beauty of the forest, trapped in its prison.]

[You must break the egg and step into the world to become nobler.]

[Even this bow. It was not meant to prove but to overcome.]

[So, young child who vowed to make us great again.]

[Show them. Show yourselves. What you truly are.]