Chapter 114:The Truth Beneath The Tears
Water churned beneath a sky swallowed by clouds, while black threads stretched across the mountain like an enormous spiderweb.
At the center of it all stood Lucifer.
Across from him floated La Llorona.
And inside her—
Anna.
Lucifer's eyes followed every movement.
La Llorona's power had increased dramatically after absorbing Anna. Her hair had multiplied into countless strands, each one carrying enough soul energy to tear through stone.
SHING!
A dozen threads shot toward Lucifer.
He vanished.
Sin of Sloth.
The threads pierced nothing.
Lucifer reappeared above her.
Dismantle.
Crimson slashes rained down.
La Llorona twisted through them, her hair forming a shield around her body.
Lucifer immediately followed.
Blood Manipulation.
Blood erupted from his fingertips, transforming into crimson spears.
They shot toward her from every direction.
La Llorona's hair intercepted them.
The collision produced a thunderous explosion.
Lucifer landed on a broken tree.
His expression remained calm.
"Your power increased."
La Llorona screamed.
The entire lake rose behind her.
"But your movements didn't."
Her threads descended.
Lucifer raised Chirin.
Cleave.
The threads were severed.
But they regenerated almost instantly.
Lucifer's eyes narrowed.
"Regeneration is being fueled by Anna's soul."
Chirin: "Then you can't simply destroy her."
"I know."
Another wave came.
Lucifer moved.
One step.
Two.
Three.
He slipped between the threads with almost impossible precision.
Sin of Greed.
Time seemed to slow around him.
The attacks became sluggish.
Lucifer accelerated.
Sin of Wrath.
His power surged.
He swung Chirin.
BOOM!
La Llorona was thrown across the lake.
She crashed into the water.
Lucifer followed.
But before he could strike—
A voice echoed inside the ghost.
"Stop..."
Lucifer froze.
It was faint.
Almost impossible to hear.
"Lucifer..."
His eyes narrowed.
"Anna?"
Inside La Llorona's body, Anna opened her eyes.
She was surrounded by darkness.
But something else was happening.
Memories were returning.
Not one.
Not two.
All of them.
A small house.
Rain against the windows.
Her mother's voice.
Her father's smile.
Her little brother laughing.
Anna remembered running through the house.
She remembered her mother holding her.
She remembered her father promising that everything would be alright.
Then—
The memory changed.
Rain.
A lake.
Her mother standing at the water's edge.
Her little brother crying.
Anna hiding.
Watching.
Her mother wasn't being attacked.
There was no monster.
No stranger.
No ghost.
It was her mother.
And then—
Her brother disappeared beneath the water.
Anna's mind rejected what she had seen.
It couldn't accept it.
So she created another memory.
A monster.
A ghost.
La Llorona.
Someone else had killed her family.
Someone else had taken her brother.
Someone else was responsible.
The truth was too painful for a child's mind to accept.
But now, trapped inside La Llorona's soul, there was nowhere left to hide.
Anna finally understood.
Her trembling voice escaped.
"Mom..."
La Llorona stopped.
Her empty eyes widened.
"Anna?"
For the first time, the terrifying ghost sounded afraid.
Anna's memories continued flooding back.
She remembered the woman who had held her.
The woman who had sung to her.
The woman who had once been her entire world.
Her mother.
And suddenly Anna began crying.
"I remember."
La Llorona shook her head.
"No..."
"I remember everything."
"No!"
Her mother screamed.
Black threads exploded outward.
Lucifer immediately raised his arm.
Blood Prison.
The threads collided with the crimson barrier.
The mountain trembled.
Lucifer glanced toward the ghost.
Then toward the faint silhouette of Anna inside her.
He understood.
"This isn't a battle anymore."
Chirin: "What?"
"She's fighting herself."
Lucifer lowered Chirin.
Inside the darkness, Anna reached toward her mother.
"Mom."
La Llorona backed away.
"Don't come near me."
"Mom..."
"I killed you."
Her voice cracked.
"I killed both of you."
Anna's tears fell.
"I know."
"I wanted the pain to disappear."
"I know."
"I wanted someone to blame."
"I know."
La Llorona screamed.
"I don't want to leave!"
Her soul erupted.
The entire lake exploded upward.
"I won't leave this world!"
Her rage spread across the mountain.
"This world hurt me!"
"I'll hurt it back!"
"I'll keep searching forever!"
"I'll keep taking their children!"
"Until this world suffers as much as I did!"
Lucifer watched silently.
Anna wrapped her arms around her mother's soul.
"Then don't be alone anymore."
La Llorona froze.
Anna held her tighter.
"You don't have to keep searching."
"I'm here."
Her mother's rage began to tremble.
"But I killed you..."
"You were broken."
"I killed your brother."
Anna closed her eyes.
"I know."
"I don't deserve forgiveness."
Anna rested her head against her mother's shoulder.
"I'm not here to forgive you."
La Llorona stared at her.
"I'm here because you're my mother."
The rage began to disappear.
The countless threads started falling apart.
The lake became still.
Lucifer looked at the two souls.
Then he raised Chirin.
La Llorona looked at him.
For a moment, anger returned to her eyes.
"I won't go."
Lucifer smiled faintly.
"You don't have to decide."
He raised the scythe.
"Sometimes someone else has to make the decision."
Cleave.
A crimson line crossed the darkness.
There was no explosion.
No destruction.
Only silence.
La Llorona's body began dissolving into countless particles of light.
She looked at Anna.
Anna smiled through her tears.
"Let's go home, Mom."
La Llorona finally smiled.
The two figures walked toward the light together.
The darkness disappeared behind them.
And then—
Nothing remained.
Lucifer stood beside the lake.
The sun was beginning to rise.
He didn't move.
Footsteps approached from behind.
The old librarian arrived.
He looked at the empty lake.
Then at Lucifer.
Without saying anything, he sat beside him.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Finally, the old man said,
"I knew."
Lucifer glanced toward him.
"I knew Anna was a ghost."
Lucifer's eyes remained calm.
"I knew."
The old man's hands trembled.
"She was my granddaughter."
Lucifer said nothing.
"And La Llorona..."
His voice cracked.
"Was my daughter."
The wind moved through the trees.
"I was a Grim Reaper."
The old man looked toward the horizon.
"I was away on a mission when it happened."
"When I returned..."
He closed his eyes.
"My daughter was dead."
"My grandson was dead."
"And Anna..."
He paused.
"She had already become a ghost."
His fingers tightened.
"I was supposed to perform my duty."
"But how could I?"
"How could a father raise his blade against his daughter?"
"How could a grandfather destroy his granddaughter?"
Lucifer looked at him.
"You couldn't."
The old man laughed bitterly.
"No."
"I couldn't."
Silence returned.
Then Lucifer spoke.
"I knew from the beginning."
The old man looked at him.
"What?"
"Anna."
Lucifer stared at the sunrise.
"I knew she was a ghost."
The old man's eyes widened.
"Then why..."
"Because sometimes..."
Lucifer's voice remained calm.
"...you have to do what is unjust."
The old man lowered his head.
Lucifer continued.
"If I had told her the truth that night, she would have broken."
"If I had treated her like nothing more than a ghost, she would never have reached her mother."
"So I let the lie continue."
The old man stared at the lake.
"Was that right?"
"No."
Lucifer shook his head.
"It wasn't."
"Was it wrong?"
"Yes."
The old man looked confused.
Lucifer gave a faint smile.
"But it saved them."
The two remained seated.
Neither spoke again.
The sun slowly descended toward the horizon, painting the sky with fading gold.
The old man finally whispered,
"Thank you."
Lucifer didn't look at him.
"Don't thank me."
"Why?"
"I didn't save them."
He stood.
"They saved each other."
The old man watched Lucifer walk away.
For the first time in many years, the old librarian looked toward the sky without hatred.
The sun disappeared beyond the mountains.
And beside the silent lake...
A grieving grandfather finally allowed himself to cry.