Chapter 199

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“Keugh, cough, choke…”

As if she had been submerged in deep water and then pulled out, Alice coughed violently.

Her labored breathing was so weak it seemed like it might stop at any moment.

Her lungs, deprived for so long, craved oxygen.

Alice clutched her bruised neck, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Ugh, haa, ah…”

A radiant light awakened her consciousness, which had been sinking to the bottom of a swamp.

Even with her eyelids closed, a dazzling light seeped through the gaps.

Alice carefully opened her eyes. A halo of light filled her vision.

She saw a white uniform. A swaying red coat, a brilliant sword, and the profile of the young man gripping it. 

A stranger. Though they had never met, she knew what the white uniform symbolized. The emblem of the Sacred Knights. 

It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened. The Red Fox Masked Monster had overpowered her, knocked her out, and left her completely defenseless. This man had saved her.

The first emotion she felt upon realizing this wasn’t relief.

Rather, the opposite.

An overwhelming hatred and a boiling sense of self-loathing.

And the target of that hatred was none other than herself.

‘…I couldn’t do anything.’

She had been helpless.

Against the one who took Lucia.

Against the enemy she had sworn to destroy.

She had been toyed with.

The fact filled Alice with such self-disgust that she couldn’t bear it.

Far from exacting revenge, she had been subdued.

She had barely survived thanks to someone else’s help.

She had been humiliatingly strangled, brought to the brink of death.

And what was most unbearable was that she couldn’t refuse the young man’s words.

“Little girl. Stay back. It’s dangerous ahead.”

She had no right or justification to refuse.

Her vision blurred.

It faded, losing focus.

When she blinked, her cheeks felt wet and hot.

Her vision returned, but soon blurred again.

Alice had stubbornly refused Angelica’s orders to retreat. She had even rejected her homeroom teacher’s attempts to escort her to safety, insisting on staying. She had been adamant about fighting alongside them.

To get Lucia back.

To take revenge on the woman who had taken Lucia.

It was arrogance. Overconfidence.

Pride and hubris.

It was a delusion born of ignorance.

She had assumed she could be of some help.

‘…I’m no match. Not at all.’

She realized this during the fight with Ere.

Helping Frey in the battle made it all the more clear.

The gap in power was too vast. She was no match.

It was unfair. So unfair. She had grown so much stronger, yet the wall before her remained as insurmountable as ever. 

She thought she had closed the distance, but it was all just wishful thinking.

The forest of life flourished, flames roared.

Ice raged, statues rose, and space twisted.

In that battlefield, Alice could do nothing.

She struggled with all her might, refusing to accept it.

But the result, as you can see, was only a deeper realization of her own helplessness.

A dark emotion welled up in her heart.

A sticky, blood-like feeling tore at Alice’s chest.

And Frey, who shared the same body, felt the same.

‘…Damn it. Damn it, damn it!’

Frey screamed in frustration. If she had control of the body instead of Alice, she would have torn her hair out. 

The sense of powerlessness. The damned self-loathing. That feeling, which she had experienced to the point of disgust, struck her chest once more.

In her heart, she wanted to chew the masked woman to pieces. To tear her apart. To make her suffer the same pain Lucia had endured.

But she didn’t have the strength. The gap in power was too great. 

The realm of a captain. The realm of a devil. The realm of a demonic beast. 

Even as one who had become ‘close to a god’, it was a transcendent realm she couldn’t recklessly enter.

Alice’s emotions and Frey’s emotions intertwined.

The small girl trembled, her blue hair hanging limply.

Her eyes, stained with blood, were filled only with the traces of evaporated tears.

Even now.

‘We’ are.

Weak.

The cruel reality.

The fact she didn’t want to admit.

It pierced her to the bone, painfully.

Alice slightly parted her lips.

Frey bit her lip slightly.

Her eyes felt like they were tearing apart.

The heat turned her crimson eyes into a furnace.

Crack.

Within Alice’s inner self.

Within Frey’s heart.

A silent explosion echoed, reaching no one.

◆

Johan, the captain of the Sacred Knights, slowly stepped forward.

The condition of the little girl who had faced the Red Fox Mask was quite serious.

Though there were no fatal injuries, each wound was tainted with dense death energy.

If her breath had stopped, she would have likely become a revenant.

The only saving grace was that it was he who had arrived here.

Johan glanced at the radiant sword he gripped tightly in his right hand.

Not a physical weapon, but a product of his supernatural ability.

【Holy Sword】

Johan’s supernatural ability.

A sword of light that purifies evil.

The death energy corroding Alice’s body couldn’t withstand the light of the Holy Sword and dissipated.

‘I’ve faced Death Knights many times before…’

Johan glared at the Red Fox Mask woman as if scrutinizing her. 

The aura she exuded. The encroaching energy of death. 

At a glance, he knew she wasn’t human, but a being who walked with death. 

Yet, Johan wasn’t entirely convinced. Was that woman really a Death Knight? 

The absence of the signature armor of a Death Knight was understandable. Death Knights varied greatly from one individual to another.

‘The density is different. The concentration is different.’

Death Knights were among the highest class of high-rank monsters.

There was some variation among individuals, but most were named monsters.

Johan recalled the Death Knights he had personally sent off with requiems.

All of them were warriors of unmatched strength.

In his younger, less experienced days, he had nearly been killed by them.

But now, having reached the realm of captain, he no longer felt threatened by Death Knights.

‘…It’s suffocating. This is the first time I’ve encountered death energy that makes me want to vomit.’

It shouldn’t be possible, but for the first time in a long while, he felt a sense of danger from a Death Knight.

If all the Death Knights he had defeated so far were compressed into one, would they exude such an aura?

Something like that couldn’t even be explained within the category of named monsters.

Johan swallowed a bitter laugh.

A Devil.

Or a Demonic Beast.

It had to be one of the two.

“Are you a captain too?”

Ere asked. Even compared to the two female warriors of captain rank she had faced earlier, this supernatural was no less formidable. 

With every step he took, it felt as though an immeasurable mountain was approaching. 

Though phrased as a question, Ere was already certain. The question was more of a confirmation. 

However, the answer that came back carried a negative meaning.

“Can’t you see the uniform I’m wearing? I’m not a captain. I don’t belong to the Celestial Corps. Unfortunately.”

The Commander of the Celestial Corps, the God of War, occasionally bestowed teachings upon talented supernaturals.

A prime example was Kaen, the God of War’s direct disciple.

And Johan was also one who received teachings from the God of War.

An orphan taken in by the church, he had been personally instructed by the God of War.

Raised from the beginning to wield the Sword of God, destined to lead the Sacred Knights.

The God of War’s disciple, Johan, the Knight of Light.

“I wanted to join the Celestial Corps too, you know. My master, no, the God of War, told me to take charge of the Knights instead. 

Ah~ well, by the way, the fact that I’m the God of War’s disciple is a secret. 

If it gets out that I’m the God of War’s disciple, others will start pestering me to take a captain’s position in the Celestial Corps too.”

“…You’re telling me to keep it a secret, but you’re the one saying it out loud?”

Ere retorted, incredulous. Johan also let out a stifled laugh. 

Well, even if I said it, it’s still ridiculous. But whatever, does it really matter? 

The goal was to grab your attention, and that’s been achieved. What does it matter what I say? 

As long as I can draw your attention, anything goes.

Johan flicked his index finger. Position adjustment, complete. His black eyes, as dark as his hair, shimmered with light.

“!”

Behind the mask, Ere’s expression turned icy.

Ere hurriedly looked up at the sky.

Hundreds of lights had risen within a radius of several hundred meters.

Each one was a sword of light. A divine sword. A holy sword.

Aimed at the Death Knight, they gleamed with sharp intent.

A sword barrier.

A domain of radiance.

It took a bit of time to set up, but its power was undeniable.

“Before we begin, there’s something I want to ask.”

The playfulness slowly faded from Johan’s face.

As the feigned smile disappeared, the true face of the Knight Captain was revealed.

“Red Fox Mask, with the aura of death… It’s you, isn’t it? The one who kidnapped the academy student?”

Lucia.

A beautiful girl with golden hair and pink eyes.

A girl who resembled Lady Lucille.

“Where is that child?”

If Lucia was connected to her.

No, she must be.

They looked so alike.

Like twins.

If Lucia was related by blood to Lady Lucille.

If she was perhaps her child.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked the same question today. You’re looking for Lucia too. She’s quite the popular child.”

“You’d better think carefully before you speak. If you want to die painlessly, that is. The purification of the Holy Sword isn’t gentle.”

She must be saved.

If only to repay the debt of gratitude.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
That’s right.

Last time I wrote a R-19 side story to commemorate the 100th chapter, right?

So this time, I was thinking of another R-19 side story to commemorate the 200th chapter.

Something like torturing the cute and pitiful Regina,
or Lucia being found out by Frey.
or a worldline where Lucia isn’t a masochist.
or the protagonist possessing someone different from Lucia.

I have all sorts of side stories in mind…

Thinking about it, it was like… like cutting off in the middle of the story, or like when I wrote the first R-19 chapter and had a mental breakdown.

And because I made the R-19 halfway, there were some reactions that said it wasn’t very good. So I decided to just pretend it never happened.

I’m going to be a wholesome author!

No dirty stuff!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Your words would be more trustworthy if your next chapter didn’t speak otherwise, author. Heh.

Next chapter is another R-19 one, be prepared~