Ch.18Blood Bag (7)

I pulled the longsword from the ground. The flames that twisted around my hand felt ticklish.

Where the sword had been embedded, the man who was once its owner had been reduced to ashes.

Looking at those ashes, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind.

It was after the mourning had passed. There was no way to prevent guilt from eating away at me.

As negative emotions crept up, I twitched slightly around my eyes and gripped the sword handle firmly.

There was no other way. If I wanted to defeat the Blood Knight before me, this was what I had to do.

The Star Blade wouldn’t have listened to my request; rather, it would have attacked first. Isla had said as much.

From what I knew, he was that kind of man.

Even if he had granted my request, it was uncertain whether things would have gone well, and if he had died anyway, there would have been no difference from now…

No, these are excuses.

All of this is just excuses.

Excuses I conjured to ease my conscience, and in the end, I was a monster.

But at the same time, I realized that I had to be a monster.

This was the kind of world we lived in.

A world where even the most merciful transcendent beings bestowed power at the cost of life, where people being devoured by something inhuman was commonplace.

This was Grim Darker’s world. And in such a world, I had things I had to do.

The New Continent had been abandoned. Whether there was a protagonist or not, I wasn’t sure, but it was certain that no one cared.

In such a world, only I knew that the Three Clans were plotting something in the New Continent.

That the Cannibal Baron had obtained a new daughter with the help of the Three Clans and escaped.

That the Star Blade, who should have been executed as a key figure in the Imperial Civil War, was still alive.

That there were so many outlaws, exiles, and outcasts across this continent.

It was clearly intentional. A smokescreen to divert attention from something.

What would happen if left unchecked was obvious. The countless bad endings in the game had proven that to me.

So I had to do it. I couldn’t rely on someone else.

I knew all too well what happened when one neglected what needed to be done.

That was my life.

Because the parents who should have cared for us abandoned my sister and me, our lives had no choice but to turn out the way they did.

Even doing my best, I couldn’t escape my predicament, and after my sister disappeared, everything remained dark even when I opened my eyes.

What should I live for, what must I do? I knew nothing.

All of it was because of not doing what needed to be done.

So I didn’t run away.

I am clearly a monster. Despite feeling guilt, I acted without hesitation, a monster capable of taking action at any time.

There are things only someone like me can do.

Whoosh!

The drawn longsword blazes. It was the sword of a man who, after being used his entire life, should have finally found freedom in death at the hands of a worthy opponent on the battlefield.

For some reason, it had flowed into the New Continent—the companion of a pitiful man and the death I had driven to bring down the Blood Knight.

As regret and guilt gnawed at me, I recalled several things at once.

My kind being slaughtered by the Blood Knight while trying to escape from opened prisons.

The fugitive blood bags all killed because I was discovered.

My sister’s smiling face and her last words, flickering like flames.

“It’s my fault.”

[Mourning]

That gave strength to my body.

[Time Remaining: 60 seconds]

I was given the same time as the man who once drew this longsword.

[Mourning 0/2]

A translucent screen whispered to me that this was my last chance. I pushed through that screen and moved forward.

With an axe in my left hand and a longsword in my right.

“Well then…”

The Blood Knight approaches. Still naked, holding a beheading sword in her left hand.

In an instant, she lowers her stance. A prelude to acceleration. I immediately raised my axe toward the long red line being drawn in the air.

This wouldn’t block it. I knew that well. I couldn’t not know.

The Blood Knight must know it too, yet she hurried.

Because she knew my potential. She knew she had to end this while I was depleted.

I am a monster, and monsters know well that they are dangerous to each other.

Whatever trick I might be planning, she intended to shatter it head-on and render it useless.

So just before impact, I withdrew the blood magic wrapped around my axe and infused it into the Star Blade.

Crack!

My axe breaks, unable to withstand the beheading sword swung by the Blood Knight. My accelerated perception tracks its trajectory, but before I can block it, the sword invades my flesh.

Crunch!

It crushes my vambrace, splits the plate armor, scatters the blood magic wrapped around it, and shatters my arm.

And as if that weren’t enough, the sword immediately curves and bends.

A slight hip movement, crossing of feet, a sword technique I don’t recognize.

Something too complex for me to imitate. Among the flying pieces of my flesh, I saw the rising blade.

The target is my neck. A homunculus’s regeneration stops with the loss of the head. Capture alive wasn’t even considered.

It was an angular, heavy blade. A sword so soaked in blood that the stains seemed permanent.

A weapon commonly called a beheading sword.

A weapon specialized in destroying body parts, fatal to homunculi like me.

That’s probably why she brought it.

It wouldn’t be strange if she was certain of victory right now.

But.

Clang!

I step closer and catch it with my armpit. I feel my armpit and shoulder being crushed, tendons, blood, and muscles tearing, but it didn’t reach me in my state of mourning.

Beyond the pain dulled by mourning, I used the muscles that hadn’t yet been severed to grab the beheading sword that was halfway embedded.

That was my chance.

The brief moment when the sword was caught. The instant before she could use blood magic, create distance, or attempt close combat.

If I was going to effectively accomplish anything, it had to be now.

Fighting head-on, my chances of winning weren’t great anyway.

My opponent was an experienced knight, a pursuer who had caught and killed many homunculi like me who tried to escape.

If I properly understood this sword’s power, I might end up being used in reverse and killed.

Then there was only one chance. Draw her in, sacrifice bone.

Whoosh!

And take flesh.

I raised the blazing longsword high and brought it down.

A crimson trajectory converges on the Blood Knight’s shoulder.

The sword strike that dug into her shoulder emerges on the other side, and as astonishment fills the Blood Knight’s face, flames are overlaid again on the already delivered sword strike’s path.

Sizzle!

A grating cutting sound follows. Beyond the hissing sound of burning flesh and the disgusting smell, I saw a snow-white right arm rolling on the ground.

Blood Knight Lorian staggered backward. Clutching her severed right shoulder with the sword hilt, the Blood Knight smiled inexplicably.

She was smiling despite her shock. A smile revealing excitement and some raw emotion.

“I thought it was over when he died…”

As expected, she was wary of the Star Contractor. She had noticed that the flames would stop regeneration.

So she launched her attack the moment the Star Blade died. Before I could try anything else.

That itself was a mistake.

We had each lost an arm, but my regeneration was much faster.

Meanwhile, the Blood Knight clutched her shoulder stump, sweating coldly as no regeneration occurred.

“Impressive.”

Words I never expected to hear. I recalled the flavor text written on the armor I wore.

‘What even the Blood Clan doesn’t know is that his intentions for descending weren’t so pure.’

Why was she standing before me?

She clearly had some other scheme. That scheme was easy to guess.

“I never thought I’d have a fight like this again… I’m pleased.”

A satisfied smile formed on the girl’s face. It was a beauty that would take the breath away from ordinary people.

But I couldn’t think that way.

Because of the name she uttered while saying she was glad she came down.

“This is the first time since Lucilla.”

Lucilla. A name that shouldn’t have appeared, but the Blood Knight had lost an arm.

She had descended to earth for personal reasons and had a satisfying fight. Blood loss, amputation, burning pain, and satisfaction were clearly clouding her reason.

The name she blurted out sounded just like that. A name I couldn’t have heard even if I’d asked.

I stared blankly at the Blood Knight.

“What’s your name, blood bag?”

“…Ruwellin.”

“Ruwellin. Let’s meet again.”

I had to stop her. Reflexively lowering my stance to approach, but the Blood Knight’s form distorted like mist and vanished.

She was as elusive as when she first appeared. With only traces of her presence remaining, I stood dazed, mulling over what I had just heard.

Lucilla.

The name my sister often used.

Even while thinking it couldn’t be, it was impossible, I couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling.

The snowstorm was gradually clearing. As even my mourning faded, I turned my head at the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.

“Isla.”

The snow leopard hunter and woman of shapeshifter lineage. She hesitated, showing signs of fear toward me.

I could understand why she was afraid. She thought I would confront her about her identity, now that I knew it.

But I had no time for that.

I turned to face Isla.

Seeing my face, Isla’s expression hardened, and she stared at me with the same blank expression.

“Who is Lucilla?”

The expected answer would normally be that she didn’t know, but Isla hesitated with her hardened expression before speaking.

The words flowing from her lips gave me an intense sense of déjà vu.

“The guardian of the Five Grand Dukes.”

The one who protected the newly enthroned Five Grand Dukes after the previous ones were murdered, from the assassin who was a homunculus and the final boss of the first Grim Darker series.

“Hero of the Civil War.”

In the second game, she was the hero who led the civil war to victory and restored peace.

“Benefactor of the Empire.”

In the third, she went on to crush the Three Clans’ conspiracy that loomed over the Empire.

In other words.

“Guardian General Lucilla.”

She was the protagonist.