Ch.274Finale

“That head…! You did it, Lord Median…!”

Lacy brightened upon seeing the half-head in my hand.

Though unable to stand due to exhaustion, kneeling while leaning on her cross spear, her face—drenched in cold sweat—was filled with joy and elation.

“Haa… haa… yes, I cut her into pieces completely.”

It was a terribly difficult and long journey… but we finally made it here.

Isabella was dead.

Her body was completely shredded and scattered like flower petals over the waterway, with only the upper half of her head remaining above the nose.

She was a tenacious woman like the insect she was, but even she couldn’t survive in this state.

With both her “Nest” and “Return” lost, recovery or resurrection was impossible.

“Lord Elpinel… infinite thanks for the grace and glory you have bestowed upon us…”

Lacy offered a prayer toward the sky. Her face was streaked with tears, as if overcome with emotion.

“I’m glad… we prepared well.”

Ophelia spat out the glass vial she’d been holding and sighed with relief.

Though both her arms were half-shattered, the potion must have been quite effective as the bleeding was nearly stopped.

“I know. It was really close. If our preparations had been even slightly inadequate…”

We would have lost.

The insect witch, Isabella Benes.

The shadow manipulator who had half-controlled and corrupted the Empire. A woman who had lived for over a hundred years, Lilith’s last remaining apostle.

As expected of a boss meant to be fought much later in the story, she was nightmarishly strong.

Even her arrogance was understandable.

—-

Perhaps because we faced her years earlier than scheduled, her main body’s dark mana and combat abilities were considerably weaker than in my memories.

In terms of pure magical power, she was merely between a high mage and an archmage.

However, the source of her strength, her five authorities, remained intact.

If we hadn’t known the countermeasures in advance, we too would have been helplessly defeated.

It was a close fight. The difference in timing determined victory and defeat.

Thanks to arriving early and hiding, we could fight in the narrow underground waterway that was disadvantageous to the witch and advantageous to me.

Additionally, we had enough time to prepare in case the witch shook us off and took to the sky.

Isabella never knew that when our battle began, a net to capture her was already being formed above ground.

Thousands of garrison troops remaining in the district, and about a hundred priests who were close to non-combatants and hadn’t joined Leopold’s army. I had informed them all in advance.

I told them to evacuate residents when vibrations started, as the underground waterway might partially collapse, and to hide troops surrounding the epicenter in preparation for Isabella’s appearance.

There was a reason I wasn’t worried about civilians getting caught up in the collapse of the waterway supporting the district.

As planned, they excellently moved people away and brought down the witch.

If Isabella had been at full strength, they alone would have struggled, but the witch too was pushed to her limits from fighting us.

No matter how quickly she flew, it was impossible to dodge all the attacks raining down like they filled the sky.

A single day, just one day’s difference determined Isabella’s fate.

—-

“The witch Isabella Benes, who infiltrated the Empire, has fallen! Victory is ours!”

Beyond the gaping ceiling, a knight commanding the garrison troops shouted at the top of his lungs.

The cheers of thousands that followed shook the waterway ceiling, showering down stone dust.

“They’re quite excited up there… I wonder if they’ve forgotten we’re down here?”

“Having achieved the feat of vanquishing a witch who appeared after a hundred years, they certainly deserve to rejoice… If we wait a little, won’t they come down looking for us…?”

Ophelia let out a hollow laugh and shrugged. Lacy responded with half-closed eyes.

Unlike Ophelia who still had some strength left, Lacy, having exhausted her energy completely, seemed to be struggling just to maintain consciousness.

“I’m going to… rest for a while… Don’t forget to burn that head…”

With those final words, Lacy’s head drooped.

She wasn’t dead, just fallen into a sleep-like unconsciousness.

“That woman prays even when sleeping. Isn’t that level of devotion a bit scary?”

“Well, it is strange.”

I pulled out a cigarette case from my soaked clothes.

The Empire was still overflowing with all sorts of problems, but perhaps because we’d overcome one hurdle, my mind felt as peaceful as a midday meadow despite my tired and wounded body. Even the wounds on my shoulders and legs barely hurt.

How long had it been since I felt this way?

Despite being soaked to the bone in underground water, I didn’t feel cold.

Rather, the warmth of the sunlight streaming down made me feel like I could fall asleep right there.

I took out a dry cigarette and put it in my mouth, bringing my finger to the tip to light it with Karma fire—

[Fire? What fire? You don’t have strength left for that.]

Ah, that’s right.

Having used up all my power, whether Murder Karma or Great Karma, Karma fire wouldn’t ignite either.

“What are you doing?”

Ophelia smiled and moved her lips slightly, causing a small spark to appear and light my cigarette.

“Thanks.”

“If you’re grateful, lend me one too. Mine are all crushed.”

That’s not difficult.

I moved closer to Ophelia and took out another cigarette from the case, placing it between her lips.

“Phew… Feels good but… it still hurts quite a bit.”

Ophelia inhaled deeply and exhaled the mint-scented smoke while grumbling.

The cigarettes of this world, mana herbs, clear the mind and sharpen the senses.

In other words, smoking when injured makes the pain sensation even sharper.

Knowing this yet still smoking meant both of us were doing something rather foolish… but what can you do? When you feel like smoking, you smoke.

I sat down next to Ophelia and added a grayish sigh toward the ceiling. My shoulders and calves were throbbing, but even that felt like a pleasant pain right now.

A sense of fulfillment soaked my chest.

Only now did I feel like I had accomplished something.

—-

“Oh. Come to think of it, I brought this head because you asked to keep it if possible… what are you planning to use it for?”

I pointed at Isabella’s head placed on the floor.

The reason Isabella’s upper head remained intact was because of Ophelia’s request.

While we were waiting for Isabella to arrive in the underground waterway, she had whispered to me without telling the others.

—-

“If Isabella is that strong, even if we can win, we probably won’t have the luxury of capturing her alive, right?”

“That’s probably true. We’ll have to tear her apart at the first opportunity… honestly, it’s a bit disappointing. Considering what that woman has done, death alone seems too light a punishment.”

I wanted to inflict every possible pain on her, but at the time, I thought that even I wouldn’t have such luxury against Isabella.

And that proved true.

Isabella’s death happened in an instant, so the time of pain she experienced wasn’t very long.

That was my only remaining regret.

“Hmm… then, I have an idea. Even if you kill Isabella, try to leave her head intact if possible… specifically the brain. With just that—”

Ophelia was about to say more when Lacy approached, cutting our conversation short.

I didn’t hear what she wanted to do with the brain, but I remembered her words just before killing Isabella, which is why I preserved that part.

—-

“Hmm… let’s see… the brain is almost undamaged… and inside…”

Ophelia rolled the head with her foot to look at the cut surface, then grinned as if discovering something.

“As expected, it’s still there. What a tenacious monster.”

“What’s still there? Surely you don’t mean she’s still alive in this state?”

That’s impossible.

Even tenacity has its limits—with only the brain remaining, she couldn’t possibly be alive, could she?

“No, if we’re talking about life and death, she’s definitely dead. However…”

“However?”

“Her soul. Is still. Present.”

Ophelia’s smile deepened.

Her drooping hair cast a dark shadow across her face.

“How fortunate. I thought it would have been dragged away and burned by the gods already, or taken by an evil deity. This makes it possible. And conveniently, the saint candidate is asleep.”

What’s possible?

What is she trying to do…?

Ophelia was now wearing that same ominous expression I had seen when I witnessed Claire in the water tank.

What’s going on? The atmosphere was peaceful just a moment ago…!

“…What are you planning to do?”

Ophelia, smiling in an utterly sinister way, began to move her arms that were starting to function again and pulled something out from inside her clothes.

“You said death alone seemed too light a punishment, right? I agree. So I’m going to help a little.”

In her hand was a crystal-like gem tinted gray.

…I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere before.

“A soul stone. An artifact for capturing and imprisoning a soul before it disappears from this world. I’m glad I secretly took a few from the family treasury a while back.”

…Soul stone?

Imprison what?

“No, wait. What are you going to…!”

“You’ll see.”

Smiling as if delighted beyond measure, Ophelia brought the gem close to Isabella’s head.

Scraping up what little mana she had left to the bottom.

And then.

– Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

A blood-curdling scream as if erupting from beyond hell.

Something formless was extracted from inside Isabella’s head and sucked into the stone.

The gray crystal turned black in an instant. As if filled with something pitch-black.

“This is also a secret from the saint candidate, okay? If she knew, she’d try to burn me at the stake.”

Looking at my dumbfounded face, Ophelia grinned.