Ch.700A Painful Fight

I ran desperately through the corridor covered with corpses, chasing after Orhan, and finally managed to catch up with him.

It would be difficult to say I wasn’t too late… Because the moment I found him, the blade of the Red Scale Sword was already extending toward Ludwig.

There was no time to hesitate.

【 Defying Fate 】

I leaped forward, infinitely compressing the time it would take to reach him.

The blade that had been swinging like lightning slowed to a turtle’s pace. About three seconds of leeway created by the power of Defying Fate. I used every moment of that time to launch myself toward him.

Five steps. While running, I realized that the duration of Defying Fate would end just before I reached him. I was allowed only a single strike. If I couldn’t stop Orhan with that one blow, Ludwig would be split in two.

An ordinary attack wouldn’t be enough.

If I couldn’t pierce through the Unyielding Flesh, he would take my attack with his body and still cut down Ludwig.

And there was only one way to pierce through the Unyielding Flesh.

In the silent world where even my voice didn’t echo, I gathered all the remaining power of my Karma of Murder and concentrated it in my left arm.

The technique of Karma of Murder, Destruction of Consciousness.

The ultimate destruction that layers lightning of killing intent over and over, crushing even a hero’s will. The strongest technique devised by Hersella unfolded through Frosting.

“――――!”

Along with indescribable agony.

—-

The destructive technique Destruction of Consciousness, which unfolds by layering and compressing the lightning of Karma of Murder, has a fatal weakness that matches its astonishing power.

Due to the principle of forcibly concentrating enormous power capable of breaking even a hero’s will onto the blade, it inevitably places tremendous strain on the sword itself.

It was so severe that Leonore, who was watching my training, even joked, “If you use that on a person, wouldn’t it explode just from touching them?”

With the black iron sword, just two layers was the limit. The pressure of Hersella’s completed Destruction of Consciousness could crumble even a dragon’s reverse scale.

So then.

What would happen if such a technique were unleashed through a human arm?

[ What madness is this! What are you doing! ]

Hersella’s urgent cry, having grasped the situation as soon as Defying Fate was released, would have been the answer.

Of course, by the time she shouted to stop me, my fingertips had already touched Orhan’s back. Carrying the destructive karma I had finally completed.

– Kigigigigik!

Frosting let out a shrill scream as its blackened scales writhed. As if it would shatter into pieces at any moment.

However, the scales of the spirit weapon tempered with countless blood withstood the enormous strain that even a dragon’s reverse scale couldn’t endure.

A swirling crimson lightning. The power to crush will concentrated at my fingertips collided with the karma of invincibility.

– Kwajik!

With the excruciating pain as if everything below my elbow had scattered into a handful of blood, the cursed claws penetrated Orhan’s back.

—-

“Ha…schal…!”

Orhan turned to look at me, spewing blood.

The claws that had pierced through his back, burst his heart, shattered his ribs, and protruded through his chest. It was undoubtedly a fatal wound.

Considering the curse contained in Frosting’s claws, it would be enough to bring death if left alone.

However, I didn’t even have the energy to rejoice in the victory I had finally achieved.

The excruciating pain as if everything below my elbow had scattered into a handful of blood? That expression wasn’t a metaphor, but the stark reality itself.

“Kuuuh…!”

I groaned quietly from the pain and looked at Frosting that I had thrust into Orhan’s back.

Thick blood poured like rain through the gaps between the blackened scales. It was viscous blood mixed with melted flesh and crushed bone powder.

I couldn’t feel any sensation below my elbow. Not even the sense of existence or weight.

It was a familiar feeling. My legs had been like this before.

Though it wasn’t visible from the outside because Frosting extended to my shoulder, my left arm had undoubtedly been cleanly blown away, unable to withstand the strain of the layered lightning.

Ah, really. It hurts like hell.

Well… as far as consequences for such a reckless act go, it’s relatively light.

That’s why I could smile.

“Not yet…!”

Until Orhan, whose heart had burst, raised his drooping Red Scale Sword again and struck at me.

“…Huh?”

Was it because of the pain from my blown-off arm, or because Orhan suddenly moved when I expected him to be dead? I reflexively raised Durandal to block his blade, but I couldn’t withstand the power behind it and was sent flying backward.

– Kuuuung!

“Kuhak…!”

A dizzying impact struck my spine. The air in my lungs burst out of my mouth. I crashed through several meters, penetrating wall after wall of the command post.

– Kwarurururu!

Fragments of the broken walls showered down on me. Through the falling debris, I saw Orhan, spewing blood like a fountain, raising the Red Scale Sword high.

“…Huh, a monster.”

Ludwig looking up at Orhan in disbelief, and Orhan growling with labored breaths, his appearance drenched in blood.

“Do you… have any… last words?”

“Last words…”

Ludwig looked up at the sky with a hollow laugh.

“To think my companion on this journey would be you. I don’t know whether to be glad or lament.”

“…Yes, I agree.”

The dragon’s reverse scale drew a red arc.

—-

– Chulpuk!

The upper body of the middle-aged man, cut in half, fell onto the pool of blood with a squelching sound.

Intestines writhed and convulsed through the cut surface. It was the end of Ludwig Wilhelm von Landenburg, the Shield of the Empire.

“Damn it all…!”

A tragedy that occurred in an instant, literally in a split second. I cursed as I raised my body buried among the pile of bricks.

No, fuck. How is this possible?

It felt like having my head shoved into a sewer full of excrement, truly a shitty feeling.

Someone whose heart not only stopped but actually burst was moving around normally?

Well, judging by his staggering and pale complexion, he wasn’t exactly fine… but still.

“How on earth…?”

Perhaps hearing my muttering, Orhan, who was supporting himself with the Red Scale Sword stuck into Ludwig’s corpse like a cane, turned his head to look at me. While vomiting what must have been buckets of blood.

“Huk… huk…! Excellent… excellent attack, but you underestimated the vitality of divine blood, Haschal…!”

…Divine blood’s vitality?

“Once the… wolf’s blood is awakened… neither you nor I… die so easily…!”

“No, if your heart bursts, you should die.”

There’s a limit to how tough something can be.

Even Hersella, who had fallen asleep like a flashlight with dead batteries after using up all her Karma of Murder power, would have said the same thing if she saw this scene.

“Kheuh, huhaha… Yes, that’s not wrong either. As you say, with a shattered heart, even possessing divine blood cannot avoid death. It just takes a little time.”

Finding something amusing in my words, Orhan burst into laughter, twitching his blood-soaked beard. It seemed his joy at killing Ludwig outweighed the resentment of losing his own life so futilely.

Yeah, you look really happy. Good for you. I feel absolutely terrible.

Objectively speaking, Ludwig and I weren’t that close.

Although he had shown me many favors, they were more like compensation to gain my cooperation, and I also regarded him as something of a capable business partner. It was similar to my relationship with Leopold, if I had to compare.

A relationship where we cooperated generously and supported each other when our interests aligned, but would immediately become enemies the moment our purposes diverged. Just that level of acquaintance.

That’s why I wasn’t enraged by Ludwig’s death. I was just extremely displeased.

Considering the empire’s future, he was someone who absolutely should not have died, and after I had saved him at the cost of my left arm… to think he would die so absurdly at the very end.

Damn it. I’m not sure if I can handle the aftermath of this.

Fucking Orhan. If you’re going to die, die properly, why pull this shit on me?

I gritted my teeth in rising displeasure and firmly gripped Durandal with my one remaining arm.

“…You say it will take some time until you die? Well, let’s see how long it takes!”

The next moment, I kicked off the debris behind me and lunged at him.

A lightning-fast charge. The moment Orhan raised the Red Scale Sword to block Durandal’s blade, my right foot slammed into his abdomen.

“Kuhek…!”

Orhan spat blood and flew backward.

Perhaps he lacked the strength to use Unyielding Flesh. The sensation transmitted to my foot wasn’t like striking something steel-like as usual, but closer to kicking a sturdy sandbag.

“Orhan-!”

Orhan, who had crashed through the outer wall, twisted his body to regain his posture.

Whether he had compressed his blood vessels with muscles or applied the power of karma, the bleeding from his chest had almost stopped. Even so, he was in a state no different from a candle about to go out.

“Yes, go ahead, rampage all you want! My purpose has already been achieved, I have no regrets left!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Durandal, which I swung while jumping down toward him, was blocked by the Red Scale Sword and slid off. I flipped the blade to catch the Red Scale Sword with the back edge and stop it, then drove my knee up toward his groin.

“Hap!”

Orhan’s response was agile. Considering the fatal wound he had sustained, it was unbelievable that he could move like that.

He twisted his body diagonally to avoid my knee and lowered his head to headbutt my forehead.

– Kwaaang!

A shocking impact that made my brain reel struck my skull.

“Kuhek…!”

“Kyauk…!”

Orhan and I both groaned simultaneously and staggered. Blood streaming from our broken foreheads.