Ch.73Crimson Flame (4)

“Move that bastard carefully~ Just know that if he gets scratched, you’re dead.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Sigh… how can I trust these idiots. I’ll follow along, so hurry up and drag him over.”

“Yes!”

The hound sighs and turns his back.

A somewhat displeased expression.

He seemed to find his subordinates unreliable.

As he irritably brushes dust from his sleeve, he feels a throbbing pain in his wrist.

It seemed he had twisted it while blocking the fox’s attack.

“Hah.”

Should have hit her harder.

He wanted to beat her half to death, but had to restrain himself because there were eyes watching.

The hound glances sideways at the guest standing nearby.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Annoying bastard.”

He chews on curses for no reason.

The situation was displeasing in many ways.

He raises his hand to wipe away the rainwater.

Wheeeeee-

The rain and wind were beating down particularly hard.

The deck was constantly shaking, perhaps due to the churning waves.

The hound irritably brushes his wet bangs from his forehead.

It was an environment where even standing was difficult, but he was calmly maintaining his balance.

A trained sense of equilibrium.

“Really fucking terrible weather… would be nice if it calmed down soon.”

He mutters an annoying soliloquy.

Just as he was about to step into the indoor space to escape the rain.

A faint voice reaches his ears.

“…Rise up.”

An alien noise.

Immediately after.

An eerie sensation colors his entire body.

“…?!”

Shiver-!

So intense was the energy felt from behind that it made him forget the cold temperature.

The hound hurriedly turns around.

Where his gaze falls, he sees brilliant flames.

“What’s this suddenly…!”

The hound unconsciously furrowed his brow.

It wasn’t simply because of the beam of light obscuring his vision.

It was due to the dizzying tension running down his spine.

A sense directly linked to survival was ringing alarm bells, warning of approaching danger.

Dangerous.

No.

Fatal.

It was fear he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

For the first time, confusion clouds the hound’s face.

Reflected in his trembling pupils was only the girl standing calmly amidst the raging flames.

Whoosh-!

“……”

The night sky covered in hot heat.

Beneath it stood a fox staring at him with an expressionless face.

Her hair dyed red.

Her once black eyes now bloodshot.

The atmosphere had changed in an instant.

“…Ha.”

The hound lets out an involuntary laugh.

“What is this now.”

The girl approaching in his direction.

The hound mutters curses, then draws his sword from his waist with trembling hands.

The man’s shoulders were shaking like those of a victim.

“Damn it.”

The roles had reversed.

***

What was life?

When looking back on years gone by, what sentence remains with the deepest meaning?

Despite the brief question, I cannot easily provide an answer.

Perhaps until now.

Or even in the future.

It might even be a question that defines one’s life after death.

The fox struggled to find the answer.

Every time.

Endlessly.

Swish-!

A fierce slash cuts through the wind.

Following the red line drawn, flames of high heat flutter in the air.

It was an enchanting light.

“What the f…!”

The man with a bewildered expression.

The hound barely reacts in time to block with his sword.

Clang! Kragk…!

Sparks fly between the clashing steel.

As painful rupturing sounds ring out, suddenly added pressure pushes the man’s body backward.

The hound grits his teeth and tries to hold his ground.

However, it wasn’t a meaningful struggle.

He was thrown back with just a light flick of the sword tip.

“Kugh…?!”

Thud-!

The hound moves away from view at high speed.

The man collides with the ship’s outer wall, then barely stops himself and regains his balance.

He gasps for breath.

“Ugh, haaa…!”

His legs stagger as he tries to maintain his posture.

A painfully exhaled groan.

The hound was glaring at where the fox stood with disbelieving eyes.

Still unbroken, he growls.

“How dare a mere beast like you…!”

“……”

Irene remained quietly in place.

Unlike the highly excited hound, the air surrounding the girl was deathly calm.

Wheeeeee-

Red hair fluttering in the wind.

The fox was blinking her blood-red eyes in the midst of blazing flames.

A serene appearance.

“This is impossible.”

The man’s voice was trembling.

He had reason to be dumbfounded.

Despite attacking with all his might, he hadn’t landed a single effective hit.

Irene was simply standing there calmly.

‘This feels strange.’

The girl monologues.

Looking down at her hand upon suddenly feeling the heat, beautiful flames were covering the blade.

Whoosh-!

A sense of omnipotence lingers.

She had reached a new realm.

It felt like she could cut through anything now, regardless of what her opponent might be.

The fox slowly assumes her stance.

“You said I definitely couldn’t win.”

Her lips move.

Her calm voice carries a clear resonance even amidst the storm.

The hound responds with furrowed brows.

“What?”

“You said it yourself. That I’m a beast who has been defeated by you twice, and that it’s my fate to continue that way.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“I’m curious if the third time will be the same.”

“Are you provoking me? You dare, as a mere beast?”

The hound lets out a hollow laugh.

He seemed dumbfounded.

Yes.

This kind of experience would be unfamiliar.

Having a powerful businessman as a backer, holding innate power in his hands, always being in a position to torment others.

Experiences of being the weaker party would be few and far between.

But.

“This time will be different.”

Sometimes the opposite can be true.

The fox points her sword toward her enemy.

“Here I come.”

“You’re talking nonsense. I’ll tear your mouth apart so you can never run it again…!”

Is he still unable to abandon his position as the stronger one?

The hound reacts violently.

He firmly grips the sword he had dropped.

Following the flickering green mana, the surrounding storm intensifies.

It was his unique ability.

Wind magic overlaid on swordsmanship.

An ability that demonstrates overwhelming power especially in stormy weather like now.

The man charges with bulging eyes.

“Die!!”

That scene.

Was playing in slow motion before the fox’s eyes.

The sharply gleaming sword, the wind currents enveloping the ship, even the fierce whirlwind baring its teeth.

It felt like she could count every speck of dust floating by.

‘It’s quiet.’

The girl raises her sword tip.

Crack-!

Sparks fly from her hand.

Following the tingling sensation, a dim radiance engulfs the sword.

The light cluster becomes increasingly distinct.

‘I.’

What is life?

Born as a humble flower, withering with a shabby appearance.

What meaning do we hold that makes us live?

-Find your own star.

She looks back on the path she has walked.

A path where she hurt from what was lost, sorrowed over foolishness, and was lonely for not breaking.

Numerous words align in lines.

Grief, regret, anger, weakness, spite, despair.

But even so.

Indomitable.

In the fox’s wide-open eyes, her footprints thus far converge and burn as one.

The hot heat pushes away even the cold of the typhoon.

Whoosh-!

‘My name is.’

If asked what life is, I would answer without hesitation.

Life is.

A single spark.

A fierce blaze that eventually fades like flower petals.

A beautiful single sword.

One breath exhaled.

One heart held.

Naming that lifetime.

“Red Flame.”

May the red flame bloom.

The girl murmurs.

Immediately after.

Red radiance showers from the blade.

A single strike containing her entire life.

The fox holds her sword respectfully, breathes, applies strength, and plants her foot.

And then.

She swings her life just like that.

Slash-.

A single line drawn effortlessly.

It passes through the hound’s body and extends all the way to the stormy sky.

The bright red flame lingers as if dividing space.

And then.

Kwaaaa-!

It spreads out like an explosion and engulfs everything.

The hound falls just like that.

The corpse, sprawled with the upper body separated, disappears without leaving even a scream.

It only scatters as pitch-black ashes.

“……”

The sky that had been raging with storms was suddenly quiet.

The fox raises her head and stares.

Only a clear sword mark remains in the sky.

Between the dark clouds cut horizontally in half, a clean background is visible.

A sea without even a breath of wind.

What these scenes implied was clear.

“I… did it…”

The high sky.

She had finally cut through it.

***

“Haaa…”

Irene staggers as she tries to maintain her balance.

Her breathing was rapid.

She uses her sword like a cane to support herself on the floor.

Though it was a sword with monstrous power capable of cutting through a storm, there was no significant damage to the ship.

Only considerable scorch marks remained.

In that fleeting moment.

She had adjusted the trajectory with minute control.

The rooftop setting also played a part.

If the battle had taken place indoors, the ship might have sunk with that final strike.

Perhaps hundreds of enslaved people trapped below would have sunk with it.

‘Was that luck?’

She touches her forehead.

Her vision was dizzy from the headache.

As she staggers momentarily, soldiers who had been hiding around begin to peek out one by one.

Are they looking for an opportunity?

“……”

When she lightly sweeps her gaze over them, they all recoil in terror and step back.

Perhaps because they had just witnessed such a scene.

They all looked intimidated.

Despite her obvious exhaustion, they didn’t dare approach for this very reason.

Irene stands still and regulates her breathing.

‘What now?’

Her stamina had hit bottom long ago.

Though she had overcome the wall, even breathing was now difficult.

Slowly-.

Her hair, which had been dyed red, was gradually returning to its original color.

The sense of omnipotence was fading like an ebbing tide.

The fox bites her lip to endure the feeling of exhaustion.

‘Not yet.’

The hound was dead, but that wasn’t the end.

Soldiers were still standing by.

The one called a ‘guest’ was also glancing this way from a distance.

Moreover, people who needed help were trapped on the lowest level.

A situation without answers in many ways.

Could she break through?

Even if she couldn’t, she had to in this situation.

She decides to push herself a little more.

Just as she grips her sword again with renewed strength.

Clap-!

Suddenly, the sound of applause reaches her ears.

It was an ominously familiar resonance.

“……”

The next moment.

Someone was standing behind her, embracing the girl’s body.

Warm heat melts the cold.

It was a cozy embrace.

The fox grabs that arm.

Holding it tightly, she murmurs with trembling lips.

“You… you were watching after all.”

The answer comes back playfully.

“My pet fox ran away from home.”

A gentle voice.

Judas Snakus rests his chin on the girl’s shoulder.

A smile flickers across his face.

“Well done, Miss Irene.”

“……”

“Lean on me and rest for a while. I know you have a lot to say, but we can postpone that for later.”

“…Okay.”

The fox nods.

The boy, with a joyful smile, gently takes the exhausted girl into his arms.

Irene remained buried in that warmth for a while.