Ch.855Did You Think I Was Your Mom?

“Meiharin…!”

For Hersella, who had learned about the forbidden art of half-soul sorcery through Isabella’s resurrection and demise, the scene before her eyes suggested only one possibility.

In that moment, her bewilderment and shock completely transformed into hatred.

“How dare you…! What kind of trick is this…!”

Hersella glared at Meiharin, who had somehow retreated far behind the black-haired Imelia, growling like a beast.

It was more confirmation than question. Her blazing eyes were filled with murderous intent so deep it seemed bottomless.

“Haa…huu…haaa… I survived… kehuk, for forty seconds…!”

Meiharin answered while gasping for breath.

Her appearance was miserable.

She had barely managed to save her life by desperately enduring for forty seconds, but her right arm had been completely torn off in the final moment when Hersella’s fingertips grazed her, exposing convulsing muscles.

Yet, even in such a state, she could smile with confidence in her victory.

From the moment she had foreseen Hersella coming to kill her, the secret weapon she had been preparing had finally arrived before her.

The black-haired woman standing blankly before her was the blade that the great sorcerer Meiharin had forged again and again to bring down the Celestial Killing Star.

Although some finishing touches remained, Meiharin could handle that with her own abilities.

A task that would take ordinary sorcerers about ten minutes could be completed in less than a minute if she took charge herself.

“Uhuhu… So, how does it feel to meet your family again? Aren’t you glad? It must be quite the reunion for you after so long.”

Thus, Meiharin smiled provocatively and mockingly at Hersella, who was emanating an aura that seemed utterly inhuman even to her.

“You vile snake, how dare you…!”

“That’s harsh. Shouldn’t you be grateful to me?”

Very quietly, so as not to be detected by Hersella, she prepared the final ritual to complete the woman before her.

“You were able to reunite with your sister whom you thought you’d never see again, even if only like this.”

“…Sister?”

Hersella’s face, who was about to charge forward, twisted strangely.

Though Meiharin couldn’t see her expression clearly through the nebula-like aura surrounding her, the emotion in her voice was clearly one of confusion.

‘Thirty more seconds. I need to keep talking.’

To buy time to complete the sorcery, Meiharin began explaining the identity of the woman who closely resembled Imelia de Median in a verbose manner.

If she had simply explained that it was Imelia’s resurrected corpse, Hersella would have immediately charged at her in uncontrollable rage…

“…What do you mean? Sister?”

But having heard the unexpected word “sister,” she would listen until she understood what it meant.

“Yes. Your sister. Don’t you recognize her? I’m talking about Amin. Even a half-sister is still a sister, isn’t she? That child missed you very much.”

“Amin…?”

Why had that name suddenly appeared? Hersella unconsciously glanced again at the woman who resembled Imelia.

“I’m not sure if a wench like you would understand my explanation, but… that woman is our ‘White Valley’s’ greatest masterpiece, a living jiangshi.”

“A living… what?”

“A living jiangshi straddling the boundary between life and death. A masterpiece created using the body of a divine bloodline as a foundation and enhanced with all manner of sorcery!”

Meiharin straightened her slightly bent back as she exclaimed.

“…So, you’re saying this is Amin? Then why does she look like…”

“Ah, about that? Amin’s body was too weak to withstand the procedure. It was already severely damaged to begin with.”

Ten seconds left. Meiharin took a deep breath against the rising tension. The moment her explanation ended, there was a 100% chance Hersella would charge at her.

“So, I had no choice but to dig up remains with divine blessings still in them to reinforce the jiangshi’s body.”

The explanation that she had taken Imelia’s bones and mixed them into Amin’s body was the reason why the living jiangshi before them had been completed with an appearance close to Imelia’s.

While it was largely the result of Meiharin’s twisted taste, it was also true that without Imelia’s bones, the living jiangshi could not have been completed.

Amin’s body was too weak for a divine bloodline and could not possibly withstand the jiangshi transformation process.

If she had been able to obtain Orhan’s corpse as originally planned, there would have been no need to use someone like Amin, but that body had long since been reduced to ashes, leaving Meiharin with no other option.

In any case, that was how the living jiangshi before them had been born.

“Mother’s… remains? Then what was in that coffin…?”

“Ah, so you did dig it up and take it? I expected as much. Just in case, I put Dahamei’s remains in there. I thought there should be something inside.”

It wasn’t complete yet… but only five seconds remained until completion. There was enough time.

“Did you perhaps bow to Dahamei’s bones, thinking they were your mother’s? That must have been quite a sight. How fortunate you are to have two mothers.”

“…Enough. I’ve heard all I need to hear.”

Hersella gritted her teeth so hard they might break.

Meiharin smiled.

“They both died young… but rejoice. At least your birth mother has returned, hasn’t she? Though her vulgar nature remains the same, mixed with your half-sister’s body.”

“That’s enough, shut up and die, Meihariiiin!”

As the enraged Hersella charged toward Meiharin.

“You’re the one who’s going to die, Haschal—!”

The sorcery Meiharin had barely completed enveloped the living jiangshi’s body in a whirlwind of vast magical power.

“ᠪᡠᡨ ᡠᠪᠠ ᡳ ᡥᡝᡧᡝᠨ ᡝᠨᡩᡠᡵᡳ ᡝᠪᡠᠨᠵᡳᠮᠪᡳ-!”

Primitive Regression—a great sorcery that evolved beyond the spirit summoning that calls and commands animal souls. It was a soul-summoning sorcery that traced back through the flow of blood to call forth the souls of ancient ancestors.

That was the reason Meiharin had painstakingly transformed Amin’s body into a living jiangshi.

Though weak, Amin still carried divine blood. If one could trace back through that flow to reach the soul of a distant ancestor—

“A Celestial Killing Star must be faced with another Celestial Killing Star. Now, fight against your ancestor wearing the disguise of your mother! The origin of the title ‘Abha Knight’ from eight hundred years ago!”

There was only one soul to be summoned.

“The first Celestial Demon shall descend here!”

As Meiharin let out a cry of ecstasy, Frosting, imbued with starlight incomparably stronger than before, shot through the air toward her—

– KWAAANG!

With an explosion powerful enough to shake the Barun River, it was stopped by the blade wielded by the living jiangshi.

—-

– KIGIGIGIGIK—!

A clash of forces that distorted the atmosphere. The Frosting wrapped in nebula and the pitch-black sword drawn by the living jiangshi bared their edges against each other, emitting strange sounds.

Jormun—a treasured sword forged from the reverse scales of the Northern Sea Serpent Dragon.

The supreme treasure symbolizing the authority of the White Valley’s martial arts family and the valley lord was holding its ground against Frosting without even a crack, locked in a stalemate.

“She blocked it…? No, more importantly. The Celestial Demon from eight hundred years ago?”

Hersella glared at the living jiangshi who had blocked her left hand, her gaze filled with murderous intent.

…The face of her mother, Imelia.

‘Ugh…!’

Perhaps disturbed by facing her mother’s face at such close proximity, Hersella’s left arm wavered slightly for a moment.

In that instant.

“Grrr….”

The magical light flowing between the empty eye sockets of the living jiangshi intensified, and the sword blade emitting black radiance twisted strangely, deflecting the pressure sideways.

– SREUREUREUNG!

Frosting’s claws slid across Jormun’s blade.

Before Hersella could react, the blade, which had rotated half a turn using the deflected pressure, thrust upward from below, aiming for her face.

“Kuk…!”

Hersella hurriedly jerked her head backward. The missed blade grazed her shoulder armor. A distinct sword mark was carved into the dragon scales, sending vivid sparks flying in all directions.

“You specter…!”

Hersella reflexively swung her right foot. It contained enough force to annihilate a human body in a single blow.

– TEOK!

However, the kick, powerful enough to cause comminuted fractures even to Hersella herself had it connected, was blocked before it could reach the living jiangshi’s waist.

Was it because Hersella had unconsciously withdrawn her strength at the last moment, imagining her mother’s body being shattered to pieces?

Or was it because the living jiangshi’s skill was exceptionally superior, precisely catching her leg with elbows and knees?

– BBEOEOEOEOEK!

Hersella, struck by the living jiangshi’s headbutt and flung dozens of meters away, couldn’t discern the cause.

—-

“Grrrr….”

Hersella, thrown like a stone and embedded in the ruins of the inner wall.

The living jiangshi, who had been staring blankly at her, let out a low growl, tilted its head slightly from side to side, and then leaped toward Hersella with a thunderous boom.

The power and speed of a cannonball. It was remarkably similar to the sight that those who had faced Hersella and Haschal as enemies had regularly encountered.

Given that they were mother and daughter, their appearances were almost identical except for their eyes, and since Amin had been used as the base, even the hair color had been dyed black.

It wouldn’t have been strange for anyone watching to cry out in shock that Haschal had been duplicated.

“Grrrrr!”

As the living jiangshi leaped with all its might, the sword gripped in reverse was about to strike down at Haschal, who was half-buried in the ruins—

– KWAAANG!

“Fine, let’s see what you can do!”

Gritting her teeth so hard they might break, Hersella kicked off from the ruins and soared upward, violently swinging both arms toward the living jiangshi falling toward her. She had somehow retrieved her Crimson Scale Short Swords and was gripping them in both hands.

Black lightning and red crescents slashed through the air, colliding like disasters.

———!

A sound like the entire sky collapsing. The walls caught in the shockwave turned to dust and scattered.