Midnight in Valentine (8)

“Impressive.”

Aslaksha said, creaking her head stiffly.

“I was certain I could neutralize you within a few exchanges… to think you would endure so tenaciously.”

“…Kheuk.”

“You know, how many hours do you think you’ve been holding out?”

My stomach twisted painfully, and a warm lump surged up through my throat.

After spewing out a mouthful of sticky blood, I roughly wiped my mouth with my sleeve using my trembling hand.

“Why not just give up already?”

Aslaksha, in the Emperor’s form, tempted me with a sweet voice.

“You know it well, don’t you? No matter how desperately you hold out, you can’t win in the end.”

“…Judging by your yapping, you must be getting nervous?”

I clenched my creaking left hand. A layer of components covering the back of my hand lifted up, and from the gap, a translucent blade glowing with blue light emerged with a crackling sound.

The last resort and secret weapon hidden in the combat prosthetic that replaced my left arm.

A blade made purely of mana. Something that resembled aura infinitely, yet was not aura.

“…A wrist blade.”

“Looks familiar? Of course, it’s the weapon that pierced your belly.”

With eyes that kept trying to close, I tilted my head from side to side and sneered in a sardonic voice.

Aslaksha narrowed her eyes.

“Provocation is useless, Evangeline. You know that well, don’t you?”

“Fuck off.”

Aslaksha smiled with a rather benevolent expression. I raised my middle finger at her, then moved my legs that felt like they would break at any moment.

-Crack.

With the sensation of the ground collapsing beneath my feet, I bent my body forward greatly to shift my center of gravity forward.

Twisting my waist sharply in midair, I swung the blue blade with what little strength I had left.

-Kadruk!!

Barry’s thick sword, advancing with a speed unbefitting his massive build, collided with the translucent blade rippling with blue light.

With an unpleasant friction sound like sharp metal pieces clashing, Barry’s body was pushed back.

With our blades still meeting in midair, I taunted him.

“What are you, a chef? What’s with that weapon? It’s not even a kitchen knife.”

“That too is useless, Evangeline.”

Aslaksha shook her head and replied instead.

“His and Zepharos’s consciousness are completely captivated by me. They are merely puppets that move as I command. Your voice will never reach them.”

“Damn it.”

I clicked my tongue and stepped back.

Something cut through the air, changing direction in midair.

Like a swift bird, the iron bullet twisted its trajectory this way and that as it flew toward me, grazing the edge of my neck.

“Tsk…!”

“Missed again.”

Aslaksha murmured regretfully.

“After this battle, I’ll have to dispose of Zepharos. He consistently refuses to follow orders.”

“Why not kill him right now…?”

“That’s impossible.”

At my words, Aslaksha shook her head with an amused expression.

“With Barry alone, he would undoubtedly be overpowered by you.”

“Tsk.”

-Kwang!!

Simultaneous with her words, Barry, who had burst forward by stomping the ground to pieces, swung a pair of swords horizontally, tilting them to both sides.

A rough sound, “bwook,” echoed in the air. A harsh ripping sound like tearing fabric rang loudly in my ears.

“Keuk…!”

At the same time, a warm pain deeply invaded my shoulder.

I thought I had dodged Barry’s attack—at that moment, I caught sight of a gleaming iron bullet stained with blood from outside my field of vision.

‘He deliberately made a loud noise with his rough sword strike to hide the sound of the approaching bullet.’

Frowning, I glared at Aslaksha who was sitting and observing the situation from a distance.

‘She’s skilled at controlling people. She understands and utilizes the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of each individual she controls.’

My vision was blurry. Not only did the one Aslaksha appear as two, but now my field of vision had turned completely reddish, perhaps because blood was flowing into my eyes.

‘Yes, it feels like… she’s controlling chess pieces.’

“Are you tired already?”

‘Since when has she been doing this…? Is it simply that her ability is exceptional, or has she been laying groundwork to infiltrate the West Continent since long ago…?’

As soon as my thoughts extended a little, my head immediately became dizzy.

‘…Damn it.’

Even trying to maintain a train of thought for a short while causes my vision to quickly fade.

Clutching my stomach, which was starting to throb painfully and scream again, I inhaled roughly.

“Heu, heuk…”

“To be honest, I’m in quite a hurry too.”

Toward me, gasping for breath and forcibly maintaining consciousness, Aslaksha muttered with an irritated voice.

“So, I’ll wrap this up quickly. Originally, I planned to capture you alive with your limbs intact… but that seems difficult now.”

“—GRAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

The Butcher Barry roared with bloodshot eyes.

“By all means… don’t die on your own, stay alive.”

-Tatatatatatang!!!

The Butcher Barry flew at me as if throwing his heavy body. Simultaneously, consecutive gunshots echoed from somewhere beyond my field of vision.

Behind Barry, I could see more than a dozen bullets flying toward me, bending their trajectories in all directions.

“…Is there no choice?”

Looking at them charging toward me, I quietly muttered to myself.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Barry.”

I apologized in advance to the poor man whose mind had been taken by Aslaksha.

“But you know, I think I might really die at this rate.”

-Jijik…!

The blue glowing blade curved long.

-Tak.

I kicked the ground lightly with my bent leg.

My target was a vital point.

Because the opponent was being controlled by Aslaksha regardless of his own will, I had consciously held back.

Until now.

Under the expectation that someone who noticed the unusual situation might coincidentally extend a helping hand, I had endured while maintaining a state of opposition as much as possible.

But now it’s impossible. I don’t even have the energy to hold back anymore.

-Seogok.

The sword that wedged into the solar plexus area deeply cut through Barry’s left shoulder.

After the blue blade passed, blood spurted up like a fountain a beat later.

Aslaksha opened her eyes wide in surprise, and at the same time, I squeezed out all my remaining strength to swing the sword in my left arm.

In midair, I cut down seven bullets. Four bullets escaped, which I couldn’t strike down.

Three of them tore through my skin and embedded themselves, and one grazed my skin before hitting bare ground.

Barry, whose arm had been cut, collapsed with a heavy sound.

“…Kheuk.”

With three bullets lodged in me, I staggered and stepped onto the ground as if falling forward.

It’s incredibly painful. Even when I was hit by a boulder shot from a catapult, it didn’t hurt this much.

“…I’m surprised.”

Aslaksha said.

“To think you still had strength left.”

“…”

“Or were you holding back until now?”

Aslaksha muttered, tilting her stiff head.

“Holding back? There’s a limit to arrogance. To show such composure in front of an opponent who could threaten your life?”

Tilting her head, Aslaksha soon smiled distortedly as if understanding.

“Ah, I see. You didn’t want to kill someone being controlled against their will, is that it?”

With a broad smile across her face, Aslaksha mocked.

“What a great saint you are. Despite eagerly killing our Demon King’s Army during the First West Continent Conquest.”

“That’s bullshit! Your kind invaded fir— kakhak.”

Spewing up blood that gurgled from the back of my throat again, I knelt down.

“But look at yourself, Evangeline. Isn’t it pathetic? Bestowing unnecessary mercy, you’ve ultimately brought about your own death.”

“…I’m different from your kind.”

To her mocking voice, I replied while roughly wiping my mouth.

Aslaksha silently rose from her place.

She, who had taken over the Emperor’s aged body, slowly raised her hand.

Once a mighty knight who roamed the battlefield freely, now a middle-aged man who had retired from the front lines.

Such a presence was flowing from the Emperor that it didn’t feel like such a body.

No, rather than presence, it was more like… an eerie killing intent.

Above Aslaksha’s fingertips, which she had gently raised, pitch-black mana gathered and took form.

And eventually, it transformed into a long, thick spear.

“As I said at the beginning, let me say it once more unnecessarily.”

Looking down at me, she revealed her truly despicable character without filtering and said.

“You won’t be able to leave this place alive.”

“…I won’t die.”

I muttered, forcibly raising my trembling body that had already reached its limit long ago.

“No, you will die.”

In response to my muttering, Aslaksha shook her head as if making a declaration.

She flicked her hand with a jerk.

-Kwaaang!!!!

The spear, flying at a speed reminiscent of a bird of prey, collided with my left arm as it came flying to pierce it.

Like a spear wielded by a warrior who had spent a lifetime brandishing only spears, the black spear drew a beautiful arc in the air as if dancing.

However, since each strike was a fierce consecutive attack that could lead directly to a fatal wound, I, with my strength completely drained, could do nothing but defend.

“Keukheub…!”

To make matters worse, it was difficult to even maintain balance due to my worst physical condition, messed up inside and out.

-Kwaduk!!

After how many exchanges? When my left arm collided with the black spear, a terrible sound came from my left arm, and my shoulder drooped down with a slack.

Calling back the spear that had stopped abruptly in midair, Aslaksha said quietly.

“Your pathetic mercy has become your downfall, Evangeline.”

“…Shut up.”

I muttered through gritted teeth.

“Mercy, compassion… there’s no way your kind would understand such things. You lunatics who just invade out of nowhere and kill people as much as you can.”

“Hmm, that perspective is problematic.”

At my words, Aslaksha shook her head.

“We also have clear objectives. We’re not just a group of murderers who invaded because we wanted to kill someone.”

“Bullshit has its limits.”

At his nonsensical words, I let out a derisive laugh.

“If such a thing really existed, why didn’t you attempt dialogue first?”

“…I have nothing more to say to you here.”

Aslaksha arbitrarily cut off the conversation and raised her hand high.

The black spear floating above her hand was trembling as if poised to pierce my heart, like a blade hung high above a guillotine.

“Die.”

-Pang!!!

Cutting through the wind, the black spear struck down like lightning.

-Kaaang!!!!

But the sound that followed was not the terrible sound of a sharp spear tearing flesh and crushing bone.

Rather, it was the clear yet rough metallic sound of blade meeting blade.

I raised my head.

A snow-white sword was blocking the black spear.

It was a pure white scene as if the sword itself was emitting light, almost blinding to look at.

In front of it, the man holding the sword said quietly.

“I will not allow you to have your way any further, puppet of the Demon King’s Army.”

“So it is you, Jean Saturnus…!”