Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 272
Chapter Title: Master and Disciple (2)
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Usually, fights are utterly chaotic while they're raging, but once they end, they tend to feel emptily straightforward.
The enemy knight kneeling with his upper body thrown backward. The Red Branch sprawled on the floor.
Siu, who had been cradled in her arms, finally managed to pull himself upright, supported by Eloa.
The rainwater tunnel, abnormally expanded before, had returned to its original size sometime during the fight.
Probably because the magic sustaining it vanished with the death of its owner.
A massive crack still ran across the ceiling, allowing them to make out their surroundings without casting any additional spells.
"Haa... ugh..."
With the battle over, the adrenaline that had numbed his pain receptors drained away.
The hand that had gripped the Red Branch throbbed.
It felt subtly numb...
Yet strangely, there wasn't a single wound. A peculiar situation.
But what weighed on him even more was the aftershock of the distortions that had battered his entire body while piercing through the armor with the Red Branch.
He'd saved his life, but his stamina was down to just enough to walk or jog lightly. His brain burned hot from repeated amplifications and shadow control.
Naturally, his left eye, through which high-pressure mana had surged, ached with a haze.
Eloa supported the staggering Siu as she asked,
"Are you alright?"
"My body's always a wreck after a fight."
"Lean on me more."
"No, Master, you're exhausted too."
"I'm fine. I've been through this plenty of times. But this is your first, isn't it?"
"Then... I'll accept your help. Thank you."
Siu entrusted his body to Eloa while replaying the intense battle in his mind.
Shaping shadows like ribbons for deception.
Thoroughly feigning weakness to lower their guard. All good tactics, but ultimately beside the point.
The moment etched deepest in Siu's memory was hurling himself into the center of the barrier sprouting densely from the Red Branch.
Charging into death's maw, staking it all on Periwinkle's four-leaf clover for a mutual kill.
What if the barrier hadn't weakened from the mana explosion? A chill ran down his spine at the thought.
Perhaps because he'd always faced powerful foes.
He prided himself on his efforts to grow stronger, yet victories always came down to improvised gambles on the razor's edge.
Even though he preferred a stable, comfortable life.
Siu pulled out the precious light-green four-leaf clover he'd kept close.
The item that let him throw that all-or-nothing gamble without much hesitation.
Despite its broken stem, it had brimmed with fresh vitality like newly picked—now it crumbled to dust at his fingertips, withered and twisted.
It had likely fulfilled its duty in that duel.
The pink clover was a bit wilted but intact...
So what the hell was this one for?
"......"
Eloa watched Siu lost in sentiment, unsure whether to praise or scold him.
As a comrade, she wanted to applaud the brilliant strike that felled the enemy knight by exploiting his weakness. But as his master, she felt the need to reprimand him for recklessly throwing away his life.
But now wasn't the time for such trivial dilemmas.
With the Red Knight and White Knight defeated, their remaining foe was the Cowardly Witch.
They had to advance and take her down as she set up her altar in the cavern.
Or rather, they wanted to.
"What do we do now?"
"...Indeed."
She wanted to offer a sharp solution here.
To deliver a forward plan with dignified poise befitting a master, for the disciple who'd just seized a brilliant victory.
But reality wasn't so kind.
Both Eloa and Siu were battered wrecks.
All they could manage was staggering along, propping each other up.
"I'll say it first. I hate to admit it, but I can't continue fighting."
Her mana depleted, the contract still exacting its toll.
She stood firm through sheer mental fortitude, but Eloa's condition might be worse than Siu's.
Her muscles had performed beyond the ethereal body's limits, now melting like wax.
Her bones were probably riddled with hairline fractures.
She needed at least a week of solid rest.
If she had even a scrap of mana, she might force her body to move—but as mentioned, she'd exhausted it all in battle.
"How strong do you think the Cowardly Witch is?"
"...As a seasoned Public Enemy with battle experience, she's no easy mark. And we don't even know her forces."
The four-leaf clover that saved their lives was spent.
Even if Siu could amplify mana repeatedly, it didn't mean infinite spellcasting.
The mana circuits threading his body had clear fatigue limits, as did the brain handling the computations.
Right now, all he could muster were a couple limp ribbon strands flopping weakly.
He couldn't even form gauntlets, let alone armor—his half-torn clothes hung exposed.
"Then we're in trouble..."
"Chin up. Things don't always go to plan. I'm just glad you're safe. Even drained, didn't you finish off the Red Knight?"
She said it, but Eloa wasn't at ease either.
With the White and Red Knights wiped out, Della's warned catastrophe—the massacre in Seoul—could be considered averted.
Sochtil would need time in hiding to prepare another assault like this.
But Public Enemies were beasts that had tasted blood.
They no longer cared for means or methods.
And a Cowardly Witch who'd tasted failure would surely prepare more thoroughly next time, unleashing an even greater disaster.
"Should we retreat, then?"
"Regrettably, yes."
Siu looked up at the massive crack reaching the surface.
Climbing out that way would let them return without hunting for vertical vents.
He'd probably have to carry Eloa... but that should be doable?
Then.
"Whoa!"
At the most untimely moment, he slipped on a loose stone underfoot.
Eloa, hooked under one arm supporting him, tried to steady him and tumbled down with him.
Her strength gone to the point she couldn't hold even one person— the result left both flustered.
"......"
"......"
Eloa sprawled on the rough floor.
Siu covering her like a blanket on top.
A clichéd scene straight out of romance novels or any drama with a hint of melodrama.
The kind where leads end up face-to-face for some contrived reason.
"Heh..."
The dank rainwater tunnel did nothing to cool the beads of sweat dotting Eloa's skin.
Her meaningless windbreaker nearly shredded, sports bra beneath, and the slender nape, collarbone, cleavage it couldn't cover—all glistened with dewdrop sweat.
Eloa's eyes, deep crimson, stared up at Siu wide as a startled rabbit.
Her long lashes, like softly piled cherry blossoms, fluttered.
So close their breaths mingled.
If this were a bed instead of a drainage tunnel, it would've naturally led to a kiss.
Yet Siu and Eloa lay rigid, staring at each other.
Even through countless spars, they'd never been this still and close, just gazing.
She really was beautiful.
Her mystical eyes and hair mesmerized him, numbing his mind—no thought of pulling away even crossed it.
"S-sorry."
"N-no, it's fine."
Finally, they startled apart after an age.
Eloa, who'd held her breath the whole time lying down, panted softly as she struggled up.
"Uh...?"
In that instant, lightning struck Eloa's mind.
A suppressed, embarrassing memory unfolded in panorama.
The slip had flipped a switch, no doubt.
The position—Siu looming over her—overlapped with a watched scene.
The 'Guardian's Contract' vision: Siu pouncing on Periwinkle.
One path her mindset and prejudices hadn't even considered as possible surged up with the mortifying recall.
"At this height, we could ride ribbons up. Better take the Red Branch too? Wrapping it in ribbons might work..."
Siu rubbed his nose to hide his embarrassment and offered Eloa a hand.
Meaning to get out of here.
But if they fled now?
The Cowardly Witch would likely go into hiding.
And someday, inevitably, many would die.
"Siu, before that, one thing I want to ask."
"Yes, Master."
That title 'Master' from Siu, always evoking fond nostalgia and comfort.
Why did it now squeeze her heart so tightly?
"Have you ever lied to me?"
"Never."
Siu answered without hesitation.
Her eyes wavered at the sight.
In this situation, forced to retreat without planting the final flag—a lifeline.
The clue linked to observing his intercourse with Periwinkle.
The day she witnessed Siu and Sharon having sex.
Siu came to her, explained.
Somehow, through sex, he could amplify and return mana.
Shocked, Eloa demanded.
Putting another's mana in a Stigma was insanely dangerous.
Why such recklessness? she scolded.
Siu's reply...
She clearly remembered: the returned mana was pure, instantly assimilable by anyone, utterly untainted.
"Siu."
"Yes."
Eloa weighed her ethics against the grim future ahead.
A master and disciple mingling bodies? Unthinkable.
No—even seeing each other as man and woman was profane.
But was the taboo between master and disciple a golden rule worth sacrificing countless lives to uphold?
Did any moral code, religion, ethic, philosophy place it above innocent lives?
Eloa quietly closed her eyes.
"Master? You okay?"
Siu approached Eloa, standing dazed with eyes shut.
"Could you close your eyes for a moment?"
"My eyes?"
First asking if he'd lied, then silence lost in thought, now close your eyes?
Mystifying, but his trust and affection for Eloa were at their peak.
Siu closed his eyes.
"Closed."
"Now, take slow, deep breaths. Like after a spar."
"Breaths? Is something wrong with me?"
"Nothing like that. Slowly, deeply."
"Easy enough. Hoo... haa..."
Siu breathed deeply, eyes shut tight.
His body really was wrecked.
Just deep breathing made his lungs and gut throb.
"Sorry."
In that state, battered as he was, Siu couldn't react.
He never imagined Eloa would do such a thing.
-Thud!
Even eyes closed, he felt it.
Eloa rushing into his arms like leaping for an embrace.
And the thick, cloying fragrance, like heavy perfume.
"Eek!"
Siu jolted.
Eyes open: Eloa pressing her head right under his nose, heels dug in.
Too late to push her away— she clung tight, gripping his arms.
His heartbeat doubled in an instant.
Lust blazing like wildfire, an impulse beyond human endurance surged in his chest.
He'd inhaled too deeply, too close.
Practically nose in her hair, and she was drenched in sweat.
"Sorry, but I believe this is the best way right now... I'll take responsibility for today until my dying breath..."
Siu desperately fought the impulse.
Eloa, wearing deep regret, parted her dainty lips.
"Recharge my mana now."