Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Micaen's Truth
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6
Sparks flew every time sword clashed against sword.
The clash between Kyriakos, who wielded his entire body as a weapon, and Micaen was a fierce battle where not even an inch ahead could be predicted.
Not only did their swords precisely target vital points, but they didn't hesitate to use legs or fists as well.
Mixed with martial arts, joint locks were thrown in as they tumbled over each other, yet they never allowed any distance between them.
In close quarters, their lives hung in the balance every single second.
Even amid this unimaginable fierce battle, Kyriakos shouted.
"Why the hell did you become a hunting dog for trash like Wifera! Micaen!"
Micaen didn't respond.
She simply parried the sword swung by Kyriakos with a reverse grip on her knife.
As Kyriakos's attack missed and his guard opened, Micaen shoved his shoulder to disrupt his balance and thrust her knife forward.
Kyriakos hastily twisted his head away from the strike aimed precisely at his eyeball.
Along with his purple hair being sliced off, a thin cut appeared on his cheek.
This situation probably hadn't appeared in the original story.
Originally, Kyriakos joined Leon at Wifera's main base, not in this labyrinth's lab.
If Micaen was in charge of guarding this lab and Shaunri, she never would have crossed paths with the original Kyriakos.
That's why I had no idea that Micaen had been raised as a hunting dog for the Balato Family alongside Kyriakos.
However, even if I didn't know...
This situation, where Kyriakos fought for his life against his old friend with eyes like he was about to burst into tears at any moment—it was undoubtedly something I had created.
Because of that, I couldn't move even a single step.
I could easily take down Micaen with the demon sword's power, but I had no right to do so.
"Wifera is the mastermind who drove our family to death! You know that too!"
"I know."
"Then why are you here!!"
Kyriakos swung his sword down with great force.
The large motion made it easy to block or dodge.
Instead, Micaen slipped her knife into the sword's trajectory and closed the distance.
She intended a counterattack.
But in that instant, her speed slowed.
Kyriakos must have used a debuff.
His main specialty was applying various debuffs to the opponent in irregular ways to control the flow of battle.
The moment he slowed Micaen's speed, Kyriakos withdrew his sword.
Instead, he kicked his knee upward.
A knee strike at point-blank range—lethal if it connected.
Normally, an unavoidable attack.
With a debuff on her physical abilities themselves, it would take time to adapt.
But Micaen immediately lowered her stance and swept Kyriakos's leg.
A sweeping kick that scraped the ground.
Kyriakos, standing on one leg for the knee strike, toppled helplessly.
Targeting the fallen Kyriakos's head, Micaen raised her leg high from her prone position and stomped down.
"Urk!"
Kyriakos urgently rolled across the floor to evade.
The moment he tried to stand again, Micaen, already up, blocked his path.
Standing up would be too late.
Judging so, Kyriakos tried to swing his sword while kneeling on one knee.
But even that was read; Micaen stepped on the flat of his blade to block it, then backflipped away while smashing her heel into Kyriakos's jaw.
Crack!
The kick landed solidly, producing a sharp sound.
Kyriakos's head snapped back, but staggering, he rose and gripped his sword.
However, the tip of his sword trembled faintly.
"Why... why? With this level of skill, you could get revenge on Wifera too...!"
"I've already gotten my revenge."
Haah. Micaen let out a sigh, her breath not even ragged from the intense fight, and closed the distance again.
"Betraying the Balato Family was my revenge."
"Urgh, what do you...!"
The shock transmitted from his jaw to his brain, plus the mental shock.
Unable to withstand the double blow, Kyriakos gradually fell back.
He couldn't properly block joint locks, feints, or even the knife; scratches adorned his skin.
"I leaked the Balato Family's information to Wifera. I helped them take out the leadership, and afterward, I stirred up internal strife to make them self-destruct. I'll say it again. I betrayed the Balato Family. Satisfied now?"
Kyriakos couldn't retort.
Taking advantage of the opening, Micaen kicked his stomach, forcibly creating distance.
This time, unable to block, Kyriakos was pushed back, his shoe soles scraping the floor.
"You believe in Balato."
"...I do. They took in someone like me who had nowhere to go."
"It's enviable that you can think that way."
Micaen fiddled with her own knife.
The black-painted knife remained dull even after drinking blood.
"Once, I believed in Balato too. They took me in after I lost my family and had nowhere to go. But later I found out it was the opposite. Balato was the one who killed my parents. And it wasn't just me. Most of those raised as the organization's hunting dogs were victims of Balato's staged tragedies."
"What...?"
"They kill your parents, kill your friends, forcibly strip away your home, then bestow 'mercy.' The children they take in that way see Balato as their benefactors and don't spare their lives. The perfect hunting dogs—mad dogs perfected."
That's why she betrayed them.
Micaen calmly confessed the truth no one else knew.
It was a story even I was hearing for the first time.
I know well the shock of betrayal from someone close.
But imagining the shock Kyriakos, who had lived his whole life for revenge, would feel was impossible.
"No way, that's not... The boss, Balato, my... "
"Believing is your choice. But I had only one family. Forgiving Balato, who killed that family, is impossible. If you still insist on revenge despite that, I'll just kill you."
"Lies. This is all... lies...!"
Clang...
The sword slipped from Kyriakos's hand and rolled across the floor.
He clutched his head with both hands and groaned.
The tide had completely turned.
Judging so, Micaen sheathed her sword.
Even faced with the defenseless woman, Kyriakos couldn't move a muscle.
It didn't seem like Micaen would attack right away.
But I couldn't watch any longer.
Now, whether retreating or earning Kyriakos's hatred, I had no choice but to step in.
The moment I steeled myself and took a step forward.
"Ah~ I get that you're yapping about something. But it has nothing to do with me, right?"
With a voice that completely shattered the atmosphere, sinister and low, Shaunri jabbed a syringe into Micaen's nape.
"Guhk!?"
The bright blue drug in the cylinder infiltrated Micaen's veins.
Pulling out the now-empty syringe, Shaunri stepped back slightly and grinned creepily.
"Hehe, hehehe... This is the newly refined awakening agent! Made by selecting only the highest purity from Wifera's prized latest narcotic, Blooming—its effects are top-notch!"
Whether his words were true, Micaen clutched her neck and convulsed.
Each time, her veins and muscles bulged prominently.
"Ah~ But since it's chimera-grade, a weak human body won't last long before it goes berserk and dies—but who cares? If you die, I'll just make a new one from those guys' corpses. Now, go on, kill all of them!"
Thud. The sound of flesh being crushed cut Shaunri's words short.
Micaen, having thrown her knife into his forehead, curled up in place.
"Micaen!!"
Without even picking up his sword, Kyriakos ran toward Micaen.
But before he could get close, Micaen raised a hand to stop him.
"Don't... come... Urk...!"
"Wait! I'll find an antidote, so hold on no matter what!"
"Too... late... already. I know... this drug... better than you... "
Cough. Micaen coughed up bright red blood that soaked the floor.
Her bulging blood vessels looked ready to burst any second, and her eyes were bloodshot.
She seemed to be forcibly suppressing her rampaging mind by pressing her trembling right hand over the left that gripped the knife.
"Kyriakos, you've... gotten strong. Definitely stronger... So don't cling to revenge... live freely... No matter how much... they call you a mad dog... you'll at least... take a friend's advice... right...?"
"Aaah...! Pull yourself together, Micaen! If you leave me like this too, I'll...!"
The response wasn't human.
With a roar like a beast that had lost its reason, akin to a chimera, Micaen kicked off the ground.
Abandoning human movement, she thrust her knife toward Kyriakos.
I deflected the attack with the demon sword.
The heavy impact transmitted to my arm was incomparably fiercer than when she had clashed with him.
-Are you sure about this?
As I greatly deflected the knife and pointed the sword tip at Micaen's heart, Deathwise asked.
I nodded calmly to the voice that had shed its usual levity and was more serious than ever.
I forcibly steadied the faintly trembling sword tip.
There was no way to help someone injected with a Blooming-based awakening agent.
Instead, letting the drug melt their muscles and organs until death would bring greater suffering.
So this was the only solution, and though I didn't want to admit it, the most humane one.
All too easily, the magic sword pierced Micaen's heart.
I didn't ignore the sensation transmitted along the blade.
I carefully laid Micaen's body on the floor.
Kyriakos knelt before it with a dazed expression.
I wanted to comfort him somehow... but I had no words I could say.
I simply placed a hand on Kyriakos's shoulder.
"...I've never once lasted more than ten exchanges against Micaen."
Staring blankly at Micaen's corpse with hollow eyes, Kyriakos arduously moved his lips.
The injuries left on his body were at most some bruises and scratches.
Meaning... Micaen had been holding back against Kyriakos all this time.
In fact, the Micaen who appeared in the main story was only slightly stronger than the current Kyriakos.
I couldn't know what mindset she fought him with.
I could only guess that while she saw Balato as her revenge target, she truly considered Kyriakos and the other hunting dogs as friends.
"...Let's move on."
Kyriakos weakly stood and picked up his sword.
His own sword, and Micaen's knife.
Tucking away the two blades, he spoke to me, who couldn't say a word.
"I'll confirm if what Micaen said is true myself. If it all is... then I..."
Unable to finish his sentence, Kyriakos started walking again.
I followed him, guiding him to the end of the labyrinth.
Because that was the only thing I could do right now.
7
Obtaining Wifera's ledger of corruption was easy.
It was kindly stored in the repository at the end of the labyrinth.
Moreover, documents recording the Balato Family's activities were stored alongside the ledger.
Micaen's words were true.
There were countless pieces of evidence and documents on the major crimes Balato had committed, including murders and arsons to raise hunting dogs.
Even the formula for Blooming, the narcotic Wifera distributed, had been created by the Balato Family.
Wifera must have annihilated the Balato Family, who had raised the white flag, just to monopolize the Blooming formula.
"So the raw material for the narcotic was Apenbru."
After reading the documents, Kyriakos murmured quietly.
Apenbru, blue pearl.
The item Kyriakos had demanded I fetch to prove my skills.
He had said his benefactor possessed it... and there could be no clearer evidence.
I hadn't expected it at all... but now I understood why Eligor himself had been guarding the Apenbru on Heart Island.
Refining it to the lowest purity could produce enough Blooming from 1g of Apenbru to addict at least a thousand people.
Combining all the Apenbru on Heart Island could produce enough Blooming to drown the kingdom in drugs for a lifetime.
"Sunbae, what will you do from now on?"
I asked cautiously, but Kyriakos didn't answer immediately.
He simply closed his eyes gently and remained silent.
Documents about the Balato Family didn't appear in the original Broken World.
Probably... Micaen had left them here intentionally.
Given how they were haphazardly tossed atop the ledger, it seemed likely she had recognized Kyriakos and hurriedly left them.
Her foresight had been spot on.
In the original, Kyriakos ultimately killed Wifera's boss and completed his revenge, but departed embracing emptiness.
I don't know what life he lived after finishing his revenge.
It was completely off-stage.
And now, I didn't know what choice Kyriakos would make.
Whether he would abandon revenge and pursue a free life as per Micaen's dying words, or continue as a revenge-mad mad dog despite knowing all this truth.
The choice was entirely Kyriakos's.
"Even if all this is true."
How much time passed.
Kyriakos murmured slowly.
"I must honor the souls of my brothers who passed without knowing the truth."
That is my revenge.
Kyriakos said so and lifted his eyelids.
His purple eyes were more inscrutable than ever.
I pretended not to see the moisture gathered at the edges of his deadened, unfocused gaze.