Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Episode 93
Tenebris were still battling with Sting Twilight.
“Quite impressive. That is swordsmanship honed over a long period of time.”
“I wonder about that…”
Unlike a monster like Gigantes that used its physical abilities, Sting was the pinnacle of a knight who had poured countless years into honing his swordsmanship.
There was no way Discreet could beat him with a simple difference in skill.
In the first place, Sting looked down on Discreet as being a level below him. There was that much of a gap between them.
“If you die, I will place you in my knight order.”
“I intend to serve only one master for my entire life and afterlife.”
“In that case, I will rip you to shreds so that you can never stand before me again.”
“I like that idea.”
Discreet wiped away the fresh blood running down his cheek and raised his sword.
So far, he had not landed a single effective blow. On the other hand, Sting had been toying with Discreet as if to test him.
“Let us begin.”
“Hmm…”
Sting, who understood Discreet's words as a signal to start the duel again, raised his sword and charged at Discreet.
And at that moment.
“Agent ‘Owl,’ please prioritize the opponent’s joints.”
“Hmm?”
A sniper shot flew toward Sting’s ankle. As if it had predicted the rapidly moving Sting's movements, the precisely aimed bullet forced Sting to change his path.
“Agent ‘Cat,’ please harass the opponent from mid-range.”
As soon as Discreet’s words fell, a hail of bullets began to pour down on Sting.
It was not a precisely aimed attack like the one before. However, the trajectory of each one was too bothersome to ignore.
“I see. You were not a knight, but a commander.”
“Your judgment is remarkable.”
Discreet swung his sword at Sting, who had broken through the gunfire and approached him.
“Agent ‘Rat,’ the opponent’s ankle.”
“As if I’d let you!”
The one who reacted first to Discreet's words was not the agent called ‘Rat,’ but Sting.
In the midst of his confrontation with Discreet, he instantly moved his ankle to dodge a chain that had appeared, aiming for it.
“Did you think such a simple surprise attack would work again and again?”
“Agent ‘Night Rat,’ the opponent’s ankle.”
“I told you…?!
Sting, who was about to dodge again, staggered for a moment.
What?
He had been hit in the head. The damage wasn't severe because of his helmet, but his movements were greatly hindered by the chain that had wrapped around his head.
“It works.”
“Hmph…!”
Sting barely managed to parry Discreet’s sword as it thrust toward him while his posture was severely compromised, and he once again widened the distance.
It was the first time he had been the one to back away.
“Agent ‘Night Cat,’ harass him.”
At Discreet’s words, Sting prepared for the attack that would follow.
There was a high probability that, just like before, the action would be different from the words.
Rat and Night Rat, Cat and Night Cat.
The way they acted on the command would surely differ based on that designation.
However, contrary to his expectations.
“Hmm?!”
The bullets from ‘Night Cat’ flew in with the same trajectory as the command given to the agent ‘Cat’ at the beginning.
“Indeed… A structured encryption system wouldn’t be so simple, would it?”
As if amused, Sting dodged the bullets flying toward him and approached Discreet.
In the first place, he shouldn't have been taking the opponent's words at face value.
The only thing he should have trusted was the experience he had accumulated until now.
“Hmm…”
Realizing that the trajectories of the bullets flying toward him were taking a unified shape and trying to bind him, Sting immediately swung his sword.
“Fighting an army is not a very good idea… But backing down in this situation would also paint a poor picture.”
Sting gripped his sword with both hands and exuded his fighting spirit.
Kill the commander before me.
No matter what interference comes in the process, do not retreat.
“Agent Day Owl…”
“As if I’d let you!”
Sting approached Discreet at a speed incomparable to before and swung his sword.
In the midst of being battered by a one-sided offensive that left no time to give commands to the other agents, Discreet realized his position was being guided.
“Agent Cat, immediately…”
“So it’s there?”
Slice!
The place Sting had driven Discreet to was where one of the agents who had been bothering him from the start was located.
Watching Discreet’s reaction, Sting immediately fired a blade of energy toward the presumed location of the agent called ‘Cat.’
No feel of impact? But I’m certain…!
He had felt a presence.
He had sensed Discreet's panic.
He had definitely been there.
“It’s a little early, but…”
Seeing Sting’s momentary bewilderment, Discreet immediately swung his sword. The systematic swordsmanship he had shown until now was not there.
“Let’s end this.”
It was a sword infused with the will to inflict a fatal wound on his opponent, even if it meant burning his own life away.
“As if I’d let you!”
Sting immediately reacted to Discreet’s sword and swung his own toward Discreet’s body, which had disregarded defense.
Still no feel of impact? Don’t tell me?!
Sting’s eyes widened.
His sword was definitely cutting through Discreet.
But where the sword wound should have been, only a black, shadow-like smoke wavered.
A form like a mirage.
So that’s what it was!
[Schrödinger’s Cat]
Discreet's physical form vanished.
“But…!”
Clang!
This time, it was Discreet, who had swung his sword, whose eyes widened.
It was definitely a golden opportunity.
It was a technique that had completely caught the opponent off guard. But it had been blocked.
“The very means you would use to attack me could not disappear, could it?”
Sting had immediately bent his arm in the opposite direction to block Discreet’s sword.
It was a movement beyond the realm of human capability, possible only because he was one of the dead.
“…Damn undead.”
“That emotionless expression of yours has finally wavered!”
Sting rejoiced as if he had finally won after a battle of mutual deception, and swung his sword.
No, he tried to swing it.
“What…?”
But Sting’s arm was caught by something unseen and would not move.
No, it wasn't unseen.
Something like a tail, colored similarly to the environment, was wrapped around his wrist.
“Carmela, just returned.”
“Well done.”
Slice!
Discreet immediately swung his sword.
This time, even Sting could not respond. The very, very end.
What decorated that end was not an agent following Discreet's command, but Carmela, who had suddenly joined the battle.
“Ha…”
Sting, who had been deeply cut by Discreet’s sword, staggered back and then slowly sank to his knees.
His gaze was not on Discreet or Camela, but toward the Papal States.
“…It seems neither you nor I were the one who induced the carelessness.”
Only then did Discreet look at where Sting was staring.
The Papal States. A blue light was pouring out from there.
What had drawn out Sting’s carelessness was not Discreet’s intangible form, nor Camela’s surprise attack, but the lantern of dawn that had captured his gaze in an instant.
“I found it…”
“Found it? What?”
Discreet asked, looking at Sting, who did not erase the smile from his lips even as he was dying.
“Heheheh… I found it.”
“What on earth…”
But Sting did not answer. He was simply facing his second death while gazing at the light.
“…”
Thus, the twilight known as Sting Twilight faded.
Discreet was curious about the words he left behind, but because an important task still remained, he spoke to Carmela, who had just joined them.
“Agent Carmela. The fact that you are here means…”
“Yes, the Hero has arrived.”
“Then where is she now?”
“She ran straight to the battlefield where a girl with silver-blue hair, who seemed to be in a strange state, was fighting.”
“…This is maddening.”
Discreet felt a headache coming on.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Arietta was submerged in darkness. She had sacrificed too much.
‘I’m scared.’
She could not see.
The reason she was able to smile brightly despite that was because, even though she was blind, she could still feel the world.
It was because she knew that the traces of god were always protecting her.
But now, it was different.
She had laid down all the blessings she received from god, even if just for a moment.
Because of that, she was submerged in true darkness and had no choice but to feel the world by relying on the sounds she could hear.
‘I’m scared.’
A world where nothing could be seen, nothing could be felt, was so, so scary.
And more than anything else.
They were right in front of her.
Right nearby.
‘I’m scared…’
There was nothing she could do.
It was impossible for her to even watch the noble sight of them fighting, shedding their blood for her.
Boom! Boom!
She was afraid that she was the only one who didn't know what was happening from the great roars she heard in the distance.
-Kuh…! Huk…!
She was afraid, not knowing what had happened to Olivia, whom she had sent away because of her own stubbornness.
She was screaming like that over there, yet she was even muffling her voice, perhaps in case Arietta heard.
She couldn't even guess the exact direction.
“Saintess.”
“It's alright. I have faith.”
Arietta forced a smile toward the [Shield of Light] who was looking at her with concern.
“Yes…”
The [Shield of Light] knew that Arietta’s complexion had grown noticeably pale, but he could only answer like that.
She was enduring.
Even though she was trembling with more anxiety than anyone, she was enduring because of her mission to be a source of hope for the people.
The [Shields of Light] ground their teeth at that pitiful sight and faced forward.
The shields protecting Arietta became more solid.
The spears thrusting toward the enemy became sharper.
“Raise your voices!!”
They let out a war cry.
They let out a mighty cry, hoping that the sounds of fear flowing across the battlefield would be even slightly reduced for her ears.
Inwardly, they must have been anxious too.
Even if they didn't want to see it, they could see one of the [Shields of Light] being shattered by the monster called Gigantes.
They were afraid of the vast, distant gap with Pied, a gap that had no end in sight no matter how much they pushed through.
And at that moment.
“My word, this is…!”
“Don’t stop! Seize this chance and finish the opponent for certain!”
The atmosphere around them changed in an instant, to a degree that even Arietta could feel it.
The voices of those who had been shouting to hide their desperation and fear were now filled with hope, as if they had seized victory.
The [Shields of Light], in contrast to the crumbling dead, forgot their fatigue and steadily closed the distance to Pied.
“I have found you…”
Pied paid no mind to the [Shields of Light] and was staring at the pouring blue light.
“It seems our contract ends here, Lord Thanatos.”
“Die, heretic.”
Stab!
The swords and spears of the [Shields of Light], who had pushed back the wave of the dead, began to pierce the body of the motionless Pied, one by one.
Pied, a demi-lich, did not scream even as he coughed up a handful of blood. He did not even let out a cry as he accepted those swords and spears.
“Huh?”
And in the meantime, Arietta could feel something tapping on her closed eyelids.
A blue light reaching her retinas, something she had not felt in several years.
The light of hope that she should not have been able to see.
“Ah…”
Arietta cautiously lifted her eyelids, which she hadn't had reason to open recently.
“Aah…”
She could see.
The things she could not see.
Her eyes, which could no longer hold light, now held light.
“Aaaah…!”
The world reflected in her eyes could be described as horrific.
Yes, it must have been horrific.
It could be described as a situation so wretched that the eyes that were taking in the world for the first time in a long while would have been stained with despair.
The surroundings were overflowing with the dead.
The beautiful gardens of the Papal States were trampled by muddy feet.
The knights protecting her were clearly exhausted.
And her closest friend was so stained with blood that even her blue hair was no longer visible.
Still, even so.
The rubble of the broken buildings had not lost its color and was beautifully white.
Her knights, holding their swords and shields, looked magnificent.
And her closest friend, though drenched in blood, felt gallant.
The world in her eyes was horrific, unlike before, but it had value.
Because all that horror held a glimmer of hope.
“The one I only dreamed of…”
But Arietta could not look at such a world for long.
“The prince’s appearance…”
Now, only one person's figure could be seen in her eyes.
Because the black-haired man, cloaked in blue light, looked so very much like the one she had dreamt of.
Because he was the very image of the fairytale prince who had come to save her.
Arietta could not take her eyes off him.
“Even though it’s a miracle…”
Her eyes, which had begun to see what they could not, were surely a temporary phenomenon, like a miracle.
“I’m sorry.”
Even though she should have been taking in as much as she could at this moment.
“It seems I've gone blind again.”
The Papal States’ buildings, the knights, her friend, the dead, the light and the night.
“I can’t see them.”
They were not visible in her mint-colored eyes. Even though she was looking at everything, she could only see one person.
“I shouldn’t be like this…”
The distance she had thought was far had closed tremendously without her realizing it.
She knew now. Oz's promise that he would come for her was surely.
Faster than anyone else.
Ahead of anyone else.
With a more serious expression than anyone else.
“Now I can’t see anything but you, Oz…”
He had been approaching her with the speed of light.