Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Graiver (2)
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The clash dragged on endlessly.
Yoru charged at Graiver, aura erupting from every inch of her body in a desperate bid to kill him.
Graiver commanded countless corpses, trying to overwhelm her.
Every time Yoru swung her sword, the bodies were sliced apart.
One swing cut down ten corpses, and when she poured her strength into a powerful slash, dozens were torn to shreds.
Bit by bit, she drew closer to Graiver.
Hope glimmered on the horizon. If she just pushed a little harder, she could clear this mountain of foul corpses and plunge her blade into that bastard's heart.
It was probably instinct that told her. Yoru's father wouldn't die even if his head was severed.
Sharing the same blood, she knew. Anyone with this devil's blood could only be killed by stabbing the heart.
She slashed and slashed and slashed again.
Climbing that mountain of corpses until the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth.
"Hah!"
Suddenly, her strength gave out.
She propped her buckling knees with her sword. Her hand trembled on the hilt plunged into the dirt.
All around her lay the remnants of rotting corpses, reeking of decay.
Graiver was right there, within arm's reach, but she couldn't muster even a single step.
'Why...'
She'd been certain she could reach him. It would be close, but with a bit more focus, she could take his head.
But no.
In truth, Graiver had been luring her in.
Making her believe it was possible, that just a little more effort would do it.
Ensuring she wouldn't give up. Ensuring she wouldn't run.
Trapping her in this horde of corpses.
"Heh heh..."
Graiver grinned broadly.
Confirming that Yoru's strength had finally ebbed away, he sauntered forward leisurely.
Even seeing that, Yoru could do nothing.
Exhaustion wracked her entire body.
The stench from these corpses surely carried some debilitating effect.
A subtle poison, stacking little by little.
Too late to realize it now.
"You truly fought with such tenacity, my daughter. For a woman to achieve so much... you must have poured in tremendous effort."
"Shut... up."
"How pitiful. It must have been because your very existence was denied. Mocked and reviled by others, so you honed yourself to the bone to overcome it. Isn't that right?"
"I said... shut up...!"
Yoru ground her teeth.
She wanted to kill him. Hearing such truths from that man's mouth was utterly humiliating.
Yes, it was true. Yoru had lived her whole life seeking recognition from others.
Please look me in the eye without disgust. I'm a person too.
To plead like that, she'd honed her swordsmanship. Even entered the Azure Dragon Tournament to prove her worth.
...Yes.
The reason Yoru had to struggle so desperately was all because of those damned red eyes.
And knowing those red eyes were her father's inheritance... there was no way she could forgive him...!
"Such insolence. Where do you think you're glaring?"
"Guh!"
Thwack!
A casual kick sent Yoru crumpling to the ground.
Graiver's shoe sole ground down on the side of her head, now sprawled in the dirt.
"Grr... ugh...!"
"You thought hiding those eyes under that patch would fool me? I see everything. How wretched and hideous your eyes have become. To direct such impudence at your own father."
"A bastard like you... I've never once... thought of as my father...!"
"Hmm? What was that? I can't hear you."
Crunch!
"Kah... hah...!"
Yoru, struggling to shake off his foot and rise, collapsed again.
He wasn't a martial artist, but Graiver was still a vampire.
Stomping her head was like twisting a child's wrist.
Crackle—
Yoru's hand clenched the scattered leaves on the ground with desperate force.
She gripped until they crumbled, but it was futile.
She had no strength left to overturn this humiliation, this disgrace.
She could only be trampled, wretched and powerless.
Just like her mother.
"......"
Moisture gathered at the corners of Yoru's gritted teeth.
It was so unfair.
Why did she have to suffer like this?
Why was she the only one born with these eyes?
I just wanted to live normally.
To spend peaceful days with good parents like everyone else.
Why... did I...
Have to be crushed under the heel of this man I can't even call father?
—And to Graiver, this was pure delight.
"Hah, haha!"
He twisted his lips into a sneer.
Yes. This was it. This was exactly it.
Graiver had no interest in coupling with women.
From the moment he became a vampire, he'd shed human physiology—and he'd never felt lust anyway.
So why had he violated Yoru's mother?
'Because I wanted to create someone like me.'
Someone wretched, powerless, and utterly abnormal. That's all he wanted.
Nothing more.
"Now, what shall we do? I could kill you like this, but..."
Graiver spun his shoe mockingly.
Blood welled from Yoru's pale skin, scraped raw against it.
Even shielded by the patch, her moist eyes couldn't escape Graiver's gaze.
"Perhaps you should live that wretched life a bit longer. Watching you would make for fine entertainment."
"......I'll... kill you."
"Or would you join our Crimson Blood Cult? That could be amusing too. You're just like me, after all—a discarded life no one will ever accept, a vermin existence...!"
Graiver's mad laughter cut off abruptly.
He felt it.
Someone was coming.
With overwhelming, ferocious power.
"......What is that?"
He halted his foot and stared ahead.
A white light approached from afar.
This was no trifle. Leaving it be could spell trouble.
Graiver immediately commanded his remaining corpses to block the path.
There were still plenty left. Bodies he'd gathered roaming all of Aonia.
Yoru hadn't even made a dent.
The moment Graiver felt secure—
Whoosh—
......BOOM!
A white meteor finally crashed down, unleashing a ferocious blast of wind.
"Tch!"
Graiver shielded his eyes with his arm. The gale was too fierce to stand against.
And then came the crackling sound of something burning.
The stench of rotting meat being grilled belatedly.
"This mad..."
When Graiver opened his eyes again—
The corpses he'd arrayed before him were all engulfed in white flames, dissolving into nothing.
"Who are you?"
He tensed.
That golden-haired figure ahead was different.
No mere swordsman could produce such a phenomenon with aura alone.
And those blue eyes.
Eyes that didn't even regard him as human—
'No, could it be.'
He remembered.
Blond hair, blue eyes. Empire noble who wielded a sword.
"Kline Leonhart."
"You know my name, I see."
The calm reply flowed out evenly.
Devoid of emotion.
But Graiver sensed it instinctively.
He was furious.
Kline Leonhart was seething with rage from head to toe, cooled into icy precision.
"......"
Kline's blue eyes shifted downward.
There lay Yoru, crushed beneath Graiver's shoe.
The moment he felt her hidden gaze turn toward him—
Yoru thrashed, trying to turn her head away.
"Kline Leonhart. I know of you. The boy our cult—no, our Lord seeks."
"I see. So it was the Crimson Blood Cult after all. And that pressure... You're a Great Leader?"
"You've met Bloodied, I see—you recognized it right away. Yes, I am Graiver, the Crimson Blood Cult's final Great Leader."
Graiver extended his hand as he spoke.
From a great distance away.
Kline simply stared, not taking it.
"We want you, Kline."
"......"
"Our Lord desires you. Come quietly, and you won't regret it."
"One thing I'm curious about. You're the final Great Leader? What about the others?"
"There are none. Our Lord said the time hasn't come yet, so he hasn't appointed any. No executives either. The Crimson Blood Cult hasn't revealed itself to the world."
"I see. Thanks for the detailed explanation. Wondering why you're telling me all this."
"Isn't it obvious? You know it too. How mighty the Crimson Blood Cult will become. And right here, right now—you have no way to defeat me."
"......"
Kline made no retort.
He mulled over Graiver's words, vaguely foreseeing what lay ahead.
Then, as if cutting to the chase, he looked at Yoru.
"One more thing I'm curious about. Why are you stomping on Yoru like that?"
"What?"
"Why is Yoru—the one I made a promise with—here? Being trampled by you. Why is she fighting the Crimson Blood Cult?"
Unrestrained fury dripped from his words.
Graiver grasped it instantly.
'Kline is close to Yoru.'
Whether affection or love, he didn't know.
But Kline was undoubtedly someone who could shake Yoru's heart.
'That's enough.'
Graiver immediately lifted his foot.
"Oh dear, my apologies. I had no idea you'd befriend my daughter. How rude of me."
"Your daughter."
"Yes. Kurotsuki Yoru is my daughter. One who inherited my blood thick and strong."
"Ah... no...!"
Yoru screamed, having overheard their exchange and foreseeing what came next.
As she tried to scramble away from Graiver, he seized the back of her head.
Then gripped her jaw and hoisted her up, facing Kline.
"Kline. Do you know?"
"Know what."
"What this foolish wench is hiding. How this girl, who played all cute and innocent in front of you like some normal girl, is actually a grotesque, pathetic monster."
"N-no. Don't. No."
Yoru whipped her head side to side.
As if Kline scared her more than the Graiver holding her now.
She twisted away, desperate to avoid meeting his gaze head-on.
But it was no use.
Graiver wouldn't let go.
"Oh, stay still, daughter. Let your father help you be more honest with your friend."
"No, no...!"
"Look, Kline. This is the truth of the girl you called a friend!"
Riiip—
Graiver brutally tore off Yoru's eyepatch.
In that instant, Yoru felt the world bleach white.
No.
Don't look, please.
The world without the patch felt too open, too free.
Her long-imprisoned pupils strained toward the front.
She suppressed it desperately.
She lacked the courage to face it. To see how Kline's blue eyes would regard her.
These red eyes.
These devil's eyes. She couldn't bear his reaction.
Yoru squeezed her eyes shut.
"Please don't look... please..."
The world beneath her lids was dark.
But Yoru, peerless in visual prowess, could still see.
Kline's face.
That face looked—
"That's it?"
Utterly unfazed.
No, almost incredulous.
Genuinely wondering what the problem was, staring at them both.
"......What?"
Graiver let out a stunned groan.
Yoru was speechless too, sharing the sentiment.
'Why?'
It defied common sense.
Red eyes. The color humans called devilish and loathed.
Even if friendship kept him from showing it, instinctual revulsion would leak through.
And yet.
"That's it?"
Kline Leonhart.
Tsked his tongue as if it were truly nothing.
"W-what are you saying?"
Graiver stammered, more flustered than ever.
He couldn't comprehend.
This wasn't the reaction he'd anticipated.
"Red eyes. Don't you know? It's no lie. This wench is a devil's spawn. Not a normal human."
Surely now, he'd deny his bond with Yoru entirely—
"So?"
Kline dismissed it in one word.
He gripped his sword.
A globe of light materialized in his other hand.
Crackle—
The light magic that had incinerated the corpses moments ago.
"Red eyes, devil's spawn—who cares."
Graiver understood instantly.
This man didn't give a damn.
Didn't care how ugly or pathetic his daughter was.
This man, right now.
Had eyes only for killing him...!
"Damn it—"
"And."
Light flashed.
Like lightning striking, Kline surged forward in an instant.
He wasn't aiming for Graiver's heart.
Something closer.
To sever the hand tormenting Yoru.
"Tch!"
"......Don't touch Yoru carelessly. Unless you want to die."
Kline's cold eyes swept over Graiver, who had barely retreated.