Chapter 27
Crash! I landed in front of the Chrysis Ducal Residence with mana wrapped around my feet. The whole area shook. The ground caved in, stained black. I barely steadied my staggering body. My emotions were overflowing, making it hard to control my aura.
"Who goes there!"
The two knights guarding the ducal gates drew their swords, tense as could be.
I dragged my trembling feet forward, stepping out of the thick shadows into the light of the streetlamp. Their eyes widened in shock when they saw me.
"M-Mir?"
"What brings Black Calamity Mir here...?"
"I'm really sorry, but please step aside."
Shing. I drew my sword with a chilling ring. There wasn't even time to explain. I aimed it at them, their faces twisting in confusion.
"I need to see the Duke right now."
Their expressions hardened as they caught sight of my sword glinting under the streetlamp. They raised their own blades to block my path.
"We're sorry, but unauthorized entry is forbidden."
"We don't know what's going on, but it's far too late tonight. If you request a formal visit tomorrow, I'll do everything in my power to arrange a meeting with the Duke."
Even to a rude intruder in the dead of night, they remained impeccably polite, striving to uphold their duty. Seeing the deep respect and trust in their eyes made me feel utterly revolting.
"I have to see him now. Please, get out of my way."
I couldn't back down. Clutching Aria's cold body tightly in one arm, I gripped my sword harder with my right hand. My left arm, still throbbing from exhaustion, held her close, while my right—barely four days recovered from wildly swinging my blade against magic beasts—had to wield it again. My body, which had only snatched shallow naps since the magic beast subjugation, was still worn out, and my crumbling mind could hardly keep food down. Cold sweat poured over me, my body shivering uncontrollably. My vision, blurred by tears and hallucinations, could barely make out shapes, but...
"If you block me, I'll cut you down." I had to protect the tiny figure in my arms. Even if it meant dying here.
"...Then we have no choice."
"We're sorry. We really don't want to draw swords on you, Mir, but... we have to stop you."
Though I was clearly the intruder, guilt and regret flickered across the knights' faces. They knew they couldn't match me, yet they stood firm in their duty—true knights to the core. It made me feel like the villain.
More words would just be pathetic excuses wasting time. I coated my sword in aura. A ravenous black aura, greedy enough to devour even me as I swung, swallowed the silver gleam of my blade.
I'd come here without my voice modulator, hair down, everything exposed. Their shock likely stemmed from discovering that Mir, whom they'd pegged as a young man, was a girl.
I'd abandoned the secret identity I'd guarded with my life. I'd brought my own head here on a platter. If I couldn't become the ducal family's sword now, death was all that remained.
Swoosh! I swung silently at the charging knights. To keep Aria safe in close quarters, I kept my distance and launched my aura. They barely blocked it.
"Damn it! Mir!"
I had no intention of settling things in a full fight with them. There wasn't time. I bought a moment with the aura strike and leaped into the sky, aiming to vault over the gate.
"Mir! There's a barrier around the gate! It's dangerous!"
I know.
It was astonishing that even as the intruder, they still sounded worried for me—but I couldn't stop. I wrapped Aria in dozens of layers of aura. Mana drained out of me in a rush, dying her entire body black. It was a protective barrier that could shield her even if thrown into a fire alive.
Noble estates like this usually had electric shock barriers to repel intruders. The gate wasn't all that high because of the barrier's range. A normal person charging it would end up barbecued.
Boom!Kaboom!
But I was a Sword Master. My black aura, shaped like a crescent moon, slammed into the barrier. A massive rumble shook the residence like an earthquake. The violent darkness—opposite to the snowflakes falling from the sky, akin to the black curtain that had blanketed the heavens—devoured the barrier whole.
I won't lose another loved one in this snow.
Tears welled up again.
Clang! The barrier exploded.
Thud. I hurled myself through the shattered remnants, landing in the ducal courtyard. The explosion melted the snow piled there. My trembling hand nearly dropped my sword, but I steadied myself and clutched Aria tight. Thankfully, not a hair on her head was harmed, but my body—having unleashed savage aura at the explosion's epicenter—throbbed as if electrocuted.
It hurts.
My whole body was a wreck, miraculous that I could even stand. I roughly swept back my singed hair and took unsteady steps forward.
"...Drop your sword and surrender, Mir."
Four knights guarding the residence doors all aimed their blades at me in unison. Without a word, I blasted them back with aura. As a black vortex tore through the area, I charged for the door.
Cough. Aria shuddered in my arms and spat up dark red blood. I could feel her life force fading vividly.
Damn it!
My mind went white. I sprinted toward the steel door of the residence. I had to break through and see the Duke now. Gripped by that single obsession, I pounded on it.
"Damn it! Open the door! Come out!"
I hammered and hammered. Tears streamed endlessly. My bare fist, without even aura, struck the steel with pathetic thuds, blood flowing freely—but all I cared about was that Aria had vomited blood.
"Please stop, Mir! This is trouble!"
"Open the door! Please!"
I shoved away the bewildered knights closing in and screamed desperately. Aria's breathing was growing shallower.
"Damn it all! Everyone back off!"
Now that I'd come this far, there was nothing left to lose. I forced gaseous aura into the dents my fists had made in the steel door, shaping it into a vortex that shoved every living thing around it backward.
I'll smash it.
I madly churned my half-ruined mana circuits once more, squeezing out aura from my very soul and coating my blade. One thought dominated my mind.
I have to save Aria.
I swung with frenzied desperation.
Kaboom!
The steel door shattered into powder amid the deafening uproar that shook the grounds.
"Ahh..."
Terrified servants and baffled knights stared in horror. Clutching Aria, I begged pitifully before them.
"...Please, let me see your master."
"...I'm Taylor, the head butler of the residence. May I have your name?"
After an eternity of silence, someone finally spoke. A white-haired elderly gentleman in a crisp suit. Even to the intruder who'd smashed through the gate, he maintained perfect decorum—a mark of his experience.
My vision blurred; I couldn't see clearly. I rubbed my eyes hard with the back of my hand. My tear-raw eyelids throbbed.
"It's Mir."
"Yes, Lady Mir. What brings you...?"
"Call the Duke first. I'll explain everything later."
My voice came out hoarse and cracked, like gravel.
Aria's body was growing steadily colder in my arms. I gritted my teeth. There was no time for chit-chat.
"...I'm sorry, but that's not possible. The Duke has already retired for the night."
He looked troubled. Taylor tried to uphold etiquette despite my rudeness, but I had no patience for it.
"Truly sorry."
I scraped together every last bit of aura permeating my veins, muscles, my entire body. My bloodshot eyes gleamed red. A suffocating killing intent filled the space, pressing down on every living being with a pulse. Taylor's body trembled violently as he faced a Sword Master's full malice head-on.
"I need to see the Duke right now."
I slowly swept my gaze over the servants and knights, my crimson eyes flashing. Terror filled their eyes; they could barely breathe under the brutal pressure. A few with weaker wills collapsed like marionettes with cut strings.
"...Tell me why you're here first. If you act like this, I can't help you."
Taylor held back the knights reaching for their weapons, his voice steady despite his instinctive terror.
I stared at him with dead eyes and caught a faint twitch of sympathy beneath his cool gaze.
"My... my little sister is dying. Please, call the Duke..."
I was desperate enough to cling to that scrap of pity. Tears fell without warning. Pity and distress flickered in Taylor's eyes.
"I don't know your circumstances, but I've heard how much you helped with the magic beast subjugation in Luju Village. Out of gratitude, I can summon a physician on my own authority."
"A physician won't do!"
I screamed in a ragged voice.
If a mere physician could fix this...!
I wouldn't have lived this wretched life. I wouldn't have been trampled under magic beasts' feet, scorned by people. Tears blinded me.
Cough... Dark red blood seeped through her thin blouse. Aria, struggling to breathe steadily, vomited blood onto my chest again.
"Call him! Call Kaiser Crisis, the Duke! Now!"
I clutched her tight, bellowing like I was spewing blood myself. My heart pounded wildly. The weaker her breaths grew, the more frantic I became. The servants trembled and backed away. Endless tears obscured my vision. My legs shook; standing was agony.
It's so hard.
I finally buckled, dropping to one knee. Layers of physical and mental fatigue from ages past crashed over me like a receding tide turning into a tsunami. Everything that had kept me going crumbled.
Why had I lived? Not for this pathetic end. I wanted to make Aria happy, not watch it all end like this. Had I even been happy? My body felt leaden. Exhausted, I couldn't find meaning in pushing further. I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep forever. I didn't know why I'd lived or why I should go on. I wanted to rip out my tearing heart. My soul felt utterly empty.
What had I lived for?
The thoughts I'd crammed into a narrow space since childhood. Worries dismissed as unnecessary for survival, not for Aria's sake. Pains and agonies piled layer upon layer in that overfilled corner of my mind. The massive shock shattered the walls, and they burst forth.
If Aria dies... what do I live for?
Dark thoughts tangled into grotesque colors. I'm a Sword Master. I'm her big sister. Endless self-brainwashing that I couldn't break shattered with a bang. Once my mind started crumbling, my body followed like dominoes.
I want to rest. I want to break. I want to let it all go and collapse.
I wanted to drop every responsibility and burden, just rest. Body and soul overloaded.
But.
I roughly wiped my tears and gritted my teeth, forcing my shaking legs to stand. I wobbled like I might fall any second, but I didn't. I knew I couldn't, wouldn't.
Those with someone to protect couldn't afford to break.
Taylor, glancing troubled between me and the central staircase in the hall, finally spoke.
"The Duke has retired for the night..."
"Who do you serve?!"
"...Pardon?"
Suppressing the violence boiling inside, I locked eyes with him, my gaze burning red.
I recalled the haughty nobles I'd met as a mercenary client. Backs straight, looking down on everyone with eyes proclaiming nothing above them.
"Who do you serve? Whose orders do you obey?"
I spat each word like chewed gravel, mimicking their noble bearing. I straightened my back and stared down Taylor with oppressive authority. He erased his bewilderment and bowed solemnly.
"I am a longtime servant of the Crisis Ducal Household. I heed only the commands of Duke Kaiser Crisis and those of his blood."
Kaiser and those who bear his blood.
"Then obey my command."
I fell within that category—as his daughter.
"...No way."
A strange light flickered in Taylor's eyes. The expression of someone confirming an impossible hunch as truth.
I took a deep breath. No voice-altering magic tool. No hiding my long black hair under a hood. No oversized cloak over my small frame. Without those trappings of Mir, only the mask defined her. With a sob-like laugh, I tore it off without hesitation.
Thud.
"Gasp."
"...Oh my god."
The area froze in shock. Taylor, facing me directly, gaped and swallowed hard.
For the first time, I removed my mask before others. It felt like stripping naked in public. The identity I'd desperately guarded as a mercenary lay bare before the crowd.
I recalled Kaiser, whom I'd met recently. His jet-black curly hair like mine, his indifferent red eyes matching mine, his aura overlooking all like mine.
And Kal, who'd become precious to me. The boy with the eerily similar face shape, syncing with me in battle like we'd trained together for years.
"I am Kaiser Crisis's daughter, Kashmir Crisis."
No one who'd seen my face behind the mask could deny it.
"Take me to my father. That's an order."
Proving I bore the blood of the black dragon.
A massive wave of shock rippled through the crowd.