Chapter 205
Chapter 205
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Martial Dragon Tournament (14)
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Susan's face sharpened.
‘It's certain. The White Flower Poison has no effect.’
She had no idea what trick he had used, but her poison simply wasn't taking hold in Yuri Holland.
The amount he had absorbed just moments ago had already surpassed the lethal dose.
Yet he remained perfectly fine, which meant the White Flower Poison was completely useless against him now.
Up to now in the Cradle, only one person had ever been immune to her poison: Kontar Rider.
And today, a second such existence had appeared.
But Susan refused to give up.
‘Not yet. It might just be immune to the White Flower Poison.’
Rarely, individuals with exceptional poison resistance did emerge.
Yuri Holland could very well be one of them.
‘In that case…….’
Shing-.
As the match began, she drew her sword for the first time.
‘I’ll feed you some stronger stuff!’
Susan spun a 30 cm mid-length dagger inside her left hand before gripping it in reverse.
At the same time, her figure shot forward.
Taat-!
Susan's charging movements were incredibly swift and nimble.
A glint flashed in Yuri's eyes at the sight.
‘So she doesn't rely solely on poison.’
By now, he could gauge an opponent's level just from their physical motions.
In his assessment, Susan possessed enough skill to effortlessly dominate the mid-ranks of the 48th Cohort, even without her poisons.
Add poison to that prowess, and it explained her rank as number one in the 47th Cohort.
As Yuri tracked Susan's movements with those thoughts.
Swish-.
Susan's right hand clenched, her lips and nails turned purple.
Thin needles, produced from who-knows-where, were wedged between her fingers.
Susan hurled them vigorously toward Yuri.
Swoosh-!
Three needles streaked through the air with a sharp whistle.
Yuri's curiosity piqued at the sight.
‘Hidden weapons?’
These weren't ordinary ones, either.
Their faint purple sheen made it clear they were laced with poison.
Of course, trifles like these posed no threat to Yuri.
Kagang-.
He drew his sword in a flash and casually deflected the incoming projectiles.
However, the needles weren't merely coated on the surface.
Boom-boom-bang-.
The instant his sword made contact, they burst in midair, spewing clouds of purple poisonous mist.
The mist swiftly enveloped the surroundings in a thick haze.
Yuri's expression twisted slightly.
‘This one's… nasty.’
This poison was far more vicious than the so-called White Flower Poison.
The violent reaction from his neural qi confirmed it.
‘Without the Harmony Divine Water… that might've been trouble.’
Yuri gained a newfound appreciation for just how perilous and tricky poisons could be.
As he sensed the toxin breaking down inside him, Susan closed the gap and whipped her dagger in a swift arc.
Shaaak-.
Her poison blade, infused with mana and venom, sliced through the purple mist toward Yuri.
Purple poison.
This was the second-most potent toxin in Susan's arsenal.
Her strongest one simply wasn't stockpiled enough for real combat yet.
In other words, if this poison failed to fell Yuri, she had no further recourse.
‘Drop!’
Susan's poison dagger swung toward Yuri.
Simultaneously, the dense mist swirled around him in sync with her swordplay.
‘Just one… one scratch is all it takes!’
It didn't need to be a deep wound.
Even the tiniest nick from her poisoned blade would intoxicate him several times faster and fiercer than mere mist exposure.
Susan's poison swordsmanship was a technique crafted specifically to infect foes.
Whooo-.
Poisonous mist disrupting Yuri's footing.
Sasasa-.
The dagger slashing at him like a frenzy from within the haze.
Any ordinary rider would have tangled limbs in seconds—preoccupied with the churning mist while dodging the incoming blade.
They'd inevitably inhale the fumes or take a poisoned cut, succumbing to intoxication.
But Yuri was different.
Sruk-.
Unfurling Cloud Steps, Yuri slipped free of the mist and dagger assault with absurd ease.
And then.
‘…Again?!’
The purple mist under Susan's control abruptly halted.
Just like the White Flower Poison before.
Susan bit her lip hard and unleashed more toxin from her body.
But.
Swooo-.
Her poison lost control once more, scattering every which way.
‘What in the world?!’
As bewilderment flooded Susan's face amid the baffling turn, Yuri's voice rang out.
“Want to know?”
She whipped her head toward the sound, but Yuri was no longer there.
Instead, his voice echoed from elsewhere.
“Why your poison won't obey you?”
The reason Susan had lost control of her poison.
It was ridiculously straightforward.
Yuri had anticipated the flows and disrupted them with casual taps.
“And the reason is…….”
Yuri watched her head turn toward the voice, then executed Cloud Steps anew.
Swish-.
He materialized on the opposite side from her gaze and flashed a grin.
“Nope. Not telling.”
With that, he Cloud Stepped again, thrusting his sword.
Like a game of tag, Yuri ghosted in and out, evading her tracking eyes.
His blade tip grazed Susan's body with light pricks and retreats.
The sequence repeated, and soon her entire form was drenched in blood.
Stinging pains mounted as frustration and rage colored her face.
‘This bastard… he's playing with me!’
Flick-.
Outraged, Susan lashed out with her dagger—but Yuri had already vanished.
He reappeared opposite and jabbed her once more.
“You… ngh!”
Swish-.
Susan swung again, but Yuri evaded leisurely.
As the pattern dragged on, Susan was forced to concede she could never overcome him with her own power.
And that's when it happened.
“But you know…….”
Yuri materialized flush against her back and murmured into her ear.
“Pulling out poison this lethal means you meant to kill me, doesn't it?”
His breath was hot against her ear, yet it paradoxically carried icy killing intent.
A low, flat voice whispered into her other ear.
“Then… I kill you, no complaints?”
Chill rippled from eardrum to spine.
Susan's face drained to ashen blue as she instinctively moved to cry surrender.
But.
Snap-.
Yuri was suddenly in front of her, seizing her mouth and jaw in one grip.
Locked eyes with Yuri at point-blank range, Susan's mind blanked white—she froze solid.
It felt like her very spirit was being dragged into his pupils.
Enthralled, she found herself in utter darkness.
And then.
‘…Gah?!’
In the abyssal void, a colossal golden eye gleamed demonically, bearing down on her like a crusher.
Susan beheld all too vividly the raw aggregate of savage bloodlust.
‘Aah……!’
Her psyche shattered in an instant; her body locked rigid, tongue lolling.
Simultaneously, a long-buried nightmare resurfaced.
‘Th-this eye?!’
Yuri Holland's gaze had twisted the moment he voiced her death.
It mirrored too perfectly the eyes of her poison arts master.
The eyes that terrified child-Susan beyond measure.
The gaze she'd desperately tried—and failed—to erase.
She had named them thus.
‘Ha… the Murderer's Eyes!’
A look borne only by those who'd slain dozens, perhaps hundreds.
And a Cradle rider possessed such eyes.
Worse, one with such eyes had resolved to end her.
Her demise was thus a foregone conclusion.
Drained of resistance, Susan could only quake before oblivion.
‘S-spare….’
Dagger range away, yet her arms hung limp.
Tears welled as she pleaded with all her soul.
Yuri smirked at the sight.
“Begging for your life?”
Susan nodded desperately at his query.
Her raw plea gave Yuri momentary pause.
“Hm…….”
In his youth, he'd claimed countless lives.
His hands were steeped in blood enough to earn the moniker Black Calamity.
He harbored no regrets now.
Nor would he hesitate to take more lives if inclined.
Yet he hadn't slain Susan—thanks to Yohan's voice resurfacing unbidden.
[What do you think kept your incarnation from taking proper form?]
The cryptic question Yohan had posed before the Cradle.
[My first wish was someone's death. Born of that, my incarnation faded incomplete without the killing intent, stuck as a lump?]
His own response then.
[Brood on it hard. Figure out what you must amass for your incarnation to shape right. If that 'wish' of yours even holds water.]
And the lifelong riddle Yohan had assigned.
Memories surged like a gale, birthing a nagging doubt that quelled Yuri's bloodlust.
Sruk-.
His vise on her jaw slackened.
The crushing intent lifted; Susan's legs buckled, dumping her to a half-kneel.
But then.
Snap-.
A firm hand clamped her shoulder.
“Eek!”
She jolted in panic, prompting Yuri to lean in.
Face to her ear, he whispered low.
“You… owe me one now. Don't forget.”
“……?!”
The toneless words conjured the golden eye from the void; she nodded frantically.
As if survival hinged on it—desperately so.
Yuri eased his grip, patted her shoulder, and bellowed.
“This one's forfeiting!”
The opponent—not the fighter herself—declaring surrender left spectators peering down in puzzled confusion at one another.
But as the Black Sword Soldier validated Susan's defeat, murmurs rippled outward.
And with Yuri's victory sealed.
“Wooooooo!”
A booming roar erupted from the stands out of nowhere.
There perched Jerry, legs hooked over the railing, howling like a beast.
“Uwaaaaaah! I b-believed it! Believed you'd win, you lunatic!”
Betting slip crushed in his fist, he roared at the arena.
Right then.
“Wooo!”
“Uwaa!!”
“Yuri Hollaaaaaand!”
Hordes from the 49th and 50th Cohort sections mobbed the railings, shrieking triumph.
Each clutched slips identical to Jerry's.
Jerry eyed them and grumbled sourly.
“Damn… tanks the odds.”
Yuri Holland's edge was too public for solo profit.
As Jerry sighed in regret.
Yuri turned from the raucous crowd to watch Susan bolt from the arena like a fugitive.
“…Way too easy?”
Sure, he'd brimmed with lethal intent to kill her—but Cradle riders typically bared teeth and charged through such.
Susan, astonishingly, overreacted to his aura and surrendered.
‘Like she'd glimpsed a ghost.’
Only because childhood Susan had tasted true death-terror.
She alone had deciphered the ancient bloodlust buried deep in Yuri's core—one others wholly missed.
Yuri himself remained oblivious.
* * *
Yuri and Susan's semifinal wrapped.
No sooner had order restored than two youths strode into the arena.
Step step-.
As if prearranged, Goetz and Kontar converged at center.
Goetz broke the stare-down first.
“For once in this Martial Dragon Tournament, I wanted to cut loose against someone besides you.”
His gaze flicked past Kontar's shoulder to Yuri in the stands.
But he soon refocused on Kontar and drew his sword.
Shing-.
“Truth be told, I know it'll end badly… but someone's watching I want to impress, so I'll give it everything.”
“…….”
“And hey, who knows? Like the juniors, I might pull a miracle into the finals? Haha.”
Goetz twirled his blade idly while prattling; Kontar stood mute.
At last, a single low utterance escaped him.
“Talkative.”
Shing-.
Kontar unsheathed.
Swooo-.
As the blade emerged, inky tendrils spilled forth, coalescing into form.
Goetz's face set grim as he muttered in disbelief.
“Hah… trendy these days?”
The words barely left when Kontar bridged the gap in a blink.
Kwaang-!
Goetz rocketed like a shell from the black energy swing.
Kugagang!
Yuri watched Kontar's black aura crater Goetz into the wall—and murmured in quiet shock.
“…Holy Sword?”