Chapter 189: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (53)
Chapter 189: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (53)
Did I want to win?
Of course I did.
I had to win by any means necessary, crush them, and make it so they could never defy me again.
Before I knew it, that desperate emotion had embedded itself deep within my chest.
Only then could I protect those precious to me.
That frantic urgency forced me to stop breathing for a fleeting moment.
Mitram soaked my ears with an even sweeter whisper.
"Surrender yourself to that emotion. Anger, hatred... Morality? Ethics? As if such trivial things could ever change the world."
I tried to scream at her to stop talking nonsense and push myself up, but a woman's hand pressed down firmly on my shoulder, forcing me to stay seated.
My vision, already at its limit, began to narrow. Mitram’s smile filled the shrinking space.
"Isn't this what you've always done anyway?"
At those words, the anger that had been surging up my throat subsided for a moment.
What I've always done?
Yes, it was what I had always done.
"Surrender to your rage and just kill. Come... unleash that anger upon me."
Mitram’s laughter grew increasingly faint.
My mind grew hazy, my tensed muscles relaxed, and my head slumped toward the ground.
Come to think of it, hadn't I come too far?
For a mere second son of a rural viscount, I had accomplished too much, and now I was exhausted.
I had tried to act like it was nothing, but the conflict with the Princess had left deep scars.
My precious people had been hurt, and they might still be getting hurt even now. The sacrifice required to stop a 'world's end' that didn't even feel real was simply too great.
In contrast, how clear were the emotions of hatred and murderous intent?
If I wanted to kill, all I needed was that single-mindedness.
Then everything would be resolved, and my heart would find peace. My grip on the sword began to tighten.
Mana surged.
Like a cold snap sweeping across a plateau, a mysterious wind gathered violently within the cave. Mitram staggered backward, her eyes filled with ecstasy.
Aura began to coalesce on the blade.
Its hue was not a brilliant silver. The gathering light grew increasingly murky, eventually settling into a dull gray. Yet, its density and sharpness were incomparable to anything before.
I must kill.
That will, which I had repeated countless times, formed the edge of the blade.
Hatred and bloodlust heated my chest to an incomprehensible degree. The capillaries in my retinas became bloodshot, and my breath grew ragged.
Rumble.
A tremor swept through the cave once more.
There was truly very little time left. Using my sword as a cane, I forced my trembling legs to steady themselves and stood up.
Thud.
The sword dug into the ground of its own accord, causing me to stumble several times.
Nevertheless, I stood again.
Mitram spoke to me with a bright smile.
"Oh, what a magnificent sight... Ian Percus. Have you finally understood your own heart?"
"......Sure have."
Fine, let's just kill and keep killing.
Mitram danced with joy as she raised her strings of mana.
My eyes mapped the space, taking in every trajectory.
Before, it would have been to evade, but not now.
The trajectories twisted and warped, converging into a single point.
My blade struck that point without a moment's hesitation.
Slash!
With a crisp sound, dozens of strings lost their power and scattered instantly.
A few remaining strings shot toward me, but the speed at which I kicked off the ground was faster.
Boom!
With a shockwave that shook the very foundations of the earth, the space was compressed in an instant.
Before I knew it, Mitram and I were inches apart.
The woman laughed, and my sword scattered light through the air. If I simply applied force now, it would be the end of her.
But in that split second, a single phrase shook my mind.
"......Ian Percus."
I felt the illusion of time stopping.
The world crumbled into pure white. Countless memories overlapped, playing back dozens of voices to me.
Feeling like a criminal standing before a judge, I looked around vacantly.
People whose faces I couldn't even recognize spoke to me, each in their own tone.
"Save the world."
It wasn't unfamiliar.
I had experienced this several times before. These memories were 'my' memories. The trajectories of regret left behind by someone who had made the wrong choices.
And that fact made me feel incredibly resentful.
"......Why me?"
Who the hell was I that I had to shoulder such a heavy and painful burden?
Until I received that letter, I had never even dreamed of such a grand mission.
For someone who was nothing more than the second son of a rural viscount, it was a burden far too heavy from the start. Nevertheless, I had done my best, and this was simply the path I had reached as a result.
The people I loved were hurting and injured.
And look at my body—it's a wreck. Even now, I'm barely able to stand.
Regrettably, this was the only answer I could derive.
This path was the only choice I could walk.
Having settled my thoughts, I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on the sword once more.
The gray aura whipped up a violent storm. Now, all I had to do was move forward, and it would be over.
It was then.
At that final moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
What would have happened if I had killed Senior Delphine?
It was a sudden hypothesis. During the Hunting Festival, I had no intention of killing Senior Delphine, and doing so would have caused me no end of trouble.
But I remembered Seria's face from that day.
That terrified face. Recalling it, the height of my arm holding the sword lowered slightly.
The Saintess had screamed at me, asking why I tried to save an orphan. Toward that woman with the confused eyes, I had uttered a single, pretentious phrase.
Immanuel. May God be with you.
One by one, as memories collided with my thoughts, my hand holding the sword trembled violently. Emma, the woman I had saved by my own will, hugged me and said:
"You are someone who saves people."
Only then did I let out a long sigh.
The world that had been dyed in light crumbled away. Mitram, who had been looking at me with expectant eyes, tilted her head in confusion.
The aura gathered on my sword was gradually regaining its brightness, shifting from gray.
From gray, back to silver.
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Information was finally starting to register. Until now, I had been immersed in battle as if intoxicated.
Now that I had regained my senses, the anomalies Mitram had shown came flooding back to me.
Instead of swinging my sword, I reached out and grabbed Mitram by the collar with one hand.
"......You left yourself an escape route, didn't you?"
The cave was shaking violently. It meant the collapse was imminent.
The falling piles of dirt had already reached my knees. A particularly large amount was falling from the ceiling.
Mitram, however, just giggled as if she didn't know what I was talking about.
"Ian Percus, if you're going to joke......"
"You keep talking as if I'm going to make it out of here alive."
At my remark, Mitram’s mockery stopped abruptly. As if she had been flash-frozen, the woman froze in place with that grotesque smile still on her face.
"Otherwise, there'd be no need to try and persuade me, right? I don't know what you were planning... but you did make an exit."
After being frozen for a moment, Mitram eventually burst into a cackling laugh.
"Shall I tell you, Ian Percus? You must want to live too. Now, if you just make one contract with me......"
Slash!
It was then that my sword swept through Mitram’s neck.
Mitram’s eyes were wide open. She had tried to react at the last moment, but I was faster.
Single-mindedness (一念).
I didn't know what path I was supposed to take.
But simply by deciding on the direction, my aura burned with a steadfast light. And before the manifestation of that firm will, the strings of mana couldn't even offer resistance.
Thud, roll.
The woman's head rolled across the ground.
Mitram’s body, its connection to the mana strings severed, did not regenerate. It merely flailed as if in disbelief before collapsing in a heap.
I answered Mitram in a cold voice.
"......I don't need it."
It was better to spend time surveying the surroundings than arguing.
A 'contract' with the Dark Cult was always the same. I wasn't stupid enough to fall for a trap I would only regret later.
My eyes turned toward the ceiling.
An unusual amount of dirt was falling. At first, I thought it was just gravity, but even considering that, the speed at which the ceiling alone was collapsing was exceptionally fast.
Since there was no time anyway, I climbed onto the pile of fallen dirt without a word.
The highest pile already reached halfway from the floor to the ceiling. Then, a giggling sound pierced my ears.
"......Ian Percus."
I glanced behind me. There, only Mitram’s head remained, staring at me with a stiff smile as her power slowly faded.
"It seems this is the limit if it's not my true body... but don't be too lonely. I'll be coming for you soon."
To that viscous farewell, I threw my hand axe instead of answering.
Crunch!
Her skull was crushed, and blood and brain matter splattered in all directions.
"......Fuck off."
As I raised my hand and the axe returned to me, my body collapsed.
The dirt buried me under its massive weight.
In the final moment, I thought I saw a glimpse of light, but my consciousness, which had reached its limit, finally snapped.
Only a frantic voice remained like a lingering echo in my ear.
"Eek, kyaaaah! W-what is... Huh? I-Ian? Ian! Oh, no... The priests! Assemble the chaplaincy immediately!!"
My consciousness faded to black.
Without even being able to foresee how the relationship between the Princess and the people around me would change while I was unconscious.
It was the end of the act.