Chapter 251: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (44)
Chapter 251: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (44)
The world grew a bit quieter only after the lightning ceased.
Gasping for air, I collapsed to the side as Mitram shoved me away. The dagger he had stabbed me with was shrouded in a dark red energy.
It was likely the power of the Evil God.
Only then did Mitram stand up, his expression looking refreshed.
"Phew, that feels better... Hitting your own sister is a bit much, Brother."
The area where I had been stabbed was gradually beginning to rot. Fumbling, I pulled a healing potion from my coat.
It was a potion I had received from Senior Delphine, which Emma had then modified.
I hadn't expected it to work against the power of the Evil God, but once I poured it on, it at least managed to prevent the wound from festering further. My blurred vision finally cleared.
I staggered to my feet.
Having allowed a direct hit, my physical condition was far from normal. The test subjects who had survived the lightning strike surrounded Mitram.
Most of them were test subjects that had surged up from the ground.
Judging by their equipment, they came from various backgrounds, starting with knights. As expected of the forces Mitram had carefully hoarded, each one seemed to be on the level of the head maid I had encountered last time.
They were opponents we couldn't handle on our own.
"Should I report you for domestic violence? Ah, right. I'm a Dark Priest, so that might be impossible~"
"……Cut the crap."
It wasn't just blood that was welling up inside me.
At my chilling voice, Mitram stared at me with a seductive, smiling gaze.
As if telling me to speak if I had something to say.
"You're not Ria."
"Are you denying the facts right before your eyes? That's a bit pathetic, Brother..."
"Ria isn't even twenty yet."
Mitram's eyes narrowed at my rebuttal.
Catching my ragged breath, I laid out the facts to Mitram one by one.
"The disappearances started over ten years ago. Are you saying Ria has been active as a Dark Priest since that age?"
A subtle sound, a hum, escaped Mitram's lips.
The girl, lost in thought for a moment, then wore a bright smile.
"……Well, I suppose another Dark Priest was active ten years ago?"
"There's no way there are two pieces of trash like you."
At my growled words, Mitram clapped and burst into a fit of giggles.
Her attitude was as if she had heard an incredibly funny joke.
"Unfortunately, Brother, do you know how many priests are in the Dark Cult? One of them might be involved in the kidnappings..."
"And Sir Irene has been stuck to Ria's side all day."
Mitram's mouth snapped shut.
After wearing a dissatisfied expression for a moment, she soon grumbled in a sullen voice.
"……Ah, that useless bitch."
Now Mitram seemed at a loss for words.
There would have been no way for her to know what had happened at the Percus mansion.
However, the part I was most certain about was something else.
"……Above all, Ria has a mole on her collarbone, you bastard."
Mitram's eyes widened at my remark, and she immediately glanced down at her own collarbone.
It was pure white.
There wasn't a single mole to be found.
"Oops," Mitram said, slapping her forehead with her palm.
"I can't believe it. I made a mistake like this? And Ian Percus……."
The clear, refreshing voice began to simmer and boil.
It was the voice of the Mitram I knew.
The woman, finally shedding her facade, burst into a cackling laugh.
"You were ogling your sister's body in that brief moment? You're abnormal, truly abnormal... Of course, the Dark Cult loves the abnormal. How about it? Why not join the Dark Cult and fulfill your forbidden love?"
It was an absurd proposal.
Love between siblings—it was a ridiculous reason to join the Dark Cult.
So, instead of answering, I gripped my hand axe.
It was at that same moment that I shouted someone's name.
"……Seria!"
Immediately after, a gray flash of light streaked forward.
The girl's launched body closed the distance in an instant.
Just as I had been, the rest of the group must have been flustered by Mitram's appearance. But once I had made my judgment, they faithfully followed my lead.
The blue aura gathered on Seria's sword carved a thin line through the air.
The ones responding to it were the test subjects standing beside Mitram.
Surprisingly, they were blocking Seria's strikes—which had reached the level of an Expert—one after another.
Seria managed to sever the arm of one test subject who appeared to be a knight, but it wasn't a meaningful achievement.
The site of the severed arm bubbled and hissed as hideous tentacles sprouted out.
Seria flinched, her body freezing for a moment at the gruesome sight. In that interval, the tentacles reached out to nearby corpses, and before long, the severed arm grew back.
Into an arm that was larger and more powerful.
It was a sight that would baffle even the most stout-hearted person.
Unfortunately, Seria was no exception.
In the end, she allowed a strike from another test subject aiming for her back.
"……Aaaah!"
"Seria!"
I tried to force my uncooperative body to move and run toward her.
But the one blocking my path was Mitram.
She smirked, a dark red energy blooming in her hand.
"Your playmate is over here, Ian Percus... It's been a while since I've switched bodies; I should enjoy myself a little too."
"……Switched?"
Before an answer to my question could come, the test subjects kicked off the ground and shot forward without a word.
Their target seemed to be the rest of the group, not me.
I swung my hand axe down at Mitram's arm and shouted to Senior Elsie.
"Senior Elsie! Did you tear the communication scroll?!"
"I-I tore it ages ago, but there's still no response!"
Clang! Sparks flew as the axe and arm collided. As Mitram threw a straight punch, I twisted my body slightly to dodge.
And as I naturally grabbed her arm to counterattack, a searing sensation burned my hand.
My eyes snapped to Mitram's face.
She was wearing a calm, composed smile.
"……It's useless, Ian Percus."
Whoosh! As black flames erupted, I had to hastily retreat.
However, the firepower of the flames rising from Mitram's arm was beyond imagination.
The flames swirled and lashed out at me like a whip. I tried to cut through them by coating my axe in aura, but I couldn't stop the flames that regenerated the instant they were severed.
I cursed inwardly as I continued to back away.
The dance of fire and axe continued.
"I've also prepared separate test subjects to deal with those idiots from the Lainella family. And besides, isn't it only natural to block communication magic in advance?"
Since this was her hideout.
Every time Mitram chuckled and spat out a word, the flickering flames licked the air in front of my face like a snake's tongue.
The heat made it feel as if my eyeballs were about to cook.
To make matters worse, the situation for the rest of the group didn't look good either.
It was because Celine, the least skilled among the frontliners, was acting as their guard.
"Ugh, kyaaaaah!"
At Celine's scream, I looked to the side as if having a fit.
With five or six test subjects lunging at her, Celine could no longer hold out. She had the support of the Saintess and Senior Elsie, but no matter how good the rear support was, it was over the moment a melee was allowed.
A groan escaped my lips.
"Celine! You piece of—!"
"Oh, an opening, an opening. Is it alright for you to be looking away?"
Boom! An explosion erupted as the whip of black flames struck the ground.
Despite being fire, it seemed to possess physical force as well.
I swung my hand axe repeatedly, cutting away the flames that flickered like a snake's tongue. Even so, there was no end in sight.
Even for a Dark Priest, the power of the Evil God must have its limits.
I was waiting for that moment, but the capabilities of the test subjects were beyond my expectations.
Eventually, the time for my choice arrived.
As I gritted my teeth and glared at Mitram, she asked with a smile that resembled Ria's.
"Aren't you curious? How I obtained this body……."
"What, did you kidnap her or something?"
Thwack! The whip of flames caught on the axe blade I swung down was severed and fell to the ground.
The flames, which squirmed for a while, died down, leaving only scorched weeds behind.
Unlike me, whose breath was starting to grow ragged due to my injuries, Mitram continued to talk to me with a relaxed expression.
"Of course not. The Dark Cult always values choice and price. When someone makes a choice, the Dark Cult simply pays the price and takes its share."
"It's just... pant... a cloned body anyway!"
Around that time, I threw my hand axe.
It was a decisive strike, but Mitram merely tilted her head to dodge it with a bored expression.
I hadn't expected Mitram to be hit by it anyway.
I had only lunged forward to grab the sword I had thrown earlier.
The hand axe curved its trajectory and returned to my hand.
A sword in one hand, an axe in the other.
It was the perfect setup to strike down the whip of flames.
"Kyahaha! You don't know anything! Even a clone needs an original. Moreover, cloning is impossible without steady research over a very long period... That's why mass production is difficult!"
"What... wheeze... kind of bullshit is that? Ria is at our house, you bastard!"
With a desperate shout, my sword and axe split the whip of flames into three.
The momentum of the blazing fire weakened instantly. I squeezed through that gap.
It was the moment Mitram finally entered my attack range after a long time.
Of course, even then, Mitram did not wipe the maniacal smile from her face.
"Puhuhu... Th-that's why it's so interesting! Ah, such a tragic fate!"
Thwack! I hooked my sword onto Mitram's crossed arms and pulled, prying them apart.
Finally, Mitram's chest was open. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Realizing this, the girl smiled and whispered to me in a familiar voice.
"……Brother, are you going to kill me?"
Her intention behind those words was clear.
So, I flashed a bright smile.
"Yeah."
Crunch! The hand axe smashed Mitram's skull to pieces.
