Chapter 89: The Lord is With Us (10)
Chapter 89: The Lord is With Us (10)
The axe traced a silver streak. With every swing, groans and blood erupted.
Delphine let out a wretched scream each time the blade struck home.
She curled her body, writhing as she tried to endure the agony. She even gritted her teeth, but this raw, visceral pain was not something that could be withstood.
"Agh, h-huuu... Aaaaaagh!"
Before long, not a single part of Delphine’s limbs remained unscathed. The axe blade, having pierced her skin, tore through muscle fibers; in several wounds, the stark white of bone was visible.
She was in a state where resistance was impossible. Not only her shoulders, but her body from her thighs down to her calves had been butchered. The sheer volume of blood pooling around her made death from blood loss a certainty.
Sharp pain surged up Delphine’s spinal cord like needles. Having exhausted herself from screaming, she could now only glare at Ian, panting heavily.
His golden eyes were impossibly calm.
There was no hint of hesitation or distress. If anything, she would have preferred to see a flicker of joy, but his face was devoid of any emotion whatsoever.
Even with her pupils dilated, Delphine found that lack of emotion terrifying.
It made her feel like livestock in a slaughterhouse.
A butcher would likely wear such an expression while rending the flesh and bone of an animal. An expression of total indifference, doing the task simply because it was a job that needed to be done.
"Huu, ugh... K-kill... me..."
Her voice had gone hoarse from the high-pitched shrieks forced out by the excessive pain.
The confident, haughty tone was nowhere to be found. The woman merely pleaded with a pathetic expression, unable to even steady her trembling jaw muscles from how hard she had been clenching them.
She was begging for death.
It was her final shred of pride. This was a duel to the death with her noble honor on the line. She had been prepared for the end.
It wasn't a group effort; she had fought one-on-one and lost. It was a total defeat, both as a swordsman and as a noble. She chose death over enduring such shame.
Had her opponent been a more benevolent man, the violence would have ceased the moment Delphine admitted defeat. But as she had already experienced, Ian was a man who did not suit the word 'benevolence' in the slightest.
He was ruthless. Rather, that was Ian’s greatest strength as a swordsman.
He used violence without hesitation and cared nothing for his own injuries. His terrifying obsession with victory and his beastly combat instincts created countless variables in actual battle.
In a way, Delphine and Ian were the same kind of person.
The only difference was that while Delphine sought victory in all things, Ian only sought it when he drew his blade.
If there was one more similarity, it was that they felt no sympathy for the loser.
Just then, hearing Delphine’s plea, the man’s axe-work paused.
"...Kill you?"
"Y-yes... Huu, hkk... J-just kill me..."
At Ian’s low murmur, Delphine entreated him with a sound that was somewhere between a sob and a groan. Her blood-red eyes had long since grown clouded from the torture-like pain and blood loss.
She wanted to rest. She didn't want to hurt anymore.
She wanted to remain dignified, at least in her final moments. She didn't know about anyone else, but the man named Ian Percus showed no sign of fearing the Yurdina family to begin with.
He wasn't the type to worry about consequences before acting. Delphine clung to a faint hope regarding that trait and begged him.
"Y-you... h-huu... were going to k-kill me anyway, weren't you? T-then just get it over with..."
The man’s golden eyes shifted to the side for a moment. He seemed lost in thought.
"P-please... I’m begging you... It hurts too much. H-huuugh... Ugh..."
Dewdrops began to well in the corners of Delphine’s eyes and roll down her cheeks. Amidst her body, which was drenched in crimson blood, it was the only clear liquid falling.
Ian’s silence was brief. He spoke in his usual emotionless voice.
"I have no intention of killing you."
At those words, Delphine’s sobbing stopped instantly.
Light returned to her vacant, blood-red eyes. Her gaze turned blankly toward Ian.
He was letting her live?
It was an extremely rational decision. The Five Great Noble Families of the Empire possessed power that allowed them to act with authority before anyone except the Imperial Household.
There was no need to make an unnecessary enemy. Even in a duel of honor, killing the successor would undoubtedly leave a lasting grudge.
It would be better to extract a clean surrender from Delphine and plan for the future.
The problem was that the person who had just uttered those words was someone who could not be measured by such common sense.
If that had been his intention from the start, Delphine wouldn't be in this state. There wasn't a single part of her body left intact.
The tendons in her limbs had been shredded. Even if she wanted to struggle, she couldn't muster the strength. Curling up and groaning in pain was the best response she could manage.
He had crossed the line long ago. Was he perhaps using her life as bait to negotiate?
A faint glimmer of hope appeared in Delphine’s eyes. Begging for her life was one thing, but a deal was a different story. That was a process that took place between equals.
In other words, it was a way to preserve both her pride and her life.
However, the moment vitality returned to her face.
Crunch.
Ian’s axe slammed into Delphine’s thigh once more.
A scream erupted from Delphine’s mouth at the unexpected agony.
"Aaaaaagh! Hkk, agh, aaaaagh...!"
"...Death is quite a luxurious end."
As he spoke, he wiped the blood off his axe with his collar. It left a bloodstain on his clothes, but he didn't care.
His uniform was already a mess from the blood that had splattered off Delphine. Ian hung the axe at his waist and pulled out the sword that was still embedded in Delphine’s shoulder.
"Agh, aah!"
Blood gushed out. It was an amount of blood loss that would have killed an ordinary person. But death is reluctant to approach superhumans like Delphine.
She would die eventually, but her life wasn't in danger just yet. Her mana would be working at full capacity to produce more blood.
Ian coated the blood-stained blade with Aura.
The silver Aura gradually condensed, beginning to radiate a chilling sharpness. The incandescent blade floated in the air like a moon descended to earth.
Delphine’s eyes, which had been clouded with pain, went blank again.
No matter how she thought about it, this was strange. That level of Aura condensation was not something that could be replicated just by having a lot of mana. It was a realm that could only be shown by those who had reached at least the rank of High Sword Expert or higher.
Yet, he was replicating it effortlessly.
Ian looked down at Delphine again as if it were nothing. When his golden eyes met her blood-red ones, the man’s mouth opened quietly.
"Yurdina, you know, don't you? That scars caused by mana are difficult to treat even with divine power. Of course, the Academy has high priests, so most things should be fine, but..."
Hearing that, Delphine’s eyes turned back to the blade Ian held. The Aura radiating a brilliant silver light was, to anyone’s eyes, mana of the highest purity.
At that level, even a high priest wouldn't be able to effect a full recovery. There would be permanent aftereffects.
Realizing this, Delphine’s pupils shook violently.
"...What would happen if I pierced your arm with this Aura? And your legs?"
"W-what are you trying to do?"
Delphine’s voice was drenched in terror. Her body began to tremble involuntarily. In this moment, she couldn't even feel the pain that had been tormenting her so much.
It felt as if the world had narrowed. Only she and the golden eyes looking down at her existed in the world.
She was afraid. Delphine couldn't hide her trembling voice.
"Still, since the Saintess is here, you might be able to live a somewhat normal daily life. No... since I have a sacrifice, should I mangle you to the point where you can never hold a sword again?"
Those words pierced Delphine’s mind like an ice pick.
She froze, her breath hitched. Never being able to hold a sword again was something she had never even imagined.
It was the path she had devoted her entire life to.
To her, swordsmanship was like breathing. It was so intertwined with her life that she couldn't even conceive of it disappearing.
She had cried and laughed while swinging a sword. How could she not, when she had lived her whole life walking only that path?
And now, he was saying he would take that sword—take her entire life—away from her.
Delphine’s mind went blank. An unimaginable sense of emptiness, followed by a flood of terror, surged through her heart.
She would rather die. She absolutely hated the thought of that.
"Well, just in case, I should mangle your legs too. With the Yurdina family's wealth, you'll probably be able to walk somehow."
"S-stop..."
Delphine’s voice convulsed pathetically, soaked in fear. But the man didn't seem to care.
"I'm going to shatter your shoulder cartilage first. Then the tendons in your wrists."
"Stop it..."
"Even if you can't hold a sword, you have enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of your life. This isn't a bad trade in exchange for your life..."
"...Stop!"
In the end, Delphine couldn't take it anymore and screamed. That scream was no different from that of a common girl in the streets.
And then, her crimson eyes welled with tears.
It was a declaration of surrender.