Chapter 243
Chapter 243
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 243
Chapter Title: Blanca Roche (2)
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The slashing strikes continued from her shoulder blade to her chest, upper abdomen, and side.
The slashes cut through muscle and reached bone. She could vividly feel the breastplate protecting her torso being severed.
All strength drained from her body. Her legs could no longer support her weight. Before she could even muster the endurance to hold out, her knees hit the ground.
Blood gushed from the split wounds. The blood loss was no joke. If she weren't Master Class, she would have died long ago.
When the hell?
Blanca's mind filled with questions.
She hadn't even seen Demian Haksen's movements, let alone him swinging his sword.
"A bit shallow."
Demian Haksen said as he shook the blood off his blade.
Blanca Roche looked up at Demian Haksen with eyes shadowed by death.
"This time, I'll finish you for good."
Demian Haksen raised his sword. The blade once called a holy sword now looked like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.
Standing on the threshold of death, a flood of thoughts rushed through her mind.
What would happen if I die? What insults would people hurl at me? What blame would the Roche family face?
And Gael, my son—what would become of him?
Could that child overcome his illness? Would Sla help him? Would he come looking for me?
Could he accept that his mother was gone? Could he survive in this world alone?
Grit.
The moment she thought of her son, a faint spark of energy surged through her dying body.
She couldn't die like this. She couldn't leave that poor child all alone.
But right now, Blanca had no way to escape Demian Haksen.
That was when it happened.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
A shout exploded from afar. Blanca moved only her eyes to look toward the sound. The dean and several instructors were rushing this way.
"Fighting a deathmatch in the academy! Are you both insane?!"
The dean erupted in fury, unleashing his mana.
Even at a glance, he was a grand magus, so the mana he emitted was no trifling matter.
The instant she saw the dean, something flashed in Blanca Roche's mind.
"Help me!"
Blanca Roche pointed at Demian Haksen and cried out.
"This man suddenly attacked me! If you hadn't come, I would have lost my life!"
The dean and instructors glanced back and forth between the two.
Blanca Roche, who had long protected the academy, versus Demian Haksen, who had suddenly appeared.
It was obvious whose word the dean and instructors would believe.
"You scoundrel! So you went and did it!"
"Step away from Lady Roche right now!"
The dean and instructors bellowed at Demian. Demian scowled and said to them.
"Everyone, calm down and hear me out..."
"No excuses!"
The dean activated his magic. Light gathered in the air and shot toward Demian Haksen.
Demian Haksen raised his blade to block the beam. His body was pushed back. Thanks to that, Blanca was able to put some distance between herself and Demian Haksen.
"Seize Demian Haksen immediately!"
At the dean's command, the instructors surrounded Demian Haksen.
In the meantime, Blanca Roche scrambled away from the scene.
* * *
Demian sighed as he looked at the instructors surrounding him.
"Dean, you'll regret this later."
"You'll be the one regretting it! What are you waiting for? Subdue him!"
The instructors' eyes sharpened. They seemed poised to strike at any moment.
Most of the instructors were Master Class in skill.
Compared to Demian, they were far inferior, so dealing with them wouldn't be hard.
The problem was their positions.
Academy instructors commanded the respect of the imperial citizens.
They had abandoned personal ambition to nurture the empire's talents at the academy.
Killing or injuring such people would turn Demian into a target for arrows of condemnation.
At that moment, Demian remembered an item he had stored in his subspace.
Demian immediately opened his subspace and drew out a single treasured sword.
As Demian raised the treasured sword high, the charging instructors recoiled in horror.
"Isn't that... His Majesty's treasured sword?!"
"How does Demian Haksen have that...?!"
Demian shouted at the instructors, sword raised.
"I came here on His Majesty's orders to capture a black mage hiding in the academy! Anyone who blocks my path will be cut down by this blade!"
The instructors looked to the dean.
"Ah, no..."
Even the dean was too flustered to speak properly.
If Demian's words were true, the dean had defied an imperial command. That couldn't be overlooked.
"If you don't step aside, I'll sever your heads with this sword!"
At Demian's threat, the instructors hesitated and fell back.
In that instant, an explosion erupted in the distance. A deafening roar accompanied crimson flames shooting into the sky.
"Damn it."
Demian turned toward the explosion.
The dean and instructors could only stare at Demian's back like dogs chasing a chicken.
"...What do we do now?"
One instructor asked the dean. The dean covered his face with both hands.
* * *
Having escaped the scene, Blanca Roche pulled potions from her subspace and chugged them desperately.
Among them were dangerous ones that shortened lifespan. But Blanca Roche had no time to worry about side effects.
She didn't know when Demian Haksen might catch up. She needed to heal her wounds and recover her stamina as quickly as possible.
Right after her wounds healed, the first place Blanca headed was her son's hospital room.
Since she hadn't captured Demian Haksen alive, things would only escalate from here. She had to take her son and flee before that happened.
"Gael!"
Blanca Roche flung open the hospital room door, calling out urgently.
"Huh? What are you doing here~?"
"Lady Blanca, things were noisy outside. Don't tell me you fought Demian Haksen?"
But her son wasn't alone. He was with two men.
The two men wore the armor of the Pale Blood Knights. But there was no respect for Blanca in their demeanor.
"Why are you here...?"
"That's what we want to ask you~. Did you properly carry out Sla's orders~?"
"Don't tell me you lost to Demian Haksen?"
Just then, Blanca's eyes caught sight of Gael being held by the two men.
Gael had his eyes rolled back white and his head lolled backward.
"What have you done to my son?!"
The sight made Blanca erupt in rage. One of the men said with a weary face.
"Stupid bitch. Can't you see it's the opposite?"
"Lady Blanca, we're the ones saving your son."
Their words made Blanca freeze.
"More precisely, restarting him~."
"Take a good look."
One man jabbed a syringe into Gael's arm and injected the drug.
Gael's rolled-back eyes returned to normal. Strength entered his limp head.
"...Uh, uhh?"
Gael spoke with a bewildered expression.
"Mother? What brings you here at this hour? Huh? Who are these two?"
As her son came to his senses, relief spread through Blanca's heart.
The two men spoke to her.
"You know~, this is fake~."
"Your real son died long ago."
The words filled Blanca with an indescribable disgust. What nonsense, with the child right there alive and well...
"Your son wasn't actually afflicted with an incurable disease. His special bloodline manifested too strongly."
"Sla approached you to research that bloodline. Your son died during the experiments."
Blanca's disgust grew. She glared at the two men murderously and said.
"Stop spouting nonsense. My son is dead? When he's right there alive and... "
Suddenly, one of the men beside her ripped Gael's head from his body.
"No!!"
Blanca screamed and lunged for the head, catching it before it hit the ground.
"N-No... No! Q-Quickly... If I reattach it quickly..."
"Mother...?"
Blanca's body went rigid. She slowly lowered her head.
"Mother, are you okay? Why are you crying?"
No one lives with their head torn off.
No one speaks without a body.
"M-Mother... Mother... Mother..."
Gael began repeating the same words. Then he slowly melted away. White bone peeked through the dissolving flesh.
"M-Mother... Mother..."
Her son's head slowly stopped speaking. The life faded from his eyes.
Blanca turned to stone. Not even her breathing could be heard.
"Now do you believe us~?"
"It's a doll Sla made. She mixed in your son's memories."
"That's why~ no one notices it's fake~ Amazing, right~?"
Blanca slowly turned her head. In that short time, her eyes had dried up like an abandoned well.
"Ah..."
Blanca cradled her son's head in both arms.
"Aah..."
She buried her face in the ground and wailed.
"Aah... Aah..."
In that moment, the air heated up. Flames surged.
"Aaagh!"
Blanca unleashed crimson flames. The explosion blew the entire building away.
"Sla! Sla! Slaaa!"
Blanca screamed amid the endlessly burning inferno.
"I'll kill you! Right now! I'll kill you without leaving a single scrap!"
But Blanca couldn't bring herself to discard her son's head.
"You can't call our master by name so casually~."
Blanca froze at the man's voice.
Right after, black iron chains pierced through the flames and impaled her chest.
"Guh."
Blanca spat blood from her mouth but kept staring into the flames. She could see the two men standing unscathed within.
"H-How..."
No one could withstand the Roche family's crimson flames. Especially now, as Blanca had squeezed out her mana to the point of internal injury from rage.
"Thanks to your son~."
"Why do you think Sla researched him? Because of your family's special bloodline."
Blood kept bursting from her mouth. Blanca asked in a feeble voice.
"Then... the reason for kidnapping the children..."
"Ah, you're welcome. Thanks to you, we secured quite a few special bloodlines."
"Sla asked us to pass on her thanks."
The man grinned and yanked the chain. As it pulled out, it shredded her heart and lungs.
Blanca Roche breathed her last. Her lifeless body crumpled to the floor.
The head of Gael she held also fell to the ground.
From the impact, perhaps—the head she thought had stopped reactivated.
"Uh... Uhh..."
Gael's ruined eyes fixed on Blanca.
"Mother... Mother..."
With those words, the head finally stopped completely.
* * *
"Shall we head back to Sla now?"
Valentino said as he turned. Then Actur spoke.
"Before that, we have one more guest."
"What are you talking abou—"
A whoosh of wind reached Valentino's ears. Soon, someone landed before them.
The moment he saw the face, a delighted smile spread across Valentino's lips.
"Demian Haksen!"
But Demian Haksen wasn't looking at Valentino at all. His gaze was fixed solely on Blanca Roche collapsed on the ground.
"...So it was fake after all."
Only after muttering that did Demian Haksen look at Valentino and Actur.
"Demian Haksen, long time no see? Remember this old man?"
"I've never seen an uglier face in my life."
"Puhuhu, what a fun guy."
Valentino grabbed his head with both hands and twisted it forcefully.
Crack.
With a grotesque sound, Valentino's head rotated 180 degrees.
An angle that would kill a normal person. But Valentino didn't die.
Instead, he casually turned his neck back. Then his face began to change.
A gaunt face emerged, skin stretched taut over bone.
"Iron Pillar Valentino Michele."
Demian murmured lowly.
"I thought you got turned to ash challenging the Mercenary King. Guess Sla saved you in time."
"You still remember~ This old man is embarrassed~."
"Then the guy next to you is Sla's concubine too."
"Actur here. Once called the High Wall Knight."
"Oh, I remember. He used to guard the imperial palace. Then he defected to Sla and betrayed everyone."
"A shameful past."
The High Wall Knight Actur said politely.
"Sir Demian, come with us. Sla is waiting for you."
"What nonsense."
"You don't understand at all. Sla is waiting for you? Do you know what an honor that is?"
A slow smile spread across Actur's face, as if thrilled at the mere thought.
"You'll be held in the arms of the world's most beautiful woman. Imagine how blissful that is..."
Actur spoke in rapture. Demian Haksen replied disinterestedly.
"Beautiful? I don't get what's so pretty about a lump of meat."
Actur froze. He turned to Demian and asked.
"What did you just say?"
"Lump of meat. Not wrong, is it? Sla lost her original body long ago. It's just a big hunk of meat roughly shaped. You call that beautiful?"
Grind.
Actur ground his teeth. So hard it seemed they might shatter.
"You... There are things you can say and can't... Sla... that beauty... a lump of meat? How dare you... spout such..."
"Actur~? Calm down a bit..."
Even Valentino was flustered, trying to restrain him. But Actur's rage had long crossed the line.
"You blasphemous bastard...! I'll kill you right now... Bring you to Sla...!"
Actur was on the verge of berserk fury. He failed to notice.
That Demian Haksen had drawn the sword at his waist and lowered his stance slightly.
"Three Rings."
Demian's body vanished. The next moment, he appeared between Valentino and Actur.
"Huh?"
"Uh?"
Demian Haksen swung his sword.
Once to the left.
Once to the right.
The flash-like swing severed both their necks.