Chapter 715: Each Person's Fight (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 715: Each Person's Fight (5)
Had Gilly continued her training as a McLoran knight instead of becoming a Runcandel nanny, she might have been able to keep the promise she just made.
However, Dox was a Black Knight.
Even if his potential paled in comparison to Gilly’s, and even if he was now corrupted by chaos, the weight of the black helmet he wore remained just as heavy.
Furthermore, the Prophet had put a great deal of effort into his corruption. She had carefully twisted him just enough to be consumed by hatred and madness, while ensuring he retained his pride as a warrior.
In other words, the current Dox was more than capable of exerting his full strength.
[A mere nanny dares… How laughable, Gilly. You should have spoken those arrogant words back then. After you left the family, I crossed the threshold of death countless times to grow stronger. It was no different even after I donned this black helmet.]
Clang—!
“Ugh!”
Dox’s claw lashed out. Gilly managed to block it, but she didn’t dare contest his strength.
She gritted her teeth against the searing pain, as if her entire wrist were being torn from her arm. Her very bones shuddered with every attack she parried.
Yet, despite a face contorted in pain, Gilly held her stance, her eyes locked on Dox. The trembling in her claws ceased, replaced by a shroud of vivid aura.
[Not bad for someone who has rotted away in comfort.]
Dox’s one-sided assault was relentless. Gilly had to squeeze out every ounce of strength just to survive each moment, while Dox remained as relaxed as if he were toying with a child.
Strength, speed, experience.
There was not a single area where Gilly could currently best him. Her confident words had been nothing more than a provocation; she knew better than anyone that they had no basis in reality.
[This is as far as you go. What exactly did you think you could teach me?]
Crack!
The moment Dox finished speaking, a sickening crack echoed. While their claws were locked, he had suddenly shattered her balance and slammed his elbow into her wrist.
“Gah…!”
Gilly let out a groan and hastily sidestepped, but Dox gave her no room to escape, striking the same spot again. Shards of shattered bone pierced the flesh from within.
[This is the first time I’ve heard you scream.]
“Hah… Are you satisfied, then?”
[No. I’m disappointed. I had hoped that you—the monstrous Gilly of the past—would have something great left in you, despite the rust.]
“I am no monster, just an ordinary person. The monsters are you, Brother… no, the ones who turned you into this.”
[And yet you break so easily. It’s almost… hollow.]
Dox paused his assault.
Gilly seized the opportunity to create distance, quickly wrapping her shattered wrist with a bandage. It was a clumsy effort, her eyes never leaving him. Cold sweat drenched her body, and her breathing grew ragged.
Sigh…
Dox let out a long sigh. He could see nothing of the Gilly he remembered in this fragile figure.
Soon, he pulled something from his robes and tossed it at Gilly’s feet. She flinched, ready to defend, only to see a single black pill lying on the ground.
“What is this?”
[It’s called a Soul Pill. A creation of the Prophet.]
“If I eat this, will I become like you?”
[Your body will recover, and your energy will surge. Of course, even with the Soul Pill, your chances of defeating me are slim. But isn't that better than dying like this? More than anything… I want to see your old self just one more time.]
Without a moment's hesitation, Gilly stepped on the Soul Pill, grinding it to dust beneath her heel.
“I don’t need it.”
[How strange. Back when you were hailed as McLoran’s greatest genius, you acted as if you had no pride. Now, with death staring you in the face, you cling to stubbornness.]
Gilly steadied her breathing and pointed her claws at Dox once more.
“The reason I stayed silent back then, even when the family hated and ostracized me, was because I had been given the name McLoran. It was never because I lacked pride.”
[You were never a McLoran.]
“Regardless of how the family or you saw me, I never once forgot that I am a McLoran. Every bit of swordsmanship I possess, I learned from McLoran. Every happiness I have found in life, I earned because McLoran took me in.”
That was why Gilly had never spoken to Jin or her comrades about her past with McLoran.
—I am sorry, Young Master.
—Why are you apologizing?
—My family is being disrespectful toward you. It is likely my fault.
—It's fine, Gilly. You have nothing to be sorry for. I won't hold this against McLoran, so don't worry.
She had even apologized on behalf of the McLorans when they acted rudely by not sending an envoy after Jin became a Flagbearer. Even when Dox was captured by Jin, she had worried that her Young Master might harm him.
Of course, Gilly had suffered countless wounds during her time in McLoran. But she believed all that pain was incomparable to what she had gained after leaving the slums.
Jin, Murakan, and the comrades she had adventured with since their days as Reserve Flagbearers. They were her family now. A family she never would have had if not for McLoran.
The aura gathering on Gilly’s claws grew denser.
[You intend to settle this in one strike. Fine. I shall wait.]
“Do you remember this? The family's Decisive Technique you were so desperate to learn.”
[McLoran 66th Style… A nostalgic name, indeed.]
“You probably still believe the 66th Style was a technique created by the Patriarch.”
Dox’s eyes narrowed.
[…Are you saying it wasn't Father, but you?]
“Yes. It was known as a technique the Patriarch devised, but in truth, it was a technique I first created at the age of seventeen. That is why only I know its true essence, and why the Patriarch himself was never able to truly master it.”
[Heh. Father must have felt as inferior to you as I did. A pity. You should have taken the Soul Pill. You can't possibly execute the 66th Style with that broken arm. Still, show me. I will break it head-on.]
As Dox raised his claws and took a counter-stance, Gilly lowered her posture. It was a stance Dox had practiced millions of times since his youth.
‘A charge, acceleration, and a barrage of strikes. The structure is simple, but balancing the weight is extremely difficult. To think she created such a thing at seventeen…'
With a sharp cry, Gilly lunged.
If he had struck before the technique began, the outcome might have been different. But once the 66th Style was in motion, even Dox was forced to yield the initiative, if only for a moment.
However, Dox parried Gilly’s claws perfectly. Even if he’d been completely ignorant of the 66th Style, he would have escaped with only minor scratches. Against a technique he knew inside and out, it was effortless.
‘Three strikes here, then a low blow. The moment I block or dodge, she’ll rotate and change position.’
Dox, too, had perfectly mastered the 66th Style. Because of this, Gilly suffered even greater damage despite being the one on the offensive. Her aura began to backflow as she forced the technique through her broken body.
‘The technique inherently causes severe backflow. It’s impressive she’s managed to execute it this far with a shattered arm. Is this the end of it?’
If Gilly had truly created the 66th Style, then only the finale would be different from what he knew.
The conclusion of the 66th Style, as Dox knew it, was evasion. If the opponent was still standing after the barrage, the user had to retreat.
This made the 66th Style a precarious technique. The user had to endure the aura backflow while unleashing an explosive barrage to overwhelm their opponent. If that failed, they had to flee while still in that compromised state.
This was the part Dox had found hardest to understand while learning the technique. Because of this, he usually only performed about seventy percent of the style. The 66th Style was brilliant, but its inherent risk of backflow was a major limitation.
Therefore, Dox had believed that true ‘mastery’ of the 66th Style lay in aura control so perfect that it eliminated the backflow entirely—a state where one could unleash the full technique at any time without risk.
‘She’s lowering her posture again?’
Just as Dox braced for the final blow, Gilly lowered her stance again, returning to the opening form of the 66th Style.
Then, Gilly slammed both claws into the ground and arched her back like a roaring beast.
In that instant, Dox understood the true finale of the 66th Style.
‘It was a self-destruct technique. That’s why it was so extreme.’
All the aura backflowing through Gilly’s body was instantly converging into the blades of her claws, which were embedded in the ground. It was like a Runcandel volcano on the verge of eruption.
McLoran 66th Style.
Gilly McLoran.
When she first created the 66th Style at seventeen, she had named it after herself.
She had intended to tell him one day—when the family no longer hated her, when she and Dox had finally grown close.
She would tell him that the 66th Style was created to be his shadow. That it was designed for the moment she might have to die to save him.
Thus, Dox had completely misunderstood what it meant to complete the 66th Style. To perfectly execute ‘Gilly McLoran,’ one didn't need the control to suppress the aura backflow, but the method to utilize it. The true finale was to draw out the backflow to its absolute limit and detonate it all at once.
But Gilly no longer had any intention of dying for Dox.
Though she still felt a lingering affection for McLoran and Dox, despite how much they had hated her, the only people she would die for now were her Young Master, Murakan, and her comrades.
[The energy is fierce, but I have no need to dodge. The moment that explodes, you’re the only one who will die.]
“…This time, you've finally won, Brother. No… I suppose it's 'this time as well'…”
[If you had taken the Soul Pill, the resulting power might have been somewhat troublesome—]
Slash—!
Suddenly, a blade sliced through Dox’s side, and chaos energy erupted like a spray of blood. A newcomer had just infiltrated the battlefield and cut him down.
There were few people in the world who could land such a perfect surprise attack on a Black Knight.
“Did this hunk of dark meat try to kill our Strawberry Pie?”
Yona Runcandel.
From the moment she unleashed the 66th Style, Gilly had been counting on support from Nameless. Even if Nameless had infiltrated the surface separately from Kinzelo, it was about time for them to arrive.
Yona instantly brought Dox to his knees, plunging her sword into his chest. With Oul ambushing him at the same time, Dox had no choice but to fall.
[Cough…!]
As Dox fell, his eyes landed on Gilly, still kneeling with her claws planted in the ground. He could find no trace of resentment in her gaze.
Likewise, there was no sense of victory—only a hollow, melancholy look. An expression all too familiar to him.
Finally, Dox understood why Gilly always wore that expression.
It meant she had never wanted to hurt him.