Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: 83. Between Love and Friendship (2)
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Yuri had no intention of dragging the fight out.
Once his resolve was set, he only had two choices: kill or be killed. To kill without dying, he unleashed every ounce of firepower at his disposal.
Mana swirled atop Guilty.
It gradually swelled in size until it transformed into a massive vortex capable of engulfing the entire cavern.
The moment Yuri took a step forward, Sibylla's eyes turned pitch black.
The tentacles wriggling from her back surged upward, burrowing into the vortex. The unexpected intrusion shattered its fractal structure, triggering an explosion.
The sword of the spinning whirlwind broke apart.
Yuri had to endure the full backlash.
Countless scratches bloomed across his skin amid the mana blast.
"Urk..."
The inside was even worse.
But Sibylla hadn't emerged unscathed either. The black tentacles she'd wielded hung in tatters, twisted and limp.
Yuri didn't hesitate—he charged straight at her.
A tentacle blocked his path.
He sliced it into dozens of pieces with Guilty, then aimed for Sibylla beyond the debris. But the fragments reformed into wedges and stabbed at his back.
Startled by the sudden pain, Yuri pressed on anyway, swinging Guilty with all he had. Yet his strength faltered, and her sword blocked it.
Sibylla glared at him, her eyes black even to the whites.
Yuri let out a wry chuckle.
"Let's stop at wings. That's going too far."
"I told you to quit."
Sibylla twisted her sword sideways and drove her elbow into his chest. Her emaciated frame made the bone feel razor-sharp.
As Yuri staggered back, she swung her blade.
He ducked low, spun, and swept her legs with his own.
Sibylla tripped and fell.
Yuri immediately thrust Guilty downward.
She couldn't react in time, but a tentacle from her back shot up to block it. The appendage coiled around Guilty like a serpent and squeezed. Yuri's hand trembled violently.
In that instant, Sibylla kicked him square in the gut.
Yuri tumbled backward, barely clinging to Guilty.
Sibylla sprang up and slashed at him.
Regaining his footing, Yuri slashed through the air. The One-Point Thrust technique targeted her throat.
But it was shallow.
Blood trickled from the wound on her neck—a mere scratch.
As Sibylla touched her throat and tilted her head, Yuri took a deep breath.
Through spars with Muyongchan, he'd been researching the power of chaos. Sleep no longer brought rest, but Yuri accepted the trade-off.
The heart demon threatened him as much as it elevated his mastery of chaos.
The Mana Circulation Method known as Heart-Soul Severing, combined with the chaos it unlocked, synergized within his body.
Turbid mana swelled wildly.
The aura he exuded now rivaled the darkness of the black magic within her.
Yuri exploded forward.
His speed was far greater than before.
Chaos propelled him from behind. Time slowed, his accelerated thoughts razor-sharp. He attacked with every trajectory at his command.
To kill her.
That single intent consumed him.
Their relationship, the emotions between them—none of it mattered on the edge of a blade.
Yuri stripped away everything but his killing intent.
His sword aura turned venomous.
Filled with the resolve to kill her at any cost, even offering his own flesh.
Killing intent alone pressed upon the enemy.
Overwhelmed by Yuri's momentum, Sibylla's responses grew passive.
Gripping Guilty tight, Yuri advanced. In his eyes, the core of black magic coiled inside her but hadn't fully consumed her body.
Yet as the fight dragged on, its roots spread everywhere. The once-thin tentacles had thickened.
Black magic always grew stronger with time.
"Hoo..."
Yuri eyed the approaching tentacles.
There were three now.
"Three of them? You're hoarding too many wings."
The trio of serpentine tentacles lunged. Yuri twisted Guilty at various angles to parry, countering by severing them.
But they regrew longer with each cut.
Attacking them was pointless.
He had to destroy the core.
Yuri's gaze fixed on Sibylla beyond the writhing mass.
Chaos erupted fiercely within him, overloading his body. But he ignored it.
He closed his eyes, then opened them.
For a moment.
That instant stretched endlessly.
From the fall of his eyelids to their rise, time dilated.
Emerging from the interminable void, Yuri dodged the tentacles and pivoted sideways. He stepped forward, blinking.
As his eyelids descended.
Darkness unfurled.
Yuri saw the heart demon's landscape reforming: earth taking shape, blue sky overhead, mountains rising, sun tracing its arc.
The world assembling itself.
He endured it nightly, but now was the worst possible time.
His hand drifted to his waist. Guilty was right there.
Do what must be done.
Yuri stepped into the heart demon's world.
It didn't take long.
"..."
His eyelids rose.
The heart demon vision ended.
Sibylla and her three tentacles rushed toward him.
As if the world had paused and resumed, no time had passed during his trance.
No time to think.
Feeling Guilty's grip, Yuri advanced a step.
The chaos in his sword was fiercer, more savage. The tentacles held no terror.
He swung immediately.
They shattered into dozens of chunks.
Dashing past the flying flesh remnants, Yuri closed in on Sibylla in an instant.
Before she could react, he stabbed her abdomen.
Flesh parted around the blade.
He didn't stop, twisting it for maximum damage.
Her body shuddered.
Yuri probed relentlessly for the black magic's core inside her.
This damp, tenacious abomination seemed unkillable, but the sword art Heart-Soul Severing, left by his ancestors, held the power to fell even this evil.
He located it.
Yuri withdrew Guilty slightly, then swung hard at the spot.
Aiming to rip through her body and its core alike.
Heart-Soul Severing opened its maw to devour the foe.
Yet it halted halfway through her torso.
He looked up.
Sibylla glared at him, her bloodshot eyes brimming with moisture.
"That won't cut it."
Yuri glanced down.
Black, sticky goo clutched the Guilty piercing her body, halting its motion.
"Do it properly."
"Should I?"
Yuri unleashed a burst of chaos. Guilty vibrated, shaking off the clinging black magic.
Her body lifted slightly.
The rift widened.
The blade in her gut rose slowly toward her solar plexus, now carving through ribs.
The black magic core had fully fused with her heart. The more she wielded it, the tighter the bond. Her insides were already overrun.
Each surge of Heart-Soul Severing made the core retreat.
But there was nowhere left to flee in her flesh.
Yuri methodically sliced upward through her body as far as his power allowed. Her organs tumbled out.
Soon, Guilty touched her heart.
The core contracted sharply.
Yuri pressed on. The venomous grudge within thrashed, but Guilty steadily dismantled the black magic without faltering.
Her heart split in two.
The black magic detonated simultaneously.
The tentacles on her back crumbled to dust, swelling into black mist.
The entire cave filled with acrid smoke.
The death throes of the dying core reeked foully.
"Sibylla."
Yuri looked up.
Thanks to the black magic's stubborn vitality, she still clung to life. She gazed up at him quietly.
Yuri asked,
"Did I do it right?"
Sibylla gave a faint smile and nod.
"Yeah."
He recalled their first meeting. She'd feigned a stiff demeanor to hide her vulnerability, but Yuri saw through it right away. It tugged at his heart.
They'd grown close fighting orcs alongside the Allied Forces.
Between true friends, words weren't always needed to understand each other.
'Remember the Wish Ticket?'
In the tower's prison, he'd asked Sibylla about it.
'Looks like our fates diverged. The Wish Ticket's expired. Can't use it anymore, so if you want to, do it now.'
She could have demanded anything: don't stop me, leave the Holy Kingdom.
Even guessing his intentions, she never used it.
Silence.
That was her answer.
So Yuri knew the truth she couldn't voice.
He whispered,
"If you'd just asked me for help sooner..."
"No means no."
Sibylla smiled faintly.
"Yuri."
"Yeah?"
"The Wish Ticket. Still good?"
"Yep."
"I'll use it."
"For what?"
"Come closer."
"I'm really ticklish, though..."
"I'm sleepy now. So no messing around..."
"Got it."
Sibylla whispered into his ear. Yuri's expression clouded, then broke into a smile.
Yuri's group raced down the mountain.
Yuri had ultimately slain Sibylla and shattered the black magic's core. The Holy Kingdom's knights collapsed, drained of power.
Their fearless strength stemmed from the black magic within her.
With the situation clear, Yuri laid her body down and fled at once. They had to escape the mountain before more troops arrived.
"This should be far enough, right?"
"No pursuing forces."
"We pulled it off on a whim. Good job, good job!"
Francesco celebrated their victory.
But Yuri's face remained grim. Their win came at the cost of him killing his own friend.
While the group rested, Yuri stood apart, staring at the sky.
Jared approached.
"Your Highness. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"If you need a broad shoulder..."
"Don't."
"Want to shed some tears..."
"No."
"Understood."
Jared stood beside him. He reached for a friendly arm around the shoulder but withdrew it.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Jared cleared his throat.
"You sure you're okay?"
"I said yes."
"Then can I ask something?"
"Shoot."
"Lady Sibylla... she really wanted you to stop her, didn't she?"
"Yeah. Foolish girl."
"You two were just friends, right?"
"Right."
"But earlier..."
"Hm?"
"I saw the end. Nothing more between you?"
When the acrid fog billowed suddenly, Jared had rushed to save Yuri.
So he'd witnessed it.
Amid the choking smoke, the two conversed—even laughed at times.
They didn't seem like killer and victim on death's door.
They whispered something, then Yuri kissed Sibylla.
A kiss short if brief, long if lingering.
At its end, her head fell.
That was the last Jared saw.
"You saw."
"Yes."
"Keep it secret."
"Naturally."
"Jared."
"Yes?"
Jared looked at Yuri. He stared skyward with a bitter smile.
"Men and women can't just be friends."
Yuri patted Jared's chest and turned away.
"Uh..."
Jared watched his heavy retreating back for a long while.