Chapter 3
The Flower That Bears a Sword - Chapter 3
Translation: godsn
It was electrifying. A dizzying sensation—like falling or soaring into the sky—coursed through her limbs. For the first time in three years, he was someone who understood her innermost feelings. He had peered into the heart of a woman who had slaughtered even her own family with her own hands. He had recognized the wretchedness she felt.
She trembled.
"Do you understand? Yes, I never wanted to do this. I truly...!"
Her body, stolen away by the Magic Sword, momentarily resonated with her intense emotions. The resistance ceased. Tears welled up. Then spilled over. Just a single drop.
His eyes, which had been gazing down at her, widened. Eki thought those blue irises looked dazzling. Every minute movement of his became vividly clear to her. His lips moved slowly.
"A tear."
"Captain?"
"You're crying."
"...Who? Surely not me."
"That can't be."
"Wasn't it you who said no trace of self remains once the Magic Sword devours someone? Captain, that's just a body being puppeteered by the Magic Sword."
The knights refuted him one after another. Yurien shook his head.
"She's still there. She's fighting."
"Fighting? Against what?"
"The Magic Sword. Against her own will."
He was right. Echinacea was endlessly battling the black stains consuming her body. She had never won, yet she kept fighting. She hadn't given up. Had she done so, she would have lost herself long ago.
No one could have known—that within the demon possessed by the Magic Sword, she was desperately struggling to resist it, to reclaim her body. Yet her consciousness had endured just like that.
And he was the first to notice that struggle. The man who stood against her.
It was a feeling difficult to put into words.
Eki wanted to burst into tears. She wanted to cling to someone and sob her heart out. To pour out everything—how much she had suffered, how horrifying it had been, how sorry she was to everyone, how she truly didn't want to die as a demon, how she begged for someone, anyone, to save her.
But that single teardrop was all she could muster. Soon, her eyes dried, and Echinacea's body began to thrash. She bared her teeth like a beast and snarled. The red-haired knight clicked his tongue.
"Ugh, this is disgusting. Let's finish this and go back."
"Even if some consciousness remains, it doesn't matter. Our duty hasn't changed."
The blond knight urged them on. Yet Yurien didn't move. He stared intently into Echinacea's darting eyes before speaking.
"We can't."
"Huh?"
"There's still a possibility."
"What are you— Wait, Captain, hold on, are you seriously...?"
The redhead stammered, flustered. The burly knight, who had immediately grasped his meaning, bluntly objected.
"Captain. Overcoming the Magic Sword is impossible."
"No. There is precedent."
"You're not talking about that swordsman from legends—or was it real?—who supposedly wielded a Magic Sword, are you, Captain Yurien?"
"Captain, even if it were possible, the demon of the Magic Sword has already committed unforgivable acts. You know how many territories have been devastated to the point of collapse by that woman's hands."
"Territories are the least of it! The Empire had to recruit city guards to fill the ranks of the knight orders because so many knights died, and the Magic Tower lost nearly all its senior mages. Quite a few royals and nobles died too, didn't they? There's no way around a death sentence here."
As the knights took turns voicing their arguments, Yurien, who had been silently listening, finally responded.
"The damage worsened partly because we were too late."
"What? We weren't late by choice! The Imperial bastards kept insisting they could handle it themselves until things got this bad!"
The red-haired knight protested, but instead of answering, Yurien removed the sword pressing against Echinacea's throat. Before she could react, he swung his blade.
The pommel at the sword's end, charged with mana, struck her solar plexus. Already wounded, the blow to her vitals sent her body collapsing into unconsciousness. Through her fading awareness, she heard their conversation.
"Unintended sins cannot be condemned."
"This is insane. Hey, Yul, normally I respect that whole knightly honor thing, but this is just wrong."
"Captain. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"That woman—"
"...Why—"
"Impossible... Punishment—"
Amidst the muffled voices, his words carved themselves sharply into her mind.
"I will give her a chance."
A single ray of light, descending like a miracle.
If only severing the arm that wielded the magic sword could separate her from it—but that was impossible. Valdergiosa, like all swords of the Giosa Series, was a blade imprinted upon the soul itself.
Echinacea Roaz was imprisoned in the underground cells of the Azure Sky Knights' headquarters in the city of Agenka. As a precaution, they fitted her with specially crafted sealing tools and bound her limbs in chains.
The Empire demanded the execution of the Demon of the Magic Sword, but Yurien dismissed their demands. Their words held no weight—not after they had stubbornly insisted they could handle the situation themselves, only to inflict massive casualties and finally beg the Azure Sky Knights for help.
Eki didn't want to waste the chance Yurien had given her. She focused solely on the battle to reclaim her body from the sword. The sensation of killing was too overwhelming; whenever the magic sword went on a rampage, breaking free of its grip was nearly impossible. Now, while her body was restrained from slaughter, was her only opportunity.
Beneath her feet lay the abyss of the unconscious; above her, the vast void of awareness. Standing upon the slumbering depths of the unconscious, she fought against the version of herself tainted black by the sword's mana. She had no concept of how much time passed. She suffered hundreds of defeats, nearly buried beneath the tides of the unconscious again and again. Still, she kept rising.
Eki never knew she was capable of such relentless effort. The self she remembered had been lazy, sleepy, reluctant to move.
But now she knew. Pushed to the brink, she had discovered her true nature. She wouldn't give up. She couldn't. She refused to lose to that damned sword, the thing that had ruined everything.
When exhaustion nearly broke her, she imagined what came after victory. Shatter the fucking magic sword, then take a bath. After that, she'd sleep like the dead, without a single dream. When she woke, she'd comb her hair, put on fresh clothes, eat warm soup and soft bread. And then—
...I'll confess everything to Yurien. If he gave me this chance, maybe he'll also tell me what to do next.
Strictly speaking, every massacre committed by Echinacea Roaz had been the sword's sin, not hers—yet she couldn't draw a clean line between herself and those atrocities. In the end, it had still been her hands drenched in blood.
Inside the underground cell, her body snarled, screamed unintelligible words, clawed at the walls and floor until her fingers bled, and thrashed like a mad beast. But she could no longer kill anyone. And her mind fought on, endlessly.
During those days, Yurien occasionally visited the dungeon.
"Still holding on?"
"Yes."
He would observe her from a distance, peering through the small barred window set high in the iron door.
Approaching Echinacea Roaz was forbidden. Valdergiosa, the Sword of Slaughter, instinctively sought to kill any human nearby. Even the guards who delivered food and water would place the bowls inside the double-layered door and retreat immediately.
Yurien always stood alone in that narrow space between the doors, watching Eki silently from beyond the bars. He never spoke to her.
Just watching. With those quiet, blue eyes.
In his eyes, there must have been only a woman darkened by corruption, chained and thrashing about like a beast. Yet every time, Eki felt as though he was truly seeing her. Not the body tainted by the magic sword, but her soul—fighting desperately against it.
'That can't be.'
It was nonsense. Even as she denied it, the same thought crossed her mind every time Yurien visited.
She was glad he came. He was waiting for her victory. Watching over her, believing she would overcome the magic sword. Eki wanted to prove his faith in her right.
'Once I reclaim my body, I'll meet him...'
She had so much to say to him. So very much. She gathered those words inside her, stacking them carefully. They gave her strength.
She wanted to win. To break free from the magic sword, to greet him with a smile when he came to watch over her, just like always. She dreamed of such a miracle.
But miracles did not happen.
In a way, the circumstances were simply unlucky. But the outcome was so horrific that she couldn't dismiss it as mere misfortune—nor could she ever forget.
The jailer suddenly opened the double doors and stepped inside. Likely, he had come to check if Echinacea was dead, given that her body had lain motionless for three days.
It was the magic sword's doing. The moment the jailer stepped within reach, Eki's limp chains lashed out, wrapping around his neck. He died in the blink of an eye.
No, stop! Stop it, please!
Her silent screams were meaningless.
The Sealing Tool prevented her from wielding the magic sword's true form. So instead, she used the jailer's sword to sever her chains. She had heard that a knight honed to the extreme could cut metal even without mana—but she never imagined she'd be the one proving it.
Echinacea rifled through the jailer's pockets, retrieved the keys, and unlocked the doors. She slaughtered every guard in the prison and even found the key to the Sealing Tool. The moment its suppression lifted, she knew disaster was inevitable.
If Yurien had been there—if just one more Giosa Owner had been present—they might have stopped her. But fate was cruel. Yurien had briefly left Agenka, and the only remaining Owner was the Vice-Captain of the Knights. A man named Baron, the largest among the knights who had come to subdue her.
Eki ran wild. Baron held the line to the last, evacuating others as he stood in her way—until his head was severed. With him gone, she slaughtered every living soul in Agenka. Then she waited for the remaining Giosa Owners—the ones she now saw as "dangerous enemies."
Days later, the golden-haired knight Teresa and the red-haired Dietrich returned from a mission together. They found Echinacea in Agenka, drenched in crimson. Dietrich fought desperately to protect Teresa—only for her to save him instead.
"Someone has to inform the Captain."
"If Teresa goes—!"
"You won't last five minutes if you stay! Shut up and go!"
With those words, she sent him away. Eki, held back by Teresa's all-out struggle, lost Dietrich. She killed Teresa first, then spent the entire night hunting Dietrich through the mountains before finally ending him.
It was a horrifying time. For them—and for her.
At last, Yurien arrived.
He saw his home—now a rotting pile of corpses. The stench was overwhelming. Echinacea greeted him at the foot of that mountain of death. Behind her, the fountain ran red.
Yurien paled, bit his lip until it bled, then turned cold as ice. His blue eyes, fixed on her, looked as though they had cracked.