Chapter 66. The Fallen Count
The Fallen Count
Amid the clamor of fierce hand-to-hand combat, a piercing scream split the battlefield.
"Count! Please... save me!"
All eyes turned toward the sky above the castle gates.
A black portal tore open, revealing Belial—but he wasn't alone.
Dozens of black tentacles sprouted from behind him, ensnaring the small, delicate maid, Riri.
"RIRI!!"
Lucian's mind snapped.
Riri's condition was horrific. Her maid uniform hung in tatters, her undergarments torn away, leaving her completely exposed.
"Ugh! Ah! Aaah!"
Thick, slime-dripping tentacles groped her suspended body. Two tentacles forced her legs wide apart, while others crushed her small breasts mercilessly. Her nipples were already bruised and swollen red.
But the worst was her lower half.
Two grotesquely ridged tentacles thrust violently into her vagina and anus simultaneously.
"Ahh! No! Stop!! My lord!!"
Riri's screams didn't cease.
The shy little maid who always blushed and bowed her head in Lucian's presence was now being violated without mercy by the monster's tendrils.
"Annoying. Shut up."
Belial flicked his fingers, and a thick tentacle shot toward Riri's face.
Gulp!
"Ghk! Ugh! Mmmph!!"
The tentacle forced itself deep into her mouth.
Tears streaming down her face, Riri hung limply in the air like a broken doll, penetrated in every orifice.
"AAAAAAAAH!!"
Lucian's rationality shattered.
His crimson eyes flooded with bloodlust as red mana exploded from his body. Even Rimeyer, standing beside him, shuddered at the sheer ferocity.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Lucian raised his holy sword and charged recklessly at Belial, who was descending toward them. Defense meant nothing now.
"Kukuku... Hooked like a bitch in heat, Eckhart's dog."
Belial smirked cruelly before hurling Riri at Lucian like a sack.
At the same time, he chanted:
[Dark Bind]
Black chains coiled around Lucian's body, freezing him mid-air.
"Pour everything you have onto him!!"
With that command, Belial launched a massive green fireball.
Elite rebel mages and archers unleashed a barrage of spells and arrows.
Rimeyer lunged forward, deflecting some with her sword—but not all.
Yet Lucian didn't dodge.
He caught Riri mid-air.
Turning his back to the enemy, he curled around her, shielding her with his body.
BOOM! THUD! THUD!
"Guh...!"
Fireballs, ice spears, and arrows pierced his defenseless back.
His armor shattered. His flesh burned.
But Lucian didn't retreat a single step, cradling Riri's head protectively.
"My... lord...?"
Riri looked up at him with trembling eyes.
A mouthful of blood spilled from Lucian's lips, splashing onto her cheek.
"Are you... hurt... Riri..."
Then, coughing blood, he collapsed to his knees.
Something in Rimeyer's mind snapped.
"You... WORTHLESS VERMIN!!"
Her blue eyes glowed like frozen steel.
How dare they—how dare they lay a hand on him?!
WHOOSH!
A blizzard erupted from her blade.
"PERISH!!"
CRACK! BOOM! BOOM!
With a single swing, the elite soldiers who had attacked Lucian froze solid—then exploded into shards of ice.
"My lord!!"
The captain of the guard tried to push through, but the tide of soldiers made it impossible.
Then—
SCREECH—BANG!
The castle gates finally burst open.
"CHAAAAARGE!!"
The allied forces waiting outside flooded in with a deafening roar.
The tide of battle turned instantly. The rebels, overwhelmed, began to retreat.
Belial and a handful of guards were the only ones left standing.
Rimeyer stood protectively over Lucian's fallen form, locking eyes with Belial.
Just as Belial opened his mouth to command his remaining forces—
[Flash]
A blinding light—and Rimeyer vanished.
SLASH! THUD. THUD. THUD.
In the blink of an eye, the heads of Belial's elite knights tumbled to the ground.
Rimeyer's once-white armor was now drenched in blood.
"...Tch."
Belial's face twisted. This was beyond his expectations.
"So you're the famed Knight Commander. I am Belial, the ancient dark ma—"
SHINK!
Rimeyer's glacial blade stabbed straight for his heart.
"GAAAH!"
Belial twisted away—but not fast enough. The sword carved a deep gash from his shoulder to his chest, black blood gushing out.
"You... insane bitch!"
Gritting his teeth, Belial tore a [Spatial Teleportation Scroll].
"Tell Eckhart... we'll meet again!"
POOF!
He vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
With their leader gone, the remaining rebels lost all will to fight, dropping their weapons.
Victory was theirs—but no cheers followed.
"Ugh..."
Rimeyer staggered, dropping to one knee.
Her entire body was slick with blood.
"Commander!"
Her subordinates rushed forward, but she shoved them aside.
"I'm fine... Lucian... Is the Count... alive?"
Lucian lay unconscious, his back a mangled ruin. In his arms, Riri sobbed, still naked.
A brutal victory.
The allied flag now flew over Eckhart's walls—but beneath it, far too much blood had been spilled.
[After the Civil War]
The flames of rebellion had been quelled—but at a terrible cost.
The kingdom showed no mercy. Nobles who had sided with the traitors were executed one after another.
"Spare me! I was just swept up in the moment!"
Marquis Valmore, the lecher who had once tried to assault Nancy, now groveled pathetically on the execution block, his greedy eyes wide with terror.
Viscount Gamon, who had orchestrated the downfall of Ella's noble house, met the same fate, his head rolling amidst the jeers of the crowd. Their lands were seized by the crown.
As for the rebellion's mastermind, Second Prince Kaelus—
His royal blood spared him the executioner's blade. Instead, he was stripped of his succession rights, his tongue cut out, and exiled to the northern wastes, where monsters roamed freely. A fate worse than death.
The war was over—but the damage to House Eckhart, the iron pillar of the north, was devastating.
The walls lay in ruins. The people had lost their homes. And worst of all—the family's foundation, Count Lucian, was absent.
Eckhart Castle - The Master's Bedchamber
Thick curtains blocked the windows. The air was heavy with the scent of medicinal herbs, blood, and divine energy.
"......"
On the bed, Lucian lay like a corpse, his face deathly pale.
His body was wrapped in bandages, and a massive magic stone rested on his back, forcibly sustaining his life after Belial's dark magic and the rebels' attacks had torn through him.
That day, his soldiers had thought him dead.
Seeing the horrific wounds piercing his back, their cries of victory turned to wails of grief.
"My lord!! MY LORD!!"
The captain of the guard clutched Lucian's bloodied form, howling like a beast.
The unshakable mountain that had always shielded them had fallen.
Then, Rimeyer, her armor drenched in blood, staggered forward.
She didn't cry.
With cold fingers, she pressed against Lucian's neck.
No pulse.
But she could feel it—the faintest ember of life still flickering within him.
...Thump.
A heartbeat. Weak as a dying candle.
Rimeyer's blue eyes trembled.
"He's alive... He's STILL ALIVE! Fetch the medics!!"
A week had passed since then.
Lucian still hadn't opened his eyes.
He breathed—but it was a state neither living nor dead.
"O Goddess... Take my life instead. Spare his."
Sophia never left his bedside, praying ceaselessly.
White divine energy flowed from her hands, purifying the remnants of Belial's poison from Lucian's wounds. Her devotion—neither eating nor sleeping—was the only reason he still clung to life.
"Lucian... Please..."
His fiancée, Rachel, who had rushed to his side upon hearing the news, held his hand and wept through the night.
Regret consumed her.
What did premarital chastity matter? What did family honor matter?
She should have told him she loved him. Held him when he needed it.
Before his body grew this cold, she should have warmed him in her arms.
Now, she kissed the calluses on his hand, swearing that if he woke, she would give him everything.
The maids took turns watching over him.
Maria wiped his body with a damp cloth. Nancy and Ari brewed medicine.
Riri... couldn't even enter the room.
Traumatized, she crouched outside the door, weeping. The guilt that her master had fallen to save her crushed her fragile heart.
Night deepened.
While the others slept, exhausted, only Rimeyer remained awake, guarding Lucian.
She sat in a chair, staring intently at his face.
The man who had always been so unshakable, so strong—now lay weak and broken.
"You... don't have the right to die."
Her whisper was barely audible.
"You beat me... and now you'll leave without taking responsibility?"
Carefully, she reached out, resting her hand over his bandaged chest.
...Thump... thump...
His heartbeat—weak, but undeniably stronger.
Had Sophia's prayers reached him? Rachel's tears? The desperate hopes of all the women who loved him?
"Wake up, Lucian."
Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Rimeyer waited—for dawn, for a miracle.
The long northern winter night stretched on.
[Images: The aftermath of battle, Lucian's wounded form, the women keeping vigil.]