Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Parallel Lines of Emotion 2
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“Huh?”
Adler stared at his own arm. His severed wrist flew into the air.
“Get that filthy hand away! This is in the presence of Lady Arael!”
The subordinate of Arael, who had been holding back until just moments ago due to her restraint, shouted excitedly.
‘What the hell? This guy? Did he just cut off my hand with his bare hand?’
With no weapon, just a chop from his hand blade, the bone and muscle had been cleanly sliced. Blood spurted from the smooth cross-section, as if it had been cut with an axe.
“Arghhh!”
As Adler screamed, a voluptuous woman herald behind him pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to the ground face-first.
She pulled out the hairpin from her hair, and it glowed with a vivid red heat, as if freshly forged in a smithy. With practiced skill, she cauterized the wound on Adler’s arm. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
“Arghhhh!”
“Oh my. Hold still. Aren’t you a big boy?”
She smiled brightly as she snatched a golden key from Adler’s hand.
The reason they had entered unarmed was that they didn’t need weapons at all. They were warriors and mages of such overwhelming power.
“That key!”
Azadin’s eyes locked onto the key taken from Adler, and he asked Brand.
“That’s the key to the Emperor’s treasure vault!”
“Ugh?!”
Azadin panicked at the words. They had come all the way to Lantarik, only for Arael’s group to take the Emperor’s treasure vault key?
But these foes were no pushovers. Even though they had come empty-handed, perhaps due to negotiations with Adler, their killing intent was anything but ordinary. More than that, he sensed killing intent from others beyond them.
‘That woman is the famous Dimia of the Flower. The man is the Seraph of the Bird? And there are more in ambush.’
As Azadin hesitated, Ismail stepped forward.
“Azadin! This is your chance to strike at Arael and prove your loyalty to the clan.”
In that instant, all their killing intent focused on Ismail.
“Not the clan—the Elder Council, you mean.”
The woman with the hairpin sneered. The man who had severed Adler’s hand glared at Ismail.
“Looks like you’re a servant. Don’t you know who we are?”
“How could I not?”
Ismail pointed at the woman with the hairpin.
“Dimia of the Flower.”
“Oh my.”
“And Seraph of the Bird.”
“……”
The man who had chopped off Adler’s hands with his hand blade glared at Ismail.
“Aleph of the Wind.”
A tsk from someone on the castle turret terrace echoed down.
“Indim of the Moon.”
Ismail pointed at the rooftop.
-Thud!
The roof tore open, and a shadowy figure cloaked entirely in robes landed. The Indim of the Moon had revealed itself, smashing through the building because Ismail had spotted it.
Judging by the Aleph and Indim still armed despite the disarmament... whatever Adler had done, his life was effectively in Arael’s hands.
“The leaders of the Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon team, the next candidates to lead the Aragas... but now traitors to the clan.”
“Then you know we’re not opponents you can take lightly, even empty-handed. Azadin, you should’ve trained your servants better.”
Arael approached Azadin with a smile.
“What are you thinking, Arael?”
“Thinking of saving the world.”
Arael’s answer was succinct.
“Saving the world?”
Azadin scoffed at her words... but he was afraid.
The era of Jupiter approached, and the gods were losing power. In this midst, the Arael he faced now was incomparably stronger than before.
Her tribe’s plan seemed to be to call her a goddess, elevate her to a living deity for worship—a mad scheme, but seeing her now, it seemed entirely feasible.
If that happened, she—the one Azadin loathed more than anyone—would become this world’s savior.
The hatred, contempt, and disgust Azadin harbored for her would find no sympathy from anyone, and already shunned among the herald clan, Azadin would become a true outcast, understood by no one.
To such an Azadin, Arael extended her hand.
“I’ll save the world and save you too, Azadin. You’re under the Curse of Servitude, right? Come here. Let big sis fix it for you.”
“…….”
As Arael reached out to Azadin, the Seraph and Aleph openly showed their displeasure. Were they worried that Azadin, joining late simply as Arael’s brother, might threaten their positions?
Fortunately for them, Azadin had no intention of accepting her offer.
“I refuse!”
Azadin’s hand went to his sword hilt.
Among Arael’s group, only the Aleph of the Wind and Indim of the Moon carried weapons.
But that didn’t mean the rest were to be underestimated just because they were unarmed. Hadn’t they just severed Adler’s arm bare-handed?
Yet before they could act, Arael herself stepped boldly into Azadin’s range. She entered weaponless, without a hint of tension, at a distance where a single draw of his sword could take her head.
Did she think he couldn’t swing at her because they were siblings? Even after the indelible scars she’d left on his face?
Azadin glared at her in disbelief.
“Is there a reason I should refuse? Why? Ah... because of Aldis?”
At the mention of Aldis’s name, Azadin flew into a rage.
“That’s exactly what I’ve always hated about you, Arael. Apologize to me first!”
“How dare you!?”
“Insolent! Azadin! Even if you’re Lady Arael’s blood kin, how dare you!”
As Azadin demanded an apology from Arael, her loyal retainers—the Four of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon—erupted in fury.
To them, Arael was a divine being, no different from a living goddess. She and humans were not equals, and even as her brother, Azadin was a powerless weakling.
Yet here he was, committing the rudeness of demanding an apology from her. Of course, they also feared that as her blood kin, he might join the organization and disrupt their hierarchy.
But Arael silenced their anger and apologized to Azadin.
“Everyone, stop. Why interfere in my conversation with my brother? When did you all get so cheeky?”
“S-Sorry, Lady Arael.”
“We couldn’t stand it.”
“Isn’t he just talking back less than Young Master Adler? Is my brother that distasteful to you?”
Arael had noticed her subordinates were especially wary of Azadin.
The Absolute One’s brother.
From the perspective of those sworn to Arael, there could be no more uncomfortable foe. That’s why they tolerated Adler’s outright insults but struggled with Azadin’s every move.
“First, Azadin. I apologize for my subordinates’ rudeness.”
“Is that it?”
“No. I apologize for everything. I’m sorry for bullying you as a child. And for hurting you.”
“…….”
“Happy now?”
Arael gazed at Azadin with an innocent smile.
She resembled Azadin, but unlike his eyeless gaze, her beautiful, alluring purple eyes—drawing one in like magic—belonged to a stunning beauty smiling without malice.
That sight disgusted Azadin beyond endurance.
“As if! I still wake from nightmares! You’ve made my life eternal torment, and you think a few words now will forgive it all?!”
“Of course I understand. That’s why I’m showing my sincerity.”
“Sincerity?”
“Yes. I’ll lift your Curse of Servitude, give you money, and if you want, even beauties. Glory, wealth, longevity. And women. Isn’t that the dream life for any man?”
“Ha, haha! Ridiculous.”
Azadin gripped his sword hilt. At the same time, his other hand flung a dagger. Almost simultaneously with the throw, he drew his sword toward Arael’s neck.
But Arael caught the incoming dagger mid-air and parried Azadin’s sword with it...
-Clang!
The sword flew from Azadin’s hand and embedded deep into the ceiling rafters.
It sank so deep that only the hilt protruded, trembling.
‘Impossible.’
Zibek and Shati, who knew Azadin’s superhuman strength, were stunned. Arael hadn’t yielded an inch to it. No—she was faintly smiling?
“It’s been a while. Let’s see how much my little brother has grown.”
“See all you want. But the price of admission won’t be cheap!”
“I’m looking forward to it? Oh, but no magic. You’re using the Kazas Scriptures, right?”
At that, the Four of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon panicked.
Arael’s power stemmed from stellar magic. To face him in pure hand-to-hand without it?
“Let me take your place. No need for Lady Arael to dirty her hands.”
The Aleph of the Wind stepped forward, but Arael shook her head.
“How is mixing hands with my brother dirtying myself? All of you, stand back. I won’t forgive anyone who interferes.”
“…….”
For Azadin, this was an opportunity. Arael probably wanted to crush him in his specialty to flaunt her superiority...
‘She underestimates the Kazas Scriptures. Now’s my chance.’
Arael and Azadin closed into each other’s range.
The close-quarters distance between herald clansmen—seemingly trivial, but deadly even unarmed.
Arael confidently approached Azadin, holding only the dagger she had just taken from him.
In that moment, Azadin pinned the hand holding the dagger while flicking open her quiver with his other. He grabbed the spilling arrows and thrust them at Arael.
But Arael casually swept the arrows aside with her hand blade and jabbed her fingers at Azadin’s temple.
Striking the skull’s temple with fingers? It seemed laughable, but he couldn’t allow it.
Azadin and Arael’s hands and feet crossed in a flurry of strikes, each clash exploding with air-bursting sounds.
“?!”
“Impossible!”
The onlookers were aghast.
Azadin’s allies, familiar with his monstrous strength, were shocked that Arael—with a woman’s body—could match it.
Arael’s subordinates were flustered that the known incompetent Azadin could hold his own against her.
“Not bad! As expected of the Kazas!”
Arael praised Azadin, recognizing his skill.
Then, in their evenly matched exchange, the balance shifted.
Azadin caught Arael’s thrusting wrist mid-motion, swept it downward, and bent her fingers.
-Crack!
Arael’s index finger snapped. As the startled Arael tried to pull away, Azadin’s arms coiled like vipers, dislocating her wrist too.
She yanked her arm free, using her own strength to pop the wrist bone back? No—Arael had pulled it out herself.
“You’re completely different from ten years ago!?”
Pain took a backseat to surprise as Arael complimented Azadin.
But Azadin had no intention of stopping. The Four of Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon were elites raised by the herald clan elders, each overwhelmingly skilled.
If he didn’t secure her now while she had stepped forward carelessly, he’d have to face all four.
‘At least take her hostage here...’
But then Arael smiled.
“I’m so happy!”