Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Even If I Lose the Light 10
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Azadin decided to deal with Hatir first.
He grabbed the Black River bow scavenged from the battlefield and nocked Kazas Hasse's Yellow Crane arrow before firing.
The arrow rode a curving wind, tracing a path far from Aldis as it flew toward Hatir. Its hesitant trajectory betrayed a reluctance to accidentally hit Aldis.
But Aldis shifted her stance and loosed her own Black River arrow.
- Boom!
The Black River arrows collided midair, their paths disrupted.
Aldis had enchanted her bow with magic, but Azadin's brute strength and the bow's superior power canceled it out.
"You've grown strong, Azadin."
"Aldis..."
Azadin bit his lip, staring at Aldis blocking his way.
Before she earned the name Araelle, she had been called the Reincarnation of Harconia. To be compared to Harconia meant she was the strongest of the Herald race.
And now, that supreme being stood as his enemy, barring his path.
"To stop you, I'll have to sever at least an arm or a leg."
"That works both ways."
"......"
Suddenly, Azadin's mind cleared.
Right. Subdue Aldis. Even if it meant cutting off a limb, as long as it didn't threaten her life, it was better than death.
But could he truly subdue the Herald race's mightiest warrior so easily?
At that moment, Hatir tossed his Black River sword to Aldis.
"Use this!"
Aldis waved it off without catching it. The Black River sword floated up on its own, dancing through the air around her.
"Then!"
The Black River sword shot toward Azadin's knee. It was fast but predictable. Of course, Aldis's attacks wouldn't be that straightforward.
Sure enough, as she launched the Black River sword, she hurled her spear overhead, drew her bow, and fired at Azadin.
- Clear Wind, Bright Moon!
Arrows poured from her quiver, glowing with blue magic as they swirled in circles through the air. Like a flock of vultures circling prey, countless arrows hovered menacingly.
If Azadin faltered blocking the Black River sword, those arrows would rain down and tear him apart.
But Azadin hurled Grimsrowne's club to parry the Black River sword flawlessly, then kicked up his own arrows from their quiver with his heel.
Arrows leaped from the quiver, and Azadin snatched one and fired. Aldis's Clear Wind, Bright Moon-enchanted arrow exploded.
Azadin poured immense power into each shot, shooting down Aldis's magic arrows one by one.
As the Clear Wind, Bright Moon arrows surged toward him in unison, Aldis charged.
- Shiiiek!
Her spear tore through the air, morphing into countless shadowy afterimages.
Seven rapid thrusts in quick succession, like lightning strikes. And the most dangerous long thrust was invisible to the eye.
This technique, 'Shadow Over Cherry Blossoms,' which hid a shadow attack amid flashy strikes, was impossible to counter on first sight.
Yet Azadin deflected it with the Blue Executioner.
He already knew Aldis's signature move.
He couldn't block it entirely—scrapes marred his body—but the spear glanced off, closing the distance. Aldis was now in Azadin's striking range.
"Hup!"
Now it was Azadin's turn! He gripped the Blue Executioner like tonfa and lunged forward.
Though massive compared to Aldis, his charge was blindingly swift and sharp.
Ducking low as he advanced, his attack started at his eye level and dropped to Aldis's ankle height.
Accounting for her retreat, he closed a spear-and-a-half's distance in an instant.
With such mobility, he could have traded blows even against a spear wielder, but Azadin had deliberately let her attacks graze him perilously to draw her in.
And then Azadin's assault unfolded.
A vertical cleave from the Blue River blade that could bisect Aldis. But it was blocked by the Black River sword. The sword Aldis controlled soared through the air, dancing to intercept Azadin's strike.
Then Aldis's spear multiplied momentarily into two, then three, snatching the Black River sword from midair and spinning it.
The Black River sword and spear intertwined in a complex dance, absorbing Azadin's attacks.
But that wasn't all. Aldis drew the curved sword from her waist and slid it along her long spear's shaft.
The curved sword whirled to life, clinging to the spear like a flail's head. The long spear became a two-headed flail with the Black River sword and curved sword, whipping chaotically.
Aldis swung it like a true flail at Azadin. Even if he dodged the spear, the dancing blades at its tip pursued him.
'As expected, she's formidable. Stronger than anyone I've faced! Truly Aldis...'
And above all, even now, Azadin felt the urge to throw himself onto that spear.
'If I died on that spear, would Aldis grieve? Would she remember me forever?'
Foolish thoughts like that filled him, his heart aching amid the fight.
But life was cruel... Azadin reflexively defended himself and pressed the battle.
His arm swatted away the incoming curved sword and Black River sword, his knee kicked down the thrusting spear. Then he spun over the whipping long spear, closing the gap to Aldis in a flash.
"Impressive!"
Aldis exclaimed in admiration.
Azadin, having closed in, swung the Blue Executioner at her again.
But...
'Huh?'
Azadin sensed something off in Aldis's movements.
'She's not dodging?'
For a split second, she gazed at him with pride as he broke through her assault. Perhaps she was captivated that the once weakest, frailest boy of the clan had grown enough to pierce her defenses?
Even in the heat of life-or-death combat, that warm regard made Azadin's heart ache.
That fleeting lapse proved fatal for both.
Azadin swung the Blue Executioner while shifting his axe-spear grip to a tonfa hold.
This was ideal for deflecting heavy blows. Extending sword or axe grips to catch a swing concentrated the force on the wrist, but a tonfa grip distributed it across the entire arm.
But it shortened his reach. Azadin had stubbornly used the tonfa grip, compensating with explosive charges, only to switch at the critical moment.
The shift was so swift and cunning it looked like the weapon extended from his hand on its own.
Grabbing the shortened axe-spear shaft left him with a short battle-axe length.
But Aldis recovered and counterattacked. The Black River sword flew at Azadin's throat.
- Thud!
- Clatter!
Chainmail tore, and iron links rained onto the shattered palace floor tiles from the earthquake.
At the same instant, Azadin's swung Blue Executioner struck Aldis's arm.
He'd aimed for her neck, but she blocked with a dagger—only for it to snap cleanly, the axe-spear biting into her arm.
The Blue Executioner cleaved her arm, inflicting a gruesome wound. It severed and flew off.
But Aldis's Black River sword had also flown true at Azadin's nape, and he shielded his neck with his left arm.
His armor shredded, bones snapped. Not the wax arm Scott had made, but from the elbow up through the shoulder—the Black River sword pierced it.
Azadin and Aldis had each claimed an arm.
"...Impressive, Azadin."
"Aldis..."
But Azadin didn't lower his guard.
Aldis bore the king's bloodline. She had claimed Koral Sahar's throne, and from what Azadin had seen, it remained untainted—a potent source of white magic.
The king's healing miracle. Aldis could use it.
However.
Aldis's knees buckled. Blood poured from her wound.
Unlike Azadin, who had parried the Black River sword, Aldis took the full Blue Executioner hit.
Its blades generated repulsive force that widened wounds on both sides, spectacularly lopping off her arm. Massive blood loss from her left arm, close to her heart.
Azadin's wound, by contrast, was a thrust. Though his arm was severed, he could clamp his armpit for some hemostasis, unlike her.
Beyond that...
Aldis showed no will to live either.
Like Kazas, when her beliefs clashed with her clan's aspirations, she lost her will to survive.
She had embraced Azadin—the eyeless wretch—without hesitation, fair and merciful. For such a woman to partake in the clan's mass slaughter of the Hubris folk was wrong from the start.
"What are you doing? Use the king's healing! Aldis! Your life isn't yours alone! The clan's aspirations! Will you abandon our ancestors' dream? You can do it! If you're my daughter, heal yourself and execute the traitor!"
Hatir roared from the throne, urging her. Aldis snapped back to reality.
"I'm sorry, Azadin. I..."
Golden light flickered from Aldis. She was activating the king's healing miracle.
But when it shone, its target was not Aldis—but Azadin.
"I'm sorry, Father. I... Azadin..."
Aldis's head lolled limply to the ground.
*********
"Aldis!"
Azadin stared in shock as she healed him, scrambling up—but blood loss left him too weak to advance, his face slamming into the dirt first.
"Ah... ugh......"
A silent scream bubbled in his throat like phlegm.
Aldis was dead.
Kazas, Aldis...
And Aldis had died by Azadin's own hand.
'She was my star, my light, my everything!'
'How could these damned Hubris folk force me to kill Aldis with my own hands!'
'Was that ideal worth protecting? Really?'
Azadin crawled toward her fallen form.
The Black River sword wound wouldn't heal cleanly even with miracle magic, ragged and torn. Blood sprayed as he dragged himself, but he felt no pain.
His heart was already shredded; he couldn't feel bodily pain.
"Foolish boy. And... foolish daughter."
Hatir rose from the throne. His wounds largely healed, he raised a hand, and the fallen Black River sword trembled before flying to him.
- Rumble!
Another quake hit, black smoke billowing from the corrupted quartz throne.