Chapter 37
Chapter 37
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Long Time No See, Celia
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Long time no see, Celia."
The black-armored knight lowered his head with a smile.
"You still look just as loathsome... I'm truly relieved."
No one realized what he meant at first—until the other three knights all raised their heads, their pupils a eerie blood-red, with vast black tattoos writhing beneath the skin of their right cheeks like twisted venomous serpents, fierce and terrifying.
A deathly, decaying aura enveloped them, as if they were devils freshly crawled from the depths of hell.
"Y-You... what are you...?" Charlie shook harder and harder, then suddenly screamed and stumbled toward the exit!
Gavin barked sharply,
"—Stop!"
But the terrified Charlie ignored him completely. He only managed a few steps before one of the knights behind him casually raised a hand. The entire palm, down to the fingertips, was encased in black leather gear, with slender serrated gears extending from the pads. The five fingers clenched in midair, yanking Charlie's body clean off the ground!
"AAAAHHH—"
Charlie let out a strangled roar, as if gripped by an invisible hand around his neck and hoisted into the air. With a squelch, his neck tore open from the side, blood spraying from the jagged wound!
"That's enough, Barnett," the lead black-armored knight said with a laugh.
"Trouble you for it."
The knight named Barnett suddenly tightened his fingers. Charlie let out a wretched scream as a jet of blood erupted from his neck. In that instant, everyone understood what "that's enough" meant. Claire lunged forward with a roar:
"No—!"
Clang!
The sharp clash of metal on metal exploded—Gavin wrenched free from the black-armored knight's grasp at the last second, appearing before Barnett in a gust of wind. A cold gleam flashed as his dagger came down, severing the entire hand!
With a clang, the blade and severed hand hit the ground together. Gavin froze in shock—the dagger in his hand had snapped clean in two!
It all happened in that single second: Charlie plummeted from midair, clutching his neck and writhing in agony; the black-armored knight and his two subordinates materialized behind Gavin like phantoms, clamping his throat, left shoulder, and right elbow simultaneously before slamming him to the ground with a thud; Dean had just raised his gun when a gust whipped past his eyes—the one-handed Barnett was suddenly in front of him, blade pressed deadly against his throat.
The scene had been a tense standoff one second, utter dead silence the next.
Plip. A drop of black blood fell from Barnett's severed wrist to the floor.
"Our honor has fallen as well," the black-armored knight said with a smile.
He dropped to one knee, looming over the supine Gavin, the fingers gripping his throat twisting grotesquely like eagle talons.
Gavin could barely breathe, forcing out words in ragged gasps:
"You... have the wrong... person..."
The three knights pinning him seemed to relish his pained expression. The black-armored knight's tone even carried a savoring lilt:
"Not even you remember yourself anymore, Celia?"
Gavin couldn't speak. The knight leaned down, his words nearly brushing Gavin's lips:
"You were once so majestic, leading the Radiant Legion like a war god on campaigns everywhere. Everyone worshipped you on a pedestal, calling you the embodiment of light and justice—do they know what you are now? Look at you, so lowly and wretched, stripped of all memory, lying here to be slaughtered at will..."
"You never imagined a day like this, did you, Celia? When you sold yourself out completely to the darkness, when you hid the truth and basked in the world's adoration, when you betrayed the Dark Star Hall and turned on us, sealing us into five-dimensional space..."
"You never imagined it, did you? That we'd return one day."
The knight leaned in closer, mockery gleaming in his blood-red pupils:
"We've gained immense power—power beyond your wildest imagination... And now we're back for you, Celia."
The final words came so close their lips nearly touched. Then, the next second, he kissed him.
Gavin's pupils contracted sharply.
It was a savage, brutal kiss, more a display of dominance and authority than lust. He bit ravenously at Gavin's lips, growling low like a beast, saliva mingled with blood trickling down Gavin's chin, glinting faintly in the dim light.
The other knights laughed, their eyes alight with undisguised excitement and anticipation.
"Mmph... mmph..."
Gavin struggled fiercely with both hands, but they were seized before he could break free. Someone yanked his hair, forcing his head up to bare his nape.
The black-armored knight released Gavin's bloodied lips, licking and biting a path from his earlobe down to that tender patch of flesh at the nape, lapping and sucking repeatedly. A low, frustrated rumble rose in his throat, his movements growing more frenzied. His sharp canines pricked the skin before withdrawing unwillingly. Minutes later, he rasped,
"—Who marked you?"
"His bodyguard, probably," Barnett replied coldly from nearby.
"He's emperor now—the one called Heinrich."
"That's a tough nut."
"Yunis will handle him..."
The black-armored knight chuckled hoarsely, gripping Gavin's chin and turning his face.
Gavin had never looked so disheveled—lips forced slightly apart, trembling with ragged breaths, chin smeared with saliva and blood. Suffocation reddened the corners of his eyes, tears pooling in them, stirring an urge to abuse.
Dean and the others were riddled with doubts at first, but now rage boiled over. They took a step—only to be blocked cold. Barnett sneered at them, eyes regarding them like ants he could crush with a foot.
"You and Yunis have something going on, huh?" the black-armored knight taunted.
Gavin had no idea who he meant and just gritted his teeth in silence.
"Tsk tsk, you don't even remember Yunis... then you definitely won't remember me."
The black-armored knight toyed with a small silver object, his expression amused. After a moment, he held it up before Gavin's eyes.
"Do you know what this is?"
"..."
"A releaser."
He laughed, his deliberately lowered voice dangerous and intimate:
"It nullifies all inhibitors, sending your pheromones into overdrive for two hours straight, plunging you into full heat—no antidote will work. You'll writhe and sob in agony, begging us to take you, even until you're bred..."
Ding. The silver case popped open, transforming into a small injector.
"I can't wait to see it. Your face might be a little less loathsome then."
The black-armored knight pressed the glinting needle to Gavin's neck. The icy chill burrowed like frostbite, and Gavin finally gasped,
"No...!"
He thrashed violently—but the knights on either side pinned him instantly! At the same moment, pain pierced his skin as the needle sank into his vein, the drug flooding in—
Boom!
The black-armored knight's eyes snapped up. Barnett staggered back, a bowl-sized hole blasted in his gut!
Dean's electromagnetic gun was still cooling. Claire had somehow slipped behind the earlier knocked-out contestant, snatched his gun, and tossed it to Dean! Dean caught it midair with a snap, swinging the barrel toward the black-armored knight and bellowing,
"Back off—"
Bang!
A sharp crack rang out. Dean felt his arm clamped by immense force and looked up—Barnett was right beside him!
His gut was a gaping crater, muscles charred black with no blood in sight, standing as if nothing had happened. He swung, hurling Dean away!
The throw was monstrous. Dean crashed into Claire and Charlie, shattering the glass wall in a cascade of bodies. Amid the deafening roar, Barnett snorted,
"Suicide!"
His remaining hand clenched midair. Serrated gears whirred from his fingertips, yanking the topmost Charlie into the air!
"AAAHH..."
Charlie's body twisted grotesquely in midair. Gavin realized in an instant and screamed,
"Stop!!"
But it was too late.
An invisible force snapped Charlie's limbs, bones stabbing through muscle, blood fountaining out and splattering the glass wall. His neck vertebrae ground under the pressure, mouth gaping silently like a fish dying on dry land.
The scene lasted mere seconds, yet felt frozen eternally—like a protracted, gory pantomime.
"...Stop—!"
The piercing scream shattered the ice. Gavin tore free from the three knights' hold, long gashes opening on his neck, arms, and gut; his left shoulder dislocated with a crack, lightning pain shooting through him. But he surged forward in an instant, tackling Charlie midair!
Shards of blood-slick glass rained down as they crashed onto the fragments. Gavin couldn't make a sound, vomiting a gush of blood!
His vision blackened. His only thought was to check if Charlie was alive, but he lacked even the strength to lift a hand.
He felt no pain, just lying in warm liquid, his body chilled to the bone.
—Only after a moment did he realize it was blood.
"So much blood wasted, Celia."
The black-armored knight approached, hauling him up by the collar and gazing down.
"But seeing you this pathetic was worth the price of admission... Yunis would be jealous—he's never seen this, has he?"
Gavin's mouth filled with blood. After a hoarse pause, he rasped,
"I don't know... what you're talking about..."
The knights crowded around. Someone muttered,
"Probably not."
"I doubt it too."
The black-armored knight yanked Gavin's hair, forcing his head up. He studied him, then smiled.
"Even if you and him really do have something, I can't picture you in bed anyway."
Low chuckles rippled nearby.
"You really remember nothing?"
Gavin couldn't speak, just closed his eyes.
"Tsk tsk, what a shame... I wanted to catch up properly before entertaining you, but looks like that's off the table."
The black-armored knight waved a hand. A gravity-device-like gadget on his wrist flared. Space behind them warped and split, the rift widening into a yawning black maw that engulfed them in a rush.
—Space leap!
Gavin jolted. Countless black vine-like tendrils shot from all directions, binding his limbs spread-eagle and suspending him in the void.
One vine slithered forward like a living thing, wiping blood from his lips.
"Welcome to the Spacetime Interstice—the sanctum of the Dark Star Hall's space combat forces."
The black-armored knight gripped Gavin's chin from behind, licking his throat.
"Though you never remember, I'll tell you one last time—my name is Osroed. A pleasure to see you again, dear Senior Brother Gavin Celia."
Author's Note:
Heinrich will show up, but not until the absolute critical moment. It's clearly not that dire yet...