〈6. Proof of Existence (39)〉
Breathing was difficult due to the surging blood.
A burning pain was felt from the pierced abdomen. Flames that climbed up the spine surged while scorching the mind.
It hurts.
But pain like that couldn’t dominate my consciousness. Only one question was holding onto my soul like a ghost.
Why, I wanted to ask, but blood had long filled up to my vocal cords.
Along with the sound of boiling blood, bloody foam filled my mouth. At the pitiful noise of gurgling, the man with jade-colored hair let out a deep sigh.
My friend, Yuren.
To be more precise, the person who ‘was’ my friend.
With a squelch, he retrieved the sword that was lodged in my body. Blood spurted out like a fountain, and my body, which was already close to its limit, had to collapse without even letting out a scream.
My vision blurred.
Nevertheless, I made every effort not to lose consciousness. My unfocused eyes turned somewhere.
“M-Master… Kyaaak?!”
The axe handle was crushing the girl’s hand.
Crunch, crunch.
It sounded like grains being ground between rough stones. Even though it must have been pain she had never experienced in her life, Senior Elsie was gritting her teeth and crawling on the ground.
Eyes bloodshot, a shoulder overflowing with blood were successively engraved on my retina.
“N-No… Not Master…….”
Senior Elsie’s resistance couldn’t continue any further.
With a thud, the axe handle vigorously struck the back of Senior Elsie’s neck. It wasn’t a force that a mage, not a knight, could withstand.
Rather, the fact that she had held onto her consciousness until now was commendable.
The one who couldn’t maintain their sanity was someone else.
The perpetrator who had turned Senior Elsie into a wreck, it was Celine.
Terror filled those yellowish-brown eyes. She seemed to feel strong fear in the situation where she couldn’t control her own body.
The fragmented excuses trembled as they spilled out.
“No, no… I, I don’t want to do this…….”
“Really?”
The girl dressed in black priestly robes took light steps forward.
Yuren was in her path, but he didn’t show any particular interest in the girl. He merely silently wiped the blood from his sword blade with a cloth.
The girl and Celine’s eyes met in the air.
A sticky voice began to persuade Celine.
“You actually wanted to, didn’t you? Suddenly appearing and arbitrarily taking the spot next to your childhood friend… Then one day, acting like she’s already the fiancée and showing jealousy. Weren’t you annoyed? You wanted to do this from the beginning, right?”
“I, I… No, that can’t be…….”
Clap, a clear sound of clapping hands echoed.
The girl continued her words while wearing a bright, innocent smile.
“That’s why you made a ‘deal’ with me, right?”
“A deal, when did I…….”
Contrary to the statements being uttered, Celine’s eyes were gradually becoming hazy.
Watching Celine increasingly lose her senses, the girl giggled and burst into laughter.
A bewitching arc floated.
“Haven’t you ever thought it was strange? Luckily born into a powerful family, enjoying all kinds of privileges, monopolizing sweet fruits just with the name of ‘talent’… On the other hand, someone whose family was shattered in childhood, even if they train until their hands blister every day, they can’t catch up in the end.”
The gleam disappeared from the yellowish-brown pupils. Celine’s body was trembling violently.
As if she didn’t know what to answer, just biting her lips.
The girl whispered even closer to Celine.
“……Everything was taken away.”
It was a tone that even contained subtle anger.
The trembling in Celine’s body became even stronger.
“Family, achievements, even love… Are you going to live your whole life just being robbed like that? We’ll give back sister’s rightful share.”
“Rightful, my share……?”
“Yes, the share that sister should have rightfully received!”
Stepping back one step, the girl spread her arms and wore a bright smile.
It was a face that felt like pure goodwill.
Nauseatingly so.
“High nobility? Who cares! We can just smash that kind of thing, right? I’ll give you power equivalent to the sweat you’ve shed so far. And we’ll chase away the flies that keep clinging to our Oppa.”
Grrrr, a deep groan leaked from my mouth.
No.
I couldn’t let Celine be taken away too. Under that single determination, I tried to move my body, but the muscles hardened like lead didn’t obey.
Yuren’s indifferent words struck down.
“Give it up.”
Gritting my teeth, I forcibly rolled my gaze upward. Yuren was wearing a bitter expression and holding a hollow smile.
“It’s already too late. If you’re hit by my sword, everything slows down… As if it’s hardened.”
Yuren’s aura didn’t have that kind of ability.
My doubt was resolved not long after.
Yuren’s eyes looking down at me were dyed in an ominous green light. Those eyes shining even in the darkness weren’t the exclusive property of those who reached great realms.
Don’t beasts also make their eyes shine at night?
Beings in the middle between humans and beasts, demons.
Those who contracted with evil gods inherit qualities and aptitudes as demonic beasts, not humans.
As if proving those words, I felt the affected area spreading centered on the penetrating wound in my abdomen. A heavy and solid sensation, as if a stone was placed there.
Looking at Yuren’s eyes, I recalled one person.
“M-Mask…….”
“That’s right.”
While saying that, Yuren silently took out a white mask from his bosom.
With a click, as the mask covered the man’s face, a familiar portrait was born.
“It’s me, the ‘masked assailant’.”
Ulck, I felt like shouting at the emotion burning my chest.
However, my body that had begun to harden refused the brain’s command. Only the girl’s seductive persuasion tickled my ears.
“……Take my hand, sister.”
Celine’s breathing had become exceedingly rough by then. Fearing that Celine would make a foolish choice, I coughed up blood-mixed phlegm.
“Gods are just pathetic favoritists. Join us, we’ll give back the share you should have……”
A body trembling uncontrollably, rapid breathing, chattering teeth from the convulsing jaw muscles.
Celine cautiously raised her hand and looked at the vicinity of the girl’s palm.
At the moment when a thick smile was about to form on the girl’s lips.
“……Don’t bullshit!”
With a shout, Celine pulled the girl’s hand that she had grasped.
The girl herself didn’t budge at all. She just sighed as if she knew this would happen and rotated her arm in a circle.
Following that circular trajectory, Celine’s body floated in the air.
Soon, a thud sound was heard, and Celine’s body crashed into the ground. It was a force strong enough to cause a slight earthquake. Cough, Celine’s eyes closed as she spat out blood.
It was truly in an instant.
The physical strength of the girl clad in priestly robes had already strengthened to an immeasurable level. Even if I confronted her, victory didn’t seem possible.
She was a monster that at least required the entire party to gather to even attempt fighting.
As I twitched and repeated convulsions, the girl puffed her cheeks and glared at Yuren.
“Mr. Partner, even so, isn’t that too much to our Oppa? If he dies like this, are you going to take responsibility?”
“You should have done better.”
It was an answer filled with irritation.
Deep fatigue and displeasure flickered on Yuren’s face. In those eyes that occasionally looked down at me, complex emotions were conveyed.
“Why did you suddenly reveal yourself? Moreover, why did you expose the existence of the Shylock Merchant Guild… If not for that, I wouldn’t have had to do this!”
“So that our Oppa would take the bait, right?”
While wearing a refreshing smile, the girl took light steps.
The gaze looking down at the collapsed me was unmistakably like a girl in love. As if unable to calm her pounding heart, a blush had risen on her cheeks before long.
I couldn’t understand the conversation between the two at all.
Why on earth did Yuren betray us?
What does it mean that he deliberately exposed the Shylock Merchant Guild?
As the panting breaths repeated, the weight on my eyelids increased.
“Listen carefully, Oppa. I’ll tell you how much I’ve struggled to have you.”
Giggle giggle, a clear laughter tickled my eardrums.
“Actually, Mr. Partner here has a secret. A very long time ago, he felt the wall of his skills and made contact with the Dark Church. It was fine up to that point, but…….”
“It was for my sister.”
Sighing, the man shook his head.
“There were no talented people by my sister’s side. Being from an orphanage, her political position was precarious… On the other hand, the forces hostile to my sister were too powerful.”
“So we decided to help.”
The voices of the two betrayers began to resonate in harmony one after another.
“The risk was high, but there were no other choices at the time. That’s how I could secure forces to help my sister… But the wall of the vested interests was still high and solid.”
“Was it a few months ago? Mr. Partner proposed a new business… Asking to help so that the saintess could perform miracles. The more so, the stronger the religious symbolism becomes.”
“As you know, sacrifices are needed for miracles…….”
As Yuren trailed off, the girl burst into an alluring laugh and snapped her fingers.
The blood-red sun howled.
With a uuuu vibration, the corpses of the orphans scattered in the secret room began to resonate. Hazy souls were sucked into the sun’s core, leaving screams like echoes.
And then plop, a droplet fell from the blood-red sun.
The blood drop landed precisely on the girl’s palm. For a few seconds, it trembled and refined its shape, soon taking the form of a familiar blood-red orb.
A deep groan leaked from my mouth.
“……Blood, Crystal.”
It was the offering that had saved my life several times.
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