Openbookworm: Potential trigger warning: This chapter has some vivid description of systematic physical and mental violence and abuse.
.
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Eugene found her, and then he caught her.
Crack!
The sound of breaking bones came from Amelia’s body. Without even a moment’s hesitation, Eugene had placed all of his weight down on the foot resting on the back of Amelia’s knee, shattering her kneecap.
With the hand that was resting on her back, Eugene gave some thought to breaking or ripping out her spine, but he decided that it wasn’t necessary to do so just yet. So, instead, he reached up and crushed one of her shoulder blades.
His other hand was still wrapped up in Amelia’s hair. If Eugene exerted some strength, he would be able to yank all of her hair out, but he had no intention of doing so. Instead, holding her hair like this acted like a halter to control the horse named Amelia Merwin.
As such, Eugene just pulled on her hair with moderate force. Just enough so that her hair didn’t get pulled out or torn off and not hard enough that he broke her neck.
Perfectly in moderation.But Eugene made sure to apply enough pressure so that Amelia could clearly see the difference in strength and level between them.
“It’s been a long time,” Eugene whispered as he lowered his head closer.
The moment she heard him say those words, Amelia began shivering in fear. As for her eyes….
When Eugene and Amelia’s eyes met, what he saw in hers was…
…pride…
…rage…
…humiliation…
…and fear.
The moment Eugene confirmed the presence of all these emotions, he gave her a bright smile. He couldn’t help but be amused by this situation.
The grudge between them had been forged many times over. In a sense, Amelia was an enemy who held a special meaning for Eugene. Most of Eugene’s current grudges and targets for revenge originated from his past life of three hundred years ago, from back during his days as Hamel.
However, Amelia was different. His enmity towards her wasn’t something that was rooted in Hamel’s time. However, it was true that part of their enmity originated from when he caught Amelia robbing Hamel’s tomb.
But that was something that had happened during Eugene’s lifetime. It was a story from just a few years ago.
Compared to those older grudges, Eugene’s feelings for Amelia were extremely vivid. Just how many times had he met Amelia and vowed to kill her?
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Eugene asked with a sneer.
—You, I remember you. You were the one who killed my pet back in the desert. You haven’t forgotten what happened back then, have you? At that time… if the Demon King hadn’t shown you mercy, you would have died at my hands.
That was what Amelia had said when they met for a second time during the Knight March.
—You damn graverobber.
Eugene remembered the way Amelia’s lips had twisted behind her veil, smiling even as she revealed her anger towards him.
—You burgled the tomb that I had already claimed for myself.
That tomb had been made for Hamel by his comrades. Molon had personally carried his coffin. Anise had carved prayers all over the walls. Sienna had cried as she erected his statue. Vermouth had also lowered his head in grief as they quietly stood in front of his tombstone.
—That was a piece of history that had been kept secret from the world. Because it was something that only I knew about and could possess.
Without knowing anything about all that happened with his comrades, Amelia had just kept blathering on.
—It was an abandoned tomb that no one had visited or cared for in the past three hundred years. I was the one who rediscovered that tomb. As such, everything in that tomb belonged to me. Whether it was the statue, the gravestone, or even the corpse!
Eugene could clearly recall Amelia shouting those words. Even then, Amelia… really didn’t seem to know her place. As if it was only natural for her to do so, Amelia had shown a relaxed attitude towards getting her revenge, mocking Eugene by saying that the Lionhearts wouldn’t be able to protect him if she came for him.
—If I wanted to kill you, no one here would be able to interfere. Either you would die, or I would die; as for the Lionhearts, who aren’t too far from here, by the time they arrive, the only thing left for them to see would be one of our corpses.
Eugene… had barely managed to endure it at that time.
He hadn’t tried to kill Amelia in a fit of rage. That was because there had been a lot of other troublesome things going on during that Knight March. Also, he thought that another opportunity would come again someday.
And in fact, that opportunity had now arrived. Amelia Merwin would be dying in this desert. No one would be able to prevent her death.
—You’re still so cocky. You were like that back then as well. In the tomb, you were acting so insolent even though your death was inevitable. I might not have appreciated it, but it did amuse me.
Amuse her, did he?
“Someday, when you come face to face with your own death,” Eugene tilted his head to the side as he whispered into Amelia’s ear. “I’ve… always wondered what kind of expression you would show me and what you would say before you died. Just like you, I’ve also done the same thing. I’ve also spent a lot of time imagining how I should kill you.”
Amelia’s shoulders trembled as she listened to him speak. Those were some of the words she had said to Eugene back at the Knight March.
Eugene asked her curiously, “At that moment, will you be as cocky as you were back then? At the moment when I rip out your soul, will you still dare to show me the same hatred and murderous intent?”
All of Eugene’s questions were met with silence.
“I thought not,” Eugene sighed.
Amelia’s head was pulled up.
Crack!
Then Eugene smashed her head down into the floor.
“People like you who always act so unrestrained and think of themselves as being overwhelmingly strong are bound to turn into wretched fools the moment they lose the power they once enjoyed,” Eugene observed.
He still hadn’t let go of her hair. Instead, Eugene actually gripped it even tighter. He lifted Amelia’s head off the ground that he had smashed it into as if he was plucking a vegetable up out of the ground and then took a look at Amelia’s face.
Her nose wasn’t broken, nor were her lips split and bleeding. Amelia’s face was perfectly fine, without a single wound. This was because Eugene hadn’t used that much force.
When he smashed her head into the ground, the action wasn’t meant to cause pain but instead to humiliate her.
Eugene examined Amelia’s face, which was perfectly fine and without even a single scratch.
But was she truly uninjured? The answer was no. Beneath Amelia’s skin, the wounds left by her humiliation were already festering and rotting. In a cheerful mood, Eugene stared at the way Amelia’s cheeks were twitching.
“Y-you…,” Amelia finally attempted to speak in a trembling voice.
In reaction to her attempt, Eugene immediately slammed Amelia’s head down into the ground once more. Once again, there wasn’t much pain, but it still left Amelia unable to finish her sentence.
In the first place, what could she even say in her current situation? That was the crucial question.
Amelia really didn’t know what she should say to Eugene.
When she first met him, Eugene Lionheart was just a kid she could easily get rid of. If he hadn’t been carrying Balzac’s personal missive — no, she could have still killed him while ignoring that missive. In fact, she had intended to kill him.
If the Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t appeared at that moment… Amelia would have definitely killed Eugene. That’s right, she should have killed him back then.
‘But I couldn’t kill him,’ Amelia bitterly recalled.
That was why things had turned out like this now. Amelia regretted not having killed Eugene back then. Apart from that, she didn’t have any other regrets. In her opinion, she hadn’t done anything wrong, so what was there to regret?
But how should she overcome this situation? Fight back? Don’t be absurd. Amelia was a black wizard. In other words, she wasn’t a warrior. While she was in perfect condition, she had made every preparation that she could, but she still hadn’t been able to inflict even a single wound on Eugene.
Amelia couldn’t help but silently twist her face into a grimace at her hopeless situation. She didn’t even have the freedom to lift her head up off the ground on her own.
When Eugene pulled on her hair once more, Amelia immediately spat out the words, “I was wrong.”
According to Amelia’s judgment, that was the most rational response she could make at this juncture and the closest thing to a correct answer. In this situation, she could never manage to win a fight against Eugene. In that case, was it still possible for her to run away? That was even more of an impossibility. Even if she cut off the hair he was holding her by and tried to escape, she wouldn’t even be able to get a full step away from him.
Amelia stuttered, “I-I’m well aware of why you are so angry. At-at this point… a-an apology alone cannot wash away my sins.”
Naturally, everything that Amelia was saying right now was a lie on her part. Amelia refused to even entertain the notion that she had ever wronged Eugene. However, she would still apologize to him. In this situation, she just needed to act like she at least had some sense of guilt while begging for forgiveness.
So, Amelia began to stammer, “I… I’m also well aware of why you feel such rage. We… from the start, our impressions of each other weren’t good. But it was all a misunder… a misunderstanding on my part, right? No, I didn’t mean it like that. Of course, it wasn’t just a misunderstanding. I’m the one who wronged you. Because I robbed the tomb that your… that the ancestor of your clan, the Great Vermouth, had personally created for his friend.”
Amelia had to force herself to wring out this apology. However, it seemed to be having an effect. After all, the monster who had previously slammed her head into the ground without waiting for her to finish speaking was now listening quietly to her without inflicting any violence.
Amelia’s eyes darted to the side to take a glance at Eugene’s face.
His expression was still as cold as ever. A thick killing intent was leaking from his eyes. But that much hostility was still okay. Because, as long as his killing intent wasn’t fueling his actions, it meant that she wouldn’t be dying just yet.
Amelia gulped, “If I plead my guilt at this point, I’m sure that you would have a hard time forgiving me. H-however, I also have my own circumstances—”
Squeeze.
Amelia felt the fingers holding onto her hair strengthen their grip. She realized she had made a mistake. Amelia immediately changed what she was about to say.
“Of course, my circumstances don’t matter when it comes to my guilt. I won’t make any excuses,” Amelia quickly sputtered out.
She just wished that he would say something in response. This monster, who had been full of jeering amusement just a few moments ago, was now keeping his lips tightly shut and not saying a word.
Feeling her own mounting nervousness build up inside her, Amelia continued speaking, “I… I’m sure that we can work out a new relationship between the two of us. I don’t expect it to be anything like an equal relationship. I promise to unconditionally surrender to your will.”
Amelia didn’t want to die. She really didn’t want to die. Amelia desperately longed to survive. There was so much that she still wanted to see while she was alive. She wanted to continue spreading chaos all around the continent. She wanted the world to run rampant with blood and death. She wanted to see all of this happen with her own eyes.
That was why Amelia willingly bowed her head. Her shaking hands clutched at Eugene’s feet in desperation. Amelia didn’t consider her current actions to be a humiliation. If she got all caught up in her pride during a situation like this, there was no way she could keep on struggling just to survive.
“I can be of use to you,” Amelia swore. “The specter that has taken over the royal palace — ah, did you know? He calls himself a specter. You-you might already be aware of this, but he’s not actually the Stupid Hamel. He is a fake that I made by imitating the hero. Th-that too is one of my sins. However, I… please take into consideration that I’m the one who made that specter. So I-I know his weakness.”
This was a lie. The current specter didn’t have any parts Amelia had originally put into his body to control him. From the moment that the specter’s body had been dissolved and melded with the dark power of Destruction in order to become its Incarnation, it had become an existence far beyond Amelia’s understanding or control.
However, even if this was a lie, Amelia still needed to try and sell the lie to Eugene. Just look at what was happening now; she might be the only one still talking, but at least this allowed their conversation to continue. The monster had yet to resume using violence on Amelia.
‘I just need to buy some more time,’ Amelia desperately thought.
Would she be able to lie convincingly enough that she could persuade this monster to stay his hand with just her words? Amelia didn’t have any expectations that things would turn out so nicely for her. What Amelia wanted from this dialogue was to buy as much time as possible.
Amelia hopefully prayed, ‘The specter might still come to save me.’
Lately, she really couldn’t tell what the specter was thinking. However, what Amelia and the specter wanted didn’t seem so different in the end.
They both wanted this war. So, a war had broken out. It had been so easy for a war to break out in Nahama because Amelia had already made preparations for this war a long time ago.
But the war couldn’t just end here. This war needed to become a precursor that would spread conflict throughout the continent. And just like Amelia envisioned, the specter should also have similar desires.
Amelia was confident in this belief. To her, the specter was just another barbarically strong monster. It might be impossible to slip a leash back onto him, but she should still be able to influence the direction in which he put his overwhelming strength. No matter the reason for the specter’s changes, Amelia was the one who had first created the specter. In other words, Amelia was the specter’s mother.
‘I’m sure that he also realizes that fact. That is why he didn’t kill me back then,’ Amelia tried to convince herself.
She couldn’t know for sure if that was what the specter thought, but at least that was what Amelia believed.
She gulped, ‘Even if… even if you don’t come here to save me….’
As long as she could keep Eugene Lionheart here, someone was sure to come looking for the Hero. Amelia was certain of that fact.
“A weakness, you say,” Eugene’s tightly locked lips finally parted. “What weakness is that?”
Amelia had naturally expected Eugene to ask such a question.
Because of that, Amelia was able to immediately respond, “If I tell you that now, then you won’t have any reason to keep me alive, will you? So, therefore—”
Eugene cut her short, “Actually, I’m not really all that curious.”
Once again, he didn’t bother to let her finish speaking. Was he going to slam her head into the ground once more? While bracing herself for the incoming violence, Amelia gritted her teeth.
But instead, Eugene unexpectedly let go of her hair.
“Gaghk,” Amelia suddenly choked out a gasp.
Her jaws, which she had clenched as tightly as possible, parted of their own accord. She had just been struck with a completely different type of physical abuse than the one she had been expecting. The tip of Eugene’s outstretched foot was buried deep in Amelia’s solar plexus.
The force concentrated in that single point had torn Amelia’s internal organs into pieces, and everything that filled up the inside of her body had been pushed upwards by the force of the blow.
It was just a kick. That was all it was. However, that simple kick hurt as much as all the pain that Amelia had ever experienced in Ravesta until now.
Amelia struggled to breathe, “Gagh…! Cough…!”
The shock that had slammed into her guts didn’t dissipate and continued to circulate throughout her entire body. Instead of being sent flying, Amelia collapsed on the spot, clutching her stomach. It felt like a hole had been kicked through both her body and her soul. Moaning and coughing up blood, Amelia fell onto her side and curled up in a ball.
Soon, her head was forced back up as Eugene took hold of her hair once more. This time, he didn’t slam her head back into the ground.
Crack!
Instead, a slap spun Amelia’s head to the side.
Crack!
When another slap landed from the opposite direction, it didn’t just spin her head back around. The strong reverse rotation ended up completely breaking Amelia’s neck. Still paralyzed by the shock, her body spun around limply in midair.
The hair that Eugene had been using as a grip finally snapped or was pulled off Amelia’s head. While shaking off the hair that had gotten tangled between his fingers, Eugene looked down at Amelia.
“Get up,” Eugene coldly ordered.
Most of her internal organs had burst open. That last kick wasn’t actually just a simple blow. The moment Eugene’s foot had dug into her stomach, his mana had also secretly seeped into her body.
At this moment, Amelia’s dark power didn’t seem to belong to her anymore; its ownership was usurped by someone else. Or at least, that was the feeling she got. It felt like some force that didn’t belong to herself was running rampant inside her body.
Her innards were crushed. Her neck was broken. If she were any ordinary human, it was only natural for her to die from all of this, but Amelia didn't die. She couldn’t muster up any strength from her limp body, but… Amelia was somehow still alive. Was it because she was a black wizard? No, it was because Amelia was a half-blooded demonfolk.
The reason for Amelia’s obsession with imperfect existences, like chimeras and the undead, was her own complicated feelings of love and hatred for herself, as someone who had been born with the mixed blood of both demonfolk and humans.
Though now, she didn’t even have the slightest trace of affection remaining for herself. She could only feel extreme hatred towards her own muddled-up blood. Even though she was already so injured, she was somehow still alive and wasn’t going to die just yet. However, unlike the demonfolk, she didn’t have the incredibly fast regeneration either, so recovery was painfully slow.
“Spare…,” Amelia gurgled as she lay on the floor.
It was currently impossible for her to raise her head.
With one weakly shaking hand, Amelia reached out to cling to Eugene’s leg as she begged, “Please… please spare….”
She had given up on trying to trick him with her words. All Amelia could do now was beg for her life.
As feeling slowly returned to her body, Amelia took in a blood-soaked gulp of air and finally gasped out the words, “Please spare me—”
Bam!
Amelia suddenly lost consciousness. This was because Eugene’s foot had cleanly struck Amelia in the chin, popping her head up into the air. Amelia’s upper body snapped upward as her spine was broken by the force of his kick.
As her upper body fell backward, Amelia’s body took on the shape of a wheel as she rolled backwards over the ground. Though she only rolled a few times before collapsing.
It wasn’t until she was slumped back on the floor that Amelia regained consciousness. Through her shaky vision, she could see Eugene approaching her once more.
“Kaaah…. Ah…,” Amelia muttered incomprehensibly.
Her chin and her teeth had been completely shattered. She could still make some sound, but it was impossible for her to form any words.
She could still see the liches hiding behind the approaching Eugene. Even though they had managed to recover some of the damage from the surprise attack that Eugene had used to start the fight, they were now holding their breath, trying not to draw any attention to their presence. This was because they were terrified of Eugene.
‘How dare they when I’m being tortured like this,’ Amelia complained bitterly.
Even though they had once revered her as their Grandmaster. Her trembling eyes were filled with the deepest resentment.
Amelia might not be able to say anything just yet, but she didn’t need to speak to convey her orders. Amelia mentally transmitted her will towards the liches.
“Gyaaaah…,” the liches began to groan as their bodies trembled.
Eugene let out a snort as he turned to look behind him. The liches’ bones were all melting into each other, and their dark power was fusing as they collectively began to swell up like a balloon. Eugene just chuckled as he watched the liches transform into a ball made of bones.
“Go ahead and do your worst,” Eugene sneered.
The ball burst in an explosion of black magic.
Even the dark power that hadn’t been used to fuel the explosive spell was shot out at Eugene.
The Holy Sword flashed. A line of light cut through the darkness. The overflowing light dissolved both the black magic and the dark power and even bisected the lump of bones that the liches had been turned into. There wasn’t even any need for Eugene to find and destroy their life vessels. The light emitted by the Holy Sword permanently exorcized the entire tangle of souls.
There was another scream, “Aaaargh!”
The Holy Sword hadn’t just cut down the liches.
Amelia Merwin had been crawling on the ground, hoping that the liches would be able to buy her some more time. She had just barely managed to regain the feeling in her body and control of her dark power. However, once again, she wasn’t able to escape.
“M-my legs! My legs—aaaaah!” Amelia’s voice trailed off in a scream.
Both of her legs had been cut off at the thighs. Amelia also instinctively realized something, she wouldn’t ever be able to regenerate her legs. The light of the holy sword had completely erased the concept of having legs from the existence known as Amelia Merwin.
Amelia screamed and rolled over the ground, her despair almost driving her crazy.
“Pl-please, spare me!” Amelia cried out, spitting up blood. “Please, please! Spare me! I… I don’t want to die! I’ll do anything, anything. Please…!”
Eugene coldly refused her, “No.”
“D-digging up the tomb. Making the Death Knight. Tr-tr-trying to kill you… S-Sir Eugene. I’m sorry for all of that…!” Amelia desperately pleaded.
Eugene shrugged, “Alright.”
“I-told you that I was wrong, haven’t I! I admitted that it was my fault, that I made a mistake…!” Amelia angrily sobbed as tears poured down her face.
At this sight, Eugene just nodded with a big smile.
“Kyaaaaah!” Amelia screamed as the Holy Sword flashed towards her once more.
Amelia wasn’t even able to clearly perceive the movement of the sword. However, before she knew it, her left arm had been cut off. It was the same case as with her legs. She would never be able to regenerate that severed arm. Blood wasn’t even spurting out from the surface of the open cut.
While wriggling her body like a worm, Amelia screamed, “Don’t-don’t do it! Please… don’t kill me…!”
Every time that Amelia let out a scream, the smile on Eugene’s face grew even brighter.
Eugene had no intention of making Amelia repent for her sins. He also didn’t expect to make her regret everything she had done. In the end, she was just going to die, so what was even the point of trying to make her regret her sins?
Eugene wanted Amelia to die in as ugly a way as possible. If he could, he wanted her to keep struggling, desperately clinging onto hope. He wanted her to keep on shouting ‘spare me’ instead of ‘kill me,’ even in her very final moments, when all that was left was despair, and she experienced such pain that she might feel it was better to die than to keep on living.
Eugene knew what Amelia was currently hoping for. Even at this moment, this crazy bitch was still hoping that she could live. This was because Eugene had intentionally shown that there was a slight chance that he might leave her alive[1].
And in fact, that was the case. Eugene had wasted time listening to Amelia’s nonsense. Like Amelia had wanted, he allowed her to buy some more time.
‘This should be long enough,’ Eugene thought with a bright smile as he raised the Holy Sword once more.
The tip of the brilliantly shining sword was aimed down at Amelia’s head.
Amelia screamed as she watched the light draw close.
1. If this is confusing, it refers to Eugene’s use of the Holy Sword to prevent her from regenerating. If he was just going to kill her, why bother with that? ☜