Chapter 114: Allen Amiel (4)
Lian Gwendil and Yul Runberg.
A tense atmosphere lingered between the two.
“……”
“……”
It was a very brief moment.
Short, yet it felt long — a silence that stretched.
As they observed each other's movements intently, a faint smile suddenly appeared on Yul Runberg's lips.
"It would be in both our interests if you put that down, Lian Gwendil."
At his words, Lian looked down at his hand, clenched without realizing it.
A faintly glowing stone.
He had no idea what it was.
But one thing was clear — it must not fall into Yul Runberg’s hands.
‘…Just what is this?’
It was in that moment.
His fingertips tingled, and then a sense of wrongness surged through him.
― Creak!
The spider on his shoulder let out a sharp sound, as if to snap him out of it.
Only then did Lian realize the faintly glowing stone had been slipping from his grasp without him noticing.
Just before it hit the ground, the spider had quickly spit out thread to catch it.
‘This is…?’
His hand had opened on its own.
Clearly unnatural.
At that moment, a word flashed through Lian's mind.
‘Suggestion.’
He had felt a similar sense of wrongness back when he was ambushed.
And just moments ago, when he visited the mausoleum where Airos resided.
‘Doesn’t he ever get tired of pulling the same trick…’
Lian unconsciously ground his teeth.
Now he was certain.
Yul Runberg.
He could manipulate others’ senses and plant suggestions to shake their minds.
And Lian had already fallen victim to it multiple times.
He was already on edge due to the seal placed in his mind.
The fact that he had nearly been toyed with again by a similar method filled him with seething rage.
“Come and take it yourself.”
Once you become aware of it, suggestions tend to lose their grip.
Enduring the lingering effects of the suggestion, Lian tightened his grip once more.
Had he let his guard down just a bit longer, the stone would’ve slipped from his hand — and perhaps been taken.
‘Come to think of it…’
Lian suddenly felt as though he knew what this stone was.
When he had visited the mausoleum earlier with the Headmaster to meet Airos—
At that time, the Headmaster had asked Airos to place something inside the mausoleum.
And among the countless items there, Lyslin had gone out of her way to steal this particular stone and deliver it to Yul Runberg.
‘It’s no ordinary item.’
Clearly, it held a significance greater than he had assumed.
Then—
“I pledge my lifespan to regain the power of my prime.”
“And now I offer even more of my lifespan.”
“…And with that, I once again surpass my limits.”
Yul Runberg’s mutter.
Right after, an explosive surge of power erupted from his body.
Proof that he had surpassed his limits.
Unbelievably fast, unimaginably strong.
It sounded like something a child might say in play, yet there was no better way to describe it.
With all preparations complete, the first thing Yul Runberg did was charge straight at Lian.
Like a cavalryman thrusting forward with a lance — but with even sharper, deadlier momentum.
At the tip of that charge was the faintly glowing stone in Lian’s hand…
The Philosopher’s Stone.
Normally, it would’ve been stolen right then.
Not only that — the aftershock alone as he passed by would’ve shredded Lian’s body to pieces.
At the very least, it would've left him too injured to move.
However—
“…What?”
Lian’s body blurred for a split second.
It was the power of the Brand.
Yul Runberg’s sword sliced through empty air.
“What is this.”
Shock — and then rage.
His expression twisted with growing disbelief.
He was certain it had connected.
But he hadn’t even grazed a single hair.
It was as if Lian’s body had become a mirage.
A power neither heard of nor seen before.
No…
‘So that’s how he survived back then.’
Yul Runberg ground his teeth.
“…Just what kind of trick is this?”
“Who knows.”
Lian shrugged.
He had learned to use the power of the Brand to some extent.
Thanks to it, he had survived the crisis — but he also knew better than anyone how unaccustomed he still was to it.
‘I need to hide this.’
Somewhere safe.
At the very least, somewhere it wouldn’t get in the way during the fight.
But no suitable place came to mind.
He had taken off his outerwear earlier to cover Yuran and Lancia, leaving him in just a thin shirt.
His waistband and pockets were worn and frayed from constant battle — ready to tear at any moment.
‘Entrusting it to this guy…’
He quickly shook his head.
No matter how much of a spirit it was, the spider was a low-grade spirit.
Not only that, it was still not fully healed.
Above all, Lian hadn’t missed how Yul’s eyes had precisely locked onto the spider earlier.
That meant — he could see spirits as well.
‘In that case…’
There was no time.
What followed was almost instinctive.
Chomp.
Lian opened his mouth and reflexively popped it in.
He only intended to hold it in his mouth.
“…Mmgh?!”
But the stone, which had been solid in his hand, instantly melted like snow the moment it touched his tongue.
In a flash, it slid down his throat, and startled, he coughed violently as if choking.
Gulp.
The sound of swallowing echoed afterward.
“You bastard…!”
Yul Runberg’s face twisted in an instant.
Earlier, it was shock and anger — this time, it was pure fury.
He once again darted forward and swung his sword at Lian.
But as if waiting for it, the power of the Brand burst forth.
Lian’s body turned ghostly and blurred, and once again Yul Runberg’s sword cleaved through empty air.
Yul Runberg ground his teeth and roared with rage.
“Spit it out this instant, you mad bastard!”
“……”
Lian didn’t respond.
For a simple reason.
He couldn’t.
He felt the swallowed stone settle heavily right at the center of his chest, near his solar plexus.
Then the Brand etched into his collarbone began to surge violently.
An intense heat.
That was the only way to describe the power that spread from his solar plexus, chest, collarbone...
Then throughout his entire body.
Something that had been coiled deep within him was starting to awaken.
‘…So it really wasn’t just any ordinary object.’
Lian reflexively swept his hand over his collarbone.
With every heartbeat, he felt it pulsating in sync — a writhing sensation — and staring at the rage-filled Yul Runberg, he spat out.
“Cut me open and take it, then.”
“You…!”
Yul Runberg’s pupils trembled.
All that remained in him now was fury and passion.
He clenched his teeth as if to swallow those emotions whole.
He regripped his sword and launched himself at Lian once more.
It wasn’t that he had lost his rationality in rage.
That power — as if making one’s body intangible like a mirage.
From an opponent’s perspective, it was clearly formidable and tricky.
But it couldn't possibly be used endlessly.
If he just kept pushing, without letting up, the moment would come when he could catch him for sure.
“Fine, have it your way…!”
Yul Runberg bellowed as he tightened his grip on the sword.
To the faint of heart, the sheer pressure he emitted would’ve been enough to break their spirit — it was ferocity incarnate.
But this time, Lian was different too.
‘…Come on.’
He raised the practice sword Cecilia had handed him and began to emit his own pressure quietly.
It was smaller than Yul Runberg’s — that was undeniable — but in terms of density, he wasn’t lacking in the slightest.
“I’ll kill y—!”
Just as Yul Runberg rushed at Lian, sword raised—
Thud.
His movement halted.
In an instant, Yul Runberg’s eyes shook violently.
Then his hand, the one holding the sword, began to tremble.
Seeing that, Lian instinctively felt something had gone wrong.
And slowly—
Very slowly, the tip of a blade protruded through Yul Runberg’s chest.
The one holding the sword was someone Lian knew very well.
That was why, without realizing, Lian muttered in a cracked voice.
“…Allen?”
Yul Runberg staggered forward.
Allen Amiel.
He had pierced Yul’s heart from behind.
In a single moment.
‘When did he…?’
Hadn’t he been lying collapsed far away?
When Lian had arrived, Kyren had been lying there blood-soaked, and Allen too had looked badly wounded.
That was why Lian had thought he needed to defeat Yul Runberg as quickly as possible and save the two.
The same went for Yul Runberg.
He hadn’t thought Allen would be completely incapacitated.
But he had certainly appeared affected by the poison and curse, hadn’t he?
So not for a moment did he think Allen could suddenly — in an instant — get behind him and strike a fatal blow.
Yul Runberg had made a fatal miscalculation.
The price was having his heart pierced.
“Ah.”
That was the end of it.
With a single dying gasp, Yul Runberg's head slumped forward.
As Allen slowly pulled the sword out, just as he had stabbed it in, Yul’s body crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
That was the end of it.
“……”
“……”
Lian and Allen.
The two said nothing for a while.
The first to move was Allen.
He reached down and pulled the sword from Yul Runberg’s fallen hand.
As if the sword that pierced his heart was no longer of any use.
Lian instinctively went to raise his sword, but at that moment, when his eyes met Allen’s—
A chilling sensation swept through his body.
Something…
No — not just “something.”
‘Ah.’
Now he could see it — Yul Runberg’s severed wrist.
Then Kyren, lying with deep wounds.
The ground stained red with blood, and Allen standing amidst it.
Finally, his eyes — half-lidded, vacant.
What was Allen’s nickname in his past life again…?
Because he always severed his opponents’ wrists — Wrist Hunter.
Because he cut down his own kin — Kinslayer.
The Crimson Sword Fiend.
Madman.
Those infamous names.
“……”
Allen slowly raised his gaze.
And the moment he met Lian’s eyes—
The corners of his mouth began to rise.
“Gasp!”
“Heheek!”
The next instant, he dashed toward Lian.
Lian barely managed to deflect his attack by drawing his sword.
No — he deflected it far more easily than expected.
Even he was surprised at how smoothly he had parried it.
He instinctively understood why.
‘Because of that stone I swallowed just now!’
The stone he had swallowed on reflex.
It hadn’t just empowered the Brand.
His body was also responding to it.
“……”
As his attack was blocked so effortlessly, Allen’s momentum faltered for a brief moment.
But only for a moment.
He soon launched into another flurry of fierce attacks.
“You son of a—!”
Lian deflected, diverted, and when things got too dangerous, he used the Brand to counter — meeting Allen blow for blow.
At least right now, he had no trouble standing against Allen.
“Heeheehee!”
And as if thrilled by that very fact, Allen just laughed madly and ceaselessly.
“Get a grip, will you!”
As if responding to Lian’s shout, white flames burst forth from his blade.