Chapter 230: Arpentia (8)
Velita leapt out immediately, not even giving Lian a chance to stop her.
The overwhelming aura and killing intent erupting from her body were directed solely at the Man without a Head.
Even so, her presence was so barren and frigid that a chill ran through Lian’s entire body.
It was exactly the same as the woman he remembered from his previous life—the one who had been called a butcher.
‘As far as I remember, surely…….’
Watching Velita unleash a relentless assault on the Man without a Head without showing the slightest restraint, Lian found himself recalling something unconsciously.
It was about the Imperial Family.
“……”
In his previous life, most of the Imperial Family had met miserable ends.
The only ones who survived were the Second Imperial Princess Velita, who would eventually seize the Emperor’s throne,
and the twin siblings who would be called Heroes—the Third Prince Behad Amandine Bestrang and the Third Imperial Princess Mercedes Latina Bestrang.
Those three alone.
By the time the incident had occurred, he had already fled the Empire and was wandering in exile, so he had only heard rumors……
According to what he had heard, the First Prince had been murdered by the Second Prince Gernot, and afterward all the remaining members of the Imperial Family—including Gernot—had been purged by Velita’s hand.
Moreover, even in death they had tasted humiliation; their funerals had been so pitiful that calling them funerals at all felt like an exaggeration.
But……
‘The First Imperial Princess.’
She alone had been somewhat of an exception.
As Lian remembered it, it had already been well over ten years since the First Imperial Princess died—even by the current point in time.
He also recalled that there had been quite a significant age gap between her and the other members of the Imperial Family.
‘Officially, they said she died of illness, but…….’
In truth, rumors had quietly spread that she had been poisoned.
Perhaps it was because she had been a powerless princess with no backing and no faction of her own.
Or perhaps she had simply become a sacrifice in some political struggle.
It was no real secret that not even her parents had attended her funeral, and that even her grave had been unimpressive.
And now, even that grave had been robbed.
‘She suffered even after death.’
Thinking that to himself, Lian began to replay Velita’s earlier words and actions in his mind.
“……”
Velita.
In his previous life, she had often been mocked—through countless deeds—as someone who lacked a human heart, as someone with something chilling flowing through her veins instead of blood.
No, rather than mockery or contempt, it had been closer to fear and awe.
She had been famous for crushing and uprooting anyone who dared oppose her, no matter who they were.
Even if the one she punished was of her own blood, there had been no exception.
In fact, rumors had even circulated that when her own family members died, she had not grieved or mourned them—instead, she had smiled in delight.
‘But that look just now…….’
It had seemed as though emotions she had long kept pressed down were erupting like a volcano.
She was pouring out every ounce of fury she could possibly direct at the one responsible for her family’s death—and for desecrating that death.
While Lian remained lost in thought, Velita had, at some point, drawn a weapon into her hand.
A strange curved blade that bent like a snake.
At her gesture, the sinister sword moved freely like a living creature, mercilessly driving the Man without a Head into a corner.
“I truly did not wish to fight…….”
Effortlessly dodging or blocking her relentless, storm-like barrage of attacks, the Man without a Head muttered as if troubled.
“It seems I have no choice.”
With a sigh, he raised the staff in his right hand toward Velita.
“It will hurt a little, but I ask that you endure it……!”
The moment he shouted that, a horrifying sound rang out, as if space itself were being crushed and twisted.
The instant Lian heard it, he pulled out the dagger he had hidden in his arms and hurled it without hesitation.
‘That strike is impossible.’
The fastest and strongest blow he could unleash—one that seemed capable of even cutting through space itself.
He could not use it without Airos’ Sword.
Even if he tried to imitate it with the dagger he currently held, it was obvious the blade would not withstand it.
More importantly, there was too high a chance Velita would be caught in it.
So instead, Lian poured the most powerful force he could currently contain—the power of the Sky Guide—into the dagger and threw it at the man with all his might.
Though his training was still lacking and it had not yet been properly tempered, it was undoubtedly the strongest attack he could produce at present.
Shiiik!
With a chilling sound as it cut through the air, the dagger flew toward him. The man casually raised his left arm and blocked it.
Just as before, he likely intended to let it sink as though into mire and then divert it away.
Thud!
But to his surprise, the dagger pierced deeply into his left arm.
Moreover, the impact forced him to stagger back several steps.
“……!”
For the first time, the body of the Man without a Head trembled violently, as though shocked.
Lian was just as startled.
‘Wait… now that I think about it…….’
He recalled the previous time he had faced this man in battle.
Even when struck by the flames of the Spirit King Taranis—summoned by Yeriel, by Deiare, and even by Cecilia—he had suffered no real wounds.
It had been as though they were striking at an insubstantial illusion; every attack against him had come to nothing.
Yet when he had been struck at the end by Yuran, his recovery had clearly been slower than usual.
At the time, Lian had assumed it was simply because the accumulated injuries had finally taken their toll……
“……”
Without delay, Lian infused another dagger with the same power and hurled it toward the man like a bolt.
“Kh!”
This time, the man chose to evade rather than block.
Watching that reaction, Lian became certain.
‘Sky Guide.’
That was his weakness.
And with that power, it was possible to inflict meaningful damage upon him.
“Just die already……!”
Meanwhile, Velita continued to press him without pause.
Perhaps because Lian had interfered at just the right moment, she was able to avoid without difficulty the earlier attack that had crushed space itself.
Thud! Slash!
Her sinister sword carved countless large and small wounds across the man’s body.
However, unlike the dagger embedded in his left arm, the wounds she inflicted healed in an instant.
The man clearly knew this as well, for he did not react in the slightest to her attacks.
“……To think that you, too, were a successor.”
The Man without a Head turned his body toward Lian and muttered.
He had no eyes, so I could not be certain, yet it felt as though he was staring intently at me.
“I believe I now understand why that person is so obsessed with you. ……Uncharacteristically, I made a grave mistake. I should have subdued you first.”
While he spoke, instead of replying, I bestowed a blessing upon Velita.
Feeling her body change in an instant, Velita slightly furrowed her brow as if surprised, yet she did not take her eyes off the enemy before her for even a single moment.
“……”
My attacks were not working at all.
Realizing this, Velita glanced at the dagger embedded in his left arm—the one that had wounded him unlike her own attacks—and subtly narrowed her eyes.
“I see.”
Velita spoke in a whisper.
“Lian Gwendil, it seems his attacks are lethal to you.”
At her words, the man answered.
“There is no need to hide it, so I shall respond. That is correct. Ordinary attacks hold no meaning for me. Your swordsmanship and techniques are like a venomous serpent sinking its fangs into me, yet they cause me no harm.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Velita replied indifferently and flicked her wrist.
At once, blades from the sinister sword in her hand pierced through the ground and, like tentacles, tightly bound the man’s body.
“Hmm?”
“I do not carry just one blade, you see.”
As she said that, Velita fixed him with a cold glare.
Even though he was restrained, the man remained calm.
“As I said before, your attacks are meaningless to me. We confirmed that in our earlier exchange. You are not a successor. Therefore, no matter what attack you attempt against me—?!”
He flinched and muttered in disbelief.
“Wait, this cannot be…… How is this possible……?”
Velita curved her lips ever so slightly.
“Lian Gwendil, you said his power is lethal to you, did you not? So I took a small liberty.”
She adjusted her grip on the sword.
“I memorized and copied the power that brushed past me.”
Then she spoke quietly, yet in a chilling voice.
“……It is only for an instant, but that is more than enough.”
With those words, Velita swung her arm with all her strength.
In the next moment, the man’s body shattered into countless pieces.
“Khk!?”
He screamed in pain.
His fragmented body scattered helplessly in all directions, and from the smallest pieces upward, it began to lose its form like smoke and gradually fade away.
“Hah.”
I let out a hollow laugh without meaning to.
I could clearly feel his death—his very existence being extinguished.
“A, ah…… This is impossible.”
The man muttered weakly in disbelief.
Cracks were spreading across his mask, and of his shattered body, only a small portion now remained.
“To think…… with my long-cherished wish right before me, and that person’s dream nearly fulfilled…… Ah……!”
“……Be quiet.”
Velita struck him again with the sinister sword, as if irritated.
But unlike before, the blow dealt no meaningful damage.
It seemed she already knew that.
It was nothing more than venting her anger.
“……Fath, er.”
The man murmured faintly.
“Since this… body… was meant to be discarded anyway…… fool…….”
He muttered under his breath.
Perhaps it was just my imagination.
The staff engraved with a Brand seemed to glow faintly.
“Ah.”
At last, even his remaining form scattered like dust in the wind and vanished completely.
And then……
Click.
A sound rang out, as though something were being rewound.
A sound that neither the Man without a Head,
nor Lian Gwendil, nor Velita,
nor anyone else could hear.
Suddenly, the Man without a Head’s body trembled.
“……Mm.”
He let out a low groan and slowly began to look around.
Watching him, Velita smiled faintly.
It was colder and more chilling than any smile she had shown until now.
“The Imperial Family member you said had been disturbed.”
Her eyes slowly—very slowly—hardened with coldness.
“That Imperial Family member… surely.”
Velita Levymne Bestrang.
The Second Imperial Princess of the Solberique Empire, and the eldest among all surviving members of the Imperial Family, asked in a voice squeezed low,
“……You are not speaking of my elder sister, whose grave was robbed when I was young, are you?”
The Man without a Head did not answer.
Velita did not wait for an answer.
KWA-A-A-A-ANG!!!
She swung her arm at once, and with a thunderous roar as though space itself twisted, the Man without a Head was violently hurled backward.
The wall he collided with shattered, and dust billowed thickly into the air.
“……”
Velita’s shoulders were still trembling faintly, yet her eyes shone colder and firmer than ever.
Then, before Lian could stop her, Velita leapt forward once more.
……Again.