Chapter 231: Arpentia (9)
Velita.
The momentum and killing intent bursting from her body were directed solely at the Man without a Head.
‘……Incredible.’
Even so, Velita’s aura was so barren and frigid that chills ran down my entire body.
It was exactly as I remembered her from my previous life—the very image of the woman who had been called a slaughterer.
‘As far as I know, clearly…….’
Watching Velita unleash a fierce assault on the Man without a Head without the slightest mercy in her hands, I found myself recalling something without meaning to.
It was none other than the Imperial Family of the Empire.
Born at the highest place, yet perhaps it would have been more accurate to call them those who had been fated with tragically twisted destinies.
Before my eyes now stood the Second Imperial Princess, Velita, erupting in fury, along with her twins—the Third Imperial Prince, Vehard, and the Third Imperial Princess, Mercedes.
Aside from those three, in the end, all of them had met miserable ends.
‘……Well, if you really think about it, it was all because of Velita, that woman.’
Even as I thought that, I continued my train of thought.
It was around the time my mind reached the First Imperial Princess—who had been known to have died of illness but in truth had been poisoned.
‘But…….’
I tilted my head slightly without realizing it.
The Velita before me now was far too different from the one I had known.
As if seeking vengeance for her family…….
The only way to describe her was that her eyes had completely flipped over.
The way she exploded emotions she had long pressed down without leaving a single shred behind felt profoundly unfamiliar to me.
The Velita I knew had always been cold, a person in whom not a trace of emotion could be felt.
“…….”
While I was lost in complicated thoughts, the Man without a Head merely remained silent.
Quietly, yet without the slightest opening, he held his stance and continued to block and deflect Velita’s relentless attacks.
It was a one-sided scene, with Velita driving him back.
Seeing that, I felt a sense of incongruity.
‘What is this.’
The Man without a Head.
If things were as I knew them, he would have already spewed all kinds of long-winded lines like an actor in a play, mocking and toying with the two of us.
Yet now, he was the very image of a seasoned warrior.
As he faced Velita, he did not relax nor let his guard slip even for a moment.
At the same time, he did not forget to remain wary of me.
Was it because Velita’s attacks were effective?
If that were the case, then the wounds carved by her demonic sword would not have been healing in an instant.
‘……What is this.’
A deeply unpleasant unease settled over me.
I could not understand the reason for the man’s change.
Without realizing it, tension began to coil throughout my body.
At the same time, I raised my vigilance to its peak.
Perhaps it was because I had sharpened all my senses to a needle-like edge—
“……Sniff.”
A peculiar and strange scent suddenly brushed against the tip of my nose.
Paradoxically, it felt like déjà vu—familiar, yet alien, as if I were smelling it for the first time in my life.
‘Is it his ability?’
I hurriedly invoked the Miracle of Purification, but there was no change in my body.
The Necklace of Airos, which was supposed to detoxify all poisons and block curses, showed no reaction either.
And above all… how should I put it?
The scent itself did not seem harmful or toxic to my body.
Rather, my senses were telling me that this fragrance posed no threat to me at all.
I could have dismissed it as nothing, but something…….
Something…….
It was at that moment—
“……!”
I cut off my thoughts and threw myself aside.
No, more precisely, my body was suddenly shoved backward as if something had pushed me.
Wudududuk!!!
The spot where I had been standing twisted into ruin like crumpled paper.
Had I remained there, I too would have been crushed like a sheet of wrinkled paper.
The Man without a Head.
Without any warning or declaration, he had launched a sudden attack—aimed not at Velita, but at me.
‘What in the world is this…….’
I had avoided it by sheer accident, yet I myself did not understand how I had evaded that attack.
For a moment, I wondered if Velita had helped me and glanced at her, but she too was looking this way in disbelief, as if she could not believe what had just happened.
“How unfortunate.”
The Man without a Head shrugged.
“It failed. ……What a pity. With this, a surprise attack has now lost its meaning.”
Despite his words, he did not seem particularly regretful.
He then raised his staff.
“……Surely you do not intend to call that cowardly?”
“…….”
“What meaning is there in calling something cowardly in a fight? Is that not so? We are not engaged in a duel.”
He continued speaking without pause, yet his voice, unlike before, was stiff and hardened.
As he raised his staff, I pulled a dagger from my chest in response.
Just as I was watching the hem of the Man without a Head’s robe flutter unusually wide—
“Hup!”
Velita charged at him once more.
Having gauged the timing, I hurled the dagger as though firing it to support her.
A slash that cleaved through space was impossible without Airos’ Sword.
Thus, this was the strongest attack I could unleash at the moment—an all-out strike imbued with the full Power of the Sky as a Guide of the Sky.
“…….”
But as if he had been waiting precisely for that, the Man without a Head avoided the dagger I had thrown.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
To think he would dodge rather than block it.
“Just die……!”
However, the very brief opening created by that movement—
Velita did not miss it and fiercely rushed at him.
Having momentarily lost his stance while evading the dagger, he immediately regained his momentum and began receiving Velita’s relentless assault once more.
At first glance, it looked like a fierce, evenly matched battle.
However, I couldn’t shake the sense that something was off.
‘……Wait.’
Strange.
Something was strange.
“…….”
Once more, I measured the timing and threw my remaining dagger.
This time as well, I imbued it with the power of the Sky Guide.
And just like before, the man dodged it with ease, as though he had been waiting for it.
In the process, he took a direct hit from the cursed sword Velita swung, yet as before, he did not appear to have suffered any meaningful damage.
‘It’s certain.’
I gave a small nod.
‘He’s more conscious of me than of Velita.’
I was sure of it.
He was clearly far more wary of my attacks than of Velita’s.
‘……Is it because of the power of the Sky Guide?’
Thinking back, he had endured other people’s attacks without issue before, yet he had shown a noticeable weakness only against Yuran’s attacks.
And Yuran, like me, could use the power of the Sky Guide.
‘Wait, then when Yuran released more power than necessary earlier……?’
Perhaps she had done it to make me realize this.
Frowning slightly, I calmly organized my thoughts.
‘But even so…….’
He shouldn’t know that I can use that power.
And even taking that into account, he was paying excessive attention to me.
“……Hm?”
As I carefully observed him fighting Velita, I suddenly noticed that the left side of his robe was fluttering far more than before.
‘Wasn’t it only his wrist that was missing originally?’
But now, everything below the elbow was gone entirely.
‘Why?’
When we had first encountered him and he blocked our path, only his left wrist had been missing.
But now, everything below the elbow was gone.
It was as though it had disappeared at some point without me even noticing.
‘Why? Part of his body vanished? For what reason?’
As my thoughts continued, I once again became aware of the strange scent lingering faintly in the air—the one I had never smelled before.
“…….”
A part of his body had vanished without any sign.
His attitude and reactions had shifted as if he were a completely different person.
His responses were as though he could see straight through us.
And that unfamiliar scent lingering at the tip of my nose.
‘……No way.’
Something flashed through my mind like lightning.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have even considered such a possibility.
But because I had experienced it myself, I was able to form a single hypothesis.
Time.
The moment that word surfaced, everything fell into place like pieces of a puzzle.
‘No way.’
When I retraced my thoughts, it bore striking similarities to the story of the Eight Demon Lords—of Popolotuass—who had turned back time, as mentioned by Talia Poas.
Above all, the scent.
Hadn’t she said that those who crossed back through time carried a distinct scent?
And because of that scent, she had realized that I had reversed time.
‘No way…… No, it’s certain……!’
I shouted urgently.
“Be careful!”
At my shout, both the Man without a Head and Velita turned their attention to me at once.
“He may already have seen and learned all of our techniques and intentions!”
Before I could even finish speaking, the Man without a Head moved.
Velita also reacted instinctively.
Kwakakakak!!!
At that instant, another cursed sword that had been hidden beneath the ground shot upward.
It was meant to capture the Man without a Head.
But just as my warning suggested…….
As if he had already known her intention, he moved in a bizarre manner and avoided the trajectories of dozens of cursed swords.
“What—”
Velita’s eyes widened in shock.
The man had already closed the distance and stood right before her.
He extended his right hand toward Velita.
Crack!
With a chilling sound, she was violently flung backward.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
“Indeed.”
He landed soundlessly on the ground and muttered quietly.
“……I think I finally understand why that person was so obsessed with you.”
The man slowly lifted his head.
At that moment, a crack formed across his mask with a sharp sound.
Yet he paid it no mind as he murmured,
“You are remarkably perceptive.”
He whispered in admiration.
“……No, that’s not it.”
He shook his body as if mimicking the act of shaking his head from side to side.
“This cannot be explained simply by saying you are quick-witted.”
From behind the mask, his gaze—where there should have been nothing—was fixed precisely on me.
“You.”
At last, the masked man muttered in a voice brimming with unrestrained delight.
“You must have crossed back.”