Chapter 513

Chapter 513

C513

In the lowest level of the Dungeon...

It had been two days since Joshua was confined here.

His limbs were tied to the wall, and his eyes were unfocused.

The gag tightly in his mouth prevented him from biting his tongue.

It can't end like this...

But what could he do?

His bound limbs were pierced by iron spikes, and the knights he trusted turned out to be servants of his mother.

The sisters he cherished, like Myu and Anne, didn't have the power to save him, and the Elder Council was the same.

He couldn't pin his hopes on the hunting dogs raised outside the Family.

They wouldn't be able to traverse this dungeon, and, from the beginning, his hunting dogs were not as blindly devoted as Taimyun's offspring.

The hunting dogs would lose their focus and collapse.

Now that he had fallen, the other flagbearers closer to the throne.

Luntia, Dyfus, Mary, and Jin.

There was only a remote possibility if they personally requested it, but that was absolutely impossible.

Even if his father in the Black Sea knew of this fact, there was no chance he would revoke the order of his mother.

Even ending his own life was impossible.

The Runcandel dungeon was not a place to kill prisoners.

Whether the subject was human, dragon, demon, or anything else, the goal was to isolate the prisoner in complete solitude until the end of their life.

If a person refused to eat, they were forced to eat, and suicide attempts were futile.

Not even the prophet could get him out of this place.

I can't do anything.

'I can't trust anything.'

If there was at least one thing, a glimmer of hope to bet on.

'Mother.'

The cruel mother who had pushed him into this very hell, personally presenting herself to offer him a way back to the surface.

That was the only means to ascend again.

Tiiing...

The sound of the entrance to the lower level opening echoed from afar.

Joshua, fixing his blurry gaze, looked towards the closed door.

If that door opened, his mother would enter, or so he hoped.

It took a while until Joshua's cell door finally opened.

"What a sight, Second Flagbearer... Oh, no, you're not a Flagbearer anymore."

An old, snake-like voice.

It was Jorden Runcandel.

He removed the gag from Joshua and clicked his tongue.

"How does it feel to fall?"

"Sword Association Chief...!"

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't come to mock you."

Jorden then released Joshua's limbs that were tied to the wall.

"I may not have been imprisoned, but my situation is not much different from yours."

"What are you talking about?"

"I may not have lost my limbs, but I've lost everything else. Although I haven't suffered a public disgrace like you, my pride has been trampled by the acting matriarch of the Family."

Black Sword Association, a clan's punishment unit composed of particularly powerful elders.

Jorden was no longer its leader.

Jane's farewell words and the visit from the Chief of the Black Sword Association.

They couldn't change Joshua Runcandel's essence in an instant.

They remained just points of discussion.

As Rosa entered, Joshua straightened his posture.

"She's here, acting patriarch."

Crack!

Rosa suddenly drove Frenzy's blade into Joshua's right shoulder.

"Ugh...!"

The flesh tore, and blood spurted.

Then, with a swift and quick strike, the sword left a gash on Joshua's left shoulder.

Fear struck him again.

A fear he had never overcome, the fear of his parents.

A new fear created by the indiscriminate attacks of his mother, who seemed determined never to let him go.

"You'll say you've exhausted your strength, but does that mean you can't even react to a sword like this? It was a speed even advanced cadets could avoid."

"Acting Patriarch...!"

"Well, now you don't dare call me mother anymore. But is that all? If it had been those exceptional kids, your sisters and brothers, they would have avoided it."

Frenzy swung again, this time slashing Joshua's chest.

The depth of the blade cut was anything but superficial.

"Guh!"

"No, did you barely manage to dodge? Luntia, Dyfus, Mary, Jin wouldn't be screaming like you. They would be looking me directly in the eyes and trying to counterattack. No matter the reason or who was wrong, once the sword strikes!"

Shriiek!

"And if it were Luna, she would have grabbed her weapon, Frenzy, and aimed it at my neck. Wouldn't that girl be able to do that even after losing her strength? Then, why wouldn't we lament Cyron and me?"

What Joshua was enduring, the stabs and slashes of the sword, was truly nothing compared to the unbearable pain inflicted by comparisons and feelings of inferiority.

"Kraah! What do you expect me to do?"

Joshua's jaw twisted, and his sternum shattered as he recklessly lunged at her.

It wasn't a counterattack but a frenzy.

"Kuk, coff."

"Why can't you do something like this? Why couldn't you, the son of the prophecy, do it?"

At those words, Joshua blamed his mother for the first time in his life.

"You... raised me like this."

"I have no memories of raising you like this."

"No, you're right. You raised me like this."

"No, I didn't raise you like this."

"And didn't you give birth to me like this? Luna, Luntia, Dyfus, Mary, Jin! Why didn't you pass on talents like theirs to me? They are all your creations...!"

"Talent? Well, I admit Luna's. But do you really think those other kids have more talent than you, and that's why I put you here? You just didn't try as hard as them. Despite giving you so many opportunities... Ah, if I say this, now you'll claim those opportunities were poison, won't you?"

Rosa let out a bitter laugh.

Joshua fell forward and trembled.

He wanted to rise again, but his body, ruthlessly stabbed and pierced by Frenzy, refused to respond.

"I also admit it. Now that I think about it, the opportunities I gave you over the last few decades seem to be poison. I didn't expect that feeding you only with a spoon wouldn't be enough. If I had known I had to chew it for you in advance, maybe you wouldn't be here now."

"What kind of... nonsense is this?"

"Did you really think I would send only you, a flagbearer, and the two Black Knights from the Sota Desert on that important mission...?"

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