CH 30

I put up layers of shields around my body, but Haron quickly penetrated the few layers of shield and stabbed me.

“What…”

I couldn’t scream or make a noise. I was so embarrassed and surprised that I couldn’t even feel the pain. Once the defense was breached, I was helplessly swayed by his attack.

‘What happened all of the sudden…!’

It was such a light, fast movement that I wondered if it was him who was stumbling down there just now. I desperately tried to shake off the pain and concentrate on predicting his behavior, but I kept missing it.

‘Now that it has come to this… I have no choice but to use that method.’

There was no moment to hesitate. I waited for the moment he raised his sword, and I quickly spread pain all over the area. If I unleash the power of pain like this he will surely fall under my power.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay. We can faint together. This is my castle, and Tina and the others will find out first.’

I ended up using the power of pain within the confinement for both of us. That’s my strongest strength. For about 5 seconds, ruthless pain penetrated my body. I couldn’t breathe properly.

‘If we fall down… together like this…’

But at the next moment, I witnessed an incredible sight.

Haron kept moving even though the power of pain was being used. Slowly, step-by-step, he came towards me.

I thought to myself, ‘how can there be such a handsome monster?’. The monster was approaching me while enduring the power of pain.

“Ah…”

A sharp sword, once again, breached my stomach. If someone were to ask me what hurted more, the power of pain or the sword, I couldn’t answer. Both of them hurted like crazy.

Eventually, I felt like I was floating and fell straight down to the podium.

~*~

(3rd person pov)

“Haa… Cough…”

On the podium, Haron breathed heavily as if he was going to die. He could feel the blood in his throat. It was a reaction that tells him that the body is at a limit. He lost his touch for a moment.

Should he suffer from the pain of breaking his whole body right now just to feel happy about killing the devil? Or should he blame himself for borrowing the mahone’s power as a warrior?

He couldn’t figure it out at all.

[Hahaha! It’s fun, it’s very fun. It’s been so long since I’ve had a body that fits so well. Yes, you can become this strong if you sign a formal contract with me!]

“…”

First, he decided to ignore what he had heard in his head.

Haron squeezed the last remaining force down the podium. There was the body of the devil who was stabbed to death by his sword. An ordinary person would’ve died, of course. But since his opponent was the devil, he approached it to confirm whether it was really dead.

“…It’s still alive.”

The body moved in the slightest. Black blood soaked on the ground showing that it was not a common fatal wound.

The devil, who had been struggling on the ground, slowly raised its upper body. Haron was very surprised at the fact that it still had the power to sit up in such condition. However, it seemed that it had no strength to face Haron any longer, so Haron thrust his sword under the devil’s neck.

“It’s over. Now tell me where the princess is.”

“Ugh, keuk…”

The devil shook its hands with its head down. Even though it was his enemy, it looked like it was going to die soon, which evoked a little sympathy from Haron. But, that feeling was brief, for Haron was also exhausted, and the devil was an enemy who he could not let his guard down for a single moment.

He then pushed the sword further down the devil’s neck, and naturally, it’s head slowly lifted upward. As soon as he checked the devil’s face under the half-broken mask because it had fallen to the floor, Haron could feel his heart beating.

The sword he was holding fell to the ground with a loud bang. It was the first time that he violated his teacher’s words to not let go of the sword in his hand unless his arm was cut off.

As if the time had stopped, the surroundings felt still.

He could hear nothing but the devil’s painful groans and coughs. After quite a while, Haron spat out in a trembling voice.

“…Is this how you despise me?”

“Ugh, what… ah.”

Only then did Lucia, who belatedly realized that her mask was broken, lowered her head. To make matters worse, the hood of the robe was off, and her brilliant silver hair that was hidden spilled over her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s uh. This…”

She hurriedly closed her mouth.

Every time she coughed, black blood flowed down from the side of her mouth. But, she hated seeing Haron’s contemptuous gaze more than the pain of being on the ground right now.

“…Really, are you having fun playing with me?”

“It’s not that…”

“How dare you.”

Haron said with a voice filled with rage.

“You even copied her hair.”

(t/n: he thinks the devil is pretending to be Lucia but doesn’t know that it’s actually her…)

“…”

“Don’t put her face in front of me. That’s disgusting!”

Haron picked up the sword he dropped.

He immediately wanted to destroy the opponent in front of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that and trembled.

“Ha, haa… God damn it.”

It looked too much alike. There was nothing that could shatter his heart more than tormenting her face and seeing blood spitting out from her mouth. Whenever her tender shoulders were shaking from pain, his heart sank.

He wanted to remove the sword right away and run to hug her. He was sure that it wasn’t actually her in front of him, and it must be a fake, but the ominous imagination made him feel a chill on the back of his neck.

“Devil!”

A clear voice rang from far away while breaking his imagination. Haron barely turned his head around and identified the owner of the voice.

A blonde girl, who he had seen many times, ran this way with tears in her eyes. Haron then uttered the next word without realizing it.

“…Princess?”

She didn’t even care about Haron who was there. Even though he still aimed his sword at the devil, she ran and hugged it.

“Oh my god, wake up! I did what the devil told me to do… I said I’ll never cry again.”

In tears, Tina sobbed while straightening her posture. Kneeling down next to the devil, she collapsed her hands together and started singing a soft melody.

– … Blue flowers. There’s no pain or season to bloom and lose for you.

Her voice trembled a bit, nevertheless, it was a very clear tone. Every time she sang, white drops formed in the air and it fell on the devil’s body, making the wounds begin to heal.

She then reached out and swept the devil’s forehead lightly.

– It doesn’t mean you’re standing alone.

It was a rare ability that Haron was familiar with.

– May you always be in the direction of this light.

Tina. Christina.

Princess Christina of Lochastin.

Why didn’t he listen to that simple name properly? It was then Haron started approaching her with blank eyes. Suddenly, two monsters appeared from nowhere and bit each of his shoulders.

“Agh!”

Haron quickly swung the sword away from her body. The two demons snarled between them as if to protect the devil. He then frowned at the familiar creatures.

“I’ve seen these guys before.”

Haron recognized Deran and Derakal at once because he saw them when he first met Lucia. The memory of that day was stuck in his mind and he’ll probably never forget it.

“…Yeah, that’s right. We were all at the same place that time.”

Haron, who had been searching through his memories, spoke darkly. Little by little, he felt like his whole body was cooling down.

Lucia, who drooped in Tina’s arms, had a pale face.

…As if she was dead.

‘No way.’

He didn’t want to believe what was in front of him. Then, he heard a giggling voice again in his head, which had been quiet for a while.

[You said you wanted to kill the devil.]

The voice was childlike, sweet, and tender, but at the same time it was also intrusive.

[But you didn’t know it was someone you liked.]

As soon as he heard that, he felt a string in his head snap.

“Lucia.”

He didn’t need to hear anything else. Haron then strode toward her at once. Deran and Derakal ran up and bit him to prevent him from approaching, but after a while, he approached her again.

“Lucia.”

Tina closed her eyes and quietly focused on singing the song. It didn’t stop the warrior since he couldn’t hear the noise around him.

[You stabbed her.]

[You killed her.]

[That’s what you did, you idiot.]

It wasn’t the voice he heard before. It was the voice that Haron repeated to himself.

“I… I tried to kill the devil. Well, I was desperate…”

Drip. Drip.

Drops of tears ran down his cheek and fell on Lucia’s face.