Chapter 228 : Chapter 228
Chapter 228 : Wreckage
There was a turning point that brought Isaac and Raven rapidly closer.
It was when Raven accepted Isaac's invitation and visited the Windermere mansion.
"Isaac, about your sister Christine. Her complexion looked really pale."
Isaac's heart sank the moment he heard those words. He felt fortunate that his back was turned to him. At any rate, he wondered when on earth Raven had seen her, given that he'd paid the utmost attention to their movements to be careful.
'…….'
Judging by his voice, it seemed he'd blurted it out carelessly without any real underlying meaning. Just as it appeared. In reality, his sister Christine's skin went beyond merely being fair.
'Don't make a fuss. It's fine as long as I act like it's nothing and answer.'
Apart from any sexual attraction, Isaac felt a fondness for Raven. He was someone he wanted to know more about and get closer to.
That was why. He willingly invited Raven to the mansion. Into a space akin to a massive prison that constricted even himself, where he always had to live holding his breath.
It wasn't a calculated action. It was an expression of his subconscious desire to reveal and share his sore spot and disgrace, which even he wanted to hide, rather than concealing them.
"Ah, I heard my sister's been suffering from a severe fever since a few days ago—"
"Doesn't look like it to me."
"……What?"
Isaac turned around. Raven, who noticed him late because he'd been looking around the bedroom, put on a sly smile.
"What's wrong?"
"……Ah, it's nothing. I just wondered what my sister looks like to you to make you say that."
"Ah. Just what I said. It's not a fever……, well, I've been studying mana medicine lately. I'm quite interested in that field, you see."
Isaac let out a faint sigh. Renowned physicians who left their names in history had drifted in and out of this mansion countless times. It was hard to even count their numbers by now.
The result was the same for all of them, who had repeatedly sworn never to reveal the existence of the family illness to the outside world. Every single one turned back without being able to offer any proper answer. They were all completely helpless.
The situation was identical for Springeus, who covertly allied with them in this dreadful heavenly punishment alone.
"I think I can cure it."
Isaac couldn't find his bearings on what to say to Raven, who spoke with a bright expression.
"But we've got to be completely alone, just my sister and me, so no one can interfere—"
Knock, knock.
A knock suddenly rang out. Isaac opened the door. Standing outside the door was an elderly family member, leading servants behind his back. He wore a deliberately solemn expression.
"What brings the Council Elder here?"
"Ahem, Second Son. Let us have a word for a moment."
"I have a guest right now. If it is not an urgent matter—"
"I have come all the way here precisely because of that matter."
"……Pardon?"
The family member cleared his throat sharply as if he didn't want to speak any longer. He looked back and forth between Isaac and Raven behind him with displeasure.
Soon, Isaac asked Raven for his understanding with a glance and stepped outside.
"Hmm."
Raven lightly tiptoed over and softly pressed his ear against the door.
“……, ……, …………? Bourbourg. ………….”
Raven pulled his ear away, knitting his brows. The door was needlessly thick and sturdy.
Swish—
Black smoke suddenly rose above Raven's grasp. When he clenched and opened his fist, the character for 'Steal', written in red strokes, remained upon his palm.
Raven placed his hand on the door and closed his eyes. Soon, the scene beyond the door was vividly drawn within his mind.
"Third Son, how many more times must I tell you before you realize the gravity of this situation? Will you only stop after my old lips are completely chapped?"
"……."
"The day the Young Head is eclipsed is not far off. The Second Son took to his sickbed early on, the Fourth Lady goes without saying, and the Fifth Son is still far too young, so there is only the Third Son left. Why do you continuously engage in behavior that incurs displeasure? Never once since the establishment of the family has a collateral branch coveted the position of Family Head. Yet, do you stubbornly intend to shatter that long history with your own hands and bring about a lowborn Family Head?"
"C-Council Member. That friend is a scholar belonging to the Imperial Magic Corps whom I came to know in the Imperial Capital by chance. I merely invited him to share a friendship right now, and there is no other reason besides—"
The old elder let out a dumbfounded sigh and gripped the back of his own neck.
"Even without this, the faction supporting the Third Son within the Council of Elders is weak, so we are doing our utmost to act as a shield. Yet now, you bring a mage?"
"……."
"There is a limit to tolerating the Young Master's bizarre tastes as well by now! Must the discipline of the family, which we elders have defended like our very lives, be betrayed just for a single amusement of the Young Master? I am asking if your heart will only be at ease if you truly estrange yourself from us!"
Raven pulled his hand away. He wore an expression as though it were extremely intriguing.
Isaac returned soon. His shoulders were slumped heavily.
Raven asked with a composed face.
"What's wrong? Did something happen? From the looks of it, he seemed like an elder."
"……."
"Isaac?"
Isaac soon raised his head. The glint in his eyes was cold.
"Raven, you definitely said it earlier. That you can cure Christine."
The corners of Raven's mouth curled upward one after the other with a time lag.
"Yeah. But we've got to be completely alone."
***
"Haaah, haaah……!"
Raven panted heavily. His face was entirely drenched in sweat as if he'd been caught in the rain. Even his pupils were wide open.
'I survived thanks to the Sword Demon rapidly deploying his mental world!'
While slumped down, he looked up at the massive black sphere resting alone before his eyes.
The black sphere was the trace of a deployed mental world.
He'd been right on the verge of having his soul and flesh slaughtered, devoured by Bihen's Ghost Manor. Seizing an opening, the Sword Demon had deployed the mental world of the sword against Bihen.
As a result, the Ghost Manor dissolved as the Sword Demon's mental world swallowed Bihen.
It was a stroke of absolute luck for Raven. He'd truly escaped from the jaws of death.
'W-Why on earth didn't sorcery work on that bastard at all……?'
Raven's trembling pupils darted rapidly left and right. He groped for the cause as if reviewing the match, but there was no way to know right now.
"……Heh, heh-heh, hhahahahah……!"
His face, which had been completely paralyzed with fear, gradually began to twist grotesquely. His entire body shook convulsively along with his twitching shoulders. Madness gleamed within his euphoric eyes.
'Ah! I was truly almost annihilated!'
Living an eternal life causes several emotions to whither away. As the long-lost emotion of fear revived, an extreme pleasure rushed over him.
Gush! Gush!
Raven stared wonderfully at the blood spurting over his chest. He sucked on his blood-stained finger. A thrill ran through his entire body.
"To think there's such a vivid sensation!"
There was still too much to do to remain immersed solely in pleasure. He soothed his lingering regret.
He flailed his blood-stained finger in the air as if writing something.
Swish—
The black smoke congealed, and the character for 'Imprison' emerged over the wound on his chest.
Concurrently with the completion of the character, Raven gripped it roughly with his palm as if driving the letter deep into his wound.
"……Hup!"
The flowing blood stopped shortly. The gaping wound twisted and contracted as if stitched by an invisible thread.
A dreadful pain of burning raw flesh rushed over him, but Raven instead relished the agony, tearing the corners of his mouth wide into a long grin.
"Phew. Now then—"
Whoosh—!
Raven's face contorted grotesquely once more. A tremendous burning sensation erupted behind his back.
"Where do you think you're fleeing……?!"
Hugin barked through gritted teeth. The blazing Urvasi drove deep inside, poised to cleave Raven's shoulder in a single blow.
Yet Hugin himself was already completely consumed by blue flames. Even the half of his face that remained intact was precariously close to turning into ash and vanishing.
"Fleeing?"
Raven's convulsively twitching struggles stopped in an instant. It was a grotesque standstill, like a puppet whose strings were cut.
"I'm not as idle as you, chasing after futile memories."
His head turned slowly. Contempt and ridicule mingled in the eyes staring at Hugin.
"Ah, and let me tell you one thing. Unless there's a special covenant, fellow Outer Ones cannot annihilate each other."
Raven overlapped his hands over the spine of Urvasi embedded in his shoulder. Although his flesh was still burning away, his voice was infinitely peaceful.
"It means you can't do a thing to me with that pitiful flame of yours. My foolish brother."
"……!"
Hugin's pupils trembled. It was precisely at the moment Raven was about to burst into a mad laugh while thoroughly relishing that despair.
"You son of a bitch!"
"Now!"
"Waaaaah!"
Multiple people unleashed a shout simultaneously and pounced on Raven. It was Kendrick and the Black Rose Mercenaries.
The binding spell had unraveled while Raven was being cornered by Bihen.
"Honestly, you guys are hopeless."
Raven leisurely pulled up the corners of his mouth. Even though a glance at the situation suggested he was trapped helplessly due to Urvasi embedded in his shoulder, he brimmed with composure.
Wriggle, wriggle—
Raven's body crumbled like soft soil. Where his human skeleton collapsed, nothing but a smooth, pitch-black sphere remained alone.
Flash—!
In a split second, sharp thorns extended outward in all directions from the sphere. It was omnidirectional, leaving no room to evade.
Splat—!
The bodies of the rushing Kendrick and mercenaries were pierced in a single breath. Blood sprayed from their figures suspended in midair.
"Comrades—!"
Hugin shouted. Even he had no time to take action.
"It's fine. They aren't dead. At least not yet."
The voice was heard from a slight distance away. Hugin's head snapped around reflexively.
Swish—
The black smoke gathered, and Raven's true body was reconstructed. Phantom leap. It was his specialty.
"We've got a long way to go, so I won't make a long story of it. Hand over Urvasi obediently. Then I'll spare your comrades."
Raven's gaze directed toward the sword held in Hugin's hand. The flame enveloping and blazing over the blade remained fierce. Once the fire cleared, nothing but wreckage resembling gaunt bones would remain.
Even so, it had to be retrieved. Urvasi was a fragment from the times when they were complete.
"The more I think about it, the more absurd it is. This entire situation where I have to place the value of Urvasi alongside the price of the lives of such lowly creatures."
Raven grimaced heavily. A thick loathing dwelt within his eyes.
"Comrade Hugin! There's no need to even hesitate! Kill that bastard right now!"
Kendrick bellowed persistently. Seeing that sight made Raven even more infuriated.
Splat—!
The body of the mercenary suspended right beside Kendrick exploded without leaving a trace. Flesh resembling scraps of raw meat stuck to Kendrick's cheek before falling off.
Only then did Raven wear a satisfied smile upon watching the wailing Kendrick. Living a long life naturally teaches one a certain fact. Occasionally, some humans accept the death of a cherished individual as far more painful than their own death. To Raven's eyes, Kendrick belonged precisely to that category.
"Aaaaargh!"
Hugin roared. He gripped the hilt of the blazing holy sword as if he would crush it. The legacy of Partizan, which he could neither protect nor abandon, roughly seared his palm.
It was then.
"R-Raven……?"
It was heard from afar. Raven scowled instantly upon confirming the owner of the voice.
'Damn it. Why of all times right now……!'
It was Isaac. He was approaching with hesitant steps. Bolero and Roxy accompanied him in the back. For now, since it was an emergency, the three had arrived first.
"W-What…… what's the meaning of this situation, Raven?"
Isaac's voice trembled faintly. His gaze merely wandered around the area, having lost its destination. It was a sight far beyond the scope of his perception.
The Mercenary King Hugin blanketed in blue flames, the corpses strewn across the ground, and the mercenaries dangling precariously while pierced by bizarre thorns.
And Raven stood right at the center of it.
'What on earth is that……?'
Isaac's gaze soon halted at one spot. Behind Raven's back, a disparate black sphere sat alone as if it had burst out from a different world.
"Could it be Bihen again?!"
Bolero recognized it at once. Roxy was the same. Both of them had seen it in Brakenport. It was identical to the one created when Deganelo, who ambushed Masa, clashed against Bihen.
"Raven! Explain this at once! Why are you here, and what on earth is going on?!"
Isaac cried out as if screaming. His eyes quickly turned bloodshot.
He'd been in agony the entire way here. If the words of the Imperial Capital Knight Order soldiers were truly a fact, it meant he'd practically murdered his own biological elder brother with his own hands.
That wasn't the end of it. In the first place, this war itself was a joint collaboration with Raven. Isaac simply wanted to smash this horrible memory and reality to pieces entirely.
He merely hoped that Raven would deny it, please.
'Hmm, this has become troublesome.'
Whether Isaac felt that way or not, Raven fell into thought.
'Isaac is a guy who still has plenty of utility value. It's too wasteful to throw him away here.'
Right at the moment Raven clicked his tongue—
"……?"
This time it was from behind. Exactly behind the black sphere, facing the direction opposite Isaac's party.
Raven turned his head. A crowd of some sort was revealing its presence while radiating a powerful and ominous momentum.
'Ha, dammit.'
Raven scratched his eyebrow with annoyance. The ones appearing from the opposite side were the elites of Conwell, with Adeline as the mainstay.
'……Well, maybe it's for the best instead. It wouldn't be bad to settle things clearly here while I'm at it.'
Raven twisted the corners of his mouth imperceptibly. A scoff also leaked out.
'Fight and bite each other a bit more, you idiots.'
Contrary to his inner thoughts, his expression quickly changed to a shameless one. He waved his hand urgently toward Isaac and Adeline.
"Isaac! And Your Grace, the Duke of Conwell! I was actually waiting for you. These fellows are precisely the culprits who raided the hills—"
Grab—!
Raven's words were cut short in an instant. The thing that gripped the back of his neck was a hand protruding from the black sphere.
"……!"
Raven's pupils dyed completely with astonishment. It was an existence that could absolutely never emerge from within that place, someone who should have already died after being trapped inside the Sword Demon's mental world.
"Caught you, you rat."
The voice of Bihen Benkou heard from behind was maximally calm and cool.