Chapter 133 : Chapter 133
Chapter 133: Blood (1)
The letter in the safe contained more detailed information necessary to actually carry out the contract.
Specifically, how many sacrifices were needed, what incantations and summoning circles were required, and so on.
And to recall a place where a magic circle for such a large-scale ritual could be drawn, one didn't need to be as proficient in [Magic] as Rine.
In fact, the other companions also seemed to have guessed as soon as they heard my voice reading the letter, as they looked at each other.
Yes.
If I had to think of one place in Krom where the ritual in this letter could be performed.
“The arena……”
I couldn't help but think of this place.
Because all the conditions necessary for the summoning were met.
The size to gather thousands of people in one place, and the ‘circular’ structure, like a summoning circle, where they could all look at one place.
And in the sense that it was a place where ‘blood’ was constantly supplied, preventing the magic circle, which was not supplied with magic power, from entering a dormant state.
In short, the prisoners captured by Don Paulo were locked in the basement of this arena.
But that wasn't the only thing we found out.
At the end of the letter, as most letters do, the name of the sender of this letter was written.
“Demon King's army, 6th Corps Commander…”
Named ‘Portun’.
***
“Damn, it…”
Gray, with his right arm hanging limp and dripping with blood, immediately switched the dagger he was holding to his left hand.
“Uwaaaah──!”
Then, with a roar, he rushed in and swung the dagger, but Evie, who had easily dodged it, cut his outstretched arm.
Having dropped his knife, Gray, instead of picking it back up, continued his attack by swinging his fist.
Whoosh!
Black blood droplets from his arm scattered.
Evie, who had once again dodged it easily by slightly moving her body, this time stabbed below his collarbone.
“…!”
However, Gray, who was in pain from being stabbed, instead grabbed Evie's wrist and pulled her in, preventing her from pulling the dagger back out.
At the same time, he raised his foot and kicked her in the abdomen, pushing her away, and only then did he pull out the embedded dagger and swing it himself.
Evie, who had hastily twisted her body to dodge, immediately struck his ribs with her fist, and then, raising her knee, she struck the same place again to break his balance, then spun around and kicked Gray's calf with her outstretched leg.
“Ugh!”
As Gray fell, she climbed on top of him, pinned his left hand with her knee, and snatched the dagger back, then held it in a reverse grip and brought it down.
At this, Gray hastily raised his right hand and barely caught the blade, but the blade's edge moved further and further down.
Drip, drip.
Black blood from the hand that had caught the white blade fell drop by drop onto Gray's face.
Gray's two pupils trembled as he looked up at the approaching point of the knife.
Squeezing out his strength desperately, he finally kicked Evie away and hastily got up, but he couldn't stand for long and knelt on the spot.
Huuuk─ huuuk─
His ragged breaths, blocked by the mask, made a harsh, metallic sound.
Evie, seeing Gray's appearance, raised the dagger, which was now almost completely stained black, high.
It was a moment where the victory was virtually decided.
Sure enough, Kain, who had been watching the duel from his seat of honor all along, suddenly stood up.
Receiving the gazes of all the spectators, he slowly extended a hand.
Thumbs up.
Naturally, Evie's gaze also turned to that thumb.
Before long, it was flipped from top to bottom.
A death sentence.
As soon as they saw this, the crowd erupted in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, Gray, who was also looking up at Kain, let out a hollow, empty laugh.
As if to urge her to quickly finish him off as the Baron wished.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
The cheering crowd began to stomp their feet in unison.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Feeling the ground of the arena shake from the stomping of thousands of feet, Evie slowly approached Gray, one step at a time.
“Kill! Kill!”
Then, the moment she switched the dagger in her hand to a reverse grip.
“──!”
Suddenly, Gray threw off his mask.
And as he took a deep breath of the thick Gloom, his eyes, which had instantly turned purple, began to flicker like flames.
Fwoosh!
White dust rose.
Gray, who couldn't get up until a moment ago, had suddenly kicked the ground and rushed in.
Swinging his right arm, which had been hanging limp, vigorously again.
Startled, Evie nimbly jumped back, but Gray did not stop and rushed in again.
“What the──”
In the end, without even giving Evie a chance to regain her posture, he struck her in the abdomen and sent her flying.
At this, the spectators who had been cheering until a moment ago were also startled and all stopped their cheers and gasped.
At the same time, the tightly shut iron bars opened, and the armed soldiers who were waiting in front of the arena began to rush in to stop Gray.
It was a clear foul, a violation of the rules of the sacred duel.
However, they eventually stopped.
Because they had seen Kain's slightly raised hand.
It was a clear order not to intervene.
Gray, with his purple eyes blazing and black saliva drooling, had already become a beast.
“Tch…!”
Evie, who had roughly grasped the situation after seeing the soldiers who had been rushing to stop him suddenly stop in their tracks again, clicked her tongue, and then.
“Sacred duel my ass…!”
Shwaaak!
As soon as Gray rushed in again, she slid on the dirt floor, and as soon as she picked up the black dagger that was rolling nearby, she threw it.
Swish!
Gray, easily parried the dagger that was flying straight at his forehead with the back of his hand.
As if he no longer cared whether he bled or not.
Then, he continued to run towards Evie, and even with another dagger embedded in his right shoulder, which was still bleeding profusely, he extended his arm and grabbed Evie's neck.
“Keok…!”
Evie, who was lifted up, suffocating, dangled her two legs in the air.
But Gray couldn't withstand her dangling two legs wrapping around his arm and breaking it, and the two fell together and rolled on the floor.
“Just, die quietly!”
Evie quickly climbed on top of him, pulled out the dagger that was stuck in his shoulder, and this time, aimed for his heart and brought it down.
Gray hastily raised a hand to block it.
And although the sharp blade pierced the back of his hand, he showed no sign of pain and struck Evie's jaw with his other hand.
Thwack!
A dull thud echoed as Evie staggered.
In the meantime, he pulled out the dagger embedded in his palm and plunged it deep into Evie's side.
“Aaaargh!”
A groan of pain erupted from Evie's mouth.
Taking that opportunity, Gray flipped his body over, and in turn, pinned Evie down, and then.
“You lowly half-breed bitch…!”
Began to choke her again with his right hand.
“How dare you try to take my place…!?”
“…!”
Evie, deprived of her breath, resisted by hitting his arm or scratching his face, but Gray, who parried her with his remaining left hand, then added that hand as well and choked her with both hands.
At that, Evie's body gradually went limp, her dangling two legs became still, and the one hand that had grabbed his wrist to resist, slid down.
Just like the other hand, which had also gone down, fumbled on the floor, and finally reached the handle of the dagger that was stuck in her side.
Pshuk!
The moment she roughly pulled it out, black blood from her side gushed out and scattered on the white floor.
“Just like your mother, you just──”
──Swish!
A faint band of light was drawn.
Gray's blazing purple eyes widened.
Finally able to breathe again, Evie first coughed, kek kek.
Above that Evie, a black waterfall gushed out and covered her white clothes.
Gray, who had let go of her neck, immediately clutched his own neck, which now had a gap in it.
He tried to say something, his mouth gaping, but no voice came out, only black foam that had flowed back up bubbled.
Gray's two eyes, from which the flickering purple light was gradually fading, were now, even the whites of his eyes, stained black.
Glaring at Evie who was retreating from him, he soon collapsed to the floor.
For a moment, a silence fell over the arena.
Until the spectators, who had belatedly grasped the situation, burst into cheers in unison.
“Evie! Evie! Evie!”
They all stood up from their seats and began to chant Evie's name.
Kain was also giving a standing ovation with a pleased smile.
“Midrashi! Midrashi! Midrashi!”
Watching the moment when ‘Evie Midrashi’ was finally completed.
***
“Congratulations, Evie.”
Kain, who had entered the room, said with a gentle smile upon seeing Evie, who had taken off her completely blood-red duel attire and was lying face down on the bed, receiving 「Healing」.
“You son of a bitch… you just watched?”
As soon as she saw Kain, Evie glared at him with fierce eyes.
“Were you planning to intervene only after I was dead by that beast bastard?”
Even the priestesses who were 「Healing」 her flinched inadvertently, but Kain just looked at Evie's thorny attitude as if he were dealing with the cute rebellion of a teenage child.
“It was all for you, Evie.”
“Ah, so you just stood by until I was on the verge of death?”
“Our soldiers of Krom are all warriors who know honor, so they would have followed you as their commander for winning the duel. However, the deep-rooted pure-bloodism that has been in place for a long time does not disappear so easily. They would have followed your orders, but they would have secretly looked down on you.”
Kain's lips curved up into a grin as he continued.
“But you not only won the duel, but you also perfectly controlled Gray, who had been consumed by the Gloom and turned into a beast. And even without borrowing the power of the Gloom. Who would dare to look down on you now?”
Evie just let out a small, tsk, and clicked her tongue.
“From today on, everyone in Krom will fear you.”
She didn't want to admit it, but she thought that Kain had a point.
“You know better than anyone. True respect, comes from fear.”
Just as the teachings of the street had been.
“…What would you have done if I had really died?”
“You didn't die, did you?”
With an expression that said why worry about something that didn't happen, Kain shrugged his shoulders.
At that nonchalant reaction, Ibi, at a loss for words, eventually let out an incredulous sneer and averted her gaze from him.
It was then.
“B-Baron, sir, for a moment…”
A soldier who had rushed into the room approached Kain and whispered in his ear.
“…!”
Kain, who was surprised to hear the report, immediately turned to the soldier, and then glanced at Ibi.
And his eyes met with Ibi, who was looking at him, wondering what was going on.
“…What?”
At Kain's reaction, which she had never seen before, Ibi asked in puzzlement, and Kain answered with a hollow laugh.
“The guests, your ‘sources of anxiety’, are said to have escaped the castle.”
“What?”
“And they even rummaged through my office.”
“Those bastards…”
Hearing that, Ibi, who had shot up from the bed, shook her head for a moment, and then.
“Just stay quiet for a little while…”
“Ugh…!”
Evie, who was muttering, suddenly heard a short groan and quickly turned her head again.
And, she saw the scene of Kain, who had drawn his dagger, slitting the throat of the soldier who had reported to him.
Everyone in the room was startled to see this.
But Kain, even as the soldier collapsed at his feet, spoke nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.
“I'm afraid you can't rest easy.”
It was the same, affectionate tone as before.
“Now you know what you have to do.”
Just like the gentle smile on his lips.
“Do what you have to do, Evie Midrashi.”