Chapter 94: Loss
Thanks to the Lotus, Renelle was basically a C rank that could hand multiple corrupted humans with relative ease.
Corrupted humans capable of even taking down B-ranks, despite their actual ranks.
But even she had her limits and those limits were very clearly showing right now.
The entire hall had been completely frozen, the atmosphere turning deathly cold as snow slowly drifted down, settling on the shattered remains of the corrupted humans.
Renelle stood at the center of the frozen corpses, her breaths coming out a bit uneven.
How many corrupted humans had she taken down? Ten? A hundred? She had no idea, all she knew was that they kept coming in unending waves, and they still were.
Renelle’s mana was dangerously low, her reaction speed had visibly slowed down and her exhaustion was clear but she couldn’t let her guard down now.
After all, she still had to make sure her mother remained safe.
She had tried summoning her butler, no matter how much she tried using the bracelet to speak directly into his mind, nothing worked.
All she got in response was silence, which meant whatever that man had done to the palace was interfering with the bracelet.
So for now, she’d have to hold on until he returned to her side, something that should happen soon, after all, if this attack happened just as it had in her previous life, then the entire capital should also be in chaos right now.
And the first place her butler would would try to be, during this, was by her side.
She had that much trust in him.
The Grand Duchess, on the other hand was in a state similar to her daughter’s. Thanks to the Inferno Wyvern’s core, her mana had been stablized enough to complete the contract.
Though it was still weak since the spirit’s mana had been diluted quite a bit, it was enough to allow her to hold her own against these creatures.
Charring one last corrupted human, she turned towards her daughter who was clearly exhausted.
"Are you sure you don’t want to take a rest?" She gently asked, "I can hold them off for a while."
"I’m fine," Renelle answered, but even she knew how unconvincing that answer was.
But still, she wouldn’t take any chances, especially given the presence of that man and the bad feeling that had been growing in her chest from the moment the attack started.
Unfortunately for Renelle, her thoughts caused her a momentary distraction and that was all the corrupted humans needed.
One immediately took that chance and lunged towards her, its fist coated in rock the shape of a spike, aimed at her heart.
Renelle noticed it a little too late, and she didn’t have enough time to react to the attack.
All the exhaustion catching up to her in a single moment.
By instincts, she closed her eyes, expecting the pain to arrive a second after, but nothing came.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, only for them to widened as she spotted someone standing between her and the corrupted human.
Her mother.
"N-no," Renelle stuttered out as she spotted the [Earth Spike] pierce through her mother’s left side, coming out her back.
But the Grand Duchess didn’t flinch, instead, she extended her hand and grabbed her attacker.
The corrupted human didn’t even have time to react before its entire body was engulfed in a violent storm of frost and flame at the same time, its form rapidly freezing while simultaneously being incinerated from within.
BOOM!
The creature exploded into multiple pieces, each burnt and frozen at the same time, before the grand duchess let go of whatever remained of it in her hand.
But the next second, much to Renelle’s horror, she fell to the floor.
For a few seconds, Renelle struggled to process what just happened and the next second, the corrupted humans dashing towards the fallen Duchess suddenly stopped in their tracks.
No, it was more accurate to say that they had frozen in place, as if all time around them had been stopped.
Which it had.
The drifting snow halted mid-air and everywhere turned completely silent.
"Mother?" Her brain finally caught up and just after it did, the frozen corrupted humans suddenly cracked before shattering into pieces of ice.
Renelle then dropped to her knees beside her, her hands trembling as she carefully lifted her into her arms.
And time then resumed its normal flow.
"It seems," The Grand Duchess whispered weakly, a faint smile forming on her lips, "I overdid it."
"Don’t talk," Renelle said quickly, her voice trembling as she tried to freeze the wound, "you’ll be fine, I’ll fix this."
But her mana was so low after what she had previously done, that she couldn’t conjure even a small ice patch.
The Grand Duchess just shook her head and her hand slowly lifted, trembling as it reached Renelle’s cheek.
"You’ve grown so much, I wish I was around to see it."
Renelle’s vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Stop, please," her voice trembled.
"I wanted," she continued softly, her voice growing weaker, "to stay longer."
Her fingers brushed lightly against Renelle’s face before slowly losing strength.
"Please," Renelle muttered her voice breaking, "don’t say things like that, just stay, I can’t lose you again."
"I’m sorry," the Grand Duchess said with a small smile before her hand completely fell to the side.
"Mother?"
There was response.
Renelle’s voice came out softer the second time, as if lowering it would somehow make her reply.
"...Mother?"
Again, no response.
And that’s when Renelle noticed that the warmth on the Grand Duchess’s body was quickly fading.
"No."
Her grip tightened instinctively, her fingers clutching onto her mother’s clothing as if refusing to let go would cause her to wake up.
"No... no, no, no..."
Her shoulders shook violently as she lowered her head, pressing her forehead against her mother’s shoulder.
She had come back, she had remembered everything, she was supposed to change things.
So why?
Why was her mother’s cold corpse laying in her hand?
"Why is it still the same?" Renelle let out.
Tears fell freely now, soaking into the already cold fabric beneath her hands.
Her mind raced desperately, trying to recall something, anything, that could fix this but she recalled nothing.
Because there was none.
There was nothing she had witnessed in her previous life capable of reversing death.
But her grief was far from over because the next second,
"My lady?" A familiar voice called out to her, causing her to look up, and sure enough, Adrian was standing a short distance away.
"Adrian," Her voice came out small, barely louder than a whisper full of vulnerability.
But before anything else could be said by either, she noticed the space behind him warp and the second a hand was going through his chest.
NO!
She wanted to say, but her voice refused to leave her throat.
Even Adrian’s eyes widened as he looked down before his attacker, the Master, spoke up.
"This should deal with you and set everything back on track," the voice whispered, full of satisfaction, "anomaly."
And with that, Renelle powerlessly watched as her Butler’s body fell to the floor, light fading completely from his eyes.
He....he was dead?