Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

125 – My Legs Won’t Listen

“Eeeeek… Oppa!!”

“…Things have gotten out of hand?”

“W-wait, we… we need to treat it first…”

“L-let go of me, Oppa is…!”

≪Intrusion of Cor#@!? Into User’s Body Detected.≫

≪Effects of Cor#@!? are Being Applied to Body.≫

I hastily swatted away the status window that had abruptly appeared before me,

dodging his sword as it lunged at me again.

With every movement, crimson droplets bloomed from my body.

Born from the wound etched into my flesh,

courtesy of that last attack.

“Kuh…!”

“….”

A long gash, stretching from my right shoulder,

down to my left flank.

The immense pain threatened to steal my consciousness,

but the instant that agony arrived,

every single hair on my body stood on end.

As if to warn that the attack wasn’t over yet.

“Everyone, stay back and protect Aria—!!”

“..Distracted when I’m right here?”

“…!”

That brief moment, my focus stolen

by the sudden spray of crimson,

Allen’s violet blade was once again

upon me.

His chilling swordsmanship,

now aimed straight for me.

A sharp energy as if ready to

pierce my skin in an instant,

that energy, which until now only ever

flickered on his sword’s surface,

was now, for the first time, reaching for me.

A small mercy, though,

was the fact that I could barely manage to dodge it.

‘For now, I can avoid—’

“Heh…not as you wish.”

“..Huh?”

And the unfortunate truth was,

that the violet glow was not

merely for show,

and that I had momentarily forgotten

that I couldn’t currently

use my right shoulder.

It was just a sliver of time.

The energy surging from his sword

erupted outward.

Like spores released,

violet dust scattered through the air,

soon coalescing,

forming crystals that floated in the void,

and those dark crimson shards

The moment it met Allen’s blade,

mine twisted its course with a will of its own.

Like a miniature black hole.

Allen’s sword, enchanted and

far harder than most, contorted before my eyes

like taffy pulled every which way,

making its trajectory utterly different

than I had anticipated.

But it was alright.

From that moment on, I would treat his attack

not as a sword, but a whip.

Though my experience with them was limited,

I *had* faced a softsword before,

and felt certain I could, if not evade,

at least defend.

Yes, it was just unfortunate that the attack came from the right.

*Krrrackkk…*

“..Ah, son of a b*tch.”

My right shoulder emitted a sound of the worst omen.

The joints, grinding against each other,

screaming in protest.

“O.. Oppa, your shoulder…!”

“..This is starting to get seriously hairy.”

My right shoulder, the starting point

of a deep-seated scar on my soul,

would normally have healed by now, but

for some reason, from a moment ago,

regeneration wasn’t working properly.

No, it wasn’t so much that regeneration was slow,

but that my control of mana itself seemed impaired…

In any case, the point is,

“Sleep eternally, persistently.”

“..What kind of goddamn bullsh─”

*Fsshhh…*

I tried to force my tattered shoulder

to move, but that action only served

to render it little better than a rag.

It meant that Allen’s blade, wavering before me,

had ripped through my chest.

“Ggh…hngh…”

Once again,

blood gurgled, erupting from my body.

I knew it instinctively.

This attack was different, miraculously,

from the shallow cut of the one before.

Just the sheer volume of blood

pouring out of me now

made the difference stark.

“…Still not dead?”

“Kheugh…keok…”

“A pity, truly.”

My right arm wouldn’t move,

my mana wouldn’t obey,

and blood clots were still dripping from my chest.

Tattered flesh and

muscle were just a bonus.

My breath came in ragged gasps,

my brain felt as if it had been turned inside out.

Just standing was a miracle, considering my condition.

Simply moving

a hand

brought a writhing nausea, a gut full of bile,

and that oh-so-familiar,

yet always new sensation, took hold.

A sense of crisis.

The sense of crisis, born from my survival instinct.

A feeling I had rarely experienced in this life, now dominated me.

Truthfully, it was no wonder.

I was quite weak in my present state.

A child who couldn’t control his mana,

who possessed no outstanding physical abilities,

and who couldn’t use his right arm.

That was precisely my level, right now.

If only I could give up my right arm completely, and be able to use my mana…

“O…Oppaa…!!”

“….”

“Perhaps… perhaps we should join you, even now…”

“Don’t!”

My abrupt shout left them all stunned.

As if asking why I was rushing into the jaws of death alone.

But they,

must not help me now.

The reason they are so incredibly,

unbelievably safe right now,

is that for some reason, Allen’s blade,

is only aimed at me.

But what if they helped, joined me in this situation?

Without a doubt, Allen’s blade would,

unforgivingly, begin,

to dance towards them.

And I, in my less than perfect condition, would not be able to stop it.

If they, so far from the front lines,

could gracefully evade,

Allen’s attacks, then perhaps…

But tragically, unless such a miracle,

occurs,

this was my best course of action.

“…Only.”

“…?”

“Only… this much was it…?”

“…What the─”

“You dared to mock me with this pathetic strength?!”

From the moment a human becomes a fiend, they all follow the same steps.

Obtaining power far, far greater,

than their original strength, then running rampant with madness,

until reason is slowly,

consumed by insanity.

And at the same time, their appearance gradually drifts away from human,

until they finally shed humanity completely.

That was one of the common points,

of all fiends.

In that sense, Allen had endured for a considerable time.

The average person wouldn’t,

have lasted even a single minute.

He would have lost his reason, raged like a wild thing.

It was his mental fortitude,

far stronger than most, and his

terrifying obsession

with victory over Jenison

that had dragged him this far.

And, alas, that fortitude was wearing thinner with each passing moment.

Choosing madness over reason,

slaughter over combat,

humiliation over victory.

He was becoming that kind of fiend.

Naturally, the inside of his head

couldn’t possibly be sound.

That single thread that had initially

held him to reason, fueled only by inferiority,

was being steadily consumed and

stained by madness.

He was, right now, using

all of the accumulated negative

emotions as an excuse.

A reason why he absolutely *had* to kill Jenison.

“Because of… because of you… my father… me…!”

“…?”

“I… I was supposed to inherit… the Head position!!”

“I don’t understand a single─”

“BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”

It was then.

Something rose up from behind him, from his back, as he continued to mutter to himself.

*Fwububuk─*

A sickening sound,

the sound of flesh being pierced,

and at the same moment,

two sharp rock crystals erupted from his back.

Just as feared, crystals

emitting an ominous, purple light.

“….”

“…Becoming a fiend really makes you do the strangest things─”

“Shut up, and die.”

*Pweoong─*

The explosion ripped through the air, an earth-shattering bellow.

*Fssshhh-*

Again, blood sprayed brutally across the ground.

An amount incomparable

to anything from before.

“Ggh…uuuaaagh!!”

“..Ah, a sight to behold.”

My right arm was severed.

Gone entirely, in one gruesome chunk.

My right shoulder, only moments ago bearing a deep wound, was no more.

Now, only a frigid wind

filled the hollow, desolate space.

‘I…didn’t even see it…!’

*Thud, thud, thud-*

From the space where my arm had been, clots of blood fell heavily.

Blood began to slowly

pool in my right eye.

Having died more than a few times,

I could say with certainty.

This was a harbinger of death’s approach.

“N-no wayyy!! Brotherrr!!”

“Shino-san, get back. Even now, hurry…!”

“..I won’t allow it!!”

“L-let go, Shino-san!!”

“It’s too late, even if you go now!! Given

that monster’s speed, before you could even approach—”

*Beeeeee-*

Ignoring the ringing in my ears,

I spat out the continuously accumulating

blood and phlegm, and thought ceaselessly.

About how to survive.

The reason was something I

couldn’t even begin to guess at.

But my magical power, as it was,

was practically unusable.

From a little while ago, I had tried

using various spells,

but not a single one worked.

“Can you still move?”

“..Hack..”

But, even so, could I, in this

state, possibly defeat him?

That hulking demon who looked as though

he’d abandoned humanity altogether?

I scoffed inwardly,

glancing down at my body.

A body I couldn’t call ‘good’, not even as a lie.

Nearly half a corpse,

in this condition,

and who was I going to defeat?

“Dieeeee!!!”

His sword strike hurtles straight for me.

A slash that, normally, shouldn’t

even be visible to the eye.

But, as the old saying goes, the last gleam before the end?

Perhaps it’s my delusion, but

I could certainly see it now…

The direction his sword was headed,

the destination his blade aimed for.

That utterly ominous aura.

The movement of the muscles in his shoulder, and even where his toes were pointed.

Everything, utterly everything, was visible.

“Reinhardt Style Heavy Swordsmanship, Third Form, Sky Cleaver.”

Half a step,

if I could only force myself half a step forward.

I could evade his attack and

aim for his throat.

However.

“..My legs won’t listen?”

“Uuurrrraaa!!!”

“..Shit.”

My trembling legs

stubbornly refused to obey.

*

≪Warning, user’s life in danger. Searching for solution..≫

≪Effect of Yggdrasil Leaf activated.≫

≪A single opportunity to escape death’s door has been granted!≫

“Don’t… bully Kamangie.”

From the nape of his neck, slumbering,

the princess of black markings has, at this moment, awakened.