魅力影院

Chapter 182

By the time she reached the fourth floor, something felt terribly wrong.

“Oh my, you’ve arrived earlier than I thought. You better move quickly. It looks like it’s going to rain soon,” a voice commented.

At the end of the fourth floor corridor, as planned, Aila was greeted by Trissiana Bloomriver, the top student of the fourth-year Magic Department.

“Ah, hello, senior Trissiana.”

“I’ve seen you a few times at the academic conferences. It’s nice to see you.”

“Yes… I heard Senior Ed had invited various people, but I had no idea that would include you, senior Trissiana.”

Aila was aware that Ed Rothtaylor was well-connected across multiple fields. However, it was still a surprise that Trissiana, a star even at the Sylvania Academy, had appeared in this context.

“Just go up to the roof and pass through the emergency exit to Ed’s camp. Don’t worry; I’ll handle the rest.”

“Handle… what do you mean?”

Aila asked cautiously, though Trissiana merely shrugged.

“I’m just following orders. I’m here to guide you to Ed’s camp and to block Taely.”

Recalling the faces she saw while climbing to the fourth floor, Aila thought of Taely McLore. In recent years, his strength had grown at an unbelievable pace. He was living up to his title of “Descendant of the Sword Saint,” growing stronger each day—so rapidly that even Aila, his childhood friend, found it alarming.

But could he really break through all these walls?

“Your expression isn’t good, Aila.”

Suddenly Trissiana interjected sharply.

“The kind of trouble you’re worried about won’t happen. If you think about it, all this chaos is for him, too.”

“How can you be so sure…?”

Aila asked, looking puzzled at Trissiana.

Trissiana and Ed weren’t particularly close. It was common for renowned magicians to maintain a cordial senior-junior relationship, but Trissiana seemed to have a deep understanding of Ed, which was strange.

In fact, rushing over in the middle of the night because Ed asked seemed weird in itself. Regardless of personal debts, it wasn’t easy to comply with such a troublesome request, even among seniors and juniors.

“Don’t overthink it, go to Ed’s camp now, Aila.”

Without getting into the details, Trissiana simply spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

*Taely grasped his sword and swung it through the air to shake off the blood.

The blade, glistening under the moonlight, seemed to reflect his renewed resolve.

Clevius was almost overwhelmed by a frenzy of bloodlust. Was there an enemy he couldn’t beat at his level?

Taely had a hunch. A real mistake could mean death.

“I can’t guarantee I’ll hold back from this point onwards, tailie.”

Clevius’s voice, gradually losing sanity, carried an overwhelming pressure.

The reason Clevius Norton had always avoided fights was to avoid killing people.

His swordsmanship, when lost in madness, would take lives all too easily.

“Fighting to me has always been… a tightrope act, staking my life each and every time. It’s the same even now.”

“I have no intention of backing down either, Clevius.”

“Of course.”

Clevius gripped his sword tighter and turned his bloodstained eyes towards Taely.

Ugh, huh… huff…

Clevius bent over like a broken puppet, making strange noises. The magic of blood enveloped his body again.

All battles were a matter of life and death. The gravity of that fact was immeasurable.

When facing an opponent risking their life, you must stake your life, too. Facing a desperate enemy with half-hearted resolve will lead to a quick defeat.

Taely clenched his teeth.

This fight couldn’t drag on. The longer the battle lasted, the stronger Clevius would grow from absorbing more blood.

It would have to end in one strike. Whether it was him or the opponent who fell, the outcome had to be decided now.

And so, both men launched themselves forward.

Clevius disappeared.

His leap was so fast he seemed to vanish, creating the illusion of invisibility.

One had to predict his next move based on the flow of the air and his last visible action.

Rather than prediction, it was almost anticipation. Concentrating the mind on all senses, tailie’s keen awareness flowed through his skin.

― Clang!!

Taely miraculously blocked Clevius’s incoming sword strike from the right. The clash of blades resonated once through the courtyard of the trading company.

― Roar!

The magic unleashed from their collision spread out, flinging debris and workers’ belongings into the air.

The growling breath of a wild beast emanated from Clevius.

Up close, facing a blood-crazed ghoul,andExpecting this to be the final clash, tailie gripped his intersected sword tightly.

“Don’t meddle without knowing the situation…!”

― Clang!

After deflecting the strike, tailie bit down hard and advanced. His sweeping blade missed Clevius.

“Meddle?”

Clevius’s voice grew hoarser, and Taely felt it close to his ear. He was already behind him.

Chills ran down Taely’s spine as he quickly turned his sword to block Clevius’s attack, but he couldn’t prevent the sword tip from piercing near his collarbone.

“Cough!”

The wound wasn’t deep. He had managed to block it somehow.

However, blood kept flowing from the shallow gash.

“Obviously, tailie, you’re acting this desperate because of Aila from the academy.”

Clevius, too, had spent enough time at the academy alongside Taely to know him reasonably well.

“Where else would you cause such a commotion if not for her…?”

“You… you knew and yet…”

“I knew what?”

However, the fact that Taely had swung his sword at Elvira remained unchanged.

“Just like Aila is your sore spot, I have mine too.”

Clevius grinded his teeth as he tried to push his sword deeper, and Taely screamed again in pain.

― Clang!

With great effort, tailie parried Clevius’s sword and repositioned himself for the final blow, drawing all his magic into his body.

Even if Clevius had the resolve, tailie was not willing to back down.

Gnashing his teeth, he grasped the sword’s handle more tightly.

“Grrr…”

And then, Clevius completely lost his sanity.

Drawn by blood and the blade, he became a fiend, intent only on slicing whatever was in front of him until his strength waned.

Taely did not panic.

If his opponent was fearless, then he would be too. There was no option of fleeing to protect Aila from the beginning.

Clevius, now devoid of reason, was unstoppable.

He would become a monster that just keeps attacking until his energy is drained, slicing through everything as he sees fit.

― Roar!

Finally, tailie seemed to adapt somewhat to Clevius’s unimaginable speed.

For a brief instant, Clevius’s preparatory stance etched itself directly into Taely’s retina.

The direction and power of the attack were momentarily predictable.

Yet, whether he could counterattack was uncertain. There was only one attempt.

Failure meant death.

The bursting magic enveloped the area.

Taely’s hair, tinged with paleness, became even more wan. His red pupils revealed an unwavering resolve.

Sword Saint Technique.

Decades of deep and profound skills, half of which he hadn’t even mastered.

Amidst the floating sensation akin to wandering the depths of the ocean, an unreachable next stage flickered before Taely’s eyes.

In the final exchange between the two men, staking their respective Achilles’ heels.

No one could predict the trajectory or the exchange of blades in the blink of an eye.

Then came the moment Taely reached out for the essence of the Sword Saint Technique.

― Roar

The shockwave caused by the magical collision, and the orange hair fluttering thereby filled Taely’s vision.

Someone had jumped between Taely and Clevius. It was nothing short of a suicidal act.

“… What?!”

Startled, tailie squeezed his forearm and stopped his attack.

But soon he realized his mistake. Even if he stopped, Clevius, utterly maddened, would not. He had lost all human reason.

Before worrying about the girl who intervened, he couldn’t even be sure of his own life getting caught in the strike.

The right answer was to continue the attack, regardless of the outcome. But at the very last moment, he hesitated. He couldn’t bring himself to cut down the abruptly approaching Elvira.

The goddess of duels always favors those without hesitation.

Finally, tailie braced himself for the incoming strike from Clevius and tightly shut his eyes…

“Cough!”

The following sound was not of blades clashing but of Clevius collapsing to the ground with a groan.

― Clatter!

“… What…?”

Slowly opening his eyes, tailie saw… Elvira, hugging Clevius’s chest and lying on the marble floor with him.

Covered with Clevius’s blood, she sat on his waist, gripping the collar of his shirt tightly and pinning him down.

“This is…”

“This isn’t something worth fighting and risking our lives over!”

It made no sense that Clevius couldn’t handle Elvira’s weight alone.

Even more so as he was frenzied with blood swordsmanship.

When he lost his sanity, he’d slash anyone, even his own kin, wild enough to not care who was in front of him.

Yet, Clevius had surprisingly controlled his sword, shocked at Elvira’s intervention.

Lying on the floor, gazing up at the sky, the light of sanity almost faded from Clevius’ eyes.

But he seemed to recognize the face looming over him.

Elvira Anis.

To Clevius, she was a nosy woman who always meddled annoyingly.

Clevius could easily bear the weight of the small-framed Elvira.

Right now, he could push her away, slash through the nuisance, and continue fighting with Taely.

But Clevius, intoxicated with blood, was just overwhelmed by Elvira’s weight.

With difficulty breathing, he expelled the magic of blood, trapped under her.

Elvira looked down. Her orange hair cascaded from her shoulders, gently tickling the tips of Clevius’s cheeks as it fell. The hairpin that had neatly held Elvira’s unruly hair was now nowhere to be found.

Even without any notion to tidy her tousled mane, she glared at Clevius with teeth clenched, his eyes filled with madness as he looked up at her.

“Go, Taely.”

“What… did you say?”

“Go to the guild! Don’t you want to save Aila?!”

Taely looked at them both, his face a mask of confusion.

Clevius was now completely intoxicated with blood. Left alone, the undiscerning Clevius could lash out and even slash at Elvira, which wouldn’t be surprising in his state.

Yet Elvira snapped at Taely.

“What’s the most important thing for you right now?”

“That’s…”

“Aila has been taken by Ed Rothtaylor. The rest is up to you to figure out.”

With those words, Elvira, who had tightly grasped Clevius’s collar, pressed down on his chest once more.

“We’ll deal with the pile-up of apologies later. Just go. Even passing by is fine.”

Having said that… Elvira didn’t look at Taely anymore.

Taely, swallowing dry saliva, soon ran off toward the guild building.

No matter what, the person most important to Taely was Aila.

*Bleeding severely.

To Clevius, such bleeding might not be much of a trouble, but to Elvira, it was a scene that furrowed her brows in disgust.

After all, the art of Bloodsword is such that there’s no middle ground. She knew very well that using blood as a force was extremely dangerous.

When Lucis caused chaos in the Ophelius estate, Elvira had clearly seen Clevius’s madness. His monstrous demeanor, eager to slash at everything in sight, instilled fear in the hearts of many.

“Keugh… Kruk…”

The sound of air escaping from his lungs.

Twisting his body grotesquely, Clevius looked up at Elvira.

Despite that, was he really unable to entertain the thought of slashing at Elvira?

Did the past, in which Clevius had slain his own brother, weigh down on him like a leaden weight?

Elvira, already smeared with blood, showed no sign of concern as she pulled out a flask tethered at her waist.

It’s a sedative. However, whether it will be effective against the Bloodsword’s magic is uncertain.

She tried to pour the potion into Clevius’s mouth, but he, panting like a beast, didn’t open his mouth.

“Get a hold of yourself, you idiot, Clevius!”

She tried to pry open Clevius’s mouth, covered in bloodied maroon, but his crazed mind did not erase his hostility towards her.

Then, Elvira swallowed the uncovered potion herself. Of course, she didn’t swallow it completely but held it in her mouth.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she pressed her lips to Clevius, pinned beneath her.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

While she straddled Clevius’s waist and their lips met, the potion poured from her lips into his, and little by little, Clevius’s twisting body started to calm down.

Was it the effect of the potion, or the shock of the current situation?

The reason was unclear, but little by little, the demonic power swirling around Clevius started to subside.

“Phew…”

After separating her lips, Elvira supported herself on her hands on the marble floor and looked down at his face.

“Why, why do you interfere…! I told you to stay out of it…!”

She looked down, almost tearfully saying, while Clevius breathed more calmly.

The red glow in his eyes fades, and the heightened senses slowly calm.

“It’s my right to say it, you bastard…!”

However, the reasoning Clevius regained made him speak through clenched teeth…

“What, what?!”

“You always drag me into pointless places, preach weird sermons, restrain me, your unnecessary meddling… you do it the most, you bastard…”

The backlash of the Bloodsword magic was surging through Clevius’s body. He spoke without concern for the ongoing bleeding.

“Why, when I meddle just this once, do you glare at me as if you’ll kill me?!”

Elvira suddenly fell silent. The same for her breathing.

“Don’t interfere so much.”

Elvira’s sister, Diella, echoed faintly in her mind as she lifted her cheek.

“You always act like you’re the protagonist of everything, right?”

Meddlesome Elvira.

That nickname, following her like a label, weighed heavily on Elvira’s shoulders.

She had decided to enforce her way of life, but in truth, that resolve was nothing more than a defense mechanism for Elvira.

This was because there comes a time when if you deny yourself, you’d feel like you couldn’t go on.

Perhaps her sister Diella’s decision to cut ties with Elvira and leave their family was also her fault.

Maybe she should have been more considerate of Diella. That thought always made her clench her teeth.

“But still, you bastard… I can’t reject it either… you are…”

However, Clevius’s ensuing words struck Elvira’s heart like an arrow.

“That’s how you express yourself… I can’t do anything about it… you’re a real bitch… for real…”

“Clevius, you…”

“You do it for me. That’s why… I can’t say I hate it… you’re a bitch, for real!”

As Clevius uttered those words while gritting his teeth, Elvira nearly stopped breathing.

Diella Anis.

Elvira’s older sister, plagued by an inferiority complex towards her, who spewed abuse and ran away from home.

Elvira hadn’t actually hated Diella.

Her sister’s presence, while living as an adjunct to the Anis family and studying alchemy together, was a great blessing in Elvira’s life.

Only that Elvira didn’t know how to express it. She regretted the behaviors where she interfered, criticized, and grumbled, hoping her sister would do better and go further because she knew her sister could.

No matter how strong she tried to appear, she was just a meddlesome busybody.

Diella Anis neither understood that Elvira nor could read what lay beneath her expressions.

Both were too young, too immature in their ways of expression, lacking the maturity in adults to understand that immaturity.

But the pathetic man before her now… as if he knew all along Elvira’s psyche…

He tolerated Elvira’s meddling and mischief from the start.

“So… just do it moderately… Elvira…”

With those words, Clevius began to bleed from the corner of his mouth.

Elvira, sitting atop his waist, looking down at him, bit her lower lip hard.

She leaned down to embrace his head, sneezing from the bloodied mess.

“You’re a really stupid man, Clevius… you… idiot…”

“…”

The night moon shone brightly.

In the now silent courtyard outside the guild, only the two remained.

“Yeah, I think so too…”

Weakened.

Elvira rested her head on her own shoulder, gazing out at the night sky spreading beyond, as Clevius agreed with her thoughts.

And so, Elvira and Clevius remained entwined for a while.

*

“Just run away.”

That was the conclusion I came to.

The gold and treasures in Lortelle’s underground vault are not something we can deal with right now. With enough time and leisure, this level of tampering can be resolved quickly. All we have to do is move these riches elsewhere.

However, Durin’s plan will not be that negligent. If he laid the trap this far, the imperial convoy will soon arrive.

“This is how he planned it, entrusting you to the imperial convoy. Princess Persica of Frost is supporting him from behind; the case will proceed rapidly.”

“That’s why you said that the guild would fall into Durin’s hands once the break was over,” I reflected.

Lortelle’s expression hardened.

“But it will take the imperial convoy quite a while to get to Aiken Island. Are you saying…”

“No, the convoy is probably already on its way. There’s a high chance they are mixed with Princess Phoenia’s escort.”

At this, Lortelle’s expression turned even harder.

It was a plausible prediction that connected to the very reason why it had been prophesied that Lortelle would fall when the holiday was over.

By the time of the holiday’s end, Princess Phoenia would also return to academia, so the contingent of knights that had joined her escort would also arrive by then.

In other words, the inevitability of Lortelle’s capture by the imperial convoy will align with the conclusion of the school vacation.

He had built the entire scheme around that timing.

“There’s nothing to gain by confronting the imperial convoy now. While I convince Princess Phoenia, you’ll need to keep running to avoid capture.”

“That’s easy. Aiken Island is vast.”

“But a thorough search will make it difficult to hide. Since Princess Phoenia doesn’t trust you… she won’t particularly obstruct the convoy’s search. With academia turned against you as well, you’ll hardly have anyone to hide and help you.”

“During that time, are you going to persuade Princess Phoenia?”

“Yes. I won’t betray you, so don’t worry.”

I led Lortelle by the arm and turned to head back to the camp.

The unique air infused between the nocturnal woods teased our lungs.

Lortelle, now engulfed in the mystery of the night, differed from his usual self.

His fox-like face, hidden among the shadows of darkness, brought out an even more deceitful aura.

He clasped my robe tightly, and after locking eyes with me, he smiled blissfully.

“Don’t worry. Because you are my person.”

He hummed, then on tiptoes, whispered in my ear,

“I am also your person.”

That seemingly insignificant statement filled Lortelle with a peculiar sense of happiness as he inverted his robe’s hood casually.

“Let’s meet again after everything is settled. I will remain as the head of the Elte guild. Please stay as you are too.”

“Alright.”

Lortelle then disappeared into the night’s darkness.

I closed my eyes.

Silently suppressing my breath in the darkness, I took in the tension weaving through the camp.

Princess Phoenia’s carriage crossed the Mekses Grand Bridge.

Cutting through the nocturnal air, the carriage carrying Princess Phoenia and Lucy Mayrill entered Aiken Island.

And Taely, who had crashed into the entrance of the guild, ran up the stairs to the second floor.

The story moves forward like this.

By the time the swordmaster Taely reached the second floor of the guild building,

Zix Elfellan, alone in the hallway filled with all kinds of weapons, sat silently in the pre-dawn air.

He slowly lifted his head.

Taely did not even bother to doubt his own eyes.

Before him stood Zix Elfellan, the guardian of the northern prairie himself.