Episode 714
Chapter 180: Each One’s Battle (4)
Though his face was hidden behind a mask, Alisa recognized him instantly by the curved blade he wielded—it was Rats.
“Codename Rats, leader of Viment Special Unit 3. I heard you were crippled in the Gaipa Archipelago. The royal family wouldn’t have used Numerus’s sacred relics for some special unit… so you must have become a mine.”
As Alisa had said, after all his tendons were severed in Gaipa, Rats underwent mine augmentation at the hands of Amir Viment.
And after Amir Viment’s fall, all the technology and personnel he commanded had been absorbed intact into the current royal family, led by Airan Viment.
In other words, Rats wasn’t the only one blocking Alisa’s path.
Chris, leader of Special Unit 4, and V, leader of Special Unit Magic Division 1-3, were also there, surrounding Alisa alongside their mine-augmented troops.
“So, you’re the famed martial artist Alisa? I heard you were once treated like a legend before you turned your back on Kashmir and the Empire.”
“Be grateful to the royal family. They ordered me to be dealt with as painlessly as possible, in recognition of my past service.”
Alisa herself possessed strength beyond an 8-star rating, but facing all of them at once was far beyond her capacity.
Still, she steadied herself with a calm gaze.
“If they truly want to kill me without pain… it’s not because of my merits, but because they fear the retaliation of Prince Jin later on. And to think their goal is to eliminate me rather than rescue the Empire’s civilians captured here? They should be ashamed.”
“How can you call those who don’t swear loyalty to the royal family ‘Empire citizens,’ Alisa Batzer? Regardless, your last words have been noted. Remember them well.”
Alisa charged first, throwing a punch.
The clash of her aura-imbued gauntlet against Rats’s curved blade sent a gust of wind rippling through the air, but the fight with Rats didn’t last long.
Chris, V, and the mine troops pressed in relentlessly. The moment they joined the fray, Alisa was forced onto the defensive.
She doubted she could hold out for even five minutes. For the first time in a long while, she truly felt the threat of death looming over her.
‘Was I really an Empire special operative to the core?’
Amid the possibility of imminent death, the first thing that came to her mind wasn’t her family or comrades.
It was the Empire’s civilians waiting to be rescued here in Ricalton. The thought that her death would mean fewer of them would survive to return home unsettled her deeply.
Though she had left the Empire long ago with Kashmir and now ruled a kingdom in Tikan, her heart still burned with a steel-like loyalty to the land and people of the Empire. Even during her time in the special unit, her allegiance had always been to the Empire itself, not the royal family.
“Captain of the guards!”
Just as Alisa rolled on the ground once more, someone broke through the mine troops and stood before her.
It was Kuzan.
Fortunately, he had been nearby and came to her aid immediately. The mine soldiers faltered as Kuzan scattered a cloud of poisonous powder.
“Kuzan!”
“I’ve spread the poison powder. Quikantel or Lord Hedo will surely notice and come to support us.”
Gritting his teeth, Kuzan took out a vial of deadly poison from his pocket and bit into it. He had decided that without enhancing himself with poison, he couldn’t stand against the mines—even if it meant risking his own life.
“Kuzan! That’s too reckless—!”
“Quiet. If the roles were reversed, you’d have done the same. The others would too. So pull yourself together and fight.”
The mine troops began brushing off the poison and advancing again.
But unlike before, they couldn’t threaten the two so easily.
Kuzan’s entire body was now saturated with lethal poison.
Even mines would need considerable time to regenerate after being poisoned by him.
“And if an opportunity arises, abandon me and escape immediately. Fighting alone in this state is far easier and more effective. Besides, I can use the poison to slip away anytime. They won’t dare follow beyond a certain range.”
Alisa nodded gravely.
Together, they were locked in a desperate battle for survival.
It was so easy for the fiends to abduct tens of thousands of innocent people, but sending them home safely required unwavering resolve and sacrifice.
‘The big fight started right after Miss Mary went to the outer city. Judging by the spread of aura, the remaining fiend riders have likely appeared. And there are signs of battle near Lord Luton’s area and the sector under Lady Alisa’s command…’
Gilly.
She was rescuing prisoners beyond the advancing giant fiend beasts, piecing together the overall situation on the battlefield.
Since she was near the area where the Tona brothers operated, no prisoners remained alive in her sector.
It was time to retreat to the rear and continue the rescue.
On the way back, she needed to check the battle zones and provide support.
‘Lord Luton’s area is too far. And with Kuzan’s poison spreading near Lady Alisa’s sector, that situation must be more urgent. I have to get there quickly to help…’
Just as she was about to move, a man suddenly appeared before her.
He wore the black armor symbolic of the Black Knight, but his helmet was off.
And he was someone Gilly knew very well.
“Dox… brother…?”
Dox McLoran.
The eldest son of the McLoran family and the Black Knight, who had left Tikan under orders from Jin to investigate Ricalton—and who had been out of contact ever since.
His dark eyes, stained with chaos, fixed on Gilly.
Both Jin and Gilly had expected this to some extent. They thought Dox had likely died when he went to Ricalton.
Or even if he hadn’t gone there and returned to the Sword Garden, it was probable that Rosa had executed him.
Especially Gilly wanted to believe that.
She never wanted to see Dox, like the other traitors, consumed by chaos and turning his claws against her and Jin.
But in the end, this was how it had come to be.
[Don’t call me that. I’m no lowly monster.]
Thump, thump.
Gilly’s heart pounded painfully in her chest.
Dox had already drawn his black claw and was aiming it at her.
She had to stay focused.
Though corrupted by chaos, he was still a Black Knight.
Unlike Gilly, who had lived as Jin’s nanny, Dox was a warrior who had crossed the line between life and death countless times in training.
Dox’s claw was steady, while Gilly’s trembled.
“Please stop, brother.”
[You keep calling me that. Should I tear your mouth open to make you listen?]
Ssssh!
The sound of wind tearing through the air accompanied three deep scratches across Gilly’s left cheek.
Had she reacted a moment later, her entire left side of the face would have been torn away.
[Still, you’re still Gilly. Even though you stopped training long ago, you dodged that.]
“Why did you succumb to chaos? No, it couldn’t have been your will. Surely the fiends or the prophet forced this upon you… It’s not too late, brother.”
[Ha, not too late?]
“As long as your body isn’t deformed, you can return to the purifier. You still have a chance. Please, stop and come back to your senses.”
[Heh heh… You’re just like when you were a child. Still deluded into thinking you’re the one who can show me mercy.]
“I was never in a position to show you mercy. Not then, not now.”
[Is that so? Then what were all those pitying looks you gave me when you defeated me back then? Sometimes you even let me win on purpose, as if to toy with me.]
Dox, consumed by chaos, was addicted to the inferiority and hatred he had once felt toward Gilly.
The lowborn girl their father had brought home had surpassed him within a year of training. From then until Gilly left the family to become the nanny of Runkandel, Dox never once defeated her.
Even the head of the McLoran family hadn’t expected this.
He had brought Gilly in, seeing her as a promising martial artist, intending to make her Dox’s training partner and shadow.
From then on, the McLoran family endured uncomfortable days. It was supposed to be Dox’s time to blossom, but instead, Gilly was the one flourishing.
Her rapid growth was so well known outside the family that the McLorans couldn’t simply get rid of her.
Naturally, Gilly became isolated within the family. Dox grew increasingly unhinged and took out his rage on her, and she never fought back.
Still, she was grateful to have been adopted by the McLorans, which had allowed her to escape the slums and survive.
She was thankful for the family members who had treated her well during that first year.
She held onto hope that someday she could become a true member of the family and get along with everyone.
Above all, Gilly didn’t truly hate Dox, even though he was cruel to her.
She was the kind of person who could never be harsh to someone she had once cared for.
Runkandel had recognized this nature and taken her in as Jin’s nanny.
“Pity? I just wanted to be close to you. I was young and foolish, and didn’t know how to act. It wasn’t until later that I realized my actions must have hurt you. If I ever get the chance, I want to apologize…”
[Apologies? No need. You were simply stronger than me. But unlike you, I’m a cruel man. I have no intention of showing you mercy now. You die here today. Along with those you love.]
As Dox launched his attack again, the wavering look in Gilly’s eyes gradually hardened into cold resolve.
Despair.
If he died here, Jin would undoubtedly fall into an unbearable despair.
So no matter what, he had to take down Dox. Even if it meant plunging himself into despair, he had to prevent Jin from suffering.
After all, he was Jin’s caretaker.
“…It can’t be helped. I’ll show you once again why, back then, my brother never once managed to defeat me.”