Chapter 126

Esadien gripped the broken hilt tightly and swung the half-severed sword with a speed he had never shown before.

Thud!

A heavy object fell with a dull sound.

“Khk.”

And for the first time, Austin let out a groan as he staggered back. Between the fingers clutching his shoulder, dust-like sand scattered and dissolved into the air.

Esadien, who had braced himself for Austin’s arm to regenerate, swallowed a sigh and flicked a glance backward. Despite his ragged breathing, Ramande met his eyes with a sharp nod.

So it was holy power after all.

And judging by his expression, he was preparing something more.

Esadien discarded the ruined blade and drew a spare sword. The blade was curved, not to his taste, but he had no choice.

Bent though it was, the tip was still sharp. Pointing it at Austin, Esadien declared with the cold finality of a god of judgment:

“You are nothing to me now. Nothing you can ever be.”

Nothing more than a faint scar left behind.

Austin had fallen to a being who could no longer wound Esadien at all. Sensing the complete change of heart, Austin gnashed his teeth.

“You dare… with that insect’s mouth of yours…!”

“If I truly were an insect, why would you be so enraged?”

“…What?”

“No one bothers to torment a mere insect, chase it, and hound it to death.”

Esadien added as if he had forgotten the subject entirely:

“Unless he is human.”

“……”

“For if he is human, he would be too busy with other matters than to torment a bug.”

His blue eyes—Minuelle had once likened them to the sea—swept over Austin’s ruined form.

“No… you can hardly be called human anymore.”

That Austin could be wounded by holy power—he looked more like a monster from the demon realm than a man.

Though he did not smile, Esadien was unmistakably mocking him.

“I may know nothing of magic,” Esadien continued, “but allow me to guess.”

Knights may lack mana, but they remember vividly the feeling of their swords cutting into something. Esadien was no different.

On the day he had rescued the Emperor, he had felt what seemed to be a core inside Austin’s torso, but his strike had missed.

Yet on the day they reclaimed the imperial citadel, the sensation of shattering something stony within Austin’s chest—besides his heart—had been sharp and clear.

“That must be why you sought to destroy even spirits, to replenish the leaking power.”

Along with life itself.

“Hah.”

Austin’s eyes gleamed as he gave a short laugh.

“My mind is made up. Yes… I should have offered you all to the altar from the very beginning!”

With a roar, Austin tore off his own arm and slashed it toward the knights.

A storm of sand-laden wind surged forth, driving the knights back as they crouched low against it.

Austin wasted no chance, lunging at a knight, claws lengthened to skewer him like a fork—

“Now!”

Ramande’s shout cleaved through the storm.

Esadien was already charging, as though their hearts had become one, even before the words had finished.

“Tch.”

Austin clicked his tongue and raised his hand toward Esadien. But then—

“…!”

A sigil of Plendena flared beneath his feet, shining brilliantly.

“What trick is this?!”

Austin’s eyes bulged, but his body no longer obeyed him. His feet rooted to the ground.

His waist stiffened.

His arms would not move.

And then—

Crunch!

Esadien’s sword, brimming with holy power, pierced Austin’s left chest.

“…Khck.”

After a moment of silence, a sludge of sand-mixed blood gushed from Austin’s lips.

Emerald eyes, burning with hate, met the indifferent blue of Esadien.

“This is the price for harming Minuelle, His Majesty, and my sister.”

Austin opened his mouth as if to speak, but Esadien simply drew the blade sideways.

Thud.

Before his eyes could even close, Austin’s body hit the ground with a heavy crash.

As the knights panted in relief, the sigil of Plendena lost its light. Austin’s body, which had barely retained human form, disintegrated completely into sand.

Shaa…

Like the whisper of a desert wind, a crimson jewel, cracked through with a deep fracture, dropped onto the pale sand.

* * *

Minuelle had recklessly thrown herself into danger, and Gabbie, watching, was beside himself with exasperation.

‘To think she would even attempt such a thing—my contractor truly is something else.’

‘Brave because she’s foolish, perhaps.’

Both thoughts came at once.

The problem was, Gabbie was a fire spirit. When his spirit power coursed through Minuelle’s body, it naturally traveled along fiery paths.

That path now guided the magic too, heating it ever hotter.

— Damn it! Neither you nor I can control the heat of mana, Minuelle!

If a contractor of a fire spirit burned to ash from mana’s flame, it would be a disgrace beyond words.

Helpless, Gabbie stamped his feet in frustration, then shot up into the air.

Peeking his head from the floor of the underground level, he saw that with Austin slain, the knights lay sprawled and groaning everywhere.

Though Ramande was utterly exhausted, he still busied himself treating the wounded. Esadien, meanwhile, was making sure Austin would never rise again, grinding the crimson jewel into near dust.

— Hey, El!

“Gabbie.”

Esadien frowned, seeing the spirit appear alone to his eyes.

“Is Minuelle safe?”

Gabbie wasted no time.

— Come downstairs. You alone!

Having dealt with the clan that guarded the water spirit before, Gabbie was sure.

The aura I feel from El is water—close to the sea itself.

With power in full flow, one spirit could borrow a fragment of another’s strength. But with opposing elements, fire and water, he could barely help at all.

But El… El might just be able to save Minuelle where I cannot.

When Gabbie returned below, Minuelle had grown even hotter in the brief time she’d been gone.

“What must I do?”

Esadien arrived in haste, worry and guilt surging through him. But a spirit’s duty was always the contractor’s life first.

Suppressing his feelings, Gabbie gave a curt order:

— You’ll have to cool her with your own body.

Esadien, about to obey without hesitation, paused only briefly.

“Gabbie, you must believe I have some kind of power for asking this of me.”

— I do. Now hurry, or she’ll die…!

Even with Gabbie’s urgency, Esadien stayed calm.

“Then… will this herb, Yoshicho, affect my strength as well?”

— Oh… good. You actually use your head.

Unlike Minuelle, who acted first, or Gabbie, blinded by worry, Esadien was rational.

But that didn’t mean his heart was any less desperate. He grabbed handfuls of Yoshicho, chewed them, and swallowed, then drew Minuelle into his arms.

The sudden chill startled Minuelle awake. Her eyes, bloodshot with burst vessels from the fever, widened when she saw Esadien. She tried to push him away at once.

— Don’t you dare move!

Gabbie’s sharp cry stopped her.

Still struggling, Minuelle was pulled tighter. Esadien whispered softly:

“Don’t push me away. Didn’t you say my place is by your side?”

“But to hold me like this… Are you insane? Don’t you feel the heat?”

“I am fine.”

With a faint curve of his eyes, Esadien said as if nothing were amiss:

“Austin is dead. Let’s go home.”

That familiar smile soothed her somewhat. Yet, no matter how Gabbie tried to quell the fire, it was not enough. Esadien’s clothes were already smoldering where he embraced her, unnoticed.

After an agonizing span too painful to recall, Minuel finally succeeded in gathering back the surging mana.

She collapsed to her knees. Beside her, Esadien—who had spent all his strength both fighting Austin and enduring the pain—fell unconscious.

“Hh….”

Minuelle herself was not well. The searing backlash of mana left her head boiling, her mind dizzy.

But all she could see was Esadien’s grievous injuries.

His face, his whole body—burned. His chest, where he had held her, worst of all.

“Why… why endure this much pain for me…?”

Her trembling hands dared not touch him.

Gabbie, heavy with guilt though he would not admit it, muttered bitterly:

— Why else?

“……”

— Feed him this with the potion.

She held out a faintly blue, translucent stone.

— The Essence of Water, given by the clan that guards the water spirit.

Normally, Minuelle would have teased that Gabbie planned to bind Esadien to a water spirit. But now, she had no strength for jokes.

“Please… don’t leave me like this. Just live. That’s all I ask…”

No tears came. Was it exhaustion, or sorrow too vast, or guilt so heavy she couldn’t even beg forgiveness?

Bracing her faltering body, Minuelle poured every potion over Esadien. She used her tenuous control over mana to draw the searing heat from him. She even fed him the Water Essence with the potion.

Slowly, his fading breath steadied.

“Thank goodness…”

But she knew this was far from true relief.

“Gabbie… fetch help.”

— Y-yes! At once!

With a final weak whisper, Minuelle collapsed before the others arrived.