Chapter 58: Annihilation

’Is that saying "pleasure comes right before death" about to come true? These two girls are suddenly acting so out of character.’

"Elias..."

"..."

Elias heard Elysia call out to him, and he could see her face too. But he couldn’t speak, because his body was limp from losing so much blood and the pain of his wounds.

"We’re sorry... We couldn’t protect you. Because of us, you ended up..."

’Why is she crying?’

"We should have made a backup plan so something like this would never happen. This is all our fault, we thought everything would go according to plan..."

Elias glanced at Evelyn, who had started crying too. Even though his face stayed the same, inside his head he was totally confused.

’What’s wrong with them? It’s only natural for me, as their Caretaker, to protect them. Why is she saying that? And what did they even do wrong?’

Even while he was caught up in the confusion, seeing the two girls crying again was more than he could bear.

He took his hand off Evelyn’s shoulder and pulled both of them into a hug with one arm.

Evelyn and Elysia froze for a moment when Elias suddenly hugged them.

"...Don’t... Cry... Ladies..." Elias said to the two girls, his voice broken and stammering.

Just breathing hurt with his broken ribs, never mind talking. It took extra strength!

Hearing Elias’s words, Evelyn and Elysia hugged him back right away. Their hands clutched tightly at his clothes as they sniffled.

*Sob... Sob...

"S-sorry..."

"We’re... really sorry..."

Elias moved his hand a little to pat and rub their backs.

’Weirdly, this makes me think of Mira.’

While Elias was holding the two crying girls, Vesper suddenly came closer.

"S-sorry to interrupt your time..."

Elias glanced over at Vesper.

"...You... already m-met Master, right?"

At first Elias was a little confused about which master she meant. But it didn’t take long for him to realize she was talking about Baekhyun.

Elias just gave a small nod in reply.

"...T-then... I have to finish this..."

Vesper turned to face the army that was still fighting.

"...N-now... It’s your turn... Voper..."

"Kukuku! Time to go wild!"

*Whoosh!

Vesper’s body was instantly wrapped in dark purple energy. Her posture, which had been hunched over, snapped upright, and even the way she stood changed.

It was as if Vesper had turned into a completely different person.

"Hmm~ so is this our job?"

She turned to Ferrum behind her, and Ferrum only answered with a nod.

"Alright!"

*Boom!

Just by smacking her own palms together, she created a pretty big burst of energy and an echoing blast.

Then she shot straight toward the White Dreadclaw, which had just adapted to the flames burning it.

"Get over here, big kitty!"

*Roar!

With a fist wrapped in dark purple energy, she slammed it right into the White Dreadclaw’s face.

*Bam!

The White Dreadclaw staggered to the side for a moment before roaring again and launching its attack at Vesper.

Elias, watching that, could only smile bitterly inside.

’I’m not even surprised by what happens anymore.’

Since Vladir was being dealt with, Elias took the initiative to go find the Heartbloom right away. He let go of Evelyn and Elysia.

Evelyn and Elysia looked at Elias’s face with confused expressions, with a bit of disappointment and dissatisfaction mixed in.

In a halting voice, Elias told them what he was going to do.

"...Ladies... I... will go look... for the Heartbloom..."

’I don’t have much time... The system hasn’t shown that the Main Quest is complete yet. Maybe that’s because Vladir isn’t dead. But he’s being handled now, so it’s time to find the Heartbloom.’

Even if he managed to save the two of them, once he went back to the Nocturne estate, who knew what kind of way Elias would die if he still hadn’t found the Heartbloom.

"No. You don’t have to!"

"...?"

"That’s right, Elias. In your condition right now, you won’t be able to find it," Evelyn said, gripping his clothes tightly as if she refused to let him go.

"We know you’re strong. You can do a lot of things with your cleverness. And something like the Heartbloom, you could definitely get your hands on it easily!" Elysia added.

"But not with the state your body is in right now..."

It was true that Elias’s body was in terrible shape. But he still had to find that Heartbloom.

"...But..."

"No, Elias," Evelyn said, her voice shaking a little but firm.

"We already ordered the Team Captain and the others to look for it earlier. Didn’t you hear it too, since you were right here?"

’Was that while I was meeting Baekhyun? Well, whatever. I hope they can find it.’

Elias nodded at what the two of them said. That made both girls let out a sigh of relief, a small smile showing on their faces.

*Boom!

Another explosion rang out from the battle. This time it came from Nox, who was crossing swords with Vladir, and Vladir was struggling to hold back Nox’s blade.

"Ugh!"

Sparks flew from the friction of the two metal blades. Then Nox channeled golden-yellow aura into his sword and knocked Vladir back.

Vladir stumbled backward a little, but quickly regained his balance.

"Golden-yellow energy, that sword technique... Are you Sir Bruno, who served under Countess Rosaline Everhart!"

"I threw that name away. Now my name is Nox. And I’m the right hand of my new master."

"Who’re you calling right hand, huh? That should be me! Umbra!"

Nox chose to ignore the crazy woman and focus on Vladir in front of him.

"Why did you betray the Countess?!"

"Betrayed, my ass. She’s the one who betrayed me, when I was on an expedition in Blackwood Forest. She just threw me away like it was nothing."

"Impossible! The Countess would never do that. According to the Count, the Countess is a kind-hearted person! That’s obvious, since she’s his descendant!"

"What? So there’s a descendant after all? Tch... Why wasn’t I invited to the celebration party...

Screw that. Now I belong to my master. And besides, I’m already dead, so it’s fine."

Nox coated his sword in golden-yellow aura again.

When he heard that Nox was already dead, Vladir was clearly shocked and didn’t understand what that meant.

"You... Dead?"

"Yup! And you’re about to die too. The difference is, you won’t come back to life like me."

*Slash!

Nox swung his sword, and a powerful golden-yellow blade of energy shot toward Vladir.

"W-what? You—"

*Boom!

"You talk a lot for someone who’s about to die. Ah... Or maybe I should call you a demon?"

*Cough!

Vladir coughed up blood from the impact of Nox’s attack. Then he glared at Nox with sharp eyes and an irritated face.

His red energy surged up from within his body.

"Nox! You have to kill him. If you don’t, this will never end."

Nox scratched his right ear when Venatrix said that.

"I know."

Then in a flash, Vladir rushed at Nox, swinging his sword at him.

But with minimal movement, Nox dodged it just by shifting a little from where he stood.

Then he immediately slammed his knee into Vladir’s chest.

*Thud!

"Ugh!"

The effect was minor, so Vladir immediately launched his next attack, swinging his sword at Nox’s neck.

"Hmph!"

*Clank!

Vladir’s eyes went wide as Nox easily caught Vladir’s sword, the one coated with Energy, with no effort at all.

"W-what?"

"That’s enough playing around."

*Crunch!

Nox crushed Vladir’s sword with nothing but the squeeze of his fingers.

The moment the sword shattered, Nox punched Vladir in the stomach, hard!

*Bam!

*Cough!

Then he threw a punch at Vladir’s face.

*Bam!

Then he hit the other side of his face.

*Bam!

Without letting Vladir breathe, Nox rained punch after punch on his body. His face, stomach, chest, and jaw.

Even when Vladir started covering his face with his hands, it was useless, because Nox’s precise punches slipped through the gaps between the hands guarding his face and chest.

The punches were heavy, hard, and fast. The sound of them was even the loudest sound in the middle of the chaos of the battle. They were so strong and fast that they sent out shockwaves of air that could be felt all the way to where Elias stood.

Elias could only laugh bitterly inside as he watched Nox’s one-sided assault.

’You’ve gotta be kidding me... Who’s the real monster here? Vladir or Nox? I almost feel bad for Vladir.’

After beating on Vladir for a while with pure physical strength, without any mana or aura, Nox coated the fist of his right hand with aura. This time the aura turned a dark, deep purple. Then with a heavy swing...

*Bam!

He punched Vladir’s chin upward so hard that Vladir was launched into the air.

Nox sighed for a moment before looking over at Umbra.

"Hey, fake Saintess. Finish this."

"Who are you calling a fake Saintess, huh?"

Umbra raised both hands up, right toward Vladir’s body. Then she lowered her hands in front of her chest as if she were praying.

"Flower of Void: Annihilation."

*Rumble...

A giant black rose burst up from the ground. Then the flower turned toward Vladir, who was up in the air.

And in the center of that flower, mana began to gather there, and a dark purple Energy slowly started to glow.

Before long, that dark purple energy grew bigger, and the pressure it gave off grew even stronger.

"Eternal Emptiness."

*Zzzzap!

The energy shot up into the sky toward Vladir like a huge laser.

"Ugh! What is this!?" Vladir screamed as he came to from his brief blackout. He tried to create a shield from his mana, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time.

The energy pierced straight through Vladir’s body and kept going up into the sky.

"No! This is impossible! Ahhhh!!!"

Vladir’s screams of pain echoed for a moment before the sound of an explosion followed.

*Boom!

* * *