Chapter 70: Nocturne of Blades
Sein’s fists clenched, her crimson gauntlets flickering with suppressed fury. "Cheating bastard. Doesn’t he have any pride as an S-rank?"
Jane shook her head, her dark eyes fixed on Ernando’s relentless assault across the hall. "Ernando seems different now. He used to be rational, disciplined. He’s likely been brainwashed. Controlled."
Allen crossed his arms. "It seems like that woman’s doing. She also took Andrey. What do they want?"
Simmon pushed his black glasses up, his white hair disheveled. "Who is he?"
Jane answered, her voice quiet but clear. "Andrey Thompson. C-rank. The one who’s now Sein’s master."
Sein’s head snapped toward her, eyes blazing. "Who the hell has a ’master,’ you idiot? We’re just partners!"
Before anyone could respond, a sharp, commanding voice cut through the chaos.
"Hey! You lot, hurry up and help the front line! We’re overwheld! What are you even doing?!"
A small figure weaved between monsters, a lion fighting beside him, its golden mane singed, its claws tearing through shadow hounds. The young man was short, with serious black eyes and short black hair. Despite his size, he moved with practiced efficiency, his blade flashing.
Then a massive impact shook the hall.
A monster composed of shifting, liquid flesh surged upward, forming a grotesque hand that slamd into the floor. The tremor knocked several heroes off their feet. Cracks spread across the marble.
Allen recognized the young man imdiately. "Yuliet Hiji. Still as small as ever."
Yuliet’s eye twitched. "What did you say?!"
Before the argunt could escalate, the liquid monster’s hand swept toward them. Jane’s hands shot up, frost exploding from her palms.
"Binding Ice!"
A wall of crystalline ice erupted, freezing the monster’s limb mid-swing. The creature screeched, dark ichor seeping from the frozen cracks.
Jane’s voice was strained but steady. "Allen, we need to take this thing down before it destroys the floor entirely."
Allen nodded, raising his sword. "I know. You all go help the others against Ernando. We’ll catch up after we handle this."
Simmon cracked his neck, twin swords glinting. "That was my plan all along. Co on, Sein. You still have strength left, don’t you? With that new outfit of yours."
Sein’s green eyes narrowed. Her crimson dress was torn at the shoulder, and exhaustion pulled at her limbs, but her gauntlets still blazed. She let out a sharp breath.
"Bastard. You talk too much."
Sein’s boots pounded against the cracked marble as she sprinted toward the front line. The chaos around her was a blur of clashing steel, roaring monsters, and shouting heroes. But her focus was fixed on the figure ahead—Ernando, still cutting through the defenders like a scythe through wheat.
A familiar voice called out from her left.
"Well, well. Haven’t seen you in a while, Sein." Yuliet Hiji stood astride his lion, Noel, the beast’s golden eyes tracking the battlefield. Yuliet’s gaze swept over Sein’s crimson dress, the fla-shaped accents, the exposed shoulders. His expression was characteristically blunt. "Your appearance changed. Is this really your taste now?"
Sein’s eye twitched. "No, you idiot. It’s just part of a contract. I didn’t choose it."
Before Yuliet could retort, a shadow lunged at them from the side—a twisted creature with too many limbs and a head that was mostly teeth. The lion reacted instantly.
"Noel, strike!"
The lion roared and leaped, its massive paws slamming into the creature’s chest. Claws raked across its hide, tearing through dark flesh. Yuliet, still on Noel’s back, raised his sword. Blue-white energy gathered along the blade, crackling with focused intent.
"Luminous Arc!"
He swung. A crescent of light shot from the sword, slicing clean through the monster’s neck. The head tumbled one way, the body another, both dissolving into mana particles before they hit the ground.
Sein didn’t waste ti admiring the technique. She launched herself at the nearest cluster of monsters, her gauntlets blazing.
"Crimson Nova!"
A wave of crimson fire erupted from her body, engulfing half a dozen shadow hounds. They screeched and dissolved, their dark ichor evaporating in the heat. The monster with the twisted, many-toothed head caught the edge of the blast and collapsed, its body crumbling into ash.
Simmon appeared beside Sein, his twin swords dripping with dark fluid. He surveyed the carnage with a faint smirk.
"I see. Your strength is still as barbaric as ever. Only the output feels different."
Sein shot him a glare. "If you have ti to watch, help clear out these small fries."
Simmon gestured behind him with a sword tip. "I already did."
Sein glanced back. A pile of dissolving monster corpses lay in his wake—at least a dozen, their remains still smoking. She clenched her fists.
"Talented bastard," she muttered.
Simmon’s smirk widened. "Flattery will get you everywhere."
A loud crash echoed from behind them, shaking the already fractured marble floor. Sein glanced back briefly, Allen and Jane were still locked in combat with the massive liquid monster, their combined ice and sword strikes carving chunks from its shifting form, but the creature kept regenerating, its wounds sealing almost as fast as they were made.
Yuliet’s voice was sharp with urgency. "We need to push forward! The others on the front line are already at their breaking point!"
Simmon’s twin swords dripped with dark fluid, his expression grim behind his black glasses. "Have all the support items been used up already?"
Yuliet’s jaw tightened. "Yes. The heroes burned through them recklessly. None of them are used to fighting under such suppressed power. Their control is sloppy, their mana consumption inefficient. They’re panicking and wasting everything." He glanced toward the center of the hall, where a cluster of exhausted defenders struggled to hold the line against Ernando’s relentless advance. "Even Delphine, our S-rank healer is at her limit. She’s been casting non-stop for the past half hour, but there are too many wounded. And with her power scaled down by the barrier, she can only do so much."
Sein’s eyes followed his gaze. Delphine was a striking woman with silver-blonde hair pulled back in a tight braid, her white robes stained with soot and blood. She moved between the fallen, hands glowing with a soft golden light, but her face was pale, sweat beading on her forehead. Each healing spell took longer to cast now, the light dimr than it should have been.
Simmon’s voice was low, almost thoughtful. "An S-rank healer, running on fus. I never thought I’d see that."
Yuliet’s lion, Noel, growled softly, its golden eyes fixed on the distant figure of Ernando. "If we don’t stop him soon, there won’t be anyone left to heal."
Sein cracked her neck, crimson flas flickering along her gauntlets. "Then we stop him. Simmon, you take the left flank. Yuliet, you and the cat take the right. I’ll go straight through the middle."
Simmon raised an eyebrow. "Straight through? Against an S-rank fighting at full power while the rest of us are hobbled?"
Sein’s lips curled into a fierce grin. "That’s right. Because I’m not going to fight fair. I’m just going to hit him until he stops moving."
Yuliet sighed, nudging Noel forward. "Your strategy hasn’t changed since we were rookies."
"Because it works."
Simmon moved left without another word, his twin swords already spinning into a defensive pattern. Yuliet and Noel veered right, the lion’s paws silent despite its size. Sein walked forward alone, her boots crunching on the debris-strewn floor.
Ahead, Ernando raised his sword, bringing it down on a hero who had fallen to his knees. The blade never landed.
Sein’s gauntlet caught it.
The impact sent shockwaves through the air, cracking the ground beneath them. Ernando’s expression didn’t change—those empty, black eyes staring through her.
"Get out of my way," he said, his voice flat, emotionless.
Sein’s gauntlet blazed brighter, pushing the blade back inch by inch. "Make ."
Hope, battered and bloodied, leaned against a shattered pillar, her crystal sword barely held in her trembling hand. Her silver gown was torn, golden hair matted with sweat and dark ichor. She watched Sein lock blades with Ernando and called out, her voice strained but urgent.
"Be careful! He has layered defenses all over his body! Conventional attacks won’t—"
"I know, damn it!" Sein snapped, not looking away from Ernando’s empty eyes. "You just rest there and drink so warm milk or sothing. Let
handle this arrogant bastard!"
Ernando’s expression didn’t change. With a single, fluid motion, he pushed his blade against Sein’s gauntlets, forcing her back a step. Then he lunged past her, his sword arcing toward a group of wounded heroes huddled near the wall.
Simmon was already moving.
"Shadow Cross!"
His twin swords traced a blazing X of dark energy, intercepting Ernando’s strike mid-swing. The impact sent sparks flying, and for a mont, the two S-ranks were locked in a deadlock, Simmon’s blades against Ernando’s sword, white hair and silver-streaked dark hair both whipping in the shockwave.
Simmon’s black glasses cracked, but his voice remained calm. "You’re getting slower, Ernando."
Ernando didn’t respond. He twisted his blade, disengaging, and spun to strike at Simmon’s exposed side.
Sein was there. Her gauntlet caught the flat of his sword, crimson flas erupting on contact. "Crimson Impact!"
The explosion staggered Ernando—barely. He recovered instantly, his black eyes fixing on Sein.
Then a blur of motion from the right flank.
Yuliet Hiji launched himself from Noel’s back, his sword blazing with blue-white light. "Luminous Arc!"
The crescent of energy slamd into Ernando’s shoulder, carving a shallow gash through his defenses. Ernando grunted, the first sound of pain he’d made and his head turned slowly toward Yuliet.
Noel followed up, leaping with claws extended, raking across Ernando’s side. The lion’s claws sparked against the layered dark mana, leaving thin scratches but not penetrating deep.
Yuliet landed in a crouch beside Sein, his expression grim. "His armor is tough. Even my fully charged arc barely scratched him."
Sein cracked her neck. "Then we scratch him a thousand tis. He’ll break eventually."
Across the hall, Delphine knelt among the wounded, her silver-blonde braid coming undone, her white robes stained with soot and blood. Her hands glowed with a soft golden light, but the flicker was weak, like a candle in the wind. She moved from one fallen hero to the next, but her movents were slowing.
Hope limped toward her, using her crystal sword as a cane. Her face was pale, bruises darkening her cheek, but her eyes were still sharp.
"Delphine," Hope said, her voice hoarse. "What’s the situation?"
Delphine didn’t look up imdiately. Her hands pressed against a young hero’s chest, golden light pushing back the darkness of a deep wound. When the hero’s breathing steadied, she finally lifted her gaze.
"Too many wounded," Delphine said quietly. "The death toll is rising. I’ve done what I can, but my mana is nearly depleted. And without proper rest..." She trailed off, her jaw tightening.
Hope lowered herself to sit on a broken piece of stone beside Delphine. "Then rest. Even if it’s just for a minute."
Delphine shook her head, her hands already moving to the next injured hero. "If I stop, people die. I can’t—"
"You’ll be no good to anyone if you collapse," Hope interrupted gently. "Take a breath, Delphine."
Delphine’s hands hesitated. Her shoulders trembled. Then she let out a long, shaky exhale and closed her eyes for three heartbeats.
A massive crash echoed across the hall.
Sein flew past them, her body slamming into a collapsed pillar. The stone crumbled, and she rolled to a stop, coughing, her crimson dress torn further, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead.
Delphine reacted on pure instinct. Her hands shot out, and a wave of water erupted from her palms, forming a cushion that caught Sein’s body before she hit the ground again. The water splashed across the debris, soaking Sein’s dress, but it absorbed the impact.
Delphine rushed to her side, dropping to her knees. "Sein! Are you all right?!"
Sein pushed herself up, wincing. "Tch... that bastard’s strong..." She spat out a mouthful of blood, then looked at Delphine. "I’m fine. Don’t fuss."
Before anyone could respond, a familiar chi echoed in Sein’s head.
System: Incoming communication request from Host Andrey. Does Sein accept?
Sein’s eyes widened. "What the—?!"
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