“Really… how did it end up like this?”
“Well? It’s not like I’m anything special. I’m the same as you. I just took down villains. The only difference is that my punishment will be harsher and more painful.”
“Punishment? You call that punishment?”
“Of course. The dark mages of Under Chain don’t even fear death, do they? So burning their souls away should at least qualify as a proper penalty.”
“No, Ollie. What you’re doing right now isn’t punishment.”
Using Copycat, Yuna duplicated Ollie’s ability.
Even that alone allowed her to indirectly feel the sensations granted through the power.
Ollie’s ability, Absorption. She still couldn’t grasp its exact mechanism.
But she could at least see the state Ollie was currently in.
“It’s not punishment. You’re just burning souls because you need to.”
For the dark mages of Under Chain, death could never be a punishment.
They didn’t fear death, and they prepared for what came after it. How could death be a penalty to people like that?
They believed they could achieve eternity through death.
Burning their very souls might indeed qualify as punishment.
“Ollie, it feels like you’re not looking for reasons not to kill people. You’re only looking for reasons to kill them.”
But Ollie wasn’t burning souls to punish them. She was simply burning souls in order to use the chains herself.
If it had been driven by hatred or rage, Yuna might have at least understood.
Unfortunately, Ollie didn’t seem to be feeling anything like that right now.
Which meant that even if her target weren’t a villain, even if it were an ordinary person, she might do the same thing.
“To be honest, I had a bad feeling from the moment I started looking for you.”
“……”
“I even started wondering if I might have to kill you.”
That was why she had hurried.
If Johan saw Ollie the way she was now, he would definitely blame himself.
“I’m glad I found you. If it had been someone else, they wouldn’t have been able to be as ruthless as I can. And they wouldn’t be able to stay as unaffected, either.”
Yuna was prepared to kill Ollie.
She was the most suitable person for it. She had killed countless people before, and she was the one who had been hurt the most. There was no one more fit for a filthy task like this.
“Ha……”
Watching Yuna, Ollie’s expression twisted for the first time.
She could feel the devotion. The love.
And the more she felt it, the more miserable and pathetic she felt.
“You’re talking as if I’d just quietly let you kill me.”
Ollie sneered. To her, Yuna looked like she was dreaming an impossible dream.
But Ollie didn’t know.
“If you think that level of power makes you something special, then that’s just pathetic, Ollie.”
Even if she had grown several times stronger than before….no, even ten times stronger, it didn’t matter to Yuna.
“You’re not my opponent.”
Because Yuna was far stronger than that.
Even in a head-on fight, it wouldn’t matter. She was confident even without an ambush.
That confidence didn’t come from raw power alone.
Unlike her original weapon, the scythe was an irregular awkward form. Setting aside the lack of familiarity, it wasn’t even well-suited to be wielded as a proper weapon.
The assessment was instant.
With light steps, Yuna slowly approached Ollie.
Watching her carefully, Ollie raised her scythe at an angle.
The moment Yuna entered range, she intended to slash immediately.
The cutting power of the scythe forged from chains could cleave even steel with ease.
Even if it were met with a fully formed blade aura, it wouldn’t matter. The sinister energy flowing through her scythe could easily burn through something like that.
Ollie didn’t relax for a second.
She had already suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the girl before her.
Not even for an instant did she let her guard down.
As if she were out for a stroll, Yuna whistled and stepped lightly, yet Ollie remained wary of every movement.
And so—
“Puhihihi!”
“Huh?!”
Ollie lost track of Yuna’s movement.
Was it because she was too fast? No. It was simply that Ollie’s reaction was a beat too slow.
She had been watching with her eyes, yet her response lagged by a fraction of a second.
Yuna had created a rhythm with her whistling and steps, deliberately drawing attention to it.
A steady tone and tempo, then a movement that burst out off-beat.
A design meant to deceive Ollie, who was using all five senses to track her.
It was Yuna’s specialty.
“Ghk!”
Ollie swung her scythe a beat too late. The best she could manage was to yank it back slightly and deliver a short, clipped strike.
Her response isn’t bad. But the moment I got in close, it was already over.
Yes, that was the best she could do.
She couldn’t produce anything more efficient than that.
Yuna twisted her body along the trajectory of the scythe and slipped in, closing the distance until she was nearly pressed against Ollie.
Tap.
Hooking her foot from the outside and driving her weight forward, she flipped Ollie cleanly onto the ground.
Ollie fell, and Yuna settled over her as if mounting her.
“……”
With a light flick of her wrist, Yuna shook a dagger out from inside her sleeve.
Before Ollie could even process what was happening—
Without a word, Yuna drove the dagger down.
It aimed precisely for the center of Ollie’s forehead.
No hesitation. No tremor.
In that instant, Ollie thought of death.
Graaaaah!
A screech like metal being scraped rang out, mingled with the cry of a crow.
Whoosh!
A black blade grazed past Yuna’s waist.
It was a sudden ambush. The only reason Yuna managed to evade it was because her elasticity, flexibility, and sheer physical performance surpassed that of her attacker.
Fighting Ollie had been manageable.
The chains of Under Chain that she wielded contained tremendous destructive power on their own, but Ollie herself lacked the skill to match it.
The one who had just ambushed Yuna was the same.
Absurd strength, but like someone wearing clothes that didn’t fit their body.
“Tch.”
Retreating a step, Yuna looked at the black-armored knight rising from within Ollie’s shadow.
“A Death Knight……”
One of the highest-ranking undead, rivaling a lich. Its power was at least on par with a knight of the Imperial Order.
Which was precisely why Yuna couldn’t help but find it strange.
“Raven……”
The identity of the Death Knight was obvious. In this situation, there was no one other than Raven who would move to protect Ollie without needing any command.
Though unlike how Yuna remembered him, he was now clad in armor…
That distinct presence couldn’t be hidden.
“This feels familiar…”
Gripping her waist, Yuna studied the Death Knight standing protectively in front of Ollie.
Coincidentally, it was a sight she was all too familiar with.
“Is this some kind of racial trait of dark mages? Oh, right. It definitely is.”
It reminded her of Melana and Jeff. But this situation was far more tragic and grotesque.
“Mmm…”
Yuna frowned at the burning pain in her side.
It was where Raven’s attack had grazed her.
A Death Knight’s blade was itself a curse. Even a mere scratch had caused serious damage.
“This really hurts.”
The situation had changed in an instant.
Ollie aside, Raven’s presence was deeply troublesome.
As an undead, the current Raven wouldn’t die from having a vital point struck.
To kill him, she would have to either shatter his entire body or purify him with something imbued with holy power. But neither option was easy for Yuna.
“Can’t be helped.”
Yuna shrugged and lowered the dagger in her hand.
For a brief moment, Ollie relaxed at the sight—
“I guess I’ll have to get my hands dirty.”
Yuna had no intention of giving up.
Unfortunately, she had lived a life far more mired in mud and blood than Ollie seemed to realize.
***
Ollie watched the black-armored knight who had appeared to protect her with darkened eyes.
Raven.
The man she loved who had volunteered for the front lines as a mercenary and ultimately lost his life to a barbarian’s merciless axe.
I…
Seeing the black-armored knight spring forth to shield her felt like having a dagger driven straight into her heart.
Armor that didn’t suit a mercenary like Raven.
It had been a gift from Ollie.
Since full plate armor would have restricted his movement, she gifted Raven armor that was light and easy to move in while still protecting his vital points.
It was something she had prepared out of concern for Raven, who was leaving for the front lines because of the war against the barbarians.
Raven had been overjoyed, and Ollie had smiled softly as she watched him.
It had seemed as though everything was going well.
Their relationship had grown deeper with each passing day.
I killed him.
Until she heard the news of Raven’s death.
He had failed to dodge a barbarian’s axe while shielding another mercenary.
His stance had been completely broken, and they said he had covered his comrade as if gambling on the armor’s defensive strength.
It had been reckless bravado. A meddlesome interference.
In the end, the cheap armor Ollie had prepared could not protect Raven.
He had died on the spot.
The other mercenary, his comrade, had not even been able to recover Raven’s body and said that bringing back his identification tag had been the most he could do.
Only after receiving that tag did Ollie learn of Raven’s death.
If I hadn’t given him that armor.
Raven would never have acted with such reckless bravado.
Or if I had at least given him something better.
The problem was that she had compromised after being persuaded by talk of cost-effectiveness.
This wouldn’t have happened!
When she heard from the fellow mercenary that even his body could not be recovered, Ollie immediately headed for the front lines. Fortunately, the imperial army had been pushing forward, so she was able to reach the place where Raven had died without much danger.
What she saw there was…
– Remarkable! To think a mere mercenary could cling so fiercely to life.
– To have stood so close to death and still harbor such attachment to living?
– We understand that resentment.
It was Raven, rising as a death knight through the hands of the dark mages of the Under Chain.
– Gaaaargh!
As if his neck had been twisted at the moment of death, Raven let out a shriek that sounded like metal scraping against metal.
For a fleeting instant, it even resembled the cry of a raven.
Seeing him like that, Ollie thought Raven was in pain.
Hesitantly, almost instinctively, she began to walk toward him.
– Who goes there!
– Are there still imperial soldiers left in a place like this?
– Is that not a young girl? How unfortunate.
And so, she was discovered by the dark mages of the Under Chain.
Having just raised a death knight, the group she encountered included no fewer than five high-ranking officials.
There was no chance of winning. With her level of skill, she could not even escape.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Seeing this, the dark mages of the Under Chain let out a sigh and spoke.
– There is no need to worry.
– Only death shall make us eternal.
– Only death shall become the path through which we understand one another.
– Only death shall sever this everlasting sorrow.
– So, child, there is no need to weep so bitterly.
Only then did Ollie realize that she was grieving.
Even now, with her life hanging by a thread.
Her gaze had never left Raven, who was screaming as if in agony.
The moment she recognized that, her tears burst forth as though a dam had broken.
– Gaaaargh!!
As if resonating with her sobs, Raven cast off all the restraints the dark mages had placed upon him.
That grim, oppressive aura spread outward, overwhelming everyone present.
Raven…
Instinctively, Ollie seized the reins. At the same time, she felt a seed long dormant within her soul begin to sprout.
It’s okay.
The death knight began to rampage in madness.
Only after he had eliminated everything around him did Raven finally come to a stop, and Ollie reached out her hand toward him.
Having awakened her power, she could see the souls scattered throughout the area.
The moment she absorbed them, she knew there would be no turning back.
I’ll fall with you, no matter how far it takes us.
Ollie did so willingly.
“Raven.”
Ollie was fine with it.
No matter how vile she might become, no matter if she fell into an irreversible abyss, even if she were condemned and reviled as a witch.
She was prepared to bear it all.
But even she still had one final line she could not cross.
“Let’s run.”
Even though he had become a death knight, she could not bear to watch Raven kill a friend.
They had both fallen as far as they could fall, yet their feelings for each other remained unchanged.
“Let’s just… run.”
And so, Ollie chose to flee.
She did not want her friend’s blood staining Raven’s blade.
“……”
Yuna could not move as she watched the two of them retreat.
It was a problem that a cursed energy still churned from the wound Raven had inflicted on her, but there was something she could only see after Raven’s appearance.
“Ha…”
Yuna’s ability, [Copycat].
Through it, Yuna had copied Ollie’s [Absorption] and learned its sensation. Now, souls were visible to her eyes.
And only now could she see the truth as well.
“Impressive.”
Ollie had not been dominating others’ souls through [Absorption].
Perhaps she had merely mistaken her newly awakened power for [Absorption]; perhaps her ability was not [Absorption] at all.
Yuna had believed that Ollie had been using other people’s souls to withstand the backlash of the chain. That was why Yuna could not help but feel taken aback.
Ollie was not sacrificing other people’s souls.
Though she had bound them, she had not burned them as fuel.
She likely did not even realize it herself.
“I’m almost jealous.”
It was Raven alone who had been bearing the backlash of the chain.
Even in death, he had been protecting her, keeping Ollie from crossing that final line.
“At this rate, I can’t even chase after them.”
Yuna could only stare blankly as the two figures disappeared into the distance.
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