“What….”
Adrienne found herself taken aback. Trees had been uprooted, and those still standing had lost most of their leaves.
Moreover, the professor was nowhere to be seen.
“….”
The Dullahan had been thrown far from the battlefield, separating it from Margaret, who had suffered the worst damage here.
It was expected. Knights were meant to tank, to endure as much as they could while mages struck from a distance. After all, magic was a demon’s natural enemy.
But that momentary opening was all Adrienne needed.
She finished her incantation. As she raised it toward the distant silhouette of the Dullahan, she muttered the final word.
“Fulgur!”
Crackle——!
Bolts of lightning tore through the air, roaring as it struck its target. The ground trembled from the impact. Flames erupted where the bolts struck, leaving craters smoldering in their wake.
The once-dense forest was now a chaotic landscape of burning trees and splintered earth.
The knights instinctively shielded their eyes, momentarily stunned by the overwhelming surge of mana. Johanna flinched at the sheer force of the spell, while Clevius tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Now!” Adrienne’s voice cut through. “Before it recovers!”
Without hesitation, Johanna and Clevius sprang into action, their figures blurring as they closed the distance.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“….”
Adrienne momentarily turned her head, looking at her fellow Grimreaper’s lifeless body, Leon, before joining the fight, unleashing spells forward.
Steel clashed against rusted armor in rapid succession. The force of their strikes sent sparks flying, but the Dullahan barely staggered.
….Or rather, the Dullahan’s figure slowly shifted.
…..
“Switch!” Johanna roared, clashing blades with the Dullahan.
However, even as she called, there was no sign of Clevius switching with her.
“Clevius—Ukh!”
The Dullahan’s sword slammed into her battered armor, sending her flying. Blood spurted from her mouth as she crashed to the ground.
“….”
Her vision blurred, and she forced herself to look around. Left, then right, only to realize Clevius was nowhere to be seen.
Not just him. Adrienne was missing too.
“….”
Johanna pushed herself up, only for a sharp pain to shoot through her abdomen.
“Akh…!”
She gasped, looking down. A blade had run straight through her stomach.
Slowly, she turned her head—and saw it.
“You….”
The Dullahan.
Or at least, what she thought was the Dullahan, until she realized.
“…..”
The real one had vanished.
“….Why?”
As if it had never been there at all.
* * *
“Cough! Cough…!”
I struggled to push myself up, feeling my chest tightening from the dust. I had noticed it before, but this body was weak dust—most probably rhinitis.
Pain shot through my back from where I’d crashed into a tree. It was already a frail body to begin with, forcing me to grit my teeth and push through the ache.
The attack hadn’t been intentional, but getting away from the battlefield had been. At least now, I had a solid excuse for leaving.
Because there was something else I needed to do.
I had noticed it before, but there was a shift in the density of mana. Naturally, mana would surge under the Blood Moon, but there was a fixed pattern, one I knew by heart after playing this game countless times.
“….”
Something was off.
For one, there were no demons in the forest, even though this was the direction they should have come from.
Perhaps, because I had trained myself to be hyper-aware of even the slightest changes, I was immune to whatever fog was dulling everyone else’s perception.
If my conjecture was right, then….
“This is a magical space.”
In other words, we had been lured into a magical space.
Was it Adrienne?
If so, then I hadn’t made a mistake choosing her for this operation.
I had been waiting for this moment for the twelve days I’ve been in this dirty place.
“….”
A traitor.
——Bastard.
“….”
I turned at the familiar voice. That insult was probably meant for me.
“Ah.”
There he was, walking toward me with a smile plastered on his face.
My brow lifted slightly as I took in what he was wearing.
“….”
The exact same outfit as the Dullahan.
“You must be confused right now, professor,” he said in that same irritating voice.
I should’ve killed him back then.
“Not at all,” I replied, keeping my tone indifferent. “Why do you think I chose you for this operation, Clevius?”
It was Clevius.
“Oh? What the hell… Haha….” He laughed.
I had expected him.
But not Adrienne.
Truth be told, I had chosen Clevius only to lure him out. I had a feeling he would take any opportunity to eliminate me the moment no one was watching.
“Showing your true colors, huh?” I said. “Was it the Araxys?”
“Ah, of course you’d be in the loop.” He smirked. “Yes, you’ve been deemed a high-priority target.”
“Damned cultist,” I spat. “And how will Margaret feel about your betrayal?”
“Betrayal?” He laughed. “This isn’t betrayal. In exchange for sparing her, you must die.”
“Sparing her, huh? I see.” I tilted my head. “And what do you gain from my death? Prestige? A promotion within the cult?”
“Prestige?” He scoffed. “Damned nobles, always thinking about titles. This world is nothing but a myriad. To be reborn, it must first be broken. The Araxys believes in restoration. In modern terms, we are known as Protestants who—”
Clang!
The sharp clash of metal against stone cut him off as he instinctively raised his weapon to block. A Stone Cannon spell slammed against his guard, sending tremors through his arms.
“….”
His eyes widened in shock as he realized there had been no sign, no chant, no gesture, nothing to indicate I had prepared a spell.
“You….”
Swoosh—!
By the time he turned to look at me, I was already upon him.
“Spare me your philosophies,” I muttered.
* * *
Margaret hurried through the forest, trying to make her way back to the battlefield. Vanitas’s wind magic had sent her flying far beyond where she should have been.
Her steps quickened, ignoring the pain screaming through her body. She had to keep moving.
Then, without warning, her legs gave out.
“Ukh…!”
She collapsed, hitting the ground hard. A sharp pain shot through her limbs, but worse than that, she couldn’t move.
“….”
Her muscles locked up, refusing to obey. No matter how much she willed her body to rise, she remained frozen.
“What…?” She tried to speak, but even her voice felt weak.
The ground beneath her was cold and damp with fallen leaves. The crimson moonlight that filtered through the trees blurred in her vision.
For ten agonizing minutes, she lay there, unable to move.
Then, finally, her nerves returned. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up, clutching her shoulder as she forced her body forward.
She didn’t stop.
And when she finally broke through the treeline and returned to the battlefield, her steps faltered.
Thud!
….And her body lay unconscious on the ground.
* * *
Bang!
“What are you? Instant magic? I’ve never heard of such an ability before!” Clevius shouted.
He swung his blade toward Vanitas, but before it could land, Vanitas raised an Earth Wall to block.
Boom—!
The wall shattered instantly, reduced to cinders. The force sent Vanitas skidding backward.
“Let me guess,” Vanitas said, steadying himself. “All of this was Adrienne’s scheme. The Dullahan…. was there ever one to begin with?”
The pieces were falling into place. The more he thought about it, the more he realized.
There had never been a Dullahan.
Everything had been an illusion.
A double deception. The fake Clevius had made it seem like he was fighting against the Dullahan, when in reality….
“You were the Dullahan, weren’t you?” Vanitas said, narrowing his eyes.
Even if he hadn’t brought Clevius along, he would have been involved regardless. Choosing him for the operation had only made it harder for Adrienne to pull off the illusion.
Bang!
A sudden impact slammed into Vanitas’s ribs, sending a sharp pain through his body. It felt like his bones had shattered. He staggered back, barely keeping his balance.
He had to admit, much stronger than him. At this moment, even stronger than Margaret.
“You keep talking. Trying to get answers out of me.” Clevius sneered. “Why should I waste my breath on a dead man?”
Vanitas coughed, wiping the blood from his lips. His vision blurred for a second, but he forced himself to focus.
Thankfully, he had several buffs active already before the operation even commenced.
Swoosh—!
A gust of dark energy sliced through the air, cutting Vanitas from his collarbone to his hip. Blood dripped from his mouth.
“….”
Clevius’s body was slowly changing.
His form stretched and expanded. His muscles bulged as his armor cracked and reshaped itself.
His figure was slowly becoming that of a Dullahan.
The only thing missing was the black horse.
Vanitas sneered, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“How do you think Margaret will react when she sees you like this? You think this is right? You, a chimera, assimilating yourself with a Dullahan’s blood?”
Clevius’s eyes darkened. His voice was hoarse. “This is for her. Everything I’ve done is for her.”
Vanitas laughed weakly. “And you think she’ll be grateful? When she finds out what you really are?”
“She won’t find out,” Clevius”s grip on his sword tightened. “Because you won’t be alive to tell her.”
The ground trembled and cracked as Vanitas dashed backward, hurling several spells toward Clevius. But each one was effortlessly cut apart.
“She is my messiah,” Clevius muttered.
His grip tightened on his sword. His voice now trembled with raw emotion.
“She saved me. An orphan with nothing. No name, no future, no purpose. But she…. she looked at me. She gave me her time, her attention. She treated me like I mattered. Gave me a future. Helped me when she had no reason to, all while never asking for anything in return.”
His darkened figure loomed over Vanitas.
“And then you came along. A man who took everything from her. Her future, her pride, her dignity.”
Swoosh—!
He swung, and Vanitas barely evaded it.
“You forced her to pick herself back up from the dirt, to claw her way out of the ruin you left her in. She had to prove herself, not just to the world, but to herself. To silence the doubts, the skepticism, and the ridicule from that damned Crusade Order.”
His glowing eyes burned with something almost fanatical.
“The world is filthy, professor. You are filthy. A man who stands above the rest, looking down on everyone. But what do you truly stand for? What have you ever given to others?”
Bang!
The ground cracked beneath them.
“While she rebuilt herself from the ashes you left her in, what did you do? Did you suffer? Did you hurt the way she did? Did you bleed for the choices you made?”
Flames erupted around them. But even through the smoke, Clevius’s towering figure remained unaffected.
“You don’t deserve to exist in the same world as her.”
His attacks came relentlessly. Slashing and striking. Vanitas dodged by a hair’s breadth, but even he knew he couldn’t avoid them forever.
“You steal. You manipulate. You destroy. You left her with nothing but suffering. You forced her to carry a burden that was yours.”
His voice dropped into a whisper, one filled with absolute certainty.
“She deserves salvation. And you, Vanitas Astrea. You deserve to rot.”
Then, in a single motion, he raised his sword. The crimson moon glinting over the edge of his blade.
Swoosh—!
And swung.
* * *
“Haaa… this is too annoying.”
Adrienne kicked a rock, frustration evident in her expression.
Clevius had assured her he’d handle the professor himself, but it was taking too long.
She turned to the side, glancing at Margaret’s unconscious body. Knocking her out had been the only option. After all, she had struck a deal with Clevius.
Margaret would be spared, but Clevius alone would get his hands dirty.
And he had.
Adrienne’s gaze shifted ahead to Johanna’s lifeless body, killed by Clevius himself.
“….”
Forty minutes had passed. Everyone was considerably weakened since Adrienne had deliberately sabotaged their rations. And thought the professor had worked on a temporary solution, it came at a cost of his own well-being and finances.
Adrienne and Clevius fought off the Dullahan, and in the chaos, Johanna, Vanitas, and Leon, had fallen.
With Clevius as Margaret’s second-in-command, there was no reason for her to doubt his report. And with Margaret’s reputation, her testimony would be unquestioned.
Vanitas Astrea, killed in action.
That was the narrative.
Rustle—
Adrienne’s head snapped toward the source of the sound of rustling. Finally, someone was coming.
“….”