Chapter 117
“Shut up! Be quiet for once! Can’t you see I’m busy right now? When it’s your turn, I’ll kill you properly, so just wait.”
“That disgusting hobby of yours hasn’t changed at all. You should’ve graduated from playing with dolls when you were a kid. So childish.”
“Don’t lump a refined hobby in with children’s games. Someone as dull as you wouldn’t understand how magnificent it is to pursue aesthetic perfection.”
“Aesthetics, my ass. You’re a deranged body-collecting monster… no, forget that. You’re just a crazy pervert.”
“A pervert?! I’m an artist! I was thinking of killing you with less suffering as a reward for bringing me a treasure like Leo. If you die today, I wonder what you’ll be reincarnated as next time? No matter what you’re reborn as, I’ll kill you again and again. Just imagining it is thrilling.”
“Blehel. Enough with the nonsense.”
Rafaella lightly sprang down from William’s shoulder and tightly gripped her spirit-tree club. Golden divine power flared fiercely around her as she smiled playfully.
“Hand over the mirror fragments you have.”
“Hmph. What fragments?”
“Playing dumb won’t help. I came here knowing everything.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t know anything.”
“If you hand them over quietly, I’ll make your death less painful.”
“The one dying will be you, Rafaella.”
Blehel responded, black killing intent rippling around her.
“In my domain, and with you trapped in a human body… I really don’t understand where you get that confidence.”
One of Blehel’s hands still tightly held Leo, who was bound by his hair.
“You came here knowing I wouldn’t kill Leo, didn’t you? But keeping him alive and letting you leave alive are two completely different matters, you idiot.”
“Hey! I don’t care who you are, but being called stupid by someone as dumb as you seriously pisses me off.”
“Who are you calling stupid, you executioner!”
The moment she finished speaking, Blehel’s hair shot forward like an arrow toward Rafaella’s heart.
“Lady Rafaella!”
William rushed in front of her and swung his sword.
But the hair bent fluidly, slipping past the blade without being cut, swaying like a spider’s web in the wind. In an instant, it changed direction.
“!”
It wasn’t aimed at Rafaella after all. The hair wrapped around William’s arms and legs, binding him tightly. In the blink of an eye, he was lifted into the air, completely ensnared in black hair.
“William!”
Rafaella reached out desperately, but couldn’t reach him. Blehel burst into laughter at the sight of Rafaella grinding her teeth.
“Kahaha! See? You’re all bark and no bite, and now all your subordinates end up like this.”
Blehel yanked William toward her. His black hair was thrown into disarray, but his eyes still burned with unshaken hostility.
“It’s been a while, big brother. You look even better than before. Did you learn something? Maybe love? Hahaha!”
Despite the provocative taunting, William remained calm and asked in a low voice,
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“Still so stiff. Such a waste. You’re handsome enough that I wanted you for my collection too.”
“Why did you come looking for me back then?”
“Hmm, should I just make dolls of both of you? No, to really piss off Rafaella, I should probably kill at least one of you here…”
“Why did you give me that bracelet? What were you after?”
“Tsk. But Leo and you have completely different vibes. I want both… what should I do? I can’t choose.”
They both kept saying what they wanted, and no real conversation formed.
While Blehel was distracted by her pointless deliberation, Rafaella subtly curled her lips into a brief smile and winked at Leo.
Receiving the wink, Leo shuddered in horror and muttered,
“Ugh. That gave me chills. I feel like I just saw something I wasn’t supposed to.”
Though bound tightly like a silkworm cocoon, Leo trembled all over, goosebumps rising along his neck.
Still, he had received the signal. It was time to act.
As Blehel focused on William, Leo poured his mana into the bracelet. He had to activate it as quickly as possible before she noticed.
Woooong—
Fortunately, after a few seconds, the bracelet began to vibrate. Enough mana had gathered.
Just then, Blehel’s head snapped around 180 degrees with a cracking sound, turning toward Leo behind her.
Her black lips curled open ominously.
“What are you doing?”
“Gah! That’s disgusting!”
Leo screamed in revulsion at the grotesque sight of Blehel’s face resting on her back. Her already pale, demon-like face with her neck twisted that far was pure nightmare fuel.
“I felt a surge of mana. What are you trying to do?”
“Hey, black lady. When you ask something, you’re supposed to turn your body, not just your neck! I almost died of a heart attack!”
“Oh really? You can’t die yet. I haven’t decided who to turn into a doll and who to kill here. So stay alive for now.”
Blehel twisted her head back into place with another cracking sound.
“There. Better?”
She immediately turned to fly toward Leo.
But—
Clink—
As the gems on Leo’s bracelet collided and rang out clearly, his figure vanished without a trace.
The black hair that had bound him lost its target and fluttered uselessly in the air.
Blehel’s shrill scream erupted.
“Fuck! What the hell?! Where did he go?!”
“What do you think? Magic~”
Leo whispered mockingly into her ear before disappearing again.
“Why isn’t my detection magic working? This is my domain! Why can’t I see him?! Come out right now, before I tear everyone here into pieces!”
Blehel tightened the hair binding William, forcing a cough from his throat.
“Hrk— cough!”
The rest of her hair gathered into multiple thick strands and lunged at Rafaella, hardened into sharp, whip-like spears.
Crash!
Rafaella leapt away just in time, the rock she’d been standing on shattering under the blow. Using rocks and tree stumps as stepping stones, she narrowly evaded Blehel’s attacks.
Despite her labored breathing, Rafaella continued to mock her.
“Earlier you were bragging about this being your domain. You were so confident. Heh.”
“Shut up!”
“What can you do? This is as far as your power goes. Accept it, Blehel. With your strength, you’ll never find Leo.”
“You damn mouth! I’ll tear you apart!”
“Careful. You might be the one getting torn apart first.”
As she struck away the hair with her golden, power-infused club, Rafaella spoke meaningfully.
“Why not negotiate with the mirror fragments instead of smashing everything like an idiot? Who knows, maybe I’ll take only William and generously leave Leo to you.”
“I told you, there’s no such thing! And Leo is already mine!”
“Why would he be yours? He’s mine.”
“Everything that enters my forest belongs to me!”
“Then do I belong to you too? Want me?”
“Damn it! No! I don’t want you, even if you’re free!”
“So you’re completely arbitrary. Back and forth. A pervert with mood swings.”
“Shut up and get lost! I don’t even want to look at you!”
“Then let us go quietly. Just hand over the mirror fragments.”
“Fuck! Who’s the one being arbitrary right now?!”
“You.”
“Argh! I’m furious! I’ll kill you in the most cruel way possible!”
“You just told me to get lost. Are you killing me or kicking me out? Pick one, you fickle pervert.”
“I said I’m an artist!”
Blehel shouted, veins bulging in her neck, her voice now metallic with rage. Anyone could see she’d completely snapped.
Rafaella twisted her body to dodge the hair and asked irritably,
“No, seriously. Tell me. Why are you hiding it?”
“I said I don’t have it! Stop asking and just die!”
“What could you possibly do with fragments of the divine mirror?”
“Stop asking and die. I feel like I’ll only calm down after piercing your stomach and throwing you to the beasts.”
“You have demon blood, and you’re even of the royal bloodline. Can you even touch the mirror?”
“Hmph. It was nothing special.”
“If you were human, you might at least be controlled by the mirror’s power. But you’re not even human. Even if you had it, you couldn’t do anything with it.”
“You’ve always looked down on me like that… without knowing what I’m capable of!”
Blehel screamed, her voice cracking beyond a metallic rasp.
