Chapter 73
A pain like my insides were being ripped apart.
At the same time as the blazing spear of fire shot up, my body jerked violently.
Coughing, hacking sounds escaped along with something hot pouring out of me.
‘Ah. I hate pain.’
Blinking, I looked down at the blood I had vomited.
There was noise all around.
Someone’s scream.
A sickening tearing sound.
I barely managed to lift my head and saw bluish branches of ice stretching in every direction.
Here and there, blood dripped down along those crystalline shards. They almost looked unreal.
‘Like a tree.’
Yes, if there were ever a forest made of ice, it would look like this.
But such fairytale-like impressions didn’t last long.
The excruciating pain made my vision blur.
‘At least… it seems like Kaicis is safe.’
That was the one small comfort.
Through my dim, flickering sight, I could barely see him cutting down several berserk awakened ones—whose reason had been completely swallowed by the surge of power—all at once.
And then once again—
“Ughk.”
Even when I pressed my hand against my mouth, the blood dripping down was far too vivid.
My fingertips turned ice-cold in an instant.
‘Feels like I’m dying.’
I still hated it. Pain, death—both.
The agony twisting through my guts made me curl up.
Hurried footsteps rushed toward me.
Was it Kaicis? Or an enemy?
‘No.’
Even through my fogging mind, one thought stood sharp.
He must not come near me.
No. Don’t come.
It might look pathetic, but I couldn’t help it.
“Urgh, ngh.”
Half-collapsed, I stumbled a few steps backward, trying to put distance between us.
The footsteps halted.
Or maybe… maybe it wasn’t him.
The fiery wave of pain spread, and my sight was swallowed completely.
‘Please, someone, help me…’
Then—ding, ding—a noisy ringing echoed.
‘Status window?’
But I couldn’t make it out.
Crackle—some strange sound too.
I really thought I would die here. The only escape was teleportation magic.
‘I’m scared.’
What would happen if I used it again?
A terrifying thought struck me.
But I had to do it before I completely blacked out.
If I collapsed before the Emperor like this, I couldn’t even imagine what would follow.
First, get away. First, survive.
‘Swift—Teleportation.’
The spell activated.
Mana drained out, and my whole body lurched.
At the same time, there was a sensation as if someone grabbed my wrist—but maybe that was just my imagination.
When I opened my eyes, I was screaming a silent scream.
“…!”
The teleport succeeded.
It was my chamber in the Ariel ducal estate.
And at the same time, my insides really began to turn upside down.
The pain was unbearable, as though I were being crushed in a grinder.
‘It hurts, hurts, it hurts too much!’
Compared to this, the earlier pain was nothing.
‘Aaaagh!’
The system window flashed madly, popping up and vanishing over and over.
—Ding, ding, ding.
A crimson warning flickered.
[Danger! Soul collapse rate…]
[Penalty incurred due to contact…]
[Fragment of ????? mitigating effects…]
[Warning, immediate intervention required…]
I didn’t know. I couldn’t make sense of any of it!
Something must have gone wrong, but none of it registered.
“A… gh.”
Rolling helplessly on the blood-soaked floor, I heard something approaching.
Tap.
“Meow.”
It was Lucy. My guide.
Through trembling eyelids, I saw the small black shape.
“What did you do this time, nyang?”
Even through the torment, the feel of fur brushing my hand was soft.
Ah, don’t say it like that.
Do you know how much I went through, how hard I tried to keep this hidden?
Hot tears slid down my cheeks, mixing with the blood smeared over my lips.
“Lu… cy. I…”
“Didn’t I tell you to keep the limit on your magic usage, nyang?”
“I… tried, to… keep it…”
The cat heaved a deep sigh.
“Rest, nyang.”
Its plush paw pressed down gently on my forehead.
“When you wake up…”
That was the last thing I heard.
“…It will be solved, nyang.”
Like shutters falling closed, my vision went dark.
* * *
When Hilaria coughed up bright red blood, his mind went blank.
He stared, dumbfounded, at the woman swaying pale as paper in front of him.
‘Why…?’
Even if the heart was pierced, even if limbs were cut off—as long as the head wasn’t severed, an awakened one would not die so easily.
Especially her recovery ability—it was monstrous. Unless her mind or power collapsed, no ordinary injury could bring her down.
And the Tower Master of all people wouldn’t be unaware of that.
Then why?
Why did Hilaria use magic to protect him?
And why, after casting, did the Archmage cough blood and collapse?
Thoughts moved sluggishly.
But with his heart twisting in pain, his body reacted on its own.
Kaicis, filled with rage and confusion, unleashed his power.
With a crushing ache seizing his chest, ice branches spread in all directions, impaling the frenzied awakened who charged.
He struck at their hearts, necks, vital points—ending them in an instant.
When silence fell, he stood staring, dazed, at the red-haired woman vomiting blood on the ground.
“Hilaria.”
The quiet murmur never reached her.
In his mind came the memory of a joke he once made—asking if she was terminally ill.
‘Why?’
What was clear was this: he did not want to see her like this.
His enemy, his infuriating rival—yet also someone whose back he could trust.
His heart hammered so violently it felt it would burst.
He ran. Rushed forward.
But when her pain-clouded eyes met his, he froze.
It was rejection. A plea not to come closer.
“Why.”
Another pain different from using his powers constricted his chest.
“Why is it always you…”
He gritted his teeth.
There were times he didn’t care whether the Duke coughed blood or collapsed. But not now. Not with her.
He couldn’t.
“Duke.”
No answer.
“Hilaria.”
Instead, a faint murmur, and wind roared around her.
Mana flared—magic.
He reached desperately for her. To move now was suicidal.
He barely caught her wrist. But it slipped from his blood-slick hand.
For a brief instant, skin touched skin.
Mana surged like a cutting gale, swallowing her form.
Just like that time in the alley when she vanished chasing fugitives, Duke Ariel disappeared again in teleportation.
No doubt, she returned to her chambers at the estate—hiding her bloodied state. And…
‘To flee from me.’
But more than that, something else gnawed at Kaicis’ mind.
The contact.
That sensation.
In that brief instant—the vivid shock of soul and body connecting with another.
He lifted his bloodstained hand before his eyes.
“…Ha.”
He could not mistake it.
Even from a single touch, that searing feeling piercing to the marrow was unmistakable.
‘Mine.’
He sensed the incomplete mark lodged there.
‘My other half.’
The torment proclaiming: Here is your master, the one holding your leash.
So don’t let go—said the rush of ecstasy and heat that filled his body.
“I’ve found you.”
An impossible fantasy had become reality.
What he had denied and dismissed as impossible was here, right before him.
Duke Ariel, Hilaria.
The mage who had just fled from him was the very woman he had searched for, time and again.
His guide of the Night.
“Ha… ha.”
Thrill and joy spread like waves—only to harden into ice, stabbing deep.
No, this was not something to rejoice over.
Self-reproach surged.
Had he already forgotten?
His fated half had just fled from him in terror of being exposed.
“You… you don’t want me…”
Those bloodstained, rejecting eyes had spoken the truth.
She truly meant it.
She truly rejected him.
