Chapter 69: The Grave (5)

The quick-draw technique was, in simple terms, a technique for drawing the blade from its scabbard and slashing with it in one continuous motion. It was meant to catch the opponent off-guard, and, if done well, it could also be used to cut things at extremely close range directly.

The problem was that it usually wasn’t all that powerful. No matter how fast the sword was pulled from its scabbard, it was much better to just get into the right stance and slash with the full force of your arms.

But that was only as far as an ordinary sword was concerned. The Moonlight Sword didn’t really have a physical blade at all — the entire length of the blade, except for a small bit of the ricasso, was made up of pure moonlight.

Normally, this quick-draw technique required particular attention and care — when slashing out right after drawing, the blade could take damage from hitting the opponent at the wrong angle, so the speed of the draw was somewhat limited.

But with the Moonlight Sword, there was no need to care about that. All one had to do was draw and slash, no pause in-between. Thanks to that, it was possible to raise the speed of the initial cut to its limits. And as for power?

That was a silly question.

The Moonlight Sword was ruination in the form of a sword.

It was as if Eugene had just drawn a crescent moon, or at least that was what it looked like to his eyes. The moment that he drew the sword from its scabbard, the light of the sword seemed to become a new moon.

Its light illuminated the darkness. No… it didn’t just illuminate it. It broke the darkness apart.

Craaash!

The Death Knight’s claws that were approaching Eugene were shattered by the moonlight and completely erased from existence. The Death Knight’s eyes showed that it didn’t understand what had just happened.

“Huff…”

While taking a deep breath, Eugene pushed forward.

Although he had only swung the sword once, it already felt like he was choking for air and his vision was blurred. These were the typical symptoms of mana depletion. Once Eugene’s tank of mana completely reached the bottom, he would become exhausted and would have no choice but to collapse.

‘I can do it twice more before I….’

Eugene had thought that he would have enough control over the sword’s power, but as expected, the assumptions that he had made before actually trying to use it were quite off. Still, the power of this slash satisfied him.

Even though he had only swung the sword once, he had completely crushed the incoming attack.

The Death Knight could not comprehend what had happened. It had definitely swiped its claws. There was no way that this tired and weary intruder should have been able to respond. It had been intending to cut off the intruder’s arms and bring him to his knees.

Nonetheless, it had failed. The claws that had been slashing at its prey had been shattered by a pale light, and the Death Knight’s gauntlets were now also cracking into pieces.

Eugene clicked his tongue as he saw this. “Tsk. I was trying to cut off your arm.”

Eugene’s plan had been the same as the Death Knight’s, and the results were also identical: neither of the two ended up achieving their goal. The Death Knight had been unable to cut off Eugene’s arms, and Eugene had also been unable to slice off the Death Knight’s arm.

‘Did I overestimate the power output? Or could it be that… I was expecting too much from it, and its strength actually dropped more than I thought since it’s been shattered?’

Since he didn’t have enough mana, Eugene hadn’t been able to try its strength out earlier. What was clear was that, with its current power, the Moonlight Sword couldn’t completely destroy the Death Knight’s body.

‘I’ve also cut the Death Knight a few times previously, but I wasn’t able to really injure it.’’

What the hell had they done to someone’s corpse? As Eugene angrily ground his teeth, he approached the Death Knight.

“Graaaah!” the Death Knight roared.

It might not be able to understand what had happened, but the cause of the mystery was clear. That ominous light had shattered its demonic power.

Demonic power was the source of all black magic. A high-ranking undead like a Death Knight wouldn’t just disappear because it had used up all its demonic power, but consuming all of its power source to deal with an opponent like this would only further inflame its master’s rage.

Well, anyway, so what if that was the case? Wasn’t the solution simple? There was no pressing need for the Death Knight to use its demonic power. Looking at the intruder, his eyes were cloudy and his face was pale. It didn’t seem like he even had the strength needed to walk, as he was now staggering over.

With this body of its, although it had never properly learned swordsmanship, the Death Knight ever-so-rarely got the feeling that it was used to swinging a sword. However, it had never been able to draw these instincts out completely. Having fought with its claws[1] for all its life, it was much easier and more efficient for the Death Knight to continue using its claws rather than wielding a sword.

What it was going to do now was something that the Death Knight had always enjoyed and been good at. Although it didn’t have its true claws, the Death Knight’s enhanced grip power could shred a sheet of tough metal like it was just paper. And if its target was a human body? There was nothing stopping its hands from piercing into a human body and tearing it apart.

Even with his blurry vision, Eugene was able to make out all of the Death Knight’s movements. Was it really not going to use demonic power because it was wary of the Moonlight Sword? So what, it was just going to fight with its bare body? Without holding any weapons?

Against him?

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Eugene commented as he saw the Death Knight getting ready to attack him with just its bare flesh. “You cheeky bastard.”

As Eugene chuckled, he swapped the Moonlight Sword to his left hand. Then, he drew Wynnyd with his right. Just maintaining the light of the Moonlight Sword was eating up all his mana, so Eugene couldn’t afford to drag this out for too long.

‘Though Vermouth, that bastard, was able to wield it like it was just an ordinary sword.’

That monstrous son of a bitch… but Eugene had more pressing things to do than reminisce of the past. Right now, a literal monster was attacking him.

Bam!

The swinging hands were just as wild as ever, but perhaps because it wasn’t using demonic power, Eugene’s opponent didn’t feel as overbearing as it had before. Eugene brushed its hand aside with Wynnyd and dove into its chest. As the Moonlight Sword was raised slightly, the Death Knight flinched and leapt backwards.

‘I didn’t even swing,’ Eugene scoffed.

He cut at the retreating Death Knight’s waist with Wynnyd. The sound of metal scraping against metal rang out. Although Eugene had only managed to make a shallow cut, that was enough. The wind that burst off of Wynnyd wrapped around the Death Knight’s body.

It was the wind spirit, Gale.

Kwaaaah!

The Death Knight’s entire body was engulfed in a whirlwind. While maintaining the light of the Moonlight Sword, Eugene calculated the Death Knight’s coordinates. As his blue flames were infused into the whirlwind, they wrapped around the Death Knight’s limbs.

“Gagh!” the Death Knight roared as it tried to free its limbs.

It wasn’t using demonic power, just the strength of its bare body, but even so, each thrash of its limbs created a strong burst of wind, pushing away the wind summoned by the spirit.

Eugene’s gaze traveled upwards towards the ceiling. Thin cracks had spread across it like a spider web from the previous battle. After calculating the location of its epicenter, Eugene cast a spell.

Groooan!

The ceiling collapsed and countless metal fragments rained down on the Death Knight’s head. They weren’t just falling naturally either. Eugene’s magic was infused into each and every one of the fragments, turning them into bullets that he could move as he wished.

Bam-bam-bam!

The bullets followed the Death Knight as it attempted to evade and pierced into its flesh regardless. Like this, Eugene was able to make the Death Knight move according to his will.

“If my body was just in better shape, I’d be able to take care of you with just my bare hands,” Eugene boasted.

It felt like a few of his bones were broken, and whenever he moved, there was throbbing pain coming from his internal organs. Eugene sighed in regret and struck the ground with his foot.

Fwoosh!

Blue flames erupted from his feet and transformed into a hand that shot out at the Death Knight.

“Grawh!” the Death Knight roared and hastily spun around.

The hand of flame barely glanced past its chest, tearing off a pauldron.

Once again, its armor had been broken. The Death Knight’s eyes rolled around in anger. Frenzied rage stalled its ability to reason, and a monstrous fury was aroused. The Death Knight raised its hands into the air, forming giant claws.

Eugene mocked it, “That’s why, if you hold back, you just turn to shit, asshole.”

The claws tore apart the blazing whirlwind. The Death Knight burst free and swung both arms at Eugene.

“But you were already shit anyway.”

Eugene flattened his body and dove beneath the Death Knight. The metal fragments stuck in its armor began to move according to Eugene’s will. The Death Knight’s body was frozen in mid-air — it was just for a moment, but that was enough to create an opening. In any case, with Eugene’s remaining mana, it was impossible for him to completely control the Death Knight’s movements.

The slight stiffness in the Death Knight’s movements bought Eugene more than enough time. Rays of moonlight flashed as the Moonlight Sword pierced the Death Knight’s chest and accurately struck the reddish gem at its core.

The Death Knight wasn’t even able to make any final death throes. As the Moonlight Sword’s blade of light dissipated, its body fell to the ground. In order to not get trapped beneath the corpse, Eugene quickly rolled out of the way.

“Uwagh…” He then proceeded to dry heave.

It had felt like he had kept a good control of the sword’s strength, but his mana had already been far too low to start with. Eugene retched a few more times before getting up.

‘Still… at least this is better,’ Eugene comforted himself.

He was in a better state than he would have been if he had been forced to use Ignition. Eugene gasped for breath and rubbed his lips clean. A glance at the Moonlight Sword revealed that it was no longer emitting any moonlight, so its blade was all but gone.

“This bullshit sword,” Eugene muttered as he placed the Moonlight Sword back in its scabbard.

Then he weakly staggered over to the Death Knight. Although it had lacked any sense of vitality from the very beginning, being only a deceased corpse… now it was fully dead. Eugene had felt its core breaking on the tip of his sword and he had seen it shatter as well.

All that was left was the corpse of Hamel, and Eugene standing there blankly, staring down at his own corpse.

This corpse proved that it had been no ordinary Death Knight. With a normal Death Knight, the moment that the core containing the soul was destroyed, the body would also disappear. However this corpse had still been left lying in front of Eugene.

“...This feels like shit,” Eugene eventually muttered.

Shouldn’t there be limits on how far you could insult someone who had died? Not only had they dared to break into someone’s grave, they had even turned his corpse into a Death Knight? Gritting his teeth, Eugene lifted Wynnyd upwards. For now, his priority was to destroy this thing and then escape with Laman, who was still lying down stunned on the other side of the door.

The sword descended.

Or, at least, it tried to.

His arm wouldn’t move.

Eugene gritted his teeth. Drawing on the last of his strength and mana, he tried to pour strength into his arm, but it was completely immobile. It wasn’t just his arm either. His whole body was being held against its will, unable to move.

“...Fuck,” Eugene snorted and spat out a curse.

Being so tired that he was unable to move… wasn’t the cause of this. Rather, his entire body was being tied up by some great, invisible force.

“Can’t we talk this out face to face?” Eugene requested.

He wanted to turn his head to look around, but he wasn’t able to do so. All that Eugene could do at this moment was move his lips and release his voice. And the fact that he was able to do so, was because they had given him permission to open his mouth and speak.

“I’m thinking of what I should do with you,” a voice approached him. “Quite a lot of ideas spring to mind, but the one that most appeals to me is… this. I will drag you up to the surface with me, still tied up like this. Then I will throw you into some heated sand. Of course, I won’t just let you die suffocated like that. I will make sure to leave holes for your eyes, nose, and mouth.”

“You’re too kind,” Eugene said sarcastically.

“I’ll make sure that your mouth is frozen open, unable to close. Your eyes will also be made unable to shut. Before long, your eyeballs will dry up and shatter into pieces, and your tongue will become like a withered twig.” The voice was now coming from right behind Eugene’s back.

“I think that I’ll be baked dead in the sand before that even happens,” Eugene pointed out.

“No, you won’t. Because I won’t allow that to happen. And after that…. Do you know what a scarecrow is?” the voice asked.

Eugene answered, “Of course.”

“You will become the scarecrow of this desert. I will break all the bones in your legs, wind them around each other, and tie them tightly with your muscles and blood vessels so that they won’t unravel. Then I’m going to drive long iron rods through each of these fingers of yours,” the voice tapped one of Eugene’s hands with a cold finger as it said this. “From here… they will climb up your forearms… and go across your shoulders until they reach the fingertips on the opposite side, so that you’ll be forced to keep your arms open wide.

Though… you won’t be able to see what happens to your body, because your eyes will have already crumbled to dust. Well, even if you can’t see it, you will certainly be able to feel it. I won’t allow you to become so numb to pain that you block out these sensations.”

“If you go that far, I’ll probably already be dead from shock,” Eugene pointed out.

“I told you that I won’t let you die,” the voice repeated. “You… no matter what happens to your body, you will never die. That’s how you will continue to serve me as this desert’s scarecrow. For a long, long time, until I finally become bored of you, I will make you stand in a place where I can see you, on your one twisted leg, with your arms spread wide open.”

“Hah….”

“Do you know who I am?”

The touch traveled from his hand up to his arm and then caressed Eugene’s neck. In stark contrast with their horrifying words, their fingers were soft and warm.

“You’re Ameila Merwin,” Eugen said, feeling disgust at her touch.

“It seems that you’re well aware. I am Amelia Merwin,” she confirmed. “The Dungeon Master of the Desert. The Black Thorn. The Answer to Death. That is me.”

Her hand stopped caressing his neck. Suppressing his boiling emotions, Eugene continued staring straight ahead.

Amelia Merwin had brown skin and long, dark hair that hung down her back. The expression on her face was unreadable, because her mouth was covered by a white veil. Although her purple eyes were fixed in a calm gaze, Eugene could feel a terrible murderous intent hidden deep within those pupils.

“You broke my pet,” Amelia accused.

“...Your pet?” Eugene asked.

Amelia pointed to the Death Knight at her feet, “It may have been a useless pet, but it was mine. Whether it’s to bully, destroy, or kill it, those are the sort of things that only its master gets to decide.”

“You’ve really raised quite a disgusting pet. Shouldn’t you at least regularly give it baths? The corpse stench was really—” Eugene wasn’t able to finish speaking.

Pow!

The staff that Amelia Merwin was holding smashed into Eugene’s face.

“The only one who can say that sort of words about it is me, its owner,” Amelia scolded.

Eugene spat out the blood flowing from the cuts inside his mouth. Amelia’s staff was made of various bones, with the horned skull of a goat as the pommel. Fortunately, the horns were curved in the opposite direction, so he had just been smacked in the mouth. If he had been hit the wrong way, Eugene would now have sported a hole in his face.

“...Your pet almost bit me,” Eugene said with a smile, revealing bloody teeth. “No, instead of biting, it actually tried to scratch me. If I had been less careful. I could have died.”

Amelia promised him, “You will regret not allowing yourself to die like that.”

“Balzac Ludbeth,” Eugene said as he once again spat out the blood that kept flowing into his mouth. “You know who that is, right?”

Instead of answering immediately, Amelia stared at Eugene. After a while, she lightly shook her head. With each shake, a ringing sound came from the large gold earrings in her ear.

“...I really can’t think of why you would bring up such a name at this time,” Amelia said eventually.

“It’s not something I’m all that proud of, but I happen to be acquainted with Balzac. Did you know, he actually wrote a letter for me and told me to give it to you if we met?”

“...,” Amelia stayed silent as her eyes narrowed.

Still staring at Eugene, she took a step back. Then the invisible bindings holding Eugene’s body disappeared as well. Eugene collapsed on the spot and took a deep breath.

“There will be consequences for saying such words,” Amelia warned him. “I really don’t like hearing his name.”

Eugene agreed, “I don’t like saying that bastard’s name either.”

Could he kill her? Eugene considered this for a moment as he placed his hand inside of his cloak. The opponent was a wizard. No matter how fast she was at casting magic, there should still be a small opening. If he was able to take advantage of that opening, would he be able to kill her?

Eugene immediately reached a conclusion, ‘I can’t kill her.’

He wanted to try using Ignition, but even if he did, it wouldn’t work. She was different from the Death Knight. Amelia Merwin was a Black Wizard who was considered to be one of the strongest people in the entire world. For the current Eugene, even if he was given a hundred chances, it would still be impossible to kill Amelia.

Eugene set aside his regrets and pulled Balzac’s letter out of his cloak. There was no need for him to hand it over personally. As soon as Eugene had taken out the letter, the letter left his hand and flew over to Amelia.

“...This seal,” Amelia muttered as she stared at the wax seal sealing this envelope. “It’s the real thing. I can’t understand it. Who are you to that man that Balzac would write a letter for you?”

“He said that he liked me,” Eugene offered as an explanation.

“Do you know what this letter means?”

“He said that If I had this letter with me, you wouldn’t kill me.”

“That’s not exactly correct.” Amelia continued speaking as she stared down at the envelope, “I received some help from Balzac at one point, a long time ago, and in return, I promised to owe him a favor.”

Eugene listened silently. “...”

“That favor should have been of great value to Balzac. Because with that, he would be able to make one request of me, Amelia Merwin. For decades, he hasn’t asked me for anything, which means that he never had a problem which required him to use up this favor from me.”

Fwoosh!

Balzac’s letter was engulfed in black flames and disappeared.

“Do you know what I’m trying to say,” Amelia’s eyes turned to look at Eugene once more. “Since he gave you this letter, it means that you can make a request of me on behalf of Balzac. Although it’s up to me to see if I’m willing to listen to your request.”

“...Well, that’s quite something,” Eugene said, unsure of what to say.

“If you don’t want to die, then ask me to spare you,” Amelia advised. “If you do, then I won’t kill you. However, I won’t just let you go either. Why did you come here, how did you get here, and what did you do here? I need to hear the answers to these questions from you.”

“I want to commit suicide,” Eugene lied.

“I already told you that it’s up to me whether or not to listen to your request,” as she said this, her veil shook with laughter. Amelia tilted her head to the side as she continued speaking, “So I will give you two choices to choose from. If you choose not to speak, I will respect your choice. That means I will kill you. If you choose to live, I will spare you. But instead, I will hear everything from you that I want to know.”

“...,” these options left Eugene speechless.

Amelia attempted to reassure him, “Don’t worry too much. I won’t play with my words by doing something like sparing you, but turning you into a cripple instead. As for torture? There’s no need for that. Aside from torture, there are many other ways for me to get my answers from you.

“I really am very interested in you. How did you find your way into here, when even the sultan doesn’t know about this place? The only ones who should have any knowledge of this location are the Sand Shamans. Was there a rat among them who was in communication with you? But that would be quite strange. They shouldn’t have a reason for doing so….”

Damn it, Balzac. If he was going to write Eugene a letter like this, shouldn’t Balzac at least have given him a proper explanation? Although Eugene felt quite dissatisfied because of this, in fact, there was no need for Balzac to feel ashamed. How could Balzac have imagined that Eugene would truly invade Amelia Merwin’s territory and destroy one of her possessions?

‘What should I do?’ Eugene asked himself.

Couldn’t he make some other request? Apart from suicide, that is.

“...What if I ask you not to pursue me?” Eugene asked tentatively.

“Then I won’t pursue you. But that request doesn’t involve me sparing you, does it?” Amelia pointed out.

Even if Eugene could somehow get out of this situation, there were still a lot of problems. Amelia would do everything that she could to get those answers from Eugene, but Eugene absolutely didn’t want to spill anything about it.

If she asked him why he came here? He could just say ‘by chance’, of course, but Amelia would never believe him. In the first place, since she had said that she would get him to talk without resorting to torture, that meant she was going to use magic, and the mental manipulation spells that a Black Wizard like her could use were able to simply ignore their subject’s will and draw out the right answers.

“It seems that your mind is racing. Whatever it is that you’re thinking of… would you like me to listen to it and take it as your request?” Amelia asked with a chuckle as she pointed her finger at Eugene.

A dark light shone on the tip of her finger. Eugene was conscious of the Moonlight Sword, whose hilt still hung at his waist. Using Ignition, if he could first get off a swing with the Moonlight Sword and then run away…. No, it was impossible. This space was already under Amelia’s complete control.

“I will count to three,” Amelia whispered.

“One.”

Could he use the name of the Lionheart clan? Would Amelia even respect the Lionhearts? Was the name even capable of dispelling the doubts of this bitch of a Black Wizard?

“Two.”

Should he just tell the truth? But what was he supposed to say? Eugene had entered the grave, opened the door that even Amelia had failed to open, and found the Moonlight Sword within… it all sounded like nonsense. If he said something like that, Amelia might spare Eugene, but she would definitely take the Moonlight Sword from him.

“...,” there was an unexpected pause as Amelia didn’t call out ‘three’.

With a surprised expression, she tilted her head and looked down.

Her eyes were on Hamel’s corpse—the remains of the Death Knight.

Its eyes had opened and were now staring up at Amelia.

“...Could this… truly be…,” Amelia mumbled as she took a few steps backward.

Eugene felt nauseous, as if his insides were being flipped over, and all the hairs on his body stood up as he felt terror wash over him.

The Death Knight’s two eyes, which had turned completely black, including the whites, turned to stare at Eugene.

Eugene — no, Hamel knew this gaze.

“Why would he be here?” Amelia mumbled in disbelief.

She slowly got down onto one knee, but instead of bowing her head, she continued to stare at the Death Knight.

The Death Knight slowly stood up.

‘...It’s a Demon King,’ Eugene thought as he swallowed the bile rising in the back of his throat.

1. The original text has fingernails and toenails, but claws feel more appropriate for the context. ☜

Openbookworm's Thoughts

Penguin's thoughts: The quick-draw technique is the famous iaijutsu/battojutsu you see in samurai movies and anime fights: draw → cut → shake off blood → resheathe with an audible and satisfying click → omae wa mou shindeiru. The biggest problem, rather than edge alignment, is that a careless draw can and will result in loss of fingers, which is also why people generally don't do this with a double-edged sword (￣▽￣)