63. Exploration Battle (6)
Lucas believed without a shadow of a doubt that everything would go exactly as he had planned.
That commoner, who had been nothing but a thorn in his side, couldn’t possibly defeat Kiara. On a day like this, with the rain pouring down in sheets, Kiara was nearly unbeatable.
While it was acknowledged that the commoner was fairly strong, there was no way he could overcome Kiara on a day like this. It wouldn’t be long before Kiara returned with the commoner’s head in her hand.
Moreover, the aphrodisiac on the needle in his hand was said to be potent enough to drive even a Gigantis into a frenzy, so there was no need to doubt that Karla would also soon fall into his grasp.
‘I might enjoy myself with Karla, and then bring Kiara into it for a threesome with the two of them. It could be quite enjoyable.’
Though Kiara wasn’t as beautiful as Karla, her looks were nothing to scoff at. The thought of having the two flowers of the empire at his beck and call was already causing an uncomfortable stiffness in his lower regions.
“To you, Karla, this is destiny. You’d do well to accept it.”
Lucas grinned as he aimed the needle at Karla. His target was her neck, where the bloodstream was concentrated, ensuring that the effects of the drug would be swift.
“Halt right there, you filthy worm.”
Lucas immediately looked up at the familiar voice, one that he knew all too well.
“A commoner…!”
Lucas’s sentence was never finished.
Something moved in front of his eyes and struck him before he could even realize what was happening.
—Ku-dang!
Lucas was thrown into the mud, entangled with the projectile. His uniform was covered in mud and filth, but Lucas’s eyes widened as he saw his assailant.
“Kiara!?”
It was Kiara.
She was sprawled on top of him, unconscious.
“The girl had more tenacity than she looked. You mutt, for all her tenacity, she is still nothing more than your attendant. Tenacity alone can accomplish very little.”
In front of Lucas, a shadow loomed large.
Amid the torrential rain, Lucas could barely make out the figure that was looking down at him.
A calm face with a faint smile.
Above his head, a water barrier was maintaining his dryness and composure amidst the downpour. It was Ivan.
“How… how could you, you commoner, defeat Kiara!?”
Ivan didn’t respond.
With an indifferent smirk on his face, Ivan calmly looked down at Lucas.
“At least your girl had some tenacity. What do you have?”
Ivan reached out and grabbed Lucas by the collar, lifting him with no apparent effort. Kiara, who had been draped over him, fell into the mud.
“Ku…!”
In a split second, Lucas felt his breath being choked off. Unknowingly, he stabbed the needle loaded with aphrodisiac into Ivan’s arm. Though he immediately realized his mistake, it didn’t matter. How could someone who failed to defeat Kiara under such conditions hope to stand against him, even if he was Lucas?
“Do you seriously think that poking me with such a trifling needle is going to work?”
Ivan nonchalantly plucked the needle from his arm and flung it away. Despite the rain, Ivan’s eyes sparkled with an intense ferocity.
When their gazes met, Lucas finally realized.
This man had come to kill him. The mercy shown to Kiara was simply a whim—this man intended to kill him here and now.
Lucas struggled with all his strength. His instincts screamed to escape from this grip.
“There’s no one to witness this here. A fine place to mask it as an accident. But…”
Ivan glanced behind him.
There was Karla, who had struggled and finally come to her senses.
Ivan’s gaze returned to Lucas.
“Killing you would cause unnecessary trouble for my future queen…”
“Y-you… you commoner! I am Shaiskeil!”
Lucas began hurling everything he could at Ivan, from poison-tipped fingers striking at Ivan’s arm, to summoning smoke and launching attacks, even bombarding him with explosive orbs. Yet, Ivan didn’t flinch once.
“Shaiskeil? I don’t care about such trivial names. Why should I waste my memory on something so insignificant?”
With a crooked smile, Ivan chuckled. His eyes, however, remained cold, causing Lucas to shiver in fear.
“Are you ignoring Shaiskeil? You insolent…”
“Perhaps it’s time to stop fooling around. Should we break some limbs?”
Ivan stroked his chin as he pondered. It was easy to kill Lucas immediately and be done with it, but it would create difficulties regarding Karla’s position.
“…Kill him.”
A cold voice cut through the air.
Ivan glanced back to see Karla, her lips bitten in resolution and her eyes glaring at Lucas, devoid of any humor.
“I’ll kill him myself. If I do it, we’ll have less trouble cleaning up after.”
“Hmph. You have some guts.”
“Ivan… No, you aren’t Ivan. Whatever you are—I don’t care—but this worm, I’ll kill him.”
Karla slowly stood up and advanced toward Lucas, still grasping his collar.
No lingering nostalgia.
She thought back to the many opportunities she had missed when she could have acted. If she had done it then, things wouldn’t have gotten so complicated.
Seizing the moment defines a true mage. Missing opportunities and regretting afterward is not.
“Will you do the honors?”
“Yes.”
Karla summoned her Lightning Magic as she got closer to Lucas.
No defenses were spared, only raw and powerful offense.
Lucas’s face turned deathly pale, and he struggled more fiercely. But Ivan’s grip on Lucas’s collar was like iron, unyielding and unbreakable.
“Since I’m missing an arm, let me help. I’ll hold him steady; finish it, Karla.”
Karla remained silent. She couldn’t afford a half-hearted attempt.
It was said that any injuries severe enough could result in transport out of this space. Therefore, she needed to deliver a single, fatal blow.
“Lucas… In your next life, be born a good person—if you’re fortunate enough to be born human.”
Karla’s fist crackled with electricity, lighting up with a violent violet flame. It was a display of immense magical strength focused into one single point.
Lucas’s face turned ashen as he thrashed even more desperately, trying to break free of Ivan’s grip.
“Kaa… Karla! Have mercy… please!”
Lucas cried and begged, tears flowing down his face. He could sense from her voice that Karla was already committed to killing him, given how well he knew her personality.
“Don’t kill me, Karla! Lady Cascata! Lady Cascata! I’ll nullify any marriage talk—just please, please spare me!”
Karla’s violet aura intensified, turning red and then blue. She channeled a significant portion of her magical energy into her fist, causing it to burn fiercely with an imminent explosion.
Karla glared at Lucas. There was no mercy this time—only the sad pity for this fool’s sorry existence. But pity and justice are two very separate things.
“…I’ll attend your funeral too, Lucas.”
“Ka… Karlaaaa!”
With a heavy stomp of her foot, Karla unleashed her burning fist into Lucas’s chest.
A loud hole erupted where his chest once was.
*
The corpse of Lucas, with a gaping hole in his chest. Kiara, unconscious with broken limbs.
The two bodies began to dissolve from the bottom, likely transported out of the current area—back to the Academy.
Karla watched with a complicated expression. The cleanup could be managed somehow. Though Shaiskeil was a great noble, Karla was also a great noble, and the House of Cascata outranked that of Shaiskeil by far.
Killing a man was never an easy thing to get accustomed to. Karla waited until Lucas’s body had completely vanished, her face an indecipherable mask.
“Bold woman indeed.”
Karla turned her gaze to Ivan.
There was still something under that shell of Ivan’s. Something left.
“Ivan… No, you’re not Ivan. What are you? Who are you?”
Karla tried to steady her trembling body as she asked. The childhood terrors that ruled over her younger years were resurfacing now, requiring her utmost effort to calm herself.
“Hmm.”
Ivan’s face suddenly distorted. Ivan’s face was strangely flushed.
Not just flushed, but also breathing heavily.
“Ivan?”
Ivan’s condition was bizarre. Despite her hesitation, Karla slowly approached him.
“…Stay back. Something dangerous seems to have entered my body. Why is this body so weak… kuh…”
Ivan grabbed his head and swayed. The condition of his body was unstable—
“Ivan, did you… perhaps ingest the aphrodisiac…?”
“Stay back, I said—”
Ivan swayed again, nearly falling. Instinctively, Karla stepped forward to support him. And then—
“Don’t you dare approach me, I told you not to approach me!”
Karla gasped for breath, her face contorted in pain. Ivan, who had suddenly lunged at her, was now pinning her down on the muddy ground, his hands around her neck.
Ivan’s face loomed over hers.
Karla could see his eyes. Eyes she had seen before. The same eyes Lucas often gave her.
She saw the burning desire. A raw lustful craving.
