The axe carves a silver line. With each strike, groans and blood erupt.
Every time the blade struck, Delphine let out a pitiful scream.
She curled up her body, writhing and trying to endure the pain as much as possible, gritting her teeth, but the raw pain was of a kind that was simply unbearable.
“Kyah, hhew… Aaaah!”
Before long, there wasn’t a single uninjured spot on Delphine’s limbs. The axe blade pierced her skin, tearing even the muscle fibers, exposing some white bones in several wounds.
She was in a state where resistance was impossible. Not just her shoulders, but her thighs and calves were also slashed. The blood flowing abundantly made death from excessive bleeding highly likely.
A sharp pain stabbed into Delphine’s spine like a needle. The woman who had been screaming was now, perhaps out of exhaustion, simply gasping and glaring at Ian.
His golden eyes were unnaturally calm.
There was no sign of hesitation or torment. If anything, a sense of joy would have been welcome, yet no emotion could be found on his face.
Delphine felt a deep-seated fear despite her dilated pupils.
It was as if she had become livestock at a slaughterhouse.
The butchers there must have had such expressions while they sliced through the bones and flesh of the livestock, devoid of any emotion, merely performing what had to be done.
“Hhew, uh… K-Kill me…”
As a price for her excessive pain, her voice had become hoarse.
Gone was the confident and arrogant tone. The woman, with a merely pitiful expression, couldn’t even still her trembling jaw muscles and was just begging.
Please, kill me.
It was her last shred of dignity. A life-and-death decision made with the honor of a noble. She had prepared herself for death.
Not a multiple versus one, but a one-on-one battle that she lost. As a swordsman and a noble, she was completely defeated. She chose to die rather than endure the shame.
If the man had been a little more merciful, the moment Delphine admitted her defeat, the violence would likely have ceased. But as Delphine had already experienced, Ian was a human who had nothing in common with the word ‘mercy.’
He was ruthless. Rather, one could say that was Ian’s advantage as a swordsman.
He used violence without hesitation, not caring even if he got hurt. His terrifying obsession with victory and beast-like combat instincts created numerous variables in actual combat.
In a way, Delphine and Ian were similar kinds of people.
Only, while Delphine sought victory in everything, Ian sought it only when he drew his sword.
If another similarity could be found, it would be that he felt no sympathy for the defeated.
Just like now, the man’s axe paused as he heard Delphine’s pleas.
“……You want me to kill you?”
“Y-Yes… Hhew, I-If you must… then just end it…”
With Ian’s small mumble, Delphine pleaded, accompanied by what sounded like a sob. Her blood-red eyes had long since clouded from pain close to torture and bleeding.
She wanted to rest. She didn’t want to hurt anymore.
At least until the last moment, she wanted to remain dignified. It couldn’t be helped if the opponent were someone else, but Ian Fercurus showed no sign of fearing the Yuridina Clan in the first place.
He was not the kind of person to take actions considering the aftermath. Delphine tentatively placed a faint hope in that point and begged Ian.
“W-Well, you were going to… hhew, kill me anyway, right? If so, then hurry up…”
The man’s golden eyes glided briefly to the side. He seemed to be in thought.
“I, uh… please… it hurts too much. Hhew, heuu…”
Tears began to form in Delphine’s eyes, rolling down. Among her body soaked with the overflowing blood, it was the only clear liquid that fell.
Ian’s silence was quick. He spoke in his usual emotionless voice.
“I have no intention of killing you.”
At those words, Delphine’s sobs abruptly stopped.
Light returned to her dilated blood-red eyes. Her gaze fixated blankly on Ian.
You’re going to spare me?
It was a remarkably rational decision. The five great noble houses of the Empire had the authority to exert influence before anyone except the Imperial Court.
There was no need to fall out. It was obvious that killing an heir in a duel for noble honor would bring about future repercussions.
It would be better to draw a clean concession from Delphine and plan for the future.
The problem was that the person who had just said those words couldn’t possibly be assessed with such common sense.
If he truly intended that, Delphine wouldn’t have ended up in this state. No part of her body remained uninjured.
The tendons in her limbs were torn. Even if she wanted to thrash about, she lacked the strength to do so properly. The best response she could show was to curl up and groan in pain.
She had long since crossed a line. Perhaps he was attempting to negotiate with Delphine’s life as bait.
A faint hope flickered in Delphine’s gaze. If it were begging for her life, it was a different matter if it were a trade. It was a transaction that occurred between equals.
In other words, a way for her to protect both her dignity and her life.
However, the moment her face regained vitality once more.
Crack! Ian’s axe struck down on Delphine’s thigh again.
Out of nowhere, pain she had not anticipated burst forth from her mouth as a scream.
“Kyah! Ugh, ahh, aaah…!”
“……Death is quite a luxurious end, you know.”
As he said this, he wiped the bloodied axe with his sleeve. Although it left bloodstains on his clothes, it didn’t matter.
His uniform was already a mess from the splattered blood from Delphine. Ian hooked the axe to his waist and pulled the knife still embedded in Delphine’s shoulder out.
“Ugh, kyah!”
Blood gushed forth. The amount of bleeding would have killed a normal person already. But for a superhuman like Delphine, death was something she hesitated to approach.
She would die someday, but she was not in immediate danger of her life. Her magical power must be furiously producing blood.
Ian coated the bloodied blade with an aura.
The silver aura gradually condensed and began to radiate a chilly demeanor. The incandescent blade floated in the air like the moon descending to the ground.
Delphine’s eyes, which had been groaning in pain, became vacantly dazed once more.
It was strange no matter how one thought about it. The density of that aura was not something that could be replicated, no matter how much magical power one possessed. It was at least at the level of a high-grade Sword Expert or even higher.
In other words, it was a level that only swordsmen who had reached the same level as Delphine could show. Yet, the opponent was demonstrating it effortlessly.
Ian looked down at Delphine impassively, as if it was nothing. As their gazes, one golden and the other blood-red, met, the man’s lips quietly parted.
“You know, Yuridina, don’t you? Scars inflicted by magical power are incredibly difficult to heal even with divine power. Of course, there are high priests at the Academy, so it should be generally manageable but…”
Hearing those words, Delphine’s gaze shifted back to Ian’s blade. The radiant silver aura, a pure and high level of magical power visible to anyone.
If it were that much, no high priest could fully heal it. Aftereffects would undoubtedly remain.
Realizing this, Delphine’s pupils trembled violently.
“……What happens if I stab my arm with that aura? And my leg?”
“W-What are you planning to do?”
Delphine’s voice was drenched in terror. Her body started to tremble involuntarily. At that moment, she no longer felt the pain that had tormented her so much.
The world felt narrowed down. Only she and the golden-eyed man looking down at her existed in it.
It was terrifying. Delphine couldn’t suppress the shivering in her voice.
“Well, since there’s the Lady Virgin Saint, I should be able to manage everyday life to some extent. No, I should lay down a sacrifice quickly if I can’t hold a sword anymore, right?”
Those words pierced Delphine’s mind like a drill.
She froze, inhaling sharply. The thought of never being able to hold a sword again was something she had never imagined.
It was a path she had dedicated her entire life to.
To her, swordsmanship was as essential as breathing. It was connected to her life, so she couldn’t fathom the notion of it disappearing.
She had cried and laughed while wielding her sword. After all, how could she not have when she had lived by walking that path?
But now, he said he would take away her sword, her entire life.
Delphine’s mind went completely blank. An unimaginable emptiness, soon followed by fear, surged like a flood in her chest.
It would be better to die. That was something she could never accept.
“Well, just in case, I should also destroy the tendons in your legs. If Yuridina’s resources are mobilized, you should at least be able to walk somehow.”
“P-Please stop…”
Delphine’s voice trembled pitifully, soaked in fear. However, the man’s expression showed he didn’t care at all.
“First, I’ll shatter your shoulder’s cartilage. After that, the tendons in your wrists.”
“Stop it…”
“You may not be able to hold a sword, but you have enough assets to live comfortably for the rest of your life. This is a pretty good bargain for saving your life…”
“……Stop!”
In the end, Delphine could no longer hold back and shouted. That scream was as similar as that of a common girl in the marketplace.
And with it, her teary blood-red eyes.
It was a declaration of surrender.
