178. Cinders in the Ashes (7)

A black gust of wind blew through Daejeon. The whole area began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred. As Maxim grabbed his chest and sat down, Theodora quickly covered Maxim’s face and stuck Heilang into the floor.

Puffed up, puffed up.

The floor slowly began to be consumed by the darkness. The pool of pitch-black shadow swallowed up all the marbles of the Great War and expanded its territory. Leon Benning has already become a chrysalis surrounded by black silk. Theodora raised the aura with all her might while holding Heilang on the floor. At the recoil of power, Maxim, covered by Theodora, let out a short groan.

“-You have to hold on, Maxim!”

Kwaaa-!!

Platinum wings spreading behind her back became a form that wrapped around Theodora and Maxim at the same time. Twilight was approaching. The mana unfolded by Leon Benning was turning the world into a veil of night. The ceiling of Daejeon completely collapsed, revealing the sky in its entirety. Theodora managed to keep her head up from the enormous pressure that was coming. Beyond her aura, nothingness that could not even become darkness appeared.

“That… What is it?”

Maxim, who belatedly confirmed the scene unfolding in front of him, murmured in amazement. The void of nothingness was destroying everything it touched. No, to be precise, it was eating and making it a part of itself.

Magic? Did you call that kind of magic? Maxim blankly watched the incomprehensible phenomena unfolding before his eyes. The void was wriggling in the form of a perfect sphere, trying to change its shape. Like something trying to break out of an eggshell and get out.

“It is changing.”

At Maxim’s words, Theodora nodded. Something came out of the wriggling egg of void. It was shaped like a human arm. The hemisphere below it took shape like the trunk of an outstretched tree and began to grow roots. It was more like the tentacles of a cephalopod than the shape of a root. As the tentacles split, dozens of bundles were formed, and at the top of the sphere another small sphere that seemed to act as a human head was created.

“Right.”

From that small sphere came the voice of Leon Benning. The small sphere formed the shape of the hair, dug into the shape of the features, and shaped like the face of a gigantic Leon Benning.

“Why didn’t I think of this way earlier?”

His muttering voice sounded filthy and low and loud, befitting his large size. Léon Benning, with a grotesque grin, moved around as if testing his new body. Every time I touched it, the pillar was crumbling.

“I should have thought of breaking this prison.”

I heard Leon Benning’s intoxicated voice. Maxim gnashed his teeth and somehow tried to get up and stand upright, using Baek-a as a staff.

At that time, Theodora folded her spread wings. As the protection of the aura disappeared, the pressure of that gigantic being came even stronger. Maxim frowned at the influence of the count’s mana. As the battle between the seal and the curse intensified, the pain in the chest intensified.

“Maxim, first of all, stay still.”

said Theodora, stepping forward. Maxim shook his head vigorously, but was soon caught by Theodora. Maxim looked at Theodora’s face with trembling eyes, at Theodora’s lips as she spoke cruel words.

“This is my fight, which I should have settled in the first place.”

Theodora’s figure glowed against the backdrop of the void beyond. Maxim looked blankly at Theodora, who smiled at him. Fluttering hair and slightly wet eyes. The candles in front of the wind did not go out, but rather began to shine much brighter.

Theodora bowed her head. In the world returning to nothingness, her appearance was so clear. Slowly, Theodora’s face came closer. Maxim could feel her lips lightly touching his own. Subtly, her scent tickled the tip of his nose. At that moment, Maxim felt as if he was very far away from this world. After a moment or an eternity, Theodora parted her lips. Maxim looked at Theodora, who was getting further and further away.

“So leave it to me first.”

Platinum wings spread. Heilang cried loudly.

“Because I will defeat you first before you have time to return.”

Theodora’s model faded. The black tentacles approaching Maxim and Theodora drew a platinum line over them, which flowed down as ink. Theodora was condensing her power unlike usual. He realized that if he did not focus his aura, he would rather be consumed by that void.

“Not bad, daughter.”

Leon Benning’s voice laughed softly. Theodora hardened her face. The cut off black tentacles were slowly growing.

“But it will take quite a bit of effort to break through this with your aura and sword.”

Kwaaa-!!

The attack came again, with Leon Benning’s brief advice. Theodora bit her teeth and cut off the approaching tentacles with Heilang.

“To prove the inhumanity of that proud person-.”

Theodora completely severed one tentacle. The tentacles, which turned to ashes and disappeared, did not regenerate any more.

“How many people have died?”

One more. However, dozens of wriggling voids were still showing off their power in an unfamiliar way. As Heilang drew a platinum circle in the air, all the tentacles surrounding Theodora were cut off at once. Some of them melted and sucked into the roots to be restored, but some disappeared as ashes without being able to do so.

“Shall I be honest, daughter? I don’t really care if I’ve killed a thousand or ten thousand. Maybe he tried to kill 100,000 people. If what you want is my petty guilt, you will never get it.”

Leon Benning replied with a smile. Theodora was looking at the monster that was Leon Benning with murderous eyes.

“I didn’t want anything from you in the first place.”

With those words, another bunch of tentacles were severed.

“This is just my regret. It’s just a rebuke to me for not realizing your true nature a little earlier.”

As the Count’s attacks intensified, Theodora’s aura grew brighter. Now, the tentacles that surround her cannot even approach her carelessly. Theodora blew a sword made of aura, blocking the path ahead and cutting through the void before speaking.

“I will kill you.”

keying!

Theodora’s aura completely embraced Heilang. Theodora swung her sword again at the cluster of tentacles that formed the veil of void.

Quadduk-!

And, Heilang couldn’t cut down all of that curtain. If I had been just a little bit stronger, I could have pierced that veil completely!

bang-!

Without a moment to feel sorry for, Theodora blocked the attack of the void that came upon her. I heard Leon Benning’s low laugh.

“Well, what can you do that can’t be said?”

blank.

The sense of weight felt on Theodora’s sword increased. Leon Benning was laying the strands of void one by one on Theodora’s sword. Each time the weight was added, Theodora’s aura staggered and trembled unsteadily.

“But I do not scoff at ideals, Theodora.”

Theodora raised her head. Beyond the huge void blocked by Heilang, the empty form of Leon Benning was smiling at him.

“Trampling on ideals is also one of the reasons for my existence.”

Leon Benning raised his hand again into the air. Theodora covered herself with more aura. Leon Benning maintained that uneasy smile and clenched his open hand into a fist.

“Now, it seems to be holding up quite well, so give this one a try.”

bang-!!!

The ground on which Theodora stood was cracking. Theodora was patiently enduring the weight added to Heilang.

“Since childhood, you have never been out of my control.”

Leon Benning said in a voice full of laughter.

“It was your fear of me that controlled you, Theodora.”

Theodora did not budge. As if trying to completely destroy Theodora, Leon Benning continued to spit out words and slammed the strands of emptiness down onto Theodora’s sword.

“Did you think you barely escaped? Did you think that babbling bastard would save you? no! You still can’t get out of my palm. Even if you can defeat me, you cannot escape my shadow.”

bang-!!!

“I didn’t have to make you a puppet.”

Pudeudeuk.

Leon Benning gradually increased the weight placed on Theodora’s sword.

“You have always been my puppet.”

is it.

Maybe. Theodora thought that while enduring the pressure that was pressing down on her body.

But that’s right, Count. Now why am I not afraid of you at all?

Theodora glanced at Maxim as he stumbled. It looked painful. The image of him staggering as he grabbed the hole in his chest gnawed at Theodora’s heart. That’s why, now I was able to listen to the Count’s words casually.

Isn’t there something much more important to you than those empty words?

At first glance, it seemed that Maxim’s voice could be heard. Theodora turned her head again and glared at Leon Benning. Theodora’s eyes were fixed on Leon Benning’s arrogant face, but the sight in her mind and the sound in her ears were quite different.

‘… I lost again.’

Theodora said dissatisfiedly. Across from her was a young man with light brown hair, smiling bitterly and pointing a sword at him. Maxime Apart. She looked at Maxim’s sword and sighed. Maxim laughed and waved his hand.

‘You know that. It is not the type of swordsmanship that separates the high and low of swordsmanship-‘

‘Breath, rhythm, and a sense to capture the moment.’

Theodora replied. I’ve heard a lot of people say he’s a genius. He defeated countless knights who had trained longer than himself. He also defeated those who were stronger than himself and used strong swordsmanship. But now, that young man, that young man who could barely even use his aura, always broke his swordsmanship by a piece of paper. Maxim scratched his head in embarrassment. Theodora liked to see Maxim at odds with her from time to time.

‘In fact, all three elements are connected. If you recognize your own breathing and understand the breathing of your opponent, you will soon know the rhythm of battle, and you will also know that there are gaps between the rhythms that proceed with that constant beat.’

It’s difficult to explain everything in words.

Maxim said that and blurted out his words as if he was sorry.

‘Don’t say sorry.’

Theodora picked up her sword. Theodora was smiling loosely. I hated myself for being able to do nothing but hold a sword, but now I only thought that I was fortunate to be able to hold a sword. The sword clashing with that person, the sense of unity with Maxim that comes from the sword-to-sword conversation, Theodora loved it so much.

‘One more time.’

Theodora pointed the tip of her sword at Maxim. In order not to miss that sensation, Theodora adjusted her breathing.

The added weight brought Theodora into reality. Theodora stared at the Void tentacles that clumped together like swords.

“interval.”

Theodora muttered quietly. Breathing before Leon Benning raises his hand again and lowers it. That disorder, Theodora was able to catch it then.

“Caught.”

Keying-!!

A gust of wind blew at Theodora’s feet. The wings that had been bent and drooped began to flutter vigorously again. Leon Benning’s form hardened. He realized that Theodora’s momentum was unusual. The Count spurred on the attack to move on. Before that momentum could lead to any action, it had to be defeated quickly.

“late.”

Theodora murmured. By the time Leon Benning’s attack swept over the place, Theodora had already cut off all the tentacles that had sprouted and fired a new type at the count’s figure. The platinum fog surrounding Theodora’s sword and model was already raging violently enough to be called a platinum storm. The murderous spirit emanating from her was far more ferocious and sharp than the aura storm.

“It’s quite right.”

At that time, Leon Benning’s form swelled enormously. Now the strands of void were engulfing each other and fusing together to form a massive tidal wave. In order to crush Theodora with force, waves of emptiness turned the sky black and poured down on Theodora.

“How about this time?”

Platinum wings spread all the way. To the side, mana feathers flew like shrapnel. Heilang cried low, and Theodora, like a bird, flew towards the oncoming waves.

With the mindset that I will never back down or give in.

—

I couldn’t feel my heartbeat.

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No, maybe the heartbeat was moving so loud that it went beyond the range of feeling. Maxim sighed heavily, supporting himself with his white ax. Perhaps it was because the aftereffects of the therapy Christine had taught her hadn’t gone away, or maybe it was because she was now overwhelmed by the magic power emanating from Leon Benning, let alone her body, and her consciousness was not clear.

“Damn it.”

breath is dry It seems that all the support necessary for survival is focused on maintaining the heart rate. When I inhaled, it was painful as if my lungs were being scratched with a razor blade, and when I exhaled, the hot wind swept through my dry airways and spewed out bloody air.

So, why are you quitting now just because it’s painful?

I heard the teacher’s voice in my head. Maxim pulled Baek-ah and inserted it one step ahead. Give up? If you were going to give up, you wouldn’t have even started in the first place. To let go of her, to see the tears flowing down her face because of me, that winter was enough.

“Sh*t… !”

Blood came up. Maxim coughed up blood on the floor.

Is death fearful?

afraid. I am afraid that I will die, but I am more afraid that I will not be able to fulfill my promise through death. Maxim forcibly raised mana.

bang-!

“Kuh-!”

Theodora let out a sigh as she blocked Leon Benning’s attack. Maxim could see another attack coming at her feet. Theodora shook off the aura in all directions and blocked the approach, but the void ignored the cutting and tried to crush Theodora with a formidable amount.

bang-!!

turn around

Maxim begged earnestly. The pain in my heart was getting beyond my tolerance, but I didn’t care. It felt like my vision was burning white. Maxim gritted his teeth and tried to forcefully raise mana. My body didn’t listen to me as usual. Maxim stumbled again and stepped forward. The body was slowly being eaten away from the heart.

Still, can’t stop.

bang-!!

Theodora was slammed to the ground while holding Heilang. She bounced on the floor several more times, and soon her body slid across the floor. Platinum wings were protecting Theodora, but the shock didn’t completely alleviate, so she couldn’t get up easily. And Leon Benning didn’t pay attention to Theodora’s circumstances. But Theodora did not let go of her sword. On the contrary, with an expression full of venom, he flew towards Leon Benning, leaving an echo of his sharp sword again.

bang-!!

The usual sensations of pain are distant. Maybe your feet are stuck to the ground. A dizzy tinnitus lingered in his ears. Blood pouring out of his mouth, Maxim raised mana.

handful.

Maxim was able to collect a handful of mana at the bottom of his punctured heart. My heart was split in half and was beating intertwinedly. Maxim controlled the unbalanced flow with mana. The randomly tangled blood vessels were connected with thin strands of magical power, and the leaking power was again contained. one strand. Every time that small and thin strand of mana was connected, the body was torn into a thousand or ten thousand pieces. Muscles swell and blood flows from the eyes. The thread veins in his body seemed to burst. My arms trembled. It was because he was holding Baek-ah too tightly.

“-!!”

The blurry pain became clear again. That was a good sign. The blurry vision returned. He took a deep breath. There was the smell of sharp metal, the smell of dirty dust, and the fishy smell of blood. Maxim exhaled forcefully, like a man out of water, and then inhaled again.

“ah.”

The body was crossing a path of no return. But it’s okay. At least, for now, I was able to move on my own terms. The pain running through her body had subsided to the point of throbbing. I felt my heart beat. Maxim closed his eyes and slowly started turning mana.

won’t you regret it?

Maxim looked at himself again. Standing against a dark background, he was gradually fading.

regret.

It was a boring word. And now the answer was ready to be heard. Maxim shook his head at himself in the dark. Yes, the fading self seemed to be smiling very slightly.

Regrets will no longer hold me back.

So, what are you doing?

Maxim woke up from darkness. Pushed back by countless voices that were not her own.

go ahead

“flowering.”

Kwaaa-!!!

The wind blew. It was a wind different from the unpleasant wind caused by Leon Benning’s Void. Maxim’s eyes were stained with gold and were shining.

“… This.”

It was a strange feeling. body was free. The shackles that held her ankles as she moved seemed to have disappeared. Maxim looked around and scanned his body. His entire body was ablaze with a strange aura. Aura, Maxim realized belatedly that this was a precursor to an aura. Looking around, the void created by Leon Benning was unable to reach Maxim.

“Theodora.”

Still, proudly but desperately. Theodora was struggling to break through that dark barrier. Maxim energized his leg. Feeling omnipotent, Maxim shuddered. You may not be able to express an aura, but how long has it been since you felt that you could freely use mana? Maxim held Baek-ah low. The goal was set. The sword came into my mind.

high wind.

Maxim’s new model has disappeared.

—

Leon Benning laughed. He was laughing endlessly in the pitch black darkness. Even if all of this fails, if he can kill them, the existence of Leon Benning will win in the end. Leon Benning laughed happily and radiated power at random. Theodora’s sword was certainly strong. However, the power of this black magic could not be completely cut down.

“Yes, this is, this is the reason for my existence.”

I can do it, so I just do it. In the end, even this power would be consumed by Leon Benning’s greater boredom at the end, but not now. The Count swung his bundle of tentacles again at Theodora, who was relentlessly approaching. As time passed, Theodora, as if growing up, nullified Leon Benning’s attack with a single slash.

Well, if you block it, it will only attack more fiercely.

Leon Benning grinned at the thought. The force grew stronger as time passed. The Count continued to pluck tentacles from the void. Theodora’s stern expression turned pale at last. At that moment, Leon Benning intuited his victory. This will be the last attack. Leon Benning gathered his tentacles together and united. Quite a few knights had such power that they would perish just by touching them.

Goodbye, daughter. I’m sorry, but I can’t keep my promise to live and use it.

Leon Benning raised his fist and struck it at Theodora.

Whoosh-!!

squeak.

“uh?”

Leon Benning uttered a puzzled voice for the second time today. Dozens of tentacles were all cut off in an instant. Leon Benning tried to regenerate the bundle of tentacles by drawing on the power of the void, but the tentacles that had already been cut off just disappeared as ashes.

“What is this… .”

squeak.

This time, it was an attack that came directly into the void. Leon Benning’s eyes awoke to the murder that ran down his spine. And, he realized that the reason Theodora’s expression hardened was not because of himself.

“If, after all, it is your choice to shut yourself up in that shell like a coward,”

jerk, jerk.

Leon Benning’s eyes trembled. how? In that situation, can you stand here, free from that pain?

“I’ll pull you out and put your goddamn face directly on Theodora.”

Maxim was bleeding all over his body. Something like an aura wrapped around Maxim, but the void of black magic was retreating without being able to invade that area. The point of Maxim’s sword was aimed squarely at Leon Benning. Leon Benning’s face contorted.

“You’re also persistent.”

Leon Benning buried himself more and more into the void. Leon Benning pulled out the tentacles. One or two or three were the same. All I had to do was double or triple the pressure. The Count pointed at Maxim with an annoyed gesture. Dozens or hundreds of tentacles came out like a tidal wave and rushed towards Maxim and Theodora.

“It’s crude.”

Maxim’s words came strangely clear to Leon Benning’s ears. Leon Benning gnashed his teeth.

“That word will make you regret it.”

Wow-!!

Leon Benning painted a scene where Maxim disappeared without a trace in that tsunami. but,

Keying-!!

There was a noise that seemed to rip your ears apart. Platinum and gold were tangled together, cutting through the void. Leon Benning was flustered and raised his strength even more. Again, with more force.

bang-!

A golden sword cut off Leon Benning’s tentacles.

bang-!

Platinum wings tore through the void and spread wide.

The contortion in his expression gradually turned to bewilderment, and the bewilderment gradually began to change into something else. Leon Benning struggled to crumple his mouth and raised his strength. a bunch of hundreds. Thousands of bundles-!

squeak.

Leon Benning let out his flagship of rage.

“aaa-!”

Slowly, a feeling he hadn’t known was rising up in his heart.

fear.

From seeing Theodora and Maxime, from seeing puppets like Adeline, or from seeing Emile Bordain happy with his family, or, maybe even before that, from seeing Fleur. fear felt.

Leon Benning denied it. He denied the identity of that fear, and then denied it again. He denied it while staring straight at the clerk piercing through the void.

The fact that the primordial sense of alienation and fear that he could never be like them was the monster that lurked in Leon Benning’s heart.

“It can’t be.”

Leon Benning murmured. In the depths of the void, Leon Benning’s fury stirred.

“It can’t be!”

A bundle of tentacles, too numerous to count, rose. But before Leon Benning could move them, a golden meteor fell from the sky, cutting through all the void, and even cutting off the shell that Leon Benning had firmly surrounded himself with.

Jjaeok-!

Leon Benning’s eyes widened. Right in front of his eyes, the bloody Maxim Apparte was smiling and screaming. Leon Benning was afraid of that smile. I was afraid of that golden gaze that denied me. Leon Benning swung the sword he was still holding in his hand. Maxim easily avoided the slash of Leon Benning, who had no swordsmanship or sword skills to speak of.

“Your opponent is not me.”

Saying that, Maxim stepped back. The Count could then see the platinum wave wash over him.

“Theodora-!!”

Leon Benning raised his sword. Leon Benning’s aura, which he created by scraping together the remaining mana, was much worse than he thought.

bang-!!

In a single collision, Leon Benning’s aura was shattered. Leon Benning knelt under Theodora’s pressure and looked up at her. Theodora’s gaze, looking down at the Count, had even faded from anger.

“Don’t look down on me like that!”

Leon Benning raised his sword again. up, down. Using all the swords that came to mind, Leon Benning swung the sword, but nothing touched the blade.

“Kwaaa-!!!”

bang-!!

The sword body of the sword split into two. Leon Benning, unable to overcome the recoil, flew away and threw himself against the wall before collapsing.

“Cool. Cool-!”

The inside became a concussion. My intestines turned over, and I couldn’t breathe properly. It was as if all the bones in his body were broken. Leon Benning, unable to move even a fingertip, looked with trembling eyes at the two men approaching him.

“Theo, Dora.”

Leon Benning looked up at his daughter. Blood was dripping from her slit forehead. Theodora looked down at Leon Benning, who had a very ugly face. The face that had been kept young with mana had returned to its age, and even that had lost its vitality and will and was completely distorted.

“I am not afraid.”

Theodora groaned. Leon Benning was gagging at Theodora, but not a word came to her ears. Theodora could feel the warmth of Maxim’s hand holding hers.

“You, too, will just disappear from my life.”

As she slowly inhales and exhales with her eyes closed, her lips coldly announce the end of Leon Benning.

“Leon Benning. A treacherous criminal of the kingdom and a kingslayer.”

Theodora opened her eyes. The figure of Leon Benning, trembling in fear, came into her eyes.

“On the orders of Her Highness, the next heir to the throne, I will have you summarily executed.”

Theodora lifted the Heilang. Leon Benning’s eyes trembled even more.

“No, no.”

He tried to pull his body back, but Leon Benning’s body did not move as he said. Leon Benning opened his mouth in vain as he looked at Theodora’s sword soaring up to the sky.

“I, I-.”

What was I

Before the words could escape from Leon Benning’s mouth, Heilang fell down.

squeak.

Leon Benning’s head fell.

Took.

With his mouth open, Leon Benning’s face hardened with fear. Theodora and Maxime looked at Leon Benning’s head with the same gaze. The blood flowing from the corpse was red.

He tried to deny everything about people, but in the end, he died after being denied everything about himself.

—

“… Maxim.”

How much time had passed, Theodora turned her head to look at Maxim. The face of Maxim, who stood resolutely, was already pale enough to believe that it was a corpse. Maxim was still bleeding dangerously. The hole was still empty, not to mention the pierced heart. Even the internal organs must have been ruined and ruined by the forced mana. A body that won’t be strange no matter when you die. Maxim, who had become such a body, was smiling.

Theodora forced herself to hold back the tears that kept welling up. I didn’t want to see myself crying, so I couldn’t show my crying face to someone who had gone through this.

“Good work.”

“you-.”

Before Theodora could speak, Maxim’s body fell forward. Theodora ran forward and grabbed Maxim’s body.

“No, Maxim. no.”

Maxim’s breathing was shallow. Theodora tried to seize Maxim’s consciousness in a crying voice. Maxim looked at Theodora’s face as he looked at him. It was the face of a man who was forced to cry.

You’re working hard.

Maxim sighed and let out a laugh.

“Theodora. thanks.”

Maxim could feel the strength draining from his body slowly. Theodora’s voice continued to be heard. It was a struggle to bring myself into this world somehow. Is it too late Maxim, holding such an irresistible sentiment, put his hand on Theodora’s face. With my fingertips, I could barely feel the touch of her soft cheek. He could also feel the warmth of Theodora’s hand wrapped around the back of his hand.

Theodora’s mouth opened again. What are you trying to say? I felt cold water droplets running down the back of my hand. Now my vision was getting blurry. Maxim did not take his eyes off Theodora’s face for the last time, to get a glimpse of her face.

I’m glad the last thing I see is your face.

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No words were spoken. Because if I told Theodora those words, she would surely burst into tears.

Did I set you free?

Maxim questioned that, and exhaled slowly. The last sound he heard was now getting farther and farther away.

Yes, the last thing I heard must be,

The big door burst open, and there was the sound of someone running.