Chapter 3
A jolt. A dizzying sensation, like falling or soaring into the sky, coursed through her limbs.
He was the first person in three years to empathize with her feelings. He looked into her heart, which had even killed her own family. He recognized the misery she was feeling.
She shuddered.
‘Do you understand? Yes, I didn’t want to do this. I, really…!’
The body stolen by the Demon Sword momentarily resonated with her intense emotions.
The resistance ceased. Tears welled up. They flowed down. Just one drop.
His eyes widened as he looked down at her. Eki thought his blue eyes were dazzling. She saw every one of his movements in detail. His lips moved slowly.
“Tears.”
“Captain?”
“She’s crying.”
“…Who? No way.”
“That can’t be.”
“Once you’re consumed by a Demon Sword, there’s no self left. Captain, that’s just a body being wielded by the Demon Sword.”
The royal guards refuted one after another. Yuriene shook his head.
“She’s still there. She’s fighting.”
“Fighting? With what?”
“The Demon Sword, and her will.”
It was as he said. Ekinesia was endlessly fighting the black stains that were consuming her body. She had never won, but she kept fighting. She hadn’t given up yet. If she had, she would have lost her self long ago.
No one knew that within the demon wielding the Demon Sword, she was desperately trying to stop the Demon Sword, to reclaim her body, but her consciousness was holding on.
He noticed that fight, for the first time.
The man who stood in her way.
It was a feeling difficult to express in words.
Eki wanted to burst into tears. She wanted to cling to someone and cry her heart out. She wanted to pour out words like, it was painful, these were terrible times, I’m sorry to everyone, but even so, I don’t want to die as a demon, please, someone, help me.
But that one tear was the end. Soon, Ekinesia’s body began to thrash with dry eyes. She bared her teeth like a beast and growled. The red-haired royal guard clicked his tongue.
“This is unsettling. Let’s finish this quickly and go back.”
“Even if there’s a consciousness left, it doesn’t matter, does it? Our job doesn’t change.”
The blonde female royal guard urged. Still, Yuriene didn’t move. He stared intently into Ekinesia’s moving eyes and said,
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t there a possibility?”
“What are you… Ah, Captain, wait a minute, are you perhaps….”
The red-haired man stammered, seemingly flustered. The large royal guard, who immediately understood his meaning, stated bluntly.
“Captain. It’s impossible to overcome a Demon Sword.”
“No, there’s a precedent.”
“You’re not talking about the Demon Swordsman story that we don't even know is legend or true story, are you, Captain Yuriene?”
“Captain, even if that were possible, the Demon Sword’s demon has already committed irreversible acts. Do you know how many territories have been devastated by that woman’s hand?”
“Is it just territories that are the problem? The empire is in such a state that the royal guards are all dead, and they have to form a royal guard with the capital garrison, and all the top mages in the Magic Tower are dead. Some royals and nobles died too, probably? This is a death sentence no matter what.”
As the royal guards took turns speaking, Yuriene, who had been listening silently, replied.
“The increased damage is also our fault for being late.”
“No, did we want to be late? The Empire insisted they could handle it themselves, and that’s how it ended up like this!”
The red-haired royal guard protested. Yuriene didn’t respond to that and removed the sword that was pressing down on Ekinesia’s neck. He swung the sword before she could react.
The pommel at the end of the hilt, containing Mana, struck her solar plexus. Her body, already injured, was knocked unconscious by the blow to a vital point. She heard their conversation with her fading consciousness.
“I cannot punish an unintentional crime.”
“I’m going crazy. Hey, Yuriene, I usually respect that kind of chivalry, but I don’t think this is it.”
“Captain. What are you going to do?”
“That woman….”
“…Why….”
“Impossible… Punishment….”
Amid the other blurred words, his voice remained clear in her mind.
“I will give her a chance.”
It was a ray of light that had been given like a miracle.
* * *
It would have been nice if the Demon Sword could be separated by cutting off the arm holding it, but that was impossible. The Demon Sword Bardelgiosa, like other Giosa Series, was a sword engraved on the soul.
Ekinesia was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of the Azure Knights headquarters in the city of Ajenka. She was fitted with specially made sealing tools and chained at her limbs as a precaution.
The Empire wanted to execute the Demon Sword’s demon, but Yuriene dismissed the idea. The Empire, which had insisted they could handle it themselves, caused a great deal of damage, and eventually asked the Azure Knights for help, had no power in their words.
Eki didn’t want to miss the opportunity Yuriene had given her. She focused solely on the fight to reclaim her body from the Demon Sword.
The sensation of killing people was so intense that it was difficult to escape it when the Demon Sword was carrying out a massacre. Now that her body was unable to commit slaughter, it was the perfect time.
Beneath her feet was the unconscious, and above her head, the distant void was the conscious. Standing on the surface of the unconscious, she fought against herself, stained black with the Demon Sword’s Mana.
She didn’t know how much time had passed. She had suffered hundreds of defeats and had almost been plunged into the unconscious beneath the surface several times. But she kept getting up.
Eki didn’t know she was capable of such effort. The self she knew was lazy, slept a lot, and hated moving her body.
But now she knew. The essence of herself that she had come to know when driven to the extreme. She didn’t give up. She couldn’t give up. She didn’t want to be defeated by that Demon Sword that had ruined everything for her.
When she was too tired and wanted to quit, she imagined the aftermath of her victory.
I’ll destroy that damn Demon Sword and take a bath. Then I’ll get a good night’s sleep, the kind I don’t even dream about. When I wake up, I want to comb my hair, put on new clothes, and eat warm soup and soft bread. And then.
‘…I’ll confess everything to Yuriene. If he gave me a chance, wouldn’t he tell me what to do in the future?’
Strictly speaking, all of Ekinesia’s massacres were crimes committed by the Demon Sword, not her, but Eki couldn’t draw a line and say that all of it had nothing to do with her. In the end, it was her hands that were stained with blood.
Inside the underground dungeon, her body growled, made unintelligible noises, scratched the walls and floor until they bled, and writhed madly. But she couldn’t kill anyone anymore. And her mind fought endlessly.
In the midst of those days, Yuriene occasionally visited the underground dungeon.
“Is it still the same?”
“Yes.”
He would look at her from a distance through a small window in the upper part of the iron door.
No one was allowed to approach Ekinesia. The Demon Sword Bardelgiosa was a sword of slaughter, and instinctively tried to kill all humans. Approaching her might stimulate the Demon Sword. Therefore, the guard who brought food and water would place the dishes in the middle of the double doors and leave.
Yuriene always stood alone in that narrow space between the doors, watching Ekinesia through the iron door. He never spoke to her.
Just watching, with quiet, blue eyes.
Only a woman stained black, bound in chains, and thrashing like a beast would be visible in his eyes, but every time, Eki felt that he was looking at her. It was as if he was looking not at the body stained by the Demon Sword, but at her soul fighting the Demon Sword.
‘That can’t be.’
It was nonsense. Even as she denied it, she had the same thought every time Yuriene came.
She was happy that he came. He was waiting for her victory. He watched over her, believing that she would overcome the Demon Sword. Eki wanted to prove that his choice to believe in her was right.
‘When I get my body back, I’ll meet him….’
There were so many things she wanted to say when she met him. Really so many. She carefully gathered those words inside her. Those words gave her strength.
She wanted to win. She wanted to break free from the Demon Sword, greet him with a smile when he came to watch over her as usual. She dreamed of such a miracle.
But the miracle was not granted.
In some ways, the situation was bad. But the result was so terrible that she couldn’t just dismiss it as bad luck and forget about it.
The guard suddenly opened the double doors and entered. Perhaps it was because Ekinesia’s body had been lying motionless for about three days, so he seemed to have come to check if she was dead.
It was the Demon Sword’s doing. The moment the guard approached within reach of her arm, Ekinesia strangled the guard with the drooping chains. The guard died in the blink of an eye.
‘No, stop, stop it! Please!’
Her screams were meaningless. Because of the sealing tools, her body couldn’t use the Demon Sword’s main power. So she used the sword from the guard’s waist to cut the chains. She never thought she would have to do with her own body what highly trained royal guards could do with metal without Mana.
Ekinesia rummaged through the guard’s pockets, took out the key, opened the double doors, and went out. She killed all the guards guarding the prison and found the key to the sealing tools. The moment the sealing tools that had been suppressing her Mana were released, Eki sensed a catastrophe.
If there had been just one more Giosa Owner to help Yuriene, they could have stopped her.
But Yuriene happened to be away from Ajenka for a while, and the only Owner left in Ajenka was the vice-captain of the royal guard. He was a man named Baron, who was the largest of the royal guards who had come to subjugate her.
Ekinesia went berserk. Baron evacuated others to the very end, blocking her until his head was cut off.
With him, who had been in the way, dead, she killed all the living beings in Ajenka. Then she waited for the other Giosa Owners, whom she recognized as ‘dangerous enemies.’
A few days later, the blonde female royal guard Teresa and the red-haired Dietrich returned together after completing their mission. They encountered Ekinesia in Ajenka, which was dyed red. Dietrich struggled to protect Teresa, but was instead saved by Teresa.
“Someone has to go and tell the Captain.”
“If Teresa goes…!”
“If you stay, you won’t last five minutes, so shut up and go quickly!”
Teresa said that and sent him away. Ekinesia was held back by Teresa, who was desperately trying to stop her, and missed Dietrich.
She killed Teresa first, and then chased Dietrich, who was fleeing through the mountains, all night long and killed him.
It was a terrible time. For them, and for her.
Finally, Yuriene came.
He saw his home, where corpses were piled up and rotting. The stench was overwhelming. Ekinesia greeted him in front of the mountain of corpses. The fountain behind her was dyed red.
Yuriene turned white, bit his lip until it bled, and became as cold as ice. His blue eyes, looking at her, seemed to be cracked.
