latelenovela Chapter 86: Skopio (3)
Chapter 86: Skopio (3)
"You don’t seem to fear for your life, Prince," Vael scoffed and spread his arms.
"Look around you, not a single soul to help you," he said. "These knights are... unconscious, your butler outside is of no use to you, no one within miles of radius is coming to save you-"
"Pff-" Violet held her composure by not laughing at those words.
"..." Vael looked at the shadow of Violet through the curtains while she placed her palm against her lips.
Ymir shook his head and then looked around the hall, at the unconscious knights.
"You’re right...it’s just me," he said. "I feel like I’m gonna die, but I’ll fight you till my last breath-"
"Pff-" Violet tried to hold her laugh again.
"..." Vael stared at the curtain for a moment.
"Is she-"
"She’s fine," Ymir said. "She just finds certain things funny."
"But I’m threatening your life here."
"I know, I feel the threat," Ymir said. "That’s what she finds funny."
Vael looked back at him. Then at the unconscious knights around the hall, and then at his people who emerged from the shadows of those knights, draped in black cloaks.
"You’re not afraid," Vael said.
"No- I mean, no, I’m afraid, why do you think that?" Ymir replied.
"Oh, my goodness, how many of you are there? I feel the demonic energy creep into my soul," he said, exaggerating his tone.
"--" All of them stared at him with intensity. He was mocking them. They’ve never been mocked. Even a clearance five magician is under the influence of their power right now.
"Wh-who is it that wants me dead...you can at least tell me the name of that man before you kill me," Ymir said.
"--" None of them spoke. They were preparing themselves to charge at him all at once.
"Do I not look vulnerable right now? I guess I’ll have to start attending drama classes from next week." He said, and popped a crack in his neck.
The red in his eyes intensified as moments passed by and the halls turned even darker, illuminating his eyes.
*vuff*
*vuff*
*vuff*
*vuff*
*vuff*
The mana lamps on the walls flickered and died one by one as the red in Ymir’s eyes intensified.
The hall turned into complete darkness.
Only two things were visible: the dirt, crimson crawling across the floor; the demonic energy of the contracted individuals; and Ymir’s bright red eyes.
Black violet and red flames moved at the edges of his silhouette as he manifested the raw aura from within his body, without pressuring it on any of the people there.
"Oh, how I wish Giorno’s theme would be playing in the background," Ymir whispered.
Then...they charged.
All of them simultaneously. Demonic energy surged forward with the bodies, creating a massive force of a whirlwind.
Illusion was a demonic legacy of the House of Lust. So Vael, and other members were contracted to the demons from the House of lust. But they were all men, their powers weren’t seduction, but draining life force by injuring their opponent. An open wound is all they need, and illusion in itself creates a specific opening, even if for a second...but....it wasn’t working on Ymir.
Ymir tilted his head as the first punch slid past his side. He held the man’s hand and made a flick to the head of the man.
*Crcmk*
He flicked the head, and it exploded with a splatter of blood and brain mass all over the floor.
Another one tried to claw him from the back, but he just stepped aside and swatted another head with a flick.
"..." They stopped and retreated to their positions in an instant.
Vael looked at the dead bodies, still standing in their positions. The man they’d thought was an emenant-ranked knight turns out to be much stronger than expected. He was swatting their heads like flies.
"The intel was----- wrong boss, we-we’ll hold him of" One of them tried to speak, but suddenly, he was turned into a man without a head.
All of them had their eyes widened in fear.
"Hold him off?" Ymir spoke. "You’re wrong, not a single one is leaving this place alive," he said, standing behind the headless figure as it dropped on the ground, quivering on its knees.
’He’s not even using a stance,’ Vael’s mind raced.
The remaining members suppressed their instincts to flee. Running would be foolish; the man in front of them was much faster than they were.
The air grew warm, smelling of lilies and decay. The scent of Vael’s raw demonic energy. It existed to target the lust, not necessarily sexual, but a craving for life, blood, air, for anything other than the current moment.
Even a clearance six mage needs to breathe. Vael’s strategy was to drown Ymir’s senses enough to create a slight opportunity to slit the Saintess’s throat.
All the members lunged forward, they went for the joints; ankles, knees, elbows, a sharp mist blade manifested in their hands, a condensed form of their demonic energy.
As the first blade came within an inch of his Achilles tendon, Ymir shifted himself merely, the blade hissed through the air, catching nothing but the violed tinged of his aura.
In the same breath, Ymir’s hand shot out, his fingers caught the wrist of the man on his right, and with a flick on the man’s own forward momentum, he redirected the man into the path of the one coming from the left.
*Thud*
The two of them collided, as bones hammered against each of their bodies, crushing them.
One by one, without using any special technique or even his aura, Ymir started a one-sided massacre. Blood covered the floor with the remains of flesh, burst skulls with brain matter, and Vael couldn’t see a single opening in all of it.
He simply watched it happen; his men, whom he had trained over the years, were brutally murdered without even being given a chance to escape.
"Aihh...This is a mess," Ymir spoke, and sighed.
The flames in the mana lamps of the monastery flickered back to life as he relaxed and looked at Vael.
Vael was...not able to process anything. It was a perfect plan for him. Infiltrate, complete his objective, and leave without anyone knowing who did it but...everything he had planned, the info he was fed, the objectives in his mind, his whole life felt like falling in shambles.
Looking at the hall, he couldn’t decipher the exact number of men he had brought with him.
"You’re not going to kill me," Vael said.
"Not yet, at least," Ymir said.
"But you’re not letting me leave either."
"That much should be obvious by now."
"Just so you know, you cannot bring me to reveal anything if you plan on tortur-"
"I’ll think about that," Ymir cut off his words.
"Sit down," Ymir said.
"..." Vael stared at him in confusion.
"On the floor, against the wall, that one," He pointed at the eastern wall.
"You want me to sit against a wall?" Vael asked.
"Yes."
"In a monastery?"
"It’s a very nice wall, old stone good craft, you could do worse," Ymir replied.
Vael looked at the wall, then back at Ymir.
’He’s making me sit against the wall like I’m some rebellious child...’ he thought.
"And if I don’t," he asked.
Ymir looked at him with the patient expression of someone who had already answered this question.
"Sit," Ymir said.
Vael lowered his head and walked to the eastern wall. His boots splashed upon the crimson, rotten blood of the members of his organisation. He sat down against it with controlled dignity, maintaining whatever composure remained available to him after a turn of sudden events.
"Is it...over?" Violet asked from behind the curtains, her white curtains now had the texture of blood splatter all over them.
"Somewhat," Ymir replied, and then looked at the knights. "Can you wake them up?"
"Though I don’t think they are of any use..." he continued.
"There’s no need to be harsh, they’re devotees, and they help however they can," Violet replied, and clasped her hands together.
Bright violet hue burst across the monastery and beyond, reaching the empty fields of the farmland to the bedrooms in the houses of the villagers.
Wherever it passed, the air softened with the mild scent of orchids, the rotten demonic energy faded and was replaced by the floral atmosphere.
The broken breathing of the unconscious knights steadied, their muscles that had locked in a still standing position, relaxed. Their fingers trembled as the holy power seeped into them.
Even the children asleep in the houses, those who were whispering in sleep, relaxed in the presence of this power.
The knights stumbled and woke up as their heartbeat increased and slight panic gripped them...they dropped on their knees, gripping their long swords, and opened their eyes wide.
But, some of them still believed they were inside some sort of dream, looking at the number of dead bodies and blood splattered all over the floor, and the curtains of the Saintess.
"What---just---happened?" one of them muttered.