To the Imperial Capital (4)

Blood poured out as Joey’s abdomen was split open.

Wounded by nothing more than a young girl, Joey’s eyes grew bloodshot as he staggered back.

The soldier subordinates of Joey were horrified at the sight, while Rio and her squad members broke out into bright smiles.

“That’s great!”

“Nice job, Rio!”

Just from Rio taking down one opponent, they all felt a surge of hope.

At this rate, even without young master Louis, they could resolve this with their own strength.

“Did we finish him off?”

Rio muttered to herself, believing they had finally taken one down.

“……!!”

Kaaang!!-

In that very instant, Rio narrowly blocked a broadsword swinging at her neck.

The recoil flung Rio backward, and as she lifted her head, her eyes widened.

“That hurt like hell.”

Amazingly, despite being slashed in the abdomen, Joey stood perfectly fine.

Though still bleeding, the flesh hadn’t fully split apart.

“If I hadn’t focused my magic power on the wounded area, my guts would have spilled out just now.”

Saying it had been dangerously close, Joey spoke tensely.

It was an indirect compliment to Rio, but he was clearly still on his feet.

His broadsword gleamed with a steely blue, as if to say he had no problem continuing the fight.

Now, it was his turn. Joey slammed his broadsword down at Rio.

Kwaang!-

Rio barely dodged, but where the broadsword struck, the ground split open with a thunderous sound.

From that alone, Rio could tell a few things.

He hadn’t been going all out before. And if she took even one hit, it was over.

Chasing after the dodging Rio, Joey swung his sword horizontally.

Using her small frame, Rio ducked to avoid it and quickly closed the distance.

As she came in, though, Joey’s hand was already waiting.

“Got you!”

“Ugh!”

Having anticipated Rio’s approach, Joey reached out and grabbed her by the neck.

“That’s right. Like you said, this isn’t a spar.”

Joey twisted Rio’s own words back at her, raising his broadsword.

“There’s a difference between killing and sparring.”

Pusshk!-

The sharp tip of the broadsword pierced Rio’s stomach. The blade tore through her skin, staining it red.

“Kuhak…!”

Seriously wounded, Rio coughed up blood. The pain felt as if her nerves had been severed, and her pupils shrank with a look of horror.

“Rookie.”

Pulling the broadsword from her belly, Joey kicked Rio away. Like a soccer ball sent flying by a player’s kick, Rio crashed into the barrier.

A red mark appeared where she struck, and she collapsed to the ground.

At the sight of their friend being struck down, the squad members all gasped in shock.

“R-Rio…?”

“We’re in big trouble!”

Yet there was something odd about their reaction; instead of succumbing to grief for a fallen comrade, their response was more like someone who had witnessed a ticking time bomb going off.

“She’s finally coming out.”

“…….”

From the stands, Klein and Silia observed with even greater focus.

It might be one thing for Klein, who could coldly abandon soldiers, but it wasn’t a scene where someone like Silia, who was attached to her squad members, could remain so composed.

“Hahaha! She died well… Huh?”

Thinking Rio was dead, Joey sneered, but his laughter abruptly stopped. Joey couldn’t believe his eyes.

Rio, who should have been struck fatally, was getting back up.

“Cough!”

Struggling to her feet, Rio coughed blood, her body in tatters.

She looked like she’d fall over with the faintest touch, yet there was an inexplicable air of intimidation that said she was not to be trifled with.

“The wound…!”

Once again, Joey doubted his eyes. The stab wound he had inflicted was, however faintly, healing.

No one had cast a healing spell. It was simply mending on its own.

Red energy began to swirl violently around Rio as she stood again.

The blood flowing from her body gathered in midair as if with its own will, morphing into the shape of swords.

Meeting her eyes, Joey’s body flinched. He realized now that the person he was facing was no longer the same girl from before.

Taat—

In an instant, Rio’s figure vanished. But Joey, having sensed her movement, swung his sword straight ahead.

Kaaaang!!-

Rio’s approaching sword strike was met and neutralized, and the resulting sword echo rang out loudly.

Their blades bounced away as their bodies recoiled.

“How can she have this kind of strength…!”

Startled by the vastly increased power of Rio’s sword attack, Joey was taken aback.

Just as he’d sensed, she was on a different level.

Gritting his teeth, Joey swung his blade in every direction.

As the sword, enveloped in sharp sword aura, lashed out indiscriminately, Rio parried every blow with speed.

Unlike before, Rio easily brushed aside Joey’s sword energy, which even a graze from could have been fatal.

As she gripped her sword tighter, the red energy clinging to the blade grew thicker.

Rio’s sword, now a deep crimson, surged forward relentlessly. Joey managed to barely block, but the impact sent him flying.

“Gah!”

Slammed into the barrier, Joey coughed up blood.

If it had been a wall instead of a barrier, the wall would have crumbled from the impact.

“That damned wench…!”

What in the world happened to her to make her this strong?

It was hard to believe a girl so young could possess such strength.

Even among students at the imperial academy—known for children of moguls and geniuses—none could do this.

Rio’s talent was simply beyond human ability.

“This is dangerous.”

Joey readjusted his loose grip on the sword. He could sense the immense threat just by watching.

If she was left unchecked, not only he, but his entire unit would be killed.

He had to kill this lunatic girl before that happened.

“Haaah!!”

Aura exploded from Joey’s broadsword.

He pushed past sword energy and unleashed sword aura, his eyes bloodshot and nose bleeding.

This level of output couldn’t be sustained for long. To settle things quickly, Joey kicked off toward Rio.

The sword aura shot forward as if detonated, aiming squarely for Rio’s head.

As Rio’s crimson-energy-imbued sword clashed with the broadsword, the ground split apart and the air shook.

The massive shockwave swept across the entire training hall.

All the fighting soldiers were knocked aside like fallen leaves, and the landscape was devastated.

The only one left standing was Louis, and the only intact structure was the barrier.

“Kaaaah!!”

Joey went all out to kill Rio, scattering sword aura everywhere with a fierce shout, but Rio matched every blow with crimson slashes.

Each time the two powers collided, another wound appeared on each of their bodies.

Despite their all-out efforts, Rio had more wounds.

Rio’s wounds were deeper, too.

Yet she did not stop, instead using the pain as an accelerator and driving forward even faster.

“No!”

Rather than being slowed by her injuries, Rio became more precise and-nimble. Joey, surprised at Rio’s movement, wavered.

‘Of all times, now…!’

Normally, sword aura could only be displayed by a High Expert. As just a Middle Expert, Joey couldn’t generate a complete sword aura.

Though forcing it brought tremors to his body, Rio was different.

The blood-swords circling her soon gathered into her hand.

When she swung that sword of blood, Joey’s posture collapsed completely.

With another swing of her remaining sword, she could now cut Joey down entirely.

Kwaaaaang!!-

The training hall rang louder than ever with the bloody attack.

At the center stood Rio, and Joey collapsed on the ground, bleeding.

“Ugh…!”

Barely alive, Joey looked up at Rio. The wounds he had worked so hard to inflict on her healed up instantly.

On top of that, the more she was hit, the stronger she seemed to get—it made him wonder if he had even been fighting a human.

“J-Joey big bro… is beaten?”

An archer from the same unit, seeing Joey fallen, was in disbelief.

The rest of his squad members were the same. Then, one by one, the soldiers met Rio’s gaze.

As if mesmerized by something, they desperately shouted:

“S-Surrender! We surrender!”

They knew now that she was not someone they could defeat. Realizing that, they began edging away.

Yet Rio set her sights on them and staggered toward them.

Like an undead, she rose again and again. Some of the soldiers hurriedly drew circles on the barrier and escaped.

“Damn it!!”

The archer hurried for the wall as well, but it was too far away. In the meantime, Rio outpaced him.

“Hiek!!”

The blow that had felled Joey was now swinging for his neck. The soldier sensed, just before the blade touched him—

A shiver, the instinctive dread of a being detecting death.

Brains accelerating to the limit, desperate to escape the crisis.

Hopelessness upon realizing he couldn’t do it with his own strength.

The fear upon the acceptance—there was no escape.

All of this could be summed up in one word: Death.

“Huh?”

He was sure he was about to die. Having reached the gate of the underworld, the archer realized he was still alive.

The moment he noticed his neck was unharmed, he looked up.

“Calm down.”

He saw a boy gripping Rio’s bloody blade—blocking the fatal stroke.

“He surrendered. Calm down.”

“… Huh? Young master.”

Rio’s fierce, murderous eyes returned to normal. When Louis soothed her, all the bloodlust dissipated.

“I’m sorry, young master. I just lost control for a moment…”

All it took was Louis’s intervention for her to return to normal.

From monster in a blood frenzy, she reverted instantly to an innocent girl.

The archer looked at her, dumbfounded.

“That blade is sharp.”

Blood ran from Louis’s hand where he’d caught Rio’s attack.

Even blows from monsters hadn’t hurt Louis’s skin—yet here, there was a wound.

“I’m really sorry! I…”

“I’ll heal quickly anyway. You did well, so just rest up now.”

Worried about having hurt him, Rio panicked, but Louis gently comforted her, patting her head.

Rio, suddenly demure, put her hands together and blushed—a far cry from the blood-soaked madwoman of a moment ago.

“Let’s call the test here. Time to wrap up.”

With that, Louis walked across the training hall.

The soldiers who were still fighting tried to threaten him, demanding what ‘end’ he meant.

Louis stepped up to the barrier and spoke:

“What do you think?”

Something covered Louis’s arm. His hand, colored by sturdy scales, grew covered with snow-white fur.

“This fight.”

When he transforms into a monster, Louis usually loses himself.

But he’s learned a way to access that power without losing his mind.

Instead of fully transforming, he transformed just one part.

Louis always channeled the wild power of the Chaos Dragon into his right hand.

What on earth was this brat going to do?

As the knights outside the barrier wondered, an old man spoke up.

“Get back.”

Get back? What did he mean?

Before the knights could understand, something exploded in front of them, as the old man’s warning was fulfilled.

Kwaaaaaaang!!

The barrier, previously unscathed no matter how fiercely the soldiers fought, was shattered into pieces by the blast, even though it couldn’t be destroyed by ordinary means.

All the soldiers and knights except for the old man were left speechless at the shocking scene.

Louis calmly walked out through the hole he’d made in the barrier.

“Am I going to have to compensate for this?”

He said this to the old man, who was watching him carefully.

“Legion commander, old Paulo.”

At that, the old man grinned widely.

“So it was you, after all.”

A soldier of the 7th Legion, rumored to have slain the Great Devil—the old man now knew that rumor to be true.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep