Chapter 116: Omen (7)

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Crack.

With a heavy burst, Gastia’s head was crushed.

Second swung the spear shaft to fling off the blood, then snorted and glared at the fallen corpse.

“Are you alright?”

“……Yes, thanks to you.”

Ellen tore her clothes long and tightly bound her wrist.

She had sprinkled a potion she carried for emergencies to stop the bleeding, so at least first aid was done.

“Are you alright, Young Lady?”

“Yes.”

“That is fortunate.”

Ellen let out a deep sigh.

It had been a life-or-death moment.

If NOX’s support had not arrived, it would truly have been dangerous.

Never before had she thought it so fortunate that they had chosen to join hands with NOX.

“Our headquarters is under attack as well. The boss and main executives are away, so……”

“Support has been sent there too, so don’t worry too much.”

“……That would be good, but there is a monster mixed in.”

“Stronger than this one?”

“Yes.”

Ellen looked at Gastia, lying on the ground, and nodded.

“It is a monster called Bonebreaker. He is more or less the action captain of Turgar’s side.”

“So, executive-level. Let’s go.”

Second nodded and immediately moved.

After leaving the emergency passage that led underground, she surveyed the headquarters and sensed many presences clashing, showing that the fight was still ongoing.

‘It seems the resistance isn’t small.’

Second clicked her tongue once and swiftly rushed inside.

She had already heard of the emergency passage from Dirsen’s side.

If it were truly dangerous, she thought they might flee through here, which was why she had come alone.

But Turgar also seemed to know of it, for they had already placed people there.

‘That means there are quite a number of traitors.’

That implied that among the executives close to Dirsen, there was betrayal.

This seemed to be getting troublesome.

Tadadadak!

Racing up the stairs in an instant, Second found bodies scattered about.

As expected, NOX was not among them.

They had not been taught so carelessly as to die in a place like this.

“Upstairs, then.”

It was the top floor, where Dirsen’s office was located.

When she went up there, sure enough, she saw over a dozen men still fighting in chaos.

“……Ugh.”

Second looked over the organization members rolling on the floor.

They seemed to have been beaten quite badly, but since they had avoided fatal wounds, there were no deaths.

She signaled to the other subordinates to tend to them, then focused on the two figures clashing fiercely deeper inside Dirsen’s office.

“Hmm.”

The leader of White Label and a hulking brute were fighting intensely.

Boom! Crash!

The furnishings and furniture inside had long since been destroyed in the struggle.

With neither yielding an inch, sword and club collided again and again.

‘Not bad.’

Second did not intervene.

The experiences of the lower members were important too.

Especially since White Label was in a crucial position supporting NOX from below.

They couldn’t protect them forever, so they also had to risk their lives, gaining skill and experience.

“Eran!”

Ellen, who had followed late, rushed to her brother lying on the floor and called urgently.

Though his shoulder had been smashed, she confirmed he was still breathing and sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, Second, leaning against the office doorway, asked Ellen.

“What did you say that one’s name was?”

“Bonebreaker Vulcan. One of Lahan’s main executives.”

“Bonebreaker.”

Second stroked her chin.

She had found an unexpected gem in an unlikely place.

Naturally, it was not Bonebreaker Vulcan, but the White Label leader fighting him.

If nurtured a little more, he seemed to have enough talent to rise steadily even into Black Label.

Being in a leader’s position in the first place meant he already had quite some attention.

‘Interesting.’

Just as she was watching the scene with a faint smile, Second felt a weak tug at her clothes.

She tilted her head slightly and saw a pretty little girl looking up at her with a trembling, anxious voice.

“D-do you not need to help them?”

“Hm?”

It was Dirsen’s daughter.

Her name… what was it again?

If it had been a purely cooperative relationship with Dirsen, she would have been a factor of utmost importance.

But Dirsen had already become a subordinate of NOX, through the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s Soul-Seizing Technique and through Godok.

In that situation, his daughter’s presence held little meaning.

But Second liked children, so she patted the girl’s head and met her gaze at eye level.

“Your father doesn’t feed you forever, right? He taught you how to move your hands to hold the spoon and fork yourself, didn’t he?”

“……Yes.”

“Good. This is the same. Except we grow by feeding on blood.”

Instead of spoons and forks, they gave her swords and spears.

Instead of learning how to eat, they taught her how to kill more efficiently.

“……”

At those words about feeding on blood, the young lady flinched in fear.

Second burst into laughter, patted her head again, and spoke to Ellen.

“Unlike the underworld, the daughter is rather pure.”

“……He raised her very dearly.”

“So even demons cherish their daughters, huh.”

Straightening up, Second looked toward the inside of the office.

Boom! Boom!

The fight had reached its climax.

Bonebreaker Vulcan and the leader of White Label were both injured all over.

Second tilted her head slightly, estimating their abilities.

‘Someone of Black Label level could take him down without much difficulty. White Label is still not enough.’

Vulcan’s nerves seemed quite tough.

Even when she deliberately provoked with her aura, he ignored it completely, focusing only on the enemy before him.

“He seems to have a straightforward personality. Which means even if pressed, he wouldn’t reveal Turgar’s information, right?”

That kind of straightforwardness.

Second did not dislike it.

So, with a sense of respect, she stepped forward to end it herself.

Whoosh.

At Second’s gesture, the White Label leader immediately withdrew.

NOX’s hierarchy was an absolute law.

Even more so, between White Label and Black Label existed an unbridgeable gap.

Crack.

Second clenched her fist tightly.

Bonebreaker.

To grant him an end befitting that name.

Laysis and Yuria were having dinner together for the first time in a while.

Because of club activities, study groups, and sparring, their schedules had not aligned well.

While they had met in passing or shared teatime often during Academy life, it had been a long time since they had leisurely spent time together, just the two of them.

“Hmm, hmm-hmm.”

Laysis hummed cheerfully while cutting her steak.

Yuria, twirling her pasta nearby, asked with a puzzled look.

“Why? Something good happen?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re humming while cutting your meat.”

“Ah.”

Laysis brushed her hair back playfully and lifted her knife.

“Was it that obvious?”

“……What’s with you? Seriously.”

“Listen. So, I…….”

Yuria narrowed her eyes and looked at Laysis.

‘She’s been acting a little strange lately.’

She had always been a bit odd, but recently it had gotten worse.

It felt like her mind was somewhere else.

Sometimes she would stare blankly into space, twitching her fingers.

Once, in the library, Yuria herself had been startled when it happened beside her.

At first, she thought it might be from psychological anxiety, but seeing the faint smile on her lips, it didn’t seem to be that.

So she listened carefully to Laysis’s words, trying to find the cause.

“You know I’ve been sparring with Carl a lot lately. Just the two of us.”

“Yeah. And I’ve been doing my magic study group.”

When Yuria asked what was special about that, Laysis replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

“You know Carl has been hiding his true skill, right? I’ve told you before.”

“Yeah. You said his swordsmanship was much greater. So much that even you couldn’t compare.”

“Yes. If he got serious, even Nerian wouldn’t stand a chance. At cadet level, he’d have no equal.”

“……Hmm.”

Yuria nodded.

She didn’t know much about Carl’s swordsmanship.

But from his mana control, she could infer that he was concealing his true strength.

When she pointed that out, Carl hadn’t denied it.

That was as good as admitting it.

“That’s why you’re the only one I can talk about this with. No one else would believe me.”

“True. Everyone else just sees Carl as below them during practice.”

Most cadets mistakenly thought Carl’s high grades came only from theory scores.

But if judged fairly, one could see he had also made significant strides in practical skills.

“Then Carl suddenly asked me if I wanted to learn swordsmanship from him.”

“……Swordsmanship?”

Yuria was puzzled.

Why would Carl suddenly ask her that?

“As you know, I never learned the secret swordsmanship of the Kingdom of Alforam.”

“Because of that damn royal law.”

“Yes. But now I think it’s fortunate. Thanks to that, I can move freely as I do now, right?”

The royal family of the Kingdom of Alforam was stricter than others.

Deeply tied with the Empire, they valued tradition and discipline, and Princess Laysis also bore that duty.

But she had abandoned all responsibilities, despite the benefits of being royalty.

It was by her own will.

‘Because I despise being a puppet.’

Of course, royal rights still bound Laysis’s feet.

If the royal family decreed something, she had to obey for the sake of the kingdom, even if it was a marriage partner.

“Anyway, so Carl taught me a new swordsmanship. From what I heard, it seemed like an old sword style passed down in Leipzig.”

“Ah, I see.”

Yuria nodded lightly.

She wondered what this was about, but in the end, it was just bragging.

Now she understood why Laysis sometimes lost focus, waving her fingers or hands in the air.

‘She must be happy learning new swordsmanship.’

Still, as a princess, Laysis had high standards in martial arts and academics.

For her to be satisfied meant the swordsmanship Carl showed was of a very high level.

‘How curious.’

Even as she ate, Yuria’s thoughts shifted toward Carl.

What was his true identity, to know all these things?

No matter how much she thought, Carl remained shrouded in mystery.

“So, what swordsmanship is it?”

“The name’s a bit hard. I still can’t pronounce it properly. Chang, Chang……”

“Chang?”

“Changmu? Chang…….”

Laysis stammered until she finally recalled and blurted something close.

“Chang-gung-ae? Chang-gung-mu?”

“……”

Listening absentmindedly, Yuria suddenly stopped moving her fork and looked up.

Her eyes widened as she spoke to Laysis, who was still hesitating over the pronunciation.

“Boundless Azure Sword Technique?”

“Ah! Yes! That’s it! ……Huh?”

Laysis turned to Yuria with a puzzled expression and asked.

“You know that swordsmanship too?”

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