Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 777: A Villain [4]

Leon’s body began to glow with faint blue lines. They traced across his skin, following the path of every vein, until all of them converged toward his chest. At his chest, the glow sharpened, not into the shape of his heart, but into the faint outline of a chalice.

Julien’s lips curled at the sight.

’There it is.’

His heart started to race. This was the very thing he had been searching for all this time. The sight of it left his chest tight, breath caught somewhere between relief and excitement.

The Chalice before him was the key to his freedom.

’...I no longer want to be stuck in that prison.’

In the past two years, Julien had learned to cherish the life that he had. It was weird, but in all the time he was imprisoned, he learned to admire and appreciate everything that he didn’t before.

From the soft breeze of the wind, the faint sweetness of flowers, to the steady warmth of the sun.

Julien learned that there was more to the world than his narrow-minded path of hatred and vengeance. This was also the reason why he had managed to calm down so much. He had finally learned to cherish his life, and he wasn’t planning on ever letting anything or anyone take it away from him.

"Just give it to me."

Julien took a step towards Leon.

He wasn’t in a good state. The curse magic gnawed at him from the inside, running wild through his veins. Blood seeped from his nose, his ears, and even the corners of his eyes, leaving his face streaked with blood.

Despite this, Leon didn’t look like he was about to give up. Though unsteady, he still remained standing, his gaze fixed on Julien.

Seeing Leon act like this, the smile on Julien’s face faded.

"Why are you struggling so much?"

He didn’t understand it.

Wasn’t he just a knight? As far as he knew, he was also a Prince. He was still struggling to understand how a Prince had become his knight, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was...

"What’s the point of doing all of this when you can just go back home to your family and enjoy a good life? You’re not even a knight anymore. Why do you do the things that you do?"

Julien didn’t just ask the question to fulfill his curiosity.

He wanted to waste time.

The longer it lingered, the stronger the curse magic grew, tightening its grip on him with each passing moment. Julien knew how powerful Leon was. If possible, he didn’t want to take any risks. Especially when he understood that Leon wasn’t the only person present within the Mirror Dimension.

He was practically surrounded from all sides.

"...H-ha."

A soft laugh grabbed Julien’s attention again as he looked at Leon. With a smile that seemed to have taken everything out of him, he mumbled, "I-I wonder too."

"What does that mean?"

"I... I don’t know."

Leon drew in several steadying breaths, his shoulders rising and falling as he forced his eyes shut. Blood still seeped from his eyelids, trickling down his cheeks, but he pushed past the pain, focusing inward.

The chalice etched within him pulsed once, faint light rippling through his veins, and slowly, his wounds began to knit themselves back together.

"Huh...?"

The sudden changes took Julien by surprise, his body tensing.

The Chalice within Leon’s body pulsed further, and the bleeding finally stopped. This was the moment that Julien understood that he had underestimated Leon. At the same time, however, his breath grew more ragged as he looked at the Chalice.

’I want it even more now.’

His eyes glowed purple once more. A black film began to expand from beneath him, inching towards Leon rapidly.

It was too bad that Leon’s eyes snapped open the moment he did that.

Stomping his foot down, he disappeared from the spot, appearing several meters away.

Julien’s expression grew serious, and several magic circles spiraled into existence before him, glowing in shades of deep purple, each one twisting and rotating in the air.

With a sharp thrust of his hand forward, the circles flared.

Purplish-green hands erupted from the magic circles, clawing through the air as they reached for Leon. Their fingers twisted unnaturally, grasping with a hunger that made it seem like they were desperate.

But Leon moved as though he had eyes in the back of his head, slipping past each attempt with sharp, instinctive precision.

BANG—!

His feet slammed into the ground, cracking the surface beneath him as he launched forward, stomping hard toward Julien.

He arrived before Julien, who, for the first time, grew a little flustered.

"....!?"

Still, he was only flustered for a brief moment before collecting himself as his eyes narrowed and he focused his intent on his surroundings. The gravity around him pulsed, and Leon’s movements lagged for a brief second.

That brief second was all Julien needed; his head turned towards Leon as his mouth opened.

And then—

Xiu! Xiu!

Threads shot out from his mouth.

"....?!"

Leon’s face changed at the unexpected sight, flinching for just a moment as he raised his hand to block.

But—

Swooosh!

The threads shot past his body.

’Shit!’

Realizing almost instantly that it was an illusion, Leon spun back, hand shooting toward his head as he ducked under the attack. He pivoted on his foot, swinging the hilt of his sword upward, aiming straight for Julien’s chest.

WHAM!

The hilt of his sword met a knee, and Julien’s face winced under the pain. Leon didn’t pause. He twisted, elbow rising as he spun around, appearing at Julien’s flank. His elbow landed first, striking at his exposed torso.

This time, Julien was a step too late to react.

WHAM!

The attack hit.

Julien’s face paled, pain curling at the side of his body as he staggered to the side.

Leon didn’t waste the opening. The intensified gravity weighed down on him, forcing every muscle to scream under the strain, yet he moved almost as fast as he normally would.

The Chalice in his chest continued to pulse, revitalizing his every movement.

In that moment, he became a war machine. Relentless, unthinking, driven only to strike without hesitation or mercy. He completely sealed all his thoughts, removing the chance of being affected by Julien’s bone abilities.

He was the person who knew Julien’s abilities the best. As such, he was also the person who knew how to handle him the best.

"Urkh—!"

With his elbow driving down into Julien’s shoulder, forcing a grunt from him, Leon extended his hand. A sword materialized, forged entirely from his mana. He swung it downward, and Julien’s eyes widened, flickering with alarm.

’Shit!’

Julien knew he had to act fast. He was being driven back by Leon, of all people, the same one he had once toyed with mercilessly when they were young.

’No, I can’t allow that!’

His eyes flickered, and his mana drained rapidly.

One of his bones churned.

[Eye of Existence]

Leon’s movements paused the moment that Julien used the technique.

’Success!’ Julien thought in his mind as he braced himself, preparing to counterattack. But before he could even savor the moment, Leon’s mana-forged sword came crashing down again.

"W-what!?"

Julien truly grew flustered by the sight, his face crumpling as several magic circles appeared all around him.

[Sight]

[Sound]

[Smell]

[Touch]

[Taste]

Julien sealed all of Leon’s senses.

And yet—

He continued to strike down, the sword aimed right at him. It was almost as if he didn’t need any of his senses.

".....!?"

Julien had truly run out of options at this moment.

The only thing he could do was stare blankly at the sword above him as it struck down towards him.

But—

"....."

"....."

The inevitable blow never came.

Instead, a tense silence fell. Leon stood directly before Julien, his body etched with glowing blue lines, frozen in place, the mana-forged sword hovering just above Julien’s head as the heat coming from it spread in waves around his face.

The silence lasted for several seconds as they both stood in silence.

And then—

"Buergh!"

Blood spilled out from Leon’s mouth, falling onto the ground as his entire face turned pale, and the blue lines around his body pulsed wildly.

Julien stared at the sight in shock, but soon a smile played around his lips.

’As expected, he wasn’t unaffected.’

Julien looked down at Leon. His entire body was covered in thin red lines, each formed from the threads he had silently spread around himself. They were meant to be his final line of defense. Individually, each thread was fragile, almost laughably weak, but that was how they were designed to be.

They weren’t meant to hurt a lot or be felt. They just had to hurt a little, but enough to be ignored.

The result...?

A slow and unknown accumulation of curse magic within the body.

"Bueargh!"

Blood spilled from Leon’s mouth as he dropped to one knee, his body trembling under the weight of the curse eating at him. The blue veins etched across his skin flared with light, pulsing violently as if straining against his injuries, forcing themselves to knit his body back together even as more blood flowed.

But would Julien allow him to heal?

"If you’ll excuse me."

Having already learned his lesson, he moved rapidly towards Leon before pressing his hand against his chest.

"Arrkh——!"

Leon screamed with pain as blood began to seep out from his chest, Julien’s hand digging right into it.

"Relax. You should already be numb from my curse. This doesn’t hurt as much as you think it does."

Blood spattered across Julien’s hand as he drove it into Leon’s chest, the blue veins along Leon’s body flaring brighter than ever. Julien ignored it all, focusing only on digging deeper, until his fingers closed around the Chalice and he finally pulled it free.

Spurt—!

"Haaaargh!"

A heartwrenching scream echoed from Leon’s lips as he staggered back, falling onto the ground as blood continued to gush out from his chest.

"H-ha! Haaa...!"

His screams echoed wildly, filling the surroundings.

And yet, Julien paid them no mind. His entire focus was on the Chalice in his hand as his eyes glowed with excitement.

’Yes, finally. I... finally have my hand on this.’

His heart pounded as he held the black Chalice, its contents swirling with a strange, dark liquid. His own reflection stared back at him from within it, and in the background, Leon’s screams slowly faded into silence.

The world grew silent in that moment.

It was just him and the Chalice.

But Julien didn’t spend much time admiring the Chalice. He gripped the Chalice tightly, and then, just like that, it vanished from his hands.

He lifted his head not long after.

Rumble! Rumble!

The surroundings quaked, and his lips pulled into a smile.

"It’s about time... I thought they’d be slower."