I Became a Dark Knight the Empress Is Obsessed With

203 – Side Story: Afternoon in Freesia – (11)

Kwak-kak!

The tentacles sank into the ground and snowflakes flew up.

Millia rolled to the side and dodged the tentacles.

“Ugh!”

At the same time, as he swung his sword backwards, the bundle of tentacles targeting Millia’s rear were cut off.

“… … Is the feeling still there?”

Milia shook the wrist holding the sword.

It had been a long time since I held a sword, but it felt surprisingly familiar. I felt a strange sense of longing for that fact, but then another tentacle flew in.

But this time there was no need to roll around in the snow.

Because a sturdy back appeared before my eyes.

With just one swing of his sword, Fried Iscoval cut through space.

“are you okay?”

“… … It was something I could do by myself.”

“It couldn’t have been easy, right?”

“… … .”

Milia muttered, narrowing her eyes.

“Isn’t it natural for you to be alone…?”

While they were having that conversation, another attack came, and this time they were able to crush it with Merta’s spirit magic and Fried’s sword strike.

But the bundle of tentacles exploded and shook the ground, sending knee-deep snow flying toward the sky.

“… … .”

An eerie sensation came over her as her vision blurred. Millia instinctively recognized this and opened her eyes wide.

The thing that flies in front of you like a flash of light is a black bullet. It was a technique that Arwen used. Sepia must be following suit as well.

Even if it was a servant mana or a summoned beast, an attack created directly by the main body could never be blocked without mana. That was why, instead of raising her sword to fight back, Millia simply tilted her head back.

Fit.

A red line appeared on his cheek and then a drop of blood spurted out.

Fortunately, it only grazed me, but I felt a sharp pain in my cheek, as if I had been stabbed with a knife.

“are you okay?”

“Yes. It just brushed past me. But… … .”

Milia put her hand on her cheek.

Blood was gushing from the tip of his finger.

The fingers that touched the blood went numb. This meant that even the blood that spilled from the attack contained thick mana.

“Be careful. This attack contains a curse.”

“Curse of Corruption, is it the same thing?”

“I guess so.”

As Fried blew away the snowflakes with his sword wind, Sepia’s figure came into view.

A pale girl with black hair who pulls out tentacles with the same expressionless face I saw at first.

Millia couldn’t understand at all. In her memories, Sepia was just a semi-solid monster. Why was Sepia in human form?

“It looks like it’s already been raised.”

Fried gave the answer instead.

“Is it boiled pork?”

“I don’t know who helped me, but it seems I’ve gained a human body.”

“… … That’s it?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be a normal human body. Maybe it’s some kind of alchemy?”

Fried shrugged.

“In any case, this is worse than I feared. Sepia has taken on a physical form, and is in league with someone who has the power to use the devil. To put it in Yuria’s terms… … .”

Kugu palace!

Fried continued, deflecting the flying bullets.

“This is the worst.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

If Sepia had found my body, the story would be more serious. She would be able to use her powers more powerful than when she made a contract with Arwen, and at her own will.

But there was something strange about Milia.

“There, Sir Fried.”

“huh?”

“Does that demon named Sepia really have an ego of her own?”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve encountered the Apostle of Corruption and the demons she commands quite a few times. Of course, there have been many fights to the death. But every time… … I never thought that Sepia had an ego.”

Even when Arwen made wrong decisions, Sepia carried them out without hesitation.

It was the same when they encountered Millia in the Battle of the Cult. Arwen made the wrong choice of dropping Sepia from herself, but she rushed at Millia without any resistance.

Sepia’s actions, in a way, reminded me of a knight blindly following his lord’s orders.

I could tell because it was the same article, Millia.

“From what I felt… … I think that demon is some kind of ideology.”

“Thoughts?”

“… … I guess it would be more correct to call it cruelty. Anyway, I’m just following someone’s will. I don’t have any other will of my own.”

Fried frowned and looked at Sepia.

A blank face. A rippling power. In every way, it reminded me of Arwen.

It had a strangely puppet-like appearance.

“Well, I guess that might be the case.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

At Millia’s question, Fried sighed deeply and dropped his sword to the ground.

And he raised his fist.

“Well, let’s just beat him up and ask him.”

The smile he had as he said those words seemed more sinister than anyone else’s.

*

Ss …

Kwakwakwang!

The man with gray hair defeated the tentacles shot out by Sepia with just one fist covered in blood red energy.

That wasn’t all. At the same time, he succeeded in avoiding the bullets of power that were fired with just his body vision and physical ability.

Literally superhuman abilities.

“… … .”

Sepia was quite embarrassed, although she didn’t show it on the outside.

But I didn’t want to back out here.

Kookookookook!

Sepia looked at the duo standing in front of her with tentacles waving.

A rough-looking man with gray hair and a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

In fact, he didn’t feel any mana from the women. So the only person he had to pay attention to was the man.

‘Fred Iscobal.’

The man Arwen was so obsessed with, Fried Iscoval.

The Empire’s guardian knight, patriot, and national treasure.

The greatest enemy who killed three foreign apostles.

A man who overcame all odds and achieved the ending he wanted.

The power he felt was not ordinary. It was on a par with Arwen, or even Cleta.

Even though Sepia has the enormous mana capacity of the Full Moon Flower on her back, there is a limit.

In other words, it also meant that he couldn’t win at Sepia’s current level. Especially not with such an unstable body.

[You must retreat! You cannot win!]

As the words of the legion were being transmitted through the transmission, Sepia was in a situation where she was cornered.

It is right to retreat.

It is right to get out of the situation and plan for the future.

If we join forces with the demon horde, we might not have no chance of winning.

Yeah, it had to be that way.

“… … .”

However, Sepia continued to stand tall and repeatedly shoot out tentacles and bullets.

The sound of the Legion’s voice grew louder, but I didn’t pay any attention.

For some reason, I just wanted to settle things with him here and now.

Even Sepia herself didn’t know the reason.

An indescribable whirlwind of emotions arose as soon as I saw those two.

“… … Revenge, right?”

No. It was never such a trivial feeling. But if you ask if it was a great feeling, it was never that either.

This feeling that is both heartbreaking and tingling at the same time.

I couldn’t figure it out.

There’s no way he could know. He was inanimate until recently.

“……I don’t know.”

That’s why we focused on the offensive.

Swing tentacles, summon clones, and shoot bullets.

Despite all that effort, Fried Iscoval managed to repel all of Sepia’s attacks with just his two fists and blood magic.

A strange anger arose at the sight.

I never thought of myself as a body that could feel anger.

But I was getting angry.

“… …Stop talking and just die.”

I thought about it even as I was waving my tentacles.

What do you want?

As soon as I saw the knight who killed Arwen, I instinctively jumped out and started a fight because I thought it was the right thing to do.

But it was clear that there was another reason for continuing the fight in this situation.

What are human emotions? Sepia has always pondered.

and.

Kwak-kak!

The blood spewed out by Fried Iscoval forms an awl, which strikes away the flying tentacles.

The cursed bullet of power that flew from Sepia’s fingers was helplessly crushed by his fist.

Fried quickly reached Sepia’s chest and unleashed a merciless punch.

“Ugh.”

A fist that sinks deep into the stomach.

Fried’s hand, strengthened by blood magic, was deeply embedded in Sepia’s body.

A pain incomparable to that of touching the full moon came over me, and the air was sucked out of my lungs.

It wasn’t a body that needed breathing, but it was such a great shock that I found it difficult to continue speaking.

Sepia was pushed away and buried in the snow.

“The devil of foreign news.”

“… … .”

“sepia.”

“that’s right.”

With those words, Fried applied strength to the body he was holding down. Sepia’s upper body was crushed, and a terrible chest pain struck her.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Not yet.”

“… … .”

Sepia stared intently into Fried’s eyes.

There was nothing that could be discerned.

But before she could even get up, Fried kicked the sword he had dropped to the ground and shouted.

Before he knew it, his sword, Ernst, was right in front of Sepia.

“I won’t make much of a fuss. I’ll just ask you one question.”

“… … .”

“What is your purpose?”

Fried’s eyes were colder than the snow that covered the surrounding area, and he looked ready to swing his sword at any moment.

Sepia inadvertently felt the aura of death.

“Answer quickly.”

“… … .”

One’s own purpose.

Sepia was chewed over.

As expected, nothing came to mind.

Arwen is dead. The channels to the outside world are blocked, the cult is disintegrating, and there is no one willing to make a contract with her.

He simply moves according to the requests of the snow elf that raised him.

“……doesn’t exist.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“What can I do with something that doesn’t exist?”

“Are you sure?”

Fried frowned.

Sepia nodded.

In fact, now that Arwen was dead, Sepia had virtually no purpose.

But it seemed as if he was not happy about it, so Fried raised his sword higher. Sepia’s chin rose accordingly.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“There really isn’t any.”

“What you desire most now is your purpose.”

“… … .”

“I guess so.”

Sepia’s expression hardened at Fried’s words.

Because there was only one thing that came to mind.

Fried flicked his wrist, as if his thoughts were reflected in his expression. Ernst’s touch, as cold as ice, reached right up to his chin.

“……at home.”

That’s why Sepia spoke up.

A story I never told anyone, and couldn’t tell anyone.

“I want to go home. To my hometown.”

“… … .”

“At the level of foreign news.”

That was Sepia’s simplest wish.