The swords of Erin and Corelia crossed in midair. Corelia’s strike failed to reach Erin perfectly. Her attack aimed for the heart only managed to slice along Erin’s thigh. Blood sprayed as Erin’s clothes tore, but the wound wasn’t severe enough to immobilize her.
Corelia wasn’t disappointed.
‘It works against her!’
She could see that her enhanced strength from consuming the mana stone was effective against Erin.
‘You say I couldn’t become a Sword Master because I was obsessed with physical ability and mana?’
She vowed not to give Erin a clean death for daring to say such things to her.
She continuously swung her sword while surrounding it with mana—possible because the mana stone allowed her to use mana continuously without depleting it. Erin also used her aura to block Corelia’s sword.
‘I’ll win!’
A subtle smile played on Corelia’s lips. Erin couldn’t defeat her; she would ultimately emerge victorious. With this confidence, Corelia attempted to thrust her sword into Erin’s shoulder, certain this blow would deal significant damage.
That’s when Erin bent her knees to avoid the sword and launched a counterattack—her movements flowing naturally like water. Corelia perceived Erin’s movements as very slow.
‘My senses have improved because of the mana stone. My goodness, even this is possible!’
But something felt strange. Although Erin’s movements seemed slow, Corelia couldn’t avoid her attacks. Parrying the sword became increasingly difficult despite the attacks not being particularly fast to her monsterfied body.
Corelia fell victim to Erin’s attack with humiliating ease. A burning pain shot through her shoulder, though her body quickly began to recover after consuming the mana stone. Still, the pain remained. Corelia stared at Erin with disbelieving eyes.
“How? How is this possible?”
Her condition was perfect. The Emperor’s advanced black magic had temporarily given her a body comparable to a Sword Master’s. Yet she couldn’t avoid Erin’s seemingly slow movements.
Corelia couldn’t believe the situation. “I’ve clearly become stronger than you. So it makes no sense that someone like you can match me… why…”
She grimaced and tried to swing her sword again. Fortunately, she was ambidextrous—having one arm incapacitated didn’t prevent her from wielding her sword.
CLANG! CLASH!
The swords of Erin and Corelia collided. Once again, Erin’s sword didn’t yield. It felt like facing an enormous mountain—no matter how many times she swung her sword, she couldn’t reach Erin.
Corelia gradually lost ground. Swinging her sword became increasingly difficult, and her wounds multiplied. Eventually, Erin’s sword pierced through her shoulder while her foot roughly kicked Corelia’s abdomen, causing her to collapse helplessly.
Though her monsterfied body recovered from wounds quickly, that was its limit. Corelia instinctively realized: ‘Even if my body recovers, I cannot win.’
She muttered resentfully, “Why… someone like you…”
She felt insane with jealousy over Erin’s exceptional talent. What did she lack compared to Erin right now? The Emperor had told her that consuming a mana stone would allow her to face a Sword Master. After eating it, she had been confident she could defeat Erin.
If Count Leon had been her opponent now, she wouldn’t have expected to lose.
‘Then why can’t I defeat Erin?’
Corelia truly despised Erin. She was driven mad with envy for Erin’s naturally blessed body chosen by the sword and her innate sword talent. She had thought the mana stone would help her catch up to such talent, but even that had failed.
“I understand why the Emperor wants to become a god. Looking at how the goddess gave talent to someone like you, she must be out of her mind.”
Erin placed her sword against Corelia’s neck. “Even if you had the same talent, you would never have reached my level.”
Corelia looked up at Erin with raised eyes, her hands trembling with rage. “You think everything ends if you kill me? His Majesty will destroy everything precious to you. You’ll ultimately fail.”
“…”
“And you’ll fall into h*ll! You’ll live a life worse than being alive!”
Erin looked down at Corelia. Her screaming figure looked pitiful. In the past, Corelia’s curses had become reality—Erin had indeed lived a life worse than death and had been killed by the woman before her. But she had been given a second chance.
Erin shook her head and replied, “I’m going to be happier than you could ever imagine.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody will ever love you. Who could possibly like someone like you?”
No, Ferdin had already told her he loved her. And she had many others who loved her too. That’s why Erin could confidently say:
“Everything you’ve said is wrong. I’m already loved more than I deserve.”
Corelia clenched her fists. Despite her curses, Erin remained unfazed—a fact that drove Corelia mad.
“I will never apologize. When I die like this, you’ll never receive an apology.”
Erin smiled at Corelia’s words—a somehow refreshing smile. She spoke with a confident voice, suggesting she had truly overcome everything:
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to forget you.”
Corelia felt her heart sink with shock. She asked with an incredulous face, “What? You’ll forget me?”
“You mean nothing to me.”
Erin had been stuck in her childhood for a long time. Even through multiple lifetimes, she couldn’t forget her life as Erin. Corelia had been a significant presence to her, but not anymore.
“So it’s fine if you don’t apologize. Your apology has no value to me.”
Corelia’s eyes turned bloodshot. “Go to h*ll.”
Erin shook her head. “You’re the one who’s going to h*ll.”
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t angry at Corelia. If Erin had heard these words shortly after returning to the past, she might have struggled to maintain her composure. But now, she truly felt nothing.
The real revenge against Corelia was completely forgetting her existence. Erin felt no need to continue this conversation.
‘Sounds like a battle is happening underground.’
Erin said to Corelia, “You won’t be lonely in h*ll.”
Her companions would join her there. Without hesitation, Erin swung her sword.
* * *
Alexis and Ferdin were at the Imperial Palace, accompanied by several mages from the Magic Tower. After securing Marquis Liserth’s safety, Ferdin had immediately moved to the palace.
This was because Alexis had mentioned that tracking a black magic caster would be easier with objects bearing traces of mana. Upon arriving at the palace, they headed straight to the Emperor’s room.
“My goodness, it’s hard to believe this is the Emperor’s room,” Alexis exclaimed repeatedly in admiration. “This is truly remarkable. Any mage who saw this place would have realized the Emperor was using black magic.”
“This is my first time entering my father’s room as well.”
“It’s filled with herbs necessary for black magic. If we had discovered this room first, we wouldn’t have needed to look for separate evidence.”
“…”
“Being an Emperor is quite convenient, isn’t it? You can hide anything in your room without anyone knowing…”
Alexis adjusted his glasses, smiling with mischievous eyes. “Ah, I’m not coveting Prince Ferdin’s position because I envy such convenience. I have no interest in becoming Emperor.”
The mages behind Alexis exclaimed in horror at his words:
“Tower Master! You shouldn’t say such strange things!”
“Even as a joke, please don’t say things like that.”
Alexis looked at them with an annoyed expression, clicking his tongue and complaining that he couldn’t even make jokes.
Turning to Ferdin, Alexis said, “We posted notices about Prince Ditrion, but the Emperor hasn’t contacted us.”
“Father has abandoned Ditrion.”
It was just as Ferdin had expected.
“We asked for his location for Prince Ditrion’s sake. Well, I didn’t really expect anything.”
After saying this, Alexis grasped the fountain pen the Emperor frequently used. Now that they knew the Emperor was a black magic user, finding traces was not as difficult as before.
‘Of course, tracking a skilled mage isn’t easy, but…’
If they had an object the person used regularly, it wasn’t entirely impossible. As he closed his eyes and concentrated, he detected strange mana movements.
‘Large-scale spatial teleportation magic?’
Alexis’s face hardened at the unpleasantly massive flow of mana.
Translator
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Pitidri
Acho que o Marquês deveria ter ido junto com os cavaleiros para subjugar o Palácio na primeira vez, assim não precisariam ficar preocupados com ele o tempo todo, e pelo o que sei, ele não era fraco, mas ainda assim foi pego várias vezes… e o cavaleiro que era o braço direito dele? Morreu?