Heir Of The Supreme-Chapter 45: Intruding on Foreign Soil (17)

Since the black-haired man was off-balance, the man couldn't defend properly against Blaine's impromptu attack.

However, he still swung his mace in a desperate attempt to preserve his life.

But before it could hit Blaine, he raised his left arm and took a page straight out of Delsie's handbook.

Feeling a searing pain erupt from his forearm, Blaine was quite sure that his arm was so horribly damaged that every bone in his arm was shattered to bits.

Blaine's face didn't betray his immense agony but maintained his usual emotionless façade.

However, the current situation wasn't all bad.

Although the black-haired man's attack crippled one of his arms, Blaine had luckily summoned a green translucent wall beside himself, preventing the Kelonian man from sending him flying away with his blow.

...However, that meant that Blaine had to endure the pain of his body crashing into a wall by the force of a 2-Star's attack.

Blaine could feel that some of his ribs had been shattered by the blow, and some of his internal organs had been damaged as well.

Unlike earlier, the black-haired man didn't seem interested in holding back anymore.

For a 1-Star to block a full-fledged blow from a 2-Star, they needed to pay the price.

And now that Blaine had given his pound of flesh, he was ready to claim the fruit of his labour.

As Blaine's glowing-white longsword swiftly approached the Kelonian man's chest, the black-haired man's eyes widened in fear.

No longer could he see the auburn-haired youth, a simple boy.

The thing trying to reap his life was nothing short of a cold, calculating, killing machine.

The black-haired man was sure that if such a person ever had time to grow, the Coalition would be in great danger.

'I need to kill him here, no matter what!'

Despite having a principle to avoid killing noncombatants and children, it seemed that the black-haired man needed to go against his own morals for the greater good of his country.

Indeed, his earlier words to Blaine were quite hypocritical for someone as patriotic as him.

As he thought this, the black-haired man's eyes lit up with red light as he poured his mana into his Mana Art.

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Turning his head, he focused on the youth seconds away from piercing through his chest with a glowing white sword.

Feeling the hairs on his skin piloerect, Blaine hastily twisted his head and momentarily paused his attack.

Luckily, he made the correct choice.

Within a fraction of a second later, red beams shot out of the black-haired man's eyes as the searing heat caused Blaine to feel like his skin was drying up in real-time.

Noticing that the youth had dodged the sudden attack, the black-haired man moved his neck, causing the twin laser beams to begin heading in Blaine's direction.

However, this was too late, as the youth's sword had already reached the black-haired man's chest.

Forcing every ounce of remaining strength out of his only functional arm, Blaine plunged the shining white blade straight through the black-haired man's chest, piercing straight through the 2-Star Captain's heart.

It was already a harrowing ordeal to pierce through the armour-like uniform. Still, even the man's mana-infused chest muscles were like boulders.

Yet Blaine's Rank-3 longsword still managed to cut through it.

Feeling a sharp pain flood his chest, the black-haired man's laser eyes stopped moments before cutting Blaine in half.

In fact, all it managed to do was slightly sear Blaine's cheek, leaving a garish burn on the youth's handsome face.

The bright red light faded away from the black-haired man's eyes as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Cough."

The black-haired man desperately tried to channel his mana art one last time to finish the job, but sadly, before he could...

He was already dead.

Like that, for the first time in recordable history...

A 1-Star killed a 2-Star in one-on-one combat.

Killing a Rank-2 Magical Creature or Unknown was already a note-worthy feat. Still, it was well-regarded that killing humans of higher ranks was almost impossible.

But somehow, Blaine had accomplished that very feat.

Sadly, Blaine, Cecelia, and the two enemy 2-Stars were the only ones to witness such a scene.

Speaking of the others, Blaine painfully lifted himself off the black-haired man and turned around.

But just as he did, he felt a sudden blow crash onto him, sending him flying backwards.

Crashing into the ground several meters away, Blaine slowly lifted his injured neck, trying to understand what exactly had knocked him back so hard.

It was then he saw the black-haired woman tearfully clutching the body of her now-deceased brother.

Obviously, she was the one who'd attacked him just now.

The black-haired woman, who usually preferred to fight from a distance by utilizing her crossbow range, was too shocked and grieved to even use her weapon.

Instead, simply punched Blaine hard enough that the youth was sent flying.

Standing next to her, the blonde-haired woman stared at Blaine with her mouth agape.

Although she had witnessed the scene with her own two eyes, she was still in disbelief at what she'd seen moments prior.

"...How the h*ll?!?"

However, instead of focusing on his enemies, something else caught Blaine's eye.

It was Cecelia.

She was tied up by what looked like a brown hemp rope.

While he was fighting the Black-haired man, the other two used that moment to tie her up and capture her.

As she looked at Blaine with eyes full of fear, she screamed out Blaine's name as she desperately struggled to set herself free.

The blonde-haired woman scowled and quickly delivered a chop to the princess's neck to knock her out.

"...Shut up, for f*cks sake! People are grieving here!"

Despite the apparent rough treatment, Cecelia wasn't actually harmed.

The worst she would have would be a small bruise on the nape of her neck.

Still, after watching this, Blaine gritted his teeth and tried to stand up.

However, his broken body refused to comply.

No matter how high his pain tolerance was, he couldn't simply ignore the laws of physics.

Without functional muscles, there was no way for him to move.

It was a miracle that he was still alive, given his injuries; in fact, it wouldn't be surprising if Blaine were to suddenly die any second.

But even so...

Blaine wasn't planning on giving up.

Witnessing Cecelia tied up on the floor beside the two Kelonian women, Blaine couldn't help but recall something he'd heard a few days prior.

('You will lose them... Fail to keep them alive... Just like us..." The corpse taunted, "Soon... They will join me... And the others... All people you let die...')

As if summoned by his thoughts, a rotting corpse with hollowed-out eyes suddenly appeared in front of him.

It was none other than the blue-haired girl.

A familiar shrill voice rang out as it slowly separated its rotting teeth.

"Again... You fail... However... This time... Is different... Now... You won't get... Another chance..."

Another similar figure appeared beside it, but this time, it was the boy with fiery red hair.

"After all those times... You let people die... Now... It's your turn..."

Blaine was so exhausted that he didn't even have the energy to hide his emotions.

However... that was when a third figure appeared beside him.

This figure wasn't one Blaine had ever seen before.

As Blaine studied it with his slowly dimming eyes, he quickly realized who it was.

It was none other than a particular war hammer-wielding captain.

Blaine's lips quivered, and they slowly parted for the first time in years.

"No..."

However, Blaine's desperate plea didn't seem to faze the ghastly spectre.

In fact, It only seemed to agitate it.

"You were right there... Yet... You simply watched me die..."

Blaine's hands shivered as he forced out the words he had bottled up for so long.

"I... Had to follow orders... Prioritize the mission..."

Rick's corpse stared at Blaine with his hollowed-out eyes.

"The mission...? The mission... that you failed...?"

Lifting his rotting bony hand, the corpse pointed at Cecelia.

Regardless of Blaine's thought, the figure masquerading as Rick was right in one thing.

Blaine had failed.

Cecelia had called him a talent that the country needed above all else.

Blaine couldn't disagree more with this statement.

His entire existence was to be a tool, a weapon for the kingdom.

No matter how much talent or skill he possessed, at the end of the day, Blaine was simply a blade meant to be wielded for the betterment of the kingdom and the Royal Family.

Not someone who should be prioritized above the mission and a member of said family.

Now that he failed that... Was there really a need for his continued existence?

After all, tools that have lost their use were meant to be discarded.

Maybe it was for the better that he died here...

For the first time, Blaine stopped resisting, allowing the nightmarish cognitions plaguing him to win.

As the flood of negative thoughts filled Blaine's mind, he felt his consciousness slowly begin to slip.

"It's time... He has finally let go..."

"Yes... Soon 'it'... Will Awaken..."

"The advent... of 👍︎♒︎♋︎□︎⬧︎... is at hand..."

Hovering over him, the three ghastly figures broke into wide, soulless grins.

Giving into the tiredness that filled every ounce of his being, Blaine finally closed his eyes.

...And something else woke up.