Chapter 123:
Misery
Note: This chapter contains scenes of violence and gore and has been marked NSFW. Weakly edited.
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Standing in the middle of the empty field in the center of the Yursear Kingdom stood Meredith and Holland, their eyes focused forward on the group of foes in front of them.
"What a surprise it is to see you, Captain Laurent!" Holland smiled, his laughter low, like a growl. "What brings you out here?"
The captain stared at Holland with a heavy gaze, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Holland Joey. Why are you still in this kingdom?" He spoke aloud, lifting his sword towards the taller man. "We were searching for fugitives near the Faelfier Kingdom. I never expected to find you." He frowned.
Captain Laurent was searching for Clarence, Silas, and Maeir with his men, following their possible paths to the Faelfier border, but the closer they got towards the border, the more they smelled a strong scent of mana. The captain could only follow the strange scent until he found Holland and Meredith near the capital city, nearly half a day's journey away. With the heavy packs on their horses, he could only assume they were up to something involving the prince and his escaped companions.
Meredith's eyes narrowed as he turned to Holland, having known a little about his mysterious background before he allied with Eva those many years ago. Holland was a vagrant and a mercenary, working for any coins he could earn before he joined a particularly infamous mercenary guild dedicated to killing people, paid by the highest bidders within the continent. It was not until the guild was raided that he was taken in by Eva. It was why, even now, Meredith could confidently say Holland was a dangerous person. A smart, dangerous soldier, much like a wild card.
Hearing Beau speak to him like a chastising parent, Holland's chilly laughter filled the air as he lifted his heavy sword, his smile biting. "I should have killed you that day in Cailith. If only Eva would have let me do it." His eyes glittered, the air of bloodlust permeating through the air.
"Captain Laurent, how should we proceed?" The nearest soldier spoke in a loud tone to the captain, his eyes fixed on the two figures, the elven figure looking particularly weak, standing next to his horse like a fool.
The captain raised his free hand, saying with a heavy tone, "These two men are dangerous. Attempt to capture them alive, but kill them if you have to."
"Yes sir!" There was a small army of men with Captain Laurent, nearly twenty-five men. Half of them were upper-rank soldiers with the sole purpose to find and eliminate elves. The men were specially trained, and led by a formidable foe, Beau Laurent. They were fiercely loyal. Their only way out would be to fight until one party lost.
"Holland." Meredith spoke directly, channeling his mana to his hands, the heated air coiling around him like snakes. The light blue hue of his eyes began to light.
"Support me from the back, Meredith." Holland said, adjusting his grip on his sword. "If push comes to shove, leave here by yourself and I'll catch up. They can catch me, but they can't catch you." Holland shook his head lightly at the thought, his braided locks drifting into his vision slightly.
The battle started after a sudden step forward by Holland, marking a third of Captain Laurent's men to step forward to surround Holland like a cage, using another third to snap around the middle ground to attack Meredith directly, attempting to stop his ranged attacks from protecting Holland.
"Take down the elf!" The men shouted, storming towards Meredith with their swords.
Meredith had moved away from his horse, afraid of the soldiers startling his exit route. Instead, he hurried to the left side of the wide open field, still within view of Holland as the balls of mana in his hands heated up, forming large balls of fire that lit his torso and arms with a dark shade of orange. The mana had already gathered, heating up the battle stage even more, threatening to ignite the withered grass under their feet.
"Get back!" Beau shouted to his men. "He's using his magic!"
The group of eight men began to retreat back, separating off to avoid a mass attack. However, one of the men was a step too slow. Meredith saw it as an opportunity and quickly launched his attack, using the flames as a ball to ignite the man's figure with a large, solitary ball of scorching flames.
"AHHH!" The man screamed, his body beginning to burn, his flesh and armor melting around him like lava as the flames obscured his horrible figure. Soon his entire body was engulfed in flames, and there was only a pile of indistinguishable items left, filling the air with the burning smell of burnt hair and flesh.
The remaining men looked forward in horror, seeing the power of a full-blooded elf in full view. "My God…" One of the men whispered, his mouth hanging open as his eyes widened. A sense of fear and disgust filled the air, knowing the weak-looking elven man would be far more difficult to fight than they first thought.
"Once he overuses his mana, he'll be too weak to fight. Keep moving!" Captain Laurent shouted, his voice echoing through the area. "Don't let him get you!"
"Yes sir!"
The men surrounding Holland were not idle either. Beau attempted to catch Holland's attention, but the man was not stupid. He held his sword in his hands, preparing a trick of his own within his fitted armor as he parried various attacks from around him, moving in quick, light steps, never remaining in the same space more than once.
"Dammit, stay still!" One of the men yelled, attempting to narrow the distance between themselves and the dancing Holland Joey, but he was too quick, making them move sporadically to attempt to keep up with him.
As Holland moved back, one man swiftly moved forward, attempting to ram his sword into Holland's torso. As the sword rushed forward, Holland turned his waist and lifted his leg, kicking the sword with the bottom of his boot, moving it off course. As the soldier holding the sword attempted to straighten his attack, Holland's lifted foot moved faster. Before the soldier could react, the heel of Holland's foot came smashing down on the top of his head, producing a loud cracking sound before the soldier fell to the ground, parts of his teeth shattered on the ground around his broken jaw as he fell to the ground in a disordered heap.
On the other side of the battlefield, Meredith swiftly moved, his steps much like an elven dance as he ducked and dodged, producing a flurry of flames like the tail of a dragon, burning anything that touched him in its path. He moved in well-paced steps, anticipating his moves carefully as he reserved his energy, maintaining a close eye on his enemies as they attempted to use ranged attacks to hit him.
As the daggers and other sharp objects flew towards him, he swiftly moved out of the way, burning the objects in his path into heaps of hot liquid on the ground.
"Holland, we need to hurry this up!" Meredith shouted from across the field, swiftly moving back farther and farther from the main battlefield, using his mana to conjure a hot field of flames around his body, protecting himself from the soldiers, the heat too much for them to move closer, urging more ranged attacks he could more-easily handle.
I only have so much mana. The mana potions can only help so much. Meredith was a skilled swordsman, but his skills were not enough to defeat Beau Laurent's men. He would easily be killed by their swords without his mana. For now, he could only hold off the unexpected enemies as they surrounded him. Once there were fewer, he could step in.
One brave soldier attempted to thrust his sword towards the shield of flames, but his sword was engulfed, his hands burned beyond recognition from the heat of the liquid metal burning.
"It's time I got rid of them." Holland hummed, knocking back another soldier with his sword, using the sharp edge to slice his neck as he was thrown to the ground like a piece of garbage, bleeding out rapidly from his neck. As the man fell, Holland had already moved on to the next soldier, slicing any visible piece of skin with his sword.
"Hurry and attack him!" The soldiers continued, slicing at the man with no mercy, making him dance on his feet as though he were on fire himself. However, there was a pause between their moves, which was enough for Holland to act. Swiftly, he released his heavy grip on his sword with his left hand, rolling something sharp down his sleeve as he rolled it between his two fingers, his smile apparent as the object was quickly tossed through the air, striking one of the men surrounding him with a stabbing sound. The man that had been struck froze for a moment, feeling a burning pain infiltrate his scalp before blood began to trickle down his forehead, his body swaying.
"Fuck, Jeremiah!" One of the men closest to Holland turned away for only a moment before another needle was embedded into his neck, accurately placed between his helmet and his body armor.
Seeing the small needle embedded into his neck, Captain Laurent spoke aloud, "Poison darts, Holland? I thought this would be a clean fight."
Holland laughed, his eyes narrowed, "You think someone like me could ever fight fair, Beau Laurent? When did fair ever work in a real battle?" The poison darts were far from unfair in Holland's eyes, having fought with far more dangerous tools in the past.
More and more of his men were falling to the two. They were already at an unfair advantage fighting the infamous Charon of the southern isles. The only one who could control him was Eva, and once he started a battle, it would end only after there was a sea of dead surrounding his feet. He was infamous within the continent, and if he were able to capture him today, Captain Laurent would be the ultimate victor.
The pair had fought in the past, numerous times their swords crossed as he evaded capture time and time again, but this time, he felt less and less domesticated, as if the lock sealing him was threatening to rust away, falling off him entirely. His moves were wild, mixing between calculated and unpredictable, pushing Beau back further and further down the battlefield around his fallen comrades.
"Why not speed this up, Beau!" Holland ran forward at Beau, dodging the few flurry of men that were left standing. His sword rushed out, flying towards the captain without hesitation, nearly beheading him on the spot.
Watching Holland's approach, Beau jumped back, bending his back away from Holland's large sword as the metal wooshed through the air, pushing small pieces of gravel on the ground back from the force. Beau's steps landed heavy on the ground, his back slowly moving forward as he knelt, staring at Holland with a fierce light in his eyes.
"The true battle starts now." Holland placed his heavy sword to the side, throwing it to the ground with a flick of his wrist as he quickly grabbed a second, smaller sword from his waist. The sword itself seemed smaller, but the dark iron it was made of was ominous, causing the captain to feel the air of danger hanging in the air.
Meredith continued to attack the last of the surrounding men, his expression falling, heavy with worry as he stared at Holland's distant figure.
…
Staring towards Silas and Clarence, Cordelia froze, her body standing still as the tips of her fingers trembled. She slowly raised her hand, pointing her finger towards the young, past Yursinean prince with an unsteady tone, barely able to make an audible sound. "Y-you, what are you doing here?"
Kivah's eyes trailed over Clarence, a flash of recognition in his eyes as he stepped close to Cordelia. He spoke calmly, trying to defuse the growing tension, "You two must be Lady Camille's guests." He could only assume, as the two men were standing in the hall with Jasmine at their side. He stared at them with a testing gaze, feeling the blue-haired man felt familiar.
Kivah's voice did not calm Cordelia, and soon she grew irate the more she stared at the two men. "You, how dare you come here!" Cordelia's eyes were red with fury at the thought of such a vile, evil person being a guest of the countess's. Such a vicious person should have never stepped foot in the palace. He was mocking her, standing in front of her in full health, appearing just as healthy as the day she was banished from the Yursinean Palace.
He was the one that sent me away… He killed Annmaria by antagonizing those damn elves… If I was never forced out of that palace, then Victoria… Victoria would still be alive! Cordelia clenched her fists, her eyes burning red as she stared at the person who had killed those dearest to her. This man, that failure of a royal, remaining in his kingdom like a tyrant.
She could not stand it. Her fingertips were itching, she wanted to rip apart his skin, break every bone in his body, tearing out his organs in a complete fit of rage. Cordelia's breath quickened, her nostrils flaring with every ragged breath. Kivah put a hand up to Cordelia's shoulder, but she pushed him away with a violent thrust of her hand.
"Don't touch me!" Cordelia hissed, "Your group associates with that… that vermin?!" Cordelia seethed, her red-rimmed eyes shooting over with unearthly hatred towards Clarence.
As the fight persisted, Jasmine's unnoticed figure soon hurriedly disappeared, her steps quick as she sensed a larger problem brewing in the quiet halls. Kivah, watching as her figure retreated, looked forward with a small frown. Looks like I'm on my own for now.
"What are you doing here, Duchess Bernard?" Clarence asked dryly, mildly surprised by her sudden appearance, more because it was hard to surprise him after all he had been through in the last few days, than his anticipation of Cordelia's appearance. Her sudden appearance was as shocking to Clarence, as it was to Cordelia.
Both were equally as surprised by how awful each other looked.
The sound of her name coming from Clarence's lips further flamed the rage building inside Cordelia, "Don't speak my name, you disgusting murderer! Elf-lover! Traitorous bastard!" Cordelia spit venomously.
"Alright, Patricia… Or, whoever you are." Kivah said rather coldly, not surprised by the reveal, but irked by the familiar name. A Vartien duchess, someone who directly went against everything Kivah and everyone else had been working so hard to change. He placed a cold hand on Cordelia's shoulder, this time his strong hand clamping down.
Feeling the pressing weight on her shoulder, Cordelia looked up at Kivah, who looked down at her with a cold, distant expression. It was even colder and more distant than when they first met.
A frightened feeling shot up Cordelia's spine.
Kivah was all she had left. Her family would, without a doubt, turn her away when she finally tried to return home. Her closest friends were dead, and the other noble families who had previously dropped to their knees at her mere presence would not even recognize the once powerful duchess.
"Kivah, I can explain." Cordelia said, her voice shaking as she turned towards her closest companion. He turned his head away from her, looking at the group that had recently joined them.
"Please go ahead of us. We'll be there soon." Kivah stated, refusing to look at Cordelia.
"No." Cordelia cried, her hands locking themselves desperately around his arm, which remained on her shoulder, "Kivah, you don't understand!"
"Please stop." Kivah muttered under his breath, his eyes ice cold, "You're embarrassing yourself."
A cold, prickling sensation ran up Cordelia's back, lifting the hair on the back of her neck. Kivah had never spoken to her that way, not even when they first met. He had always spoken softly to her, and his eyes, though cautious, always had hints of warmth.
"You," Cordelia hissed, "This is all your fault!" Cordelia's eyes locked onto Clarence's, who's mild annoyance at the unwelcome reunion was quickly stewing into anger. This incensed Cordelia further, a sharp, painful electricity piercing through the air.
"Let's go." Silas muttered, placing a hand behind Clarence's elbow as he attempted to lead him back into the room.
"Don't you dare move! You have to pay for what you've done!" Cordelia cried, her eyes crazed.
"Stop it." Kivah hissed, moving his hand down from Cordelia's shoulder to get a firm grip on her arm.
"What about what you've done?" Clarence snapped back at the duchess, immensely annoyed that Cordelia was making him look bad in front of Silas, "All the poorer nobles you abused, all the girls you chased away from the kingdom. What about them?" Clarence scoffed, shaking his head, "The only reason you are like this is because of your own terrible decisions. It's your punishment."
Silas wanted to stop the fight before it continued. "Go back in your room." Silas said, tugging at Clarence's elbow as he stepped between the sparring ex-nobles.
"No." Cordelia muttered, taking everyone by surprise as she pressed herself against Kivah.
"What are you-?!" Kivah cried, before he realized what Cordelia was doing. The weight on his hip from his sword was suddenly gone, his sword now being held in a tight grip by Cordelia. She held the sword clumsily, pointing it towards the young prince as she ran, her short path stopped by no one.
"I'll kill you!" Cordelia screamed, lunging towards Clarence with complete disregard, her eyes full of insanity. Her nails were coiled around the heavy sword as she lifted it above her head, her face contorted in an almost inhuman manner as she ran forward, her steps heavy, her voice scratchy and threatening.
Seeing the duchess in such a state, coming right towards Clarence, and more importantly to Clarence, Silas, who had stepped between them to break up the fight, time slowed for the prince. Moving as if by instinct, Clarence wrapped his hands around Silas's shoulders before roughly pushing him out of the way of the oncoming strike. Silas cried out in surprise as Kivah shouted, running towards them. Cordelia had too much of a head start though, Kivah would not make it in time.
"Stop!" Kivah screamed as Clarence stood still, waiting.
Though a part of him told him to move out of the way of the oncoming deadly blow, another, louder part of him wondered if it would be better if Cordelia did kill him. Cordelia would be appeased, Malcolm would let Clarence's family go, and the silly rumor he was an elf would fade into the distance. And, most importantly, Silas would get revenge on him for everything he had done to him and his family.
Clarence looked at Silas one more time, whose mouth was agape in shock and horror. The trained soldier suddenly could not move.
That's a cute face to remember him by. Clarence thought to himself with a small smile as he shut his eyes, waiting for the blow.
A heavy slam and a scream ripped Clarence's eyes open.
On the ground in front of him was Cordelia, squirming and screaming, while a silently annoyed Vaan pressed her against the ground with his knee and one arm, using the other to rip the sword out of her grip with ease. This caused Cordelia to howl more, the pain in her screeches making everyone turn away uncomfortably.
Clarence, realizing it was over, sighed in relief.
This relief was short-lived; however, as soon as Silas rose to his feet, he walked towards Clarence with an expression of fury. Without hesitation, he lifted his fist and punched Clarence in the cheek, sending the unexpectant prince flying backwards.
"You idiot!" Silas shouted, grabbing the reeling prince by his collar and lifting him to his feet, the young man nearly dangling off the ground, "Do you realize how important you are to the mission?!"
Clarence's face dropped immediately in annoyance, "Is that all you're worried about?"
Silas glared coldly at Clarence, a tundra wind blowing between them, before Silas let go of Clarence's collar, letting him fall back to the ground with a thump.
As Clarence got himself up, Vaan, with a firm grip on Cordelia, pulled her to her feet. A small crowd of bewildered guests, including an annoyed Eva, who had followed Vaan as soon as Vaan had raced out of the meeting room, stood around, trying to take in the shocking situation in front of them.
"Let me go!" Cordelia screamed, futilely trying to break Vaan's grip, "I'm doing you all a favor! That scum will betray you! He can't be trusted!"
"No, that's not true." Clarence said, his expression and tone suddenly serious as he stared at the small group in front of him, shooting a pointed gaze towards Cordelia, "I don't expect any of you to trust me immediately, but I want and am willing to earn your trust." His gaze moved over to Silas, who stood to the side, his arm crossed over his chest as he held his arm in a restrained manner, his eyes moving between the duchess and the prince. "Being in the Highland District in itself is a very dangerous move for me, but I want to rebuild our relationships, reestablish the trust we had once lost. My goal is to save everyone, not just myself. I want to be better, which is why I am here."
"Save everyone? You're such a hypocrite, you moronic tyrant!" Cordelia could not help but laugh manically, staring at the prince with resentment in her gaze, "You hated the elves enough to send soldiers on expeditions to hunt them, and now you're allying with them? With this elf?" She pointed her chin towards Silas, her resentment palpable. "I was sent away from the palace, nearly killed to keep the palace quiet, and here you are… rendezvousing with elves! Are humans not enough for you now, you disgusting hypocrite?!"
Elven rendezvous? Silas raised a brow, his gaze falling on Clarence, the young man's gaze narrowed dangerously.
Before Clarence could open his mouth to refute her words, someone else spoke first. "Shut your mouth, little girl." Eva snapped at Cordelia, her stern voice silencing even the quietest floor board, "You seem to like to speak a great deal about hypocrisy, something you seem to know quite a bit about, seeing as you've been a leech to everyone around you. Instead of making your meager situation worse, you'd be best to keep your lips sealed."
Eva then turned an irked eye to Clarence, "Are you alright?" Her gaze fell on the reddening welt on his cheek.
Clarence nodded, his back straightening under Eva's scrupulous gaze. Eva's gaze then turned to Vaan, nodding to him silently. He nodded back, effortlessly dragging a weeping Cordelia out of the hallway.
"Impeccable timing." Eva said with a sarcastic smile as Jasmine approached the group. The frown on Jasmine's face showed her displeasure with Eva's sarcasm.
Having run to get help herself, she missed much of the battle to her dismay. "It would have helped if you hadn't run out of the meeting like you just set your ass on fire. Or maybe if you had said something before you did." Jasmine shot back with as much sarcasm as she could muster. Eva smiled, her eyes revealing her annoyance, but her calm smile stopped the progressing fight.
There were more important things to handle.
"So, we had a guest fly off the handle, huh? That's unfortunate." Jasmine said, tilting her head to the side as she closed her eyes, sighing, "I'll take care of that guest in just a moment. Unless you'd like to, Kivah?" Jasmine smiled, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she turned to Kivah. Kivah turned away, but slightly nodded his head, wordless, as he slipped out of the hallway, following Cordelia's muffled weeping.
Jasmine then turned back to Clarence, "Other than that mark on your face, you look fine. Go back to your room for now and wait there until we come to get you." The expression on her face was chilling, full of venom that threatened to spill from her lips, "I'll send someone later to check on you."
Clarence nodded his head before taking one last look at Silas, hoping for a crumble of pity or regret for punching him. Clarence mustered all of the pouty, puppy-eye look he could, but Silas was unaffected by the pitiful display, which sent Clarence back to his room with hunched shoulders. Silas rubbed his hand, feeling a slight, dull pain panging in his knuckles from where he had punched the prince.
As he rubbed his bruised hand, he asked Eva, "What are you going to do about that girl? She's obviously dangerous." Silas asked, his voice tight as he placed a hand on his shoulder where Clarence had pushed him. It definitely was going to bruise.
"That's for Countess Bernard to decide." Jasmine said with a dismissive shrug of her shoulders, "Are you okay, Silas?"
"Yeah." Silas said with a shake of his head as he dropped his hands to his side.
"Then let's not let this little incident derail our plans. We have quite a bit to discuss." Eva said, opening her hand to her side, encouraging Jasmine and Silas to begin walking back. Begrudgingly, the two walked in front of Eva, who glanced back only once, taking a moment to drop her handkerchief on a group of bloody droplets on the ground. She stomped on it before bending at her waist to scoop up her handkerchief.
There was no time for silly antics.
…
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And it's a wrap! Why are these chapters averaging 10 pages lately.... ;; Well, there's a lot to fit in lately, and so much going on. I just got a 3% pay raise and a new supervisor now (we work well together, so I consider it a positive change), so things have been changing for me work-wise too. Lately I've been helping Hunny at her store, so it kills my free time :C But having the week off let her catch up and help!
As for the thing I mentioned on discord, it was unfortunately a no, but it was master's level so I can't be mad ahaha! Also, I know some of y'all mentioned some plot holes, and I do see them and try to patch them as we go, but working week to week makes it tough (; ω ; ) My memory is top-tier, but not for this much novel. RIP (￣ ￣|||) If you see them, they don't exist~~~ ahahaha
Again, I will get on those comments (I see them and forget to respond ;; ), as I always love and appreciate reading them!! Thank you for your continued support~~! I hope you continue to read and enjoy YMtK >y<~~
Small note, but a new friend of mine has started working on a Brazilian Portuguese translation for YMtK, so I'll let you know when they share it!!! They said they may need help, so I'll keep you all updated on that~!
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Edit: I'm going through and adding * to the end of chapter titles that include any NSFW or questionable content (vampire extra lol), so please keep an eye out for that! (Tapas readers, ignore this ;D)