'Ahh… why does this feel so good?'
'It's to satisfying'
In the depths of his frenzied mind, Taylor's thoughts echoed with a disturbing sense of satisfaction.
It was exhilarating, intoxicating even, to lose himself in the chaos of battle.
Saliva dripped from his mouth, his eyes wide and unblinking, brows twitching with manic glee.
His grotesque smile stretched from ear to ear, a visage of madness that bordered on the monstrous.
Even the seasoned Duke, who had faced countless foes in his past, felt a twinge of unease.
There was something unsettling about the energy emanating from Taylor, something primal and untamed.
Though the signs of Aura had vanished, an instinctual warning urged the Duke to end the fight swiftly.
With the speed of lightning, Taylor vanished and reappeared before the Duke, his blade aimed at the vulnerable juncture of the Duke's neck. It whistled through the air like a rocket, a harbinger of impending doom.
"Hahaha!" Taylor's laughter rang out, accompanied by the burning intensity of his crimson eyes. In that moment, there was only one thing driving him forward—an insatiable thirst for blood, a primal urge that consumed his every thought and action.
Once again, the world around him momentarily turned bloody…. Before going back to the present once more…
"Don't you dare show your face in front of me again!"
As the Duke's voice echoed through the air, Taylor couldn't comprehend the surrealness of the situation.
The words were filled with both fury and anguish, yet the Duke's lips remained motionless, adding to the confusion enveloping Taylor's mind.
What was happening? His thoughts spun in disarray, unable to grasp the reality of the moment.
"TAYLOR!!!!"
Then, a desperate cry pierced through the haze, the Duke's voice calling out his name with an urgency that sent shivers down Taylor's spine.
Suddenly, a scene unfolded before him, a chilling tableau of himself standing over the Duke, a sinister smile playing on his lips as he delivered the fatal blow.
Taylor's heart pounded in his chest as he struggled to comprehend the ghastly vision before him.
His head hurt….
'Another nightmare….?'
How could he be capable of such a heinous act? The lines between reality and illusion blurred, leaving Taylor grappling with the terrifying uncertainty of his own mind.
Shaking his head in a futile attempt to dispel the haunting images, Taylor turned his gaze to the Duke once more.
In that moment of chaos and turmoil, a twisted notion took hold in his mind—if he could just spill blood, perhaps none of this would matter anymore.
A dark laughter bubbled up from within Taylor, echoing through the recesses of his mind as he teetered on the edge of sanity.
BAANGG!!!
With a resounding bang that reverberated like a thunderclap, the Duke managed to block Taylor's ferocious strike with the flat side of his sword.
For the first time in their duel, he felt the force of Taylor's relentless assault push him back, a testament to the young man's newfound strength and determination.
"Taylor, you..." The Duke attempted to reason with him, but his words fell on deaf ears. Taylor was consumed by a frenzy, his actions driven by an unknown force.
In a blur of motion, Taylor thrust his sword at the Duke once more, forcing him to sidestep with lightning reflexes.
It was unnatural, the speed and power Taylor wielded without the aid of aura reinforcement across his entire body. Yet, there he was, moving with an otherworldly agility that defied explanation.
As the Duke sought a way to subdue Taylor without causing harm, Taylor abruptly shifted his momentum, hurling his sword towards the Duke.
Reacting instinctively, the Duke ducked his head, only to find Taylor's fist hurtling towards him, utilizing the sword as a distraction.
Caught off guard, the Duke braced himself for the impact.
With each resounding bang that echoed through the air, Taylor's relentless assault continued unabated.
The Duke found himself pushed back several meters by the force of Taylor's blows, the impact akin to being struck by powerful fireball spells.
For reference the 5-star flame spell 'fire ball' had more fire power than the 5-star lightning spell 'smite'.
The intensity of Taylor's attacks surpassed even the most potent magical incantations, each strike delivering a force that reverberated through the Duke's massive frame.
Left, right, left, right—Taylor's onslaught showed no signs of abating.
"HAHAHAHA!"
His maniacal laughter filled the air as he reveled in the chaos, his eyes alight with a fervor that bordered on madness.
The Duke, once an imposing figure, now found himself reduced to little more than a plaything in Taylor's hands.
But the moment of triumph was short-lived.
"Gughck,,,?"
A sudden, sharp pain seared through Taylor's stomach, causing him to gasp in agony.
Blood spilled from his lips as he was forcibly expelled from the Duke's grasp, hurtling through the air until he collided with a nearby tree with bone-crushing force.
The impact was so powerful that it threatened to snap the sturdy trunk in half, leaving Taylor sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.
Struggling to make sense of the chaos around him, Taylor's thoughts were muddled and disjointed. The imprint of the Duke's fist seared into his chest served as a painful reminder of the reality he now faced. But amidst the confusion, there was no time for contemplation or reflection—only the overpowering surge of madness that consumed his mind.
Already struggling to look in front of him… he was dazed as he saw the most beautiful thing in front of him.
A blue moon was descending and making its way in front of him.
A fierce wind threatened to sweep him away, and as Taylor gazed dazedly at the descending moon, he felt a sense of surrealism wash over him.
Before he could comprehend the situation, a deafening impact struck him, sending him hurtling through the air once more.
Though the Duke's punch had missed its mark, the force of the blow was enough to inflict significant damage.
Tossed and tumbled across the unforgiving ground, Taylor felt the earth shift beneath him as he struggled to regain his bearings.
Opening his eyes, he glimpsed a celestial body looming above—a manifestation of his own minlit aura, encasing the Duke's fist.
It was a surreal sight, one that left Taylor grappling with the sheer impossibility of it all.
In the midst of his confusion, the Duke's voice cut through the chaos, filled with both concern and regret. "Damn... I almost killed him," he muttered, scratching his head in frustration.
With that, consciousness slipped away from Taylor, enveloping him in darkness as he succumbed to the depths of unconsciousness.
….
The Duke stared at the sleeping Taylor, his heart still racing from the recent events. Just moments ago, Taylor had been in a perilous state, bloodied and injured, rushed to his bedroom in haste. The Duke had called for priests and doctors, frantic for aid to tend to Taylor's wounds. Now, as Taylor lay peacefully on the bed, the Duke felt a wave of relief wash over him. Though Taylor had suffered broken bones and a punctured lung, the prognosis was not as dire as he had feared. The priests assured him that they could heal the injuries quckly.
'He would probably wake this evening?'
His wife, Duchess Estelle, approached him, her expression a mix of concern and reproach.
"What did you do to him, dear?" she inquired, her voice laced with a hint of disapproval.
She had been shocked when her husband had carried Taylor, battered and bloody, into their home.
The Duke met her gaze, sensing her frustration.
He knew he would have to answer for his actions.
"Well…. It was an accident, Estelle," he replied, his voice tinged with regret and a bit of embarrassment…
Duchess Estelle's frustration softened into a sigh as she considered the situation, judging from her husband's reaction he probably did something stupid again…
"If it were Stella..." she began, her voice trailing off.
She couldn't help but worry about their daughter's reaction.
Stella held a special bond with Taylor, seeing him not just as a butler, but as a dear friend and brother.
Even the head maid Bella's eyes were laced with worry and concern for the duke, as she stared at the sleeping Taylor.
'Master will probably die today, once the young lady returns…...' she thought, but she quickly composed herself of such thoughts.
It wasn't right for a servant to think as such…
The Duke's nerves prickled at the mention of their daughter.
He knew all too well the power of Stella's wrath, particularly when it came to matters involving Taylor….
Memories of what happened yesterday resurfaced, where Stella had wielded her magical abilities with alarming precision, flashed through his mind.
He shuddered at the thought of facing her fury once more.
"I know," the Duke admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.
The image of Stella, her eyes crackling with magical energy, loomed large in his mind.
"What exactly happened?" the Duchess inquired, her tone laced with concern and confusion as she surveyed the scene before her.
The Duke, feeling a pang of guilt, scratched his head nervously before attempting to diffuse the tension with a forced smile.
However, his feeble attempt only served to make the situation more awkward, hanging in the air like an unspoken truth waiting to be acknowledged.
"Well... we were just training like usual, but a few things happened here and there, and I might have accidentally used aura... on him?" the Duke stammered, his words trailing off as he realized the weight of what he was admitting. The Duchess's reaction was swift and unexpected.
"You crazy bastard!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with a mixture of shock and anger. It was the first time the Duke had ever heard his wife utter such profanity, and it sent a chill down his spine.
Although the Duke's explanation held a grain of truth, he knew deep down that divulging the full extent of what had occurred would only complicate matters further.
There was clearly something amiss with Taylor, and his priority was to address that issue before delving into explanations.
"W-well, we needed him to prepare for the academy, right? So I thought a few hard lessons might—" he attempted to justify his actions, but before he could finish his sentence, his voice was silenced as if by magic.
His wife's wand, bathed in a luminous blue glow, hovered before him, emanating an aura of power that sent shivers down his spine.
"Ice magic?" he thought, his mind racing with questions.
Before he could react, he felt a cold sensation enveloping his hands as they were encased in a block of ice.
The Duke's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he struggled against the icy restraints.
"You're sleeping outside tonight..."
The Duchess's words hung heavy in the air, each syllable laden with an ominous weight that sent a shiver down the Duke's spine.
He knew that tone well – it was the same one she used when she was truly enraged, a rare occurrence that filled him with dread.
The Duke's heart sank as the Duchess continued, her voice cold and unforgiving.
"Oh, and stay at the training grounds. Stella will meet you there later," she commanded before turning away, her dismissal final and absolute.
Desperation clawed at the Duke's throat as he attempted to protest, to plead for mercy, but his words were stifled by the icy grip of magic that sealed his lips shut.
He could only watch in helpless frustration as his wife strode away, leaving him stranded in a state of powerless resignation.
As the reality of his predicament settled in, the Duke's gaze turned to Taylor, who lay nearby, a silent witness to his downfall.
Anger and resentment bubbled within him as he cast a disdainful glare at the butler, blaming him silently for the chain of events that had led to his humiliation.
With a resigned sigh, the Duke begrudgingly complied with his wife's wishes, knowing that there was no escaping the consequences of his actions.
As he made his way to the training grounds, he couldn't shake the feeling of dread that gnawed at his insides, knowing that he would have to face his daughter's wrath this evening…