Chapter 65: Stepping In

No matter what stood in its way, that massive halberd would split it in two with unparalleled momentum.

Or so it should have been.

“Argh!” But Emille suddenly trembled as if some part of her body had been struck by a concealed weapon, and the trajectory of the giant axe in her hands wavered and drifted.

“Ugh…!”

In that split second where Emille could not control her mid-air body and exposed a weakness, the mysterious figure in the black robe standing behind Miona Dreyco—who seemed to have been waiting for this chance—suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Emille by the throat.

“Ah—!”

“Your movements have grown sluggish, Miss Liones. It seems licking Callista’s sweet toes has made you bloated. Especially those ostentatious breasts that don’t look nearly firm enough.”

“You… you bastard!”

Someone had definitely triggered the existing pain in her aching lower back just now, causing Emille’s perception of her own body to lapse and allowing the sneak attack to succeed.

But despite the momentary blunder, Emille, who had experienced countless battles since childhood, was a true warrior who grew in the face of desperation. With a strange, lightning-fast motion, she raised her long leg and delivered a fierce whip-kick directly to the black-robed figure’s temple.

*Bang—!* With that, she successfully broke free from the restraint and increased the distance between them.

“Damn it, I was planning to kick your head open like a watermelon. I didn’t expect it to be so sturdy. Interesting.”

Emille rubbed her neck while adjusting her stance, her blue eyes reflecting her opponent’s silhouette.

Thanks to Emille’s whip-kick, the black robe was blown away and fell to the ground, allowing everyone to see the true face of the person beneath the cloak…

“Bones? …A corpse?”

“Hiss… even the air feels cold now.”

The crowd finally realized the truth behind the grim thing hidden by the black fabric. Miona Dreyco’s Dragon Knights were all undead—living corpses.

Among these undead warriors, the most terrifying was that last survivor—a horrific mummified corpse with a blue eerie light radiating from its skeletal skull.

“…Lève-toi, mon guerrier…”

The flames in those eye sockets, flickering with blue nether-fire, pulsed. The upper and lower jaws, which had nothing left but gums, moved to chant a low incantation. The corpses Emille had just hacked to the ground stood up once more, stitching their bloodless, fleshless bodies back together.

“Undead… He’s controlling the undead?”

“Could it be an ancient Lich? It’s said that high-level mages or necromancers become this kind of intelligent undead after death…”

Seeing this, Emille spat on the ground with a loud ‘peh’.

“Damn it, the disgusting Dreyco family. I see it now. That’s your father, isn’t it, Miona Dreyco? You’re a madwoman who turned her own father into an undead servant.”

“…” Miona Dreyco did not answer, but her originally cold and indifferent expression became difficult to maintain. It suddenly turned distorted and sharp, and her dark red pupils contracted accordingly.

‘Whether it’s Evelyn or Miona, the faces beautiful girls make when they’re angry are truly terrifying.’

However, Emille did not care about the other woman’s expression and continued to shout, “Arlette Dreyco—the Necromancer who was once as famous as a nightmare—to think he’s been reduced to an undead servant for his half-baked daughter. How ironic.”

“Shut up!”

“Letting the old father who devoted his life to the family have no peace even after death? What a display of ‘filial piety.’ Even a ‘dutiful daughter’ like me couldn’t do something like that.”

“I said, shut up!”

Emille continued her somewhat excessive provocations, completely ignoring any underlying reasons or secrets. She was likely trying to stall for time on purpose.

‘She must realize her physical condition is poor and wants to use this to recover.’

Although no one else noticed, Erika saw that Emille’s calves were trembling slightly, and her legs were spread at an unnatural angle.

‘Is it because of me?’

Erika picked up her previous memories—

“Eh, Erika, what is this?!”

Emille, her face flushed red and pressed tightly against Erika, looked in surprise at the pink, strip-like object extending from behind the girl.

The tip was heart-shaped like that of a succubus. If one were to call that thing a tail, it was far too long, and it looked more like some kind of energy matter because its texture resembled pink, transparent jelly.

Sensing no danger, Emille had curiously examined this ‘tail’. “Erika, what is this? Were you hiding something like this?” she had wondered, even reaching out to poke the tip of the tail.

But at that time, the girl had been in a half-dreaming, half-awake state of dissociation—commonly known as sleepwalking—and was completely unable to respond to what Emille was saying.

After being touched by the large blonde woman, the tail had naturally coiled around her.

“Mm, that tickles. Stop it, Erika.” Gradually, that tail-like thing began to wrap around Emille like a tentacle, binding both of her hands. It was only then that Emille realized something was wrong.

“Hey, Erika, you’re awake, right? Don’t play this kind of joke… mgh! …”

Then, the half-lidded Erika sat motionless while Emille was suspended by her hands, pinned face-down on the bed.

The calls for her to stop gradually turned into angry roars, then weakened, and finally became trembling whimpers.

Emille bit her lip hard, burying her head in the quilt to chew on the strange sensations and humiliation alone, but those were not the reasons for her silence.

What made her so aggrieved that she wouldn’t say a word was that Erika clearly had such a thing but had never mentioned it to her, only to bring it out now to bully her.

Furthermore, she could feel that this ‘tail’ possessed a strange ability. Most of her body’s strength was being drained by it, leaving her limp and unable to struggle. It also had some lewd abilities to stir up emotions, so by the end, Emille’s brain had been in a complete fog.

Most importantly, she couldn’t feel any response from Erika. It felt as if she were merely being played with as a toy, with her feelings completely disregarded.

Disappointment, grievance, a tidal wave of strange sensations and pain, and a level of intense demand that even the abnormal physical stamina of the big girl couldn’t resist—were these the things that led to her unusual movements now?

And in a corner of her memory, Erika saw bloodstains she hadn’t noticed before… ‘We clearly agreed not to cross the final line, yet her “first blood” wasn’t given to my fingers, but to a tail? That is incredibly weird…’

If Emille was nearly killed by Miona because of this reason, Erika felt she would never be able to rid herself of this fatal sense of guilt.

She absolutely had to stop this battle. Although she knew that third-party intervention in a duel was extremely rude, there was no other way now.

Besides, wasn’t she, Erika, the official arbitrator of this duel? Her power was absolute!

*Whoosh.* The purple-haired enchantress stepped between the two who were widening the distance. Having left her veil back at the inn, her face was exposed to everyone without cover.

Since a moment ago, gazes had been flickering toward her from the crowd, but now everyone’s eyes were focused on her.

“In my capacity as the arbitrator, I request a temporary suspension of this duel. If the situation escalates further, it will bring trouble to our allies and tarnish the names of Noel and Her Majesty the Queen.”

The trouble of a diplomatic incident, Noel’s national image, and the Queen’s wrath—though she knew it would be difficult to stop them with just these keywords, she could only bet on her full acting and speaking skills.

“What? Erika, are you trying to interfere in this duel now?”

As expected, Emille cast a fierce look at her, like an honorable knight who had been insulted. That burning gaze made Erika’s cheeks sting.

Miona Dreyco also appeared very annoyed, snapping her black fan shut with a sharp *clack*.

“To dare interfere in the private affairs of the Four Great Families is truly humiliating. Erika Angelina, this is not just an insult, it is a personal disgrace to me, Miona!”

‘So what, Auntie?’

‘I’m saving both your lives right now!’

‘If you two keep fighting here, I’m afraid one of you is really going to kick the bucket.’