Chapter 67 - Damn Reincarnation

The Tomb

BOOOOM!

The sword the death knight threw tore through the corridor and buried itself in the ruins. Eugene had dodged it, but there was no time for relief. The death knight was charging at him.

'Damn it.'

It wasn't hot, but the sheer intensity of his movements had drenched his entire body in sweat.

He hadn't felt this exhausted in a long time. And it wasn't just his body. The mana in his core was beginning to run dry. He had performed one reckless parry after another and used far too much power to breach his enemy's defenses. Without the Ring Flame Formula, he would have exhausted his mana and collapsed long ago.

'Now what?'

He had seen its face. He had confirmed that the body was Hamel's corpse. In the course of their fight, he had also confirmed that the soul inside belonged to some unknown bastard.

That wasn't enough. Eugene wanted to kill this death knight, and he had resolved to do exactly that. He steadied his breathing and operated the Ring Flame Formula.

A human's vital point was the heart.

But a death knight's heart didn't beat, and no blood flowed through its veins. To kill it, he would have to tear it to pieces so thoroughly that it could no longer regenerate.

Could he do that as he was now? Even if he couldn't, he had to. Why waste time thinking about the obvious? Urging himself on, Eugene wrapped wind around his blade. With less mana left at his disposal, he supplemented it with wind summoned by his spirit.

BOOM!

Eugene's body shot upward. Swallowing the blood surging into his mouth, he looked down. The death knight rose from ground cratered as deeply as if an explosion had struck it. All it had done was discard its sword, yet it was incomparably faster and stronger than before.

This was its true strength. Holding a sword it couldn't wield properly and prioritizing clumsy technique over overwhelming force had made it sluggish and predictable.

But now...

'Fuck.'

Every blow felt as though it were wrenching his bones out. He was still parrying, but each deflection drained great chunks of mana. It was a miracle that he could deflect the attacks at all. Thank goodness he'd improved his control over mana by training against the Moonlight Sword fragment. Without that, the parries alone would have drained him dry.

'My stats are way too low.'

It had been easy to handle when it held a sword. Now that it had abandoned the weapon and was fighting barehanded, he was struggling. Worse, the death knight's fighting style was so chaotic that reading, deflecting, and responding to it was difficult.

It felt like fighting a beast or a monster.

Bare hands. It wore gauntlets, but it wasn't throwing punches. Instead, it enveloped its hands in pitch-black demonic energy and swung them like claws or talons.

'Claw weapons? No, that's different. It's bending its fingers and using its grip, too.'

Weapons with blades attached to the backs of the hands or the fingertips focused on slashing and raking. Not this creature. It actively used its grip strength and joints. And it wasn't using only its arms.

Its stance. Its upper body leaned forward, both arms nearly touching the floor. That looked more natural for it than standing upright on two legs, and it was all the more agile for it.

'Fuck. If you're going to shove a soul into this body, at least use a human's. What kind of monster did you stuff in there?'

A monster... No, was that really it? Enough intelligence to hold a conversation. A chaotic, savage fighting style. Its main weapons were its arms and claws. A lower-body stance that looked awkward but maintained a solid center of balance. A mindless frenzy.

He had seen something like this before.

"... A lycanthrope?"

The instant he said it, the death knight's claws scraped against Wynnyd.

CRUNCH!

Rather than resist the wrenching force, Eugene turned with it. He spun around and dropped back.

"Grrr!"

The death knight let out a bestial growl. Its teeth clashed and ground together.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

A glance at its feet revealed metal boots, but black demonic energy protruded from those, too, forming talons.

"It is, fuck. What kind of combination is that? Why shove a lycanthrope's soul into a human corpse? What the hell are you?"

"Graaah!"

There was no talking to it. Eugene spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and glared at the death knight.

"... You really will try anything."

With that, Eugene reached inside his cloak. The death knight roared and charged. The situation had changed, so he had to make full use of whatever he could.

A small box shattered in Eugene's grip.

He threw the fragment at the claws slashing toward him.

'One fragment can't disperse all of it, huh.'

But it reduced the attack's power to something he could handle. Wynnyd's slash cut into the wavering demonic energy.

CLANG!

His own attack had weakened, too. The actual Moonlight Sword might have been another matter, but a mere fragment was maddeningly awkward to use.

He made it work anyway. Eugene swung his sword like a madman, forcing the death knight's claws back. Then he snatched the falling fragment and threw it at the creature again.

He repeated the process. His head felt ready to burst. Read the bewildering trajectories, dodge what he could, catch the fragment, throw it, attack, catch it. He was familiar with all kinds of battles, but even in his past life, he'd never fought one this complicated.

His breathing grew labored. He couldn't help feeling the enormous disparity in their stats. They were both expending strength, yet the death knight's demonic energy scarcely diminished. If anything, it rampaged more violently with every attack it took.

The Cloak of Darkness was an artifact that could effortlessly block magic up to the Fifth Circle, but it couldn't completely protect Eugene from the death knight's attacks. Shallow wounds accumulated. Blood increasingly covered his body, and his vision grew correspondingly hazy.

But his mind sharpened. The mana in his core was beginning to run dry. Should he retreat? His stats weren't high enough. Just a few more years, and he felt sure he could crush this thing. But retreat? Him? With the thing that had turned his own corpse into a plaything right in front of him?

He had gotten inside its guard several times. But its armor was too hard. Even when he drove his blade into the joints, he couldn't feel it cutting. The corpse must have been reinforced, too. Death knights were among the highest forms of undead. Disabling one with a single fragment was impossible.

Little by little, Eugene began to be pushed back. He fought fiercely, making full use of the fragment, but his body hadn't yet developed enough to draw out Hamel's full strength. His physical capabilities were sufficient; his mana capacity wasn't.

"Ghrk!"

Swallowing the blood bursting into his mouth, Eugene boldly lunged forward. Claws swept past and sliced his side, but he ignored them.

He drove the Moonlight Sword fragment into the death knight's chest. Churning demonic energy raked his arm and body. Eugene thrust his face close and pushed the fragment harder. As its defenses weakened...

He unleashed a barrage of magic. Explosions and projectiles struck the death knight's chest. The Moonlight Sword fragment reduced magic to nothing. Eugene knew that better than anyone. He simply had to avoid direct contact. With bloodshot eyes, he controlled every magical trajectory. A chain of explosions engulfed the area around the fragment.

"Graaah!"

With a frenzied howl, the death knight was driven backward. Eugene couldn't catch the falling fragment. He had no strength to spare. Coughing up blood, he glared into the black smoke.

It had only been pushed back. The death knight hadn't fallen. But he had succeeded in shattering its breastplate.

"... Heh... Hehehe!"

Eugene laughed in disbelief. It wasn't the death knight's toughness that made him laugh. It was the shattered breastplate. The exposed chest.

There was nothing there. Only a gaping hole. The wound that had killed Hamel in his past life remained unchanged after hundreds of years.

At the center of that hole sat a bright-red orb. How obvious. That must be its 'heart.'

"Don't... look!"

The deranged death knight that mistook itself for Hamel shouted. Chuckling, Eugene pointed at the hole.

"That's supposed to be Hamel?"

"GRAAAH!"

There were times to provoke an enemy and times not to. This was one of the latter. Eugene knew that, too, but he simply couldn't help himself. After seeing that with his own eyes, how could he not sneer?

The price was steep.

BOOM!

Eugene slammed into the wall. The Cloak of Darkness protected him, but the impact was powerful enough to shatter the wall, and pain wracked his insides. It felt as though not only his bones but his internal organs had been injured.

"You fucking... idiot! What makes you Hamel? You're just a death knight. You're not even human... You're a lycanthrope."

Slumped on the floor, Eugene laughed as he coughed up blood.

"The way you move, you look like some big cat... Hehehe! A tiger? Or a lion? No, no. You're so fucking cute, maybe you're just a house cat."

"I'll... kill you...!"

"Try it, you fucking bastard. You can't even toy with one nineteen-year-old brat, and what? 'I'm Hamel'? You think Hamel's a joke?"

Sneering, Eugene tried to rise.

CRUNCH!

The dark knight didn't let him stand. It pressed down on Eugene's shoulders with both hands and leaned its face close.

"I am... I am Hamel."

"Fuck off, moron."

Eugene spat the blood flowing from his mouth into its face.

"And don't come any closer. You stink of rotting corpse. If you're dead... stay down. Who gave a corpse permission to wander around and act like it's equal to the living?"

"Grrrr...!"

CRUNCH.

The hands gripping his shoulders tightened. Suppressing a groan, Eugene glared into its face. He had lost. Was he going to die? Like this? No, it wasn't over. He hadn't reincarnated just to die so pointlessly. If he'd thought he would die, he would have fled long ago.

He hadn't fled because he wanted to see its face.

Because when it had held a sword, he'd thought he could win.

And now?

'If I use this and fuck myself up, I'll be suffering for years.'

It wasn't anything spectacular, but even Hamel in his past life had kept one finishing move in reserve. In truth, it was too simple to call a finishing move. Still...

If he used it, he would win. Without fail. He could do more than tear this mentally deranged dark knight to death—he could shatter it until nothing remained. The backlash would simply be just as severe. His current stats weren't enough to kill the death knight, but with Ignition, he could kill it without fail.

"Young master!"

As he debated whether to use it, he heard a voice.

'What now?'

Raman Shulhob! That idiot—Eugene had knocked him out so he would escape, and he'd followed him all the way here? Eugene couldn't turn his head. The death knight still held his shoulders.

"You monster! Get back!"

Raman roared and charged at the death knight. It didn't turn to look at him, either. Instead, it lifted Eugene with one hand and hurled him toward the ceiling on the opposite side from Raman.

"Guh!"

BANG! CRASH!

His thrown body struck the ceiling, fell to the floor, and rolled. His body had never been this badly battered since his reincarnation. Coughing up blood, Eugene raised his head.

Maybe, just maybe?

For a moment, he entertained the hope. Perhaps Raman, charging in so boldly, would suddenly awaken and defeat the death knight with unprecedented power?

It was only a dream. Of course that wouldn't happen. Raman's sword force was easily shattered by the death knight, and his kukri broke into pieces.

"Gah!"

He couldn't even pull back afterward. The death knight seized Raman by the throat and turned to Eugene.

"... Is he... your subordinate?"

"No."

"Young master...! R-run away. While I hold it back...!"

What bullshit was that, when he was the one being held? Eugene laughed in disbelief.

And Raman admired him for it. To be able to laugh like that despite such terrible injuries, even when cornered in a battle against this unidentified monster...

'What an extraordinary man.'

He was drawing entirely mistaken conclusions about Eugene. The death knight glared at the snickering Eugene, then hurled Raman at him.

"Aaargh!"

The scream came from Raman. Eugene was struck by Raman's thrown body and tumbled across the ground.

"What... grrr... is funny?"

"You're funny because you're such a fucking idiot."

Eugene shoved Raman away and staggered to his feet. Raman rose as well and hastily supported him.

"Young master. I'll charge in and create an opening, so you must escape. You don't... you don't need to save me anymore."

"You think... I'm funny?"

"Yeah. Fucking hilarious."

Behind them stood a firmly closed door.

It was the door the death knight had been blocking. Knowing the door was here, it had still thrown Eugene toward it rather than toward the entrance.

Either it didn't matter if the door opened, or the door wouldn't open.

'Let's check.'

Eugene dragged his feet backward. Raman, supporting him, was dragged along. At the sight, the death knight twisted its lips into a smile.

"Escape... grrr...! That's not the way out."

"There's a door here, too, though."

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No. I told you, you're funny."

"Then... why are you trying to open the door?"

"Because I'm curious what's inside."

"That door will not open. No one can open it."

"Really?"

His hand touched the door. Raman looked anxiously between Eugene and the death knight. Was there any reason to approach a door that wouldn't open? Could he be doing this deliberately to make the enemy lower its guard?

'Truly, what an extraordinary man.'

When Eugene tried to open the door, Raman would charge the enemy. He didn't voice his plan. Instead, he winked vigorously with one eye so Eugene would understand.

'Why the fuck is he winking?' Eugene thought.

"I told you it was useless. That door will not open."

"Hearing that just makes me want to open it more."

If he had to use Ignition, he would. But first, he wanted to see what was beyond the door. If this was Hamel's tomb, and he was Hamel, and Senya or someone else had intended his reincarnation...

Then the supposedly unopenable door must be meant for the tomb's owner.

'Or maybe Amelia Merwin already opened it ages ago and shut it again.'

With that thought, Eugene pushed the door.

It didn't open. For a moment, it resisted. Immediately afterward, Eugene's necklace gave off a faint light. He felt its heat.

"It opens."

The death knight's expression changed. It hastily kicked off the ground and charged at Eugene, who pulled Raman along and opened the door all the way. No, it was different from 'opening' a door.

They were sucked through it.

"Ugh."

Raman collapsed on the floor. Not understanding what had happened, he tried to raise his head, but Eugene struck the back of his neck hard to keep him from getting up.

"You weren't any help, but you did try to save me."

Muttering that, Eugene plopped down on the unconscious Raman's back.

He turned his head to look behind him. The door was firmly closed. The death knight must have been straining to open it, but the door didn't so much as shake. He couldn't even hear any pounding.

For now, this place seemed safe. Eugene nodded and looked forward again.

"... Crazy bastard."

Eugene muttered as he stared into the center of the spacious room.

"Why did you leave this here?"

The light illuminating the dark room wasn't magical light.

It was pale moonlight.

In the heart of the darkness, a crescent moon floated above a pure-white coffin.