Eri breathed heavily. He was unable to even stand.
But he was still alive. Barely. The wounds on him were severe, and he would need extensive care to recover, but he was not at risk of death, at least not immediately.
The same could not be said for his opponent.
Six daggers. Eight swords. Fifteen spears. That was how many Bloodflame weapons he had impaled into the half-blood bastard — through skull, spine, and heart.
Gunther’s regeneration finally came to a grinding halt as the Bloodflame curse nullified his vaunted Elder blood.
The brigand was not quite dead yet, though he would not cling to life much longer.
Gunther chuckled, his rasps wet and painful. “Good fight… Bloody good fight. Best I've had all my life. Best that I will have.”
The man coughed. “Death’s finally in my reach. But before I go, I must ask… Just what are you, little monster?”
Eri glared at him. Gunther only smiled back.
“I can sense your Core,” the half-giant continued. “Hard as it is to believe, you really are only a Copper-Rank. Your body does not seem to be an illusion or a fake as well, meaning you truly are only that young. Indulge my curiosity, one last time: just what are you?”
“I already told you,” Eri spat. “I’m a hero. I’m a real Chosen, not like you. I’m good. I help people. I don’t abuse and hurt others like you.”
Gunther tilted his head quizzically. “You think being a Chosen makes one a hero? You think having a Core granted by the Goddess… makes one good?”
Eri said nothing. Gunther’s grin widened.
“You really are young. Little monster, you are strong, but you are not wise. Not all Chosens are good. In fact, most of them are bastards like me. They just aren’t as strong,” Gunther said, almost gently. “And those that are stronger… Some of them hurt and abuse others more than I ever can in a hundred lifetimes.”
“People are not like that,” Eri snarled. “Humans are not like that. Why would they promote suffering, rather than condemn it? The world already has so much hate and death from the Demons alone. The Goddess gives them power so that they can protect others, not torment them!”
“The Goddess… doesn’t give a shit,” Gunther laughed. “Otherwise, she would not have blessed someone like me with a Core. She would not have allowed me to exist. Some part of you must already suspect, with the Tribulations, the Trials, and the stupid Tithe… that there is something deeply wrong with this world.”
Eri wanted to refute that. He wanted to disagree.
But he could not. Not with what he had seen so far.
That sinking feeling pervaded everything; an inexplicable irrationality with how the Goddess operated her war against Hell.
Eri heard limping footsteps behind him. The boy sighed.
“Left him alive, just as you asked,” he stated numbly. “But he doesn’t have long. Ask him your questions.”
Dulcina stopped beside him. Eri didn’t dare look at her face.
But her hand still came down on his shoulders and squeezed, grateful and gentle. “Thank you.”
She limped forward again, body supported by a wooden carriage beam as she dragged her broken leg against the snow-melted ground.
“Their names,” Dulcina coldly demanded. “You promised, on oath and blood.”
Gunther turned to her. For a second, Eri thought the half-blood’s eyes turned… pitying.
“The Duskcrown,” he answered simply.
Dulcina staggered back. “That’s… that’s impossible.”
“I will not lie. Not now,” Gunther bowed. “I swear on my blood. Our orders and funding came from the Royal faction themselves, or an intermediary, at least. They organised the death of your mother, as well as the disappearance of your older sister — House Elathion's first heir.”
Dulcina struggled to compose herself. “Where is she now? Where’s Justinia?”
“I don’t know. When we captured her three years ago, we passed her along to a group of men near the First Shackler’s Port, along the west coast of the continent. If she’s still alive, she would likely be somewhere within the Slaver Isles.”
“That tells me nothing. The Slaver Isles are an archipelago with hundreds of city-state islands!” Dulcina snarled, despair creeping into her voice. “Which port did they take her to? Who were the men, what sigils did they wear?!”
“I don’t know. They were cloaked, and they did not tell us where they were taking her.” Gunther tilted his head. “They did mention something strange. I distinctly remember one of them saying… ‘The green-headed one would want her,’ or something along those lines.”
“That’s not enough! What else? There has to be more!” Dulcina desperately shouted.
“There’s nothing else. I’m sorry,” Gunther intoned softly.
“You’re sorry?!” Dulcina said incredulously. “You are the one who kidnapped her! You faked her death so that we won’t know she was still alive, and then you sold her into slavery! You nearly did the same to me! And you dare say you are sorry?!”
Gunther had nothing to say.
Eri thought the noblewoman was going to break down from rage and sorrow — he would have done so in her shoes, he thought — but somehow, Dulcina reigned herself in with remarkable control.
“The traitors in my House. Who’s left?” she asked, her voice returning to a tenuous calm. “There has to be more. The Duskcrown faction could not have struck at my family like this without more pawns hiding in our midst.”
“Froliet handled that part. I don’t know the names of his men, or how many he has planted in your retinue,” Gunther said. “The bastard did most of the liaising with our royal intermediaries, too. He didn’t share them with me, but… I know where he keeps his notes.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Where?” the noblewoman demanded.
“A hidden supply cave. We were supposed to bring you there first to mend our wounds and have our fun,” Gunther said nonchalantly, while Dulcina’s fist tightened. “Near the first crossroads South, right before the Kald River. Head east from the sign, about a ten-minute walk from the road, and you should see a hidden burrow concealed by an illusion spell. If you know it’s there, you can’t miss it. Froliet kept his papers there, but I don’t know if it has what you need. He was also the only one who knew where we were supposed to bring you after as well.”
Meaning those papers could be the last and only lead Dulcina had to finding her sister.
Eri grimaced. The information helped, but it was hardly the concrete lead Dulcina must have been hoping for.
“That’s all I know. I swear,” Gunther finished. His voice was growing weaker. He did not have long left.
Dulcina knew that, too. She tossed her wooden crutch aside.
At her feet was Gunther’s discarded axe. She picked it up.
Eri reached out and grabbed her. “Don’t.”
She said nothing, but neither did she move away.
“He’s dying anyway. It’s not worth it,” Eri tiredly said. “It won’t make you feel any better.”
“... And if I don’t care anyway?” she whispered.
The boy grimaced. “Killing him just makes the pain worse. I can’t imagine what you are going through right now. Perhaps I don’t have the right to say or tell you to do anything. But…”
Eri tried to find the words. To convey the inexplicable tangle of emotions strangling him from within.
Eventually, he just said, “I don’t want to watch you hurt yourself.”
Seconds passed. Then, finally, Dulcina released the weapon, letting herself fall. She sat beside the boy, leaning against him.
Her expression was painful to look upon: a dead stare, void of all hope.
Gunther exhaled. His voice was weak, yet undeniably amused.
“I was wrong. Not a monster at all,” he chuckled softly.
The half-blood raised his head. His gaze locked onto Eri’s.
The colour in Gunther’s eyes was sky-blue, void of madness or anger.
“Great Hero,” Gunther beseeched. “What is your name?”
The boy stared at the dying brigand for a moment. “Eri White.”
“Hah… An orphan of the North. It is a good name,” Gunther smiled. His gaze faltered, his voice becoming a whisper. “I would have liked to compose for your name a Saga… and sing its glory high upon the peaks of my true home…”
“The Skies will remember you, Great Hero Eri.”
[Secret Boss Defeated!]
[Gunther Stormcaller looted! Sky Giant Essence (x2) obtained!]
[Boss Loot: ‘Skyforged Brigandine’ obtained!]
[New Perk Unlocked: Voice of the Skyfather]
Gunther breathed out his last, and from that breath, Eri felt something enter his Core—a new power, ready to be unleashed at his will.
But he could not care less about it at that moment. Dulcina rested her forehead on his shoulders, her silent tears falling on his blood-soaked hands.
Eri held her tight and said nothing.
There was nothing else he could do.
~~~
A half hour later, a group of riders came down the road, galloping hard against the road of packed snow.
Upon their regalia, they carried the sigil of House Elathion — a silver unicorn against an emerald-green background.
At their head was a man in a fine cloak, yet dressed for war with a mighty sceptre at his side. His expression was grim, his eyes harrowed.
“Please… Please be safe!”
The group of men came to a sudden halt as they crested a hill, their steeds reeling in fear, refusing to take another step forward.
None of them could speak as they witnessed the field of red before them.
The air was thick with the taste of iron, sweetened by the cloying stench of viscera. So many dead — blood, ichor, guts painting the snow black. At least a dozen and a half corpses littered the grounds, with an overturned carriage and the bodies of dead horses accompanying them.
Most were missing limbs; others were gutted. A few bodies were unrecognisable, reduced to giblets of flesh as if a great explosion had torn into them.
Bloody handprints stained the ground. Most of these men had not enjoyed quick deaths — maimed, gutted, or left with such horrific wounds that seemed almost purposefully inflicted to prolong their suffering.
Most chilling of all was the distinguishing similarity of the wounds between each corpse. The experienced knights of House Elathion could tell from the signs: they were all made by the same weapon, the same person.
A single monster had done all this.
The lead rider was the first to dismount his horse. He passed by broken bodies. He saw the corpses' terrified, tear-stained faces. He saw their mouths shaped into the dying whispers of worthless pleas and prayers.
He saw a lone mountain of mangled flesh — a giant corpse, a human that could no longer be called such with how many crimson weapons riddled his body. How violently it tore, ripped, and pierced him…
The man ignored them all, instead rushing to a pair of children sitting in the snow.
“Dulcina!” He fell to his knees beside them. “Dulcina! Are you alright?!”
Please be alive. Please!
The girl’s eyes fluttered open, and the man cried in relief.
“Father?” she whispered.
“I am here.” He hugged her. “I’m so sorry. I received your message. I came as fast as I could, but I thought I… I thought I was too late.”
Dulcina closed her eyes and leaned into him. “Father… Justinia is alive.”
The man recoiled in shock. “What?! That’s… no, we verified—”
“It was the Duskcrown. They took her,” Dulcina numbly said. “Faked her death. These were the same men who did it under their command. They were the ones who killed Mother, too.”
The man struggled to find the words. Eventually, he asked, “What happened here? And… Who is this boy?”
Dulcina looked down. The boy was asleep, his head resting upon her lap.
She stroked his hair, her fingers gentle as drifting snow. They brushed aside the pale fringes, revealing the peaceful face beneath.
“A miracle,” she said, answering both questions at once.
Above them, the dawn continued to rise, heralding the start of a new day.
~~~
/-/
Secret Side Quest Completed: Save your first Damsel in Distress!
You have saved the heiress of House Elathion from a group of nasty brigands, averting her cruel fate and forever changing her destiny. Be sure to hold her to her promise of repayment. You have angered many influential people with your heroic intervention, and you will need to get stronger soon if you wish to stay alive.
[Side Quest Cleared! Perfect Score!]
[+10000 XP]
[+2000 Heroism Points]
[+2000 Reputation with Nobility]
[+15 Attribute Points]
[Bonus Objective Complete! ‘Giant Slayer’]
[+5000 XP]
[+1000 Heroism Points]
[+1000 Reputation with Chosens]
[+10 Attribute Points]
[Bonus Objective Complete! ‘The Secret of the Second Damsel’]
[+5000 XP]
[+1000 Heroism Points]
[+500 Bond with Dulcina (Bond 1 Reached)]
[‘Dulcina Elathion’ now unlocked as Companion]
[+10 Attribute Points]
[Severe Higher-level Quest Completed! Base Quest Rewards Doubled!]
[+20000 XP]
[+4000 Heroism Points]
[+35 Attribute Points]
[Your decision on taking this secret quest has consequences!]
[-10000 Reputation with Duskcrown]
[A Bounty is now on your head…]
[A Secret Sidequest is unlocked! ‘Your Princess Is On Another Island’!]
[Map region expanded]
[Quest Rewards raised]
[Now Loading ‘The Castle of House Elathion’ Optional Quest Region…]
/-/
And that’s the end of the next arc. If you have read the story up to this point, thank you so much for sticking around.
If you haven’t already, please consider giving the story a Favourite or Follow; it will really mean a lot for the story. And if you could leave a Rating/ Review as well, it would be an incredible show of support. I would love to hear your feedback as well.
More chapters to come. I hope you’ll enjoy them too.
