Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 150

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 150
I had heard that eerie summons before. Even as pain lanced through my back and my thoughts grew hazy, the recognition crystallized in my mind.
‘Sergei Lebanon?’
No. Sergei Lebanon never called me a crumb. Then was it Raulus?
[Can you hear me? Can’t you hear me? If you can, nod your head. If you can’t, fold one finger.]
What are you saying? I’m dying from the pain! I cursed inwardly with every fiber of my being, yet I struggled to nod my head. It was impossible. Damn it all.
…It’s so hard.
[Time to wake up, crumb!]
Abruptly, a long, shimmering silver thread of hair pierced through the pitch-black void of unconsciousness.
[Come now, you need to wake up. I’ve even graced you with this ‘pretty older brother’ form in person.]
I blinked blankly. The words rang true. The darkness that had consumed my vision now rippled with silver light. A face so terrifyingly beautiful and utterly alien that it seemed impossible for any human to possess such features….
‘Too close….’
Without thinking, my hand shot out. Raulus’s face was pushed sharply backward.
[Really, is this how you treat someone? I went through the trouble of coming to fetch you.]
‘Then hurry up and take me away…. I’m dying here.’
My mind truly felt like waterlogged cotton, spreading diffusely through my consciousness. Even the pain was beginning to recede into the distance. Raulus clicked his tongue.
[You need to open your eyes.]
‘It’s too hard. Can’t you just take me away?’
[You must open your eyes first, little one.]
Raulus spoke with stern authority.
[You made a promise to that child, didn’t you?]
‘What promise…?’
My eyes grew heavier by the moment. It felt as though I were sinking into a swamp. And perhaps that wouldn’t be so terrible.
“I trust that you won’t leave me alone.”
Had that voice not surfaced so suddenly in my memory, I surely would have fallen asleep right then.
‘Yerenika.’
Almost simultaneously, a crystalline voice resonated through my mind.
‘You promised.’
‘Ah… that’s right.’
There was a reason I had to return. Suddenly, clarity flooded back. Like mist gradually lifting, my thoughts blazed awake.
That’s right. There was someone I couldn’t abandon, someone I’d feel wronged leaving behind—someone whose eyes I couldn’t close to.
[You’re so slow. Little one, hurry.]
Raulus’s tone carried an ominous weight.
[At this rate, you’ll kill that child with your own hands. If you don’t want to regret it, open your eyes now.]
I truly couldn’t comprehend what was being said. Yet Raulus only adopted such gravity when circumstances were genuinely dire. I forced my heavy eyelids open with sheer will.
“Ugh….”
A thin whimper escaped my lips. Immediately, a tremendous wave of pain crashed through my entire body. Yet even amid that agony, I felt temporary control returning to my limbs. I seemed to be lying face-down on something. I did not whimper again. The world was no longer dark.
“Ah.”
Before my eyes lay reddish eyes. And across a straight brow, silver hair scattered in disarray. Auredhian Belgot called out to me in a voice that fractured strangely.
“Ye…renika.”
Upon seeing that face, relief flooded through me like a breaking wave. My expression brightened involuntarily.
“Your Maj—”
That was when I felt something wrong.
“Huh?”
A pallid complexion. Furrowed brows twisted in pain. Divine power dulled and blunt, devoid of any intent to attack. And my hands—my hands were clenched around his throat.
“…!”
I gasped, my eyes snapping wide open in horror.
“What am I doing….”
What am I doing? I stared in shock at my own hands and his neck. A searing pain radiated from my palms. Auredhian’s throat, gripped in my hands, was turning crimson. The telltale sign of mana damage. Only then did the acrid, burning stench assault my nostrils.
“Ah….”
My hands remained rigid, immobile. Tears welled up in my eyes. I blinked. They spilled down my cheeks.
“Yerenika.”
Even in this moment, his voice descended upon me with tenderness—though it was rough, scraped raw.
“Don’t cry.”
“Hic, ugh….”
“Your hands hurt.”
A large, warm hand covered mine, still gripping his throat. Auredhian’s familiar divine power flowed into me—the force that had always kept me alive. Yet it stung and ached strangely. The cause was unmistakable: the presence still occupying my body. The King of the Underground, tainted by profane darkness. I bit my lip.
“…Get out.”
Fury ignited within me like wildfire. Tears fell in drops. Curses spilled forth, as twisted and vicious as my contorted expression.
“Get out, you damned bastard…!”
A tremor. My hands, frozen like stone, finally moved. The iron grip that had tensed my sinews suddenly released.
“…!”
My body returned to me. Completely mine. In the next instant, my vision cleared. Auredhian surged upward like lightning and pulled me into his embrace. Simultaneously, his divine power, honed to a razor’s edge, surged violently across my back. And something was torn from me.
“Ah….”
Something rushed up from within. A thick, metallic taste. I watched the crimson mass of blood flowing down Auredhian’s shoulder and understood: the separation was complete. Hades and I were no longer one. I heard Auredhian grinding his teeth.
“This. How irritating.”
With his other arm, still holding me, he seized something. A sword lying on the ground. An ordinary blade, nothing remarkable. I barely managed to turn my head. The first thing that came into view was the sword’s edge, now gleaming with brilliant silver light infused with divine power.
“How dare you toy with her body.”
Auredhian swung the blade without hesitation. Crack—the sword collided directly with Hades’ form. The blade aimed for the neck with terrifying precision. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air. I couldn’t tell if it was Hades’ body burning or Auredhian’s blade.
“…!”
Against his body, I felt an irregular heartbeat and the violent surge of divine power. Then, in an instant, that intense flow reached its absolute peak.
Whoosh. The purifying flames that had consumed the entire Imperial Palace two years ago erupted suddenly. They burst forth from the cyan blade in an explosion.
[-!]
Clang—!
The silver sword traced a sharp arc. Something severed by the blade flew high onto the Altar.
A beast’s skull.
[Ugh…!]
Tears fell again. My vision, which had blurred for an instant, cleared once more.
Rumble. The sound of something collapsing to the ground. Hades’ body—composed of human bones, now severed from its skull—shattered and crumbled downward into pieces.
Thud—.
Hades’ severed head fell roughly onto the Altar. In that same instant, flames erupted across its surface. The purifying fire summoned by Auredhian Belgot soared so high it pierced through the gaping ceiling above.
Whoosh. The desiccated skull of the ancient beast was consumed within the towering inferno. The entire Altar had become nothing less than a colossal pyre—a massive “signal” visible from anywhere within Barishard.
“Ugh….”
I heard Auredhian Belgot’s ragged breathing near my ear. The arm cradling my back trembled in convulsive spasms. Yet even amid this, a hand found mine and grasped it. I felt the searing burns on my palm heal in an instant. This man was truly—my hand wasn’t what mattered right now…! I contorted my face and opened my mouth.
“Wai—.”
But in the next moment, the sound of something clicking and realigning with itself once more…. I froze with my mouth agape.
[Damn it. I should have eliminated you first….]
The bone fragments scattered across the floor scraped with a grinding sound. They realigned and reformed into the shape of a human skull.
“Leave now.”
At that moment, a voice cut sharply through the empty air. It was Soleia Elad. I coughed and looked around. I could not see the beautiful Black Mage with the reddish-brown hair.
Yet directly behind me, a small magic circle glimmered faintly as though about to fade. Through the magic circle, Soleia Elad’s voice came through with perfect clarity.
“Go, and never return.”
It was unmistakably a final farewell. Her last words to the King of the Underground, whom she had served for over a decade. The final stage of the plan was on the verge of completion. I turned back to look at Hades, who staggered to his feet once more without a head. My lips parted of their own accord.
“Damn thief. Wretched….”
I wanted to hurl more curses at him, but the coughing that kept erupting prevented me from continuing.
“Yerenika, stay still….”
Auredhian Belgot pressed the back of my head firmly into his embrace. I struggled and managed to lift my head again. If I didn’t curse him further, I felt I might go mad from the injustice of it all.
This was my last chance. My only opportunity to heap curses upon that creature! I shouted in a hoarse voice.
“May you be blessed abundantly by Raulus, you wretched monster…!”
And in that moment, the contract between Soleia Elad and Hades was severed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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