Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 268

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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 268

His head was spinning.
‘You said I could become a dog.’
The image of Raymond surfaced in his mind. Raymond, who had subdued Lisianthus and spoken with a frigid face. The legitimate heir of the Castrain Family, now fallen into the hands of enemies.
‘I don’t know how to deal with someone who acts worse than a dog.’
So, brother. Should I have begged you harder? Crawling on the ground. Asking why you were like this. Crying about what was lacking. Or should I have made myself ready to sever your limbs?
The one acting worse than a dog is right there.
So what on earth is the way to deal with someone acting worse than a dog?
You’re so damnably talented, brother, so someone like me, who only ever saw your back, must be worthless.
…I did think there was some hidden agenda in the moment you didn’t cut my throat and leave. But you never even left me a sincere word.
Lisianthus laughed with a hollow sound.
His throat stung. The smell of blood, now unbearably familiar, hung in the air.
The Flame that had been with him since early childhood, the sword itself, warned him. Don’t think of recklessly crossing your limits. If you’re careless, you’ll burn yourself away.
He found himself thinking of Rasper, who was pretending to be fine despite his face ashen pale.
Really, he’d boasted about going to rescue Titania, yet here he was—instead of saving the abducted princess from the villain, he was getting caught by the villain on the way and wasting time. Through the Communication Device, Rasper and the others stayed silent, but Lisianthus, observing them, spat out a curse along with blood-tinged saliva. “…You don’t die, you idiot.”
“…You don’t die, you idiot.”
“Ho?”
“You’re the pervert who was after my precious younger brother. Damn it, I thought you just had to stick close to fight a mage. But you’re a monster that won’t die even if I kill you.”
“Hmm.”
“Let’s try it, then.”
“Try what?”
Sometimes one grasps things instinctively.
Amid fragmented memories and emotional shards, a sudden recognition: Ah, did I know this moment already? Like raindrops falling from the sky, seeping down through earth to become a stream.
As Titania changed visibly, as Raymond descended into madness, as he himself descended into the obsession of sword training and flame refinement. He began to understand something.
Perhaps strength wasn’t just about swinging a sword mindlessly. Flame, at its core, consumes fuel and burns. The Flame that burned red, then faded white, then burned an impossibly brilliant blue in its final moment.
Even in those days when he foolishly raised fire within the Imperial Palace to frighten Titania, he’d been full of impatience beneath his pretense. Blue flame—why won’t you burn? All I managed was white. If I had blue flame, there’s nothing in this world I couldn’t burn, he’d said.
Yet somewhere, he had always known.
You know.
How to make the blue flame burn.
You’ve just been pretending not to know all this time, out of fear.
In the meantime, Lisianthus gripped the sword’s hilt with a hand where blisters had formed and burst. He clenched his teeth against the closely set vivid red gemstones. Lisianthus hated decorations, but he’d had to wrap himself in these garnet stones as an excuse for wielding a “Magical Sword with Fire Garnet Enchantment.”
Without hesitation, he crushed his teeth against the largest one and swallowed it.
Something redder than blood and hotter than flame poured down his throat, burning through his body. The sword blade grew hot enough to blister. Yet Lisianthus did not let go.
“……Ho, so the Flamboyant Fury can take that form too. If I obtain it, experiments….”
“Experiment with your own body!”
Flame dances in empty air.
What followed was magnificent. An endless tide of Black Wave, and the Flame consuming it. White smoke and black ash.
Rasper gasped, but Pan calmly issued a retreat order to the mages in the vicinity.
-I can only work with the calculations I’ve done so far, so get out of there no matter what! If everyone gets pulled in, it’s over!
-Brother, please, just a moment longer, hold on just a bit! I’ll figure something out, I’ll do something. I….
Then the voice cut out.
Lisianthus confirmed it and laughed darkly. Kosheay panicked. The intensifying Flame and the heated steel shattered bone, but the speed of regeneration had grown noticeably slower than before.
As for the Magic Beasts Kosheay had gathered, they died without even managing a scream. The tip of the Flame, devouring black and red liquid, slowly burned a brilliant blue….
“…A Mana Stone? Is it a Mana Stone? Being inherent to the Divine Weapon itself means the purity and power surpass any other material, but the purity of this flame….”
“It’s a fire that will burn your soul.”
When had he moved so fast?
Kosheay was astonished.
The entire world was flame.
His very arm wielding the sword was engulfed in fire. For an ordinary person, it would be a scream and a collapse into unconsciousness. Because he manipulates the power of fire, perhaps it only appears that way to the eye, and in reality the flames don’t consume him.
Yet the smell of ash carried on the wind.
“This, this is clearly a Berserk state! If you can’t control your own power properly, you’ll destroy yourself too! This flame right now is…!”
“You said to use it as an experimental subject.”
Without hesitation, Lisianthus pulled Kosheay toward him.
Kosheay, dropping all the composure he’d held moments before, desperately dragged the Black Wave from the ground, trying to drown Lisianthus.
“Ah, this feels good too. Something like this before…. Ah, right. That ridiculous Magic Beast you sent, the one I fought—I tried this once back then.”
“This, this…!”
“I’ve told you, mages shouldn’t engage in close combat.”
See, I’ve got you now.
A hollow, almost laughing sound.
Kosheay felt a pain that should not exist. Now the arm and blade that tore and shattered and crushed his bone-made body burned brightly. His arm and blade, actively aflame.
A fire that burns the soul itself.
No, it can’t be. A mortal, someone with no skill but the sword, a crude swordsman with nothing but violence—how could such a being trap the great mage of the ages, one who has refined his soul and experimented on his body, seeking to realize perfect immortality?
Impossible, no matter how slow his speed. This body is temporary. I can always discard this flesh and escape. So that means….
“You barbarous fool! If it comes to this, you won’t escape unscathed either! Right now…!”
“Wouldn’t I know? It’s my body this is happening to.”
“Why…!”
“…When the fire starts, Rasper will put it out, I suppose. Until then, I’ll burn as many enemies as I can, so….”
Ah, still, there might be a few people who’d cry if I ended up like this. Lisianthus felt his dull lips twitch slightly.
……If Titania saw this, would she scold me? Or would she be upset?
Damn it, I said I was going to save you. What is this? I keep showing you such a pathetic sight.
I’m sorry.
I’m stupid and weak, so it seems this is the only way I have left.
But if I can burn everything they’ve prepared, all their formations, with things as they are, that would be enough.
I can’t give up. I can’t lose focus. The moment I do, this fire becomes purposeless, a tidal wave that swallows even the people I wanted to protect.
It is the soul that wields power.
It is the soul that steels the will.
It is the soul that can become the price.
The body is nothing but a shell. Yet divine power is typically something no flesh can bear.
At the cost of a pain that would twist the very soul, to simply survive. What does one seek to achieve….
-Brother!
A cry like a final scream.
“Ah, Rasper. What I mean is….”
Lisianthus, about to explain, suddenly opened his eyes wide the next instant. A skull made a grim sound.
“Did you think I’d simply let this happen to me! I, the great mage of all under heaven, transcendent even of death itself. Me! That I’d simply be devoured by such paltry flame!”
Was this a final thrashing?
The Black Wave covering the area coalesced, gathering in one place, seizing Kosheay. More precisely, it aimed near Lisianthus’s arm, which was crushing Kosheay with all its force.
No matter how vibrantly the Flame burned, something….
Crack, crack-crack. Crack….
Fissures ran through the earth.
Something like dark mercury, with exquisite precision, avoided only the flames and drew intricate patterns.
And in an instant, from ground and sky alike. Cyan-blue blades, sharp as razors, rained down. No matter how strong the Flame, burning something requires time.
The aim was simple: sever Lisianthus’s forearm, create distance, and tear away this entire area.
Lisianthus observed with cold eyes the Flame melting the blades at a slow speed. And likewise, Kosheay’s bones, slowly dissolving.
If he fled, he could flee. But could he actually catch that opponent? If he held on until the very edge, Mutual Destruction might be possible. It seemed that way in his calculations, but whether or not Lisianthus’s thoughts were noticed, a voice came through, nearly hollow.
-Brother, please, just a moment more…. Hold on a bit longer! Right now.
“A flame that affects even the connection to my true form beyond this temporary body. I’ll give you that praise. I’ll need to devise new countermeasures from now on!”
-Damn it, I’ll somehow put up Defensive Magic…! Time…!
“What a shame, the red swordsman of the Castrain Family. Today ends here…!”
Then it happened.
From the heavens, lightning fell.
A bright, fierce light that descended in a dance, striking the earth.
“……!”
A color like endless salvation itself.

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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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