Chapter 173: Butchery
The strongest ard organization in the Empire, the Knight Order.
A group only masters of the sword could enter, a place that valued honor above all else.
But that was all a story of the past, and the current Knight Order was different.
Not only had their level of martial prowess failed to reach what it once was.
Applicants of noble birth inevitably pushed forward their background connections, whether knowingly or not.
Nelson ca from the Grimbard Family, which held key positions among the central nobility.
He had entered more comfortably than others during the selection process and received unstinting support.
That beca poison to him.
Wooooong.
In a fit of anger, he unleashed his Aura, but the Referee maintained silence.
Conscious of the VIP seats, Nelson made his Aura shine even more intensely.
The Emperor was watching; he could not retreat here.
“I’ll cut off your head and throw it to that old man.”
Nelson growled out the threat, but the Butcher, far from frightened, crooked her finger as if telling him to co at her.
“Do you know why I’m called the Butcher?”
The eyes behind the skull mask glead with killing intent.
Nelson did not know, but the Butcher could not suppress her smile.
“I’m good at dismantling people.”
KWA-AANG!
A sword wrapped in Aura and a sword wrapped in Fighting Spirit collided.
Every spectator expected the Butcher’s sword to be severed.
That expectation was splendidly betrayed.
Aura was said to cut through anything—so why had it been blocked?
Spectators unfamiliar with Fighting Spirit mistakenly concluded that the Butcher must also be using Aura.
Kugugugugugu.
Nelson, too, had not expected the Butcher to block it.
Having risen to Vice-Captain, Nelson’s Fighting Spirit output far exceeded that of an ordinary knight.
Yet there was not the slightest sign of being pushed back, leaving him no choice but to be flustered.
“First, we’ll start with bloodletting.”
Puuk.
A sword wedged between Nelson’s ribs and stabbed in.
“Ku, kkulugh!”
His upper arm burned hot as he coughed up blood.
Just when had she stabbed him?
He had not seen the attack.
He pressed his chest to stop the bleeding, but uselessly, it continued to gush without end.
Woooong. Wooooong!
Grasping at his dizzying consciousness, he swung his sword wildly.
Within the blue trajectory, there was no trace of the unified offense-and-defense swordsmanship.
Like a child playing with a toy, it was nothing but a disordered struggle.
Even so, his Aura showed no sign of extinguishing.
With the desperate hope that just one blow might land, he swung it around recklessly.
“Now that I’ve drained the blood, it’s ti to skin you.”
Saaahk.
A burning pain surged in with the wind brushing past his arm.
Lowering his gaze, his left arm was entirely red.
The skin had been peeled away, revealing raw crimson flesh.
Saaak. Sasasak.
The Butcher’s skinning did not end with his left arm.
His right arm, abdon, thighs, calves, back, nape.
Like peeling fruit, the ravaging blade thinly sliced away Nelson’s skin.
It struck the spectators with shock and terror.
The sight of a human stripped of skin was hideous beyond asure.
“Ghk. Ghuuugh.”
Even amidst that, Nelson did not let go of his sword.
In that sense, he upheld the basics of being a knight.
But he had already beco closer to at than to a human being.
It was remarkable enough that he remained standing without losing his mind, but that was all.
As if pronouncing a death sentence, the Butcher spoke.
“Now I’ll divide you by parts.”
Even in the midst of horrific agony, Nelson’s Aura did not go out.
As if to mock him, the Butcher struck his sword.
Following a precisely calculated point of impact, the Aura-clad blade was driven downward.
And without even knowing where his own sword was heading, Nelson’s ankle was severed.
The blue Aura cut through himself.
Srrk.
From the knee, his calf fell away.
Srrk.
His left arm was cleanly severed along the shoulder joint.
Srrk. Srrk. Srrk. Srrk.
His joints lost their function and were reduced to points of amputation.
When the last remaining right arm was roughly torn off, only the torso laid upon the ground convulsed.
“…….”
Thousands watched, yet it was as silent as if no one were there.
No one had ordered silence, yet even breathing freely felt difficult.
The killing intent of the swordsman wearing the skull mask dominated this vast place.
Shk. Shhk.
As though it were routine, the only one calm was the Butcher.
She roughly wiped the blood on Nelson’s clothes and sheathed her sword.
“Referee.”
“Y-Yes…?”
“I won.”
At the gaze that made his knees weaken just by eting it, the Referee’s whole body trembled.
With a shaking arm barely raised, he declared the result.
“Th-the Butcher’s… v-victory….”
“Louder.”
“Th-the winner is. Th-the Bu… Butcher…!”
Clap. Clap. Clap……
There were no cheers celebrating victory.
As if bewitched by sothing, they offered only chanical applause.
They were filled with the thought of escaping this suffocating place as quickly as possible.
Step. Step.
Breaking through the sound of applause, four knights appeared.
Knights erging simultaneously from the four cardinal directions drew their swords in unison.
The tips of their blades aid at the Butcher’s neck.
“Pathetic.”
“Isn’t this completely insane?”
“Nelson. He had ambition, but he ends up like this.”
All four wore golden armor.
Golden armor was the symbol of the Knight Commander.
The Emperor’s closest aides and the Empire’s greatest force had stepped forward.
“Vice-Captain, can you hear .”
“Grrrk… grrgh…….”
“You’ve worked hard. Rest now.”
One of the four closed Nelson’s eyes.
Even with his eyes closed, Nelson made a boiling sound of blood, but soon drew his last breath.
“What do you think you’re doing.”
“What do you think we’re doing? After tearing a knight to pieces like this, that’s what you say?”
“I won fairly.”
It was Nelson who had first unleashed his Aura.
The reason Aura was prohibited in the Arena was precisely to prevent bloodshed like this.
Yet since Nelson had broken the rule first, the Butcher was not at fault.
However, she had gone too far.
Even if deaths during a match were tolerated, was it necessary to ravage him to this extent?
And in front of the Emperor, no less.
“Co quietly. If you cooperate with the investigation, you’ll be released soon.”
“Treating the winner like a criminal.”
“If you hadn’t chopped soone up like a psychopath, it wouldn’t have co to this.”
“No.”
The Butcher’s hand moved with her sword.
“Huh. What kind of madness is this now. Can’t you read the situation?”
“Hand over the prize.”
“Seems words won’t do.”
The foul-mouthed knight raised his sword high into the air.
Aura flickered as if flas were blazing.
Paaang!
In an instant, a light bright enough to blind shot straight up, piercing the sky vertically.
It was a level one could not believe ca from a single person’s Aura.
“I won’t say it twice. Shut up and follow us.”
“Behind you.”
The Butcher tilted her head slightly.
He had thought she was trying so cheap trick, but the other knights’ gazes also turned backward.
“It seems sothing happened over there.”
When they turned around, the VIP seats were far from normal.
The seat where the Emperor should have been sitting was empty, and pale smoke seeped out in wisps.
“Fire! Fire!”
At the urgent shout, the Knight Commanders imdiately rushed toward the VIP seats.
All four reached close in an instant.
Puuuong!
The VIP section exploded and was engulfed in flas.
“Aaah! Run!”
Following the Butcher’s slaughter, the sudden explosion threw the Arena into chaos.
Spectators trying to escape beca entangled together, blocking the entrance instead.
In the ergency, no one attempted to follow control.
“Referee.”
The Butcher stopped the Referee who had been in the Arena.
“Where is the winner’s prize.”
“I-It’s in the storage room…….”
“Lead the way.”
Though trembling, the Referee did not dare refuse.
Passing through the Players’ Waiting Room, they arrived at the storage room—where soone was already there.
“Black Mask?”
Robin had co to the storage room as soon as the Butcher’s one-sided ravaging began.
As expected, it was secured by a lock, and he had been pondering what to do.
With perfect timing, the Butcher and the Referee appeared.
“Is the match over.”
“Yeah. I won.”
“I figured. But what happened to Sir Nelson?”
“He died.”
He had expected the Butcher to win, but to think Nelson had truly died.
It was a result he had anticipated, yet hearing it directly left him unsettled.
“Congratulations on your victory.”
“Thanks.”
“You here to get your prize?”
The Butcher nodded and asked back.
“You too?”
“Yeah. Seeing how things are going, I figured if not now, I won’t be able to take it.”
Watching their calm conversation, the Referee felt cognitive dissonance.
Was this really the sa Butcher who had rcilessly butchered Nelson monts ago?
The stench of blood still lingered, yet Black Mask was just as composed—far from normal.
“What are you doing, not opening it.”
“M-?”
“You have the key.”
“B-But I need permission to open it…….”
As the Referee hesitated, Robin tapped lightly on the door.
“Should I force it open?”
“I-I’ll open it!”
As the heavy iron door scraped along the floor and opened, a small space was revealed.
For a room storing precious prizes, it was rather modest.
The prizes awarded to first, second, and third place were imdiately recognizable at a glance.
“So this is Floating Stone. It’s light.”
He placed the four smooth discs into the sack he had brought.
Beside him, the Butcher carefully lifted a transparent box.
Inside it lay a single red feather that softly illuminated the dark storage room.
“Butcher, rember the favor I asked?”
“You asked to borrow the Phoenix Feather.”
“Can you lend it to now?”
Robin inwardly prepared to pay a price.
He had quite a bit of money, so he intended to match whatever was asked as much as possible.
“Sure.”
“H-Huh?”
“Co here.”
Her ready agreent caught Robin off guard instead.
He wondered if she had so other sche, but there was no ti to question it.
“Referee. You must not rember what happens from now on.”
“Y-Yes! I will absolutely not divulge it.”
“Thanks for cooperating. Still, better to be certain.”
Thud.
Struck at the temple, the Referee collapsed limply.
It did not seem the fire would spread this far, and waking up after being knocked out would be advantageous when giving testimony later.
It was Robin’s own consideration.
“There’s an easier way, you know?”
When the Butcher made a gesture of slitting a throat, he changed the subject.
“…This applies to you too. Even if my mask cos off, I’d appreciate it if you pretend you didn’t see.”
“Alright.”
When the Butcher opened the box, the air grew hot.
As it slowly drew closer to Robin’s mask—
Step. Step.
The sound of soone walking echoed clearly.
Though the incident had not yet been resolved, the footsteps were unhurried.
The Butcher quickly closed and hid the box.
Stepping into the corridor, golden armor flashed.
“What are first and third place in the Arena doing together.”
Among the knights who had attempted to detain the Butcher, it was the foul-mouthed Knight Commander.
He crossed his arms and stared this way.
“I greet the Imperial Knight Commander!”
Robin imdiately bowed his head in respect, but the Butcher offered no particular greeting.
As silence lingered between them, Robin quickly straightened and spoke.
“It is truly regrettable that an unforeseen incident occurred. It is only a pity that I could not assist in the Knight Commander’s labors.”
“Long tongue you’ve got. What were you two doing.”
Robin tied up his sack and recalled his escape route.
If there was any sign of being restrained, he would leave imdiately.
“I will speak honestly. I ca to retrieve the third-place prize.”
“I see. And the Butcher as well?”
“Yes. We asked the Referee to open the storage room. Please forgive us for daring to attempt taking the prize without permission.”
Watching Robin bow at a ninety-degree angle, the Knight Commander let out a short laugh.
“It’s yours anyway. What’s there to forgive. Fine.”
“Thank you for your generosity! I am moved by the Knight Commander’s broad-mindedness.”
“Hah, you’re a funny one. More polite than you look.”
The Knight Commander spoke mildly, as if he liked Black Mask.
But his next words were firm.
“As for the prize, do as you wish. Given the situation, I have a few questions.”
“Do you an to say we must cooperate with an interrogation.”
“Smart. I like that.”
What the demon tribe worshipper Black Mask had been up to was unknown.
He had no desire to take the fall for cris committed by Black Mask.
‘Let’s run.’
Judging by her expression, the Butcher was equally unwilling.
If they fled simultaneously and split up, even the Knight Commander would have no choice but to pursue one side.
He counted to three internally, preparing to flee.
Drip. Drip.
Blood from the Butcher’s shoulder fell to the floor.
The wound she had suffered fighting Nelson had not healed.
Robin wavered.
Should he betray her goodwill and escape alone?
Or help the Butcher and borrow the Phoenix Feather?
‘Sorry, but I’ll run alone.’
He opened his mouth to ti it just right—
The Butcher murmured softly, just loud enough for Robin to hear.
“Go.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll hold him off, so go.”
As they whispered so only the two of them could hear, the Knight Commander let out a dry laugh.
“What are you doing in front of . Am I talking to myself here?”
Wooooong.
Aura flared brightly enough to illuminate the dim corridor.
Without fear, the Butcher threw herself forward.
Imdiately after, a trendous roar shook the ceiling.
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