Chương 28: Chapter 27: Crushing the Bones

The carriage raced through the ruined city at a reckless speed. The destruction of the first crystal seemed to have caught the enemy's attention, since they got in the carriage's path more frequently. They failed to halt Yuto's progress, however. Yuto let Rivian take the reins and used every weapon at his disposal to defeat the enemy.

"Out of my way!" he yelled. He used one Void Skill after another, wreaking havoc. Under usual circumstances, he would not have fought this way, since it used too much ether. But right now he had the potions Rivian had brought with her. The types of enemies that came at them changed after they destroyed the second crystal. This time, it was the undead, all white bones and wrapped in purple smoke. They were skeletons created from the bodies of the dead. And it was obvious whose bodies these were.

Most of the city's occupants had died five years ago in the great disaster. Yuto doubted that there was anywhere else on the continent with as many corpses as this place. How dare they... How dare they? Yuto's face contorted with bitterness and rage. These were just the bodies, minus the souls, but a maddening anger came over Yuto at the thought that the bodies of the people of Velkyne were being abused for evil magic. He screamed, swinging the Void Hands at full power. The skeletons fell apart.

The scattered bones rattled and tried to reform, but the Void Hands slammed down like a hammer and crushed them to a fine powder.

"Yuto! Enough!" Flokiro yelled. He gripped Yuto's shoulder to stop him.

"That's enough!" Flokiro understood the depth of Yuto's anger—he also felt something similar. But Flokiro couldn't give in to emotion like Yuto was doing, since his role was to protect Yuto. Flokiro would also lose his mind if he failed to protect Yuto. But now was not one of those times. Yuto panted, slowly catching his breath when he noticed the look in Flokiro's eyes. Yes. I can't let myself go wild. There were still crystals left in the city, and enemies that must be killed in the royal castle.

Yuto clutched his aching chest and desperately fought the waves of emotion.

"How much ether do you have left?" Flokiro asked with a sigh of relief.

"I can still fight," Yuto replied. He didn't need to drink a potion yet. He wasn't aware of how many enemies there were in the royal castle, or how powerful they were. It would be wise to save as many potions for the encounter as possible. The third crystal shattered with a loud explosion. This time, they gained more than just another shattered crystal, since they captured one of the enemy, who gave up some information in a shaky voice when Yuto interrogated him.

"Th-there are ten crystals in total. Ten. Please... spare my life. I gave you all the answers you wanted..." Yuto was not merciful, of course. Mercy was meant for those with human decency, and a heart. What use was forgiveness for those who had tormented the dead instead of wishing them a peaceful rest? Yuto slit the man's neck with his dagger and got back on the carriage.

"Seven more to go..." Rivian said, sounding tired. She had already witnessed dozens of dead bodies, all in a single day. She hadn't actually killed anyone with her own hands yet, but she was slowly becoming accustomed to the sight of corpses strewn across the ground. The dove detected the next crystal and took off. The carriage followed. * Resistance only grew. Undead raised by the magic of the Black Mages, hired orcs, and criminals barricaded every street.

Yuto's spear pierced the orcs' hearts, and the Void Hands crushed the undead. Flokiro fired off flaming projectiles without rest, destroying the roadblocks in their path. Rivian, pale, also swung her staff about and deflected the arrows that flew at Yuto and the carriage with a barrier of wind.

"Yuto! There is a crossbowman on the roof of the building on your left!" Rivian warned. Yuto turned his head immediately.

"Flokiro, the roof! Rivian, get the crystal ahead of us!" Yuto yelled. Employing his Void Hands, he opened a path through the wave of enemies that lunged at them, and Rivian uttered a spell through trembling lips. A blast of wind flew from the tip of her staff and struck the fourth crystal with precision. It shattered, freeing the spirits trapped inside. The negative ether around them grew noticeably fainter. As well as they were doing, Yuto's stamina was running out—in fact, so was everybody's.

His entire body was covered with sweat and the blood of his enemies, and his ragged breathing was muffled by the thick fog. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. By the time they destroyed the seventh crystal, Yuto nearly fell to his knees. He panted, his vision spinning. The powers of the Void were impressive, but they took a heavy toll on Yuto's mind and body. He had never fought so endlessly with his Void Skills as he was doing today.

It had been less than half a day since they entered the city, but in that short time, Yuto had killed over a hundred humans and orcs.

"Ugh..." Rivian said, just as tired as he was. She clapped a hand over her mouth as she rode in the horseman's seat. She had been firing off many types of magic in too short a time frame, and she was now feeling a touch of ether sickness. A terrible pain filled her entire body as she slowly ran out of ether. Flokiro was lying in the horseman's seat limply. His fur had lost its glossiness. Even the Iron Horses were gasping for breath. They needed to rest. Yuto felt the urgency inside him, but there was no choice.

If they continued to fight in this state, there would be consequences. Yuto stopped the carriage in the ruins of a nearby building.

"We're taking a short break," he said. Three crystals to go.

Yuto tied down the reins of the Iron Horses with shaky hands. The knot gave him quite a bit of trouble, which would never have happened under usual circumstances. His body was fatigued, assuredly, but the mental damage was extreme. The core inside him, made up of the resentful spirits he had taken in previously, was reacting sensitively to the polluted ether of this place. Every time he forced his body to move, he felt like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel, damaging his soul.

Not only that, everywhere he stepped within this city, memories of the past clung to him like ghosts. All of this gave him a terrible headache.

"We should go inside. It's dangerous out here," Rivian said in a raspy voice. She could hardly move now. The most she could do was lean back in her seat and pant. Her robe had lost its original color long ago because of the dust and blood that tainted it. They walked into the ruins. Their tired eyes failed to identify the building at first. But there was a huge clock hand on the floor, which suggested that it had once been a clock tower. The memories came back to Yuto, uninvited, and he clutched his head.

A bell had tolled at every hour within the city. The tower was gone now, and it would never toll again. But the noise came back to him from his past and echoed loudly inside his skull.

"Ugh..." Yuto tore at his hair and moaned. His head hurt too much. He swayed unsteadily on his feet, and Flokiro and Rivian rushed to support him by the waist. With their help, Yuto hid in the stone ruins right at the base of the clock tower. Only two of the walls here remained standing. Even as he struggled to walk, he spread his ether faintly around the building as a safeguard and to detect enemies. As soon as they sat down, Rivian covered her mouth and released a moan.

Maintaining the dove the entire time, and using so many spells, had drained all the blood from her face. Yuto tried to suppress his pain and pulled out his canteen, which he handed to Rivian. Then he put his hand lightly on Rivian's back. He didn't know healing magic, but he allowed his own ether to reverberate with Rivian's. Her ether was unstable because of how sick she felt at the moment, and he wanted to calm it down if possible.

"Thank... you..." Rivian stammered, forcing a smile at Yuto. Blood had splattered onto Yuto's cheek and dried in branch-like patterns, and his clothing was torn all over, exposing the skin inside. Flokiro crawled over and dug into Yuto's arms, cooing weakly. His body heat would have been almost uncomfortably hot usually, but right now he was just lukewarm. Yuto quietly stroked the rough fur and inspected Flokiro's condition.

Flokiro's feet were torn and abraded from running through the ruins repeatedly and destroying barricades.

"I'm sorry. I pushed you too far," Yuto said quietly. Flokiro shook his head. Having experienced the past together, Flokiro understood Yuto's emotions. Flokiro also felt a level of rage that was almost equal to Yuto's. If they stopped now, the dead of this city would experience even further torment while trapped in those hateful crystals. Silence had come to the ruins. They could hear the sobbing of the spirits from the fog even more clearly than before.

"There's... There's still three to go," Rivian said heavily after taking a sip of water.

"It's been some time, so they will have also prepared themselves for our attack. I would assume that the remaining three crystals will be far better fortified," Yuto said, his eyes closed. The core deep inside his heart was pulsing unpleasantly. He could almost hear the negative ether flowing into the royal castle. The enemy would have realized by now that Yuto and his companions were not simple visitors to this city. Yuto was a trespasser and an enemy who had come to destroy their "factories."

"I need to drink a potion," Yuto said. He brought out the ether potion that Rivian had given him. As soon as he opened the lid, he smelled a powerful scent. He drank half the bottle immediately and handed the rest to Rivian.

"Here. You have some too. We might need to move on foot from here on out."

"All right..." Rivian said. She drank, and a little energy returned to her eyes. Her fingertips were still trembling slightly, however, and not from terror or fatigue. She was simply stressed by the sight of so many dead bodies. Rivian was a strong woman, however. She bit her lip, then produced a few herbs from her pouch. They would calm her nerves. She split them in two and gave one half to Yuto, who took them without refusing. He was also deeply distressed by the city, though for different reasons.

They chewed the herbs together, then even drank another potion to help with the fatigue.

"We will rest for just one hour. And then... we'll destroy the remaining crystals and head to the castle," he said. He glared at the thick fog outside. He could make out the faint outline of the Velkyne Royal Castle. It looked like the maw of some massive monster. That was where he would find black mages, though he didn't know how many to expect.

Perhaps... the black mages won't be the only threats. In his past life, Dark Star had been wiped out by the Ristal Kingdom, which belonged to Shiro. Yuto couldn't help but consider the connection between the two. If memory served, Shiro, who was a prince of his kingdom at the time, had played a considerable role in the destruction of Dark Star. The leader of the organization had been executed in a square because Shiro had captured her himself.

The ruins of Velkyne still stand because of a claim that the Ristal Kingdom made. The kingdom had declared that ruins should not be searched at random, but right now, the city had more black mages, orcs, and criminals than nobles with full bellies. The former were taking full advantage of the spirits of the dead. It was a contradiction if there ever was one, and Yuto was forced to think about Shiro.

The Dark Star was useless to you in the past life. But is it different now? Is that why you're using them? Just like the way you used me? Yuto felt a deep-seated disgust that made him chew his lip.