Chapter 193

Chapter 193

Cassis parried Deon’s attack, then struck the Agrece’s chest with his open hand. Yet again, Deon experienced the same familiar sensation wrap around his heart just as it had when the two last fought just outside of Yggdrasil.

“Back to the same tricks again I see!” He turned at his torso and slashed at the Blue Heir without hesitation.

Clang!

Sunlight flashed here and there as it reflected off the broken pieces of glass on the ground around them. Meanwhile, the sharp sound of metal clashing filled the passageway. Rather than focus all of his energy on killing the Pedelian, Deon quickly returned his aim to Nix. Just as the silver-haired man had suspected, the crimson-eyed Agrece had no intention of fighting him since his main focus was evidently to kill Achille.

“Stop this instant, Deon!”

Roxana’s raspy voice managed to pierce her half-brother’s eardrums, but that was still not enough to stop him in his tracks. Although he couldn’t know what lay in store for him once everything was settled, he for some reason felt that it would all become clear once he had laid his Achille’s corpse to rest once and for all.

As he clashed a few more times with Cassis, everything around them shimmered dizzyingly due to the light reflecting off of their surroundings. Unlike the Agrece who would attack any and everyone before him ruthlessly, the Blue Heir’s fighting ability was limited by his desire to protect Nix in the process.

It also didn’t help that the puppet refused to move from where he lay and instead just continued to stare at his killer blankly. With the weight and shock of every blow that fell upon it, the large crack in the glass floor continued to spread as well. As much as she wished to at least help in the defense of the puppet, Roxana could not get any closer to their battle.

The poison needle she still had in her possession would also prove ineffective against another Agrece, let alone Deon. Thus, the best she could do was retrieve her whip and shorten her distance from them as much as possible. She then flung the thin sash, but this time aimed it at the puppet.

Fwish!

Just as she had managed to coil it around his arm, the sharp edge of a blade found an opening behind Cassis and slashed into the youth’s shoulder. Roxana choked down every profanity she felt boil over in her mind as she struggled with her own recovering arm to drag Nix away from further harm.

I’m not quite sure why I’m even bothering to help this thing, but then again... She couldn’t just sit back and allow her brother’s killer to have at him. Right... That’s all this is.

Nix lost his balance and toppled to the ground beside her as she finally succeeded in pulling him away. But as if it were some cruel twist of fate, a puppet appeared from seemingly nowhere right behind them.

The creature glanced back and forth between the blond boy and woman, then identified her as yet another “obstacle.” As Roxana sensed its presence quickly approaching from behind them, she spun around.

Just then, an ominous noise rang through the passage as the glass floor could evidently not withstand the added weight of the warrior doll. Roxana instinctively extended her arm in an attempt to toss Nix back to safety, but in doing so she would also forfeit her own chance of escaping the ensuing collapse.

“Roxana!”

Cassis had also noticed the enemy puppet and proceeded to hurl his weapon toward it, but this act left him inadvertently wide open to the Agrece he was combating. Deon was not one to miss such an inviting opportunity and managed to lodge his weapon into the Blue Heir’s shoulder.

Bam!

Luckily, the Blue Heir managed to successfully knock back the creature behind her as his weapon impaled it. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been the only one of its kind to begin swarming the corridor again. In any other situation, Roxana could have dodged their attacks with the time Cassis had bought her, but the moment Nix had crossed the threshold at the end of the glass hallway, the floor beneath them began to give out as more and more of its surface was reduced to pieces.

Even as she began to lose her footing, Roxana managed to use her whip to push aside one of the puppets closing in on her. Unfortunately, she was unable to block the attack one of the other puppets had aimed at her neck as it charged toward her. Then everything happened in an instant and all at once. Deon had also noticed the predicament his half-sister was in the moment he heard Cassis cry out to her.

The two simultaneously abandoned their battle to act. It was far from a conscious decision on either of their parts to suddenly unite their efforts, but the Agrece recognized that he had a higher chance of success since he was closer to her.

“You killed my son, yet would die for my daughter.”

He couldn’t fathom why the accursed words of his stepmother always echoed in his ears at times like these, but...

“Go then. Go to my daughter.”

“Go to my daughter and...”

In that moment, his mind was completely clear as both his arms and legs moved as if they had gained sentience. Within that space where time seemed to have slowed down, he pulled his golden-haired sibling closer and watched as her locks fluttered in the wind created by the force of his arm.

“So die for her when the time comes. That is why I spared your life.”

He reached out for Roxana just as she fell back onto the floor, but an approaching blade gave off a chilling sensation. In a flash, he felt something sever in unison with the sound of the metal’s slash.

Roxana’s crimson eyes widened as she watched blood splatter in front of her like paint. The force that had pulled her away seemed to vanish just as quickly as she had registered its pressure. She was at last well out of the puppet’s reach, and Cassis managed to catch her before her body met the crumbling floor.

Just as Deon swung his right arm to slice off the puppet’s head, the entirety of the glass floor shattered beneath their feet. In mere seconds, they were all sent crashing down to the ground below along with the shimmering shards of glass.

As though circumstances were not bad enough with the corridor they were in being the very same path connecting two wings at the top floor of the castle, more puppets had discovered Nix’s location and were already gathering on the ground below them.

Roxana tried to open her mouth to say something, but a gust of wind suffocated her words. Cassis grit his teeth as he pulled her into his chest tightly and braced for the impact.

“Xa...”

Although she had flung the blond puppet to safety, Nix had been too stunned to move and therefore left to watch the entire scene unfold.

“Xanaaa!”

All the sounds in the area seemed to collide in midair to form a deafening orchestra with the shattering glass.

Boom!

The Blue Heir took the brunt of the impact as they crashed to the ground. The pain of his bones mercilessly breaking coursed through every fiber of his body, but he had no time to groan about it. Translucent shards continued to rain down on them from above, while the puppets below were raising their arms as if they were waiting for their target to come falling down along with them.

But where they were on the ground left them exposed, so it would be impossible to escape further injury. In order to minimize the harm that might befall Roxana, the Pedelian wrapped her even more tightly in his embrace, then rolled as far as he could off to the side.

Pieces of the broken glass that had come falling down with them, as well as that which was still raining down over them, pierced into Cassis’ back and arms as he formed a barrier over his beloved. To his surprise, someone else managed to block the attack of the puppets that had set their sights on the couple.

“Cassis!” Roxana shouted as she lifted her head to peek over his shoulder. It was difficult to properly assess the situation with everything happening so quickly around them, but having him hover over her made it that much more difficult. He suppressed the groans bubbling up in his throat as he rose to leave the area with her in his arms.

She made the careless mistake of placing her hand on his shoulder but flinched away as she felt something hard protruding out of it. Her face went pale once she realized that it was a large piece of glass. It appeared that his body was unable to heal while the countless shards remained lodged in his flesh.

Without warning, sharp clashing noises sounded from nearby. She had nothing else in her possession that could serve as a weapon, and Cassis was equally unarmed. Even so, he was doing everything he could to increase the distance between them and the approaching puppets.

She looked past his shoulder to see that Deon was managing to destroy the warrior dolls that had chosen to go after him. Puddles of blood were left in the wake of his every move. He had also apparently failed to completely negate the impact of the fall as well, so his movements were rather sluggish.

However, the thing that managed to catch and retain the focus of her scarlet eyes more than anything else going on at that moment was the absence of something that she couldn’t understand why it was no longer there anymore. She recalled the powerful force that had pulled her forward, then thrown her toward where Cassis had found her in the passageway. The same strong hand that had made such a maneuver was now missing from the end of her half-brother’s arm.

The same blood that trickled down from the severed portion below the elbow of his left limb continued to splatter wherever he stepped. She could do nothing but watch on while holding her breath.

“There are more over here as well!”

Those who began to arrive after hearing all the commotion immediately set to work destroying the warrior dolls as well. All the while, Nix stared down at them from overhead with an expression as blank as his mind.

Just what the hell has been going on with me? I don’t understand. However, there was one thing he was certain of. Roxana had saved him from imminent danger by falling through the glass floor in his stead.

To his relief, she appeared to be unharmed. On top of that, she had even stood up to Deon in order to protect him earlier. It was then that the teen realized that Roxana would be in danger as long as he remained there. The only other thing that was becoming increasingly apparent was that his killer had not yet given up on getting to him. The blond had felt certain of it the moment he spotted the dark-haired Agrece shakily glance up at him after destroying the final warrior puppet. He was positive that the crimson-eyed beast would never let him go until he was dead for good this time.

After one final look down at Roxana, he stood up while biting down on his tear-stained lower lip, then vanished from view entirely. Deon eventually lowered his gaze to look around at those surrounding him.

Meanwhile, Cassis finally set down his beloved after ensuring that he had gotten her to a safe area and that all signs of danger had subsided. A number of people who had arrived at the scene of destruction immediately rushed forward to tend to his wounds. Despite others crowding around the black-haired Agrece for the same reason, Deon refused to move from where he stood in order to receive medical attention.

The moment his crimson eyes locked with his sister’s twin pair, her dangling hand twitched.

“Xana!”

Just then, Jeremy’s desperate voice bellowed down from overhead. As if it were an unofficial signal, their older half-brother turned away as if he was preparing to take off.

“Don’t go!”

A chilling shriek issued from between Roxana’s ruby lips. All those around them appeared to freeze in place for a moment to see why the ever-beautiful, yet heavily injured woman was screaming so desperately.

“Don’t go anywhere, Deon.”