Chapter 36: Chapter 36 - Catch Me If You Can

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Justice Shards!"

Huh, that’s kind of a pretentious name. And the irony of a Knight’s Soul Weapon including ’justice’ in it...talk about hilarious.

The weapon itself, on the other hand, might be a bit of a hassle to deal with. There were six floating blades around her, each about a meter long, with no handles or anything, just blades on their own.

"What was that name, again? Justice Sharts? Makes sense, you Knights sure do love to shart all over our lives," I remarked dryly...okay, yeah, not my best line.

"Hah-...e-er, I mean, don’t you dare insult us! And it’s Shards, not-...not that other word you mentioned. Don’t mock me," She growled angrily.

Uh, was it just my imagination, or did she let out a snort of laughter at first? Yeah, I’m pretty sure she did. Huh, and I thought that was a terrible joke, I regretted it almost as soon as I said it.

If that really was a laugh, then her sense of humor is, uh...how to put it? Stunted at an eight grade level. Yeah, that’s it. Well, whatever, I can use this to my advantage.

"Ah, what typical Knightly hypocrisy. You actually thought that was funny, but then realized that you’re not supposed to laugh at it. Heh, from now on, whenever you chant to bring out your Soul Weapon, all you’ll be able to think about...is sharts," I smirked in amusement.

"Wha-...that’s enough out of you, time to die!" She snapped, as the floating blades came flying towards me...hm, better activate Super Hearing, it improves my reaction time.

I swiftly cracked my whip and swung it around myself, batting the away, before my eyes widened in alarm as she suddenly closed in on me with her regular sword in hand.

I quickly contracted my whip and stiffened it, just in time to block the thrust of her blade. As her Soul Weapon blades came homing in towards me, I pushed back with my whip, slicing through the blade of her sword.

She hurriedly let go of the handle just in time and sprang back, as I managed to nick one of her fingers with my whip. I then got low and leapt away to narrowly avoid getting skewered by her Soul Weapon, rolling away before getting back onto my feet.

But the blades gave me no respite, already closing in on me again. I sprang up as they got near me, before flicking my wrist with precision control, cracking my whip while extending it and returning its flexibility.

My whip then wrapped around her blades tightly, tying them up in a bundle. Got ’em! I then noticed a fire Spell shooting towards me, which I quickly responded to by activating Magic Eater and swallowing it up.

"What’s the matter? Already forgot I can do that?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"What a waste of talent, it’s rare to see such mastery over Spellcasting and the use of Skills...what’s more, that Soul Weapon of yours is unusually sharp. Soul Weapons are almost always much tougher than normal weapons, but even by those standards, that whip is a high level weapon. It’s a shame that I have to kill you," She replied with a grimace.

Aw, man, too bad I haven’t figured out how to use the second form of my Soul Weapon, but that God did mention that it takes decades of training, plus you have to max out your Mana capacity. I’m likely a super long way from being able to use it.

Talk about a missed opportunity. If I had somehow managed to unlock it, I could’ve said something like ’this isn’t even my final form’, ooh, or even better, ’BANKAI!’...yeah, that would’ve been awesome...

"Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all, I know, I’d make a great combat slave. But unfortunately, I’m not interested in the position," I responded with a shake of my head.

"Huh? What do you-...?" She began in confusion, before trailing off as I shot towards her while extending and spinning my whip above my head.

Ohh, that’s right, I almost forgot...this thing can extend endlessly! My precision control is gonna suffer, but then, I don’t need to be precise to do this!

I sprang up and swung my whip across towards the outer wall with all my strength, her Soul Weapon blades striking the wall and clattering down as the impact shook them free from the restraint of my whip.

But that’s fine, this is bound to shake her up, at least a little bit! My whip sliced through the wall in a circular arc, neatly cutting out a circle in the part of the wall above the gate.

"This was fun and all, but I don’t have time to mess around with you damned Nobles...get crushed and die!" I exclaimed, as the part of the wall above the gate began to collapse.

"Oh, no...ohh, shit!" She yelled out in alarm.

I then blunted my whip and swung it towards a bar on the outer gate, striking it and wrapping around it, before I rapidly contracted my whip, using it as a makeshift grappling hook to pull myself towards the exit at top speed.

I grimaced as a chunk of the falling rubble struck my left shoulder, breaking it. This is gonna be rough, I have to hurry!

I let out a stifled cry of pain as something slammed onto my right leg, a crack echoing out at the bone broke upon impact. Several more bits of falling rubble grazed me, but I managed to avoid any more broken bones, as I reached the gate right as the entire thing caved down.

"Ow...that really fucking hurts, damn it...," I muttered in pain, as I began healing myself.

Hm? I can hear the rubble shifting behind me. Suddenly, several chunks of the collapsed concrete fell away, followed by a sharp gasp and a groan.

I glanced back with a grimace, to see the acting Knight Commander, breathing heavily with a slight glossy look in her eyes. Looks like she got hit in the head...her blades floated out right before she emerged from the rubble, she must have survived the collapse by using them as a shield above her head.

Her right arm looks severely broken, the middle of her forearm was badly bent and swollen, and her right leg from below the knee was completely mangled. Unfortunately, she should be able to heal those pretty easily with the help of a Light Attribute slave, like that woman in Duralles’ mansion.

She’s barely conscious, she likely won’t be able to cast Spells in that state. And she can’t walk either, it’s kinda impressive that she’s staying standing on just one leg, her other leg is in some seriously bad condition.

"That wasn’t enough to kill you, huh? Too bad, it would’ve been pretty cool to have the deaths of both the Knight Commander and acting Knight Commander under my belt," I sighed wistfully, as I used a Spell to pry open the bars of the gate.

"You...killed Commander Duralles?" She strained to speak, looking like she was about to pass out at any given moment, "You...you’re a...you’re a Commoner, aren’t you?"

Huh? She just realized that now? Wait, she assumed I was a Noble this whole time? Hm...that means that she was fighting with the genuine intent to kill a fellow Noble. Interesting.

But also, irrelevant. Now, then, should I stick around and try to kill her? That won’t be too tough in her current state...case in point, her Soul Weapon just disappeared.

Or should I play it safe and leave already? What to do, what to do?

"Mhm, not just a Commoner, but a Heretic too. See, my injuries are all gone. It must suck to have such painful injuries and not being able to heal yourself, huh?" I taunted her, as she collapsed onto one knee, letting out a stifled gasp of pain.

"...explains it...the Commander...like dirt...your actions...deserve...," She muttered weakly, most of her words barely comprehensible.

Even with Super Hearing still active, I couldn’t make out most of what she said. Well, it doesn’t really matter, it was probably just something insulting towards Commoners and/or Heretics.

"Hm? What was that? Here, let me help...I’ll just put you out of your misery and be on my-...," I began as I started heading towards her, before halting as I heard the sound of footsteps heading this way.

Good thing I didn’t deactivate Super Hearing...sounds like they’re still a couple hundred meters away. I’ll have to slowly make my way through the rubble to get to her and kill her...tch, I can’t afford to waste time doing that.

Time to get away. I’ve made it all the way here, there’s no sense of throwing away my efforts in getting this far just to kill someone against whom I don’t really have a serious grudge against. There weren’t any female Knights in the group who attacked my village, so she likely wasn’t involved in that.

"W-wait...," She strained her voice weakly, as I headed out the gate.

What the...? She’s still conscious!? Wow...gotta hand it to her, that’s pretty impressive. Even if she is about as threatening as a wet tissue right now.

"Sorry, but my time’s up, I can’t afford to stick around. Here’s hoping I never see you again...but I doubt you’ll give up so easily, huh?" I sighed wistfully, before glancing back at her as she began to lose consciousness, "So, then, here’s a challenge for you, acting Knight Commander Aries Velenet...catch me if you can."

Ohh, yeah, I’ve always wanted to say that!

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming Chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP