Melkir swiftly widened the distance and turned around slowly to look back.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Moments later, a group emerged from the burning forest. Melkir instantly recognized who was approaching.
"Count Fenris."
Melkir licked his lips as he observed Ghislain, whose overwhelming aura was enough to send chills through his body.
"You've finally come."
Hiiiiing!
Ghislain pulled the reins of his horse, halting it, and spoke.
"Gillian, take the knights and head to the castle. Find and eliminate any remaining assassins."
"Understood."
Gillian galloped off with the knights.
Even as Melkir watched them pass by, he made no attempt to stop them. Instead, he even slightly stepped aside, as if to politely bid them farewell, extending his hand as if guiding their direction.
Gillian frowned in displeasure, narrowing his eyes at Melkir, but merely shot him a sharp glance before riding away.
Once Gillian and the knights had disappeared, Melkir cracked his neck from side to side and laughed.
"Sending all your men away, do you think you can handle this alone? No, you left one behind. Are you two planning to take me on together?"
Standing beside Ghislain, Belinda continued to glare at Melkir.
The face was wrapped in bandages, making it difficult to recognize him. However, a person's identity isn't determined by their face alone.
The shape of their eyes, the movement of their lips, their demeanor, and their voice. Comparing the traits of the person standing before her to those in her memory, Belinda closed her eyes tightly and spoke.
"So, you really were alive, traitor Melkir."
Melkir raised an eyebrow, looking at Belinda.
"What? Traitor? Do I know you?"
Belinda slowly opened her eyes. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"How could I forget the one who betrayed Lady Annette and attacked her?"
At the mention of that name, an enormous aura erupted from Melkir's body. The murderous intent radiating from his eyes, visible through the bandages, was glaring.
"You know her, huh. Who are you? Where is that woman now?"
"She passed away, because of the injuries she sustained fighting you."
Melkir momentarily paused, then burst into laughter.
"Ha, hahaha! She's dead? She's finally dead? Khahaha! Then I won! Khahaha!"
Melkir was overjoyed. The person who had left him in his wretched, half-dead state had ultimately died because of him.
It felt as though the bitterness and rage that had weighed on him for over twenty years had finally disappeared.
As Melkir cackled maniacally, Belinda sneered at him.
"Win? You brought hundreds of assassins to ambush her, and still ended up wiped out. Do you really think you won? You were pathetic, flailing around desperately. Aren't you just relieved now that the person you feared is gone?"
Hearing that, sparks of anger flared in Melkir's eyes.
"You wretch... who are you? How do you even know about that?"
Only a handful of people within the Duchy and the Salvation Church knew about his shameful past. There was no way an outsider could know.
Melkir, staring at Belinda, suddenly widened his eyes.
"Don't tell me... Belinda?"
"Good, so you remember."
"Haha! You! You survived!"
Clang!
Two daggers suddenly appeared in Melkir's hands.
"So, the little brat managed to survive. Annette must've fled with you, huh?"
Belinda didn't reply. She simply summoned mana, her gaze cold.
As her robe fluttered, dozens of daggers attached to her body began writhing like snakes and floated into the air.
Seeing this, Melkir laughed again.
"As expected, your technique resembles hers. Seems like you learned a bit while hiding away. Today, I'll kill you and erase all traces of my disgraceful past. Both of you, come at me."
The two glared at each other, their auras clashing.
Ghislain, who had been awkwardly listening to their exchange, asked.
"Belinda, you really knew him? And who is this Annette?"
Belinda bit her lip. She hesitated for a moment, then, as if making up her mind, spoke with a sorrowful look.
"Lady Annette was my teacher, the leader of the group I was part of. And..."
Ghislain urged her to continue.
"And?"
"She was your mother."
"...What?"
Melkir's head snapped toward Ghislain, and Ghislain himself wore a stunned expression, unable to process the unexpected revelation.
Wondering if he had misheard, Ghislain stammered as he asked again.
"My mother... an assassin?"
"Not a typical assassin. She was more like a righteous assassin."
It was the first time Ghislain had ever heard the term "righteous assassin." He tried to calm his jumbled thoughts.
Honestly, he didn't have many memories of his mother. She had passed away when he was very young.
What he did recall was that she had been somewhat frail. That was why she hadn't lived long.
He also remembered how his father had mourned her for years.
"So, uh... my mother's weak body... was because of him?"
"Yes. She sustained severe injuries fighting that despicable man, shattering her mana core."
"She suffered such an injury, yet... she still married my father, gave birth to me and Elena, and lived for several more years? How does that make sense?"
When a mana core is shattered, it's difficult to live normally. The body's balance collapses, and life force constantly leaks away, leaving a person weaker than even the average individual. Most succumb to their condition shortly after.
However, Belinda nodded as if it were obvious.
"That's because Lady Annette was born with holy power. She was incredibly strong."
"Wow..."
Those born with holy power are several times stronger and more resilient than the average person. Ghislain, who knew of individuals with holy power among the Continent's Seven Strongest in his previous life, understood this well.
If his mother had been born with holy power, it explained how she had managed to survive for years after such severe injuries.
"I see. I'd always wondered why Elena and I are so healthy while our mother was frail. So, it was because of her injuries."
His mother's background, Belinda's past alongside her, and everything about their connection to Perdium had always seemed suspicious. Finally learning the truth, Ghislain nodded in understanding.
"Yes. She wasn't as weak as she seemed. For someone born with holy power to suffer such severe aftereffects shows how gravely injured she was. That scum being alive at all makes no sense. I don't know how he survived."
"Now that you mention it, that's true."
If what Belinda said was accurate, the fact that the man was still alive meant he had resorted to some vile trickery.
The black energy leaking from him with every breath was clear evidence of Salvation Church's meddling.
"That brat is Annette's child?"
Melkir seemed genuinely shaken as he glanced back and forth between Ghislain and Belinda.
"Indeed, he's the great man who has conquered the North and reached the level of a Master."
"Haha... as expected of the child of the kingdom's strongest woman. Now that I look closely, his hair color and features resemble hers more than Marquis Perdium's."
"He does resemble Lady Annette a lot."
"Could it be that his rapid rise in strength is because he inherited her holy power as well?"
Melkir looked slightly tense. If Ghislain had inherited holy power and mastered mana, his strength would be amplified severalfold.
But Belinda shook her head proudly.
"No, he didn't inherit holy power, nor did he learn Lady Annette's cultivation techniques or skills."
"What? Then how did he reach the level of Master at that age?"
"We didn't teach him anything. Lady Annette didn't want us to. He only learned Perdium's cultivation techniques and swordsmanship."
"That's ridiculous! He must've gained that woman's secret techniques and power to grow that quickly!"
"No, he earned his place through his own efforts. And stop calling her 'that woman.' Show some respect to someone who was once your superior, you rude bastard."
Boom!
Belinda's eyes flashed as she vanished in an instant.
She reappeared behind Melkir and launched a sharp dagger, but her target had already disappeared.
As she turned, Melkir's bandaged face appeared right in front of her.
"A mere trainee dares to attack me... you've grown bold."
Clang!
Melkir's dagger lunged toward Belinda's abdomen. She barely managed to deflect it, retreating backward.
Swish!
Dozens of daggers writhed and flew toward Melkir. It was an attack that dominated the space in an instant, but Melkir dodged them all.
Shff.
Belinda's figure grew blurry, then vanished. Following her, Melkir's figure also blurred and disappeared.
Clang! Clang!
The two reappeared and disappeared, exchanging blows as they fought. Their movements were so fast that it was nearly impossible to follow.
Ghislain, watching the entire battle unfold, was deep in thought.
'It's still too much for Belinda to win.'
Melkir was undeniably strong. While he might seem weaker in an open fight, if he initiated a proper ambush, even a seasoned superhuman would suffer a significant blow.
Moreover, there was a sense of ease in his every movement.
'He's not even using his full strength.'
Whether it was confidence that he could handle Belinda without going all out, or if he was conserving energy because he had two opponents, Melkir still appeared to have plenty of leeway.
'Hmm, what should I do...?'
Under normal circumstances, Ghislain would have immediately joined forces with Belinda to kill him quickly. After all, Melkir was the one who had severely injured his mother, a fact that still left him feeling dazed.
But it felt a bit tricky to intervene in this fight.
'Belinda rarely shows her emotions or grudges so openly like this...'
She clearly wanted to defeat Melkir with her own strength, to cut ties with the dark past herself.
Boom! Clang!
Injuries began appearing all over Belinda's body. Perhaps the dagger was laced with poison, as faint, acrid smoke rose from her wounds.
Whoosh!
Belinda, struggling in close combat, widened the distance and retreated.
As Melkir caught his breath briefly, he looked at her and laughed.
"Well, well… So this is all there is to Belinda, once hailed as the greatest talent in the history of the 'Shadow Knights'? Twenty years have passed, and yet this is it? Annette clearly lacked an eye for people."
"Shut up."
Belinda bit her lip in frustration. She wanted nothing more than to choke the life out of that bastard with her own hands, but the wall of superhuman strength was still too high to overcome.
Melkir, smirking, glanced at Ghislain.
"Do I look like a joke because you're doing so well these days? I was a Master before you were even born."
"So what?"
"It means, how long are you going to just stand there watching? Are you going to wait until this woman dies before you move? You seem very relaxed."
"Belinda seems to want to kill you with her own strength. Isn't that right?"
At Ghislain's question, Belinda nodded.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Young Master, but I must kill him myself."
Melkir, overhearing their conversation, shrugged his shoulders as if he found it amusing.
"Hehe, so you're just going to watch? It seems you'll only regret it after this woman dies. Well, keep watching then."
Whirl.
Melkir spun his dagger between his fingers with a mocking grin.
He didn't believe for a second that Ghislain wouldn't intervene. He was sure that the moment Belinda's life was truly at risk, Ghislain would move. That was when he planned to use his ultimate technique to strike back.
"Shall we continue?"
With a wicked grin, Melkir's figure vanished. He suddenly appeared behind Belinda.
"Tch!"
Clang!
Belinda twisted her body just in time to block the attack. The fight between the two resumed once more.
Clang, clang, clang!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Dark shadows spread in all directions as the two clashed.
An assassin's battle was certainly different from a knight's.
Neither of them overexerted their power. They focused their sharp energy on pinpoint strikes, aiming solely for the opponent's vital points. As a result, there were no overwhelming shockwaves.
Crack!
Belinda's daggers, unable to withstand Melkir's aura blade, began chipping and snapping one by one. The strings holding them together broke, and the daggers fell to the ground.
Even though she had absorbed a dragon heart and accumulated immense mana, her ability to concentrate that power was far inferior to Melkir's.
As a result, even when she poured excessive mana into her daggers, the blades chipped, and the strings snapped.
Melkir taunted her relentlessly.
"You still haven't broken past the wall, have you? You can't even use that woman's secret techniques properly. What exactly have you been doing all these years? Slacking off?"
"..."
Belinda simply bit her lip without responding. Or rather, she didn't have the time to respond.
It was difficult to win. She desperately wanted to punish this traitor with her own hands, but the odds of doing so were slim.
Even though she had absorbed a dragon heart and her mana levels had reached those of a superhuman, she had not yet crossed the singular wall needed to advance further.
It was no surprise. Belinda knew the reason why. But she had no regrets.
'Because that was my entire life.'
Ghislain, observing her, looked at her with slightly sorrowful eyes.
[T/L: Please support me and read extra chapters: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]