The magic of death, spreading around Blood.
The creature, with a flow of red blood, began to attack the maid standing here, looking straight at me.
“Cough!”
Moments later, the maid collapsed on the floor while screaming.
From her body, blood erupted like spears, tearing her flesh to shreds, and she met her end without any resistance.
Originally, it should have ended like that…
“…”
“What… what’s happening?”
The shocking scene unfolding in front of me was…
The maid, who should have been hit by my deadly magic, stood there without any movement.
“T-this makes no sense! H-how… how can she endure this? She should be torn to shreds by now…”
The maid was casually munching on my magic as if it were nothing.
In this world, almost no one could defend against her ultimate magic.
There were only two ways to do so: either perfectly understanding her magic to break it apart, or using an overwhelming amount of magic power to forcibly repel it.
In the former case, no one apart from the developer, Blood, knows her magic that well, making it utterly impossible.
Even the second method seemed nearly impossible.
Blood was a 10th-grade witch.
A being so rare in the continent that one might be born out of ten million, literally a rare sight.
One of the strongest witches at the ultimate level, who could only be reached through talent, luck, and personal effort; only those who are renowned across the continent could merely defend against her magic.
However, despite this seemingly impossible fact, the deed was done.
Her magic was hopelessly broken, and the culprit stood right before my eyes.
‘What on earth… what is that woman? How is such a powerful being here…’
Blood, having laid her best card, found herself achieving no results.
From the moment she witnessed the scene with her own eyes, she began to feel that something had severely gone wrong.
“You… who the hell are you?”
“…Hah…”
With a trembling voice, Blood questioned.
In response, the maid let out a deep sigh, and seeing that, Blood yelled once more in a fierce tone.
“Answer me! Who are you… cough!”
– “Bang!” –
The next moment, without even a chance to react, Blood was slammed to the ground, grabbed by the maid’s hand.
Simultaneously, a fierce pain gripped her as if her neck were about to break, and Blood began to struggle to escape from the maid’s grip, which felt like it could crush her neck at any moment.
“Cough! Ugh!”
However, despite her struggles, the maid tightened her grip even more.
As Blood felt her strength drain away, her consciousness began to fade.
‘Am I… am I really going to die like this? So… so helplessly…’
In that desperate moment, with her vision flickering like a candle going out, she suddenly noticed…
“! Cough! Hah… Hah!”
The maid’s grip unexpectedly loosened.
Feeling her breath returning just in time, Blood exhaled roughly.
As her blurry vision began to clear, she finally focused on the maid’s face.
At that moment, her face froze in shock.
Red hair, snow-white skin.
And… piercing eyes that shone like rubies.
Despite a significant change in style, there was only one person in Blood’s memories who looked like that.
“…M-Master…?”
“You’re calling me Master now?”
– “Pang!” –
“Cough!”
With just a single word from Blood, the maid slammed her head back down into the ground again.
As a result, Blood began to bleed from her nose, and her face became drenched in blood.
Yet, despite the pain, she spoke with an incredulous tone to the maid holding her head down.
“M-Master, how… how are you here…”
“Before you ask that…”
– “Pang!” –
“You should first tell me what you need to say.”
The maid’s voice was laced with burning rage.
In the midst of excruciating pain, Blood hurriedly replied.
“I’m so… so sorry for that! I-I truly didn’t think that guy had such a plan! I-I never intended to betray you! I swear!”
“…Hah…”
Blood, bleeding profusely, conveyed a desperate feeling.
The maid let out a small sigh before swallowing her emotions and falling silent for a moment.
Then…
“…Huh…”
As the maid loosened her grip on Blood’s head, a deep sense of relief washed over Blood.
Seeing Blood’s expression, the maid slowly rose from her position and lightly brushed off her apron.
“I haven’t completely forgiven you yet, but I’ll hear more details on this matter later.”
“…Y-yes… thank you.”
With deep relief, Blood cautiously sat down.
Subsequently, the maid gazed at her face with cold eyes and asked in a chilling voice.
“Now, tell me why you and Soul are here.”
“Y-yes. The truth is…”
Without any hesitation, Blood began to recount the mission she had received.
The princess Cazerose, who was abandoned by her beloved.
And… the command from the duke to kidnap Santana, the mastermind behind this incident.
“So… we came here to take Santana away at all costs. Soul was tasked with distracting at the entrance, while I planned to go in and proceed with the mission.”
“I see… I understand.”
Having laid out everything she knew, Blood spoke.
After hearing this, the maid remained cold and fell into thought.
Meanwhile, Blood, observing the maid, had many questions she wanted to ask, but dared not speak at that moment.
Part of it was due to her guilt towards the person in front of her, but more significantly, it was due to pure fear of the maid.
‘I truly didn’t know. I knew you were somewhere in the Sacred Empire, but I never expected you’d be here in Bohemia…’
From her perspective, it felt like going to catch a cat and instead encountering a dragon.
Thus, Blood maintained her silence as she waited for the maid to say something.
Eventually, the maid appeared to sort through her thoughts and spoke to Blood.
“Understood. From now on, you will act as I instruct you.”
“W-what do you mean?”
The maid issued commands with no option for refusal.
In response, Blood listened intently without any rebuttal and nodded in agreement.
“Y-yes. I’ll do as you say.”
“Of course, and it goes without saying that you shouldn’t mention that you met me to Kattlena. We don’t need to complicate things further here.”
“I’ll… keep that in mind, se…”
“Polena. You will only use that name here, remember.”
“Y-yes. Understood, Polena.”
“Now, go.”
“Yes!”
With that, Blood bowed her head in response to the maid’s words and left without protest.
Immediately after, the maid lightly waved her hand to erase the bloodstains in the hallway, then slowly approached the door and knocked.
– “Knock knock knock” –
“Yes, come in.”
The voice of her master resonated from inside.
The maid entered and, as always, greeted her master with a bright smile.
“Are you still awake?”
“Yes, in such quiet hours, it’s perfect for reading books.”
“Ha ha, that’s true, but please don’t overdo it. What will you do if your health deteriorates?”
“Haha, yes, understood, Polena. Shall we call it a night for now?”
Smiling at her words, Santana closed the book.
Watching this, Polena…
Maintained her bright smile, blew out the candle that had been lit, and left the room.
As if nothing had happened here just moments ago.
