Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 133, Part 2 Finale - Rise

Viviane winced her knight rammed into her, the two of them tumbling to the side as the massive beam of dark mana expired mere inches away.

They tumbled for a few seconds before laying still on the floor, both of them breathing hard. Medrauta was the first to recover, pushing herself off the ground and whirling around to face the still-standing Bastiche. A large gaping hole now resided where the nobleman's chest once was, acting as a gruesome window as it clearly displayed the scenery behind him. Small wisps of smoke rose from the fatal wound, a result of the heat generated by the sheer power of his beam.

For a moment, there was nothing but pain and despair on Bastiche's face, but his anguished visage soon turned into one of sickening pleasure and satisfaction as Viviane rose to her feet. The noblewoman hadn't been touched by the blast at all, but that didn't mean she had escaped from all harm.

A thin red line formed just above Viviane's cheek where a tiny piece of debris had struck her in the chaos. The wound itself was only skin deep and negligible, but it was a wound nonetheless. A single bead of crimson rolled down her cheek as she took her place beside her knight, staring at Bastiche who cackled even in the midst of his death throes.

Medrauta could sense that something had gone wrong, but she couldn't tell what. Bastiche was about to expire, and Ritya had already perished. Whether the knight had returned to Aluvsha's embrace or been fated to something else entirely escaped Medrauta's knowledge, but she felt it was hardly relevant in the face of Bastiche's twisted expression.

Plip.

The entire room shook violently. Bastiche's laughter reached a crescendo. The myriad canals etched into the slate floor all lit up, the still-running blood within glowing and steaming as they evaporated rapidly into the air. Medrauta looked around for the catalyst of all this, but she couldn't find it. There was nothing that could've caused the activation of such a large magic circle unless...

"...Ahahahaha! She has it! Oh, Isabella must be furious right now! She was right all along! Liquid sunlight!? What a joke! Ahaha.. ha..." Bastiche collapsed on the ground, his body falling limp at last. That outburst had taken the very last vestiges of life force within his body, his last moment of rapture being his brightest as he finally joined Ritya in death.

Indeed, it was the single drop of blood that fell from Viviane's jaw which sparked the entirety of this reaction. In the end, Viviane had been their target all along. Medrauta was stunned for a second, staring at the rapidly vanishing drop of blood beside Viviane's feet. She didn't understand it at all.

If one drop of Viviane's blood was all it took... Then what the hell was all this!? Medrauta's gaze flickered between the pile of mutilated corpses still in the center of the room, at the still bodies of Ritya and Bastiche, and at Viviane who looked equally shocked. She knew the corpses had been mutilated out of cruelty, but they still served a purpose in whatever this ritual was at the very least, supplying what seemed like an infinite quantity of blood that drenched the room's intricate canal system.

However, if all it took was a drop of Viviane's blood to complete the ritual, then Bastiche and Ritya's actions made absolutely no sense. During the course of their confrontation, they had plenty of chances to not only harm Viviane, but also take her life. She had been especially vulnerable while unconscious, but as far as Medrauta knew, Bastiche hadn't done anything to the noblewoman and seeing as Viviane was uninjured after regaining consciousness, Bastiche had most likely been focusing solely on Medrauta while supporting Ritya.

Viviane wasn't sure what had happened while she was in the Lake, but she knew there had been plenty of opportunities for Bastiche to take her out even after she had regained consciousness. This whole sequence of events made no sense to either of them... That is, until Medrauta's gaze landed on Ritya.