Chapter 72: Roaring Thunder
“Loretta!”
I strike with my fist wrapped in purple lightning. But my thunder is blocked by a sword of darkness.
“This lightning… it’s even more powerful than before. Ah, that’s you, Luce. You always forge your own path, climbing to heights no one else can reach. It’s truly delightful.”
“How can you be happy? Fighting like this… killing each other! How could anyone be happy about that?!”
The lightning is deflected by the sword. Loretta and I have clashed many times before.
Even now, as we exchange blows with fist and blade, nostalgia wells up inside me.
“Was your arm injury a lie?! Just to deceive me and lure me into a trap!”
“No, it was real. My father once took away my path of the sword. But thanks to mother’s blessing, I can wield a sword again as you can see… It allowed me to dispose of that wretched father too. Aren’t you happy for me?”
“I’m glad you regained your path of the sword. But you’ve strayed from the path of being human!”
“That face…”
“…?!”
What’s plastered on Loretta’s face is—joy. A twisted happiness I’ve never seen before.
“Just seeing your face, trampled and hurt, makes me so happy.”
“What are you saying…! Ugh?!”
A slash from point-blank range. I gathered lightning to defend, but couldn’t completely negate the force and was thrown backward.
“My worthless father stole my future as a swordsman. Yet everyone around me seemed so happy, living their lives with carefree smiles. Dreaming of their futures, living each day with joy. But I couldn’t smile. I couldn’t find any happiness in my days. I thought about it. How could I smile again? How could I find joy in my days? I kept searching for my own path.”
A flurry of strikes with the miasma sword. A fantastical trajectory that’s hard to grasp.
Even though she’s tainted by the wrong power, Loretta’s swordsmanship hasn’t changed. At its core, it’s the same as back then.
That makes it even more painful. If only she had changed more. If her sword itself had transformed, maybe then…
“I tried helping people at first. Being kind to others, gentle, thinking that if I saw someone smile, I might be able to smile too. But it didn’t work. Seeing other people’s happy smiles didn’t make me happy at all. My future was still stolen, nothing had changed, so of course it didn’t.”
“Is that so? I quite like seeing everyone’s happy faces!”
“You’re that kind of person. Because you were my best friend, that’s probably why I first came to think that way… But it was a mistake. I’m different from you. You’re different from me.”
“…!”
“You can be happy about someone else’s happiness as if it were your own. But you see, I can only find joy in stealing someone else’s future.”
“Gah…?!”
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My lightning faltered for a moment. Seizing that opening, Loretta mercilessly kicks me.
That blow precisely digs into my wound, and the intense pain almost makes me lose consciousness, but I hold on for dear life.
“It was simple once I understood. First, I caught a rising adventurer and shattered their knees. Why the knees? Because that adventurer was proud of their legs. I thought about skinning their face to learn how to smile, but it wasn’t very useful, so I killed them quickly… Oh, yes. There was also a child who came to the royal capital from the countryside to become a knight. A splendid dream, right? I made sure they couldn’t hold a sword like me, and then tore open that chest full of wonderful dreams. There were many others too…”
“What are you saying… you…”
I don’t understand.
“My future was stolen. So I stole the futures of others in the same way. When I do that, it makes me happy. Very happy. It’s as simple as that. Why can’t you understand?”
I don’t understand what the woman I called my best friend is saying…!
“Is it because of the miasma? Did the Night Witch’s power change you?”
“Ahaha. What an interesting question. Of course not.”
Loretta laughs carefreely, just like in the old days. Despite doing such horrific things, she shows the same smile as when we were studying together at the academy.
“Mother’s blessing only grants the power of miasma. It doesn’t change one’s personality. Lucille told you, didn’t she? That awakening requires strong emotions. In my case, it’s the strong emotion of [joy].”
Loretta shatters even the faint hope I had been clinging to.
“It’s thanks to you that I could fully become Mother’s [daughter], Luce.”
“Me…?”
“Yes, that’s right. I still care for you deeply. Your absolute confidence in yourself. Your immense magical power. Your precious family. You have everything except the one dream you gave up on. I still love you for that. So… ah, when I think about how happy I’ll be when I steal your future… Just thinking about you, just imagining it, the [joy] I feel was enough to awaken my power.”
“Don’t screw with meeeeeee!”
Lightning bursts forth with my rage. Wrapping my entire body in electric current, I leap towards Loretta.
“Too bad.”
Even my all-out lightning attack is calmly received head-on by Loretta.
“If you had recovered enough to use the [Royal Robe Ring], it might have been more fun. No matter how much you try to act tough, you can’t fight properly with those injuries, can you?”
“Guh… ah…?!”
She strikes when my magic wavers. Overwhelmed by the sword pressure, I’m thrown backward.
(… Damn it…! I can’t… put any strength into it…!)
I’m out of breath. My breathing is ragged. My vision is gradually blurring.
The wound has reopened. The amount of blood flowing out has been steadily increasing.
“There’s no need to rush, Luce. Trampling you in this state won’t satisfy my joy. Fighting you at your best and then taking everything away—that’s what will give it meaning.”
“… What are you…!”
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
“Wait…!”
My vision blurs. My consciousness fades into darkness.
The hand I stretch out towards her retreating back reaches nothing—.
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