Chapter 16. Metia Destruction Battle (III)
—City Hall First Floor after the staircase just collapsed—
Ferris, catching Mimi, landed carefully on the ground, then quickly pressed her hands against Mimi's wounds. A beautiful sky-blue light illuminated the entire hall. The mere residual light healed the wounds on Wilhelm, who had been cut by staircase fragments not far away.
"Why? The wound isn't healing!"
The strongest healing art, which had the potential to resurrect even the deceased, did not improve Mimi's condition. Blood gushed from the wound, staining Ferris's clothes and spreading on the floor.
"Because it is a wound inflicted by a possessor of the [Divine Protection of the Reaper]."
"Divine Protection of the Reaper? The Divine Protection of the Reaper, nya! That terrifying Divine Protection that makes wounds inflicted by its holder never heal, nya!?" Ferris cried out in surprise.
"Wait! Ferris remembers…"
A woman with the [Divine Protection of the Reaper] and that level of fighting power—a person instantly surfaced in the mind of Ferris, who had always been by Wilhelm's side. She slowly raised her head and looked at Wilhelm's shoulder, where his clothes were already stained with blood.
"He's bleeding…"
Ferris's voice trembled slightly, because in that instant, she understood the identity of the person who had leaped onto the second floor over the rubble: the deceased former Sword Saint—Theresia.
"Yes! The wound has split open again! It seems that some shameless person has insulted my wife's death and soul! Against my sword and…"
The rest of the words were inaudible.
Ferris felt as if she saw the Prince growing weaker day by day on the sickbed, and then Crusch, stained with blood, appeared in her arms, gradually losing her breath. Immense terror made her tremble all over.
"The person you are worried about is still fine for now…"
Crusch collapsed, stained with blood. Ferris stared blankly at the scene. In that instant, it felt as if a string was about to break, and a blue light that could internally destroy whomever it struck appeared in her hands for the first time.
"Waaah~~~"
Ferris anxiously tried to stand up. The large movement caused Mimi in her arms to utter a painful sound. Ferris stopped moving due to Mimi's cry of pain.
She suddenly recalled the teacher who had taught her healing arts, the former Blue Magician who valued patients more than himself.
"Ferris!!!"
Wilhelm looked at Ferris seriously.
"Trust Lord Subaru, trust Lady Crusch."
Ferris looked up at the second floor. The cat ears could clearly hear the sound of iron swords clashing. She could picture Crusch's heroic figure in battle. Selfishly, he desperately wanted to abandon everything and take Crusch away, but Ferris was also the person who supported and understood Crusch the most.
"I know, I know!"
Ferris gritted his teeth, then picked up Mimi and ran out of the City Hall.
Wilhelm listened to the sound of footsteps fading away, then looked at the resurrected Pandora once again.
"It's a rare opportunity, aren't you going to have a touching reunion with your loved one?"
Pandora spoke in a gentle tone, as if she didn't sense Wilhelm's anger or killing intent.
Wilhelm stared straight at Pandora.
Even without Subaru's warning before departure, Wilhelm understood, from Ferris's near loss of control just now, that he could not communicate with her, and he could not let extreme emotions control him in her presence.
However, if Wilhelm could compromise on the matter of Theresia, the Astrea family would not have fallen into such a state.
"My wife passed away fifteen years ago, and that fact has not changed."
That's right, even though he knew, Wilhelm still chose to answer Pandora's question directly.
"The deceased resurrected by the [Sacrament of the Undead King] have souls. Ferris just now can prove this, too.
Don't you want to say your final farewell to your wife, whom you have been separated from for fifteen years? She was thinking of her beloved husband in the very last moment before her death, you see?"
Wilhelm froze for a moment. The next instant, his expression twisted.
"What do you mean by what you just said?"
"Are you finally willing to understand me mutually? I was the one who killed Theresia."
The floor tiles where Wilhelm had just been standing shattered.
The distance of several meters between the two vanished instantly.
Wilhelm roared. A strike full of rage instantly hit Pandora's body. The next second, the completely unharmed Pandora appeared silently above Wilhelm, descending at a speed surpassing sound.
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—City Hall Second Floor after the staircase just collapsed—
"Get down."
Subaru, who had just reached the second floor, heard Crusch's voice.
He hurriedly dropped to the floor by the railing, then rolled to create distance. The next second, the woman who had stepped onto the rubble was struck by Crusch's [One-Hundred Man Slash]. Her cloak was blown away by the strong wind, and her fiery red hair fluttered in the wind.
—Reinhild!?
Subaru had this thought for an instant. The woman before him bore a 60% resemblance to Reinhild. If anything, her chest was fuller, and she possessed less heroism and more of the cuteness characteristic of a young girl. Her sky-blue eyes were lifeless.
—Crap!
The moment their eyes met, Subaru instantly reacted. He had actually been distracted in a battle of this caliber. However, Subaru was not fighting alone. The roaring cat-boy brothers, wielding their staves wrapped in blue magic barriers, blocked the sharp sword aimed at Subaru.
"Hah~~"
"Don't get ahead of yourselves!"
Crusch and Beatrice took over from the cat-boy brothers, who were easily repelled by the red-haired woman.
"Tivey, Hetaro, are you two alright?"
Subaru, smelling the heavy scent of blood on the two cat-boys, asked worriedly.
"It's the effect of the [Divine Protection of Triplet]! The wounds are flowing from sister!"
Subaru instantly understood Tivey's meaning. Ferris had not healed Mimi. Under the power of the Divine Protection, Mimi's injuries were being shared by the triplets, which also completed the last piece of the puzzle in Subaru's mind.
—Theresia?
—Beatrice's Mana should be insufficient.
Subaru felt Beatrice's contract desperately drawing Mana from him.
—The brothers continue fighting… they will die.
Subaru looked at the cat-boy brothers, whose clothes were already dripping with blood as they stood in front of him, and rejected his idea.
—Is the only combat power me and Crusch?
The dire situation made Subaru bite his lip.
"Big Brother! You can't give up, nya!!"
"Sister would definitely say to complete the Madam's mission no matter how painful or hard it is! So what should we do?"
Subaru snapped back to reality and looked at the Tivey brothers, who gripped their weapons with determined eyes.
"Then I ask you to cover Beatrice while she destroys the Metia."
Subaru's words clearly stunned the two cat-boys.
"Don't judge me by my looks. I should be the strongest here in terms of stress resistance against top-tier swordsmen. Let me try to be cool for once here. In return, I entrust my important partner to you."
"But…"
"Understood. We'll take care of it."
Although Hetaro wanted to say something, the calmer Tivey stopped him and nodded seriously.
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