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Chapter 27 - Oh, Your Majesty So Cruel - Part II

Carolina and the other soldier were entangled by the lines, hurled violently against the wall. Ferinish cast a glance at Slady, nodding in approval. Fraizen, stunned, saw her soldiers crushed against the wall as smoke escaped through the cracks.

"Damn you, man. How did you do that?"

Slady wrapped the lines once more around his arm, replying in his apathetic tone:

"The lines are extremely delicate and sensitive. A simple movement means a lot."

As soon as he finished the sentence, he prepared to strike Fraizen. But the soldier suddenly appeared, leaping and firing three ice arrows at once. Slady dodged, and Ferinish cut the arrows with her flaming sword.

When they hit the ground, the ice spread, freezing the floor and forcing them both to retreat. Carolina seized the chance to charge Slady with her spear, while Fraizen conjured an ice sword against Ferinish.

Slady deflected the spear with his mechanical arm, creating space. He tried to slash the woman's neck, but his mechanical claws suddenly emerged from his back to block more arrows fired by the soldier, causing him intense pain.

"Hmph!!"

---

"It's surprising that a human like you is so strong."

Fraizen pressed her ice sword against Ferinish, trying to crush her into the ground. But the warrior had greater physical strength: she landed a kick to Fraizen's stomach. The blow had little effect, for Fraizen had created an armor beneath her robes.

Ferinish swung her sword toward the enemy, who raised an ice wall to shield herself. The warrior rushed at the barrier and, with a powerful kick, hurled her blade at high speed toward Fraizen.

She dodged by a hair, but the sword burned part of her neck.

"Damn it!!"

Fraizen clutched the wound, trying to hold it closed. At that moment, Ferinish appeared behind her, aiming a kick at a sensitive point in her thigh.

But before she could land it, ice arrows pinned her leg against the wall.

The soldier appeared atop the frozen wall, firing down at her. With gloves made of renkatas, he descended, ready to strike.

"I hate hitting maidens, but you're no maiden."

Suddenly, the ice barrier exploded. Carolina was flung against the soldier, both smashing their heads against the wall. Slady appeared right after, wounded in the chest and face.

"..."

Swiftly, he shattered the ice restraining Ferinish. She tore the arrow from her leg, grunting.

"This hurts like hell."

"You're a pretty rough woman,"

Slady observed. Ferinish let out a short laugh, but soon realized Fraizen had vanished.

Ferinish ordered Slady to search for her. Amid the wreckage of the room, nothing seemed left... until, in a hidden corner:

"Die!!"

A colossal ice sword was hurled at Ferinish's chest. The world seemed to move in slow motion for Slady. His body no longer obeyed reason; only instinct guided him.

'Why can't I move? Why am I running toward death? Is it my instinct... to protect Ferinish?'

On impulse, he placed himself in front of her. His arms rose to block the strike, his heart pounding in despair. Fraizen's sadistic smile widened.

At the last instant, Slady launched a syringe at the enemy's neck. The needle pierced her flesh, injecting an unknown liquid. Her smile died instantly.

Meanwhile, Slady's mechanical claws gripped the ice sword, slowing it down. But as the price, his arm began to shatter.

'Is this real? Am I going to die? Lose my claws, my arm... everything, for a woman? I shouldn't... and yet, this feels so right.'

The blade pierced Slady's chest, driving him back along with Ferinish. Before fainting, she let a single tear fall.

BOOM!!

The mechanical arm exploded. The artificial eye was torn out. The claws destroyed. Both were thrown out of the castle, crashing against a nearby mountain, engulfed in a cloud of smoke.

The ice sword dissolved into water. The two fell together into the freezing waters surrounding the mountain.

Splash!

...

Ferinish emerged, dragging Slady's pierced body with her.

"Cough—cough!"

She spat water from her lungs, barely clinging to strength.

"Slady..."

With tears in her eyes, she tried to warm him, but found only empty syringes in his coat.

"Why did you do this?! I... I would've endured the attack! You shouldn't have done this for me!"

She stared at the emptiness in his face: the missing eye, exposed circuits, shattered claws.

"Slady!!"

Desperate, she embraced him, surrounding them both in flames that didn't burn, only warmed.

"Please... I... I don't want to lose you..."

Her world became silence and emptiness.

"I love you... Slady... stay with me..."

"How beautiful..."

Ferinish raised her eyes. Fraizen was there, deformed. Half of her face was now an ice demon, with horns. One arm covered in thorns, her hands turned into claws.

"The woman lost her beloved. A weak man, but cunning."

She touched her corrupted face and screamed:

"LOOK WHAT THAT PIECE OF SHIT DID TO ME!!"

Ferinish looked at her, not for the deformity, but for who she was.

"You... killed the only person who mattered to me. The only one who never used me. You... killed him."

With hatred in her eyes, she raised her flaming sword, ready to decapitate Fraizen.

But at the moment of attack, her body froze. From Slady's chest, a spectral woman emerged. Black and white hair, ethereal garments, eyes closed.

Truth.

"My contract is clear: I must not intervene unless my bearer's life is at risk."

Her presence was overwhelming. Ferinish could barely stand; Fraizen fell to her knees, spitting blood, bleeding from her eyes.

"Whoever holds truth is destined for a tragic end. And I will not let any creature make him suffer further."

Truth extended her hand toward the enemy:

"Vanish from my bearer's life forever."

"Yes... my lady."

Fraizen began to crumble into ice cubes, scattering until nothing remained.

Truth then turned to Ferinish, lifting her chin.

"While holding my bearer, you said you loved him. Is that true?"

Ferinish could not lie. Before Truth itself, it was impossible.

"Yes, I love Slady. More than anything in this life."

A gentle smile touched Truth's lips.

"Keep those words. Repeat them always."

She merged once again with Slady's body. The wound in his chest slowly healed, but his arm and eye did not return.

Exhausted, Ferinish knelt beside him. She pressed her ear to his chest, hearing the faint but steady heartbeat.

"How much I needed to hear that..."

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