Chapter 449: Break! Spirit!

“Who are you?”

“Why save someone like me?”

“I am the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord. My purpose in being born… is to be slain by the Brave.”

The owner of the voice sounded genuinely puzzled.

She tilted her head slightly, deep in thought, searching for an answer.

No one had ever stood in front of her before. Nobody would ever dream of saying they wanted to save her.

Never.

Because she was the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord.

“Your purpose in being born… is to be killed?”

“What kind of bullshit mission is that?!”

“Live… for me!”

This long exchange seemed to take forever, yet it all happened in an instant.

The sword’s tip reached the tip of Himekoji’s nose at that moment.

He felt the aura of death.

So close. So real.

The blood in his whole body froze. His hands and feet turned ice-cold.

Was he afraid?

At this critical moment, Himekoji actually forgot to feel fear.

His mind flooded, one after another, with nothing but strange, bizarre thoughts.

Rikka…

She had just asked… who he was?

So… just as he had forgotten Rikka… had she also forgotten him?

Was this punishment?

No. Maybe this could be called fair instead.

“I… am your Contractor…”

At the very last moment, Himekoji closed his eyes and answered softly.

The next second, the sword’s light touched him. Its sharpness stung. Himekoji’s body, already on the brink of collapse, became even more overwhelmed.

“No!!”

Touka’s hysterical cry of pain came from far away. Himekoji thought he heard it faintly.

“Contractor? What’s that?”

But in the end, the only words he truly heard clearly were these, spoken from behind him.

No—from in front of him!

That person who called herself the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord—Rikka—slightly circling his waist, took a wrong step, moving from behind Himekoji to stand directly in front of him.

Rikka—no, the Evil Eye of the Wicked Lord—lifted her pale, delicate face. Her gaze traveled upward from below, fixed unblinkingly on Himekoji.

They were eyes that, once seen, could never be forgotten.

They seemed to gleam. One eye gold, one eye dark. The golden one shone bright like the sun; the dark one was pitch black like the abyss.

Not contact lenses!

Those eyes held an exceedingly complex expression.

A trace of confusion. A trace of puzzlement. A trace of not understanding. And yet—not even a hint of fear toward the approaching death.

She was so calm. So calm it was frightening.

As if…

She had already died countless times before.

……

Rikka died!

In Himekoji’s dream.

Himekoji jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.

“Huff… Huff…”

Uneasily, he sat halfway up, panting heavily from delayed fear.

A dream!

Just a dream!

“You’re awake?”

A voice carrying a sigh of relief reached him from beside him just then.

Touka?

“Where’s Rikka?!”

Himekoji abruptly grabbed her arm, his face frantic as he pressed her.

“Ri… Rikka…”

Averted eyes. Evasive words.

“Where is Rikka?! Where?!”

That terrible premonition surged back. In his desperation, Himekoji forgot to control the force in his grip.

“Ouch! Ouch ouch ouch!”

Only after Touka cried out in pain did he belatedly realize and hastily let go.

But his eyes stayed fixed intensely on her, unblinking.

“Rikka is fine.”

A complicated tone, but at least it managed to soothe the frantic Himekoji.

“Fine? She’s fine? So good… that’s so good…”

Himekoji’s hanging heart finally settled back down.

“It’s you I’m worried about! Lie back down! Don’t move!”

Only then did Himekoji realize every inch of his body was wrapped tightly in Bandages.

“Ah—”

Only now, having focused solely on Rikka’s safety, did he snap back to himself, and the pain surged over him like a delayed tide.

Every bone felt broken. Every organ felt displaced.

Yet… somehow… he was still alive…

Remembering…

Yes! Remembering it was Rikka who shielded him at the very end!

He was only caught at the edges, and he was this messed up. So that meant…

Was Rikka really okay?

“Where is Rikka? Take me to her! Take me to her!”

He wouldn’t feel at ease until he saw her with his own eyes.

He desperately grabbed Touk’s hand again.

“Stop moving! Stop moving! I told you, lie back down! What if you tear open your wounds?!”

Touka only pushed him back onto the bed firmly.

“My injuries are nothing!”

“Nothing?! You’re hurt like this and call it nothing?! Then what does count as something?!”

“I said it’s fine! What happens to someone like me doesn’t matter! Where is Rikka?! That’s what matters! I need to see her!”

“What happens… doesn’t matter?”

Hearing those words, Touka seemed stunned. She stared at him, frowning, as if seeing him for the first time. She looked him over seriously for a long while. Finally, she spoke softly, almost dazedly.

“So… you are someone like this…”

As she said this, the beautiful, mature woman sitting by the bedside slowly turned away.

Himekoji therefore missed the sorrowful expression on her face at that particular moment.

Touk’s following words grew as faint as a mosquito’s buzzing.

Himekoji couldn’t catch them.

“Even so… even so… don’t gamble with your life…”

“Enough… Watching important people… Watching others… die in front of me like that… It’s enough…”

…

“You can see Rikka tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry. She’s perfectly fine.”

After leaving these words, Touka stood up and left, quietly closing Himekoji’s door behind her.

“Perfectly fine?”

“That’s good.”

Relieved, Himekoji allowed his mind to settle somewhat.

Seriously injured and not yet healed, his body felt heavy and exhausted. His eyelids felt like lead; just keeping them open had already drained him of all strength. And so, like that, he closed his eyes once more.

Tomorrow, he would see Rikka, perfectly fine.