Have you ever splattered paint across a pristine white canvas?
Fist against fist, bone against bone, muscle against muscle.
Colors stained the pristine snow with each hit.. Their dance of blood, fought with lives at stake, was both brutal and precise.
CRACK—Leoric’s fist smashed into Ian’s cheek. As Ian staggered back, Leoric rushed in without letting the opening slip.
But Ian’s kick slammed into his solar plexus before he could advance.
Guh—Leoric gagged as a thin muddy fluid trickled from his mouth.
Ian charged in swinging. Leoric gritted his teeth, endured and threw another punch in return.
It was a desperate struggle between two unarmed men.
It was a battle so desperate it even felt pathetic. Leoric’s mind, already pushed to its limits, grew hazy.
Leoric kept muttering these words to himself.
His teeth had all been knocked out, rolling across the ground. His jaw was shattered—trying to move his tongue produced only wheezing sounds.
So he just recited inwardly.
I’m not wrong.
Fragments of the past bled in through his hazy mind. It was a scene from a certain day.
He had fallen alone and was shivering in the cold of the North. He tried to endure, but the hunger that persisted for days was driving him towards death.
That’s when he met the elf girl with the injured ankle.
She too was destined to die. In the coniferous forest, cold and hunger weren’t the only threats to life.
Demonic beasts would come, attracted by the smell of blood.
Perhaps that’s why the elf girl forced a bright smile as she held out the bread.
“Even if I don’t make it, you can live, right mister?”
It was rough and crude bread.
Leoric was a military priest. Even the cheapest meal provided in the barracks had better quality than that.
And yet, why had he devoured that bread like a starving beast?
Leoric thought it was fate.
He considered it a perfect opportunity to resolve the doubts about the Heavenly God he harbored in a corner of his heart.
Lord, didn’t you say you loved peace and forgiveness?
But why must humans and elves repeat such cruel fights?
As a Priest, he couldn’t understand and, like most scholars, he deeply delved into the problem to find the truth.
Even as he treated the elf girl and even as he was injured while protecting her from the demonic beasts.
That’s how Leoric earned the elves’ trust.
What did they say back then?
He couldn’t remember.
What broke through his reverie was a punch that caved his nose in.
“LEORIC!”
He gritted his teeth and twisted his body. Blood filled his nose as it collapsed, making his already labored breathing even rougher.
Nevertheless, he used his massive frame to collide and Ian had to firmly plant his feet in the ground to avoid falling.
Leoric stomped on one of those feet with his left foot.
His mind was too chaotic to tell whether it was the left or right foot.
Only the sight of Ian gritting his teeth was visible.
And then, a headbutt.
Ian staggered back and Leoric also took several steps back from the impact that penetrated his skull.
A faint voice reached him through his increasingly fading consciousness..
“Ah, mister! Are you okay? F-Fire! The food storage is on fire…!”
“I… I’m… alweady… duh… done vor…”
Through his melted tongue, the words came out..
But the girl, though in tears, didn’t give up on him.
It’s my fault.
Leoric’s mind was in complete disarray. After the day his face melted and his body was carved with hideous scars, Leoric woke up after God knows how long.
And then, he saw it.
The lifeless elf girl, her cheeks caved in..
With his burned vocal cords, Leoric wept. He could only resent his pitiful state that couldn’t even properly sob.
Even then, the girl had done everything she could to save him.
She used all her strength to find food and give it to him.
When Leoric realized this, he cried all night.
And cursed himself again.
Foolish one, you were wrong.
The world was nothing but a brutal food chain—kill or be killed. Forgiveness was just empty talk from the well-fed.
Did he not realize it as he was consumed by the flames?
That he could never forgive those who inflicted this pain.
Yes, I was not wrong.
The woman who appeared like a ghost that day said so as well.
She was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman he ever saw. Could even the Saintess of the Holy Nation, praised as the pinnacle of beauty, compare to her?
A noble black hair that didn’t allow even a speck of light, deep crimson eyes whose inner thoughts were hard to fathom.
Her pure white skin was like untouched snow and her sharp features seemed born to enchant all who beheld them.
Whether they were men or women.
That woman could seduce anyone, if she wanted to.
That’s why it was even more terrifying.
The more he gazed into those eyes, the more he felt himself being drawn in.
The woman smiled gently.
“Do you crave revenge?”
Yes, that was the trigger.
“You were just following the teachings of the Heavenly God. But why do you have to suffer like this? And why don’t those who gave you pain even blink an eye? Isn’t it unfair?”
“W-Who… are you……”
“Shh.”
She was as seductive as the night, and just as ominous.
A bewitching smile rose to her lips.
“You did nothing wrong. You just lacked power… So, what do you say, shall we make a deal?”
“A… deal?”
“Yes, I’ll give you power. Power to overturn this unfair world… But you too must pay a price. That’s what makes it a ‘deal’ after all.”
That day, Leoric accepted that offer.
But no matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t remember what that ‘price’ was.
What did I offer?
And then THUD—an elbow drove into his solar plexus.
His pupils shook violently. Unlike before, it was a blow he hadn’t expected at all.
There wasn’t even a warning sign.
Though he was no expert in hand-to-hand combat, Leoric still had the power gained from the ‘deal’ left in his body. His heightened combat awareness was far beyond what could be categorized as human.
Yet, he hadn’t noticed it coming.
How on Earth?
Before that question could even finish forming, fists exploded against his jaw and temple in succession. Leoric howled and wildly swung his arms.
Until the very end, Ian kicked his solar plexus and retreated.
Leoric was now clearly at a disadvantage.
As he coughed up more mud, Leoric thought through his blurring vision.
Yes, I wasn’t wrong.
“L-Look! Living is suffering! Can any among you claim life isn’t hell? We must show mercy to those who cannot endure this hell!”
Yes, I…
“We mustn’t plunder too obviously. Our goal is simply to make them realize we’re not easy targets. If there are sacrifices along the way… it can’t be helped.”
I…
“Oh, poor Betty. Sadly, it’s impossible to overcome that pain alone. But I’ll offer you a small help. So it won’t hurt… so this hellish life can become a little more peaceful.”
Then, a scream.
Leoric couldn’t control the uncontrollable flames burning in his chest. The fire scorched his throat and vocal cords, until he couldn’t even understand the meaning of his own screams.
He simply ran and then fists clashed .
Afterwards, the two men’s bodies repeated a cycle—separating, colliding and falling.
Leoric’s breathing grew increasingly labored.
He couldn’t remember her name, that precious child he considered a daughter.
Why?
He had buried the girl in his heart. He made a memorial in a corner of his memory and lived with the thought of commemorating her every day.
Hadn’t he always carried two items to honor the girl in his breast pocket?
One was bread, the other a dagger.
The bread was a reminder of the kindness she had shown him.
The dagger was so he wouldn’t hesitate like that day.
Yet, why couldn’t he remember her name?
Like yarn, Leoric’s tangled mind rolled across the ground.
Yes, this too was all that man’s fault.
Ian Percus.
Ever since he showed up, the plans had fallen apart. In the end, he lost the power granted by the Lord and was plagued by needless anguish.
Leoric let out a scream filled with hatred.
“I-IAN… PERCUUUUUUUS!!!”
The two men’s fists struck each other’s faces.
At that perfect intersection, both figures staggered apart. Leoric’s eyes were deeply bloodshot.
So was Ian’s.
There was nowhere left to retreat. Whether they lived or died, the two had to settle this here.
Both of their appearances were already too wretched to say who looked worse.
Faces bruised in various colors with bones caved in and blood drops left their traces on the snow field.
Neither opened their mouths.
But they instinctively reached an unspoken agreement.
The next blow would end it all.
It was time to show their hidden trump card.
His mind was hazy. It was truly impressive he could still stand on two legs.
But Leoric could not fall.
His defeat would mean that he had been wrong.
The world of taking and losing lives had always been this way. History was always written under the logic of the winner, and the loser was banished and remained as a villain.
Leoric didn’t want to face such a miserable end.
He wanted to engrave the name of the elf girl who saved him in history.
So she would never be forgotten by anyone!
While Leoric staggered, Ian’s body kicked off the ground and soared.
As if in agreement, both men’s hands dug into their bosom.
A dagger.
Leoric gritted his teeth and thought. Perhaps Ian instinctively sensed it as well.
What was hidden in each other’s bosoms.
The identity of the secret that could take the other’s life with a single blow.
In the midst of his desperate mind, Leoric felt something caught in his hand.
There was no time to hesitate.
The two men’s arms stretched out toward each other.
Shunk—blood soaked the earth.
Unlike before, this was a fatal bleeding. Not a single strike, but continuous, massive bleeding.
Only then did Leoric come to his senses.
The whole world seemed to narrow around him and Ian. Though he was clearly standing on the ground, it felt like he was looking down at their crossed arms from the sky.
A dagger had pierced his body. Just from the golden handle, it was clearly a high-quality item.
The kind gifted to a lover for the sake of self-defense.
A piece of trivia from Leoric’s days as a priest flashed through his mind. Though it didn’t matter anymore.
Leoric looked at the end of his own arm, stretched out toward Ian’s heart.
It was bread.
Not a dagger, but the bread he always carried to honor the elf girl.
Bread and dagger crossed paths.
Urgh—from Leoric’s mouth, black stained blood poured out. Even that only lasted a moment before the blood he spat returned to red.
After briefly shuddering, Leoric collapsed, face-first onto the ground.
Death approached.
Perhaps because of that, Leoric’s ruined jawbone moved on its own.
“D-Did I… Did I lose?”
“Yes.”
At that quiet answer, Leoric burst into laughter.
Yes, in the end, he lost.
He wasn’t even frustrated anymore. Even the cold piercing his body couldn’t cause him pain.
Rather, he felt relieved.
Now he didn’t have to fight. He didn’t have to be in pain.
However, one thing bothered him.
“W-Will Ariella be sad?”
It was a name spoken without thinking.
Leoric couldn’t even remember that name. Perhaps Ian would feel the same way, feeling it was sudden.
But Ian remained silent.
He just blankly fiddled with his chest, where the blunt end of the bread had struck.
“I always carried bread to honor that child… But because of that, I lost the final battle. cough!”
Tears welled up in Leoric’s eyes.
He realized it for the first time in so long.
Did he even have tears?
He couldn’t remember. He thought his tear glands had burned away on the day the food storage burned down.
“I have no face to show Ariella……”
“She’ll be happy.”
But at Ian’s words, Leoric grasped his fading consciousness one last time.
“The priest whom Ariella considered her father was such a person, wasn’t he? He took care of the sick, whether it was a human or an elf… Even when he fell alone in the coniferous forest due to an elf attack, he treated a girl with an injured ankle.”
He must have been out of breath too.
Dropping to his knees, Ian continued his deduction with faint breaths. Sёarᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
“He was a good person who didn’t repay daggers with daggers. No, someone who never knew what a dagger was… That’s why he could melt even the elves who lived their whole lives with daggers in their hearts.”
Leoric shut his mouth.
There was no more mud left. His body had returned to the state of the weak priest he once was.
He probably didn’t have many chances left to breathe in and out.
A few memories were revived amidst his hazy mind.
Suddenly, voices pierced his mind.
“Sister Ariella, elves seem to be very rational and yet frightening. Bread for bread, dagger for dagger… If it weren’t for you, I would have probably been turned away at the door. Haha!”
A tear rolled down Leoric’s cheek.
I see.
“Hmph, I find what you say more interesting than such trivial stories, mister. What was it again? The words that person, the Heavenly God, supposedly said!”
“Th-That must have been boring……”
So that was my ‘price’.
“That’s even cooler and more amazing! If you repay a dagger with a dagger, then what’s next? The person who received the dagger will live with a dagger in their heart again, right? There’s no end to that! You have to fight forever!”
“Well, that’s true, but……”
“That’s why I like you, mister!”
This bright smile, the child’s happiness.
The laughter that dazzlingly bloomed even in hunger
“If I live according to what that mister said, can I become like that too? A person who repays daggers not with daggers, but with bread!”
These precious memories.
Why had I forgotten them? Hot tears flowed uncontrollably, forcing open his gradually closing eyelids.
Leoric said while sobbing.
“Ah, I see. That’s right….…”
The value of life doesn’t lie in being full and wealthy.
Even in a terrible life, there were moments that sparkled like this.
“In the end, I’m glad it came true. Even though I committed so many sins…..”
Barely swallowing his sobs, Leoric squeezed out his last strength and said.
“Please tell them I’m sorry.”
Ian didn’t even ask the question that should naturally follow—to whom.
He instead remained silent.
To watch over the last moments of the arch-enemy he had been opposing for so long.
“Also, you must be careful.”
Leoric’s breaths gradually became fainter.
A man who had once been a priest of the Heavenly God’s Church, then a cult leader, and now just a bloodied human.
It was his last warning.
“Archbishop Aindel, he is dangerous……”
Unable to convey even his final warning, Leoric’s heartbeat completely stopped.
Ian, who had been kneeling, only then relaxed and slumped down.
He too was dazed.
He couldn’t even remember how many hits he had taken. He just fell back, looked at the sky and had one thought.
It was clear.
The sun was rising in the North, where a snowstorm had been raging.
As if to announce the end of the bloody fight.
***
Whack—the old man’s body staggered and stepped back.
And one sharp blade aiming for his Adam’s Apple.
Delphine quietly growled and said to her father.
“It’s over.”
Two decisive battles were coming to an end.
***
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