198 Chapter 198: Assassination (1/2)
I wasn't given any opportunity to celebrate, however. An enraged shriek echoed behind me, and I turned to see Selina lunging forward.
I no longer had any strength left to evade or defend myself. I weakly raised both Gan Jiang and Mo Ye to parry her blade, but she twisted around and kicked me. The blow was crushing, rattling my already shattered ribcage whose shards of bones were embedded in my lungs and most likely rupturing an internal organ.
”Gah!”
Crashing across the ruins of the devastated city, I coughed out another mouthful of blood. My consciousness tilted, clouded in a red haze, and I collapsed over. I didn't even have the strength left to lean on both of my swords.
”You killed him…” Selina hissed as she strode over to me, her hair almost rising from the potent mana that now suffused her. I suddenly understood that Anastasia might have been defeated earlier while I was trying to finish off Hades. ”You killed Hades!”
”H…he was trying to kill me…” I croaked. ”W…what did you…e…expect? T…that I'll just lie down a…and let him k…kill me?”
”YES!”
I give up. There was no reasoning with this bitch.
”You're making a huge fuss over losing your contracted spirit. Didn't you say you could always summon him again, albeit with difficulty? All you need is a bunch of resources and a lot of time, right? Overreaction much?”
Selina's reaction was puzzling me. She wasn't behaving like a normal summoner would upon losing a contracted spirit or Soul Beast. She was being overly emotional.
”He wasn't just my contracted spirit, you son of a bitch! He was my brother!” Selina shrieked a she kicked me. ”You killed my brother!”
Normally I would muster up a retort at that, but the revelation shocked me a little too much. Her brother? That berserk gigantic spirit was her brother? What the hell was this bitch rambling about? Wasn't he a spirit?
Ah…the sacrifice. Selina mentioned a huge sacrifice. A vessel with a bond strong enough with the summoner in order to bind the summoned spirit to this dimension.
That meant…Selina used her own brother as the vessel. She sacrificed her own blood-related brother in order to bind Hades into a contract. No…wait…
”Your brother's name…was it Hades?”
”Shut up! You have no right to speak my brother's name!”
All this time I had thought that Hades was the name of Selina's contracted spirit. That he was some legendary spirit that embodied the Greek god of death. As it turned out, Hades was the name of Selina's brother.
Then Angelica…what about Angelica? That wasn't the name of Dad's contracted spirit, was it? Could it be…?
I didn't dare imagine it.
”Even though I'll be able to summon my contracted spirit again, I will need to find a new vessel! That won't bring my brother back, even if I get a new vessel! You killed my brother! And now I will kill you, you fucking bastard!”
Selina raised her sword and plunged it downward, getting ready to finish me off. I closed my eyes briefly as the point of her blade streaked toward my face.
”!!!”
Selina suddenly halted and jumped away as something flashed through the place where her head had been. A poisoned knife, thrown from somewhere. She twisted around and intercepted a lethal strike from Anastasia, who had recovered and resumed her assault.
”Your opponent is me,” Anastasia informed her coolly before kicking her in the knee. Selina's leg buckled and she fell into a kneeling posture, but she still warded off Anastasia's dual daggers with her sword.
Black mana rippled through her ominous blade and blasted off in a scythe-shaped arc. Anastasia sliced through the spell with one of her daggers, and then parried Selina's riposte with her other dagger, sparks flying between them.
The two girls almost wrestled, locked in deadly combat with each other.
”I'll kill you both!” Selina swore. ”I'll definitely kill you both!”
”How do you plan to do that without your contracted spirit?” Anastasia asked with an innocent smile. Selina's face twisted in fury.
”Shut up!”
Selina forced Anastasia back with another sweeping slice of her sword. Anastasia did a cartwheel, one of her foot catching Selina in the chin and throwing her back.
”Kuh!”
The Assassin in black rubbed her bruised jaw, and wiped away a trickle of blood from her mouth. Her eyes bulged in fury.
”You…you…!”
Anastasia didn't wait for her to finish cursing. She swooped down with both of her daggers, forcing Selina to block once more. Spinning around, she kicked Selina in the small of her back, sending her staggering forward.
”Your movements have gotten a little slower than before,” she observed.
”Shut up!”
It was clear that Selina had been mentally affected by the demise of her Servant…I mean contracted spirit. Her reflexes had become somewhat dulled and her decision-making no longer on point. Anastasia was getting more hits in and Selina was rising to the former's provocations and becoming too reckless.
Despite Anastasia's taunts and successful kicks, Selina was still able to somehow avoid any lethal blow from her dagger or poisoned weapons. She staggered back, keeping Ana at a safe distance with her sword.
More mana billowed from her blade ominously, and with a shout, Selina unleashed a blast that scythed through a building, cutting it into several pieces.
Anastasia dove to the side, ducking the massive attack, and responded by throwing another poisoned knife. Selina merely whirled around to evade it, and then she lunged at her retreating opponent, determined to stop her from escaping.