Chapter 42: Bulwark (5)
Goblins screamed, steels rang, someone shouted from the wall, and something heavy crashed into the stakes. The battlefield kept going around her and yet, none of it reached her properly as she fell to her knees.
The world had narrowed to the mud, the blood, and the place where Jules had been standing a second ago.
No... No... Get up... Get up...
Her mouth moved. She thought it did but no sound came out.
The hobgoblin commander turned toward her, its blade dripped red. It raised the sword again to strike.
Misha still could not move. Her fingers hung useless around the rapier. Her knees would not answer. Her chest burned so hard it felt like something inside it had split open and stayed that way.
Just then, the commander’s strike slowed. Everything around it kept moving normally.
Swiiish!
A spear flew.
It tore through the monster’s skull with a wet crack and burst out through one eye. The hobgoblin commander jerked so violently uts whole body twisted then it crashed sideways into the mud at Misha’s feet.
Gerbaut reached her a moment later.
"Misha!"
She did not answer.
He crouched in front of her and grabbed her shoulder. His hand squeezed once, enough to shake her body but not enough to pull her out.
"Misha." He called out again.
But there was still nothing.
Tears slipped down her cheeks before she even understood she was crying. They cut warm paths through the blood and dirt on her face. One drop clung to her jaw. Another fell onto her hand and vanished into the mud.
Gerbaut’s eyes followed her gaze. Only then did he see Jules’ head properly.
His hand tightened as he completely went still... but not for long. He never had that luxury. Even then, the tiny break in his breathing and the way his mouth tightened were enough.
A goblin rushed them from the side.
Gerbaut yanked his spear free from the hobgoblin’s corpse and killed it in one clean motion.
"Misha." His voice came lower, a bit softer this time.
Another goblin screamed nearby. Nyxie’s voice answered with a laugh that sounded far away now, buried under too much noise and not enough meaning.
"Misha, look at me."
She couldn’t. Her eyes stayed fixed on Jules.
A second ago, he had smiled at her. That crooked, shy smile of his. A second ago, he had still been there, fear obvious in his eyes, and yet he still stood there in front of her against something far stronger than him. Now his blood kept spreading through the mud.
Her throat locked tighter. She tried to breathe and failed. She tried again. Air went in sharp and wrong and shook on the way down.
"Misha." Gerbaut called her name again.
And again.
Each one struck her and disappeared into the numb, frozen place inside her where panic had gone quiet and grief had taken its seat.
「 Constellation Soul within the Capricorn Chamber Requesting Authorization. 」
Misha’s lips trembled.
She no longer had the strength to fight. Her body would not listen.
Gerbaut had to keep protecting her from the goblins that still came too close.
She wanted to help, wanted to stand, but her whole body trembled harder.
「 Elevated stress and fear levels detected. Emotional interference reduced. 」
Even with the [Trait] in effect, the sight of Jules’ lifeless eyes held her still.
He died protecting her... because she had not been strong enough.
「 Constellation Soul within the Capricorn Chamber Requesting Authorization. 」
"Yes..." The answer came out so faint she barely heard it herself.The world turned and power flooded her body at once. Then she found herself outside her body.
「 Control Transfer Complete.
Possession Time Remaining: 00:20:00 」
"I’m sorry..." she whispered as she finally broke down. "I-I’m sorry... Jules... I’m sorry..."
Olivia opened Misha’s eyes, now glowing amber, and inhaled through her lungs.
"Oh," she whispered softly as she wiped off the tears from her face. "Poor master."
The words held teasing warmth by habit, yet something gentler slipped under them now. Not mockery, not quite pity either. It was something closer to fondness. She had watched everything from her chamber.
She lifted Misha’s face and looked at Gerbaut.
"Well," her voice brightened in the middle of the blood and ruin as if she had stepped into a party by mistake. "We meet again."
Gerbaut narrowed his eyes the moment he recognized her. With Misha no longer able to fight, he understood at once why she had been called.
"Move."
Olivia placed a hand over her chest with offended grace. "That’s cold. Don’t you miss me?"
Another goblin jumped and Gerbaut killed it before it reached them.
Olivia watched him do it and sighed dreamily. "Still reliable. Still handsome. This is terrible for my standards."
Gerbaut’s stare did not change.
"I’m here to help master," Olivia said, then blew him a kiss with shameless ease. "Let’s continue where we left off back then, okay?"
She picked the rapier properly and tightened her grip on the dagger in her left before she stood up. Her glowing amber eyes swept the battlefield once.
Then she moved.
Misha’s body flew forward with a speed that did not feel human anymore. Olivia stepped over a corpse, cut a goblin across the throat, pivoted and rammed the blade into another one’s eyes before the body beside it finished falling.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
A hobgoblin charged with an axe raised high. Olivia slipped inside its reach and opened its neck in one smooth upward stroke. Blood sprayed across Misha’s sleeve. She laughed under her breath and turned the next movement into a spin that drove steel through a goblin’s chest.
「 You have killed a Hobgoblin!
EXP +25 」
Yara, who was nearby, noticed her. Her eyes narrowed by a fraction. That alone said enough, this was not what she expected. Had Misha grown that much in such a short time?
Nyxie noticed second and nearly missed a swing because she kept staring. "Wow~ Is that Misha’s skill?"
Olivia focused on the monsters before her. She planted a heel on a deed goblin’s chest, vaulted off it, and drove the sword through another chieftain that had tried to reach the barricade.
「 You have killed a Goblin Chieftain!
EXP +20 」
The chieftain toppled backward off its warg. The beast tried to snap at her but Olivia landed on one knee, slid through the mud, and slit its belly open on the way past.
「 You have killed a Warg!
EXP +15 」
The battle dragged on. What felt like hours were only minutes. Slowly and ugly. Cruel in the way long battles always were.
「 Time Remaining: 00:07:03 」
「 Time Remaining: 00:03:16 」
By the last stretch, everyone still standing looked ruined.
Nyxie breathed through her mouth now, each inhale sharp. Blood streaked her cheek and dried along her jaw. Gerbaut’s shoulder poured red from a wound he kept ignoring.
Then another violent blast of wind tore across the battlefield from the wall.
Elyes had casted another spell. This time it killed most of what remained of the goblin army.
Olivia slowed, only a little. Then she looked at the possession timer floating near her.
「 Possession Time Remaining: 00:08:03 」
She had enough time. The enemies left could be counted on fingers now. So instead of charging the next goblin, she turned and walked straight to Gerbaut.
He had just driven his spear through a hobgoblin’s chest when she reached him. He looked down at her with blood on his face and the same unreadable stare as always.
After returning her rapier back to her side, she slid both arms around one of his and leaned against him like they stood in a garden instead of ankle deep mud and corpses.
Gerbaut froze.
Nyxie, halfway through wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, stared. "What...?"
Olivia rested her head against Gerbaut’s shoulder and smiled with reckless contentment. "I missed you."
Nyxie’s mouth fell open. "W-What’s happening? Is something going on between you two?"
"Why yes~ I am Gerbaut’s future–mmpf!"
Gerbaut covered her mouth. "Ignore her."
Nyxie narrowed her eyes suspiciously, though in the end, she let it go.
Elyes was there at the wall, Misha and Gerbaut stood right in front of her, and Yara had not moved far either. That left one person missing.
"By the way, have you seen Jules?" Her eyes swept through the field. It was dark and messy but a big guy like him was easy to spot.
Gerbaut’s lips tightened.
That tiny reaction was enough. Olivia couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
"He’s dead." She chose to break it for him.
The words dropped between them like a stone into still water.
The air around them changed at once and became heavy.
Nyxie stopped breathing. Or perhaps she breathed and forgot to finish it. "W-what?"
Yara’s gaze sharpened. "How long has Jules been dead?"
Olivia counted on her fingers with shameless calm, as if she were answering something far more ordinary. "Maybe around 10 minutes or so?"
No one spoke after she said it. Sighing once more, Olivia decided to end her possession. Things were not fun with how serious everyone looked.
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
The Capricorn Constellation Soul has chosen to relinquish control.
Ending Possession... 」
Ding!
Another window appeared.
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
Reinforcements has arrived! 」
「 〔FLOOR QUEST〕
Defend the Northern Checkpoint (1/1)
Survive for 30 Minutes 」
「 Congratulations! Linked Floor Quest Cleared! 」
Multiple windows appeared but no one seemed to care about it.
