Chapter 1741: One Request
The shock rippling through the ranks ran deeper than the story itself, because to most of the people in that ring, the Primordial Villain was a pure enigma.
He arrived at battlefields unannounced, spoke a few words, and did what he did best.
Nowhere in the tales that crossed the continent did he explain himself, justify himself, or share so much as a sentence about his own beginnings.
What none of them knew was how warm and kind the man could be to those he actually cared about, and now the entire ring stood witness as the most feared existence on Iskaris laid out his humblest days for the sake of honoring his woman’s achievements.
"Everything I am today, all that I have and everything I will ever have, has been built brick by brick with my beautiful samurai’s steadfast hands at my side."
Across the frost, the worry on Ayame’s face melted into fondness as the memories resurfaced on their own: a cramped cell in a slave house, a handshake over a table, a level 1 nobody with an iron spear thrusting at labyrinth beetles while she barked corrections at his footwork.
She had walked beside him through every milestone he ever achieved, and hearing him proclaim as much before the entire world warmed her chest in a way she hadn’t braced for.
"In all our time together, she has never asked me for a single thing," Quinlan continued. "Except one."
"’So my requirement for my owner-to-be is to make the promise that he or she will support my quest for vengeance. I’m not looking to become a duchess because, as stated, I legally can’t...’"
For a moment, Quinlan’s dark, not at all amused eyes found Alexios, before he looked back at Kaede.
"’...but I wish to eliminate her, the other traitors in my clan, and also kill her mysterious backer or backers.’"
He recited the words the way they had been spoken to him. "I promised to help her exact that revenge."
His gaze slid down from her face to the blade straining at the end of her pinned arm.
"As for the ’mysterious backer...’ That would be you."
The relic blazed alive with anger.
From Quinlan’s back, [Soul Reaper] flared to life, ghostly pale flames curling along the pitch-black saber.
Two blades with a will of their own faced each other.
The demonic blade hissed at Quinlan with a malice that scraped against the senses of everyone close enough to feel it, and the saber’s pale fire bore down on it in answer, telling it to know its place.
In the prisoner columns, the kneeling samurai heard it all.
The lieutenant with the ruined arm looked from the Primordial Villain to the leader in his grip, and the conclusion settled over her face with a weight no shield needed to enforce.
"She created him," she whispered to no one in particular. "We weren’t defeated today... We were defeated the day Lady- no. The day Kaede sold her own sister."
"All that is to say..." Quinlan spoke again, and his heavy, overwhelming pressure came down like a tide rolling back in as his eyes burned into Kaede.
"We’re finally in the home stretch, where my far too amazing and dutiful first ever ally gets rewarded for all her hard work and dedication."
His gaze hardened.
"And you think I will just let you slip away?"
The three grips pinning her sword arm sprang free in the same heartbeat that Quinlan threw her, and the relic seized its chance.
Mid-throw, it wrenched Kaede’s arm into a vicious slash at his neck, and a blast of wind slammed into her before the edge could land, the swing cutting only air as the gust sent the chosen of the Fujimori tumbling across the frozen ground to crash and roll to a stop at Ayame’s feet.
"Finish the duel, Kaede Fujimori," Quinlan ordered.
Kaede pushed herself up on one elbow, the world still swaying around her, and the glare she aimed at him held nothing but fury. "Finish it?! You expect me to fight a duel surrounded by a ring of enemies?!"
Quinlan couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
"Ayame fought her duel surrounded by a ring of enemies as well, she just wasn’t aware of it at the time." His eyes bore into Kaede. "Isn’t that right?"
Whatever answer she was scraping together never got its chance, because he had already moved on.
"But fine. We will not interfere. Defeat Ayame, and you are free to go."
"You expect me to believe that?" Kaede barked out a laugh that cost her ribs dearly. "The moment my blade reaches her throat, you will lunge!"
"Yeah, obviously." He shrugged, shameless to the bone. "I won’t lose my beloved samurai, no matter what. But my promise stands. Win, and you walk free."
Then, before a hundred thousand pairs of eyes, the Primordial Villain straightened his back, laid a hand over his heart, and raised his other palm toward the heavens in a flawless swearing stance, radiating a holiness so sudden and so complete that he could have walked into any cathedral on the continent and been handed the morning sermon.
"I hereby swear it upon the Goddess, mother of all creation, shepherd of every mortal soul, and eternal witness to every honest oath."
His voice flowed out gentle and serene, washing over the ranks like a benediction at morning prayer.
"Should Kaede Fujimori prevail in this sacred duel, she shall depart this field free and untouched, with no hand of mine nor any other hand raised against her. May the heavens record these words, and may the Goddess herself deny me entrance into the afterlife should I stray from them."
"DON’T YOU DARE!"
The shriek burst from the crowd before the oath finished settling.
Elisabeth lunged out of the crowd with divine light erupting around her, and it took three Scarlet Lilies at once to stop her, Bronnya’s arms locking around the Arch Priestess’s waist, Jallen hanging off her mace arm, and Lilith hauling at her collar with a growl while the holiest woman on the continent dragged all three of them a full step forward.
"Don’t you dare utter the Goddess’s name with those filthy lips! Of all the sacrilege- LET GO OF ME! I’ll SMITE this blasphemous existence DOWN!"
Kaede looked from the screeching priestess to the freshly minted saint, and the Duchess of Silverwind rose to her feet.
"Swear it on the lives of your loved ones."
Quinlan’s eyes cut toward Elisabeth, and he clicked his tongue, the holiness evaporating off him as fast as it had arrived, leaving behind a man visibly annoyed.
He sighed. "Fine. I swear on the lives of my loved ones. Defeat Ayame, and you go free."
"However..." His eyes found the blonde dogkin in the ring. "Blossom. I’d like Ayame to fight alone. Will you come to me?"
The terrible void assassin left the dogkin’s body on the spot.
The predator that had been circling Kaede with a promise of death vanished as if it had never existed, leaving only Master’s bestest girl behind, her tail snapping into a propeller blur.
"Master!!"
She crossed the distance in one giant leap, launching herself into his arms.
