The Daughter of Evil - Volume 4 - Chapter 3.23

chapter 3, section 2-a heartbeat in the rain; scene 3
Praefacio of Blue, page 171-174

✥ Kyle Marlon ~The Country of Marlon, “The Castle of Hedgehog/Banquet Hall”~

.

The castle was filled to the brim with dead soldiers.

I realized why we hadn’t run into any on the way over. The surrounding dead soldiers had all gathered inside here.

A melee broke out between the army and the dead soldiers. I could hear the sound of blades meeting flesh, and the roars of human and monster alike.

Within such a narrow castle I couldn’t properly grasp how many of either there were. Projectile weapons were no use in here, so the archery unit had all swapped their weapons to swords and threw themselves on their foes. I tried to dive into the swarm of enemies as well, but I was stopped by my trusted commissioned officers.

The weapons that had gained the sorceresses’ divine protection seemed to have a considerable effect on the dead soldiers, so the tide of battle looked to be in our favor. Interestingly, those weapons gave off a low light within the dim interior of the castle. Watching several sword-flashes chaotically flying through the air from behind it all, for a few seconds I was struck dumb by the lovely spectacle.

It was my first time seeing the dead soldiers in person–their skin was as snow white as I’d heard. When they were gathered together, they looked almost like a single white mass.  An enormous, pure white mass that let hang in the air the strangeness of something that shouldn’t–couldn’t exist.

But it wasn’t a complete "white”. There were impurities mixed in.

In the middle of the inhuman white there was a single human face.

The face of a girl. With a blonde side-ponytail, and eyes tinged with madness.

–I had known she would be here, considering the systematic actions these dead soldiers were taking.

Ney!

She was a fair distance away, but our eyes clearly met. She laughed once, then turned around and ran against the tide of dead soldiers.

“Follow her! Catch that blonde-haired woman!” I shouted.

But it seemed my voice didn’t reach the army, engrossed in the fight against the enemies before them.

“Dammit!”

I charged into the throng, chasing Ney. My commissioned officers tried to hold me back again, but I shook them off.

The dead soldiers came at me all at once. I ran through while mowing down the ones in front of me with my sword.

My blade is quicker than normal…I guess this is an effect of the inscription!

I advanced ahead, thanking the sorceresses inside my head.

However…there were too many of them. I collapsed, unable to deal with the dead soldiers launching themselves at me as though to smother me out, and was pinned down underneath them.

“–!?”

The dead soldiers were all blown back simultaneously after a beautiful sword flash enclosed my surroundings,.

When I stood and retook my stance, there with her back to me was a red swordswoman.

“Germaine!”

“What are you doing? You’re chasing her, right?”

Ney looked to have already disappeared further inside the castle. If memory served me, the area up ahead led to a courtyard.

“Let’s go, come with us!”

“Ah–alright.”

Following the guidance of Germaine and her unit, I once more pursued Ney.