Bloodbound Oath: Between Realms
Chapter 44: Darnell’s Power

Chapter 44: Darnell’s Power

Sollivan observed everything with extreme coldness, his heart heavy. He was no longer nervous or afraid - all he felt was hatred.

He turned his head and looked at Devlin hiding beside him, who had curled up and hugged his legs in fear. Seeing the state of his loyal servant pained his heart, and he swore to cut Sven’s body into pieces. He didn’t know what Devlin had endured, but the amount of bruises and wounds on his face showed the extent of the torture he had faced.

Earlier, when the mayor’s son and his followers entered, Sollivan took advantage of their distraction with the treasures. He directed Noctis to extinguish the enhanced torch, then turned off the lighting formation.

To remove any potential obstacles, he decided to take a risk and do something he had never done before - he transformed Noctis’ hand into a huge needle and stabbed the soldier guarding Devlin in the chest. Contrary to his low expectations, his attack succeeded with surprising ease. Then he quickly pulled Devlin away and hid him before they could light the fire and illuminate their surroundings.

Everything happened so quickly that even Sollivan himself was amazed, while Devlin was terrified and doubted the reality of what had happened. Due to the darkness, he couldn’t see who had saved him and only felt a cold hand pulling him by the arm.

He was afraid and in pain, yes, but his fear turned into resentment toward his master who had been the direct cause of what happened to him. His resentment turned into questions and doubts, and what had happened earlier increased the confusion in his thoughts and childish curiosity. He began to think that his master was capable of walking, and that sitting in the wheelchair was just a lie and disguise.

He raised his head slightly and glanced at Sollivan who was intently spying on the fighting people, sighing in contradiction to his appearance. ’How is this possible? He’s crippled. I’ve accompanied him for several years and seen his body full of scars, so how can this be? Or is everything a lie? What’s the truth? Does he care about me? Or is he using me for something? Yes, maybe I’m just a toy and a pawn he wants for some purpose. He’s not kind.’

Devlin’s feelings turned into chaos, and he deeply grieved over what was happening. More tears streamed from his eyes - not tears from physical pain but from his inner pain. He wanted to go home, he wanted to ask about the truth of what was happening, but he knew it was useless. As usual, he remained silent in his place and waited for orders from his dear master, who might have been an executioner disguised as a saint.

Unaware of all of Devlin’s feelings, Sollivan watched everything with great anger and gritted teeth. He looked at the soldiers guarding the lighting lever and observed the battle that was happening on a slightly wider scale, thinking. ’This is chaos. I can’t turn off the lights, nor can I blow them all up because they’re scattered.’

He silently scanned his surroundings and tried to find a solution to his dilemma but couldn’t, which made him sigh in surrender. He redirected his attention to the battle, specifically to Darnell who had killed one of his enemies with unbelievable speed, and sighed. ’I knew he was lying about his strength, but in the end he had to reveal his identity as Commander Andrei and remove the mask of the coward Darnell.’

...

In the middle of the wide hall where dozens of exploded corpses lay in pieces along with accumulated debris and scattered loot, Darnell engaged with his enemies, swinging his spear with complete smoothness and repelling a joint attack from two of his enemies.

Despite being alone against a large group, his way of continuously swinging the spear in circular motions like a storm made his defense impenetrable.

One enemy sneaked up behind him wanting to stab him, but Darnell easily anticipated his intentions.

He quickly turned and stabbed the soldier behind him, but the soldier quickly retreated out of the spear’s range - or so he thought - as a transparent form of concentrated energy resembling a sharp spearhead shot from the spear’s tip and hit the soldier directly in the forehead.

The spearhead pierced his forehead and exited his head accompanied by bloody parts and pieces of his brain. The soldier’s eyes turned white before he fell on his back dead.

The remaining soldiers became more stunned and more afraid, yet they didn’t hesitate and continued attacking him. But at the same time they wondered.

"How did he do that?" Normally, when someone wants to attack using a long-range energy technique, the concentration of Auraxis energy in their weapon increases, causing it to glow faintly for about two seconds before releasing the attack.

All these factors made long-range attacks easy to detect and impractical in close combat - who would give their enemy a few seconds to attack them? But Darnell attacked directly.

His weapon showed no change in energy levels, and his attack was fast, which contradicted the logic they knew. But how could a few soldiers from a remote area know and understand the techniques of a Golden Commander from the elite of the elite in the Empire?

The general knowledge they prided themselves on was nonsense when the person was strong enough or had superior techniques like Darnell. However, his energy wasn’t that abundant and he couldn’t perform several similar attacks.

While cautiously observing his surroundings, his eyebrows furrowed in extreme annoyance when he saw the remaining soldiers who had taken care of eliminating Roland’s remaining forces joining the fight. They surrounded him from all directions, with four strong soldiers standing at his four corners, and two others standing behind him at different sides, charging their weapons with energy ready to release long-range attacks.

"Tsk." Darnell’s eyes darted quickly and he knew he was cornered. Before he could think of a solution to his dilemma, the four soldiers around him showered him with their attacks.

Despite his great strength and experience, the large number of enemies put tremendous pressure on him. Within seconds, his defense weakened and his back was exposed. Taking advantage of this gap, one of the soldiers attacked him with a blade of concentrated energy he had gathered earlier.

The blade flew toward his back at insane speed, cutting everything in its path - even the air itself seemed to cry out in pain. The attacking soldier’s smile widened when he saw his attack reach Darnell’s back.

But Darnell moved quickly and calmly, turning his spear behind him without looking back to protect his back. Taking advantage of this, a nearby soldier attacked him wanting to cut off his head. Time seemed to freeze, and even Sollivan watching from afar felt an extreme coldness in his heart and doubted that Darnell would inevitably die.

But Darnell wasn’t as simple as everyone thought. He deflected the energy blade’s direction by making it slide along his spear’s head.

The blade’s direction changed and headed toward the soldier attacking him, who didn’t understand what had happened. Before he could react to the situation, the blade hit his extended arm and cut it off. His sword-holding arm fell to the ground while he retreated several steps back groaning in pain.

Without paying attention to him, Darnell quickly swung his spear wanting to cut off another soldier’s head, but his attack was futile as his enemy quickly retreated and put a safe distance between them. Everyone froze in their places, hesitating to attack as Darnell had become like an executioner who cuts off heads in their eyes.

But they didn’t know that behind that strong and fierce aura Darnell displayed was utter chaos, as his main vein pulsed madly trying to preserve the little remaining energy and prevent it from leaking.

’Damn it, damn it, damn it.’ Darnell cursed angrily while his eyes remained cold. His thoughts became mixed and he cursed Sollivan with every swear word he knew. He knew he had reached his limit and would fall at any moment if he didn’t find an escape. He took a quick look at the crates Sollivan was hiding behind and pleaded in his heart.

’Do something, you damned one, or we’ll all die here. Come on, move. What are you doing?’ Despite his wishes, he didn’t completely leave his fate in the hands of his enemies or the hands of Sollivan whose intentions were unknown, so he searched for a gap to escape through.

...

"This isn’t good."

On the other side near the gate, Sven narrowed his eyes and felt some anxiety. At first he was relaxed due to their enemies’ small numbers and miserable condition, but what he saw now made his heart tighten.

He watched Darnell and thought about how dangerous he was, then looked at Roland who was still holding his own against his enemies too. But unlike Darnell, he hadn’t managed to kill any soldiers and only scratched them with some superficial wounds.

’We can deal with him easily later.’ He drew his sword that was still covered with the blood of soldiers he had killed earlier and intensely channeled his energy into it. His sword was masterfully crafted and capable of withstanding dense energy, so he released all he had and prepared to launch a deadly attack. But he didn’t attack directly and continued observing calmly like a professional hunter waiting for his prey to lower its defenses.

...

Darnell defended against his enemies’ attacks again while his mind worked at full capacity searching for an opening. Suddenly, his sharp senses honed by years of war screamed and warned him of imminent danger. Quickly and without any hesitation, he bent backward, and at that moment a sharp energy blade passed over him, missing his forehead by just an inch. His feet trembled and he felt death’s coldness for the first time since being accused of treason.

Without giving him a moment’s rest, the soldiers around him sent the energy blades they had prepared earlier pouring down on him from two opposite directions while the soldiers near him tightened the noose around him. He couldn’t find an escape but acted quickly and jumped high, making the blades pass beneath him. Before he landed, the soldiers around him jumped and attacked him simultaneously from two different directions again.

"Damn it!" he cursed loudly, then placed his spear horizontally in front of him and blocked the two soldiers on his left side.

The swords collided with the spear’s wooden shaft wrapped in metal, causing sparks to fly and the air to ripple around them. With his right hand, he intercepted the path of the sword on his right that was heading toward his chest. The sword pierced his palm and exited the other side accompanied by fragments of flesh and blood. Then he twisted in the air strangely like a cat, released his spear, and kicked one of the soldiers on his left to push himself forward.

Then he violently pulled his right hand, dragging along the soldier’s hand holding the sword, and with his free left hand punched the stunned soldier in the face with unbelievable force.

The soldier’s face shattered and his lower jaw broke. The muscles of his cheeks tore and his chin dropped down and swayed weirdly. If not for the skin holding it, it would have fallen to the ground. Teeth flew everywhere as the disfigured soldier let out an incomprehensible scream.

But Darnell didn’t stop. Like a madman, he punched the soldier several times until he fell to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt the same warning of danger as before. Quickly, he lifted the soldier with the shattered face in front of him and used him as a human shield to protect himself from the energy blade coming toward him.

The blade hit the still-living soldier’s back and cut him in half. His lower limbs and entrails fell to the ground while his upper body remained held high because Darnell was holding him by the head.

The scene was disgusting and nauseating, and due to its extreme horror, Roland and the others stopped fighting and all looked in Darnell’s direction at the same time, swallowing their saliva in fear.

Darnell’s eyes turned red and he became like a raging beast. His anger increased as he looked savagely at Sven standing far from him as if he wanted to tear him limb from limb. Sven had ambushed him twice with deadly attacks and nearly killed him were it not for his sharp senses and quick reflexes.

But he didn’t lose his rationality. With extreme coldness, he turned and glanced sideways at the hiding Sollivan, growling as if telling him.

"Move."

"Sigh."

Sollivan saw this and sighed in disappointment. ’He’s reached his limit. Unfortunately, I can’t stall any longer.’ While observing the epic battle, he thought of a good plan that might help solve his problem.

He turned calmly and looked at the high platform at the treasury’s end where the huge stone coffin was located. Then he summoned the black book and, without paying attention to Devlin beside him, took out the remaining barrel of thunderpowder.

Actually, Devlin didn’t notice the book because he was staring at the ground beneath him in confusion, but he suddenly heard a faint sound of something hard touching the ground.

He raised his head and looked at the barrel placed beside him in astonishment. He slowly turned his head and looked around, unable to understand where it came from. Then he looked at Sollivan’s ambiguous expression and sighed.

Sollivan ignored this and closed his eyes very calmly. While doing so, he muttered in a very low voice.

"Devlin, stay calm and don’t be afraid. Everything that will happen next is part of my plan, so stay composed as I need your help to end this."

"Okay," Devlin answered confusedly, unable to understand what his master meant.