Chapter 114: blood and steel 2

The fallen Inquisitor gripped her blade and surged forward, destroying everything in her path as she closed the distance.

Yuki ducked, twisted, and slid through the dirt, dodging every strike by hair-breadths. But she knew it was only a matter of time. She was simply faster, stronger, and more experienced. His vampiric regeneration wouldn’t save him here—she would exhaust his limbs and essence long before she ever needed to break his spirit.

"Hey, hey... How about you just surrender to me?" she called out, pausing her relentless assault with a casual sigh. "I’ll make sure I don’t break anything permanent, okay? Because this is getting more and more annoying. You’re fast and crafty, kid, but I’m still stronger, and I really don’t want to accidentally kill someone with your potential. What do you say?"

"No thanks. I’m good," Yuki replied, sweat dripping down his temple.

He began channeling his blood to construct a fresh weapon, but before he could even finish the thought, his body froze.

The world tilted violently. The next second, Yuki was falling face-first into the dirt, his eyes widening in shock as he watched his own severed lower half hit the ground beside him.

What—?!

Before his mind could comprehend her speed, he had been cleanly bisected. His vampiric regeneration instantly kicked into overdrive, knitting his waist and legs back together within seconds. But the moment his lower body reformed, two silver flashes blurred through the air, taking both of his hands off at the wrists.

Yuki tried to focus his mind, but the Inquisitor was already standing right over him. He hadn’t even seen her move.

Reaching down with a single gauntleted hand, she clamped her fingers around his throat and slammed him violently into the dirt.

"Stop moving, or I’ll snap your neck," she growled, choking the wind out of him.

Yuki tried to struggle, but his healing factor suddenly ground to a halt as a heavy, rune-carved sealing collar was clamped tight around his neck. Deprived of his hands and unable to channel his blood magic, he was completely defenseless.

She hoisted his limp body over her shoulder like a sack of grain.

Yuki didn’t panic or scream. Right now, the smartest play was to stay silent and wait for an opening. He sucked his teeth in quiet annoyance. He had stood zero chance against this woman. She was leagues above him, yet she had intentionally held back earlier just to give him a false sense of hope.

She carried him back to her hidden forest camp, changing him out of his blood-ruined attire and locking him inside a stone cell.

Upon realizing Yuki was actually a young man rather than the female "Blood Monarch" the local noble had demanded, she decided against turning him in. A male blood-user with his skill was far more valuable to keep for herself.

"Hey... Are you going to let me go?" Yuki called out from behind the iron bars.

"No," she replied flatly, flipping a page in her book at her desk.

"...Can I have some food then?"

"No."

"Can I regrow my arms?"

"No!" she snapped, letting out an annoyed huff.

"Can I take a bath?"

SLAM!

Unable to take his constant nagging any longer, the fallen Inquisitor slammed her fists onto the wooden table and whirled around, glaring at Yuki where he sat cross-legged on the stone floor.

"Stop asking if you can get this or that! You’re not getting anything! Now sit still and shut up!"

"I need food. I’m a person, you know," Yuki said, leaning his head back against the wall, intentionally being as much of a nuisance as possible. "If you’re not going to kill me, just let me go."

"No. You’re a very valuable bargaining chip. I need you."

"For what?"

"I used to be an Inquisitor," she said, her expression darkening slightly. "I want my position back. I’m not a heretic, okay? I just... did some bad things a while ago."

"I don’t really care if you’re good or bad," Yuki muttered. "I just want to find someone, then find my way back home to the capital."

She paused, turning her full attention to him. "Who exactly are you looking for? And why did you come all the way out to this dump if you were just going to return to the capital right after? Where’s your squad?"

"I don’t even know how I got here," Yuki admitted honestly. "One moment I was in the town of Blue Oak, and the next, I woke up in this region."

Hearing those words, her entire demeanor shifted. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Did you... encounter anyone wearing a black cross on their clothing?"

"Yeah?" Yuki replied, his chest tightening at the sudden drop in temperature.

"Who are you looking for?" she demanded, her voice turning ice-cold.

"Raven."

Silence stretched across the room.

"...Why are you looking for him?" she asked slowly. "You do know he hasn’t been seen in over three years, right? No one knows where he went. And word is his brother died during the resent attack on the Citadel... That’s more than enough reason for a man like him to stay buried."

"I know where he is," Yuki said, his mood shifting to match her seriousness.

"Listen to me, kid," she said, stepping closer to the cell. "Don’t lie to me. I will kill you."

"I’m not lying. I really know where he is. That’s why I came here."

In truth, Yuki didn’t have the slightest clue where Raven was hiding. But he knew his System would point him straight toward the target once the conditions were met. He just had to pray his System wouldn’t demand he kill her first, because in his current state, that was flat-out impossible.

She walked over to the bars, crouching down until her face was inches from his. "Where is he?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"If you don’t—"

"What will you do? Kill me?" Yuki interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Do that, and you lose the information forever. Torture me? You’ll get nothing for your efforts. Release me, and I’ll tell you."

She stared at him, silently weighing the offer in her head.

"Hmm... No," she finally said, standing back up. "Stay here and rot for all I care. I have to step out for a bit. Don’t go anywhere, okay?"

"I’m locked in a stone cell without hands. Where am I going to go?" Yuki replied sarcastically.

He watched quietly as she locked the outer door and left the cabin.

Once enough time had passed to ensure she was far out of earshot, Yuki moved. He dragged himself up against the cell wall, lining his shoulder up with the vertical iron bars. Setting his teeth, he slammed his body forward, intentionally dislocating his shoulder joint with a sickening pop.

With his shoulder collapsed, his upper frame shrank just enough for him to squeeze his slim body through the gap in the bars.

Slipping free onto the cabin floor, Yuki immediately searched her living quarters for the key to his sealing collar, but found nothing.

"Tsk... Guess I’ll just have to wait until Varisa’s divinity recharges," Yuki muttered, kicking the front Yuki dashed through the dense forest, pushing his body until he was a safe distance away from the cabin. Once he felt relatively secure beneath the thick canopy, he sank onto a fallen log and called out to his patron deity.

A shimmer of divine light rippled through the air, and Goddess Varisa materialized before him.

"What do you need, Yuki?" she asked, looking down at him.

"This thing around my neck... Can you remove it for me?" Yuki asked, leaning forward.

"No."

Yuki blinked. "Why? Why not?"

"Because I have interfered in this mortal world far too many times already," Varisa stated firmly, her voice carrying absolute divine authority. "You will be fine. And stop calling for me every time you run into trouble. I am a god, Yuki. I have other duties to attend to."

"Goddess Varisa?! You can’t just leave me here!" Yuki protested, his jaw dropping. "What if that woman comes back?! What am I supposed to do then?!"

"Figure it out," she replied coldly. "Besides, she is going to catch you very soon anyway."

"Huh—?"

"Goodbye, Yuki."

"Wait—!"

In a flash of golden light, the goddess vanished into thin air, leaving Yuki completely alone in the silent forest.

A short while later, the fallen Inquisitor tracked Yuki down to his location. She had expected to find a desperate fugitive exhausting himself trying to pry off a rune-engraved sealing collar.

Instead, she found Yuki sitting cross-legged on the grass in a plain white gown, furiously munching down on local forest fruits while angrily mumbling to himself.

Yuki was absolutely pissed off. Goddess Varisa had left him high and dry, and to make matters worse, his System interface was glitching out. Every time he opened the System Shop for more than eight seconds, the screen flickered erratically, and his inventory tab was completely frozen.

Stepping out from the shadows behind him, the Inquisitor watched him silently. She knew his sensory perception was sharp, yet he didn’t even bother turning around to face her.

Leaning down, she scooped Yuki up under her arm like a stray cat and turned to head back toward her cabin—before suddenly freezing in place.

"What the...?"

She set Yuki back down on the grass and inspected his upper body, her eyes widening as she realized both of his shoulders were completely dislocated and hanging limp.

Realizing that this kid was utterly insane for popping his own joints just to slip through cell bars, she let out a weary huff. Reaching over, she adjusted the dial on his sealing collar, temporarily dampening its suppression field to let his vampiric healing factor kick back in.

Slowly, his shoulder joints popped back into place, and his severed hands rapidly regenerated from his wrists.

Yuki didn’t bother trying to fight or run. He simply grabbed his forest fruit with both freshly healed hands, took another bitter bite, and kept chewing, glaring off into the distance. There was clearly no point in trying to escape until his System stopped bugging.