"Give me that sword."
Her hollow words echoed through the chamber, leaving Aaron speechless.
Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to simply collapse in agony like he always had in the past; however, now, he had something to protect.
He stepped forward closer towards Arianna, who simply smiled at his suffering like it was amusing to her.
The sound of bone fragments clinking around inside his ruined arm reverberated through the small room, reminding him of the costly blunder the blade had committed.
Dammit, because of it controlling my body, I couldn't do anything but stop my swing…
His teeth grit against each other as he sighed deeply, feeling the very will of the longsword he held between his hands.
Once before, inside the vault, when first making contact with it, he had felt its sheer anguish and loneliness of being abandoned for hundreds of years, left to rot in a prison designed by a Magician lost to the ages.
This feeling resonated inside a small section of his brain that buzzed with an unfamiliar tingle as he spoke internally.
Should I really hand you over?
Inside his head, there was simply silence, no response from the weapon, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
If he spoke aloud, there was a chance of her figuring out that the blade was alive; however, if not, then he might make a mistake he couldn't ever hope to remedy.
"Tick tock, boy. Time is running out, so I suggest you make your decision soon…"
Arianna looked at him with pity as she taunted him even as he attempted to hand her the blade, contrary to his destroyed arm.
"Drop it or I'll slit her throat. She might be dead, but you are keeping her around for a reason, right?"
Aaron froze as she dug into the secret pact he had made with the Old Man, threatening to reveal his connection to the world.
The woman smiled, chuckling while speaking again.
"Do you have a way to revive her or something?"
It was a ridiculous thought that was impossible by all modern sciences and magics; however, what the silver-haired woman didn't know was that she was exactly correct.
Aaron stood there panicking internally while she simply laughed it off as a funny joke, not nearly worth even dwelling over.
Then, as if she flipped a switch, her face turned cold and stern, with her restating her demand this time pushing the knife further into her neck.
"Drop. It."
Without even another word, Aaron dropped the magical weapon and backed up quickly, careful not to anger the woman any further.
The sword flashed a tranquil blue before sending a message straight into his head in a calm tone.
『Don't worry about me. Keep yourself alive until I make my move.』
Arianna eyed the blade cautiously, watching the flickers of blue and magenta bounce around in a one-sided conversation to the boy, who simply winced at the directions it gave.
Slowly, she reached out her right hand towards the weapon, keeping her eyes directly on the boy, who continued to twitch unnervingly.
Her fingers wrapped around the hilt with a cold pressure that embraced her from all sides, connecting mind and soul with the blade.
"Ahhhhh, this feeling is perfect! You were holding something so magnificent in your hands this entire time and didn't think to share? How selfish of you…"
She spoke with an indescribable amount of pleasure and joy in her voice, something that left Aaron slightly worried for what was about to happen next.
Arianna looked down to examine the intricate details of the blade, removing the knife from Eleanor's neck in the process, seemingly forgetting all about both of their presences.
Her hands felt the gemstones embedded in the iron blade, releasing a small sigh of relief as the last of the shock from the sudden attack faded away.
"Now where was I–"
『Good luck.』
Immediate silence overcame the woman as she craned her neck downward to look at the sword that had just spoken to her.
"D-Did it just ta–"
An explosion of brilliant light flashed through the blade, reforming its shape into thousands of microscopic shards that had the strength of diamond.
Icicles shot through the flesh on her arm wedged themselves into the bone and muscle tissue beneath her pale skin.
Blood oozed from the hundreds of wounds that coated her body, with the worst of the damage being directed onto her right side, nearly completely obliterating both arm and leg at once.
"AHHHHHHHHH"
Her scream of pure agony shot through the crevice that led to the surface, echoing through the empty square where the town hall resided.
Instead of falling to the ground, the woman stood up, attempting to remove the anchors of solidified ice that dug into her, keeping her tethered to the floor.
Crunch. Crack. Krunk.
Aaron watched in horror as her bones bent out of shape, contorting in impossible angles to allow her movement.
The sword that caused the damage vibrated at such speeds that the ice around it melted, freeing itself from its trap.
Steam floated through the opening in the ceiling as the boy ran over to collect the weapon before the persistent woman could retrieve it herself.
"H-How the hell is she still alive after that?"
His words were mixed with shock and awe at the sheer resilience and dedication she had to the fight; however, as the seconds passed, her movements became less and less sluggish.
『It seems her blood has been tainted with Demonic Energy given to her by a Half Breed… It's unlikely this much would even leave a lasting scar.』
As if responding to the mental transmission of the blade, the woman's head shook with rage as the crystals began to crack under her sheer bloodlust.
『You should run…』
Even the once calm and steady weapon seemed to sense danger from the durable woman, leaving Aaron with no other choice but to listen.
With the remainder of his strength, he bent over, grabbing Eleanor's body carefully while hoisting her over his working shoulder.
The other hand slumped helplessly to the side as the magical blade shot like thunder to the boy's side.
It carefully positioned itself under the slumbering girl that he held on his shoulder, keeping her balanced and supported while he struggled along with only one arm.
Across the room, the cracks and bursting of flesh and ice echoed past Aaron's ears as the woman forced her escape.
"I… WILL… KILL… YOU!"
Arianna screamed with rage as more and more of the icicles shattered, leaving only a few left to restrain her.
"W-We should run…"
And with those words that were said with fear, he began his intense climb from the chamber up to the infected surface above.
…
"You seem to be in trouble, Miss Terrorist."
Facing down a wounded Arianna stood the purple-haired Sea King, whose expression was grave.
They sat in the ruins of a collapsed bar as she poured a bottle of alcohol on the injuries that coated her limbs.
It had only been a few minutes since she had clawed her way from the depths of the underground chamber, yet the first signs of healing had already begun to show on her arm.
"If you want me to spill my juicy info, then you are more foolish than you look."
She sighed as she watched the last droplet of wine drip onto her leg, with the sound of sizzling flesh hitting Lepaie's ears gently.
"So you know what comes next, yes?"
He pulled out his weapon faster than she could blink as she reached for a small bottle of beer that rested under the table.
"Is the almighty 'Dreamer' going to blow me full of even more holes just to prevent me from getting a little drunk?"
Her jests bounced uselessly off the older man, with him not lowering his pistol for a second as she popped the cap off the bottle and downed it in seconds.
"Ah, much better… I think the dungeons will be manageable now…"
Rays of morning sun peeked out from behind the ruins of the Great Sea Wall, illuminating the city in the dawn for the first time in nearly a hundred years.
"How about you tell me who did this damage to you, and we can upgrade you from a shared cell to a single, eh?"
It had been one hour since Aaron escaped the vault, leaving no traces of his existence to the powerful Sea King, who had only arrived soon after.
Arianna had been found ripping spikes from her figure, screaming out sentences that even she couldn't comprehend.
"Didn't I tell you this already? I'd tell you if I remembered myself, but whatever that thing did to me, it mixed all of this up."
As she spoke, she pointed to her head, leaving the Sea King answerless and unsure of what to even do.
Situations of prisoners who refused to speak weren't uncommon, so while it might've just been a cleverly placed lie to distract him, it didn't sit well with him.
With just one name or description of the person who escaped the vault, bounties could be issued throughout the entire world in seconds.
Overnight, that one individual would've been hunted by not only every Sea King but thousands of bounty hunters and pirates.
It made little sense to the man why she wouldn't wish for the hasty arrest or demise of the one who weakened her to such a degree.
"Oh well… If I'm going to be rotting in a shared cell, can I at least give you some information that could secure me better meals?"
She popped another bottle, downing it immediately like before and burping loudly, watching Lepaie's expression closely.
"T-This whole operation—hic"
Her obviously drunk body flopped onto the bar table as she finished her statement.
"T-This whole operation was simply a distraction—hic."