Chapter 767: Eyes That Can See

"Listen, Mira. Let us play hide-and-seek, all right..."

No.

Her face was full of tears, and she shook her head desperately.

No.

She would not play hide-and-seek.

"Go into the woods and hide, Mira. Hide well. The farther the better. Do not let Mother find you. Do not let anyone find you... Count to one hundred. No, count to one thousand..."

No.

She would not count.

She bit her lower lip in grievance.

She did not know how to count to one thousand.

She did not want to count to one thousand.

Not at all.

"Then, then Mother will come find you... Mother promises you, Mira. We will hook pinkies... Do not be afraid, Mira. Mother will definitely come find you... definitely..."

No.

Mother lied.

Mother's promises did not count.

After she counted ten hundreds, Mother did not come find her.

She did not.

Never again.

Because...

Beneath ice and snow, she trembled and opened her mouth, drawing in air so cold it pierced to the marrow.

Because...

Because on that day...

She was the one who found Mother first.

"Aaaaaaah!"

Violent pain struck, forcing the scattered consciousness of Miranda to snap her eyes open. She cried out in agony.

She... where was she?

Where?

"Ah, uh..."

The power of the Heavenly Music Round Dance climbed sluggishly through her body, easing her panic.

Miranda endured the pain, gasped for breath, and stared blankly at the sewage beneath her.

Right.

She was here.

She was still kneeling in the drainage channel.

In the ghoul tunnels of Jade City.

Not in that snowy forest from the nightmare.

Thank goodness.

Miranda panted and could not help releasing a breath.

Thank goodness.

With difficulty, the swordswoman turned her head and found the savior that had dragged her out of the nightmare and called her back to reality.

That reverse-curved saber with its strange arc.

At this moment, its tip was cruelly stabbed into her left shoulder, drilling above her collarbone and sending wave after wave of pain through her.

"You are about to die."

The Supreme-class assassin tilted his head and looked at her, now awake. The hand holding the saber did not move at all, and his gaze was indifferent, as if looking at a corpse.

"I can make it quicker."

Die quicker?

"You..."

Miranda wanted to say something, but the moment she opened her mouth, she coughed up blood without stopping. With every cough, the severe pain in her chest and abdomen worsened.

All right. It seemed dying quicker...

Might not be bad?

The owner of the strange saber spoke quietly. His voice remained hoarse and blurred, difficult to identify.

"That girl. The girl from the Covendier family."

As expected.

Miranda thought weakly.

The mastermind behind this was aiming for Hilley.

She painfully coughed out a mouthful of blood, then gasped and spoke.

"Ha, ha. You think I will tell..."

"Aaaaaah! Fuck!"

The Supreme-class assassin watched Miranda scream with indifferent eyes while slowly twisting the reverse-curved saber lodged between her collarbone and shoulder blade. Only after two seconds did he turn his wrist back.

"Of course you will not."

Miranda's hand trembled as she lifted it, trying to reach the enemy's blade, but it slipped down weakly again and again.

She had no strength to use, much less strength to resist.

The assassin no longer paid attention to the defeated opponent before him. He slowly turned his head and looked around the pitch-black surroundings.

"Come out, Hilley."

His hoarse, indistinct voice was strengthened by the dead, narrow tunnel, as if it rang from every corner.

"I know you are nearby."

When his words fell, the dim tunnel was cold and deathly still, with no movement at all.

Only the everlasting lamp before the guard post, on the verge of going out, still flickered faintly.

Good, Hilley. Clever girl.

Miranda endured the pain, relieved in her heart.

Hide properly. Hide well. Do not come out.

"Go into the woods and hide, Mira. Hide well. The farther the better. Do not let Mother find you. Do not let anyone find you..."

"Did your brother not tell you? I am very familiar with you Covendiers."

The Supreme-class assassin slowly swept his gaze across every corner of the tunnel.

"When your father died, I did not let him suffer. Your mother either."

Hearing this, Miranda's eyes changed.

Not good.

He was going to...

The assassin's eyes stopped in one direction. He stared into that patch of darkness in the tunnel, as if he had discovered something, his tone growing deeper and gloomier.

"I promise, girl, you will not suffer either."

Awful.

An extremely bad premonition rose in Miranda's heart.

"Do not come out!"

Miranda ignored her own situation and, using the faint bit of strength the Heavenly Music Round Dance had arduously gathered, shouted:

"Do not believe him..."

"Ahhh, ugh!"

The blade between her collarbone and shoulder blade twisted again, bringing intense agony.

But Miranda stubbornly clenched her teeth and tensed her nerves, turning the cry of pain into a muffled groan.

"But she might."

The Supreme-class assassin's tone abruptly turned cold. He returned his gaze to Miranda, and the strength in his hand gradually increased.

"She might."

No, Hilley.

Miranda clenched her teeth, cold sweat pouring down as she resisted the increasingly unbearable pain.

Stay calm, Hilley.

Under the enemy's deliberate torture, the swordswoman's senses gradually blurred. Even the severe wound in her chest and abdomen began to grow numb.

Do not come out, Hilley...

As long as you hide well, hide far away, and are not found by him...

"Then, then Mother will come find you... Do not be afraid, Mira..."

In the next instant, Miranda suddenly felt the intense pain in her shoulder ease, as if she had been granted a pardon, and her whole body slackened.

But after she came back to herself, Miranda's heart chilled.

As expected, the assassin abruptly turned his head and looked toward a deep, black tunnel behind him.

"Found you."

The Supreme-class assassin spoke softly.

Bad.

Miranda cried inwardly that things were terrible.

No. No, no...

Hilley, run. No, hide. Do not...

In the next second, Miranda felt her shoulder lighten. The enemy and the curved saber vanished from before her eyes.

The swordswoman spat out another mouthful of blood and braced both hands against the ground.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

But there was no time to rejoice, and no room to care about her serious injuries. Miranda drove her limbs by will alone, trembling as she grabbed Eagle Soar and tried to struggle up.

She could not let him find Hilley.

She could not.

She had promised.

She had promised to protect her.

Miranda trembled and shook her head desperately, doing her utmost to focus her scattered mind.

What had been promised had to be done.

"Mother promises you... Mother will definitely come find you... definitely..."

Definitely.

But the severe wound in her chest and abdomen struck her harshly again.

The next second, Miranda's legs weakened. She lost her balance and fell forward.

Damn it.

But the heavy fall she expected did not happen.

A pair of hands stretched out from in front of her, laboriously but firmly supporting her.

Hm?

Miranda, badly wounded and dazed, staggered, slipped two steps in the sewage, and only barely steadied herself by holding the other person's shoulder.

"Hi... Hilley?"

She saw the person before her clearly and spoke in a daze.

"Shh!"

Hilley clenched her teeth, using all the strength she had, half supporting and half dragging Miranda away from where she had been, grumbling quietly the whole way.

"Yes, I saved you. No need to thank me... payment calculated separately..."

She was still here.

Wonderful.

Miranda trembled, her weak legs kicking futilely against the ground.

She had not been found.

Not...

Her consciousness gradually scattered.

"Raphael, right? Sorry, child. I was somewhat rough with you just now... Thank you for saving my daughter. The Arunde family owes you a debt, even if you are a Wild Bone man... As you can see, she is unconscious, but she will be all right. She definitely will... But regarding what happened to my wife and sister... please, please do not mention it to anyone again..."

"You really are heavy... What do you northerners grow up eating? Can you throw away that broken sword..."

In her daze, Miranda gripped her sword even tighter.

"I am going to war, to send those sons of bitches from Eckstedt to hell, or at least drag them down with me... You and Miranda stay here... If I do not come back... Look, that is the camp of the Starlight Legion. That foul-smelling fool who does not eat, drink, or speak is the new king and also my best friend... He will take care of you and Miranda, if he has not gone mad yet..."

In a blur, she felt herself being dragged for a long distance, until they reached a place that was relatively flat. Only then was she put down.

"No, impossible. You will not find him... No one's orders will help. No keepsake will help. Finding Mindis Hall will not help either, because Crown Prince Midier is already dead, and the entire royal family... What? Azure Ambition? That I do remember. A shabby chess hall beside Red Street. Kai and I went there a few times... Wait, you Wild Bone brat, why are you asking about that place?"

Who knew how long passed before Miranda was suddenly awakened by severe pain and sat up with a start.

"Hey, hey, Mira. It is all right. Lie down. It will be done soon..."

The girl before her held scissors in one hand and pressed the twitching Miranda down with the other, making her lie back on the ground.

"Hilley?"

Miranda lay on the ground and slowly came back to herself. When she realized they were still in the tunnel, she was instantly shocked.

"No... don't... run quickly... that assassin is still here..."

Hilley easily pressed down Miranda's weak hand. Her other hand did not stop moving.

"Do not worry. I led him away. He is very busy right now..."

Led him away?

Miranda was not reassured. She struggled.

"No, Hilley. Listen to me... He is a Supreme-class assassin..."

Hilley did not care at all. She used the scissors to roughly cut open the straps and buckles of Miranda's clothing and armor, then drew a bottle from her pack.

"A Supreme-class assassin? I could crush such a small fry with one finger. If not for last time, when I spent too much saving your prince... I am going to disinfect it. This may hurt a little..."

"Do not bother with me. This place is not safe. Go quickly..."

"Hiss... ah..."

An unknown medicinal liquid poured over the wound like wildfire scorching her, making Miranda gasp in pain, twitching and spasming.

But Hilley pressed her shoulder down firmly and refused to let her struggle.

"I said it would hurt a little..."

Miranda clenched her teeth and tried to look at the fatal wound on her chest and abdomen, but Hilley reached out, covered her eyes, and pressed her back to the ground.

"Do not look... What is there to look at with all this blood everywhere... Come on, breathe deeply..."

Miranda gasped and smelled a strange, roasted fragrance. It seemed Hilley had lit something. Did she intend to use fire to disinfect and stop the bleeding?

But...

"It is no use..."

Miranda's voice was as thin as a thread.

"That slash was too deep... my organs... I am done for... while he has not discovered you, go quickly..."

"I said he is busy. He will not come back for a while..."

Hilley did not raise her head. Miranda could only hear muffled sounds of scissors and tweezers around her chest and abdomen.

"As for you, it is just a hole in your belly. I have seen plenty of this..."

A hole in her belly?

Seen plenty of this?

What nonsense was this girl talking about?

In her daze, Miranda endured the pain and urged hoarsely:

"No. Do not mind me. Hide quickly..."

But Hilley only kept her head down between the scissors and tweezers, completely unconcerned.

"Do not worry. I checked. It is not vital, and the bleeding has stopped. It does not even affect your sword work..."

Not vital?

What kind of joke was that?

She had spent so many years on the battlefield. This kind of intense pain, this kind of bleeding, this location, and this body that could barely move...

How could it possibly not be a fatal vital wound...

Hm?

Miranda's face, shrunken from pain, slowly relaxed.

Only now did she notice that there were unfamiliar rustling sounds coming from her chest and abdomen.

Perhaps it was an illusion. Perhaps the disinfecting pain had overwhelmed the rest. With her consciousness blurred, Miranda looked at the dim ceiling and listened to Hilley's words, unsure whether they were mockery or comfort, and actually felt the pain in her organs lessen considerably.

She wanted to look at the wound, but Hilley pushed her face aside.

"Do not look... I am bandaging it... It will not work if you look... Sit up..."

Hilley pulled open a roll of bandage and wrapped it around Miranda's waist, muttering nonstop to herself.

"My technique is not as good as Chadwi's. I will stitch it casually for now. When we get back... In any case, you already have plenty of scars. You probably will not mind one more..."

The other party's movements were rough, rougher even than the army doctors at Broken Dragon Fortress, making her suffer greatly.

Unfortunately, Miranda was badly wounded and weak at this moment, her consciousness scattered. She could only let Hilley handle her as she pleased, unable to resist.

Forget it.

Speaking was useless.

Hilley would not leave.

Miranda thought helplessly and despairingly.

She could not sway this young lady's resolve.

"Your... hands."

The swordswoman spoke weakly.

"Ah?"

Hilley, who was wrapping her wound, paused at those words.

Miranda's gaze was distant as she looked at the hand the other party had placed on her shoulder to pull the bandage.

At some unknown point, the gloves on Hilley's hands had disappeared.

At this moment, what appeared before Miranda's eyes was a pair of deformed hands, dark brown in color and full of pitted burn scars.

One palm had six fingers crowded irregularly together.

The other even had seven.

Visually, they were extremely uncomfortable to look at.

In that instant, Hilley seemed to have been burned, and her whole body abruptly shrank back.

"Oh, this. About my hands..."

Hilley clenched her teeth and continued wrapping another circle of bandage around Miranda's waist, though she used slightly more strength, making Miranda hiss in pain.

"I was sick when I was little. Brought from the womb. Cannot be cured, so I can only..."

"Same as me," Miranda said feebly.

"What?" Hilley's eyes moved.

"Frostbite when I was very small. Cannot be cured." The swordswoman turned to look at her own hands, at the black gloves on them, and said numbly, "I can only wear gloves to prevent more harm."

Hilley's hand trembled at once.

"Ah. Fate's gift," Miranda murmured as if at the end of life.

"Hide, Mira. Hide well. Do not let Mother find you. Do not let anyone find you..."

"No."

Hilley exerted force with her hands. The bandage tugged hard enough that Miranda hissed again, pulling her scattered mind back to reality.

"Not to 'prevent' harm."

Hilley spoke coldly, making Miranda pause.

"We wear gloves for no other reason."

Hilley tightened the last length of bandage and helped Miranda arrange her clothing and armor.

"Precisely so that we can better endure harm. More harm, worse harm, more painful harm."

Not only in the past.

But also in the future.

For the rest of our lives.

Miranda's expression shifted slightly, her breathing becoming uneven.

"All right. Stand up. We are going."

Ah?

Stand...

Stand up?

Miranda was still immersed in the conversation just now, but Hilley had already grabbed her wrist and was trying to pull her up from the ground.

"Wait, Hilley... I cannot stand..."

But in the next second, before the pain-enduring Miranda could react, Hilley's eyes lost focus, her body swayed, and she collapsed limply.

"Hilley!"

Startled, Miranda hurriedly rose and supported her.

"What is wrong? Are you hurt?"

Hilley's face was pale and covered in cold sweat. One hand covered her lower abdomen as she clenched her teeth and panted.

"Nothing. Menstrual cramps..."

Miranda froze at the words.

Hilley took a deep breath and, with Miranda supporting her, sat against the wall. Trembling, she drew a bottle of medicine from her pack and drank it down in one gulp.

"What, you have never had them?"

"I have not... I heard the matrons mention them."

Hilley paused when she heard this, then tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Sunset truly is unfair. Are you better?"

Miranda was startled at those words, then reacted.

Without realizing it, she had stood up.

Miranda lowered her head blankly, but could only see the newly wrapped bandage beneath her clothes and armor and the heavy smell of medicine, or perhaps alcohol.

The swordswoman reached out to touch the wound area and took a deep breath.

The bleeding had stopped. There was only a faint numbness.

There was none of the expected pain.

It did not even affect her movement.

Even the blood seeping into her mouth...

Miranda casually spat out a mouthful of blood.

Had stopped.

What...

What was going on?

That severe wound that had just gone deep into her organs...

Miranda touched the bandaged area in surprise, experimentally lifted her sword, and flicked out a sword flourish.

The movement was smooth, the posture standard, and no pain showed.

As if...

As if she had never been injured.

Could she have misjudged the wound? Had the assassin truly not hit anything vital?

Seeing Miranda's utterly puzzled expression, Hilley put on her gloves. Pale and sickly, she smiled weakly.

"See? What did I say? That assassin is too weak... He could not even stab a vital point..."

Before her words fell, Miranda felt the rhythm of the Heavenly Music Round Dance change inside her.

Something flew out of the darkness and smashed down in front of them.

Thud!

Miranda reacted extremely quickly and had already shielded Hilley behind her. But when she saw the thing that had hit the ground, she could not help pausing.

It was a section of...

A human hand covered in cracks?

The fingers were still moving constantly on the ground.

Incomparably strange.

"That is... the Ghost-Hand Queen." Hilley looked at the thing on the ground, her face pale.

"Ghost-Hand... what?" Miranda was completely baffled.

There was no time for feeling or surprise. Another muffled sound came. Miranda hurriedly turned around, sword tip forward.

A round ball rolled out of the darkness and all the way to her feet, where Miranda stepped on it.

Miranda's eyes widened, and a chill ran through her.

That was a flat, shriveled...

Human head with no eyes or nose?

"It is 'Faceless Cork,'" Hilley muttered, looking at the false head on the ground that had been cut beyond recognition, only its mouth still twitching. "Bad. He saw through it."

"Saw through?"

Miranda endured the strange feeling and kicked away the soft, collapsed fake head beneath her foot.

But before she could think about what Faceless Cork was, the hoarse voice unique to the strange-saber assassin came from every corner of the tunnel.

"A good trick, girl."

The hairs on both of them stood upright.

Miranda's expression turned even graver. Her longsword pointed straight into the darkness before her, fully on guard.

"As for you, swordswoman..."

In the dim, complex tunnel, the assassin's words paused, and his tone rose slightly.

"You are still alive?"

Alive.

But only alive.

Facing the enemy a second time after escaping death, Miranda's concern did not lessen. It only grew.

In the first exchange, Hilley had hidden in advance, and Miranda had attacked with no worries, using her full strength, yet she had still lost completely.

As for now...

"Run, Hilley," Miranda glanced at Hilley behind her. "I will force him to show himself. Run as far as you can, hide as deep as you can..."

"I am afraid I cannot."

Hilley spoke weakly, her whole body leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down into a sitting position.

"I... have cramps. I cannot run."

Miranda frowned and turned back.

"What?"

Hilley gave her a pale smile.

Even Miranda, battle-hardened and widely experienced as she was, fell silent for quite a while before finally sighing.

"You should have hidden well. You should not have come back to save me."

Hilley laughed coldly and weakly.

"Yes. Do you regret it?"

Miranda did not speak. She only gripped her sword with incomparable seriousness and turned toward the endless darkness before her.

The more Miranda observed the environment before her, the graver her expression became and the tighter her nerves drew.

A second exchange with a Supreme-class assassin.

Even with the experience of the first, how long could she hold out?

"After surviving the first encounter against a Supreme-class assassin, you will have a chance."

Teacher Shatier's voice sounded again.

"But do not misunderstand. The chance I am talking about is not some 'subtle counterattack' or 'turning back for a sudden grab'..."

The tunnel was still silent.

There was not the slightest trace of the assassin.

But she knew, Miranda clenched her teeth:

The enemy could be hiding anywhere and appear from anywhere.

"Facing a Supreme-class assassin, your best and most reliable chance of survival is to turn around and run."

Thank you, Teacher Shatier.

Miranda sneered inwardly.

Your advice is truly as useful as always.

As incisive and correct as always.

As always, very beneficial for inspiring students' ability to innovate independently.

"Listen, Mira. I know you cannot see him, so you are disadvantaged everywhere..."

Hilley's expression was ugly. She pressed her palm and panted without stopping.

"But in truth, it is not that you cannot see him. You are too late to see him."

Miranda paused.

"What? Too late to see him? What do you mean?"

"Someone told me. I do not know the details either... But in a moment, do not resist. Accept it calmly."

Hilley drew in a painful breath and reached out to grab Mira's arm.

"Accept what?"

"A pair of eyes." Behind Miranda, Hilley took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "A pair of eyes that can see."

"Eyes?" Miranda was utterly confused.

Eyes that can see?

Was this girl delirious from pain? What nonsense was she talking about now?

But one second later, Miranda felt Hilley's palm suddenly grow hot, burning like fire.

"Hiss..."

Miranda hissed in pain and instinctively pulled her hand back.

But at this moment, the Heavenly Music Round Dance sounded shrilly, and boundless killing intent surged from all directions.

Bad.

The assassin had come.

Miranda was startled.

Just as she was distracted.

The next second, Miranda focused completely. She forgot the burning pain on her arm, forgot her disastrous defeat moments earlier, forgot the difference in strength, even forgot Hilley collapsing weakly behind her, and thrust a cunning, precise sword toward the direction indicated by the Heavenly Music Round Dance.

Whoosh!

Sword light and saber wind flashed past, stirring a lock of hair before Miranda's forehead.

As expected, the strike missed.

Miranda withdrew her sword, turned, planted her feet, and stood fully on guard.

There was still no one before her.

According to the experience from last time, the enemy's second strike would be an even harder-to-resist killing move.

Hm?

In that instant, Miranda's pupils trembled.

The next moment, she stepped sideways with extreme speed and set a counterattack stance in another direction.

Unexpectedly, as if Miranda's movement foretold something, only a few hundredths of a second later, the assassin's figure appeared from that direction. Saber light came with a fierce wind and tangled with her sword edge.

Clang!

The crisp sound of metal collision rang out. At a perfect timing even Miranda herself found hard to imagine, she cleverly parried the enemy's fierce killing move. She even had energy to spare, dissolving and striking back in the rhythm most familiar and comfortable to her.

By comparison, the Supreme-class assassin fell into a disadvantage the instant he was blocked. But he was extremely decisive. He immediately gave up attacking, even gave up defending, and without hesitation flashed back, giving Miranda no chance to pursue or drag him into close combat.

Chh!

Eagle Soar cut open a piece of the enemy's clothing and drew blood.

As expected, Miranda confirmed again, the assassin's strange saber was not suited to defense.

In a flash, like startled light and a leaping hawk, the assassin's figure disappeared once more.

Only Miranda remained, staring in shock at the fresh red on her sword.

She had done it.

Having landed one blow, Miranda raised her head in disbelief.

No.

To be precise...

She had "seen" it.