Bloodstained Blade
Chapter 86 - Separated

The blade and its sheath were taken to the small palace’s even smaller chapel and set on the altar of that dark room. A priest came in shortly thereafter and said a few blessings against evil. The blade even used its Aether-sight on the man both during and after as he invoked the light of Ganara to protect them from evil and curses. The magic that the man used left a slight aura on the altar for hours, but that did not trouble the blade.

-4 Life Force.

It knew from its interactions with Dero, though, that it was not evil, so whatever bindings they had against it did little good. Still, it found the patterns in that new magic interesting. It just wished it could snag the soul of a priest to investigate it further. Every time the blade killed one, their god snatched them away before it could harvest them, which frustrated it.

Still, despite wards against evil and deities playing games, nothing happened to it for hours. It kept hoping that one of the guards would come in and pick it up. It didn’t even drain them for that reason, but that didn’t happen. Instead, it was left there to await its fate as the moon rose and set.

The blade did not like this at all, and now it knew why its previous incarnation had prioritized the power of its drain over its range. If someone wanted to pick it up without touching it, it would be hard-pressed to stop them. It was like a turtle that had been left on its back. If the witch-hunters found it right now, it would have been helpless.

-4 Life Force.

While it contemplated that fate and studied the statues and crude stained-glass windows of the room, someone finally entered the chapel through a side door. It wasn’t anyone he’d expected, though. He’d thought that perhaps the priest might check on it, or one of the guards might try to give it a swing or two, but it wasn’t any of those people who finally appeared. It was the Baron’s wife.

For several seconds, the blade wondered what she was doing as she approached the blade. She almost touched it, too. Instead, she stopped just short and said, “I don’t know how you broke free of wherever they put you, but I know what you are. The Black Blade of Baraga. I’ve read about you in books.”

She looked like she was about to pick it up, but she hesitated again and continued. “They say that you can control the minds of those that wield you and that you drive them mad. Well, I don’t care if you drive me mad. I just want you to wait until I’ve had my revenge, alright? I don’t care what happens to me as long as I can kill him. If you can promise me that, I will help you escape before the Witchhunters come for you and lock you away again, alright?”

The Ebon Blade wasn’t sure what she wanted it to do. She did not look like a good wielder, but it would certainly agree to her terms if that was the price of its freedom. Hell, it would have agreed to them on the subject of revenge alone. It burned for revenge as much as it did for battle.

-4 Life Force.

Still, it had no way to tell the woman it agreed. All it could do was lay there until the attractive redhead finally bent and grasped it by the handle. Then, its first words were not agreement but a question. If you know of me, then why doesn’t everyone else?

“I… Incredible,” she breathed. “It really does talk. I’m sorry, where are my manners I’m Evelyn Gilles, formerly Evelyn Palaron, and—”

Would you please answer the question, the blade interrupted, trying not to be too forceful and scare her off. While it could control her if it needed to, It had already effectively agreed to help her with her revenge, so for at least as long as it took her to get upstairs and slaughter her husband, she would be its wielder. After that, they would see.

Well, I was only being polite, she explained, trying to speak through her mind instead of her words for the first time. As to your question, it’s because people aren’t much in the habit of fearing stories that haven’t been seen in decades or centuries. I spent too much time in the libraries as a girl and read simply all the fables and…

She continued on for another minute of that, detailing the size and scale of her library at her old home. It sounded very impressive, but the blade didn’t care. It just wanted a strong arm to wield it against the challenges that lay ahead, and that clearly wasn’t going to be something this bookworm could provide it. Still, it took a moment while she was talking to examine her.

Name: Evelyn Gilles

Occupation:

Toughness: 4+4

Strength: 3+14

Agility: 4+8

Speed: 4+4

Intelligence: 6

Willpower: 5 -1

Morality: Desperate

Bloodlust: Focused

Status: Normal

Martial Skill: None

Armor Proficiency: None

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Dodging: Low

Athletics: Low

Goal: To get revenge on all those who’ve wronged me, no matter what I have to do.

It didn’t like how high her willpower was compared to its past wielders. That left it wondering how well she’d resist its control, but she seemed to have no interest in resisting, though, and as it peered into her mind it saw that all she wanted to do was murder people. It wasn’t a trick. She didn’t want to kill everyone the way it did, but there were a few very specific people that flashed through her mind that she wanted to hack into bloody pieces.

We cannot linger, it said finally, stopping her endless torrent of words. We must do whatever you want and then make our escape.

Don’t you need to steal my soul first or drive me insane or something? She asked.

When this is done, you can tell me your stories, and I will correct them. The blade promised. For now, let us focus on killing whoever you want to kill before more priests arrive and notice me gone.

The woman didn’t argue against any of that and, instead, turned and made her exit the way she’d come in, which turned out to be the priest’s room. He was snoring soundly, and she crept slowly through his room before taking the stairs up to the third floor. There, apparently, there was a guard, too, because she didn’t walk down the hallway. Instead, she creeped out a large window and moved along a moonlit ledge to her bedroom.

The blade thought all of this was a rather elaborate escape, but then it seemed like she’d done this before. Still, there was no hesitation. Her only comment was, I feel so much stronger now like I couldn’t fall if I tried. Then, she was back in her bedroom and closing the window while her husband slumbered.

Evelyn drew the sword from its scabbard for almost a minute, and the blade was beginning to think she was having second thoughts. At least, it would have if it couldn’t read her mind or see the way she was smiling. Then she brought the weapon down hard, pinning him to the bed, but that wasn’t enough to kill him. Truthfully, it would have preferred she chose a more silent option, but this was her vengeance, and it was not about to rush her.

He roared in pain as she drove the blade home without any hesitation. Given that the blade had just finished explaining how she could kill him quickly and quietly, she obviously wanted him to suffer, and honestly, the blade couldn’t blame her.

It tried not to look into her mind because it had no interest in getting attached to her, but even so, her mind was flooded with imagery of the things he’d done to her. Spousal abuse was the least of it. It could see memories of at least one miscarriage caused by the man's violence, which only made the feeling of disemboweling him that much more pleasant.

+38 Life Force.

“You bitch!” he bellowed. “What have you done?”

“What I should have done a long time ago,” she spat, raising the ebon blade up so she could strike him again.

Despite the life drain and the mortal wound, the man still managed to roll out of the way to the far side of the bed, leaving her to hack their marriage bed in two as Evelyn moved unrelentingly toward him.

His scream brought the sound of mailed feet running down the hallway, and before she could reach her bleeding husband, two guards stormed into the room. That didn’t slow her down either, though, and she flung a wide slash at all three of them, forcing them back with a series of parries that left sparks in her wake.

“She’s gone crazy!” The Baron bellowed. “Twenty golden regals to the man that brings me her head!”

The blade’s appraisal of her went up a notch at that. It went up even further when her husband succeeded in stabbing her, but she barely flinched at that. Instead, she spat in his face and said, “I just wish I actually felt this much every time you were inside me,” before forcing him back with another slash.

-22 Life Force.

“If you spend your money so frivolously, then what will you have left for your whores?” the woman demanded as she traded blows with the guards that were protecting him.

The guards seemed less than willing to strike her. Whether that was because she was a woman or because she was a Baroness, she couldn’t say. All that mattered was that their hesitation was lethal for them. It was an ugly, half-hearted scrum as the two sides traded blows. They wounded her several times, both shallowly and severely, but sword wounds were nothing for it after the fire, and apparently, the pain of being stabbed didn’t matter that much to her after years of marriage to Lord Gilles.

-14 Life Force.

Lord Gilles rained insults down on her almost as much as she rained down blows on his guards, but in the end, only one of them was successful. She took the first one’s head off and then pinned the second one to the wall with enough strength to cut into the stone. Either was an impressive blow for a woman, but then, when she was wielding it, she was stronger than any man in the building and probably most of the men in the kingdom.

Even a man with a typical rageblade could not hope to equal a goblin wielding the Ebon blade, and while she wasn’t that much stronger than its goblin wielder had been, she was taller, which made the whole thing much less awkward.

The blade could have interjected at any moment to help her. Evelyn’s form was completely atrocious, and it was clear that she’d never wielded a sword in battle before, but right now, that didn’t matter. All that mattered was how badly she wanted this. That was some enthusiasm that the blade could get behind.

-8 Life Force.

Despite how bloody her nightgown had gotten, Evelyn killed the two guards fairly quickly and looked practically well-composed compared to her husband, who was dying on the floor. If you want to be the one to end him, be quick, the blade cautioned her. Despite only being stabbed once, the man was about to bleed out and could only barely hold up his sword.

+77 Life Force.

+2 Human Souls.

“Any last words?” she asked contemptuously.

“I never—” the man started to say, but she didn’t let him finish. She just buried her blade deep in his heart.

+31 Life Force.

+1 Human Soul.

“I don’t care what you have to say,” she growled, twisting the blade before withdrawing it. “I haven’t for a long time.”

When she removed the weapon, she cleaned it with scraps of her shredded nightgown. The blade thought that was interesting, but it was too busy focusing on the alert that said,

Path of Vengeance: level 2, offering 1 of 2 completed.

It was the least of its concerns right now, but it still liked to see the progress, along with the souls, as it consumed all three of them to bring its Life Force to nearly 2k.

Well, I’m glad you were able to get such bloody vengeance on an awful man, the blade told her, noting that more people were coming somewhere below them. But we really should be on our way to finding me a proper wielder who can—

“What do you mean? That’s not who I want you to help me get my revenge on. I could have killed him any time, but I never would have made my escape,” she said, finally, standing over the bloody corpse of the man who had once been her husband. “It’s my father, the King. He put me in this awful place, and I want him to leave him and that awful golden throne of his in two.”

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