Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 127 - The Desire to Win

"So you've finally come."

"You... What the hell have you done!?" Medrauta's eyes widened as she stared at the unbelievable scene before her. As much as she wanted to avert her eyes and dismiss the atrocities strewn across the room as a mere nightmare, the scent of blood hanging stagnant in the air forced her to remain in the waking world.

Mere seconds ago, Medrauta and Viviane had crossed the threshold of no return. Though they knew the ruby-encrusted door signaled the end of their journey, the two of them entered without fear, flinging it open and descending down the winding staircase that lay behind it. However, even the resolve they had mustered could not prepare them for the sight that greeted them at their final destination.

The chamber at the end of the staircase was tremendous in size, stretching both wide and far as it encompassed nearly half of the gargantuan castle's dimensions. Though Medrauta could see no windows or openings to the surface on the room's massive slate walls, a cool breeze still drifted through the underground chamber. Several steel chandeliers and lanterns hung from the ceilings and the numerous cylindrical pillars that lined the room, ghostly blue flames dyeing the chamber in their hue.

Made from the same material as the walls, the chamber's floor was covered in various intricate arcane symbols, strange lines, and patterns all carved into its surface. An almost sickening sloshing of liquid could be heard echoing through the otherwise silent room, drawing Medrauta's attention to the horror she now witnessed.

"Urp...!" Unable to hold it in any longer, Viviane stumbled backward, averting her eyes as she retched and vomited on the ground. Though she managed to withstand the savagery of war, she understood that the grotesque amalgamations of blood and corpses on the battlefield had been nothing more than inevitable consequences born from struggling ideals that could be solved by no other method than bloodshed.

Though death was a tragic affair whether it occurred on the battlefield or behind castle walls, at least there had been purpose in the deaths of those soldiers who fought out of loyalty and for a future that they strove to make reality whereas the mound of pure slaughter and desecration towering above Medrauta and Viviane right now served no discernable goal. There was no reason for such senseless violence to exist, yet it did.

The very thought sickened Medrauta to the core, to say nothing of the sight.

"I've simply granted them their rightful places," Bastiche smirked as he admired his work. Slowly and deliberately, he circled the pillar of corpses that laid in the center of the room where all the strange lines converged. Blood flowed freely from the corpses and into the channels those carved lines created, creating macabre streams of crimson that somehow never ebbed. Had Bastiche simply chosen to sacrifice a handful of individuals, it might have disgusted Medrauta a little less, but the corpses piled in the chamber had all been defaced in one way or another.

The nobleman's eyes seemed to sparkle as he continued circling the construct of corpses decorating the center of the room. Bastiche ran a hand against one of the mutilated corpses, wetting the tips of his fingers with fetid blood. An almost palpable sense of pride radiated from the nobleman as he gazed upon his horrific creation lovingly despite the mound of death representing not only the highest form of vitriol towards Aluvsha, but morality itself.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Bastiche smirked, approaching the silver-haired knight with measured steps. "Amelia promised me I'd finally gain the power I desired if I followed her... And what do you know? She delivered. Every one of these nobles played a part in disgracing Ritya, including my father. In fact, he was the first person I killed."

"...You're insane." Medrauta spat, her shoulders trembling in rage. She didn't know what exactly Bastiche's relationship with his knight was, but she simply couldn't imagine anyone going to such lengths merely to avenge a slight. She wanted to believe that there was at least a reason behind all this senseless slaughter and mutilation. That perhaps Amelia might've driven him to do such cruel acts, but no matter how hard she tried to avoid facing the truth, the fountain of blood and corpses continued to pin her to reality.