11. Raid boss Veilhem (2)

An illusion of the giant cladded in armor standing behind his back appeared out of thin air. He held the giant cleaver and exuded an authority aura that of a king. The giant mimicked every action of Veilhem.

They roared but everyone could sense that they were wailing for something.

Veilhem pulled the chain that was wrapped around his arm and so did Toji. The chain gave in before any of them both did and broke in an instant.

Toji sprinted toward him and did a vertical slash from below to which Veilhem slightly tilted his head backward.

Using the velocity of his miss attack, Toji grabbed the blade in a reverse grip and spinned, aiming for Veilhem's neck.

Veilhem didn't dodge but instead he closed the gap between them and threw a back hand at Toji. It was even faster than Toji's blade and as a result, Toji got knocked over but quickly regained his balance.

He got overwhelmed in power.

He smiled at Veilhem as this was the first time someone surpassed him in terms of strength and speed. If that wasn't scary enough then combined with the unorthodox way of fighting, complete disregard of any self-preservation and his neigh perfect combat senses brought him a challenge Toji couldn't even think he would face.

Toji felt it, the thrill of battle.

His ambition to aim for the top was rekindled, he fixed his gaze to Veilhem as a wide grin crept on his face.

Veilhem abandoned his sword and punched Toji.

Toji swept Veilhem's legs in response to dodge his punch that aimed at his face and delivered an elbow to the black knight's face.

The knight staggered back to control his balance but that one moment was enough.

Toji attacked him in a flurry of sword play to which Veilhem withstanded and tanked all the hits Toji threw at him. He just adjusted his body slightly to avoid the most critical places on his body.

Veilhem fought as if he had no interest in self-preservation with nothing left to lose.

Veilhem raised his free hand up and out of the blue, some souls formed up and created a pair of sickles.

Veilhem binded the broken chain to it and started swinging. His swing even created a swooshing sound as it cut the air and it got louder by each passing second.

Toji, switched out his weapon, reached out his hand to take out a blade from the mouth of his Arsenal Curse Spirit. Its specialty was to deal with the soul.

Suddenly, Veilhem stomped the ground and it formed a crack immediately. The crack continued to spread and the whole place was toppled up.

Toji with his senses could see this and he jumped up from the ground as he glared at Veilhem and clicked his tongue in annoyance. His vision was blocked.

From behind the debris, the sickle came without a warning, slicing through it and aimed for Toji's neck.

Toji blocked it with his blade and used the body part of the blade as a platform to jump in to get closer to Veilhem, a feat no ordinary human could ever achieve.

Toji dashed toward the place where he felt that massive aura oozing out and delivered a dropkick.

However, Toji's eyes widened as what he saw was not Veilhem but it was only the chain. He couldn't even detect the man's presence despite the authoritative aura that man gave off?

Was it just a bluff? It could even fool his sharp sense-

Without warning, a hand beneath the ground came into Toji's view as it grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

Surprised by this sudden turn of event, Toji was caught off guard and slammed hard against the ground, spitting out blood and saliva. All the air in his lungs was forced out as he found himself in a vulnerable state.

The strength of the giant was not a joke even if it was just an imitation. More so that was from a descendant of the conqueror.

Veilhem got out of the ground and before he could deliver a finishing blow-

"Fall."

A woman's voice echoed as Veilhem staggered and fell into the ground, loosening his grip on Toji's neck.

Seeing this chance, the Sorcerer Killer took out another knife from his arsenal and struck the black knight in the head with his blade, ending this battle.

Toji was panting heavily as his chest heaved up and down vehemently. It was definitely the first time someone drove him into this situation. While it was fun till it lasted, Toji couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Someone had interfered with his battle.

Massaging his neck, he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he jerked his head toward the redhead woman standing outside of the warzone. She slowly approached him.

"What do you want woman?" Toji said, a question that sounded more like a warning.

It was likely that she was the one that helped him but Toji couldn't care less about that. If she showed any hostility toward him, he would gladly kill her while he was at it.

"Not a matter that concerns you." Makima murmured, not even bothering to give him a glance.

She passed by without making any eye contact as if he was so insignificant that it wasn't worth it for her to do so and walked toward the knight's corpse. She pointed her imaginary gun formed from her index finger and her thumb to her other palm.

"Bang"

A hole appeared in her palm as blood began to stem out of it. The weirdest thing was that her impassioned expression didn't change at all when she did that. Maki and Toji saw this and couldn't help themselves but think that this woman in front of them was batshit crazy.

Makima slightly lifted up his helmet and put her injured hand to his mouth. The flow of her blood slowly trickled down to his mouth and soon, the hole in his head was healed alongside the armor that magically reattached.

She saw it and couldn't care less. Her priority now was to get Veilhem's mind back. The fear of him turning into a hollow was slowly creeping its way into her heart. It was like a venomous poison that slowly ravaged her mind yet she could somehow control it to not let it surface.

For the first time, she genuinely felt it, the fear that was gnawing at her heart. She had long yearned for a relationship that didn't have to do anything with fear or being manipulative by her.

She couldn't do that if she controlled someone.

Yet here she was, throwing that hard sought bond only because she made the contract with him. She promised that she would stay by his side but she was the one that made him into this.

Sadness… What a peculiar feeling.

Makima loathed it, she loathed herself for being such a dumb ass because this wouldn't happen if she accounted for the fact that all of her contracts had been nullified and he was the only active one.

For an undead to not want, that wasn't any different from being a hollow. The moment they died, there was little to no chance left for them to get their mind back.

"God dammit, Veilhem. Drink it." Makima continued to pour her blood into his mouth and her face started to crack as Veilhem didn't have any signal of coming back to his mind.

Instead it was a growl and mindless mumbling coming from him.

"No no no. Fuck fuck!" Makima cursed underneath her ragged breath. Her cold facade was broken.

She could feel that her head became lighter and soon her mind would collapse from being bloodlost. For a Devil like her, this could easily be fixed by drinking some blood on her own.

Humanity was flowing in the blood and she was the embodiment of the small aspect that represented humanity itself. Her blood should do the trick if her theory was right but now, she was not that sure about it.

"Wake up Veilhem." Makima slammed her fist against his chest as if she needed an outlet for this accumulating turmoil that was growing inside her chest.

"I think that is enough, no? No one survives with a hole in their head anyway." Toji said. He was slouching with his back against the more flat rubble that was everywhere across the battlefield.

Makima's eyes began to well up with tears as she didn't even know that had appeared there. Only when it fell down did she realize it. Her mind was too occupied with countless thoughts of how she could bring this man back to his sanity. She couldn't control this situation.

It was irritating.

Veilhem grabbed her and bit into her shoulders. His teeth dug deeper into her flesh as he continued to feast on her blood like that of a mindless beast.

Despite the pain and agony that Makima was feeling right now, she let him do that as she rubbed his back and whispered lightly into his ear, hoping that somehow he could regain his mind. She wanted to do many things with him and she wanted him to hug her a lot too.

"Wake up Veilhem. Don't leave me alone."

Seeing the assumed dead knight was still kicking, Toji widened his eyes in surprise and began cursing.

"Son of a bitch! Seriously?! Reverse curse technique?" Toji asked confusingly.

"W-who a-are you?"

Veilhem asked, seemingly lost in thought as he studied the surroundings and the red-haired girl that was still hugging him tightly.

He noticed the blood that was still stemming out of her shoulders and without any hesitation, he tore off a piece of his cape and bandaged her.

The girl was snuggling against his chest and breath delightly, her consciousness began to fade as she spoke, albeit softly. "Welcome back, Veilhem."

With that, she limped off in his embrace.

Veilhem couldn't quite remember how he was in this situation and who this girl really was but his soul told him that he should embrace her tightly. Although it was just an intuition, he followed it regardless.

"Did I die?" He asked the man with a scar on his lips.

"The fuck? I just killed you like 5 minutes ago when you went on a rampage and attacked me. And you are telling me that you don't remember?" The man replied with a raised eyebrow. That soon creased into a frown.

Veilhem slapped his forehead as he sighed in depression. He now realized the situation. It wasn't the first time this happened to him.

He was hollowing too fast and possibly lost some memories too.

"Did I… kill anyone?"

"Nah, forget about it. You are lucky that you encounter me instead of anyone. With that strength of yours, you could erase the whole clan with ease." Toji deliberately explained and narrated to him about what happened.

"Well, it's time for me to go. That was quite an interesting fight." Toji decided to give the two lovebirds some space and walked off, dusting off his clothes and walking away.

Seeing the man's figure slowly disappear in his vision, Veilhem sighed and tightened his embrace on this redhead in his arms. It was quite nice actually.

He enjoyed it without even realizing what this redhead girl meant to him, but it didn't feel unpleasant so he went with the flow.

Inspecting the surroundings once more, Veilhem saw the scared black hair girl looking at him intensely. He scratched his cheek in embarrassment and waved his hand to tell her to come closer.

However, the little girl didn't do that. Instead she visibly gulped down and Veilhem could swear he saw her sweat profusely. She must be very nervous.

Carrying the injured girl in his hands, he got up and walked toward the little girl.

"Ummh, I'm sorry but could you show us anywhere that we could rest?" He asked gently, sounding as politely as he could. She nodded as she led him to the house that was nearly at the rear of this estate.

'Wait, us? Why? It meant me and this girl right? But who is she?'

Veilhem pondered hard as he tried to grasp as much information as possible. He could feel that this red-haired girl was someone important to him that could make a little bit of fluctuation of emotion swirl inside him.

Veilhem rubbed her back and patted her gently, pulling her closer to his neck.

After Maki led both of them there, she ran off after changing the clothes for Makima, leaving the two alone in the room.

"Well, what now?" He murmured, unsure of what to do next.

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(A/N: Not very ideal, may change it afterward.)