I Only Want To Kill-Chapter 151: Lucia De la Croix

Blaze whispers, "I’m going to release you right now. I’m not a Heretic or whatever you’re referring to me as. I don’t even know what it is. Don’t attack me, alright?"

Lucia nods.

Blaze jumps back, releasing his grip on her. Lucia opens her left palm, the faint blue glow shines again, and her rapier flies to her palm. She quickly stands up and extends the distance from Blaze.

Blaze kicks the flintlock pistol on the ground to Lucia. She cautiously picks it up while maintaining her gaze on Blaze.

"You’re not going to kill me?"

"Of course, I won’t. Why should I?"

"You really are not a Heretic?"

"What is even a Heretic anyway?"

Lucia squints her eyes. She’s trying to analyze Blaze and determine whether he is telling the truth or not. But his expression is shielded behind that porcelain mask, which makes it hard to know his true emotion.

"I guess you did spare my life, so it’s probably true you aren’t a Heretic. A Heretic is an enemy of the church. Those bastards who dare to deny the savior of our land, Alexander."

Lucia puts her pistol inside the holster and flicks her left palm. The rapier disappears. Her motion is very similar to how Blaze equips and unequips his items but without the lighting effect.

Even with a different name, this girl’s movement and demeanor are exactly like Alyson’s. Only with a more fierce attitude and aggression. Blaze is sure that she is Alyson, but for some reason, she has a different identity.

He wonders if this is because they just look alike or if this layer is affecting her in some way mentally. He doesn’t have any way to differentiate the two, however. His ’Outsider’ effect can only work on him.

But maybe the Lantern can work. Blaze takes out the Lantern of the Damned and activates its Soul Flare. A sphere of light manifests and shines upon Blaze and Lucia. This makes her cautious, and she grabs the pistol.

"Don’t worry. It’s just an illusion-breaker spell. I want to make sure we are not under any influence."

"Spell? Are you a Sorcerer?"

"Not exactly. I am more of a Wizard than a Sorcerer."

The light of the Lantern does not change anything. So whatever is happening is real, and the woman in front of him is Lucia, not Alyson.

"Pardon my rudeness, great wizard." Lucia places her palm on her chest and lowers her head slightly. Once she knows Blaze is a ’Wizard’, her attitude immediately changes. It is as if she holds them in very high regard.

"Which god do you serve, wizard?" Lucia says.

Blaze rubs his chin, thinking carefully before answering. Lucia seems to take the ’god worshipper’ thingy very seriously. Telling her the truth may not be wise, but evoking the names of some gods isn’t either. They can very well feel Blaze if he speaks their name; that is what is written in the Spellbook of Fables. But a death god may be better.

"Do you know Infera?"

"The Sun God of the Sun Empire? Are you from the Sun Empire?"

"... Yes?"

"The Sun Empire has always been a good ally of the Holy Church. Again, please accept my apology for my previous action. I didn’t know you weren’t... a Heretic. You look like them."

"Look like them? All Heretics wear black cloaks and white masks?"

"Eh... No. But they draw their power from demonic force, and they usually have the same style as you."

Blaze takes out his Blue Bolt, showing her the wand with the blue jewel on the tip.

"This is my Arcane Convergence. As you can see, I am a spellcaster, not a Heretic."

Lucia nods. "I know that now."

"So tell me, Lucia De la Croix. Why are you here? What brought you to the Void?"

"The Void? Is this the name of this realm?"

"You don’t know the Void?"

Lucia shakes her head. Her expression clearly shows that she isn’t lying.

"The Void is a forsaken place of monsters and dark beings. It snatches people from the real world and traps them here. This is the sixth layer of the Void, named Dream Layer. I was trying to find a way out when I met you."

"I see. I was with my battalion, then suddenly I found myself in this house. I didn’t even know how I got here."

"Hmm."

Lucia seems to have a continuous memory of the event before this. This makes Blaze doubt himself and think that maybe she isn’t Alyson. But the Trader did tell him about her. He must have done it for a reason.

"To get out of this place. We need to go to the Undercity."

Blaze takes out the two maps that the Trader gave him.

"This one here is the location of the Undercity. While this one shows us the location of a man who has the key to go there."

He then takes out the picture of the train.

"This is the Train Home. It can carry us to our respective worlds and get out of this place."

"Oh? That looks like a machine from Crys."

"This train here? What do you mean ’from Crys’?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Crys. Short for Crystallized Realm. It is a world focused on technology and science. I visited that place once. They also have these types of transportation."

"..."

Blaze is now more sure that Lucia isn’t Alyson. The knowledge she holds is something that Alyson definitely does not know. The Spellbook of Fables did mention realms out of his world, dimensions between dimensions. But for an average Ranas citizen like Alyson, she shouldn’t know about it.

"I’m coming to see John now. The man who has the key. You’re coming? We can travel together."

"Not to be disrespectful... But I don’t know you that well. I am not sure it is a good idea to travel together."

"Reasonable caution. How about this?"

Blaze takes out a Celestial Contract from his inventory. He still has one last left.

"No way! You have a Celestial Contract? That thing is rare to see. You must be a famous wizard in your realm, huh?"

Lucia takes the golden scroll and looks it up and down. She nods her head when she confirms it is real.

"A Celestial Contract in its best conditions. No curses hidden on it. If we sign this, we can travel together."

"Great. Then we can start deciding on the clauses then.

First is the punishment clause. Each party must abide by all the clauses or be punished by the Oath of the Contract.

Second, each party must not harm the other in any direct or indirect way.

Third, we must help each other on our journey, making sure we are safe.

I think three clauses are good. Do you want to add anything?"

"Of course. Let’s adjust the second clause a bit. We should change it so that each party must not actively try to harm the other. The direct and indirect way is a good clause, but if I unknowingly harm you, it will trigger the clause as well.

I see this contract backfire so many times because of that."

"That sounds reasonable. Anything else?"

"Yes, one more clause about the time limit of this Contract. We will be allies until we leave this realm, yeah? Without a limit, this contract can go on forever."

"Right, right. I forgot about that. Let’s add that as well."

"Ha ha! You are one dangerous wizard, but you don’t go out of your tower much, do you? These are like the basics of a Celestial Contract."

Blaze freezes for a moment. Her smile began in her eyes. Not a curve of the lips first, but an instant joy deep within her gaze, a warm fire spark in this wretched world. Then it spreads to a radiant dawn breaking over her face. Her lips parted, not in a grin, but in wonder.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Lucia touches her cheeks, worrying that she might have caught something on her perfectly smooth skin.

"Nothing at all. You have a very nice smile. It is very similar to my friend."

Lucia steps back with a cautious look, covering her chest with her hands.

"My friends warn me about wizards like you. They say wizards are lonely creeps that will jump at any opportunity to flirt. Didn’t think it was true..."

"I didn’t mean it like that." Blaze rolls his yellow eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah. And you used that same trick. ’Oh. You look very similar to that one friend I never had’."

"I did not!"

"It’s okay. I am not judging you. No. That was a lie. I did judge you just a moment ago. But believe me, I won’t judge you again in the future."

Blaze lets out a long sigh.

"Let’s just sign the Celestial Contract."

"Alright. We will sign under the Cosmic Order, right?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? It is the safest choice. In case we have some problem with the Contract, at least the Cosmic Order can open a Celestial Court to sort things out. You need to hire a lawyer for that, though."

"I don’t like lawyers. Look, we can just add a very minor punishment clause if you are worried. But I don’t evoke Cosmic Order in my contract."

"You pissed off some god before, didn’t you?"

"Maybe..."

"Fine. We can use Soul Oath."

"Deal!"

Lucia and Blaze add the details to the Contract then press their hands on it. The Contract glows green, and a storm of green smoke envelops them. Two new green symbols are engraved onto the backs of their hands.