Hate Me, Witch!-Chapter 124: The Black Knight, Standing Upon the Earth

Chapter 124: The Black Knight, Standing Upon the Earth

BOOM—

An overwhelming pressure swept through the entire lord’s manor in an instant, causing even the illusionary water screen to ripple violently, nearly collapsing.

A sharp sword intent burst forth, slicing small nicks into the surrounding metal objects.

At this moment, even the Titled Round Table Knights were left speechless.

All the soldiers and knights could only stare in stunned silence at the figure rising silently to her feet, holy sword in hand.

“I shall go…”

“Bring him back.”

That cold voice rang through the manor.

In the very next instant, the wielder of the holy sword vanished.

All that remained was a brilliant, dazzling stream of golden light streaking toward the distant horizon.

The entire manor fell into silence.

Only after a long while did Gawain speak in a dry, hoarse voice.

“The King… has broken through to the Legendary Tier?”

“Though aided by the holy sword, yes, she has indeed reached the Legendary Tier.”

Tristan did not open his eyes, simply plucking a note from his seven-string harp.

As the rebel coalition, with their king now having reached the Legendary Tier, they should’ve been thrilled.

Having a Legend among them meant they no longer needed to live like fugitives, hiding and running day and night.

Now, they truly had the qualifications to stand as a major power and take part in the grand chess match of Aisgania.

But in this moment, none of the knights felt any joy.

Clearly, this was not just some routine suppression.

Futigon’s forces had come out in full force, and somehow, they’d even drawn in a Blood Clan Prince who should’ve remained neutral.

Had Kayin not acted first and exposed Futigon’s hidden strength and scheme—

This secretive assault, far beyond what they had expected, might have meant the total annihilation of the rebel coalition.

And even now, they faced a situation where one Legend stood against three.

Even though they had the utmost faith in their Knight King, logic told them this was a hopeless battle.

What’s more…

The Valley of the End was several hundred miles away. Even at Legendary speed, it would take nearly half an hour to get there.

And that Black Knight Kayin—how could he possibly hold off two Legends and a Legendary-tier Abyssal Lord all by himself?

It was nothing more than a futile rescue mission…

One that might even drag their king into peril.

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“Should we go too?”

Gawain had barely spoken when Tristan immediately shot the idea down.

“Idiot. In a battlefield of Legends, even a normal Sixth-Ring is just a liability.”

“The best we can do right now is take advantage of this window to evacuate civilians and minimize the damage…”

Suddenly, an uproar broke out among the soldiers behind them.

The two Round Table Knights focused their gaze on the water screen—Futigon and the Blood Clan Prince still stood below the canyon, facing off against Kayin on the cliff wall.

But behind Kayin, several pitch-black bats emerged from the shadows of the night, silently taking form.

Then, in the blink of an eye—

The bats merged, transforming into a pale, withered humanoid figure identical to the Blood Clan Prince.

The bat-formed Flandre exuded no magical presence as he silently reached for Kayin’s back.

In the next moment—

A crimson heart quietly appeared in Flandre’s hand.

And then, the change occurred—

...

Looking at the crimson heart appearing between his pale fingers, a cold smile crept onto Flandre’s bloodless face.

As a member of the Abyss-born Blood Clan, he could not walk the path of a Beastmaster.

But as a Legendary, Flandre prided himself on the innate abilities unique to his race.

First, he used “Double Phantom” to create a decoy to draw attention.

Then, using the Blood Clan’s racial ability “Bat Form,” his true body silently approached from behind.

Finally, he unleashed his strongest ability—

“Heart Grasp.”

Thump.

Thump.

The illusionary crimson heart in Flandre’s hand slowly condensed, becoming more solid and real.

Twisted veins appeared from the void, connecting to the imagined heart. As blood began to flow through them, the heart expanded and contracted, echoing with thunderous beats.

This was an ability Flandre had only awakened after becoming a Blood Clan Prince—a curse-based assassination technique, and his most powerful strike.

He could draw a reflection of the target’s heart from the overlapping edges of the Spirit Realm and the Material Plane.

Though only a reflection, it resonated with the original through mystic principles.

If the reflection—this copy—was destroyed, then the real heart would be destroyed with it.

It ignored all physical defenses, bypassed enchanted relics, and rendered bodyguards meaningless.

It was true, absolute instant death.

With this power, Flandre had even slain a pure-blooded dragon in its growth phase—

Even a dragon, without immediate treatment after heart failure, had only one end: death.

Of course, the ability wasn’t invincible.

At its core, “Heart Grasp” was a curse. Against enemies equal to or stronger than Flandre, the curse had a high chance of being nullified.

Take those damn Legendary bishops and holy knights of the Church of Dawn, wrapped in the Holy Light of divine favor—most curses didn’t work on them at all.

And there were beings without a vital heart—like elemental lifeforms—on whom this technique had little effect beyond draining mana reserves.

But Flandre had already confirmed it.

This Kayin, for all his mystery, was not of high rank.

And he was a human—a being of flesh and blood.

So—

“Your heart,”

“I’ll be taking it.”

His voice was cold, like an executioner’s sentence.

A cruel smile flashed in Flandre’s eyes.

In the end, just a lowly ant not even at Legendary Tier.

Though it felt like a sneaky little trick, that earlier space-type offensive ability, along with the suicide bomb tactics he’d shown before, had already reached a level that could rival a Legendary to some extent.

But in the end, it was all external power.

This was an era where true strength had to come from within—

The gap between tiers was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Even if you gained power beyond your own tier through outside means, there would always be fatal weaknesses that couldn’t be patched.

Just like right now.

Before his “Heart Grasp” ability, all external buffs became meaningless.

Crack.

Flandre’s withered fingers slowly clenched.

The blood-red heart in his palm let out a wail—then, under immense pressure, it shattered into a spray of bloody fragments.

He had already seen Kayin’s ending.

Outwardly untouched—yet his heart would silently rupture.

He would feel that crushing pain in his chest, stunned and confused, then die in utter despair.

But—

The very moment that phantom heart was crushed by Flandre—

He saw the thin figure in the black-and-red cloud robe slowly turn his head.

In the dark eyes behind that swirling mask… there was no fear, no agony, no panic.

Only a calm, faint smirk.

Impossible.

A dish with no heart can’t live.

A person without a heart must die.

That’s the law of this world.

But now, that law had been broken.

Flandre’s pupils shrank.

And then came Kayin’s indifferent voice.

“Old fossil, bet you’re real shocked.”

“Wondering how a man can live without a heart?”

“Well, sorry to say… that won’t be the only thing today that shatters your worldview.”

Kayin raised a single finger, pointing into the air.

The next moment, a silver gleam flickered in the black pupils behind his mask.

“‘Black Knight.’”

His calm voice rang out like a solemn proclamation.

Almost at the exact same time—

From the dim sky above, countless pitch-black dots of light began to appear.

They were tons—literally, measured in tens of tons—of memory metal.

Or in Xia Ya’s terms from his past life: magnetic fluid.

In the reflection of Xia Ya’s eye beneath the swirling mask, a small alchemical sigil appeared silently.

And then—that sigil began to spin.

Yui’s racial skill:

“Metal Genesis.”

And also: “Megastructure Armament.”

These tons of liquid metal, under the reinforcement of an alchemical matrix,

were forcibly bound, contained, and recombined.

Following the design of a pre-set megastructure blueprint, the memory metal assembled around Xia Ya’s body.

Clank.

Clank.

The river of pitch-black death-metal engulfed Xia Ya entirely.

Then, piece by piece, the metal components around him began to forge, assemble, and interlock.

A chorus of clashing metallic parts rang out.

And in just a few blinks of time—

The form of Xia Ya was replaced by a colossal, pitch-black metallic construct.

This was far beyond simple “Armor Fusion” or “Phantom Armament Manifestation.”

If Armor Fusion was a way for ordinary Beastmasters to merge their summoned beasts’ power and push their limits—

Then this… was a technique above fusion.

Not merely borrowing from the strength of a summoned beast—

But manifesting the combined knowledge of an entire civilization, passed down through centuries.

In terms from Xia Ya’s past life—

This was every man’s ultimate dream:

A Mech.

BOOM—

As the core roared to life, the mech’s heart lit up with rings of molten crimson-gold light.

This was Blueprint No. 1—a megastructure concept Xia Ya had designed by combining references from every mecha work he’d ever seen.

From Danger Wanderer to Barbatos, from Shinkirō to Strelizia—he’d pulled inspiration from everything.

In the end, he gave it only one name: Black Knight.

Perfectly fitting for the persona of Kayin in this world.

RUMBLE—

The Black Mech turned its head.

In the next instant—

Thousands of projectiles burst forth like dazzling fireworks, raining down on the ground below.

The sky collapsed. Dust surged.

CLANG—

A massive wave of wind pressure rolled in, shrouded in shadow.

Only then, alerted by his Blood Clan instincts, did Flandre snap out of the shock that his proudest technique, “Heart Grasp,” had failed.

He whipped his arm up just in time to block the strike of a descending black greatsword.

The opponent was clearly just Fifth or Sixth Ring—yet the force contained within that black mech was so overwhelming, even Flandre, a Legendary-tier, struggled to withstand it.

He staggered upright, only to hear a cold voice from within the mech’s shell.

“You too…”

“Care to dance?”

…