Chapter 22

Time seemed to slow down for a moment. With wide open eyes, Edgar watched the Leonies missbegottens sword go through his Iron Cleaver. It wasn't a clean cut, but more like a huge crack, becoming bigger and bigger each time he "parried" the missbegotten, untill the axe finally broke.

He now regrets, not having pulled out his halberd fast enough earlier this night. He regrets not taking more time on inspecting the condition of the weapon he chose. However, regretting his past actions won't change anything anymore, as Edgar desapretly tried to evade the Leonie Missbegottens attacks. Unfortunately, due to him not possessing the Green Turtle talisman, he wasn't able to dodge multiple attacks in a row, and that's why he made a mistake due to exhaustion, which resulted in him losing half of his left hand, leaving him only with his thumb.

Edgar gritted his teeth in pain and tried to endure it. But his pain tolerance wasn't really high, as he lived most of his life comfortably, in comparison with the others. He never got really injured in a fight and mostly just commanded his troops from the back, even though he was an excellent fighter. That's also the reason he didn't know what it's like to lose a limb, because he was just too good and never encountered any big issues on his path, Normally he is the one separating body parts.

His arm started to shake a little and his reaction speed slowed down tremendously. But still he managed to narrowly avoid the next attack, it was then that he shouted in a stuttering voice, in fear:

"Tarnished! Help me!"

"I'm on it", answered Max, who stopped casting and started to run towards the missbegotten.

Unfortunately, the missbegottens attacks became faster and more precise, the more desperate it became. In fact, already with its next attack, the beast managed to hit Edgar again and this time, the missbegotten sliced off his arm from the elbow downwards.

Contrary to the tarnished expectations, the commander didn't scream in pain at all, as it happened too fast. Additionally, his body was full of adrenalin and in a state of shock, he didn't feel the pain at all. Instead, he stumbled for a few steps and ended up falling to the ground, sealing his fate.

The missbegottens then stood before its former master menacingly and then plunged its sword through Edgar's chest with a hate filled gaze.

Finally, the Leonie missbegotten managed to complete its wish for revenge. Ever since it came here, and it's whole life, the creature had been enslaved and tortured since its birth. The moment it arrived here, at castle Morne, it had been plotting. It used every free moment to communicate and to coordinate its underlings. This was a very hard task, as it first had to motivate them to rebel, because previously they were under complete control, with no thoughts to rebel, making them the perfect slaves for Edgar and his underlings. That's why, it engraved Edgar as the root of all the problems it had and therefore hated him to the core of its existence.

What added insult to injury, was that once it finally could fight its nemesis, the missbegotten realized that, whatever it did, it was impossible to hit him.

The beast became devastated, it wanted to deny it, it tried its best and gave everything it had in those last attacks, but it seemed pointless. But then the beast saw it chance, once the Iron Cleaver broke. It, regained hope in a hopeless situation. The missbegotten gave everything it had and entrusted everything into the next attacks. It's pride as a strong warrior, his promise for revenge… everything…

Then it finally managed to deal a fatal blow, and at that moment, it felt relieved. All the frustration and pain from before disappeared, as they never existed before. It's impossible to just describe it in words, but to cut it short, the Leonie Missbegotten felt free, for the first time since its birth. It found peace.

Even when the sword from Max penetrated it's body, the creature remained calm, and had no intention to resist or to continue fighting, as it found its inner peace. After struggling a lot, the Leonie Missbgeotten took its last breaths with what appeared to be a smile on its face, while blood was dropping out from its mouth and wounds.

Very soon after, its dead body fell next to the suffering Edgar. He was covered in his own and the missbegottens blood. Edgar was having troubles breathing and with the time he started to feel colder and colder.

Max went to him and inspected his body. The situation was terrible, even without the hole in the upper body, losing an arm is already a death sentence on its own, if one can't manage to stop the bleeding. There wasn't really much Max could do to help him, of course he could wrap his belt around, in order to try to stop the bleeding, but it's not going to save him, it will perhaps just prolong his life or suffering.

With a stuttering, weak voice, Edgar said:

"Tarnished, please. I can't do it on my own. Take the Crimson tear flask from me and pour the liquid into my mouth."

The eyes from Max widened, and he immediately searched for the flask. Very soon, he found it, but that's not all, next to it was also a certain object. As it made contact with his fingers. Max noted that its surface is shriveled, and the inside is squishy.

He took it out to see it better under the moonlight. Max recognized the item immediately. A Shabriri Grape, or in other words, a yellow, oozing eyeball of the infirm. A small smile appeared on his face, and he took it away.

In the meantime, Edgar noticed that Max found the flask, but then just stood there motionlessly.

"What are you waiting for, let the liquid pour down into my mouth. Please hurr…"

He stopped in his track, when he saw Max holding the shabririe grape in his left hand. If he were able to move, Edgar would facepalm himself, as he forgot that he kept these two items together.

„How come that you already have this grape on you?"

The commander chose to remain silent about that topic, and instead proposed a deal.

„Alright, I will tell you how I got it, but -cough- -cough- first please heal me first!"

„No! You first tell me about the grape! Then we will see!", insisted Max with a strong and domineering voice.

However Edgar refused and encouraged Max to heal him first.

„Give me the Crimson Tear first. -cough- and then I will -cough- cough tell you."

Looking at him Max realized that he didn't have a lot of time left and he knew that he had to decide if he wanted to save him or not. The benefits of leaving him to die were clear. Max gets to keep the grape and on top of that he will have a crimson tear flask, which would be amazing.

On the other side, by saving him, he wastes a vital flask and he doesn't really benefit from it. Well, that isn't completely true, Edgar might teach him Golden Vow and he will most likely have a happy reunion with his daughter. It wasn't a hard choice.

Max tightened his grip on the Bloodhounds Fang and stood up, while looking with a cold gaze at Edgar.

"What -cough- Why are you doing this?", said Edgar in a desaprete voice, because he knew this kind of gaze too well.

"Damn you tarnished! I hope you die -cough- in the most gruesome way possible!", screamed Edgar.

"Im sorry Edgar, but with the missbegotten dead you have outlived your use. I have to thank you for giving me the crimson tear flask, it will help me a lot in my journey.", said Max coldly.

"Damn you!"

Max cracked a small smile: "Goodbye Edgar, may your soul rest within the Edrtree."

He then proceeded to chop Edgar's head off. Afterwards, he took some time to look around the arena for the Grafted blade greatsword. Unfortunately, he couldn't find it.

'Damn it, I should have asked Edgar where it was, before killing him…

I highly doubt that he would have told me, but I might have gotten some clues from him.

…

Well, actually it's not that bad, as I probably couldn't even lift it either way, because my strength is definitely insufficient.', thought Max.

Afterward, Max collected 3 800 runes from the missbegottens body and 370 from Edgar. Then he wondered on how to leave this place. The only way out was taking the plunge into the sea and swim to the beach. Max put his hand into the water and as expected it was freezing cold, in addition the moonlight wasn't the best illumination, that's why he decided to wait for the sun to come out in order to see better.

Therefore, he waited for the day to come and that's when he decided to jump into the sea and to swim around the castle. Some time later he got to the beach where he previously killed some jellyfish, before he even entered castle Morne.