Them being two was not within my calculation, but I was well placed to know that complaining about the situation was of no help.
Instead, I should be thankful that there were only three of them.
Han charged at high speed to the man, and engaged in a fight with him, giving me the room to have my time with the woman.
That’s right. My objective was to heal what needed to be healed, and that remnant' magic.
We were here for that remnant, but I don’t even know how or what should I do to make this remnant magic on me.
Talk obviously wouldn’t work.
After all, a remnant is just an empty shell devoid of almost anything that would define a human.
Having my shields and ax embedded with lightning by Han, I prepared myself to engage in a fight against her.
This was my first fight against a humanoid creature in a long time and the first one in which the objective wasn’t killing the monster but restraining it.
From afar, I could hear the ferocious battling of Han and the man. The noise of lightning slithering could be heard here and there, but still, I could clearly hear the woman's heavy footfall approaching me. She was trailing on the ground the tip of the spear as she approached me.
On her way, she said in clearly intelligible words but once again a completely foreign language to me, "Aide… moi …. Non… Mère, … Père… je dois… les trouver."
She then suddenly charged at me.
I immediately grabbed with two of my appendages a giant bone that was standing on the ground like a pillar emerging from the ground and threw it at her.
With a sound similar to one of stick chalk being cracked into millions of powdery pieces, she completely annihilated the giant projectile and continued her charge at me.
From the noise and Han’s earlier description, I knew she was using along with her alleged healing magic, a sort of violet lightning magic, just like her brother.
She came at me, I could have used my four shields to protect myself, but I didn’t, I let her close her distance.
Just when she was about to impale me in the head, I deftly avoided it, allowing it to pass right next to my neck.
Only then did I summon two of my shields, which I sent slamming horizontally at her ribs from both sides.
The blow was so powerful that it sent a small shockwave, along with the sound of her armor breaking.
I immediately added another layer by sending my mightiest blow, which sent her flying away.
But as she was knocked away, with a firm grasp on her spear, she deftly controlled her spears so that the tip would sever my head on the passage.
With a mere hairbreadth I was able to avoid, it left me with cuts on my cheeks.
Seeing what she did, a memory of what happened suddenly popped out.
I immediately charged at the knocked-out woman.
She was sent flying several hundred meters away from where I was, but before she could even crash or land anywhere, I charged at her again.
The memory that popped out was about how much of a madness it is to give healing-magic users and especially regenerating-magic a resting time.
Things would’ve been very different if I was aware of that that night.
Still in midair, I propelled myself at her,
She seemed to be waiting for my attack, since the moment I was about to swing at her, she received my incoming attack with a swing of her spear, thickly embedded with lightning; from the mere contact, I knew that my little ax, though also embedded with lightning, didn't mean anything to it.
My body was knocked out like a bullet, and so was she.
For the moment, she countered my attack with her spear. I tied her with my appendages.
While my body was sent at an incredible force to the ground, repositioning me midair, I took advantage of the kinetic force it had given me and swung her in a whip-like manner to the ground.
My body landed heavily on the ground, causing an immense pain, and it hurted like hell.
But I was confident even if she was merely a remnant, she would’ve at least felt that to a certain extent.
Suddenly, I heard words coming from the girl.
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"Mère… Père… Amelia… pardonnéz… moi… rejoint, c’est… promis!" She roared before bursting into an shockwave of pure and raw mana.
The thing was so powerful that I could feel its toll both physically and mentally.
I don’t know what she was saying, but this doesn’t look good.
Getting back up to my feet, I noticed that she was also on her side, got back to hers.
It was as if what I inflicted was of no effect at all.
To make matters worse, she was now emitting the sound of a lightning bolt all around her.
This level of awareness isn’t normal, I never a remnant before, but from what I know they aren’t supposed to be that
By the noise in the background, I knew that Han was still occupied with the other, so I could rely merely on myself for this one.
I prepared my shields and ax and charged at her before she did.
She retreated and sent out countless bolts of lightning.
I evaded them, but as I got closer, I had no choice but to face them head-on with my shields.
From the impact they made on my shield, I could tell how insanely lethal these lightning attacks were.
In the end, in my attempt to close the distance, I lost every one of my shields, yet I felt a bolt of lightning still coming toward me.
I couldn’t evade it, so I sacrificed my ax to parry it.
Discarding the remains of my ax, I went for the woman, which was already within grasp.
I immediately turned both my arms into prosthetic claws.
She trusted out viciously her spears at me, but deflect each one of her trust,
Closing the distance, I reached a point where I could even touch her face.
I propelled myself at her, grabbed her by the two shoulders, and sent a knee blew her chest, I felt my blow was cushioned by a certain part of her body but still it had its desired effect.
Immediately turned both my arms into a prosthetic claw thanks to my appendage.
Grabbing firmly the woman by the arm, I threw her violently into the air.
And by stomping my feet against the ground, I propelled myself onto the air, straight at her. From the noise, she was already preparing to attack me with another barrage of attacks, but before she could, I came at her with a spinning kick, sending her body flying even higher.
And then it happened.
I have no idea how I did it, but I did it.
As if a platform were below, I propelled myself once again at her, but this time midair.
With a joined hand, I hammered her body straight to the ground like a meteorite.
And then, with my body still in midair, I did once again, propelling myself like a shooting star. I delivered a last blow to her.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, but it took me time to realize what I had done.
It was her bloody coughing that brought me back to my senses.
"... Encore une fois, je vous ai trahi… Pardonnez moi, mère, père." She said sadly, amid the bloody coughing.
My left hand was plunged inside a warm squishy mess.
During the last blow, I impaled her chest.
When a case of remanism is to appear, the church would cast a magic known to them alone, as secret as the one from the Baptismal, once the spell cast the noble would finally have the eternal sleep he deserves.
Though there was no written proof of it in the book from the library, I had the feeling that despite no longer having a beating heart, a remnant would undoubtedly die or at least go through an "eternal sleep" as the nobility and the church refer to it.
Only when I did what I did, that I realized what I did.
Having killed so many creatures, I now know and feel when something’s life is fading away.
The only thing that made that woman a remnant was slowly crumbling away.
I had no idea what that woman said, but when she spoke, I felt that it contained regret, the regret of an unfulfilled duty, but also along these regrets were things that someone like me, who caused her to be in the state she is, had no right to say, but I heard a certain sense of relief in her voice.
It is not known what exactly causes some noble to at time awaken as a remnant, but it is widely theorized that these happen when at its death the nobles still feel that something in its life has been left unaccomplished or it’s that that the defunt has led a life that one would not even call living and that death itself has deemed him unworthy even dying.
As such, the nobility tends to encourage themselves and their children to run after a proud life full of accomplishments.
Despite the overly hereditary nature of the noble society, the decrease of the number of cases of remanence as over the century the noble became more and more meritocratic, more or less approving of that theory.
By the time of that ancestor, on the whole continent, there were only around 30 to 40 cases throughout the entire human continent.
And that was a very long time ago. There is no doubt that it is no longer the case now.
They might have increased or decreased, but from what I know, no remnants are supposed to be this strong.
From what I’ve read, remnants are not supposed to be as aware as that girl was.
Fighting her, I had not the impression of fighting an empty shell, but rather someone enslaved by an unfulfilled duty.
I could not help but say, "I am sorry."
Despite not seeing it, I could feel her gaze on me.
"Merçi…."
She reached her hand onto me, touched the cut on my cheeks.
"Sorry to interrupt your romantic time, but we’ve got urgent matters," Han said teleporting right next to me before snatching me in his Queen chracth form, like an eagle would catch its prey, but it was gentler than the impression it gave and retreated several meters away.
Immediately after, I heard the other one charging where I used to be.
"What happened?"
"You seemed to have done well on your side, I also did, but then it began to go, rogue, batshit and uncontrollable, the moment you did, what you did to his comrade. Sorry, I couldn’t give you the time-" His words were cut surely when he saw what was happening to me.
I felt enveloped inside a hue of warm mist.
The pain from the cut on my cheek has completely disappeared.
Then suddenly, under my appendage, which was clustered to form a claw, I felt it.
My right arm, I felt it. The fingers, the wrist, I could feel them, move them as I wished.
And my eyes...
"So?" Han asked.
Glancing at him, who was above.
….
I remained silent.
Nothing changed.