92 The Maid's Validation

I was seeing red.

I could see the edges of my vision darken as I glared at the bastard with all the hate I had.

Sound was being drowned out around me and the beating of my heart was getting louder and louder as every thought in my head was directed at tearing this bastard to pieces limb from limb.

Before my mind could succumb to the animalistic rage however, I saw Katsuki whip out her hand to stab her own knife into her father's stomach, causing him to bowl over in agony.

Both the bastard and I were so surprised by Katsuki's action that we merely stared at the knife she had used to stab him for a good few moments. Even my rage had retreated back into the deeper parts of my head.

Katsuki then grabbed onto the hand that her father was using to stab her with his dagger to prevent him from leaving, just so that she could continue stabbing at his stomach repeatedly.

"Give it to me! Give it to me! Give it to me!!" She shrieked, all the while stabbing her father with her knife.

He lifted his other fist and punched Katsuki in the side of her chest, sending her rolling away with the dagger still embedded in her abdomen.

It was only then that I realised that my summons had stopped moving despite me giving them no orders to stop.

I wanted to order them to continue their assault, only to feel an intense pain shoot up my spine and straight into my cranium.

So powerful was the pain that my vision went white for a moment before returning back to normal albeit with everything looking a little blurry.

Not good, it seems like the poison has advanced to the stage where my magic has shut down as well… My summons are literally quite useless right now. What poison even is this?

I looked back up to see Katsuki had rolled over onto her feet and threw her knife at him, only to have him catch it out of midair to throw it back at her.

Katsuki barely managed to raise her left arm before the knife pierced through the upper part of her arm, stopping it from skewering her face.

Showing the barest signs of pain, she yanked the knife out and leapt towards her father again, dodging under his grab to slice the knife at his calves.

The bastard growled in annoyance as he grabbed Katsuki by the neck, only to be forced to let go when she kneed him in the balls.

She reached out and grabbed the hand that was holding the antidote, trying to pry the vial out of his grasp before another punch was delivered to the side of her face.

I really want to kill this guy… How dare you hit her face?!

Katsuki flinched back and he took the opportunity to kick Katsuki in the chest to send her rolling back once more, giving him space to groan over the pain in between his legs.

My Inugami maid also took the chance to tie a makeshift bandage over her injured arm by tearing out a part of her apron, stemming the blood flowing down her arm.

All this while, the dagger her father had used to stab her with was still stuck in her belly.

I felt it was a little scary that these two people weren't even exchanging words and were absolutely focused on trying to kill the other person. It really drove home the fact that these two were actually trained assassins.

While her father was still incapacitated, she ran forward with her knife, the blade aimed to thrust into the side of his neck.

He managed to stop her at the last second by blocking the stab with his hand, the knife piercing through the middle of his palm and stopping an inch away from his neck.

Unperturbed, Katsuki smashed her head into his nose, barely dodging the punch he had tried to send her way for the third time as it sailed over her head.

The man's head was thrown back from the impact and Katsuki flicked her other hand to have a dagger slip out into her grip, allowing her to use it to stab in the side of his chest.

She quickly tried to pull the blade back out but she got headbutted this time, the man's head flinging forward to smash himself against Katsuki's face.

If I didn't have this poison hold me down, I would already be tearing that bastard to shreds for hurting Katsuki like that.

Katsuki's head snapped back but her hand held tight to the dagger she had stabbed into her father's side, allowing her to pull herself back and kicking her knee straight into the man's family jewels for the second time.

He doubled over in pain and Katsuki managed to pull her dagger out before giving him several quick slashes along his chest.

The bastard managed to catch her wrist to stop the attack before levelling a glare at her.

"Chill this place with the magic of frost, I com--"

Katsuki released her grip on the knife that was still stabbed in his hand to punch him in the face, stopping his chant midway.

His grip loosened on her other hand, allowing her to pull back and slash the blade across his neck. Too bad he managed to lean back at the last moment that the potentially fatal wound became a superficial one instead.

Katsuki raised her other hand to point at him, "Heat and flames burn my enemies, render them all to ashes and witness my burning passion! [Fire Blast]!"

A jet of fire shot out from Katsuki's hands, engulfing the man in a blast of fire that covered the upper half of his body.

She knew that was still not enough to put him down so my Inugami maid was already leaping forward even before the spell had ended.

The man stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, parts of his ninja outfit singed from the flames but it seems like he was relatively unharmed. His outfit must have been enchanted with some kind of fire resistance as well.

He looked up just as Katsuki threw several needles at him, forcing him to duck and put him in the path of her leg sweep.

The bastard managed to withstand her kick before trying to deliver a palm strike to Katsuki's chest.

Katsuki barely managed to dodge it while slicing the length of his arm with both her knife and dagger.

I thought this would still go on but that was when the bastard suddenly stiffened before falling over to his side on the ground.

My maid immediately leapt back to stand protectively in front of me, expecting it to be a trick of some sort.

Several moments passed and he still remained toppled over on the ground, unmoving.

Oh, she's using the [Assassin's Dagger] I gave her, looks like the paralysis poison finally took effect. No wonder it felt like he was getting slower and slower as the fight went on, making it possible for Katsuki to deal with him. Ironic that he disabled me with poison only to get poisoned as well.

Katsuki must have also realised what happened as she quickly went forward to pry the antidote from his hands, going so far as to stab another knife in his thigh before rushing back to me.

She carefully picked me up on the ground, her normally pristine face now marred with blood, sweat and tears as she laid me down on her lap.

"Mistress! Mistress! Please, drink this!" She cried, trying to pour the antidote into my mouth.

Except… I can't even control the muscles in my mouth to swallow it.

Katsuki quickly realised the problem before she poured the rest of the antidote in her mouth and bent over to latch her lips on mine.

She pushed her tongue into my mouth and I felt the liquid being forced down my throat, sliding its way down my gullet.

Katsuki pulled back after she was sure I had swallowed everything, watching me with worried eyes as she waited for the antidote to take effect.

Slowly, I felt myself regain control over the rest of my body and I sucked in a deep breath.

"Mistress! Mistress! Are you alright?!" She cried, holding me tightly.

"Ugh… Yeah… I'm fine now. Thank you Katsuki. Sorry for that unsightly display…"

She shook her head quickly, "No! It's me who has to beg forgiveness for allowing you to get hurt, Mistress! I truly am unqualified to be your servant!"

I patted her head, "But you saved me, so that makes it even. Good job, Katsuki, I'm proud of you!"

Her eyes widened at my words, "Mistress… What… What did you say?"

"Umm… It makes it even?"

"No, no! The… The last part!"

"I'm proud of you?"

She suddenly let out a squeal and I could see her tail wagging furiously behind her.

"Mistress is proud of me! Mistress is proud of me!! Mistress is proud of meeeee!!"

Ummm… Katsuki?

She pranced back to her still paralysed father and gave him a kick in the face which was quite unexpected to be honest.

"Hear that, you decrepit old man?! Mistress is proud of me! There is someone who is actually proud of me!! I don't need your worthless approval! I have my Mistress who I can serve with all my heart and be appreciated in turn!!"

Oh… I think I understand what's going on…

Because of her past upbringing, she was desperate to seek approval from someone because she had not received any from young. She then believed herself to be worthless and thought that gaining someone's approval would validate her.

She had then chosen to latch onto me when she realised that I was strong and my approval would mean that her family was wrong about her being useless.

Now that she received it, the weight she had been carrying on her shoulders was finally lifted.

Well, it's not like I don't understand… I only started receiving a parent's love when I came to this World and I most certainly won't give it up for anything.

With that said… How long are you going to continue kicking him, Katsuki?