༺ Boy King (5) ༻
“It hit!”
Iliya clenched her fist tightly in triumph.
It was because anyone could see that the blow was essentially a checkmate to this battle.
“…”
However, instead of cheering with her, I silently prepared for the ‘next’ phase.
-!
Nearby, the Arrays of Forbidden Sorcery writhed.
Valkasus’ body also remained standing upright without staggering.
“…!”
Soon after…
From the Arrays, an eerie light erged, showing no signs of weakening even when compared to before. Yuria stepped back with wide eyes of surprise.
Both Iliya and Lucia also looked in that direction, stunned.
“It’s not…”
A faint voice echoed in the chaotic uppermost level of the Clock Tower.
“…Enough yet. It’s still far from enough.”
I had to agree with him.
The constraints placed on him obviously wouldn’t be so easily removed, just stabbing his heart wouldn’t cut it.
In the first place, the constraint on him was that he needed to ‘die in one-on-one combat’.
Basically, even if three people tried to beat him to death, he still wouldn’t die.
And…
Even if he could, he’d probably reject it.
After all, if his life was extinguished without fulfilling the constraint, the Forbidden Sorcery would be forever bound to his flesh.
“I can’t. Go. Alone. My kingdom… Is still—!”
That was why, even with a fatal wound that pierced his heart…
He desperately held on.
The surrounding Arrays exploded with light. Yuria let out a short scream as she was thrown back by the impact.
“…He’s not dying even after this? What kind of existence is he—?!”
“Hey.”
I interrupted Iliya’s sentence with a sigh.
“Go down the Clock Tower. Take the Saintess with you. If you don’t go down now, you’ll get swept away.”
“…What?”
“From now on, I’ll handle him by myself.”
Iliya and even Lucia widened their eyes in surprise.
Clearly, Valkasus was in a worse condition than before. Honestly, it could be said that he was in a berserk state.
So I understood their reaction. If soone were to tell that they would face him alone, even I would react the sa way.
“Please stop saying such crazy things…! How can Teach even think of facing that alone…!”
“It isn’t crazy.”
I an…
You guys had done everything you could.
In the first place, cornering him to this extent and dealing a blow to his heart was a huge contribution.
I could never have done it alone.
“…”
Nevertheless…
From this point on, I had to do it alone.
System ssage
[ ‘Skill: Evil Ruler’ activated. ]
[ Using command rights on targets ‘Iliya’ and ‘Lucia’! ]
[ The targets are absolutely obedient to your commands! ]
“Go. It’s better if I do this alone. Saintess, take Yuria with you.”
“…”
“…”
Without using this, these two probably would not listen to even if they were to die.
Lucia seems to have taken it sowhat well, as she hesitated for a while before nodding.
However, Iliya…
She was staring at as if I had struck the back of her head with a hamr.
Her pupils were trembling, as if she had taken a severe shock.
System ssage
[ Target ‘Iliya’ has received a great shock because of your statent! ]
[ Her confidence has sharply decreased! ]
[ Marked by Negative Tendency! ]
System ssage
[ Negative Tendency Triple Stack! ]
[ Significant changes in personality! ]
[ Changes in behavioral patterns! ]
[ Increased dominance over the target! ]
[ Rewards Available! ]
[ Skill: Evil Ruler has been activated. Obtained 1 command right over the target! ]
“…”
I seriously couldn’t understand why my command right kept replenishing itself every ti I used it on her.
No, more importantly…
The ssage that appeared was sowhat unsettling.
Confidence dropped sharply?
Increased dominance?
What the fuck?
“Teach.”
“Go.”
As she tried to speak to with a tearful voice, I told her to go.
I could think about that later. For now, I needed to focus on Valkasus.
Lucia, Yuria, and the still hesitating Iliya went down the stairs leading below the Clock Tower.
“…Well then.”
I gazed at Valkasus, whose heart was pouring out darkness.
I took out the Evil Essence and brought it towards Soul Linker.
From the perspective of Caliban who was within, he would probably be freaking out. After all, he served as a Guardian, the highest-ranked title a Holy Knight could ever achieve.
[…Heh.]
Inside the amulet, I could only hear the sounds of him snorting in laughter.
[What are you scheming again?]
“I like how you’re acting as if you’ve seen sche before. You do realize that all you do is sleep all day, right?”
[Even though it looks like I’m sleeping all the ti, I see everything I need to see, kid. That’s why I know that there’s a reason behind everything that you do.]
Yep. Then you saw it accurately.
System Notification
[ Would you like to fuse ‘Evil Essence’ with the item ‘Soul Linker’? ]
[ Y/N ]
I touched Y imdiately.
[ Soul Linker ]
Type: Exclusive Equipnt
Enchantnt: Epic
Fusions: [ ‘Hero Shard’ Fusion ] [ ‘Evil Essence’ Fusion ]
#1
Spirit: Caliban – Guardian, Knight of Dawn
Currently Charged Magic Power Rate: 0%
Current Synchronization Rate: 12%
< Additional Features >
■ Skill: Image World
As such ssages continued to appear…
System ssage
[ By fusing ‘Evil Essence’, new features are added! ]
[ Special slot for Evil Spirits is unlocked on Soul Linker! ]
[ Only souls with an evil disposition can be added to the slot! ]
I nodded my head while looking at the window.
This was it.
The only way to turn the tables on Valkasus in ‘combat.’
“Get ready to receive a neighbor, Caliban.”
[…This bastard is seriously insane.]
Caliban spoke while letting out forced laughter.
[You… Are you planning to bind ‘that thing’s’ soul?]
The sentence that even a Guardian spat out with dread was, of course, referring to Valkasus who was right before my eyes.
A sinister aura was still pouring out from the gaping hole in his chest.
Although millions of Forbidden Sorceries were embedded throughout his body, ultimately, the heart, the main dium of the Forbidden Sorceries, was the one that controlled all of them.
And what Yuria had done was clearing the path for to reach that very place.
“…Nope.”
I wasn’t going to bind him.
“I’m going to save him.”
If it wasn’t for that one goal, I wouldn’t have gone this far.
I checked the ti.
Two minutes left.
“Caliban.”
[Hmm?]
“Since you were a highly regarded asset in the Empire, I sohow feel you might know the answer to this question.”
[What question?]
“How do you endure pain?”
He replied with a wry smile.
[I just do.]
“…I’m never seeking advice from you again.”
With those words…
System Notification
[ All stat bonuses will convert to ‘Endurance’ and ‘Divine Power’. ]
[ ‘Skill: Stigmata’ activated. ]
I hurled myself towards Valkasus.
-!
-!!!!
An innurable amount of vile Sorceries simultaneously bombarded .
Prior to this, four people shared the load, but now, I was the only one taking on full brunt of the damage.
Even though all my stat bonuses from the EX-Grade Desperation were converted to endurance and divine power through a skill, and even with a protective barrier influenced by such stats…
My whole body decayed. My skin was rotting. My veins ruptured. My muscle fibers dissolved and were torn apart.
“…Shit…Motherfucker—!”
The pain coursed through my entire body, almost as if I was seeing stars. Even so, I ignored it and trudged forward. I had, at most, two minutes left. There was no ti to waste.
Even amidst the excruciating pain akin to my body getting ripped apart, I continued to move.
It felt like my body was being burned by flas and my internal organs were burning.
Still, I took a step ahead.
I felt as if I was manually squeezing my halted lungs to simulate the process of exhaling. My mouth was open, but I could not breathe. I could not inhale the air around .
Another step forward.
I felt an intense pressure on my chest. The muscles in my limbs refused to obey .
And another one.
“…”
Beyond the pain that threatened to cut off my consciousness multiple tis…
Finally…
My hand touched his chest.
Soul Linker, the item that could ‘house’ a soul…
Had finally made contact with the place where the soul resided; the heart.
If Yuria hadn’t pierced it through, I would have never been able to stuff my hand inside.
“…”
At this point, the boss battle was as good as finished.
It was my victory, as long as I managed to forcibly ‘bind’ Valkasus to the Soul Linker fused with Evil Essence.
If I reckon, this was an epic item. So, even if he was a boss, it was possible to bind him once I made contact with the core of his soul. I could forcibly break his consciousness and confine him within the item.
However, I didn’t want to do that.
Not to soone who didn’t deserve such a fate, at least in my opinion.
That was why I went out of my way to say that I was ‘saving’ him when responding to Caliban.
“…”
And so…
I prepared my next move.
Considering all the constraints attached to the conditions of his ‘death’, it was clear that Valkasus wasn’t originally designed to be defeated in combat in the first place.
If I looked back at the battle I had fought thus far, I didn’t even co close to matching his ‘full power’.
However, there was one trick that only I, the first person to ever clear the combat route for Valkasus, knew.
As far as I knew, the one who placed the ‘curse’ on him was the most powerful ‘Cursed Speech User’ in the ga.
But, despite that…
Cursed Speech, in its core, had limitations.
For example…
As long as the ‘combination’ was complete, it was possible to sohow mix and match the sentences of the Cursed Speech.
If the curse condition was that he could only die in fair one-on-one combat…
“This is a fair one-on-one duel, Boy King.”
It could be fulfilled this way.
This was the one and only way I could think of, the sole thod to ‘save’ Valkasus, a feat that was impossible to accomplish in the ga.
“I am as injured as you are. I feel the sa pain you do. The conditions are fair.”
A completely hoarse and exhausted voice flowed out from .
By aligning his and my ‘injuries’, I made the conditions balanced and equal.
That alone broke through the first prohibition of the Cursed Speech.
“In this situation…”
The second prohibition.
“If I ‘bind’ your soul to myself, it is my victory. If I fail to do so, I’ll lose. The cost of defeat will be my own life.”
It was a legitimate one-on-one battle.
It was just…
The ‘thod’ and ‘location’ of such a battle were determined by .
Valkasus’ heart emitted a black light.
This ant that the Cursed Speech User’s prohibitions had ‘validated’ my words.
In reality, a duel, as a concept, wasn’t sothing complicated.
To start a duel, you’d only need to specify the ‘victory and defeat’ condition in one way or another.
The Forbidden Sorceries that were even lting Valkasus’s outline began to penetrate into my body through my hand that was touching his heart.
“And so, I declare the start of our duel.”
My vision went dark.
I walked through the space enveloped in darkness.
A familiar feeling. This was the exact sa sensation I experienced when I entered a certain space with that clumsy Virtue.
That ant, this was Valkasus’ subconsciousness.
And what I was about to see wasn’t my own mory.
“…”
His first kill seed to be his most deeply ingrained mory. After all, it was the most vivid one out of them all.
The person he killed was the strongest fighter in his vicinity, rumored to be unbeatable. At the sa ti, he was also the definition of human trash, beating up anyone that would so much as make eye contact with him.
And after hearing that rumor…
Valkasus intentionally picked a fight with him so he could die in a ‘duel’. The man who boldly challenged him couldn’t even withstand three Forbidden Sorceries before dying a dog’s death.
However, there was sothing that the rumors failed to include…
The fact that the man was raising a three year old daughter and a newborn son on his own. Those children were unable to comprehend the death of their father.
On that day, Valkasus vomited for the first ti in his life.
It was because, through this first kill, he intuitively knew the path he had to take from now on.
“…”
The mories continued.
The calamity invoked by the Cursed Speech User drove him to continue his endless journey; a journey to liberate his subjects who were engraved onto his very own body because of the Forbidden Sorcery.
He sought out more powerful people. He passed through more battlefields. He piled up more corpses.
Countless mories of his murders endlessly continued in this space.
He gradually wore down. His humanity was chipped away, eroded with ti.
“…”
Still, the boy walked on.
Eons passed by. His longing was endless and so was his loss. Even if all he had left were re ash and dust, he still stood up and trudged forward.
Even in the heartless and ruthless flow of ti, he never gave up.
In the hazy journey where even his own existence faded away, he was like an extinguished fla searching for embers. Once, he looked back at the ashes that were once his mind and conscience… He found himself doubting whether he even existed anymore.
The sense of defeat sprouting within a broken body could shatter even the most resolute will.
I moved forward, feeling all the emotions he had accumulated over thousands of years and all the thoughts that had ever touched his mind.
And beyond the mories that seed to continue endlessly…
At last..
I faced a boy sitting quietly in the dark space.
“Valkasus.”
“…”
“Valkasus.”
“You’re truly out of your mind.”
‘Yeah, I heard that particular phase a lot.’
As I let out a bitter laugh, the boy in front of swept his hair before speaking.
“…The subconscious is considered one of the most complex and dangerous among all the spaces accessible through special powers. Yet, you voluntarily entered such a place. You would’ve been better off experiencing a proper life and death in the Material Realm instead.”
“Is that so?”
“If you were unlucky, you might have ended up drifting in my mories forever. Did you know what you were getting into?”
I was aware of such a setting.
Even so…
“…I did it because not too long ago, I realized it would have a good chance of success.”
This plan was created after I entered my subconscious with the Virtue and was able to get a rough ‘feel’ for it.
While I didn’t do much inside, I could understand how it worked by taking a glance.
As such, I had confidence that I wouldn’t be swept away, even if I were to go inside Valkasus’ subconscious.
“I understand you, after all.”
This thought ca to ever since the first ti I t him in the scenario.
Valkasus and I…Were quite similar.
“…What?”
“Even if it is for people that are important to you, getting forced into a fucked up journey doesn’t feel that great. I also know how that feels, you know?”
“…”
“Of course, when considering how long the journey lasted, you’ve been at it for much longer than .”
Valkasus looked at with a stunned expression, but instead of explaining further, I let out a bitter laugh.
I just hoped he would understand that I had been through so tough tis too.
“Also…”
Above all else…
“You must have been lonely.”
He had to be alone.
Everyone dear to him had left. He was stranded in a world full of pain and sorrow.
I knew what that felt like. Out of everyone, I would understand him the best.
After all, there was no one I could shed tears for, nor was there soone who would shed tears for .
I rembered the evenings when I had stared vacantly at the torn wallpaper of that empty house.
The days when I had looked up at the sky for hours, trying to escape from reality and to find a destination I wanted to fly to.
Just like how this person always watched the sunset, as if wanting to escape from the pain.
Just like how this person reminisced about the last mont surrounded by his loved ones.
“And so, there was sothing I wanted to do for you.”
It could be said that it was second-hand satisfaction on my part.
Since I couldn’t do it myself, I wanted to give it to him instead.
“…I want to give you your revenge.”
Sothing that the past had given up on.
Valkasus, too, had put it off to a distant day, for the sake of liberating his kingdom’s people who were bound to his body.
When I existed as a player outside of the ga, it was just a thought, but…
Now, this place was my reality. If it involved real individuals, it was not impossible to put my thoughts into truth.
“Give my revenge, you say…”
“I’m sure that you have sothing unfairly taken from you.”
Mother. Father. Family. Brothers. Acquaintances. Friends. Subjects.
His entire kingdom.
Everything precious to him. Everything he had sworn to protect.
“The Cursed Speech User who sealed your kingdom within your body is still alive.”
“…”
I also understood the pain of having sothing taken away.
So, at the very least, I could give back the thing that he deserved.
His right to take revenge on the bastards who acted as they pleased. I could give him that opportunity.
The Cursed Speech User who had cursed him would appear as a boss in the later stages of the scenario.
At that ti…
I would crush that fucker’s head together with him.
“I will grant you the right to take revenge on that bastard. I swear it.”
“And you’re saying that the price is to bind my soul to you, yes?”
“Isn’t it a fair deal? I an, you promised to beco my subordinate in the first place.”
A smile gradually crept over Valkasus’s face.
“…What fair deal?”
As he said that, he got up from his seat.
As he placed his hand onto his heart, he kneeled down.
Even I, who was ignorant of rituals, knew what this ant.
“Just by accepting this, the Forbidden Sorcery bound to my body will be released, and my subjects will return to the cycle of reincarnation. After all, you have broken through all the prohibitions.”
“…”
“Dowd Campbell. I swear on the blood of Armada.”
This was the greatest pledge that this Boy King could offer.
“My heart, my pride, my soul. All of it is yours.”
“…”
In response to the straightforward declaration, I awkwardly scratched my cheek.
“…I’m just a country bumpkin noble, so I’m not really sure how to proceed in this situation.”
“Is there even a need to know? You’re now in a position where you can command with a single gesture.”
“…”
Huh, was this person like Caliban…?
He adapted way too easily to the fact that he had beco soone else’s subordinate.
“…More importantly, can I ask you one thing?”
“What is it?”
Valkasus swept his hair back silently.
After a period of silence, he finally opened his mouth again.
“It feels like you know a lot. It is almost to the point where it feels like there’s nothing you don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“Since that’s the case, let ask you a question. Did you say you would bring to that being while knowing what kind of hardships await you?”
“…”
The Cursed Speech User was a bastard I had to et anyway, so I was just setting up an insurance policy.
After all, Valkasus would be a very useful ally.
It was obvious that I’d be able to utilize various things by binding his soul to Soul Linker.
As I had ntioned before, this person was one of the strongest bosses in the entire ga. Just having his soul bound to would be a trendous help in clearing the scenario.
“…Well, as an opportunist, a petit bourgeois, and an egoist, it’s a decision that ca out after calculating that it was in my favor.”
“No.”
Valkasus chuckled.
“The choice to ignore and move past it was always an option for you.”
His incomprehensibly aningful voice continued.
“If you knew as much as you do, you could’ve chosen to ignore it, despite what would happen to others, and just survive by yourself. The fact that you gave that opportunity up and ran the difficult path was your choice. It is clear, even when only considering what you have done for .”
“…”
“Dowd Campbell. You’re just soone who can’t bear to see soone suffering in front of you. You’re not an opportunist, a petit bourgeois, or an egoist.”
‘You’re a good-natured person. So good that no ordinary person could truly grasp your intentions.’
Such words resonated throughout the dark space.
“…You’re not getting anything no matter how much you complint . Are you trying to suck up to now that I am your master?”
“Oh, was I caught?”
“…”
I couldn’t help but feel it again.
This person was just like Caliban.
They both adapted to the situation way too fast.
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