[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
Chapter 349: The End of the Journey
Our battle was as brilliant and grand as those in the myths.
“Die, Karzan.”
The entire world aid its sword at , as if it were my enemy.
Spirits wailed, and spears and blades poured from the shadows.
“You die, you damn bastard.”
I needed the power to illuminate and incinerate this darkness.
‘Black fla.’
The purest power, drawn from the state of the 9th-tier.
‘And a sword.’
But my bracelet sword had already broken during the fight, and Voyager of the Night had been taken from .
“I guess I can't use Sword Control now.”
“It doesn't matter.”
There were still many ways.
But I had confird that the Mind Sword was not enough.
‘Then I just have to make a new sword.’
From within the black fla, so hot it seed to burn even the eyes that looked upon it, I drew a single sword.
“How strange. A Mind Sword that also holds the attribute of fire?”
To the Dark King’s words, I simply retorted.
“Why are you trying to define it, even now?”
The Dark King smirked.
“True. In the face of death, all things are aningless.”
“But co to think of it.”
I changed my tune as easily as flipping my palm.
“It would be cooler if it had a na. I'll call this ultimate technique the Black Fla Mind Sword.”
“What? That is an incredibly childish na.”
The Dark King criticized it harshly.
“The idea is too simple as well. You must have been lazy in your studies.”
“……”
I was slightly offended.
“I’m exhausted, what ti do I have to think deeply about things like that?”
“Hahaha! My apologies.”
“If it bothers you that much, I’ll rena it after I defeat you.”
“That is sothing that cannot happen.”
The Dark King aid a Mind Sword, drawn from the shadows, at .
“I will face you with this.”
“Co.”
With the Black Fla Mind Sword in one hand and pure black fla in the other, I attacked the Dark King.
Fwaaaaaaaaak!
A black fla that lts everything.
When the Dark King retreated to avoid it, I fired a sword strike at his escape route.
“!”
The Dark King’s shadow blocked that strike.
Before I knew it, he was being pushed onto the defensive.
‘…I have surpassed the Dark King.’
The power I wielded now could overturn his calculations and create variables that escaped his foresight.
Therefore, the Dark King, flustered by this change, began to retreat.
‘Now I’m starting to see it.’
The Dark King’s sword, the Dark King’s martial arts.
The way he foresaw the future and narrowed my options, and the way to dismantle it.
Was this thanks to my insight?
‘No matter what powerful enemy I faced, I overca them without ever breaking.’
I was just doing the sa thing against the Dark King.
“…Haha.”
The Dark King, reading the elation in my laughter, said.
“Do not be so smug.”
What dwelled within the Dark King was the essence of demonic arts, built up over hundreds of years.
‘Wow, god damn it.’
His insight, his transcendence, had once again found a counterasure.
‘What is this now? How absurd.’
I couldn't identify what it was.
In truth, it didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered was the fact that the new power the Dark King had brought out was once again blocking my own.
‘You tenacious bastard.’
In that case, I, too, would shatter his expectations.
‘In the first place, this is a battlefield that is advantageous to him.’
If so, then it is the art of war to escape from that place.
‘I can do it now.’
Because I now understood the Dark King’s martial arts.
Therefore, I pretended to prepare a large attack, tricking the Dark King, and then.
“Void-Sundering Slash.”
With a dinsion-cutting slash, I sliced apart the Dark King’s True Demon Primordial Formation.
“!”
Jjeojeojeojeojeok!
The world tore apart.
I threw myself, without hesitation, into the deep scar of the sundered dinsion.
* * *
“Allen!”
“Young Lord!”
“Allenvert!?”
“Boss!”
When I ca out, the battlefield was so destroyed that no trace of its ti as a harbor remained.
Moreover.
“What the hell is that. Ugh, disgusting.”
Gulbark’s form was that of a demon straight out of legend.
“Is everyone alright?”
“It was a close call.”
My father answered.
“For real this ti, I thought I was gonna die, Boss.”
Zizek grumbled playfully.
“What do you want to do about it? I almost died too, you punk.”
“No blood, no tears. Seriously.”
I quickly checked everyone’s condition. Many were injured, but not many had died.
‘That’s a relief, at least.’
I had inwardly expected our side to have the upper hand.
But Gulbark’s 'awakening' seed to have changed that flow.
‘It might have been dangerous if I hadn't gotten Ivan out of here beforehand.’
Kururururung!
The atmosphere tore apart once more.
“Allenvert.”
In the spot where a lightning bolt had struck, the Dark King, who had appeared at so point, stood with a calm face.
“You are truly tenacious until the very end. But now, we must end this.”
He was right.
We were both approaching our limits.
‘But now, the ones facing each other are two transcendents who cannot surpass one another.’
A winner could not be decided by normal ans.
…In that case, I must aim for a weakness.
‘The weakness the Emperor’s envoy told about.’
Fortunately, I had one counterasure left to turn the tide.
.
.
.
“Among the records left by the old emperors, there are various records besides the demonic arts of the Ebony Oath. There are many frightening techniques that our enemies used in their most desperate monts.”
The envoy sent by the Emperor had told various stories, secret histories buried in the shadows of ti.
“I am not a martial artist, so I do not know for sure, but it will be helpful if you rember the characteristics of the martial arts described there.”
He was right.
Those mories had saved from several crises in my unconscious.
But there was one anecdote that remained in my mory the most.
“Everyone knelt as if in prayer, and when they all vomited blood and died, the warrior who inherited their power displayed superhuman strength.”
“How absurd. Such a martial art exists?”
I finally understood what that martial art was, and what principle it operated on.
It was thanks to seeing Gulbark, transford by the Dark King's power.
‘That is like a contract between a demon and his minion, or a god and his devotee.’
Having reached the state of a transcendent, I naturally understood the truth hidden behind the phenonon.
…Gods and demons have sothing in common.
‘Worship and contracts.’
They share their power, and in return, they receive life force.
Therefore, the power of great beings, the power that makes them great…
Paradoxically, it cos from the devotees, the minions, the slaves who worship them and wish to be ruled.
‘The seeds of evil that wandered Grunewald’s underworld.’
Those who consud them gained great power.
‘But in exchange for that power, their souls were trapped in the Dark King’s True Demon Primordial Formation.’
That was the secret of the contract.
The Dark King, through those seeds, through the demonic arts he bestowed, seed to be granting them power…
‘But all along, he was using their worship, their life force, their very souls as collateral to raise his own caliber.’
It was a cruel paradox, a terrible joke.
Because this was a direct imitation of the human order, where a king collects taxes from his vassals and lords, and the lords in turn collect taxes from their subjects.
‘…In that case, I must cut it.’
I closed my eyes, just as the Dark King had, and opened my Mind’s Eye.
At that, I saw the intricate spider's web connecting the Dark King to Gulbark, Amilcar, Sercadis, and his countless minions.
‘That must be the contract between them.’
…I cut it, within my mind.
No action was needed. re intent was enough.
* * *
Allenvert’s intent cut ‘sothing.’
At that, the flow between the Dark King and his subordinates was severed, and the powers, having lost their destination, returned to their masters, only to begin to flow in reverse.
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaak!”
The Black Society’s forces began to swell, their eyes to bleed, their heads to explode.
“Wh-What is that?”
It was Allenvert who answered Ulbhild’s horrified mutter.
“It’s a backlash.”
“A backlash?”
Allenvert spoke like one who had attained enlightennt.
“A contract. Or a cycle of worship and exploitation.”
He had cut it.
As a result, the ‘caliber’ that surrounded the Dark King began to shrink.
“…You bastard.”
Just as a god who has lost his devotees is forgotten.
Just as a demon who has lost his minions falls.
…The Dark King began to rapidly lose even the power he had achieved on his own.
The sight of that power scattering was like watching a great plu of black steam or a massive volcanic ash cloud.
“What on earth did you do?”
“I understood your power. So I destroyed it.”
Allenvert answered.
“It was thanks to a small clue given to by the ‘heirs of the Emperor’ whom you destroyed long ago.”
“……Is that so.”
The long, complex, and twisted karma was returning as the Dark King’s defeat.
The karma of killing Karzan.
And the price for his carelessness in 'mocking and enjoying' the fall of the Empire, instead of finishing it after taking his revenge.
“Kuaaak!”
But the 'retrieval' of the cut and severed power was by no ans peaceful.
It surged excessively into so, causing them to explode.
As a result, so died instantly, while others began to go mad.
“…So that’s what happened?”
Amilcar, understanding the situation, suddenly cut off the head of the necromancer Ragerian.
“What?”
“You! What do you think you’re doing?”
Amilcar, crushing Ragerian’s head under his boot, spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed.
“Ragerian is a cunning and dangerous man. It’s safer to kill him so he can't try any funny business.”
“Amilcar! How dare you!”
Gulbark, his body grotesquely twisted, let out a roar.
“Even if I’m going to die, I should at least get one last ‘fuck you’ in, shouldn't I? Heh heh heh.”
Amilcar raised his middle finger at the Dark King and Gulbark.
“Serves you right. You, , let’s all go to hell together.”
“Amilcaaaaar!”
Gulbark, who had been roaring, exploded.
Pop!
“…Grunewald, you have won.”
Amilcar gave a final, gentle smile of utter relief, and stabbed himself in the throat.
“Everyone, fall back.”
Allenvert gently raised his mana, pushing his allies back.
“There is a risk of a massive explosion. I will send this to ‘another dinsion.’”
Swiiiiiiiiiiish!
Another Void-Sundering Slash cut away the rampaging power.
Kieeeeeeeek!
Kuaaaaaaaah.
At that, the ancient spirits bound by the contract were also released and began to find peace.
“……It’s pandemonium.”
Amidst the people muttering with pale faces, Allenvert sought to bring a proper end to this.
“Everyone, please lend your strength.”
Thanks to understanding the principle that ford the Dark King’s power and caliber, Allenvert had, in turn, learned how to gather the strength of his comrades.
“What should we do?”
Allenvert, who had poured out all his strength in the continuous battles and the fight between transcendents, said with a weary look.
“Please raise your right hands.”
Georg did so.
And so did Siena, Verdzig, Ulbhild, and Barclava.
Geninghen and Leszek, Venion, Zamuel and Zizek, Rudgarda and Knut, Gair and Skella, all did so.
“……It is enough.”
Allenvert, having received a share of his comrades’ power, ignited a black fla.
Fwoooosh!
And from that ancient black fire, he forged a single, burning sword.
“Dark King. Let us end this.”
Allenvert slashed his sword diagonally, downward to the right.
“……Farewell. I, too, shall now be free from the curse that is you.”
The black darkness surrounding the Dark King split apart, along with his mortal body.
* * *
I approached the dying Dark King and knelt.
“You have won, Allenvert.”
The Dark King’s white eyes stared into a focus-less void.
“……What on earth did you all live for?”
The Dark King smiled sadly.
“Who could know? The purpose is gone, and only obsession remains.”
I said.
“State your na.”
The Dark King answered with difficulty.
…I will rember that na, but I will not tell it to anyone.
“It is a small regret that I die without knowing your face.”
The Dark King’s withered hand reached for my face, then fell, limp.
His fingertips began to scatter and disappear, like spores.
“Farewell. Enjoy your eternal rest.”
…The battle was over.
At last, the long journey had co to an end.
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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