The Black Sword Festival (8)
“Isaac……”
Lianna’s eyes widened round. Seeing her husband at the center of cheers that shook the mountains and skies filled her with quiet joy. And knowing that even if he left the Helmonts, he’d be accepted by others without issue eased her heart.
“Thank goodness.”
Isaac was no longer someone who needed protecting. Just the fact that Arandel Helmont had acknowledged him would skyrocket his reputation among the other nobles. Those nobles licking their lips would swarm him the moment they heard of the divorce.
“……”
Imagining various women courting Isaac made her heart ache. Still, Lianna clapped along in celebration.
The best farewell the Helmonts could offer.
She didn’t know how far he’d go, but she hoped he’d soar freely from here on. As she moved to grab her mother, who was rising from her seat—
“Stay seated.”
“……Lianna?”
Galeniya’s eyes twitched at the corners as her daughter suddenly seized her. She seemed ready to scold her for the insolence, but Lianna didn’t relent.
“Waiting for the Black Sword Festival to end is the princess’s consideration toward the Helmonts.”
“……”
“I don’t know what you’re planning, Mother. But please don’t drag the Helmonts down any further.”
A final plea from daughter to mother. Lianna had sensed something off about Galeniya’s demeanor and stepped in to block her. But instead, Galeniya’s lips twisted into a sneer.
“Lianna, can you accept this? The great swordsmanship of the Helmonts dismantled by a mere commoner?”
“But that’s the truth. Isaac clearly won. And he showed the Helmonts a path forward.”
That’s why Arandel was reacting like that.
“Mother, it’s over.”
Lianna declared it clearly with a sigh. Through her conversation with Isaac, Princess Clarice already suspected Galeniya. In truth, Galeniya had been done for from that moment.
“I should have stayed bedridden then.”
Galeniya had known since Milli that her tail was stepped on. As the lady of Helmont Mansion, she’d already received reports on most incidents within the estate. She’d roughly foreseen her own future too.
“Mother?”
“Not once has your husband ever pleased me.”
Crunch!
Suddenly, goat-like horns sprouted from Galeniya’s forehead. Black power surged from her body, shoving Lianna away.
“Kgh!”
“Stay put, daughter.”
“What in the world—!”
Lianna’s voice drowned in the sound of wings unfurling. Bat-like wings tore open from Galeniya’s back, her eyes turning pitch black as the whites vanished.
The sudden turn left everyone frozen. Arandel lifted his head to gaze up at his wife.
“……”
“……”
The couple exchanged no words. Then came the hideous screams.
“Kieeeek!”
“What! What’s happening!”
“These bastards are crazy!”
“They’re stabbing people out of nowhere! R-run!”
Not just nobles—transcendents hidden among the crowd revealed themselves and began hunting humans. One against a hundred. A single transcendent massacred dozens effortlessly. A mere gesture claimed two or three lives, turning the lantern-lit venue into a hell of screams and flying flesh.
“The fall of the Helmonts!”
Galeniya’s cry echoed long and fierce. If Isaac’s duel with Roengreen had been a decline in swordsmanship, this was a literal fracture in the Helmont name.
“Mother, why……?”
Lianna couldn’t comprehend it. No one loved Arandel more, no one strove to glorify the Helmonts like Galeniya. This would only plunge their honor into the dirt.
“M-Mom?”
“Mother?!”
The Helmont children could only gape skyward in shock. Especially Sharen and the now fifteen-year-old youngest, Edel, on the verge of tears.
Yet Galeniya’s gaze fixed on one person alone: Isaac.
It had all tripped her up in so many ways. Milli’s sacrifice to protect Isaac had convinced him Galeniya was a transcendent. When he told Princess Clarice, her collusion with the transcendents was exposed. Things had gone wrong from there.
But she hadn’t planned such a radical reveal. Nor to expose the transcendents she’d deliberately hidden.
The transcendents, flustered themselves, followed her lead anyway. They slaughtered humans eagerly, as if it were their long-suppressed calling.
“Grrraaaah!”
Snap!
Galeniya snapped off one horn herself. Black energy condensed around it. Unskilled in wielding it properly, she chose rampage. The horn’s break unleashed the latent power within her explosively.
And at her command, it poured toward Isaac.
The freshly exhausted Isaac from the duel. Roengreen lay unconscious before him, but Galeniya showed no hesitation.
Because this attack would be blocked.
Boom!
The black energy vanished pitifully. A massive red aura like a lion devouring prey in one bite.
Arandel Helmont himself stood before Isaac, blocking Galeniya’s assault.
As expected……
Tears streamed from Galeniya’s black eyes.
Arandel had to become a transcendent. It was the only way to survive, she believed. She’d tried handing the family to Lianna and leaving with him. Rejected, but she’d clung to faint hope, trying to drag him and the Helmonts away.
Now, you’ll never leave.
The man who’d charged ahead his whole life now stood rooted, seeing a new path.
The excitement and fervor on Arandel’s face. Thanks to Isaac’s shown possibilities, he’d stay with the Helmonts until death, pursuing the sword to the end.
That was Arandel Helmont. That was the man she loved.
So what should Galeniya do? The answer was one.
Boom!
Isaac flinched as an even fiercer silvery-black energy surged toward him. His body drained of strength, even walking a burden. Amid the chaos of Galeniya’s sudden move—
A most unexpected man blocked his path.
A massive back brimming with Red Aura. As if declaring all other Helmont children fakes, it was profoundly vicious.
Many had marveled at Roengreen’s Red Aura moments ago. But seeing Arandel’s, they’d doubt if it was the same thing.
He was that overwhelming.
I can’t win.
Victory over the eldest son aside, Isaac was certain. Arandel could cleave him with a mere swing.
And such a man now protected him.
“Impressive.”
Not even glancing this way, Arandel said it. Facing his wife, knowing she’d betrayed humanity as a transcendent—it seemed to affect him not at all.
“Isaac!”
Lianna arrived a beat late behind Arandel. Embracing him urgently, she sighed in relief at his safety.
“Thank goodness, really.”
“Lianna.”
“You did well…… truly outstanding.”
This scene inevitably stirred Isaac’s heart. The wife whose recognition he craved most, the father-in-law he admired most—both protected him. Their acknowledgment brought a thrill he’d never felt before.
The onslaught halted, screams fading. Helmont knights swiftly suppressed the transcendents.
The abrupt ambush flashed briefly, ultimately a blunder for the transcendents.
“What makes the Helmonts great?”
Arandel turned slightly toward Isaac and Lianna.
Lianna bristled to question the sudden query, but Isaac smiled and answered.
“Because they exist.”
“Hmph.”
A smile crept across Arandel’s lips.
“Correct.”
How. How did he give such a perfect answer?
A Helmont knight handling Arandel’s sword knelt, offering it reverently in both hands. Arandel gripped it.
The air changed.
The moment he took the real blade, everything seemed to hush. Crushing dignity. Just being near choked the breath.
Lianna hugged Isaac tighter to shield him.
“Existence makes them great.”
The Helmonts needn’t strive for greatness. Simply walking their desired path earned them praise. No chasing others. No turning back. Helmonts must tread their own road purely.
The eldest hadn’t realized, defeated as Arandel’s shadow.
“Having seen something fine—”
Strength entered Arandel’s hand on the greatsword.
“I’ll honor you.”
Arandel swung.
The sword Roengreen had chased revealed itself.
Myeolhong Strike.
Shatter, rend, burn, crumble—Arandel’s single stroke.
Yet only Isaac recognized it as the Myeolhong Strike here. No one would think it the same as Roengreen’s.
The dimensions differed too vastly.
Watching Arandel swing at her without hesitation, Galeniya smiled faintly.
As expected.
Everything had collapsed. Suspicion from Milli reached the princess. The Helmont lady’s betrayal of humanity would spread publicly.
And Arandel, taken with Isaac, would never follow her.
Now, what I can do for you……
Die.
By Arandel’s hand directly. Only then could the Helmonts bear less blame.
Arandel remained true. For the sword, he’d kill even his wife. For Helmont greatness, he swung at her.
If you can stay as you are—
That’s why she loved him.
I shall die.
Love led to ruin.