Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Sword that Cleaves the Heavens (3)
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“Niberis!”
...It seemed her consciousness had blacked out for a moment.
Niberis heard a familiar voice amid her flickering awareness. A voice filled with genuine worry for her. A voice she had always found uncomfortable since childhood.
“Niberis! Pull yourself together! Please!”
“Kir...ien......”
Niberis looked at him through hazy eyes. Her rival, the Dragon Demon youth Kirien Baltazak, who carried the blood of one of the noble Four Great Dragon Demon Generals. He was calling out to her with a face on the verge of tears.
‘Why is he here......’
Wooooo......
At the same time, she noticed the space around them was warping. As far as she knew, only one person could cause such a phenomenon. Realizing that fact filled her with a surge of irritation, even in her near-death state.
“Laura......”
“Yeah. Me, Laura, and Duke Almaric are all here! Pull yourself together! If you die, then I...!”
“Duke Baltazak.”
Laura cut off Kirien’s words, which sounded like he was about to burst into tears. Her voice had its usual lack of inflection, but Kirien could sense the anxiety hidden within it.
This space was the isolated domain, Labyrinth of Lament, manifested by Laura’s Dragon Demon Armament, the Cup of Lament. Since it was a place created through spatial distortion, no one from the outside could reach it at all.
In other words, the moment the Labyrinth of Lament was deployed, absolute safety was guaranteed. Leaving would be the problem, but while they were inside...
Yet Laura’s face, who had deployed the Labyrinth of Lament, was stiff. She said,
“You need to summon your Dragon Demon Armament too.”
“What?”
“I can’t hold it much longer.”
Kugugugugu...!
Then the Labyrinth of Lament, which had isolated them from the present world, began to shake. Kirien cried out in shock.
“What? Is something interfering with the Labyrinth of Lament?”
“They’ve tracked us.”
“How is that possible?”
“It’s possible. No time to explain. Hurry...!”
“Urk! Heir of the one who walked the earth without parents, I call upon you! Answer my summons, Dragon Demon Armament, Bloodshedding...!”
Kirien followed her words without understanding, but before he could complete the summoning of his Dragon Demon Armament, a flash exploded.
Kwaaaaa!
The spatial distortion field that had safely isolated them split open, and a calamity of light resembling lightning connected heaven and earth. It savagely tore through the darkness of the night sky as a sword of blue light plunged down.
Kirien screamed.
“The Sword that Cleaves the Heavens...!”
It was exactly as handed down in the legends of the Dark Frozen Wastes. The weapon that had taken the life of Dragon Demon King Atein, the miracle that even the Four Great Dragon Demon Generals—who were born without parents and sought to change the fate of the world—had feared.
As the Labyrinth of Lament collapsed, the surrounding landscape returned to normal. And from behind it emerged Azel, his red hair whipping in the wind. He looked at the Dragon Demons who had been inside the Labyrinth of Lament and spoke.
“Honestly, I’m impressed. The timing was perfect.”
The moment Azel had dealt the final blow to Niberis, the Labyrinth of Lament had deployed, isolating her. Considering that Laura and Kirien had been more than a kilometer away from that spot, it was truly admirable skill.
“But creating an isolated space through spatial distortion means it must exist somewhere.”
Spatial distortion was different from forming a pocket dimension. The principle of the Labyrinth of Lament was to twist spatial coordinates, forcing anyone trying to enter from outside to wander an eternal maze.
Azel had fought Aunsor during the Dragon Emperor War. And he had records of shattering the supposedly impregnable Labyrinth of Lament multiple times.
Laura muttered like a groan.
“Lightspeed......”
“The legends speak of the Sword that Cleaves the Heavens too, huh?”
“The sword of calamity that dominates all the light in the world. The light of the sun, the flames of an active volcano, the lightning roaring in a storm.”
“How grandiose. Well, it is the sword that killed your god, so it deserves that much hype.”
The Sword that Cleaves the Heavens was a Dragon Demon Armament that had been perfected along with Azel’s growth. When Azel first created the Dragon Demon Armament, it only had the power to control lightning, which he specialized in. But through repeated fierce battles in the Dragon Emperor War, it had grown into a supreme weapon capable of defeating the Dragon Demon King. Through Azel’s own efforts, and the sacrifices of his comrades...
The Sword that Cleaves the Heavens dominated light.
Not only did it control lightning, but it gathered all light existing within its domain and converted it into attack energy. Moreover, the sword itself could transform into light, transcending all constraints in an instant.
Kirien asked,
“What does that mean?”
“The Labyrinth of Lament can’t exceed my perception range.”
Laura replied, sweating profusely.
No matter how vastly the Labyrinth of Lament distorted space, it all happened within the limits of what Laura could perceive. Even if she created distorted spatial walls that would take days of travel to reach, the Sword that Cleaves the Heavens, transformed into light, crossed that space in an instant.
Realizing this issue, Laura had tried to block the Sword that Cleaves the Heavens by continuously shifting spatial coordinates, exploiting the fact that light travels in straight lines. But it was futile. The Sword that Cleaves the Heavens scattered countless rays of light within the domain, detecting and tracking any beings those lights touched.
A beat late, Kirien understood the process and said in a trembling voice,
“Is that truly the Sword that Cleaves the Heavens......”
“Hm? Are you a descendant of Baltazak by any chance?”
Azel tilted his head as he looked at him. Niberis had a different gender from Saibain, and Laura looked different from Aunsor. But Kirien resembled Baltazak not only in appearance but even in voice.
Kirien asked in surprise,
“How did you know?”
“From your looks. So we have Saibain’s daughter, Aunsor’s descendant, Baltazak’s heir... and some mystery Dragon Demon, plus assorted others all gathered here?”
As the Labyrinth of Lament shattered, the three young Dragon Demons returned to normal space. And there, a great number of Dragon Demon worshippers had gathered.
The group led by Durang, who had been fighting Leticia, and the group led by Laura and Kirien. Their numbers reached a staggering 120, each one possessing considerable combat prowess.
They were overwhelmingly outnumbered. But Azel showed no tension whatsoever as he asked,
“Marquess. When are our reinforcements coming?”
“Who knows? This land has few eyes on it, so they’re moving slow. They show up fine when they’re not needed......”
“Right? Stalking like perverts, but late when it matters. Totally useless.”
The ones Azel and Kairen were talking about were the Guardian Shadows. The Marquess Karzark territory had thin surveillance because it was sparsely populated, but Kairen was a member of the Guardian Shadows. Since he had spotted the Dragon Demon worshippers, they must know too. It was only a matter of time before the Guardian Shadows arrived.
Kairen asked via Whispering, showing no sign of it outwardly.
-How much stamina do you have left?
Azel had displayed terrifying divine might, but that power wasn’t infinite. Azel replied.
-The Dragon Sword summoning is reaching its limit. The Dragon Sword is creaking.
Irregular Dragon Sword summonings came with time limits. The Dragon Sword serving as the vessel couldn’t endure that power indefinitely.
And it placed considerable burden on Azel himself. His vessel wasn’t yet complete enough to wield such power freely.
-But it’s enough to deal with these guys.
-Hmm. Then I’ll focus on protecting this one.
Kairen said that and drew his twin swords. Yuren lay collapsed at his feet.
Suddenly, he realized one person had their back to them. A black short-haired Dragon Demon woman, Leticia, her hair swaying. She asked Kairen,
“That guy, is he dead?”
“If you mean the mage, he’s still alive.”
“Guess he’s not fated to die yet. Then next question. I don’t know who you are, but can I consider you allies?”
“I’d like to throw the same question back as an answer... Well, as long as these guys are enemies, you can be on our side until this fight ends. We’ll discuss relations after.”
“Such a generous answer almost brings tears. Fine, let’s do that for now.”
Leticia snorted. Then she glared in one direction, exuding fierce killing intent.
“But I never imagined I’d see Duke Almaric here. This can’t be the fate Yuren mentioned, right?”
The one her gaze was directed at was a Dragon Demon youth with long blue-black hair, horns reminiscent of a black water buffalo, amber eyes, and a Dragon Demon Stone. Like Kirien and Laura, he was Jephers Almaric, said to be a descendant of ‘Storm-Cleaving Sword’ Almaric, one of the Four Great Dragon Demon Generals.
At those words, Azel tilted his head.
“Hm? This guy’s a descendant of Almaric?”
“Don’t utter that name lightly with your filthy human mouth.”
Jephers said, showing his displeasure. He hadn’t been inside the Labyrinth of Lament, so he hadn’t witnessed Azel’s divine might. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken this attitude.
Azel bared his teeth in a grin.
“Now that’s a Dragon Demon for you. But... you don’t look like Almaric at all?”
“What?”
“That Baltazak descendant over there has the exact same annoying parasite brother face as Baltazak, but you don’t resemble him one bit.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Come to think of it, Aunsor’s descendant and the klutz prince’s daughter look similar enough despite the gender difference. But not you. It’s weird that you’re the only one who doesn’t resemble him this much.”
“You worm! Dare you insult me with such vile words, you lowly thing?”
Jephers flew into a rage. But Azel had no intention of mocking him. The Almaric he remembered was a middle-aged Dragon Demon with disheveled white hair, fierce red eyes, sturdy horns like lava stone, and a savage, lion-like impression. No matter how he looked, Jephers didn’t resemble Almaric in the slightest.
If the others didn’t resemble them either, he’d let it go. But Niberis, Laura, and Kirien clearly resembled the ancient Dragon Demons Azel remembered.
‘What’s with this difference?’
It was a difference he could overlook, but it felt off somehow. As Azel frowned, Kirien said,
“Duke Almaric. That guy is strong. You need to use your Dragon Demon Armament.”
“What are you saying? Use my Dragon Demon Armament against this lowly human?”
“Listen to me. Niberis used her Dragon Demon Armament and still lost to him.”
“What nonsense...!”
“It’s coming.”
In that instant, Laura extended her hand and deployed a barrier. By a hair’s breadth, a sharp flash shot down from a direction completely different from where the sword was aimed.