Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Chapter 20 Sky-Splitting Sword (4)
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Fwaaaaa!
“Guh!”
Jephers was stunned. Azel hadn’t even moved, yet a flash of light came slanting down from the sky?
If Laura hadn’t stepped in, he might have taken a direct hit. As that realization sent shivers through him, Azel appeared before him like a phantom.
“You bastard!”
Jephers swung his sword in alarm. True to his lineage as a descendant of Almaric, known as the “Sword that Parts the Storm,” he was a swordsman who wielded Dragon Spirit Arts, not a mage. His strike, infused with ferocious Dragon Demon mana, slashed toward Azel.
‘An afterimage!’
But it was fake.
Fwaaaaa!
In an instant, Azel split into three and lunged at Laura, Kirien, and Jephers simultaneously. All three Dragon Demons reacted with full force, unable to pinpoint his real body—and the one that struck Kirien was the true Azel.
…Or so they thought.
Crack!
“Argh!”
A gruesome sound of flesh tearing echoed as blood sprayed. Before the echoes of that first scream could fade, the clash of metal, the sound of something shattering, and more screams followed in rapid succession.
“We weren’t the targets?”
A beat late, Kirien grasped the situation. Even the Azel that had gone for him was an afterimage. Crafted so cunningly to mimic magic resistance, it had tricked them into believing it real. Then, in the moment their attention focused there, he had struck their subordinates.
Kirien hesitated no longer.
“Dragon Demon Armament: Bleeding Star!”
A crimson flash erupted, revealing the Dragon Demon Armament inherited from one of the Four Great Dragon Demon Generals, Baltazak. At a glance, it resembled a crystal orb the size of a child’s head. But at its core, thousands of threads of light twisted chaotically, while blood-red radiance poured from its surface, swirling and flowing around it.
“Lord Almaric!”
“Understood. By the great name, I command thee—return from the eternal battlefield! Dragon Demon Armament: Blade of the Tempest!”
A whirlwind roared as a massive yet transparent sword of glass-like material materialized. As Jephers gripped it, blue flames began to blaze within.
Azel paid no mind to whether they summoned their armaments or not, weaving through the enemy ranks like a tempest. The warriors here all possessed considerable power, but against the current Azel, they were no more than scarecrows.
The three Dragon Demons, now wielding their Dragon Demon Armaments, moved to intercept him at once. But soon, they fell into chaos.
“Which one… is real?”
Laura muttered like a groan.
Azel’s numbers were growing. Each time he vanished with Flash Step, the number of afterimages increased. All of them carried the same presence as the real one, even capable of physically felling foes.
So, could they distinguish the real one by the presence of a Dragon Demon Armament?
That was a foolish notion. The Sky-Splitting Sword could freely switch between Azel’s main body and his afterimages. He exploited this trait thoroughly, swapping positions with his armament repeatedly to unleash a massacre…
“…This should be enough gathered.”
At some point, a quiet murmur sent chills through the Dragon Demon Worshippers. In that instant, his afterimages dissolved, and Azel reappeared outside their encirclement, unleashing a terrifying bolt of lightning.
Kirien’s eyes widened in shock.
“We’ve been had! Scatter, everyone!”
Azel hadn’t created dozens of afterimages and unleashed a storm of attacks to take them all down. No matter how strong he was, the attack power he could imbue in so many was limited.
The Dragon Demon Worshippers’ elites withstood his onslaught admirably. Only about ten, struck by the Dragon Sword, were combat-incapacitated, while the rest merely wounded.
What Azel wanted was chaos. And to use that chaos to control their movements.
His intent landed perfectly. Kirien realized that his allies, who had formed the encirclement, were now clustered in one spot.
“Too late.”
Azel smirked triumphantly and swung his sword down.
-Thunder Dragon’s Horn!
A ferocious bolt evoking a dragon’s roar engulfed the Dragon Demon Worshippers.
Kwarung!
6
Amid the blinding white flash of lightning, Laura was gripped by déjà vu.
The last time she’d faced Azel and failed her mission, she’d visited one man before returning to her clan. The eldest even among the Dark Snowfields, the very being who had spread terror and chaos among humans simply by appearing during the Dragon Demon War.
When she told him of Azel, he had said,
‘Perhaps the return of fate has begun.’
Laura hadn’t fully grasped his meaning. Having lived an immense span even by Dragon Demon standards, his worldview and thought processes were alien.
Smiling at her confusion, he continued.
‘Unfortunately, he’s the child stripped of everything to become Aunsor’s successor. When the day everyone awaits arrives and I awaken from slumber, then you’ll understand. It’s not yet time to tell all. Instead, I’ll show you the memory you need.’
Then he showed her memories from the distant Dragon Demon War.
Not through words or records.
He let her experience, as a daydream, the memories in his own mind from that time. Thus, Laura vividly relived events from before her birth as if she’d been there.
That experience now triggered the sensation of reliving something she hadn’t actually undergone.
That man with the flowing red hair, the sword he held, even this overwhelming thunderstrike…
They matched exactly what she’d seen in those Dragon Demon War memories.
“Azel Karzark… the one granted the chance to reverse the king’s fate.”
Her mutter was drowned by the thunder’s explosion, unheard even by herself.
Rumble…
The blinding lightning faded.
“Guh… damn it.”
Kirien’s fists trembled. He’d barely blocked it. Without summoning his Dragon Demon Armament—and without Laura’s Cup of Lament, which exerted absurd defensive power—they might have been annihilated in that single blow.
Even so, they’d only protected those within arm’s reach. Unbeknownst to Kirien at this point, over half of their hundred-plus force had vanished without a trace, and fewer than half the survivors could still fight.
Kirien muttered in disbelief.
“…Is Azel Karzark really reborn or something?”
He’d grown up hearing Dragon Demon War tales until he was sick of them. How great his grandfather Baltazak had been, and how horrific and terrifying Azel Karzark, his killer…
The Azel he now faced evoked that legendary figure. Every element of his absurd power felt like the Azel of old reborn.
Boom!
Then, an explosion erupted beside him. Kirien turned in alarm to see Azel clashing with Jephers.
“Hmm. Mentally holding up, are we?”
Azel had targeted the moment their tension eased after blocking his catastrophic assault. He silently slew a few dazed survivors and closed in to ambush Jephers. Yet Jephers blocked the strike as if anticipating it.
“You dare ambush me like this? Think it’ll work?”
“For someone talking big, your face tells a different story.”
Azel mocked Jephers. Indeed, Jephers was bluffing to hide his intimidation. Despite his booming voice, his face was stiff, cold sweat beading.
“By the way…”
Azel suddenly tilted his head.
“No offense, just genuinely curious—don’t take it wrong. Confirming once more. You’re really Almaric’s descendant?”
“What nonsense are you spouting to insult me now?”
“You don’t seem to be lying… At least you believe it yourself, right? Weird. I can’t figure out what you’re scheming.”
“What?”
Watching Azel, Kirien thought,
‘Real or afterimage?’
The Azel clashing with Jephers held no blue Dragon Demon Sword. In his hand was a Dragon Sword with a blade of pure white dragon bone.
But their past humiliations clouded quick judgment. Kirien thought himself cautious, but even that hesitation was Azel’s design.
Before he could decide, Azel moved first. The moment tangible afterimages appeared and lunged, Kirien faced the worst choice.
‘Damn! He can even make the Dragon Demon Armament into afterimages!’
Weren’t all the emerging Azel afterimages wielding Dragon Demon Swords? They radiated Dragon Demon mana fluctuations, making real from fake impossible at a glance.
And one targeted Niberis, who lay fallen, tended by a subordinate.
“Niberis!”
Kirien threw himself without regard. Leaving attacks on him to his Dragon Demon Armament, he blocked before Niberis.
Thud!
Searing pain engulfed Kirien. A deep hit. In agony silencing even screams, he erupted his Dragon Demon mana heedlessly.
“Raaaaagh!”
No time for proper spells. He simply unleashed it like a storm on raw imagery. A choice that could invite death, but no time for caution.
Kwarung!
Simultaneously, he recalled his Dragon Demon Armament from blocking its original spot. This should block any follow-up!
But no follow-up came. Regaining his senses, Kirien staunched his wound with magic and surveyed.
Clang! Clang! Kang!
Azel dueled Jephers. Jephers’ Dragon Demon Armament and Azel’s Dragon Sword traced dazzling arcs, sparks flying and weak shockwaves bursting at clashes.
Seemingly even, but a closer look revealed otherwise. The very fact they dueled like this was odd.
‘Lord Almaric, why aren’t you using Dragon Spirit Arts?’