Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Sword that Cleaves the Heavens (5)
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Jephers was a powerful Dragon Spirit Art practitioner, and he wielded a Dragon Demon Armament in his hand. So it shouldn't have been a swordfight like this—he should have been sweeping away everything around him like a raging typhoon with every swing of his blade.
But he couldn't. Kirien, the mage, couldn't pierce through to the truth of the matter, but he could tell from Jephers's expression alone that the situation was dire.
Azel had his movements under perfect control.
He was somehow keeping up with the swordfight, but he was completely overwhelmed in every other aspect. The moment he tried to invoke his Dragon Spirit Art, Azel would sever his flow of power as if waiting for it. The moment he tried to unleash the Dragon Demon Armament's might, Azel would interfere to prevent it. The sheer skill of reading his power flow and amplification process to seal off most of the total output he could muster in a single burst was a nightmare for Jephers.
'Hmm. What the hell is this guy?'
Azel furrowed his brow at the unresolved mystery.
Fighting Jephers was a kind of verification process. Obsessing over unraveling mysteries rather than slaying the enemy in real combat was utterly foolish, but Azel couldn't help himself. He believed he needed to figure out just what schemes the Dragon Demon Worshippers were harboring.
But... no matter how much he fought, he couldn't figure it out. Jephers Almaric's existence was an unsolvable riddle to Azel.
It was then that Kairen's Whispering reached him.
-Are you planning on playing around forever? This doesn't seem like the time for games.
Kairen was locked in fierce combat with the Dragon Demon Worshippers while protecting Yuren. Azel had taken out most of the enemy's forces, so it wasn't too difficult, but Laura providing support from the rear was making things tricky.
Azel let out a sigh at those words.
"Yeah. Guess this is one mystery that won't be solved here. In the end."
"What are you talking about?"
The moment Jephers furrowed his brow, Azel leaped back greatly.
The Dragon Demon Sword summoning was over. At least for the duration of this battle, he couldn't draw it again, so wiping them out with overwhelming force was impossible. He would have to induce confusion step by step, create an opening, and bring them down...
It was then that someone charged past Azel toward Jephers. It was Letitia.
"I'll take this one. I have a debt to settle with him—no, more precisely, with that damned bloodline of his."
"Hm?"
"Besides, it looks like you have your own opponent."
Letitia turned away as if there was nothing more to say. As Azel stood there stunned, someone leaped at him and brought down a pitch-black sword.
Clang!
A clear ring echoed as the pure white Dragon Sword clashed with the black sword brimming with dark mana. Azel gazed at Durang, the Black Swordsman radiating murderous intent.
"Ah, right. I do owe you one too."
He hadn't forgotten getting done in by him during his previous fight with Niberis. Azel steeled his resolve as he gauged the man's power. Right after their first clash, they exchanged five quick bouts in an instant before separating, allowing him to read his strength.
'Sextuple Master? No, septuple—seven Life Rings. The strongest Spirit Order practitioner I've met in this era.'
According to Kairen, the Lurein Kingdom had a high-ranking Spirit Order practitioner as well. Viscount Haven, called the kingdom's greatest swordmaster, was someone even Kairen acknowledged.
But Azel had never had a chance to meet him, and during his stay in the Tarantos Dukedom, the strongest he'd encountered was a sextuple Master with six Life Rings. And since the difficulty increased exponentially with each additional Life Ring, Durang was the pinnacle among the Spirit Order practitioners Azel had met in this era.
Meanwhile, Durang felt great confusion as he regarded Azel.
'What the hell did this punk do in the meantime? Even accounting for the Dragon Slaying Ritual, can mana grow this explosively?'
Durang had no personal experience with the Dragon Slaying Ritual. But as an executive permitted to reside in the Dark Snowfields, he possessed knowledge of it and had even observed a Dragon Demon Hybrid executive undergo it. Even by those standards, Azel's growth was incomprehensible.
'No matter how you slice it, he's on my level... no, maybe even beyond?'
Durang couldn't read Azel's power. But unaware that Azel had pierced through him, he didn't find it strange. It was common among Spirit Order practitioners of similar caliber.
Durang shook off his confusion and bellowed.
"To dare lay hands on the lady's noble person, you criminal! I'll send you to hell!"
"Impressively slavish loyalty."
"You fool who knows no truth. I won't forgive you!"
"...Come to think of it, I had a question for you."
Azel parried Durang's fierce assault as he asked. Durang's brow twitched at Azel's attitude, which showed no sign of being pressured.
"Were you perhaps someone the Dragon Demon Worshippers raised from within?"
Azel couldn't understand why people in this era became Dragon Demon Worshippers. But if he'd been raised within their organization from the start, it might make sense.
Durang scoffed at Azel's guess.
"I was saved by my benefactor and graced with the true truth, leading me to pursue the righteous path."
"Hm. So you weren't originally one, but became a Dragon Demon Worshipper of your own accord? Why? Why worship the Dragon Demon King, a ghost from the past, in this era where the Dragon Demon War ended long ago and humans rule?"
"Because his teachings are the true truth. Even if the god who walked the earth met his end, the faith does not. Fighting in the shadows until our Savior returns is the trial we who believe in him must endure."
"What teachings are so 'true'? Do Dragon Demons ruling over humans look that appealing?"
"Ridiculous. Isn't humanity's domination of the world the very sin that must be corrected?"
"...What?"
"It doesn't matter ability or good or evil. Just because of the blood they were born with, just because they had good parents... irredeemable trash looks down on and tramples other humans. You think that's right? Is a world that dooms those not born differently to be ruled and exploited by their own kind truly just?!"
"......"
As Azel listened to Durang, he felt an unbridgeable distance. His voice carried hatred and resentment that would never fade in a lifetime.
Azel didn't know what life he'd lived. But Spirit Order practitioners manipulated the mind. High-ranking ones could glimpse each other's true feelings through mere intent.
'Is it fanaticism?'
Azel had seen countless weak sides of humanity. He'd seen those who betrayed others to survive, and those whose minds broke under unbearable reality, seeking escape.
'No, it's different. This guy...'
He'd seen ones like Durang before.
The environment during the Dragon Demon War made it all too easy for humans to hate other humans. It wouldn't be strange to grow sick of their antics, despise them, hate them, and give up on them. Humans could become frail and ugly in extreme situations.
Azel had despised and abandoned many humans himself. Wasn't it a miracle that he'd found humans worth loving amid all that?
So it wasn't strange for someone unable to love humans or the world they made to appear.
During the Dragon Demon War, Azel had raged at the system he belonged to and the foolish, selfish ones above him. He'd struggled to find a way through the absurdity.
But what if the injustice Azel faced had been insurmountable?
What if he himself had no power, talent, or luck—what if he was doomed to be toyed with by fate? What then?
'...I see.'
Azel finally grasped the answer to his mystery.
During the Dragon Demon War, there were Dragon Demons who loved humanity, rejected the Dragon Demon King's will, betrayed their kin, and sided with humans.
Conversely, there were humans who hated humanity, sided with the Dragon Demon King's will, and joined his army.
Over two hundred years after the Dragon Demon King died and the war ended, the dynamic hadn't changed. It was still too easy for humans to hate other humans, and arriving at Dragon Demon Worship as an answer while suffocating in the world's injustices wasn't strange at all.
"Durang, was it? It's been a while since I met someone like you."
"Been a while? This is my first time seeing scum like you. You grave sinner!"
"That's not what I meant. Just... it's a bit sad. Funny as it is."
"What are you talking about?"
"Convincing you would probably take a long talk. And we can't afford that. We fought so hard to build a world where people no longer despair, but clearing the calamity in front of us won't change the world... or humanity."
Azel's sword stance shifted with a bitter smile. From an ironclad defense that barely moved while parrying Durang's assaults, he gradually transitioned to offense.
At some point, the white blade and black blade intertwined...
Crack!
Durang's shoulder guard flew off.
'What the hell is this punk?'
Durang was stunned. Just now, he hadn't seen Azel's sword strike. Their blades had clearly been on a trajectory to clash head-on simultaneously. Yet his strike cut empty air, and in the next instant—as if a chunk of time had been sliced away—the process skipped, and Azel's sword was aimed at his throat.
Had he relied on reflexes, his head would have been severed. But he had secret arts passed down in the Dark Snowfields. When his consciousness was disrupted by the enemy, a pre-programmed defensive action triggered, saving his life.
In other words, amid their ultra-high-speed exchange, Azel had attacked Durang's mind and twisted his consciousness. He'd thought he'd blocked every such attempt, but Azel's technique was far too insidious.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Sparks flew as the tide of the swordfight turned.
When focused on defense, Azel's movements were slower than his. He merely used astonishing insight to sever his Spirit Order secret arts whenever he tried to invoke them, predicting where the sword would land and blocking or deflecting with minimal motion.
But Azel's movements were gradually speeding up. He was staying just a hair ahead in every exchange, seizing control of the next phase.
'No, that's not it! This is...!'
Durang soon realized he'd been mistaken. It wasn't that Azel was speeding up. He himself was slowing down.