Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: The Grimoire of the Black Goat
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─ Drink this blood.
Contrary to what people thought, Ray Yuriseu was not merely the 'adopted son' of Lord Crimson.
─ With this, you shall cast off the shackles of humanity and be reborn as part of the great clan.
The successor to the bloody legacy built by the great clan.
《Young Blood》.
Flowing through Ray Yuriseu's veins was the bloody history of his clan, the power of their bloodline—something that could not be compared to the mere bond between parent and child.
'I will never disappoint my father.'
And so, with his resolve set, Ray Yuriseu looked up. There he was, the eldest son of House Sachsen—the Black Prince.
The greatest genius of the Empire, the victor of the Black and White War, the war hero of the Britannian Isles...
The very incarnation of absurdity, symbolizing the unfairness of this world.
“—O, 『King of Cold Ash』.”
The silence ends here. By defeating the Black Prince of Sachsen, Ray Yuriseu would prove his worth to the 'clan'.
The grimoire of the 'Demon Lord Balor', who was once felled by the hero's hand.
From a vortex of fire and darkness, the power of the demon sovereign's will took form.
From within the lake of darkness, the thorny tentacles of a 《Shadow Lurker》 shot out, and Ray Yuriseu's body began to scatter like ash.
Though he could not yet draw out its full power, it would be more than enough to defeat a mere child of House Sachsen.
For the history dwelling within Ray's blood was not something that could be overcome by the 'mere talent' of Sachsen's Black Prince.
'Here, I will strike down the greatest genius in the Empire.'
Fire and darkness swirled, forming the shape of a Death Knight.
The power of black, obtained that day by devouring an elder of the Black Magic Tower.
The fiery Death Knight, built upon that very power, adjusted its grip on its black-and-red sword. The sword of fire and darkness swung, and the black flames imbued within it evaporated the lake of darkness.
From within the lake, the shadow lurkers revealed their hideous forms. An innumerable host of 《Shadow Lurkers》.
Just as the predators of darkness revealed their full forms to confront the fiery Death Knight.
Dale spoke.
“「Quad Barrel」, 「12-Gauge Birdshot」.”
An otherworldly incantation, incomprehensible to Ray, echoed. Four barrels, and birdshot.
Unlike buckshot, which packs six or seven large, lethal lead pellets into a single shell for hunting large game like deer or cattle... birdshot fired hundreds of tiny lead pellets from a single shotshell, designed for hunting small game like birds.
And now, what Dale intended to fire was by no means an attack meant to kill.
Four blue barrels shimmered into existence behind him, scattering the 《Blue Discord》 contained within.
“Do you know why Death Knights aren't typically built from fire or frost?”
“...!”
“Because there is nothing more difficult than maintaining a creature made of mana.”
If this were an ordinary Death Knight, for instance, it would not have been affected by the 《Blue Discord》 Dale had scattered.
Discord shatters only mana structures, not the bones or armor of the dead. Finding the black particles intricately woven into a corpse is nigh impossible.
But Ray Yuriseu's Death Knight had no physical form. The very fire and darkness that composed it was a mana construct created by his magic.
In other words, it was powerless before the Discord that warped mana structures themselves. It wasn't for nothing that blue mages were called the natural enemy of mages.
Only a 'blue mage' could so easily dismantle the fiery Death Knight Ray commanded.
And most unfortunately, such a blue mage stood right before Ray Yuriseu.
“Did you think someone who doesn't understand the meaning of black could win by blindly imitating its formulas?”
Dale retorted.
By then, Ray Yuriseu's body had turned to ash and scattered throughout the arena; no physical human form remained.
At the same time, the ash of death began to swirl. An inescapable death, scattering from all directions.
The ash settled upon the arena floor, and the spots it touched began to corrode and weather as if time were being rapidly rewound.
The grimoire of the demon sovereign, Demon Lord Balor—『The King of Cold Ash』.
The deathly ash began to swirl toward Dale, who drew the knight's sword from his hip. After drawing it, he infused his will along the blade.
The power dwelling within the hero's beloved sword, the Peacemaker.
Peacemaker.
Simultaneously, the deathly ash stormed toward Dale. The inescapable particles of annihilation enveloped him, and yet.
“...!”
Dale's body—no, the power of the ash that Ray Yuriseu was scattering—vanished.
It was nothing more than ordinary, scattering ash.
Ray Yuriseu could never have imagined it.
The power of the Peacemaker that Dale had just unleashed.
《Forced Peace》.
And that 'peace' meant only one thing.
A barrier that nullified 「all irreversible and irrevocable acts of aggression」 within the area.
A sword cannot tear human flesh. Fire cannot burn anything, nor can anything be annihilated or erased. At least, within this barrier where the Peacemaker's power held sway, it was impossible to break that 'peace'.
Even this was but a fragment of the hero's power, but similarly, the demon lord's power Ray Yuriseu wielded was likely not much different. No, it was so immature and clumsy that it could not even be called a 'fragment'. At least, the power of the demon lord Dale remembered, the grimoire he possessed, was not something that would stop at this level.
Just like the Peacemaker in Dale's hand.
'Recklessly revealing the hero's power is a huge risk.'
However, just as he had scattered the 《Blue Discord》 a moment ago, Dale had proven he had an aptitude for blue magic.
Therefore, even if he nullified Ray Yuriseu's secret technique, it wouldn't draw suspicion in that direction.
After all, it was 'perfectly plausible' for the greatest genius of the Empire to nullify an opponent's magic.
Readjusting his grip on the Peacemaker, Dale took a step. Within the peace he enforced, even the Death Knights and 《Shadow Lurkers》 he prided himself on were no exception.
Save for one—the enforcer of that peace himself.
Ray Yuriseu's body was scattered across the area as ash, but to Dale, this was a trivial matter.
“Freeze.”
Dale murmured softly, creating a vortex not of black, but of purely blue power.
Projecting the chilling cold and darkness dwelling within his world, the entire arena began to freeze over.
“—!”
Ray Yuriseu's body, which had been scattering in all directions, converged into a single point.
Wreathed in fire and darkness, Ray Yuriseu stared at him.
He activated the bizarrely twisted bio-fusion artifact, the 'Dragon's Jawbone'. His mouth, warped like a dragon's maw, moved.
“How...”
The fiery Death Knight, and the ash of death. His trump cards, unleashed with all his might from the very beginning, had all been nullified.
Before him, the 'Black Prince' showed not a hint of hesitation.
“Seeing my black and blue mana, did you really think I wouldn't use the power of a blue mage?”
Dale bluffed, feigning nonchalance, and Ray Yuriseu remained silent.
“Do you know about this grimoire?”
“Is there anyone who doesn't?”
After a moment of silence, Ray asked again, and Dale answered calmly.
“I also know that it's not a power you can handle at your current level.”
Ray Yuriseu currently lacked the capacity to wield 『The King of Cold Ash』. Just as even Dale, back when he was a 3rd-Circle mage, couldn't do anything particularly significant with 『The Book of the Black Goat』.
“...Why didn't you bring out your grimoire?”
“Because I don't have one yet.”
Dale answered as if it were someone else's business.
“...You're lying.”
Ray Yuriseu replied without a shred of hesitation.
“It must not be a 'grimoire you can show in front of everyone'.”
“That's rich, coming from someone who has a demon lord's grimoire.”
“—Is it 『The Book of the Black Goat』?”
For a moment, Dale held his breath.
“You're underestimating the intelligence network of our Red Magic Tower.”
“...”
“But I suppose I, too, underestimated the power of the 'Black Prince'.”
As Dale struggled to maintain his composure, Ray continued.
“Now I understand.”
“What do you understand?”
“That the title of the Empire's greatest genius is no empty claim.”
Ray Yuriseu said.
“And that you are a wall I cannot hope to reach as I am now.”
But Ray Yuriseu's expression showed none of the frustration seen in those who had faced Dale before. It was not the despair of facing an incarnation of absurdity, but rather the look of someone who had finally found the rival they so craved.
The bizarrely twisted Dragon's Jawbone held an unknowable glee.
His face was that of a challenger before a wall that must be overcome, not one that was insurmountable.
“This match is my loss.”
Ray Yuriseu opened his mouth. Or rather, he was about to.
“Shub.”
Dale cut him off, calling upon 『The Book of the Black Goat』, whose tentacles were rooted in his heart.
Here, in front of everyone at the Fight Club.
─ Wow, there are so many people!
Shub beamed like a child. And to Ray Yuriseu, and everyone else in the Fight Club, it looked like—.
The most loathsome and horrific monstrosity in the world was there.
An otherworldly abomination, a mass of hundreds, thousands of tentacles writhing together like worms.
A dark, coal-tar-like mucus dripped from the tentacles.
*Swoosh!*
Those jet-black tentacles began to shoot out in all directions across the arena, as if flaunting the power of 『The Book of the Black Goat』 for all to see.
*CRASH!*
The tentacles slammed down, smashing the arena, and a terror descended as if an unapproachable monster was on a rampage.
*CRACK!*
Before the swinging tentacles, the Fight Club's protective barrier shattered helplessly.
Screams and gasps erupted, yet amidst the chaos, crazed cheers rang out.
The fact that the Red Magic Tower knew about 『The Book of the Black Goat』 was not entirely unexpected. At the very least, once they 'harbored suspicion', it wouldn't have been difficult for them to verify the truth. By now, the Sistina Theocracy was probably in an uproar.
If that was the case, it was better to just show it to everyone. The power of the grimoire possessed by Sachsen's 'Black Prince'.
After ostentatiously displaying Shub's power, Dale withdrew 『The Book of the Black Goat』.
“I accept your defeat.”
Even if this was the Fight Club, he couldn't kill the son of Lord Crimson and the heir to the Red Magic Tower here. Just as the Empire and the Red Magic Tower were currently wary of 'Lord Black', not the still-young Dale.
Eliminating the young heir of the Red Magic Tower would, in the long run, be a poor move that would only give them a just cause.
Accepting his defeat, Ray Yuriseu silently nodded.
For the first time, he backed away on legs that were beginning to tremble faintly.