Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Peace Through War
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Dark Synchronization.
Two artifacts of darkness, the Shadow Cloak and Hunger, were merging into one.
Dale's prosthetic shadow arm acted as the gear that interlocked the two artifacts.
Like precisely fitting gears, the two artifacts meshed into one, creating a synergy greater than the sum of their parts.
Furthermore, while the fusion and control of the dark artifacts were due to Dale's strong will, it was also because there was a definite focal point to bind the gears.
The four circles coiled around Dale's heart, and the jet-black tentacles deeply rooted in that heart and circles. Another source of black magic Dale possessed as a mage.
The Book of the Black Goat.
Interlocking his powers in their optimal form, Dale raised his head.
His old cherished sword, Peacemaker, was rushing toward him.
The sword of a knight, swung with the aura within his body. And it was a strike from Mikhail Lancaster, the sword genius said to be the closest to the Seven Swords of the Continent.
A mage who had allowed a knight to close the distance. No, from the start, the gap between them was more than enough to guarantee defeat for an ordinary mage.
Clang!
Despite this, the sound of steel clashing rang out. Gasps could be heard from all around.
Here in the Sachsen viscounty, at least, no one doubted Dale's absurd talent. But his opponent was none other than Mikhail Lancaster, hailed as the Empire's greatest genius with the sword!
To parry the sword of a knight said to be closest to the Seven Swords of the Continent at such a close range.
“Your aura…”
The blades of Hunger and Peacemaker clashed, and in the struggle for dominance, Dale spoke calmly, observing the color of the aura enveloping Peacemaker's blade.
It was not the formless aura Dale remembered from the Fight Club.
“It's taken on color.”
It was a white-and-red aura blade.
The color of cruel nobility, symbolizing the House of Archduke Lancaster.
“It is thanks to you, Lord Dale.”
Mikhail Lancaster smiled amidst their struggle.
“That unforgettable defeat gave me an unparalleled awakening.”
“…”
He created distance, and then closed it again. The two swords clashed, and Dale's Shadow Cloak transformed into six swords, striking down at Mikhail Lancaster.
From within the scattered shadows of the blades, a Shadow Lurker hidden in the darkness shot out thorny tentacles.
Shwaaak!
But the white-and-red sword in Mikhail's hand swirled like a vortex, deflecting Dale's attacks that raged from all directions.
He wasn't fully utilizing Peacemaker's abilities. Yet, as if he had no need to rely on the sword's special powers, Mikhail's blade deflected all of Dale's shadows.
*'He's strong, as expected.'*
Not as a powerhouse of the current generation, but as one of the next, growing alongside Dale. Mikhail Lancaster's talent was undeniable.
But what surprised Dale even more was something else.
When he had faced Mikhail at the Fight Club, his specialty had been closer to the 'assassin's sword'—using a formless aura and the reach of a segmented sword to strike blind spots like a snake.
But the Mikhail Lancaster before Dale now was different. Not a formless blade, but a knight's sword, shining, wreathed in white-and-red aura.
“You're using a new sword style.”
“It wasn't easy.”
He had discarded the swordsmanship he had built up until now and rebuilt 'his own sword' from the very foundations. To say it was excruciatingly painful would be an understatement.
To exaggerate slightly, it was not so different from Dale abandoning his black and blue magic to learn a new attribute.
“But it was worth it.”
Mikhail said, readjusting his grip on the white-and-red knight's sword, Peacemaker.
“So, would you please show me?”
“Show you what?”
“How much the 'Black Prince' who defeated me that day has grown. The achievements you have built as the Empire's greatest genius.”
Dale fell silent at Mikhail's near-provocative words.
The magic sword Hunger in his hand was, after all, a sword that devoured magic. Against a knight who used aura, not magic, it was nothing more than an ordinary sword.
But now that the two black artifacts were interlocked, Mikhail could not imagine the cards Dale could play.
Besides, this was an opponent against whom he could not easily guarantee victory without playing such a card.
*'We're bound to face each other eventually.'*
And that time won't be a simple child's play like this.
Therefore, it was better to go all out when he could, rather than clumsily hide his cards and lose.
From the lake of darkness swallowing the area, a new shadow creature emerged.
It wasn't a Lurker.
Shadow Knights… and in their hands were the 'Malice of Hunger' magic swords.
By interlocking the two dark artifacts, he had overlaid the power and malice dwelling in the jet-black magic sword onto the creatures of the Shadow Cloak.
Replicas of the magic sword.
By having each of the Shadow Cloak's creatures wield one of these replicated magic swords, he instantly summoned a force comparable to death knights.
Moreover, the Shadow Lurkers hadn't disappeared either. They were aiming their thorny tentacles from beneath the lake of darkness Dale had spread, waiting for an opening in Mikhail's defense.
The marble floor of Duke Sachsen's castle was submerged in a lake of darkness, from which rose Shadow Knights and Lurkers.
The 'Shadow Lord,' commanding an innumerable army of darkness, stood there.
“It seems my provocation went too far.”
Faced with the Black Prince's overwhelming army, Mikhail replied with amusement.
Ignoring the surging shadow creatures, he plunged his sword vertically into the ground where he stood.
For a moment, Dale thought it was a sign of surrender. It wasn't.
Peacemaker, imbued with white-and-red aura, began to push back the 'lake of darkness' centered around Mikhail's feet.
Simultaneously, the light of peace dwelling within Peacemaker began to swirl throughout the area.
The 'Forced Peace,' which nullified all attacks.
A world without injury, where a swung sword could not wound and flames could not burn flesh.
And this was not a mere imitation like a projection of an ideal, but the undeniable power of the original.
Dale's shadow creatures, swinging their swords off-beat, passed through Mikhail Lancaster's body as if they were fleeting illusions.
“The Peacemaker.”
Mikhail spoke calmly, spreading Peacemaker's power and readjusting his grip on his beloved sword's hilt.
“What dwells in this sword is, quite literally, the power to obtain peace in this world.”
Dale scoffed at Mikhail's words, finding them absurd.
“Have you already forgotten how much blood that Peacemaker has made this world shed?”
“Peace requires sacrifice.”
Mikhail continued.
“The Hero from Another World who once wielded this sword taught me that.”
Hero from Another World. For a moment, Dale's blood ran cold.
“...You speak as if the Hero from Another World is your idol.”
“I've admired him since I was a child. He is, without a doubt, the hero of the Empire.”
Mikhail smiled without denying it.
“And as you can see, we are living in the world of peace he obtained.”
“A world of peace obtained by the hero, you say?”
“He who desires peace, prepare for war. At least the hero understood the meaning of those words.”
Mikhail spoke, with the light of peace from Peacemaker spreading behind him. Dale bit his lip.
“You seem to overestimate the Hero from Another World.”
“No, the Hero from Another World was undeniably a patriot who desired peace for the Empire.”
Mikhail said.
“And he taught me that peace cannot exist without sacrifice.”
With an uprightness that held not a shred of doubt in his own beliefs.
“Because peace can only be obtained through war.”
“Since when did the word 'peace' become a synonym for a sea of blood?”
“Am I wrong?”
Mikhail retorted. Dale was momentarily speechless at his confidence.
“Does such a thing as peace obtained without bloodshed even exist in this world?”
Involuntarily, Dale recalled the elder from the Red Magic Tower who had poured out his malice toward him and Sephia during their stay at the academy in the imperial capital.
The 6th-circle red mage, Walter of the Blazing Blood. Dale could clearly remember the frenzied conviction he had screamed.
—Blood, blood, only blood!
—The wheels of this world turn only through the shedding of blood!
Peace can only be obtained through war. How was that different from the man's madness? He couldn't even manage a bitter laugh.
And yet, hadn't Dale himself said as much when mocking King Charles VII of the Britannia Kingdom?
“That is why I have sworn to inherit the hero's will with this sword and obtain perfect peace.”
“Ah, is that so.”
The Empire's hound. The Butcher. Mikhail surely knew that people pointed fingers at the Hero from Another World, calling him these names. Yet, there wasn't a hint of hesitation on Mikhail's face.
Only then did he finally understand. The Empire of Fire and Light. The red-and-white aura dwelling in Mikhail Lancaster's sword, Peacemaker, was the very 'color of fire and light' itself.
This was the Empire's justice, its peace, and the reality of the 'cruel nobility' that the House of Archduke Lancaster constantly proclaimed.
Against the apostle of black, the Shadow Lord… stood the apostle of fire and light.
“Even for the great 'Black Prince,' breaking this sword's ideology will be impossible.”
Mikhail Lancaster said, flaunting the power of Peacemaker.
The ideology of Peacemaker. The power of peace. It was no ordinary sword. It was a transcendent blade that wielded a power akin to magic, like a high-level mage overlaying their ideology onto the world.
*'A power akin to magic...?'*
Just then, something flashed through Dale's mind.
*'It's worth a try.'*
And there was no reason to hesitate. Amidst the peace spread by Peacemaker, Dale kicked off the ground and surged forward.
Within Peacemaker's barrier that nullified all acts of aggression, the jet-black magic sword Hunger was swung.
Dale remembered the ability the magic sword Hunger had once shown. A gluttonous, ravenous sword that devoured magic.
The transcendent power displayed by Peacemaker did not originate from aura. In a sense, it could truly be called a power like magic.
Shatter!
And so, a sound like shattering glass echoed.
“How…!”
“It's just as you said, Lord Mikhail.”
Astonishment colored Mikhail Lancaster's face.
“Do you desire peace?”
Dale replied, readjusting his grip on the hilt.
“Then we must have war.”