Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Black Death
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"How can he have an avatar...!"
There, amidst the enemies of the shadow, Red and White, Dale finally revealed his armor.
The avatar of the Shadow Lord, armed with the Armor of Black Blood.
Unleashing an avatar did not directly reveal Dale as the 'Shadow Lord,' just as the world of his ideals did not directly point to his identity as the Hero.
Nevertheless, the significance of the act itself could not be understated. It was the realm of an irregular, something an ordinary mage could not even dare to imagine.
A mage who possessed a world of ideals was now also armed with the armor of ideals.
"An avatar from a grimoire..."
Lady Scarlet murmured softly at the sight. As a high-ranking mage, it was not difficult for her to grasp the nature of Dale's ability.
"Indeed, if it were anything less, the title of the Empire's greatest genius would be a hollow one."
Rather, she seemed delighted, making no effort to hide her interest.
"I already feel pity for Ray, who will surely be unable to hide his jealousy upon hearing of the 'Black Prince's' fame and talent."
Ray Yuriseu, the heir to the Red Magic Tower and a future adversary.
"Ah..."
And Boreas, the 7th-circle white mage, was no exception, equally horrified by the situation.
"Evil, he is the incarnation of evil!"
Borenus began to point a finger at Dale, his voice laced with madness.
"That is, without a doubt, the armor of an apostate who has forsaken the love and mercy of the Sister Goddesses! It is an unforgivable evil! I must... immediately...!"
At the same time, as a high elder of the White Magic Tower, the seven circles entwined around his heart began to rotate. He intended to uproot this disgusting evil and purify it with the goddess's light at once.
It was then.
*Fwoosh!*
Just moments before Borenus's white magic could surge forth, flames engulfed the area.
The scenery of the barracks, where the leaders of the Grand Demon Alliance had gathered, twisted and distorted. This meant only one thing.
A world of ideals.
"Ah, the handmaiden of the White Magic Tower speaks so eloquently."
Proclaiming herself the goddess of this world, Lady Scarlet spoke. As a high elder of the Red Magic Tower and one of the Empire's powerful figures, holding a secret far greater than that.
"Weren't we in the middle of a martyr's duel to heed the 'will of the goddess'?"
"How can you dare speak of martyrs after seeing that, Lady Scarlet!"
Borenus, the 7th-circle white mage, raised his voice, refusing to back down.
"It seems you have yet to grasp the situation."
"Witch of Red, Lady Scarlet! Even if you are an agent of the Empire, there are some things that cannot be tolerated!"
It was then.
*Drip.*
Within Scarlet's world, something fell onto Dale's head. A few drops of liquid.
*Drip, drop.*
Soon, the liquid began to pour down like a sudden shower. In the silence, Dale looked up.
Blood was raining down.
Chunks of meat, stripped of their skin to reveal flesh and bone, hung from iron hooks on the ceiling. At first glance, he thought they were livestock, like cows or pigs. A slaughterhouse. But they were not. He soon realized.
They were people.
The people hanging from the iron hooks bled endlessly, staining her world crimson.
A world of fire and blood.
"Did you say some things cannot be tolerated?"
Lady Scarlet's world, a flower of flesh and blood of unparalleled cruelty, enveloped the area.
"How dare a boar from the White Magic Tower speak so boldly."
The Empire is ruled by 'beings that cannot be called human.' And to those beings, humans are, in a sense, no different from livestock like cows or pigs. Just as humans butcher beasts for their meat...
Lady Scarlet smiled coldly. A sharp fang glinted from the corner of her mouth. At her intimidation, Borenus, the 7th-circle white mage, held his breath. Even if their circle counts were the same, that did not mean they were equals as mages.
"Now then, with everyone present as a witness... let the duel between the two martyrs begin."
Lady Scarlet smiled.
"Nothing has changed, Brother Borenus."
It was then.
The Master Templar drew his sword, his white surcoat fluttering.
"The love and mercy of the Sister Goddesses are with us, and I have no doubt that our goddess will bring her wrath upon the wicked 'Black Prince'."
"The Kn-Knight of Lusig—!"
"God wills it."
The Master Templar made the sign of the cross and unleashed the aura raging within his body.
Within the colosseum erected by Lady Scarlet, the two avatar users faced each other and began their standoff.
Light surged. After the torrent of light subsided, the Master Templar's avatar finally revealed itself.
"Kill them all."
It was armor of blood. A knight caked in blood from head to toe. At first, he thought it was blood smeared over the armor.
"The goddess will know her own."
It was not. The mass of blood itself was writhing like a liquid and solidifying into the shape of armor.
*Shwaaak!*
Simultaneously, two blood-red wings began to unfurl from the Master Templar's back.
The knight, literally made of blood, readjusted his grip on his sword.
The Master Templar, the ideal of the Knights Templar.
"Each time my sacred armor and wings are defiled by the foul and filthy blood of heretics..."
The blood of heretics, layered over their pure white.
"...my body and soul, dedicated to the goddess, will become ever more pure, clean, and noble."
The Master Templar murmured softly.
"What is truly important is the purity of the spirit, not the cleanliness of the flesh. The more my armor and body are stained and defiled by the blood of apostates, the more I should rejoice, for my spirit becomes ever purer."
A knight built of blood; indeed, his very ideal was composed of blood.
An avatar of a cruelty unthinkable for a sword of the White Magic Tower and the Church. At the same time, this was the true nature of the Knights Templar's ideal.
Fanatics who believed without a doubt that even the blood and filth staining their hands were a part of their faith in the goddess.
"Huhu, what a truly beautiful and nauseating sight."
Lady Scarlet let out a cold, mocking laugh at the sight.
The armor of blood.
And the armor of Black Blood.
"They say the wheels of history turn only with blood. Ah, what a truly beautiful and ecstatic scene!"
Lady Scarlet murmured as if in a trance, watching them.
At the same time, several of the Alliance witnesses watching the martyr's duel began to retch, unable to stomach the revulsion.
The knight of blood kicked off the ground, charging toward the Shadow Lord, who was similarly clad in black blood.
*Clang!*
Dale drew his jet-black magic sword, 'Hunger,' to meet the blow. Simultaneously, the Armor of Black Blood writhed like liquid metal and shot upward. A sharp skewer that erupted from it plunged toward the Master Templar.
At the same time, the armor of blood enveloping the Master Templar also began to move.
Like Dale's mirror image.
'Oh?'
*Clang!*
Blades made of blood crossed, and they immediately created distance. At the same time, the blood wings on the Master Templar's back spread wide.
*Shwaaak!*
From the unfurled blood wings, skewers hardened like liquid metal began to shoot out. They were blades of blood, like a volley of arrows.
Facing the storm of blood blades, Dale kicked off the ground.
"Blood, blood! Each time the blood of heretics defiles my body, my spirit shall become ever more noble and pure!"
The Master Templar's ideal, built upon the shedding of heretic blood. The conviction of a fanatic who justifies countless bloody massacres in the name of God.
"Make them bleed, kill them all! The goddess will know her own!"
Now, watching the Master Templar, who was splattering the blood he wore and screaming in a fanatic frenzy...
He thought to himself.
*Then what is this Armor of Black Blood that envelops me now?*
*Why did 'The Book of the Black Goat' wrap its tentacles around my body and provide an avatar of this form? Why did I think to call this avatar the 'Armor of the Shadow Lord'?*
*What in the world does this black blood signify?*
Dale asked himself.
It was by no means a light question.
Even if it was borrowed power from a grimoire, even if the avatar currently enveloping his body was not 'Dale's ideal,' he had to understand the meaning imbued in this armor made of black blood.
"What is blood?"
And so, the Shadow Lord asked.
The people of this world each have their own beliefs about 'blood.' The armor Dale now wore would be no exception.
"It is the oil that turns the wheels of history."
Lady Scarlet answered.
"And if you were to ask the people of the Church, they would say it is the symbol of life given to us by the goddess."
Hearing her words, Dale silently closed his mouth.
Then, he let out a silent laugh.
"What is so amusing, apostate of Sachsen?"
The Master Templar, covered in blood, spoke from behind the armor of blood that enveloped his body.
Because he could finally understand the meaning of the black blood that enveloped him.
Blood takes on its 'crimson' hue when red blood cells bind with oxygen.
Oxygen, a substance in the air indispensable for living creatures to survive.
One must breathe to live, and it is when that very oxygen binds with the red blood cells in the blood that the 'crimson' color can exist.
And when oxygen is not properly supplied to the blood in the body, the blood finally turns black.
Therefore, black blood signified only one thing.
The death of blood. The absence of life.
Black Death.
That was the final destination of the world and of life, imbued within this Armor of Black Blood.
—You've finally realized, have you?
It was then.
A voice was heard.
A girl with goat horns was revealing herself behind Dale.
"I knew it, I knew it! You apostate of Sachsen!"
Seeing this, the Master Templar could not hide his rage.
"Foul! So foul and filthy I cannot bear it! The disgusting filth staining your spirit makes me want to vomit!"
The crimson blood raged and swirled, and the Master Templar readjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword.
"Crazy bastard."
Seeing this, Dale sneered as if it were someone else's problem.
Aware of the 'Armor of Black Death' enveloping his body, the Shadow Lord quietly extended his arm.
The Armor of Black Blood enveloping his body, the darkness of the Black Death, began to spread.