Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Shadow Court
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* * *
“What could a brat like you possibly know about the darkness of Sachsen...!”
A Night Raven Knight who had reached the level of an Aura Knight. However, he was neither ‘Dale’s knight’ nor even ‘Sachsen’s knight.’ Therefore, there was no reason to show mercy.
Soon, this arena would become the ‘Black Prince’s slaughterhouse,’ and the butcher before him would be the very first sacrifice.
Clang!
He parried the butcher’s black sword with Peacemaker, and in an offbeat rhythm, the blades of his shadow cloak surged forward. Faced with the descending blades of darkness, the butcher hastily retreated.
The knight had willingly created distance from the mage.
Dale had already added the formula for ‘Fragmentation’ to the shadow blades, shaping each shattered piece of shadow into a bullet. From blades to bullets, ready to be fired instantly.
With a speed and precision incomparable to his time as a 3rd-circle mage.
‘Was it this easy?’
Leaving behind an efficiency that surprised even himself, Dale extended his arm. The shadow bullets rained down.
Without even an incantation, a baptism of black bullets poured down like a heavy machine gun.
Shadow Bullets were fired at the knight who had willingly given him the distance, and the outcome could only mean one thing.
Despite reinforcing his armor with aura, it offered no resistance, and a gruesome scream echoed.
Countless malicious shadows rained down upon the black armor of Sachsen.
“Kuh, keuheok!”
“I'll ask again. Why did you forsake your oath?”
The butcher screamed, and Dale spoke, casting a soundproofing barrier so that no sound would escape the area.
“Are you planning to confess the darkness of Sachsen that I am unaware of?”
“I... I had a younger brother who fought for House Sachsen and died honorably...!”
The butcher, kneeling and collapsed, raised his voice in fear.
“A-and that very brother was, until recently, still swinging his sword according to Sachsen's oath!”
“...”
Death Order. Different from a Death Knight, which is temporarily revived from death to be used.
An immortal army built since the time of Sachsen's founder, the Undying Duke Frederick, without a continuous supply of mana.
“Unable to find rest even in death...”
The darkness of Sachsen, dwelling within the oath of the Night Raven Knights.
“Seeing my brother bound by the curse of immortality, chained to Sachsen for eternity.”
The butcher stammered in fear.
“I... I was so afraid!”
He couldn't have been ignorant of it. The oath of the Night Raven Knights. The meaning of the vow to serve House Sachsen in life and in death, and furthermore, the meaning of their black aura.
Nevertheless, knowing the fact and being prepared for it are two entirely different things.
“So you broke the oath and ran away?”
“To... to the people of House Sachsen, we are nothing more than ma-materials for Death Knights!”
“And what of it?”
Hearing this, Dale tilted his head.
“A knight who has reached the level of an Aura Knight turned his back in fear of such a trivial fact?”
As if he truly couldn't understand.
“If you feared Sachsen so much that you turned your back, couldn't you have at least discarded our armor and black sword?”
“P-please...”
The butcher knelt and begged.
“G-give me another chance!”
An Aura Knight is not a force that can be easily found.
“A chance.”
Therefore.
“I was foolish! I am... I am now prepared to accept Sachsen's resolve!”
“Do you swear to serve in life and in death?”
“I-I swear!”
The butcher nodded desperately.
“I accept your will.”
He lightly tapped the man's head and shoulders with his sword, mimicking an informal knightly oath.
“By my will, I accept you once again as a Night Raven Knight of House Sachsen.”
“Th-thank you! I swear my lifelong loyalty! I swear it!”
Hope finally dawned on the butcher's face. He desperately moved his staggering body, planting his sword vertically.
“Arise.”
Immediately after, Dale spoke. Arise. At Dale's command, 'it' rose.
From within the shadow cloak, the fully grown <> emerged.
It did not lurk in the darkness, but revealed its predator's majesty to the outside world.
To what creature could its form be compared?
A monster. It could only be described as such.
It had the body of a snake several meters long, with eight centipede-like limbs, each limb a large, sharp blade like a scythe. Countless thorny tentacles rose from its back, writhing.
It had no flesh or carapace like a living creature. It was merely a creature made of shadow.
“Hi-hiik...!”
Overwhelmed by the sight of the 'Shadow Lurker', the butcher gasped.
“Th-this isn't what you promised!”
“No, the promise will be fulfilled.”
The butcher asked again in fear, and Dale coldly dismissed his protest.
“You said you would serve in life and in death.”
“...!”
“On second thought, it seems you don't necessarily have to be alive.”
Dale said, and despair filled the butcher's face.
「Kieeeek!」
With the Shadow Lurker's shriek, its limbs of shadow scythes swung. Not the thorny tentacles on its back that lurked in the shadows, stalking prey.
The eight scythes swung, and the butcher's body was torn into eight pieces. The Shadow Lurker's scythes endlessly butchered his body.
To the point that the carnage the butcher himself had just displayed seemed like child's play.
‘In a large-scale battle, how much could I turn the tide by using a large number of Lurkers?’
Now that he had reached the 4th circle, it was no longer an empty fantasy. Dispelling the soundproofing barrier, Dale turned his back.
Just as his father, Lord Black, had done, he would show the reality of his cruelty and terror as Sachsen's 'Black Prince'.
Silence fell. Even the commentators and audience watching Dale's performance were left speechless, holding their breath.
But this was a festival stained with blood and madness.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Did you see that! That is the cruelty of the 'Black Prince'!”
“It's overwhelming! So overwhelming I'm at a loss for words!”
“The stories about him were all true!”
“The greatest genius on the continent!”
“Boooo, that butcher!”
It didn't take long for the crowd to erupt in frenzy at the sight of the blood Dale spilled.
“Arise.”
Right after. Dale muttered once more. At his command, the 'butcher', clad in black armor, rose.
“Th-the dead man rose!”
“Could that be House Sachsen's black magic!”
“A Death Knight! It's a Death Knight!”
A Death Knight wielding the black sword of House Sachsen. He had obtained a combat-ready force in the Guild City that he could use with necromancy.
It was a greater harvest than he'd expected. Leading the black-swordsman knight, Dale spoke towards the waiting room.
“Next.”
* * *
As it turned out, Dale would not be facing his next opponent.
“You want me to fight that monster? Tell them to go to hell!”
“I-I don't want to die!”
“No way! I forfeit, I forfeit!”
After nine consecutive forfeit victories, Dale claimed his reward for ten wins and left the Fight Club.
The real match hadn't even begun yet, and it would only start when the Black Market opened.
There were seven Guild Masters, and only one would become the City Master. And if the master of the Kalimala Guild took that position, the City Master's ledger would become Dale's.
It was then.
In the very passage leading out of the underground colosseum, he saw a familiar face.
It was Marquis Yuriseu's adopted son, Ray Yuriseu.
“I enjoyed your performance in the Fight Club.”
“...”
“That look of yours, showing no mercy to one who forsook the black!”
Ray laughed, spreading his arms theatrically.
“I look forward to facing you in the upcoming winner's tournament!”
As if showing off, two streams of mana, black and red, flickered at his feet. Black and red.
“...!”
“That day, the exchange between black and red taught us all a great deal.”
Ray smiled softly.
“My father said.”
“What did he say?”
“That the time has come to end the 'vow of silence'.”
Before Dale could even grasp the meaning of those words, black and blue mana swirled at his feet. The 'Death Knight' guarding Dale's side readjusted its grip on its black sword. Ray immediately raised his arms, signaling he had no intention of fighting.
“Lord Dale, you must also be aiming for the City Master's 'ledger'.”
“This is the first I'm hearing of it.”
Dale muttered, and Ray replied.
“A storm of blood is about to rage.”
The conversation ended there.
* * *
A few days later.
An assassination attempt on the master of the 'Kalimala Guild' ended in failure.
While the Guild Master was inspecting the streets, several robed corpses began to run. And as the corpses approached, they exploded.
A bombing terror attack.
There were a considerable number of casualties from the explosions, but fortunately, the Guild Master survived.
A landscape turned to ash. Unmistakable evidence of black magic. The 'suspect' they pointed to was only one.
* * *
The attempted assassination incident in the city of the Kalimala Guild. A bombing terror attack using corpses.
The story spread to the 'city of the Lana Guild' almost simultaneously.
The bombing and assassination attempt were deemed the work of black magic, and it was obvious where the arrow of suspicion would point.
‘I didn't think they would betray me so quickly.’
As soon as he heard the story, Dale immediately rose from his seat, recalling Ray Yuriseu's words about the silence finally being over.
‘The Shadow Court will make its move.’
The Shadow Court. Along with the seven great guilds, another power that effectively ruled the city. The law enforcers of the Guild City.
As long as Dale was suspected of the assassination attempt, it would be impossible to escape their web.
But as the saying goes, crisis is opportunity, and Dale had no intention of going down without a fight.
In a dark back alley, he took off his hood.
With the Holy Maiden Orelia hidden in the shadows and the Death Knight he'd acquired from the Fight Club by his side.
“I've been waiting.”
After removing it, Dale spoke. To the empty air.
“I wish to prove my innocence before the Shadow Court.”
As if in response to his voice, the sound of wind was heard. Suddenly, men were there.
Figures in black coats with their identities concealed by plague doctor-like bird beak masks.
“Please grant me the opportunity to prove my innocence.”
Dale said.
“Follow us, defendant.”
The man in the bird beak mask spoke. Even knowing that the 'Black Prince' of House Sachsen stood before them, there was not a hint of wavering in their voices or demeanor.
“Proving your innocence depends solely on the Goddess of Shadow.”
The Shadow Court.
The law enforcers of the Guild City, the greatest assassin organization on the continent, and...
Unlike the church's interpretation of the sister goddesses as a 'monotheistic faith of Mercy and Benevolence in two persons', they were the successors to the heretical sect, the 'Shadow Church', which interpreted them, as their name suggests, as two goddesses of light and shadow.
Towards those very shadows, Dale took a step. A step without a hint of hesitation.