Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Ruby's Shackles
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Jade had already been mulling over that name while climbing the mountain, so the moment he heard "Baifell," he asked,
"Three years ago?"
It was a question that Ruby and Saf, listening from the side, found hard to understand. But Yoll seemed to grasp its meaning. Jade was asking if it had been three years since Yoll gained "that form" or "that power," and Yoll was already flinching in agreement.
"Three years... Yes, three years ago. I've never counted the exact days, but it must have been around then. I'm curious how you knew that number."
Yoll's voice was completely different from the faux-friendly tone of Puyol from earlier that evening.
'Even I can tell. He's smaller than the desert demons and less repulsive than Baishuper, but this guy's a far stronger demon.'
Yoll raised a massive spear in each hand. Dark blue smoke flowed over the spear surfaces. Or perhaps it wasn't smoke, but flames flickering.
'And yet, I'm not afraid at all. Because Ruby and Saf are here. Yes, it's like fate perfectly matched me with my partner.'
Yoll gripped the two spears and began strolling casually. Not toward Jade, but off to the side. Ruby stood between them like a barrier, chains dangling.
As Yoll moved further sideways, Ruby subtly shifted position to stay exactly between Yoll and Jade.
Saf stood behind Jade, continuously emitting a faint healing light.
"Three years ago, I was nothing more than a pathetic little demon, no different from the common ones dwelling in this desert. Have you met Autis? Compared to me, the evil spirit possessing his body could almost be called a higher demon—I was that insignificant."
Yoll continued slowly.
"That's why I had to take a human form and live as a human. As a demon, I was small and weak, but as a human, my body was stronger than anyone's!"
"Why would a demon like you become an inquisitor?"
Jade asked.
"Didn't someone say to hide a gem, put it inside a jewel box? Being in the position of hunting demons let me conceal my own demonic nature. And it was the perfect spot to revel in humanity's corruption."
Yoll chuckled lowly.
"There's no greater pleasure for me than framing the innocent and burning them at the stake."
"So that's why you tried to burn me this time too?"
"If I'd burned you, the thrill would have been even greater."
Yoll laughed. His laughter shook the ground and stilled the surrounding winds. He wasn't just a demon with brute physical strength.
Jade was starting to worry, but Ruby showed no concern at all. She even glanced back with the leisure to ask, 'Should I kill him now?'
"Klaukus."
Saf said from behind.
She'd spoken softly enough for only Jade to hear, but Yoll caught it and stopped laughing to shout,
"It's that witch! What did you just say?"
Saf instinctively shrank back. Jade stepped forward instead.
"If Baifell gave you your power and issued your orders, then why did you obey Cardinal Lorenzo's commands?"
"It was just a contractual relationship since our desires aligned."
"Aligned?"
"Lorenzo ordered the elimination of those setting out on the Grail expedition, and Baifell wanted the same. Indulging in the joy of murder was a shared pleasure, so there was no reason to refuse."
Jade nodded emphatically.
'A major secret just unraveled. But an even bigger one emerged. Did Lorenzo know Yoll was a demon? If he knew and still assigned him that mission, I won't forgive him.'
"Did Cardinal Lorenzo order Father Danel's death?"
"Lorenzo had always watched Father Danel closely. But he never ordered his death. The one he wanted dead was you alone."
"Then why kill the priest?"
"Bad luck."
Yoll answered curtly, and Jade gritted his teeth.
"That was the only reason?"
"Can you really call that 'only'? You're alive right now because of that man's luck!"
"Fine. Now your luck's run out too, Klaukus!"
Jade growled.
"So that's it—the horned witch said my name. How the hell did you know?"
Jade ignored his question and said,
"Ruby, can you beat that guy?"
Ruby replied as if it were obvious.
"I can toy with him."
"Then do it."
Jade said.
Yoll—no, Klaukus—let out a phlegmy chuckle like spitting.
"Let's see whose luck has run out, Jade."
He raised one of the two spears in his hands high and hurled it.
The black spear flew toward Jade's face faster than an arrow.
Jade knew the spear was coming but couldn't think to dodge or block it.
Ruby reached out and snatched the flying spear midair. The moment she grabbed it, an immense vibration spread outward, pushing her body back. Jade and Saf, who had been trembling nearby, were flung away as if shoved.
"Look at that? He really has gotten stronger."
Ruby dropped the caught spear to the ground. It shattered into powder, and blood from her torn palm dripped onto it.
Black flames began raging fiercely along Klaukus's shoulders. He threw another spear. The black spear slicing through the wind grazed past Ruby. This time, she didn't catch it—just dodged. The missed spear vanished into the dark night sky.
Ruby immediately whipped the iron chain from her wrist like a lash. Yoll charged in and blocked the chain with his spear. He'd thrown both spears, yet another was still in his hand.
A deafening metallic clang rang out as Yoll's spear shattered. But another spear was already in his grasp. As if he'd known it would break from the start, he discarded the fragments without hesitation and thrust the new one at Ruby's face.
Ruby yanked the chain taut to block the spear, then swung the other chain at Yoll. The chain slammed the ground, shattering rock and sending shards flying everywhere.
Jade pulled Saf behind a large boulder and opened his book to find the name "Klaukus." The fight was invisible to his eyes anyway.
It was a grim thought he hated entertaining, but if Ruby lost, they were both dead. Better to prepare for her victory in advance.
The moment Jade found "Klaukus," a ear-splitting roar cracked the boulder behind him, splitting it left and right.
Ruby lay collapsed beside the rock, blood trickling from the back of her head where it had hit.
"Ruby! You okay?"
Jade shouted.
"Don't make a fuss—stay there. Anyone watching would think I'm struggling."
A deep blue darkness blanketed the area around where Klaukus stood. His form was no longer clearly visible. Bat-like black wings sprouted from his back, and his size had grown larger—that much was certain.
Klaukus's voice boomed through the earth.
"Now that I've taken this form, there's no need to hide anymore. I'll kill you three, then lead the demons of the Red Desert to march on Rom. Jade, you can't see, so I'll tell you: one week. That's how long Rom has left in this world."
Whether he could truly shatter Rom in a week was uncertain, but if that demon led his lesser demons, no human army could stop them.
'Emperor Benclaus's dream might come true tonight.'
Clouds in the sky gathered around where Klaukus stood. Lightning soon struck above his head, blindingly illuminating the area before plunging it back into darkness.
Jade had never seen lightning strike so close. His ears rang.
"Get back!"
Ruby shouted.
The brilliantly glowing Klaukus charged at Ruby and swung a fist. She barely dodged, but failed to evade the tail that followed. Ruby rolled across the ground again.
Jade couldn't even ask if she was okay.
'I finally learned his name and found the incantation to banish him, but I can't do a thing. I have to touch his body, but I can't get close!'
Jade recalled the time the light of banishment he cast from afar couldn't even properly eliminate the little demons calling themselves Baifell's loyalists.
Ruby rose, spitting blood-mixed phlegm, and said,
"I hate to admit it, but... you were right, Jade."
"About what?"
"That these shackles are draining my power."
The dwarf she'd bet against—the angel—had deliberately lost the first two bets unrelated to strength, letting her be shackled, then fought her with raw power in the third.
By then, the shackles had already weakened her, and she lost the third bet. He'd made her fight herself, but if she hadn't been weakened, that trick might not have worked.
"We have to get them off."
Ruby spun the chains and hurled them.
Klaukus crossed two spears to block, but they shattered, sending him tumbling back. He didn't take much damage, though—he grabbed the extended chain and flapped his wings, launching into the sky.
"But if we remove the wrist shackles, the neck one..."
Jade stopped mid-sentence.
Ruby was yanked into the air, dangling from the chain in Klaukus's hand.
Klaukus shouted,
"Is this your weapon? How crude. A true angel would wield a weapon befitting one! Without it, you're no angel—just a somewhat strong little girl!"
Klaukus spun Ruby in circles midair. Fixed to the shackle, she couldn't resist and just whirled.
He swung the chain, slamming her face-first into the rock. Before she could rise, he yanked her back up and smashed her down the same way.
"Let's see how long you can endure, little one!"
Klaukus treated Ruby like a stone tied to a string, repeatedly spinning her and slamming her into the ground, then yanking her up again.
'I need to free Ruby's shackles. But the incantation to unlock the wrist and ankle ones tightens the neck shackle. Loosening the neck one re-locks the wrists and ankles.'
Jade racked his brain desperately, recalling what Danel had taught him.
'Trial and error with another incantation? No. If it tightens her neck in this situation, I might end up killing Ruby myself.'
From behind, Saf said regretfully,
"Ruby... she's bleeding too much."
Every time Ruby hit the ground and was pulled up again, a dark liquid splattered along her trajectory.
"I... I... Is there anything I can do? I blocked that guy's spear once before."
"Ruby said it herself—he's gotten stronger. Even with your strongest light, you couldn't block his spear if he thrusts with full power now..."
Jade could list a hundred reasons Saf shouldn't get between those two monsters. But Saf stubbornly insisted out of worry.
"Then I'll use two protective lights at once! One hand for the light to block the spear, the other to repel the demon's approach!"
"That won't block the speed..."
Jade's eyes widened suddenly.
"Two at once?"
"Yes. Two at once."
Jade hurriedly flipped open the book to the incantation for unlocking the shackles.
Ruby slammed into the ground once more, but seized the moment to yank the chain.
Klaukus stumbled in midair and released the chain. Ruby finally regained control of her body.
"Ruby! Over here!"
Jade yelled.
Ruby leaped the forty paces in three bounds, landing in front of Jade.
"What? Calling me because you think I'm losing? Let me say this first—that these shackles have weakened me, sure, but it's only from 1000 down to 100. And that guy's barely a 10, so..."
Jade cut off Ruby's rambling and shouted,
"You trust me, right? I want to try something on you."
"No way!"
Ruby clutched her neck shackle, showing extreme rejection.
"If you can't trust me, hit me and run. If you die, we're both dead anyway—better to die by your hand!"
"This guy stays meek until the critical moment, then gets stubborn? Fine! Do whatever you want."
Jade recited the unlocking incantation and extended one hand. Light was sucked into Ruby's shackles. She flinched but didn't pull away.
Jade simultaneously recited the incantation backward. A light of a different color formed in his other hand. He pressed that hand to Ruby's neck.
The two different lights shone on the shackles each hand touched.
"Father!"
Saf pointed at the night sky with a finger.
Four spears were materializing around the airborne Klaukus. They moved as if alive, precisely aiming their tips at Ruby and Jade.
Ruby's wrist and ankle shackles unlocked. Up to that point, it was as expected.
This was the crucial part. Ruby gritted her teeth, bracing for pain. But nothing happened. The neck shackle remained as is, and the wrist and ankle ones stayed unlocked without re-locking.
"Ah, it worked."
Jade said.
At that instant, Klaukus's four spears flew toward them. Simultaneously, Klaukus gripped a fifth spear and glided in.
Ruby turned her back to shield Jade.
"If my power's back to normal, I still can't block that standing still."
"Then dodge and leave me!"
"You crazy?"
Klaukus's spears bore down on them, followed by Klaukus flying in to thrust his own. Jade tried to keep his eyes open to see everything, but squeezed them shut at the last moment. A deafening crash rang out, followed by an explosion, before he opened them again.
What Jade saw next was Klaukus being blasted backward violently.
Ruby held two spears in each hand—four in total. A fifth broken one lay on the ground.
"You were right after all."
Ruby smashed all four spears against her thigh at once, snapping them. The shattered spears vanished in dark blue flames.
"Looks like the shackles were suppressing more of my power than I thought."
"So now you're back to 1000 from 100?"
"Feels more like 2000."
Ruby grinned at Jade, then charged at Klaukus.
The fallen Klaukus spread his wings and took flight again. But Ruby jumped after him, leaping onto his body.
He drew a spear but couldn't even swing it. Ruby smashed it with a swing of her arm.
As if indignant at her earlier struggles, Ruby effortlessly pinned Klaukus to the ground.
'Ah, that one counter from Ruby protecting me earlier basically ended the fight. Now she's just holding the powerless Klaukus to finish him off.'
Ruby mounted Klaukus's body and pummeled his face with fists.
"Demons don't die from this much, right?"
Ruby shouted as she hammered Klaukus's face repeatedly.
"Let's see you take hits until you die."
Once, twice, three times, ten, twenty—pummeling him from all angles until even watching Jade grew tired.
She showed no signs of tiring. By the twentieth blow, it shook the mountain. From afar, it would sound like thunder from the peak.
Crash!
Crash!
Crash!
Ruby's fists snapped off Klaukus's horns, and his face pulped into an unrecognizable mess. Yet he didn't die—instead, he shoved Ruby off and slithered away across the ground. He could still stand, and he had strength left to grip a spear.
Klaukus threw the spear. But it was slow enough for even Jade to see and dodge. Ruby caught the incoming spear one-handed and hurled it back. It pierced Klaukus's throat and exploded.
The severed head from the blast rolled across the ground toward Jade. The mangled face, barely distinguishable as eyes, nose, and mouth, stared up at him.
The eyeballs were shattered, blood poured from the nose like water, and sticky black fluid oozed from the ears like crawling bugs.
Jade slowly approached the severed head. He placed his palm before its face and said,
"Where were we again, Klaukus?