Chapter 326
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: Sigrin's End
Krash's mother, Aria Valheim.
The Krash standing before her was radiating thick murderous intent.
Aria sat there calmly, her expression unchanged in the face of that fury.
She took another sip of her tea before opening her mouth.
"In any case, it's not bad news for my son."
"It looks pretty damn bad to me."
"You'd cherish your wife too. Try to understand her position. The Hardenharts must feel like they're walking a thorny path right now."
Krash clicked his tongue.
He rose from his seat right away.
"Do whatever you want. Anyway, no matter what I say, you'll push me as the family head, right?"
For Aria, it was two cards she could play, so she would definitely use them.
"Son, I want to get along with you."
"Unfortunately, I have no intention of getting along with you."
With that, Krash stepped outside.
Aria would cooperate unconditionally if it meant making Krash the family head.
So Krash was about to head straight out to find One Sword without wasting more time.
That's when urgent footsteps echoed from afar.
Krash looked up to see a familiar figure.
It was his sister, Lilish Valheim.
Seeing her, Krash's expression began to soften.
She was the first family member he'd ever felt any affection from.
"Sister Lilish."
"Krash, huff... it's been a while."
She seemed to have run hard, breathing lightly as she smiled.
"You're leading a knight order to support the Empire, right?"
"Yes, that's the plan."
"I'll come with you."
Krash's eyes widened.
But he quickly understood Lilish's intent and smiled along with her.
"Looks like I've got a solid ally now."
Having someone as strong as Lilish join him was perfect.
Now his preparations to deploy were complete.
It was time to utterly crush Sigrin.
The Forbidden Zones erupting across the Empire.
The Empire was in utter chaos because of it.
Except for the capital with its proper defenses, the outlying regions were being turned into wastelands.
A Forbidden Zone outbreak mainly meant expansion.
Villages that had once been safe were swallowed up, leading to heavy casualties.
"Eek! H-heek! S-save me!"
"Run! Keep going outside!"
Those caught in the Forbidden Zone screamed as they fled.
As their desperate cries echoed pitifully,
a woman from the imperial family was making her way forward.
Blood dripped thickly from her sword.
That blood belonged to the Empire's proud White Dragon Knights.
It wasn't just her sword.
Even her sea-blue hair was stained and matted with blood.
"Heh... heh heh."
She let out a eerie chuckle as she dragged herself down the corridor like a zombie.
Her eyes were glazed and ruined.
Sigrin Epania.
The former third imperial princess had lost all trace of her old spirit.
Boom!
Thunder crashed violently outside.
Sigrin gazed up at the pitch-black sky.
A barrier covered the heavens.
It was originally the defensive magic barrier around the palace, now twisted against them.
It had been considered an absolute shield crafted by demon lords and palace mages alike.
Yet it had been turned into a prison trapping the palace by a single mage.
The Red Witch, Abella.
She, who had reached the pinnacle of magic, was responsible.
How did things end up like this?
Sigrin stared blankly upward.
There, she saw the White Dragon Knights rushing to stop her.
"Lady Sigrin Epania, stop right now!"
A White Dragon Knight shouted, swinging his sword at her.
But it never reached her.
In the blink of an eye, she twisted her body, her sword arcing—and the knight's head flew into the sky.
"Stop the traitor!"
The White Dragon Knights charged at Sigrin with fierce attacks.
But she weaved through them effortlessly, slaughtering them all.
Kaboom!
A spell from a palace mage exploded near Sigrin.
But contrary to expectations of injury, the White Dragon aura pouring from her nullified the magic.
As her form scattered, she suddenly held the mage's severed head, body still standing apart.
Thud—
She dropped the head to the floor, her eyes gleaming coldly.
"M-monster."
The mages confronting her fled in terror, but they couldn't escape her sword.
In an instant, her blade extended, cutting them down.
The expensive white carpet soaked up the blood.
Sigrin stepped over it, continuing onward.
How did things end up like this?
She asked herself again in her mind.
She noticed her memories were fragmented.
Her mind had been forcing out unpleasant recollections.
In Sigrin's head, the last day at the academy surfaced.
After facing Krash wielding the White Dragon aura.
Her mind had gone completely blank.
As if something had taken her place.
As if telling her she was no longer needed.
Krash had unleashed a White Dragon aura even stronger than hers.
From that day, she holed up in the academy.
She immediately began pounding madly at the White Dragon egg.
"No. It can't be. It can't."
There was no way that cursed wretch had awakened and absorbed the White Dragon's power.
A guy who could at best steal curses couldn't possibly do that.
For Sigrin, the White Dragon bloodline was her pride and her ultimate weapon.
Sigrin still remembered it vividly.
The backlash of leukoderma from the egg's curse.
If only she'd fully absorbed and mastered the White Dragon's power that day, she could've become even stronger.
It was an accident, a mistake.
A regrettable missed chance to grow far stronger.
Of course, dying was worse, so she'd ended up using Krash's Black Hood to remove the egg.
But day and night, she regretted that day.
Even with just the remnants in her body, she'd reached this peak.
If it had all been hers, she could've soared beyond the heavens.
For her, Arthur with his Regression was another opportunity.
The White Dragon power lost to that cursed accident.
A second chance to claim it.
So she eagerly awaited Regression.
She could barely sleep from excitement at making the White Dragon power fully hers upon regressing.
She waited and waited.
When Regression finally came.
She immediately tempered her body and gradually made the White Dragon power her own.
She proceeded cautiously to claim it all.
Pushing too hard would awaken the White Dragon King and trigger leukoderma.
She absorbed it steadily along the safe boundary.
The White Dragon power was her last ray of hope.
Even when her pride was crushed, relationships crumbled, and plans fell apart.
It was the final lifeline she clung to.
But the day she met Krash.
The moment she saw him wielding the White Dragon power, her heart sank.
A bad premonition hit her.
That's why she shut herself in her room.
To confirm the White Dragon power's status.
She kept awakening it relentlessly.
Normally, it was dangerously close to triggering leukoderma.
But she couldn't just watch her last lifeline snap.
So Sigrin dove madly into the White Dragon egg within her.
And soon, she faced the worst with her own eyes.
"Ah... aaaah... aaaaaah!"
The White Dragon King's egg was empty.
The White Dragon King she had cherished and saved to claim the pinnacle herself.
Only an empty shell remained.
Snap!
Her eyes reflected her final lifeline fraying.
Her mind shattered in an instant, devouring her.
It was the last thread she'd held onto through Regression.
With it severed, Sigrin's sanity flew away in a flash.
That day, Sigrin left Raheln Academy.
She couldn't bear seeing traces of Krash there.
But even the palace she returned to thrust her into the worst scenario.
Everything political she'd built was collapsing.
It was only natural.
Sigrin had already exposed her broken self to the world.
The nobles turned their backs easily.
Sizzly's influence was huge there, but Sigrin, already shattered beyond repair, couldn't grasp it.
Tears welled in Sigrin's eyes.
Why did she have to suffer like this?
What greed had she indulged in to deserve this?
She felt wronged.
And that grievance soon turned to rage.
The rage grew into resentment, on the verge of exploding.
"Lord Arthur isn't in this world anymore."
"L-lies."
Suddenly appearing Abella placed the final punctuation on that resentment.
"Krash stole Lord Arthur's Regression and killed him."
"Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies!"
Hearing Abella's calm words, Sigrin rampaged like a madwoman.
She trashed everything in the room, unable to stop.
For her, Arthur was truly the very last hope.
"Krash, Krash, Kraaaash! You rotten cursed wretch!"
She screamed in fury, her eyes burning with rage.
"Sigrin, I know a way to revive Lord Arthur. And a way to get revenge on Krash who left you like this."
Beside Abella, the Black Witch's dark space had opened.
The strange aura flowing from it seeped clearly into Sigrin's dazed mind.
Her fractured psyche couldn't comprehend what that power was.
"So help me. With your power, you can revive Lord Arthur and settle your grudge. Because you're Sigrin Epania."
"...What do I need to do?"
Abella's lips curved into a smile as she met Sigrin's vacant eyes.
It was utterly grotesque.
Abella's red hair fluttered quietly.
With it, she whispered into Sigrin's ear.
"Destroy the Empire. Just like always, that's your role."
Abella left after promising to instruct her later.
Sigrin muttered blankly in place.
"Destroy the Empire..."
From the depths of her heart, ugly emotions surged.
If she couldn't have it, no one would—those vile impulses flooded her mind.
And now.
She stood in the imperial palace at Abella's signal.
The uproar from the Forbidden Zones outside had drawn out nearly all forces, leaving minimal guards.
Even Emperor Dalpiron Junon, called the Emperor's Sword, had no choice but to go suppress them.
So no one here could stop Sigrin now.
"Stop, Sigrin."
That was when.
She heard a loathsome voice and looked up.
There stood a man with the same sea-blue hair as hers.
Taller than the second prince by far, with a majestic appearance.
His keen, intelligent eyes belonged to Siran Epania.
The first imperial prince of the Epania Empire.
And the one who'd vied most fiercely with Sigrin for the throne.
"Siran."
"This is His Majesty's residence. Sheathe your sword now."
Siran looked down at Sigrin and commanded.
Killing intent burned in his eyes.
Come to think of it, Siran's eyes had always been like that.
From birth, Sigrin and Siran were fated to fight for the throne.
"You know,"
Sigrin began walking slowly again.
Siran already had his hand on his sword hilt at his waist.
"I've always hated that condescending look in your eyes."
Siran tensed.
The aura emanating from Sigrin was ferocious enough to dent the palace walls.
"So I've decided this time."
Sigrin's figure scattered in an instant.
Before Siran could react.
Sigrin was already thrusting her sword at his eyes.
"I'm just gonna smash it all."
Kaboom!
The floor where Sigrin stood collapsed.
Falling in a flash, she flipped in midair and crushed the debris.
Shifting her gaze, a giant was swinging a shield at her full force.
The Emperor's Shield, the iron wall of the Friedwen family.
Terman Friedwen.
As his massive mid-2-meter frame's shield closed in, she kicked off a fragment.
She slipped past the shield brushing her face, right up to Terman.
Too late for him to defend.
Her sword danced, slashing his head dozens of times.
"Kuh!"
Thanks to his Iron Wall arts, Terman's face only ended up scarred, not worse.
But he lost vision in one wounded eye.
Landing, Sigrin aimed at Terman from her crouch.
Three Forms
White Dragon Three Fangs
The three White Dragon fangs pierced deep into Terman's chest and sides.
Her output was absurd enough to breach his iron wall.
Her innate combat talent.
Plus a brain with snapped limits.
And finally, having incinerated and devoured even the White Dragon King's eggshell.
She was nearly at her prime now.
Of course, the price was losing all power after today—an extreme rampage.
But for Sigrin, who'd lost everything, tomorrow might as well not exist.
"L-Lady Sigrin, you must stop now."
Terman gasped a warning.
Sigrin just sneered at him.
"As if stopping changes anything."
With that, she thrust at Terman again.
This time, for real, to take his head.
Clang!
But blocking her was none other than her brother Siran.
He wielded White Dragon power too, though not as much as her, forcing her blade aside.
He looked just like the firstborn prince always blocking her path.
Sigrin bit her lip.
"You dare block my way?"
Her sword wrapped in pure white light, as if to make him regret it.
"Lord Siran, no!"
Terman shouted at the sight.
Current Siran couldn't possibly block her.
As predicted, the power from Sigrin's sword threatened to engulf Siran instantly.
Siran pulled up his own power to counter, but it fell short.
Terman rushed to pull Sigrin away from Siran.
But her power exploded faster than he could reach.
"Die!"
The moment a flash poured from Sigrin's sword as she screamed.
Thud!
Sigrin's body bent sharply backward.
She hadn't sensed the blow; her eyes widened, rolling on the floor—but she corrected her stance just before.
Looking up with shaking eyes.
Dark blue hair entered her vision.
"Die my ass, Sigrin. Your vocabulary sucks too, huh."
A mocking tone that grated just hearing it.
Its owner grinned roughly at Sigrin.
Sigrin's eyes bulged facing him.
"Cursed wretch!"
Krash Valheim.
He, who shouldn't be in the palace, was here.