Chapter 163
Chapter 163
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Complete Contract
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning, Saturday.
Rekil Forest, one of the most secluded woods in the Empire, known for its vast population of monsters.
*Shashak! Shashashak!*
Figures were now moving swiftly through the dense undergrowth of Rekil Forest. Their appearances were, without exception, brilliant and radiant.
—!
Amidst the sparse sunlight filtering through the forest, a suit of golden armor radiated a powerful presence.
It signified that they belonged to the ‘Imperial Knights’.
“Deploy!”
At the firm command from Teruan at the head of the group, his followers began to widen their encirclement, closing in on a single target as if forming a massive capture net.
It was a formation designed to be inescapable, completely eliminating any possibility of their target slipping away.
In response, the being shrouded in darkness tried to accelerate and escape, but even that had its limits.
*Shashak!*
*Thwip!*
The sounds of feet kicking off old trees and bodies brushing past bushes echoed dozens of times, but only for a moment. The being shrouded in darkness was soon surrounded by the Imperial Knights.
*Thud! Thud-thud!*
As the later-arriving knights formed a double and triple cordon, eliminating any chance of escape, Teruan slowly advanced.
*Clank.*
The metallic sound of heavy armor plates shifting rang out as Teruan’s gaze grew heavy.
“An apostle wearing the guise of a human. I never imagined it could hide its presence so completely.”
In Teruan’s grim sight, only a form shrouded in darkness was visible; he couldn’t even perceive its distinct shape.
He found it deeply unsettling.
The fact that this apostle had attacked a cadet from the Central Academy and was now living and breathing within the Empire.
‘At this level, I must assume it’s a higher-grade apostle than I thought.’
After piecing together the news that a common-grade cadet had survived and various other pieces of information, he had found the claim of an apostle to be credible, however surprising.
But even so, he had assumed it would be an apostle of the lowest class, with negligible power. Now, facing it in the flesh, it felt nothing of the sort.
It had been days since they picked up its trail, and it was a stealthy and dangerous apostle, capable of evading the pursuit of himself and the knights under his command.
That meant it had to be at least a high-grade apostle.
*Sssslither.*
As the apostle, wreathed in a dark mist, began to spread its darkness as if amplifying it, Teruan pointed his sword toward it and manifested his signature golden mana.
—!!
The unique golden mana symbolizing the Imperial Knights burst forth brilliantly, enveloping his entire body. And Teruan was not the only one.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —!!
From the majority of the Imperial Knights surrounding the apostle, golden mana erupted simultaneously, cloaking them all.
It was a breathtaking spectacle.
A brilliant wave of gold illuminated the dark forest, where the light was blocked by colossal ancient trees.
It signified that the skill of each individual knight was by no means low, and all of them watched the apostle with resolute purpose in their eyes.
Not a single one of them showed any fear of the darkness emanating from the apostle.
As a result, the darkness spewing from the apostle couldn't even expand its range. As if blocked by the golden tide, the darkness merely consumed the area immediately around it.
“...An apostle without intellect.”
Teruan spoke in a calm voice, his sword still leveled. At that moment.
The apostle suddenly sprang into action.
*Fwoosh!*
A mane of darkness erupted from the apostle, surging in all directions.
*Clang! Shwing!*
Just as the Imperial Knights, positioned in all eight directions, deflected the surging darkness,
Teruan was already charging toward the apostle in a sudden assault.
‘There’s no point in killing it instantly.’
If he had wanted to kill it, he might have been able to do so before they had even surrounded it. But that would render the days of pursuit meaningless.
Therefore, he had to extract any ‘information’ that could serve as a clue.
The very presence of an apostle within the Empire had to mean something. He needed to clearly determine how it had crossed the front lines and entered the Empire, and for what reason.
—!
Teruan, wreathed in golden light, navigated the woods and appeared before the apostle, intentionally reducing the power in his sword.
Even if capturing the apostle was difficult, he had to at least confirm its true form. His first thought was to slice through the darkness concealing its existence.
— — — — — —!
As Teruan swung his sword in a diagonal slash, the golden aura tore through the darkness in an instant.
And at that very moment.
As if the darkness was being torn apart even more violently by the golden light, an explosive torrent of darkness burst forth.
“...What!”
As Teruan’s expression hardened and he unleashed a massive surge of mana, the darkness was instantly swallowed by the golden mana and vanished.
By then, the apostle was already hurtling away in the opposite direction, as if repelled by Teruan’s mana.
—!
Like a meteor, the apostle tore through the obstructing trees and vegetation.
It was no longer shrouded in darkness. It now had the form of a ‘human’.
“Do not let it escape!”
As Teruan righted himself in mid-air and shouted, the Imperial Knights were already lunging after the apostle.
***
“Cough!”
A gush of blood spewed from Vermian’s mouth.
But he had no time to even wipe his lips. Despite willingly accepting the apostle Leteia’s warning of danger and even its possession, he couldn’t shake the Imperial Knights in the slightest.
And this was the result.
‘...Is this the power of the Imperial family?’
The strength of the Imperial Knights, which he had only ever heard of in rumors.
Even after making a pact with Leteia, he had meticulously disposed of sacrifices for years to avoid their notice.
But the incident at the academy had caused far too great a ripple effect, and he had finally been caught.
The dispatched Imperial Knights were just one of many knight orders, yet their power was terrifyingly immense.
[Vermian. It seems this is the end for us.]
Leteia’s voice, resonating in his mind, was utterly subdued.
The apostle’s implication that its recent manifestation was its last struck him deep in his heart.
Yet, he denied the apostle’s will.
Kicking off the trees in his path, he forced what little strength he had left to circulate through his body.
‘I absolutely cannot die like this.’
If he were to die alone... he might have accepted it, resigned to it as the consequence of his own deeds, his sins.
But he couldn’t.
He had a family to bear on his shoulders.
He could not die here. The reason he had walked this path of sin, the reason he had cast aside all pride and conscience to accumulate countless evil deeds.
In the end, it was all for Beatrice.
To give a child who had never seen the light even a moment of warmth in life.
It was to let her see the light.
And.
‘I still haven't shown Beatrice... the true light of the world.’
It had been less than two years since she started living a normal life.
For a child who had suffered for decades, that wasn't enough.
It was truly... far too little.
She needed to experience more.
The happiness of this world, the ability to live and breathe normally, to look forward to tomorrow.
—!
—!
He barely managed to evade the golden arrows and aura blades shooting from behind, but he couldn’t dodge them completely.
A golden arrow grazed his forearm, nearly piercing it, while an aura blade left a deep gash on his thigh, causing blood to spurt out.
“Hk!”
The skill of each one of them was just below his own, near the 8th level of his attribute, and some were even his equals.
Even if he had escaped their encirclement for now with a moment of quick thinking, he would be caught before long.
*Grit.*
He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and made his decision.
He prepared himself to give up everything…
In the end, he had no choice but to resort to his last option.
“Leteia. Let’s form a complete con…tract.”
[In this situation?]
A powerless voice, tinged with scorn, echoed in his mind.
Even Leteia’s power was now noticeably weaker than before he had offered the last sacrifice.
Perhaps because he had made a pact with an apostle and accumulated so many evil deeds that the line between good and evil had blurred for him, but its voice now sounded strangely peculiar.
*Thwack!*
As he kicked off an old tree with all his might, it became difficult to even conceal his presence.
“There’s no more time. And I have no intention of dying like this.”
He spoke firmly, though blood continued to trickle from his lips.
Forming a complete contract meant abandoning his humanity, but it was better than dying and having everything end.
...Even if he was no longer human, he had to do what needed to be done.
Beatrice still needed Leteia.
[So you intend to allow it completely. Then let us proceed with the complete contract.]
It happened in an instant.
■■■■■■■!
A strange vitality surged through his exhausted body.
An unprecedented power that could not be described by anything.
At the same time, a dark, dense malevolence that was not his own crashed into his mind.
“……!”
His eyes flew open, and the moment he instinctively kicked off a tree, a power completely different from before erupted.
*KABOOM!*
The part of the old tree he had pushed off from completely exploded, and he shot forward with an entirely new dimension of speed.
His rapidly expanding vision was a new experience, and his entire body felt like it would burst from the boiling heat welling up inside him.
But he had no time to even register that absolute power.
The dense malevolence flooding his mind. It was an incredibly deep hatred, a resentment, and at the same time, it was like the fury of the world itself.
“Krrghk!!”
He shuddered at the utterly horrifying sensation taking over his body, feeling his vision slowly being swallowed by darkness.
Even as he realized it was the fundamental malevolence of Leteia, he couldn’t let go of his consciousness.
‘Never…’
I will not be devoured by this malevolence.
Even within the thick, swelling malevolence that felt like it would burst, he somehow held onto his consciousness.
Even a little was fine.
As long as he didn’t lose himself right now.
—A complete contract.
A colossal power gained by surrendering his entire being.
It was a ‘union with an apostle,’ one of the most forbidden of all forbidden contracts.
Leteia would become him, and he, in turn, would become Leteia…
As he felt the pursuing presence rapidly fall behind, his mind was continuously filled with negative thoughts.
‘Murderous intent, denial, suspicion, resentment, hatred…’
Along with an impulse for destruction, a desire to destroy everything in his sight.
Amidst the emotional tide that threatened to completely swallow his existence, he kept picturing one thing.
The image of his younger sister, lying in bed, unable to lift a single finger.
“...Haaahk!”
With a great exhale, his vision, which had been turning dark, instantly returned to normal.
He was suddenly in a place he had never seen before.
He could no longer feel the presence of the pursuing Imperial Knights.
He was all alone amidst the dark trees and vegetation.
[So this is the power of a human’s will. The amplification of power from the contract has far surpassed imagination.]
Leteia’s voice resonated in his mind, more directly than ever before.
It almost felt like his own thoughts. He blankly raised his arm and saw that it had turned black.
“Have you now become ‘me’?”
He muttered blankly, feeling as though even his own voice had changed.
[What an obvious question.]
The laughing voice felt as if it were his own.
And he realized.
...At last, now.
He had completely abandoned his humanity.