Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Leon's Fury and the Flame Demon
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94
6
Exwise, emitting two streams of light, left afterimages in the air.
Blue and golden afterimages.
Nothing could interfere with the paths they traced.
The dozens of chains writhing like serpents were pushed back as if expelled from the space itself.
Catching and intercepting attacks flying in from all directions was no easy feat.
It required dynamic vision to track every single one without missing a beat, judgment to prioritize them, and motor nerves to execute every action flawlessly.
It was utterly impossible without superhuman abilities.
Yet Leon Hillpenberg deflected all the incoming chains with near-perfect precision.
Right shoulder, above his head, left side, the ground, then right shoulder again and left thigh—attacks came in a chaotic flurry, but Leon didn't miss a single breath.
The clash of sword and chains echoed deafeningly, but no noise reached Leon.
He simply pressed forward.
Because he had to advance to defeat the enemy.
Each deflection sent a heavy shock through the sword and into his entire body.
Yet Leon didn't waver in the slightest.
To Leon Hillpenberg, the sword was merely a tool.
A means to realize his ideals, convictions, and justice.
That's why he underwent grueling training without fail every single day, and why he was the first to grab his sword and charge out whenever an incident occurred.
There was no thrill in that process.
The closest word might be a sense of duty.
That's why Leon couldn't comprehend Onitsusen's words.
Slaughter for fun.
It wasn't just incomprehensible like some foreign tongue he'd never heard—it made him doubt if he'd even heard it right.
'I can't understand it.'
How could forcing harm on others for amusement possibly be enjoyable?
With a villain like Beham, he could grasp it logically.
Forcing sacrifice on others for personal gain.
History was full of such examples.
Of course, it was only logical understanding.
He couldn't tolerate or forgive them.
But no matter what, Onitsusen's words were beyond even comprehension.
He couldn't fathom attacking Theo Agrit just because he looked fun, on the verge of collapse.
Something churned fiercely in his chest.
Leon simply channeled that sensation into his sword.
Clang!
His powerfully swung sword was blocked by a chain.
He tried to cleave through it, but dozens of chains tangled together to form a massive shield.
"You've pushed this far!"
Onitsusen, now within the sword's reach, raised his voice.
Leon's mind crossed a threshold at the sight of those exposed fangs and that gleeful grin.
'...I.'
His mind cooled sharply beyond that threshold.
Only then did Leon recall the name of the emotion he'd poured into his sword.
'Am I angry?'
Faced with an enemy whose very existence he couldn't tolerate, his anger had surpassed the limit.
His chest burned hot, but his mind was cooler than ever before.
The chain shield pushed back the holy sword.
Leon didn't resist; he twisted his body with the momentum.
His fiercely spinning sword deeply slashed Onitsusen's thigh.
"Urgh...!"
The tendons were cleanly severed.
Onitsusen, groaning, staggered and unleashed chains in all directions explosively.
The chains surging from the ground were indiscriminate violence that Leon couldn't block or evade right now.
But Leon didn't retreat.
From the moment he recognized his anger, the world had strangely begun to flow in slow motion.
Even the chains rising from beneath his feet appeared sluggish to him now.
Not just the chains—the entire world moved several times slower than usual.
Had his rage damaged his brain?
There was no other explanation.
But whatever—it didn't matter.
What was certain was that in this moment, Leon could focus entirely on the enemy before him.
To pour out all his rage, he had to thoroughly crush the foe.
Weight settled into his sword.
The torrent of emotion tangled into two colors of light.
In that instant, the tide turned.
It wasn't Leon blocking the pouring chains.
The chains were frantically trying to block Leon's sword.
The scene was one-sided, no matter who looked.
Leon, wielding his straight yet explosive sword strikes, seemed unstoppable by anything.
Each clash of sword and chains produced bursting sounds.
Chains unable to withstand the impacts began snapping off one by one.
Fragments of shattered chains scattered like flower petals.
No connected chains remained.
The moment true obstruction vanished.
Exwise pierced Onitsusen's chest.
7
"Guhk, ha, haha...! Got me good...!"
Onitsusen laughed spiritedly even with his chest impaled.
Death approaching him seemed to hold no fear.
Exwise, which had pierced Onitsusen, wasn't stained by blood.
The holy sword, forged in the shape of nobility, seemed to reject the very concept of filth.
The holy sword's second form.
Meaning Leon had released Exwise one stage further.
Originally, Leon releasing the holy sword's restraints was a tale for the future.
Unleashing them at this point... Onitsusen's mere existence must have served as the catalyst.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
Leon had won.
He'd essentially taken down a cardinal single-handedly.
Using Deathwise as a staff, he rose.
The aftereffects of mana depletion lingered, but he'd recovered considerably.
As he staggered toward Leon without much faltering, Onitsusen spat blood and raised his voice.
"Haha... ha...... So that's it, that final strike... Felt familiar... You're his son...!"
"What are you talking about?"
Leon scowled and shot back.
Judging by his demeanor, the man himself hadn't realized.
As Onitsusen said, Leon's final sword technique wasn't from the Hillpenberg school.
It was a simpler yet more powerful swordsmanship—essentially Leon's unique skill in Broken World originally... a hereditary technique of his lineage.
"For me to let a brat like you... land a hit... All because you're that guy's kid...? Haha, hahaha! Even in death, he beats me...!"
"Explain yourself properly!"
Sensing instinctively that this touched on his own past, Leon grabbed Onitsusen by the collar.
But Onitsusen stared blankly at the sky with unfocused eyes, still laughing.
"I never... beat him once. Effort, talent, aptitude, skill... He had the power to surpass it all... Guhk, he did. You're... still far from it....... You beat me, but... by no means...... can you compare to him....... Hone yourself further, brat...! If you're his, then cough! son, you must...!"
His coughing grew more violent.
Onitsusen pulled out Exwise with his own hand.
Blood sprayed like a fountain from the heart-piercing wound.
"Mathias... remember that name...."
With those words, Onitsusen breathed his last.
Leon shook the collar of the unmoving corpse, eyes still open.
"Don't just die like that! Explain properly!!"
Even shaking it yielded no words from the body.
Despite knowing better, Leon's voice was endlessly desperate.
In the end, Leon released Onitsusen's corpse.
It slumped lifelessly backward.
Staring at his empty hand, now swordless, Leon froze in place like a statue mourning his father.
He'd finally encountered someone who knew the culprit behind the massacre of his parents and village.
Yet the man had spouted nonsense and died on his own terms....
That sense of loss was beyond my imagination.
But Onitsusen had revealed everything.
Mathias—the name of the cardinal who led all other cardinals.
The supreme tyrant incomparable to others, the pinnacle, and the true culprit Leon must truly avenge.
In the original story, this information wouldn't surface until far in the future.
Who would've thought it'd come out already.
Now I'm torn.
Should I... tell Leon this fact?
I can't come to a decision easily.
As I wrestled with the dilemma, Onitsusen's corpse suddenly twitched and began to rise on its own two feet.
It wasn't Onitsusen revived.
There was no life in the corpse's eyes.
Something was wrong.
It stepped forward as if to envelop Leon.
Ethan, clutching his side, raised his shield to protect me, while Noel pressed close behind us, gun trained on the corpse.
"Onitsusen got taken down? Impressive."
The corpse's lips twitched.
But it wasn't Onitsusen's voice.
It was an aged tone laced with a metallic rasp, yet brimming with power.
The distinct timbre made identifying the owner simple.
"Two cardinals showing up? Simon Tower must've scared you quite a bit, huh? Black Magician Gallat."
"Tsk tsk, you saw right through me."
"I know a fair bit."
The corpse didn't deny it.
Gallat was the cardinal leading the black magicians and an exceptional one himself.
He was surely manipulating the corpse with necromancy from nearby.
"You've got knowledge, but no wisdom, it seems. Spare the cheap provocations. Worried I can't kill you?"
"You know you can't touch me because of the demons watching."
It was still just circumstantial for now.
Inferred from Eligor and Dariund's words and actions.
There were pioneers trying to kill me, so I tested the waters—and got an immediate reaction.
"True, we do need the demons' cooperation, but that's no reason to let it go. Since you've dared lay hands on a cardinal, keeping you alive by force is getting difficult."
Onitsusen's face twisted viciously.
Like a poorly made mask, a smile formed, and a complex magic circle spread at his feet.
A familiar magic circle.
"You're summoning a demon...!"
Gallat didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
"Noel!"
At her name, Noel immediately pulled the trigger.
But before the bullet could pierce Onitsusen's head, the corpse dissolved into dust and seeped into the magic circle.
One cardinal was ample material to activate it.
The magic circle emitted an eerie glow.
The dimension warped and tore.
Reflexively, I spread my mana.
Unclear if my freshly recovered mana could hold it.
But with no healthy forces left, a demon appearing meant total annihilation.
It wasn't about could or couldn't.
I had to do it.
Pushing my body to the brink, I wrung out nonexistent mana.
Interfering with the dimension, I forcibly sealed the rift.
My head throbbed from mana depletion, but I ignored it.
Long past my limits, I whipped my body and finally interfered with the rift the magic circle had torn.
I barely grasped the rift trying to widen by the second and fixed it in place, preventing further expansion.
Unable to endure the strain, my body warned me as blood dripped from my nose.
As I squeezed out my last strength to seal the rift.
Crash!!
A brutish, massive red hand burst through the rift.
The dimensional magic shattered, and the backlash hit me.
"Guhk!!"
A sensation like my guts being wrung out—I vomited blood.
Knees buckling, I retched blood repeatedly as a colossal red demon with flames whipping like hair instead of locks tore the rift apart and manifested in the world.
"I, Hellgaru of Raging Flames, have finally returned!!"
-Whoa! That guy's still alive? Bizarre!
What? Deathwise... you know this demon?
-Well I do. Hellgaru, demon of raging flames, stoker of hellfire. An ancient demon incomparable to the likes of Oculeus. He already existed in my active era.
An ancient demon...
I swallowed the lingering blood taste in my mouth.
"Just as rumored, you've become a wretched sight. Deathwise!"
-As have you. Hellgaru, surely I personally beheaded you—how are you still alive?
"I revive endlessly as long as hellfire burns!"
-Hah, you've always had a tenacious life thread. Leaving aside the countless times you fell to me, weren't you sliced seven times by Exwise too?
-Correction required, Deathwise. Eight times.
"Don't dredge up old tales, you fossils!"
-You're older than I—how dare you.
Don't bicker in a sick man's head.
-Tch, noisy one. I bought you time, didn't I? If you've got energy to complain, stand up already.
I know.
I forced my buckled knees straight again.
Noel looked worried, but I waved her off, signaling I was fine.
"I'm different from the others. Today, I'll end our grudge by slaying Deathwise with these hands!"
Hellgaru clashed his fists together.
Boom, boom—fierce flames erupted with each sound, enveloping his fists.
The moment flames wrapped his entire body, instinct screamed.
I can't win this now.
The magic sword was right; incomparable to Oculeus.
The very tier of existence was different.
To face that... I'd need a fully prepared raid party.
Part of me wanted to run.
But setting aside if we could escape Hellgaru...
I couldn't abandon the others and flee.
"Talk about a complete dead end."
It exceeded what I could handle.
Yet I gripped the magic sword.
-Even in this situation, no thought of giving up?
Gone was the usual flippancy; the sword asked gravely.
I started to reply but just nodded.
-Good. That's more like a user worthy of me, even in decay.
Humm—despite the sun high in the sky, the red runes etched on the magic sword's surface glowed.
Vast energy rose like heat haze along the blade.
What was happening?
Incomprehensible for a moment, then the sword cried out flippantly as ever.
-Time was what you needed? Not just you. I've waited long enough. Digestion complete at last. So behold—the fragment of power from my prime!
With the magic sword's majestic declaration.
The midday sky began dyeing blacker than the abyss.