188
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 188
Yan deflected Elijah's greatsword. Then he swung his own sword. It was the Red Wing Form 9 'Forked Wings.' Sword energies much thicker than Mitchell's began to constrict around Elijah.
Elijah did not advance, relying solely on his armor against the constricting blade forces. He blocked Yan's chaotic strikes with his greatsword. The strikes that weren't fully blocked tore into Elijah's force energy. Surprisingly, Yan's sword energy began to viciously tear away and disperse Elijah's force energy. However, the price for gaining such immense power was excruciating pain.
Rumble rumble!
Yan's entire body trembled. Had Barre endured this terrible pain so easily? Even with just one stack, it felt like needles were piercing and tearing through every joint in his body. Even amidst the terrible pain, Yan kept his mind razor sharp.
'I am not the strongest.'
At this moment, Elijah is humanity's strongest. But in 3 hours. No, thinking rationally, in 6 hours. No, being humble, in 12 hours. Yan would reclaim the position of humanity's strongest. Because Yan would copy everything about Elijah. That was how Yan had defeated countless knights and it was his most powerful weapon.
Yan's Nameless moved. The advancing speed was sufficient for Elijah to block. Elijah had no intention of blocking Yan's sword. He would harden his force energy at the moment of contact to deflect Yan's sword. Then he would use that opening to slash at his flank. However, Elijah's predictions were shattered by Yan's unexpected movement.
Whoosh!
Yan's previously still sword came charging in like a fish swimming against the current, aiming for Elijah's nape. Surprised, Elijah pulled back his greatsword to block Yan's blade. Yan's sword moved again. His sword advanced like a sparrow crossing through a forest, moving as if to slash at Elijah's side.
Clang!
For the first time, Yan's Nameless broke through Elijah's force energy and clashed with his armor. Elijah was shocked by the pain that felt like his side would tear off. Though Nameless sharpness couldn't penetrate the armor, the weight of Yan's 'Lion Slash' transmitted directly through Nameless, delivering a proper strike.
'This is talent.'
Even if you gathered all the shining talents in the world, they wouldn't match up to Yan alone. Yan went beyond merely copying the technique Elijah had just shown, he had completely mastered it and even created variations. What could be God's reason for giving Yan such an absurd talent? No, why give such an absurd talent specifically to Yan?
'What a shame.'
Elijah's greatsword moved. Yan blocked it at an angle. Yan swung his sword toward Elijah's empty right shoulder.
Click!
However, Yan's hands were bound by golden chains connected to the ground, preventing movement.
"...!"
Elijah's brutal fist connected directly with Yan's face.
Crack!
Yan rolled on the ground. But he quickly regained his balance and took a defensive stance. However, he couldn't move properly due to the golden chains binding his arms and legs again.
"Don't think about moving, Hero. I really might kill you."
Yan could see light emanating from the brownish-gold jewel embedded in the center of Elijah's greatsword's guard. That jewel looked like another one of Elijah's eyes. Could it be that two dragon language spells were cast on that greatsword? Yan found it difficult to estimate just how many hidden techniques Elijah was concealing.
Rattle!
As the chains tightened, Yan's body was forced closer to the ground. Yan tried to break free but couldn't move. It felt like the chains were draining his strength. At that moment, a head rolled in front of Elijah. It was the head of a White Knight who had been serving Yan. Only then did Yan look around. The White Knights were all either restrained by the Steel Lion Knights or had lost a limb. Though the White Knights tried to resist, they couldn't move at all due to the anti-wizard handcuffs on their hands and feet.
"Elijah!"
Another White Knight's head went flying. Red blood spread like a red carpet on the path Elijah walked. Elijah didn't hesitate to step through the muddy ground made of blood.
"Hero. Did you really think I would plan all this without considering you? Hero. If you had thought about me a little more deeply, you would have known this place would become your grave."
Chains wrapped around Yan's mouth.
Yan couldn't even cry out.
Yan's body was slammed into the ground.
Bloody mud entered Yan's nose and mouth.
"However, I will give you one path to survival, Hero."
The Steel Lion Knights held their swords to the White Knights' throats.
Cannon fire rang out across the now-quiet battlefield.
Elijah whispered into Yan's ear.
"Renounce your oath to be the Emperor's sword."
"...?"
"Betray the Emperor and the Empire, just as you betrayed me. If you do that, I will spare these White Knights here and..."
Elijah gestured to the Loran Plains.
"I will spare the men of the Empire who are dying meaninglessly. And I will quietly return to the Steel Fortress."
Elijah only loosened the chains covering Yan's mouth.
"What nonsense is this...!"
"What could I possibly want from you now? Would I want your loyalty like in the old days? Or would I ask you to become my successor?"
Elijah's words, delivered without inflection, struck Yan's heart.
"In truth, the only thing you can give me is death. By beheading you who betrayed my goodwill and teachings, my revenge would be complete."
"But that alone is not enough. I wish for the destruction of the Redfield family, the Eileen Imperial family, and all the nobles who humiliated me."
Elijah picked up Nameless that had fallen to the ground.
"So I make you this proposal that you would never accept. Betray and blaspheme against the Empire. Abandon your order's blessing and throw your honor into the mud."
Yan finally understood what kind of monster he had provoked.
The honorable Elijah he had known until now was all an illusion.
Elijah was a madman who would not hesitate to destroy the world for his revenge.
Yan felt guilty for bringing this madman into the open, and he could barely breathe knowing there was only one thing he could do before this madman.
But Yan managed to force words from his throat.
These were the only words Yan could speak, unable even to grip a sword.
"...I'm sorry."
"What did you say? You're sorry?"
Tears flowed down Yan's cheeks.
The tears mixed with the blood on his forehead, falling from his chin as bloody tears.
"I put my selfish desires ahead of the grace you showed me when you saved me from my burning homeland. These words should have been said long ago, I am truly sorry for saying them only now."
"Are you seeking my pity? Do you think that will change anything?"
"At least spare my knights. They are innocent."
The White Knights trembled, unable to bear watching Yan beg for forgiveness.
But there was nothing the knights could do.
They were gagged and couldn't speak, and even when they twisted their bodies to escape, the anti-wizard handcuffs prevented them from using their strength.
Elijah placed Nameless against Yan's neck.
"Then let me ask you: Why did you betray me? What did Mitchell and Rose promise to give you that made you betray me?"
"...I hated the demons who killed my father, mother, and younger sibling so much."
Even now, when Yan closes his eyes, the nightmares of that day return.
The burning homeland, fragments of flesh and bone.
All of it became nightmares that tormented Yan.
"I wanted to take revenge with my own hands for my family and hometown friends. Mitchell and Rose only promised to help me achieve that dream. They promised to make me a Hero and always place me at the frontlines, and to support me in every way until the demon race was exterminated."
"They told me that if I could defeat the Demon King in the name of a Hero, no one would ever suffer from demons again. Although Your Excellency also had strong ambitions to conquer the demon realm, it seemed you would only use me when needed, kept within the scabbard of the Friedrich family. So I made the decision to leave you."
Elijah felt a subtle vibration running through his palm.
The source of that vibration was Nameless.
The tickling sensation from the sword drew out Elijah's murderous impulse.
Nameless sword shallowly dug into Yan's nape.
"What you wanted could have been achieved while staying by my side. It was a goal achievable as a Margrave, not through the empty title of Hero. You're saying you betrayed me simply to gain the alluring honor of being a Hero."
Blood flowed along Nameless.
The sword, which had never tasted its master's blood, trembled violently.
"Yes."
Yan's and Elijah's eyes met.
Yan's eyes were slowly turning purple.
"I regret it, Lord Elijah. The role of hero was too grand a position for me. However... I cannot simply leave you be. I must stop you. I cannot allow so many people to die because of me. How could I bear such a sin? I will stop you."
Elijah looked at the trembling Nameless and smiled faintly.
"How many years have you carried such a demonic sword?"
Elijah was barely suppressing the urge to cut off Yan's neck.
"How did you not go mad carrying this sword? A sword that drinks blood... No, a sword that calls for blood. I wonder why they created such a demonic sword for you."
Elijah removed Nameless from Yan's neck.
Yan's pupils became tinged with an even deeper shade of purple.
"...I will stop you."
Clank!
The chains binding Yan's body made a dangerous sound as they trembled.
"I must stop you."
Elijah smiled deeply while looking at Yan's purple eyes.
"Such an ending could be quite interesting."
Elijah approached one of the kneeling White Knights while holding Nameless.
The White Knight was wailing at the sight of Yan showing signs of devilization.
"A hero turned demon. There couldn't be a better story to throw the Empire into chaos."
Elijah placed Nameless against the White Knight's neck.
"You, however, should live."
Elijah's Nameless rose and fell like a guillotine.
"Elijahrr!"
Just as Yan tried to break free from the chains and advance, a green barrier appeared in mid-air, blocking Nameless.
Clang!
Elijah's flesh crawled at the concentrated killing intent that followed from the sky.
Perhaps because of this, he instinctively blocked the flying weapon that came at him.
Clank!
However, what collided with Elijah's greatsword was neither a dagger, nor an axe, nor a spear.
It was a pair of handcuffs.
Yet the effect created by those handcuffs was astounding.
The golden chains that had been restraining Yan disappeared.
"Anti-wizard...!"
When the chains binding his body vanished, Yan reflexively lunged toward Elijah.
Elijah swung down at Yan.
But Yan disappeared in mid-air.
He had vanished not by Mitchell's Form Shift technique, but by spatial transfer magic.
Elijah had no time to be surprised.
Because something like a red comet was descending straight toward Elijah from the sky.
"Uriyaaaaaaaa!"
It was Caesar.
***
They say that meteors burn up their own life force as they fall to earth.
Today, Caesar felt he somewhat understood the meteor's feelings.
The closer Caesar got to the ground, the more he felt his life force being eaten away.
When Caesar's battle cry cut across the now-quiet killing field, the auras wandering throughout his body drove into his muscles, bones, and nervous system.
The expression ‘drove in’ was quite accurate, as the sudden intrusion of massive amounts of aura into his muscles was as painful as being beaten all over his body.
It was also precarious, like forcibly pulling on an already taut rubber band.
But the overwhelming power obtained through this pain and tension...
----!
Was enough to bring Elijah to his knees.
Caesar's bloodshot eyes met Elijah's calm ones.
His thoughts came rushing in.
-You again...?!
Elijah gritted his teeth and pushed Caesar back.
Caesar calculated that timing precisely, did a flip in mid-air, and landed in front of Elijah.
Then he swung his axe upward.
----!
The thick aura blooming at Elijah's chest met with Caesar's lefty.
-How did you get here?
-I heard you were fighting Geotech in the Red Mountains just yesterday.
Elijah was no longer surprised.
Or more precisely, he had no time to be surprised.
This was because Caesar was pushing Elijah back almost excessively, and Elijah was already overwhelmed just enduring this fierce attack.
The screech of steel cut across the empty air.