Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: The Emperor Who Saw the Future
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When Douglas swung blades of vengeance and sacrificed people, he held up the pretext of the well-being of all mankind in his heart.
But if everything was doomed to ruin anyway, then what was the point of those people’s sacrifice?
No. That couldn’t be.
Douglas couldn’t admit that all his struggles up to now had been meaningless sacrifices.
The moment he accepted that and his justification vanished, Douglas would be nothing more than a demon who murdered people and used them as offerings.
That was why he had to stop the invading army bursting from the gates and the darkness devouring Tellus.
To do that, he had to unify Tellus—no matter the cost.
He had prolonged his lifespan by grinding up countless people, but there were limits, and Douglas’s body was growing ever older and frailer.
Worse still, Douglas could no longer see the future.
All that was left to him was sheer obsession.
* * *
We had nearly reached the capital of the Xbrian Empire, but I still hadn’t met Na Young.
I’d assumed she’d head straight for the capital, but with the eastern continent being so vast, it was natural our paths might cross without meeting.
I headed right for the capital, planning to get information on Na Young from the imperial army or their command headquarters.
The walls of Duram, the Xbrian Empire’s capital, came into view. Endless walls stretched out, packed full of buildings inside. Roads crisscrossed through them, fanning out from the central imperial palace. Every major city I’d seen in Tellus so far had chaotic streets, but this one felt like they’d planned it from the start, knowing exactly how massive it would become.
Even high in the sky, I could sense a tremendous presence emanating from the central imperial palace.
It wasn’t just immense life force. His very essence felt different—on par with my ascended self. No, slightly higher.
He sensed my presence too. I’d only meant to grab some foot soldier for intel, never imagining a being like that would be in the capital instead of the front lines.
And then he drew his sword and swung it.
My hypersensitive senses screamed a warning, and I kicked off the air to leap away.
The palace roof was unscathed, but the space where I’d been standing moments ago was completely severed—my right leg sliced clean off just above the knee.
The severed leg regenerated instantly, but the sheer power to cut my leg like that...
This was leagues beyond Helen’s spatial cleave. It wasn’t a mere slice—in that split instant, the space itself was utterly disconnected.
He swung his sword repeatedly, slashing the space around me.
I kicked off the air in zigzags, plummeting fast enough to smash through the palace roof and burst inside.
Behind the knight who’d unleashed the sword strike sat the emperor on his throne—an elderly man so frail and decrepit he could drop dead any moment, with no trace of majesty.
They didn’t panic at my sudden appearance.
“Another fine specimen from the western continent. It changes nothing in the end. Joshua, send him off with as little suffering as possible.”
Before I could even exchange words, the empire’s Grand Master Joshua swung his sword on the emperor’s command.
In a single slash, hundreds of spatial severances bloomed around me.
It had been absurdly powerful from afar, but up close, it was beyond comprehension.
I pushed my hypersensitive senses to the limit, dodging the incoming strikes while firing aura beams from my hands.
His close-range attacks didn’t just sever space—they sucked in everything nearby. The aura beam I fired curved and got dragged into the rift Joshua had carved.
My attacks did nothing while I took countless hits, my body sliced and regenerating dozens of times over. Protecting my heart and head, I racked my brain.
“Regeneration even beyond a troll’s.”
The emperor spoke, and Joshua halted his assault.
“If we extract his blood and clone it, we could create far more Masters.”
“Planning to use someone else’s blood however you please?”
“I’m sorry. But it’s for the sake of the world, so take comfort in that. For one like you to appear... history has twisted again.”
“History? You talk like you’ve seen the future.”
“I have. A nightmarish future. A vision of this world ceasing to exist...”
“You’ve seen the Destruction God, then. You know now’s not the time to fight.”
“Ha! Don’t spout nonsense when you know nothing! I tried! Dozens, hundreds of times! Every nation! Both continents! I tried to unite them! Money, technology, power—I gave them everything they wanted! For a better world! But the greedy ones always started wars for a little more gain! To settle old grudges!”
The emperor spat out his resentment in a howl.
“So this is the ideal you created? Massacring subhumans? Letting your own people starve?”
“...No choice. Armed unification is the only option left. If we don’t stop the Destruction God, Tellus itself vanishes. But every time, before we could properly fight the invaders, internal wars scattered our strength. Without unity, there is no future.”
“And you’re sure gnawing away at your own flesh like this will stop it?”
“...”
The emperor fell silent—apparently, he hadn’t seen that future.
“You don’t know, huh. In my opinion, the odds go up a bit if the senile emperor kicks the bucket.”
“Your Majesty.”
Joshua’s face twisted, his grip tightening on his sword hilt. His eyes asked the emperor if he could kill me.
“Yes. End it. We’re almost there. A little more, and we’ll unify the world.”
As the emperor finished speaking, Joshua swung his sword again.
Dozens of slashes, too fast to see, tore gaping rifts in the space.
I couldn’t get close at all. Circling around Joshua, I fired aura beams, but they too got sucked into the countless spatial severances and vanished.
This wouldn’t work. I changed course, charging straight for the emperor.
Joshua stopped his flurry of strikes and pulled his sword back to his waist.
He gripped it with both hands, twisted his torso, then swung with full power.
I halted abruptly and dropped flat to the floor, dodging the attack.
Dozens of meters above my head, space tore open, revealing pitch-black void without a speck of light. The long, razor-thin severance sucked in even the surrounding light. I clung to the empty space with both hands to avoid getting pulled in.
Before I could even stand, Joshua readied his sword again. I tried to smash through the floor to escape, but he aborted his downward strike and hurled himself toward the emperor.
A small gate opened above the emperor’s head, and arrows of light shot out, aiming straight for his skull.
In that instant, Joshua flung himself between them, swinging his sword to block.
“Damn traitor bitch...”
Joshua ground his teeth.
“Nellado never knows when to quit. Joshua, leave me and go. I’ve done my part. If you head to the front, countless lives won’t be wasted...”
“Your side is where I belong, Your Majesty.”
“That stubbornness of yours never changes.”
“Have no fear, Your Majesty. I’ll kill this one and end the war.”
Joshua unleashed another barrage of sword strikes from in front of the emperor.
Dodging forever wouldn’t end this. I needed to shift the momentum.
My hypersensitive senses caught the space severing toward my waist. I twisted back just enough and swung my fist.
Clang!
It canceled the severance before it could form. Shattering a space that would’ve cut several meters gave me a bigger opening to exploit.
“...You blocked it?”
“Show me this much, and yeah, I can block it.”
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I could, but I’d gambled with my waist on the line.
My hunch was right—attacks that interfered with empty space could be countered if struck before the severance completed.
Nothing beat real combat for training.
“Now it’s getting interesting?”
“Try blocking this.”
Joshua gripped his sword with both hands again and twisted his body. The energy I felt was several times stronger than before.
Could I block that? No—could I dodge it?
No way to know without trying. I tensed my legs, ready to evade at any moment.
But Joshua couldn’t attack me.
“Damn it!”
Another hole tore open above the emperor’s head, a beam of white light shooting down. Joshua redirected the strike he’d aimed at me toward the beam.
Seizing the opening, I lunged forward at Joshua, channeling the power I’d gathered in my legs.
Joshua swept his sword left to block the light arrow, then whipped it right in a blur, severing the space in front of me.
Block or dodge, and the distance I’d closed would reopen. To gain the upper hand, I charged straight through without destroying the severance.
My waist and left arm severed, my lower body detached—but from the back of my right hand, I drew a sword, thrusting for Joshua’s heart.
Joshua hadn’t expected me to barrel through unprotected. Even so, his hasty retreat was inhumanly swift.
To catch the fleeing man, I extended the sword from my right hand longer while yanking my upper body forward with my regenerated left hand gripping the space.
The blade plunged into the center of his chest.
As Joshua glanced down at my sword, my body had fully regenerated.
“Cough...”
Blood gushed from Joshua’s mouth.
“Raaagh!”
True to his transcendent nature, Joshua thrust his sword even with his heart pierced. But the force was already gone.
“Hoo!”
I blocked his sword—which could no longer strike true—with my arm and blasted cold air into his face.
I ripped the sword lodged in his chest leftward, slicing through it, then swung to behead him.
Joshua’s head, frozen blue, thudded to the floor and shattered.
“...This can’t be... It can’t! Joshua, dead?!”
At Joshua’s death, the emperor rose from his throne and descended.
“Why didn’t your future vision show this?”
“You... Who are you?! No future ever had a being like you!”
“Maybe because I came back from the future.”
“Ba... Back to the past?! How?! Tell me how to go back to the past!”
The emperor forgot I’d come to kill him, reaching out with both hands as he approached me.
“I can’t go back at will either. And I have no intention of doing so.”
“What? Why... Why not?! Don’t you want to change the present? The future?!”
“Even if I went back, I couldn’t save everyone. Someone always dies. There’s no such thing as a perfect future. But we can avoid the worst outcomes. That’s why we fight.”
“...No... I can’t give up! For Tellus! O God! Show me the future once more! O God! Once more!”
He screamed toward the sky in his raspy voice.
And then, a vortex of black clouds swirled in the heavens.