Chapter 235: Endgame (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 235: Endgame (4)
“‘That pair of lovers’… such crude language.”
With those clear words, the dark, cloudy sky parted. A woman in a pure white dress appeared, backlit by the sun.
Her silver-blue hair fluttered as she floated in the sky. With her beautiful, graceful appearance, it was no exaggeration to call her a goddess.
“Especially for a mere tool.”
Separate from her appearance, the aura flowing from her was extraordinary.
“You’ll have to pay the price for getting cocky and not knowing your place, won’t you?”
Fzzt-!
A massive, sacredly glowing spear materialized to her right. It shot forward instantly, and Leah furrowed her brow.
Is she expecting me to just stand here and get hit by something that big and slow?
What is this?
Is she looking down on me because I’m a sword?
The moment Leah took a step to dodge the spear, a powerful gravity pressed down on her. Her body staggered, and she missed the timing to evade.
“...Oh, my?”
So she really did expect me to get hit.
BOOM!
A massive shockwave echoed out, and a cloud of dust billowed into the air.
“That should be enough of a lesson, shouldn't it?”
The woman smiled in satisfaction.
Watching her, the Dragon King forgot his pain and let out a gasp of admiration.
To think she handled something the three of us couldn't… and so easily.
It had been a long time since she had shown herself, so he had wondered if she had grown weak, but that wasn't the case.
She was as strong as ever.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't a little disappointed, but thanks to her strength, he was alive. That was all that mattered.
Just as the Dragon King was feeling relieved, Iries’s gaze, which had been scanning the area, fell upon him. Her smile vanished, and she looked down at the Dragon King as if he were something pathetic.
“Kaisullan. I believe I told you not to act rashly.”
“...Pardon?”
“Don’t play dumb. It was a long time ago, but I told you quite clearly. And yet, you disobeyed my words, didn’t you?”
“No, I…”
The Dragon King’s eyes wavered. He couldn’t understand Iries’s cold attitude. If she didn’t like what he was doing, couldn’t she have intervened from the start? But instead of intervening, she had just watched until the situation grew dire, and now the first thing she says is that?
He felt deeply wronged but decided to hold his tongue.
After all, Kaisullan had always been the subordinate one.
“I won’t listen to excuses. Your punishment for this incident will be… huh?”
Iries tilted her head at the scene revealed as the dust settled.
“Where have you been while I was fighting my butt off? You’re only showing up now?”
Leah was glaring at Cloud, her eyes full of complaint.
Iries had definitely enlarged the holy spear and fired it, and Leah should have been hit. But for someone who had taken a direct hit, she looked perfectly fine.
“I thought you wanted to go wild for a change? I stayed back because I figured you did.”
“That’s true, but! It feels so unfair that you’re just relaxing while I’m struggling!”
“What kind of logic is that?”
On top of that, Cloud, whose presence had been forgotten for some time, had appeared and was now chatting with Leah.
It was a rude display that completely ignored Iries, but rather than feeling offended, she was intrigued.
A mere sword blocked that?
She created another, smaller holy spear and fired it again. Leah swatted the incoming spear away with her arm as if it were an annoyance and shouted at Iries.
“Can’t you see we’re talking!? Let’s have some manners!”
“Uh… um… I’m sorry?”
“Good, as long as you know!”
Leah went back to bickering with Cloud, and Iries, deciding to be mannerly, waited patiently. But no matter how long she waited, their conversation showed no signs of ending.
“Do I still have to wait longer?”
“Ah, just wait a bit! I need to settle things with this guy today!”
“Okay…”
A dejected Iries squatted in mid-air. As she zoned out, letting time drift by, the space beside her shimmered with black, and a man appeared.
A man with long white hair, clad in sharp, black armor.
Lebeus.
On the continent, he was considered an evil god, but in reality, he was a god who had created and ruled the world alongside Iries.
“This has gone too far.”
A dark energy poured out from the enraged god. The aura was so venomous that even though they were already wounded, the Dragon King and the Blood King felt pain just from it touching them.
“Lebeus? I’m fine, though.”
Lebeus flinched at Iries’s unexpected words. He frowned and retorted.
“Didn’t you say they were insolent and that you were going to teach them a lesson?”
“Ah, back then I thought they weren’t worth the effort. I’m fine with it now.”
“What…”
Dumbfounded, Lebeus sighed and shook his head.
“Even if you’re fine with it, I’m not. Those who dared to insult you without knowing their place deserve to suffer for eons.”
Because I swore they would.
Lebeus stretched out his hand, and an ornate black sword materialized in the air. As he gripped it, black particles began to shimmer around him.
Cloud let out a dry laugh.
“He’s really putting on a one-man show. Leah, you have my body, right?”
“Yes. Should I take it out?”
“Please. The more I think about it, the more I realize this body won’t be enough.”
This body’s arm would break from one of Leah’s light taps. In contrast, his opponents were transcendent beings who had not just escaped but surpassed the mortal coil. There was a limit to what could be overcome with experience and skill alone.
At Cloud’s request, Leah reached into her subspace. After rummaging around for a moment, she pulled out a sturdy man with black hair and laid him on the ground.
Cloud placed a hand on his original body, the body of Han Jisu.
Connecting the vessels, he let the contents flow between them.
Since it was his original body, transferring his soul didn’t take long, and there was no resistance from the process.
Cloud… no, the man who was now Han Jisu, sat up and stretched.
“My body’s a little stiff. Still, this shouldn’t be a major problem.”
As Han Jisu cracked his neck, Iries and Lebeus couldn’t hide their astonishment.
It was strange enough that a mortal could willfully change the vessel containing his soul, but the moment his body changed, the aura he exuded transformed completely.
The man who had been like a fly to them, transcendent beings, was suddenly exuding a presence comparable to their own.
And it went without saying that the aura of his ego sword, Leah, had grown stronger as well.
Iries found Han Jisu and Leah fascinating.
Where did they come from?
They were obviously not beings she had created.
If they were her creations, she would have been able to exert her authority over them. But she couldn’t compel the sword, let alone Han Jisu.
This meant they were beings from another world, not this dimension…
But they don’t seem like other transcendent beings, either.
Unless they were complete renegades, no transcendent being would trespass into another’s dimension without permission. Such a breach of etiquette would lead to ostracization from other transcendent beings. Of course, it would be a different story if they were so overwhelmingly powerful that they didn't care, but they didn't seem to be of that caliber.
In that case, Han Jisu was ultimately a human, and the girl named Leah was an ordinary ego sword…
For an ordinary human to reach such a level. Just how high did they raise their individual potential?
No, more importantly, who on earth created something like them?
I want to meet them!
While Iries’s heart pounded with excitement, Lebeus was slightly tense. He was then immediately horrified and filled with self-loathing for feeling tense against a mortal.
Gritting his teeth, Lebeus manifested his power.
The black particles that had been scattered like freckles multiplied in a cascade. Amidst black smoke, the distorted dimension transformed into a massive gate.
Creeeak—
The gate opened, and a flood of cackling imps poured out. Shoving the imps aside, a being reached out an arm from within the gate.
—Kieeeek!!!
The imps that touched its searing hot carapace melted away.
Ignoring the melting imps, it grabbed the doorframe, pulled itself out, and revealed its full form.
The demon, whose body was a crustacean-like armor covered in lava, held a whip made of hellfire in each hand.
Seeing him, the Dragon King groaned.
The Warden of Hell, Diabolg.
A high-ranking demon in charge of a section of Hell where the most sinful souls were imprisoned.
As a warden of Hell, his power naturally transcended the mortal realm.
Even the Dragon King, who had managed the continent for ages, couldn't be certain of victory against him.
And following Diabolg, a procession of similar mythical beings strode out of the gate. Their mere presence changed the air and distorted the laws of the mortal world.
Hell had descended upon the Demon Realm.
From this moment on, the Demon Realm would be transformed into a land where no life could survive.
But they didn't stop there.
“Lebeus, honestly… I suppose it can’t be helped. My children, gather here.”
The heavens split open.
Beyond the rift, a white palace adorned with splendor and luxury was revealed.
The Celestial Realm, the domain of the noble.
From that realm, thousands of angels descended, flapping their white wings.
These were not the young angels who had been defeated by vampires in the Empire, but elite angels armed with celestial weapons.
Good and evil arrived in unison.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s capture them and ask. Don’t kill them, alright?”
“I’ll try my best.”
All for a single purpose.
“Leah.”
“Yes, Master.”
Leah was enveloped in light and returned to her sword form. Han Jisu gripped the hilt of the sword, which had a white blade and a long, silver guard.
He swung the sword in a diagonal arc.
Slice—
The body of the Warden of Hell, Diabolg, was split diagonally in two.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’ve been through hell to get this far.”
But he and she had been through far too much to be intimidated by such things.