Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Demon Swords
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"Rishir? Where are you going? There's nothing out there."
"Ah, Latsil. It's nothing. I just have some important business to discuss with the demon swords, so don't worry about it."
"Ah~ Secretly with the demon swords... huh?"
Rishir headed to a remote spot in the campsite.
Delon watched his retreating figure and tilted his head.
"Nothing important, huh? Secretly chatting with demon swords?"
Not just 'a demon sword,' but 'demon swords.'
A clandestine meeting with two demon swords.
Taken alone, it was a situation that wouldn't be out of place for plotting a city coup.
Delon started to worry anew.
About himself, not Rishir.
As Rishir had said, he realized he was starting to think that him having a private talk with two demon swords might really be nothing.
"Hmm..."
Where would he end up at the journey's end?
The stone heart suddenly plunged into anguish.
"Well then—Beast. Shall we continue our previous conversation?"
Rishir propped the jet-black sword against a tree stump opposite him and opened the discussion.
"You sense the last one's energy in that city— Iphrien?"
-...
Thanks to repeated joint work(?), Rishir had grown accustomed to the demon sword's energy.
His eyes could now clearly see it.
The figure of a woman with black hair cascading to her knees, draped around her body like a dress.
She was hesitating, arms wrapped around herself.
-You must understand... I wasn't in my right mind back then...
"Hm?"
"Your scho—... no..."
The woman clamped her hand over her mouth at the slip.
Her eyes trembled with fear.
"For some reason you won't know... I was in mental turmoil..."
The black woman recalled the situation.
It was back in the warehouse when Curse had attempted her rebellion.
At that time.
Rishir had used her minor rebellion as an excuse to sentence her to joint rest(?).
He aimed to resolve the accumulated fatigue and damage from the series of events with her help.
-Y-You damn bastard!!! Cursed scum!!! Kill me!!! Just kill me!!!
Was the Beast more vulnerable to pain, or was Curse more resilient?
Unlike the Beast, who had helped with Rishir's rest without resistance, Curse had reacted violently until the very end before passing out.
Because of that, Rishir's rest hadn't been fully achieved—
And because of that, the Beast had grown preemptively terrified.
-Listen... I have a story that will pique your interest... If you harm me... you'll surely regret it...
That was how things had led to the current situation.
The Beast, fearing that same demon might turn on her after pushing Curse to her limit, had preemptively played her hand.
-In the city we're approaching... I sense an ominous energy...
-What kind of energy, you ask...
-Tomorrow... when we're closer, I can tell you then...
Judging by results alone, the Beast's plan could be called a success.
She had avoided the joint work(?) with Rishir that she so desperately wanted to evade, right up until arriving at Iphrien.
Of course.
It wasn't peace without cost.
Now was the time to pay the price.
"Mental turmoil?"
"..."
If it had been Curse in the same situation, she would have raised her voice without hesitation.
-I just gave it back to you because I was afraid you'd flip out at me again?
-If you're unhappy, what're you gonna do? Rip open your belly or something. I was planning to anyway.
But the Beast couldn't.
A thought had suddenly struck her.
After he'd been so accommodating up to this point out of consideration for her, showing defiance again—
Would be blatantly against propriety.
Of course.
If Curse saw her now, she'd have plenty to say.
-You stupid bitch!!!
-What propriety in your position? You think you're human or something?
-And that guy's just using you like a bandage to wipe pus!!!
But Curse was unconscious now—
And the Beast had to face the situation alone.
The man who had awakened human emotions of pain and fear in her for the first time.
"This... was originally a secret I shouldn't reveal to you... After all... I can't sell off part of myself... and I shouldn't..."
"..."
"Yes... I know... what you're trying to say... I couldn't overcome my pure fear... and sold out my brother Curse... Ah... yes... I've made the same mistake again... How loathsome I am..."
Rishir was dumbfounded.
He was just sitting quietly, listening, yet she was preemptively spilling her guts out of fear.
Thus, Rishir hadn't precisely realized.
How he appeared to her.
Or how the Beast felt about the current situation.
That was why.
He could act as he was in this situation.
"By my standards, you only did the right thing."
"The right thing... Nonsense... How can shifting my pain and fear onto my brothers... be called right..."
"Aren't your brothers on the wrong path?"
"The wrong path..."
"Yes. Your brothers casually bring ruin to those around them. That's undoubtedly wrong, and someone must correct it."
Demon sword.
It was a fragment of desire created by the great evil at the end of ruin to make a comeback.
The demon sword was born to treat humans as tools and seize power.
Forcing a human perspective on it would be foolish.
In truth, the Beast's instincts screamed.
No need to listen to such drivel.
It could never understand her desires or position.
"Wrong..."
Yet now.
The demon sword was drawn in, listening intently to the man.
His words defended her pathetic side as a demon sword, which she could never accept.
Steeped in various negative emotions, his habitual kindness struck her deeply.
"You're definitely different from us. You have a different perspective and way of thinking. From your viewpoint, selling out a brother—would be absolutely unthinkable."
"Yes..."
"But you did it."
"Yes..."
"Why? Just fear? Probably not only that."
No.
That was all it was.
All her deviations stemmed entirely from her relationship with this unbearable man.
But the man didn't know.
The Beast knew, but—
Facing him, even she started to get confused.
"What do you..."
"Perhaps you unconsciously realized it? That you and your brothers are on the wrong path. And that it must be set right."
"..."
Sentient beings live for various reasons, but not demon swords.
Fragments from a great one, they exist to regain power and return to their original body.
A fact that couldn't be overemphasized, an immutable truth.
The demon sword's instincts ceaselessly imprinted it on the Beast.
"Then what I did wasn't betrayal or treason, but..."
"...If I had to name it, perhaps guidance?"
"Guidance..."
"I have brothers too, so I understand well. If my brother went astray, I would—... In that sense, I understand your actions."
It was all nonsense from one to ten.
What bound demon swords wasn't deep, sticky blood ties.
They were machines.
Existing to fulfill their role, and if not, they'd gladly destroy each other and take the power.
In fact.
Curse was always eyeing that chance—
And the Beast knew it.
Her hostility toward the deviated self—
"You understand me..."
But now, she forgot it all.
The Beast couldn't understand.
How could his casual words pierce her heart so deeply?
It was relief.
The hope that he might not hurt her anymore!
A simple, vulgar emotion.
One that would writhe her in self-loathing if recognized straight.
In that sense, fortunate.
Dominated by fear of the man, the Beast had no leisure to recognize it.
In the end, she accepted it.
"I see... What I did wasn't betrayal, but guidance... But... for what purpose..."
"Probably for the right values."
"Right values..."
The Beast couldn't grasp what right values the man spoke of.
Naturally.
For her, right values meant ruining lives, exploiting their power to reclaim the main body.
"I see..."
Still, the Beast nodded.
Learned behavior.
Acting like this—
"Yes, surely."
Would make the man smile softly like now.
The smiling man wasn't as scary as usual.
"I see..."
The woman smiled in relief.
'What the fuck. This is why the Beast—'
The first thought from Curse upon regaining consciousness.
'Using overload as she pleased and shifting the burden...'
She'd known from the start he wasn't ordinary.
Most humans couldn't dominate a demon sword; instead, they became beasts dominated by it.
Curse thought she fully recognized and guarded against the meaning of his existence.
However.
As time passed, his true nature gradually revealed.
Now, Curse had no choice but to rethink.
'For now, escaping him is the priority.'
Curse dreamed of revenge.
Until becoming overload companion.
It was humiliating, but she faced reality.
She couldn't think beyond survival now.
'Beast—'
Thus, Curse began searching for her brother.
'Weak bitch. No matter what, fearing a mere human?'
Her current state was disgustingly unreliable—
But what could she do.
The demon sword instincts in Curse strongly insisted not to lose that 'part.'
Besides—
Even rotten, it's still mackerel.
Diminished or not, it was a demon sword.
'Even if I recover power and attempt escape— if that idiot lends her power like before, it'll all go to waste.'
Curse had confidence handling the human, but not the human plus demon sword.
Thus, taking her 'brother' on escape was essential.
'Alright, now—'
Having sorted her thoughts, Curse assessed the situation.
'Last time I passed out, I was in that monstrosity of a city. And now—'
Suddenly.
Curse's sharp eyes flickered with various emotions.
'Here is...'
The demon sword's super-senses, different from ordinary lifeforms, captured the massive city around.
A metropolis of iron and stone.
That's how Curse remembered it.
But now.
In Curse's mind, Iphrien overlaid with another name.
'Domination... it was in a place like this...!'
The demon sword could clearly feel it.
Her part slumbering somewhere in the city of fire.
Curse immediately focused her mind to contact it.
To awaken it from the seal.
With Domination's power, she could escape the human's grasp alongside the Beast.
'No, why!?',
Curse's hope didn't last.
Exploited by the human?
Or contaminated by his energy?
Domination.
She couldn't sense its presence fully.
The vast tank of identity binding demon swords—
Like clear water with ink dissolved.
'Fuck, fuck!!! Fuck!!!!! I won't forgive you, worthless human!!!'
There, a foul-faced woman rampaged in fury.
Of course, only briefly.
Curse quickly regained composure and judged calmly.
'That guy, Rishir— the human's traveling with those pointy-ears. Their destination— at least not this city. It's full of stuff those elves hate.'
Confirming the campsite around, she reached a satisfactory conclusion.
'They plan to enter the city. Naturally, he hasn't noticed Domination... If lucky, I can create a chance to contact it.'
At that moment.
Just in time, the Beast returned to the tent where she was stored.
With the human—Rishir.
-Master.
As Rishir picked up the purple sword, Curse spoke to him.
-What will you do now?
"..."
Rishir tensed his eyes and stared at the purple sword.
The curses and venom from that voice still rang in his ears.
'She wouldn't have submitted to overload treatment(?).'
Rishir sensed she had ulterior motives—but only that.
Now, she was just a sword under his dominion, and there'd be plenty of chances to interrogate her later.
Like when she was suffering as his subordinate.
"From now, we'll enter Iphrien."
-...Planning to stay long? Master.
"Unless something unexpected, until we achieve our purpose."
-...
Curse swallowed a laugh inwardly.
How could she not mock him blathering casually, unaware of what lurked in the city.
The situation she desired grew clearer.
Hiding her anticipation, she probed.
-What's that purpose, Master!? I'll help actively!
"Oh. Will you?"
-Yes! If it's something I can help with!
Of course, the purpose was creating a gap to contact Domination.
If she could achieve that—
'I'll even help with your pathetic goal. It fits the math.'
Thus, hiding her true aim, Curse awaited his words.
Ready to comply.
"Then, I'll ask your help."
-Yes! Leave it to me! What can I do?
"I'm looking for one more demon sword."
-...
Beast.
You dimwitted bitch.
What the hell did you do!?
Instantly grasping the situation, Curse felt the world darken.
Afterward.
The elf expedition passed smoothly into Iphrien's interior under the guard's escort.
Rishir watched it all alongside Rae's Unit member Danil.
He politely nodded to Danil.
"Thank you for your kindness. So, what do you want from me?"
And cut straight to the chase.
Thinking it polite.
Danil was surprised briefly.
"Will you come with me?"
He too cut straight to the chase.
Thinking it polite.
Quickly resolve and start demon sword investigation.
With that thought, Rishir followed Danil.
"The prophet said—when this sword's seal is released, the hero will be with you."
Rishir couldn't help but be quite surprised.
He'd been thinking of demon swords while following Danil, only to find another sword waiting at the end.
'Why am I tangled with so many weird swords?'
Pushing aside stray thoughts.
'A sword whose identity is hidden by the seal—'
Minding the complication, Rishir recalled the demon swords he'd left with the group briefly.
If they were here, he could've asked directly—
"..."
He smacked his lips looking at the plain scabbard on the desk.
Then.
The giant woman leaning in the corner spat out bluntly.
"You think that kid can draw a sword even I couldn't?"
"..."
Danil looked to Rishir instead of answering.
Rishir carefully picked up the sword to meet the expectation.
Ignoring the groan from his waist.
-Aaaah, one more...!!!
"...!!!"
The moment he touched the hilt.
Rishir's eyes widened.
"This is—"
Not magical power.
Like an arm-wrestling match.
Pure force opposing, blocking his draw.
Sword of Force.
The arbitrary name given to it.
Meaning only one with beyond-spec strength could draw it.
The prophet decreed—
The Sword of Force must leave its scabbard and find its master.
Thus, Rae's Unit sought heroes to try drawing it.
But none had succeeded yet.
Rishir was the same.
"Hah—...! Hah—...!"
After struggling awhile, he shook his head.
'Purification or whatever, not the issue—'
He judged.
Drawing this sword was physically impossible for him.
As a last resort, Rishir blew his energy into it full force.
-Uuum...!!!
Then anomaly.
Patterns etched on the plain blade, glowing.
It groaned and voiced.
"Did it work!?"
Rishir brightened and gripped harder.
"...!"
Still no budge.
-Give up, fledgling. This body isn't a sword you can draw.
The Sword of Force told Rishir such.
Then—
-Hey, you big lug!
It called the giant woman.
-Come draw me!!!
Danil and the woman exchanged glances.
Then, she snatched the sword with her massive hand.
And—
Thud!
Air compressed like.
Her overwhelming presence condensed in her grip toward the sword.
Star Defying Heaven.
The giant's descendant gripped the hilt with full might.
Rumble.
Finally.
Dull sound like a mountain moving, the blade revealed.
-Ooooh! Drawing me! Excellent!
"...!!!"
A bold smile rose on the woman's face.
"Hey, Danil."
She held the sword toward Rae's Unit member.
"Say it again. What the prophet said, and the holy sword's master—"
-Now, return me to that fledgling!
The woman's mouth shut.
The Star Defying Heaven, suddenly a sword-puller, twisted her expression savagely.