Chapter 290
Chapter 290
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Demon Sword's Scabbard
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"..."
Arisha, the Star of Defiance.
She raised her massive body and brushed the dust from it.
Crack.
Crack, crack.
Every motion to loosen up sent rocks shattering around her.
And pain.
Arisha looked down at her arm.
That arm was the strongest weapon—blunter than any club, tougher than any shield.
The Star of Defiance had blocked the ambush with it.
And thus, the weapon had cracked.
As she clenched her fist, pain shot through her like lightning.
She clenched and unclenched repeatedly.
With each repetition, the air around her grew thick with heat.
The underground prison of the dais.
In its depths, amid the darkness, it was as if some massive machine devoured fuel, belching heat and noise.
At last, the Star of Defiance stepped forward.
The world was drenched in blood, painted red.
A crimson haze that spurred on an already excited beast.
That was the world now reflected in Arisha's eyes.
The corners of her mouth tore into a savage grin.
Only one thought filled her head.
Battle.
And so, the hulking woman hurled into the prison's shadows returned as a frenzied predator.
"Everyone, get out of here."
She spotted the group and spoke immediately.
A low, quiet tone—but like a beast's infrasonic growl, it cut through clearly.
It was the warning a predator gave before charging its prey, the last gasp of faint reason.
Now even that reason was spent. Only one path remained.
Clashing until one side could fight no more.
No other way.
As if to prove it, she didn't wait for them to evacuate.
She raised her fist.
Like readying a javelin.
Poised to hurl herself at any moment, she advanced—until she spotted the Dark Knight.
"...!"
Her massive frame lurched violently.
The Dark Knight.
It knelt before the Hero.
"What... did you do...?"
Her voice carried more dissatisfaction than relief.
"Wait, Lady Arisha!!!"
The fanatics cried out in concern from the side.
She looked unsteady at a glance.
Her aimless bloodlust could turn on the Hero any second.
"It's a being summoned by the Demon Sword, but it seems to follow me instead."
"...Instead of the Demon Sword? Why?"
"Maybe 'cause I have one more?"
"..."
Her heavy breathing, like massive machinery, gradually slowed.
Light slowly returned to her gleaming, empty eyes.
Arisha muttered, covering her face with her palm.
"Aha..."
Better than one Demon Sword.
Two Demon Swords.
Simple enough even for a frenzied beast to grasp.
Arisha felt an indescribable emotion as her boiling blood cooled once more.
"You dimwit!!! Come to me!!! To your true master!!!!!"
"...!!!"
The Dark Knight rose and moved toward it.
"No! Sit!!!"
But at the Hero's sharp hiss, it knelt obediently again.
"Aaaaaaagh!!! Aaaagh!!! Kyaaaaagh!!!"
Mind-shattering.
If you screamed madness, it'd sound just like that.
The Demon Sword wailed as if its soul were splintering, driven to frenzy.
Rishir ignored it casually and spoke.
"So, what do we do with this?"
The Dark Knight knelt meekly before the Hero.
Yet its ominous aura filled the entire space.
"From what our kids said, this seems to be the Demon Sword's true body."
"Your kids? Ah."
They briefly wondered who he meant by "our kids."
Even after watching him chat with the Demon Swords up close moments ago.
"...Hero, is there no chance your children are lying?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean—the Demon Sword."
Their eyes flickered, struggling to refocus amid the confusion.
A valiant effort to keep up.
One of the Hero's children shouted.
A Demon Sword, that is.
The violet sword. Curse.
Curse's shattering laugh mingled with Domination's screams.
Arisha and the Ash Company members' faces twisted in torment.
Curse's loaded words weighed heavy on their growing doubts.
Demon Swords.
Their ultimate goal: reunite with the true body for full revival.
But if the body was exposed and destroyed, they'd lose purpose.
For instance.
A Demon Sword leaking info on its body was suicidal.
Could they trust such behavior?
"Hero. Please forgive us... We don't doubt you, but we can't rule out the Demon Swords deceiving—"
A beastly voice cut the fanatic short urgently.
"Y-Yes...!!! Beast!!! Good boy!!! Keep stirring their confusion!!!"
Out of their sight, the woman in black carefully gathered her flowing dark hair.
She sidelong-glanced at a certain man.
Her eyes mixed hope and anxiety.
"..."
Sensing her intent dimly, Rishir nodded.
"You all have a point. Demon Swords... Night of Blades—the shards of ancient evil—helping destroy their own body? Unthinkable normally."
The woman in black bowed her head.
Why?
Had she slipped up without realizing?
"But her words are trustworthy. From what I've felt, she's no ordinary Demon Sword."
The woman brightened.
No.
He still saw her as a "useful tool."
The woman in black thrilled at the fact.
Beast added the last part softly.
Like a favorite lyric from a song.
The two Demon Swords saw it clearly.
The woman in black's face right now.
She was thrilled, drunk on the moment.
Teaming with the Holy Sword's master to corner fellow Demon Swords!
It utterly crushed their reason.
Frantic Domination, scheming Curse—
Both turned to condemn Beast.
The effect was minimal.
Beast pitied them sincerely, acting superior.
The effect was tremendous.
Dominion laughed insanely; Curse spewed vulgar curses, eyes rolling.
Complete loss of reason.
Lest he get the wrong idea about her brothers!
Beast began spilling info.
Like a maid fussing over her hem under a noble's gaze.
"What did that Demon Sword just say?"
The fanatics cautiously asked the Hero.
For some reason, they no longer suspected it.
"The Demon Sword's true body. The Night of Blades—ancient supreme evil—sealed in Iphrien for some reason, I don't know."
Rishir raised the Holy Sword.
"But now that the seed of calamity has sprouted, we can't leave it."
Destruction.
Their unanimous conclusion.
"Jallak."
The Holy Sword erupted in a creepy voice and holy radiance.
The dim underground prison filled with light like noon sky.
"So this is the Hero..."
Ignoring someone's awe, the Hero swung.
Its gleaming arc seemed to cleave any darkness.
The strike flew at the Dark Knight.
Targeting the gap between helm and armor precisely.
Clang!
"...!!!"
That instant.
Sparks flew.
Just before the Holy Sword pierced the gap.
The Dark Knight subtly shifted, deflecting with its pauldron.
"As expected—"
Arisha and the fanatics braced instantly.
They'd never thought it'd be that easy.
The Dark Knight.
Sensing peril, it counterattacked—
"...Huh?"
It didn't.
The Dark Knight deflected the Holy Sword.
And—that was it.
It just stood there.
"..."
The Hero stayed vigilant.
More cautiously, more precisely, he swung again.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!!!
...
"Hah... Hah..."
Rishir panted heavily.
A faint metallic tang in his breath.
Even fully channeling the Holy Sword's power, overload was setting in.
Thus.
Rishir threw everything at the Dark Knight.
Basic slashes, assassination blades, even Demon Sword arts.
The Dark Knight blocked it all.
With transcendent physique and instinctual motion.
Ah.
Now I get why they sealed it instead of destroying.
Rishir and the others felt that briefly.
"Little one—no, Hero. Let me step in."
"Ah! Lady Arisha—please, I beg you."
Finally, the Star of Defiance entered the fray.
Boom!
The ground quaked.
No hesitation.
The giant's heir charged at full power with destructive momentum.
Boom!
Earth split, walls crumbled under her mass.
At this rate, Ash's massive central building in Iphrien would collapse from the basement up.
"Lady Arisha!!!"
"...Tch—"
Arisha had to halt.
After that, suppressing the Dark Knight grew more refined.
Knowing defense was its only option left no qualms.
Arisha, fanatics, Hero.
Everyone piled on to subdue it.
Time passed—
And they reached one conclusion.
Wow.
How the hell did they seal this?
They felt infinite respect for the ancient heroes who sealed the Night of Blades.
Afterward.
Rishir's group decided to haul Domination's Demon Sword and the Dark Knight back first.
Transporting a Demon Sword and the Night of Blades' flesh.
Normally a city-scale operation.
But thanks to the Hero, it was surprisingly smooth.
Demon Sword?
Hero just picks it up.
Dark Knight?
"Follow!"
Hero commands, it obeys.
Their awe, briefly elsewhere, refocused on the Hero.
Half-jokingly, they suggested.
"Why not... order it?"
"Order it?"
"Yes. To self-destruct."
"..."
Rishir nodded.
Brilliant idea, that.
He tried immediately.
"End yourself with this."
Rishir gripped the Holy Sword two-handed, offering the blade.
"..."
No reaction from the Dark Knight.
"Figures... Not that easy..."
Rishir scratched his head vigorously.
Frustrated, he consulted Beast.
"Then how? No way to destroy it?"
Curse cheered at Beast's words.
Someone enters it.
And who that "someone" was? Crystal clear.
"N-No!!!"
The Ash Company freaked out in unison.
"If that abomination regains its ego and powers—"
Even Arisha recoiled.
No matter what, Dark Knight and Demon Sword mustn't unite.
Even if that Demon Sword was the utterly loyal Beast to the Hero.
Even she said the same.
"Then what the hell do we do with it..."
The situation teetered back into darkness like the prison depths.
A grayish fireball appeared boldly.
The Hero's spirit.
The fanatics voiced concern immediately.
"Hero! Even a mighty spirit might not keep its ego inside that thing...!!!"
Rishir eyed the spirit(?) and Dark Knight alternately, then said.
"...No. Not for this spirit(?). It'll be fine."
And so.
He decided.
"..."
The Dark Knight's state was growing odd.
Its gaze.
Like one of dissatisfaction.
Why delay the union?
Who knew what it'd do if stalled longer.
They needed swift action.
"I'm counting on you, Dangaleon."
The grayish fireball slipped into the Dark Knight's armor gap.
"Huh? Wait—Dangaleon?"
Then.
A fanatic muttered.
Blazing black flames: Dangaleon.
One of Ash's great nemeses—that horrific demon's name.
"W-Wait...!!! Hero, that fireball just now—was it—"
"No!!! Stop it now—"
Danil and the fanatics panicked, lunging at the Dark Knight.
Too late.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted from the Dark Knight's eyes.
Soon.
Its body twitched faintly.
Like a newborn fawn tossed into the world.
Or writhing in ecstasy.
"Kuh—kuhuhu—kuhahaha—kuhahahahaha!!!"
"Ugh...!"
Ash Company members clutched ears, crouching.
The Dark Knight's mad laughter.
Its presence crushed them.
At last.
The Dark Knight spread its arms wide, exulting.
"Yes, this!!! A body! Flesh!!! How long I've craved this, awaited this day!!!"
"Ahh...!"
The sight left Ash Company sighing in despair.
"What have we done..."
Blazing black flames: Dangaleon.
The calamity's blaze reborn in supreme flesh.
Its task was set.
"Ah, seeing it like this stirs deep emotions...!!! Surely you'll understand my ideals!!!"
It approached the Hero without delay.
And—
It dropped to one knee.
Like a knight receiving dubbing.
Awkward yet dignified, practiced endlessly in its mind.
"Uh, uh. Yeah."
Rishir, swept up, placed the Holy Sword on its shoulder.
"Kraaaagh!!! What pinnacle of ecstasy!!!"
The Dark Knight seized the blade's tip and thrust it into its own neck.
Crunch.
The bond severed; the empty dark armor scattered on the floor.
The fanatics calmly assessed the situation.
As objectively as possible.
The Holy Sword's master defeats evil with Demon Sword and demon aid.
"What the..."
This is fucked.
Someone muttered blankly.
The fanatics' world crumbled moment by moment.