Chapter 214
Chapter 214
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 214
Chapter Title: Traces Left by the Catastrophe (1)
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Kyle had made a contract with the star.
Cardi had said it plainly, and it was the first I'd heard of it. The vague unease I'd always felt around Kyle was undoubtedly tied to this contract, my instincts told me in no uncertain terms.
"Tell me more."
I asked, and Cardi let out a short breath before speaking.
"...I couldn't read the details. Contracts with stars are generally finicky and secretive by nature."
But, Cardi added, touching the corner of his eye.
"After centuries bound by a star's contract myself, certain things started catching my eye."
His beast-like pupils gleamed gold.
"The core of the contract is simple. And its essence... resembles the one I made."
"...Resembles it?"
"Transferring the star into another object."
Pouring starlight—meant to dwell in flesh and soul—into something else. That's how Cardi put it.
"You've seen related artifacts yourself, haven't you? One's probably in your hands right now."
I nodded slowly.
The first thing that came to mind was Ganikalt's holy sword, embedded in the northern sanctuary.
"...The first saintess's arm, and Ganikalt's holy sword in the sanctuary."
"Right. His is closer to the latter."
"Closer...?"
"He's transferred the starlight into his own holy sword. He kept fiddling with the hilt, so I looked at the blade... and there it was, pooled inside. Excessively so."
I furrowed my brow.
"Putting it in a holy sword—what's the point?"
"Two meanings."
Cardi held up two fingers.
"To cut what cannot be cut."
Or.
"For the one who comes next."
For the next one.
In other words.
'For someone to replace him.'
I fell silent at those words. I had no choice. It was a choice Kyle would never make.
The greatest hero.
I'd talked with Kyle about it once.
About the goals we each pursued, and back then, he'd answered clearly.
The hero who represents all heroes.
I want to go down in every history book as the strongest hero. Since I've become one, after all.
I remember Kyle saying that as he toyed with his holy sword. It was sincere, unfeigned. And it wasn't the only time he'd voiced such thoughts.
A being no one can replace.
Not something that exists everywhere, replaceable by anyone—a special existence.
To old man Kuntel, when asked about his goals.
To the Knight Commander, inquiring about his dreams.
The truth is, Raniel...
And then.
Even by the campfire that night after slaying the black dragon.
I've always envied you.
He'd said it to me.
There are beings who can replace me. When I die, another hero will be chosen. I was special because the star chose me, but that's not a uniqueness only I possess.
That he wasn't special.
That he was just someone replaceable.
But you're different. You're not.
No one can imitate you. No one can replace you. You're more special than me. Sometimes I wondered why the star chose me instead of you.
And so.
I wanted to become like you, Raniel.
He longed to be irreplaceable.
And today, I finally feel like I've caught up to you. I sensed it the moment I severed the black dragon's neck. That I, too, could become a special existence like you.
A bitter smile.
Yet somehow pleased, too.
It feels like I've taken a step closer to my dream.
Kyle had shared his dream with me.
Because I remembered it.
Because I remembered the words he'd spoken.
"...To cut what cannot be cut."
I wanted to believe the former possibility more.
"Raniel."
Cardi's eyes narrowed.
"You know it too, but judging by his attitude... it's more the latter."
"I just want to believe that."
I let out a short sigh.
"Honestly, it doesn't matter if it's the latter. Kinda fascinating, even."
"...What do you mean?"
"That he even thought that far. Sure, it's just passing the buck, but he didn't chuck it straight into the gutter."
At least he'd given some thought to it.
"Fucking asshole."
I gave a wry smile.
2.
On the way out of the church basement toward the surface.
Cardi glanced back. Raniel, lost in thought, was climbing the half-destroyed stairs.
...She won't ask more.
If she had, it would've been hard to answer.
Cardi hadn't told Raniel everything. The contract he'd glimpsed in Kyle went beyond merely infusing the holy sword with starlight.
There was something else.
And its essence was far too similar to his own first contract. He couldn't reveal it to Raniel, who hadn't yet reached the first truth.
It's not simply left for the 'next' one.
Not for some successor...
"......"
Cardi gazed silently at Raniel.
"What? Why?"
Raniel blinked, rubbing her chin.
Cardi quickly looked away and shook his head.
"Nothing. Let's keep going."
Coincidence, or inevitability.
It was still too soon to tell.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The western district where Delorhim's main church stood.
In the area littered with monster corpses, Raniel stretched lazily and spoke.
"Got the holy grail already, so where to next?"
As if in answer, Cardi raised his arm.
His fingertip pointed to a certain wall, visible even from here.
"See that?"
"The crumbled wall?"
"Yeah. That's our destination."
"What's there?"
Cardi pondered briefly.
There were countless names for that wall.
The most impregnable wall.
Ganikalt, the first Sword Saint and Knight Commander.
Because he'd defended it, it was called the most impregnable wall. Impenetrable by any, not even daring to be challenged.
Thus, humanity's final bastion.
Some called it Arcadia's pride.
Others, blessed by the saintess, dubbed it holy ground.
But now, it's nothing.
Forgotten by all, crumbled, cursed.
No longer impregnable, proud, or sacred. Thinking of the wall, Cardi murmured.
"...The Wall of Despair."
"Doesn't sound like a fitting name for a wall."
"You'll get it when we get there."
Cardi took the lead.
"Beyond that wall was Arcadia's capital. The heart of it all."
"Why the heart?"
"To show you the second truth."
Arcadia's capital.
The royal castle that once stood there.
Now reduced to ruins.
"That's the mark of my failure."
With bitterness in his voice, Cardi turned back.
"The nightmare I had to face because I chose the lesser evil over the best. It remains there, untouched even by centuries."
Gazing at the mage who resembled him, Cardi continued.
"Maybe it's the ending you were meant to face. See it, and it'll all make sense."
"...Something to do with the Demon King?"
"Who knows."
Cardi smiled wryly.
"In Arcadia, it's harder to find something unrelated to the Demon King. Everything's connected."
To the very depths.
"Let's go."
Cardi faced forward again.
The wall was still far; it would take time to reach. After walking silently for a while, Raniel suddenly looked up at the approaching wall.
A wall visible from afar.
Its colossal scale defied measurement; it didn't seem like something that could crumble easily. Yet even this was mere rubble from what had already fallen.
"Cardi."
Gazing at the wall, Raniel spoke.
"...You said Ganikalt broke that wall?"
"Yeah. With a swing of his sword."
Sundering a wall that size with a blade.
An act seemingly impossible even with magic, achieved with a single sword. Raniel wasn't particularly shocked.
With a monster like that... anything's possible.
A monster who toppled canyons with a swing and felled hundreds of knights. Raniel knew better than to judge such an outlier by common sense.
"...You somehow survived him."
Every time she recalled facing death's blade, Raniel thought that.
Not fighting back—surviving.
Facing Ganikalt meant that.
Death taking form and lunging. That was her perception of him... but.
My sword exists for humanity.
The memory from the northern tower.
Recalling the first hero's flawless form, she couldn't reduce Ganikalt to a single phrase.
"......"
Raniel's gaze shifted to Cardi leading the way. The first hero's comrade, the great sage who'd watched him closest.
"Hey, Cardi."
"What?"
"...What was Ganikalt like as a hero?"
She asked, looking at him.
The answer came promptly.
"A guy you wouldn't believe was human."
Cardi continued walking as he spoke.
"Before hero, he was superhuman. Before superhuman, a swordsman. Immense pride in the sword. And he had the skill to back it."
The first Sword Saint.
A knight and swordsman who'd pursued the sword's zenith.
"Even the strongest elf swordsman, with over three thousand years of life, couldn't claim victory against him. Three millennia crushed by a human's mere thirty."
Cardi let out a faint chuckle.
Those memories were still vivid. The arrogant elf debating sword pride and human frailty before Ganikalt... only to yield to human steel. Quite the sight.
"Perfect before becoming a hero, and after... absurd."
"Absurd?"
"Just imagine."
Cardi shrugged.
"The guy who hacked off dragon necks with a plain iron longsword, now wielding a holy sword that cuts anything."
"Oh..."
Raniel let out a short gasp of admiration.
Her expression was oddly enigmatic, as if struggling to picture it. Cardi's wry smile was followed by a sigh.
"...And."
The wall drew nearer.
"He had convictions as unyielding as his skill. Never bending."
Rubble from the crumbled wall entered view.
"The sword must swing for someone. A purposeless blade has no value. Only with righteous conviction does it shine most beautifully."
Ganikalt's constant refrain.
"My sword exists for humanity."
Reciting them one by one, Cardi pressed on. The wall loomed, and rotting corpses began appearing.
"He wasn't a hero because the star chose him. He became one by wielding the sword for humanity. Thus, everyone on the battlefield is a hero."
Proud knight.
Model for all knights.
Admired and respected by every Knight Commander.
My sword is the sword that guards humanity.
Cardi's steps halted.
"That's why."
A wasteland of corpses.
Armored, they were soldiers; refusing to release their swords to the end, knights. In this plain of knightly remains, Cardi slowly raised his head.
"No one imagined it."
His gaze met the wall.
"That the wall humanity guarded would fall by the hand of its own Knight Commander."
Even in ruin, the wall's majesty endured.
Crane your neck for ages to glimpse its top—this colossal structure was but half.
Crumpled, split, shattered.
A wall that ultimately meant nothing, now bearing only the scars of catastrophe.
3.
"No next?"
Knight corpses.
The plain choked with the stench of blood.
"No next?"
Death stands there.
Death questions humanity. No human answers. All are dead. In the ensuing silence, death raises its head.
Twice or thrice a human's height.
A colossal arm of woven bone.
Knights atop the wall hold their breath watching it. Death is there. Death approaches in clear form.
Death's Blade.
Death's Blade, Ganikalt.
Humanity, forgetting heroes, finds no sanctity in the name. Once their idol, now it evokes sheer terror.
Terror stirs as death moves.
Too grotesque for human, gripping a sword larger than itself, he eyes the wall. Once guarded by his hand, now to be shattered by it.
Rumble.
The greatsword's tip drags the ground.
The human spine coiled around his freakish right arm writhes like a tentacle. Raised, the blade levels with the earth.
A stance for swinging.
This being, who slew hundreds with casual sweeps, now properly grips his sword.
Shing.
Death moves.
The blade in death's grasp moves.
Like a guillotine.
...Ganikalt van Galatrick is the first Sword Saint.
Fallen or not.
Corrupted or not.
Humanity forsaken or not.
He pursued the sword's ultimate pinnacle, mastering every realm possible. His blade never dulls. His achievements never fade into shadow.
Thus, corruption is tragedy.
Once a hero, the wall's guardian Knight Commander swings at his own symbol. The greatsword cleaves air, tracing a single line.
One swing.
One gust.
The wind carries rot.
Slash.
The cutting sound is quiet. But ferocity follows silence. The distant swing's tip reaches the wall. A logic-defying slash etches a line on the bastion.
And everything crumbles.
Kraka-ka-ka-kang!
The wall shakes. Stoutly mortared bricks collapse. Layered protective spells mean nothing before the all-cleaving sword.
Swept away. Toppled. Unblockable.
One strike fells the 'final wall.' Plummeting knights with it sense it: unstoppable, unopposable—hence, catastrophe.
In terror, knights meet death.
And one watches it all in vain. Bloodied, staggering to the wall, the great sage eyes his comrade.
A being advancing with death in tow.
Born not to protect, but destroy. Cardi feels despair. No strength left to bar its path.
Black dragon's roar.
Human screams.
Ganikalt's footsteps.
Endless crumbling echoes in Cardi's ears. He closes his eyes. Ages flow... and the ancient elf returns before Arcadia's wall.
"Keep going."
"...Yeah."
Traces left by the catastrophe.
Crossing them, they entered beyond the wall.