Chapter 300
Chapter 300
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 300
Chapter Title: Paths Crossing (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With his nasal bone fractured and blood streaming down, Kyle suddenly recalled the past. It was from quite a long time ago, a memory that wasn't exactly pleasant.
When was that again?
It must have been a few months after their first encounter with the Demon King. He couldn't remember clearly what he had been like back then, but it probably wasn't a sight worth seeing.
So that's why she had said it.
"Get up."
"I said get up."
She grabbed him by the collar, hauled him to his feet, and dragged him out of the rain-soaked tent. She flung Kyle into the mud, rolled up her sleeves, and tossed off her gloves.
"Let's go, you little shit."
Then she swung her fist straight at Kyle's face.
He had been the same back then as he was now. I'll just take a few hits until she tires herself out. If this keeps her off my back, I'll endure as many as she wants. That was probably what he had been thinking.
And that didn't last long.
Raniel was more tenacious than Kyle had anticipated, and her punches were sharper than he imagined. It wasn't until his nasal bone cracked and his lip split open, blood flowing freely, that Kyle finally started fighting back.
They traded blows for a while.
His plan to just take it easy and let it end was for naught—Kyle broke Raniel's arm and crushed her nasal bone, leaving her in the same state as him. It was only natural. She hadn't even used a single spell back then.
"Please."
Even so, Raniel clutched Kyle's collar with her broken arm and kept pummeling his face relentlessly.
"Try it. Please. Come on, you little shit. Please!"
Raniel screamed.
"If you drop your sword here, if you give up, what happens to all the people who died to save you?"
Countless knights.
"What about Uncle Kuntel?"
His mentor.
"And what about me, you little shit?"
And herself.
She yelled that they had come this far and had to see it through. To Kyle, it felt like someone screaming from far away.
"Who knows."
Maybe that's why.
"What a waste."
That's probably how he had responded back then. What expression had Raniel worn? He couldn't remember that clearly either...
"You crazy bastard."
She must have made the same face as the girl in front of him now. Kyle looked at the girl gripping his collar. Her forehead was scraped, blood trickling down.
"Listen up, asshole. I won't say this twice."
Through the strands of ash-gray hair falling over her face, blue eyes gleamed. Eyes different from hers, yet reminiscent of her.
"I'm Raniel."
"..."
"I'm Raniel van Trias."
She said she wouldn't repeat it, but she did anyway—then frustration boiled over, and Lania smashed her fist into Kyle's face one more time.
"Ugh, shit..."
What the hell was all this for?
Muttering to herself, Lania stood up. She staggered forward, brushing back her messy hair. It was a total disaster. Less an honorable duel and more a dogfight, and she couldn't even remember what happened midway through.
Still... as long as he gets it...
That was enough.
Mission accomplished. With that thought, Lania glanced at Sara. She nodded toward the barrier, and Sara sighed, extending her hand.
Just as the barrier was about to lift.
"No."
A voice came from behind.
Lania turned around.
"You're not Raniel."
Propping himself up on his elbows, Kyle looked at Lania and continued.
"You can't be Raniel."
A brief silence.
"Ha."
Lania let out a hollow laugh.
She had been about to step beyond the barrier but instead turned back toward Kyle. Her first step was light, but not the second.
Thud, thud.
Building momentum like a sprinter, Lania charged full tilt and, right in front of Kyle's face, swung her foot back before kicking forward like striking a ball.
Crack!
Lania's boot heel slammed into Kyle's face.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
After the duel ended, Sara dragged over two chairs, and the pair sat side by side. Sara grabbed Lania's chin and sighed.
"Still the same as ever, huh."
"What."
"Why do you always go so hard? You look like a noble lady, but you fight like some berserker."
"It's my body, I'll use it how I want... Aaagh!"
"Quiet."
Sara smacked Lania's scraped forehead with her palm and channeled holy power. The torn skin and broken nasal bone realigned.
"Fingers are broken too. How hard did you hit? Give them here. I'll set them."
"I can do it my... "
"Just give me your hand."
She gripped Lania's wrist firmly and began resetting the bones. Lania bit her lip and endured, but eventually couldn't hold back and screamed at Sara.
"Pain relief spell, you crazy bitch! Pain relief!"
"What happened to the girl who memorized spells with broken fingers? No whining."
"Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"
That scream was no exaggeration.
From time immemorial, Sara's bone-setting had zero consideration for the patient, delivering eye-watering agony.
"Gaaaaaaaagh!"
As Lania writhed, Kyle silently stood.
"Where are you going, Kyle?"
"I don't need healing."
Kyle clenched empty air.
Starlight gathered, and a platinum holy sword materialized in his grasp. With it, his transcendent hero regeneration kicked in once more.
All his wounds healed.
It took barely three seconds.
"Damn it. Only I suffer."
Lania clicked her tongue at the sight.
As Lania sighed in annoyance, too tired to say more, Kyle silently looked down at her.
"What're you staring at."
"..."
"Say something, you little shit."
After a brief silence, Kyle spoke.
"I don't believe everything you said."
That again?
Lania stared at him, looking exasperated. She wondered if she should unload a barrage of curses, but shut her mouth upon seeing Kyle's expression.
"But."
His gaze was different from before.
Kyle trailed off, then said,
"I can't deny it all either. I don't know. Since I don't know..."
Kyle spat it out bluntly.
"I'll wait and see. Until I'm sure."
With that, he walked away.
Lania stared at his back for a long moment, then turned to Sara.
"What the hell was that?"
"Sounds like he'll think it over."
"Why say it so complicated? Little shit's gotten all high and mighty lately."
"...Only you?"
"What?"
"Give me the other hand."
Gaaaaaaaagh! A scream echoed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Kyle felt confusion in this moment.
His mind was a mess. Convictions he once held firm were now shaken. Amid the chaos, he decided to do what he always did.
He clenched empty air.
The holy sword appeared, and he gripped its hilt tightly. His cluttered mind cleared like it had been splashed with white paint. Stray thoughts vanished.
"..."
Kyle silently gazed at the sky.
The stars shone. The stars spoke.
⚙ STAR'S MESSAGE ⚙ 【It is not far off.】 【Prepare yourselves.】 【Ready the fulfillment of the contract.】 Three sentences.
Three warnings.
"Not yet."
Kyle shook his head.
"The time has not come."
The stars fell silent.
Kyle closed his eyes, still holding the holy sword. Closing his eyes brought back the scene he had recalled countless times over the years: black rain falling from the sky, puddles of filth on the ground, otherworldly beings pooling and flowing.
Something that shouldn't exist in this world.
Something beyond providence.
Something from outside.
The lord of ten thousand demons, the Demon King (？王).
Nothing could stop it.
Not even the being chosen by an imperfect god. Only the most perfect existence standing upon this land could halt it.
The perfect being.
A being transcending humanity.
The true superhuman—Kyle had witnessed it there. He replayed that scene endlessly. In his whitened mind, that radiant light from that day took hold.
So dazzlingly brilliant.
So blindingly bright.
Kyle recalled the radiant light he could never reach. He had once envied and resented it, tormented by it—but not now. What occupied his whitened mind was no longer human longing or admiration.
If he named that fanatic obsession.
It was closer to faith (？？).
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
Raniel stood precisely at the location indicated by the prophecy.
It was a vast snowfield. She brushed back her hair whipping in the wind and let out a long breath.
One month from now, the Blade of Death would come here.
She had been granted one month, and preparing for a disaster with this much time was only the second time. Most calamities struck suddenly, without warning.
"Reminds me of the Black Dragon hunt."
Raniel muttered to herself.
She had prepared the same way back then.
With ample time, she had done everything possible before facing the Black Dragon. Over that month, she had carved circuits into the canyon.
A month-long war of attrition.
Kyle's holy sword had delivered the finishing blow, but Raniel's spells had bound the Black Dragon. How many spells had she carved then?
Over a thousand, if memory served.
So, how many circuits this time? How many to prepare, how much mana to Stock, to stop death itself?
Impossible to know.
No way to know.
Whether spells would even work against death was uncertain. But what Raniel had to do remained unchanged. As always, she rolled up her sleeves and muttered.
"Guess I'll just hammer in everything I've got."
She would stake it all.
Do everything she could.
Mages get trickier the more prep time they have anyway...
She would be as tricky as possible.
Raniel surveyed her surroundings.
The pristine white snowfield was a blank canvas to her eyes. On this endless canvas, she would now paint. A grand masterpiece capable of halting even death.
Time given: one month.
What to stop: death.
Clear deadline and goal.
With those set, it was time to begin. Letting out a short breath, Raniel started work. First, clean the canvas.
"Ashes to ashes." ⟨ Dust to Dust ⟩
On the first night, the snow vanished from the Kenel Snowfield.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...What is all this?"
"What else? Prep work."
Sara blinked in bewilderment.
The snowfield where blizzards raged day and night was spotless here. Layers of perennial snow had been swept away, revealing frozen earth.
Raniel was carving something into that ground.
Clutching a staff she rarely used, she drew patterns on the earth. Once complete, she poured mana potions into them. Sara had no idea what she was doing.
But...
Celi Dvella, the master of the White Mage Tower, who had come to supply mana potions, could roughly make it out.
"...Building a mage tower or something?"
Celi Dvella muttered.
When erecting a mage tower, circuits were carved into its walls, turning it into a fortress. What Raniel was doing looked much the same to her.
Work for dozens of high mages.
Linking circuits endlessly, making the tower impregnable. Now, one mage was doing it on frozen ground as her canvas.
"Different."
Raniel replied.
"Mage towers are mostly defensive circuits. What I'm doing here is a different direction."
She tapped a circuit with her toe.
"If shit hits the fan, blow it all to hell."
"...Blow up what?"
"What do you think?"
Raniel grinned.
A chilling smile.