Chapter 308
Chapter 308
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 308
Chapter Title: What the Stars Desire (1)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Human pride had reached death itself.
Beneath where death had departed the snowy plain, the overwhelming pressure that had crushed the area vanished. Rak exhaled the breath he'd been holding unconsciously. With each breath, his mind grew fainter.
He had used a technique ill-suited to his body.
Even with the holy sword's protection, he'd been swept up in the aftermath of death's swung blade. His entire body creaked in protest.
Perhaps because of that, his eyes kept trying to close.
Even amid the crashing fatigue, Rak refused to shut his eyes. He held his head high, gazing at the lone swordsman standing on the snowy plain.
The strongest hero, Kyle Toven.
Rak watched the sword he wielded.
He had clearly seen the blade Kyle grasped—the one he himself had missed—and the technique he unleashed. The sword that moved through frozen time was bizarre, mystical, and...
'Beautiful.'
It was beautiful. Incredibly so.
A strike unleashed by a swordsman who had reached the pinnacle, staking his life on it—it was so breathtakingly beautiful that it was more than enough to captivate a boy who was still immature.
A hero's strike, truly.
Rak replayed the image in his mind over and over: the hero swinging his sword against death. Savoring that scene, Rak finally closed his eyes.
He would never forget.
He would engrave it in his mind.
And someday, he too would...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Raniel blinked vacantly.
Unable to believe the scene before her eyes, she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. After a few seconds passed like that, Raniel slowly rose to her feet.
"...Ugh."
Her broken fingers throbbed.
Her whole body creaked, and blood poured from the gashes. Leaving red spots in the snow, Raniel took stumbling steps forward.
Crunch.
After trudging for a while, she reached Kyle's side. He knelt on one knee, leaning on his sword's hilt. Staring at his back, Raniel pondered what to say before finally forcing her mouth open with effort.
"You lunatic."
Raniel muttered.
The corners of her mouth trembled uncontrollably. Holding back the laughter bubbling up, she said,
"Seriously, you lunatic."
She plopped down beside him.
"You're insane, right? A total fucking psycho?"
"...My ears are ringing. Shut up."
"See? What did I fucking tell you?"
Raniel couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
"It actually worked."
She'd had her doubts.
Raniel knew Kyle couldn't swing his sword like he used to. Over the past few years, he'd half-abandoned it. So she hadn't expected much. From the start, she'd steeled herself to bet her life on it.
"You actually pulled it off, you bastard."
But what was the result?
Raniel had seen it.
Kyle confronting death. Kyle making death bleed in the end. It wasn't a dream. The blackened snow plain proved it was real.
"You psycho. Fucking amazing bastard. Seriously, wow."
Raniel raked back her hair, laughing.
After laughing for a long while, she let out a short breath and said,
"Good job, you asshole."
She slapped Kyle's back.
A loud smack echoed. Kyle rubbed his stinging back and let out a wry chuckle.
"Your foul mouth hasn't changed."
"What."
"Just saying."
Panting, Kyle plopped down beside her.
"Kyle! Raniel!"
A voice called late from atop the cliff.
Sara descended the cliff in Remia's arms. Sara hurried so much that it seemed she might tumble, stopping in front of Kyle.
"Are you okay? Your eye, your eye!"
"This much will heal quick. Worry about...
Kyle pointed at Raniel.
...her first. She's in worse shape than me."
"...I'm fine."
"Don't play tough. You're drained of mana, struggling to breathe, and you talk big."
"Ow!"
Kyle grabbed the back of Raniel's neck and planted her in front of Sara. Raniel grumbled but extended her hand, and Sara began aligning her bones and casting holy spells.
"Painkiller, give me a fucking painkiller...!"
"Oh, right."
As Raniel screamed, Kyle looked up at the sky. What filled his vision was the sky death's blade had split.
The torn sky was mending.
The stars, slowly returning to their places, gazed down at him. As if demanding he fulfill the contract.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The stars began to shine on Kyle.
The severed contract was realigning. If he raised his hand, starlight gathered in his palm, forming the shape of a sword.
If he gripped it tight, the holy sword would appear.
Grasping the holy sword would heal his wounds in an instant, and with Sara's help, even his lost eye could be restored. But Kyle didn't. Without taking the holy sword, he rose to his feet.
Staggering, he stood on the blackened snow.
Then he reached out, scooping up a handful of snow stained with death's blood. He pressed it into his ruined eye socket. As if obstructing the healing.
"Kyle...!"
"Hey, what the hell are you...!"
Raniel and Sara shouted, rushing toward him. Kyle held out a hand to stop them, slowly opening his mouth.
"One eye is enough. I don't need an eye made of starlight."
"What does that...
"Ganikalt van Galatric faced the Demon King with one eye. I'm just following suit. At least this remaining eye is fully mine."
Sara couldn't comprehend the words.
But Raniel did. Her eyes shook. Kyle looked at her and chuckled wryly.
"You saw it too, huh."
"...How did you?"
"Who knows. Looks like that ancient elf made a mistake."
He remembered everything.
Why he could contract with the stars.
Even why he'd chosen this path—everything.
'Must've unconsciously followed the lingering memories.'
The contract the great sage had made.
Kyle had imitated it. He'd requested the same from the stars, and they imposed a trial upon him. Recalling the trial, Kyle smiled faintly.
'...I've barely reached the starting line.'
He could now mimic a hero's strike.
He was gathering starlight to carve his path.
Recalling the contract he'd made that day with the stars, Kyle exhaled shortly. Even realizing he'd walked the wrong path, what he had to do hadn't changed.
Only the process to the end had shifted a bit.
"Sara."
Kyle called her name.
Sara nodded slowly. Kyle's aura was different from usual. Noticing that, she narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
"Thanks. You helped a lot."
"...Huh?"
"Is the gratitude too late? Yeah, sorry about that."
"N-no, suddenly?"
"Felt like now was the time."
Kyle smiled awkwardly.
Sara panicked at that smile she hadn't seen in ages. Blinking, she approached and began checking his body all over.
"Kyle, are you hurt somewhere?"
"No, I'm better than ever. More normal than I've been in a while."
Letting Sara fuss over his arm, Kyle looked at Raniel. Though her appearance had changed drastically, those sharp blue eyes remained the same.
"......"
Cold, chilling eyes that seemed to pierce everything. After staring silently, Raniel slowly spoke.
"Kyle, you."
She looked straight at him.
"Did you make a subservience contract or something?"
"The Hero is free from all mental spells. You know that."
"Don't dodge, bastard."
Raniel glared at him.
"There's a being that could force something like that."
She pointed at the sky.
"With the stars? A subservience contract."
Can't avoid it, huh.
After showing this, it was natural she'd notice. Kyle gave a bitter smile at his old friend, who was too perceptive for her own good.
"And if I did?"
"Since when... Never mind. Fine."
Raniel irritably tousled her hair and snapped at him.
"What'd you gain from it?"
Straight to the point.
"Putting even control of your mind and body on the scales—what were you after? You didn't get duped by the stars, did you?"
Kyle gave no answer.
He just smiled bitterly and looked up at the sky.
The stars had returned to their places. His hand moved on its own, grasping at empty air. The holy sword appeared, and his body began to heal.
"Dunno... Doesn't seem like I got duped."
But the empty eye socket didn't fill. Kyle blinked slowly. Though starlight enveloped him, his mind didn't blur like before. The world through one eye remained sharp.
Kyle Toven had become a superhuman.
The stars could no longer fully dominate his mind. The will of a human who had ascended fought back. Resisting, Kyle continued,
"I can achieve what I desire."
Muttering that, he looked at the girl.
The girl he'd never thought was Raniel.
Raniel doesn't change. Raniel has no weaknesses. Raniel is always perfect. So he'd thought that girl wasn't her.
'But...'
It was his delusion.
She's human too, so she changes.
The one he'd idolized had changed as well. Everything changes. Nothing is eternal. That's why humans struggle to live.
Kyle saw the imperfect Raniel van Trias.
He saw his broken old friend because of him.
Kyle's heart hadn't changed.
He had to take responsibility, no matter the direction. Kyle smiled bitterly. Now he regretted it too. Why hadn't he realized sooner?
That was the moment.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Fulfill the contract.] Starlight tore through the air.
With the contract not properly upheld, the stars moved their most powerful apostle. To forcibly execute it.
Crack.
Space split.
Just like death's blade had.
The rift took the form of a door. It opened, and the executor set foot on the snowy plain.
"What a nuisance you are."
A platinum robe fluttered.
Embroidered with a dragon emblem. Everyone present recognized him. Raniel's eyes widened as she muttered,
"...The Ancient Dragon Mage?"
Yormun van Draconic.
The Ancient Dragon Mage had appeared on the snowy plain.
"Indeed, it's been a while. Raniel van Trias."
And Yormun.
"And the stubborn contractor as well."
Thumped his staff against the snow.
The excess circuits Raniel had already expended—ones that shouldn't activate again—fired on their own. Surging chains bound Kyle's body, forcing him to his knees.
"Fate is to be upheld, and contracts exist to be fulfilled. That was the condition, which you accepted. Isn't that right? Kyle Toven."
He approached the kneeling Kyle.
Aimed his staff at Kyle's forehead.
"Fulfill the contract. Or be disposed of."
The Ancient Dragon Mage was expressionless.
No trace of his usual playfulness.
Standing here was the stars' proxy—a perfect god (?) descended to this world.
And.
"Bullshit."
A foul-tempered mage who bristles at gods ignores divine tyranny. With a grip, Raniel seized the staff Yormun aimed at Kyle.
"Showing up after it's all over? 'Fulfill the contract'?"
Raniel sneered.
"Trying to screw us over, you fucks."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
She had already sacrificed ten fingers.
Arms, legs—she'd given everything she could.
Yet she couldn't stop it.
"......Ah."
Slumped on the ground, Belnoa stared blankly around. Chaos. Hell unfolded. Knights' corpses littered the floor. Ghouls devoured their flesh, swarming everywhere.
Lifting her head, a curse dragon beat its wings in the sky.
Belnoa bowed her head with a thud.
Before her lay Chloe, collapsed and bleeding. Blood flowed endlessly from Chloe's body. Embracing her, Belnoa screamed.
Hell.
Hell had unfolded.
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