Chapter 343
Chapter 343
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 343
Chapter Title: ■■ ■■ (4)
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The Sword of Defying Heaven (?).
Hundreds of years ago, a single swordsman forged this bizarre sword technique, its essence lying in defying the heavens. A blade that transcends all the rules, laws, and providences etched into this land by the heavens themselves—a sword from beyond the world.
A sword that defies providence.
If a human body cannot escape providence, yet it must be escaped at all costs... then I shall slice through providence itself with a single blade. With that resolve, the first Hero succeeded in cleaving the heavens.
He stripped the Demon King of his kingly authority.
And now, hundreds of years later, the Sword of Defying Heaven has been recreated by a single swordsman who inherited Ganikalt's will. Of course, it's not exactly the same sword. This is Kyle's sword, drawn in Kyle's own way.
Shwaaaaaack!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Trial overcome confirmed.] [Contract established.] [I shall fulfill the promised contents.] The shadow draped over the sky lifted.
The wave of curses surging forward crumbled under the blade. Amid the light pouring from the cleared sky, Kyle beheld what he had sliced away.
The first Hero, Ganikalt van Galatric.
He had dragged a perfect god down to imperfection.
What had he, the successor worthy of being called a hero, sliced away? Kyle knew the answer immediately. What he had severed was the god's immortality. The justification for the god's existence on this land.
"The stars only show the path."
"In the end, you must not trust the stars."
"Only yourself."
Recalling those words, Kyle swung his sword.
He had no need for a god.
A god was merely a push from behind; the decisions had to be made by his own hand. Realizing this only at the final moment, Kyle poured his life into his blade and swung.
And this was the result.
The Demon King had lost his immortality and his justification.
With the foundation of his existence shaken, the god had fallen beyond imperfection into monstrosity.
Now, it was a being that could be cut, burned by fire, and killed. It was undoubtedly an achievement worthy of the name. Kyle slowly raised his head to gaze at the sky, still in the pose of his swing.
The revealed sky, free of shadow.
A star twinkled above.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [......] [...Hero, Kyle Toben.] [My respects to the human who severed the shadow.] A stiff, emotionless voice, just as always.
But.
After a brief pause, a sound like a woman swallowing her breath echoed in Kyle's ears. A voice barely squeezed out after gulping and clearing her throat.
For some reason, it resembled the voice of Raniel from the future. Kyle let out a smirk.
...So even after becoming a god from the future, this is possible, huh. Kyle chuckled and lowered his head.
A single word squeezed out by that guy watching from afar brought a smile to Kyle's face. In her world, he must have surely failed. But here, he had succeeded in felling the Demon King.
'I don't know how much has changed, but...'
The future she knew must have changed with this.
Could this be the trigger for her to rise? Kyle believed it would. Humans can rise even from the smallest things.
"...Haha."
Kyle burst into laughter.
Lighter than ever, clearer than ever.
He had recreated the hero's strike of his dreams.
He had shown a cool side to the girl who liked him. He had achieved the feat he had turned away from and proven another possibility to the one from the future.
'Not bad...'
Standing at the end of the road, Kyle looked back.
The hazy white path was fading away.
Though fading, reading its shape, Kyle smiled bitterly. It wasn't a perfect path. Nor a noble one. But even so, surely...
'Not a bad life.'
The one regret was not apologizing to her. But isn't leaving one lingering regret what life is? Thinking like an old man facing the end of his life, Kyle slowly exhaled.
...It was a strike that gave everything.
He had poured both the path he had walked and the one ahead into that single blow. He had staked his entire life on one sword path.
Past. Present. Future.
Having swung with all that at stake, Kyle now was no different from an empty vessel. Nothing remained for Kyle.
'...Is that so.'
Kyle exhaled what would be his last breath.
'Is this my end.'
The boy who dreamed of being a hero became a young man.
In his final moment, he achieved a feat.
...The man who achieved the feat became a hero.
And, as in most fairy tales.
A hero's end is rarely a beautiful one.
Clang.
The sword Kyle held fell to the ground.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The Goddess of Ashes bowed her head.
Confirming Kyle's end, Raniel bowed her head as well. Her shoulders trembled faintly. From her quivering lips leaked words that weren't quite words—something like a groan, like a scream.
"Ugh... hngh..."
Swallowing her flowing tears and rubbing her face with her tattered sleeves, Raniel let out a suppressed breath.
'...For real.'
You crazy bastard.
Really, you crazy bastard.
You actually pulled it off in the end.
Kyle Toben had succeeded in felling the Demon King. It was different from the past Raniel had to endure. This Kyle had unleashed a perfect strike, his blade touching the Demon King's essence.
As one who had become a god, she knew.
How incredible the swordsmanship Kyle had displayed was, how much the Demon King slashed by that blade would lose—Raniel could see it all.
Kyle Toben had achieved a feat.
Unlike the past, he had inherited the Sword of Defying Heaven.
To Raniel, that fact held another meaning. Between success and failure lay only one event.
"Leave me to die."
"Is it worth saving me this much? Just... just let me die."
Recalling the tirade she had unleashed on Kyle that day, here, Raniel bit her lip. She had imagined it countless times, but the moment it became reality, she felt even greater disgust toward herself.
...Still, it's a relief.
That the same future as mine hasn't come.
"...If only I could think that way."
Raniel muttered hollowly.
"In the end."
An empty laugh hung on her lips.
It had changed from the past, yes. But Raniel knew all too well that the future couldn't be so easily altered.
"In the end..."
Raniel muttered in a powerless voice.
"In the end, it turns out like this."
Kyle was dead.
But no rest would be granted to Kyle.
Raniel slowly raised her head. With hollow eyes, she gazed at the wasteland. Recalling the past as she stared, Raniel muttered in a parched voice.
"Another disaster is born."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "He really did it..."
Sara's eyes widened round.
Sara had seen it. Kyle's sword slicing through the shadow that blanketed the sky. Actually cleaving that indescribable existence... Sara had seen it.
The formless shadow flowed down.
The shadowed sky cleared.
Thus, beams of light illuminated the ruins of a kingdom destroyed centuries ago and the wasteland overgrown with black grass. Feeling the star's gaze upon her, Sara covered her mouth.
You really did it.
You pulled it off after all.
Sara staggered toward Kyle. After a few steps, she broke into a run. Calling Kyle's name, Sara ran.
"Kyle!"
Sara laughed with joy.
Kyle had achieved a feat and become a hero. The very hero Kyle had so desperately wanted to be. Sara felt joy that Kyle had fulfilled his dream—and that she had been by his side. Smiling brightly, Sara ran.
But.
"Ka...yle?"
Her steps didn't last long.
The closer she got to Kyle, the more anxiety Sara felt. It was a familiar unease. Sara, who had saved countless people, had also failed to save just as many. Having witnessed life and death innumerable times, Sara's instincts screamed.
"Kyle."
The man before her.
"Kyle, say something. Kyle."
Kyle Toben was dead.
"Kyle!"
Sara grabbed the arm of Kyle, frozen in his sword swing. The rigidly stiffened arm wouldn't lower. Only the sword that should have been in his hand lay on the ground.
Sara examined Kyle's body.
She looked into his closed eyes and pressed her ear to his heart, which no longer beat. She didn't need to check to know Kyle was dead, but Sara continued inspecting his body.
"He's dead."
"Can't save him, not like this."
"Give up."
Usually, she would casually pronounce life and death, but not this moment. Sara poured blessings into Kyle's cooling body, even knowing it was futile.
"Don't do this."
Sara bit her lip hard.
Bowing her head, she grabbed Kyle's collar.
"...Why."
Sara's voice trembled.
Resting her forehead on Kyle's chest, she pleaded. Knowing her words wouldn't reach, knowing Kyle was already dead, Sara kept speaking.
"Why die on me, I, I..."
At that moment, as she muttered.
Kyle's body twitched.
Sara snapped her head up. Staring wide-eyed at Kyle's face.
"...Kyle?"
"Sara."
A pallid face.
A heart that still didn't beat.
A body of one already dead.
"Step back."
Yet Kyle moved.
With cracking sounds, something broke in Kyle's body. Forcing his rigid form to move, Kyle seized Sara's arm and pushed her back.
Though his flesh was dead.
Kyle's soul had not yet departed it.
"Run, Sara."
Because he knew there was still something he had to do.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
Kyle looked ahead.
The formless shadow flowing down. The Demon King, which should burn away in the light right here. Even as it burned under the star, it writhed.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 ■■■. ■■■ ■■■.
The grudge of the crumbled human.
Words incomprehensible normally, but to Kyle, standing on the boundary of life and death, the voice reached him. Kyle listened to the shadow's voice.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 [Flesh. A new vessel.]
The shed shadow took on human form.
The human that birthed the shadow approached Kyle.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 [Vessel.]
The Hero's flesh is a vessel to hold the star.
And now, the star had left Kyle's flesh.
What remained here was an empty vessel.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 [New vessel.]
And.
The god fallen to monstrosity desired a vessel.
The tip of its raised finger pointed at Kyle.
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 [Found it.]
The shadow smiled.
Surging sludge swallowed Kyle whole.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Raniel watched Kyle being swallowed by the shadow.
She knew what future would unfold after this. And she knew her second plan would come into play.
"......"
Raniel gazed at Kyle with hollow eyes.
At Kyle being swallowed by the shadow.
The Goddess of Ashes, unable to interfere with reality, could only observe. Raniel turned her gaze from the impossible. Shaking off unnecessary emotions, she rose to her feet.
In the end, it had happened.
There was no best outcome.
She had to move to avoid the worst.
Over 13 years, Raniel's psyche had shattered beyond repair. She no longer chased ideals. She moved to avert the worst rather than an uncertain best. She had lived a life of discarding and abandoning.
This time would be the same.
As long as it wasn't the same end as hers... as long as it wasn't a future where everything burned away, it would be fine. Comforting herself thus, as Raniel tried to move.
"I believe in you."
"In the end, you're Raniel van Trias."
She halted.
"The you I know is the type who rises anyway."
Her steps stopped.
"You're that kind of guy, Raniel."
Raniel looked back.
She saw Kyle being devoured by the shadow.
From that horrific scene evoking the past she endured, as she tried to avert her eyes, Raniel instead stared wide-eyed at Kyle.
It twitched.
Even as he was swallowed by the shadow, Kyle's finger moved. Seeing it, a hollow laugh escaped Raniel's lips.
"Crazy bastard."
Yeah.
"Really."
Raniel reached out her hand.
She knew it was pointless. She knew consuming her limited existence time wouldn't create a great miracle.
"Really..."
At best, moving a small object.
Paltry compared to a god's authority.
She didn't think this alone could change the future, and she knew wasting her given time wasn't rational.
Even so.
Raniel clenched her fist.
With a face on the verge of tears, she opened her mouth.
"Go, Kyle."
Clenching her fist, she muttered like the Raniel from 13 years ago. Holding an overly presumptuous hope that this might become a small variable.
Flash.
Ashes billowed up.
The rising ashes enveloped the holy sword Kyle had dropped. The sword wrapped in ashes floated before Kyle, swallowed by the shadow.
"If only I could grasp the sword." ...A god answers the wind.
"To the end, I must resist." The Goddess of Ashes answered Kyle Toben's will.
The moment he saw the sword floating before him, Kyle's eyes widened. Kyle reached out his arm and gripped the holy sword before him.
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