Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Side Story, The Apostate (Complete)
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Death's Blade, Ganikalt.
Kyle gazed upon the calamity standing before him. It was a skeleton woven from human bones and those of beasts. The bones didn't form a complete shape. They protruded unnaturally. It wasn't a single skeleton. Dozens were jumbled together.
Beast bones, human bones, demon bones.
The grotesque skeleton was a mismatched mess. It lacked any sense of balance.
Ganikalt moved its limp right arm.
The greatsword dragged across the ground with a low rumble.
The right arm clutching the hole-riddled greatsword was grotesquely swollen.
It wasn't a human arm. A human spine wrapped around an arm with six fingers. In contrast to the massive right arm, the left was slender. Unlike the beastly right, the left resembled a human's.
"......"
Kyle looked up.
It was a giant tall enough that he had to crane his neck to see its face. Death's Blade, Ganikalt, hid its visage behind tattered rags. Kyle narrowed his eyes. Through the rags, he glimpsed a helmet. It was damaged. Half of it was shattered.
'Black pupils.'
From within the broken helmet, black eyes gleamed.
Abyssal black pupils stared at Kyle.
"You."
It spoke.
"Don't you wield a sword?"
Kyle glanced at the holy sword he'd once lost.
Late, voices came from behind. Knights who had noticed the beast's disappearance were rushing toward him.
'No, stop...'
The words wouldn't come.
Kyle turned his head. Knights were charging straight at him.
Whoosh.
The greatsword swept across the plain.
Its tip didn't aim for Kyle. A wind blew. It carried the stench of rot.
"...Ah."
Slash.
The knights charging toward Kyle tumbled over.
They died with throats slit, not even a death rattle escaping. One swing mowed them down.
It was different from when they'd charged the armored dragon.
This death was meaningless.
Blood sprayed. Death filled the plain.
"I ask you."
Death called to Kyle.
Death was impartial before all.
"Don't you wield a sword?"
Trembling in fear, Kyle reached for the holy sword. He stumbled back, grasping the hilt.
No glow lit his eyes.
No starlight filled the holy sword.
It was something he'd never experienced. Kyle gritted his teeth and readjusted his grip on the holy sword.
'Why.'
Even as he did, death drew near.
'Why won't the light come? Why?'
Kyle looked up.
Death was already upon him. Death raised its sword.
Kyle sensed his end.
The death he faced was hollow. All he'd built was meaningless before it. He couldn't even properly grip his sword.
Like all life, man was powerless before death.
"I told you, didn't I, Kyle."
"Don't put so much faith in the stars."
Someone yanked Kyle by the scruff of his neck. The sword slammed into where he'd stood moments before. Having narrowly escaped death, Kyle slowly turned his head.
"...Master?"
There stood the Sword Master, Kuntel.
2.
Kuntel wiped the blood trickling from his forehead.
His stamina was depleted from battling the armored dragon. His sword was in poor shape. He should rest.
Yet, for some reason.
The moment he spotted the calamity from afar, Kuntel was already running. Yanking Kyle by the scruff.
'Death's Blade, Ganikalt.'
After decades, death remained unchanged.
Death's Blade, Ganikalt, was a swordsman. He didn't strike defenseless foes.
"Kyle."
Kuntel tightened his grip on Kyle's scruff.
"You can't die here."
If someone had to die.
It had to be him, not the hero.
"Go. I'll handle this."
He hurled Kyle with force. Toward where the Ashen Mage was. Just then, chains shot out and wrapped around Kyle.
Kyle's eyes widened as he floated in the air.
Meeting that gaze, Kuntel smiled.
"I'm counting on you next. Kyle."
Having sent Kyle away, Kuntel faced forward again.
He confronted death. Death extended a human-like arm, pointing at the sword in Kuntel's hand.
"A sword of the holy land."
Death asked.
"The swordsman who failed to draw his blade back then?"
"It was hardly the time to call me a swordsman."
Death raised its sword.
"Now you're a swordsman."
"High praise. Don't know where to put myself."
Kuntel smirked.
Thirty years since the Sword Ravine collapsed that day. In those thirty years, Kuntel had envisioned Death's Blade countless times in his mind.
'He remembers it all.'
The man called a superhuman of the sword had devoted his life to facing a single blade. The years bore fruit. Kuntel saw it.
The path swept by death.
Kuntel took a light step forward.
Death ravaged everywhere but ahead. Dodging the strike, Kuntel drew his sword.
'Abandon any thought of reaching it.'
You couldn't cleave a calamity.
Don't dwell on the impossible.
'What matters is buying time.'
Time for the hero to escape.
Even that seemed impossible. The death he faced was more horrific than any foe.
Each swing rent the earth.
Death grazed his skin.
Death closing in stirred terror.
Yet Kuntel felt no fear.
From the moment he drew his sword, he'd resolved to die. No regrets. This was the place to discard a life that had peaked and now declined.
Slash.
The greatsword whistled over Kuntel's head.
The massive arm swung a heavy, sharp blade. Neither its weight nor edge compared to Kuntel's sword.
But Kuntel possessed something.
Something Death's Blade lacked.
'Technique.'
Ganikalt swung his sword like a club.
No swordsmanship. That alone made it mighty, but up close... that was technique's domain.
'Close in. Deflect. Alter trajectory. Disrupt.'
A superhuman of the sword, resolved to die, unleashed all he had. Decades-honed technique slowed the approaching death.
Impossible against a mage.
Impossible even against an ancient monster of overwhelming violence.
But the foe was a swordsman.
Against one who wielded a blade... Kuntel was confident he wouldn't be overwhelmed in swordsmanship.
'I am a Sword Master.'
How many clashes had passed?
It felt like an all-nighter, or mere seconds.
"Huff... haa..."
Kuntel's clothes were soaked in blood and sweat.
Blood flowed from windslash wounds across his body. The price of challenging the impossible left his sword hand mangled.
Just standing was torment.
"......"
Ganikalt, watching such a Kuntel, slammed his sword into the ground.
Boom!
The erupting windblast hurled Kuntel back.
"I ask you."
Death's Blade released his sword.
With his human-like left arm instead of the grotesque right, he gripped the blade.
"What is your name?"
Kuntel answered the question.
"Kuntel of the Lichtenau School."
"Kuntel."
Ganikalt pulled the sword from the ground. With his slender left arm unfit for such a massive greatsword, he raised it. The tip pointed at Kuntel.
"I offer respect to a proud swordsman."
He readjusted his grip.
Kuntel's eyes widened.
'Different.'
Not a beast's sword. A human's.
Not mere brute force. Kuntel felt familiarity in Ganikalt's stance.
Thud.
Ganikalt, stance set, stepped forward and swung. Seeing the incoming strike, Kuntel let out a hollow laugh.
'So that's it.'
He couldn't not know that stance.
Nor the trajectory that sword traced.
'You were a Sword Master too.'
Swordsmanship from the Sword Ravine.
Unfolded through Death's Blade, Ganikalt. One with a body overwhelming even the hero displayed first-class technique.
No way to block it.
Kuntel felt death. No escaping the oncoming blade. Not a matter of strength or speed.
'The level is different.'
As a Sword Master, Kuntel knew.
The level was different. A vastly higher realm. He clearly envisioned his head rolling.
Death was visible.
Man was pitiable before death.
No matter the great deeds, all returned to nothing before death.
Crunch.
Yet, sometimes there are those.
Who leave something behind through death.
Slash.
Death swept past Kuntel.
His head fell. His heart split. The blade that couldn't endure snapped.
Trading all that, Kuntel thrust his sword.
The broken tip touched Ganikalt's body. The obsession of a man who devoted his life reached the calamity.
"......"
Ganikalt looked at Kuntel's disassembled corpse on the ground.
Then at the hero fleeing far away.
Ganikalt did not pursue the hero.
Setting down his sword, he picked up the unconscious Gletus and walked away. Toward the demon realm beyond the black fields.
3.
"...So, while Uncle Kuntel held off Death's Blade, we escaped."
I wet my throat with alcohol.
"That's where the story ends. We ran into Gletus a few more times after... and Death's Blade once more, but telling that would make it too long."
"This is enough."
Cardy nodded.
He fiddled with his glass before speaking.
"Impressive."
"What is?"
"The Sword Master. To think of facing Ganikalt with a sword... I'm just amazed."
I gave a bitter smile at his response.
He was right. That day on the black plain, Sword Master Kuntel achieved a feat. We knew best how incredible it was.
'The next time we faced Death's Blade, we were too busy fleeing.'
"So, Cardy."
I set down my empty glass and looked at him.
"What are shadows?"
"...You faced Death's Blade, right?"
"Yeah. Up close."
"That sword had holes, didn't it?"
I nodded.
'The hole-riddled greatsword.'
I remembered that iconic blade well.
"He wouldn't use it against a swordsman... but he probably did against you."
"What?"
"Foul sludge poured from the holes in the greatsword."
"...Yeah, I remember. Filth that swallowed any spell I fired."
Because of that, only Kyle could face Death's Blade. My spells lost their light before that sludge.
"Right, it devours anything tied to starlight. That's called a shadow."
Cardy pulled the lantern on the table closer.
Placing it on its stand, he began.
"We mages manifest spells through deals with the stars. All magic bears faint starlight."
He pointed at the flickering flame.
"But think about it, Raniel. Isn't it strange? Everything has balance... so why doesn't something balance starlight exist?"
Cardy touched the flame.
"Life balances with death. Everything has an opposite. But not for the stars. They always shine brilliantly. Vast power, yet no balancing force."
He slowly lowered his finger.
"Originally, no opposing concept to stars should exist. Unless some madman observed it and pulled it into being."
Cardy pointed at the shadow pooled beneath the lantern.
"Shadows balance the stars. The brighter the starlight, the deeper the shadow."
"...So it's not just devouring mana."
"It devours only what's tied to the stars."
Cardy said.
"To dispel it, use light so brilliant it can't swallow... or cover it with a greater shadow. One or the other."
As I listened, a hypothesis formed in my mind. I tried to voice it.
"Cardy, just maybe..."
"Stop there."
Cardy cut me off.
"Not yet. That's info I can share only after you delve deeper into shadows."
"...How do you know what I was going to ask?"
"Anyway, no. Even telling this much took some careful gauging."
He downed the rest of his drink and said.
"Hope the day I have to say more never comes."
"...Whatever."
I sighed and slumped onto the table. Glancing at me, Cardy suddenly spoke.
"You've grown a lot, kid."
"What?"
"You. Raniel."
Cardy continued with a faint smile.
"The brat who lost his home to the Demon King swallows the Ashen Mage Tower, survives facing a calamity on the battlefield... Feels kinda surreal."
"You going senile? What's with the fuss?"
"Just saying."
He shrugged.
"You must've suffered these five years."
"It was tough."
"Was it necessary? No one would've blamed you for fleeing the calamity."
"They wouldn't have, no."
I thought back on the past five years and said.
"But you can't just do that."
"......"
"Countless knights sacrificed for us. They gave their lives expecting us to defeat the Demon King, to repel the calamities."
The hero stands atop countless sacrifices.
Anyone would gladly die for the hero. Just lining up those who sacrificed for us would fill the plain.
'Sword Master, Uncle Kuntel.'
Such superhumans willingly gave their lives.
Believing in our potential.
"How could I ignore that."
I simply couldn't ignore it.
It started as a journey for glory, but over time became duty and responsibility.
"Even if we die, we have to get him. That's what a hero is for. That's what the Hero Party is for."
I smiled bitterly.
"Well, seems like I was the only one who thought so."
At some point, Kyle's eyes lost their glow. The potential I saw faded.
No matter how hard I tried.
Even staking my life.
Without Kyle's help, we couldn't defeat the remaining calamities. Facing the Demon King was impossible.
'So I tried to redeem him somehow...'
But it failed.
Tired of persuading a guy busy screwing around every day, by the end we barely talked before I left.
"Anyway, thanks for the drinks and the story."
"Wait, Raniel."
As I rose, Cardy grabbed my wrist. I eyed him questioningly, and he pointed to the shop's corner.
'...Apple stone boy.'
The stone boy I'd flung at the wall was embedded there.
"What's with that?"
"You leaving it?"
"Fuck, who's putting that on the table?"
"Clean it up."