Chapter 209
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: You've Crossed the Line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yuna Kyung thought to herself without meaning to.
Rimon really was ruthless.
His words cut straight to the bone without a hint of softening, sharp as a sword master's blade.
Above all, the sight of Carl, as if he'd lost his very soul, stirred pity in her heart.
'Well, it must be a huge shock.'
He'd spent half his life treating the twilight hours like the enemy who killed his daughter, living solely for revenge.
To learn it had all been a monumental blunder—or mere escapism to shake off his guilt—would be enough to make anyone's soul flee.
"I can't believe it."
But the moment she met Carl's eyes as he slowly raised his head like a broken puppet,
Yuna Kyung froze.
"How can you be sure this isn't some cunning witch's trick to deceive me?"
His voice was ice-cold, devoid of any mental shock or the agitation from moments before.
Yuna Kyung swallowed dryly at the eerie gleam in Carl's eyes, and Rose answered calmly.
"I stake my honor on guaranteeing that all of this is true."
"No, I can't believe it. There's no law saying you haven't been fooled by the witches too."
Rose asked lowly at Carl's firm reply.
"Then what would it take for you to believe?"
"There's a very simple way."
As if he'd been waiting for that very question.
Carl continued with his usual affable, easygoing smile.
"Imprison all the witches so they can't play any more tricks, and destroy the London Great Ward once again."
"……."
"If those monsters don't vanish even then, surely even you'd believe the witches."
Wouldn't it only make sense to do at least this much to earn trust from such sly, deceptive witches?
Rose fell silent as she watched Carl speak with a faint smile.
Speaking in her stead, with the heaviest expression, was Siel.
"That sounds like logic I've heard somewhere before."
As if it wasn't particularly surprising.
Or perhaps even nostalgic.
The legendary grand witch chuckled softly, continuing with a languid smile.
"They used to love that kind of logic back in the Malleus Maleficarum, the hammer that judged witches."
Children, adults, old women.
All could be witches in disguise, so suspect them first.
Then lock them up and extract confessions. No torture is a sin when it's against witches.
If they refuse to confess to the end, burn them or drown them. If they die, they were innocent women; if they survive, they're wicked witches defying God's will.
From the Silver Age to the Heroes Age.
It was the same eyes as those who pinned every crime on witches, killed them, and prided themselves on upholding justice.
Carl laughed as he gazed at Siel, who smiled but had eyes chilled to ice.
"The very existence of such logic is historical proof of how untrustworthy witches are, isn't it?"
Shouldn't we learn from and follow the wise teachings of the sages?
Rose's face stiffened as she watched Carl speak with a warm smile.
"Lord Carl, if we destroy the London Great Ward and those monsters don't disappear, countless London citizens will be in danger."
"Don't worry about that. I'll take full responsibility."
His bold response even carried the resolve of a martyr sacrificing himself for the greater good.
That was why Rimon twisted his lips upon hearing it.
"You'll take responsibility? You? How?"
"How?"
As if he hadn't expected such a question, Carl couldn't hide his bewilderment, and Rimon let out a scoffing laugh.
Well, if the era's absolute ruler said he'd take responsibility, others might let it slide.
But not Rimon.
He knew better than anyone that even an absolute being had limits to what they could be held accountable for.
Above all, Rimon had every reason not to let Carl's words pass unchallenged.
"Five people."
"What do you mean, five?"
"The number of people who died from the fog that bloomed at midnight on the first night of the Walpurgis ball."
"……!"
When that sudden fog plunged London into chaos,
Thanks to the swift response of the Blue Dragon Clan, they avoided mass casualties, but that didn't mean there were none.
Five people died fleeing the fog in accidents or trampled by crowds. Hundreds more suffered minor injuries.
"How do you plan to take responsibility for their lives?"
Did he not expect to be called out on it now, or had he never cared about the casualties?
His momentary flinch and agitation passed in an instant.
Regaining his composure, Carl spoke lowly.
"That was a disaster from the London Great Ward's rampage. If anyone's to blame, it's the witches, no?"
"……Is that so."
All original sin lay with the witches who created the twilight fog in the first place. He bore no responsibility.
Rimon gazed coldly at Carl, who declared it without hesitation.
Then he spoke languidly.
"You're already a monster."
"A monster? Me?"
"Yes. An absolute ruler who can't take responsibility for their own sins inevitably becomes a monster like you."
Someone who shoves all blame and responsibility onto scapegoats, believing it as conviction, is no different from a monster.
Rimon added coldly in a low voice.
"Just like Sword Flower Joan of Arc."
"……You're saying I'm no different from that butcher?"
"No, far worse."
Was it displeasure at being compared to the worst mass murderer in Great Britain history, a sword master?
To Carl, whose mask-like smile vanished into a cold expression, Rimon replied icily.
"Joan of Arc became a monster when her conviction to protect the nation turned to obsession, but you're just an old fool throwing a tantrum because you can't stand your life being denied."
"A tantrum……."
He let out a hollow laugh at the blunt insult.
Then Carl smiled again and spoke.
"Fine, suppose I'm a monster as you say. Then what will you do?"
Right or wrong didn't matter.
The barrier had to be destroyed anyway.
And the witches had to vanish.
"Can you stop me? With Countess Rose, who can't even control her own psychokinesis properly, and an ancient witch who can only muster dusty old magic?"
And if anyone stood in his way, he wouldn't forgive them, no matter who.
Yuna Kyung, watching Carl speak with a casual laugh, felt chills run down her spine.
And she realized anew.
Why Rimon called this absolute being a monster.
An entity with unstoppable power, ignoring laws, logic, convictions, deeming enemies evil based solely on stubbornness and whims, acting on them.
Right now, Carl's smiling face looked that horrifying and terrifying.
Even as Rose couldn't hide her tension, Rimon showed no sign of agitation.
He simply answered Carl's question calmly.
"I can stop you."
"Is that so? Then give it your best shot."
As if impressed by his resolve, Carl nodded deeply.
And with a smile, he raised his staff.
"If you survive this, that is…… 『Great Elemental Break』."
"『Great Elemental Break』."
"『Spell Rank Up』, 『Triple Spell』, 『Great Elemental Break』, 『Great Elemental Break』."
⟨【World Break】⟩
At the same moment, a brilliant glow rose at the tip of his staff.
A 9th-class spell he alone could cast, manipulating all elements, decomposing every substance and mystery in the world.
But Carl's incantation didn't end there.
His staff even trembled as if it might shatter—a lord-grade item, the Great Sage's Staff—no, smoke even rose from his own body.
Yet Carl paid it no mind.
He simply spoke in a cold voice.
"Regret your foolish gullibility to witches in the pits of hell."
Boom!
The sun-like radiant orb at his staff's tip shot toward the pillar where Siel, Rose, and Rimon stood.
Carl was certain.
This would kill them, and destroy the magic circle at the heart of the London Great Ward.
For 【World Break】 was the ultimate spell he'd forged with his obsession to eradicate the twilight fog, transcending the 9th-class barrier.
'……Can't block it.'
Rose's face paled.
Carl's full-power 【World Break】 held enough force to obliterate an entire city.
She'd need at minimum six links of the Seventy-Two Void Styles, maybe seven, to barely block it.
But in this twilight fog distorting space-time, her psychokinesis was restricted; four links was her limit.
Even risking internal injury for five, its power halved, she couldn't hope to stop it.
Much less Siel, whose soul was fraying from the aftermath, or busy maintaining the London Great Ward.
So perhaps that's why.
Rose's instincts whispered.
She wasn't ready to inherit the dragon's essence yet; she couldn't die here. Flee now.
It was the prime duty of the Seven Dragon Society's princess. An instinct she couldn't defy.
In truth, she alone could escape.
'But…….'
Yet Rose hesitated, unable to leave.
The peril to London's citizens if she fled, her honor and pride, above all the young man who would die if she ran.
They sowed chaos in her heart.
Finally, biting her lip until it bled, she raised her sword and stepped forward.
"Step back."
Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder, pulling her back instead of advancing.
She panicked at the black-haired youth who had stepped forward in her place.
"What reckless—!"
Rose reached out with one arm to grab Rimon.
The sight of the young man facing that destructive beam, which even she couldn't block without risking her life, seemed far too reckless.
Whoosh.
But the next moment.
She froze, hand outstretched.
For she'd seen the sword path the youth's blade traced in the air.
Soft as a single petal scattering in the wind, fleeting, yet all the more beautiful and noble for it.
A hypnotic sword path no knight—let alone the Blue Dragon Princess—could tear her eyes from.
As Rose lost herself in it, the 【World Break】's glow touched the gracefully dancing blade tip.
『Demon-Slaying Dragon-Killing Sword Dance』
斬魔龍殺劍 劍舞
France's flowers bloom in wild disarray.
法國花開得亂七八糟
The world's motion halted.
The incoming light froze solid.
"……What?"
Carl blinked.
Rose behind him held her breath unwittingly, and Yuna Kyung's beak gaped wide.
As if time itself had stopped.
The 【World Break】's glow, laden with city-destroying power, impaled motionless on Rimon's blade tip.
Not an arrow, blade, or shell—but light itself pierced on the sword's edge—robbed them of their sense of reality.
Ignoring their shock, Rimon continued moving his sword.
Gently, like dancing.
Or soothing a child, quietly.
The glow trailing the blade scattered bit by bit, finally dissolving calmly into the air.
Only after finishing the sword dance did Rimon halt.
Siel, the only one smiling faintly, chuckled softly.
'Typical. Who is he calling a monster, anyway?'
As everyone but her stared in awe, Rimon slowly raised his head.
"Sorcerer Lord."
Who betrayed his own sins.
Captured solely by stubborn obsession.
Dared threaten ten million lives.
Gazing coldly at the old man hovering in the air, Rimon continued languidly.
"You've crossed the line."
"……!"
Right after.
Carl shot high into the air.
His instincts as a lord, honed through countless dungeon battles,
Above all, the spine-chilling sensation from Rimon's voice prompted him to reflexively reinforce his shield and widen the distance.
Rimon didn't hurry after him. He merely stepped forward slowly.
One step, leaving the ground.
One step, spinning his body.
One step, slashing the shield with his sword.
In just three steps, appearing before him, shattering layer upon layer of shields—Carl stared in horror at Rimon.
"H-How... space movement?!"
"This isn't space movement."
As if even Blue Dragon Princess Rose couldn't believe Rimon had crossed space in this twilight fog restricting it.
To Carl's nightmarish expression, Rimon spoke lowly.
"It's battōjutsu."
『Demon-Slaying Dragon-Killing Sword Outer Form』
斬魔龍殺劍 外式
To cleave the world, no sword is needed.
斬世界不要刀
Step forward.
Draw and swing the sword.
Until cleaving the foe.
Battōjutsu, reducing all motions to extremes.
In pursuing its ultimate form, it transcended 'foes' to sever the very 'process' of fighting, imperfectly recreating a sword art beyond causality.
Slash!
A streak of light pierced the wide-eyed Great Sorcerer Lord, Carl Amadeus's flesh.