Chapter 360
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 360
Chapter Title: Never Even Once in a Lifetime
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"I've been waiting..."
The moment she heard those words,
Hasneti's eyebrows twitched.
And with blood-red eyes gleaming ominously, she glared at Rose.
"You're elegantly phrasing your regret that you couldn't ambush me in my exhausted state because I moved faster than you expected."
"I had no intention of ambushing you, so rest assured."
"You expect me to believe that nonsense?"
"If I'd planned to, I wouldn't have shown myself before you like this."
Hasneti, who had been radiating a murderous aura, couldn't deny that fact.
She had anticipated it herself.
That this Stone Soldier Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation was incomplete.
That forcing one's way through with the power of the Eight Breaking Extremities—or even Nine Breaking Extremities—might break it open.
But she couldn't do that.
Even Hasneti would expose a momentary opening if she used that much power, and a surprise attack from Rose in that instant could be fatal.
Nevertheless, she had stepped forward because if a fight was inevitable, it was better to do it at full strength.
And because there was something she needed to confirm.
"Where is my consort?"
"You already know."
"...I see."
Hasneti closed her eyes.
Even for the Red Dragon Clan, deploying the Stone Soldier Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation overnight in this barren wasteland was impossible.
She knew that if anyone could pull it off, it would be an unprecedented existence in history—the only one who possessed the eighth Dragon Synic power: Rimon.
But she didn't want to admit it.
Because that fact implied only one thing.
"In the end, he chose you."
Her face was as cold as ever.
Her voice as husky as always.
But unlike her composed exterior, her eyes sank heavily.
It wasn't betrayal she felt.
He had never been on her side to begin with.
Yet she didn't know the reason for this throbbing pain in her chest.
To Hasneti, who had spent her entire life on battlefields, it was far too unfamiliar a pain.
"It doesn't matter."
Even so, she didn't falter.
As if the world had darkened unnoticed,
She merely continued, glaring at Rose with blood-red eyes burning even brighter than before.
"Even if he didn't choose me, I've already chosen him."
"Does that mean you'll take him by force?"
"Yes."
Rose let out a small sigh at Hasneti's quintessentially Red Dragon Princess response.
And spoke calmly.
"Hasneti. Forcing others with power is not only wrong—your way will never win him over."
"...My way can't win him?"
"Correct."
Watching Hasneti's brow furrow,
Rose continued.
"I've long wondered why Africa alone lags so far behind."
The Demon God War that ravaged Europe.
South America mired in drugs.
North America struck by the Spirit Cataclysm.
East Asia scarred by the Sword Demon's massacres.
Humanity's history is filled with horrors, some wiping out half the population of entire continents.
Yet no continent was as ruined as Africa.
"But now I understand."
Even white slaves once treated worse than beasts now live with dignity and rights.
So why does Africa alone overflow with famine and poverty?
The reason Rose had finally realized,
She stated coldly.
"This continent is desolate because of the Red Dragon Clan's neglect."
If Egypt hadn't monopolized wealth and resources.
If the Apophis bloodline had shared even a fraction of their abundance.
If the Red Dragon Clan had conquered this continent long ago.
Africa would be far better off today.
But the Red Dragon Clan, who prized survival of the fittest, ruled at the top yet gave nothing— that's why it ended up like this.
To Rose's sharp rebuke,
Hasneti replied.
"So?"
No, she countered.
"What does that change?"
Why should her nation, her clan,
Share the wealth and glory they built with their own blood?
"Africa is a land of survival of the fittest. Only the strong claim everything, and that's why everyone strives to grow stronger."
Poverty may abound, but the strong wield absolute power.
That's why Africa's player ratio and average levels surpass any other continent.
"If we'd bestowed peace and mercy as you say, they would've grown weak and indolent."
Humans don't grow strong in peace.
They advance through competition.
"And like with you, Rose, they'd depend only on the strong."
Hasneti pointed out,
And Rose's face hardened.
She'd merely extended a helping hand,
Yet it snowballed until she led eastern Africa's largest warlord faction. She understood.
But that didn't mean Rose agreed with Hasneti.
"So you'll keep ruling this land by survival of the fittest?"
"Yes."
"Hasneti, that's not his wish."
Twitch.
"He desires peace. If you want his heart, stop the war right now and..."
"Don't spout nonsense, Rose."
Before she could finish,
Chewing on the cigarette in her mouth,
Hasneti snarled fiercely.
Even when she learned Rimon had chosen Rose, it stung but didn't enrage her.
She wasn't foolish enough to get heated before an enemy.
But now,
Hasneti felt rage as intense as when Rose had whisked Rimon away—or perhaps even more so.
"I know him far better than the likes of you."
Not as a princess seeking a mate,
But as the woman who had yearned for him for a decade,
Chasing Rimon.
"His power, his past, his true desires!"
You filthy hypocrite,
Who doesn't even know his true wishes,
Acting like you know everything,
Blinded by your self-righteous arrogance, spouting words you should never utter—glaring at the bitch, Hasneti growled.
"How dare you prattle such absurdities when you know nothing about him?!"
Overwhelmed by that blazing, uncharacteristic intensity from the usually composed Hasneti?
Rose, face stiff as she stared, finally asked softly after a moment.
"...Where in my words is the absurdity?"
Having vented her passion, her excitement seemed to subside somewhat.
With a far cooler expression, yet still seething with unconcealed fury as she glared at Rose, Hasneti huskily countered.
"How much do you know about him?"
"Not everything, but enough."
At that moment,
Hasneti twisted her lips.
And with faint but clear anger and scorn, she asked.
"Then do you know he has a bad habit?"
"What habit?"
"When fighting an unfamiliar enemy, he rarely goes all out."
"Isn't that obvious?"
Adjusting power based on the enemy's strength is natural.
Especially for an absolute like Rimon; unleashing full power on everyone would be like burning down the house to kill fleas.
But why call it a bad habit?
Watching the puzzled Rose,
Hasneti flashed her blood-red eyes and asked.
"Even against the Demon God?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said."
Whether from incomprehension
Or unwillingness to understand,
To the stiff-faced Rose, Hasneti stated coldly.
"Even in his fight with the Demon God, he didn't go all out from the start."
"What nonsense? Don't you know how gravely he was wounded in his first battle with the Demon God?"
"But he overwhelmed the Demon God in the second."
"That was because he'd completed the Demon-Slaying Sword from experience against it..."
"Do you think overpowering a life-or-death foe—while critically injured no less—was possible solely due to swordsmanship?"
Rose tried to respond.
That it was entirely possible.
That was the mysterious power of sword arts among all abilities—the essence of a Sword Master.
"It's the same with other enemies."
But Hasneti gave her no chance to rebut.
As if counterarguments for the sake of argument weren't worth hearing, she pressed on unilaterally.
"Fallen gods, black wizards, even against our Seven Dragon Society—he rarely killed outright."
"Only when enemies took hostages or time was short. Otherwise, he fought with leeway rather than quick finishes."
"What do you think the reason was?"
To Hasneti's words, more interrogation than question, Rose fell silent for a moment.
Having seen Rimon behead the Magic Lord in London, she knew he could end fights instantly if needed.
So if he didn't?
"...To give the enemy a fair shot at fighting without mercy, he held back on purpose?"
"Wrong."
Fuming at her so quintessentially Blue Dragon Princess answer—so stubbornly failing to grasp Rimon,
Hasneti spat through gritted teeth.
"He holds back because he hopes the enemy grows stronger to truly threaten him."
"Don't talk nonsense. He's not a tyrant like you...!"
Before she finished,
As if realizing something,
Hasneti nodded readily to the gulping Rose.
"Right, he's not a tyrant like me."
And added,
"He's a sword fiend."
"...!"
"A true sword fiend who revels in life-or-death battles and craves worthy foes."
One who sees the sword as a means might desire easy wins.
But for a true sword fiend, where the blade is the end itself, that's impossible.
Like a knight pursuing honor,
A warrior craving combat,
Instinctively seeking brutal clashes with the strong to hone their art—that's the fate of one who stakes their life on the sword.
And Rimon was a Sword Master who had reached that extreme.
"Do you get it now?"
Others, lost in his heroic feats, hadn't noticed—or knew but didn't understand.
As the Strife Dragon Princess,
And from long investigating Sword Masters,
Only she truly comprehended, and Hasneti growled it out.
"He's never once in his life found happiness in peace."
Called Humanity's Guardian Deity,
Protecting the world his entire life,
But that wasn't Rimon's desire.
"Instead, he's always yearned for fiercer battles against stronger foes."
Scorning wealth and glory,
Not even desiring victory,
Finding joy in testing his sword against the mighty, living fully only in mortal combats.
That was the Sword Master.
Rimon Asfelder.
"Yet bound by duty to protect the world, he suppressed his cravings for centuries, playing guardian."
The Heroes Age.
Intervening in countless wars,
Yet never fighting as he desired—instead silently securing victories for the world.
Thus amassing heroic deeds, but as a sword fiend, forever parched and hollow. Speaking of Rimon's life,
Hasneti gnashed her teeth.
"And you claim he wants peace, without knowing that?"
Her stealing Rimon angered but made sense.
She was a Seven Dragon Society princess too.
But Rose arbitrarily judging and twisting him to fit her ideals? Unforgivable.
Hasneti glared contemptuously at Rose and bellowed her boiling heart.
"How long do you intend to burden him with the world's fate, Rose?!"
"..."
Rose was speechless.
As a woman—and warrior—who had harbored feelings for him far longer than a princess,
Hasneti's cry, blazing hot and fierce yet too tender and stifling for mere rage,
And the resentment in those red eyes,
Sealed her words.
"Hasneti, you..."
An unbelievable fact.
The truth she'd realized.
Rose blurted unconsciously.
"...truly love him."
"Yes."
"Enough to do anything for him."
"Just as you say."
Her seething fury having swallowed even shame,
To Hasneti openly confessing without hesitation, Rose groaned.
"So... that's why you started the conquest? To become this world's guardian in Sword Duke's place?"
"Yes."
Staring straight at Rose with blood-red eyes,
Hasneti declared.
"I will dominate the Seven Dragon Society and conquer the world."
"..."
"And create a world where all humans grow strong on their own, allowing him to live freely as one man, not a guardian."
Devouring the Seven Dragon Society.
Conquering the entire world.
Remaking the world itself.
The declaration sounded like a madman's ravings.
But her furnace-like blazing gaze held no tremor, proving its sincerity.
Thus Rose realized.
Just as she had fallen into love's corruption,
Hasneti had been mad with love since ancient times.
Enough to burn the world for one man's happiness.
That love-consuming-all passion was so scorching and intense it intimidated even as a fellow woman.
"Hasneti..."
But precisely because of that,
Glared at her with blue eyes,
Rose spoke in a voice no less furious than Hasneti's—perhaps even more.
"Don't you dare spout nonsense yourself."