Chapter 68
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: The Nature of Religious Innovation (3)
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When I emerged from the golden radiance, I found myself in the midst of a frantic chase, a whirlwind of pursuers and the pursued.
[Luxuria, that child's dimensional field limits the reach of my power to this point. I apologize.]
It's more than enough.
We had already traversed an unbelievable distance in an instant.
[This is an emergency. Defend the gates and close the barrier's safety doors.]
[A new dimensional gate has appeared at the south gate!]
Those who had not yet been evacuated by Setsunen's power were still engaged in a life-or-death stampede.
Chasing them down, slashing their backs and piercing their hearts with swords, were fellow humans.
It was there I learned the grim reality of war—how a human being could transform into a beast amidst the stench of blood.
[Kaisen, don't kill the ones without the brand. Please.]
I lacked Tarsiyo's ability to reveal the otherworldly brand.
But I could still distinguish them.
There was something strange… a dissonant aura emanating from certain individuals, like a single speck of dust on a faded painting.
“I know.”
They looked human, but they were not.
It was strange.
I could cut down such beings without a shred of guilt.
[Enemies are ascending the northern gate tower!]
It felt like nothing more than picking up trash from the roadside.
[Stop them! We must prevent the gate from opening at all costs!]
That's why it was so deeply unsettling to see those without the brand engaged in such slaughter.
“If you can fight this well, why are you here?”
If only half of you…
No, not even half…
If just a quarter of you had come down south of the mountain range… would there truly be only two Fakewarriors left alive?
“Y-You are…?”
I didn't even need to raise my sword against those without the brand.
[Kaisen, it is Blan Arphen!]
My questions manifested as a hate-filled roar, erupting as killing intent…
No ordinary soldier could remain conscious in the face of such overwhelming pressure that roiled the very air.
They all collapsed, the whites of their eyes showing, foaming at the mouth.
[We must close the northern dimensional gate immediately! The moment that gate opens, this defense will turn into an all-out war!]
Explosions echoed throughout the city.
I saw a bell tower crumble sideways with a harsh, grinding roar.
Dust, smoke, and flames swirled chaotically through the entire city, yet the screams ringing out from every direction were the only sounds that came through with perfect clarity.
[The western defensive line needs reinforcements! We can't hold out any longer!]
[This is Julius Page. The nearest 4th Infantry Regiment is en route.]
[This is the eastern gate barrier control room, we are under attack! Brace for impact!]
[This is the 3rd Infantry Brigade. Moving to your position.]
[This is the northern gate tower, we've already been breached! If the barrier falls, the gate will be wide open!]
[Hold on! Kaisen Alter Aradamanthel is on his way!]
Near the north gate, there were no explosions.
Only the sharp, repeated clang of steel slicing through flesh.
And amidst the ringing of steel, the sound of laughter.
“Go on, laugh all you want now… When Lord Kaisen arrives, you all, you all will be…!”
“Kaisen? Did you say Kaisen?”
“Did this guy just say Kaisen?”
“Hahahaha!”
“Hey, you moron NPC! Kaisen is just a pile of data! He only exists in the lore! How the hell is something like that going to show up?”
Just as one of them shouted and raised his sword, a sharp, cutting sound tore through the air, feeling as if it could carve out one’s eardrums.
“Like this.”
Only after the sound reached them did their bodies seem to realize the catastrophe that had befallen their own nerve cells.
From the crown of his head to his groin.
A single, clean line had been drawn.
Along that line, his armor split, his clothes were severed, his muscles and bones parted, and his entrails were exposed… and even those entrails ruptured, spewing blood.
“Huh?”
Perhaps that bewildered sound was his last word.
The swordsman, his tongue also precisely bisected, could speak no more.
Soon, he would be unable to think at all.
“W-What the hell is this guy!”
“Barabor! Hey, Barabor!”
“A pile of data that exists only in the lore… What does that mean?”
I received no answer to my question. The enemies cautiously aimed their swords and surrounded me.
There were five of them in total.
All were considerably skilled, yet the essence of their life force felt dissonant.
‘Like a foreign substance.’
I quietly shifted my gaze.
This one.
The one in the ornate armor, designed solely for ostentatious display, must be the swordmaster.
“What bullshit are you spouting? You know what we mean! How'd you go the Fakewarrior route as a guy? And what's with the white hair and the Supreme Holy Sword? Are you an Elite? What kind of bug did you use?”
Fakewarrior route, Elite, bug—a string of incomprehensible words.
“Naros, it’s him! Beglen must have died because of him too!”
“!”
“Think about it! That pig was an ass, but he was definitely skilled!”
Would they answer if I kept asking?
Considering the urgent echoes from Setsunen’s mind resonance ringing in my head, I didn't have that luxury.
-Ten-Character Sword, Eighth Form.
*Shk, shk, shk…*
The Abyss, resonating with the backlash of summoning my power, began to gnaw at my soul.
Suppressing the pain with a slight grimace, I placed my hand on the hilt of Aradamanthel.
-Thunder Flame Sword Dance.
In that instant, one swordsman's body was abruptly torn apart vertically.
Before blood could even spurt from the sundered flesh, the neck of the swordsman next to him was diagonally severed.
In a single moment, imperceptible to those who had not reached transcendence, twelve fatal arcs were drawn.
“What the hell is this—”
Even that was merely a fragment of the situation, barely visible only to those who had set foot upon the pinnacle of mastery.
To the eyes of an ordinary person, this is what it looked like:
Kaisen placed his hand on his sword's hilt. Crimson flashes flickered in multiple directions, and the bodies of the swordmaster and his four companions, armor and all, were bisected and fell.
“—insane bug?”
The chance to witness that transcendent state was granted for but a single moment.
It was the single strike from a daydream, one that any swordsman who desires transcendence dreams of at least once in their life.
A mirage-like flash, where even the Empire's greatest swordsman could only perceive the blade being drawn and then sheathed once more.
Everything ended the moment it was about to begin. Kaisen spoke.
“This is Kaisen. Mission complete. Please provide my next orders.”
An Alien Echo,
The Nature of Religious Innovation (3)
[Identifying enemy units that have infiltrated the city… their numbers exceed 40,000!]
[Emergency! The enemy has broken into Dvaltrum Cathedral!]
[All available forces, move to the cathedral! Protect the refugees!]
The branded were always present at the heart of the fiercest battles.
Perhaps the brand was a symbol of power…
All who possessed it wielded unconventional strength and were, for the most part, young.
‘How amusing…’
The thought came to me unbidden.
By that logic, I was no different from the branded. I possess the brand and am young. It’s all the same.
Do I seem alien to them as well? I probably do.
- Kaisen? What’s a Kaisen?
- What is that?
- A top-tier NPC! But he's so broken he's unimplemented…
They called me an unimplemented being.
As if they were the gods who created this world…
When I tried to interrogate them through torture, a thick sludge of the Abyss would suddenly surge forth and their bodies would collapse.
‘The Abyss is clearly involved. But how…?’
How many enemies had I cut down, how far had I run amidst such questions?
In the distance, a single ray of light suddenly caught my eye, and I stopped walking without realizing it.
That light was so…
[Everyone, get behind me!]
[M-My Lady Hero…!]
[Keep pushing forward! Trust in the Hero and advance bravely!]
Only the stench of blood remains in my footsteps, but in Tarsiyo's wake, only the fragrance of moonlight lingers.
I am drawn to that light.
I am drawn to that fragrance.
Like being lost in the darkness, only to find your way with a single sliver of light…
- Kai, how do you want to use this sword?
I feel like I understand the difference, and yet I don't. There seemed to be a gap between us, both simple and complex.
To be able to smile more brightly and gently than anyone at every joy. To be able to weep more heartbreakingly than anyone at another's sorrow.
If I become that kind of person, will my sword also carry a fragrance when I wield it?
[This is strange! The enemy is retreating from the eastern gate!]
[What's the current situation at the eastern gate?]
[I don't know. I have no idea why they're retreating…]
Then, suddenly, something pitch-black engulfed the entire eastern wall and erupted in an explosive combustion.
A vast shockwave from the explosion.
As a black mist surged forward to consume the world, Tarsiyo went against the flow of everyone fleeing and extended her sword.
[Devour, Sharrilion!]
The power of the True Holy Sword Sharrilion, which consumes all, was unleashed.
A miraculous scene unfolded as the motes of death swirled in agony, drawn into the tip of her blade.
In the intense gale, which felt as if the very atmospheric pressure had shifted, the clothes of the soldiers behind her flapped as if they would be torn to shreds.
[W-Waaaaah!]
[My Lady Hero!]
At that moment, my eyes widened in a daze.
It was the same, just like that time… Tarsiyo’s knees buckled as she coughed up blood.
“Tarsiyo…?”
Back then, everything had been a blur, nothing but chaos and confusion.
I didn't know what Tarsiyo had to sacrifice to wield the power of the True Holy Sword.
I didn't yet know what path she had walked to come and see me again.
“…That idiot!”
My body moved on its own, driven by the sole thought of protecting Tarsiyo from the enemies who would pour through the collapsed wall.
But the enemy did not come.
Not even by the time I stood by Tarsiyo's side, suppressing the pain of the Abyss.
[Kaisen, we have finally succeeded in deciphering the fragments of the branded ones' minds, a task that has failed until now.]
“Pardon…?”
[They were under orders to retreat from this place, having secured the key to progressing the scenario.]
In short, this was a diversion.
A strategy to create an opening, a moment when troops and attention were focused on the exploded wall.
Meanwhile, the central army was escaping through a newly opened dimensional gate.
“The key to the scenario?”
Why, when I heard those words, did this world suddenly feel so pitiful?
Is that truly a language?
Why does it feel less like a language and more like the hidden truth of the world, concealed in shadows?
[The enemy, the enemy is retreating! We've won! This is all thanks to our Heroes!]
Then, Tarsiyo spoke, her breath ragged.
“Kaisen, we have to go…”
“What? Your condition right now is…”
“I have to go…!”
With her hand, she tightly gripped mine.
As if asking for help to stand.
No, perhaps, as if asking me to walk with her.
“This is Kaisen. Your Excellency, I will pursue the enemy through that dimensional gate and find out what that thing is.”
[Can you do it?]
“Yes. However…”
Tarsiyo shook her head, as if pleading.
Are you telling me to hide it?
Your condition right now?
Meeting those eyes, that gaze, my brief struggle ended with a sigh.
“As you know, Your Excellency, in my current state… I cannot make it there by running. I will need your help to approach the dimensional gate.”
I helped Tarsiyo to her feet.
Just as I was about to wave away the soldiers who had approached with concern…
Tarsiyo, who moments ago clearly lacked the strength to even stand, smiled brightly and waved her hands dismissively.
‘Tarsiyo, you little….’
Was she acting just to make me support her?
No…
Still, there’s no way she could act that convincingly. Just then, Tarsiyo whispered.
“Kaisen, I was so happy.”
“…?”
“The fact that you were the one who came rushing to my side again the moment this happened.”
In that instant, a dizzying pain shot through my heart. It was different from the pain of the Abyss gnawing at my soul. It was somehow warm, and yet…
[This is Julius Page. I am reorganizing available units. Please grant us permission to follow you two, Your Highness Arphen.]
[The final decision rests not with me, but with Her Excellency Setsunen.]
[The last of the enemy units are escaping through the dimensional gate, Your Excellency! The gate will close soon!]
[If the gate closes, we will lose the ability to pinpoint their coordinates. Your Excellency, a swift decision.]
A moment of silence.
How much deliberation must have occurred in that single moment?
Soon, within Setsunen's tremor, my body was enveloped in radiance and began to be pulled into another space.
[If this is Her will, then I shall simply obey. Arphen, I leave the care of the remaining wounded and the people to you.]