Chapter 84
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Age of Myth, Tarhye Rondel・Eldia・Rebirth (5)
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The battle against the stirring madness, Shu'Yulkulla, was different from the one against Neigallas.
It was not a contest of strength against strength, but a battle against hallucinations.
Shu'Yulkulla fought by twisting everything seen and everything felt.
Sya……….
…Raia…………….
………Pataros…………….
An evil whisper echoing endlessly in the mind, in the very soul… The geometric structure of space warped.
When you thought you were running, you were falling; when you thought you’d jumped, you were crashing into a wall.
As if exploiting these openings, stone structures and tentacles would erupt without warning, inflicting fatal wounds…
[Ryukael: Consciousness fading… Ugh, I'm falling into a dream. For some reason, the Commander looks like that octopus head. It's a hallucination, right?]
In truth, such problems were the least of their worries.
The degradation of cognitive abilities was the biggest problem. Allies appeared as enemies, and enemies as allies.
Yoniullan and Aijaiya clashed violently, sending sparks flying.
[Shurviel: What—what are you doing? I'm an ally, Ryukael!]
[Tersia: Shurviel, we're fine! You protect Ryukael!]
[Ryukael: No! I'll use it one last time, then I'm off to dreamland!]
Yoniullan subdued the space with a violet light, severing two tentacles, then Ryukael struck the back of her own neck with her fist, knocking herself unconscious.
[Alkaios: Shurviel, stay by Ryukael's side. Enuel, advance! I will support you!]
From Alkaios's waist, the True Holy Sword Galadiel slid free, shining brilliantly.
To be honest…
It was a moment that made my martial blood boil even more than when I used Enuel's Rune Slash.
[Exclusive Armament: Galadiel.]
- Galadiel's special ability is 'Phase Shift,' and its release command is 'Dash.'
Within the crimson light emanating from Galadiel, Alkaios's body transformed into a bolt of lightning.
Not that he 'looked' like lightning.
Nor that his speed was 'as fast as' lightning.
His very flesh 'became' lightning… a raging torrent of power that darted about.
‘That… is the archetype of the power that Aradamanthel barely managed to imitate with its Severance.’
Shu'Yulkulla had no time to distort space or gravity.
It was truly faster than light.
A flash possessing the heat and speed of a lightning strike swallowed all the tentacles and stone structures, carving a path and inflicting a fatal wound on Shu'Yulkulla.
[Alkaios: Enuel!]
Having blasted a burning red hole through its chest and passed through, Alkaios returned to his Eldia form.
"Moving."
As soon as he did, the king's tentacles lunged, but Alkaios easily evaded by transforming his body back into lightning.
「Kerukarudom…! I am the ruler of the sea, this entire ocean is my domain!」
The moment I was about to leap along the path Alkaios had created.
「In my sea, there is no light and no sound.」
Suddenly, the sea shuddered, parted to both sides, and then began to surge back as a powerful current.
「There shall be only darkness and silence!」
The darkness and terror of the deep sea…
In the waters closing in like cliffs from both sides, ancient undersea monsters roared, licking their chops.
[Shurviel: E-Enuel! To the right!]
The wave on the right was blocked by a tyrannical pressure of light, losing its momentum and entering a stalemate in mid-air.
What was created was but an instant.
An opportunity named 'instant'.
Upon that opportunity, I dashed at high speed with Tersia, surging toward Shu'Yulkulla.
[Tersia: Alkaios, Enuel, I only need one chance. Create an opening for me.]
At that, Alkaios landed.
Atop the pressure of light that was gradually fading, pushed back by the ocean's force.
He then sheathed the tachi Galadiel and instead drew the longsword Rivelden from his left hip.
[Alkaios: Invert, Rivelden.]
In that moment, the power of the light pressure was sucked into the tip of Rivelden's blade.
It was just as Ryukael would say two thousand years later.
Alkaios really could use Solang's absorption ability without a catalyst like a shield.
[Alkaios: Let's go, Enuel.]
The moment he placed his hand on Galadiel's hilt, Alkaios's body once again changed into lightning.
Simultaneously, Enuel kicked off the ground.
Appearing before Shu'Yulkulla, Alkaios unleashed the explosive power of the light pressure he had condensed in Rivelden.
「GAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
Though it possessed high-speed regeneration within an instant, it was a known fact that it still required time.
Shu'Yulkulla's vision was paralyzed.
What was given was a moment not even lasting an instant, but for Enuel's power, it was enough.
- Rune Slash, Benekom.
Trailing a long silver flash.
The blade of Sharrilion cleaved Shu'Yulkulla's body from top to bottom.
Using the characters of genesis etched into the blade's trajectory as a medium, the Creator's command was issued.
『Shatter.』
The power of the Heavenly Mandate Psalms was unleashed, spreading cracks through space.
The authority of the Genesis God, who had created providence through words, could also alter providence through words.
The Severance of the Supreme Holy Sword Scherpang was regarded as the most powerful among all Supreme Holy Swords.
But it was limited to cutting dimensions.
Rune Engraving had no such limit.
It didn't just sever a dimension; it shattered the very providence laid upon that dimension.
An attack that transcends providence inflicts a blow from which even a divine being cannot recover its original form for some time.
────Chaaaaaaaaaaang!
With a clear, sorrowful cry as if providence itself was weeping, Shu'Yulkulla's body was torn in two.
Visible through the gap in the torn flesh.
A hideous, dark-blue gem pulsing and corroding the atmosphere… it was the fully exposed core of its soul.
‘To draw out the core from Neigallas, I had to swing my sword thousands of times…’
How absurd.
I thought, leaning on Sharrilion, which I had planted in the ground to support my body that was on the verge of collapsing from the pain of tearing sinews.
Yes, of course, I was alone then, and now there are five Eldia, but this power…
‘This will soon become my power?’
My fists clenched. With this power alone, I might be able to change the nightmarish state of the modern war.
[Enuel: Your Holiness Tersia.]
In Tersia's hands, Verkensia transformed into the shape of a staff.
Tersia did not like weapons that cut and stabbed to kill.
As if reading its successor's heart, Verkensia took the form of a long staff whenever Tersia fought.
「You insignificant…!」
The melody of light began.
「…You lowly things, not even worthy of a moment's amusement!」
Verkensia, dyeing its very trajectory with light; even sound was steeped in the tranquility of morning.
Shu'Yulkulla was, of course, a formidable foe.
Even with its body collapsing, it tried to reverse the gravity of the space and block her advance with hundreds of tentacles.
[Alkaios: Shurviel, one more time! Stop the sea from surging in!]
However.
Before Verkensia, which danced elegantly in Tersia's hands, it was nothing more than futile resistance.
As it is written in the holy scriptures.
『The light shines.
And the darkness has not overcome it.』
Beautifully dismantling every counterattack, Tersia advanced to the core in an instant and shouted.
[Tersia: Brother, now!]
Verkensia emits its own field of light, protecting its successor from all influence of the Abyss.
The same goes for the field corruption caused by the Lords of the Abyss.
The rift that appeared in that field of light was Karenden's authority.
From the rift, from which black fog flowed, thirty-three wedges of light shot out, piercing and binding Shu'Yulkulla's core just as it finished regenerating.
「R, R, R, RuAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA─────!」
With a deafening roar as its overinflated form burst, its body collapsed into a mass of filthy slime, splattering in all directions.
「Do not think this is the end… Heh, heh, hehahahahahaha───!」
That acrid stench…
It was so horrific it penetrated even the filter of my Primos helmet, momentarily turning my mind a sickening yellow.
「───On the day the cities of man fall to corruption, on the day those who dream of the Abyss await me, I shall rise again with this palace and hold a festival of madness!」
That was all.
The moment the intensity of the light piercing the core reached its peak, even the movement of the masses, which were fiercely bubbling and trying to recombine, ceased.
[Karenden: It's over.]
As the presence that had distorted and warped the world vanished, even the air itself felt lighter.
[Tersia: This is Tersia. Broadcasting to all combat units. We have successfully subjugated and sealed Shu'Yulkulla. Allied casualties are light.]
[Tervel: I know. The fiend's servants are losing control and disappearing or fleeing.]
[Shurigan: That was a close call. We lost thirty percent of the fleet this time, but still, the glory of our first victory is significant.]
[Karenden: Tersia, I'm opening a dimensional field, get out of there. The barrier holding back the ocean's current will soon be neutralized.]
While everyone was celebrating the victory… one question wouldn't leave my mind.
Why?
Just why?
Watching Shu'Yulkulla's body sink deep into the seabed to be sealed along with Shu'Yulkelis, pierced by the wedges of light, I suddenly spoke.
「Why is that? As I understand it, that sword, Verkensia, can extinguish a divinity…」
Was it because the question didn't interfere with the story's progression? A warning about a drop in synchronization rate did appear, but my actions weren't outright forbidden like when I directed killing intent at Ryukael.
Tersia, who had been waiting for Shurviel to help Ryukael over, gave a bitter smile.
「The True Kings are called kings, but in the grand scheme of things, they are merely vassals of the Overlord Yotos. Just because you capture a vassal doesn't mean the king is finished, right?」
「That is correct.」
「If you extinguish a divinity, it doesn't vanish completely. It returns to its original owner. To Yotos. Then, although Yotos has lost a vassal, he regains that power, and with that power, he can create a new vassal.」
My mouth fell open in a daze at the truth hidden deep within the Age of Myth.
So…
Yes, so that's how it was…
An answer was being given as to why The Ones Who Came, despite being so powerful, had only gone so far as to turn the True Kings into The Forgotten Kings.
「We are going to end this war, this endless game, right here. That's why we came. We must not extinguish the True Kings. We must seal them, forcing Yotos to become impatient and have no choice but to come here.」
「Will he really come?」
「That one is extremely cowardly and cautious. The True Kings here are all of Yotos's most trusted confidants. How do you think Yotos will act when every last one of them is sealed away?」
I remembered that the unidentified being had said the same thing.
That Yotos would surely come on the last day of this world. To think it was to free his vassals and reclaim their power…
In that case, it meant the True Kings were sealed away as bait to lure him out.
「And then, we'll end it all. Now, let's go.」
But history was already set.
At the end of this battle, The Ones Who Came would fail to defeat Yotos… Would I soon learn the details of how?
And.
Could I truly finish the task that even The Ones Who Came, called the Lords of Light, had failed to accomplish…?