Chapter 220
Chapter 220
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: Confrontation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ugh…….”
Demian’s breath grew labored.
His face turned deathly pale. He tried to hold on somehow, but in the end, he collapsed sideways.
-Hmm.
Nigras, locked in confrontation with Nightmare, couldn’t just let him die.
He spun around quickly and unleashed a surge of holy power on Demian, rivaling the might of Resurrection.
Resurrection was the saintess’s most powerful holy spell, capable of even reviving the dead.
Demian’s pallid complexion visibly returned to normal.
As Nigras let out a sigh of relief, he sensed a tremendous dark force gathering behind him.
“……!”
He whirled back around and erected a barrier of light.
He had anticipated that the enemy would strike the moment he showed an opening.
He was prepared for some injury, but the enemy’s attack far exceeded his expectations in power.
The dark force slammed into the light barrier.
No sound emerged.
Only an immense pressure and momentum pressed in.
The two opposing powers seemed locked in a tense struggle, then a cracking sound split the air from the light barrier.
It shattered like glass in a deafening crash, and the dark force pierced straight through Nigras’s shoulder.
-Ngh!
Nigras twisted his face and let out a groan.
His right shoulder, pierced by the darkness, began to fade as the light dimmed and its form dissolved.
A fatal wound.
Continuing to face the enemy like this could lead to his annihilation.
Nigras hurriedly conveyed the situation to Arthur.
-Don’t let me catch sight of you again.
With Nightmare’s words, darkness unfurled and engulfed Nigras.
Nigras resisted with all his might, shielding the people behind him.
His dazzling brilliance gradually dimmed.
Then the light vanished entirely.
Annihilation loomed.
As the darkness pooling around him surged from the ground to swallow him whole!
Whoosh-.
The air tore with a sharp whistle.
Ruan, standing at the entrance, turned to look.
A golden aura streaked like lightning.
“At last.”
Ruan recognized Arthur from the golden aura.
A smile curled at his lips, just as Collepton’s eyes flashed.
He appeared before Ruan in an instant and spoke.
“I’ll, take, care, of, him.”
Then he thrust out his fist.
Bang-.
A black aura fist spiraled forward like a vortex.
And the two supreme powers clashed.
Boom-!
A massive explosion erupted, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
The residual force was pushed back by his momentum, returning as a backlash toward Collepton.
‘Damn it!’
Collepton spun around swiftly, spreading his two wings wide to shield Emperor Ruan.
Crash!
“Impressive.”
Ruan’s face registered surprise.
He had heard the man was strong, but not to this extent.
He had overpowered a Demon King’s Guardian—one that had devoured an Artisan—with raw force.
Moreover, he wielded an unfamiliar weapon, its power terrifyingly immense.
“As expected of the Julius Family.”
Ruan shot Arthur a meaningful smile.
***
‘What the hell?’
Arthur’s face hardened at Collepton’s dramatically altered presence.
He had emerged unscathed from the RPG-7 blast.
He had used his wings as a shield before, but the result had been devastating.
Yet now, he stood as if utterly unaffected.
And it seemed he was protecting someone.
‘Who is it?’
The moment Arthur focused on the figure beyond Collepton, Nigras’s voice echoed in his mind.
-The, one has appeared.
The voice trembled.
It carried the sense of someone enduring immense strain, on the verge of collapse.
‘What’s wrong?’
-……I’m injured. If I hold out much longer…… I may be annihilated.
‘What?’
Arthur was stunned.
Unlike other spirits, Nigras was like the grim reaper to those wielding dark powers.
It was unbelievable that even he had suffered wounds severe enough to risk annihilation.
For now, he decided to rendezvous with him first.
To do that, he needed to deal with the one blocking the entrance.
Arthur loaded aura into the RPG-7 and aimed at Collepton.
“Try blocking this too.”
He pulled the trigger, and with a piercing whine, golden and blood-red aura twisted together, shooting forth like a flash.
‘You think I’ll fall for the same attack twice?’
Collepton pulled his fist tight to his side, aiming his other hand at the target.
Black aura coiled around his fist, blazing fiercely.
‘Darkness over light…….’
He thrust his fist forward with full force and shouted.
“Burn!”
Bang-!
It hurtled forward with devastating momentum like a streak of light.
Once more, supreme auras collided.
At that instant!
Light and darkness flashed simultaneously.
They seemed evenly matched, but then the blood-red aura glowed brighter.
As the blood-red aura slowly pushed back and began devouring the black aura.
This time, pitch-black darkness surged behind the black aura, lending it strength.
A tremendous momentum whirled from the black aura, swallowing the blood-red one whole.
Then it rocketed toward Arthur like lightning.
“……!”
The most powerful attack he could unleash with his summoned weapon had been blocked.
Even more shocking, the enemy’s attack hadn’t lost its power and was flying straight at him.
Arthur frowned.
His spirits, who could have blocked it, were gone.
He had no choice but to dodge.
Arthur hurled himself toward a window on the wall.
Crash!
As he shattered the window and fled, the black aura swept through the corridor.
Nothing remained in its wake.
It burned everything pitch-black, leaving only ashes and emptiness.
“Rat, bastard.”
As Collepton snarled at Arthur’s escape outside, Ruan suddenly turned his head along the wall toward the office.
He glanced at the inner window and grinned.
“Rat bastard.”
Crash!
Glass exploded as Arthur launched back inside, unleashing the K1 at Collepton.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-.
Golden aura poured out.
“This, won’t, work.”
Collepton extended his hand.
A black aura barrier unfurled, blocking all the golden aura.
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-.
Unable to pierce the barrier, it all bounced off.
Arthur’s face twisted for the first time as he saw his attack fail.
‘Damn it!’
Landing on the floor, he rolled swiftly into a seated firing position aimed at Emperor Ruan.
“Take, my, attack.”
As Collepton reared back for a punch, Arthur shouted.
“Move, and he dies!”
“……!”
Collepton froze for a moment.
He quickly confirmed Arthur was targeting Ruan with his weapon.
He fell silent briefly, then burst into mocking laughter.
“Ha, ha, ha.”
“……?”
Arthur realized the situation had taken a strange turn.
He fixed Ruan with ice-cold eyes and demanded.
“Who are you?”
Ruan smiled faintly and replied.
“I was curious what you looked like.”
“Are you a Guardian too?”
“What a disappointment, mistaking me for those lowly sorts.”
“Lowly sorts……?”
As Arthur tilted his head, Demian’s weak voice came from behind.
“He is…… Emperor Ruan.”
“……!”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
Ruan nodded with a sly smile.
“Indeed, I am Ruan Barotas, Emperor of the Oscar Empire.”
“Then you too…….”
Arthur’s face contorted in despair.
He had been certain Altros was one of the Demon King’s familiars.
But Emperor Ruan was of the bloodline of Golden Barotas, who had felled the Demon King alongside Teheran.
Despite the circumstances and Narusian’s words, he had clung to a sliver of hope that he might not be.
Yet there was no twist. Ruan had fallen to darkness after all.
What could have been lacking, what shortfall drove him to join hands with the Demon King?
Disappointment surged endlessly, turning to rage.
Anyone else, perhaps—but not Emperor Ruan.
He was the one who should lead the fight against the Demon King.
To shatter the peace bought with his ancestors’ lives—unforgivable.
“How could you…….”
“To clear up your misunderstanding, I haven’t joined hands with the Demon King.”
“Then what’s that guy?”
As Arthur glared at Collepton, Ruan grinned and answered.
“A hunting dog that tears apart those who defy me.”
“What?”
Arthur’s mind reeled in confusion.
To call a Demon King’s Guardian a mere dog.
No one could say that without allying with the Demon King.
He couldn’t even guess the situation.
Then pitch-black darkness gathered behind Ruan, like his shadow swelling grotesquely.
But as red eyes appeared in the shadow!
His senses sharpened. He instantly recognized it as a spirit.
If it was a spirit aligned with the Demon King, it could only be that one.
The darkness spirit, Nightmare!
Seeing it emerge behind Ruan meant his contractor was……
“So you’re the one who summoned Nightmare.”
“Correct. I am this one’s master.”
Ruan extended his hand with a chilling smile.
“Watch out!”
With Demian’s cry, black aura shot from Ruan’s fingertips.
Arthur flung himself aside.
Boom!
The wall behind him crumbled.
Arthur sprang up like a coiled spring, drawing a dagger from his lower back.
Just from that attack, it was clear the enemy was no inferior.
In other words, he had likely reached the realm of Grand Sword Master.
Arthur had thought he was cocky thanks to the Demon King’s Guardian, but that wasn’t it.
With that level of power and a spirit’s protection, it made sense.
He was the strongest foe Arthur had faced yet.
Meanwhile, Arthur’s own situation was dire. His reliable spirit allies had all vanished.
His connection to them was completely severed.
Absolute crisis had descended upon him.
“Hmm…….”
Arthur’s face hardened.
Ruan smirked at his reaction.
“Worried about dying here? No need for that. I came only out of curiosity about your face, not to kill you.”
“What?”
“My business here is done.”
Ruan turned to Collepton as he headed out.
“I give you one day. Clean up thoroughly. Bring that one to me alive.”
“Un, der, stood.”
Collepton replied triumphantly.
As Ruan moved to leave the office, his eyes caught a corpse shoved in the corner, its clothing familiar.
The emblem etched on it resembled something from clothes that guy often wore.
‘No way.’
Ruan extended his hand toward it, and the corpse floated up, revealing its face.
It was Valtre.
“Hmm, croaked before the war even ended. Tsk tsk, why start a rebellion if you’re just going to die like this…….”
Ruan scowled and shook his head.
Then he turned to Arthur.
“Your doing?”
“I promised to lop off that bastard’s head.”
“I see.”
Ruan hurled Valtre aside like a rag and eyed Arthur.
“You’ll have to replace him. Collepton.”
“Speak, and, it, shall, be, done.”
Collepton replied, unleashing a murderous aura toward Arthur.
“Drag him before me.”
Ruan added with a venomous smile.
“Treat him specially—he’ll be my servant.”