Chapter 122
Chapter 122
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Demon Sword Forte (23) - As a Demon Sword Should
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“Huh?”
The eerie sensation from her hand, and the bizarre sight before her eyes, made Fina let out a dazed sound without even realizing it.
Objectively speaking, it wasn't a major wound—no, not even damage worth calling it that.
Just a section of the blade chipped like a missing tooth, with a fingernail-sized crack forming inside it.
But to Fina, who had until now perceived Forte as a near-invincible sword, this was an immense shock, comparable to perfectly solid ground suddenly crumbling away.
The reasons Fina, half out of it, could still react to the continuing attacks were twofold.
One was that her body, remembering her rigorous training, moved before her mind could catch up. The other was Forte herself urging her on, unconcerned by the injury.
Claaang!
The blades clashed once more.
The Black Knight's attacks were utterly ferocious.
Each swing, even swung plainly, tore through the air, and the overflowing aura's aftermath alone crumbled surrounding objects.
Fina tried her best to deflect the attack's power, but the attempt failed, sending her body flying backward instead.
As the Black Knight moved to follow up—
“Aaahhh!!”
A fireball flying in from the side checked the Black Knight's movements, accompanied by a cry somewhere between frustration and terror.
The moment the Black Knight, protected by his aura armor, turned to look, the demon who had fired the fireball—Divana—ground her teeth.
She truly didn't want to get involved in this situation.
Though she hadn't grasped the Black Knight's exact identity, she could tell just by looking that his power was no joke.
But she was already bound by a contract.
If Fina met her end before the contract's termination was declared, Divana would die on the spot as well.
To avoid death, she had no choice but to help Fina, whether she liked it or not.
While the Black Knight and Divana tangled with each other, Fina, flung to a corner, was lost in confusion.
“D-Demon Sword... What... what should I do...”
“But!”
Fina raised her voice without thinking at the calmly conveyed words.
“It's... it's because of me! Because I couldn't handle you properly, Demon Sword...!”
Fina knew.
In the battle against the Demon King long ago, the sword the hero wielded had performed its role perfectly without issue.
Yet Forte, even stronger than that sword, was starting to break after just the first clash because Fina's skill was overwhelmingly inferior to the hero's.
“If I were the real hero... if only...”
To her, Forte was more than just a weapon.
She was a companion Fina, awkward with people, could relax around; a teacher guiding her immaturity; a pillar helping her hold onto herself amid memories threatening to devour her.
The thought that such a being might break because of her...
That made Fina unable to muster the courage to raise her sword and fight.
“Instead—”
She wanted to say they should run.
There were plenty of reasons.
The enemy was a transcendent being fusing the legendary Demon King and sage. No mere immature student could handle such a disaster.
The true culprits were the leaders from various nations who cornered the sage's party in the distant past—Fina bore no responsibility.
Above all, if she charged in again, it would likely end in pointless death. Fleeing to survive wasn't wrong, was it?
“Instead...”
And yet.
Even knowing all that.
For some reason, the words to flee wouldn't come from Fina's mouth.
As if reading that hesitation, Forte spoke—not to urge her, but to put into words what Fina already knew.
Someone might say, "What does it matter?"
"I'm more important than others. Even if something goes wrong here, it's not my responsibility," they might argue.
Forte didn't deny such views.
Indeed, that wasn't a sin.
But there are people in the world who can't draw such lines.
People who step up for things they don't have to, help where it's not required, and feel responsibility where none is demanded.
Foolish, stubborn, idiotic people.
And Forte liked such fools.
Suddenly.
Fina's trembling body froze.
Mana flowing from Forte's blade caressed the back of Fina's hand.
The lump of iron, lacking warm blood or soft flesh—a lost child severed from its origin—thus conveyed its will to its wielder.
Fina's lips trembled, trying to form unrefined words.
But she suppressed them all, uttering only one.
“I trust you.”
“...Yes!”
Fina's hand seized Forte's hilt.
After what felt like an eternity but was truly mere moments of recomposure, the demon sword's contractor charged back into the battlefield.
Dodging the Black Knight's fiercely incoming sword by a hair's breadth, Divana screamed inwardly.
‘It's greater demon-class!! How am I supposed to handle this alone!!’
Divana was a powerful demon.
Having entered the direct service of one of the demon realm's three lords and receiving missions personally, she could be called an elite even among demons.
But she was nowhere near great demon level.
For example, even if the three demons on this mission teamed up to strike "Deception" from behind, "Deception" would toy with and annihilate them without even getting serious.
That was the gap between a great demon and an ordinary one.
Yet the clear reason Divana could hold out against the Black Knight for around thirty seconds or so was simple.
He wasn't zealously trying to crush her.
To avoid misunderstanding, it wasn't mercy.
The Black Knight had simply calculated.
Going for her torso in one stroke might invite a meaningful counter depending on variables.
Severing an arm, however—even if bad luck piled up—would end in mere scratches.
So he sliced the arm.
He could risk a bit for her neck.
Without risk, her leg was fair game.
So he sliced the leg.
No reckless moves.
No tricks.
Even if a weakness seemed obvious, he didn't rush in. Provocations got no reaction.
Like an army using only frontal assaults.
A powerhouse with no impatience, willing to wait in 99% victory scenarios until that 1% defeat risk dropped to minor injury or less.
Divana felt like she was backing toward a cliff, step by step.
She knew continuing to retreat would eventually send her over the edge.
But with that figure swinging a sword in threat, she couldn't stop.
A death sentence struggle.
The moment she nearly let go in horror—
Flash!
A streak of light charged at the Black Knight.
Clang!
The thrust aimed at his back was blocked without hitting.
The Black Knight had kept wary of Fina even while fighting Divana, nullifying the surprise attack's effect.
But Fina shouted without panic.
“Run! And make sure no one else gets caught up!!”
“Now's the time to worry about others!? Save your own skin!!”
Knowing it wasn't the time for bickering, Divana couldn't help shouting anyway.
She was honestly grateful Fina returned to fight instead of fleeing when she could have.
But if Fina died, so would Divana.
With not enough time to use every human in the academy as bait and flee together, evacuating immobile burdens in a stupor while fighting? Was she sane?
“If I can keep anyone from getting caught up until I die or the Black Knight falls, you'll be free afterward!!”
Yet the human before her not only didn't retract but proposed an absurd deal.
Even more ridiculous: the contract chains binding Divana rattled upon hearing it.
Proof that Forte, the contract's subject, accepted the nonsense and modified the terms.
It was thorough—adding fine print to prevent cheap tricks like killing Fina to end it—but compared to the previous dead end, far more manageable.
Instead of pointless grumbling, Divana snatched Kairun hiding nearby and flew swiftly out of the tower.
Not out of compassion, but because Kairun was also among those who "mustn't get caught up."
Confirming that, Fina hurled herself down the stairs to the lower floor.
Down, down she plunged frantically, encountering monsters frozen in dazed stillness.
Without hesitation, Fina severed a massive troll's neck.
It was profoundly strange.
Fina was currently battling the Black Knight—the true ruler of this academy.
Normally, no matter what she did, the system wouldn't reward her.
That's right.
If the Sky Sage were a transcendent in perfect condition.
Slash, slash, slash.
She cleaved through stationary monsters nonstop, fleeing to the next floor while evading the Black Knight's pursuit.
Objectively, it bordered on madness.
Just evading a transcendent was no easy feat.
But not mere evasion—slaughtering monsters mid-flight? Near suicidal.
As the chase dragged on, wounds accumulated on Fina's body, with several near-death moments.
A truly perilous tightrope walk.
Strangely, despite the dire straits, Fina's movements never slowed.
Nay, far from it—each monster felled made her faster, stronger.
Astonishingly swift.
Dazzlingly rapid.