Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Falling Sword (6)
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In a small cave nestled in the mountains.
Evan, who had been asleep in the darkness, opened his eyes.
Blink. Blink.
His eyes began their preparation to adjust to the lightless gloom.
As Evan stood up, having adapted to the dark, a dull sensation filled his ears.
A chill clung to his body, which had been leaning against the cave wall as he slept.
"I'm sure I heard something..."
An unidentifiable sound had woken him from his sleep.
Evan drew his sword and moved, searching for the source of the noise.
Thud. Thud.
With every step, the sound of his footfalls echoed through the cave.
In the empty cavern, only Evan's presence could be felt.
Leaving the cave, Evan scanned his surroundings, beginning his search for the sound's origin.
"Doesn't seem to be anything suspicious."
But outside the cave, there were no discernible traces of anything.
He couldn't even sense the presence of any animals passing nearby.
Beneath a brilliantly shining night sky, only the tranquil forest scenery entered his view.
Evan couldn't understand what had roused him from his slumber.
Just as he was about to move to get some fresh air, taking in the peaceful forest, it happened.
"Accept your fate."
The moment Evan tried to move a little further from the cave.
A spear of lightning manifested in the sky.
Crackle.
The spear of lightning, scattering sparks as it appeared, slowly began to change direction.
As the spear of lightning started to aim for him, Evan scrambled back into the cave.
CRASH! KABOOM!
No sooner had Evan entered the cave than a rain of lightning began to pour down.
As the violent thunder roared outside, Evan raised his sword with both hands.
"Goddess!"
A brilliant light erupted from his hands as they gripped the sword.
It was holy power, the exclusive domain of Holy Knights with unshakable faith.
The brightly radiating holy power became a lantern, illuminating the dark cave.
Hiding inside the cave, Evan prayed, waiting for the storm of lightning to pass.
The only thing Evan could rely on now was the single, light-emitting sword in his hands.
"Guide my path."
Was this a desperate struggle for survival?
Or was it a yearning for salvation?
Unable to decide which his prayer was, Evan continued to gaze at the light-infused sword.
The moment of salvation had not yet arrived.
There was no telling when it might come.
Nevertheless, Evan clung to his sword and continued to offer his prayers.
That was the qualification for bearing the name of Holy Knight.
Three days had already passed since Evan was trapped in the cave.
During that time, Evan had consistently sat, prayed, and slept, repeating the cycle.
Naturally, moments came when he wanted to go outside.
Moments when hunger and thirst rose up impulsively.
"Accept your fate."
Each time, Evan would attempt to leave, only to see the falling spears of lightning and retreat back into hiding.
The storm of lightning raged violently whenever Evan stepped outside.
His body had grown considerably weak from having nothing to eat or drink for days.
He no longer had the confidence that he could block the evil god's attacks as before.
In the end, there was only one course of action Evan could choose.
"...O Goddess. I swear that I will become a Holy Knight who follows Your will."
He was hungry.
And thirsty.
His hands, gripping the sword firmly, lacked any real strength.
But with dry, cracked lips, Evan continued to recite the Holy Knight's oath.
The current pain was merely temporary.
To forget the agony before him, it was better to focus completely on prayer.
For that purpose, Evan chose the oath he had first uttered when he became a Holy Knight.
"I swear to protect Your honor."
With every word he spoke, his lips cracked further.
His dehydrating throat periodically cried out in searing pain.
The sounds leaving his mouth gradually grew quieter.
But Evan continued his prayer.
"I swear to fight for my own honor."
A person's life is followed by countless trials.
This trial was but one among many.
Only those who overcome their trials can advance toward a more worthy path.
Evan was a man who held such beliefs.
And to overcome it, he chose faith and prayer.
"I swear to annihilate the wicked and save the weak."
He had pursued the light for his entire life.
He had believed that saving others and punishing evil would one day become the light that would save him.
He had never doubted that the brightest, most distant light was the answer.
So now, he had to press on toward that light.
For the sun shining before his eyes was the only signpost to the path ahead.
"Therefore, O Goddess, guide me to the righteous path."
Therefore, O Goddess.
If you can hear this voice,
If your eyes are upon this fragile lamb,
Guide me to the righteous path.
Five days had now passed since he was trapped in the cave.
While he could suppress the hunger somehow, the thirst was utterly unbearable.
Thus, Evan had been constantly quenching his thirst with the water pooled on the cave floor.
But there was a limit to what pooled cave water could provide.
A person cannot survive without water.
Having reached his limit, Evan finally drew his sword.
"Goddess. Guide me."
He couldn't just stay trapped in this cave and survive forever.
Either die of starvation, or die fighting.
Only two choices remained for Evan.
If only insane options were left, then there was only one path he could choose.
He would not wait for a hollow salvation.
His path forward had to be forged with his own hands.
He would rather die fighting than die in disgrace.
Having made his decision, Evan offered a prayer and drew forth his holy power.
"Let me walk the righteous path."
Click.
The sword Evan raised was imbued with a sacred light.
The intensely flaring light was more magnificent than ever before.
It was a sacred flame, ignited by burning his very being.
With the feeling that this was his final moment, Evan stepped outside, sword in hand.
If the evil god came, he would fight.
If the evil god's apostle approached, he would cut them down with his sword.
That was the path given to Evan, the Holy Knight.
"Accept your fate."
The evil god's voice echoed in Evan's ears as he stepped outside.
But Evan ignored it and pressed forward.
To live like a human, he had to go outside.
Following his convictions, Evan drew his sword and continued to advance.
With each step Evan took away from the cave, spears of lightning appeared one by one in the distant sky.
Fierce arrows of malice took aim at Evan, demanding he flee.
"I will decide my own fate!"
To meet his end as a Holy Knight was his destiny.
Taking his stance, Evan aimed his sword at the falling lightning.
If he swung, he could block it.
If he blocked it, he could move forward.
A fierce roar erupted from Evan's lips as he gripped his sword.
"Come at me! You vile, evil god!"
One more step forward than before.
Evan swung his brilliantly shining sword.
CLANG! KANG!
Each time the radiant sword swung, one of the evil god's wicked blows was cut down.
In this moment, Evan was stronger than his former self.
Evan's eyes, filled with fighting spirit, met the gaze of the evil god looking down on him.
"I am Evan Alemier, an Inquisitor of the Holy Land!"
There was only one thing he sought to protect.
His proud, current self.
Evan had to be a Holy Knight of the Holy Land.
And he had to be an Inquisitor who protected the Holy Land.
That was the fate Evan had chosen for himself.
"Evil god! Receive your judgment!"
Evan shouted at the evil god with a commanding voice.
A strong resolve blossomed in Evan's heart as he stood against the evil god.
For the sake of taking just one more step forward.
He poured his everything into his swing.
And he failed.
A silent cave, submerged in darkness.
There, a blood-soaked Evan drove his sword into the ground.
A deep radiance emanated from the blade he had plunged into the earth.
Only now had he achieved a new stage of growth as a Holy Knight.
Though against the evil god, it had been utterly meaningless.
"Hah..."
Crack.
He heard the sound of his clenched teeth fracturing.
Evan felt the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, then looked at the sword stuck in the ground.
A clear light flowed from Evan's sword.
It was the glorious proof of a Holy Knight.
Even within the Holy Land, a Holy Knight possessing such a light was a rare sight.
"In the end... did I survive again?"
Evan muttered to himself, staring at the sword.
A pure white aura shimmered before his eyes.
It was a warm and gentle light.
Anyone who witnessed this light would believe in the Goddess's existence and offer up a prayer.
And yet, the current Evan had no confidence left to pray.
"Why..."
His wretched life had failed to move forward, and he had ultimately returned to the cave.
He couldn't die.
Even as he was broken and tattered, death continued to approach as a constant fear.
In the end, Evan gave up trying to endure and came back.
He could not advance with his own power.
To escape this place, he needed someone else's help.
And there was only one being left who could possibly help him.
"Why, why won't you help me!"
Evan's voice, filled with resentment, echoed through the cave.
Even though the evil god had come targeting him, the Goddess of Honor had refused to help him to the very end.
There was still no end in sight to Evan's trial.
He was hungry. And thirsty.
Yet he couldn't eat even a scrap of bread, nor could he put a single drop of water to his lips.
He, a Holy Knight, was living a life worse than a beggar on the street.
"That vile evil god is constantly watching me! So why won't you even look at me!"
Evan continued to spew resentful words.
The countless frustrations he had bottled up burst forth toward the Goddess.
There was no hand of salvation reaching down for him.
The evil god moved personally to protect his subordinate, but the Goddess of Honor wouldn't even help her loyal knight.
She wouldn't save him.
On top of that, she wouldn't even grant him a single piece of bread.
She simply abandoned him in the cave, apparently hoping he would find a way out using his own strength.
The result of that was the Evan of now.
An Evan starving, emaciated, crying out the name of his god with cracked lips.
"What's so great about you that you can just watch me from the heavens, unable to save even a single person!"
If only the Goddess had helped him, just a little.
If only she had at least granted him water to quench his thirst.
He would have continued to cry out the Goddess's name in this pitch-black cave.
Believing that the day of salvation would one day come.
But the Goddess never once turned her gaze toward Evan, a gaze that even the evil god bestowed upon him.
To Evan, the closest being was the evil god.
The monster of the sky that wielded lightning and devoured innocent people.
"I'm calling out to you!"
There was no answer to his cry.
But Evan screamed for the Goddess until his throat was raw.
Evan's eyes, which had been gripping his sword, grew red.
In this moment, Evan felt as if he had been abandoned by everything in the world.
All that remained was Evan himself.
Just as a bottomless sense of solitude began to bloom in his chest.
"I, I mean, what on earth have I been doing all this time for!"
"Accept your fate."
The evil god's voice calling to him made Evan's head go cold.
What had he just said?
He had denied his god.
He had insulted his god, resented his god, and denied the very foundation of his being.
One who does not serve a god is no longer a Holy Knight.
Evan Alemier.
He was a man who wished to die as a Holy Knight, and nothing less.
Realizing the situation, Evan released the sword he was holding.
"O Goddess! I have dared to doubt you!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
He slammed his forehead violently against the cave floor.
The light flowing from the embedded sword grew fainter than before.
Undaunted by the fading light, Evan continued to smash his head against the ground.
Blood from his forehead streamed down his cheeks.
"I have dared, to doubt, you..."
Despite his vision turning red, Evan continued to offer a prayer of atonement.
One who doubts their god is not worthy of salvation.
All he could do now was beg for forgiveness from the Goddess who watched over him.
His voice, crying out to his god, continued to echo through the cave.
Knowing full well that his actions would receive no response, Evan never stopped his cries.
At some point, Evan stopped counting time.
He merely stared at the sword held in his hand.
After he had doubted the Goddess, Evan's light had weakened.
It was no longer possible to illuminate the cave with the same intense radiance as before.
All that remained for the current Evan was the single sword held heavily in his hand.
"..."
The sound of prayer no longer flowed from his lips either.
Evan quietly gazed at his sword.
There it was, the sword that had been through countless battlefields and had become quite damaged.
Evan's sword had always been with him.
Even if the Goddess of Honor completely abandoned him, the sword in his hand would stay with him until the very end.
Staring at the chipped blade, Evan gripped it and rose to his feet.
"Hahh..."
A heavy sigh escaped Evan's lips.
A time of silence, trapped in the cave.
During that time, Evan had contemplated his future countless times.
What action should he take?
What was the right path left for him?
And now, he had finally reached a conclusion.
"It was a pathetic life."
Shing.
Evan brought the sword in his hand to his own neck.
This was the conclusion he had reached after long deliberation.
He could not escape the evil god's sight while alive.
If he was determined to die a righteous death, this was the only method remaining.
Just as a hollow smile formed on Evan's face and he was about to put strength into the hand holding the sword.
"What a pathetic sight."
A soft girl's voice echoed through the cave.
It was a voice incredibly familiar to Evan.
The First Apostle, Yutenia Hi-Lost.
The evil god's apostle had appeared before him.
Evan lowered the sword from his neck.
A sacred light began to rise from the sword in Evan's hand.
"Did you come here to mock me?"
A pathetic radiance flowed from the sword in his hand.
Compared to just a short while ago, he was a shadow of his former self.
No one looking at him now would be reminded of the Inquisitor.
Click. Clack.
Yutenia approached Evan with a leisurely pace.
"Well now. I'm not so sure."
"..."
Evan tried to draw forth more light to cut down the approaching Yutenia.
The hand gripping the sword felt heavier than before.
But by the time Yutenia was standing right in front of him, Evan's sword had not been swung.
Yutenia's hand moved toward the frozen Evan.
"O Holy Knight, have you finally broken?"
Yutenia's hand caressed Evan's cheek.
As her cold touch brushed past his cheek, Evan felt the strength drain from the hand holding the sword.
He wasn't bound by some kind of magic.
It was simply that Evan's body, feeling fear on its own, had frozen.
What was he afraid of now?
To shake off his own weakness, Evan tried to recall the embers remaining within him.
"...Ah."
He had loved seeing people's smiling faces.
He had loved the people of the temple who welcomed him.
That was why he had decided to become a Holy Knight.
He wanted to protect people's smiles with his own hands and spread the will of his god across the continent.
During his time as a Holy Knight, he had saved countless people.
Though no one praised him for such an obvious duty, his actions stemmed from the belief that the Goddess, at least, would be watching over his good deeds.
"I..."
His throat choked up, and the words wouldn't come out properly.
There were things he had to say, but he couldn't properly voice them.
He was an Inquisitor belonging to the Temple of Honor.
He always had to be more noble than others, more devout than anyone else in the temple.
The moment the faith that formed the core of his heart was shaken, his value as an Inquisitor would vanish.
And yet, Evan couldn't bring himself to say a single word of his story.
He had already doubted his own faith countless times.
In the darkness, he had watched his god turn away from him time and again.
If such a person were to claim he was noble, no one would believe him.
"I..."
In the silence, Evan's eyes looked at Yutenia.
Before him was an apostle of the evil god.
Perhaps he could swing his sword now and kill her.
But the hand gripping the sword would not move properly.
The light flowing from the sword flickered continuously, mocking his precarious state.
What could he possibly do with this weak sword?
What he was holding now was nothing but an illusion.
The illusion of his past as a Holy Knight of the Holy Land.
"Accept your fate."
Accept your fate.
At the now-familiar voice of the evil god, a sigh escaped Evan's lips.
A predetermined fate.
What fate had been given to him?
The strength in Evan's hand, gripping the sword, slowly began to fade.
He had lived glorious days.
But at the end of this path, there was no glory.
In the end, at the conclusion of this long trial, he had ceased to be a Holy Knight.
The man he was now was not a Holy Knight.
The man he was now was not an Inquisitor.
And the man he was now was
"I... am a weak human."
Flicker.
The light of his faith went out.