Chapter 106
Chapter 106
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: The End of Ambition (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘How did he find us so quickly?’
Avilon felt utterly bewildered.
He had fled with utmost care. There was no way he should have been caught this easily.
Just moments ago, a flash of light had streaked across the sky above, and it seemed like that had drawn him here. But who had created that light?
‘Still…….’
It looked like Sion had come alone.
The surroundings were quiet, and no one else was in sight.
‘In that case, I have a chance! I’ll finish him off swiftly and escape with Brishura!’
Avilon shot a glance at Brishura.
She wasn’t in peak condition right now, but with Agrun’s white cloth, she could still provide solid support.
As he thought that and drew his sword from his waist.
“Sorry, Avilon.”
“……!”
Brishura turned her back on him and bolted away.
“You damned……!”
He spat curses and tried to launch an attack at her.
But the situation didn’t allow it.
“Is this the time to worry about others?”
“……!”
Kwaang!
Sion closed the distance in an instant, his blade flying toward him.
Avilon barely managed to block it with his sword aura, but Sion’s attack was far stronger than expected.
‘What the hell? It’s way stronger than before…….’
As Avilon stared in shock.
A sword-black energy began to envelop Sion’s blade.
* * *
‘You idiot of a man!’
Brishura burst into laughter as she dashed through the dark forest.
‘Who would share their fate with trash like you?’
Just as Avilon had said, Brishura had only been using him.
She had never once thought of them as partners in crime.
‘I can escape just fine without your help……!’
Avilon had underestimated Brishura far too much.
With her abilities, she could slip away on her own without issue.
The problem was her current condition made it hard to deal with pursuers, but by tossing Avilon out as bait, that was solved.
‘Really, you’ve been a fool from start to finish!’
From the beginning, Brishura had never intended to lead Avilon to the Dialogue Church.
She had promised to teach him the Dialogue Circulation Method, but that was a lie too.
She had planned to use him and discard him all along.
‘Damn it. If it weren’t for the plan, I never would’ve ended up like this…….’
This operation wasn’t something Brishura had devised alone.
It was for the massive ‘plan’ the Dialogue Church was preparing.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths herself.
‘Whatever. It failed, so I’ll report that and just leave the south…….’
As she ran with those thoughts.
Kwajik!
Brishura’s legs froze solid.
“……?!”
Unable to move her legs, she toppled forward.
She tried to look up to see what had happened, but even that was impossible.
“Keuk!”
Puk!
Something like a massive awl pierced through her torso.
And that wasn’t the end. Large and small awls stabbed through her shoulders, forearms, thighs—her entire body.
“Ku, aaaah…….”
Overwhelmed by the unbearable damage, Brishura lost consciousness.
She never even grasped who had ambushed her.
* * *
‘Dietrich must have taken care of Brishura by now.’
Thinking that, I swung my sword.
Ashurai, empowered by Igzard’s strength, completely repelled Avilon’s blade.
“Krk!”
Avilon groaned as he was pushed back.
He stared at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
“You, you—what the hell is that……?”
“What do you think?”
“How can you wield such evil energy……? Don’t tell me it’s the power of a Demon Spirit Sword?!”
He seemed convinced it came from the Demon Spirit Sword Ashurai I was using.
“And you call yourself a Holy Knight?!”
“Who would’ve thought I’d hear that from you, Avilon.”
“Uk……!”
“Your father, Gretus, never directly allied with the Dialogue Church. But you were personally connected to one of their high-ranking priests.”
I glared at Avilon as I spoke.
“On top of that, you took part in the assault on Princess Atria. You’re a traitor not just to the Holy Knight Order and the Holy Spirit Church, but to the Sacred Empire itself.”
“Sh-shut your mouth.”
Avilon’s eyes bulged.
“Holy Knight Order? Holy Spirit Church? Sacred Empire? What does any of that matter?!”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No! The era of war is coming soon!”
The era of war.
Avilon used an unfamiliar phrase.
“Soon, the Dialogue Church’s reinvasion will begin! The outdated Holy Knight Order will never be able to stop them!”
“…….”
“The world will plunge into chaos! When that day comes, neither the Holy Spirit Church nor the Sacred Empire will mean a thing!”
“So you plan to join the Dialogue Church?”
“That’s not it either!”
Avilon shook his head violently.
“My goal is solely to gain the power to dominate this era of war!”
“Power?”
“That’s right! I will obtain power through the Dialogue Church!”
He screamed like a madman.
“The Dialogue Circulation Method—I’ll seize it…… and reach a realm beyond the 9th rank, something impossible until now!”
Dialogue Circulation Method.
A realm beyond the 9th rank.
Hearing that, I was at a loss for words.
[Hey.]
Igzard’s voice came from within me, sounding incredulous.
[Looks like that fool got thoroughly duped.]
‘Yeah…….’
I let out a sigh.
Seeing that, Avilon glared at me.
“Why…… why are you sighing?”
“Because I pity you.”
“What?!”
“You don’t seem to know what the Dialogue Circulation Method really is…… Brishura must not have explained it properly.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?!”
“Well, she had no reason to. She planned to use you and toss you aside from the start.”
Avilon’s face twisted as if struck where it hurt.
“To learn the Dialogue Circulation Method, you have to discard all your existing mana.”
“What……?”
“You’d have to throw away the 8th-rank mana you’ve built up over decades and start over from 1st rank.”
“D-don’t make me laugh! No such thing exists!”
“That’s exactly why no one in the Dialogue Church uses it.”
“……!”
Avilon swallowed hard, as if he hadn’t considered that.
But he soon shook his head furiously and raised his voice.
“D-don’t lie! How would you even know about that?!”
“Why are you reacting like this?”
“What?”
“You said it yourself earlier. You were curious how I gained such power, so you asked me to teach you.”
Back at the party, when we greeted each other, Avilon had definitely said that.
“So I’m telling you in detail.”
“W-wait a second.”
“What the Dialogue Circulation Method is.”
“……!”
Avilon trembled.
He looked at me with an expression of disbelief.
“W-wait. You’re saying your strength, your mastery of mana…… it’s because you learned the Dialogue Circulation Method?”
“You know I can store vast amounts of mana with just a few circles, since you were at the family meeting.”
“No way…… you’re saying that wasn’t something you figured out on your own…… but from the Dialogue Circulation Method?”
“That’s right.”
“Y-you mad……!”
Avilon shook his head wildly, as if going insane.
“You’re the real traitor! Colluding with the Dialogue Church from a young age……!”
“I’ve never colluded with the Dialogue Church.”
“Don’t lie! Then where the hell did you learn the Dialogue Circulation Method?!”
“I’ve known it since birth.”
“Cut the bullshit……!”
In his agitation, Avilon reached into his pocket.
He dumped a small pill into his mouth.
[Well, well.]
I heard Igzard’s voice.
[The strengthening drug Brishura used earlier? Avilon had some too.]
‘Yeah, this is unexpected.’
The drug I knew of was only usable by those without circles.
The sole exception was Brishura herself, who had adjusted it specifically for her body.
It didn’t seem likely she’d made one for Avilon……
[Don’t tell me Brishura developed a strengthening drug anyone can use?]
‘Looks that way. This could be trouble.’
If just anyone could use such a drug…… the Dialogue Church’s forces would grow a rank stronger.
Could the Holy Knight Order stand against them?
“Uuuugh!”
Before my eyes, Avilon’s body began to swell.
His muscles expanded across his entire frame, veins bulging out. Blood vessels burst in his eyes, turning them bloodshot.
“Sion Aleyas!”
Avilon kicked off the ground and charged.
The sword aura cloaking his blade had expanded into a massive, heavy form.
[Intense energy! Just like those guys earlier, he’s drawing out vital energy beyond its limits!]
Kukukung!
The moment our sword auras clashed, I was the one pushed back this time.
“I’ll kill you, Sion Aleyas!”
“Aren’t you venting your anger in the wrong place? You should hate Brishura.”
“I’ll kill that damned woman later too! But first, you—you arrogant bastard—die……!”
“Big dreams, Avilon.”
Kwaang!
I ramped up the output of my sword aura and drew on my full physical strength.
Moments ago, the contest of strength had favored him, but in an instant, it shifted to my advantage.
“Y-you bastard. Even if you learned the Dialogue Circulation Method, I’m 8th rank just like you—how……!”
“You think my power is just the Dialogue Circulation Method?”
“What?!”
“I’ll show you.”
Paang!
After fully deflecting Avilon’s sword, I altered the bonding structure of the mana forming my sword aura.
In that instant, the sword aura enveloping my blade erupted like blazing flames.
It was the technique Archbishop Hausel had created: ‘Purgatory.’
“……!”
I swung Ashurai toward Avilon, who gulped in shock.
Avilon desperately raised his sword to block, but the moment it met Purgatory’s flames, his sword aura shattered.
“No……!”
Startled, Avilon summoned more mana.
But the new sword aura crumbled to pieces before the flames as well.
“W-wait. This is…….”
Avilon’s eyes changed.
Unlike when he faced Johan Edelfeldt last time, as he gazed at the crimson-flamed Purgatory……
He spoke in a voice of disbelief.
“This flame-like energy…… no way, that man’s—Archbishop Hausel’s……!”
“Good eyes.”
He must have seen me fighting with it during the war twenty years ago.
“Why are you using that power……!”
Avilon’s body twisted grotesquely.
Was it the drug’s side effect, or his own will warping his flesh?
Either way, he swung his sword at me with arms thickened like pillars.
As if to crush me utterly, he unleashed a colossal sword aura.
“That realm is mine alone to reach!”
“No.”
I replied coldly and swung my sword.
“Past, present—there is only me here.”
With a heaven-shaking roar, Avilon’s sword and body cleaved apart simultaneously.