Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Battle for the Holy Grail (5)
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“Gah!”
The assassin spewed blood as he collapsed to his knees.
He stared at me with eyes full of disbelief.
“S-Si-Sion Aleyas. How in the world did you just...”
The assassin couldn’t finish his sentence.
Because I’d severed his throat without hesitation.
[In this chaotic melee, no one notices even if you borrow my power.]
‘Especially with all the dust kicking up everywhere.’
While conversing with Igzard, I leaped up the ravine.
When I reached the spot where Klaus’s body had been earlier, I saw a fierce battle raging.
“Kurt Aleyas...!”
Rumble!
A massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky.
It was magic unleashed by Saphirus, the 9th-circle mage.
“Today’s the day I’ll finally take you down!”
“I’ve heard that line dozens of times already, Saphirus!”
“Not dozens, you arrogant bastard!”
Saphirus was unleashing a barrage of tremendous spells, but my father, Kurt, remained unscathed.
His cloak was torn, and his armor was scorched in places, but that was it.
‘He’s grown even stronger since before. More refined.’
The Kurt I remembered specialized in bold, ferocious assaults.
Back then, he would’ve charged Saphirus head-on, heedless of his own blood loss. But now, he seemed focused on seizing control of the fight.
“Lord Kurt!”
“We’ll back you up!”
“Stay out of it, you small fry!”
Hazel and Helmut tried to join Kurt, but they were blasted away by Saphirus’s lightning.
Hazel aside, Helmut was a 7th-circle knight, yet he’d been downed in one hit.
‘As expected of Archbishop Saphirus...!’
Saphirus was one of the top powerhouses in the Dialogue Church.
No lowlifes could just charge in recklessly against him.
[Stronger than that Dietrich fellow. Rush him head-on, and you won’t even have bones left to pick.]
Just as Igzard said, with only 6th-circle mana at my disposal, I couldn’t take him straight-up.
If I drew on Igzard’s power, I could manifest sword aura rivaling my days as Archbishop Hausel—but only the aura itself.
Everything else fell short, especially sword streams, which I couldn’t use at all.
‘That doesn’t mean I can just sit back and watch.’
Kurt was a 9th-circle heavenly knight, the only one here who could stand against Archbishop Saphirus.
But the mere fact that Saphirus was still alive showed it wouldn’t be easy for Kurt to take him down.
One misstep, and Kurt could fall to Saphirus.
[So what’s your plan? Call in Dietrich?]
‘No, that won’t work.’
With Dietrich joining in, we’d have the advantage.
A pincer from Kurt, the 9th-circle knight, and Dietrich, the 9th-circle mage, would surely overwhelm Saphirus.
But that would tip Kurt off to Dietrich’s presence. Kurt had clashed with him before.
‘If Kurt spots Dietrich, that’s trouble.’
[Fair point.]
‘Besides, I’ve got Dietrich handling something else right now. Can’t pull him here.’
Normally, he’d be standing by nearby, cloaked in shadows. But not this time.
[Then what’s the play?]
‘Igzard, you absorbed some life force from Pertus earlier, right? Got plenty of energy?’
[What?]
‘There’s something I want to try.’
I gripped Ashurai tighter.
* * *
‘Damn, Saphirus... He’s tough!’
Kurt bit his lip.
Archbishop Saphirus was no pushover.
Let his guard slip for even a moment, and he’d lose his life.
‘Especially these lightning spells... Relentless!’
Archbishop Saphirus specialized in lightning magic.
It was one of the spells developed by the Dialogue Church. Fewer users than fire magic, but every lightning mage was a monster.
Saphirus, in particular, was practically the foremost grand magus of lightning magic.
“Hah!”
Kurt lunged forward, swinging the holy sage sword ‘Erdais’ at Saphirus.
A solid hit would’ve sprayed blood from Saphirus’s chest, but in the blink of an eye, Saphirus slipped outside the attack range.
With a crackle of electricity.
“Too slow, Kurt Aleyas!”
“Urgh...!”
The terror of lightning magic wasn’t just offense—it extended to movement.
By infusing his body with lightning, he could move at true thunderbolt speed.
Mages were usually weak up close, but not grand magi like Saphirus.
Even against Kurt, a 9th-circle heavenly swordsman, Saphirus could handle close quarters.
“My lightning will burn you from head to toe...!”
Boom!
Saphirus unleashed his signature lightning spell, Thunderbolt Chain, sending a barrage of countless bolts crashing down in sequence.
* * *
Saphirus was so fixated on Kurt that he paid me no mind.
Which let me build up my mana fully.
‘Right now, I’ve got 6th-circle mana. Impossible back then, but doable now.’
As I studied the lightning magic Saphirus was deploying, I began forming a spell formula with my mana.
Archbishop Hausel hadn’t been a mage.
But... he wasn’t ignorant of magic.
‘Knights and mages usually pick one because mastering even half is grueling.’
Knight training differed from mage training.
Knights honed techniques to reinforce their bodies and weapons with mana.
Mages honed techniques to alter the external world with mana.
‘But at higher realms, the lines blur.’
Saphirus’s high-speed movement just now was a prime example.
He could probably replicate sword aura if he wanted.
No point, though—lightning packed more punch.
‘And the same went for... Archbishop Hausel.’
Hausel had been a knight.
But deeply versed in magic, he’d devised numerous techniques incorporating its principles.
This was one of them.
‘Draw out the mana...’
The two circles in my chest.
I pushed them to their limits, pulling out every ounce of stored 6th-circle mana.
Overload sent sparks flying through my nerves, but Igzard’s support kicked in immediately.
[I’ve got it.]
Igzard’s demonic sword system could handle vast energies.
6th-circle mana was child’s play.
With his help easing the strain, I focused my mind.
Pouring all my mana into Ashurai in my hand...
‘Transform the sword aura.’
The brilliantly shining aura briefly took on the crimson-black hue of my Hausel days.
Then the color vanished, and the change began.
‘Applying the principles of Saphirus’s lightning magic... to lightning sword aura.’
Mana realigns.
Lightning principles fuse with sword aura principles, birthing a new power.
‘No chance to test this on the Holy Knight Order.’
I’d developed it a month before Gateus the Archbishop purged me.
Even Kurt wouldn’t peg it as Hausel’s technique.
‘Behold... Heavenly Thunder.’
Crackle!
Ashurai, cloaked in fierce lightning, shot toward Archbishop Saphirus.
* * *
Dietrich looked up.
He hadn’t joined the Holy Knight Order and Dialogue Church melee, staying hidden instead. But he couldn’t ignore what was happening atop the ravine.
‘My liege.’
He sensed the blinding light.
Felt the surge of intense mana flow.
Dietrich trembled.
‘Revealing the might of Archbishop Hausel.’
Even from afar, the sensation moved him to secret tears.
* * *
“Gaaah!”
A sharp scream echoed through the ravine.
Ashurai had pierced Saphirus’s shoulder.
“...!”
In that instant, Kurt’s gaze turned to me.
Shocked that my technique had landed on Saphirus.
But he didn’t demand explanations on how I’d done it.
He knew this wasn’t the time.
“Is that one of Hausel the Archbishop’s demon spirit swords?!”
Panicking, Saphirus tried to yank Ashurai from his shoulder.
Kurt didn’t miss the opening. He leaped.
“Ah...!”
Saphirus desperately tried to flee with lightning-enhanced high-speed movement.
Too late.
Kurt’s sword stream, powered by the holy sage sword Erdais, was already activating.
* * *
A thunderous roar like striking lightning.
Holy Knights and combat priests alike froze, heads raised.
They’d sensed Kurt—having climbed the ravine to face Archbishop Saphirus—unleashing his ultimate technique.
“Ahh...!”
Gasps rose from the crowd.
Admiration from the Holy Knights.
Laments from the combat priests.
Then, a single streak of azure light shot skyward from the ravine, as if cleaving the heavens.
“That’s...!”
Someone shouted.
“Kurt Aleyas’s sword stream—the most destructive force in the Aleyas house... Celestial Vault Emperor Stream!”
The instant the soaring light plummeted back to earth...
A deafening boom, and the mountain collapsed.
* * *
‘It’s been ages since I last saw Kurt’s sword stream.’
Sword streams transcended sword ki, sword strikes, sword aura, and sword blasts—the pinnacle realm for swordsmen, requiring at least 9th-circle mana.
Mana alone wasn’t enough. One had to endlessly probe the essence of swordsmanship, attaining enlightenment of their core.
This manifested the caster’s inner world through the blade, wielding miraculous power beyond physical limits.
All mana flowed outward like water, hence the name “stream.”
‘The Celestial Vault Emperor Stream embodied Kurt’s bold ambition. Its straight-line devastation could sunder heaven and earth alike.’
I recalled how our sword stream clashes as Archbishop Hausel would reshape the terrain entirely.
‘But...’
Thanks to Kurt going all-out with his stream, the entire mountain was crumbling.
‘Father, did you forget I’m here?’
Swept up in the massive shockwave of destruction, I inwardly protested to Kurt.