Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Citadel's Decisive Battle (1)
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“Guhk!”
I felt the sensation of Elias’s jawbone crushing under my fingertips.
Elias tumbled across the ground.
“S-Si-Sion?!”
Oscar looked at my face with a panicked expression.
“H-How? You were wearing mana-sealing handcuffs…….”
“This?”
I picked up the handcuffs I had taken off inside the water tank.
These had been broken long ago; I was just wearing them loosely.
“Sion Aleyas……!”
Elias roared as he pushed himself up.
Even with his jawbone shattered, he was screaming clearly.
It seemed Suhaien had modified him thoroughly.
“You bastard, I’ll really kill you……!”
“I think I heard something similar last time.”
“Shut up!”
Elias’s voice was savage.
“Last time, you beat me because of those two Demon Spirit Swords! But right now, you’re unarmed!”
“I am unarmed, yeah.”
“So…… you can’t beat me now that I’ve recovered my 9th Circle mana!”
With that shout, Elias raised both arms high.
He looked ready to charge in and tear me apart.
“Recovered your 9th Circle mana?”
“What?”
“You’re under a delusion. You haven’t recovered any mana at all.”
“……?”
Elias placed a hand on his chest with a puzzled expression.
Then he flinched in surprise.
“Huh?”
“You’ve finally realized.”
“S-Su-Suhaien……!”
Elias raised his voice toward Suhaien.
“What’s going on?! Why wasn’t any mana injected into me from the Holy Grail?!”
“How do you inject mana without a Circle?”
But Suhaien’s voice was cold.
“Not a single drop of mana was injected into you.”
“What are you talking about?! You said synchronizing mana wavelengths with Sion Aleyas would create a Circle…….”
“That’s impossible. You ignorant fool.”
“……!”
Elias’s face twisted.
“O-Oscar! What the hell is going on? You were right there watching!”
“W-Well, it was such an advanced procedure that I couldn’t understand any of it…….”
“What happened?!”
Elias vented his anger by hurling the nearby Holy Grail.
“Don’t throw a tantrum. What if you break a supreme holy relic?”
“It won’t break from something like that, Excellency.”
“E-Excellency?”
The only knight who could be called “Excellency” was a Knight Order Leader.
Suhaien had called me “Archbishop Excellency,” but Elias wouldn’t understand that.
“Suhaien, you bastard…… did you betray me?!”
“Betray? That’s not the right word.”
Suhaien straightened his chest as he spoke.
“From the beginning, I was a man who followed only one person.”
“What the hell are you saying!”
Elias raised his hand in rage.
“You bastards, all of you…… I’ll kill you all!”
“E-Elias oppa…….”
Even Oscar was included among those he pointed at.
“Don’t delude yourself, Elias Edelpfelt.”
“W-What?”
“You have no mana right now. Your physical abilities have been enhanced through modification, but if Oscar uses mana, you won’t be able to withstand it.”
“……!”
“Of course, the same goes for me.”
As I took a step forward, Elias stepped back.
“S-Si-Sion Aleyas…….”
“…….”
“You’re making a mistake! Do you even know where we are?!”
Elias screamed desperately.
“This is Gaiyerant! The Edelpfelt family’s stronghold! Where my 9th Circle grandfather and aunt are!”
“I know.”
“Your mana is 6th Circle, right? Or was it 7th? Either way, they can kill a nobody like you in an instant! Unlike me, those two are ‘real’ 9th Circle knights!”
“You’re right that those two are real 9th Circle knights unlike you. But the rest is your misunderstanding.”
“W-What?”
“Did you think I was just lying in that glass tank taking a nap all this time?”
“……?”
In front of the blindsided Elias, I unleashed my mana.
The power of the Holy Grail that Suhaien had been injecting into me…… not Elias…… all this time.
“Right now, I possess 8th Circle mana.”
“……!”
With a thunderous roar, the entire lab came crashing down.
* * *
“What was that?”
Sershes, who had been directing the siege, jerked his head up urgently.
A massive boom had come from inside Gaiyerant Citadel.
“An explosion from inside……?”
Had someone failed at magic?
He saw one of the spires collapsing.
“No, that’s not magic.”
It was too far to see clearly, but his instincts told him.
That was a sword barrage, something only someone with 8th Circle or higher mana could unleash.
“What the…….”
Sershes held his breath and observed.
Someone atop the collapsing spire was unleashing a barrage of sword strikes.
Thanks to that, chaos seemed to be breaking out inside the citadel.
“No way…….”
Sion’s face flashed through Sershes’s mind.
“No, that guy couldn’t possibly unleash sword barrages. It hasn’t even been a month since he reached 7th Circle.”
He muttered to himself, denying it.
He had no idea what was happening.
But his instincts were clear.
This was the opportunity.
“Gavlant Legion Commander! Bernhard Legion Commander!”
“Yes, Sershes!”
“Yes, Headquarters Commander!”
Sershes called the commanders of the Assault Knight Brigade and Independent Knight Brigade at once.
“I’m entrusting everything to you! Press the attack with full force! This is our chance!”
“Understood!”
“But Headquarters Commander, what about you…….”
“I’ll act separately!”
Leaving the surprised Gavlant and Bernhard behind, Sershes turned his head and raised his voice.
“Est!”
“Yes, oppa.”
Est, who was nearby, responded in her usual calm voice.
“Come with me.”
“Weren’t you planning to stay out of it until the end?”
“You still lack the ability to grasp the big picture, Est.”
Sershes scoffed as he drew the sword from his waist.
This was the first time in the war that Sershes had drawn his sword.
“This is the final phase. Follow me!”
* * *
“Gaaah……!”
Elias was still alive.
Involved in the spire’s collapse, his body was a mangled wreck, but the tentacle monster Suhaien had implanted in his heart kept him from dying.
Right now, that tentacle monster was multiplying, gradually consuming Elias’s body.
Seeing that wretched sight, I felt pity.
‘Those who receive the benefits of the Full Injection Mana Method mostly meet that kind of fate.’
To be precise, it wasn’t a flaw of the Full Injection Mana Method itself, but of the modification surgery required for it.
Repeatedly tampering with the body eventually turns one into a ragged monster.
“It’s something you brought on yourselves, but it’s still regrettable.”
“Sion, Sion Aleyas……!”
“Since my subordinate was involved, I’ll take responsibility for it all.”
I raised my hand.
Ashurai, which Dietrich had just brought me, was already in my grasp.
“The Edelpfelt family ends today.”
“Kyaaaah……!”
I slashed the neck of the charging, monster-like Elias.
Elias would suffer no more.
“Ah, ahh…….”
Nearby, Oscar trembled as he watched it all.
Protected by mana armor, he had no injuries, but he seemed terrified watching me wield 8th Circle power.
“…….”
I glanced at Oscar, then turned my back without a word.
Suhaien and the stealth-magic-cloaked Dietrich followed behind me.
“Suhaien.”
“Yes, Excellency.”
“He’s just a kid who hasn’t even turned seventeen yet. If possible, I’d like to spare him a harsh fate.”
“I didn’t modify him because he was too young. Reaching 5th Circle was mostly his own talent.”
“Good job.”
As expected, Suhaien hadn’t laid a hand on kids.
Even blinded by revenge…… he hadn’t crossed that final line.
“My lord, are you unharmed?”
“It wasn’t injected via Full Injection; I absorbed it with Igzard’s power and settled it in me with the Dialogue Circulation Method. So no issues.”
Converting the Holy Grail’s immense holy power into my mana wasn’t easy.
Without Suhaien’s support with all sorts of equipment and drugs, my body wouldn’t have held up.
“Thanks to that, all the facilities and materials the Edelpfelt family provided me are gone. They won’t be able to replicate it easily.”
“It’s fine. There’ll be another chance later.”
Securing 8th Circle mana was enough for now.
“There he is!”
“It’s Sion Aleyas……!”
By now, Edelpfelt family knights had spread out around us.
“Dietrich.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Take Suhaien and withdraw.”
“Are you sure? I can handle these small fry.”
“Forgot Johan and Greta are here? Fighting recklessly will give us away.”
I spoke to Dietrich in a cold voice.
“And I need to loosen up anyway.”
“Understood.”
Dietrich took Suhaien and vanished.
I looked around and spoke to Igzard in my mind.
‘How many?’
[Two 8th Circles, six 7th Circles, and below 6th…… too many to count.]
‘That’s perfect for a warmup.’
Surveying the charging Edelpfelt knights, I raised Demon Spirit Sword Xantia.
‘Go.’
Whoosh!
Xantia sliced through the air, flying in a complex trajectory as it began attacking the knights.
“Wh-What?!”
“The sword’s moving on its own…… Ugh!”
Next, I enveloped Demon Spirit Sword Ashurai in sword aura.
Drawing out 8th Circle mana to the max, I leaped into the air.
Looking down at the knights staring up at me, I swung in empty space.
“……!”
Boom boom boom boom!
Countless sword barrages poured down like a storm, ravaging the knights.
“We’ll stop him!”
“Fall back!”
The 8th Circle knights gritted their teeth and leaped toward me.
But as expected, they had mana in abundance but skills that fell short.
[Boring as cold porridge.]
Slash! Stab!
Ashurai in my right hand severed one 8th Circle knight’s neck.
Xantia, called to my left hand, pierced another 8th Circle knight’s back.
“Wh-What the hell is that guy?!”
“How did we even capture a monster like that?!”
The knights recoiled in horror.
They had already lost the will to fight.
“Everyone, fall back!”
“Ah……!”
Boom!
A thunderous sound shook the ground around us.
Someone had landed here from the ramparts.
“Senior Knight Greta!”
“Lady Greta!”
Greta Edelpfelt.
The Edelpfelt family’s representative 9th Circle knight glared at me with a fearsome expression.
“Ah……!”
“Th-That’s!”
Boom!
An even greater force crashed down like a meteor.
The ground shook far more violently than before.
“Family Head……!”
“The Family Head is here!”
Johan Edelpfelt.
The Edelpfelt family’s strongest 9th Circle knight descended with tremendous presence.
“Sion Aleyas, is this your answer?”
“I already gave my answer long ago.”
“How regrettable.”
I could feel immense rage from Johan.
His murderous intent was so overwhelming that the surrounding Edelpfelt knights collapsed to their knees.
“Choose one. Die in maximum agony, or commit seppuku here and atone for your sins.”
“…….”
“Do as you wish.”
His solemn voice left no room for any other choice.
His daughter Greta said nothing, but stood beside her father, pressuring me.
But right then.
[They’re coming.]
The moment Igzard’s curt voice rang out.
Two vibrations hit.
“……!”
Boom! Thud!
One majestic.
One elegant.
Different, yet equally powerful shockwaves resonated, shaking the surroundings.
Screams echoed from those around.
“That’s…….”
“The Holy Knights…….”
“Sky Rank Knights!!”
Sershes Aleyas.
Est Aleyas.
After a brief exchange of glances with the two, I gripped Ashurai and Xantia in each hand.
“Choose one. Johan Edelpfelt, Greta Edelpfelt.”
“You bastards……!”
“Surrender with hands up, or fight the Aleyas family here and taste utter defeat.”
In the heart of the enemy camp thick with bursting tension, I spoke in an unwavering voice.
“Do as you wish.”
No other choices would be allowed.