Chapter 213
Chapter 213
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: You Were the Pride of My Life
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"You're the pride of my entire life."
"No, Headmaster."
"The fact that I was your disciple is the pride of my life."
*Feels good... better than ever...*
It felt like he'd finally set down one of the heavy burdens he'd carried his whole life. Though another one had taken its place.
"Aki, that hurts—can't you stop biting?"
"Kraaang."
"Miria, this guy's..."
"Late, late, late. Tardy, tardy, tardy."
Pipi landed on Rain's head too and started pecking at his crown relentlessly!
Rain shaking the baby dragon and parrot off his head might've looked comical at a glance, but Lrelaya, facing him directly, could only flinch and shrink back.
"How did a human without a shred of holy power dispel my nightmare on his own?"
"I didn't dispel it. You did... But I'll warn you ahead of time—attacks like that won't work on me."
Bell Quirius.
Eyes that decipher every ability.
He couldn't interfere with an opponent's miracle directly, but reading the preparatory motions and trajectories up to the attack—and dodging them—was possible.
*With Setsnen's power, I don't even need to dodge. I'll end it with a counter.*
A vein bulged on Lrelaya's forehead. She began plucking the strings of her harp with frenzied motions.
At that moment, Rain swept his hand out grandly like a conductor, then clenched his fist.
The sensation of gathering all the mana dispersed across the cathedral grounds into one spot.
Charr-ring...!
A torrent of light so dazzling it stung the retinas—180 lightning bolts crossed in unison. At speeds beyond all limits.
"......!"
Cracks spread across the barrier shaped like sound waves, a bursting noise echoing out. Lrelaya stopped playing for the first time and leaped into the sky.
*Something's off.*
The chains that shattered the barrier intertwined in a chaotic dance—mystical yet suffocatingly menacing.
*No, impossible.*
Lrelaya's breath quickened involuntarily. This wasn't the lightning attribute humans used.
Lightning attribute was characteristically weaker than other attributes.
But this power—this intensity...
"Wielding the power of light? A mere human?"
Had a human stepped into the realm of gods?
"Not me."
Like showing off a prized treasure, Rain displayed the gauntlet encircling his left hand. A weapon radiating light more brilliant and dazzling than sunlight.
"Setsnen's the one wielding it."
In that instant, the chains of Jeseo Saeryeon Yeon lost their form, crumbling into countless photons.
The moment he thought that, the photons wove and twisted into new chains, ascending. They pierced through Lrelaya's body as she hovered in the air.
The chains of Jeseo Saeryeon Yeon could bind the movements of a caster upon impact (except for swordsmen or martial artists with exceptional physical prowess).
*My power...*
Pierced not in body but soul, Lrelaya felt strength draining from her entire form. Like the ebbing tide.
Her arms wouldn't move. Her legs wouldn't move. Her fingers wouldn't move.
I'd heard he wielded fire... Flame magic's speed wouldn't be hard to handle. How...
"Dissolve the ritual that's mutating people."
The chains held her bound, though he didn't know how to release it. With the music stopped, the primitives had calmed somewhat from before.
"Do I look insane enough to—Urk!"
"I can run a current through the chains and send pain straight to your brain. I don't want to do anything rough in front of the kids."
It was mostly bluffing, but torture wasn't his calling. He wasn't experienced or skilled at it either.
These dirty jobs were best left to the bad guys(?).
Without even being called, Valensidis—knowing it was his turn—approached Lrelaya and pressed a finger to her forehead.
"What are you plotting? Turning the central continent into a plague zone? What do you intend for the human world?"
The sinister energy flowing from his fingertip snaked like vines into Lrelaya's nose, eyes, and ears.
Soon, her eyes rolled back slowly, drool spilling messily from her mouth.
*Perverted ritual... Can't call this educational at all.*
"Aki, close your eyes."
"Aki eyes closed!"
[Aru.]
"Cover your ears too."
"Aki ears covered!"
[Aruu.]
"Aki."
"Dada?"
"?"
"!"
"......"
By the time Aki had slipped behind Miria's legs to escape Rain's stern gaze, Lrelaya began to speak.
"The purification begins... Humans, across the continent, freeing the abyss trapped in human souls... with light..."
"......?"
"Solond is just the start... We herald the dawn of a new world..."
Dawn of a new world?
He'd heard nonsense from black mages plenty of times, but something about her words... was chilling.
Was it because she was a noble-born fairy? Rain crossed his arms, dissatisfied.
"Valensidis, make her spill more details. I don't get a word of this."
"I'm working on it."
Just then, Miria pointed at Obin, slung over Valensidis's shoulder like baggage.
"Hey, that prince guy's in bad shape."
Rain's eyes twitched.
He hadn't woken from the dream?
Valensidis's ritual had halted the mutation, but the frail body seemed unable to withstand the fever. If left like this...
"Valensidis, interrogation's off. Make her undo this ritual now!"
"This isn't some simple spell I can just snap out of. Wait—I'm reaching the core intel."
"...Five arrays under construction in the capital... Starting from the Sun Castle... Across the continent..."
"What's being transmitted? What to the whole continent?"
"Valensidis, look at Obin. No time to dig it out! We can grab another brigade goon later!"
"Removing the light overlaid on souls... Everything to the abyss... Heh heh heh, ho ho ho ho ho, all humans returning to their primal state...!"
Primal state?
Valensidis felt a chill race through his mind. Not just Solond Kingdom—they were targeting the entire continent?
"When does it start? How far along is it already?"
No answer came. Nor would it ever.
Without warning, space-time shattered, tearing Lrelaya's body to shreds. Blood, bone fragments, brain matter... elements of death scattered.
Pipi, recognizing the identity of the slash that just rent space-time, flapped its wings blankly twice.
"Real, real, real, real."
Before Rain could gasp, before the stench of blood mingled with the sea breeze, a shadow lunged in.
Chae-aeng!
A massive blade halted right before Valensidis's—no, Obin's—face.
The sword blocking it midair was a blazing red-hot blade: Demon Slayer.
The assailant's face was hidden by a helmet, but that greatsword's shape was unmistakable.
*Rista's holy sword, Shyrfang.*
Each pinnacle holy sword had its own unique beauty—and Shyrfang's was a blunt, rugged beauty.
Solid as if carved from bedrock into blade form. An imposing dignity that repelled all light with heavy weight.
The dragon-head ornament at the end of its long hilt was slightly worn compared to 300 years ago, yet still rippled with damascus patterns in the sunlight.
"Real, real, real."
Did she come back knowing Obin was alive?
Even with Demon Slayer amplifying her physical abilities to the extreme, Miria couldn't gain the upper hand in their blade lock.
Barely holding even...
*No way, this monster...*
It wasn't just physical.
This disorienting haze clouding her mind as their swords clashed...
As Miria's focus wavered, a flame mark seared into the assassin's abdomen.
"Aki marking & punch."
The flames swirling in Aki's body erupted like a tsunami, engulfing the assassin.
The heatwave's aftermath shook the world, heat haze exploding wildly.
The assassin, flung far back, jammed her greatsword into the cathedral floor to forcibly halt herself.
Kagagagagak!
The ground gouged long scars, and the bodies of fallen people atop it were minced into meat by the blade.
Unfazed by the carnage, the assassin calmly rose and swung her sword to shake off blood and fat.
*Immense killing intent...*
Miria regripped her sword repeatedly, wiping cold sweat from her brow.
*This sensation—like when facing a Dragon Slayer, my life hanging by someone else's hand...*
Rain assumed the staff stance Rista had taught him and asked,
"Where'd you get your hands on that?"
"Where, where, where."
A sword that protected people and spread hope. It wasn't meant to be wielded so cruelly.
He couldn't accept it.
Wouldn't allow it.
"I asked where you got that sword!"
That was when it happened. Something glinting in the blue sky rained down like arrows onto the bridge.
Arrows... splitting?
Wedges rippling with jet-black poison aura—Valensidis instantly tore open a dimension, shunting the aerial threat elsewhere.
Most vanished, but the primitives unlucky enough to be exposed melted like slime amid ear-splitting screams.
"Ah, aaaahhhhh..."
No time to panic.
In an instant, the assassin closed the gap at eye-defying speed and drove her foot deep into Valensidis's gut.
He spat gastric fluids with his breath and tumbled to the far side of the bridge.
"Valen, Valen, Valen."
Dropping Obin from his grasp.
"Miria!"
The assassin and Rain reached for Obin, sword and hand extended almost simultaneously.
Once more, the holy sword halted midair right before slicing the target, sparks flying.
Before the red sword aura forged by Demon Slayer.
"......"
The next instant, milky swordlight blossomed from the assassin's hand—Shyrfang danced like a flash.
A slash too fast to discern outlines. Followed by a chain of red flashes trailing the gleaming streak.
Only the exploding reflections and bursts from all directions hinted at the two sword-wielders clashing, they were that fast.
*I can't follow it closely either.*
Was Demon Slayer teaching her its fighting style? Or because of that dream earlier? Her body moved freely, possessed.
*What's with that girl?*
Even Rain, holding Obin, could scarcely believe the movements. That sequence was like...
*Not the time to worry.*
Obin's condition was the worst at a glance.
And once more, abyssal wedges poured from above.
Plus over a dozen Dawn Brigade members now encircling them.
"Glory to the first descendant."
All armed like fairies with spears and shields.
"Obey the great will."
Fairy warriors revered the spears and shields their ancestors used in the gods' wars, scorning swordplay and archery as beneath them.
"Setsnen, no time for small fry."
One Thunder.
The Jeseo Saeryeon Yeon: Thunder Forms holding the primitives deployed skyward, intercepting the wedges.
[Aru!]
Two Thunders.
The chains slammed back to the ground—precisely atop the brigade members—like lightning.
*Completely binding top-tier warriors with chains is tough.*
But with the chains corroding in the abyss like now, it changed things.
"Aki, Miria, fall back!"
As those ensnared screamed death cries mixing with elegant fairy tongue, Rain clasped his hands, forming seals.
"Tag in!"
First time trying it, but no choice. He'd felt it in that close fight with Dragon Slayer last time.
"Image construction."
In battles with peak swordsmen, it wasn't power that mattered—but speed.
"Thunder Spear Illumination: Flowing Volume World Sovereign."