Divinity Blooming in the Shadows
Raon lowered his gaze and examined the messages rising before him like a flight of stairs.
The Requiem Sword has absorbed all of the dark mana.
A new trait is being generated.
The trait <Divinity Blooming in the Shadows> has been created.
The name of the newly acquired trait was peculiar. He tried to read the details, but other messages were still waiting.
The Requiem Sword offers up the purified dark mana.
The rank of the trait <Demonic Energy Adaptation> has increased.
All stats have risen by 8 points.
The second set of messages reported that the Requiem Sword had purified the dark mana and offered up its energy, raising both a trait and his stats as a result.
"W-what is the meaning of this!"
Wrath shot out in front of the messages, his lips jutting in a pout.
"That paltry creature is granting you energy, so why is This King's power being consumed as well! This is far too unfair!"
He puffed out his chubby cheeks, looking thoroughly aggrieved.
The world has always been unfair.
"Silence! This King shall not endure it today! I shall smash that paltry creature to pieces and seek the light!"
You're a Demon King...
The word light was something priests used. Hearing the Demon King of Wrath declare he would seek it was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped him.
And move aside, would you.
Raon pushed Wrath out of the way and examined the newly created trait.
"Huh?"
Raon's mouth fell open as he read the trait's description.
Then that means I can fuse mana and divine power?
Mana and divine power could not originally be fused. Even someone who possessed both had no choice but to store them in separate places and use them independently — yet this trait claimed to make the impossible possible.
A low, secretive hum rolled from the Requiem Sword, and an auspicious energy seeped into his dantian.
Is this Divinity Blooming in the Shadows?
It really felt like nothing at all. Ordinary divine power would have caused chaos the moment it entered the dantian, but this had slipped in quietly — a special divine power that could mix with mana, just as the trait described.
The quantity, however, was not large. A single use would deplete it entirely, and refilling it would take considerable time.
It won't be easy to grow.
Raising the trait's rank would be the only way to increase its quantity and quality, which meant a great deal of time and effort.
"D-divine power?! That's absurd! Why would divine power burst out of blood energy, spectral energy, and demonic energy?!"
That's why it's called Divinity Blooming in the Shadows.
"This isn't even This King's trait! Why would something like this— I see!"
Wrath's eyes spun toward the Requiem Sword.
"It's all that paltry creature's doing! This is unforgivable!"
Unable to contain himself, Wrath unleashed wrath and frost and poured them onto the Requiem Sword.
A resonant hum answered him. The Requiem Sword raised a wall of spectral energy, as if inviting him to come at it all he liked.
"Insolent!"
Genuinely irritated now, Wrath dumped the enormous stores of wrath and frost he had been accumulating.
A tremendous crash followed. Even with the Requiem Sword's growth, the difference in their original caliber crushed the wall of spectral energy in an instant.
A pained whimper leaked from the Requiem Sword.
Shall I give it a try.
Raon drew up the Requiem Sword's spectral energy together with the divine power that had settled deep in his dantian, and stepped in front of Wrath.
A silver flash of divine power wove together with spectral energy, forming a grand wall that intercepted Wrath's assault.
A grinding roar. The wall of spectral energy, tempered and hardened by divine power, not only blocked Wrath's offensive completely but even struck back.
"Krgh!"
Wrath recoiled, waving his hands as if he had been scalded by boiling water.
"To think you would use such filthy, vile divine power!"
He was so furious that tears squeezed from his enormous eyes.
Well? Does it feel like the real thing?
"It does! There's no filthy stench, but it is unmistakably that detestable divine power!"
That's a relief.
If it worked on Wrath, a Demon King, then the power of divinity was definitely contained within it.
However...
There was far too little of it. The amount of divine power was no bigger than an acorn. Blocking Wrath once had drained it completely.
A small cry rose from the Requiem Sword, as if thanking him for the rescue.
You're welcome.
Raon smiled faintly and patted the Requiem Sword.
"Oh, the two of you are getting along just wonderfully! Hmph!"
Wrath whipped his head away and snorted long and hard, like a buffalo.
Then I'll praise you too.
Raon chuckled and patted Wrath's head as well.
But whose power is this divinity...
He was looking after both of them and turning the trait over in his mind when Dorian's chin began to tremble.
"W-why are you smiling?"
"Hm?"
"That wicked smile! What are you planning now!"
"No, I was just—"
"I really can't do anything! Just kill me!"
All Raon had done was look after Wrath and the Requiem Sword, but Dorian backed away with terror-stricken eyes — and jumped straight off the rocky mountain.
"Hmm..."
Raon watched Dorian tear down the slope like a wild animal and smacked his lips.
"Cliff diving? If I make them suppress their aura while they do it, it might work well as courage training."
At those words, spoken with a hint of laughter, Mark Goetten broke into a cold sweat for the first time.
S-should I really be following this man...?
Raon finished preparing to leave and turned around.
Mark Goetten stood at attention as if he were an escort. He looked as though he had shed the years he had spent as a mercenary and was returning to being a knight.
"Have you finished preparing to leave?"
"Yes."
Mark Goetten relaxed his posture and nodded.
"You don't have any luggage."
"I've always traveled with nothing but my weapon. There's nothing to take."
He tapped the shabby saber hanging at his waist. It seemed he had bought a cheap one after his previous blade had shattered in their spar.
I should get him a proper one soon.
Even in poor condition, Mark Goetten was a Master. Raon wanted to buy him a weapon that suited him.
A crunching sound, like a squirrel chewing fallen leaves, came from the right. Dorian was pulling snacks from his belly pouch and chewing.
"Are you really coming? What about your successor training?"
"The Guild Master told me I absolutely had to follow the Vice-Captain and see as much as I could. And..."
He pulled a round bead from his belly pouch.
"He said he'd continue my education with this."
Dorian grinned, clearly delighted that they would be leaving together.
"My training plus successor education? You're overflowing with passion."
Raon grinned down at him.
"Uh..."
Dorian's shoulders trembled as he finally remembered the training.
"Y-you were going to skip the training, right?"
"No?"
"I'm the successor of this merchant guild..."
"And I'm your boss?"
Raon shrugged, and Dorian's face went pale.
"I-I'll stay here and complete my successor training splendidly, then go ba—"
"Mark."
"Yes!"
Mark Goetten seized the nape of Dorian's neck as he tried to back away. Having experienced both knighthood and mercenary work, his instincts were sharp.
"Mister! We climbed a mountain together! You're already betraying me?"
"Sorry."
Dorian thrashed with tears welling in his eyes, but Mark Goetten did not let go.
Raon turned his back and looked at the distant sky.
I'll be twenty by the time I return to the house.
His teens were finally over and he had entered his twenties, but it didn't feel like much. The only thought that came to him was that two years remained until his duel with Buwang.
"Let's go. To Zieghart."
"Yeees..."
"Yes!"
Leaving behind one drained voice and one booming one, the three of them departed the Sepia Merchant Guild.
Adis Sefia watched Raon and Dorian leave, a smile on his face.
"Even the way they go is entertaining."
"Are you certain it's all right to send them off like this?"
Ligwin approached his side and let out a low sigh.
"You wanted to keep seeing Young Master Dorian, didn't you?"
"A month and two weeks is plenty. Wanting more than that would be greed."
"Even so, you could have used successor training as an excuse to keep him here..."
"I want that child to see more of the world."
Adis looked at Raon walking ahead of Dorian, a faint smile on his face. Receiving successor lessons here was important, but growing while watching that man's back would be of great help to both Dorian and the Sepia Merchant Guild.
"The White Sword Dragon is a connection you couldn't buy with any amount of money. He gave me a great deal of inspiration as well."
Ligwin followed Adis's gaze and nodded.
"Yes. He's a remarkable... a remarkable..."
Adis's fist suddenly began to tremble.
"That brat's greed for gold has climbed all the way up to his scalp! If he keeps lusting after money from that age, he'll go bald!"
"G-Guild Master?"
Ligwin's eyes flew wide as he watched Adis suddenly seize up.
"Please, calm yourself!"
Only after he grabbed Adis's shoulders and shook him did Adis's eyes return to normal.
"S-sorry. He took far too much."
Adis shook his head and let out a sigh.
The expenses exceeded all expectations.
Raon's demands had not ended with developing the area around Zieghart — that had only been the beginning. He had laid out every last one of his requirements as firmly and in as much detail as if he were preparing for war. Adis couldn't even accurately calculate how much money it would cost, and his head was killing him.
"Even if that boy weren't a martial artist, he would have made it big. And..."
Adis looked at Raon's receding back and gave a heavy nod. His gaze was dragged along after him, then settled on Dorian, who had begun walking on his own two feet.
"That child will grow into a larger vessel by watching him as well. However..."
"Hm?"
"He took too much! Raon Zieghart, you little brat!"
"G-Guild Master!"
A quiet beach.
A white lounge chair sat upon a stretch of sand glittering gold.
"Hmm."
Tatcheon lay on the chair, a faint smile on his face.
"Peaceful, isn't it."
The Soul-Severing Sword, standing before the shore, ignored the remark and gazed only at the distant sea.
"Peace?"
The answer did not come from the Soul-Severing Sword, but from the right.
"No such thing exists in this world."
A man whose body was wrapped in a robe like gathered darkness, wearing a skull mask with blue flames burning in the eye sockets, shook his head.
"It's all nothing but false color. Just like this beach."
The skull-masked man flicked his fingers, and the blue sea darkened as if ink had been poured into it. The golden sand filled with clots of red blood.
"Manghon. Why must you make things so dreary?"
Tatcheon flicked his fingers in turn, and the hellish beach swelled with life once more.
A change from one extreme to the other had taken place, yet the Soul-Severing Sword still stood before the sea, looking only at the far horizon.
"Manghon. Have you confirmed 'that matter'?"
"Yes. It was there."
At Tatcheon's question, the flames filling Manghongwi's eye sockets sank low.
"Precisely 1.65 times more than the intelligence indicated. If it detonates, the entire region will be erased."
"Excellent. Then I'll leave that side to you."
"Understood."
Manghongwi rose from his chair and bowed his head.
"Leaving already? You needn't rush. All the schedules are connected, after all."
"I'm busy cleaning up the messes that idiot made."
Manghongwi clicked his tongue shortly — and the air split in a thin crack as Merlin burst through.
"And who exactly are you calling an idiot?"
Merlin, wearing an old woman's mask, looked at Manghongwi and let a chilly smile slip across her face.
"The original idiot always shows himself the moment you mention the word."
The flames burning in Manghongwi's eye sockets flared a deeper color.
"Now, now. No fighting."
Tatcheon smiled brightly and waved a hand. He looked at Merlin, then clapped as if something had just occurred to him.
"Ah, did you hear? Raon Zieghart has laid a hand on the Black Tower."
The first to move was not Merlin, but the Soul-Severing Sword. His head turned, if only slightly, toward the rear.
Tatcheon curled his lips in a long smile, as if savoring the reaction, and continued.
"Eden, the White Blood Cult, the South-North Alliance, and now even the Black Tower. It's been a long time since anyone picked a fight with four of the Five Demons."
Tatcheon looked at Merlin and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Merlin. What do you think?"
"Not interested."
Merlin waved a hand and lay down on the lounge chair.
"Not interested? Doesn't your family reside inside Raon Zieghart? Shouldn't you take your revenge?"
"If I could have saved Rocta, I would have done it even if I had to crush flesh and bone. But a soul ate a soul. It's too late now."
She let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes.
"Now my only goal is Reversion."
"For the first time, the idiot said something sensible."
"Maybe the idiot is that hairless skull of yours?"
Merlin snorted at Manghongwi.
"Shut your mouth."
"It's my mouth, isn't it?"
A bone-chilling frost leaked from the cracks in Manghongwi's white skull.
"If it stings that much, want to go at it right here? This big sister will play with you."
"Still out of your mind, I see."
Manghongwi and Merlin rose at the same time and unleashed enormous mana.
Tatcheon quietly watched Merlin and Manghongwi, a smile so dry it sent chills crawling down the spine.
Zieghart 5th Training Ground.
Only after the sun that had lit the world sank and the belatedly risen moon reached the center of the sky did the shouts coming from the training ground finally cease.
"Hah..."
Burren lowered his sword and let out a heated breath.
"That's it for today!"
At his call, the Light Wind Squad members scattered across the training ground, who had been swinging their swords, stopped and collapsed onto the floor.
"Urgh..."
"I'm exhausted."
"I'm actually going to die..."
Because every member of the Light Wind Squad had trained with everything they had, not a trace of regret remained on their faces.
Marta clicked her tongue, looking down at the seated members as if they were pathetic.
"You not getting up? Training's over, so you need to cool down!"
She kicked the fallen swordsmen and forced them to their feet.
"C-can we do it later?"
"I really have no strength left in my body..."
"We got trained by both the Squad Leader and the Chief Manager today. We're dying."
"Shut up and get up."
When Marta glared, the swordsmen who had been lying there clambered up in a daze and began to stretch.
There was, however, one person Marta uniquely could not get on her feet.
"Haaahm..."
Runaan lay spread-eagle, gazing at a night sky packed with stars, and yawned.
"You too!"
"Don't wanna."
Marta tried to haul her up, but Runaan didn't budge, as if she had been glued to the floor.
"What the— huh!"
Blue frost had risen across the ground where Runaan lay. She had fused her back to the floor with frost so that she could not be peeled off.
"You've seriously lost your damn mind!"
"Nngh..."
Marta strained to tear her free, but Runaan kept pouring out more frost, binding her back to the floor.
Burren watched Marta locked in a battle of pride with Runaan and smiled.
"You've changed a lot too."
"What!"
"You told them to stretch because you were worried they'd get injured."
The old Marta would not have cared what anyone else did. She would have minded her own business or left the training ground. Watching her manage the members and instruct them after training these days, it was clear her heart had changed a great deal as well.
It's thanks to Raon and the Family Head, I suppose.
Marta had opened her heart like this after the conversation between the Family Head and Raon. Burren didn't know what the two of them had said, but she seemed to have started putting her heart into the Light Wind Squad.
"I-it is not!"
Marta's face flushed. She let go of Runaan's collar and turned around.
"Ow."
Runaan, who had smacked her head on the floor, frowned.
"Raon's not here, so I'm doing it in his place! When the hell is that bastard coming back? The year already changed and he still has no intention of showing up!"
Marta scowled up at the sky.
"Want to see super-handsome Raon."
Runaan smacked her lips the way she did when she looked at ice cream.
"I thought he'd come right back and go crazy about training, but he damn well won't show up!"
Marta turned around, grinding her teeth.
"He is a bit late, that's true."
Burren narrowed his eyes and nodded.
"But thanks to that time, we've been steadily raising our skill. Even if Raon comes back, he won't have much to say."
To keep Raon from finding any excuse to pick on them, they had received hell training from Chief Manager Dokoe every single day, and had even carried out personal training at dawn and late at night. They had trained hard enough to die, and their skills had risen, so they were confident even if Raon returned.
"That's right. Honestly, I'm confident no matter what training he throws at us."
"We've finished the demonic training of both the Chief Manager and the Squad Leader, so the Vice-Captain's should be light."
"Yeah. If you think about it, the Focus Enhancement Training just drives you crazy because you can't sleep and it's terrifying. At our current level, we should be able to endure it."
"When he comes back, he might actually be shocked seeing our skills, right?"
"That's possible!"
The Light Wind Squad members looked at one another and smiled. Because they had trained steadily, every face was full of confidence.
"That's possi— huh?"
"Ah..."
Burren and Marta, who had been nodding, stopped mid-motion and stared at the darkness at the edge of the training ground, their mouths hanging open.
"Honestly, isn't the Vice-Captain's training just too crude? You get stronger, sure, but it's so brutish. People age, you know."
Crain, who had not properly seen the two of their expressions, kept talking.
"Training needs a proper system, but the Vice-Captain's training has neither system nor fundamentals. He just slaps it together because he's a genius, so it's nothing but crude training, and the ones who bleed are u— huh?"
He tilted his head at the sight of Burren, Marta, and the other swordsmen with their jaws dropped far enough to come unhinged.
"What... gahk!"
Crain followed the squad members' eye signals, looked behind him, and fell over in shock.
"V-Vice-Captain!"
Raon was standing there, his red eyes burning, a smile on his face. No one had noticed when he had arrived.
"I see. So my training was crude, and had no fuuuuundamentals."
Raon nodded, his smile deepening.
"N-no, th-that's not what I meant..."
"I just so happened to have prepared a new training regimen. Perfect timing. That one has real fundamentals, you see."
Raon's crimson eyes gleamed like a predator's.
"You all seem to have been waiting for me, so there's no need to wait around. We'll start training from this moment."
"U-um, we just finished training, so..."
"R-right. Today's session was pretty rough."
"No. This is precisely when a human's instinctive power comes out."
"Guhk!"
Burren and Marta also shut their mouths at the sight of Raon's eerie eyes.
"Hehh."
Dorian watched Raon's expression from the side, his lips trembling and gone blue.
"I've seen a demon..."