Chapter 16
Chapter 16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: [Banahut]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Northern outskirts of the capital Sonain's walls. A little closer to the sea from the Sun Forest pass, this was the place where unprocessed corpses from all over the empire were gathered and disposed of-what folks commonly called the corpse pit.
Amid that heap, Iven opened his eyes, but his body wouldn't obey him at all.
No, it took quite a while just to realize he was breathing. Even to remember who he was.
In his dazed mind, Iven could think of only one thing.
"Li... je......"
He'd seen Lije fall behind the protesters, so she had to be safe.
Yet in that moment, he missed her with an aching intensity.
Tears welled up unbidden atop the pile of bodies. They flowed endlessly, like raindrops falling into his eyes. He even shed blood tears from the sheer curiosity burning inside him.
To think they'd killed every last protester. Had they planted someone brainwashed in the crowd beforehand and set off a suicide blast? And the words they'd spoken to him-had that been just to lure him into the protesters?
Resentment and rage toward the Princess boiled up inside him.
And toward himself, for failing to predict it.
Still, thank goodness Lije's safe.
My role's done now. Bulki will take care of the rest.
Iven wanted to stop opening his eyes, stop breathing, and just let peace take him. A sleep like the abyss came rushing in.
His head slipped sideways to the right, slick as if on rainwater.
He blinked, blinked again...
Iven gradually sank into the depths.
But this cruel fate dealt dying Iven a torment worse than death.
"Ugh... hng."
He turned his head and looked to the right-there, among the corpses, was Lije's face.
Lije hadn't survived the explosion after all.
She'd burst apart without even closing her eyes.
Just like that, she was gone.
"Lije......"
As Iven couldn't muster any other thought, a knight approached. Oblivious to Iven, he rambled on about the protesters while dousing the bodies with oil.
He lit the fire. The corpses began to burn. Iven was engulfed in flames. But Lije burned first.
Uuuu...
In that instant, the broken dagger embedded in Iven's throat took on a deep, almost black purple hue-the color of cursed flames. That light blazed fiercely, even amid the inferno.
As if it could snuff out every flame in the world.
Iven reached for the blade at his throat.
"Lije."
Every touch of his melting arm to the sword sent agony ripping through him like his consciousness was shattering, but Iven didn't give it a thought.
"Haa......"
Without so much as a scream, Iven drew the sword.
Dark crimson blood poured out. Iven twisted his body and crawled to the right. Blind to his own body burning, he dragged himself with one arm toward Lije's face, buried in the corpses.
The wretched black shape writhed pitifully, finally hauling itself up. It'stabbed and slashed at the bodies piled atop Lije, shoving them aside.
Uu, uuuu.
Swallowing sobs like a beast.
And when it had cleared the pile, the truth emerged. There was no body attached below Lije's face.
The burning corpses closed around her lone face in an embrace.
"My... sword's name is... [Banahut], the sword that connects good... and cuts evil."
Curse-like light continued to creep from Iven's sword. The sword's name had surfaced, manifesting its power.
Iven let the knowledge flood his mind-how to wield his broken dagger, [Banahut]. That's when he realized why the Princess's curse had never worked on him. His sword had been blocking her curse all along, severing and reconnecting his memories.
As his body burned away, the figure that had once been Iven sliced into the corpses within reach.
A leg from an Ashen Wolf Human hauled in from the Brunau outskirts. An arm from a Red Blood Savage, brought for research on the highlands and discarded. Iven forcibly fused the chunks onto his wounds.
And they connected.
Iven's sword, [Banahut]. Astonishingly similar to Hero Bulki's blade, its manifested ability was simple: it could attach anything it cut.
No matter what was sliced and bound, Iven could claim that power for himself.
Thus, the grotesque thing that had once been Iven rose amid the burning corpses. Dragging its legs, wailing like a beast, it fled from people into the heart of the empire.
***
"Mir has chosen you. You're a true Hero now, Bulki."
Riu acknowledged him. The creature was neither horse nor turtle-it had a shell, reptilian skin and bones, but long legs and a round head adorned with wing-like feathers.
Bulki stroked Mir's hide in a daze and asked Riu.
"Is it... over just like this?"
"What do you mean?"
Bulki gazed at the blood and filth staining the highlands amid the drizzling rain.
"Why did Eden Sonain start all this? Why say those things to me? He acted like he knew everything, like he was guiding me. Destiny, he said. Didn't you know him, Captain?"
Riu mounted up and replied.
"He's always spoken of the world's distortions. From the moment he drew that golden-glowing spear, he declared he'd set them right. In martial prowess and character alike, he was truly a Hero. But like any other day, he headed to the western Somins' forest chasing a lead on Mir. He returned with it, then unofficially handed over the Knight Order and vanished back into the Somins' forest. All records of him were erased."
Bulki thought Riu's back looked especially lonely. He mounted Mir and followed right away.
"So that's why you didn't know about Mir. You must miss him."
Riu said nothing at first, then blurted out.
"At the sword's edge, there was one moment of hesitation. Thank you for sending him off with your own hand."
Bulki grimaced bitterly. The man Riu followed so faithfully. Surely the one who'd sparked this chaos, and his final words, held some deeper meaning.
Hero, Mir, and evil... Bulki sank into deep thought.
But first,
"1st Knight Order, hear me! Combat is over, our objective achieved. Shainelius of the Sun Forest will handle restoring the woods, so contact her to rebuild exchanges between humans and Sun Fairies. Now... recover our fallen comrades' bodies and withdraw. Keep their swords. Remember them. Inherit their blades. Yerutsa Rahav!"
Riu and the Knight Order cried out mournfully in the rain. Success gave them nothing back.
Why? The question flew into the pale void. Where did everyone go? The doubt soaked into the earth as their comrades' blood.
What is destiny? What evil must I vanquish? What is a Hero?
A victory that meant nothing. That was all left to the Knight Order today.
As the withdrawing Knight Order marched on, Bulki tried to sort his thoughts amid his comrades' grim mood.
Mir's sudden appearance. The Sun Fairies' pact broken 1,000 years ago, Hainelius vowing revenge even as he sent his sister beyond the woods. And the previous Hero bent on wiping out the empire. Everything was a mystery.
Bulki resolved to discuss it with Iven once they returned.
And...
"What the hell is that?"
"Looks like a corpse eater. Must've spawned from the nearby pit."
"Ah, then I'll handle it and catch up."
"No, Bulki. You're tired too. I'll-"
Bulki dismounted Mir.
"It's fine, Captain. Lead the Knight Order back swiftly."
Riu gave a wry smile at Bulki's consideration and led the knights down the road. Countless knights, horses, and bodies on carts passed by for a long while.
Then only Bulki, the corpse eater, and Iven remained on the road.
"What are you? A corpse eater born from lingering attachment to life? Reveal yourself!"
A fate like a curse. Tragedy incarnate. The tale of Hero and Demon King began.
Iven trembled as he approached Bulki. But Bulki didn't recognize him. Emotions beyond words surged in their gazes.
Sorrow and relief, joy and regret, hatred and pity... But Iven's lips, burned to nothing, could form no words.
"Uuu... uuuh......"
In that moment, as Bulki eyed the approaching corpse eater, he noticed something odd.
The broken dagger it clutched was Iven's sword. And the human head it cradled so preciously... it was definitely Lije.
"Th, uh, uwaaa!"
Bulki's eyes rolled back, golden Hero light blazing as he hurled his sword.
Boom!
In an instant, the arm on Iven's human side exploded. Iven was combat-ineffective in a heartbeat.
In that split second, Iven thought.
'Yeah, you're the kind of good guy who'd throw a fight for me. I didn't want you-that gentle soul-to become the fool who killed his friend. I'm dead, but you, my hope... live on.'
Iven too shed blood tears from both eyes, unleashing sword-purple light in his gaze.
His friend charged desperately at the Hero.