Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Even If I Die (2)
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Saint Holden's eyes turned as red as if they were burning in flames.
"I don't know. Honestly, cough! I don't know why I'm even blocking you. My mind's getting hazy."
"Then die!"
Kirumin Jay broke through the flame storm at breakneck speed, charging toward the human who was far weaker than her-a knight who couldn't even wield his sword skills properly compared to the others-just to finish him off.
Boom!
"Haa."
No more pain. Both arms gone. Healing wasn't even an option.
"What was it all for?"
Saint clung desperately to his fading consciousness, having lost too much blood.
"No one will remember your death! You'll turn to ashes in that roaring blaze, leaving nothing behind! Not even in this hell will anyone call your name!"
"Why? I don't even know anymore. What was my sword? What was my conviction?"
Even to his own eyes, there was no hope left on this battlefield.
Graveheim was pinned down just like Kirumin Jay, and Riu was nowhere in sight. Nia was dying, the other knights' corpses were burning, and he had no idea if the Hero even knew what was happening.
And Father... is he safe?
"Then why?"
To earn Father's approval?
No, that wasn't it. Then what? Why was he assuming his stance, pointing his sword at the Demon King?
Bulki, would you know?
My one true friend, the only one who acknowledged me more than I did myself.
"I don't know the reason. But I am a knight."
Even if I die, please don't waver. Right now, I can't even explain this tangled mess of jealousy or whatever it is-I just wish for that one thing. Saint blankly gazed at the pitch-black sky-maybe blurred by his failing vision-then let out his breath one more time.
"No, there's no reason. Just one tiny breeze stirring."
Even if no one remembers me. Even if I die.
"But this wish of mine, unacknowledged by all, won't be swallowed by the abyss. Even if my flesh crumbles away... Yerutsa Rahav."
Saint propped himself up on his legs alone, his arms hanging limp.
Even if he died-even if no one ever acknowledged it-he resolved to swing his sword. Without stopping, ready to seize victory on even the faintest whisper of wind.
That's what you'd do, Bulki.
"My soul is a storm!"
A mad gale erupted from his sword and body, as if his very spirit were pouring forth.
"Then die in the most pathetic way possible, knight!"
Saint kicked out with all his might at Kirumin Jay's throat as she hurtled toward him, took her reflected attack off her horn while dying, and in that final instant, lashed out with his other leg.
He definitely saw his strike connect with the Demon King. And he remembered Bulki's words.
Yeah, you were right. I am strong enough.
Boom!
With a massive explosion, Saint's leg crumbled to ash and vanished.
***
And as the platform finally collapsed, over at the market.
Riu's left arm had been severed from the lower part of her shoulder pauldron, blood dripping steadily.
"Is Bezhak's death not enough for you?"
But her opponent, Saharon, king of the Blue Moon Wolfkin, was bleeding yet bore not a single wound. If anything, empowered by the horn, his presence and stature had grown even more immense.
"That horn of yours is a real pain."
No-it was fully healed.
"I have to admit it. You're stronger than me. I'll probably die here."
"Then this empire... now... death... the end."
Riu triggered a small explosion on her wound to staunch the bleeding, then readjusted her stance.
"No, you're dying here with me. That's all my sword is telling me right now."
Once more, Riu charged toward her own death.
Even if I die.
"[Sword Draw]!"
"Won't work."
Boom!
Riu leaped in an instant and slashed downward with all her force, but Saharon met it with his horn and immediately countered with the claws of his right hand.
Riu didn't deflect the impact upward but drove it down instead, using the momentum to launch herself into the air. She dodged the blue claws mid-flight and aimed for Saharon's back.
"[Sword Draw]!"
But Saharon twisted away using the rotational force from his arm that had swung the explosive sword, then lashed out with his claws again.
'Fangs that Tear the Earth.'
Dodging once more, Riu noticed the faint heat haze lingering where the claws had grazed. Her own arm must have been lopped off by that shimmer.
"Then!"
Riu tucked her right arm tight against her side, drew her sword back fully, kicked off the ground, and targeted the space beneath Saharon's feet.
"[Sword Draw]!"
"Won't work."
In that moment, Saharon leaped low and kicked out from midair.
Having swung her sword low and wide in anticipation of the haze, Riu couldn't block the flying debris, hooves, and claws all at once. She felt her breastplate tear as she was sent tumbling far away.
After rolling a good distance, she regained her footing, wiped the blood from her mouth, and grinned.
"It definitely connected. Didn't it, Blue Moon?"
"Indeed... more... continuously... faster. Your sword."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
The leg Saharon had been sure he dodged was slashed open, bone gleaming white.
"I'mean it. You... are... truly... strong. I'might... actually die."
But even that wound quickly filled with writhing muscle and flesh.
"Then die already! [Sword Draw], [Triple Draw]!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Faster. Even faster. With utmost speed!
Exploding in midair with ever-greater ferocity, Riu's sword whipped into a frenzy. As if born solely to cleave, she sliced through the air, her very thoughts, and the enemy before her eyes.
"Kraaah!"
Saharon bellowed fiercely amid the onslaught, seeking an opening for retaliation, but the howls of wolfkin held no power over Riu.
"Won't work! [Sword Draw]!"
Boom!
A massive upward slash from below erupted in explosion. In the settling dust, Saharon's right chest up to his near-neck shoulder was torn ragged, like paper ripped apart.
"But it's definitely a nuisance."
Even so, it was regenerating faster than Riu could follow up her cuts.
"For now... you killing me... is slower... than me surviving."
No, it didn't stop there-it kept growing. Muscles bulged thicker, bones grew denser.
Like reclaiming a youth surpassing even birth itself, he revived stronger with every brush of death.
"I... will live."
The most primal instinct of any creature: the will to survive. No words fit the Blue Moon Wolf King's strength better.
"Come."
In a flash, Saharon put distance between them with beastly agility. Riu tried to pursue, but her strength failed; she stabbed her sword into the ground and braced herself there.
"Now I too... more... continuously... stronger."
Saharon leaned his upper body forward, extending both arms behind him. In that instant, his horn glowed deep indigo, and blue thorns materialized in the air above his arms, as if summoned by spirits.
'Fangs that Tear the Sky.'
Every time he savagely rent the air, those blue thorns shot toward Riu like arrows.
"You're way too much!"
Riu flipped acrobatically through the air, dodging and shattering thorns the size of her body, but she realized even one graze would end her for sure.
"Then... bury it. Knight... do my fangs... regenerate too?"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Riu finally noticed: not a single thorn around Saharon had diminished.
"Infinite, huh!"
Saharon kept firing the air-rending thorns. Riu kept batting them away and dodging in turn, but they multiplied without end.
"To explain... what I have... my bones... they don't decrease. Set that way."
"[Sword Draw], [Triple Draw]!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Upward slice, downward slice, rotational slice on the momentum. Sparks flew from the friction, on the verge of igniting a blaze around Riu, but even batting away three thorns per split second was grueling.
Right then.
"Ugh!"
Boom!
Dense dust billowed up. Blood-soaked Riu groaned from within. Her side was already mangled deep.
"Now... it's over. I am life itself... your inevitable death."
Like observing some formality, the mightiest of all demons approached slowly, thorns swirling around him.
[Sword Draw]? Could her body take it now? Even [Triple Draw] was pushing it. With one arm, Quintuple Draw was impossible.
Right now, she had no sword to cleave the overwhelming death bearing down on her.
"Damn it."
Riu's mind grew chaotic.
"This is getting rough. My comrades would be shocked if they saw me now."
How long had it been since she'd held her sword and let her thoughts run wild like this?
'Riu, has your sword rusted? Or have you rusted, letting your conviction crumble? A sword just cuts. My sword, Barak, gleaming like thunder-never once did it waver or rust!'
In a flash, she recalled that split-second clash of blades with Eden. There had been a moment just like this back then. An eternal instant. And now, in this stretched sliver of time, those thoughts raced through her mind.
'The sword is me, my conviction. I just cut!'
I hadn't faltered like this. I, the sword of the Empire's Knight Order, hadn't. Her consciousness blurred. She wanted to let it all go-the thoughts. Right. A sword doesn't think. It just-
"[Sword Draw]."
-cuts.
Boom!
Even if I die, I am the one who never yields.