Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: End of the Third Demon Invasion
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"Die!"
Kirumin Jay unleashed scorching flames toward Saint Holden-flames so hot they seemed like they'd melt his bones to nothing even if they just grazed him.
Boom!
But.
"A wind? But... how?"
Not a gale, not a storm, but a cool mountain breeze swept away that blistering heat. No, more accurately, it circulated the flames through the air, making them dissipate entirely. Before that mystical wind, no fiery tempest, no shrieking agony, no stench of blood and death lingered in the sky-it all scattered and vanished.
"What the hell did you just do, knight?!"
In that instant, Kirumin Jay launched herself forward again, hurling a massive blaze, but not a single attack landed on Saint Holden, who stood utterly still-balanced on one foot.
It didn't reach.
The one who had awakened again was merely the wind.
A green glow flowed through Saint Holden's unfocused eyes, shimmering like heat haze rising from the ground.
"My sword's name is Shamaimshava. The sword that wields the freedom of the skies."
The voice was clearly different from before. A thick wind swirled around Saint Holden as he spoke calmly, still devoid of consciousness. It gradually turned into a pale green whirlwind that shot up into the heavens and vanished in an instant. Yet Saint Holden's eyes remained green. Even to the Demon King's eyes, it was clear that green winds were emanating from them.
"What in the world... is that form?"
And in a flash, enormous translucent wings-larger than a castle, no, larger than the entire Sonain Empire-sprouted from his back, spreading out like the branches of a great tree to blanket the sky.
Their scale was already beyond what even the king of the Mountain Giants could match.
"Th-this... what is...?"
Beneath those colossal wings sprouting-no, connecting-from Saint Holden's back, a serene wind blew as if the sky itself had descended. That wind, tinged with color like some vital energy, gathered at his severed hands and feet, transforming into massive scales like those of a giant serpent, forged from steel.
"What the hell are you?! Why are you such a pain in my ass?!"
As Kirumin Jay trembled in fear, the wings unfurled behind Saint Holden folded shut with blinding speed. The storm unleashed by that motion swept away the empire's filth in one go.
Once. Twice. Like paper being folded over and over, the angular wings shrank, scattering winds so fierce that nothing remained in their wake, until they settled behind him as slender pillars.
Hummm... hummm.
A quiet yet unmistakable resonance that vibrated the very air.
His wings-no, his sword, compressed into countless layers-sang out.
"Mir, come forth."
New scale-covered arms and legs sprouted from Saint Holden amid the vibrations, not just there but wrapping from his head to his toes, making him look like a figure clad in plate armor.
'Mir Deployment, Etz.'
Hummm... huuuummm... whoosh!
Soon, vivid green light radiated from the pillar-wings as ignited winds burst forth.
The steel knight, now encased in dark green scales, opened his eyes once more.
"M-Mir?"
Kirumin Jay thought the incarnation before her-iron-like yet unmistakably light-resembled the humanoid form of the legendary Mir Etz of the gentle winds from myth.
No, the awakened one, no longer Saint Holden, spoke as if he himself were the Mir Etz.
"Now, I will sweep away all my enemies."
In that moment, two sharp points jutted from his forehead like spikes, and a green glow pulsed in the visor covering his brow down to his mouth and jaw.
The upper visor encasing his mouth and chin was angular and smaller than the forehead plate where his cheeks had been, with jagged breathing slits like those of a reptile-ensuring this steel knight would not waver in any wind.
"Here I come."
Saint Holden assumed his stance.
Whoosh!
From the long plates where couters should protect elbows and poleyns guard knees, winds erupted as if preheating his body.
Boom!
In an instant, he vanished at impossible speed-like opening a portal to warp through space-reappearing where Graveheim had been, obliterating every demon there.
"Impossible... my legion..."
Boom!
Green light sprayed from Saint Holden's wings as he drove his fist into Kirumin Jay's gut.
She reflexively countered using her horn's power, but the impact sent her hurtling far away, smashing through wall debris and embedding her deep within.
"My body... my efforts... they remember this power."
Winds swirled from his fingertips to every corner of his frame-an overwhelming might straight from the Mir.
"What are you? Why?! What the hell is this insane power? You were dying! My horn should've rendered you useless! Why won't you die?! No... who are you?!"
Kirumin Jay realized this was no longer the foe she'd been fighting. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum to learn an unknown truth. That was how diminished she had become.
"My power isn't nullified. There might've been someone with such a force once, but I'merely circulate it. Our affinities don't match well, it seems, young Demon King."
And he assumed his stance again. It resembled the one he'd taken before, as if trying to recall it, though even he seemed uncertain.
How much wind to unleash?
Clearly, he braced his sturdy legs, spread his wings, gauged his power, and charged it up. One misstep, and he might blow away the entire Sonain Empire.
"This time, as a mere knight, I ask you, Demon King."
Saint Holden extended both hands forward from his stance. To Kirumin Jay's eyes, green dust-like particles flowed from his wings to gather in his palms.
"Why don't you run?"
'Roar of Circulation.'
Boom!
The ghostly gale of the green Mir howled, sweeping away Kirumin Jay and every demon behind her.
"Ah... aaaah... ah."
Her left arm, all the way to her wing's base, was gone. Trembling violently, she barely stayed upright on her mangled body. But that was just the start-nearly all the demons behind her, stretching beyond the walls, lay dead.
The demon invasion could be declared over without exaggeration. All thanks to the winds unleashed by Saint Holden of the 1st Knight Order, who had come from Gilnaun.
"Urgh!"
The backlash from that overexertion forced Saint Holden to one knee. He clearly wasn't accustomed to wielding his true power.
"Even so... despite it all... I-we-have grown stronger now."
Steam rose as his armor peeled away, and he collapsed from the shock. At that moment, the immobile Kirumin Jay shuddered.
She was undeniably terrified.
"Ah... Lucifer..."
It wasn't the knight who had repelled all demons before her that she feared now, but the sorrow of the world yet to come. Struggling, she lifted her head to gaze at the sky.
A black hole had torn open in the sky above the walls, and something ominous emerged.
"Hah! It's been ages."
The Ruler of the Abyss, Master of the Flames of Sin, He of the Wretched Eyes-the black woman, lover of Iveldra the Death Mir, sovereign of all demons and horns.
"Where is the Saintess?"
The primordial Great Demon King from myth, Lucifer van Ivelhac, had descended upon Helred.
***
"No! Even so, I am Bulki Sonain, the Hero who will save everyone!"
Right then, Bulki-having barely kept his rage from consuming him-refused to accept his comrades' sacrifices and charged straight at the Demon King.
"Time to end this. Your rage, that abyss... it's still far too shallow to swallow you."
The Demon King roared like a beast once more, shoving away the entire Hero party.
"Urgh! Why did you save us?!"
"Knew it."
"Foolish human!"
Bulki rose again amid his party's resentment and relief.
"If I lose you all, I'll be swallowed by the abyss. But I won't let it take me! I'll save you! Come on-together, we can win!"
Then Iven spoke with sorrowful eyes.
"Stop this childish Hero roleplay, kid. Or we'll all die. Can't you feel it?"
The Demon King glanced toward Sonain before addressing Bulki again.
"You've lost. The Great Demon King has arrived. It's all over."
"What nonsense is that?!"
To Gil's irritated question, Iven replied.
"Don't you get it? Why I tried to stop the Hero first."
Iven spread his rotting, tattered wings and took to the air.
"Without the Hero, I can kill the princess. And once again, you've arrived too late."
"What?!"
"Hero, Bulki Sonain. If you'd come just a bit sooner, everything would've been different. Or if you'd even earned the Mir's recognition, what you could do now would've changed entirely."
Iven reached out from the sky, crushing his friend and his group with power akin to that of the vanished celestials.
"Urgh!"
Still, Bulki lifted his head to glare up at Iven. And Iven looked down, sword aimed at him-like the moment two friends would end a sparring match.
"You've lost to me again, Bulki."
With those words of unreachable friendship, it was the first time the Hero truly fell to the Demon King.
'Third Demon Invasion Ended.'
In that instant, the Third Demon Invasion ended on a hollow note. All that remained was for the overwhelming Great Demon King-who brooked no resistance-to trample the empire and all of Helred with merciless violence.