Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: A New Role
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"Well now, is that supposed to be an escape?"
Gaon hurriedly climbed up to the ground level of the collapsed Lord's Tower. Fortunately, he could track the nauseating stench from the blood spilled by the Seed Cultivator, but the figure was nowhere to be seen-already headed for the surface, it seemed.
While following that scent to find his path, Gaon paused to gaze at his once-devastated hometown. The corpse of the dead queen, the Lord's Tower crumbled atop it, and endless flakes of fire and ash drifting through the air.
"It's over, I suppose."
Everything had ended. The prince's tale, the story of the three children who survived to become knights, and even Godell's saga of sealing away Agagthur. So what role was he supposed to play in this story now? Suddenly, he let out a wry chuckle and muttered to himself.
"Since when have I ever cared about that sort of thing? And it's not truly over yet anyway. I'll kill the Seed Cultivator, slaughter everything connected to it, and if anything's left, kill that too. Then I'll return to Godell and build you a proper grave, Riu-one far better than that massive, idiotic statue back in the Empire."
To wipe the bitter smirk from his lips, Gaon pressed the flask at his waist to his mouth and took a swig. The alcohol's aroma tasted strangely bitter, so he poured the rest onto Godell's ruins, offering a silent tribute to the nameless souls.
Including his most beloved friend.
He drew his sword once more and shot up through Godell's entrance like a bolt, piercing straight to the surface. In that brief moment of hovering in midair, he spotted a trail of blood crawling across the distant sands. It was infuriating that the thing hadn't gotten farther, but Gaon swung his sword and landed squarely in its path.
The Seed Cultivator showed no surprise, as if it had anticipated his pursuit, and continued crawling, scraping at Tohou's sands with its thin, filthy fingers.
"What is this? Trying to become a real bug? Got anything else up your sleeve?"
The Seed Cultivator didn't even respond to Gaon's mocking question, just kept curling and uncurling its body. It was pathetic. In a flash of anger, Gaon stomped down on its bleeding foot.
"Kraaak!"
But he didn't stop there-he crushed the foot, tore it apart, and buried it in the sand. Next, he snapped its hip bone, then its spine. Consciousness was long gone. Yet even in its paralyzed limbs, the Seed Cultivator wouldn't stop that twitching contraction and release.
"You're dying here. The role your 'king' gave you is finished-discarded."
To end this tragic farce, Gaon shifted his foot toward its writhing head.
"Yes. Precisely."
Bam!
It happened in an instant. Someone approached the Seed Cultivator without a shadow or sound, and while Gaon raised his foot, he swung his sword at invisible speed. But the king was even faster, dispatching his servant.
"My king, my... my role..."
"Yes. It ended once you brought the prince to me, the seed merchant."
The king closed his servant's eyes. He-the leader of the dream demons and devils, the one with horns planted by the Demon King-drew a small dagger and took the final breath of this story's discarded player.
Of course, Gaon merely watched. The moment his sword missed, he knew this was no easy prey to be taken by emotion, snatching the Seed Cultivator's life.
Not to mention, the face of the former 3rd Knight Order Captain.
"The 3rd Knight Order Captain? Or just borrowing his skin?"
When Gaon asked, Hyeon-who had risen silently in the dim dawn light-replied.
"I am merely Hyeon."
He flashed a chilling smile and posed a question to Gaon.
"Do you know the role the witch and I assigned you in this tale, Sword Emperor?"
The demon drew something from his bosom. Gaon couldn't identify it precisely, but his eyes fixed on a single black, withered flower blooming from the branch of that plant which had scattered seeds.
***
The moment Gil locked eyes with Agagthur, every sight Gil had ever witnessed flashed through their minds. In that vision, Gil felt his own wavering sense of justice-and saw rage.
The powerless self of days past.
"Haa."
He had joined the Knight Order, drawn his sword, and given his all to protect the great Empire. But no matter how hard he defended, the demons invaded, and he lost Elis. The face of the demons' king, the Demon King, and the marks of the countless demons beneath him. Coming to Godell, he learned the truth.
It was a label arbitrarily slapped on by the Empire's grand cathedral, and the demons were merely markers for those whose boundaries had crumbled through the kin of sin.
Those acts were ultimately for the noble purpose of prolonging the beastkin races' lives, but the methods were wrong. Mistaken. Unjust. And in that revelation came the Sonain Empire's grand cathedral, its bishops, and even the saintess selling children. That too was wrong- no different from the demons.
What were demons? What was justice? Then what role remained for him now?
"I... I..."
And he realized it. There was no longer a place for Gil in this world. Demons, the Empire, the princess-they were all enemies. Those who shattered this world's harmony. Thus, the role he must fulfill with the sword Agagthur granted him now was singular.
Revenge alone.
The fate laid before him was the reason he had lived until this moment.
Agagthur saw Gil's potential. He was certain this vessel would become his proxy, the sword to slay the god who had wrought such horrors upon his children.
『You must raise your sword.』
With that gaze, Agagthur parted the veil of myth for Gil, revealing a glimpse of truth. The great El and his three creations, the five Mirs. Among them, the surviving Miflas. Miflas's sin in forging harmony. The endless wars between demons and the Empire. The inheritance of horns and swords. Amidst the sins, all the sacrificed children. The beastkin, Agagthur's children. The true victims.
『For my children.』
There had been times he deemed demons enemies, moments he suspected the Empire. But now he knew.
Even if enemies weren't clear, the victims were.
For those children, Gil straightened his bent knee, stood tall on both feet, gripped the new sword in both hands, and declared.
"I swing this sword solely for revenge!"
Bam!
The rock glowed red, its shell peeling away like molten lava flowing to form a sharp blade. It was a sword bearing fire akin to Agagthur's very heart.
Unlike inheriting the Empire's sword or awakening its name, Agagthur's will now flowed directly into his body.
"Chedikahema, follower of Miflas, is broken! I am Agagthur's proxy, his sword! The bearer of Nakam, named Revenge!"
Thus, the one to manifest the Mir of Raging Flames had reemerged in the world.
『My proxy. Go forth and slay Miflas. That is your new role in this tale.』
Gil-he was the Hero's betrayer in this story.
『Therefore...』
Agagthur now spoke to his newly forged proxy and his children.
『I shall tell you not myth, but truth.』
He unveiled a tale older than a thousand years.
***
"A story beginning even before a thousand years ago."
The demon flicked out his serpent's tongue, beginning to tempt Gaon.
"Around the time the gods' wills faded, the Mir lost their power, and the kin of sin were born-there existed a man nowhere recorded. He was a researcher of the kin of sin. A good man. Of course, he couldn't speak, but that's why he loved to write stories."
The barren desert sands whipped about as a darker-than-night morning dawned.
"We are his followers, upholding his story, his will. The ones who will ultimately revive Neshef. The tale of the dream demons' king, the devils, and the witch. But to gather the power needed to revive Neshef as we studied, the kin of sin had to awaken. In the end, one lineage's inheritance had to halt, and we controlled it safely. Now we must collect the awakened kin of sin."
"What does that have to do with me? What the hell are you talking about?"
Gaon demanded of Hyeon, who spun this baffling yarn. He itched to swing his sword and sever the man's neck right then, but something-something sprouting deep within-held him back.
"To gather the kin of sin, we need a vessel, a container."
That much, Gaon already knew.
But what followed? He never could have guessed.
"Even the Mir don't know this, but do you know that when the kin of sin lose their vessel, they migrate to nearby hosts?"
At the demon's question, whatever had been growing inside Gaon fluttered out through his left eye.
"Th-this... impossible."
It was a seed.
"It'seems a kin of sin has taken root within you. The one who sought to eradicate them becomes their vessel. How truly tragic, isn't it?"
"I've become... the vessel."
"The kin of sin must be inherited as well."
Swoosh.
Gaon accepted the situation in a heartbeat, covered his left eye, and leveled his sword with one hand.
"You know how to get rid of it, don't you?"
"Of course. I even know how to gather all the scattered kin of sin. You will take on that role in this story now."
Hyeon offered the withered flower to Gaon once more.
"Eating this should stop the seed from leaking out. Now, return to Agagthur, hear the tale older than a thousand years, and head to Ennaun. You'll surely understand what I'mean. Until I find you again..."
Swoosh.
"Tch."
Gaon slashed without hesitation, severing Hyeon's neck-but Hyeon's headless body crumpled while his severed head floated and spoke.
"In the end, it's about eradicating the kin of sin. So I'm on your side now. Please don't die before I return. If you move elsewhere, things get... complicated. Oh, not a threat, but to motivate you..."
Hyeon's head melted into slime and drifted into the air.
"Riu is still alive."
With that, the demon vanished like the sands.
"Damn it..."
Gaon ground his teeth, realizing he'd become this story's puppet. He bit into the withered flower and had no choice but to return to Agagthur.
To hear the tale older than a thousand years.