Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: [Rachab]
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Elis didn't know exactly what the kin of sin were, but for some reason, using them felt similar to recalling a sword's name.
The madness of Lah, the vengeance of Nakam-as if she were a knight of sin wielding two swords-Elis unleashed both powers amid the searing pain consuming her.
Whether madness awakened fury, or fury awakened madness, she couldn't tell. But they rose again, having devoured death.
At Elis's command, they approached the knight, red light-or cursed blood-streaming from their hollow pupils.
"Haa."
The knight, barely propping up his sword with one arm, eyed the deaths closing in on him.
These were deaths he had created.
Selves who had poured out pure effort even before dying, and after. Now, their eyes filled only with madness and vengeance, this space that once swirled with blue light was dyed red.
"Come."
But did he intend to die easily?
"I am Elis Hope of the Sonain Empire's 2nd Knight Order, great and renowned!"
Tears flowed not from pain.
As Elis scanned the memories embedded in the sword, she wept bitterly. The moment she decided to become a knight, when she drew the sword of succession, during her knightly training journey, adventuring with the Hero, bearing endless worries alone that no one acknowledged while giving her all-and the Hero recognizing her efforts. And finally, until her futile death.
"[Rachab] is my sword, forged by my own hand! Inherit it once more! Yerutsa Rahav!"
The knight Elis swung her blade, and the madness, obeying Nakam Elis's command, surged forth.
"A knight is merely a vessel!"
It was a slow swing, barely gripped by the hilt, but by continuously channeling her technique, waves of heat, light, and the blade's own weight cleaved through those rising anew.
"Kuh!"
Of course, the knight swung with death in mind. It looked haphazard, but she struck at foes, swung again, each time the pain of life chipping away eroded her.
"Threatening, but your sword won't reach me."
And not just that. While manipulating vengeance intermittently, Elis never missed a small opening, slipping into her guard. Shedding inexplicable bloody tears, she thrust any sword into the knight.
"Kheuk!"
Moreover, every Elis that rose embracing death tore at the knight Elis's flesh and gnawed her bones. If needed, they severed their own arms; if more needed, the arms beside them.
Grabbing feet, stabbing shoulders, clawing faces-and if that wasn't enough, using their entire bodies to seize the knight's legs. Each time, in those fleeting moments her sword wavered, something sharper targeted her vitals, and the Elises entangled her thus.
This battle, known only to Elis herself, would later be sung by a bard wandering a small human city at the foot of the Hatam Mountains.
「Ani yadah nephesh
O one who comes to know oneself
Ani khayai nephesh marah
Resisting the one who saved oneself
Ani nakham kun asaph
Pity oneself, process and gather
Ani kun nephesh
O one who raises oneself
Ani mamot nephesh halakh
Yielding to the one who slays oneself
Ani nakham kun asaph
Pity oneself, process and gather
Yerutsa motsa khazut alam
The stem of inheritance hides its form
Shamayim ani er'el mut
Even that which pierced the heavens vanishes
Ken para
Thus, receive it
Nagad netzach er'el
The true self that appears
Shaga yaval naqam
Vengeance bearing madness
Netzach yaga er'el
To the one who truly toiled
Shavat gamal
Grant rest
Nephesh mut kun asaph
Purity vanishes, process and gather
Qapua eretz shamar
Guarding the frozen earth
Promnain shamar
Guarding Promnain
Olam shamar
Guarding oneself
Ani tov er'el tzavah
Commanded by the greater self
Yerutsa Rahav
Inherit the sword
Yerutsa Rahav
Inherit the sword」
The battle continued until there were no more movements.
But resisting her fate of repeated deaths was impossible. As strength ebbed, she permitted their attacks-arms piercing her chest, thighs rent. In the end, dozens of hands and feet like her own impaled her, only their wretched eyes exposed.
She barely opened her eyes to gaze at the approaching Elis.
"Haa."
Knight Elis sensed this was her final breath.
The sword of the knight she had been. Its tip wavered once more, and the sword that abandoned the knight drew forth all her efforts, reaching her heart at last. Each effort personified as an Elis, all sharp and keen attacks.
But among them, the one wielding vengeance and madness was strongest.
"Now, die."
Seeing herself exhale her frail last breath, Elis raised her sword and thrust toward the mass of fused flesh and bone. Amid blood cascading like a waterfall, she pushed until it could pierce no more.
'Knight's Spear Piercing the Heavens'.
iiiiiiiing.
The blade spun with a eerie whine, crushed by its heat.
Boom!
And finally exploded, drenching the blue cavern in blood.
Now, no one remained here. Only Elis.
She slung her sword on her back and gasped huge breaths, on the verge of death.
"Memories..."
Reclaiming her sword, memories returned as if by magic. The moment she died to the Demon King felt far more vivid than her death just climbing down the mountain. The Hero's face surfaced, and she grasped even the meaning of his words.
'Don't forget where your sword's tip points. In that way, Elis, you're just like my friend. You'll surely become a greater knight than me.'
In that day's conversation, the knight far greater than her, whom the Hero called friend.
"To think it was the Demon King."
Remembering everything-from emotions felt while captured by the Demon King, to the past seen within-all too unbelievable, Elis realized the truth.
The Hero's friend was the Demon King. And the princess...
"Ugh!"
But those memories included the knight she had just slain. He died unknowing this truth. In other words, the truth seen within the Demon King was felt only by this Elis who had awakened the kin of sin.
Lonely and solitary, the knight who slashed even herself to protect what she believed right. The more achingly she felt that nobility, the deeper her chaos.
"Then what am I..."
What now? What was she? What must she do?
"What should I do now?"
Perhaps life was like the periods at each sentence's end in a grand tale-bundles of endless choices continuing every moment.
Only through those small choices, infinite worries, and noble questions is life projected into this world.
So mustn't she do the same? Then what she must do now was simple.
"No, even finding the sword, my goal remains the same. Unshaken."
Elis steadied her sword's tip unwaveringly. Blood-soaked, she took a step.
"First, go down. To where humans are."
Deep in the cavern lay stairs like a passage. Elis gripped her sword and hurried forth. Her body felt no sensation. But even if she died now, the sword would resume from her death spot, and next time-and the time after-easier to pass.
Descending the stairs, organizing thoughts, before Elis appeared a canyon.
A descending path between sheer cliffs. And filling it: immortals, all frozen. Clustered, their eerie wails resembled cold river flowing through the canyon.
Could she kill them all and descend?
"If [Rachab] is here now..."
Using the technique now would surely snap her wounded arms first. And in this narrow terrain, the canyon itself might collapse.
But it didn't matter.
"Even if the knight I am dies, the sword will be inherited anew."
'Knight's Spear Piercing the Heavens'.
Swaaaa!
Sword-purple beam spiraling-perhaps from vengeance-obliterated the immortals outright.
"Keuk!"
Elis dropped her sword instantly. Backlash from the technique reopened wounds from battling herself; shoulder to chest tore completely. She hadn't even thought of using vengeance. Just hoped the next life would continue thus.
First, meet Iveldra and sort the situation. Hear what to do now, trusting her memories through her; ask why a human city exists in western Gehenna. Of course, about the kin of sin, Demon King and Hero, and what's become of this world.
"This... is a bigger mess than I thought."
In that moment life ebbed, a winged figure approached her.
"Because of what you did, the immortals will climb to the peak along the pass. No time. While I block here, hurry back. When you descend to this point again, find me. I am Harpyai, servant of the Night Hag Queen who follows the Demon King's will."
Night hag. Elis heard the word with eyes open, then breathed her last. Unsure if dead or alive, Harpyai bowed and whispered in her ear.
"I'll keep your sword safe."
***
"No!"
Thus Elis ended her fifth descent and awoke.
"[Rachab], my sword... Ah."
Of course the sword was gone, but lacking it didn't sever memories. She rose hurriedly, exiting between mounds. And there: Iveldra and another.
"The more I see, the more wondrous it is, huh?"
"Who..."
Elis asked the woman with black wings like Harpyai's, but unlike her, with goat-like horns. No, she tried, but the horned night hag woman approached faster than expected, clamping Elis's mouth with one hand.
"No, no. The one asking is me, Night Hag Queen Kirumin Jai."
The night hag queen, with serpent eyes, continued.
"Where is my dear Harpyai?"
Elis had no idea, but from her death in the fifth descent attempt, already a week had passed.