Chapter 113
Chapter 113
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Void of Calamity
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ashen fog blanketed the forest.
Havel and Penrad faced each other.
Havel clenched and unclenched his fist.
But that fist no longer carried any trace of calamity.
'So this is what it felt like without calamity.'
Ever since clearing the Demonic Palace and gaining those status effects.
Havel had been surrounded by endless calamity.
Maybe that's why.
The sudden emptiness left by the absence of calamity felt more hollow than he'd expected.
'Right, come to think of it, this is how it used to be.'
Up until he'd climbed the Demonic Palace, this had been Havel's normal state.
Shring!
As Havel savored the raw power of his own body for the first time in ages.
Penrad drew his sword.
"How does it feel to have lost that boundless calamity of yours?"
Havel turned to face Penrad.
He wondered why the man seemed so confident.
'He's no ordinary swordsman.'
After rigorous training, he had clearly reached a profound realm of mastery.
'Haven't seen someone this strong without calamity in a long time.'
Wrong era to be born in, perhaps.
Or maybe he'd deliberately avoided calamity.
Either way, the current situation was trap enough.
Penrad was a swordsman who had forged himself into a single blade of aura.
For someone stripped of calamity, he was the worst possible matchup.
"Even that overwhelming presence of yours has faded away."
Perhaps because he'd just fought Agni.
Havel's body had once brimmed with raging calamity.
But now that it was gone.
The monstrous aura that had made him seem inhuman had dwindled to nothing.
As a result, even standing right there, his presence was barely detectable.
Penrad looked down at Havel with the imposing aura of a giant.
It was a pressure that would have buckled the knees of any ordinary person.
Yet Havel remained silent.
"Now you see the reality—you've been relying solely on calamity."
His words came flat and emotionless, polite to a fault.
Ash-gray aura rose from Penrad's sword.
It rippled like him—immaculately refined.
But Penrad wasn't the only problem.
Clank—clank—
The Ash Knights gathered around him.
The aura emanating from them wasn't his.
"Someone else is controlling that."
"Even without your calamity, I won't let my guard down."
A sound judgment.
Always go all out, even against cornered prey.
August had snagged himself a fine talent.
"Time to face reality."
Havel scratched the back of his head at those words.
The loss of calamity had surprised even him.
And as if to prove Penrad hadn't slacked on his training.
The aura pouring from him was no joke.
Most couldn't beat him even with calamity.
'At that level, he'd have shone in the Unification War era.'
With calamity, he'd be even stronger.
But he'd chosen not to pursue it.
'He deliberately avoided calamity. No— he lacks the vessel to contain it.'
Havel spotted Penrad's unique trait.
'His innate body is too frail. It'd shatter under calamity.'
Penrad, born with albinism.
His weak constitution couldn't handle calamity's power.
Ironically, though.
His aura and swordsmanship were prodigiously gifted.
A genius.
The real deal, one of the few in a century.
Before such a genius.
This space without calamity was his domain alone.
'Feels nostalgic, sensing only aura after so long.'
Havel let out a short chuckle, reminiscing briefly about the Dawn Knights.
"Reality, huh..."
Calamity might truly be the power of dreams.
Acquire it, and you'd gain strength incomparable to those without.
Victory hinging on its presence or absence.
That's why calamity was like a drug.
No—those who touched it showed far greater addiction than any narcotic.
"Yeah, this isn't so bad once in a while."
Havel cracked his neck, shaking off the dream.
Fight with pure aura, no calamity.
Time to move his body properly.
"Surrender now, and I might let it slide."
Penrad exuded utter confidence in his sword and aura.
The surging aura warped the air like heat haze.
That was just from his body.
The power in his blade would be far greater.
He had every reason to be cocky.
Unfortunately, he was missing one key fact.
Who stood before him.
"In the long history of the Five Great Families, your kind has appeared countless times."
Penrad was offering Havel mercy, in his own way.
Havel's name had grown too big.
His influence now dared to challenge the Five Great Families.
"August has a vow of oaths. Accept it, and I'll spare your life."
He wanted to win Havel over.
The man would be a huge asset to the Five Great Families ahead.
"Long history."
Havel snorted.
"Now I see why Penbola bolted from August."
August clung to the past.
Refusing to accept a changing world, craving sole dominion.
A laugh bubbled up.
Even Banpellyon, who dominated the Unification War, rose as one of the Three Great Families.
Bathed in the Arhan Emperor's favor.
They never dared utter "long history."
"You're young. Does this world really feel like yours?"
Havel decided to teach them reality.
With that, dawn's light began to flow from his sword.
Penrad's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No intention of backing down, then."
Time to end it.
Whiiirrr—
Ashen fog whipped into a storm around Penrad.
The ash storm sharpened its edges.
Grass and trees touching it shredded apart.
Each speck of ash pulsed with aura.
Yet amid the storm, dawn's light shone brilliantly.
That glow inexplicably grated on Penrad's nerves.
It was then.
A faint unease rose from his gut.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead naturally.
Penrad's brow twitched.
Something was off.
A bad sensation crept up from deep inside, unbidden.
"Penrad, remember this."
The feeling was familiar.
"This sensation will guide you on what choice to make when facing an enemy beyond your grasp."
His father had taught him that long ago, during a personal lesson.
August's patriarch was a jovial man.
Despite his duties.
He loved gallivanting on travels.
So he often told his eldest, Penrad.
"Penrad, you suit the patriarch role better than me. Hurry and grow up."
"That again?"
Stoic like his mother, Penrad struggled to understand his father.
But that's who he was.
Penrad's gaze fell on the Ash Knights.
"Penrad, I'm heading beyond the Central Continent."
These Ash Knights were his father's direct creation.
"So guard August your way, with the Ash Knight Order I left behind."
With a bright smile, he left for beyond the Central Continent.
And vanished.
At first, they mobilized all of August's power to search.
But no trace.
Had he truly gone beyond?
Penrad couldn't know.
But the Ash Knights he made still functioned.
'The Ash Knights move only while Father lives.'
Meaning Father was safe.
They guarded August on his orders.
And Penrad, as acting patriarch, had protected it too.
This was his lifelong mission.
Maintain August as is until Father returned.
Not surpassing it, but preserving the status quo.
So he obsessed over defense.
Not progress, but holding the line.
Even that grew hard.
'That guy appeared, and the Tower ushered in a new era.'
From Memento Mori onward, groups and powers wielded calamity.
The new Great Calamity Era dawned.
His mission: keep August afloat in it.
Thus, clashes with his youngest brother Penbola.
The youngest demanding change for the family's sake.
The eldest clinging to the present to preserve it.
And now, Penrad stood before Havel to defend the now—
Leading his father's Ash Knights.
Havel's dawn light intensified.
Penrad's heart pounded.
The danger signal swelled.
But he couldn't yield here, not if it meant protecting the family.
Havel would shake not just August, but all Five Great Families.
Unacceptable.
"Ash Knights!"
With a roared command, Penrad thrust his sword.
The Ash Knights charged Havel in unison.
Ashen armor erupted over Penrad's body.
His swirling ash armor was a weapon itself.
Endlessly rotating in armor form.
Ash that shredded anything on contact.
Clad in it, Penrad's form blurred.
He kicked off the ground, assaulting Havel with the Ash Knights.
Havel swung his sword downward at the ground.
KABOOOM!
A deafening roar and flash erupted.
Hearing and sight briefly failed.
Ash scattered into the sky.
Penrad's senses linked to the flying ash.
He caught Havel's presence within.
True to his mastery, Penrad thrust despite impaired vision and hearing.
And not just him.
Penrad's senses were limited, but not the Ash Knights'.
They struck first.
Clang!
His sword clashed with Havel's.
Penrad flowed into three fluid strikes.
Clang! Clang!
Aiming for head, chest, waist.
But Havel parried cleanly.
More than that.
Havel demonstrated swordsmanship's essence.
Attack and defense as one.
Proving it, three gashes marred Penrad's ash armor.
As vision returned.
Penrad's eyes widened.
Ash everywhere.
Through it, he read all enemy moves.
Yet this flawless unity of offense and defense evaded even him.
'I'm being outdone in pure swordsmanship?'
Penrad's blade was a swift sword.
Thin, light ash-forged blade striking gaps.
Not only blocked it all.
Countered too.
A lifetime in swordsmanship left Penrad stunned.
Still, that was comprehensible.
The issue: he wasn't alone.
Ash Knights surrounded him.
Direct creations of August's patriarch.
Each rivaled master-class monsters.
Perfectly synced, as one man's work.
They attacked Havel at varied timings.
Forcing openings despite reactions.
Yet those Ash Knights.
Now bore gashes, stances crumbling.
And Havel's sword still hung low.
Penrad's eyes trembled.
He'd felt Father's warning sensation from him, true.
But this gap?
Without the Ash Knights, he'd be dead.
Penrad ground his teeth.
Even so, he wouldn't stop.
As acting patriarch, he represented the family here.
He could lose—but August couldn't.
'That's why I'm here!'
Penrad clenched his free left hand.
The enveloping ash whipped into a frenzy.
It morphed into dozens of surging dragons.
If sword fails, aura it is.
The ash dragons screamed like sky-plaguing hawks, diving at Havel.
August Style Ash Swordsmanship
Dragon Surge
Kakakakakakang! Sword clashes echoed again. The ash that had blanketed Havel split and soared skyward. Only then did Penrad realize what happened. Havel's blade had deflected every speck at impossible speed. Penrad's jaw dropped. Then an Ash Knight exploited the gap. A strike that would shred even calamity spawn. Clang! But Havel's sword parried it. His blade then traced a natural wave-like line. So beautiful, even Penrad lost himself momentarily. As dawn's glow trailed, Havel's sword slipped in seamlessly. Splurt! The Ash Knight's upper body cleaved apart in an instant. Flawlessly clean. Crunch! Lights burst from the armor's seams. BOOM! Explosion followed, reducing the Ash Knight to ash. The infiltrated light had ravaged its hollow interior. 'Father's Ash Knight in one hit?' Witnessing it firsthand, Penrad's eyes bulged. After Father vanished. These had guarded August till now. Tough enough for years of battles, unbreakable. Even Penrad needed dozens of strikes to crack one. Father hadn't left them idly.
"Heard of the frog in the well?"
Havel smirked, having shattered one Ash Knight.
"The world's outside is shockingly vast. Remember that."
Time to school the clueless frog.