Gravekeeper Knight (6)
That day's scene was something I could never forget, not even a little.
Gravekeeper Knight. Until he himself uttered the name for the first time, he had been nothing more than a single Dragon Fang Soldier.
『――Rise, my children.』
One among the countless Dragon Fang Soldiers born into the world by their master's draconic command.
As soon as it became aware of the world, what greeted it—ironically enough—was the sight of the world crumbling.
In a previous era, long ago, in the heart of some unnamed mountain range. An uncountable torrent of violence from dragons and Dragon Fang Soldiers rained down on a single human.
“Cardiaaaaa!!!”
A black-scaled dragon roared ferociously as it dove from the skies. The horns protruding from its face slowly shifted form. As if they had existed for this very purpose from the beginning, they naturally morphed into the blade of a massive sword.
With its wings folded neatly, the dragon itself became a colossal blade. The world's largest sword, forged to annihilate one girl, tore through the air.
“……”
The girl at its center neither trembled in fear nor fled in terror. She simply raised her weapon. From afar, it looked absurdly oversized for such a girl to wield, yet she lifted it effortlessly. Then she swung it downward.
The black dragon's horn-turned-blade clashed against the girl's greatsword. By the simple knowledge imprinted upon its birth, the Dragon Fang Soldier judged that the girl should have vanished without a trace.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
An unimaginable spectacle unfolded. The girl's single downward slash possessed power that effortlessly transcended human limits.
“Kaaaaaaaak!!!”
The black dragon's horn split clean in two, and soon its massive body followed, cleaved apart. Amid deafening roars, the bisected corpse tumbled pathetically, spilling a grotesque banquet of blood and entrails.
It was incomprehensible. A dragon—the pinnacle of all creatures—felled so futilely by a mere human.
Such scenes repeated endlessly. Cardia. The human the dragons called by name was a monster. Not by human measure, but by draconic standards.
Reinforcing her fragile body with aura to rival a dragon's physique was impressive enough. Her enormous greatsword, which shattered draconic flesh with ease, was formidable. But above all, the girl's techniques seemed designed solely to exterminate dragons themselves—overwhelming in every way.
“Kraaaaa!!!”
A single downward swing felled dragons gliding high in the sky. No blade connected, no projectile launched. Yet dragons plummeted to earth as if it were the natural order when the girl swung her sword.
An upward slash tore through all defensive spells like paper, ripping off a dragon's jaw. Not just barriers—breaths of every element and myriad magics turned the ground where she stood into hell itself. Yet she dismissed them all as mere annoyances and swept them aside.
Aah…
Countless Dragon Fang Soldiers charged to drain even a sliver of her stamina and mana. All identical in form and power to itself. The girl swept them away with a single wide horizontal slash, reducing hundreds to dust.
How was it possible? She carved through Dragon Fang Soldiers with the indifference of tedious, repetitive labor.
Aah…
It witnessed it all. Among the countless Dragon Fang Soldiers filling the range, it alone felt fear and terror toward the girl.
A wretched defective product. This wasn't right. Its master had created it for sacrifice. It should advance in accordance with that will. Toward that human, no different from apocalypse itself.
Yet it couldn't.
“Cardia!!!”
As master, other dragons, and uncountable Dragon Fang Soldiers surged toward the monstrous girl, it alone staggered back.
“Dragon's nightmare! Slayer! Know that this place shall be your end!!!”
The master's jaws parted. In the instant before breath erupted, all sound vanished.
Then the world burned white.
A single beam condensed solely for annihilation, devoid of any concept but destruction. More devastating than any breath unleashed thus far, it vaporized all in its path toward the girl.
“Dragon Extermination Style.”
But the girl didn't evade this time either. She simply slashed.
“―Cleave Breath.”
Another downward swing. The beam split into two under that strike.
The divided rays pierced the earth, carving long scars. The girl who severed the breath moved. A leap. In one bound, she appeared before the master.
“―Shatter Skull.”
With the girl's voice, the master's head crushed—not sliced, but exploded in a burst of raw violence.
The master's colossal form collapsed, shaking the ground. No regard for those caught in the fallout.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
Many Dragon Fang Soldiers birthed by the master perished crushed beneath it.
Swept up in the shockwave, its own body—already retreating—shattered. It felt its granted life flickering out.
I accomplished nothing.
It couldn't even charge toward its master. Nor stand before the girl. Only to die pathetically, crushed under its master's corpse after fleeing.
Was there a more ignoble end for a Dragon Fang Soldier? Feeling profound futility, it closed its eyes.
It rose.
How this was possible, the Dragon Fang Soldier didn't know. It beheld its body and knew it was no longer its own. Imprinted knowledge provided the answer.
Anger surged first.
Why, when so many kin met death, was I the one chosen?!
The grudges of all Dragon Fang Soldiers from the battlefield—including itself—had converged into this form.
It could declare it boldly: This body's power rivaled its master's.
Chosen to wield such might, despite being the defective coward who fled in terror and died crushed.
Why must it alone revive to bear this burden?
The Dragon Fang Soldier looked up. It knew where it was. A vast cavern. The headless skeletal remains of one dragon filled its view.
Its master. Not only that—corpses of other great dragons from the battlefield lay here too.
Forgive me, my master… great ones…
It knelt. Then prostrated before its master's corpse.
It understood. Why it alone was chosen among so many Dragon Fang Soldiers.
The only one to awaken emotion there, to abandon battle in fear and terror. As the sole defective, it was to bear that sin and fulfill its duty.
Dragon Fang Soldiers couldn't shed tears. Yet it felt the anguish of blood tears.
It vowed. For centuries or millennia. Until this body crumbled to dust and scattered.
It would remain, guarding its master's tomb.
It would exact vengeance on that Dragon Slayer.
That was all the worthless nothing it had done could offer, even belatedly.
Again with this.
Seeing its flying left arm, memories flooded back.
Since then, confronting its sin, it had guarded the tomb ceaselessly. Without companions for discourse, awaiting the day its borrowed life expired. Hoping someday to atone.
Yet when vengeance arrived unbidden, this was its fate.
Terrifying. Even without that cursed technique, it's this formidable.
Even Dragon Extermination Style likely paled against the apocalyptic Cardia. Yet it doubted it could best this mighty knight now.
The Gravekeeper Knight halted. Just like back then, accomplishing nothing, crushed by its master.
“……What are you doing? You.”
No follow-up attack came. A clear opening. She could end it, yet she stood and spoke.
[I sense it from you. The same fear I once felt from your master.]
“Oh ho, so you're saying I'm on her level?”
[No. Merely, the frailty I've harbored so long resurfaced.]
“Tch, just say that straight.”
Having severed its left arm, Aren exuded leisure.
[Why not finish it? With your skill, after lopping the arm, the next strike could have taken my head.]
“Thought you were baiting me on purpose. Turns out not.”
Aren smirked. Even with slit eyes, emotion shone through. More human than Cardia, the Gravekeeper Knight thought.
[I am defective. Among Dragon Fang Soldiers, a worthless thing that learned useless emotions like fear and terror.]
“……”
[In that war, I failed to advance from fear, dying crushed by my master's corpse. Now bearing this undue form, I can't even seize sudden vengeance.]
The Gravekeeper Knight's voice echoed hollowly in Aren's mind.
[Pathetic, isn't it?]
“So, scared, you gonna just die now?”
It couldn't answer. Silence was answer enough.
“I'll tell you one thing. Fear and terror aren't useless.”
Instead of swinging, Aren stepped closer and spoke.
“True strength is born surpassing them. Dragon Fang Soldier. You brave ones know no fear, yet can't transcend limits.”
[…]
“You, at least, earned the right to carry those countless grudges forward. Dreaming revenge after witnessing her power transcends Dragon Fang Soldier bounds.”
[Such words to an enemy, knight?]
“Can't give more than this advice to a guy who fought well, lost an arm, then pathetically stalls begging death.”
Disciple of its vengeance target. Practically the one to avenge. Yet it felt mercy from her. Unlike Cardia, who slaughtered kin and master in blood and violence.
[Aren. The ruffians who entered the master's tomb called you thus.]
“Yeah. Aren Parates.”
[I offer respect and thanks.]
The Gravekeeper Knight retreated slowly.
[For deeming useful the emotions that choked me all this time.]
Raising its empty left arm, bones rattled and regrew like sprouting.
[Will you accept this wretch's final struggle?]
“Better already. That's more like it.”
Wings unfurled. Sharpened resolve proclaimed difference from before.
“No 'bring it'?”
[As you wish.]
“Haha, starting to like you. Waste as a dungeon boss.”
Smiling, Aren assumed high guard stance. She gathered aura filling her body, steadying breath.
Internal Aura Technique merely refined mana from dantian into aura for body strengthening—foundation alone.
Layered atop were histories and convictions, earning unique names.
Aren's prior was Silver Wolf Gong, passed in Parates house and Silver Wolf Knights.
Now drawn was—
“Dragon Blood Gong.”
Dragon Extermination Style's internal technique. A means rarely used in Aren Parates' life.
For an enemy she acknowledged, she wielded it.