Volume 5, Chapter 5 - Black Dragon King, Part 5
Liz raised her tear-stained face while her shoulders trembled.
“Aaaaaaah!”
With an angry roar. Liz kicked the floor while her red eyes were filled with flames of rage. The tears from the corners of her eyes flew backward, reflecting the light of the red flame.
The red blade of the “Flame Emperor” struck down with such force that it shattered the marble and sent a tremor through the throne room.
“Fuh, fuh, fuh… do not insult my mother!”
A roar and scorching flames were created in the surroundings. The heat was so intense that just touching it would cause burns to the skin. However, after avoiding Liz’s attack, Stobel shook his shoulders happily.
“Hah, you’re even stronger than before, aren’t you?”
“The usurper Stobel! I will execute you right here and now!”
When Liz made the declaration with tears in her eyes, but in a resolute manner, Stobel snickered.
“I have no interest in such things. If you want the throne, I can give it to you, my little sister.”
A thunderbolt strikes. It gouged out the floor and made a destructive sound with a rush of cold air, heading straight for Liz. But the flames that spewed out from the Flame Emperor quickly swallowed it up.
There was no surprise in Stobel’s eyes. Rather, a sneer appeared on his face.
“If you want a country with only one person in it, I’ll give it to you!”
An invisible blade was unleashed. The sharp blade cut the objects around Liz, one by one.
“It’s useless. You can’t kill me with that.”
Liz’s feet, which have a tremendous amount of supremacy in them, exploded. Blue flames wrap around her body as if to protect her, and at that moment, all of the invisible blades are scorched away by the blue flame.
Stobel narrowed his eyes in fascination.
“Hou… you’ve reached even greater depths.”
Stobel muttered with an admiring tone.
“Then it’s my turn. It’s time for me to show you just how great the power of the primordial is.”
Stobel tried to take a step forward but was unable to do so. Strangely enough, his feet were frozen under him. The ice, which exudes cold air, was imbued with a sense of supremacy.
“Don’t forget about me.”
Skaaha was standing at the edge of Stobel’s vision.
In her hand, she clutched the Ice Emperor, which emitted a pale blue light. Stobel’s eyes widened with an unusually surprised expression.
“Who the hell are you? And that spear, could it be…?”
“Haran Skaaha de Felzen. One who has a grudge against you.”
“What, you’re Felzen’s…”
“Yes, the name of the person who will kill you.”
Cutting off Stobel’s words, Skaaha kicked the floor and threw an ice spear at him.
“Wha――!?”
White smoke enveloped the area with a strong roar, and a huge block of ice appeared through the smoke.
During that time…
“Skaaha, is your leg okay?”
Liz called out to Skaaha in a caring voice.
“It’s fine, of course. I’m finally going to avenge my sisters’ death. All the pain is gone.”
After licking her beautiful lips, Skaaha glared at the white smoke while catching her breath.
“Liz-dono. Don’t let your guard down. He’s still alive.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry.”
As the two of them retook their stances, a gust of wind swept away the white smoke. The one who emerged from it was Stobel, unharmed.
“Come at me, you little girls. Show me your futile efforts.”
Stobel’s posture was as composed as ever.
“You can leave the stalling to me, Liz-dono, and just focus on killing him. I’ll be your backup.”
Although she had said earlier that the pain was gone, if she actually stood and fought next to Liz, her injured leg would slow her down. She knew this and glared at Stobel, biting her lips in frustration.
So without saying a word, Liz held up the “Flame Emperor” and started to run.
“Okay. I will definitely defeat Stobel!”
She accelerated further as if she were cutting through the air.
In an instant, the distance between the two of them was reduced, and she slipped her legs under Stobel’s legs as she closed in on him.
From there, she quickly thrusts the “Flame Emperor” into Stobel’s jaw.
“Guh!?”
Stobel barely managed to avoid it, but Liz’s foot strike knocked Stobel out of his stance and knocked his huge body to the floor.
“Haaaaaaa!”
Liz swung her fist down. Stobel tried to avoid it, but his lower body was frozen and became one with the floor.
“Tch!”
Stobel clicked his tongue.
“I’ll give you the initiative. I’ll accept the first one.”
He hung up his mouth without showing any evasive action as if to say he would endure it.
“Do you remember the Blessing of the Flame Emperor?”
With her charming smile, Liz twisted her fist with great power into Stobel’s robust body, which was caught off guard. The impact of the penetration caused the floor to cave in.
As dust rises, Stobel’s face twists in pain.
“Ogohh!?”
“There’s more to come!”
She added a follow-up attack. She hit him without a moment to rest. Even though blood splattered all over the area, the vicious fists did not stop. She also swung her heel down on Stobel’s face. The crushing sound of bones cracking and the eerie sound of flesh tearing resounded.
“I will burn you to the ground!”
Liz’s attack did not stop. The “Flame Emperor” responded to her unusual anger. A huge mass of flames was created above her head and rained down on Stobel.
There was a violent shaking that caused the throne room to collapse.
By this time, Liz had distanced herself and was watching the sea of flames from a distance.
As dust flew down from the ceiling, a sudden gust of wind blew.
“Liz-dono!”
When she heard Skaaha’s shout.
“Eh――?”
Liz lost consciousness for a moment.
“Aah, kahah――!?”
By the time she realized it, she was buried in the rubble.
With the taste of iron in her mouth, Liz vomited blood and stained the floor red.
“Liz-dono, are you okay? Stay with me!”
Skaaha shook her shoulder.
“I’m okay… but, what in the world was that?”
As she stood up and looked ahead, she saw something standing in front of her. A large man with burns all over his body is glaring at Liz with bloodshot eyes.
“Little girl… don’t get carried away.”
It took her a few seconds to figure out who it was.
The skin was a deep purple like that of a demon, the hair was white as snow, and the eyes were red and glowing. His muscular body had begun to expand.
Evil supremacy is mixed with magic power, creating tremendous power. A chill ran down Liz’s spine when she saw the way he had transformed his appearance.
“Stobel… What have you done?”
“This is the power of the primordial! This is the power of the king who plunged the world into chaos a thousand years ago!”
“Ugh…”
With just one voice, a dizzying amount of supremacy flies through the air.
“Haha, it would be hard for you, little girls who have just learned how to use your power.”
He slowly steps forward. The air around Stobel is distorted just by that. When he took another step forward, a sound like a space ripping apart echoed.
Another step forward, and the floor shatters, and the rubble is transformed into grains of sand.
“In addition to the power of the primordial, I also have the power of the Five Emperors of the Spirit Sword, the Thunder Emperor, and the Wind Emperor.”
The joy spread. Stobel’s face was colored with joy.
“With all this power, I can destroy a country all by myself.”
The wind swirled and swelled with electric shocks, feeding on the supreme energy.
“I’ll kill you for starters and then lay waste to every single citizen in the Great Imperial Capital.”
Liz clenched her teeth and endured the murderous intent that was released.
“You are just a frog in a well. There are men like you everywhere.”
Liz smiled provocatively as if she despised him to no end.
“Well said. You’re exactly right, Liz-dono. That was only a facade.”
Skaaha joined in and gave Stobel a look as if to make fun of him.
“Fuh…bark as much as you want, bitches.”
Stobel walked towards Liz and the others with a leisurely movement.
“Look, Liz-dono, he’s moving way too fast.”
“Yes… and it seems he has more strength than me.”
Liz agreed with Skaaha, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Liz-dono, let’s go all out no matter what.”
Both of their bodies are screaming from repeated battles. Above all, they don’t have much strength left. But if they don’t go all out, Stobel will kill them.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s an ugly fight. They say that winning is winning, right?”
“……All right.”
“Then ―― let’s go!”
The two of them started running at the same time.
Flames covered their vision. After being cleaved by the wind, ice spears rained down on the ground. There is no time to check if Stobel is alive or dead. There was no time for that, the two attacked with all their might.
As soon as they closed the distance, the ice spear pierced Stobel, and Liz quickly thrust the “Flame Emperor” into his stomach and blew it up from the inside.
“Gobuhh!?”
As his internal organs were scorched, fresh blood flew out of Stobel’s mouth with gray smoke. A shadow falls on Stobel’s face as he opens his jaw toward the ceiling.
“It’s hot, isn’t it? I’ll cool you down right now.”
At that moment, the Ice Emperor in Skaaha’s hand pierced Stobel’s throat.
And then Liz came around from behind and slashed Stobel’s arm as hard as she could, and the impact of turning her body against the momentum caused the red blade to sink into Stobel’s leg.
And then, as Stobel’s body collapsed.
“Liz-dono! Get off from him!”
Skaaha jumped up and held the Ice Emperor at her back, and unleashed a burst of supreme energy.
――Divine Piercing.
The Ice Emperor crashes into Stobel with a tremendous wind slashing sound.
In the blink of an eye, the huge body that had been pierced by the wind was covered in ice. The white smoke created from the zero-degree ice cubes slid across the floor. But then, it cracked ― and cracked. Stobel’s eyes, trapped in the ice world, goggled and moved eerily.
And then…
“You little bitches…”
A thunderbolt shot out from Stobel’s body. An invisible blade rained down in all directions.
As Liz and Skaaha dodge, Stobel’s wounds begin to heal.
“Can’t you see it’s useless?”
The Thunder Emperor is swung down. The ground cracked, and countless cracks appeared on the wall with just one swing.
The Wind Emperor creates the wind, and the invisible blade goes wild. It rampaged across the floor, ceiling, and pillars, inflicting sharp wounds in all directions. However, Liz and Skaaha were not intimidated and avoided the storm of Stobel’s attacks and attacked again.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve had enough.”
Stobel threw away his hand to catch the Flame Emperor and his other arm to catch the Ice Emperor. Fresh blood spurted out, but he did not feel any pain, and his face showed no emotion.
“Ugh!”
He grabbed Liz by the chin and lifted her up, stomping on the “Flame Emperor” that had fallen to the floor. He also grabbed Skaaha’s leg, which was still in midair, and slammed it down on the floor.
“Gaaahh!?”
Stobel looked down at Skaaha, who was writhing in agony, and swung his foot down on her back as she tried to stand up ―― with enough force to crush her.
“Gah!”
The girl’s slender body bent into a crooked shape, and a large amount of blood spewed out of her mouth.
“As I recall, your name is Skaaha… and you are a survivor of the Felzen royal family.”
“If so, then… what’s the matter…?”
“Have you managed to reunite with your sisters?”
Didn’t I send their heads back to you? Stobel said and shook his throat happily.
“Y-you bastard!”
“Shut up, you bitch!”
“……Bufuh.”
Skaaha was driven by rage but was silenced by Stobel’s attack that swung down again. Still not satisfied with the results, he grabbed the legs of the unconscious Skaaha.
“Liz, this bitch is going to die, do you mind?”
Skaaha, whose limbs are limp and stretched out, is lifted up, and the drops that flow from his mouth make a pool of blood on the floor.
“Fuguu!?”
Liz can’t speak with her jaw gripped. With tears in the corners of her eyes, Liz struggled to resist by slapping Stobel’s arm. She was no better than a mosquito, Stobel snickered.
“Do you want me not to kill her?”
“Ugh, mgh!”
Of course not, Liz’s eyes complained. She tried to move her chin again and again.
“All right.”
Stobel smiled gently but with such cruelty.
“Then let’s kill you both.”
“!?”
He threw Skaaha against a pillar with great force and then slammed Liz’s face into the floor.
With a loud bang, Skaaha went through two pillars and disappeared into the rubble covered in dust. Liz, who had been knocked to the floor, also did not move a muscle. The blood that slowly flowed out only spread.
――Quietness.
The throne room was once again filled with silence.
Stobel stepped away from the Flame Emperor, grasped the hilt, and raised it to the ceiling.
“You shall be my sword. The sword that the first emperor used is finally in my hands…”
As if to show its resistance, a red light leaked from the Flame Emperor, but Stobel opened his mouth with a look of ecstasy. He’s trying to crush it, take it into his body, and swallowed up its power.
But just before he did, Stobel’s body tilted and fell to the floor. As a result, he lost the “Flame Emperor” and hurriedly tried to reach for it.
“!?”
But he was unable to do so.
A hand reached out from the side and grabbed his arm.
The sound of the bones in his arm shattering reverberated through the throne room, eerily like a tree snapping.
“…What are you doing to my Flame Emperor?”
Liz, who has blue flames rising up from her entire body, is glaring at Stobel with an intense gaze.
“You have been attacked so much, and you’re still alive――!?”
Stobel tried to stand up, but he finally noticed that his leg was broken. When Stobel realized that it was because of this that he had collapsed on the floor, a terrible pain shot through his entire body.
“Wha, guoo!?”
The bones in the arms and legs that Liz crushed are not regenerating. Upon closer look, blue bruises appeared on his skin.
“W-what is this…?”
As the bruises faded, the wound began to repair itself. As the pain eased, Stobel was able to spare some time for thought.
“Liz… what are you doing to me――”
As Stobel furrowed his brow ― his face exploded.
At the next moment, the blue flame wrapped his face.
“Agaaaaaaaaa!?”
“……”
Next to Stobel, who’s in extreme pain and stumbling around the floor, Liz quietly retrieves the “Flame Emperor.”
She raises her arms targeting the back of the moaning and groaning Stobel in pain.
But the Thunder Emperor, sensing the danger, unleashes a tremendous thunderbolt that blasts her away.
She hit the pillar with her back and slipped and fell to the floor, probably unconscious.
“Damn it, damn it; the pain won’t go away, the wound won’t heal. What’s going on?”
Stobel started to scream, but suddenly he looked down at his feet and realized. The burn had spread across his face, reflected in the marble.
Stobel rolled his eyes, unable to understand.
Then ― the sound of footsteps echoed throughout the throne room.
“……Rumbling things one after the other, don’t you know that’s useless?””
As he held his aching wound, he looked hatefully at the source of the sound.
A black-haired young man with a soft face and dark eyes was standing leisurely.
The young man――
“I’ll kill you.”
――Was smiling ferociously.
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