Chapter 116: Akasha, the Archduke of Slaughter (3)
When a Knight completes a quest and becomes a Holy Grail Knight, chosen by the gods, they are given three holy items.
The first is armor.
Whether lightly or heavily armored, the knight is given the strongest armor available, forged from stellar iron, to protect his body.
The second is the lance.
The knight is the one who breaks the enemy’s spear in the vanguard.
At the moment of breakthrough, the destructive power of the lance breaks through the tidal wave that is the enemy.
Third is the Holy Sword.
A metal of the gods, compressed from the energy of the stars. A holy sword forged by the best smiths of the blacksmith god Heto.
It is not just any blade.
It is the ultimate holy weapon, designed to embody the power of the god the Holy Knight serves.
Thus, the Holy Knight’s holy sword symbolizes the power of the gods.
So what is the Grail Keeper’s sword?
Kingdom knights are given an indestructible sword.
With unbreakable faith, they cut down the enemies of the realm.
Holy Knights are blessed with the Blade of Fury, a symbol that reflects the brilliance of the gods.
So what kind of sword does the Grail Keeper receive?
Those who are implanted with the Lionheart and become demigods, guarding the Grail, the holy relic of all the gods.
They cut down the enemies of the realm and ensure that the glory of the gods flourishes.
But
Lionheart Kings do not symbolize the power of the gods, they represent the will of the gods.
The Lionheart King’s holy sword is forged by the hammering of Heto, sharpened by the flames of Petos, and engraved with the light of Arianna.
In addition, countless gods put their blessings into the sword, and the divinity of countless gods is contained in it.
Thus the holy sword is a polarizing light. It is the power wielded on behalf of the gods, as their representative.
The will of the living demigod is the will of the gods.
The Lionhearted King is the will of all gods.
“Light.”
Come. I am the hope.
I am righteousness.
“Flame.”
Burn my enemies.
The flames of battle that the War Horseman will raise.
“Sea.”
Swallow up their footsteps.
The waves are always on my side, and the winds cannot harm me.
The mists of death unfurl and lead to eternal dreams.
Life grows in the salty earth, sheltering only one person.
The sky turns yellow and the thunder rumbles.
The sun shines with intense positivity, proclaiming one man to be the judge of the world.
Darkness falls, designating an avenging foe for the destruction of the world.
That’s not all.
More. More. More. More.
The gods protect him.
No end of favor and blessing for the representative of the gods.
The holy sword of extreme light blazed with a brilliant light that seemed to represent the power of all the gods.
“──Monster.”
Akasha grew tired of seeing Leon wielding such immense malevolent power, yet layered with divinity.
He had heard of several Lionheart Kings through rumors.
He knew that they were the strongest of the Grail Knights, and that they were far above the level of saints.
But in the end, they are human. Even if they were half-divine, they were still half-human.
Even their vessels had their limits. Even if they represented the power of a god, they could only take so many gods and so much power.
But what was this guy?
How many gods had he taken in?
Akasha did not know how a mere mortal held all the gods within his heart.
He was the strongest Grail Guardian of all time and the greatest Lionheart king of all time.
The gods may not approve, but he claims to speak for all the gods because he is a man who can.
“It’s dangerous, that catastrophe could be reenacted.”
In that war, the demons lost most of their leaders, especially the Lords of Chaos, Pleasure and Wisdom, and suffered a devastating blow.
Three of their four lords that participated in the war died at the hands of Leon.
Even the Demon Archduke of Slaughter himself has been killed by a damned orc.
This must be done now.
She realized instinctively that if Leon continues to survive and add to the source of its power, the Faith, he will become even more terrifying.
“Die, with your past glory behind you!”
“My glory is eternally immortal!”
A falling sword of destruction and slaughter was countered by a holy sword that represents the blessings and power of all the gods.
A beam of light rushes forward toward the falling blade but at the moment of collision, it is the demon sword that is crushed.
“──!!!”
The form of the demon sword crumbles and burns as the scream of a lifeless thing echoes through the world as it burns.
“Monstrous bastard…….”
Even the Archduke of Slaughter couldn’t stop the words from flowing out of his mouth.
Slashing through space, shattering swords, and slashing the sky, the holy sword sails into the far reaches of the universe, toward the stars.
* * * * *
Everything he touches disappears.
After devouring Akasha’s sword, he is not satisfied and transforms the atmosphere above Shikoku Island.
The entire world is bathed in the power of the gods, and otherworldliness spreads to areas that have never been touched by their grace.
In this space, the presence of evil gnaws at its existence just by being there. This is why holy swords, especially Leon’s, are so terrifying.
“…….”
Even after such a miracle, Leon didn’t look satisfied and he had every right to be.
He had just struck with the intention of extinguishing the Demon Archduke’s soul.
“K-k-k-k-”
At the bottom of the evaporated sea the fallen Demon Archduke Akasha was breathing heavily, or more accurately, the body of her host, Chun Ji-so.
“You’re as tough as a cockroach.”
Leon shot him a scornful glance.
“Kkkkkk-weak. No, you’ve lost all your strength.”
Akasha knows of Leon’s power at his peak as she had witnessed how the Lord of Wisdom died.
The Great Lionheart King, who drew upon the power of the stars and broke the Transcendent Spell that threatened to annihilate the continent.
The power that defeated the three lords was severely lacking compared to then.
“Faith is lacking.”
Even if one receives the laws and blessings of all the gods, one’s power is ultimately a substitute for the sum total of one’s faith.
This world was still far too lacking in worship of the gods, and as a result──
-Thud!
A wound appeared on Leon’s body. It was the first wound he had received since his arrival in this world.
A wound on the flesh of the Grail Guardian, whose body was harder than armor?
“You are a worthy leader among cockroaches.”
It wasn’t even a direct hit from Akasha’s sword, but a shockwave of disintegration. If only Leon’s armor had been there, this wouldn’t have happened.
‘But it cannot be helped.’
Leon had been fighting for over two hundred years.
He had defeated the Lord of Pleasure in the Great War against the Demon Legion at the age of 121, and single-handedly defeated dozens of Archdemons, several Demon Archdukes, and endless armies of evil stretching to the horizon.
Leon fought where there were no believers to offer his ‘faith’ to.
Consuming the relics left behind by the Holy Knights.
Using the countless holy swords, spears, and armor that had been blessed with their power, he used even his own armor as a source of energy during his final battle when he was 266 years old but even that wasn’t enough, and his holy sword was eventually destroyed.
“However, you are mistaken, evil creature.”
“──?”
“Certainly, I am weaker now than I was when I was hunting you filthy fiends. But…….”
He pointed his sword and the holy sword still glowed with the power of the gods.
“Even if I’m weakened, you’re not stronger than me.”
The Lionheart King stomped on the ground as his holy sword struck down with the same speed as he had charged.
-Boom!
“K─!”
Akasha barely manages to block it, but the shockwave spreads out and creates a crater.
Akasha, who could barely withstand it with her wounded body, kicked Leon in the stomach and retreated backwards.
<Red Wave>
As he retreats, a red wave swoops down on Leon and the holy sword strikes.
It was a movement that violated the laws of physics as energy cuts through and the wave that shattered like glass grazed Leon’s cheek, but that was all.
Akasha fell back even further. Running on the ground beneath the surface of the ocean, to buy time.
“Stallion…!”
Stallion is summoned towards the fleeing man as Akasha fired her sword at the Divine Beast of Light that was running in a straight line towards her, but──
-Quack!
It didn’t work at all.
Fueled by Leon’s holy power, Stallion was invulnerable to a frontal assault.
Even if Akasha had any magic left in her, she wouldn’t be able to stop it, regardless of the quality or quantity.
“Yes, you’re stronger!”
Admitting that outright, Akasha took the opportunity to restore her power but……a flurry of light from the sky
The otherworldly coloration created by the extreme light of the holy sword as it slashed through the sky hindered her recovery.
With the miracles of the gods overlapping, this space was like a sanctuary.
“Ignorant bastard! How dare you waste so much power?”
Akasha blood-colored waves overlap one after another and turn into a sphere with a terrifying amount of magic power, a bomb that is sure to engulf the knight in front of her.
“Lionheart…!”
The Lionheart King, holding the holy spear, is unperturbed.
“Glory be…!”
He made a straight frontal charge with no room to maneuver.
There’s an explosion, and a massive wave of tyranny crashes into Leon.
‘Stupid…!’
To meet tyranny head-on with no armor is staggering in its ignorance.
Divine Punishment <Battlefield Flame>
“K──!?”
The rider breaks through the flames. No, not breaking through. The flames that should have burned Leon to a crisp through are whirling as if entangled in his spear.
‘The power of flame…!’
Leon remembers how the Holy Knight of the Flame walked through the fires of the Archduke Inferno in the Great War.
No fire can hurt a Holy Knight with the power of flame. In fact, it only adds to their power, as they control every flame on the battlefield…!
“Die, you bastard!”
A concentrated blast of flame shoots toward Akasha. For a person that hates ranged weapons, he is irrational enough to prefer a javelin thrown with full force.
But irrationality aside, the effect it produced was phenomenal.
The sea was split as a destructive force pushed all the water within a three-kilometer radius around Leon away from the swarm of light.
The hole in the ocean was stretching all the way to the South Sea of Japan but that was not all.
The sea through which the spear passed would instantly boil over, raising the water temperature to horrific levels and turning countless lives into boiled meat.
The carnage would be so great that it would be impossible to tell who was the murderous demon.
‘It cannot be defeated. Not alone!’
Leon was about to charge without hesitation when he felt something flying at him and deployed his Holy Art.
Holy Art <Barrier of Arrows>
It was a one-time-only defensive art that blocks any ranged attack. It ‘nullified’ the trident that was thrown at Leon’s head.
“Hmph?”
Leon’s gaze traveled beyond the sea wall where a group of people were falling out of the sea wall like a pregnant woman giving birth to a fetus.
“Monsters.”
Akasha artificially triggered the dungeon break and unleashed the monsters. She thought she’d used them up in the landing, but the numbers were still staggering.
“Do you think you can stop this king with these lesser beasts?”
“I can’t but I can buy time.”
Akasha gritted her teeth, though she didn’t seem to mind.
Since the events of London, Akasha had amassed her power through much killing and destruction.
She sought out the best host to replace her lost body, and while not quite as good as that bitch, Chun Ji-so was a pretty good host.
‘I’ve gathered a lot of power. Now all that remains is to completely demonize the host.’
A monstrous creature ‘hunted’ her body with the power of the ‘Shaman God’ under the protection of the ‘Tusin’.
Even if it wasn’t the best body, she was on the verge of completely demonizing Chun Ji-so, but──
“You’re the reason I have to consume this much magic power!”
The demon sword that had swallowed so much blood and caused so much destruction was itself a huge mass of magic power.
It created a ‘gate’ with it.
-Ohhhhhhh…!
The sword’s power scatters, causing the arcane energy to fluctuate.
To escape his pursuit, this must be no ordinary gate but perfect space, an absolute safe house.
An ‘estate’ that is unaffected by the system and can be closed by itself.
“You…!”
Leon’s complexion fills with anger. He doesn’t care about winning the battle, all he cares about is the destruction of evil.
Having lost the final battle and slaughtered each and every demon that fled in every direction, the fleeing demons are a terrible stress for him.
“Stop him! I need time!”
Dozens of Field Bosses, hundreds, even thousands of monsters rush towards Leon at that very moment──
-Critical targeting. Annihilation weapon activated.
Plasma beams fall from space.
It was a charged particle cannon shot at Akasha and the Field Bosses, piercing their skulls.
“──!!!”
Akasha blocked the attack, but turned around and her gaze stared off into space.
“You-!”
His gaze crosses with the Mechanical Holy Knight, albeit through the camera eye but he’s not the only one.
-Crack…!
Dozens of lightning bolts fall from the black clouds that Leon activated with the Sky and Thunder Holy Art.
“I have to conserve my magic just in case.”
Above the sea, atop a cliff-like formation, the silver-haired Magician Queen smiles bewitchingly from a horse.
“Leave the supporting fire to me, Ms. Ha-ri.”
Behind her were dozens of horses and hundreds of soldiers.
They walked on the sea, a miracle wrought by the goddess of the sea and waves.
“Are you sure we can just walk from here?”
Standing on a cliff in the middle of the sea, Ha-ri looked anxiously down at the blackness below as Jae-hyuk asked.
“Ugh! Senior Ha-ri, you lack faith!”
Jae-hyuk chuckled and stretched out his hand.
“Lord Ultima will protect us!”
Jae-hyuk takes the reins and plunges off the cliff as pure white clouds gather in his path.
“Hahahaha, I’m going to ride these clouds and land like Geun Doo-woon, that’s what I’m saying──!”
-Swoosh!
But Jae-hyuk’s wish was not fulfilled because the moment he landed on the gathered clouds, he crashed through them.
“Oh, I see, you’re not quite up to speed yet.”
Beatrice extends a beautiful finger in regret and at that moment, gravity reverses in the area.
“Oh, oh, oh…….”
Jae-hyuk flies through space in a sort of weightlessness, landing with a splash. He is followed by dozens of Knight Cadets and Man-At-Arms.
“…….”
Akasha couldn’t hide her frustration seeing this scene.
It was only four months ago that the world had announced the existence of the Lionheart King, and yet he had already assembled such a large army along with two Holy Knights: that hunk of scrap metal and that silver-haired magician.
There are still only a handful of Kingdom Knights, but they’re a threat even to himself.
“Soldiers of the Kingdom…!”
Leon shouted, the army of the Lionheart King gathering behind him.
“Raze the enemy…!”
“”I will fulfill your orders!!!”
With the Lionheart King’s shout, the Hunters of the TTG Guild charge toward Akasha without hesitation.
Even the terrible debuffs that Akasha’s mere presence inflicts are nothing to those in the Lionheart King’s Legion.
-Quack!
-Quack!
-Crackle…!
Lightning crashes and flames rage as light protects them…along with the vengeful power of darkness.
It was overwhelming.
A part of the Field Bosses had been sniped beforehand or hadn’t been able to block the initial bolt of lightning. But…….
-Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!
“The gate is open!!!”
Akasha managed to hold on long enough to escape.
Leaning into the black rift, the Archduke of Slaughter proclaimed.
“I will not forget, and I will return, even if it takes a thousand years!”
That period was not a long time for an immortal being and since this was not the only place to slaughter, there will be plenty of time to regain strength elsewhere.
“Where… are you running!!!”
Just then, Leon threw something in the distance. It was a holy spear, retrieved from the subspace.
-Kwak!
It cut off Akasha’s arm as she tried to cross over the gate but that was all.
Akasha frowned, but didn’t stop running, and soon the gate was closed and the rift disappeared.
“”…………….””
They stared at the vanished rift.
………
……
…
The battle was overwhelming.
Leon, Beatrice, and Yappy could not be stopped by a bunch of monsters that had lost their leader.
“I see what we feared has happened.”
Beatrice came to Leon’s side as he stared at the disappearing rift.
“Yes. It was a waste.”
…They missed the Demon Archduke. Still, Leon didn’t feel too bad.
“Your Majesty, have you secured insurance just in case?”
Beatrice asked and Leon twisted the corners of his mouth as a fierce smile that would have horrified the demons if they had seen it appeared.
“Here it is.”
Leon held up Akasha’s severed arm.
“Can you summon the gate with this?”
“Of course.”
Beatrice smiles, her bewitching smile somehow exuding a similar aura to Leon’s.
“They’ll see that there is no safe place for them anymore.”
“Exactly. No place is safe for them anymore.”
“Hoohoohoohoohoo…!”
“Kkkkkkkkkk…!”
The laughter of the two kings, twisted with hatred, echoed eerily beneath the surface of Shikoku Island.
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