Side Story Chapter 90
‘Alright, I guess both the teacher and student are trying to fuck me. I’ll crush you while everyone is watching, then,’ Duke Uraxen decided, his eyes filling with murderous intent.
Anything short of murder was acceptable; critical injuries were allowed if they were unavoidable, so Uraxen was going to take at least one of his opponent’s limbs even if that opponent was the prince of the Avalon Empire.
“…That was an unnecessary move. Not good,” Selim said.
Kireua gave him a sideways look.
“Why is the Flame Emperor suddenly doing this? Were you rude to him earlier?” Selim asked.
“Not at all.”
“Then the Flame Emperor crossed a line and hurt a knight’s pride—”
“Pride? You wouldn’t be able to say such a thing if you knew what happened between Uraxen and us,” Kireua snapped.
“…So something did happen.” Selim let out a quiet sigh and stepped forward. “I’ll deal with him.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
“Although Duke Uraxen of the Tetra Kingdom isn’t popular, Uraxen the Explosive Annihilation Magic Swordsman of the Terra Kingdom is quite a celebrity.”
“The Explosive Annihilation Magic Swordsman…?” Kireua murmured.
“He’s the heir of Enslot, the first magic swordsman on the continent.”
Kireua flinched. Enslot was a magic swordsman that even the Magic Tower’s mages had been desperate to find before authorities, the gods’ powers, had existed. He had done the impossible of mastering both swordsmanship and magic to a proficient level. The mana circle in his heart and the mana hall in his abdomen didn’t collide; it was thought that Enslot had been both a high-level B-Class swordsman and Class 5 mage. That was why the mages had been eager to dissect Enslot for a long time.
Mages’ fatal weakness was close combat and one-on-one battles. Once these flaws were remedied, the mages would have been able to overturn the long dominance of knights. The mages’ lifelong ambition was to become the new overlords of the continent.
“Wait, Enslot is from an older generation than His Majesty. From what I heard, Enslot was already famous across the continent during His Majesty’s childhood…” Kireua trailed off.
“Uraxen may not look like it, but he’s almost sixty.”
“Wh-What…?” Kireua gaped blankly. Uraxen looked to be in his forties at most. “Is that because of his mana…?”
“The Explosive Annihilation Magic Swordsman is believed to have surpassed the level of Enslot in his prime. As a knight, he became A-Class more than a decade ago, and he’s also a Class 6 mage. He will be a difficult opponent for you right now,” Selim explained.
Kireua’s fists clenched. “…You know what?”
“What?”
“There’s something His Majesty told me.”
Selim flinched. Since he’d already heard about Kireua’s encounter in the west, he immediately responded, “What did he say?”
“I’m doing a good job.” Kireua took a step forward. “I’ve become a much greater man than he expected.”
He took another step.
“‘Keep up the great work.’”
With one more step, Kireua stood face to face with Uraxen at ten meters and tightened his grip on his sword.
“I’m already comparable to you and I will reach His Majesty’s level someday.”
Selim reeled. As a spearman, Selim respected Joshua Sanders more than anyone else in the world, but Kireua had received such a tremendous compliment from that very man. A rush of emotions Selim had never felt before washed over him, leaving him feeling put off.
‘…I envy Kireua, and I hate him,’ Selim thought. Envy was one of the basic human instincts that had been declared evil by the gods themselves. If Kireua were to lose and Selim took revenge for Kireua, would Selim be able to hear such compliments from Joshua?
“Duke Uraxen, let’s let go of our old grudges with this fight,” Kireua said, so quietly that only Uraxen could hear it.
Uraxen's eyes widened for a moment and he chuckled. “Let’s have a fight man-to-man and let go of our anger, is that it?”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Good—but just like we promised, we won’t bring up compensation no matter what kind of injuries we inflict.”
“Of course.” Kireua nodded.
Secretly laughing at Kireua, Uraxen released his aura and created a phantom sword on top of the sword he was holding. That wasn’t it—scarlet flames that were as formidable as the Flame Emperor’s danced around Uraxen. The fire turned into fireballs and created enormous explosions when they met the air.
Kireua examined those fireballs intently.
“As you can see, I’m not good at controlling my attacks due to the characteristics of my ability,” Uraxen said.
Nevertheless, Kireua merely fixed his grip on his sword.
Uraxen sprang forward without saying anything or making any prior movements, closing over ten meters in a flash.
The five fireballs took the form of a dragon.
“Igni, the Fire Dragon King!”
When Uraxen called out the god’s true name, his authority was activated. The spectators' eyes universally widened as they witnessed a dragon appear with a mighty roar and fly toward the prince of this country.
Despite the incredible sight, Kireua just quietly held up his sword. It was impossible to avoid the dragon in the limited confines of the arena with limited space—there was nowhere to run.
‘Then I should fight back.’
In a fraction of a second, Kireua formed a plan. Fire was the attribute that Kireua was most familiar with, so even if his opponent was someone who could use the power of the Fire Dragon King, one of the highest-ranking fire gods…
‘Coal.’
A black cotton ball popped up.
-I’m here!
‘Eat it.’
-Okay!
Coal immediately diffused into Kireua’s sword. Kireua would let Coal eat the god’s fire and he was going to fight this battle purely with his sword skills, showing everyone there that he may have given up on the spear, but no matter what anyone said, he was still the son of Joshua Sanders, the Martial God.
“Ahhhhhh!” Kireua shouted at the top of his lungs.
Kireua cut off the fire dragon that was charging toward him.
* * *
Meanwhile at the northern gates of Arcadia…
“Master, what in the world happened in the Palace?” one of the Poison King’s assassins asked.
The Poison King couldn’t say anything. Although he was as frustrated as hell, he had sworn on his mana that he would never reveal that he had met Joshua Sanders and would claim that he was acting on his own volition.
“Fuck... Do what you’re told. Why are you talking so much?!” the Poison King angrily yelled.
“B-But master, we’re confused. Up until this morning, you told us to fully cooperate with Hubalt, but you suddenly want us to keep an eye on them?”
“If you want to become bloody pulp, keep on talking,” the Poison King growled. He took a look around.
This was where they were supposed to meet their contacts from Hubalt after the Poison King and his assassins discovered the Emperor of Avalon in the Palace or successfully kidnapped either the Second Queen Consort or the princesses. However, the initial plan had gone awry when the Poison King had run into the aforementioned emperor, so he had no choice but to betray Hubalt now.
“Where are the boys?” the Poison King asked.
“They’re dispatched around the area, just like you ordered.”
“Good job. I sent them the message, so our contacts will show up.”
“What shall we do afterward?”
“We’ll capture them.”
His subordinate’s mind ground to a halt again. Capturing their contacts meant that the Hashashin Guild was going to be on Avalon’s side and burn their bridge with the Hubalt Empire, the strongest empire on the continent.
“M-Master, why don’t you reconsi—”
“This decision is final. If you can’t capture them alive, silence them for good.”
The assassin gasped, but the Poison King’s mind was already set. He wasn’t about to live as a mundane civilian for the rest of his life.
“I’m curious why you suddenly changed your mind.”
The Poison King scowled. “Why do you keep talking back to me? Do what you’re told—”
He flinched, belatedly noticing that something was odd. There was no way any of his people would speak that arrogantly unless they’d gone mad.
“M-Master…”
The Poison King discovered his subordinate in the clutches of a man dressed in all black, who snapped the assassin’s neck without hesitation.
The Poison King stumbled backward. “Wh-What…!”
“I’m telling you just in case, but don’t even think about screaming. Your assassins are already dead anyway.”
“Wh-What did you say…?”
The forest they were in might be close to the north gate, but it was quite remote. Even considering that, the forest was too quiet.
“Who are you?” the Poison King asked.
“I thought you were never going to ask.”
“Answer my question first. Are you from Hubalt?”
“Why do you have to ask that if you already know?” The man sarcastically asked.
“D-Do you know who I am?”
“You’re the Poison King, the leader of the Hashashin Guild who betrayed us.”
It was clear that he had been listening to the conversation between the Poison King and his subordinate from the very beginning. On top of that, the man had managed to avoid being detected by numerous assassins, all experts in stealth techniques.
“Why? Did you get scared when you met the Emperor of Avalon?” The man let out a quiet chuckle.
“Th-This is all a misunderstanding.”
“Well, I do want to know if he’s really good enough to kill my teacher, a Celestial.”
The Poison King’s eyes slowly widened.
“My teacher, a Celestial.” There was only one man in the Hubalt Empire who carried that title—Zactor, the Martial Emperor. If the man in front of the Poison King was Zactor’s student…
“B-Battle God Bel…!” the Poison King stammered.
“I almost embarrassed myself because of you. I’m supposed to welcome an important guest from the Agnus family. If I were pathetically betrayed right before our first meeting, what would my guest think of me?”
A storm of shock struck the Poison King. The Hubalt Empire was partnering up with the Agnuses? But the leader of the biggest rebel army was from that very same family.
“How do you feel right now? Are you happy being the Martial God’s dog after betraying me?”
“It’s… not… I…” The Poison King desperately tried to make excuses, but for reasons he couldn’t understand, he wasn’t able to bring himself to speak.
“Well, you people are assassins. You always betray people, so I didn’t trust you in the first place. Now die.”
“Wa-Wait…!”
The Poison King couldn’t finish speaking—his head exploded like a watermelon.
Fragments of his brain drenched the ground. The Poison King had never even seen the man move—a shocking fact, considering the Poison King was one of the Twelve Superhumans.
The man quietly turned away from the massacre as short as it was brutal.
“I’m looking forward to meeting you, Joshua Sanders.”
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