Side Story Chapter 133
-Kireua Sanders.
The voice echoed as if Kireua were in a cave. It surprised him because it was Kireua’s first time hearing the death knight’s voice.
“The best knight in the Swallow Empire, once called the king of the plains decades ago... Are you really Duke Altsma?” Kireua asked.
-The best knight? You must be mistaken.
“Pardon?”
-The “best” is someone who stands at the peak of the country; many other knights in my empire were better than me.
Kireua smiled awkwardly. He didn’t know much about other countries’ history, but the death knight he stood in front of was a great man who had left his mark in the annals of the history of Igrant, not just “a knight” from the Swallow Empire.
Duke Altsma, the Wild King, had started the golden age of the Swallow Empire with the power of his saw-toothed sword alone. When it came to battles on the open plains, Altsma had always led the Swallow Empire to war. If he hadn’t been ambushed by Grand Duke Lucifer, one of the three Celestials, Altsma would have surely reached the peak himself.
-I’m going to test you from now, but don’t think for a moment that I’m going to go easy on you just because you’re his son.
“...I wouldn’t want you to do that either,” Kireua muttered bitterly.
-The other knights are on the same page as me, so you only need to earn recognition from the two of us. Then all twelve death knights will march under your banner...
Altsma slowly raised his sword and released his ferocious energy.
-...but if you fail, we will seek our eternal peace without a second thought. We don’t have any lingering feelings for this world anymore.
“Wait, no lingering feelings?” Kireua quickly interrupted. “That’s a lot different from what I heard.”
-What do you mean?
“From what I know, a death knight cannot be born without a specific goal because the will of the body’s original owner is the most critical element of the process. The goal usually involves accomplishing an unfulfilled dream, achieving mastery in the sword, or getting revenge...”
-...They’re true, but you fail to realize one thing.
“What’s that?” Kireua tilted his head in confusion.
-Our dreams have already been fulfilled with the help of Joshua Sanders, your father and our savior.
Indeed. The Emperor of Avalon had granted all the twelve death knights' wishes. Altsma had been a noble knight, renowned throughout the entire continent, but he had sacrificed his soul and honor to become an undead in order to fulfill his dream. It could not have been an easy thing to accomplish. Kireua was sure that granting every single one of the death knights’ wishes had been just as difficult as conquering the continent would have been.
-Nevertheless, we chose to remain on this land because...
Kireua swallowed.
-...we’re grateful.
“Gratitude... I see.” Kireua nodded.
-Your father—no, our master has favored us in a way that we shall never be able to repay even with our lives. But that doesn’t necessarily serve as a reason to help you.
Kireua found it difficult to understand Altsma. If he was so grateful to the Emperor, then wouldn’t he be more than willing to help Kireua—or rather, the country in a time like this?
-Half.
“...What?”
-Half of the death knights here died due to betrayal. Once we swear a covenant to you as our Overlord, we can only derive our supply of demonic power from you to sustain our lives. We have no choice but to blindly obey you, even if you command us to exterminate the human race. We must obey.
That was the death knights’ pledge of loyalty. When they chose to serve a master, they were bound to assist their master with every fiber of their being until the day they were reduced to nothingness.
-Actions speak louder than words. Take up your weapons. Your sword will tell me a lot more about yourself than you think.
Kireua nodded. “I understand what you mean, Duke Altsma.”
-I abandoned that name long ago. I am the Wild King, and I will test you to the best of my abilities.
Kireua’s energy clashed violently against the Wild King’s.
They slowly walked toward each other, and then, but at a certain distance they both leaped at each other.
Their swords collided, but it felt completely different to Kireua than any other time he’d crossed swords. Kireua’s sword was stuck in between the shark-like teeth of the Wild King’s sword. Worse, Kireua’s sword was being chipped away like prey caught in the shark’s mouth.
“...Ugh!” The impact left his palms numb. After their first collision, Kireua was certain that fighting the Wild King head-on was madness.
Kireua’s arm muscles bulged as he tried to break away from the Wild King’s sword and distance himself, but Kireua’s sword still didn’t budge in the slightest.
-It was commendable of you to come straight at me... But brave as it was, the moment you chose to fight me directly instead of running away, you trapped yourself, Kireua Sanders.
The Wild King had more surprises for Kireua. The tips of the sword’s saw teeth were enveloped in the Wild King’s black demonic power, but in a different way from how a sword overlaid with aura shone. The Wild King covered only the saw tooth region of the sword when he launched his attack.
-Rain on the Plains.
The demonic saw teeth suddenly flew off of the Wild King’s sword and swarmed Kireua from every direction. Kireua couldn’t even dodge—his sword was still embedded in the serrations of the Wild King’s sword, forcing Kireua to abandon his sword and jump for safety.
However, the saw teeth were hot on his tail. For a split second, Kireua struggled to find a way to counterattack.
-Kireua, use the power of Gluttony.
Inexplicably, everyone except for Kireua froze for a moment. His eyes were drawn to the side., whereupon he realized that that Coal was nearby, its adorable hands jammed into the ground. It was only then that Kireua realized what was causing this strange phenomenon.
‘...You can stop time, too?’ Kireua asked.
-Nope. Only gods can do that, so no, I can’t.
‘Then what in the world is going on...?’
-All I can do is temporarily stop the flow of demonic power and the creatures who use demonic power.
‘What?’ Kireua’s eyes darted back and forth. Coal was right—time still passed; only the Wild King and the flying saw teeth had stopped. Kireua could quite obviously see how his teacher’s expression continued to change in real time.
‘...It’s still cheating,’ Kireua dumbly protested.
-Gluttony’s teeth are sturdier than any other objects in the Demon Realm. For example, it’s tens of thousands of times harder than adamantium.
‘So I make a sword out of it?’
-Yup. Picture the sword that you would be able to use the best, Kireua.
It didn’t take long for Kireua to take action. The instant he thought of it, he was holding a new sword, a longsword of ordinary length that seemed to have swallowed darkness itself.
When Kireua swung the sword, the saw teeth that once threatened him burst powerlessly against the blade from the slightest brush.
-A sword of demonic power...? Wait, is that...
“It’s my turn now.” Kireua sheathed his sword, bracing himself to snap it out of its sheathe[1].
Rain on the Plains was a technique that aimed to minimize mana usage by focusing aura into a tightly controlled area and then scattering it. Kireua had figured out the mechanism. If he could learn the distribution of power as well as mechanism, he could deliver a counterattack in the same way.
A thick layer of Kireua’s aura formed around the edge of his sword and nowhere else.
The Wild King stared, visibly stupefied despite the inhuman red light of his eyes. Replicating a technique and making that into his own based on sight alone had only ever been done by Joshua, the Martial God himself.
-...I see. A tiger’s son is a tiger as well.
A death knight couldn’t do such a thing as make a facial expression, but the Wild King’s voice sounded somehow pleased. In fact, he was absolutely delighted.
-...But I would be humiliated if I gave up now.
A layer of demonic power developed over the Wild King’s sword once again.
-Kireua Sanders, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I can feel impatience from your sword for some reason.
Kireua flinched as he was about to draw his sword.
-At first, I thought it was because you urgently wished to return to your comrades... but the moment your sword and mine met, I realized that your impatience is an old habit.
“...Wild King, what are you talking about...?”
-You know a genius who is similar—no, better than you, don’t you? Come to think of it, I heard that my master has two sons.
Kireua’s face darkened. The intuition and insight of a knight who had lived out his life and more was certainly something to behold. However, the Wild King went on:
-I know the sorrow of being the second best. Once, I also fell to my knees in despair in front of a wall I couldn’t overcome....
Kireua bit his lip. It was obvious that the Wild King was playing a mind game, and Kireua had no intention of playing along.
“...Here I go.” Kireua quietly took a deep breath and tensed his legs.
The air distorted and rippled from the sheer density of demonic power infused into Kiruea’s. The edge of his sword seethed with murderous energy, and his aura was thick with his Evil Sins' powers.
His powerful attack rocketed toward its target. While the Wild King’s demonic power attack was like a rain of saw teeth falling upon a plain, Kireua’s aura resembled a crescent moon.
-Mmmm...
The Wild King gripped his sword with two hands. Had Kireua’s attack been composed of ordinary aura, the Wild King would have met it head on and dissipated it with little difficulty. However, he could not approach this attack so casually.
Kireua’s attack was so sharp that it cleaved through the very space it passed through, to say nothing of anything else in its path. There was no way that the Wild King could use any conventional methods.
-Hahahahahaha! Good. Great, master!
The pressure clamping down on him made the Wild King burst into laughter. Considering that he was usually very serious, his jovial guffaws were quite incongruous.
1. Iaijutsu ?
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