Side Story Chapter 151
Kireua quietly closed his eyes that was too inefficient to wander aimlessly in this vast, empty white world. The pain in his waist overwhelmed his focus, however, making his eyebrows furrow.
-Do you want my help?
Kiruea opened his eyes again. Coal was bouncing up and down right in front of him.
“Forget it,” Kireua impulsively answered. He had already received Coal’s help countless times, like the incident involving the two Evil Sins' powers, but he didn’t want to do that anymore. It wasn’t because he felt uneasy about Coal; he had figured out Coal’s nature on some level, but relying on Coal’s help in every crisis wouldn’t help him get better at all. Kireua was certain that he would end up becoming the Evil Sin’s power of Greed rather than Kireua Sanders.
-Do you know why you’re going through all this trouble, Kiruea?
“Why?” Kireua asked.
-Because you’re more stubborn than a demon, hehe.
Kiruea stopped listening to Coal. He had a bigger fire to put out.
‘I’ll find Aden von Agnus with my own power,’ Kireua decided.
Aden von Agnus was technically Kireua’s grandfather, but Kireua had zero respect for the Dark God because he knew exactly what the Dark God had done to the Emperor of Avalon and his mother.
Things took an unexpected turn before Kireua even finished his search.
Kireua tilted his head in confusion and looked around. He heard footsteps. He was alone in this place, so what were these footsteps?
“You’re Joshua’s son.”
Kireua gasped and spun around. A middle-aged man had suddenly showed up out of nowhere, his presence almost palpably weighing down on Kireua. Kireua knew the man’s identity as soon as he laid eyes on the man. The man’s deep blue hair was neatly slicked back, his eyes were black, and his body was robust. Above all, the black greatsword resting on his shoulder made Kireua certain that the man was Duke Aden von Agnus, one of the most influential swordsmen of the previous generation.
“...I never imagined you would appear here like this,” Kireua murmured.
“What a strange thing to say. Was I supposed to hide, then?”
“Isn’t taking over my body your goal?”
“Well, even if my goal is to take over your body, I think this is the right approach.” Aden jammed his greatsword into the ground and smirked. “I can get what I want if I kill you where you stand.”
“You think you can?” Kireua asked provokingly.
“Can I do it? Ahahahahaha.” Aden let out a long, low chuckle. “I see. Your arrogant tone and eyes... you take after your father.”
“So?”
“Then you know that I’m your grandfather.”
“I have no grandfather,” Kireua refuted, planting the tip of his sword in the ground as well. He smirked. “Your family, subordinates, comrades... You treated everyone like weeds and stopped at nothing for revenge. I don’t remember having such trash as my grandfather.”
“Cocky.” Murderous energy burst out of Aden. “If you knew what kind of a person I was before my death, you wouldn’t blabber about me. How dare—”
“You’re an old monster who covets your grandson’s body, so I really have no respect for you. I think that we’ve exchanged enough greetings, unless there’s anything else you’d like to say?”
For a moment, Aden was too dumbstruck to speak.
“...Yeah,” he eventually mumbled. “it was impossible to talk it out with Joshua too.”
“Thank you for the compliment. Taking after His Majesty is the greatest compliment you can give me.”
“Like father, like son, huh?” A grin crept onto Aden’s lips. “But Joshua was skilled enough to live up to his arrogance. How about you?”
Aden dragged his greatsword against the ground, creating an unpleasant screech.
In response, Kireua slowly drew his sword and straightened. “A tiger’s cub is a tiger.”
“A tiger sometimes births a dog.[1].”
“The opposite is also true. A dog sometimes births a tiger.[2]”
Aden’s eyebrows furrowed, the duke irritated by the way Kireua was looking right at him.
“Let my greatsword test to see if you took after both his mouth and skills.”
Kireua’s back broke into a cold sweat. ‘He’s coming!’
Despite the belittling comments Kireua had thrown out against Aden, he’d never actually taken him lightly for even a moment. Aden was known as the Dark God across the entire continent for a good reason, so Kireua knew he could not afford to hold anything back. He drew deeply from his mana ha—
‘...Hm?’ He heard something that made him confused. “What...?”
“Your skills are pathetic compared to your ‘eloquence’.”
The overwhelming pain hit Kireua a moment later, but the psychological shock was greater than his physical pain—he hadn’t even been able to see Aden’s greatsword moving.
‘When in the world...?’
Kireua collapsed like a rotten tree. The wound in his chest was so clean that it only began to bleed after he’d hit the ground.
*
“I-I think something went wrong,” Lilith mumbled, flustered.
Everyone had been waiting for Kireua to open his eyes, and he did. The problem was that his eyes glowed red like a death knight’s.
-Hehehehehe.
Evergrant’s quiet laughter didn’t help Lilith’s anxiety in the slightest, but she was more concerned that Kireua slowly turned in Lilith’s direction, releasing bone-chilling murderous energy.
“Jo-Joshua,” Lilith stammered.
Joshua watched Kireua with mixed emotions. Since they were sharing their senses, Lilith could feel what Joshua was going through in her bones.
‘A-Are you just going to watch him?! We’ll all die at this rate. The Dark God’s practically been resurrected in your son’s fresh new body!’ Lilith anxiously pressed Joshua.
-No one knows if that is the Dark God or Kireua.
‘What in the world are you talking about?!’ Lilith snapped.
If that were the real Kireua, why would it feel like he’d become a completely different person? On top of that, what was with the overwhelming murderous energy?!
Kiruea abruptly pointed his sword at Lilith, erasing any doubts that might have lingered.
-Bwahahahahahaha!
Evergrant burst into vindictive laughter.
-What did I tell you, Joshua Sanders? You should have kissed the floor and begged me instead of threatening me. Then you wouldn’t have lost your son!
Evergrant slowly approached Kireua from behind. Despite his skeletal appearance, he seemed to be smiling from ear to ear.
-Congratulations on your resurrection, Dark God. Let’s get rid of those buffoons right away and we can rule this continent. With you and I working together, it won’t be difficult. I’m bound to my contract, so I won’t be able to hurt him. However, it’s different for you, Dark God. Hehehe.
Evergrant may have summoned the Dark God’s soul using Ninth Circle black magic, but he hadn’t formed a contract that would force the Dark God to swear loyalty to him for a simple reason: although it would have been wonderful for Evergrant to have the Dark God as his servant, Evergrant himself was Joshua’s servant, so if Evergrant formed a contract, the Dark God would be considered Joshua’s servant too, which would defeat the purpose.
Hence, Evergrant had gambled, and his gamble had paid off. The Dark God acquired a new body without a hitch—one that belonged to the son of Evergrant’s enemy no less.
-Hahahahaha! This is checkmate, Joshua Sanders. No matter how strong you are, you won’t be able to hurt your son. Oh, yeah. Don’t misunderstand—the Dark God acts of his own volition, not by my will. Hehehehehe.
Evergrant’s shoulders shook with uncontrollable laughter. Lilith’s anxiety grew and grew, just as Kireua’s murderous energy continued to thicken with no signs of slowing down.
‘Do some—’
“Evergrant con Aswald.”
-Ha, hahahaha. Yes, did you call me?
“You breached our contract and you’ve already crossed the line once,” Joshua intoned. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
-Hehehehehe. So what? Are you going to annihilate me or something?
“I’m considering it,” Joshua calmly responded.
-Why don’t you deal with the crisis at hand before you think about that crap?
Evergrant turned to Kireua’s again.
-Run wild, Dark God. I, Evergrant con Aswald, will use my full power as a Ninth Circle mage to support you!
“...Joshua Sanders,” Kireua finally said, to Evergrant’s utter delight.
-Hahahahaha!
Evergrant’s manic laughter got louder, and Lilith’s face got darker.
However, she tilted her head, confused. Kireua’s next move was as abrupt as it was strange. The sword he pointed at Lilith was pressed against his chest as if he were saluting.
“...Your Majesty.”
Kireua’s voice was quieter than an ant’s footsteps, yet it seemed to Lilith that it was louder than anything she’d ever heard.
“I’m back.”
“W-What...?”
“I apologize for any distress I may have caused,” Kireua quietly continued. Before Evergrant realized that something had changed, Kireua whipped around as fast as lightning, his sword biting into the lich.
1. The raw is ????(虎父犬子). It’s an old four-letter idiom about how a son isn’t so great compared to his father. ?
2. The raw is ????(犬父虎子), meaning the opposite from the previous idiom. ?
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om