〈 Chapter 341 〉 Kyle Toven (2)
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A being with a concept opposing that of a star.
Demon Lord (？王).
Although it has lost its vessel, it is still a god (？), a distorted existence that should not exist on this land.
A collection of shadows, a gathering of curses.
An alien concept that exists outside of providence. A disaster that disrupts the providence of the world merely by existing. This is the essence of what the world calls the Demon Lord.
Indeed, it is as the expression says.
Kyle looked ahead.
Before him stood an existence that could only be described with ambiguous phrases. The sight of a black wave sweeping over the ground felt as if he were witnessing a scene from mythology.
Providence is twisted.
Laws, providence, truth—all meaningless.
Before an existence that could neither be understood nor understood, Kyle felt fear. His eyes shook wildly. The Demon Lord he faced again after years was still a bizarre and terrifying existence.
‘…I’ve imagined this countless times in my head.’
But in the face of reality, he couldn’t erase his fear.
A chill brushed against Kyle’s skin, making him shudder. Yet he did not close his eyes or turn back like before.
Instead, he smiled and muttered inwardly.
He hadn’t hesitated as he did then.
He neither dropped his sword nor fled.
“…”
Kyle closed and opened his one eye.
With bloodshot eyes, he faced the disaster.
The black wave crashing down, swallowing the horizon, was not the essence of the Demon Lord. The black fog that the Demon Lord scatters, and the wave accompanied by it, is merely an obstacle blocking the way.
The core lies beyond that.
‘The essence of the Demon Lord.’
A gathering of curses made up of tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of claws. He, who was once bound by Raniel, was to face the essence of the Demon Lord here.
【Achieve the feat you’ve ignored.】
He would face the responsibilities he had neglected.
Kyle took a step forward. Crack, the ground split as Kyle exhaled sharply and widened his eyes.
‘It’s visible.’
The path of the sword is visible.
‘The path I must take is visible.’
The path he must walk.
The path his sword must swing.
The path of the sword was visible in Kyle’s eyes.
Thud.
If the path is visible, he must walk it, right? If the trajectory of the sword is visible, he must swing it, right? Following the visible path, Kyle moved forward.
Crack, creak…
The shadow watched the human who didn’t flee.
The shadow perceives the approaching being with a sword directed at it as an enemy. It stirred before the existence that must be erased.
Wham!
From the murky sludge that flowed and created a river, from the cursed waters made of human resentment, many things surged up. Just as the claws that surged were about to cover Kyle’s body, cloaked in soft starlight.
Swoosh.
A line was drawn diagonally.
The approaching claws were swept away. Thud, thud! From beyond the falling murky water, Kyle squinted and lightly dusted off the tip of his sword.
One swing of the sword.
Only one swing was needed to adapt to the body enhanced by Sara’s blessing. Kyle exhaled briefly and lowered his stance. Watching from behind, Sara understood what Kyle was about to do.
Kyle’s specialty, and the characteristic of the star he possessed.
Acceleration (？？).
The small amount of starlight left in Kyle resonated with the star’s trace inscribed on his soul. Kyle’s heart throbbed with a thump. Lowering his stance further, Kyle looked at the approaching black fog.
Thwack.
The first step is light.
Contrary to the light sound of his steps, the ground Kyle stomped on was anything but. As the ground cracked and burst, dust and debris flew up.
Boom!
Kyle burst forth, breaking through the dust.
He began to sprint low. Towards the enemy he once tried to escape from. Towards the one who made him urinate in fear and scream… Kyle ran.
Thus, a human challenges adversity.
Kyle gambled his life against what seemed an impossible trial. Some might laugh at him, calling him a fool, and others might point and say he was arrogant.
But that is what a true hero is.
Challenging the impossible and achieving feats that others cannot comprehend. That truly is the essence of a hero.
The boy who dreamed of being a hero ran.
To achieve greatness.
To become the hero he had always dreamed of.
And, to repay his debts.
2.
The shadow stirred.
Even if it had fallen into a state of losing its intellect, it remained a transcendent being akin to a god. It loathed beings that brimmed with light, even wishing for the extinction of the human race.
The Master of the Demon Lord recognized Kyle.
To erase the human marked with the hated star’s trace, the shadow moved. Kyle too sensed the shadow’s movement.
‘It’s coming.’
Kyle’s instinct warned him.
The gigantic wave approaching from beyond the horizon was not his only enemy. The rain of murky water falling from the sky, the sludge that splashed up with every step he took, the river of murky water flowing through the ditches… everything was essentially his enemy.
Everything present was an enemy.
All of that was what he had to face.
“…Hoo.”
A single breath.
Kyle opened his eyes wide.
…Originally, Kyle was called a hero, akin to a spear’s tip.
He doesn’t look back. He doesn’t survey his surroundings. He only runs forward. Though it’s a bad habit that could lead to isolation in the thick of battle, Kyle didn’t change his strategy.
「Run, Kyle.」
「I’ll cover your back.」
Raniel was always by his side.
Because Raniel was with him, Kyle could always run while looking straight ahead. But not now. Now Raniel was not by his side.
Therefore, Kyle opened his eyes wide.
He broadened his field of vision.
He did not just look ahead. He took in everything around him. The eyes that had long been filled with stars still showed remarkable dynamic vision even now that the stars had mostly faded. Kyle’s eyes moved quickly.
There was only one eye, but it was fine.
The super-sensation gained from becoming a superhuman did not rely solely on his eyes to grasp information. The slightest flow of air, the raindrops splattering on his skin, the tremors of the ground—all of it became information Kyle used to predict the future.
Whoosh.
Kyle swung his sword.
The raindrops falling from the sky touched the tip of Kyle’s sword, and with a tick, tick, they split apart. The murky water scattered on the ground made a sizzle as they evaporated.
Kyle’s sword didn’t end with just one swing.
The blade directed downward touched the ground. Kyle felt the river flowing through the ditch quiver through the tip of his sword. He predicted the future where claws would surge up from the roiling river to grasp him.
Seeing the future, Kyle moved.
He drove the blade deeper into the ground.
As if scooping up the river bottom, Kyle swung. The ground was entirely gouged out, soaring into the sky along with the river. The muddy sludge and murky water spewed forth.
The pouring murky water turned into claws.
Before it could touch Kyle, his sword cut through the raindrops. Swoosh, hundreds of claws with severed wrists splattered into murky water.
Whoosh!
Sliding, Kyle turned.
Shaking off the murky water from the tip of his sword, he regained his breath. This was the end of a single breath. Swallowing breath again, Kyle looked ahead.
The black fog had now settled everywhere.
From beyond the fog, he sensed numerous signs writhing. Kyle’s super-sensation rang an alarm. He muttered internally.
‘So many.’
There are too many to slice through.
If he were to slice through them one by one, it would never end.
「In the end, it’s all about the wielder.」
「Kuntel studied a sword to face one powerful enemy, but my approach is the opposite.」
At this moment, Kyle recalled.
「I must cut through as many as possible.」
「To butcher even one more of that damned beast, I must thin out the sword’s energy like a whip.」
He recalled the many swordsmen he’d seen.
Among them, a sword master who had studied the technique to face a multitude.
「That is my sword.」
「I call it roughly-slicing sword (？).」
Sword Demon, Draka.
Remembering his sword technique he had seen over the shoulder, Kyle recalled the swordplay he frequently imitated before becoming a superhuman.
Grasp.
Kyle seized the sword as Draka did.
It was different from the past. He had no intention of displaying half-baked techniques, merely skimming the surface of the true essence. The moment he adjusted his grip on the sword, the path of the sword (？？) unfolded in Kyle’s eyes.
The path seen by Draka.
Following that path, Kyle swung his sword.
Breathing short. Sword lengthened.
As Kyle wielded the sword, the wind rushed in its wake. It was one swing, but the strike did not end there.
Roughly-slicing sword, the net of swords.
The sword energy spread like a net, smashing through the swirling fog. Advancing towards the fragmented fog, Kyle took another step. Mimicking Draka’s sword, Kyle understood the essence of this swordsmanship.
Draka loathed the traitor.
To butcher numerous beasts and reach the traitor who resided beyond the wave of monsters, Draka studied this technique. The fruition of that was this swordsmanship.
Now, his goal was the same.
Kyle borrowed Draka’s sword to slice through the fog. He cut through the surging murky water. Slicing through everything visible, he advanced forward.
However, he did not rely on one sword alone.
「I shall teach you my sword.」
「Isn’t it an honor to teach the hero? If it’s me, I’d be happy to…」
「Sword? I can teach you that.」
「You want to learn how to swordfight?」
He had asked many for guidance.
He learned from countless others.
Borrowing their swords, sometimes combining techniques, Kyle continued advancing. With every step Kyle took, chaotic sword marks (？？) were imprinted on the ground.
Whoosh!
‘Slice.’
Kyle swung the sword.
‘Slice, and slice again.’
As he swung, he advanced.
With every swing, Kyle’s sword became more intricate and sharper. He began to understand the method of slicing beings that lay beyond providence.
With one eye, he saw the future.
With one sword, he slashed the present.
The previous method he used to crank up the starlight’s power and suppress with strength was impossible now. Kyle pursued not the impossible. If strength fell short, he compensated with technique.
Spin.
Kyle adjusted his sword grip.
He recalled the person who had become his mentor.
「Go on, Kyle.」
「You mustn’t die here.」
Kyle remembered Kuntel, the sword master who had put his life on the line for him. He envisioned the swordsmanship of the Sword Master of the Kirmelt Canyon. Though centuries passed and things changed, the essence of that technique lay in the swordsmanship of the First Hero.
Galatrick’s First Style, the First Sight Slash.
The moment Kyle opened his eyes and looked ahead, a vivid path of the sword was drawn before him. Yet it wasn’t just one path of the sword. Two paths of the sword were visible. Kyle united those paths.
Galatrick’s, First Sight Slash.
Roughly-slicing sword (？), the net of swords.
Two paths intertwined.
The realm achieved through the hard work of two superhumans was now encompassed in one path by Kyle.
Swoosh.
A serene cutting sound echoed.
The moment the sound reverberated, everything around Kyle came to a standstill. The silence did not last long. The pressure rushing in broke the stillness.
Kraqakakak!
The ground cracked.
Dozens of sword marks struck the ground simultaneously. The encroaching fog was swept away, scattering, and droplets of rain and murky water parted, clearing Kyle’s view.
Now, just one thing remained.
Kyle lifted his head.
The wave sweeping in from beyond the horizon was now right in front of him. No matter how much he looked up, he could not see the end of the wave, and Kyle took a short breath.
He had to slice through this and move forward.
Seizing his sword.
Somewhere along his forearm, blood flowed. His single eye and his nose bled too. His body approached its limits. However, his mind was clearer than ever. It was sharp.
Then he could do it.
Kyle expelled his breath and dove into the wave.
3.
Sara watched Kyle’s back.
Kyle was bleeding.
The blessings she cast upon him were faster than the deterioration of his body.
Unthinking of her own body, Kyle moved. Just like always, he didn’t consider what was behind him. Bleeding, injured, becoming a mess. Blood dripped from Sara’s lips as she clenched them in frustration.
‘…Really.’
How did I end up liking such a man?
Thinking that, Sara did not stop casting blessings on Kyle. However, the form of that blessing was now different from what she had used until now.
Sara no longer recited prayers.
She didn’t clasp her hands and pray to God.
She did not call out the name of the god she wished for.
All of that was nothing but prayers offered to the distant god above. Sara understood that such prayers were meaningless here. This land was cursed, beyond the reach of God’s gaze.
‘But I can still cast blessings.’
Rather, they were stronger than usual.
‘Not platinum-colored, but pure white blessings.’
Now, Sara understood what that meant.
By not praying to God.
By praying to the existence she desired of her own will. The divinity residing in Sara responded to that prayer.
‘…It’s a ridiculous story.’
Sara chuckled and recalled the concept of being a Saint.
What is a Saint?
It is a vessel crafted by a god.
Every piece of flesh, a strand of hair, a drop of flowing blood—all crafted as a vessel to contain a god. That is a Saint. It was a story she found chilling as a child, and now Sara remembered it.
Her body was a body forged for God.
The old men of the church said it must be used for God. So they told her to cherish her body. The Cardinal screamed to know how precious each drop of her blood was.
“Ridiculous old men.”
Sara laughed like Raniel.
With a scoff like Raniel’s, Sara drew a dagger from within her robes. With that dagger, she drew a long line across her wrist.
“My body belongs to me.”
If there’s a place for it to be used, it can only be one.
“So, I’m going to use it however I like.”
The things the church elders told Sara never to do, calling them taboos, she would enact. The blood that flowed was life itself. Sara traded her flowing life for pure white particles.
Kyle was risking his life.
In that case, she too must follow suit.
The moment her life force drained, Sara stumbled. It felt as if she had been struck in the head, rendering her momentarily hazy. With that strange disorientation, Sara thought.
So this is what it’s like to sacrifice your life.
But it wasn’t such a bad feeling.
What wouldn’t she do to save that country bumpkin? Sara was prepared to scrape the bottom and endlessly pour out blessings.
“Run, Kyle.”
Though she could not stand by his side like Raniel.
At least she would be watching over him.
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