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EP.469 What the Braver Desires (3)
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The First Light, Acrita Clen Arcadia.
To completely eliminate that existence from this land, Raniel began to prepare for a campaign. Originally, it should not have been the Braver’s turn next. The target that Raniel had planned was not the Braver, but the ‘most feared calamity.’
Ganikalt, the Death’s Blade.
Initially, the target of the next campaign was the Death’s Blade, but plans had changed. Now that she knew how to track down the Braver, there was no need to let the Braver go.
‘Under the leadership of Her Majesty the Queen, Resti is working together to pinpoint the true form of the Braver.’
This was a method discovered by the founder of Cartedia, and verified by Raniel. Since the method was certain, it wouldn’t take long to identify the true form. Soon, the Braver’s location would be determined, and they would raid that place to preemptively eliminate the Braver’s objective.
Is the preparation for the extermination of the Braver sufficient?
Raniel squinted at the chessboard.
Perhaps, the Braver was also watching the chessboard. On the board divided into black and white, the pieces were scattered. Humanity on the white side, the forces of the Phantom Territory on the black.
Just a few years ago, the black pieces were overwhelming. The white pieces had been pushed back, trampled under the black pieces. But what about now? The exact opposite. Now the white pieces occupied most of the battlefield.
‘I lost my words in the Campaign against the Apostate, but…’
The pieces Raniel still had were intact.
In fact, they had become even stronger after the Campaign against the Apostate. They were now capable enough to play their part. Meanwhile, what about the black pieces?
The pieces that the Braver could control were few in number.
The king, symbolizing the black forces, does not move at all. The sword that guards the king does not move either. They are entities that are not controlled by anything. Even if the pieces that the Braver can handle are counted…
‘At best, just Skebal…’
Raniel glanced at the beast-shaped piece.
‘Only the King of Beasts will do.’
Thump, with her chin resting in her hand, Raniel tapped her lips with her index finger. It was a habit that came out when she had many thoughts. Tap Thump, tapping her lips, Raniel closed her eyes.
“…Favorable.”
I am in a favorable situation.
Moreover, overwhelmingly, the situation was in her favor. Given this situation, Raniel felt even more suspicious. The Braver must be aware of the current state of affairs, right? Could it be that he is truly waiting for me to defeat the Demon Lord?
‘Is he really only aiming for that one move?’
No, it couldn’t be.
Raniel knows the Braver. While she doesn’t understand him, she knows the mindset that governs his movements. Though they walked opposite paths, their end goals were somewhat similar.
They are kindred spirits.
In their opposing extremes, Raniel and the Braver were looking at the same scenery. They were looking at the same board. Raniel squinted and looked beyond the chessboard. At the one sitting opposite her. The one looking at the same scenery as her. The shadow that had been active in human history.
An existence that had dominated this board for over a thousand years.
An entity like that couldn’t possibly have prepared only one plan. It was certain that he had considered countless ‘what ifs.’ Raniel narrowed her eyebrows further.
“What is he aiming for?”
Raniel extended her hand.
She moved the white piece, cornering the black a bit more. With a thump, she placed the piece heavily on the board and stood up.
She had done what was necessary.
She pressed on the battlefield. Shared her plan to exterminate the Braver with her disciples and, with Kalt’s assistance, established the plan. She visited Branch 0 of the Ashen Tower to check the artifacts. Thus, time continued to flow.
『Expansion of the front.』
『Now, there really isn’t much left.』
『Before the final battle, to the hero.』
The white pieces moved forward.
The black pawns, the pieces fell one after another without rest. The fallen pieces descended beneath the board.
『Countless territories have been restored.』
『The end of the war is nearing.』
『Advancing towards the last calamity, the Death’s Blade.』
The pieces that had descended beneath the board.
Continuing forward, Raniel suddenly looked at the pieces that had fallen. And began to realize something.
“Kalt.”
“Yes, senior.”
“Hasn’t it been a while since we saw a necromancer?”
“…Eh?”
It wasn’t just the necromancers.
“Necromancers, black knights, the army of death, the dragon knights leading the wyvern troops—none of them have been seen lately.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true…”
“Recently, all we see are beasts. The wyvern troops are visible, but there’s no one to command them.”
The fallen beasts were just beasts.
There was no one to lead them. A sense of unease lingered. Raniel’s senses were being pulled by a feeling that something was being overlooked. And it was at that moment.
Rumors began to spread.
Strange rumors began to circulate.
It should be the land of humans, but a black sun hung in the sky. Reports of people seeing the sun of the Phantom Territory in human lands skyrocketed. Knights moved due to reports of bodies floating along the water. As they moved upstream, they found a pile of corpses in the water source. Their cause of death was drowning. Suicide.
『The sky has turned pitch black.』
『It rained, but it was black.』
『Screams could be heard. I don’t know where they came from. The screams echo relentlessly.』
Rumors.
『A calamity is coming! A calamity is coming! A calamity is coming! Death is, death is, death is coming!』
『It cannot be stopped. The calamity, death, disaster.』
A mad astrologer sang of calamity.
Those who read the constellations of the sky went mad and sang of death. They vomited blood and collapsed, meeting their end. Unexplainable events followed.
『Lightning soared from the ground to the sky.』
『Strange. Creepy. Wasn’t that lightning falling from the sky? It’s not a lightning strike, it’s an ascending thunder. How should we interpret this phenomenon that contrasts with the original?』
『A plague broke out.』
『One village has turned into a place where corpses rot.』
『The waterway boils.』
『A strange drought has arrived. The land dried up without rain.』
『It should be summer, but snow fell. The weather is strange.』
Strange rumors piled up.
Piling on top of each other. Some were false, and some were likely truths mixed in, causing the tales to grow in size until they reached Raniel’s ears.
“…”
And then, Raniel.
“Heh.”
Let out a hollow laugh.
Sitting alone in the tent, she looked at the chessboard before her. No one was sitting opposite her, but Raniel looked at the Braver who would be sitting there. Looking on, she opened her mouth.
“Was this it?”
The black pieces.
“Was this what you were aiming for?”
The black pieces she thought would never move were beginning to stir. The chessboard was shaking. The pieces she had laid out were trembling. An entity with enough weight to potentially overturn the board was slowly moving.
【The Shadow.】
Since becoming a hero, the voice of the star that Raniel had severed continued to seep into her ears. As if she couldn’t turn away from this, either.
【The Shadow moves. Breaking all constraints.】
The king moves.
The signs were appearing throughout the world.
The exhibition hall of the Braver.
In that place where the bodies of heroes who had led an era were preserved, the Braver walked alone. It had been a long time since he moved in his true form. Murmuring this, the Braver chuckled. An incredibly joyful laugh.
Acrita passed through the preserved bodies of heroes with a light step. Moving deeper into the hall.
The heroes preserved here were placed according to the time they were born. So, heading deeper into the exhibition hall meant taking a journey into the past. The Braver traveled backward in time. To the deepest part.
There lay a cage.
A cage that could hold one human.
Reaching toward the shadow-covered cage, the Braver extended his hand. The moment his true form’s finger tapped lightly against the shadow, the shadow covering the cage vanished in an instant. As the shadow lifted, what was revealed were chains draped over the cage like a spider’s web.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of chains.
Those chains were binding someone at the center of the cage. The Braver opened the door to the cage. Swinging his hand to sever the chains that filled the cage, he approached the center.
“Sister.”
The Braver smiled.
“My beloved sister.”
What lay there was a corpse.
A corpse split in half by a sword, with only half a body remaining. Towards the corpse that had not rotted at all, the Braver reached out. He grasped the head of the corpse.
“Acriel Clen Arcadia.”
The first and last queen of Arcadia.
The first vessel that held the shadow.
Now, the Braver dragged the vacant body out from the cage. This body held no more value. It was a corpse that had already died, a vessel that could no longer contain anything.
“But.”
The Braver smiled.
“It can serve as bait.”
In the center of the exhibition hall lay a throne.
The Braver laid the corpse down on that throne. With a wave of his finger, the concealment magic placed upon the corpse was all severed. Thus, the world was notified that the vessel that once held the Demon Lord, thought to have been erased from existence, was here.
Boom, the exhibition hall shook.
“My junior.”
The Braver chuckled.
“You, who look at the same scenery as me, may have seen through my plan. You might have concluded that you need to kill me before you can defeat the Demon Lord. No, if it’s you, you likely would have.”
You possess the ability and knowledge to do so.
Certainly, that child would have sensed his plans.
“Your conclusion is correct. Indeed, it is. If you could achieve that, you could end everything.”
But, the Braver whispered.
“I am also aware of the flaws in my plan. I know where you will stab to enter. Aware I am, yet I have not prepared for it. Could that be possible?”
It must always be thorough.
“There’s something you don’t know.”
The Braver smiled.
With a smile, he placed his finger successively on the shoulders of the sister he had laid on the throne. Concealed behind the throne, the Braver chuckled softly.
“My sister has become the vessel of the Demon Lord. A vessel that holds the shadow. Yet, until the very end, she did not give up her sanity. She resisted. Do you know the result of that?”
The Braver laughed merrily.
“She was transformed. Deep in the shadow, my sister’s soul is mixed in. And the soul always…”
Grip, he grasped his sister’s shoulder.
“Seeks out its original body.”
The being here had been searching for this body for a very long time. Even if this body is but a broken vessel that can hold nothing anymore, the soul of Acriel Clen Arcadia, intertwined deep within the shadow, yearned for its body.
“Look, Shadow.”
The Braver whispered to the remnants of the shadow that lingered beside him. Smashing down the remnants beneath his foot, he smiled.
“Here lies the body you have longed for.”
Deliver it to your main body.
That the body you have searched for is here.
“The balance has tilted.”
The Black Dragon was beheaded and died.
The Apostate was exterminated.
You, the Shadow, have fallen to an imperfect and mortal existence.
Thus, the demonic forces were cornered.
This time is different from when humanity was cornered.
“Now, the providence can no longer bind you.”
Now, it is the Shadow that is cornered.
The providence can no longer bind you.
You will be able to move freely.
“Come here.”
So, move.
“Retrieve your body.”
The sky shook.
The remnants of the shadow, crushed beneath the Braver’s feet, let out one final scream. That horrific scream sounded to the Braver like the most beautiful music.
“That’s a nice sound.”
Listening to the scream, the Braver threw open the ceiling of the exhibition hall. Beyond the opened ceiling was not the black sun. Nor the dark sky of the Phantom Territory. Rather, it was the exact opposite.
A bright sun, a land illuminated by starlight.
The place where the Braver’s exhibition hall was located was not in the Phantom Territory. Instead, far from the Phantom Territory, the Braver had set up his exhibition in the furthest corner of human territory. At the last tower once guarded by the final marksman, the Braver laughed.
The shadow is at the edge of the Phantom Territory.
This place is at the edge of human territory.
The shadow will cross the continent to reach this place, swallowing everything in its path. Because it has become imperfect, having lost all its words, it will not be stopped by the star.
Countless lives will die. Countless lands will be polluted.
Only one person can stop that.
The Braver gazed at the opposite side of the chessboard. He smiled at his junior who was looking at the same board as him.
“Hero, Rania van Trias.”
You have the power. You have the strength. You have the responsibility. Because of that, you are called a hero. And so, you are called a hero. Thus, you will stand against the Demon Lord. You will surely hunt him down and utterly erase the Demon Lord from this land.
“And if that happens.”
Snap.
The Braver moved the chess piece.
“When I win.”
The moment the Demon Lord dies, I will create another king.
A new king will appear in the place where the former king vanished. Everything will return to the starting point. Though the Braver knows this fact, you will still move to defeat the Demon Lord.
Why? the Braver asked himself.
The answer came to him.
“Because you are the hero.”
Because you want to be the perfect hero.
That is your weakness. My junior.
