Book 11 Chapter 12
Episode 264
At Trident Point #9: (3)
At first, I was aghast.
That bizarre reunion began with blood splattered on the faces of all the survivors.
The blood began to glow faintly, and from beyond, a finger snapped with a "click."
'Blood magic of the Blado family…!'
It was a moment of decisive battle.
Had they not hastily nullified that power with Bell Quirius, those present here now would have…
As those covered in blood shrieked and began to flee, Rain turned his head blankly.
“Surely not.”
Walking from the swamp was… clearly Seigan Wolf Blado.
Unlike last time, his eyes were dark blue, flickering with phosphorescence and emitting a cold mist.
Not only that, but on the opposite side, a giant figure charged out at an unbelievable speed, clashing swords with Miria.
“Br-Blackheart Captain…”
Someone, an adventurer, was heard muttering that.
- They say that when the prison was pulled back up from the swamp, he had transformed into a monstrous entity that exhaled a cold breath from a hard heart, creating mist.
So that's it… Did he become an undead by Beshantsidug's power?
Bell Quirius.
He opened his vision red to read biological information.
'No problem.'
Fragments of the soul still remained.
Clasping his hands together, he activated Jeseoswaeran-yeon with Light attribute using the power of 'Simsang Heogun-chail'.
Though slightly less powerful than Changmyeong-sipyun, it was much faster, and incomparably stronger than typical Jeseoswaeran-yeon.
“…!”
“…!”
The two undead were caught in chains and soon began to let out mournful wails.
The screams of the abyss that had been eroding their bodies, stealing their consciousness…
The sound was many times more painful for the dragons, even Mir frowned and covered both ears.
So he was glad.
Because if he had been directly hit by the laughter that erupted, shaking the swamp the next moment, he would have suffered considerable mental damage.
「Ha, haha, hahahahahaha!」
An immense murderous intent, as if his entire body and breath were being bound by thousands of strings.
It was an existence with such vitality that moving even a fingertip required immense effort.
He had thought he had already experienced nightmares with Shar'kas and Zernix, but then he realized there were nightmares beyond nightmares.
Mir's expression crumbled for the first time. What writhed in his eyes was clear terror.
Immediately, Miria stood in front of Nen, and Akki stood in front of Mir, protecting them.
「You have come to my domain again, I am truly pleased, Karen-den!」
Duke Gong-An Beshantsidug.
The middle-aged warrior, adorned with elegant decorations, was resplendent.
His hair was tied up with a cunningly made hair ornament, and his hair, eyebrows, and outer robe were all a sinister dark blue.
Only the armor, modeled after a spider's skeleton, was gray, glistening ominously as if made of human bones.
“Nen, Mir! You two absolutely do not interfere. Never. Akki, protect your two siblings!”
Without even giving Akki a chance to warn, the fiend lunged.
It was a speed and destructive power that dared to surpass Baekdoryeong Shar'kas. Was it because he immediately revealed his true form?
The twisted body of a god, like something out of a madman's imagination, the form of a spider as massive as a mountain.
A single hit changed the terrain, and a wicked change permeated nature, making heaven and earth scream.
'This monster… a monster that ruled in the age before Christ.'
Young people of this era know Trident Point as an island, but it was Beshantsidug's power that completely overturned the geography of this place, which was once a peninsula.
「Shinra Mansang (Divine Law of All Creation).」
He used the power to meticulously break down the providence itself into spiderwebs, then melt everything caught in those webs.
「What happened to those mongrels?」
It had been truly a long time since he had been overwhelmed by a terror that chilled his spine and dried his breath.
「Why have they returned to their young forms?」
What is he talking about?
Is this guy mistaking me for Karen-den?
「Are those things bothering you? Then I will kill them! So you can fully enjoy this fight.」
When he sleeps with the three dragon siblings, he sometimes dreams.
Whether there are fragments of memories inherited from the Three Divine Dragons, and whether those dreams are intertwined with his own.
The harmony is unknown, but the dreams he occasionally has are memories of Karen-den's days with the Three Divine Dragons.
- I'm researching now, so please be quiet.
- Aroong.
- Abubu.
- Agumung.
- You failures, if you keep disobeying my orders, I will turn you back into a genetic pile.
Karen-den was a taciturn scholar.
Even when talking to his younger sister, Tersia, he rarely showed strong emotions.
He felt like a born scholar. Of course, his face was not visible in these memories either.
What made such a Karen-den speak many words were the Three Divine Dragons in their infant stages.
In the Age of Gods, in a war with ancient kings that he could not even imagine, Karen-den carried the Three Divine Dragons with him.
He said it was to accumulate combat experience, and thanks to that, he could closely observe how Karen-den used his power.
The power Karen-den originally used was not magic, but the Genesis Psalms.
- The power you received from Lord Geldharia is truly beautiful, brother.
Tersia, the leader of <The Arrived Ones>, assessed that power thus.
- It's like singing, isn't it?
Karen-den, on the contrary, seemed awkward and embarrassed, trying not to pursue the topic.
Yet, when the Three Divine Dragons moaned in the abyss of the ancient king, disturbed in their sleep and trembling, he was the god who sang it to them like a lullaby.
It wasn't a psalm, but in fact, a single song. It was then interpreted and handed down in the form of a psalm.
The being named Geldharia was a higher-tier god of <The Arrived Ones>, a being called the God of Genesis.
The reason that being gave Karen-den that power was probably for the same reason Karen-den lent the power of the Yuryangsejon to him.
Karen-den, a seeker of knowledge, reached the truth of creation while using that power.
So, the power called magic in this era is what changed the form of the Genesis Psalms to suit his convenience.
Thanks to this, he was able to clearly find out how Karen-den used that magic.
- I have failed.
The memories were fragmentary.
He could not know the full story of why Karen-den uttered such words after the war.
- Now you will pay the price for my failure in this cruel world.
Even though he couldn't see the face.
He somehow knew that the person caressing the heads of the Three Divine Dragons, who were almost fully grown, was weeping.
- I am powerless…
Karen-den was worried.
He was deeply worried about entrusting the Three Divine Dragons as protectors of this world and disappearing. Just like him now…
- I will surely find a way, so wait for me. Until I return and we meet again.
A way, yes, a way.
The reason he deliberately brought Nen and Mir to Trident Point was all to find such a way.
He must find it.
So that these children can sustain the light of the world until the day Karen-den returns.
Therefore, this power.
The power Karen-den gave him.
He wonders if it's a power he gained because he shared the same heart as you.
So now he is.
“Phenomenon Embodiment, Asura Silhon-gyeong.”
Rain moved, in time that seemed stopped.
No, in time that could not be chased without enhancing dynamic vision with the abilities of the ancient nobility.
The moment he clasped his hands together, an illusion, radiating vast light behind the caster, took shape and descended.
“As long as I live, whoever lays a hand on those children, I will eliminate them. Be it an ancient noble or a forgotten king.”
Beshantsidug grinned sickeningly.
「Yes, that's how you should be. I revived to fight you again, giving your all!」
* * *
The long battle was brought to an end by 182 wedges of brilliant light.
Twelve suns rose in total before the nightmare, rampaging and spreading the abyss across heaven and earth, was finally subdued.
As evidence of the fierce battle, this naturally fortified land, originally called the Eternal Marsh, had nearly half of its wetlands lose their form and evaporate.
The abyss, which had eroded and corrupted the providence itself, was still alive, writhing in various places.
“It’s not over yet… Don’t leave my Asura.”
The young man said, panting.
His hair, once streaked with gray, had long since turned completely white at the end of this fortnight-long battle.
Beside him, the female swordswoman, propping her collapsing body with her holy sword, also had her hair completely turned white.
It was truly a long battle.
He didn't know the reason.
He didn't know how it happened.
Had Karen-den’s memories led him to a new level?
At the moment the half-day battle reached its climax, the moment the three siblings screamed at the young man's crisis, the realm of Asura Silhon-gyeong reached its peak.
「───?!」
Originally, Karen-den's Asura, unlike his own, did not hold Yeouiju (Cintamani, magic orb) in three pairs of arms, but rather held Dragon Swords.
While Yeouiju could emit powerful force, it required a momentary pause for offense-defense transition.
This was why the decisive battle with Beshantsidug had not concluded quickly, but at that moment, the Yeouiju transformed into Dragon Swords.
The Dragon Swords lashed out like a fierce storm, blocking Beshantsidug's attacks and tearing his limbs.
The transition between offense and defense required not an iota of the caster's will, calculation, or movement.
The Asura moved alive, defending the caster with its own will, blocking all of Beshantsidug's attacks.
To reiterate, all attacks. Whatever Beshantsidug did, there was no way to escape the dance of Asura's Dragon Swords.
The conclusion was reached when five Dragon Swords were shattered and the rising sun shone upon the ruined marsh.
Beshantsidug, impaled by 182 wedges, seemed incredulous at his defeat, yet strangely, a joyful smile lingered in his eyes.
「You have become many times weaker than in the ancient era, Karen-den. I can tell how much of the abyss of His Exalted Absolute Lord Yotiatos has spread into your body.」
Yotiatos?
It was a name he had never heard before, but when it was uttered, the world, the sun, the stars, felt as if they were weeping.
His body trembled involuntarily, as if it were a language touching primal fear.
「How much weaker will you become in the future? Let me tell you a good fact. Our King is returning.」
“What did you say?”
「The King's return is nigh, so bear witness to this world's altered form that you have changed. Now all will crumble, and the world shall once again return under the rule of the true King.」
As his body sank into the swamp by the power of the wedges, the fiend's eerie laughter, directed straight at Rain, resounded across the land.
「It is a pity I cannot see it with my own eyes! Your face, twisted with fear and despair! Ahahahahaha!」
Before long, the dawn spread faintly, and the world enveloped in mist began to brighten, sinking into a serene silence.
Breaking that quietude, the three siblings rushed into Rain's arms.
Even amidst the reassuring smile for the children, that ominous and unsettling prophecy constantly echoed in his ears.
- The true King is returning.
The King is returning.
He had an uneasy yet certain premonition that this prophecy was absolutely no bluff.
Therefore, it was perhaps a natural progression for that premonition to become the guiding principle for the remaining hundred years of his journey.
* * *
Starting with Seigan Wolf Blado, the undead were gathered, and after the deceased were given funerals, they returned to the Far West Branch.
A bountiful autumn began. There was no abyss anywhere in the world.
* * *
The coronation of the newly elected Emperor, Raida Eijin, proceeded majestically this year.
While many emperors traditionally conclude their coronations with festivities, Raida hosted a grand banquet for the common folk who visited the imperial castle, but summoned all officials to the imperial palace.
The scroll he handed to the scribe contained information about the newly formed cabinet, and those individuals had already been called and were waiting before the throne.
The name of the one who first enjoyed the honor of being called by the scribe was as follows:
“Madosung (Star of Magic Arts), Rain Ludwig.”
A handsome young man with noble black hair streaked with white.
He stepped forward before the imperial throne, knelt on one knee, and kissed the hand extended by the emperor, pledging his fealty.
The scribe read the imperial edict.
“The Emperor, wishing to establish this nation correctly, appoints you as the wisdom of the Empire and the Prime Minister to carry out the Emperor's will. You shall uphold the imperial decree given by His Majesty.”
An inner court attendant brought a platinum badge, nobly wrapped in golden silk.
Engraved on it were four stars, symbols representing the Hwanghasa-moosung (Four Stars of the Yellow River). In the center of the four stars was a raised pattern of an open book.
This symbolized the Madosung who oversees the Emperor's wisdom and the Prime Minister who supervises the state affairs of this Empire.
The Emperor personally fastened the insignia to Rain Ludwig's chest, then nodded with satisfaction.
The young man, who now held all the authority and responsibility of the Madosung, responded to the Emperor's heart.
“I obey your command, Your Majesty.”
Thus, with the cooperation of the wise ruler and the virtuous sage, the final and greatest resurgence of the Holy Human Empire began.