Chapter 66
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Chapter 66
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Tracking the Demonic Sword Demon proved straightforward. Having slaughtered the Suppression Unit without consequence, the demon no longer feared exposure and left a trail of open massacre in its wake.
Yurien de Harden Kirie and the Giosa Owners encountered the Demonic Sword Demon in early 1632.
Snow had begun to fall, then ceased. The sky hung gray and unsettled. Across the Barren Field, the demon left footprints of corpses and blood. The metallic stench of gore lingered like a tail in the wind.
"There."
Vice-Commander Baron pointed ahead. Tangled black hair whipped in the breeze. A woman draped in rags, her form caked with dust, blood, and filth, laughed with a grotesque smile. In her right hand, the Demonic Sword Bardegiosa rippled with black mana as she staggered forward, her filthy bare feet carelessly kicking aside a severed human head.
Yurien de Harden Kirie stepped forward. Sensing their presence, the demon turned to face them. Their eyes met.
[Abominable.]
The Holy Sword muttered in disgust. Observing her through his True Sight, Yurien de Harden Kirie found himself in agreement. It was abominable. An abyss-black radiance bubbled up like foam, obscuring any trace of her original soul beneath. What consumed her essence was darker, fouler, and more sinister than any malice he had witnessed before.
[I've seen humans stained by Bardegiosa before, but this one's malice is unusually dense. Perhaps the duration of corruption? Three years now, wasn't it? For an ordinary human, this much time would have shattered them long ago. Yet she endures. Be cautious.]
The Holy Sword issued its warning. Yurien de Harden Kirie did not respond, instead taking a step toward the unfortunate woman.
"One stained by the Demonic Sword."
This woman was likely an innocent victim—merely unlucky enough to be corrupted by the Demonic Sword. Compassion stirred within him, yet there was no way to save her. Through his True Sight, she was irreversible evil. The malice was so dense it made his eyes sting. He closed his True Sight.
"As a member of the Changtian Knights sworn to protect Giosha, I shall suppress you."
He leveled Rangiosa at her. The woman raised Bardegiosa. Between her matted hair, she bared her teeth in a grin. Holy Sword and Demonic Sword clashed.
The battle was brief. With each clash of blades, Yurien de Harden Kirie felt a chill run through him.
He was a prodigy. Since childhood, none among his peers could match him, and as he aged, even those who might have become his teachers vanished. Year after year, he grew at an accelerating pace, surpassing everyone. Mastery came naturally to him.
He had never encountered a wall. Never felt the sensation of inevitable defeat. Even in his early days of training, when he suffered losses, an instinct whispered that he would one day surpass his opponent. And that instinct had always proven true.
But now, for the first time, Yurien de Harden Kirie faced a wall. His first premonition of defeat. No image of victory formed in his mind. No matter how he attacked, she countered flawlessly, tolerating not even the slightest error. As time passed, even enduring became harder. Death grazed perilously close to his neck.
[No. Cooperate with the other Owners. She's too strong.]
At last, Rangiosa intervened. Yurien de Harden Kirie, swinging his blade as though entranced, snapped back to awareness at the warning. He leaped backward. The woman watched him with eyes black as pitch, inhuman in their emptiness.
"Remarkable. Truly unfortunate."
His heart pounded beneath his trembling shoulders. He felt genuine regret. To meet for the first time an opponent who overwhelmed him—and to discover she was a demon to be suppressed. Why did one with such exceptional talent have to become the Demonic Sword Demon? Had circumstances been different, they might have crossed blades countless times, ascending together to greater heights. The words spilled from his lips unbidden.
"Had you been a Knight... I would have crossed swords with you in earnest."
"Commander Yurien de Harden Kirie."
Dietrich called out in warning. I know you have no obsession but the blade, but not here—you lunatic. The compressed reproach in that summons was almost audible. Yurien de Harden Kirie smiled bitterly. Regret and longing were merely personal sentiments.
"I understand. This is not a duel—it is suppression."
"Shall we join in?"
"Yes."
He affirmed Baron's question. Baron's broad sword Salikiosa, Teresa's guardian sword Dimongiosa, and Dietrich's conquest sword Leminggiosa appeared in succession. Sensing the shift in atmosphere, the woman raised Bardegiosa like a beast bristling its fur.
What followed was a fierce battle. The woman did not fall easily. Against four Giosa Owners fighting to kill, she endured for a considerable time.
But she could not endure forever. The demon was finally defeated. Yurien de Harden Kirie pinned her down and pressed his blade against her throat. He had intended to sever it cleanly, but her black mana writhed and wrapped around her neck, holding firm.
A test of strength ensued. The demon, until now drenched only in her victims' blood, now thrashed like a beast, covered in her own. The exhausted Giosa Owners muttered complaints from the sidelines. Vice-Commander Baron's murmur reached Yurien de Harden Kirie's ears.
"What a waste. As the Commander said, she would have been magnificent as a Knight. Yet with such talent, she laid hands on a Demonic Sword."
At those words, Yurien de Harden Kirie felt a flash of anger. Who would willingly grasp a Demonic Sword knowing what it was? As Baron said, what could one with such exceptional talent possibly lack? It was not this woman wielding the Demonic Sword—it was the human malice so dense and foul that even his True Sight stung to perceive.
"She... would not have chosen this willingly."
Pinning her limbs and pressing his blade against her slender throat, Yurien de Harden Kirie murmured thus. Her pupils had vanished into the black of her eyes. Inhuman eyes. Pupils like glass marbles gleaming with murderous intent.
Whether it was the waste of her talent or mere pity for an unfortunate woman, Yurien de Harden Kirie impulsively opened his True Sight, seeking something human within those eyes. He gazed upon the malice that had consumed her original soul beyond recognition, and spoke softly.
"You never wanted this."
In that moment. The instant his words reached her.
Beyond the murky black malice that oozed like a swamp bubbling with gas, something burned brilliantly into view. That light writhed as though wailing, tearing through the darkness clinging to me and surfacing. It stretched its arms as if desperate to escape the malice.
Yurien de Harden Kirie forgot to breathe. He froze entirely. A faintly burning violet silhouette. Though not as distinct as a living person, he recognized that soul. A memory he'd forgotten came vividly alive the moment he saw her.
The woman he'd glimpsed in passing at the banquet. The soul harboring an ember. That seed, no larger than a fingernail, now burned as a flame here.
Her soul, bursting through the malice, gazed at him. For the briefest moment, her essence suppressed the malice and reclaimed her place, moving her body. That soul wept. Her body wept with it. Moisture spread across eyes that had been filled only with murderous intent, and then—just one drop. A single tear fell.
[Good heavens, she's enduring in there? She even managed to reclaim her body for a moment?]
I didn't need to hear the Holy Sword's admiring gasp to understand. Just one drop, yet that tear was a miracle. Like a new leaf sprouting from a blackened, dead tree.
What am I witnessing right now?
"Tears."
"Commander?"
"She's weeping."
"...Who? Surely not."
Yurien de Harden Kirie didn't know what he was saying. Even as he spoke, her soul was sinking back into the malice. The seed had bloomed, but it wasn't yet strong enough. His clairvoyance showed him her thrashing desperately before ultimately being swallowed by that swamp of malice. He stared blankly as the light sank into the roiling darkness.
She's struggling like that. Even within it, she's alive and crying out. That small light burns so fiercely—she's holding on with all her strength.
I wanted to help. I wanted to take her hand. But there was no way. I could only watch. Even her trembling white fingertips were completely submerged, leaving only the bubbling malice. Something sharp pierced his chest. A numbness spread through his entire body.
"If the Demonic Sword consumes you, there's no self left, right? Commander, that's just a body the Demonic Sword is wielding."
Dietrich's bewildered voice reached his ears. No. No, that's wrong. She hasn't died yet. She's alive. He saw it. He witnessed it. Yurien de Harden Kirie shook his head, responding in a half-dazed state.
"She remains. She's fighting."
"Fighting? Against what?"
"Against the Demonic Sword. Against her own will."
Only after speaking the words aloud did clarity return. He grasped the meaning of what he'd just witnessed. That tiny spark hadn't crumbled even within those terrible malices—it persisted and burned even more intensely. She's fighting. He couldn't believe such a thing was possible. The Holy Sword spoke hesitantly.
[Long ago, there was a human who overcame the Demonic Sword. A human who transcended it, awakened Bardegiosa, and reclaimed her body. This woman too... perhaps it might be possible.]
The woman's body, consumed by malice alone, bared its teeth and snarled. Yurien de Harden Kirie pinned that thrashing form down and looked at her. Tear stains marked the corners of her eyes. Traces left by a miracle. Her wrists, gripped in his hands, were slender.
Over the blackened, blood-soaked woman, Yurien de Harden Kirie superimposed the image of her as he'd first seen her. The way she'd laughed and conversed with other young noblewomen inside the Banquet Hall. The woman he'd forgotten, thinking she would live an ordinary life, now lay before him in such wretchedness. So intensely. That faint light sprouting forth.
"This is unsettling. Let's finish this and go back."
"Even if consciousness remains, it doesn't matter, does it? Our task doesn't change."
Dietrich and Teresa urged him forward, but Yurien de Harden Kirie couldn't move. Until moments ago, he'd thought she deserved pity but had to die. Yet having witnessed her soul surviving and enduring within that darkness, he found himself utterly unable to kill her. His right hand, gripping the Holy Sword, trembled finely.
[The Demonic Sword Demon is evil, but this woman bears no guilt. Whether you judge her or give her a chance to overcome this, either is justice. So I leave the decision to you.]
The Holy Sword whispered quietly. Decision, decision. His decision was already made. There was a possibility. She was struggling like that. To snuff out that kindling spark with his own hands was impossible. How could he trample out a flame that had only just begun to burn?
"I cannot."
He decided to let her live.
"I will give her a chance."
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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