Chapter 85: There Is No Next Time

As if a curtain were being drawn, the vision cleared.

Beyond the distance, someone could be seen gripping a sword.

It was a familiar silhouette.

He held the sword with a stubborn expression.

But no matter how hard he pulled, it would not budge.

Whether he tried dozens or hundreds of times.

It did not move an inch.

Yet, he did not give up.

He challenged it.

He faced it.

…At some point, the girl who had been watching the scene with precarious eyes finally asked.

“Why are you so desperate to pull that out?”

Luiness.

At the question of the girl with hair the color of the sky, the young man—the man—glared at her with sharp eyes as if he might kill her.

“Is there any particular reason I should simply give up just because it hasn’t been pulled out?”

“…Is that more important than your life?”

“What, does someone die if I pull it? Me? Or you?”

“…You will die.”

“Aha. Now that’s interesting. Since you’ve enlightened me with new knowledge, why don’t you tell me how I’ll die?”

The girl, Luiness, murmured with a wavering gaze.

Her appearance was like that of a penitent sinner.

“The one who pulls that sword… that person will be killed.”

“Who kills whom? You?”

“……I am a watcher.”

“Then what if I kill you?”

“…….”

The girl remained silent.

“Whether I die or live is up to me.”

He reached for the sword once more.

“Even if I only live for a day, I’d rather not live like a slave, trampled by lies!”

He strained with all his might, but the sword still did not move.

“…Just go die already. Stop breathing. Stop opening your eyes.”

Then, the man, Venus, took his hand off the sword.

He immediately turned around and walked away, arriving right in front of Luiness.

“If you make that disgusting face again next time, I’ll rip the skin right off your face.”

“…….”

“Acting all high and mighty as if you’re carrying all the sorrows of the world alone. Being so dramatic?”

“That… cannot be.”

“Then get rid of that pathetic look. Who are you pitying? Who are you feeling sorry for? Does someone like you even have the right?”

“I….”

“If you have time to be sad and resigned, do your job properly. Whether you’re watching or throwing your life into a cesspool, whatever!”

Stop with the useless meddling.

As Luiness followed the departing Venus with an anxious gaze.

“Everything he said… is correct.”

She conceded to the verbal abuse.

Without a shred of resistance.

She ended up affirming it.

…….

[Originally, I should have been held in that man’s hand. However, that changed. Therefore, I refused to be used by him of my own will.]

“…….”

The sword possesses a will and prattles on.

As if I’d find such a thing surprising now.

[Furthermore, it is also my will to refuse to be held in your hand.]

“Cut the chatter and give me the reason.”

Even patience has its limits.

My temper is also boiling over.

[That is because you are a descendant of Grandeus.]

“What?”

What kind of nonsense is this?

[In this era, there is likely no one who has inherited his progress as much as you have.]

What kind of gibberish is this now?

[Among those who wish to follow him, none have reached the same stage as you.]

“Stage? What stage?”

[Do you not know? Have you not achieved four stars?]

How the hell would I know that?

Did that damn Demon King hide something again?

Or did he just not tell me because I didn’t ask?

If not even that.

…Did even she not know?

“Are you saying that because I am his descendant, I cannot hold you?”

[That is correct.]

“…That’s the reason?”

You expect me to just swallow that?

[Have you not already received everything?]

“……?”

[Is there a need to covet this body as well?]

This insane sword?

“Everything? Everything? What? What did I receive?”

[It seems you lack awareness.]

To be in a position where I’m receiving pity from a sword.

“Swordsmanship? Heart Formula? Or what? Chivalry or something?”

[What is so grueling for you?]

“…….”

Grueling?

Me?

[I am not some answer that will solve your problems. That is a fact both you and I know.]

“…….”

What was I excited about, and what was I shaken by?

Thinking about it, it was simple.

That’s why it feels even more absurd.

A feeling of emptiness mixed with rising anger.

Literally, it was chaos itself.

For a moment, I lost myself.

Did I actually have expectations?

And because those expectations collapsed, did I feel betrayed, disappointed?

Did I take it for granted that it would be mine?

That it would become my strength.

…Did I accept it as such?

“Then what are you?”

[I am simply myself.]

It was a foolish question.

The answer was extremely simple.

And clear.

The most direct and wise answer.

“…Then for what do you exist?”

[Justice.]

It declared.

[The protection of good. The immediate execution of evil. The enforcement of balance.]

Therefore.

[As the Holy Sword, I am the protector of good.]

“……?”

[If you wish to hold me, you must promise. That you will follow the good. That you will judge the evil. Can you do that?]

“No.”

I declare as well.

In the first place.

“……Ha.”

What I needed.

…Wasn’t something like this.

It wasn’t something like this.

[Indeed. You are unsuitable.]

Therefore.

[We are not destined for one another.]

====

Blood splatters from the mouth of the teeth-grinding Venus.

“That damn bastard….”

Is he really going to pull that out?

Is he really going to get his hands on that?

Is he going to snatch that away from me?!

He glared as if he would stab that back to death right now.

Yet, he could not approach rashly.

Despite that frail-looking back.

Still, not a single opening could be seen.

I cannot tell.

The person standing there is like a withered tree with bare branches that could fade at any moment.

Yet, it felt impossible to bring him down.

His will was screaming that he should knock him down, stab him to death, or cut off his limbs immediately.

But a faint glimmer of reason gripped his ankles.

If he goes now, he will die.

That silent abyss is currently.

…Enraged to an extent never seen before.

He suddenly realizes.

“…….”

The youth, standing straight, did not pull out the sword.

Rather, as if he had absolutely no lingering attachment.

He decisively let go.

And then.

“Ha… haha.”

He suddenly began to laugh.

A laugh steeped in such intense emotion that anyone listening would be drowned in a sense of futility and exhaustion.

Eventually, it overflowed into rage.

“Hahahahaha—! This is! Just a complete farce! All this for something like this!”

Shouting as if he had lost his mind, he suddenly raised his right hand.

Into the air.

“Did you see? Why don’t you say something.”

He suddenly began to shout, pointing his finger.

“You shouldn’t do this to me! Did you do this knowing everything?!”

Who is he shouting at?

“Not anyone else! To me! You! Offering me! That! That Holy Sword?! Are you joking with me right now?! At the very least, you shouldn’t have been the one to do this?!”

Holy Sword?

Before that, why is this bastard acting like this?

Venus could not understand this sudden reaction.

Probably none of the onlookers could understand this situation.

That is how different his attitude and reaction were.

Before and after gripping that Sword of Grandeus embedded in the ground.

They were completely different.

“You’re the Demon King of Wisdom?! Since you only know what you know, did you really not know the things you didn’t know?! Is that how you deceived me?!”

Is this lunatic out of his mind?

More importantly, what?

Demon King of Wisdom?

“I cannot overlook this. Child of the Hero. I intended to watch until a conclusion was reached, but you have thrown some quite interesting words my way.”

It suddenly revealed its presence.

“?!”

Venus.

And Kariel, who had just noticed it.

They sensed its presence just a moment before.

“That aside, are you not pulling it out?”

“…….”

“Was today not the day of the prophecy? Or have you chosen not to hold it even though you could? Why is that?”

As if melting into the darkness, it existed, and then abruptly revealed its presence.

In terms of build, it wasn’t much different from Kariel.

But its entire body was pure white.

As if marble powder had been painted over its whole body.

Or as if bone powder had been rubbed into the skin.

A pale white.

The skin, engraved with various patterns, wore pitch-black light armor only on the upper body.

However, the entire body, from the head down, was covered in a deep blue cape.

A deep blue paenula, seemingly made of thick wool.

It draped exaggeratedly from head to toe like a robe, tickling the surface of the ground.

Thus, even in the dark background that had not yet cleared, its presence was exceptionally special.

A faint glint in the eyes.

A pure white radiance, as if emitting light even in the darkness, was gazing at Kariel.

And at its unnecessary meddling, Kariel spat out as if having a fit.

“Who the hell are you?”

A snapping tone.

But it wasn’t blind hostility.

Though some wariness was contained.

But its essence was the aftermath of swollen emotions.

It was simply the remnants, condensed and bursting out like fragments and hazes.

However.

Perhaps because that reaction wasn’t what the pale man desired.

He murmured as if lamenting.

“A pity. Do you truly not recognize me?”

“……?”

“The one who almost killed you once.”

……What?

“I shall give you a reprieve for now. If you do not pull that out, it is a certainty that you will die here.”

This time.

“The World Tree, some nations, and guards are not here, are they? I heard your father is rushing here. But isn’t time too pressing to wait for him?”

“…He’s coming?”

A chill ran down my spine.

At the same time, I snapped awake.

What did this guy just babble?

“You almost killed me? You? Who the hell are you?”

“Has this demon scum lost his mind!”

Suddenly.

Venus intervened.

Not just that, he rushed in and swung his sword.

It was as if he were swinging a blunt weapon rather than a sword; the slash tore through the air as if to strike the pale man’s torso.

But the result was the opposite.

“Gah!”

“You who follow Lord Grandeus are not our enemies. It’s about time you fixed your habit of taking my repeated words lightly.”

“That, that son of a bitch……!”

Coughing up blood, Venus rolled across the ground.

“That… that’s my prey… is. If you touch… think about… dying… peacefully… stop….”

“Overconfidence is a bad habit.”

It was heard in an instant.

A spear emitting black smoke.

Longer than a throwing spear, but strictly a long spear, yet difficult to classify as a mid-stage spear—a short spear.

Yet even that short spear was as tall as his height.

It was very clear that it was longer than the man’s or Kariel’s own height.

“Once, I let Lueld live.”

He spoke.

“As a result, I ended up presenting an unwanted defeat to the Supreme One. I reproached myself then, and vowed never to make such a mistake again.”

And as a sign of that apology.

“I intended to kill you.”

He believed he had succeeded.

But why did he not die?

“I lamented. For a very long time. Because your existence would eventually cause our extinction. Moreover, if someone like me were your enemy… there would be no further value in speaking.”

Then why stay still?

Why observe quietly without any retaliation?

“As time passed, I became afraid. Because we know you well. Because we thought we knew you well. I considered that time to be a stage of devising a plan to sweep us all away, securing strength, and completing the plan.”

But.

“To think that you would change.”

To this extent.

“Who would have known you’d become so foolish. Has heaven abandoned you? Or has the Demon God in the Underworld cursed you?”

“…Is that all you wanted to say?”

Once.

I was called a genius.

Beyond brilliance, I was innate; they said the term ‘genius’ was truly meant for me.

Those around me did not spare praise and admiration.

…An overestimation that I could never accept.

My father and mother.

His Majesty the Emperor.

Even others.

They held excessive expectations of me.

…But that is not me.

You are not looking at me.

You were looking at a past of mine that I don’t even know.

Even if I gathered the rumors and the stories that spread.

I could not accept that it was the past me.

That is not me.

No.

Perhaps it was certainly me once.

But not now.

Probably for eternity, it will be an existence unrelated to me.

Like a hero or a demon in a myth.

“And yet, from your mouth, you just spoke of the Demon King of Wisdom. I am beginning to distinguish things now.”

In the end, even as he passed away.

“Did he protect us?”

Corrupting an existence like you.

“Even by neutralizing an existence like you, he loved us, and he favored us.”

“…….”

Those who call the Golden Beast the Demon King of Wisdom or ‘He’ are extremely limited within the continent.

Therefore, the moment he mentioned that, their status and identity became crystal clear.

The problem is, which one among them is he?

…But deduction is possible.

Because the one before me had a profile that was too distinct and clear.

“Stupid Legion Commander.”

Bargo Adedima.

At the time of the Demon King of Wisdom’s invasion, he wasn’t a Legion Commander.

However, after the death of the Golden Beast, he was the one who gathered the remnants of the Demon King’s Army as time passed.

The practical center.

Now there might be a few who could replace him.

But in other words, he is like a symbol for the remnants.

Such a demon.

Kariel glared into the air.

“…….”

Was this appearance unexpected for her too?

The Golden Girl, half-slumped in the air, complained.

-I don’t care if he talks about favor or whatever as he pleases, but the idolization is a bit much.

And to Kariel.

-That guy is a bad match for you, so don’t even dream of trying to beat him.

Maybe later.

But not now.

That was how she phrased it.

“…….”

But does he think I’d just give in because I want that?

I was a bit curious about that.

If I were that man.

Swoosh!

“…….”

There would be no reason to miss this opportunity.

Silently, as if seeping in.

Like a gentle breeze, the spear tip aimed for the neck and face.

I barely deflected it.

My hair scattered from the impact.

Some of it, as if sliced by the spear blade, fell in clusters to the ground.

“And for some reason, the current you is learning the sword of the one who caused your father’s death. Was this also His guidance?”

“…….”

The pale glint of the eyes pierced my inner self without emotion.

“Right. And he’s saying that since our compatibility is not great, I shouldn’t think about winning. What do you think of that?”

“Hmm?”

“Also, he says he doesn’t care if you talk about favor or whatever, but tells you not to idolize him. What are your thoughts on this?”