Episode 133

Spitting saliva, frothing at the mouth, and with bloodshot eyes, he screamed.

There was resentment in it.

What made Austin like this? He wasn’t a mere follower of the Main Martial King. In the countless battles in the Alhyeon Room, Henry always fought with reason. Even in defeat, his noble lineage was evident, and thus, he remained in memory as a thorough villain.

But Austin before me… I don’t know.

Drip-drop-

Austin slowly took a step.

Blood flowed like a waterfall from his cleanly severed shoulder. Impossible amounts of blood came from his shriveled body, wetting the floor, and his body, which should have already fallen and died, walked as if possessed by a ghost.

It was a phenomenon beyond reason.

That’s why it was mesmerizing.

Everyone who had no choice but to watch the situation looked at Austin with eyes filled with fear.

Numerous speculations ran wild. The return of a demon, the advent of an apostle, or perhaps a curse from an evil god.

The incessant bleeding and the peculiar energy that engulfed the space made Austin appear as something transcendental.

However,

Only Shiron saw Austin for what he truly was.

“What are you saying?”

Shiron adjusted his grip on the sword hilt and muttered. He felt complicated emotions towards this unprecedented madness, but nothing more than that.

Austin was just a person who luckily gained power by picking up an item. He hadn’t trained his mana for a long time, nor was he a powerful magical beast from birth.

“If you’re going to go mad, do it gracefully. Muttering nonsense, what a fit.”

So, he didn’t give up the thought that he could definitely kill him. Shiron glared, aiming his holy sword at Austin.

This time, it wouldn’t end with just an arm.

Breathing, footsteps, gaze, he scraped together all the information he could get. More thoroughly and certainly than ever, he would kill him.

“Die…”

Austin raised his staff high, and a dull, murky energy gathered at its raised tip. This energy, capable of crushing everything, surged, filling the surroundings with a curse.

Austin continuously emitted cursed energy.

However, despite emitting so much cursed energy, the curse did not reach Shiron.

It was a slow attack that merely spewed cursed energy. The moment he realized the attack would never hit…

Light burst forth.

The flash swallowed the curse and all peculiar shadows, and a beam of light rushed towards Austin’s neck.

The powerfully swung holy sword tore Austin apart.

“Ah…”

Austin couldn’t even scream. By the time he realized something had touched his neck, his vision had already turned upside down.

Thud-

A white head rolled on the ground.

As Austin’s head fell, the remaining cursed energy swelled. Shiron had no intention of leaving it be.

Whoosh—!

The holy sword emitted light again.

The holy light that filled the Alhyeon Room burned all the cursed energy away. The energy that corrected the natural order extinguished the wrongful flames as if burning them away.

The light that eradicated the impure energy continued to burst forth. It wasn’t just the cursed flames that were being erased.

Whoosh-!

Blood spurted from Austin’s neck, but Shiron was not drenched by the blood fountain. The holy light did not allow Shiron to be defiled.

The sanctity that didn’t stop at the light turned into flames. The blood that spurted upwards from below did not fall from above to below.

Sanctity was the essence of healing, but Austin could not be healed. The light did not regard him as human but as an entity to be exterminated. Proving this, the byproducts from him were extinguished by the holy flames.

Light filled the space.

‘To the world.’

Cardinal Deviale muttered softly.

When consciousness returned was not important. As he watched the stage play beyond the huge glass window, the Cardinal felt an illusion as if he were witnessing a scene from a sacred painting, translated from the scriptures into images.

The Sword of Light and Overwhelming Sanctity.

The scene, exactly as described in the scriptures, unfolded before his eyes. Tears filled Deviale’s eyes.

But…

For some reason, the darkness clinging to the ceiling did not disappear. Shiron’s face was drenched with sweat, unable to erase the impurity. He gripped the holy sword even tighter, and the intensity of the light grew stronger. Yet, no matter how much light he emitted, the darkness on the ceiling remained.

It was strange.

‘…Darkness that cannot be erased by the light of the holy sword?’

Shiron was not the only one to feel a sense of déjà vu.

Seira, who was maintaining the spatial magic, also felt wary of that darkness.

‘That is…’

Seira’s eyes narrowed.

This was not like shadows created by the absence of light; this was darkness that devoured light merely by its existence. It was a memory from far too long ago, but Seira remembered it clearly.

How could it be forgotten?

The Demon God.

The energy that the darkness emitted was ominous enough to bring him to mind.

Eventually, the darkness that had blackened the ceiling began to coalesce.

The unified darkness formed a ring as it spun.

Shiron’s face twisted as he emitted light.

Shiron knew exactly what it was. So, he intensified the light even more, wanting to drive away the impure energy. He did not stop pouring holy power into the heart of the beheaded corpse that wouldn’t fall…

He couldn’t stop it.

Shiron watched helplessly as the black ring descended from the ceiling towards Austin. Hovering over where the head should have been, the black ring maintained a measured distance.

Shiron was dumbfounded by the situation unfolding before him.

It’s always something else.

“…Ha.”

Shiron laughed emptily and ceased to emit light.

He realized it was futile. Although he disliked giving up, he didn’t have enough energy left to waste on meaningless efforts. Thus, Shiron decided to confront the entity before him.

The beheaded angel.

The First Apostle, Jaganata.

To avoid the Apostle, he had gone so far as to lower his reputation, but in the end, he faced it anyway.

‘Reincarnation of the Sword Saint’ might seem like any other real-time action game scattered everywhere, but it boasted a unique system.

‘Instead of the player seeking out the boss, the boss seeks out the player.’

The Apostle.

Apostles were bosses that players encounter randomly in the field. This uncertain element, intertwined with the game’s Reputation system, created a unique charm.

[The higher the Reputation, the higher the probability of encountering an Apostle, and the lower the Reputation, the lower the probability. Please keep this in mind, players.]

However, what did the number in front of them mean? It was not a measure of strength.

Shiron had intended to kill the 2nd Apostle, Camilla Rodos, first and had personally beheaded her, but he did not consider her weaker than the 5th Apostle, Bernoulli.

[The Apostles are numbered in the order they hear the voice of the Demon God. Therefore, Jaganata is the first Apostle.]

A vaguely remembered phrase.

But what was important was not that the entity before him was the first Apostle.

Jaganata was the strongest Apostle. And he had the misfortune of meeting him here.

“The offering has been rendered useless.”

The beheaded corpse spoke in a low voice. This sound did not come from the head rolling on the floor. The black ring flitted about, vibrating the air as if fluttering above the severed neck.

“You made it so.”

The consciousness of the beheaded corpse, Jaganata, turned towards Shiron.

“You cut the offering’s neck with that white sword, not an easy feat, ah! So that is the Sword of Light. Seeing the Sword of Light, I realize now. It’s been here all along.”

“…”

“Has it been 500 years? Finally, you have appeared. I have been searching for you all this time. It was a long wait, truly just waiting for you to appear. Hero. Why have you not shown yourself until now?”

Although many words were spilled,

Shiron did not answer the question.

He could not answer.

All Shiron could think about was why this entity was here, leaving no room for any response.

However…

No matter how much he thought about it, he could not find an answer to why he had encountered the 1st Apostle.

“Focus on me.”

“…”

Upon the beheaded angel’s words, Shiron’s mind snapped to attention. Confirming Shiron’s focus, Jaganata continued.

“Why, after searching so thoroughly, was I unable to perceive your existence?”

“…”

“You do not answer. Then, I must find out for myself.”

Shiron saw the angel’s ring twist.

This situation,

An angel.

Shiron felt he should stop his pointless thoughts. And his bad premonition came true.

“Your soul is skewed towards impurity.”

“…Huh.”

Shiron let out a hollow laugh.

“So, that’s why you have not appeared until now. I’ve discovered something interesting.”

The beheaded corpse had no eyes, yet it seemed to see him clearly.

“It’s a shame to call it a beheaded corpse. It must have had a name from birth.”

“…What now?”

“This soul, pitied by our god… was to be an apostle delivering the will of the god.”

The conversation with the beheaded corpse didn’t feel like a conversation.

He just laid out snippets of information, as if only saying what he wanted to.

“…What?”

But even with those snippets of information, Shiron’s eyes widened.

The fact that Austin was to become an apostle was completely unknown to him.

“Shiron Prient. You could not have known.”

Somehow, this entity even knew the name he hadn’t spoken. Had it sifted through Austin’s memories? Or had it dug up information on him? Either way, it was exceedingly troublesome. Despite trying not to show it, his eyes twitched.

“It’s a fact not written in the prophecies of Prient that you can see.”

“…”

“Are you going to keep your mouth shut? You should know it’s futile. Or perhaps, are you frozen in fear? I believe that could be the case.”

At that moment, Jaganata took a step back.

“Hmm, I wanted to talk a bit more.”

He muttered something incomprehensible. What was he talking about without having had a single conversation?

Once again, Jaganata uttered something incomprehensible.

“An incomplete body cannot endure. Let’s end this.”

End this? It was at that moment.

Kwaaaa-

A pillar of light fell right in front of Shiron.

As if the darkness that had swallowed all the light of the holy sword was a lie, it crumbled quickly.

Nothing was left where the light fell.

Neither Austin’s corpse nor the relic of the Main Martial King.

Such was the intensity of Seira’s bombardment.

“Kid… are you okay?”

A slightly trembling, urgent voice. Seira, who had approached by his side, asked how he was doing.

“…Thanks.”

Instead of saying he was okay, Shiron expressed his gratitude. Then, he turned and headed towards a certain location.

“Kid! Where are you going!”

Despite the calls from behind, Shiron did not stop and ran towards the door of the Alhyeon Room.

The thing that had been bothering him all this time, the golden eyes watching him through the gap in the door.

Bang!

Shiron forcefully opened the door and looked down.

A red-haired girl was trembling, holding her head.

“…Lucia.”

“…”

Even when asked in a gentle voice, Lucia did not answer. Instead, she buried her head even deeper.