The Sword Duke of House Roman - Chapter 80

9. Backstab>

Steel, seeing the tremendous flash of light stretching out from far in the distance, gazed beyond with an uneasy expression.

“My God… just what on earth happened…….”

The Great Sea Forest—a newly formed terrain created when the Great Forest collapsed and seawater flooded into it.

And the Sky Mountains connected to it.

Because of these two terrains, the Ra-Sian Continent and the Don-Nasian Continent had practically been separated geographically.

But the enormous flashes of light extending even beyond those two terrains made it clear that something serious had happened there. The flash that erupted from Don-Nasian swept across the entire Ra-Sian Continent, where Steel was staying, once again.

“Mr. Stantal, what on earth is going on?”

Rian, who had rushed out from inside, asked with an anxious expression. The immense waves of power rising from far away were of a scale he had never seen or even heard of before. Even the great miracle said to have blown away an empire in a single strike in the past did not seem capable of producing waves like that.

Vast waves, as if they would arise from a decisive battle between gods.

Dozens, hundreds of such waves were bursting forth at once, so there was no way warriors sensitive to the flow of energy could remain sane. The higher their realm, the more sensitive they were, so the shock was even greater. The tremendous waves of qi erupting from the Don-Nasian Continent were driving the warriors of the Ra-Sian Continent out of their minds.

Steel looked at Rian and shook his head.

“I don’t know either.”

At that, Rian’s expression grew even more worried.

“My God… what with the Great Sea Forest appearing not long ago… it feels as though the world is about to end.”

The Great Sea Forest had been terrifying as well, but this situation could not even be compared to that time.

At the same moment, one person flashed through both Rian’s and Steel’s minds.

‘I wonder if my little brother is all right…….’

Steel thought of Sian, who had said he was going on a journey and disappeared beyond the Great Sea Forest, and his face filled with worry.

☆ ☆ ☆

Aksarai gnashed his teeth as he pressed Dragona before him. If Aksarai’s connector, who possessed a large fragment of his soul like that fellow Kon-Rad, had been reborn as an Alpha and then transferred that soul into a Drakun, he could have torn apart the lizard before him in an instant.

But the fragment of soul inside the one called Sian, who had been reborn as an Alpha, was too small, and even after transferring into a Drakun’s body, he could not fully use all the authority of omniscience and his supernatural abilities.

Just seeing the lizard before him brazenly using supernatural abilities in his presence was enough to show that his current power was lacking. If his power had been whole, it would have been unthinkable for any race other than the Drakun to use supernatural abilities. All of them had been under his control, after all.

Even more insolent was the fact that he dared pour those abilities toward him.

Aksarai bound space itself and sent the red lightning Dragona hurled at him flying far away, then slapped the insolent creature across the cheek.

Crack!

The one struck across the cheek had his jaw twisted aside and was sent flying far away, but he did not simply take it. At the same moment he was hit, Dragona swung his tail and struck Aksarai, wearing a triumphant smile.

But Dragona immediately groaned. Terrible pain surged from the black something embedded in his abdomen.

As Dragona desperately tried to pull out the black pillar lodged in his stomach, Aksarai flew in from far away and struck him.

Aksarai, who had been about to press Dragona and finish him off, gnashed his teeth as he dodged a flash of light flying in from far away.

When he turned his eyes toward the direction the flash had come from, one of Lucra’s warriors was stretching a hand toward him. Knowing that they would be in trouble if Dragona was pushed back, they had expanded the scope of the fight all the way over here. If things became mixed together like this, it would turn into a dogfight.

The one who had experienced the crisis of death and survived had grown even stronger. If he slipped into the Divine Land like this, he would certainly become a nuisance. At this rate, Aksarai could finish off Dragona, but the Lucra did not seem inclined to allow that.

In truth, the surviving Drakun were somewhat insufficient to deal with the strengthened Lucra, so Aksarai gnashed his teeth and, combining his strength with the surviving Drakun, began pressing the remaining Lucra and Dragona.

As the damage on both sides gradually grew, Aksarai ground his teeth.

If that Sian had only finished off Crona and helped here, there would be no need for this. They could have instantly slain Dragona, joined up with the Drakun, and finished off the remaining Lucra.

Just in case, he looked toward Sian’s side, but Sian also seemed to be in quite a difficult state, panting for breath as he traded blows with Crona. It looked difficult to receive help from that side for the time being.

No, if Sian were to lose, the balance would tilt to the other side. Even if he had to overexert himself, he had to conclude this battle before then.

Feeling his heart grow urgent, Aksarai released every supernatural ability he possessed and launched an attack on the surviving Lucra.

Watching Sian fighting over there as the tide pushed back and forth, Aksarai thought of a certain possibility.

Aksarai knew that Sian had gone to find Kon-Rad a few days earlier. Though he could not know anything about Sian himself, he could still see and hear what Kon-Rad, whom Sian had visited, saw and heard. There was a fragment of his soul inside him, after all.

And Aksarai knew everything about Sian receiving the spatial teleportation ring there. The fellow did not seem to know that Aksarai was watching.

Twisting space to prevent spatial teleportation was no task at all. If it were a miracle performed by someone similar to himself, that would be one thing, but teleportation made by someone on Kon-Rad’s level could be stopped with a breath.

If the fellow tried to run, he would absolutely interfere so that he could not escape. If that fellow ran away, the entire plan would fall apart.

For now, he had been settling into his newly acquired body and had not gone to retrieve the soul fragment, but once this was over, retrieving that fragment would help strengthen him a little.

In truth, all of this was something to worry about only after winning this confrontation. If he could not win this decisive battle now, none of it would mean anything.

But Aksarai was confident. Though most of them would be reduced to tatters, they would win in the end.

In Aksarai’s eyes, the difficult but achievable “path to victory” continued to appear.

At that moment, an unexpected variable intervened.

“Uwaak!”

Seeing that variable, Aksarai gnashed his teeth. These ones were as strong as he was, so they were not caught by the authority of omniscience, and he had not been able to predict them.

“Ah, let’s fight together! I’m not being pushed back that badly. We just ended up coming this way while fighting!”

Sian’s words, spoken while his entire body was covered in wounds, did not sound persuasive, but when Aksarai glanced at Crona, he nodded.

Crona, too, had been reduced to a complete wreck, so it did not seem as though Sian had been pushed back and fled here.

Aksarai sighed, looked at Sian pitifully, and began pouring out his supernatural abilities again.

“…

You knew?”

When Sian muttered, Aksarai looked at him with an incredulous expression.

“Haha. I’m not that disloyal a guy.”

Even in the middle of fighting, Sian gave an awkward hollow laugh as if embarrassed and continued swinging his sword.

Crona and Dragona, Sian and Aksarai. The battlefield, where the Drakun and Lucra had all mixed together and once again formed an equilibrium of power, once more turned into a pit of chaos.

“Kergh…….”

Sian, breathing roughly, pulled the golden sword embedded in Crona’s neck free. And Aksarai, his whole body reduced to a wreck, looked at the corpse of Dragona, whom he had split in two.

Aksarai looked around at the surviving Drakun with a dumbfounded expression. In order to make up for their inferiority, the Lucra had ceaselessly used Dragona and Crona to unleash ferocious attacks.

The Lucra who had controlled Crona had already died by his hand, but even though the control should have been released, the surviving Crona had continued attacking the surviving Sian, the Drakun, and Aksarai with a spiteful frenzy.

As a result, although Aksarai and Sian had won the final decisive battle, they had both been reduced to tatters. And in the war they had waged to avoid extinction, the Drakun had all died except for only two individuals.

Though it had been the final battle, at this level, it was practically extinction. Even the two survivors had collapsed far away and were barely breathing.

“Phew… still, a win is a win, isn’t it? And the fallen can recover, can’t they?”

Aksarai let out a rough breath and nodded.

Though only three individuals, including himself, had survived, from now on they only had to make their race flourish again. Fortunately, since they reproduced asexually, if there were no enemies, they would be able to quickly recover their former prosperity.

Above all, Aksarai himself had survived, so the future of the Drakun was bright.

Relaxing his stiff expression, Aksarai spoke to Sian.

At that, Sian looked over various parts of his body, then shook his head.

“No… well, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Don’t you have no room to spare?”

When Sian asked with a worried expression, Aksarai nodded as if to say it was fine.

“If that’s the case, then…….”

Sian walked toward Aksarai with powerless steps. Then, just like that, he drove the silver spear of Broxian in his hand into Aksarai’s chest.

Thud!

Looking at Aksarai as he let out a pained scream, Sian smiled and answered.

“It’s a relief you don’t have any room to spare. Besides, didn’t I say I was fine? I told you, I still had room to spare.”

Sian put strength into the spear and smiled.

To resist the spear of Broxian that was charging in as though to devour his entire body, Aksarai began drawing up what little energy remained throughout him. Fortunately, Sian did not launch any additional attacks, but the situation was not particularly good. His insides were being ruined so badly that no further attack was needed.

At the same time, he began examining Sian. He simply could not believe this situation.

Aksarai had never let his guard down. In fact, even when Sian approached, he had been drawing up energy in preparation for any unforeseen situation.

But Aksarai had gradually grown reassured. The internal coefficients of Sian, who was approaching step by step, had certainly seemed to be in tatters, and so he had intended to pour death energy into Sian and finish him off for certain.

And yet he had suffered such an unexpected blow! Even as his mind grew faint, Aksarai examined Sian and saw that Sian’s internal coefficients had recovered to a considerable degree, making his face twist in disbelief.

Though it was only at a level where he could not even bring out two percent of his combat power when healthy, it was a clear difference from his state just moments ago, when he had been close to zero percent. It was absolutely not a level he could recover to in only a few seconds.

Looking at Aksarai, Sian smiled and said,

“If you were inside my body, you should know, shouldn’t you? The training method I used in the past.”

Then Aksarai let out a scream that was almost a groan. If it had changed in the middle of the fight, he would have suspected something. But the coefficient had remained consistent from beginning to end, and it had been suppressed only by a very small degree, so Aksarai had merely assumed that Sian’s injuries had not fully healed.

But that change in coefficient was now proving fatally decisive, and so Sian could smile as he answered.

“Correct. The power of omniscience isn’t perfect, is it?” Hearing Aksarai’s groan, Sian smiled and said,

“Isn’t it obvious? If you people came back to life, there’s no way you would let me live.”

Sian put strength into the tip of his spear and looked at Aksarai. <…

Since when did you plan this?> Aksarai asked with a groan. And Sian kindly answered him.

“Well… I’d been thinking about it for a long time. To be precise, ever since Ragaofe, the priests of Lukra, and you lot… all those who didn’t tell me the truth kept taking turns stabbing me in the back and trying to use me.” <…….> “I was curious. Why do I keep getting stabbed in the back like this? It’s not as if I’m weak.” Sian nodded.

“Because I’m not an absolute powerhouse, so there are beings I have to fear. And because I’m not weak, I have value to be used.” Aksarai said sarcastically.

If one was so weak as to have no value, there was no value in deceiving and using them. If one was so overwhelmingly powerful that there was nothing to fear, they could not be controlled.

But Sian was positioned precisely in the middle between Lukra and the Drakuns.

“I cannot know everything. I know that better than anyone. But back when I was on the La-Sian continent, I was never once stabbed in the back and pushed around like this. Since there wasn’t a single being capable of threatening me, there was no one who could use me either. But the world turned out to be vast. Once beings capable of threatening me appeared, I had no choice but to be helplessly pushed around.”

To avoid being pushed around, one had to be one of two things: possess absolute power, or grasp every bit of information about the other side.

Sian knew that the latter was impossible for him. To begin with, it was impossible for anyone. How could one know and prepare for things that had happened before one was even born?

That was why, after coming to the continent, he had no choice but to be manipulated. Lukra, Aksarai, and Ragaofe had always driven him toward the safer choice by threatening him with what he feared, and in the process, they had seized what they wanted.

So Sian had decided. He would take this chance to sweep them all away and remove those who tried to control him. <…

So you tried to eliminate every cause? Those who could make you afraid?> “When you put it like that, it sounds as if I did something wrong. Whether it was you or Lukra, whoever survived would have tried to kill me. Because you, too, fear the me of the future. In truth, that is the biggest reason.” <…….> “You constantly observed me, but after your ego formed, I also began using you to learn the things I was curious about. Among them, there was one thing I considered most important.” <…

What was it…….> “Would Aksarai—you, who once boasted authority like that of a god—and your race truly fear me, or would you not? That was what I wanted to know.”

At those words, Aksarai answered with silence. But to Sian, that was answer enough.

“You feared me, didn’t you? Because I was growing strong far too quickly. To be honest, Aksarai, if I had thought you would become strong faster than me, I was going to leave you alone. No one fears the weak, do they?” <…….> “But I was faster. And that was when I realized it. You, Lukra, the Harijans… if I left any of you alive, you would never leave me alone until I grew strong. Am I wrong?” <…

You are not.> Having realized that escape was impossible anyway, Aksarai answered in a drained voice. The Broxian Spear eating away at him did not allow even the slightest opening. In truth, in his current state, all he could do was endure and listen to Sian speak.

“I do appreciate your honesty. In any case, even if I grow strong a little quickly, there’s no one who can withstand being ganged up on. If I didn’t clean everything up at this chance, I would have died… so please understand my position a little. Though it’s rather funny to say that when I’m about to kill you.”

Aksarai ignored Sian’s absurd words and, after pondering for a moment, opened his mouth toward him. “Correct.”

Only when both sides were balanced would the damage to each side be maximized. Sian’s goal was the mutual destruction of Lukra and the Drakuns. To achieve that, Sian had endured his discomfort and helped Aksarai’s resurrection and Aksarai’s plan. Without Aksarai, the scales would not balance.

Once the decisive battle began, Sian had deliberately faced Krona and stalled for time. If the Lukras gained the advantage, he would quickly deal with Krona and support the Drakuns to restore the balance; if the Drakuns gained the advantage, he would drag Krona toward them and turn her attacks upon the Drakuns.

And Sian had continuously adjusted his internal coefficient to maintain the balance between both sides.

Even in Aksarai’s eyes, the result was exceedingly impressive. In the end, it seemed that the only one who would leave this place alive was Sian. It was easy to say, but surveying a battlefield and precisely balancing both sides, all while avoiding the suspicion of beings on the same level, was impossible with ordinary skill. Even Aksarai himself had no confidence in doing such a thing.

Only one who had trained endlessly to adjust his internal coefficient and who could keep both the battlefield and his own body under perfect control could manage it. And the man before him, Sian, had done exactly that.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Sian accepted Aksarai’s sarcastic words without emotion. The final victor was, in the end, himself. Sian nodded.

“That’s right. I had no intention of fleeing. I had to end everything here, so I couldn’t run. I merely accepted it because I hoped you would misunderstand that way.”

Sian had wanted Aksarai to look down on him. He had wanted Aksarai to think that Sian would not bite him or the other Drakuns. Only then would it be easier to avoid suspicion, and easier to sweep them away at the very end.

That was why he had obediently followed Aksarai’s extremely suspicious words without complaint, and by accepting the ring, he had emphasized that he was a coward prepared to flee at any time.

After hearing everything, Aksarai sighed. “Well… you don’t have any last words, do you?”

Aksarai shook his head. “Thank you for all your hard work.”

With those words, a grumble that was somewhat like a last testament, Aksarai’s strength finally ran out, and he was sucked whole into the Broxian Spear. Watching this, Sian lifted the spear and proceeded to clean up the Drakuns collapsed on the ground one by one, then went toward the Extreme Mountain and shattered even the remaining golden crystal. After all, it was right to destroy anything that left an unpleasant feeling behind.

And with that, the great decisive battle in which the human race, Lukra, the Drakuns, and the Harijans had all taken part—a battle that had blown away half the continent—came to an end.