Chapter 115
"Kuwaaaaaaaah!!"
Boom! Kung!! Boom!!
It tries to rise only to collapse, rises again only to collapse and fall.
Each time it crashes into the ground with thunderous impact, yet still it rises.
The Mad Dragon, Cloy, currently held a sword but was no longer human.
The claws gripping the sword were sharp like a beast's, and its limbs were covered in black and red scales like those of a mad dragon.
It was because it had been under the mad dragon's dominion for far too long.
With its mind already corrupted, it had been further eroded by demonic qi by the Archbishop.
'What tremendous power.'
Even with the holy domain deployed, I couldn't control the mad dragon's movements with gravity.
Like a rampaging beast, it scattered vast killing intent while baring its fangs and claws, even as blood splattered and bones shattered.
With the sacred stone and reverse scale I had absorbed, my holy power was in a state of fullness.
I could continue this contest of strength, but the sword's condition was poor.
As time passed, the cracks on the Tyrant Sword, unable to withstand the output, accelerated.
The advantage of time belonged to the mad dragon.
If so.
"First, one arm."
The mad dragon's rampage was due to demonic qi, but the more fundamental reason was the Mad Dragon Sword.
If I could sever the arm holding the sword, I could remove the primary source of its power.
The erosion of demonic qi comes after. Making it drop the sword comes first.
Squeltch!
Ting!
"Kuwaaaaaack!!"
"Tch."
The scales are too hard.
Even with the sword qi of the Other Shore Flower imbued in the Tyrant Sword, it didn't even leave a scratch.
It was to the point where the sword was deflected.
To cleave through scales of that level would require the Master Blade, which is no different from a Master's authority.
I would need to manifest sword gang to do it.
'It's beyond me.'
Then I have no choice but to aim for somewhere else.
This is the holy domain of the Tyrant Sword, Karaktu.
I have to make the most of that fact.
"Huu."
My entire body shudders at the mad dragon's killing intent.
However, it hasn't yet adapted to the Tyrant Sword's gravity.
Still struggling to move its body, it can't swing its sword as it pleases.
So the opportunity is now.
Its entire body isn't covered in scales. But getting too close is also dangerous, so first the thigh.
Slaash!
The mad dragon's cry echoed loudly enough to burst eardrums.
It's making a fuss even though I only slightly cut its thigh.
"Not bad."
I cut its left thigh.
In addition to the already deployed gravity field, the weight of its thigh increased tenfold.
Even for a mad dragon, adapting to the suddenly increased weight wouldn't be easy.
And.
The Tyrant Sword's holy domain isn't just this.
"Gravity release."
Vwoooom-
Release of gravity.
With that, the mad dragon's body floated up lightly. Its bewilderment was evident.
Immediately after, I applied gravity again.
Kwang!!
And released it again.
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
When I released gravity again, the mad dragon charged at flash-like speed as if determined not to be caught this time.
"Release."
Whoosh.
It floated up, but it didn't work.
The mad dragon kicked off the empty air in that instant.
Boom! Shockwaves rippled and the moment the mad dragon's sword reached right before my nose.
I pulled up the corners of my mouth and spoke.
"Reverse."
Kuwaaaaah!
The mad dragon's figure soared into the sky.
And again.
"Crush."
Kuwaaaaaaaaaang!!
This was truly the Tyrant.
The true power of the Tyrant.
"Grrrrr."
But the mad dragon wasn't going down easily either.
From some point on, it began to resist the gravity.
No, it would be more accurate to say it adapted.
With beast-like senses, it noticed the release and reversal of gravity and began to find ways to cope.
Bulging its muscles, or relaxing them.
As if growing even in the midst of battle, it seemed to understand the power of the holy domain that manipulated gravity.
It was truly exasperating.
"But I expected this."
It was absurd, but I had expected this much. If it couldn't even do this much, it wouldn't be the mad dragon that the kingdom couldn't kill even when they tried.
Kalias closed his eyes.
Immediately, the amount of holy power erupting from his entire body increased explosively.
Its purity was also different.
With the power of his 「Constitution」 - 『Fusion Bones』 and [Glutton], the absorption rate of the sacred stone and reverse scale increased exponentially.
He temporarily used the purity of the sacred stone as it was, further strengthened it with the power of the reverse scale, and enhanced his physical abilities.
Kuuuuuuu.
Ripples spread fiercely like waves around Kalias.
It was then.
Kwuuung!
The size of the holy domain Kalias possessed began to gradually expand.
It had further expanded its range from the royal castle's audience chamber.
From the center of the royal castle to the outskirts.
It had expanded the size of the holy domain to an astonishing degree.
Kalias coughed up blood.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't stop.
"Gather."
At his single word, the body of the mad dragon, pointed at by the tip of his sword, floated into the air.
The more the floating mad dragon struggled, the more blood overflowed from Kalias's mouth and eyes.
But soon the resistance lessened.
It was because debris and rocks gathered around the mad dragon and began to bind it.
Boom! Kung! Kwang!!
The rocks gathered under strong gravity with loud noises and struck the mad dragon.
As they struck, they merged into one and bound it.
The mad dragon, trapped in the stone with the continuous impact of the strikes, couldn't move a single finger.
But Kalias didn't let his guard down.
Even though it was like that now, it would soon reveal its power and smash everything to pieces.
Kalias raised that mass, which had transformed into a large sphere, high into the sky.
He raised it higher, and higher, and higher still.
Like stars twinkling in the night sky.
He raised it to the edge of the sky.
What was there was like another moon.
And.
"Moonfall."
The moon fell.
* * *
Slaash!
A red-head who rides through shadows, slashing soldiers' ankles to bring them down, then catching them from behind and cutting their throats.
Helena swiftly wiped the blood from her cheek and surveyed her surroundings.
Even after killing and killing again, the enemies didn't decrease. In the distance, Esther was fighting with tears streaming down her face, driven by rage, and the other captain-ranked knights were also unable to contain their indignation as they swung their swords.
The Empire's invasion.
The nobles' rebellion.
But more sorrowful than all, Sulivian's murder.
Her death was the kingdom's sorrow.
The shock became sorrow, became tears, and soon transformed into fury.
The direction of that fury was one.
The Empire and rebel forces before their eyes didn't go down easily either.
Helena killed enemies while calmly assessing the situation.
'There's a limit to the personnel that were transferred.'
The limit of transfer depends on the degree of holy power.
Under the influence of limited holy power, the number of people who can be transferred is fixed.
Even sacred artifacts aren't omnipotent.
The number Helena confirmed by checking all the shadows and counting was.
'Four Masters. Twenty captain-ranks. About a hundred soldiers.'
Plus three thousand rebel troops.
It was a sufficient number to overturn the royal castle.
'It was fortunate that many of the kingdom's powerful figures happened to be in the castle.'
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to maintain such a prolonged battle.
Their plan was likely to eliminate the kingdom's main forces through a surprise attack, but whether by luck or something else, a few holy artifacts hadn't functioned properly.
It was an unmatched boon for the kingdom.
However, it was an undeniable fact that the kingdom's power was insufficient compared to the Empire, so they could barely hold out.
Furthermore.
'The Mad Dragon went to where the Queen is. I can't confirm due to the holy domain, but judging from the energy fluctuations, they must be fighting intensely.'
A battle between Masters was mostly even.
'There's no Fire Demon, so Viktor, Gerald, the Pope, and Leviathan.'
Guardian Sword Viktor.
Judge Gerald.
Trembling Sword Felice.
Black Knight Leviathan.
Four without the Fire Demon, but the Empire's Masters were also four.
The captain-ranked forces below were outnumbered ten to twenty, but they were somehow holding on.
The kingdom's cards and the Empire's cards.
For some reason, the gap wasn't large.
But when calculating everything, there was one biggest headache.
'The Mad Dragon.'
Depending on whether they could subdue the mad dragon or not, the kingdom's future would change.
Its power was known to rival that of a Master......
"Huh?"
Just as she was pondering whether she should also go reinforce where the mad dragon was.
Kwuuuuung-!!
Suddenly, a powerful pressure crushed the entire royal castle.
"Kugh! What is this......"
Whose Master's holy domain was this?
How could a holy domain be so widespread? The thought crossed her mind at the same time her knees touched the ground.
The other forces weren't much different.
The soldiers couldn't endure at all and fell flat, and it was only at the level of knights that they could barely stand.
It was an immense pressure.
Helena couldn't understand what kind of power this was.
Since she knew no one in the kingdom who could wield such power, she thought it must be a Master of the Empire she hadn't been able to identify.
Just as the kingdom's prospects were growing increasingly bleak.
From beneath her feet, fragments of stone began to slowly rise.
At the same time, the intense pressure also disappeared.
"Hah. Haa...... What in the world."
As if watching magic, everything from tiny stone fragments to large rocks slowly rose into the air and began gathering toward one place.
That place was the royal audience chamber within the castle.
After smashing through all the stone walls and gathering, the roof of the royal castle burst open and a massive sphere rose into the sky.
It rose higher and higher into the sky with a tremendous rumble.
Helena, who had looked up at the sky without realizing, saw stars twinkling.
"A star...... no?"
Somehow, the size of the star kept growing.
It didn't even twinkle.
A massive boulder was floating above the royal castle. Soon, it began to fall downward.
"Ah...... dodge!!"
Kuwaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!!
Intense heat spread in an instant.
Wind pressure erupted fiercely.
Helena immediately grabbed Esther, who was fighting, and fled.
Far, far away.
Only after running for a while.
Kuwaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!
The fallen boulder exploded.
Boom! Kung! Thud!!
"Ughhh!"
"Oh, that hurts......"
While running away holding Esther.
She rolled and rolled from the shockwave of the fallen meteor and barely came to a stop.
"The royal castle......"
The boulder's size wasn't that large, but the impact it caused was immense. The royal castle was nearly half-destroyed.
Turrets collapsed from the shock.
With a single collision, the royal castle, the kingdom's pride, crumbled down.
"What in the world......"
"It's not exactly bad...... but it also seems bad...... I can't really tell."
Looking at the royal castle that had instantly become ruins, Esther and Helena didn't know what to do.
Even setting aside the meteor that had fallen out of nowhere, it was hard to gauge whether it was a gain or a loss.
That was because the place where the meteor fell was close to where Golas's stronghold had fallen, and thanks to that, the Empire's forces had suffered greater damage than their allies.
After briefly organizing their thoughts, Helena and Esther immediately ran toward where the meteor had fallen. First, confirming the king's condition was the top priority.
Even though there was a Master, they might not be safe from such an impact.
While cutting down the remaining Empire soldiers and approaching.
On the way, they encountered other Empire knights.
They also had no intention of fighting for now and were just running, apparently wanting to check the situation.
When they arrived at the collapsed audience chamber.
Helena and Esther's hearts dropped as if they had fallen.
Because there.
"Ah......"
Stood Kalias, with his heart pierced through by the Mad Dragon Sword.