Chapter 167
"Why go to such lengths!"
"It is the command of His Great Imperial Majesty. That is all."
The Prince looked at the Beastman Shield Knight blocking his path, Pupi, and answered.
Before he knew it, the Imperial Knights he led had encountered the Beastmen's stronghold.
Spears battered against shields, and shields fought back against spears, creating dull noises and tearing battle cries.
With the Saintess who represents the Beastmen absent.
The one leading them was the Shield Knight, Pupi.
He once again raised the shield that had momentarily blocked the dragon's breath.
Thud-!
"The Empire will not pierce through the shield before me ever again!"
"Where do you think you're going!"
The Empire's 12th Spear, Vain, blocked his path, and the offense and defense began.
With that as the starting point, a life-or-death battle between the Knights of a Thousand and the Beastmen unfolded.
The corners of the Prince's mouth rose.
But at that moment.
An intense shockwave that shook the heavens and the earth rattled all of Oblfix.
Rumble-!
Due to the sudden shock, most of the knights lost their balance and fell.
The sky was split like a torn cloth, the clouds parting, and the stone pillars that could be called the pride of Oblfix were being half-destroyed.
Signs of a massive battle taking place.
Furthermore, a demonic energy subtly felt in the air.
The knights shivered involuntarily, and the Prince was no exception.
"Is this... a demon?"
A presence he had never felt in his life.
An unfamiliar eeriness that made him shudder.
The Prince unconsciously stepped back, stumbled, and rolled into a bush.
A foolish act he wouldn't normally commit.
However, before the presence of the demon revealed for the first time in a thousand years, the Prince could only tremble like prey before a predator.
"Ugh! Uwaaaah!"
Because it was a slope, once he started rolling, he couldn't stop himself and kept rolling.
Then, he instantly fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a branch in the nick of time, dangling from it.
Rattle.
The falling pebbles plummeted into the bottomless abyss.
Gulp.
"S-someone save me!!"
But no one.
Could pay attention to the Prince.
To the enemy before their eyes.
To the evil residing here, all their nerves were focused.
The Prince, hanging from the slender branch, unknowingly looked down at the ground below.
The place where the demon would soon reside was being devoured by an ashen hue.
* * *
Thwack.
Kalias pulled out the Devouring Sword he had driven in.
The Devouring Sword greedily devoured the guy's blood and flesh.
A sword and a scabbard.
Although it was only about half of it, it too could be called a demonic sword.
To the Devouring Sword, which was on the verge of the Phantom Rank, the Undying Fallen was too delectable a main dish.
Swoosh.
However, the Undying Fallen was not finished. He was looking around with a disgusted expression.
[How desolate. With this pathetic sanctuary? Me? Compared to my grand appearance, the imagery is so unsightly.......]
The Undying Fallen openly displayed a disappointed expression and sentiment.
Just as he said, the sanctuary Kalias had cultivated with the Devouring Sword was unsightly.
Just a desolate earth.
Cracked, barren land, and the sky was not blue but closer to gray.
A space that seemed a bit colorless.
Moreover, no special divine artifacts or energy could be felt.
[Did you forcibly raise its rank? Why didn't you bring out the Weeping Fallen?]
He forcibly formed a sanctuary with a sword that hadn't even reached the Phantom Rank.
So naturally, such a shabby sanctuary appeared.
The Undying Fallen clicked his tongue.
He had traveled a long way here with high expectations, but the one he had been so eager to meet was only giving him disappointment.
[The Saintess would have been better than you.]
"What an impatient guy. Why is someone who wants to die in such a hurry? Did you just live running your mouth all this time?"
Kalias stood the Devouring Sword upright in front of him and said.
"The sword's name is Roas. Its title is the Devouring Sword. The sanctuary formed with it is a space perfectly designed to kill you. Don't worry."
[Are you talking about this empty sanctuary? In this place where there's no special sense of foreignness or anything at all? Me?]
The Undying Fallen prided himself on having experienced quite a few sanctuaries.
In fact, those who had experienced more sanctuaries than him in this world could definitely be counted on one hand.
He had traveled everywhere on the continent, walking wherever his feet took him, picking fights with the strong and asking to be killed, yet he was a Fallen who had never been able to die.
Because of that, he knew.
[This sanctuary is trash.]
A sanctuary formed by a sword that hadn't even reached the Rank. The Undying Fallen was quite displeased by the unsightly imagery, as if he was being looked down upon.
[Why don't you use the sword of the Weeping Fallen? Are you trying to mock me?]
"Because there's no need to use it."
[What?]
"You say you want to die, yet you look at your grave this way and that, judging whether the one who can give you a glorious death is worthy or not. There's no need to bring out Titeo for a guy like that."
[.......]
"For a guy who throws a tantrum like a baby just because he was abandoned by god, Titeo's conviction would only be tarnished."
Swoosh.
Flash-! Slash!
In an instant, Kalias's sword, which had escaped the Fallen's field of vision, slashed him.
The Undying Fallen's body tilted as his side was torn off as if bitten off.
His torn flesh and blood soaked the desolate earth.
[...?]
His own flesh.
And as his blood touched the earth, something sprouted from the barren ground.
[A sword?]
What sprouted from the earth was a single sword, looking as if it had been stuck there from the beginning.
But he could tell.
The reason this sword appeared.
It was a sword that only appeared after eating his flesh and blood.
"The ability of the Devouring Sword is exactly as it sounds."
Devouring.
Devours the opponent's flesh and soul.
And makes it its own power.
At the Spirit Rank, that power was only enough to repair its own blade.
But how would that change in a sanctuary where the rank was forcibly raised?
What would happen if it reached the Phantom Rank?
Kalias had used the Devouring Sword for a long time during this pilgrimage, pondering that point deeply.
And the conclusion of that contemplation was this.
"The conclusion is that the root is still devouring."
Devouring the opponent's blood and soul.
It is the same every time it cuts.
The shape of the sword remains the same.
However, as if there are invisible, formless fangs, being cut by the Devouring Sword leaves a wound like being mauled by a beast.
Because of that, flesh and blood scatter, and the sword and the sanctuary devour the opponent's power, making it their own and creating swords.
"Undying Fallen who regenerates endlessly. But can you truly not die until the end, even in this place?"
In this sanctuary where your flesh and soul are devoured.
Can you continue to exist as yourself until the end?
"The reason you regenerate is probably because no matter what attack you receive, your solid soul and mind remain undamaged."
A man who was a saint in his previous life.
His strong mental fortitude and noble soul, although fallen, the karma and rank he had built up still remained.
That's why he didn't die.
"Shape Memory Retention."
His soul.
If his mind and soul always remember their original state while his mind remains in a heightened state, even if his body is torn and dismembered, it will eventually return to its original state.
That is the secret of the Undying Fallen.
The source of his undying nature.
He must have truly experienced all kinds of death.
Pierced by spears, slashed by swords, crushed by hammers, burned, and even melted.
But surely he had never experienced the act of being eaten by something.
The sensation of having not only his body but even his soul devoured.
Would he be able to maintain that strong mental fortitude in the face of that?
[.......]
The Undying Fallen glared.
It was an extremely unfamiliar sensation. Even though he had tasted all kinds of sensations, this feeling was a first in his life.
The cut parts did not return.
The parts that he could freely change into clothing, tentacles, or his body did not come back.
No, he couldn't remember.
How did he do it? How did he change it?
How,
did he regenerate this place?
"Are you scared?"
[Scared? Me?]
Gulp.
As he retorted, he unknowingly gulped down his saliva.
The Fallen felt the time of death he had so longed for approaching.
But how could he be afraid!
[I am not scared! I have waited for it! Always, and anytime, for this moment!!]
"Then why are you stepping back?"
Flinch.
The Fallen's gaze turned to his two legs that should have been solid.
The legs that had always stood firm against any opponent.
One of his legs had quietly taken a step back.
[...!]
"Do not fear. This is only what you have always, eternally, and longed for."
Slash-!
[Kuaaak!]
Once again, Kalias's sword slashed the Undying Fallen.
It would be more accurate to say it mauled him.
The Devouring Sword, which tore from his chest to one of his forearms, created thirty swords in the sanctuary.
The numerous swords planted in the desolate earth contained intense energy.
"It seems it's starting to hurt a bit."
[...! I screamed....]
An unfamiliar experience.
Since he fell, he had never felt it in his life.
Because pain to him was a sensation that had already been dulled to the extreme.
For someone like him to scream.
To feel pain!
The Fallen's lips trembled.
[Regeneration is.......]
Pain to him was a sensation that had already been dulled to the extreme.
No, in fact, the physical pain didn't matter at all.
It was a scream of the mind.
The fear of forgetting one by one.
The chilling sensation of losing one by one.
"There is plenty of time. This sword is your grave, so take your time and enjoy it."
[.......]
The Fallen couldn't continue speaking.
The death he had longed for was approaching.
The shadow of death right before his eyes coolly coveted him.
[A, a glorious death.......]
"Yes. So it shall be."
Oblivion. The shadow of death was falling over him.
[This, this isn't it...!!]
The Fallen had always desired death.
Because life was eternal agony, and hope did not exist.
That was why he desired death, rest.
He hoped to put a glorious period to this life that had lost all meaning.
But what was this?
It was not fighting and losing to a handful of the strong, nor was it dying by giving a trial to a hero.
A sword that couldn't even reach the Phantom Rank.
Being eaten one by one and forgotten in a trash-like sanctuary created by a forcibly raised rank, is this my death?
He couldn't accept it.
He could never accept such a death!
[Did you think someone like you could even lay a finger on me!]
The Undying Fallen regained his senses.
Even if he had fallen, he was originally a hero.
He perceived that as long as he wasn't cut by that Devouring Sword, he wouldn't be devoured.
"I'm not yet used to controlling my power. I gained some Yokai Power, but I gained a bit too much. It's still not digested properly, which is troublesome."
[A human using Yokai Power? Now you're even spouting nonsense.]
"I thought about how to use this power. But since it's quite an unfamiliar power to me, I was pondering it, and he told me."
Yokai Power is the power to control nature.
It is the aura of nature itself.
So first.
"He said I must become one with nature."
Kalias's eyes were dyed purple.
Soon, a massive Yokai Power that encroached on the space surged.
[Yokai Power! How can a human have such power!]
"Even so, I still can't use it properly. What I can do is very little."
Swoosh.
Kalias's figure disappeared.
It wasn't at the level of moving fast.
It was safe to say he had vanished entirely.
"By controlling the wind, I eliminate resistance. By folding the earth, I reduce the constraints of space. The words are simple, but it wasn't an easy method, so I struggled a bit to get used to it."
[...!]
Goosebumps broke out all over the Undying Fallen's body at the sight of Kalias occupying his back and speaking.
Boom-!
He swung his whip in an instant, but he was already gone.
"He called it the Instant Step."
He approached his side and spoke.
Like a ghost, like sorcery.
A footwork so fast that even he himself had difficulty recognizing it and swinging his sword.
A footwork that was almost like a divine art.
Kalias had learned it along with the Yokai Power from him, who was the Yokai King.
"I was quite curious as to what kind of power would come out when this Instant Step and my sword combined."
They say speed is power.
What effect would occur if the speed from the Instant Step and Kalias's sword combined?
[...!!]
"Dodge well. If it ends in one blow, I'll be quite disappointed too."
Ping.
He disappeared with a clear sound.
The Fallen then crossed his two hands.
He only had the thought of blocking.
It was a footwork of a speed that couldn't be felt or perceived.
He only thought it was right to curl up and prepare for the impact.
But that thought was wrong.
"Silver Flower Sword-Breaking: Hundred Severing Flowers."
The Hundred Severing Flowers used alongside the Instant Step.
Slash-!
The strike that burst out the moment it was drawn from the scabbard split the Fallen's body.
[Kuaaaaaaaak!]
The strike that continued from his side bisected the Fallen's body.
Torn apart, his lower and upper body separated, and the Fallen's eyes rolled wildly.
The noticeably slowed regeneration added to his misery.
"Keuk."
Along with the suffering Fallen, Kalias also let out a groan.
The Instant Step was a technique that put a strain on the body just by using it. Originally, it was a technique that a Yokai who had released their physical form should use.
As it was a technique that eliminated resistance and folded space to move, it put a burden on the physical body.
But handling a sword on top of that added the burden of his internal organs twisting.
Trickle.
A line of fresh blood flowed down the corner of his mouth.
[Keuk, keukeuk! Kueeeeek!]
On top of that, the guy used his whip.
Even if he moved quickly, simply placing the whip on the expected trajectory was quite a burden for Kalias.
The armor on his chest and his forearm were torn.
It was because of the guy's whip.
[Isn't this a case of falling for your own trick! Keuk, kueeeeek!]
While continuously sneering, he coughed up blood and struggled in pain.
Like a trampled earthworm.
Kalias frowned.
"Do you think the situation will change just because you slightly wounded me? It's a pathetic sight to see someone who wanted to die struggling to live. Did you originally think swords made of your flesh and soul were created in my sanctuary for no reason?"
Swords formed by devouring.
The desolate earth was already densely packed with countless swords planted in the ground.
As he recalled that intention, the Fallen's eyes flashed.
The sword Kalias wielded was Devouring.
A sanctuary formed by devouring.
The swords of the desolate earth that were created by devouring his flesh and soul.
What could be their reason for existence?
[Don't tell me.......]
As Kalias grabbed one of them.
Swoosh, it disappeared and turned into aura.
"Is this your ability? Not bad."
As he muttered those words, the wounds inflicted on him were completely healed.
The Devouring Sword stores the opponent's abilities by turning them into swords.
The reason swords filled the once empty desolate sanctuary was none other than the Fallen.
They were swords made of his soul.
The renewed power in each sword that filled the sanctuary was all the power of the 'Undying Fallen'.
[...! That's absurd.]
At the sight of Kalias healing his wounds in an instant, the Undying Fallen gasped and couldn't close his mouth.
He then spread the tentacles of his torn upper body and reached for a sword created nearby.
[I just need to do the same!]
But.
"It won't be pulled out."
[It's my power! Why isn't it listening to me!]
The sword didn't budge.
As if its only master was one.
Even with all his strength, it didn't move.
"If you want to pull it out that badly, should I help you?"
As Kalias sneered and spread his hand, the unmoving sword moved.
Slash!
[Keuheok!! What...!]
Starting with the sword that cut him.
Rumble.
The swords in the sanctuary moved on their own.
A massive amount of swords.
All the swords, which had increased to hundreds in an instant, floated into the air.
The densely floating swords all aimed at the 'Undying Fallen'.
Each possessing a fearsome power that couldn't be ignored, they aimed at the Fallen with his empty face like beasts baring their vicious fangs.
The swords made of his own flesh and soul.
Only to kill him.
Rushed to devour him.
A pouring rain of swords.
Every time a sword pierced him, one by one, his memories were erased from his mind.
Glory.
Fear.
Love.
Despair.
And death.
Amidst it all, the Fallen's eyes vainly turned to the man who had created them.
"You have the right to resent me."
What filled the man's eyes was pity. Only at the end, as death approached, did he understand its meaning.
Somehow, he felt like he understood.
"I congratulate you on your death."
[Aah.......]
A stream of tears flowed from the Fallen's eyes.
That was the last of the Fallen, who had felt he would never be able to die for all eternity.
[Oh, God.......]
It was his end.