Chapter 180
There were signs.
However, far more than expected.
Many things had begun to change.
The North was not originally fated to face such a crisis so soon.
But the reason Politan, with his cautious nature, targeted the North and coveted the Northern fairy was none other than the existence of the Troll.
And the Troll was information revealed because of no other than Callius.
This too was a deviation that all stemmed from himself.
Therefore.
He had to set it right himself.
Thud.
"Those who shouldn't have suffered, suffered."
"……."
"Those who didn't have to die, died."
Whoooosh.
The wind blows.
With each of his steps, each stride, a heavy wind is trampled beneath his feet, creating a ghastly noise.
"Who are you?"
Politan asked as he retreated.
To that question, which was essentially a rhetorical one, he willingly answered.
"The master of the North."
Straight.
He raised the Storm Sword—Callis upright.
And just like that.
He swung the storm.
"Grrraaaagh!"
Against the tremendous storm slash, Politan pulled threads from his entire body to block it.
From his wide sleeves, threads densely woven together formed a barrier.
However.
Boom—!
With a single strike, his barrier crumbled.
No, it was torn to shreds.
It was ripped to pieces as if meeting the claws of a fierce beast.
Politan's Adam's apple bobbed.
'The cocoon's shield that could even easily block a Troll's attack.'
Callius tore through it in a single blow.
Politan's face fell into shadow.
All directions were blocked by blade-like vortices, making movement impossible.
And the vortex that had engulfed the area was gradually narrowing, and for some unknown reason, the disaster raised by the fairy was calming down.
'Callis, you mean the first head of the North?'
The hero of the North who was active a thousand years ago.
The Great Fairy had vanished with that name on her lips.
Then does that mean one who died a thousand years ago has come back to life?
'No. That's impossible.'
It can't be.
Probably not Callis but Callius.
The Northern good-for-nothing.
Carpe's famous prodigal.
The dullard among dullards.
But now the hero who saved the nation, the one who puts conviction into his sword.
'I've never heard he became a Master.'
And not just an ordinary Master.
He had already passed the initial stage of Master.
The killing intent and strange gray energy emanating from him was like the aura of a solid expert who had created their own world.
"……."
Before he knew it, gray ash was settling all around.
Politan's eyes narrowed.
The hair all over his body stood on end.
Getting goosebumps meant it was something he absolutely shouldn't touch.
'I'm well aware of Callis's abilities.'
The sword called Storm, or North Wind.
Callis.
A phantom sword created by the progenitor of Zerban.
The power of the sword that manipulates the Northern wind was a treasured blade whose fame was widely known by the Empire and other small nations that had attacked the North.
The strength of Callis meant that depending on who wielded it, the difficulty of breaking through it increased exponentially.
And the Callis wielded by Callius.
Slash.
'It's the worst.'
Threads that had been planted underground burst out simultaneously, targeting Callius.
But without blinking an eye, sword in hand, he sliced through them all.
To be more precise, he didn't even swing his sword.
He cut with the wind.
Politan's face crumpled even more.
It meant that the will riding the wind was more intense than his own.
Callius kept approaching.
Politan kept retreating.
The killing intent he exuded.
The thick killing intent kept making Politan shrink back.
"How on earth did you stop the fairy's rampage?"
The mental image domain he created.
There was no Tel in the sanctuary.
Only Politan occupied it.
Politan had a premonition of his own death.
So he wanted to at least resolve his questions.
To his question, Callius raised the new sword in his right hand.
"What is that sword's ability that it can stop the Great Fairy's power..."
"I didn't stop it."
Bernard.
Callius couldn't hide his bitterness as he looked at Bernard, who had become a sword.
『Bernard』
Grade - Phantom
Embedded Soul - Bernard
Unique Ability - Disappeared Star
"I just made it disappear for a moment."
His unique ability is Disappeared Star.
Literally, a disappeared star.
Of course, that doesn't mean it's some great sword that can actually make opponents disappear.
Rather than making opponents disappear.
It's a sword that makes oneself disappear.
Originally, this sword was not suitable for use when fighting someone.
With a sword that makes oneself disappear, how could one protect and cut anyone?
When Callius first grasped Bernard.
He disappeared.
The place he opened his eyes was inside the sword, and there he met him.
Inside Bernard's sword was a place where the constraints of time and space were somewhat free.
In other words, a training room.
Therefore, Callius was able to learn Flowing Water Transformation without difficulty.
Therefore, he thought.
If Bernard were to deploy a sanctuary.
What kind of mental image would unfold?
Callius had to stop the rampaging Tel while simultaneously dealing with Politan.
While imprisoning Politan in Callis's sanctuary, he simultaneously created another sanctuary.
'Multiple Sanctuary.'
Deploying a multiple sanctuary that unfolded two sanctuaries simultaneously, Callius separated Tel and Politan.
Politan to Callis.
Tel to Bernard's sanctuary.
'It's as expected, but.'
The mental power consumption was considerable, more than expected.
Bernard's ability originally makes oneself disappear, but when deploying a sanctuary, it creates space itself.
He drew out Bernard's mental image into reality and temporarily imprisoned Tel in the sanctuary.
However, even with the sanctuary deployed.
He couldn't do anything about Tel.
Because Bernard was not a sword to destroy opponents, but a sword to impart teachings to the one who wields it.
"There isn't much time."
With the deployment of the multiple sanctuary, divine power was left at only half in an instant.
The consumption was extremely fast, and mental power was also being exhausted. The most important center that constitutes a sanctuary is the knight's heart.
With that consuming double, his brain was already stinging.
He had to finish off Politan quickly.
Otherwise, he would be the first to collapse from exhaustion.
"Now die."
Rumble—!!
Storm sword energy.
It rushed toward Politan.
Against Callius's strike that came tearing through everything in all directions, Politan seemed to have no way to block it.
Wrapping the bundles of threads scattered from his sleeves around his entire body like armor, he let a single silver thread drift on the wind.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Slash—!
Politan's figure, bouncing off and being torn apart like shattering to pieces, swayed this way and that.
His arm was severed, his skin torn, and he let out screams filled with pain.
"Cough...!!"
Soon his chest was torn open and vomiting blood, Politan fell flat on the ground with a thud.
The moment Callius saw that and was about to lower his sword.
Stab.
A silver thread that appeared from somewhere wriggled like an earthworm and burrowed into Callius's body.
"Hehehehehehahaha! You let your guard down!!"
Politan, with only his upper body remaining, burst into maniacal laughter.
The one he thought was already dead had somehow wrapped threads around his body with an unconcerned face, suturing his limbs, and wrapped the missing parts with thread to form the shape of his body.
It was a scene like looking at an undying corruption.
"Followers of the Thread are originally weak in combat. However, they have stealthiness that makes up for it! Your carelessness in dismissing it as a mere thread will cost you your life!"
Politan was full of spirit.
It was a power that even the Great Fairy couldn't shake off.
The last resort he had saved by cutting and cutting the precious Phantom-grade threads.
It worked perfectly.
Thinking that Callius's body, which had shown such magnificent martial prowess, would fall under his control, he couldn't hide his excitement already.
"Now, remove the sanctuary first."
Calming his somewhat agitated emotions, Politan commanded Callius majestically, as if he had become king.
However.
"Hmm?"
The Storm Sword—Callis's sanctuary didn't disappear easily.
Rather, it was swirling more fiercely and narrowing.
"Wh-what! Remove the sanctuary quickly!!"
But Callius said nothing.
He just stood there staring at Politan.
"N-no way..."
Politan, stepping back, swallowed dryly.
'The brainwashing isn't working.'
It was clear he was resisting the thread that had infiltrated his body.
Otherwise, this couldn't be happening.
"Does he have stronger mental power than the Great Fairy who has lived for thousands of years?"
Nonsense!
But what he saw was exactly that.
Then, unfortunately, it couldn't be helped.
"Kill him."
If the thread that infiltrated his body couldn't dominate his body, if it was being resisted, then unfortunately, killing him was the best option.
"Tear him apart!"
Phantom-grade thread.
Its strength was tremendous, and no knight trains the inside of their body.
Flesh is soft and easy to pierce or tear.
Who could possibly stop the thread running rampant inside the body!
However.
"Wh-what...! That's impossible!!"
Callius's body was calm.
That was because.
[Resisting mental attack.]
Hetaia's Ruby resisted the brainwashing.
And.
[The Mad Dragon Sword expresses displeasure at the insignificant thread intruding into its dwelling.]
[Midas's thread begins to be dominated by the Mad Dragon's madness.]
The Mad Dragon Sword that resided in his heart revealed its will. As it dominated Midas's thread, the easily weakened thread was pulled out of Callius's body.
'…….'
He left it alone because Hetaia's Ruby blocks all mental-type attacks.
For physical attacks, even without the Mad Dragon, he could easily resist or extract them using his demonic power and dragon power.
'It wouldn't be bad to meet the Mad Dragon once more.'
It was a little different from before.
Seeing a slightly favorable aspect, he thought he might be able to make him a perfect ally if things went well.
Souls with awakened consciousness among phantom swords were extremely rare.
"Are you done?"
"……."
"Then I'll put an end to this."
"Even if you try to kill me! You cannot kill me!"
To Politan's words, spoken with difficulty as he barely suppressed his anger, Callius simply nodded.
"I know."
"You know? What do you..."
"I know you're a clone."
Therefore.
"Disappear from before my eyes."
Slash.
Politan's figure was torn to pieces by the storm and vanished.
Whoooosh... Soon the storm sanctuary dissolved.
What appeared was a dark night sky.
A sanctuary where starlight poured down, as if expressing the glittering night sky of the North.
It was the sanctuary of the Disappeared Star, and standing there was a dark star looking at something in the sky with a nonchalant face.
An old man with a translucent body standing with his hands behind his back. He soon looked back and smiled with a fading face.
[You good-for-nothing rascal. You came again already.]
The owner of the sanctuary who welcomed him with a hearty laugh, and Callius's sword that had become the sanctuary itself.
It was Bernard.
"Didn't you say there's still much to learn?"
[There is much to learn. But seeing you bring something like this to an old man who just became a sword, you need to learn some respect.]
In front of the clicking Bernard.
A fairy shaking her green hair while rampaging, unable to control her power.
Tel was there.
Even at a glance, she wasn't normal.
Blood vessels stood out all over her body, and energy was suppressed as if about to explode at any moment.
She was probably blocking the rampage of her power with a desperate resolve.
But that too seemed to be a matter of time.
If Tel's tremendous power truly began to rampage, Bernard's sanctuary would be broken in an instant and the North would become a wasteland.
Callius's instinctive intuition was ringing alarm bells more seriously than ever, so it wasn't a delusion.
[What will you do?]
To Bernard's question asking whether he would kill her, Callius raised Callis.
"A fairy who has watched over the North for over a thousand years finally declared she would protect the North. I can't kill her."
How could he turn away from her heart that had never protected the North even once.
It would be different if it were someone else.
Callius absolutely could not turn away.
"Tel."
Remnant energy bloomed around Callius. Gray lingered around the Storm Sword—Callis he grasped.
"Don't die."
From Callius's sword.
A gray dragon's breath was fired.