Chapter 192 : Final Battle (1)
Final Battle (1)
"Hisperion."
The Heavenly Sword Lord's blade pointed toward the torn sky.
"Advance."
With that low but weighty command—
"Waaaaaaah!!"
"For the glory of Hisperion!!"
Thunder booming and shaking the ground.
Under the banner of Hisperion, swordsmen drew their famed blades and surged forward.
The surge of aura, kindled by hundreds of thousands of swordsmen, was ferocious.
It was like a massive tidal wave.
However, facing this majestic march, the demon realm's Grand Dukes, seated upon thrones floating in the air, merely let out derisive snickers.
"Pathetic. Pitiful."
"The moths are rushing into the flames, eager to hasten their own deaths."
"Still, isn't it rather amusing? Ufufu. The prey is running straight into our mouths."
The Grand Dukes each lightly flicked their fingers.
That tiny gesture was a command for the entire demon realm to charge.
― Kugugugugugu!
― Kyeeeeeee!!
A chilling screeching sound as the dimensional rupture tore even wider.
― Kuaaaaaaa!!
From within the fissure, a deluge of calamities poured out.
Grotesquely twisted monstrosities, demonic beasts with rotting flesh, giants drenched in magma, machines made of bone...
A bizarre horde, as if composed of humanity's worst nightmares, surged forth, blotting out the sky and earth in blackness.
― Kwaaaang!!
Soon, the tidal wave of aura and the tsunami of the demon realm crashed head-on.
― Kwaaak! Kwajik!
― Seogok! Seogeogeok!
"Krrrrr...!"
No sooner had battle begun than the Grand Duke of Wrath, behemoth, snarled, furrowing his brows mercilessly.
The impatient demonkin of wrath, without orders, had thrown themselves to the front and were paying a heavy price from the very start.
"Why is it only my legion being ground down in the vanguard! You cowardly lackeys! Push your own beastly brats forward as well!"
Behemoth glared at the other Grand Dukes sitting beside him, hellfire blazing in his eyes.
But the Grand Duke of Envy simply busied himself with his nails, and the Grand Duke of Greed twisted his lips, snorting dismissively.
No devil would willingly see their legion consumed, and of course, there was no such thing as loyalty to step up for one another.
"Krrrrrr! You cowardly bastards! Fine!"
Behemoth kicked off his throne and stood up.
"If you're just going to suck your fingers and sit there, I'll cut down the head of their leader myself and end this boring battle! All glory and merit shall be mine!"
― Paaaat!
Behemoth launched himself from the air, shooting toward the earth.
His target was none other than the Heavenly Sword Lord, Darkan, standing at the center of the swordsmen.
"H-huh!?"
"What is that!"
"A-a meteorite!?"
As the immense demonic energy Behemoth exuded swept the land, swordsmen who had been swinging their swords found themselves crushed by the overwhelming aura.
The deadly killing intent of the Grand Duke of Wrath, burning as hot as the heart of a volcano.
Clutching a massive mace, the Grand Duke fell like a red comet.
"Die right now! King who clutches a sword!"
The mace, condensed with the power of wrath at its peak, crashed toward Darkan's crown like a meteor.
If it landed, the land itself would be shattered to pieces.
"......"
Yet the Heavenly Sword Lord gazed up at the destructive mace without so much as a flinch.
He merely murmured calmly, with steady eyes,
"Reeks of sulfur. Revolting brute."
Just as the mace was about to strike Darkan—
― Kaaaaaaang!!
From somewhere, a crimson bolt of enhanced energy flew in, repelling the mace with a thunderous blast.
"... What!?"
Behemoth widened his eyes, looking down at the one who had deflected his blow.
As the thick cloud of dust cleared, a figure appeared—
Standing proudly in front of Darkan, a silver-haired direct descendant of Hisperion.
A man who, through storms and blizzards of the north, broke through his own limits under his father's guidance, perfectly tempering the burning fire within his chest.
The eldest son of the Heavenly Sword Lord, Theo Hisperion.
Theo rested his greatsword on his shoulder, his red eyes blazing like embers as he glared at the Grand Duke.
"With that filthy aura, you will never reach my father."
"What...! Ho...!"
Behemoth narrowed his eyes, staring at Theo.
The aura emanating from Theo's body had reached the threshold of demigodhood.
"A brat who's only just kindled a small spark...! You dare block my path! I'll rip apart your arrogant heart first!"
― Kuaaaaang!
The Grand Duke of Wrath roared, flames spewing from his mouth as he charged at Theo.
"Before that, your head will hit the ground first."
― Paaat!
Theo did not retreat; he hoisted his greatsword, launching himself to meet Behemoth.
― Kwang! Kwagagagagak! Kwaaang!
A clash of two demigods.
Two enormous auras clashed wildly in the sky, like two comets dancing across the heavens.
"Ufufufufu......"
Watching the fierce aerial battle, the Grand Duke of Gluttony, baalzev, chuckled shamelessly.
"Now that the uncultured Wrath is gone, I can finally enjoy a proper meal."
― Ttak!
― Jjeooooooook!
As Baalzev snapped his fingers, the dimensional rupture behind him widened even further, gaping open like a colossal mouth.
"There's no need to nibble on tough meat from the beginning. Let's start slow with an appetizer, shall we?"
― Kung! Kuung! Kuuuuung!
From the dimensional fissure crawled giants of gluttony, bodies covered in countless maws, with neither eyes nor ears.
"Devour everything. My mouths."
― Kuaaaaaaaa!!
― Kung! Kung! Kung! Kung!
The giants bellowed, like a landslide, stampeding toward the swordsmen in front.
"Crazy... What are those now!?"
"Stop them! If we retreat, the rear will be pushed back too!"
"Fire!! Fire! Pour it on!"
― Swasasasasasasak!
Thousands of elite knights imbued their attacks with aura and unleashed razor-sharp sword strikes.
― Kraaaaaa!!
The giants writhed in pain, thrashing as viscous green blood splattered.
But—
― Seurururururuk!
Within a second, the slashed wounds regenerated, covered in sticky fluid.
Even severed limbs instantly regrew.
"C-crazy! Their regeneration!"
"Our sword strikes... aren't working!"
"It's like swinging at water!"
Instead of stopping them, each attack only enraged the giants further.
"We're going to be trampled!"
"Kuuuuuh!"
Then—
― Wiiiiiing!
― Kuaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
A thick flash streaked across the battlefield.
― Peeeeeeong!!
A gluttony giant, hit squarely by the beam, exploded with a bang!
"......!!"
A powerful heat ray, annihilating even the chance to regenerate, destroying the enemy at the cellular level.
The Grand Duke of Gluttony's expression hardened.
His gaze shifted toward the source of the flash.
There stood a Luminari golem, towering like a mountain, smoke billowing as it opened its breastplate armor.
"H-how dare you... Interrupt my meal...!!"
"Oho..."
While the Grand Duke of Gluttony trembled with rage, beside him, the Grand Duke of Greed, mammon, gazed at the ancient golem with sparkling eyes.
"How covetable. That belongs in my treasure vault."
Mammon raised his golden staff high.
"Go fetch that enormous doll."
― Kieeeeeeek!!
At Mammon's command, the demonkin of greed, brandishing savage weapons, all charged toward the golem.
Their number reached tens of thousands.
And each was an expert-level elite.
"High Priestess Nayuta! The demonkin are coming this way!"
"Fire! Intercept them!"
"Th-there are too many!"
― Paang! Paaang!
― Kwang! Kwaaang!!
"They keep coming!"
"If this keeps up, we're done for!"
Like wild piranhas, the greed horde closed in relentlessly.
At this rate, the Luminari golems would be torn apart like cattle stuck in a swamp.
But Hisperion was not so easily defeated.
"This spot is just right for us."
Knight Order Commander Preben Hisperion.
She stood in front of the Luminari golems, drawing her gleaming famed blade.
On either side of her gathered the finest of the Heavenly Sword House, the Heavenly Sword Knight Order forming an unbreakable wall.
"Don't know where these grinning, bulky golems came from..."
Preben pointed her treasured sword forward and shouted.
"These golems are the core firepower of this battle! We will protect them with our lives! Not a single demonkin bastard is to approach!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
― Kwang! Bang! Kwaaang!
― Seogok! Seogeogok! Seogeogeogok!
Soon, the Heavenly Sword Knight Order and the massive horde of greed crashed into each other, a storm of blood sweeping across the battlefield.
"Ihihihi..."
Watching the fierce melee, the Grand Duke of Envy, leviathan, sat cross-legged on the throne, sneering.
"All of them blundering about, unable to act as they want... How laughable. So laughable."
The Grand Duke of Wrath was fighting humans in the sky, the Grand Duke of Gluttony was trembling in rage at being kept from his feast, and the Grand Duke of Greed was locked in a mud fight with knights over a toy.
"Not one of them looks respectable."
The Grand Duke of Envy turned her head, looking at the Grand Duke of Lust sitting quietly beside her.
"Lilith. Aren't you going to act? How long will you sit there like a doll?"
The Grand Duke of Lust, Lilith, did not answer.
She simply leaned back against the throne with captivating grace, her slender finger gently pressed to her red lips, casting a bewitching smile.
"Shh."
A warning to be quiet.
Lilith had not the faintest interest in the clash of demigods raging in the sky, nor in the battle of giants shaking the earth.
Her hazy, yearning gaze was fixed only on the center of the battlefield.
On the swordsman with ashen hair, floating countless famed swords in the air and butchering demonkin—Ian Greysel.
The Grand Duke of Lust's red lips curved into a slow arc.
"... We finally meet again."
Unlike the other Grand Dukes, she had not lost her memories of her previous life.
She still remembered Ian.
The noble soul she so desperately wished to corrupt.
A man, among all the prey she'd seen in her millennia, with a soul so overwhelmingly desirable she could never easily forget or give up.
'It was agony.'
When the Goddess intervened and the timeline of the world was rolled back fifteen years—
Lilith poured all her power into keeping her memories intact, raising her demigodhood to the utmost.
Had she not resisted, her memories of that man—and even her own lust for him—would have been washed away by the temporal stream.
To her, the embodiment of lust, losing lust would be a fate worse than death.
'No one can take what's mine. Not even a Goddess...!'
Lilith never lets go once she has marked a mate.
Especially not if the prey was, incontestably, the finest among the men she'd seen in thousands of years—she would never give up and would risk her very life to obsess over him.
Though during the regression, she suffered the agony of her soul being ripped apart, she still managed to forcibly engrave her memory of Ian Greysel into her existence.
She had to spend years drained of most of her strength, living anxiously, but she had no regrets.
"Aaah..."
Because, in the end, they met again.
'Ian Greysel... Even stronger and more beautiful than in my memories... Nnngh!'
Lilith trembled, letting out an ecstatic breath.
The sight of Ian commanding tens of thousands of famed swords, dancing as he slaughtered demonkin, excited her twisted passions to their peak.
'My knight...!'
He'd been beautiful even in his tragic, helpless past self, but now that he'd grown into an absolute force strong enough to threaten even demigods like herself, she loved him all the more madly.
"Just wait there... My knight."
Lilith gripped the armrest of her throne and slowly stood up.
The throne, cast from the demon realm's hardest ore, creaked grotesquely under her force.
"This time, I will lick up every last bit of your soul...!"
Madness glimmered in Lilith's once-hazy eyes.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn, Lilith so freaky...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】