Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 93: Asura (3)

Fire explodes.

It's impossible to cause an explosion with just fire, but such a trivial point can be vaguely substituted with magic power.

To the regressed me, it was a very familiar task.

Projecting the sun in my right eye, igniting Crimson Flames aimed at the Asura's maw, and detonating it.

As the projection covering my body proves, it was not my full power.

Not only was time short, but the Asura's maw was located in close proximity to Kalinos's face.

Since the Crimson Flames were created to save him, I had to control the power.

...Even so, it was the magic of projection.

-Hee.

The Asura grinned. The bastard didn't even flinch at the Crimson Flames or the explosion. Instead, it made an ecstatic expression.

This fire.

As the bastard was chattering, Ellen, who had broken through the horde of Asuras, kicked Kalinos.

Kalinos flew to my feet. Kaaang! The darkness shook with a loud noise. It was the sound of Ellen's sword hitting the bastard's neck.

The loud noise that rang out as it hit the neck stimulated Ellen's instinct. She glared at the Asura's unscathed neck and moved to my side.

"...?"

Ellen stared at her sword and the black Aura flowing on its blade.

"It's not your fault. It's mine."

The Asura, which had already consumed the most of the fire crow, had even eaten the Crimson Flames. The amount and power were insignificant, but its Origin was the Sun.

"...It's my fault."

Kalinos said.

His face was one of shame.

I had chosen Kalinos.

As a price, the Asura had become stronger.

"I should have died."

"Be quiet. Is this the time for self-reproach?"

I looked at the Asura that had eaten the Crimson Flames.

The bastard, which had been like a faint darkness, now had a dark grayish hue.

It seemed to be turning whiter the more fire it ate. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ⓝovelFire.net

-This fire!

The Asura burst out in admiration.

It sounded like it was saying the fire was delicious, but it seemed to have been heard differently by the horde of Asuras.

The horde stopped approaching and swarmed towards the gray Asura.

It was as if they were protecting the bastard.

"Indeed. It needs time to digest."

"Pardon?"

"Are the Crimson Flames the fire of a 4th Rank? No. It ate the fire crow first."

The horde of Asuras had rushed towards me as soon as they had eaten.

"My fire, it ate alone, not sharing. The amount was small, but still. That bastard must be the only special one."

That gray Asura is the main culprit that hunted the fire crow.

"It must have eaten the most of the fire crow too. My fire was accumulated on top of that fire. That's why it needed time."

I muttered as if to myself.

"It wasn't damaged by the Crimson Flames. It's greater than a 4th Rank, but it doesn't reach a 5th Rank. If it were a 5th Rank, it wouldn't have needed digestion time."

If it were a 5th Rank, digesting the fire crow wouldn't have been difficult.

The bastard was already at its limit with the fire crow's fire, and on top of that, it had even eaten the Crimson Flames.

"What happens when it finishes digesting?"

"I don't know that either."

"So we have to crush it now?"

"Exactly."

Ellen raised her sword.

She had perceived that the attitude of the horde of Asuras had changed.

Now they would attack Ellen and Kalinos. Because the gray Asura, which was digesting, had given an order to protect itself.

"Sir Kalinos, it is time to prove your valor."

The eyes of the self-reproaching Kalinos shone sharply.

"If you can't crush it, Harad will die. Because I'll live."

Originally, valor shines even brighter when it's for a comrade.

* * *

Have I ever proven my valor?

If asked, a moment when Kalinos could readily nod did not come to mind.

It was such an era.

The Sabbatical Year of Grand Duke Aratus, Serzila was forbidden from the Boundary. Their line of death had been taken away.

Of course, the danger of a search was never to be underestimated, and casualties occurred every year, but it was a clear fact that the determination had faded.

For the past twenty years, no knight denied that those years had stretched into inertia.

A newcomer might not know, but the 3rd Knights Commander Kalinos clearly remembered the Boundary before that.

An era where the unknown ran rampant, where only the line of death existed.

Valor is proven in such a place.

The valor of that time was the front line.

It means to advance. To advance so, and to recover the valor of the knight who died advancing ahead.

Thus, valor is passed on, and on.

In those days, Kalinos had inherited much valor.

That countless valor... he had almost lost.

And at the line of death after twenty years, where he had to prove his valor.

'A mistake that could have been a lifelong regret.'

He had lost his original intention. He had forgotten his past resolve.

No matter how much he had trained, no matter how strong he had become, his insides were rusted, soaked in the inertia of the past.

So Harad, who had helped him make up for that mistake, could be nothing but a comrade.

There are no weak Asuras.

Only the Asuras that had become tough after eating even a bite of the fire crow remained, and the bastards were protecting their leader, the gray Asura.

Their stance had also changed. What had been running with only Harad in their eyes, now took a clear defensive posture. The arm an Asura swung transformed into a sharp blade. Such a sharp edge filled the field of vision.

Kalinos did not hesitate.

On the contrary, he dug into the middle of the horde.

"Sir Kalinos!"

Ellen's restraining voice from behind was not heard. Valor does not look back.

Thump! In the middle of the horde of Asuras, Kalinos punched his own heart.

It meant he would offer his heart. However, his shirt was already torn and gone. There was no armor engraved with the Serzila crest.

Thump! Kalinos punched his heart again.

It was a ritual for a comrade. At this moment, Kalinos would offer his heart to Harad, who had saved him.

"Come!"

In the middle of the Asuras.

Kalinos shouted.

* * *

Asuras were on all sides.

Their number was still countless.

The arms of the Asuras, which had transformed into huge blades, poured down from all directions.

Their attacks do not distinguish between friend and foe. If they touch, they pass through as if passing through water. That is why the Asuras' attacks are indiscriminate, and just as abstruse.

Kalinos did not dodge.

Instead, he swung his sword like a madman. The sword strikes were so frequent and fast that from a distance, it looked like a giant ball of thread was moving.

The arms and bodies of the Asuras that entered that sword path were torn off. Thud, thud, the sound of them falling to the ground echoed endlessly.

As that sound increased, Kalinos's breathing also grew louder. But the ball of thread still remained. No matter how breathless he became, his sword moved the same.

At that sight, my breath caught in my throat.

'Is he crazy?'

After all the trouble of saving him.

Who would jump into the middle when there are so many enemies?

And to think that swinging the sword continuously so that the enemy can't approach is a countermeasure.

Valor.

Ellen had said so, but to me, it was the height of ignorance.

"Ellen!"

"I know!"

Black Aura cut through the tough Asuras without hesitation. She advanced with long strides.

The direction was diagonal. At its end was not Kalinos, but the gray Asura.

'She said she knew.'

Ellen had seen the commotion Kalinos had caused as an opportunity.

No, I'm sure that's not all.

Ellen was respecting Kalinos's choice.

She didn't want to interfere with the line of death of that knight who had disguised ignorance as valor.

'I'm going crazy.'

A land where ignorance is a virtue, and death is an honor.

'Damn north.'

I was once again reminded of the reason I could not love this land in my past life.

'That bastard was the only special one.'

The other Asuras must have been inferior to him.

Their low intelligence and the fact that they followed the gray Asura's orders were proof of that.

He was the only one who had taken a hostage and threatened me.

So the Crimson Flames would surely work.

My right eye was dyed pitch black.

"I will win!"

It was then. Kalinos suddenly shouted.

It meant not to interfere. He seemed to have noticed the flow of the projection's magic power.

I had no intention of listening.

Kalinos had to be saved. He was a rare knight with flexibility.

'...In the middle of that?'

A sudden question stopped the materialization of the Crimson Flames.

Several of the Asuras' arms shot up into the air.

A few heads were mixed in between them.

The sword Kalinos was swinging indiscriminately was turning even those into fragments.

It meant he didn't have the leisure to survey his surroundings and pick out only the Asuras that were attacking him.

"Comrade!"

Kalinos shouted as a battle cry.

Just a moment ago, his breathing had been so rough, but he had spoken. Even his pronunciation was clear.

The eye that had released the projection took in Kalinos. The interval of his breathing was gradually slowing down. But his sword was still raging fiercely.

A moment ago.

Kalinos could not cut through a tough Asura in one go. The cutting power of his Aura had been pushed back by the strength of the Asura that had consumed the fire crow.

Not now.

In a single sword path, several of the Asuras' body parts were scattered in all directions. The speed was gradually increasing. The ball of thread drawn by the sword's trajectory was becoming denser. And... it was becoming clearer.

Aura is a mirror.

That mirror only reveals itself to those whose physical and mental growth has reached its limit.

Only then are they given the qualification to reflect their true essence.

However, the mirror is not kind.

It does not show itself; only when this side shows it directly does it finally reflect.

If one realizes their true essence and relies on it, that essence is projected into reality through the Aura.

It was a principle I didn't know well.

But... I knew well the power of those who had realized their true essence and succeeded in reflecting it in the mirror.

They are called Superhumans.

"Valor!"

Kalinos, who had reflected valor in the mirror, swung his sword. A blood-red Aura bisected the horde of Asuras in front of him in one go.

The arm of an Asura remaining behind cut Kalinos's back. The depth was not shallow. But Kalinos advanced.

"Valor! For my comrades!"

Kalinos shouted again.

To me, it was an imprinting.

A reminder not to forget the true essence he had once reflected.

'I'm going crazy.'

To become a Sword Master so suddenly.

I let out a hollow laugh.

The Elaine of the past life grinned in my head.

-Look, Harad. This is us. Simple and honest, clichéd yet unique. Therefore, peerless.

That's why.

Elaine had no choice but to love the north.

-Isn't it lovely?

"Huh?"

However, the young Ellen was jealous.

* * *

I killed more.

'Why?'

Of course, it's not jealousy, but envy.

Ellen knew that there was no time to correct her thoughts.

Because the number of Asuras had noticeably decreased.

The number of Asuras Ellen and Kalinos had killed was considerable, but even considering that, it didn't make sense.

If it were as Ellen had first confirmed, half the horde of Asuras should have remained.

But not even that half remained.

Even that was decreasing. Instead... the gray Asura was growing.

No, the expression 'becoming enormous' was more fitting.

The Asuras swarmed towards the gray Asura. They seeped into the gray demon like a liquid.

By the time Ellen had noticed that fact, the gray Asura was already larger than the fire crow. It was growing larger even at this moment.

An Asura that had jumped up stuck to the gray Asura's hand. Some Asuras were on its feet, its calves, its neck. The gray Asura was thus inflating its own body.

Should I catch the Asuras running towards the gray Asura?

Should I cut down the enormous bastard?

Before moving, Ellen turned her head towards me. He always knew the answer.

"...?"

My eyes were wide open.

"Magic."

I muttered, as if possessed.

Those eyes were fixed on the gray Asura.

"It's magic."

A magical beast using magic?

Ellen furrowed her brow.

Though she noticed Ellen's gaze, I didn't have the mind to care.

That is manifestation.

'No. It's not.'

Manifestation refers to the Origin revealing itself to the world.

It is a phenomenon possible even for a 5th Rank magical beast.

Projection is magic.

Manifestation is not called magic. Because it is a great phenomenon.

That is not manifestation, but magic.

However, it is incongruous. Because of the Origin the bastard possesses.

Though it wasn't a manifestation, I could feel the bastard's Origin.

But I did not know what it was.

The gray Asura's Origin was distorted and crushed in various ways.

That wasn't the important thing.

What was important was that it had an Origin.

Yes, an Origin.

A 5th Rank magical beast has an Origin.

The gray Asura is not 5th Rank. And yet it had an Origin.

And... it had materialized the magic of absorbing the Asuras.

"You were a mage."

I smiled bitterly.

There are such words for mages...

"Bastard."

The pity was short. He was not a worthy opponent.

I remembered the humiliation from before.

"We have to aim for that bastard."

Aiming for the Asuras waiting to be absorbed was just giving them time.

"Valor!"

Kalinos shouted clichédly.

An Aura redder than blood was drawn horizontally.

It cut the two knees of the gray Asura that had become a giant. The giant, having lost its legs, fell forward.

The giant stood up, using its two hands to support itself on the ground and its knees as feet.

Ellen was at its eye level. An Aura that was gradually approaching pitch black bisected its face vertically.

The face, split in half, hung limply to the left and right.

And yet the gray Asura did not die.

-Fiiiire!

The two-sided mouth roared.

The two distant pupils looked at me as if pleading.

Then... it lifted its head.

An incongruous darkness was formed in a circle in the sky. It emitted a slight light and a massive heat.

-Ah.

The gray Asura, looking at the projected sun, opened its split mouth. It reached out its hand towards that black sun. It didn't reach.

Would it have reached if its knees hadn't been cut?

"Try eating this too."

Blood flowed from my eyes.

The pitch-black sun shed a pure white fire. It flowed thinly and tricklingly, like the water of a ditch. And so it soaked the gray Asura.

-Light...

The gray Asura slowly melted away.

Like a tear.