Chapter 282 : Chapter 282
Chapter 282
I, Shion Pollinglight, watched Deballo Debius.
He was like a wild beast.
A burly upper body, a spirit that made one's knees weak, and two eyes that glared ferociously. Especially his shaggy hair and beard, which resembled a lion's mane.
Deballo was a terrifying man.
How terrifying?
In what way is it terrifying?
Terrifying like a lion. No, more terrifying than a lion.
“…It would have been better if we had met a real lion instead….”
Amethus said as he drew his sword. It was different from the one he usually used. Even in my disoriented state, I glanced at him.
“…Where did your original sword go?”
“I entrusted it to Shadi. It was too worn out to use any longer.”
“…Is that so….”
I moved my steps slowly. Amethus gestured towards his exhausted and wounded master.
“Please recover yourself.”
I nodded.
I clutched my heart and curled up roughly anywhere.
Even if I didn't know the reason to live, I couldn't just die willingly.
As Amethus said, I had no choice but to try and survive somehow.
Amethus stood guarding me.
His eyes flashed, and soon jade-colored flames flowed out and covered his sword.
Amethus's Ars, ‘Vairocana’ (Light).
A single sword of jade flame that pierces all darkness.
Amethus could not lose.
He must not lose.
Because he had to protect me, his master.
He had already forgotten why he came to serve me as his master.
Now, my life has simply become his dream.
The double-edged sword, different from usual, was very blue.
“Are you ready?”
Deballo spat out abruptly.
From the moment he appeared, he had an air of disapproval about him. I didn't know why, but he seemed in a very bad mood.
Because of that, he had not the slightest intention of showing mercy to the enemy before him.
“Let’s begin.”
As soon as the words fell, Deballo rushed in.
Without knowing how he rushed in, he appeared right in front of Amethus's nose and struck down with his sword as if chopping firewood.
Amethus blocked it calmly, not even surprised.
Clang—!!
A sharp sound rang out.
Amethus's feet, having taken the attack, couldn't withstand the impact and sank deep into the ground.
Whether it was soil or stone, they sank right in.
The aftermath of sword clashing against sword swept through the mountain.
Leaves fell in droves, and raindrops were swept away by the gale.
……. Amethus felt his wrist tingling.
He had only blocked Deballo's sword once, but it felt like his wrist would break.
As expected of the ‘Last General’.
A thousand-year-old god.
He was more powerful than any man he had ever crossed swords with.
“As expected, Deballo Debius….”
“Don't talk to me. I'm not in the mood to chat.”
Deballo swung his sword nervously.
Behind his steel armor, he carried various weapons.
While swinging the sword, he would throw an axe, then abruptly wield a short spear, and when the short spear broke in two, he would swing a mace.
How could he be so nimble while carrying weapons of such massive weight.
“Great General Deballo, do you know this?”
Amethus continued speaking regardless of whether Deballo was gruff or not.
He wasn't the chatty type, but now he had a lot to say.
The first reason was to buy even a little time for me to recover, and the second reason was a feeling of genuine admiration.
“I must still be a child.”
Amethus ended up laughing.
Even though it was a situation where he absolutely couldn't laugh, he couldn't help but laugh because this sword fight was enjoyable.
“Because I am so happy that I cannot bear the fact that I am crossing swords with you, that my childhood dream has come true in this way.”
“Ridiculous nonsense.”
“Because any Cordis swordsman is bound to dream of competing in swordsmanship with the Great General!”
“I know. There has never been a time in a thousand years when they didn't.”
“So….”
“Shut up already.”
Deballo answered.
“How many times must I say I'm not in the mood to talk!”
The old man swung his sword in anger.
Amethus dodged smoothly but felt something catch at his feet. It was the axe Deballo had thrown earlier.
Did he calculate up to here?
A slight, very slight opening appeared for Amethus.
Deballo Debius thrust an attack into it.
One hundred twenty-eight unavoidable ferocities.
Debius One Hundred Twenty-Eight Forged Horns.
If you think it cut, it has already cut the Forged Horn.
There are one hundred twenty-eight of them.
The blades rushed in as if splitting a single moment aimed for Amethus's opening.
There was no way to block it.
There was no way to even dodge it.
Unless one sees the future.
“…….”
Amethus's eyes are jade-colored.
Those jade eyes gave him the nickname Diviner.
It was because he acted as if he could see the future, and it was true.
Amethus's intuition would whisper of things that had not yet come.
“Ah, I… I finally understand now.”
Amethus dodged.
He dodged Deballo's Forged Horns, which seemed impossible to dodge, so very easily.
It was a simple matter.
Since he could see exactly what attack would fly where, he couldn't help but dodge.
Thick veins bulged on Deballo's forehead.
He saw the jade-colored flame swirling from inside Amethus.
That flame was a heat that would not fall behind even compared to Obro Denoebang, whom he had crossed swords with in the past.
“…I have, not even once in my life….”
Realization.
“Never tried my absolute best….”
Along with the mutter, the jade flame flared up.
Amethus ended up seeing it without realizing.
What happened, what is happening, what will happen.
Past, present, and future.
He stared clearly, as if placing the flow of time, which others could only be dragged along by without choice, on the palm of his hand.
Deballo was a thousand-year-old god, so he was freer from the flow of time than others.
But that was only to a certain extent.
Amethus saw through even that.
One Hundred Twenty-Eight Forged Horns.
One hundred twenty-eight unavoidable attacks.
These words felt laughable.
To Amethus, everything was visible.
He simply saw the place where the incoming attack would land, and moved his steps elsewhere.
With just that, he dodged all of Deballo Debius's One Hundred Twenty-Eight Forged Horns.
Deballo frowned.
I, enduring the pain, clicked my tongue.
I recalled before the Regression.
It was the time when Amethus Aretion was my nemesis.
Amethus back then was always like that. No matter what attack others made, no matter what strategy they devised, he saw through it all with those jade eyes and dodged smoothly.
Thinking about it was annoying enough to irritate me.
“Ha!”
Deballo was equally dumbfounded.
“A crazy bastard! Dodging the One Hundred Twenty-Eight Forged Horns with just two steps?”
It was the first time in a thousand years he had seen such a guy.
Deballo's face contorted suddenly.
He held an axe in his hand again before anyone knew.
“What did you say your name was?”
“Amethus!”
“Right. Amethus Aretion. Descendant of Arete Island.”
Deballo asked.
“Why do you make me sad, Amethus?”
The old man's face was wet with grief.
“I have waited a thousand years for a swordsman like you. I am certain you would be a greater joy to me than even Obro Denoebang. However… why must it be now…?”
Deballo Debius rambled on with complaints no one could understand.
Though complaints are fundamentally like that.
“Why, of all times, during the mourning of the grandson I loved most in a thousand years…. When my heart is held by the death of that child Secundus…….”
Though his mouth rambled with weak complaints, each axe stroke was uncontrollably powerful.
No, the word powerful wasn't enough to describe it.
Only attacks that even Amethus, who was seeing the future, could barely dodge by a paper-thin margin followed one after another.
Deballo extended his arm.
Fur was sprouting on his burly forearm before anyone knew.
The fur was made of steel.
It proved that he was transforming into something inhuman.
“To think I have to crush such a delicious opponent… a delicacy of a thousand years… without savoring it.”
The hair that was like a lion's mane had transformed into a real mane.
Each strand of mane hair was steel.
Also, they were blades.
The old man, carrying thousands of steel blades as a mane, had even his face transformed into a lion.
“Where is there a sadder thing than this?”
Deballo Debius's Ars.
‘Last General’.
***
It was a lion walking on two feet.
It wasn't just a lion, it was a steel lion.
Every single strand of fur was a steel blade.
That didn't mean it was too huge.
It was about three head sizes taller than others, exactly Secundus's size.
Deballo Debius became a lion like that.
Actually, it was his true form.
He is actually a thousand-year-old Man-God, one of the Hotus Eight Gods.
The steel lion glared in all directions with yellow eyes.
It glared as if to crush.
Even Amethus couldn't help but be suppressed, and I, who was tending to my wounds, ended up vomiting blood.
Deballo had brought many weapons, but now he put them all down.
He held only two weapons in his hands.
One was a sword and one was a shield.
There were no peculiar aspects either.
It was the most common type of double-edged sword and the most common type of round, small shield.
Even though at a glance it was armament no different from a newly conscripted regular soldier, the weight was extraordinary.
Deballo Debius spat out again abruptly.
“I’m coming.”
Amethus immediately burst out a groan.
“……Ugh!”
He saw Deballo's attack.
He saw very clearly where and how it would fly, but he couldn't dodge or block it.
The reason was very simple.
Because it was too fast and too strong.
Because it wasn't an attack that could be dodged or blocked just by knowing.
Deballo raised his weapons again.
Shield in front, sword in back.
Block with the shield and stab with the sword.
It sounds simple in words, but it is not such a simple matter.
Even more so if it overwhelms Amethus Aretion.
After exchanging just a few sword strokes, Amethus felt a sense of intimidation.
He was still seeing the future.
Even though he saw through Deballo's movements one by one in advance, he couldn't respond.
The ‘Last General’ was that powerful, and also that nimble.
“……!”
The hand holding Amethus's sword became busy.
To block one of Deballo's sword strokes, he had to make three sword strokes.
Even though the speed didn't differ much.
Naturally, wounds began to increase all over Amethus's body.
That steel lion did not use unbelievable authority or mysterious magic.
He was simply strong, his movements were nimble, and he was more seasoned than anyone.
He was an existence more beast-like than any beast. He swung his sword as if roaring.
“Hmm?”
Deballo's head, which was in the middle of swinging the sword, turned sharply.
He struck away a thick steel wire with his double-edged sword. It was damn heavy and damn hot.
Even though he struck it away immediately, the heat rode up the sword. It was my third Ars, ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’.
“Interrupting!”
“…I can't just keep watching.”
I muttered, swinging the ‘Iron Bloodline’. Amethus stood guarding my side.
“……Can you fight, Your Highness?”
“…Even so, I can't just die willingly to a Cordis bastard….”
Because of that, Amethus put me down and raised his sword.
I also struggled to stand on two legs despite the hole in my heart.
I caught my breath.
My heart hurt like crazy. I couldn't stand it and wanted to collapse right away.
But I couldn't do that, so I struggled to take out a strand of ‘The Heated Iron Bloodline’ and held it in my hand.
My grip burned, but I didn't care.
“…Amethus, I’m trying to live, but it’s not easy.”
“That is how it usually is, Your Highness.”
“I know too, it's always so difficult….”
I exchanged words with Amethus.
“How is your condition?”
“A mess…. The Septem Arcana are all damaged… up to the sixth…….”
I clicked my tongue.
My soul had become like a broken jar, and the contents inside kept leaking out.
“…The power of the dagger Ashkal that stabs the soul… To think I would fall to that….”
“Meaning you won't be of much help.”
Amethus glanced at me sideways.
He gripped his sword even firmer as if he hadn't expected anything. Then he tilted his head, going 'Huh?'.
“…Wait a moment, Your Highness….”
A question arose.
There was no one who knew me as well as Amethus.
He was even the only other person who knew that I was a Regressor.
Because of that, he had heard about the Septem Arcana.
Seven Secrets and Seven Ars.
“…You said up to the sixth were all damaged. Then…”
“……”
“…By any chance….”
He asked cautiously.
“……How is the seventh Ars?”