Chapter 222 : Chapter 222
Chapter 222 : The Sword Demon, Raman
***
It was long before Bihen Benkou was even born.
At that time, the Sword Demon was neither the wandering Crow nor Deganelo, the Right Camp Leader of the Imperial Capital Knight Order, but Raman Windermere, a member of the Windermere family.
Raman often strolled through the outskirts alone, without any attendants.
Then one day.......
As he was riding his horse slowly as usual, his gaze was stolen by a meteor falling across the dark dusk sky, drawing a long tail.
The place he arrived at after chasing the meteor was the outskirts of the Windermere territory. It was in front of a shabby private house standing alone right in the middle of a field.
Rustle—
He turned his head. Some man pushed aside the tall grass and waddled out.
Fastening his waistband, the man flinched in surprise upon seeing Raman.
"Whoa, fuck. Scared me. Who are you?"
Raman blankly stared down at him while still sitting in his saddle.
He appeared to be a knight errant. Although it was of crude quality, he wore pieces of plate armor here and there.
The man also stood at a distance and subtly scrutinized Raman as if on guard, wearing a deliberately indifferent expression.
Of course, since Raman's entire body was covered in a robe, the man did not recognize him.
"Hey, I asked who you are."
The man, having completely adjusted his clothes, soon demanded in earnest. He looked ready to draw his sword if necessary.
"......."
Behind the man's back, a woman now revealed herself with cautious steps. She was hastily gathering and adjusting her loosely draped clothes.
The man gestured threateningly toward Raman to her, as if demanding to know who he was.
Raman's gaze passed the two of them and headed toward a corner.
There, a young girl about five or six years old was squatting down with her eyes closed and ears covered, muttering something to herself.
He was quietly watching the child.
"Uh, uh? Has this guy gone crazy? That kid isn't ready yet!"
His head turned back at the angry voice.
Raman did not ask back.
"She's not old enough yet. Are you going to take responsibility if the kid's body gets ruined? Let's not force open the golden goose's belly, is what I'm saying."
Raman nodded. To the man, that gesture looked as if he understood. Thus, he softened his voice a bit.
"So why're you here? By any chance, are you also—"
"I merely came to get my throat wet."
The man let out a dumbfounded chuckle. He thoroughly scrutinized Raman's appearance from top to bottom once more, then turned around to glance back at the woman.
When he finally opened his mouth, he had a relieved expression.
"Tch. You're lucky. Well, do as you please."
The man muttered as he put on a helmet that had been hanging carelessly nearby.
"I don't want to kill anyone today, you see. It's my kid's birthday."
"You had a child?"
"Yeah. A boy with real potential. His noggin's about this big, so he'll probably secure a nice position in the Imperial Capital Knight Order in the future."
"Ho."
"If I want to benefit from my son, I've got to build up some good karma with others starting now. Don't you think? But man, I'm sorry about this. It all just came out earlier, so it's probably bone dry."
The man curled the corner of his mouth and suddenly smacked the woman's buttocks with a loud slap.
"Squeeze it out somehow. He says he's thirsty."
The man chuckled as he walked past Raman.
The woman nervously looked back and forth between Raman and the young girl in the corner.
SWISH—!
A sharp noise sliced through the air. Immediately after, a sound like a large lump collapsing followed.
Raman and the woman standing opposite him widened their eyes. Her hand automatically covered her agape mouth.
They clearly saw what had happened. A long stream of blood sprayed from the neck of the man who had been walking a short distance away, and he collapsed just like that. That was all. A person died in an instant.
THUD.
Soon, the woman also rolled her eyes back and fainted on the spot.
"Hmm."
Raman looked back and forth between the man and woman, collapsed in front of and behind him, then shrugged his shoulders awkwardly.
Just as he was thinking that this would be troublesome, the child had approached him before he knew it.
"Give me a glass of water."
Raman spoke. The child blinked and soon nodded.
Raman drank the water the child brought. The child asked.
"Who are you?"
"Hmm, well."
"Is he dead?"
The child pointed her finger at the man who collapsed in the distance. She then muttered that they were in big trouble now.
Thus, Raman asked back.
"Why is it trouble?"
"He's the mister who used to bring me stone bread. I liked that mister's stone bread because it was at least a bit less hard."
The child grinned. She had more missing teeth than the remaining ones. It was beyond just being sparse.
***
"I've realized one thing while doing this shit."
"......."
"What's impossible is simply impossible."
The Sword Demon Raman, Deganelo, and now Crow spoke as he lightly rubbed his cheek with his thumb. Blood smeared from the scratch. He did not even know how long it had been since he last received a wound.
"What are you trying to say?"
Compared to him, Hugin had many minor cuts. Blood flowed all over his exposed skin.
"Partizan was simply something that was meant to disappear. Nothing changes just because you hold onto it and struggle."
Hugin let out a hollow laugh. To be honest, he had vaguely had a similar thought before.
Back then, it felt as if another version of himself was whispering that resignation was not necessarily a bad thing.
"Like how you bastards are going to die and disappear today?"
WHOOSH—!
A dark blue flame surged atop Urvasi's white blade.
Crow narrowed his eyes. To his eyes, the blue flame unleashed by Hugin was a dangerous power that gnawed away not only at the sword's lifespan but also at the life of the one wielding it.
"Crow, I've got to step in now. That foolish bastard intends to burn Urvasi away entirely."
The Outer Ones consider war to be the most natural and efficient way for humans to consume themselves. After all, it is history itself. It could be said that continuing to roll the wheel of that cycle so it never stops is the fundamental mission of the Outer Ones.
However, retrieving Urvasi right now was an important matter that had to take priority just as much.
"Aim for his arm, Raven."
After resting the sword held in his right hand against his shoulder, Crow formed a sword finger gesture with his left hand. As he drew the sword finger horizontally once, the phantoms of multiple swords emerged in the air like afterimages.
SWOOSH—!
They soon poured down like torrential rain. The deep blue phantom swords plunged into the ground in lines, tracing Hugin's trajectory.
For a brief moment, Hugin appeared to vanish before reappearing.
He was within Crow's striking distance.
"Heh, you were born with pure Scorching Yang Energy."
Crow spoke leisurely amidst all this. He was watching the energy shimmering like a haze over Hugin's body.
"Stop spouting bullshit and spit out all the truth you know."
Hugin's gaze darkened. Hot breath flowed from his mouth.
WHOOSH—!
After evading Hugin's straight thrust as if deflecting it, Crow swung down the sword resting on his shoulder. He intended to sever the entire arm wielding Urvasi.
Hugin merely bent his elbow. Pivoting on his bent joint, the inverted Urvasi clashed against the descending blade.
With a roaring sound, a fierce wave of energy spread in all directions once more.
'……!'
Hugin widened his eyes. He saw it in a split second. A blonde, obnoxious face and a voice shimmered close by.
It was an intuition that activated at a crucial moment.
WHOOSH—!
Urvasi swiftly sliced through the air. It was a speed that squeezed into a split second. Half-moons of blue flame rose in layers, enveloping Hugin.
"Haha, your struggling looks ridiculous, you know?"
Raven's voice came from behind. It was a close call. He felt that if he had been even a moment later, he would have been hit by something.
"It's not that you're unqualified to wield Urvasi. In the end, you're also a part that branched out from the first original. To put it another way—"
Raven formed hand signs with both hands. His fingers rapidly folded and unfolded, continuously changing the shape of the seals.
"Every single one of us can become Urvasi's master."
A strange gleam flashed in Raven's eyes.
Immediately, the ground rumbled.
RUMBLE—!
Along with violent vibrations, a black entity that erupted through the ground wrapped around Hugin's entire body like a serpent.
It was a hybrid that seemed to mix an imugi and a myriapod insect. Its swollen torso was haphazardly embedded with large and small eyeballs that moved independently. Countless legs wriggled beside them.
"The truth of Partizan?"
"……!"
Crow spoke as he stepped forward directly in front of him. The reason Hugin was shocked was because of the sword Crow had resting on his shoulder.
Its shape had changed before he knew it. It was far too massive to be called a sword. A brutal weapon reminiscent of a giant's mace boasted an overwhelming presence upon his shoulder.
"Is something like that absolutely necessary?"
Crow's voice sank low. The black gas flowing from the massive sword resting on his shoulder cast over his face like a shadow.
"Things meant to disappear must disappear. That's all."
"Don't talk bullshit!"
Hugin bellowed as if roaring. It was just before the pitch-black blade could touch his body.
'……!'
'……!'
Crow's and Raven's eyes widened simultaneously.
The blue flame enveloping Urvasi swept over Hugin as well. The outline of his figure blurred, and soon his body and the flame became one as if assimilating.
SWISH—!
The blade fell immediately. The blade passed straight through the amorphously burning body, cleaving it.
"Ooooooh!"
The constricting black tentacles were all severed as well. There was no room left to take further action.
Hugin rushed toward Crow while wrapping his entire body in flames. It felt as if a burning meteor were hurtling forward.
BOOM—! CRASH—! BOOM—! CRASH—!
As the swords clashed, a roaring sound echoed as if heaven and earth were vibrating. Every time he took a step, the ash-covered ground completely exploded.
"You're stubbornly burning away even your remaining life. You must know perfectly well yourself that it's a meaningless act!"
"There has never been a moment in my life more meaningful than this!"
Masses of blue flame splattered in all directions from the consecutive slashes.
Hugin did not stop. He continuously pressed inward.
"Comrade Hugin!"
A brief shout. Hugin faltered. It sounded like a death rattle.
The moment he turned his head, what he encountered was Raven's perfectly composed face.
The Black Rose Mercenaries, including Kendrick, were actually collapsed with their mouths and limbs bound.
It was Raven's trick to divert Hugin's attention.
"Quite touching. Hmm?"
Raven snapped his fingers.
SNAP—!
The black tentacles that had been severed by the blue flame revived. This time, it was not just one. Their movements were also far more dynamic than before.
CRUNCH—!
The black tentacles that rose like waves enveloped Hugin in an instant. It was a ferocious momentum, as if they were determined to erase him from the world.
The tentacles, which locked together tightly while trapping Hugin without leaving a single gap, finally merged into one to form a solid, bizarre mass.
It was a massive cube with sharply angled corners. Eyeballs embedded upon each black surface blinked frantically.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Kendrick and the mercenaries wailed. It was useless. Rather, they even felt as if the more they struggled, the deeper Hugin sank into the abyss.
"Crow! Let's finish this quickly. I never want to get entangled with a foolish guy like you again in the future."
"Heh, you talk big for someone who's all mouth. Same here. If I could, I would've annihilated you first."
Sharp words were exchanged between Raven and Crow across the bizarre geometric shape. Both were half serious.
"The feeling's mutual. Anyway, it was disgusting meeting you, so let's never see each other again."
Raven leaped into the air. It was a position where the bizarre shape was visible looking down beneath his feet.
"Now then—"
Raven slowly pressed both hands together. He rapidly formed the hand signs of the Nine Syllable Seals.
"Im! Byeong! Tu! Ja! Gae! Jin! Yeol! Jae!"
It was the moment the black cube exquisitely overlapped within the gap created between the thumbs and index fingers of his pressed hands.
If he shouted the final syllable, Hugin would disappear from this world without a trace.
SLASH—!
"……!"
It was a split second.
Raven left an afterimage in his original spot with a phantom leap and hastily escaped. His face twisted grotesquely as he fell.
Someone who suddenly appeared from behind sliced the afterimage in two with a single strike.
"You are—"
Crow, who was in the back, shouted.
"Bihen Benkou!"
Like a thunderbolt falling to the ground.
Bihen descended.