Chapter 307 : Chapter 307
Chapter 307. Calling a Friend
‘Thea!’
Alexius clenched his firm jaw.
An indescribable feeling surged within him.
RUMBLE!
A gigantic sword.
Magic completed by Shartea after pouring out everything she had.
Unlike other flamboyant spells, she had created only a single sword.
Just one sword.
It felt like a towering spire.
No, like a majestic mountain.
Could the giants of myth even grasp it?
The moment the sword’s overwhelming form was fully revealed, Alexius let out an exclamation without realizing it.
“Haah.”
Unique magic.
Magic that contained the very essence of its caster.
He himself had encountered unique magic many times while fighting mages.
Every mage possessed a world of their own.
And merely by seeing their unique magic, one could perceive what kind of world they held.
Shartea’s world was the ‘sword.’
As a swordsman, and as her grandfather, Alexius felt a shiver run through his entire body.
As Shartea recited the incantation, his lips moved as well.
“…There is a path in the sword.”
It was the swordsmanship of the Kudente family.
Swordsmanship Alexius had personally taught his granddaughter, which Shartea had then refined and elevated.
That swordsmanship had now become magic, unfolding before his very eyes.
CRASH!
The sword split the blackened sky as it appeared, then plunged straight down.
The point of the blade struck Estina’s head.
“Sharteaaaa!”
The Princess who had offered her soul to a demon screamed.
Her hardened scales shattered as the form of the magical beast was cleaved in two.
SLASH!
At the same time, a smile formed at the corner of Kier’s lips as he watched everything from the shadows.
Even as the 4th Princess collapsed, he did not lose his composure.
Rather, he looked pleased.
“At last, the greatest sacrifice has been offered.”
At Kier’s words, the Black Order executive standing behind him twisted his lips into a vile grin as well.
“Does that mean our plan is beginning?”
“Yes.”
“Once the remaining sacrifices are offered, Lord Leviathan will descend. The looks on the faces of those sacrifices out there will be quite a sight. Heh!”
“Indeed. I am looking forward to seeing those expressions as well.”
Kier, who had replied calmly, turned around and stabbed the Black Order executive.
THUD!
“W-What is this…?!”
The Black Order executive staggered, clutching Kier’s arm.
It was a sudden attack that left no time to react.
The great plan was on the verge of completion, so why…?
But Kier said nothing.
He merely twisted the hand he had plunged into the executive’s body.
A still-beating heart was clutched in his grasp.
“Ghk! Sir Kier… why!”
“I am simply offering the remaining sacrifice.”
CRUNCH!
“That expression is far more boring than I expected.”
Releasing his grip, Kier shoved the executive’s body away.
The limp form collapsed onto the ground.
Thud.
Kier’s gleaming eyes turned toward the fallen executive.
To prattle on without even realizing one would become a sacrifice.
Naturally, was it not better for the strong to be offered as sacrifices rather than the weak?
The more sacrifices, the better.
From the very beginning, Kier had intended to offer all of the Black Order executives who had participated in this plan as sacrifices.
For that purpose, he had prepared pouches engraved with a curse formula.
Having the executives carry those pouches on their bodies had also been part of the plan.
Forming hand seals, he activated the curse.
“Awaken.”
At once, the fallen Black Order executive began to twitch.
***
“Is it over? What happened?”
“What about the 3rd Princess?”
The stage was shrouded in thick smoke.
As the spectators who had regained their senses murmured while trying to grasp the situation, flying golems descended.
Whoosh!
It seemed the principal had learned of the incident as well.
“Did you see the 3rd Princess’s magic just now?”
“That was unique magic.”
“It was incredible!”
‘With this, Thea’s support will rise even further.’
Arteo was finally able to relax a little as he observed the crowd’s reaction.
At that moment, someone approached him and spoke.
“Was that not truly an incredible spell?”
It was Radel, appearing together with a dying Priest.
Arteo frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“The magic Senior Shartea used at the end. I have never seen anything like it.”
“Hmph, that was unique magic. Even fourth-year academy students struggle to use it.”
As he spoke, Arteo found himself increasingly intoxicated by Shartea’s talent.
“It is a realm unattainable by someone who can only cast a few elemental spells. Many mages die without ever using unique magic even once.”
“As expected of Senior Shartea.”
“Of course. Unique magic cannot be completed unless one understands oneself precisely. That proves how outstanding a mage Thea is.”
Indeed, magic suited his younger sister better than the sword.
To think she had completed unique magic even before taking her graduation exam.
She truly was more qualified than anyone to be the Emperor of Cretian.
And he himself must surely be the man with discerning eyes who had recognized Shartea’s worth from early on.
Just as Arteo’s nose was lifting with pride—
Radel clapped his hands as if he had realized something.
“So that is why a giant sword appeared!”
“What?”
“Because the result of Senior Shartea understanding herself precisely was that magic.”
Arteo flinched at Radel’s words.
That boy was poking at a point he did not want to acknowledge.
“To cling to the sword even in magic. As expected of Senior Shartea.”
“You…!”
Arteo was about to snap back when—
“Kehah! I was thinking the exact same thing!”
Alexius’s thick hand clapped Radel on the shoulder.
He was watching with amusement as his grandson was being toyed with by his much younger half-brother.
To think there was someone who could overturn that stubborn boy’s mood with just a few words.
Delighted, Alexius burst into laughter.
“Ho ho! Perhaps you thought just like me? Thea is utterly devoted to the sword, so her unique magic is truly magnificent!”
“So you thought the same, sir. It is among the greatest spells I have ever seen.”
“Indeed, indeed! I do not care for magic, but Thea’s magic pleased me greatly! It stirred this old man’s heart!”
Nodding, Radel replied with a serious expression.
“I also felt many things. When I saw the magic Senior Shartea unfolded, I felt as though I had glimpsed the path of the sword she is walking.”
‘Oh?’
The Marquis of the Borderlands of Kudente.
Alexius Kudente raised his eyebrows slightly.
He was a veteran who had seen countless swordsmen.
When one grasped a sword, most revealed their true nature.
Those who brandished their swords to intimidate the weak.
Those who relied too heavily on the sword and lost themselves to it.
Those who wielded the sword solely to protect others.
Those intoxicated by paltry strength, those who lost themselves in the sword, or those who feared power so much that they excessively suppressed themselves.
‘What about that Prince?’
To speak of the path of the sword…?
Alexius asked Radel,
“What kind of path did you sense there?”
After a brief pause, Radel spoke.
“…A path.”
He recalled Shartea’s enormous sword.
To Radel, it looked like a single road stretching straight ahead.
“What I felt from Senior Shartea’s magic was a solitary path.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a notification sound rang in Radel’s ear.
Ding.
[Alexius Kudente’s Affinity has surpassed 20.]
A satisfied smile formed on the lips of the marquis who had wielded a sword his entire life.
Arteo, watching that scene, was shocked.
‘Grandfather reacting like that…!’
His maternal grandfather had always been cool-headed when it came to the sword.
Yet now he was smiling with clear satisfaction during a conversation about it.
Arteo ground his teeth as he looked at Radel.
That crafty bastard was even trying to steal Alexius’s favor.
It was one thing with Shartea, who was still young, but even his grandfather?
It was truly infuriating.
“Cough! Your Highness, look over there!”
At that moment, Gillian pointed somewhere.
“Ghk!”
Someone suddenly clutched at their own nape and twisted violently.
“Aaaagh…!”
It was a Black Order executive who had been hiding among the spectators.
As if he could not endure it, he raked his fingernails across his entire body.
Dark demonic energy then burst forth from his chest.
Hiss!
Gillian’s eyes widened when he saw the pouch hanging around the man’s neck.
A distinct curse formula was surfacing on it.
‘Kier… he intended to offer the executives as sacrifices from the very beginning!’
It was a formula that activated by drawing upon the demonic energy possessed by the pouch’s bearer.
Only then did Gillian understand why the executives had been required to carry those pouches.
Worse still, the formula did not merely take a single life.
It would not stop until it eradicated all life in the vicinity.
A ritual meant to offer everyone here as sacrifices.
A curse used only in the Age of Darkness.
A summoning ritual for an Archdemon.
A curse that had destroyed countless cities in the past was being enacted once more.
Gillian’s face twisted.
“It is a sacrifice ritual! Soon he will lose his sense of self and turn into an undead, attacking the people!”
It might still be possible to stop it.
If it had not yet fully completed.
Gillian drew upon his Divine Power.
“Supreme Deity.”
Power that had not left him despite his betrayal.
The reason he could still wield this sacred power—
Was it because he still held onto you?
…Or because you still trusted him?
Gillian’s hand moved.
“Supreme Deity’s Purification!”
He poured Divine Power into the writhing Black Order executive.
-Aaaagh!
‘It worked!’
Seeing the body begin to melt under the Divine Power, Gillian cried out inwardly.
If it could just hold like this…!
-Aaaaargh!
But the pause was brief.
The Black Order executive endured the Divine Power and once again released demonic energy.
SLASH!
‘What is this?’
Sensing the interference of an unknown force, Gillian turned his head.
He immediately realized what that power was.
Faint red light spread across the surroundings.
Stones that the Black Order executives had scattered across the ground during the festival.
The formulas engraved on those stones connected into red lines, activating a barrier.
“Brother, what is going on?”
When Radel asked, Gillian replied,
“There is a dark barrier that weakens Divine Power.”
“Where is it?”
“Probably… across the entire academy….”
If a barrier were activated across the entire academy like this, the power of Priests and Holy Knights would inevitably be weakened.
How could one possibly eliminate all those countless tiny stones?
Gillian shuddered at Kier’s plan.
“…At this rate, Leviathan will be resurrected.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a massive roar rang out from the stage.
KRAAAASH!
Thick smoke suddenly surged forth.
From within the smoke, a being that should not exist in this world revealed itself.
-Grrrr.
Dark crimson scales.
Wings wrapped in a membrane of blood.
Golden pupils split vertically.
An ancient lifeform that had once ruled the world.
A dragon.
“How could it be this fast…?”
The sacrifices were not even complete yet.
And yet it had taken on such a form.
Was this world already at its end?
Gillian squeezed his eyes shut.
At that moment—
A savory smell began to drift from somewhere.
“Your Highness…?”
Radel was pulling something from his clothes and roasting it over a flame.
It was well-dried jerky.
“What are you doing right now…?”
Arteo asked in disbelief.
Radel answered calmly,
“I am calling a friend who can help.”
Soon after, a tearing sound echoed from far away.
-KIEEEEK!