CH 658

An Immortal, struck by a blue flash, turned to ashes and disappeared on the spot.

"...What?"

Christina stared at Saviolin Turner with a dumbfounded expression.

Christina didn't understand fighting.

However, that didn't mean she lacked common sense.

Saviolin Turner was undoubtedly known as the continent's top swordsman or the strongest knight on the continent.

But what Christina saw couldn't be considered a swordsman's battle.

Woosh!

The blue aura swords floating around Saviolin Turner proved it.

No, they didn't even take the form of swords.

They merely seemed like shapes formed by condensing mana into sharp edges.

In other words, they took on the shape of an aura closer to that of a 'spear.'

Since the start of the battle, Saviolin Turner had not drawn the Tempesta sword even once, fighting only by throwing aura blades.

That figure resembled a mage rather than a swordsman.

Christina knew this much at a common sense level.

Those who could strengthen their bodies with the power of magic were individuals who had reached the pinnacle of Magic Body Strengthening.

If they could go beyond that and enhance their weapons with magic, they were called the Master Class.

Going even further, those who could create weapons from aura alone, a level that few in human history had ever reached, were called Grandmasters.

"It's strange."

Saviolin Turner spoke while looking at the Immortal she couldn't easily approach and at Christina beyond it.

"I've been at the realm called Grandmaster for several decades now…"

As Saviolin Turner snapped her fingers, blue flashes collided with the Immortals attempting to attack her.

-Boom!

With an enormous explosion, several portals, along with the Immortals who couldn't react, disappeared.

"Why does everyone believe that I couldn't take even a single step forward from the realm of the 'Grandmaster'...?"

Last winter, Ellen Artorius had challenged her to a duel.

That battle didn't become intense, so the outcome was unknown.

However, the Saviolin Turner that Ellen Artorius imagined was different from the actual Saviolin Turner.

It wasn't just the beginning of the Grandmaster realm.

She had been at that realm for several decades, and her body was as youthful as in her heyday.

It was far too careless to think that she would remain stationary for decades, satisfied with that realm.

She was a person who had lived knowing nothing but the sword.

As she lived, she realized that she had nothing but the sword hanging from her waist.

That time.

That age.

The strongest person in the world, who earnestly realized the necessity of power after the Gate incident and devoted herself to refining herself once again, couldn't be the same as before.

Why would one who reached the peak stay in place?

Those at the peak continued to climb toward another goal.

It was a misjudgment to think that she could be reached with just a bit more effort.

No matter how hard those below diligently break through and pioneer the realms to climb up,

The peak might have already disappeared from where it stood decades ago, possibly having ascended even higher.

Thus,

Saviolin Turner had become an existence where the title of a swordsman now felt strange.

She didn't need a sword.

It wasn't because she didn't need a sword when she had a physical sword or an aura sword.

She simply didn't need one anymore.

The reason for truly wielding a sword and fighting had vanished.

Saviolin Turner was a being who had reached the ultimate state, where everything was ultimately interconnected.

Those who had confronted Saviolin Turner and disappeared after being pierced by that unfathomable spear were all individuals who had reached the Master Class.

Even those beings vanished with a single blast of aura.

The mental manipulation magic used by Archmages was also completely ineffective.

Anti-magic training was an essential part of a knight's training in order to counteract magic.

Therefore, it was only natural that magical control methods did not work on Saviolin Turner, who represented the pinnacle of knights.

The sword didn't work, nor did the magic.

Christina gritted her teeth and said,

"Fine... I get that you're strong. But can you handle everything that's coming?"

"..."

The full force of the Immortals had gathered in this underground area.

It was the force that should have been fighting in Diane.

No matter how much of an extraordinary powerhouse Saviolin Turner was, there were still impossibilities.

The fact that she was now surrounded did not change.

It was as if a lone tiger had been cornered by a pack of cats.

But if those cats could keep attacking the tiger until it was exhausted and collapsed, the tiger would eventually die.

So, no matter how strong Saviolin Turner was, she had merely entered the enemy territory unarmed.

Her inevitable demise might be delayed, but it would eventually come.

The reason Saviolin Turner could hold on now was because the battlefield itself was limited.

The destruction of the laboratory itself would affect the existence of the Immortals.

Therefore, the battle hesitated to escalate, as the entire laboratory could be destroyed if it became too intense.

The space was narrow, and the Immortals could not attack properly because they had to protect the laboratory.

No matter how much stronger Saviolin Turner was than what was known to the world, the fact that she had entered the enemy's territory willingly did not change.

Despite Christina's words, Saviolin Turner summoned a few more spears of aura.

"You'll know when you try."

At that confidence, which was almost arrogant, Christina had no choice but to grit her teeth.

------

-Flash!

With a flash of light, Ludwig reappeared on the distant battlefield.

There were no Immortals.

“The monsters are coming!”

As the sudden appearance of a strong ally vanished, the sight of the confused allied forces entered Ludwig's eyes.

The collapse of the allied forces was imminent.

The existence of the Immortals was important, but not absolute. The allied forces could fight without the Immortals.

However, the crumbling morale would bring everything down like dominos.

Christina was wrong.

No, she hadn't even tried to find the right answer in the first place.

Knowing it was the wrong answer, she had declared she would do something crazy just for revenge.

Slowly, Ludwig took out a crystal vial from his pocket.

Then, he uncapped it and drank the contents.

"Ugh..."

It was an artificially created, terrible taste that he couldn't understand how it was made.

Having taken the stabilizer, Ludwig roughly wiped the drool from his mouth.

-Growl!

Ludwig had no army.

All he had was his own body.

He couldn't fill the gap left by the missing Immortals alone.

There was much he could do with his stronger body. But in the end, the fact that he had only one body didn't change.

Amidst the battlefield filled with screams and monstrous roars, Ludwig could kill the monsters before him, but it still had nothing to do with the outcome of the war.

He simply fought.

-Boom!

With several leaps, Ludwig plunged into the midst of the monsters, his right hand holding the Aura Sword, which was formed by black magic.

-Whoosh!

With a single, seamless spinning slash, a torrent of dark aura surged forth, sweeping away the surrounding monsters.

Ludwig could clearly hear the soldiers' awe from afar as they watched his overwhelming, albeit ominous, power.

Although still unrelated to the outcome of the war.

There was definitely a role for Ludwig in localized battles.

Someone wielding the pitch-black Aura Sword in the form of a greatsword strode unhesitatingly across the battlefield.

Instead of retreating, others followed upon witnessing that overwhelming presence.

Everyone had not been like this originally.

Neither Christina nor the others who had changed.

The days when they could laugh and chat happily together had all turned into illusions.

Some became the villains who needed to be killed, while others became villains themselves in their attempts to kill the villains.

And Ludwig, who watched all this, had also become an entity dreaming of his own evil while claiming to judge something.

Those they loved had gone to places where they could no longer be loved.

Those who survived had fallen to unworthy existences.

But one thing remained unchanged.

Fighting for the people.

Fighting to save someone.

Because they had not abandoned that one absolute path.

Because they could not turn away from that.

"Kuh...ah...!"

-Boom!

He fought.

Enduring the burning agony in his right arm.

Resisting the eerie sensation of the dark magic invading his flesh and thoughts.

Without even thinking about wiping away the blood tears in his eyes.

Ludwig swung his sword.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

Like a beast engulfed in black magic, turned into a lost, black predator.

The black beast massacred the monsters and moved forward.

------

The Immortals had left the battlefield.

In an instant, they all disappeared.

The majority of the Allied Forces knew what the Immortals were. Even those who didn't believe the rumors knew they were powerful allies.

They vanished entirely.

“Where... Where are they going?”

After the Immortals were deployed, all battles were planned with their involvement in mind.

The Immortals had demonstrated more power than expected.

That's why, even for those who knew the true nature of the Immortals, no one questioned their absolute necessity, though there might be issues with the process.

Think later.

For now, they were necessary.

Because they were needed, they remained silent.

They knew it was something that shouldn't be done, but it was too necessary.

The Allied Forces recognized and depended on the Immortals' effectiveness.

I was no exception.

-Growl!

-Boom!

Shattering a monster's head with a fistful of magical energy, I could only stare blankly at the waves of monsters rushing into the void left by the Immortals.

Did it have to come to this?

Did it have to come to this extent?

I believed that at least a minimum of rationality would remain.

They wanted to kill me, and they wanted to punish the mastermind behind the Gate incident.

But did they want me dead so much that they'd suddenly abandon everyone like this?

Where is the necessity for going this far?

Despite knowing that too many people were relying on the Immortals, they suddenly disappeared.

Suddenly, the Immortal vanished, and the advancing army hesitated, starting to clumsily retreat.

With the thousands of Master Class warriors who had been sweeping the path ahead, and the destructive magic that the Archmages in the rear had been pouring down, the army's hesitation was inevitable.

It was only natural that the vanguard disappeared, and they had no choice but to follow.

They gritted their teeth and forged ahead, but in the end, there was only one body.

In areas where I could not take charge, the battlefront was gradually pushed back.

Confusion and fury, bordering on nausea, welled up from within, but there was no stopping.

The Immortal was gone.

Gone.

“The vanguard is gone!”

“Run away!”

It was dangerous.

The Immortal certainly made up a significant part of their power.

However, in the original work, the last battle could still be fought even without the Immortal, even without the Titan.

It was possible.

They could definitely do it.

The evaporation of the Immortal also evaporated their morale.

Commanders and soldiers alike began to make fearful speculations.

“He abandoned us!”

Broken morale was as contagious as a plague.

Others who followed the terrified soldier's cries began to emerge.

It was possible.

The battle would be more difficult without the Immortal, but it wasn't impossible.

More people would die, but they wouldn't be annihilated.

It was possible even without the Immortal. In the final battle, the Immortal may have left, but the allied forces' strength was more than enough. They had come this far with plenty of intact forces.

However, the Immortal held too much significance for the alliance, and its sudden disappearance brought with it immense betrayal and a tremendous drop in morale.

Once the front line began to crumble, the rear line would follow suit.

If the entire alliance lost its morale and collapsed, it would be the end.

The entire alliance was currently advancing, surrounded by monsters.

If they collapsed, they would be swallowed up and annihilated with nowhere to retreat.

“The Emperor has abandoned us!”

At some point, the soldiers' screams about the Immortal's disappearance had turned to this.

The Empire's secret weapon.

The Immortal was gone.

That meant the Emperor had abandoned humanity.

In fear and terror.

Those following the Demon King began to appear among the allied forces.

That's why those who believed the Emperor had abandoned the alliance were retreating and yelling.

It wasn't the Emperor who abandoned them.

It wasn't Bertus who abandoned them.

But it held no meaning.

There was no way to persuade and convince soldiers who were shouting out of fear and despair.

There was no time to be angry about the madness that forced the Immortal to retreat.

However.

If they retreated like this, everything would be over.

They had relied too much on the Immortal.

That's why the void left by the Immortal seemed dozens of times larger than it actually was.

“We're all going to die! We're dying!”

“Run away!”

There was nowhere to run.

Crying out that they were surrounded was pointless.

Retreating would only cause them to trample their allies, eventually collapsing and being crushed to death. Then, the waves of monsters would come crashing down, and it would be the end.

And so.

As the betrayal of the Emperor swept across the battlefield and plunged the alliance into panic.

-Krrrrrrrr!

The sky shattered.

Dark cracks appeared in the heavens.

Not just one, but dozens of them.

Not just above the heads of the allied forces, but all over the battlefield.

Cracks like spiderwebs, projecting darkness, appeared in the blue sky, as if it were a broken mirror.

"Ah…"

It was the sky.

Naturally, everyone could see the sky.

The soldiers who threw down their weapons and fled, the countless superhumans who didn't know what to do and kept looking back, and the mages who gritted their teeth and poured magic from the rear would all have seen it.

A torrent of light pouring from the shattered sky.

They saw a meteor shower raining down on the battlefield.

It was a magic that had become trauma for everyone.

The day the sky opened up.

That was when it all began.

That's why it was a cursed magic for all humanity.

"The Demon King…"

Everyone gazed blankly at the sky and uttered those words.

"It's the Demon King's magic!"

The falling meteors.

It had become a magic symbolizing the Demon King for humanity, for all those who remembered that day.

For everyone who had witnessed that day on the Imperial Capital, it was a magic that meant the end of the world.

"The Demon King's magic is coming!"

The reason people's voices, shouting at the sight of magic that was no different from the symbol of the Demon King, were not desperate was because…

"Kwaaaagg!"

It was raining down on the monsters, not humans.

"Yes…"

If there was something to be done.

In this situation.

If there was something to be done in front of those who betrayed and ran away.

There was only one thing I could do.

I took off my helmet.

I returned to my original form, which I hadn't taken for a while.

With a pair of horns.

An Archdemon.

In the form of Valier.

And I summoned them.

"Woong!"

Tiamata in my right hand.

Alsbringer in my left hand.

No words were needed.

Everyone just had to watch.

I could no longer be a Demon King disguised as a mere soldier.

"Oh, oh…"

"Ah…"

Those nearby began to gasp in horror.

No words were needed.

"Woong!"

The Fire of the Tuesday, reacting to the magic power pushed to its limit, began to rip and burn the sweltering monsters drawn in by the reaction.

I ran.

Into the waves of monsters.

I charged in, using all my strength now.

The golden Tiamata wasn't strictly necessary.

"Woong!"

The devastating power of corruption pouring from the dark demonic sword Tiamata tore the monsters apart, and the blue magic power pouring from Alsbringer crushed them.

And the flames emitted by the Fire of the Tuesday opened the path by burning the monsters.

The talk of the emperor's betrayal disappeared.

"The Demon King…"

"The Demon King has appeared!"

People began to shout about the appearance of the Demon King.

And the fact that there could be such a hopeful resonance in the words "Demon King" spoken by humans.

In this situation, somehow.

It felt ridiculous.