Chapter 68: HTSCF CH 062 The Dark Flames King

As the capital, Gondoa had a protection stone, the largest one in fact. For Dark Flames to surround the invisible shield was something improbable, but alas, there was a Jun in the city, capable of transforming reality for the worst. Above, the sky darkened, and the dome part of the shield was shrouded with Dark Flames. People below panicked, muttering amongst themselves what to do should the shield fail to hold. Never in history had such a thing occurred.

The shield created by the protection stone, however, was not a shield nor a barrier, more so a ward and deterrence. It wasn’t uncommon for a Dark Flame or two to slip through every once in a while, but this was an unnoticed phenomenon in Gondoa, where the Sword Association’s base was located. Most of the time, Dark Flames passed by Gondoa without a pause. 

With this many Dark Flames assembled, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many were bound to slip through and cause immense casualties. What brought them here?

“It’s him!” Violetta Valerie, who still held a vendetta against Jun for no reason, singled him out. “He’s a Dark Omen!”

The Sword Hero followed her finger and glanced at Jun with some surprise. “Ian? You’re alive? Didn’t you…” He trailed off.

‘Didn’t I what!? Don't just trail off!’ Jun shook a proverbial fist at the Sword Hero.

|Er, Host, seems like that person knows you?|

|No shit? How is that possible when I’m just a nameless Townsperson B?|

|I don’t know, dearest Host, but with an incomplete plot source…|

|Alright, fine. This is nothing new.|

“You seem to be mistaken,” Jun said. “My name is not Ian.”

‘It’s Townsperson B, man.’ He thought sarcastically, then thought it was pretty amazing they were able to hear and talk to each other from such a distance.

Violetta Valerie remained unmoved. “Whoever he is, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a Dark Omen and brought the Dark Flames here! Underneath his blindfold is the burn scar!”

Jun wondered what wrong he committed to offend this woman, who was ungrateful despite him curing her burn scar. But if he could see her expression and where her gaze was directed, he’d kick Aurelius and have him go resolve the issue. Not one to care what people thought of him and since he’d been exposed, Jun removed his blindfold.

“… He really is a Dark Omen!” 

“He brought them here!”

“Quick, toss him outside the city walls!”

Before anyone could do anything, though, thousands of Dark Flames fell from the sky. 

“Goddammit, there goes our family vacation…” Jun muttered as he erected a real shield against the Dark Flames above Central Plaza. Whenever a Dark Flame slammed into it, they instantly disintegrated. “Lia!”

Hearing her daddy’s call, Lia held up her hands to form another layer of a shield. Not as strong as Jun, she could only provide secondary support. Turquoise light swords and regular light swords materialized in the sky above the Dark Flames and crashed down upon them. Such magic hadn’t ever been seen before and those watching were stunned speechless by the ease at which Dark Flames were being destroyed.

Only Swords had been able to deal with the Dark Flames, not Mages. What kind of Mages were these people to not require any incantations or staffs, just gestures of their arms? And that Dark Omen was a Mage?

“Impossible, Ian can’t use magic!” The Sword Hero exclaimed.

Jun rolled his eyes at him. “Like I said, I'm not Ian.”

Rather than focus on him, shouldn't the Sword Hero help? 

Jun’s party of four managed to contain the Dark Flames in the sky but not the ones that started pouring into Gondoa from the directions of the four gates they burned through. Most of Gonda’s residents had gathered at Central Plaza and its surroundings, and the Dark Flames seemed to only be interested in Central Plaza. Those who chose to stay home were fortunate and safe.

For that Jun was thankful. Though he might be powerful, he was not omnipotent, and his shield could barely encapsulate Central Plaza and its nearby surroundings, not the entirety of Gondoa. More and more Dark Flames piled on each other above Jun’s shield. Noticing that Swords had moved to the edge of the shield to protect the people, he transformed it from a dome shape to a flattened one, extending the shield’s coverage. Not yet able to change the shape of her shield yet, Ophelia kept her shield the same.

Swords of light continued to rain down on the Dark Flames nonstop yet their numbers didn’t diminish but increased. Unless there were numerous Dark Omens in the crowd, which was doubtful, Jun couldn’t discern why so many gathered. Dark Flames weren’t the type of force of nature to seek Death but Destruction. Unless...

“Ark! Ray! Someone is controlling the Dark Flames! Find them!”

Occupied with shielding everyone, which required three types of magic, Jun couldn’t spare extra magic to search for whoever, but he had a suspect. Though it was pretty obvious, one can’t just accuse that someone without evidence. Maybe if they pushed hard enough the real villain will reveal themselves.

“We’re doomed, we’re doomed!” One of the people in the crowd shouted.

“It’s over!” Another one cried.

“It’s all that Dark Omen’s fault!”

Jun almost—almost—stopped striving to save these ungrateful people. He might be a Dark Omen, but he could attract at most a few thousand Dark Flames, not hundreds of thousands. Two types of light swords, one turquoise and one white, shot at those slandering and complaining about Jun.

“Shut up.” Aurelius and Raven snarled.

“If you want to live, you better not talk bad about my baby,” warned Aurelius.

“Just let them die.” Raven sneered. 

After such threats, everyone stopped talking. As for the person who orchestrated this ordeal, he was seething beneath the surface. No one paid any attention to him, focusing on three others, having completely forgotten about his existence!

“I’m the one who brought the Dark Flames!” The real villain finally revealed himself, drawing people’s attention back to him. 

“S-Sword Hero…?”

They were shocked it was the Sword Hero, but Jun’s party wasn't, not even Ophelia. “I knew he was shady,” She commented. “Someone that good-looking can’t be a good person.”

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Her father and dad, who she complimented for being better looking than the Sword Hero: “…” 

But she wasn’t incorrect. Neither Aurelius nor Raven were “good” people. They just did what they had to do.

“William, you—!?” Sofia Magdalen backed away from the Sword Hero in horror. “What are you talking about?”

William Frankfort, the Sword Hero, didn’t bother with her and strode forward, his golden Sword armor turning into a pitched black one. His blonde hair and blue eyes changed into a dark mess and a pair of inky pools for eyes. 

“A Demon!” Someone exclaimed. Confused, Jun “looked” around. There were “Demons” in this world? 

“I’m not a Demon! I am the Dark Flames’ King.” After that, William Frankfort completely unleashed his repressed power and the Dark Flames started to flicker and grow in strength. Jun’s eyes burned and stung like they were being pierced by many tiny, heated needles.

Clutching his face, Jun fell to his knees and lost control of his shield, causing thousands of Dark Flames to plummet through. Fortunately, some were destroyed by Ophelia’s shield. 

“Jun!” Two concerned voices and two pairs of arms helped Jun back to a standing position.

“What happened?” Raven asked.

“… My eyes hurt.” When he lifted his head and lowered his hand, they saw him crying tears of blood. Paired with his pale skin and white hair, it was quite frightening. Jun heard the sound of sharp intakes of breath. “… What?”

“Baby, your eyes…”

“… They’re bleeding.”

“Daddy…!”

“Well, that explains why my hands feel wet…” Unfazed, Jun used his magic to “look” at William Frankfort then reformed his shield. “I’ve figured it out. He’s been completely corrupted into a Dark Flame, but it’s strange how he’s managed to retain his consciousness…” 

“It’s not strange at all, I was there once.”

“It’s not strange at all, Raven was there once.”

Aurelius and Raven gave each other a look. They hated when they did that.

“Oh!” Jun recalled something from that half-finished plot. “Was it when you two were trying to kill each other?”

“I wasn’t trying to kill him,” Aurelius clarified. “I was trying to stop him.”

“I was trying to kill him.”

“…” Caught off guard, Aurelius lost his footing, nearly performing a pratfall. 

Raven avoided Aurelius's accusing eyes. “What? I couldn’t control myself…”

“If it weren’t for me, that—” Jun gestured in the vague direction of William Frankfort. “—could have been you, Ray!”

“Can you purify him?” Aurelius inquired. Although he could also purify Swords now, he wasn’t as enthused about it as Jun. 

“No, there’s no humanity left in him. With Raven, there was still a shred of humanity left…”

“Then what?” Raven asked.

“Um… Kill him…?”

When it came to killing people, Jun was always hesitant. Unless his life was threatened, he never felt the need to kill someone. At the moment, his life wasn't being threatened...

“Let’s kill him.” Raven was adamant.

“Yeah, let’s kill him. He ruined our daughter’s birthday and family vacation.” Aurelius concurred.

“Aw…” Touched, Ophelia shed some dramatic fake tears. Jun, unable to see any of it, shrugged. Regardless of his mixed feelings about killing another person, it was the only route to end this. William Frankfort had no intention of ceasing his calling of Dark Flames to attack, and at some point, they’d run out of mana and wouldn’t be able to handle the situation anymore.

Dealing with a Dark Flame that had once been a Sword wasn't simple. Dark Flames were forces of nature when dark and fire mana collided and consolidated. With the addition of a Sword’s light magic and a potential fourth type, it was like dealing with four forces of nature at once. Jun himself could use a combination of three types of magic at most. 

But who were Aurelius and Raven? Only the original protagonist and villain of the plot. Combined with both of those halos and the boost in magic they gained from doing Jun so much the past couple of years, they effortlessly obliterated William Frankfort with a pair of light swords that merged together. As soon as the merged swords of light punctured him, William Frankfort disintegrated just like any other Dark Flame, his existence completely wiped out.

At that moment, Jun’s world, which had been dark for practically five years, became bright again. As the burn scar across his eyes faded away, his dull eyes became alive. Unused to the light, Jun squinted and blinked his eyes a few times before cleansing them of the dried blood with some water magic. Based on this reaction, he hypothesized his blindness and burn scar had been caused by William Frankfort, who seemed to have known the original “Ian.”

A.K.A. Townsperson B.

In front of him, three people held faces of concern, one a cute little girl and the other two a pair of tall, handsome, and muscular men, one with long dark hair and the other one with short blonde hair. Jun smiled at them.

“I see you.”

And this world. It was a beautiful sight.

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A/N: Ending the chapter here a bit short… Because this arc will officially end in the next chapter… ????

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