Guiltine’s jaw dropped when he saw the dim moonlight pouring down. Of course, it was an only illusion. The moonlight-like yellow aura attacks instantly arrived right in front of Guiltine.
“—Oh, no!” Guiltine raised his sickle, startled.
Although Kireua and Guiltine were both Class A knights, Guiltine was much older than Kireua, so Guiltine was certain that he was more experienced than Kiruea by leaps and bounds.
The vigorous hum of a Master’s mana in motion shook the air. Aura clashed in the air again and again, but disappeared upon impact. Their attacks were like two crescent moons—a battle between Guiltine’s sickle and the lunar halo from Kireua’s sword.
The situation quietly began to change.
Guiltine flinched while he was firing yet another of his aura attacks. The air around the area suddenly changed. More concerningly,tThe rain of yellow aura attacks had turned black at some point; black as the peculiar night where the moon was covered by shadows. It was, of course, a technique Kireua recreated using Coal’s power.
Magic Sword Art Level 4, Moonset Sword: Lunar Eclipse Night.
“...Ugh!”
The density of Kireua’s rain of aura changed, becoming sturdier, quicker, and stealthier. Guiltine, unable to fend off the assault, coughed up blood.
His two-meter-long sickle audibly cracked. A weapon without aura was just a lump of metal, so as soon as the amount of Guiltine’s aura decreased, his weapon was the first thing to suffer.
“...They’re aura attacks... but I’m losing...?” Guiltine mumbled in disbelief.
His sickle broke completely in half, allowing Kireua’s rain of body-crushing aura attacks to plow through the broken weapon.
Guiltine didn’t even get to leave behind his last word because he was immediately pulverized by the aura rain.
-Kyaaaahhhh!
Not long after, a figure came out of Guiltine and screamed.
“Mmm...” Kireua grunted quietly after landing on the ground.
Would the Grim Reapers from the myths look like the figure that came from Guiltine? No, Kireua had read about this in a book before. The Demon Spirit had five vassals, and they each ruled over a Demon Sub-Realm. Judging from the figure’s appearance, it must be the Black-Headed Grim Reaper.
-Yummy food!
Kireua stiffened.
-Ahhhhhh!
Coal popped up and opened its mouth cavernously wide and flew forward.
-Yummy!
The Black-Headed Grim Reaper disappeared into Coal’s gaping maw. Coal trembled violently. Kireua gave it a sharp look. It didn’t even cough out what it ate. A Grim Reaper was related to the Demon Realm, so if Coal fed on those kinds of creatures...
‘Is Coal really related to the Demon Spirit?’ Kireua wondered.
“...Murderous intent?”
He swung his sword to the left where he sensed a very vivid murderous intent coming from. It collided with another sword with a deafening clang.
Kireua frowned at the numbness in his hand. “The Adsaraks were the knights of this castle’s original owner, so how did you end up becoming the rebels’ dog?”Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om
“For you, it would be strategically advantageous to capture me alive, but as you can see, that won’t be easy. Capturing someone alive is much more difficult than killing them.”
“Does that mean you’ll surrender if you lose?”
“Of course.” Kireua nodded.
“Why should I believe that?”
“We can swear on our mana if you want.”
Lacoon stared at Kireua. “Swearing on our mana is unnecessary.”
“What, then?”
“Please swear on your father’s name instead.”
Kireua’s eyebrow rose. Lacoon had definitely said that he looked up to the Emperor of Avalon more than anyone else, and judging by how he was willing to trust an oath made in the Emperor’s name, it seemed that he wasn’t lying.
“...I don’t know if I have any right to say this, but I won’t disgrace his honor as his son. I won’t make a fake promise.”
“That answer is good enough.” Lacoon straightened.
-Your Highness, be careful! I heard about Wiesel den Adsarak. The Adsaraks are famous across the continent, right?
Anna delivered a message through her wind elemental spirit using “Elemental Spirit Whisper”, a technique that only a high-ranking elemental spirit mage could use. Kireua sent a reply using telepathy with his mana.
-That is why he’s perfect to test my ability.
Kireua recalled what had happened in the south as he infused his mana in his sword. When he had gotten the chance last time, Selim had stepped in, so Kireua couldn’t do anything. Besides, he hadn’t known that Dargo rane Suspen, a continent-class knight, would be killed that easily.
-Tell me if you need help. I’ll step in if things turn too dangerous.
Kireua understood why she was concerned. That was Kireua’s first time fighting against a continent-class knight.
The top ten knights of the Avalon Empire were classified as continent-class. Their ranks included the people with the Four Guardians’ powers as well as Lacoon den Adsarak, the man in front of Kireua right now. Lacoon was officially the ninth strongest knight in the entirety of the Avalon Empire, so if Kireua won this fight, the whole empire would be flipped upside down.
Kireua's eyes widened because he suddenly felt his hands growing cold around his sword.
“This is...?”
Kireua wasn’t mistaken—his hands were actually freezing.
“This fight was already over when you made contact with my sword,” Lacoon said. “My mana has a tendency to permeate into whoever I come in contact with, and it became stronger after I manifested the snow god’s authority. My mana is the polar opposite of your mana of fire, Your Highness, so surrender. At this rate, your entire body will freeze.”
Kireua belatedly drew up his fire mana. Glacial ice and scarlet flame—it was a fight between two manas with totally different attributes, and Kireua was already half frozen before he could light his fire.
“I have to spare your life, so I’ll be gentle.”
“Bullshit,” Kireua rudely cursed. If his enemy used extremely low-temperature ice as his power, then all Kireua had to do was melt the ice with even hotter fire. He so happened to have the ebon flame, the hottest energy of all types of energy in the world.
Lacoon flinched when the black flames suddenly rose in front of him. More worryingly , the ice on Kireua quickly melted, and he blew away his hair stuck to his forehead. Lacoon’s eyes spun with bewilderment.
“Why don’t you go gentle on your lover instead?[1]” Kireua replied with a smirk. Lacoon stiffened.
“His Majesty this, His Majesty that... Do you know that you never called me by my name?” Kireua swung his sword as hard as he could toward Lacoon. “Do I still look like just His Majesty’s son right now?”
1. Lacoon’s previous line was 손속에 사정을 두겠습니다, and Kireua’s reply was 사정은 그쪽 애인한테나 하시고. While 사정을 두다 can mean going easy on someone else, 사정 can also mean to ejaculate or plead. ☜