< 72. Oh King, Oh King. (2) >
*
– Whoosh…
Rain poured down like a waterfall. Fernandez gazed at the flickering eyes of King Dane in the darkness. An overwhelming pressure surged.
[Belawin?]
‘…What?’
King Dane suddenly spoke. His cold, soul-piercing gaze looked down at Fernandez.
[Belawin. Why did you attack me?]
‘He can talk?’
– He’s not mindless. Not entirely sane, but a properly made Death Knight after a long time.
King Dane took another step closer. Just a bit more, and he’d be within sword reach. Fernandez adjusted his stance, cautiously observing the situation. King Dane walked into the pouring rain.
– Creak.
[It’s dark.]
– Flicker.
As he spoke, torches along the walls burst into blue flames. Fernandez finally saw King Dane clearly—a massive skeleton, thick armor, a crown, and a gigantic two-handed sword.
King Dane clenched and unclenched his gauntlet, pausing for a moment. He seemed to be contemplating something as he stared at Fernandez.
[Belawin. You betrayed me. I sense your presence.]
– Whoosh!
King Dane’s eyes flared violently. Was it the Lich’s life detection, the instincts of a knight who had reached the pinnacle, or the result of centuries of battling the Church of the Underground Burial?
He was staring right at where Faijashi floated.
[You bear the dead. Belawin. My old comrade. My vassal.]
– Swoosh.
King Dane drew his greatsword from the ground. He slowly aimed it and spoke.
[I grant you an honorable chance. Belawin, Knight of the Lion. End yourself.]
Fernandez clicked his tongue at King Dane’s words. There was no time for negotiation or other methods. Until the spell reviving him ran out or his head was destroyed, King Dane wouldn’t stop.
– Can I kill him with a sword?
‘He’s definitely not weaker than Diran Shrike.’
– He doesn’t seem weaker than that bastard.
Fernandez bit his lip and glared at King Dane. King Dane shook his head lightly and raised his greatsword—
For a moment, the rain stopped. In the silence, the sword descended.
[I’ll help you.]
Space split.
– Kwaaaang!!
Dodging that strike was near miraculous. The greatsword moved at an impossible speed, slicing through the space where Fernandez had stood. Incredible power? No, it wasn’t just power.
Did he just cut through space?
Fernandez barely steadied himself from the shockwave and charged at King Dane’s exposed waist. If he didn’t attack, he couldn’t win!
– Kwaaang!
[Pathetic, Belawin. The name Knight of the Lion weeps for you.]
King Dane twisted his waist, dodging the sword, and struck Fernandez’s face with his thick gauntlet. The world seemed to darken, and the next moment, Fernandez was rolling on the ground.
– Fernandez, snap out of it!
‘Huh?’
Fernandez quickly got up, touching the spot where he was hit. Despite the attack, there was no pain or impact. It felt like his consciousness had flickered for a moment. No wounds!
– You just died once.
‘…Damn it.’
He felt his Stigma flicker. Immortality isn’t perfect. Even the gods of the Temple of the Gods will die someday.
Relying on immortality was foolish. Fernandez bit his lip. He couldn’t depend on a power that might vanish at any moment.
[The necromancy revived you. Now I understand why you couldn’t end yourself. Shield, grant your blessing. I shall restore your peace.]
King Dane raised his sword, looking at Fernandez. In an instant, he closed the distance, replicating a knight’s skilled spear charge with his bare body!
– Kwaaaang!
Fernandez rolled to the side, dodging just in time, and swung his sword at King Dane’s back.
– Kwaddduk!
“Ugh!!”
It felt like hitting a boulder. Fernandez quickly ducked as a pillar swept past his head. King Dane tore through space, relentlessly swinging his sword.
– Kwaaang! Kwaang!
There was no time to stop. Fernandez kept rolling. Fortunately, like all Death Knights, King Dane had gaps between his actions.
The problem was, even when hitting those gaps, the attacks didn’t work!
– Aim for the head!
‘I know! You try it!’
– If it were me, he’d be dead already. Fool.
‘…’
Fernandez vowed to smack Faijashi if he ever materialized. But first, he had to deal with this guy!
– Kwaaaang!
Again, space split. King Dane’s sword carved a rough trajectory, closing the gap. The shock completely unbalanced Fernandez! There was no way to block the next attack…
– Swoosh.
‘Huh?’
For a moment, he saw the broken chain on his left arm. Though there was no time to spare, Fernandez’s heightened senses perceived the chain as if time had slowed!
‘Faijashi, he wasn’t looking at you!’
– What?
‘King Dane wasn’t seeing you! Damn it. The fragments of Pafutet got mixed in!!’
During the spatial leap, his body had been crushed, and fragments of Pafutet’s spirit, which had been maintaining the control spell, mixed into his soul!
Divine energy flowed through his body.
Because of that, Pafutet was now on the verge of extinction, but the spell that revived King Dane belonged to him and the Necropolis. The traces of the sorcery the king saw must have been that.
– So what? Does anything change?
‘It’s a gamble now. I won’t die more than ten times.’
Fernandez gripped his sword in his left hand and manipulated the Control Chains. The crumbling chains tangled along the blade.
– Kwaaaang!
Splitting the space, King Dane’s Greatsword came crashing down. Fernandez’s sword dug into the gap between the split space—
– Kwaddduk!!!
The King’s Greatsword roughly ground against Fernandez’s sword along the blade’s edge. Sparks scattered wildly. He barely deflected King Dane’s sword and linked the chains to his gauntlet.
Still not enough!
– Kwajik!
The King’s Greatsword slashed past his waist. One death! Fernandez, flickering between death and resurrection, flesh and recovery, gazed at King Dane’s Blue Eyes.
*
At that moment, he saw a burning town. Against the backdrop of the blazing town, a young boy was running away from a monster.
*
The Control Chains twisted around King Dane’s gauntlet, threatening to snap. Fernandez felt King Dane’s soul. A massive, overwhelming, and fiercely burning soul.
– …Just now?
‘Yes. The soul’s count is aligning.’
– It’s a dangerous method. Can you keep your sanity?
‘There’s no other way.’
Pafutet’s case proved that the Control Chains remain connected even as the body dies. In that process, souls might mix.
Then, forcibly link the chains to King Dane’s body, die repeatedly, and mix souls with him! Forcefully align the soul’s count and share the corruption that has taken hold of him.
Fifteen hundred years, the accumulated filth of corruption in King Dane’s soul. I will share it!
– Kwaaaang!
Once again, his sword crushed the rain as it closed the distance. Fernandez instead threw himself into it, stabbing King Dane’s chest with the chained sword. An attack disregarding defense!
– Kwaddduk!
Scraping roughly against King Dane’s breastplate, one chain dug into his armor.
*
He saw a massive red dragon lying asleep by a lake and a young man practicing swordsmanship before it. A clear, pristine sky, forest, and lake.
*
“Kuh… Uaaa!!”
The brief resonance of souls shook Fernandez’s mind as if to destroy it. King Dane’s memories were flooding into him. An ordinary person would have collapsed dozens of times over from the ego and physical pain!
But once more. He couldn’t stop here. Once more!
– Kwaaaang!!
*
The world was always hostile, and corruption was rampant. The young man, cutting down the neck of a charging madman with flipped eyes, thought. Around him were piles of corpses. If he could kill a hundred evil men to save one good person.
There was a day he swore like that.
*
The overwhelming sense of unity, even for a brief moment, made Fernandez share his emotions. Staring into King Dane’s cold Blue Eyes, he forced his drooping eyes open.
He couldn’t lose his mind here. The Control Chains dug into King Dane’s body once more. Simultaneously, King Dane’s Greatsword split his body vertically.
*
That day, his brother died. Like yesterday. Probably tomorrow too. The corrupted masses, knights tainted by evil. Enemy soldiers. Servants poisoning food. To anyone.
The young man hugged his brother’s cold body and closed his eyes. I will carry on your work. Rest in peace.
He gripped his sword again and stepped onto the battlefield.
*
– Snap out of it, Fernandez!!
‘…How many times have I died?’
– Five.
‘Still fine.’
The number of times he could maintain sanity during spatial jumps was ten. Fernandez swung his sword with a dazed mind.
– Chaeng!
– Blocked, blocked?!
Fernandez’s sword blocked King Dane’s sword in midair! The chains on Fernandez’s sword connected to King Dane’s sword.
Between life and death, with mixed souls. Not just King Dane’s memories and emotions, but even his experiences were blending into Fernandez’s body and soul!
Fernandez moved almost instinctively. His swordsmanship was growing closer to King Dane’s. Blocking, deflecting, parrying.
– Chang! Chang! Kaddduk!
King Dane’s sword twisted like a lion writhing, deflecting Fernandez’s sword. In that gap, it stabbed into his chest.
The chains connected once more.
*
The swamp monster was too powerful. He saw his dead subordinates and knights gasping for breath on the ground. The young man knelt and looked at the approaching monster.
It laughed arrogantly, mockingly. It picked up a soldier who had fallen face-first into the swamp.
Its sharp teeth gleamed. The soldier’s helmet fell to the ground. A youthful face. A boy soldier. Its teeth moved toward the boy’s head.
Poor thing. I’m sorry. I swore to protect you all. His body no longer had strength. This might be the end of the journey.
In the young man’s mind, his mother, the red dragon’s gentle eyes, appeared.
[What do you feel when you see your dead kin?]
‘I would be angry that I couldn’t save them with my abilities.’
[Wrong, child.]
The dragon’s eyes curved softly. The dragon ruffled his hair with thick claws.
[Dane. My child. Your name means ‘compassion’ in our tongue. You should simply pity them.]
The young man, Dane, picked up the steel Greatsword that had fallen to the ground. His name was crookedly engraved on the blade. Dane, compassion.
He slowly stood and pointed his sword at the swamp monster. The monster put down the boy soldier’s corpse and smirked.
*
– Chang! Chang! Chang!
An incredible speed of sword strikes continued the exchange. Fernandez’s sword was now almost on par with King Dane’s.
Blades tangled, scattering rough sparks.
‘His sword has dulled.’
– …You’ve gotten faster, Fernandez.
‘How many times have I died?’
– Seven.
– Chang!
The weight of the karma and corruption entwined with King Dane’s soul was evident. Fernandez was swaying between tangled minds and memories. But with a dazed head and dulled senses, he kept swinging his sword.
– Chang!
‘I’ll end it within two more times.’
The Stigma on his back emitted a faint light. The blessing of indomitability. The blessing that even overcomes the corruption of Hellish Magic was sustaining his soul.
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