The Day When the Sky Road Opens (4)
b For how long would you like to be a god?}
In a world in which my ears rang, I could hear only the voice in my head. There were many who spoke swear words in this world, but there was only one being I knew that could swear while doing so in an elegant, sibilant voice.
“Ann?”
b That’s fucking right. It’s been a while since someone called me by that nickname}
Her blunt reply dazzled my mind. She was a hero of the Great War, which ended hundreds of years ago – A knight who killed the giant king Eda as one of the Five Predecessors.
Master of the sword, she was thought to hear Agnes’s voice again, and hearing it stunned me to my very core.
“Is that really you, Agnes?”
b Aye, I’m Agnes. First, stop wielding double swords. You look like a crossbreed dog without pedigree. If I had eyes, they would be rotting from my skull}
Agnes cares little for small talk.
“But how did you-”
b We can talk later. First deal with these hybrids, who are neither wizards nor knights}
I was snapped awake by her words. The paladins had surrounded me, and as Agnes said, now was not the time to enjoy the thrill of reunion.
“Don’t go anywhere.”
b I’ve been here for hundreds of years. What’re you talking about?}
Only after I heard Agnes answer did I feel relieved. I tightened my grip upon my swords.
“…!”
“…!”
The paladins rushed at me and there followed a great flurry of swordsmanship.
Each one of their strikes was like a rock that threatened to batter down the floodgate, and I did not dare slacken my defense in fear of the water gushing in.
A roar pierced through my tinnitus. I blocked, parried, and blocked again like crazy.
I couldn’t even think of counterattacking – I just blocked and dodged in desperation.
However, as it is impossible to block ten fists with one palm, so too is it impossible to block seven swords with two.
I was cut across my back, and a sword stabbed into my leg. A piece of flesh was torn from my waist, and my molten armor fell to the ground along with the fleshy lump.
My body was wracked by such terrible pain, yet I clenched my teeth as I thrust my swords out.
“…!”
I stabbed into a paladin’s chest. He grabbed onto my sword, so I released it, swung my body around, and severed his hand.
‘Aaargh!’ screamed the paladin.
Just as I managed to retrieve my bloody sword, another blade flew in at me.
‘Qlschaaup~’ I was stabbed in my shoulder, and a subsequent slash cut into the back of my knee.
My legs trembled, and fell to one knee, stabbing Twilight into the ground as I held onto it. From that position, I swung Dragon Slayer in a wide arc around me, clearing a space as a golden flash spread out in all directions, forcing the paladins to hurriedly step back.
‘Fwoo~ Fwooo~’
b So you daft bastard, didn’t I tell you not wield dual swords?} Agnes chided me.
Instead of answering, I caught my breath as I stuck my chin out.
As I leaned against Twilight, I glared around me. The eyes of the paladins flashed, and they were awaiting their chance. Things looked bad.
My sight was blurred, either due to being struck by lightning or as an effect of losing so much blood. I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes.
b Do you remember?}
Leaving Twilight in the ground, I staggered as I raised myself.
b When I was surrounded by giant legionaries.}
I took up Twilight and angled its blade. I pulled my true body back as if preparing for a piercing strike.
b ..I thought it was truly over, then}
‘Fwooo~ Fwooo~’
I exhaled as I stared at the paladins.
b If it weren’t for you, in all likelihood, I would have died. I wouldn’t even have left a corpse}
The paladins exchanged glances.
b So this time, It’s my turn to aid you}
They began to approach me.
b Just as you led me..}
My chest swelled as I drew in a deep breath. The paladins rushed at me, almost simultaneously.
b ..I will lead you}
Everything started to flow slowly at that moment.
b My only companion, my old companion} Agnes said to me b You and I are not separate. We are two – Yet one. What I have done, you have done. My feats are your feats}
b This is the fruit of the seeds you have sown, the seeds that have now grown}
b You are the glory that you attained through me}
That strange, resonant whisper of hers remained terrifying to the end, and then something majestic embraced me. My two limp arms felt rejuvenated. My mana, which I was struggling to call up, once more began to pulse violently.
b Run as wild as you want}
My hazy vision cleared up in an instant.
b I will watch your arse}
As I looked at the six swords so slowly drifting toward me, a soft poem came to my lips.
“When I cleanse my sword”
“Blood into a river flows”
“And the flesh enriches the earth”
[—]We sing [Poetry of Sudden Change][—]
‘Dgiii!’
And at that moment, a brilliant golden beam burst from the tip of my sword.
“Qwa Hahaha!” a cold-hearted war fanatic laughed happily in the midst of a roaring world. Hearing that laughter, I sliced my blade down as hard as I could.
A great pillar of light soared upward as if reaching for the sky and then plunged to the earth.
* * *
A pillar of light rose from the middle of the battlefield, a great sword that was tens of meters long. Facing such a terrible unreality, the imperial knights and wizards ceased all resistance.
They watched the sword of light tilted.
“Alas…”
Knights reach out to touch the light, enchanted by it.
That hallowed light ate their hands, dissolved them, yet there were no screams.
The knights looked on with vacant expressions as their hands disappeared.
The great sword of light hovered over the heads of the imperial troops and plunged down.
‘Schdee Guwdaaak!’
It was a roar that shook the earth upon its axis. Dust and dirt rose into the sky, swallowing the area.
‘Fwshoooo~’
A wind picked up, blowing away the dust, and the horror, the carnage, was revealed.
Flattened lumps of iron were scattered all over. Blood, hair, and flesh were tangled up into the squashed heaps of metal.
These were the bodies of knights, crushed in their own armor, and among these lumps were the remains of the paladins as well. The paladins that the empire so boasted of.
Yet, the corpses of the paladins had fared far worse than those of the others, for they had been closer to the center of the sword.
‘Dump,’ two paladins, who had been lucky enough to avoid a direct hit, sank down on their asses. There was no pride on their faces, nothing that showed that they were knights who had reached completion.
“Uhuuugh…”
They groaned like terrified beasts, kicking at the ground with their feet like mewling babes.
Their behavior was that of men with troubled minds, and they behaved shamefully. Yet, there were none to point at them and call their actions ugly. Those that could were dead and those that lived were not truly alive.
The gathered knights of the empire saw the man who had caused so terrible a disaster, and they dropped their swords. The man was kneeling on a single knee on the ground, and he was gasping for breath. Yet, his position did not seem precarious. Rather, the sight of him was somehow breathtaking, and the energies flowing around him were enough to overwhelm anyone who dared approach.
The imperial troops did not even consider charging at the man – Some started retreating back into the forest. The man staggered to his feet and seemed to snap awake. He then gripped both his swords and aimed them at the Imperial Army.
Half of their number had died, becoming lumps of misshapen flesh, yet half still remained. They still had some power to them, those remaining knights and wizards.
Nevertheless, the imperials were confused by the man’s gestures, and they stepped back.
The man stared at them for a moment and then spat to the ground. Then he started walking, limping, his swords hanging in his grasp.
‘Rattle, ching~ Rattle, ching~’
Whenever the man stepped over the corpses of those crushed in their own armor, there rang a nauseating noise as his boots strode upon the lumps of flesh and iron.
‘KIEEEEEE!’
The swords the man carried scratched against the ground as they keened with an eerie sound.
‘Duf!’ Some of the weaker-willed wizards could not withstand the terrible energy of that noise, and they fainted.
‘Jooch,’ the man stopped and wiped the blood that ran from his forehead.
“Waagh,” the man groaned, staggered, and then took a step back. When he walked once more, his steps kept veering to one side – In the direction of the surviving imperial knights.
Nobody moved.
The man, who seemed so exhausted, passed by the noses of the knights. He had a bloody, exposed back, yet not one of the knights dared pick up their swords.
They couldn’t even breathe as they watched the man pass by in front of them.
The man passed the ranks of knights, and in front of him was the great forest. He looked back.
In a way, he seemed to appreciate the horror that he had wrought, and in some ways, he also seemed conflicted, as if wanting to kill the remaining imperial knights.
It was then that the thought entered the minds of the empire’s knights: Don’t let him leave here alive. If he is to be killed, our chance is now, this moment.
It was the two surviving paladins who moved first.
They were terrified, but their desperation was greater. They wielded their swords with trembling hands, staggered, and then began running at the man.
“For the emperor! Kill!”
As the paladins screamed this, the knights grabbed their swords and started to approach the man one by one. The man remained unmoving. He just stood there, with his back to the forest.
His eyes shined eerily, and his face was darkly shaded.
The knights who approached him halted in their tracks.
“Look! He can’t lift a finger now!”
“Don’t be fooled – It might be a bluff!”
The paladins struck, and the knights once more began approaching the man. Finally, the knights who neared him struck out with their blades.
And they found out – The man’s gaze was not directed at them.
The man was looking at the sky.
‘Rummbbbll,’ dark clouds suddenly covered the sky. The knights froze where they stood.
They had witnessed the thunderbolts strike their enemies several times throughout the night, and they had been grateful that they had not been the target.
But now, the terrible magic that had decimated the enemy ranks was about to smite down upon their heads.
“Stop! Allies in the area!” terrified imperials shouted. However, the manifester of the magic remained unseen, always hidden.
They shouted in all directions and cried out that the magic be stopped.
Theirs was a pointless waste of breath.
Even the moment that they had let go of their bellows, the magic had been forming up to strike.
‘Brrggkkk~’ light flashed through the dark clouds, and dozens of thunderbolts crawled through the air like snakes of light. Terrified knights scattered in every direction, yet they all already knew – Their human legs were too slow, and the magical storm covered a great area.
And in the midst of that chaos, the man hadn’t blinked once. He raised his swords and pointed them at the sky. His energy seemed to cut into the striking bolts of lighting.
‘Kurruungg!’ the dark clouds roared, and once more, dozens of flashing blue snakes flickered their tongues in the dark clouds beyond.
Just then, a sharp cry came from somewhere.
‘Keeeaaahaaa!’
Not one, but dozens of such roars echoed through the forest.
A hundred thunderous snakes appeared from the other side of the sky.
‘Kyaaahahh!’ the wyverns roared and flew in, towards the central mass of dark clouds that seemed as if it would let loose its thunderstorm at any moment.
At the forefront of the flyers was an abnormally large wyvern.
“Lances!” came a grand roar from the rider of the great wyvern.
The wyvern riders readied their long lances.
“Pierce it!” the rider roared once more, and dozens of wyverns became shining beacons that pierced through the blackened sky, and the sky was sundered.
The dark clouds were scattered, with dozens of great holes pierced into it by magic lance.
And through those dozens of holes, the sun cast its great beams.
The place where the Knights of the Sky had passed through had become the heavens of Dotrin once more, with the sun shining brightly upon the forest.
The road to the sky had been opened.
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