Chapter: 573
The darkness was sliced.
It wasn’t just like cutting through waves.
As the sword of the Sword Saint cleaved through the darkness, it revealed the crimson glow of the sunset, like parting the sea to expose the land beneath.
For the man, it was something he couldn’t comprehend.
How could the darkness be split? How could an ordinary human, without a single ounce of divine power, reach such heights of strength?
His bewilderment made his eyes tremble, but there was no time to seek answers.
A monster appeared, swirling before his dazed mind.
With a massive mouth and sharp fangs, it looked as if it could tear through concepts themselves, like the wolf that swallowed the moon in bards’ tales.
Staring into the dripping maw of hell, the man experienced a brief moment of mental shutdown.
Ha! Sure! What’s the point of momentarily splitting the darkness? In the end, if I can’t break free of its hold, it’s all meaningless.
“Nice to meet you.”
The knight, wielding a sword as large as his own body, greeted him with a casual demeanor.
“And farewell.”
With that parting phrase, his blade swung down as if to shatter the earth.
Kwahhhhh! It was like lightning striking. The man’s body erupted, followed by a sound that shook the air.
The knight’s strike descended upon reality before the sound reach him.
In his fading consciousness, the man understood he must pull this thing into the coming night.
Then, when he opened his eyes again, a priestess with gleaming eyes was before him.
A man chosen by the goddess, willing to shed her own powers for the sake of beauty, boasted a remarkable external appearance. Yet, that beauty only highlighted his madness.
“Die, enemy of the goddess!”
The man, lost in the apostle’s madness, came to his senses, only to find his head already bursting open.
At this stage, even a man once overwhelmed with arrogance felt something strange.
They’re waiting for me at the place of my resurrection; this isn’t a coincidence.
Sure, a stroke of luck once or twice could be laughed off, but this time is different.
They’re reading my every move. Just how?
“Annyaoooooooong.”
A playful tone and lethal strikes rained down on him as his thoughts crumbled to dust.
Erginus? No, he thinks he understands darkness, but he’s still rooted in human thought.
He might strive to match me in understanding, yet he’s utterly powerless in the areas that elude his grasp.
The fact that he hasn’t prevented my resurrection speaks volumes.
“Fall!”
The Fairy Queen? This one has credibility. After all, she’s shared communion with darkness for hundreds of years.
She survived years of solitude.
So, it wouldn’t be strange if she understood darkness.
But the problem lies in her having been purified by a miracle.
That brat who wanted to make me scream forever might be annoying, but there’s no denying the miracle she enacted was genuine.
Can a fairy, restored to her true form, only possess an understanding of darkness?
That’s absurd. It’s too good to be true.
“Die!”
So then, who is it?
The goddess’s apostle?
A pretty little airhead, lost in her thoughts of beauty, certainly has no capacity to comprehend my power.
So, that apostle can’t possibly possess the talent to vanquish the darkness.
Ganshu? Even less worth discussing. That trash locked himself away writing his books during the Mythological Era’s wars.
How could a coward who’s never faced darkness understand it? Armedi? No, that doesn’t make sense either.
If he intervened, the darkness should be repelled. Those fools can’t comprehend it just like light can never understand darkness.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like I’m sinking into a quagmire, and even as the man contemplates this, his body continues to taste death.
With each resurrection, the sword imbeds itself deeper into the darkness, bursting him apart.
Resurrecting faster than the sword could strike, the darkness reduces him to powder.
Wolfish fangs gnaw at the shadows that surround him.
The apostle’s fists explode his flesh again.
Damn it! If only the darkness were complete! If only the surrounding shadows were thicker! If only I possessed my original powers! I wouldn’t have to play around like this!
No matter how talented they are, they’re still human—and I’d drill that into their minds!
When will night fall? When will tragedy reach the accursed Armedi?
Amid endless cycles of death, just as the man’s patience wore thin, a deep, dark shadow enveloped him.
It’s certain. It can’t be an illusion. At last! At long last! Night has draped over this world!
“You’re coming back faster and faster.”
Facing the descending sword from the man, the knight, unaware of exhaustion, accepted the attack into the darkness.
Darkness isn’t merely black. It is a force that colors everything around it, engulfing it, an overwhelming embrace.
No matter how powerful the force, darkness swallows it whole, claiming it for itself.
“I can see the darkness that resides in your heart.”
The man watched the knight raise his sword again with a blank expression but didn’t step back. There was no reason to. Now that night had come, trivial human pride couldn’t touch him.
“Isn’t it hateful that the heavens didn’t save your wife?”
No answer came, but the man continued, grinning. This fool doesn’t need to voice his thoughts.
Every word they uttered revealed the strain on their hearts, so what need is there for a response?
“Death is the natural order? Who decided that?”
Before the darkness creeping into his ears, no one could resist.
The very reason the dark god was the strongest enemy in the past was this. Those with darkness in their hearts could never resist the dark god’s power.
That hero known as the “Hero” was an extraordinarily strange being. How can there exist a hero without darkness in their heart?
If not for that impossibility, I would be unequaled. As long as darkness dwells in their hearts, as long as the light of the cursed Armedi dims in this world, I will never…
“With that dirty mouth.”
Huh?
“The resolve of your wife.”
What? How could this fool resist the darkness while harboring such great regrets within his heart?
“Don’t dirty it!”
Staring dazedly at the knight’s sword, the man chuckled as he saw light crawling over the blade.
Feeling a sense of urgency, cursed Armedi.
But alas, it was too late. It’s far too late to attempt any flailing efforts.
Your time has ended, and mine has begun; how can your treachery obstruct me?
The darkness, crushing the earth and creating craters like meteors fell from the sky, revealed itself with a smirk back before the knight once more.
“Such a meaningless struggle.”
Indeed, a classic case of a ‘dad of a dumb kid’. Parents of someone possessing the qualities of a hero must clearly possess those qualities as well.
“Why? Swing your sword more. Unleash your fury until you’re worn out! Darkness will embrace everything; pour out your rage!”
“I refuse. My time’s come to an end.”
“Hah. Giving up already?”
“Didn’t you hear? I said I’ve completed my tasks.”
As the knight spoke those words, magic circles emerged from the ground.
…You hid the magic circle beneath the darkness!?
In a place even I couldn’t find?!
The man had seen this magic circle before.
It was the same magic that had cornered him, Erginus’s spell.
Chains imbued with the power to seal the dark god’s abilities. This massive spell, layered dozens of times, dragged the dark god to the ground.
“Pfft♡ How pathetic♡.”
With a voice like a curse that reverberated in the ears, distorting reason, a girl’s laughter wafted through the air.
The man raised his head abruptly, biting his lip upon seeing a girl smugly laughing among the fairies.
“You thought night had come and got all hyped up, huh?♡ You must have been buried so deep underground that you forgot what night is?♡”
“…What?”
“What?♡ Can’t figure it out even if I tell you?♡ Heh♡ Ugh♡ So pathetic♡ How did such a thing become a god?♡”
The darkness lifted, and the sun came into view.
The sky stained in crimson signaled night was near, yet the sun, the light, remained high, illuminating the world.
“Bwahahaha! Look at that face!♡ Did you get that stunned from being turned into a fool?!♡”
“How…”
“Curious?♡ Want to know?♡ Even if you understand how you’ve been toyed with and became a squishy mess, it’ll only hurt your feelings more, right?♡”
“…I was deceived? Why?”
“If you’re curious, try begging♡ Lady Lucy~♡ Poor little thing got stomped down by the goddess~♡ I’ll beg, so please tell me~♡”
This is incomprehensible.
The darkness cast across the world should be mine.
It was darkness. It was my time.
How could the sun still be shining on the outside!?
“Ugh♡ Seeing those withered eyes makes me feel a bit sorry for you♡ Want me to just go ahead and tell you?♡ Want to see how I tricked you?♡”
The man knew well that the girl’s taunts were meant to provoke him.
Still, he couldn’t help but stare at her mouth.
He couldn’t comprehend how he could have wandered so far from his own reasoning, desperately yearning for an answer.
“Ugh♡ Really, no thanks~♡”
A sound of mockery escaped her tiny lips.
“What’s wrong?♡ Why are you so shocked?♡ Did you actually have hope?♡ Heh♡ Ugh♡ Really pathetic♡”
“You little brat! I’ll make sure you die! I won’t let it end here! Darkness will never vanish! Darkness will surely return to this place!”
“Bwahaha♡ What are you saying?♡”
The man found something strange in her completely unfazed response and looked inward at his power.
And he realized—the power he once possessed was slipping away to another.
“No!”
“Yawn, I’m tired. So just finish it yourself.”
“No!”
“I would gladly do that. As the goddess’s apostle and heir of the hero, I shall meet the end of this long, long fate.”
“No!”
“What? Are you afraid? Are you scared that the death you forced upon others will befall you?”
“Noooooo!”
“Just a moment.”
Between the man’s screams and Erginus’s cruelty, the goddess’s apostle interjects.
“Could you please wait a moment?”
“What? You sensitive idiot?”
“The goddess has commanded me to stop you.”
“Why?”
“If this continues, you will inherit the throne.”
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