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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Rin was acutely aware that she was currently lying in a room within the beast-kin royal palace, dreaming.
She knew this because the fever and headache that had been plaguing her moments ago had vanished completely.
Despite realizing she was in a dream, she had no intention of waking. The dream was simply an expanse of darkness, nothing more.
Waking would only bring back the pain.
‘Daniel will be worried.’
She didn’t understand what was happening to her.
Using her power had caused a surge of heat to rise from the mark on her chest, spreading throughout her body.
She was confident in her ability to control her power. Since the death of the Priestess of Time, the darkness had become completely subservient to her will.
She had reassured Daniel of this, so he probably wasn’t overly concerned.
‘Or is he?’
A part of her wished he was worried, that he would stay by her side, never leaving her alone.
Rin giggled softly to herself.
– You surprise me.
A woman’s voice suddenly echoed through the darkness, startling Rin. The voice was vast, encompassing, like the space itself was speaking.
Rin recognized it as the voice of the Goddess of Death.
– I never imagined you would master my power so completely. You’ve thrown a wrench in my plans to awaken you as the apocalypse.
“Should I apologize? I consider it a good thing.”
Rin’s bold reply was met with a strangely relaxed chuckle from the goddess. It made Rin uneasy, and she instinctively recoiled.
– I’ve expended a considerable amount of power on this. If I fail this time, I’m completely defeated. I won’t have any power left.
“Fail this time?”
Rin didn’t understand what the goddess meant, but the Goddess of Death continued, oblivious to Rin’s confusion.
– Long ago, I gave you power, but I didn’t teach you how to use it. That way, I could control you more easily.
“……”
– But Daniel McLean… your love for that boy is truly remarkable. Remarkable enough to overcome my power.
“You’re not getting anything out of me with flattery.”
– Hmm.
Rin wanted to glare at the goddess, but she didn’t know where to look, so she simply crossed her arms.
– I’ve been contemplating various ways to make you lose control. How can I turn you back into my apocalypse? How can I make you destroy this world?
Anxiety washed over Rin.
She felt like a fish caught in a net, unaware of its predicament. She had thought she was swimming freely in the ocean, but she was trapped.
– Have you absorbed the mark I gave to the Priestess of Time?
“Uh…”
A jolt of realization shot through her.
The Priestess of Time had relentlessly pursued her. At first, the Goddess of Death had ordered the Priestess to kill Rin.
But when that seemed unlikely to succeed…
“You… you told her to die.”
– So that you would witness her immortality. So that you would realize only your power could kill her.
Nausea welled up inside Rin.
She wouldn’t have been able to stop the Priestess without her darkness. She had absorbed the Priestess’s mark out of necessity…
But the goddess was saying that the Priestess had been a massive, unavoidable lure.
– Now, it’s time to bring silence to this world.
Rin’s body began to be consumed by darkness.
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Hoback let out a hollow laugh.
He knew he was wrong, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling of being completely refuted.
The man before him hadn’t spoken a word, yet his mere presence made Hoback realize that he was a threat to the kingdom.
“Are you truly King Callius?”
The savior of all beast-kin.
The one who had influenced their prosperity more than any other.
From his appearance to the Sword of Rest in his hand, he was the spitting image of King Callius.
“I am.”
Hoback sighed at the confirmation.
He had been prepared to become a vengeful demon, consumed by his desire for revenge for his daughter’s death.
But facing such an insurmountable obstacle, he couldn’t help but tremble.
“There are many legends surrounding you, Your Majesty. One claims you possess eternal life, another that you have become a god, watching over us.”
“……”
“Have you truly become a god? Have you come to punish this foolish father, consumed by his emotions and plotting rebellion?”
“I am no god. But I have always watched over you.”
“You are a legend from centuries past. I want to believe this is some trickery by King Lyger, trying to unsettle me…”
Hoback lowered his head, forced to accept the truth.
“But every fiber of my being tells me you are real.”
“Then…”
Kurika took a step forward. The vast army seemed to recoil before his single step.
“Cease this senseless bloodshed. Do not bring another storm of violence to this kingdom seeking peace. Your true enemy stands before you.”
“……What do you mean?”
Confused, Hoback waited for an explanation, and Kurika calmly confessed his crime.
“I killed your precious daughter, Horan.”
“……What are you saying?”
Kurika continued, addressing Hoback’s confusion.
“The organization Horan belonged to, the Tudogs, stole forbidden knowledge and artifacts. I killed her and destroyed all traces of their existence to retrieve them.”
“……You?”
“In the process, I also dealt with the Guardian and the Maester who were pursuing her.”
The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place for Hoback.
When they found Horan’s body, representatives of various races lay unconscious beside her.
Horan couldn’t have incapacitated them all by herself.
There were signs of a struggle…
Consumed by his grief and rage, Hoback had arrested the elf and the dwarf, despite his lingering doubts.
“So that’s why they were all unconscious. You had fought them.”
“Yes. Horan’s crimes were too grave to forgive, but the others were merely pursuing her, so I showed them mercy.”
“I see… I see…”
Hoback slowly raised his head and roared, baring his fangs.
“You killed my daughter!”
“……”
Gripping his massive spear, Hoback charged towards Kurika, his rage overflowing.
“Charge!”
“Attack!”
“Today, we decide the true ruler of this land!”
The nobles and generals who followed Hoback surged forward, following their leader’s charge.
Kurika watched them with pity in his eyes.
“A grieving father…”
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“Whoa.”
Have you ever seen someone sent flying like a tossed fruit? I had, several times. I had even experienced it myself.
But I had never seen so many people flung through the air at once. To be precise, they weren’t being thrown, but pushed back by the sheer force of Kurika’s attacks.
With each swing of his greatsword, Kurika cut down at least three enemies, and the impact sent another six tumbling backward.
This was what a one-man army truly looked like.
Destructive power I could never replicate.
Kurika’s muscles rippled, each movement a testament to his strength, leaving no enemy unscathed.
“He’s a walking weapon.”
He wasn’t just fighting with his greatsword.
With the sheer number of enemies, he wielded his sword in one hand while grabbing opponents by the throat with the other, finishing them off with his fangs.
It wasn’t a battle, but a hunt.
Hoback was putting up a fight, but only because his spear allowed him to maintain distance. If he had been wielding a sword, he would have been sent flying long ago.
“I really don’t need to interfere.”
I had been prepared to join the fight if Kurika seemed overwhelmed, but this was turning into a spectator sport.
There was much to learn from Kurika’s savage fighting style. As an academy student, I observed his unique movements, trying to absorb his techniques.
Boom!
A loud explosion echoed from behind the city walls. Both Kurika and I, along with everyone else, turned our heads towards the source of the sound.
Creak…
The massive city gates, which had been ordered closed, slowly opened.
I quickly retreated.
A flood of people poured out from the gates.
“H-Help!”
“Monster!”
“Run! Run away!”
They scrambled out, as if fleeing from something unspeakable, their faces contorted with terror, even with the rebel army before them.
“What in the world…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
The reason for their panic was clear.
“The palace…”
A massive darkness, swirling like a living entity, was consuming the beast-kin palace.
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