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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Cyno
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“Kyaaah!”
“What the hell just flew past?!”
The city was in chaos. Market stalls were overturned, walls were dented or shattered, and screams echoed everywhere. Though no one was seriously hurt, the panicked citizens fled at the sight of the high-speed chase between me and Catrianne.
I swung Yojo with all my might around the next corner just as Catrianne appeared ahead, thrusting Idrun toward me. The two relics clashed with a deafening impact, the recoil sending me flying uncontrollably through the air.
Catrianne chased after me desperately, but I was moving faster and farther than the shockwave should have propelled me.
When she arrived at where I should have landed, she gnashed her teeth in frustration—only a stray dog leisurely relieving itself against a bookstore wall greeted her.
“That damn rat of a brat!”
At Catrianne’s roar, the dog gave her an awkward look before scampering away.
She hurled aside her basket and burned away the cloth wrapped around Idrun with its flames.
Sensing my mana signature, Catrianne teleported above me in midair.
I scowled. Teleportation was Tier-5 magic.
“Just announce you’re a Valkyrie outright. What kind of swordsman uses magic like that?”
Catrianne swung Idrun down, its flaming aura blade roaring. Our weapons collided with a thunderous crash, scattering flames in all directions.
“Plenty of spellblades exist.”
“But none can simultaneously wield aura blades and cast Tier-5 magic without chanting!”
I grabbed a burning awning pole from a fruit stand and spun like a swallow, watching Catrianne get flung into the distance before landing on a nearby rooftop.
But she reappeared before me instantly.
“Then let’s say teleportation is Idrun’s ability.”
“Honestly, your half-assed attitude is why you’ll fail.”
Our blades clashed again and again. I was at an absolute disadvantage. After several exchanges, Catrianne exploited an opening and drove her knee into my ribs.
A direct hit. I crashed onto a rooftop, tiles shattering under me.
As I scrambled up, Catrianne descended, Idrun wreathed in flames aimed at my face.
BANG!
The crossing blades scattered sparks. The searing heat from Idrun made my skin blister, and eventually, I lost my grip. Seizing the chance, Catrianne struck my face with Idrun’s hilt.
But I’d anticipated it. Taking the hit, I twisted midair and landed on the street below, darting forward.
Catrianne blocked my path again.
“You’re incredible at running away.”
“Yeah, I majored in it.”
Her expression darkened.
“You should quit while you’re ahead. I’m running out of patience.”
“And what if you lose your temper?”
“You die.”
“That’s my specialty. So common it’s routine.”
“Stop joking.”
“I wish I were. Heh.”
Catrianne’s face flushed crimson.
“Words won’t work, then.”
I wiped the smirk off my face and raised Yojo horizontally. I was serious now. Catrianne had revealed her Valkyrie abilities—escape wouldn’t be easy.
“Good, you understand. Now—!”
Before I could finish, my body was sent flying. Catrianne had rammed into me faster than the blink of an eye. I flipped midair and scanned my surroundings.
Then my spine bent at an unnatural angle.
Catrianne smirked down at me as I coughed violently, her knee buried in my gut.
“How’s that? Couldn’t even see it, could you?”
“Damn, you’re good!”
I swung Yojo in a wide arc, forcing her back. Idrun, spewing crimson flames, clashed with Yojo again.
A brief contest of strength.
With a fierce twist, Catrianne broke the deadlock, sending me crashing through another building.
Bricks rained down as I emerged from the dust, spitting blood. I shoved aside a rubble pinning me and used Yojo as a crutch to stand.
Internal injuries. The contents I vomited were tinged with blood. I spat and hurried through the shop’s back door.
Catrianne clicked her tongue as she appeared before me.
“Changed your mind yet? Work under me for a few years, and I’ll set you free. No need to suffer pointlessly.”
“But for some, those few years are their entire life.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Adult stuff. Kids, scram!”
Gripping Yojo tightly, I charged. A flurry of rapid, precise strikes followed, but Catrianne blocked effortlessly with Idrun. The fight was one-sided. No matter how I swung Yojo, I couldn’t even graze her clothes.
Clang! Crash! Bang!
Aura and flames scattered. Deflecting a heavy horizontal slash, I used the momentum to leap onto a nearby hotel roof—only for Catrianne to chase me down and strike again.
Yojo vibrated from the impact. My knees ached, my wrists and arms trembled. Gritting my teeth, I pushed against Catrianne with all my strength.
But she didn’t budge.
“Surrender!”
“Eat shit!”
Catrianne shoved back, sending us both crashing onto a two-story building’s roof. Another contest of strength. The ground beneath my feet cracked, dust rising.
Tch.
My ribs were likely fractured—my side was staining red with blood. Each breath was agony, my heart pounding like it would burst.
This wasn’t good. Catrianne was clearly trying to exhaust me through brute force. But there was no escape. Every time I tried to break away, she cut me off, demanding another clash.
Over our locked blades, Catrianne spoke.
“You stubborn… If you just helped me, this incident would be erased. You’d gain unparalleled glory and honor. Why refuse?”
Her words ignited a fury I didn’t know I had.
All I wanted was to live freely with Yojo. Yet everyone treated me like a criminal—stopping me for family, power, or my abilities.
The irony? These were things others would kill to obtain.
I had it all—lineage, bloodline, power, wealth, talent. Even my looks were decent. And now Catrianne was offering glory and honor on top.
Yet I wanted none of it. I refused to kill kin for power, sacrifice my life for family, or bow to some woman for glory.
I just wanted freedom. Even if the price was death, I’d keep moving forward.
“Take your damn offers and shove them!”
I dissolved Yojo’s aura blade and channeled every ounce of mana into my body. Muscles tore, my heart threatened to burst, but I didn’t care. I would break through Catrianne to seize my freedom.
“Yojo! I believe in you! Hold on!”
Catrianne’s eyes widened. Despite Yojo having not a drop of mana, it withstood Idrun’s flaming aura blade—something only possible against another aura blade or divine metals like orichalcum.
“K-Kid, what is that sword?!”
“The world’s strongest blade—Yojo!”
As I shouted, Idrun in Catrianne’s hands bent violently. Not from my strength—Yojo’s sheer mass was crushing it.
It felt like magic, yet no mana emanated from Yojo.
“Guh—!”
The building beneath us collapsed under Yojo’s weight, debris and dust spreading as bystanders screamed. The building owner, who’d fled outside, stood dumbfounded.
Dazed, I stood and scanned the area. No sign of Catrianne—likely buried under the rubble.
My gaze fell to Yojo.
‘What the hell was that? You were never this type of sword before.’
But questions could wait. Catrianne might dig her way out any second. Survival came first.
Leaving behind the cursing owner, I bolted toward a nearby temple—the Temple of the Virgin Goddess, my destination all along.
I discarded my pendant and hacked a roadside tree into logs with Yojo. Grabbing one, I headed for the temple’s women’s restroom.
‘Almost free!’
Sticking my head into a toilet bowl, I grinned.
Bracing my hands, I descended into the filth until my feet touched bottom, sewage rising to my chest.
“Where are you, damn brat?!”
Catrianne’s voice echoed through the city. She’d clearly freed herself. But I pressed on.
‘Ugh, the stench.’
Though this escape route was born of necessity, I’d never get used to it.
A sudden trickle of water—someone had just used the toilet.
Locking eyes with an elven priestess below, I awkwardly asked:
“Red paper or blue?”
“Kyaaaah!”
Screaming, she scrambled out, tripping over her unkempt skirt in her panic. That had to hurt.
BOOM!
The restroom ceiling vanished in a pillar of flame, revealing the sky. Catrianne had arrived.
As divine light filtered through the sewage, I pressed against the wall.
“Brat, you’re here! Where are you?!”
Covered in dust, Catrianne fumed, her eyes blazing.
Then her gaze lowered—and horror dawned as she spotted me.
“Y-You… You’re not actually—?”
“Eat this!”
I leaped up and splashed sewage into her face. Some got in her mouth—she immediately retched violently.
Wiping her mouth furiously, Catrianne’s eyes burned with murder.
“I’ll kill you…!”
“Try it, flame-haired hag!”
I kept flinging waste. Catrianne, enraged, could only dodge, unable to approach.
Even monsters had given up chasing me due to the filth. No Valkyrie could catch me now.
“You—!”
“Come on in! Gotta catch me to kill me, right? Heh heh.”
As the sewage barrage continued, Catrianne retreated far into the sky.
“Get out here! Come out or you die!”
“Kill me! Can’t even do that, you shit-flie! Catrianne ate poop~ Ate poop~”
My sing-song taunt turned her expression icy. Even an immortal Valkyrie had limits—today’s humiliation was likely a first.
Flames erupted from Idrun, forming a massive firestorm above the restroom—the prelude to Dragon’s Descent, Idrun’s ultimate fire magic. Slow to cast, but capable of turning the area into molten ruin.
“Come out! I’ll spare you if you surrender now!”
I raised a middle finger from the toilet.
“Eat shit!”
“You’ll die!”
“……”
“I mean it!”
A pillar of fire obliterated the restroom, the area melting into lava. The sewage vaporized—and so did I.
A fittingly dramatic end. I was always gone by the final moment.
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