Chapter 528 – Purge (3)
After receiving word that the armaments had been completed, I headed to the mine in the disputed territory, where upon a wooden table lay a hand-adorning chain and a single-edged sword housed in a dark scabbard, greeting their new owners.
Judgment of Dominion, [Elderron].
That name, in the ancient tongue, meant domination.
Light Sword, [Silendar].
This too, in the ancient tongue, signified speed, or a ray of light.
Even ordinary artifacts were so rare across the continent that it was difficult to find an owner, yet these could hardly be called mere artifacts, for they were of an entirely different order.
───You came already, so soon after I sent word? This communication device is quite convenient. Saves us from wasting needless time. I do wonder about the inner workings.
Gharun curiously studied the communication device Verden had given him.
It seemed the work of producing two artifacts in succession, both forged from dragon bone, had been quite taxing, for he showed a rare trace of weariness.
Even with shifts taken, Geradin and the dwarves of the village, who had worked the facilities for days on end, had long since fallen asleep.
For reference, Linus had collapsed the moment the forging was finished. That figure sprawled in the corner under a blanket was him.
───Pass me that liquor in the back, the coldest one.
───Ah, here.
Isabella fetched a chilled bottle and handed it over. Gharun wet his throat and stroked his orange beard as he sat.
───This [Elderron] was led by my one-armed disciple, with me in support. It is focused on the aberrant and vicious mado you pioneered, and through its command word it can continuously distort magic power. But there is one caveat.
───A caveat?
───Do not overstrain it beyond your capacity. This is the first time I have ever forged an armament for an abnormal species. I cannot predict what changes might befall you, its wielder.
Gharun issued a warning regarding the aberrance Isabella harbored. By nature, abnormal species were perilous. Their very traits were aberrant.
The more they strayed from common sense, the harder it was to interpret their powers, and the more impossible to foresee the changes their power might undergo.
───I don't think there will be a problem... I understand, anyway. I'll use it well, thank you.
───No need for thanks, it was Asher who commissioned it.
Gharun snorted and turned toward Adrian. The explanation of [Elderron] was finished, and he moved to the next.
───This [Silendar] has no special functions. If I had the leisure I'd hammer it once more, quench it again in mana water, and focus purely on the blade's quality.
What Adrian Chambers desired in his ideal sword was, simply, a sword.
Not one that required command words, nor one that demanded conditions to unleash great phenomena, but an armament that would allow him to maximize his own speed alone.
It was Gharun's pure insight that discerned that psychology at once.
So he focused on fundamentals.
From Grond Veil di Validus, king of Roafra in the previous generation, through Verden, had been passed down to Adrian the demonic sword, [Cadence].
It bore the power to sever magic itself by cutting through mana arrays.
And the dragon's claw, in its essence, carried the destructive sharpness that all but ignored the resistance of matter.
With high-ratio dwarf alloys of the finest metals and countless other materials as mediums, Gharun succeeded in maximizing and unifying those two traits.
───In short, it is simply a sword, and thus without risk. But remember this one thing.
Gharun declared.
───Unless you face something of greater hardness and strength, if you cannot cut it with this sword, the fault lies solely with you.
The performance of [Silendar] was unique.
Its destructive power was proportional to speed.
Kwa-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-ja-jak!
A violet crescent, twice as large as the original, swept across the forest. To block it head-on was the worst choice.
Carindin and Maybel immediately withdrew with
'The same martial art as what I saw in the Great Hall, but the slash is far stronger. Is it because of that sword?'
A single-edged blade, deep sky-blue mingled with black, reflecting the moonlight. Not the same as the one that had broken against Dahit's magic.
A chill ran down his spine.
Carindin activated his entire mana circuits and readied his stance.
Mado
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwah!
From a bowstring of flame, blazing arrows were repeatedly loosed.
Where they struck, small pillars of fire erupted, burning the field, and Adrian dashed agilely between them.
Glancing about, Carindin confirmed no support for the enemy, and pressed power into his fingertips.
"To face the two of us alone, in an open field, I do not know where you obtained such weapons in a few short months, but, I will burn away even that arrogant judgment."
A globe of flame soared high and burst, showering scarlet rain.
In the crimson light that brightened the darkness, Adrian's movement weaving to and fro was caught by Maybel.
She drew two short, curved blades, gripping her staff as hilt, and her magic flared.
Mado
Curses rippled across her skin, tattooing her body, death's aura gathered upon the curved blades.
Maybel lunged.
Jjeo-eong!
The clash of metal rang out in the burning forest.
Naturally, with her learned weapon-skills, it was near impossible for Maybel to withstand Adrian's swordsmanship at such close range.
But she was a dark magus.
Just before the light sword reached her neck, nets sprang from her twin blades, binding the two combatants together.
A curse fixing their positions.
Immediately, massive, dense arrows plunged vertically from above.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwah!
Adrian barely escaped the dark magic, flinging himself away from the blast. His mask shattered, unable to withstand the heat.
Smoke rose faintly from his robe, but he kept his gaze forward.
'He did not target me, but Maybel.'
Since Carindin remained aloft, it was not a ploy to sacrifice an ally for escape.
There was something more.
Then, flames surged so fierce that the far side was unseen.
From the sea of fire strode leisurely a giant two meters tall. An Undead of flame, wielding two great scythes of fire.
It resembled the arc lich Melard had imbued with will, but only in appearance, its essence was different.
That was Maybel.
Yeongwang, Linked Light.
A sword-slash flashed, halving the Undead. For a human, it was instant death. But the split fire rejoined, closing the gap.
"You are swifter than any swordsman I have slain. One lapse, and my head would fly. But that is only when I am alone."
Through curses carved upon her flesh, she cast her unique magic,
By absorbing Carindin's immaterial flame, she gained immunity to heat, freed from most physical constraints.
The bane of warriors.
"You should have brought at least one mage."
The blazing twin scythes smashed down, splitting the ground, a cursed magma bursting forth to hinder healing.
Overhead, Carindin had concentrated mana over time, forming two ballistae, each loosing a bolt.
Dozens of meters of ground transformed into hellfire.
Adrian focused on evading the range, but Maybel, wreathed in flame, cared nothing for the heat.
Jjeo-eong!
[Silendar] blocked the scythes.
Adrian closed in, unleashing a lateral slash, but as before it failed against Maybel.
'Her density is shifting every moment.'
Clearly, she had long honed her path, and as one of the first members, she was formidable.
Few could endure such a combination.
'But still insufficient.'
Not even close to Balrog Bessias, nor the elder council of the Bohemirn magic tower... those who had reached the pinnacle of magic, who had taken my master's limbs and made him a living experiment.
They were the mountains to be surpassed.
Gukye, Supreme Wisdom.
With heightened senses, he perceived the flow of nature and magic. Though Maybel's form was faint, it mattered not.
His will was full, his sword sharp.
Adrian lifted his heels, leaning his weight to the extreme.
Hoo-uk.
His figure vanished.
The fireball that had neared was cut apart, and Maybel's arm behind him was hewn deep, nearly half-severed.
"No matter how fast, your sword-aura cannot cut me... huh?"
Drip... drip...
The flame did not knit.
Blood flowed within, dripping to the ground, drying in the heat.
Adrian raised his blade.
"Fight me at full strength."
Momentarily dazed by sudden provocation and pain, Maybel then laughed.
"You arrogant brat."
Maybel Risonia Siller shed blood, paying life itself as the price.
Every curse she cast was now guaranteed to strike true.
A fleeting silence.
Three moved at once.
***
All was aflame.
Charred trees crumbled to ash, lush leaves and flowers scattered as dust.
acrid smoke veiled the view, here and there. The cold moon shone mercilessly upon the world.
Two high mages, who decades ago had founded Black Hour and defined an era.
A swordsman on his way to his prime.
As their wills crossed in succession, vast shockwaves arose. Maybel, maintaining the flaming Undead, repeated her calculations.
....
All manner of high-tier curses struck Adrian regardless of speed. At first he resisted them all, but the second, the third, and the fourth were different.
Euddeuk.
Adrian clenched his molars.
While the curses that weakened physical ability never took hold, the curses that amplified pain eventually did.
It was as if someone were hacking at his burned flesh with knives, the sensation assaulted his nerves.
Yet all the grueling bouts he had endured, dueling the transcendent Verden time and again, had tempered Adrian beyond being cowed.
Ranmu 亂舞
With a clear mind, Adrian burst through the flames, unleashing dozens of violet sword-auras.
There was no escaping.
Maybel, slashed without mercy, was covered in wounds, [Silendar] curving toward her neck.
Carindin's eyes flared.
'Got him.'
A lance of flame rushed like a beam.
Its speed was more than enough to pierce the enemy before his sword could touch Maybel.
In that instant.
Adrian spun sharply, veering aside, the flame lance skewering only empty ground as he kicked hard against a nearby tree.
Countless charred fragments flew toward Carindin, and Adrian used them as footholds, springing skyward.
A feat so precise it bordered on art.
"A miscalculation...!"
Carindin's surprise lasted but a moment, then from his staff he formed a greatsword of flame. The same weapon that had burned Adrian's organ in the Great Hall.
In the skies, Carindin held the advantage, free to
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa───!
The sweeping arc of the greatsword birthed a wave of fire, filling the view. With no room to evade in the air, Adrian had to meet it head-on.
Nevertheless, his gaze calm, he drew the light sword, squeezed every muscle in his body, and hurled his arm.
Not technique, but pure, unrestrained sword-strike.
Adrian severed the wall of fire, finally reaching Carindin's altitude, his slash falling on the diagonal.
Seogeok.
The flame shield, conjured by mado, split apart, along with four of Carindin's fingers, save only the thumb.
Then Adrian's rotating kick slammed into Carindin's head.
"Kuup...!!!"
Grinding his teeth, Carindin detonated flame from within his body. Both men plummeted and struck the ground with brutal force.
"Ptu."
Adrian spat blood from deep within his throat, bracing on the light sword to rise with effort.
His body was seared outside and within, the curses made the pain doubly worse, yet mentally he seemed wholly unfazed.
Maybel clutched her bleeding wound and lifted her head.
Seeing Adrian charging again, she suddenly wondered.
'...How did it come to this?'
From her earliest years, she had pursued rational thought. Over time, she mastered reason.
Never swayed by petty emotions, she strove only for her desired ends.
With her talent, she had entered the Dark Warton magic tower at a young age, ranked third in its hierarchy.
But soon, she regretted it.
The moment she saw the tower master's cold, hollow gaze, eyes viewing the world as if already dead, she realized at once.
Even should she climb higher here, she could never escape those eyes... the gaze of a transcendent of death was utterly empty.
Wandering outside the tower for many reasons, she met peculiar magi.
Those who pursued magic purely.
Talking with them, working alongside them, somehow their wills converged.
Thus they founded Black Hour.
It was more comfortable than Dark Warton, and somehow, she judged, in this group she could climb higher.
So she left the tower without hesitation. The tower did not stop her.
Time passed, their leader Jeremiah brought back Dahit from the magic city.
A seed of transcendence.
She knew instinctively.
If she raised him as her disciple, she could climb higher... and so, in time, she betrayed her comrades, willingly following Dahit's hidden will.
As expected, it took little for their group of magi to ascend to a transcendent faction.
She reigned as one of its highest officers.
'But that was all.'
Dahit Wethroel no longer regarded the first members as mentors. He too had abandoned emotions at some point.
He never spoke of what his ideals were... nor what he sought to achieve for them, and Maybel never asked.
But one thing was certain, Dahit always pursued memory.
Even to this day.
Chwaaaak!
Her shoulder was deeply cut.
Her tendons severed, she could no longer exert strength. The curved blade fell, her breath ragged.
Carindin fared no better.
Though he too was grievously wounded, Adrian's sword remained razor-keen.
Never in her life had Maybel felt death's chill so close. Perhaps because of this, she gained a sliver of insight, and smiled.
"Ahaha... I think, I finally understand what Dahit meant by his theory of memory."
Maybel smiled.
"Hey, if you see Melard and Vermont later... tell them I'm sorry, will you?"
Her mind, once ever-rational, was now stained with emotion.
The end was near.
Maybel and Carindin simultaneously cast their final unique magic. The cursed inferno raged madly.
Every strike now imbued with certainty of hit.
Adrian dashed.
Gyeokhwa 激化
Activating his seasonal art, violet light trailed as he pierced straight through. An unseen force at once nullified the magic.
A sword-aura imperceptible to the senses cleaved everything along its vertical line, even the sky.
Thud.
Maybel died instantly.
As the flames scattered, her body split with her heart, collapsing.
"Haa, haa...."
Carindin, his right side nearly bisected, fell to his knees. His staff slipped from his grasp, rolling across the charred earth.
"Once recognized as a faction... Black Hour could no longer merely pursue research. We needed power. Power to protect us, to reign as a force... But none wanted it, save Maybel. Especially the leader, who tried to preserve the old Black Hour... And for Dahit's unknown ideal, a new Black Hour was required."
Carindin slowly raised his head.
"In the end, the world is all about power. But for it to end this way... where did we go wrong? Was it wrong to pursue power?"
"It was not wrong."
Adrian declared.
"Only that my lord was stronger."
The light sword cut through the air.
Carindin's neck was severed, the light in his eyes fading.
Adrian exhaled deeply, then drew Isabella's special potion and drank. The pain of his severe burns, inside and out, eased greatly.
He activated the communicator.
"Carindin Lerhar. Maybel Risonia Siller. Both eliminated."
From the other side, Isabella's voice answered.
───It's finished here too.
Thus, one night after Dahit's defeat, the purge was complete.
***
Word spread of the success of the Black Hour usurpation plan. Now only Verden's succession ceremony remained.
I meditated, focusing on recovery.
I gazed into the memories of Dahit's countless lived years, careful not to be drawn into his emotions.
Thus, after weeks of reviewing them all, my foundation expanded. As the Infinite Mado opened, something settled into my will.
"This is...."
Verden opened his hand.
Fwoosh.
Black flame rose.